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Women are among the many vulnerable groups that are severely affected by the pandemic: All over the world, women have been hit harder by the pandemic, leading some to call the global recession a "shecession". "Shecession" refers to "the disproportionate impact of a pandemic recession on working women", which leads to greater gender inequality. Working women have been gravely affected by the pandemic, but their situation is often justified as "necessary" in helping businesses survive. We argue for a caring justice framework, using Fratelli Tutti and care ethics in navigating the tensions between the individual and the community, analysing and transforming the way in which work is structured in the Philippines at present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving carbon-neutrality is increasing the demand of renewable electricity which is raising the competition for land and associated acquisition costs. Installation of floating photovoltaic (FPV) on existing hydropower reservoirs offers one solution to limited land availability while providing solar electricity, leveraging water bodies, and reducing water evaporation losses. This work assesses the potential electricity output of FPVs at regional and national levels on 337 hydropower reservoirs in the EU27 considering four scenarios and two types of floaters. Evaporation, water losses and water savings due to FPVs installation are also estimated using climatic parameters for the year 2018. The reservoirs' total water losses are estimated at 9380 mcm. The installation of FPVs of equal installed capacity as the hydropower plants, has the potential to generate 42.31 TWh covering 2.3% of the total reservoir area. In this case, up to 557 mcm could be saved by installing FPV. The FPVs' multiple benefits and the potential offered by existing hydropower reservoirs are compatible with the EU's goals for net zero emissions and more autonomy from imported fossil fuels and energy transformation. • Potential FPV elect. generation corresponds to 20%–87%, of the total EU solar PV. • Using only 2.3% of total hydropower reservoir areas could produce 42.3 TWh/yr. • Using <15% of EU's reservoir area, FPV output ∼50% of the hydropower generation. • A 10% reservoir area coverage with FPV results in 1717.8 mcm annual water savings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An electrothermal LED model for the design and simulation of light-emitting diode (LED) drivers based on the concept of the equivalent resistance is proposed in this article. The main contribution of this work is the integration of the temperature variables as the encapsulation temperature, heatsink temperature, and the ambient temperature in an electrical model based on the equivalent resistance of power LEDs. Therefore, an improved model is achieved by including these temperatures. This is because the LED temperatures are critical variables in the LED performance that could reduce the useful life of the LEDs or may even destroy them. Therefore, these temperatures must be considered in the design of LED drivers. The “equivalent resistance” concept has been previously used in the electrical modeling of power LEDs without considering the temperature variables, and this model was used to achieve fast simulations in LED-driver systems. The proposed model is oriented to the area of electronic engineering and it is recommended for the design and simulation of LED-converter systems. Experimental and simulation results are obtained that demonstrate the performance of the proposed model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In magnetically confined fusion devices, control of internal transport barriers (ITBs) is important both to enhance and suppress the turbulent transport to improve confinement control. Barrier control should allow for the improvement of confinement to aid in achieving the needed fusion criteria while also permitting the degradation of confinement to control profiles and clean the device by moving out the impurities accumulated near the core. In this work, we present a novel control scenario that takes advantage of the hysteresis intrinsic to transport barriers to easily cycle through enhanced and degraded confinement regimes. The control scenario is illustrated using a five-field simplified transport model for an ITB using typical parameters of a neutral beam injection-heated DIII-D tokamak discharge. Pellets and ion cyclotron resonance frequency power are used as control knobs for this active control scenario. These knobs adequately modify at will the local gradients and, therefore, the growth rates and shearing rates, allowing for easy and efficient control of the barrier by taking advantage of the barrier hysteresis. The result is a control cycle that could be operated with a relatively small amount of power in high performance regimes which, nowadays, typically require large power to control. It may also have advantages to avoid, or at least ameliorate, the appearance of magnetohydrodynamic instabilities in the barrier region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The initiation, termination, and control of internal transport barriers associated with E × B flow shear near local minima of magnetic shear are examined for burning plasmas to determine if the positive feedback loops between profiles, instability, transport, and flow shear operate in regimes with fusion self-heating. A five-field transport model for the evolution of profiles of density, ion and electron temperature, ion and electron fluctuations, and radial electric field is utilized to examine the efficacy of controls associated with external inputs of heat and particles, including neutral beam injection, RF, pellets, and gas puffing. The response of the plasma to these inputs is studied in the presence of self-heating. The latter is affected by the external inputs and their modification of profiles and is, therefore, not an external control. Provided sufficient external power is applied, internal transport barriers can be created and controlled, both in ion and electron channels. Barrier control is sensitive to the locations of power deposition and pellet ablation, as well as temporal sequencing of external inputs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cancer needs perfusion for its growth and metastasis. Cancer cell-derived extracellular vesicles (CA-EVs) alter the tumor microenvironment (TME), potentially promoting angiogenesis. We hypothesize that conditions in the tumor, e.g., hypoxia, and in the target cells of the TME, e.g., nutrient deprivation or extracellular matrix, can affect the angiogenic potential of CA-EVs, which would contribute to explaining the regulation of tumor vascularization and its influence on cancer growth and metastasis. CA-EVs were isolated and characterized from cervical carcinoma cell lines HeLa and SiHa cultured under normoxia and hypoxia, and their angiogenic potential was evaluated in vitro in three endothelial cells (ECs) lines and aortic rings, cultured in basal (growth factor-reduced) or complete medium. Hypoxia increased EV production 10–100 times and protein content 2–4 times compared to normoxic CA-EVs. HeLa-EVs contained six times more RNA than SiHa-EVs, and this concentration was not affected by hypoxia. Treatment with CA-EVs increased tube formation and sprouting in ECs and aortic rings cultured in basal medium and long-term stabilized the stablished vascular networks formed by ECs cultured in complete medium. Hypoxia differentially affects CA-EVs in a cell line-dependent manner. The cellular environment (nutrient availability and extracellular matrix scaffold) influences the effect of CA-EV on the angiogenic potential of ECs. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-fat diet consumption causes hypothalamic inflammation, dysregulating the leptin pathway, which, in turn, compromises the modulation of hypothalamic neuronal activities and predisposes obesity development. Intermittent fasting (IF) and exercise training (ET) have been demonstrated as efficient interventions to modulate hypothalamic inflammation and neuronal activity. However, no studies have evaluated whether combining these interventions could induce better results in reestablishing hypothalamic homeostasis disrupted by high-fat diet intake. The 8-week-old male C57BL/6 mice were randomly assigned into 2 groups: sedentary mice fed a standard diet (CT), and sedentary mice fed a high-fat diet (HF). After 8 weeks of an HF diet, part of the HF group (now 16 weeks old) was randomly subjected to different interventions for 6 weeks: HF-IF = HF diet mice submitted to IF; HF-T = HF diet mice submitted to ET; HF-IFT = HF diet mice submitted to IF and ET. All interventions decreased the body weight gain induced by high-fat diet intake, associated with reduced calorie consumption in week 14. Only the HF-IFT group presented improved serum insulin, leptin, resistin, and Tnf-alpha levels concomitantly with decreased hypothalamic inflammation. The HF-IFT group also demonstrated increased Pomc mRNA expression associated with enhanced pSTAT3 expression in the hypothalamic arcuate and ventromedial hypothalamic nuclei. Our data indicate that the beneficial effects of the combination of IF and ET on energy homeostasis are associated with increased leptin sensitivity in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus and ventromedial hypothalamic nucleus, which is likely due to an improvement in hypothalamic inflammatory pathways in these nuclei. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive inheritance disease. It is due to mutations or deletions in the survival of motor neuron gene (SMN1) located at locus 5q12-5q.13.3, in this same region another gene is located which corresponds to SMN2 , patients retain at least one copy of the gene SMN2. Both genes code for the SMN motor neuron survival protein. It has been observed that there is an association between the number of copies of SMN2 and the phenotype of SMA. Assessment of muscular, respiratory and cardiological function and the number of copies of the SMN2 gene in patients with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). Patients with clinical diagnosis, EMG and genetic diagnosis by PCR and MLPA of SMA. Upper and lower Brook, Hammersmith and motor function for neuromuscular diseases (MFM) scales, respiratory and cardiological assessment were applied. The number of copies of SMN2 was determined through the MLPA method in peripheral blood of the patients, as well as in some patients the SMN protein through the Elisa method in polymorphonuclear cells. Descriptive statistics and Pearson's r Correlation were done. 38 patients 14.5 years old (3-36), 19 F, 19 M, 28.9% walked, evolution time 8.6 years, 9 patients were type II and 26 type III, 3 type IV. Functional assessment scales (MFM) total 47.2%, D1 17.7%, D2 62.51% D3 64.3%, Hammersmith 16.7, Upper Brook 2.4, lower Brook 6.4. Restrictive pattern 36.8%, 10.5% mild cardiac alterations. The number of copies that was observed in the patients was 1 in 2.6%, 2 in 18.4%, 3 in 60.5%, and 4 in 7.8%, 10.5% without determined number of copies (only PCR). Determination of SMN protein (only 14 were performed). There was a correlation between time of evolution and the MFM and Hammersmith scale. And also between time of evolution and the amount of SMN protein in the patients in which it was done. The phenotype-genotype relationship was observed in our patients, although most of the patients were type III; However, in 4 patients the clinical type did not correspond to the number of copies. The restrictive pattern was identified in type II patients with a greater evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Release of neutrophil extracellular traps is promoted by porcine sperm. • The presence of NETs in PMN/sperm co-cultures forms NETs aggregates. • Neutrophil extracellular traps negatively affect sperm function. • NETs might play a critical role in reduced fertility in swine reproductive technique In pigs, the number of PMN in uterus lumen increases within few hours after natural or artificial AI resulting in early PMN-derived innate immune reactions. Sperm-NETs formation was recently reported to occur in various mammalian species. Aim of this study was to investigate direct interactions of boar spermatozoa with swine PMN, the release of sperm-mediated NETs, and to assess NET-derived effects on sperm functionality. Sperm-triggered NETs were visualized by SEM- and immunofluorescence analyses. Sperm-mediated NETosis was confirmed by presence of extruded DNA with global histones and NE. Largest sizes of sperm-mediated agg NETs were detected after 5 h thereby resulting in effective massive sperm entrapment. The number of agg NETs increased from 3 h onwards. Kinetic studies of swine sperm-mediated NETosis showed to be a time-dependent cellular process. In addition, number of NETs-entrapped spermatozoa increased at 3 h of exposure whilst few free spermatozoa were detected after 3 h. Anchored NETs also increased from 3 h onwards. The cytotoxicity of NETs was confirmed by diminution of the total motility and the progressive motility. Spermatozoa membrane integrity and function loss exposed to NETs was confirmed from 3 h. Experiments revealed NETs-derived damaging effects on swine spermatozoa in membrane integrity, motility and functionality. We hypothesize that swine sperm-triggered agg NETs might play a critical role in reduced fertility potential in swine reproductive technique. Thus, agg NETs formation needs to be considered in future studies about uterine environment as well as advance of sperm in the porcine female reproductive tract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]