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El cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) es originario de la Amazonia y se encuentra frecuentemente asociado a hongos micorrízicos arbusculares (HMA). Esta asociación influye en la absorción de nutrientes y la tolerancia al estrés hídrico del huésped. Sin embargo, los HMA del cacao han sido poco estudiados en el Perú. Este estudio tiene como objetivo identificar morfológicamente la diversidad natural de HMA en plantaciones nativas de cacao en la región Amazonas, Perú. Se recolectaron cuarenta y cuatro muestras de suelo rizosférico en las provincias de Bagua y Utcubamba, principales provincias productoras de cacao nativo de fino aroma del Perú. Aislamos cincuenta y siete morfotipos de esporas de HMA en términos de tamaño, color y forma. Estas esporas fueron identificadas hasta el nivel de género: Glomus, Acaulospora, Gigaspora, Funneliformis, Rhizophagus, Scutellospora, Sclerocystis, Diversispora y Rhizoglomus. Glomus y Acaulospora fueron los HMA más abundantes y frecuentemente aislados. La gran diversidad de HMA encontrada en Bagua y Utcubamba abre una puerta para estudios más profundos de este importante grupo de hongos en el cultivo de cacao.

Abstract Diabetes affects multiple systems in complex manners. Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are a result of diabetes‐induced microarterial vessel disease and peripheral neuropathy. The presence of arteriosclerosis‐induced macroarterial disease can further complicate DFU pathophysiology. Recent studies suggest that mesenchymal stromal cell therapies can enhance tissue regeneration. This phase I study was designed to determine the safety and explore the efficacy of local injections of autologous adipose‐derived stromal vascular fraction (SVF) cells to treat nonhealing DFUs greater than 3 cm in diameter. Sixty‐three patients with type 2 diabetes with chronic DFU—all amputation candidates—were treated with 30 × 106 SVF cells injected in the ulcer bed and periphery and along the pedal arteries. Patients were seen at 6 and 12 months to evaluate ulcer closure. Doppler ultrasounds were performed in a subset of subjects to determine vascular structural parameters. No intervention‐related serious adverse events were reported. At 6 months, 51 subjects had 100% DFU closure, and 8 subjects had ≥75% closure. Three subjects had early amputations, and one subject died. At 12 months, 50 subjects had 100% DFU healing and 4 subjects had ≥85% healing. Five subjects died between the 6‐ and 12‐month follow‐up visits. No deaths were intervention related. Doppler studies in 11 subjects revealed increases in peak systolic velocity and pulsatility index in 33 of 33 arteries, consistent with enhanced distal arterial runoff. These results indicate that SVF can be safely used to treat chronic DFU, with evidence of efficacy (wound healing) and mechanisms of action that include vascular repair and/or angiogenesis.

Daniela Lopes-de-Campos,1,* Rita M Pinto,1,* Sofia A Costa Lima,1 Tiago Santos,2,3 Bruno Sarmento,2–4 Cláudia Nunes,1 Salette Reis1 1LAQV, REQUIMTE, Departamento de Ciáncias Químicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal; 2INEB – Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal; 3i3S – Instituto de Investigação e Inovação em Saúde, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal; 4IINFACTS, Instituto de Investigação e Formação Avançada em Ciências e Tecnologias da Saúde, Instituto Universitário de Ciências da Saúde, Gandra, Portugal *These authors contributed equally to this work Purpose: Amoxicillin is a commonly used antibiotic, although degraded by the acidic pH of the stomach. This is an important limitation for the treatment of Helicobacter pylori infections. The purpose of this work was to encapsulate amoxicillin in lipid nanoparticles, increasing the retention time at the site of infection (gastric mucosa), while protecting the drug from the harsh conditions of the stomach lumen.Materials and methods: The nanoparticles were produced by the double emulsion technique and optimized by a three-level Box-Behnken design. Tween 80 and linolenic acid were used as potential therapeutic adjuvants and dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine as a targeting agent to Helicobacter pylori. Nanoparticles were characterized regarding their physico-chemical features, their storage stability, and their usability for oral administration (assessment of in vitro release, in vitro cell viability, permeability, and interaction with mucins).Results: The nanoparticles were stable for at least 6 months at 4°C. In vitro release studies revealed a high resistance to harsh conditions, including acidic pH and physiologic temperature. The nanoparticles have a low cytotoxicity effect in both fibroblasts and gastric cell lines, and they have the potential to be retained at the gastric mucosa.Conclusion: Overall, the designed formulations present suitable physico-chemical features for being henceforward used by oral administration to treat Helicobacter pylori infections. Keywords: linolenic acid, dioleoylphosphatidylethanolamine, Box-Behnken design, permeability, mucins, Helicobacter pylori

Tainaê Santos,1 Monaliza Marizete Baungratz,1 Suellen Priscila Haskel,2 Daniela Delwing de Lima,3 Júlia Niehues da Cruz,4 Débora Delwing Dal Magro,5 José Geraldo Pereira da Cruz51Department of Medicine, 2Department of Physiotherapy, Regional University of Blumenau, Santa Catarina, Brazil; 3Department of Pharmacy, University of Joinville Region, Santa Catarina, Brazil; 4Department of Medicine, University of the Extreme South of Santa Catarina, Santa Catarina, Brazil; 5Department of Natural Sciences, Regional University of Blumenau, Santa Catarina, BrazilAbstract: Simvastatin inhibits 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl CoA reductase, the rate-limiting enzyme in the cholesterol biosynthetic pathway, and is widely used to control plasma cholesterol levels and prevent cardiovascular disease. However, emerging evidence indicates that the beneficial effects of simvastatin extend to the central nervous system. The effects of simvastatin combined with fluoxetine provide an exciting and potential paradigm to decreased anxiety and depression. Thus, the present paper investigates the possibility of synergistic interactions between simvastatin and fluoxetine in models of anxiety and depression. We investigated the effects of subchronically administered simvastatin (1 or 10 mg/kg/day) combined with fluoxetine (2 or 10 mg/kg) at 24, 5, and 1 hour on adult rats before conducting behavioral tests. The results indicate that simvastatin and/or fluoxetine treatment reduces anxiety-like behaviors in the elevated plus-maze and open-field tests. Our results showed that simvastatin and/or fluoxetine induced a significant increase in the swimming activity during the forced swimming test (antidepressant effect), with a concomitant increase in climbing time in simvastatin-treated animals only (noradrenergic activation). We hypothesize that anxiolytic and antidepressant effects of simvastatin and/or fluoxetine produce their behavioral effects through similar mechanisms and provide an important foundation for future preclinical research.Keywords: elevated plus-maze, fluoxetine, forced swimming test, open-field, simvastatin

We report device-level damping measurements using spin-torque driven ferromagnetic resonance on perpendicular magnetic random-access memory cells. It is shown that thermal agitation enhances the apparent damping for cells smaller than about 55 nm. The effect is fundamental and does not reflect a true damping increase. In addition to the thermal effect, it is still found that device-level damping is higher than film-level damping and increases with decreasing cell size. This is attributed to edge damage caused by device patterning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the principal characteristics of nuclear multifragmentation is the emission of complex fragments of intermediate mass. The statistical multifragmentation model has been used for many years to describe the distribution of these fragments. An extension of the statistical multifragmentation model to include partial widths and lifetimes for emission, interprets the fragmentation process as the near simultaneous limit of a series of sequential binary decays. In this extension, the expression describing intermediate mass fragment emission is almost identical to that of light particle emission. At lower temperatures, similar expressions have been shown to furnish a good description of very light intermediate mass fragment emission. However, this is usually not considered a good approximation to the emission of heavier fragments. These emissions seem to be determined by the characteristics of the system at the saddle-point and its subsequent dynamical evolution rather than by the scission point. Here, we compare the barriers and decay widths of these different formulations of intermediate fragment emission and analyze the extent to which they remain distinguishable at high excitation energy.

This cross-sectional study investigated ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption and its association with overweight among Brazilian vegetarian adults (n = 925). Data were collected using a self-administered structured online questionnaire. The prevalence of overweight was 26.2% (95% confidence interval [CI] 23.3–29.1). The median UPF consumption was 1.8 times/day (1.0–3.1 interquartile range [IQR]). The multivariable generalised linear model identified an increase in overweight probability as the UPF intake – categorised into quintiles – increases (prevalence ratio [PR] 1.08 [95%CI 1.01–1.17]). Additionally, age (PR 1.03 [95%CI 1.02–1.04]), eating more than three meals/day away from home (PR 1.56 [95%CI 1.08–2.23]), duration of vegetarianism (PR 0.98 [95%CI 0.97–0.99]) and living in the wealthiest regions in the country (PR 1.35 [95%CI 1.06–1.71]) were associated with overweight. Although vegetarians have a lower average UPF intake and overweight prevalence than the general population, UPF exposure can still lead to excessive weight gain or maintenance. This study endorses generalising the Brazilian Dietary Guidelines for the vegetarian population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementation of spin transfer torque magneto-resistive random access memory (STT-MRAM) in memory chips requires that the write margin of the MRAM cell, defined as the difference between breakdown voltage and write voltage for the specified endurance, write error rate, and write speed, is sufficiently large in order to accommodate resistance variations arising from external chip circuitry. We show that by increasing only the thickness of the MgO cap layer to make its resistance-area product close to that of the main MgO barrier, the write margin can be increased substantially without affecting the thermal stability of the cell. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present new λrest = 77 μm dust continuum observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array of HZ10 (CRISTAL-22). This dusty main sequence galaxy at z = 5.66 was observed as part of the [CII] Resolved Ism in STar-forming Alma Large program (CRISTAL). The high angular resolution of the ALMA Band 7 and new Band 9 data (∼0′′​​.4) reveals the complex structure of HZ10, which comprises two main components (HZ10-C and HZ10-W), along with a bridge-like dusty emission between them (i.e., "the bridge"). Using a modified blackbody function to model the dust spectral energy distribution (SED), we constrained the physical conditions of the interstellar medium (ISM) and its variations among the different components identified in HZ10. We find that HZ10-W (the more UV-obscured component) has an SED dust temperature of TSED ∼ 51.2 ± 13.1 K; this was found to be ∼5 K higher (which is statistically insignificant; i.e., less than 1σ) than that of the central component and previous global estimations for HZ10. Our new ALMA data allow us to reduce the uncertainties of global TSED measurements by a factor of ∼2.3, compared to previous studies. The HZ10 components have [CII]-to-far-infrared (FIR) luminosity ratios and FIR surface densities values that are consistent with local starburst galaxies. However, HZ10-W shows a lower [CII]/FIR ratio compared to the other two components (albeit still within the uncertainties), which may suggest a harder radiation field destroying polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon associated with [CII] emission (e.g., active galactic nuclei or young stellar populations). While HZ10-C appears to follow the tight IRX-βUV relation seen in local UV-selected starburst galaxies and high-z star-forming galaxies, we find that both HZ10-W and the bridge depart from this relation and are well described by dust-screen models with holes in front of a hard UV radiation field. This suggests that the UV emission, which is likely coming from young stellar populations, is strongly attenuated in the "dustier" components of the HZ10 system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]