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The development of targeted alpha therapy (TAT) as a viable cancer treatment requires innovative solutions to challenges associated with radionuclide retention to enhance local tumor cytotoxicity and to minimize off-target effects. Nanoparticles (NPs) with high encapsulation and high retention of radionuclides have shown potential in overcoming these issues. This article shows the influence of pH on the structure of lanthanum vanadate (LaVO4) NPs and its impact on the radiochemical yield of 223Ra and subsequent retention of its decay daughters, 211Pb and 211Bi. An acidic pH (4.9) results in a high fraction of La(223Ra)VO4 NPs with tetragonal structure (44.6&ndash, 66.1%) and a 223Ra radiochemical yield &lt, 40%. Adjusting the pH to 11 yields &gt, 80% of La(223Ra)VO4 NPs with monoclinic structure and increases the 223Ra radiochemical yield &gt, 85%. The leakage of decay daughters from La(223Ra)VO4 NPs (pH 11) was &lt, 5% and &lt, 0.5% when exposed to deionized water and phosphate-buffered saline, respectively. Altering the surface chemistry of La(223Ra)VO4 NPs with carboxylate and phosphate compounds resulted in a threefold decrease in hydrodynamic diameter and a 223Ra radiochemical yield between 74.7% and 99.6%. These results show the importance of tailoring the synthesis parameters and surface chemistry of LaVO4 NPs to obtain high encapsulation and retention of radionuclides.

In this article, we report on our experience regarding devising, implementing, and deploying a scheduler for multi-source fusion in the context of SCADA systems (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition). They are challenging because they commonly rely on low-end boards with very limited computing, memory, and storage capabilities, but have to run hundreds if not thousands of agents that co-ordinate by means of complex multi-way rendez-vouses. Our work was carried out in the context of a solar plant in which we could easily confirm that not scheduling the rendez-vouses fairly may easily drive the system into as many as 3 779.10 critical-failure states per hour, whereas a straightforward solution to the problem can reduce the figure to 1 094.76 critical-failure states per hour. Unfortunately, that is far from zero, which is the ideal number. In the literature, there are several proposals to deal with this problem, but most of them could not be adapted to our context, namely: some of them can deal with two-way rendez-vouses only, whereas ours involve an average of 12.89 agents; others require to instrument the agents, but many of them are hardware devices that cannot be modified; a few others cannot work with rendez-vouses that can get intermittently enabled and disabled along an execution, which makes them of little interest in our context; and some require to use shared memory, which is an advanced hardware feature that is not supported by our low-end computing boards. The two proposals that we managed to adapt were not efficient enough in our context since they led to an average of 1 102.77 and 1 458.65 critical-failure states per hour, respectively. That motivated us to work on a new proposal that does not have any of the previous problems. It relies on a incremental approach that was implemented very efficiently using bounded counters and queues. Furthermore, the experimental results and the corresponding statistical analysis confirm that it works very well in practice.

This letter reports the development of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles (NPs) as delivery systems that could potentially encapsulate and improve the administration of radiotherape...

We consider the evolutionary scheme of morality proposed by Tomasello to defend the idea that the ability to orient the learning of offspring using signs of approval/disapproval could be a decisive and necessary step in the evolution of human morality. Those basic forms of intentional evaluative feedback, something we have called assessor teaching, allow parents to transmit their accumulated experience to their children, both about the behaviors that should be learned as well as how they should be copied. The rationale underlying this process is as follows: if a behavior is approved, then it is good; if it is disapproved, then it is bad. The evaluative guidance on how to behave most probably spread among peers in situations of mutual benefit, such as cooperative child rearing. We argue that our hominin ancestors provided with this capacity for assessor teaching were ideally positioned to develop the two specifically human levels of morality proposed by Tomasello: the morality of fairness and the morality of justice. Assessor teaching could have facilitated the genesis of rudimentary codes of behavior tied with the need to agree about how to behave to succeed in joint cooperative activities. Moreover, learning through assessor teaching provides a plausible explanation for the origin of the objectivist and prescriptive dimensions of human morality. First, we emphasize that individuals feel that they evaluate the behavior of others objectively to guide their learning, and, second, we underline the imperative intention that any moral manifestation possesses.

Unwanted targeting of healthy organs caused by the relocation of radionuclides from the target site has been one of the limiting factors in the widespread application of targeted alpha therapy in patient regimens. GdVO4 nanoparticles (NPs) were developed as platforms to encapsulate α-emitting radionuclides 223Ra, 225Ac, and 227Th, and retain their decay daughters at the target site. Polycrystalline GdVO4 NPs with different morphologies and a zircon-type tetragonal crystal structure were obtained by precipitation of GdCl3 and Na3VO4 in aqueous media at room temperature. The ability of GdVO4 crystals to host multivalent ions was initially assessed using La, Cs, Bi, Ba, and Pb as surrogates of the radionuclides under investigation. A decrease in Ba encapsulation was obtained after increasing the concentration of surrogate ions, whereas the encapsulation of La cations in GdVO4 NPs was quantitative (∼100%). Retention of radionuclides was assessed in vitro by dialyzing the radioactive GdVO4 NPs against deionized water. While 227Th was quantitatively encapsulated (100%), a partial encapsulation of 223Ra (∼75%) and 225Ac (>60%) was observed in GdVO4 NPs. The maximum leakage of 221Fr (1st decay daughter of 225Ac) was 55.4 ± 3.6%, whereas for 223Ra (1st decay daughter of 227Th) the maximum leakage was 73.0 ± 4.0%. These results show the potential of GdVO4 NPs as platforms of α-emitting radionuclides for their application in targeted alpha therapy.

How to effectively remove toxic dyes from the industrial wastewater using a green low-cost lignocellulose-based adsorbent, such as lignin, has become a topic of great interest but remains quite challenging. In this study, cosolvent-enhanced lignocellulosic fractionation (CELF) pretreatment and Mannich reaction were combined to generate an aminated CELF lignin which is subsequently applied for removal of methylene blue and direct blue (DB) 1 dye from aqueous solution. 31P NMR was used to track the degree of amination, and an orthogonal design was applied to determine the relationship between the extent of amination and reaction parameters. The physicochemical, morphological, and thermal properties of the aminated CELF lignin were characterized to confirm the successful grafting of diethylenetriamine onto the lignin. The aminated CELF lignin proved to be an effective azo dye-adsorbent, demonstrating considerably enhanced dye decolorization, especially toward DB 1 dye (>90%). It had a maximum adsorption capacity of DB 1 dye of 502.7 mg/g, and the kinetic study suggested the adsorption process conformed to a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The isotherm results also showed that the modified lignin-based adsorbent exhibited monolayer adsorption. The adsorbent properties were mainly attributed to the incorporated amine functionalities as well as the increased specific surface area of the aminated CELF lignin.

In insect vectors of disease, male and female molecules that mediate reproductive processes are promising targets to suppress fertility of these populations. One process, the storage of sperm in the female reproductive tract, is essential for optimal fertility in all organisms examined to date. In the dengue vector mosquito Aedes aegypti, female sperm storage has not been fully characterized, a requirement to identify sex-specific molecules that mediate this process. Aedes aegypti males deposit the ejaculate into the bursa of the female reproductive tract, and sperm enter the spermathecae—the long-term storage sites—quickly after insemination. However, the proportion of sperm received during mating that are stored in the spermathecae is unclear, and the fate of non-stored sperm unknown. We quantified sperm storage in two Ae. aegypti strains, mated in all combinations, and in two contexts (mass mated and when mating was observed) at 1-, 3- and 5-days post-mating. Sperm quantity in the spermathecae was similar at all timepoints; most females stored ~400 sperm on average. Sperm that did not enter the spermathecae remained in the bursa, where they declined in number and became more fragile to mechanical manipulation at each timepoint. Further, sperm viability in the bursa fell from 91.6% shortly after mating to 12.2% 24 h later. One day after insemination, ~50% of sperm detected in the female reproductive tract was stored in the spermathecae. When we quantified sperm storage in females mated to males that transferred reduced ejaculate quantities (but still able to induce optimal fertility in their mates), sperm detected in the spermathecae similarly declined; females stored ~50% of the sperm received even as sperm quantities transferred at mating declined. Our results suggest that sperm storage in Ae. aegypti females is influenced by ejaculate volume, and that sperm that do not enter the spermathecae remain in the bursa, where they appear to degrade. The consistent presence of sperm in the bursa, even when males transferred low sperm quantities, suggests that the putative degradation of bursa sperm may play a role in Ae. aegypti female fertility, potentially identifying a novel process in this important vector species.

Este volumen de fundamentos de programación en Python tiene como objetivo explicar los conceptos básicos de esta materia. Aunque cada lenguaje tiene sus particularidades, es posible afirmar que van convergiendo hacia elementos comunes a todos ellos. De ahí que intentemos partir de esas ideas compartidas por los principales lenguajes actuales para ir extrapolando posteriormente conceptos de unos a otros. En este sentido, se van a abordar conceptos en Python comunes con Java que pueden ser extendidos a otros. El diseño de tipos ocupará un lugar central en este volumen en cuya parte final se incluyen varios ejemplos. Python se presenta desde un enfoque basado en iterables y reutilización de funciones. El material que conforma este manual procede de la experiencia acumulada tras varios años de enseñanza de la asignatura de Fundamentos de Programación en la Universidad de Sevilla.

Aunque cada lenguaje tiene sus particularidades, es posible afirmar que van convergiendo hacia elementos compartidos por todos ellos; de ahí que intentemos partir de esas ideas comunes a los principales lenguajes actuales para ir extrapolando posteriormente conceptos de unos a otros. En este volumen se abordan los conceptos básicos de la programación en general, centrándose particularmente en los fundamentos de Java a partir de dos estilos: el estilo funcional usando streams y el más clásico estilo imperativo usando iterables. El diseño de tipos ocupará un lugar central en este volumen en cuya parte final se incluyen varios ejemplos. El material que conforma el manual procede de la experiencia acumulada tras varios años de enseñanza de la asignatura de Fundamentos de Programación en la Universidad de Sevilla.