MMP1 and MMP11 Expression in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells upon Their Interaction with Breast Cancer Cells and Fibroblasts

Tumor-infiltrating immune cells phenotype is associated with tumor progression. However, little is known about the phenotype of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from breast cancer patients. We investigated MMP1 and MMP11 expression in PBMC from breast cancer patients and we analyzed gene expression changes upon their interaction with cancer cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAF). We measured the impact of PBMC on proinflammatory gene expression in breast cancer cells, normal fibroblast (NF), and CAF and the impact on proliferation and invasiveness capacity of breast cancer cells. Gene expression of MMP1 and MMP11 in PBMC from breast cancer patients (n = 54) and control (n = 28); expression of IL1A, IL6, IL17, IFNβ, and NFĸB in breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231); and, additionally, IL10 and MMP11 in CAF and NF were analyzed by qRT-PCR before and after co-culture. Our results show the existence of a subpopulation of breast cancer patients (25.9%) with very high levels of MMP11 gene expression in PBMC. Also, gene expression of MMP1 and MMP11 increases in PBMC after co-culture with breast cancer cell lines, NF or CAF. PBMC from healthy or breast cancer patients induce an increased proliferation rate on MCF-7 and an increased invasiveness capacity of MDA-MB-231. Finally, we show a differential expression profile of inflammatory genes in NF and CAF when co-cultured with control or breast cancer PBMC. We have observed that MMPs’ expression in PBMC is regulated by the microenvironment, while the expression of inflammatory genes in NF or CAF is differentially regulated by PBMC. These findings confirm the importance of the crosstalk between stromal cells and suggest that PBMC would play a role in promoting aggressive tumor behavior.     

D‐isosorbide and 1,3‐propanediol as plasticizers for starch‐based films: Characterization and aging study

In the present work, D‐isosorbide and 1,3‐propanediol are proposed as alternative plasticizers obtained from renewable resources. Plasticized starch films were prepared by solvent casting method. The influence of using different “green” plasticizers in the final properties of starch‐based films was analyzed. Besides, the characterization of the films was also performed after storage time in order to evaluate the effect of the plasticizer on aging. UV‐spectrophotometry results showed better optical properties for both glycerol and D‐isosorbide films with higher transparency. The thermal and mechanical properties resulted influenced by the nature of the plasticizer. It was demonstrated that water vapor permeability was governed by the starch‐water interactions, whereas the oxygen permeability depended on the plasticizer's nature. The storage time affected the surface, mechanical, and thermal properties of the plasticized starch films. Atomic force microscopy results concluded that the topography of the films changed due to aging. The use of D‐isosorbide as plasticizer reduced the evolution of the mentioned properties and enhanced the reliability of the material. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017 , 134, 44793.     

Biodegradable composites with improved barrier properties and transparency from the impregnation of PLA to bacterial cellulose membranes

Poly(lactic acid) (PLA) was impregnated in bacterial cellulose (BC) membranes. BC/PLA films were prepared by solvent casting and mechanical, optical and barrier properties, and biodegradation process were investigated. The transparency of processed films was higher than that of neat BC and increased with PLA content. Moreover, the incorporation of PLA to BC enhanced significantly the water vapor barrier properties of the BC membranes. The bionanocomposites contained a high percentage of cellulose due to the impregnation method that leads to the film with a BC content of 94%, which practically maintains the excellent mechanical properties of BC. However, when increasing the PLA content in the bionanocomposites the mechanical properties decreased slightly with respect to BC. Biodegradation under real soil conditions was determined indirectly through the study of the visual degradation and disintegration, demonstrating that the bionanocomposites were degraded faster than the neat PLA. The successful production of BC/PLA bionanocomposites suggested the possible application of them for active food packaging. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43669.     

Agent-based middleware architecture for reconfigurable manufacturing systems

Modern manufacturing systems are expected to be flexible and efficient in order to cope with challenging market demands. Thus, they must be flexible enough as to meet changing requirements such as changes in production, energy efficiency, performance optimization, fault tolerance to process or controller faults, among others. Demanding requirements can be defined as a set of quality of service (QoS) requirements to be met. This paper proposes a generic and customizable multi-agent architecture that, making use of distributed agents, monitors QoS, triggering, if needed, a reconfiguration of the control system to recover QoS. As a proof of concept, the architecture has been implemented to provide availability of the control system understood as service continuity. The prototype has been tested in a case study consisting of an assembly cell where assessment of the approach has been conducted.     

Click Crosslinked Chitosan/Gold Nanocomposite Hydrogels

Preparation of novel nanocomposite hydrogels opens up new avenues to next generation of biocompatible materials to be used in bioengineering and drug delivery. Toward this goal, chitosan nanocomposite hydrogels using click chemistry inspired cross‐linking are prepared. To enable this, Diels–Alder reaction of furan‐containing chitosan and maleimide‐coated gold nanoparticles is employed. The viscoelastic properties of the obtained nanocomposites as well as the effect of the nanoparticles as cross‐linkers are studied, indicating that they play significant role in hydrogel formation and stability. Nanoparticle‐enriched hydrogels are also found to demonstrate pH‐sensitivity therefore showing their potential for future biosensing applications.

     

Proving the efficiency of template matching-based markerless tracking methods which consider the camera perspective deformations

Template matching techniques are often used for camera tracking. They provide a good balance between computational cost and robustness to illumination changes. However, they lack robustness to camera orientation and scale changes. Camera movement, and specially rotation, generates perspective deformations that affect the process of patch matching, so the number of inliers (3D–2D correspondences) decreases. This fact affects camera tracking stability. This paper provides the following statistical proof: considering surface normals associated with 3D points substantially increases the number of inliers. So, this paper shows that computing perspective compensation improves the tracking. For instance, in a particular camera path used for experiments in this paper, without compensation, only a \(14\%\) of 3D points projected into the image were found as inliers, while perspective compensation increased that figure up to a \(65\%\). These results must be contextualized in the analysis provided by the paper.     

Rapid simulation models for aluminium furnaces design

The minimisation of energy consumption in aluminium metal casting industries requires an appropriate design of the furnaces to reduce as possible the heat losses through the walls. Detailed simulation models have been developed that allow the in-depth study of furnace behaviour, but these models are too complex and slow for some industrial necessities. To make possible a fast evaluation during preliminary phases more agile models are needed. This agility may be achieved by simplified models, but the results could be affected by a lack of accuracy. The work presented hereafter shows how the steady state analysis of the furnace walls with simplified models of finite elements may give sufficiently accurate and fast results. The simulation models have been validated against experimental results, thus confirming their ability to adequately reproduce the thermal behaviour of the walls of several furnaces regardless of their composition or heating system.     

Fractionation of non-timber wood from Atlantic mixed forest into high-value lignocellulosic materials

Abstract

The forestry industry in the Basque Country has experienced an abandonment of small-sized forests in which native and introduced species tend to regrow if unattended; thus, requiring an intervention under which proper forest management is implemented. This paper evaluates the potential fractionation of lignin and cellulose from six tree species coming from such mixed forests as a value-added use of wood discarded by logging within the frame of sustainable forest management. The species used were Northern red oak, common oak, common ash, Iberian white birch, sweet chestnut, and black locust. The different wood samples were treated with an Organosolv treatment and elemental chlorine-free bleaching to fractionate them to their main components, recovering the cellulose and the lignin. Cellulose was defibrillated via high-pressure homogenization to obtain cellulose nanofibers. The resulting lignin and cellulose nanofibers were analyzed. The results support the idea that this process offers the opportunity to treat different raw materials in the same process, with corresponding possible economic benefits.     

The Formation of Performance Enhancing Pseudo‐Composites in the Highly Active La1–xCaxFe0.8Ni0.2O3 System for IT‐SOFC Application

The La_1–xCa_xFe_0.8Ni_0.2O_3–δ (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.9) system is investigated for potential application as a cathode material for intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells (IT‐SOFCs). A broad range of experimental techniques have been utilized in order to elucidate the characteristics of the entire compositional range. Low A‐site Ca content compositions (x ≤ 0.4) feature a single perovskite solid solution. Compositions with 40% Ca content (x = 0.4) exhibit the highest electrical and ionic conductivities of these single phase materials (250 and 1.9 × 10^?3 S cm^?1 at 800 °C, respectively), a level competitive with state‐of‐the‐art (La,Sr)(Fe,Co)O₃. Between 40 and 50% Ca content (0.4 > x > 0.5) a solubility limit is reached and a secondary, brownmillerite‐type phase appears for all higher Ca content compositions (0.5 ≤ x ≤ 0.9). While typically seen as detrimental to electrochemical performance in cathode materials, this phase brings with it ionic conductivity at operational temperatures. This gives rise to the effective formation of pseudo‐composite materials which feature significantly enhanced performance characteristics, while also providing the closest match in thermal expansion behavior to typical electrolyte materials. This all comes with the advantage of being produced through a simple, single‐step, low‐cost production route without the issues associated with typical composite materials. The highest performing pseudo‐composite material (x = 0.5) exhibits electronic conductivity of 300–350 S cm^?1 in the 600–800 °C temperature range while the best polarisation resistance (R_p) values of approximately 0.2 Ω cm² are found in the 0.5 ≤ x ≤ 0.7 range.