The Role of Extracellular Vesicles in the Progression of Human Neuroblastoma

The long-underestimated role of extracellular vesicles in cancer is now reconsidered worldwide by basic and clinical scientists, who recently highlighted novel and crucial activities of these moieties. Extracellular vesicles are now considered as king transporters of specific cargoes, including molecular components of parent cells, thus mediating a wide variety of cellular activities both in normal and neoplastic tissues. Here, we discuss the multifunctional activities and underlying mechanisms of extracellular vesicles in neuroblastoma, the most frequent common extra-cranial tumor in childhood. The ability of extracellular vesicles to cross-talk with different cells in the tumor microenvironment and to modulate an anti-tumor immune response, tumorigenesis, tumor growth, metastasis and drug resistance will be pinpointed in detail. The results obtained on the role of extracellular vesicles may represent a panel of suggestions potentially useful in practice, due to their involvement in the response to chemotherapy, and, moreover, their ability to predict resistance to standard therapies—all issues of clinical relevance.     

Immiscible PHB/PBS and PHB/PBSA blends: morphology,phase composition and modelling of elastic modulus

This paper reports the thermal, morphological and mechanical properties of environmentally friendly poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) (PHB)/poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) and PHB/poly[(butylene succinate)-co-(butylene adipate)] (PBSA) blends, prepared by melt mixing. The blends are known to be immiscible, as also confirmed by the thermodynamic analysis here presented. A detailed quantification of the crystalline and amorphous fractions was performed, in order to interpret the mechanical properties of the blends. As expected, the ductility increased with increasing PBS or PBSA amount, but in parallel the decrease in the elastic modulus appeared limited. Surprisingly, the elastic modulus was found properly described by the rule of mixtures in the whole composition range, thus attesting mechanical compatibility between the two blend components. This unusual behavior has been explained as due to co-continuous morphology, present in a wide composition range, but also at the same time as the result of shrinkage occurring during sequential crystallization of the two components, which can lead to physical adhesion between matrix and dispersed phase. For the first time, the elastic moduli of the crystalline and mobile amorphous fractions of PBS and PBSA and of the mobile amorphous fraction of PHB at ambient temperature have been estimated through a mechanical modelling approach. © 2021 The Authors. Polymer International published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Industrial Chemistry.     

Biodegradation of poly(lactic acid)—cassava bagasse composites produced by injection molding

Neat poly (lactic acid) (PLA) and PLA/cassava bagasse (CB) composites were used to produce seedling tubes by extrusion and injection molding. The tubes were buried in simulated soil, and their biodegradation was investigated by weight loss, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). After 180 days, the composites' biodegradation was higher than neat PLA material, and the higher the CB content, the higher the biodegradation, which caused fissures and voids in the material. The biodegradation of PLA/CB composites increased the phosphorus content in the soil after 180 days. Composites of PLA with CB, an abundant agro-industrial residue in Brazil, are promising because they can reduce the environmental impact due to CB's proper destination, and the composites' costs and biodegradation are faster than pure PLA material. Both the faster biodegradation of the tube and the higher P content are advantageous for seedling tubes.     

Mac-A-Mal: macOS malware analysis framework resistant to anti evasion techniques

Journal of Computer Virology and Hacking Techniques - With macOS increasing popularity, the number, and variety of macOS malware are rising as well. Yet, very few tools exist for dynamic analysis...     

Characterization of Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Southern Brazil

Six olive oils extracted from the cultivars Arbequina, Arbosana, Coratina, Frantoio, Koroneiki, and Picual from 2017 and 2018 harvests, cultivated in Pinheiro Machado, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, are evaluated for standard oil composition parameters and bioactive constituents (pigments, tocopherols, and phenolic compounds). Multivariate principal component analysis (PCA) and univariate ANOVA and Fisher's LSD test are used to verify the effect of cultivar and harvest year on oil composition. Olive oil composition met extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) standard parameters and is influenced by both cultivar and harvest year. EVOO produced in 2018 has greater chlorophyll, caffeic acid, ligstroside aglycone, hydroxyoleuropein aglycone, syringic acid, and hydroxytyrosol acetate contents than the EVOOs from 2017. Linoleic acid, ferulic acid, ligstroside aglycone, and hydroxytyrosol acetate are the variables whose contents most contributed to the differentiation of oils by cultivar in both harvest years. Chemical characterization analyses allow for the differentiation of oil composition based on harvest year and cultivar. Metabolic quality data obtained here support the establishment of a local EVOO profile and the compounds that most contributed to treatment differentiation may serve as markers that can be utilized in determining origin, cultivar, and harvest year. Practical Applications: Olive production in Brazil is recent and is based on European cultivars which have not been bred for the local environmental conditions. Therefore, the measurement of olive oil metabolic quality will determine cultivar adaptability to local edaphoclimatic conditions as well as assist in the establishment of a standard of identity for the product and promote the development of its market. Olive oil produced in Southern Brazil shows high quality, and is especially rich in phenolic compounds. Although harvest year influences oil composition, oil from both harvests meet EVOO standards and cultivar specific metabolic markers are observed. This study provides the foundation for olive producers in Southern Brazil to seek authentication of the geographical origin of olive oil.     

Age and productivity as determinants of firm survival over the industry life cycle

This paper contributes to fill the gap between the literature on the determinants of firm survival and the empirical works on the industry life cycle (ILC). Using a representative sample of Spanish firms with 10 or more employees over the period 1993–2009, the role played by firm age and productivity in firm survival is empirically analysed across three stages of the life cycle of forty-seven 3-digit manufacturing sectors. In the ‘early’ stage of the ILC, firm age is negatively correlated with hazard rates while firm productivity is not. Firm productivity is associated with lower hazard in the ‘mature’ stage of the ILC, when competition is primarily efficiency-driven, while firm age does not play a significant role for firm survival. In the ‘intermediate’ stage, both age and productivity play a role in reducing firms’ hazard rates.     

Workers’ rest allowance and smoothing of the workload in assembly lines

Ergonomic aspects have a crucial role in manual assembly systems. They impact on the workers’ health, final product quality and productivity. For these reasons, there is the necessity to integrate them into the assembly line balancing phase as, whereas, only time and cost variables are considered. In this study, human energy expenditures are considered as ergonomic aspects and we integrate them, for the first time, into the assembly line balancing problem type 2 through the rest allowance evaluation. We consider as an objective function the minimization of the smoothness index. Firstly, a new optimal method based on mixed integer linear programming and a new linearization methodology are proposed. Then, a heuristic approach is introduced. To complete the study, a computational experimentation is presented to validate the mathematical model and to compare the methodologies proposed in terms of computational time, complexity and solution. Additionally, we provide a detailed analysis of the impact that rest allowance evaluation can have on productivity comparing the results obtained, taking into account the rest allowance integration before, during and after the assembly balancing process.     

The (Poly)Pharmacology of Cannabidiol in Neurological and Neuropsychiatric Disorders: Molecular Mechanisms and Targets

Cannabidiol (CBD), the major nonpsychoactive Cannabis constituent, has been proposed for the treatment of a wide panel of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders, including anxiety, schizophrenia, epilepsy and drug addiction due to the ability of its versatile scaffold to interact with diverse molecular targets that are not restricted to the endocannabinoid system. Albeit the molecular mechanisms responsible for the therapeutic effects of CBD have yet to be fully elucidated, many efforts have been devoted in the last decades to shed light on its complex pharmacological profile. In particular, an ever-increasing number of molecular targets linked to those disorders have been identified for this phytocannabinoid, along with the modulatory effects of CBD on their cascade signaling. In this view, here we will try to provide a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the molecular basis underlying the therapeutic effects of CBD involved in the treatment of neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders.