Sustainable Sources from Aquatic Organisms for Cosmeceuticals Ingredients

Long life expectancy of populations in the developing world together with some cultural and social issues has driven the need to pay special attention to health and physical appearance. Cosmeceuticals are gaining interest in the cosmetic industry as their uses fulfills a double purpose: the requirements of a cosmetic (clean, perfume, protect, change the appearance of the external parts of the body or keeping them in good condition) with a particular bioactivity function. The cosmetics industry, producing both cosmetics and cosmeceuticals, is currently facing numerous challenges to satisfy different attitudes of consumers (vegetarianism, veganism, cultural or religious concerns, health or safety reasons, eco-friendly process, etc.). A currently growing trend in the market is the interest in products of low environmental impact. Marine origin ingredients are increasingly being incorporated into cosmeceutical preparations because they are able to address several consumer requirements and also due to the wide range of bioactivities they present (antioxidant, whitening, anti-aging, etc.). Many companies claim “Marine” as a distinctive marketing signal; however, only a few indicate whether they use sustainable ingredient sources. Sustainable marine ingredients might be obtained using wild marine biomass through a sustainable extractive fishing activity; by adopting valorization strategies including the use of fish discards and fish by-products; and by sustainably farming and culturing marine organisms.

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Experimental ground for interdisciplinary marine biotechnology science as an effective solution tool for existing problems in fishing industry

Trudy VNIRO ◽

10.36038/2307-3497-2020-181-16-32 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 181 ◽

pp. 16-32

Author(s):

A.A. Bajtalyuk ◽

◽

A.V. Adrianov ◽

V.N. Akulin ◽

I.V. Dyujzen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Marine Mammals ◽

Marine Biology ◽

Experimental Studies ◽

Aquatic Organisms ◽

Fish Behavior ◽

Academic Science ◽

Marine Biotechnology ◽

Scientific Center ◽

Fishing Activity ◽

Wide Range

In 2018, in the Scientific and Educational Complex “Primorsky Oceanarium” of the National Scientific Center for Marine Biology (NSCMB) FEB RAS, a Collective Use Center (CUC) was created with scientific equipment, coastal and near-shore infrastructure, unique facilities and biological materials. In its function, this Center is a unit for cooperation between fishery science and academic science in marine biotechnology (MBC). It was organized using principles of shared access of participants to marine areas, coastal research stations, biological and instrumental basis of Marine Mammals Research facility in “Primorsky Oceanarium” MBC structure in the form of CUC can be used in addressing a wide range of tasks in implementing knowledge intensive marine biotechnologies, upgrading bionic methods in the study of aquatic organisms, carrying out field studies and tests on hydroacoustic, electrical, fishing gear and other manipulators for moving behavior of aquatic organisms and their adaptation to fishing activity. The first MBC joint research results are shown. Those studies include research on acoustic and kinematic activity and characteristics of signals of marine mammals and fish, hydroacoustic emitters testing for controlling fish behavior, experimental studies on reflective properties of aquatic irganisms, and influence of attracting and repelling hydroacoustic emitters on fish behavior in cages using modern instrumental control and observation tools.

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Trace Metals (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, Zn) and Stable Isotope Ratios (δ13C and δ15N) in Fish from Wulungu Lake, Xinjiang, China

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph18179007 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 18 (17) ◽

pp. 9007 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Fengyu Liu ◽

Min Li ◽

Jianjiang Lu ◽

Zhiqing Lai ◽

Yanbin Tong ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Trace Metals ◽

Hazard Quotient ◽

Water Environment ◽

Aquatic Organisms ◽

The Body ◽

National Standards ◽

Target Hazard Quotient ◽

Fish Food ◽

Δ13c And Δ15n ◽

Wide Range

Wulungu Lake is a vital fishery area in Xinjiang. However, the concentration, enrichment rules, and sources of As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Ni, Pb, and Zn in the aquatic organisms, have rarely been investigated. The results suggest that the concentrations of As, Ni, Pb, and Zn were higher than those recommended by the national standards for edible fish in some species. Hg, Ni, Cu, Pb, Cr, and Zn in the fish were dependent on the concentration of trace metals in the water environment (p < 0.05). The body weights of the fish were significantly negatively correlated with only Hg (p < 0.05); however, their body lengths were significantly positively correlated with As, Cu, Zn, and Hg contents. Values of δ13C ‰ (δ15N ‰) for the entire fish food web was found to range from −19.9‰ (7.37‰) to −27.7‰ (15.9‰), indicating a wide range of trophic positions and energy sources. Based on the linear correlation, As, Cu, Cd, and Zn contents were positively correlated with δ15N (p < 0.05), and bioaccumulation was observed in the fish. The target hazard quotient (THQ) of all fish species was less than 1, indicating the absence of potential risks to human health.

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Creating the Wind

Latin American and Latinx Visual Culture ◽

10.1525/lavc.2020.2.4.14 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 2 (4) ◽

pp. 14-31

Author(s):

Élodie Dupey García

Keyword(s):

Indigenous Communities ◽

The Body ◽

Historical Sources ◽

Natural Behavior ◽

Sensory Experiences ◽

Identity And Agency ◽

Wide Range ◽

Late Postclassic ◽

Comparative Examination ◽

Meteorological Phenomenon

This article explores how the Nahua of late Postclassic Mesoamerica (1200–1521 CE) created living and material embodiments of their wind god constructed on the basis of sensory experiences that shaped their conception of this divinized meteorological phenomenon. In this process, they employed chromatic and design devices, based on a wide range of natural elements, to add several layers of meaning to the human, painted, and sculpted supports dressed in the god’s insignia. Through a comparative examination of pre-Columbian visual production—especially codices and sculptures—historical sources mainly written in Nahuatl during the viceregal period, and ethnographic data on indigenous communities in modern Mexico, my analysis targets the body paint and shell jewelry of the anthropomorphic “images” of the wind god, along with the Feathered Serpent and the monkey-inspired embodiments of the deity. This study identifies the centrality of other human senses beyond sight in the conception of the wind god and the making of its earthly manifestations. Constructing these deity “images” was tantamount to creating the wind because they were intended to be visual replicas of the wind’s natural behavior. At the same time, they referred to the identity and agency of the wind god in myths and rituals.

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Toxic or Not Toxic, That Is the Carbon Quantum Dot’s Question: A Comprehensive Evaluation with Zebrafish Embryo, Eleutheroembryo, and Adult Models

Polymers ◽

10.3390/polym13101598 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (10) ◽

pp. 1598

Author(s):

Chih-Yu Chung ◽

Yu-Ju Chen ◽

Chia-Hui Kang ◽

Hung-Yun Lin ◽

Chih-Ching Huang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Zebrafish Embryo ◽

Comprehensive Evaluation ◽

Aquatic Organisms ◽

Carbon Quantum Dots ◽

Adult Zebrafish ◽

Fish Embryo ◽

Wide Range ◽

Different Types ◽

Low Toxicity

Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are emerging novel nanomaterials with a wide range of applications and high biocompatibility. However, there is a lack of in-depth research on whether CQDs can cause acute or long-term adverse reactions in aquatic organisms. In this study, two different types of CQDs prepared by ammonia citrate and spermidine, namely CQDAC and CQDSpd, were used to evaluate their biocompatibilities. In the fish embryo acute toxicity test (FET), the LD50 of CQDAC and CQDSpd was about 500 and 100 ppm. During the stage of eleutheroembryo, the LD50 decreased to 340 and 55 ppm, respectively. However, both CQDs were quickly eliminated from embryo and eleutheroembryo, indicating a lack of bioaccumulation. Long-term accumulation of CQDs was also performed in this study, and adult zebrafish showed no adverse effects in 12 weeks. In addition, there was no difference in the hatchability and deformity rates of offspring produced by adult zebrafish, regardless of whether they were fed CQDs or not. The results showed that both CQDAC and CQDSpd have low toxicity and bioaccumulation to zebrafish. Moreover, the toxicity assay developed in this study provides a comprehensive platform to assess the impacts of CQDs on aquatic organisms in the future.

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Development and Validation of a New Scoring Tool to Evaluate the Clinical Evolution of Adult Patients with Nonsegmental Vitiligo

Dermatology ◽

10.1159/000511890 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

María Luisa Peralta-Pedrero ◽

Denisse Herrera-Bringas ◽

Karla Samantha Torres-González ◽

Martha Alejandra Morales-Sánchez ◽

Fermín Jurado Santa-Cruz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Body Surface ◽

Task Force ◽

Intraclass Correlation ◽

The Body ◽

Response To Treatment ◽

Similar Response ◽

Clinical Evolution ◽

Wide Range ◽

Patient Reported ◽

Extreme Groups

Background: Vitiligo has an unpredictable course and a variable response to treatment. Furthermore, the improvement of some vitiligo lesions cannot be considered a guarantee of a similar response to the other lesions. Instruments for patient-reported outcome measures (PROM) can be an alternative to measure complex constructions such as clinical evolution. Objective: The aim of this study was to validate a PROM that allows to measure the clinical evolution of patients with nonsegmental vitiligo in a simple but standardized way that serves to gather information for a better understanding of the disease. Methods: The instrument was created through expert consensus and patient participation. For the validation study, a prospective cohort design was performed. The body surface area affected was measured with the Vitiligo Extension Score (VES), the extension, the stage, and the spread by the evaluation of the Vitiligo European Task Force assessment (VETFa). Reliability was determined with test-retest, construct validity through hypothesis testing, discriminative capacity with extreme groups, and response capacity by comparing initial and final measurements. Results: Eighteen semi-structured interviews and 7 cognitive interviews were conducted, and 4 dermatologists were consulted. The instrument Clinical Evolution-Vitiligo (CV-6) was answered by 119 patients with a minimum of primary schooling. A wide range was observed in the affected body surface; incident and prevalent cases were included. The average time to answer the CV-6 was 3.08 ± 0.58 min. In the test-retest (n = 53), an intraclass correlation coefficient was obtained: 0.896 (95% CI 0.82–0.94; p < 0.001). In extreme groups, the mean score was 2 (2–3) and 5 (4–6); p < 0.001. The initial CV-6 score was different from the final one and the change was verified with VES and VETFa (p < 0.05, n = 92). Conclusions: The CV-6 instrument allows patient collaboration, it is simple and brief, and it makes it easier for the doctor to focus attention on injuries that present changes at the time of medical consultation.

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Hydromechanics of low-Reynolds-number flow. Part 2. Singularity method for Stokes flows

Journal of Fluid Mechanics ◽

10.1017/s0022112075000614 ◽

1975 ◽

Vol 67 (4) ◽

pp. 787-815 ◽

Cited By ~ 300

Author(s):

Allen T. Chwang ◽

T. Yao-Tsu Wu

Keyword(s):

Exact Solutions ◽

Stokes Flow ◽

Fundamental Solutions ◽

The Body ◽

Circular Cylinders ◽

Geometrical Parameters ◽

Flow Problems ◽

Singularity Method ◽

Wide Range ◽

Body Shapes

The present study further explores the fundamental singular solutions for Stokes flow that can be useful for constructing solutions over a wide range of free-stream profiles and body shapes. The primary singularity is the Stokeslet, which is associated with a singular point force embedded in a Stokes flow. From its derivatives other fundamental singularities can be obtained, including rotlets, stresslets, potential doublets and higher-order poles derived from them. For treating interior Stokes-flow problems new fundamental solutions are introduced; they include the Stokeson and its derivatives, called the roton and stresson.These fundamental singularities are employed here to construct exact solutions to a number of exterior and interior Stokes-flow problems for several specific body shapes translating and rotating in a viscous fluid which may itself be providing a primary flow. The different primary flows considered here include the uniform stream, shear flows, parabolic profiles and extensional flows (hyper-bolic profiles), while the body shapes cover prolate spheroids, spheres and circular cylinders. The salient features of these exact solutions (all obtained in closed form) regarding the types of singularities required for the construction of a solution in each specific case, their distribution densities and the range of validity of the solution, which may depend on the characteristic Reynolds numbers and governing geometrical parameters, are discussed.

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A Computational Study on the Role of Parameters for Identification of Thyroid Nodules by Infrared Images (and Comparison with Real Data)

Sensors ◽

10.3390/s21134459 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 21 (13) ◽

pp. 4459

Author(s):

José R. González ◽

Charbel Damião ◽

Maira Moran ◽

Cristina A. Pantaleão ◽

Rubens A. Cruz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Heat Transfer ◽

Thyroid Nodules ◽

Numerical Study ◽

Computational Study ◽

Internal Heat ◽

Heat Transfer Process ◽

The Body ◽

Physical Parameters ◽

Infrared Sensors ◽

Wide Range

According to experts and medical literature, healthy thyroids and thyroids containing benign nodules tend to be less inflamed and less active than those with malignant nodules. It seems to be a consensus that malignant nodules have more blood veins and more blood circulation. This may be related to the maintenance of the nodule’s heat at a higher level compared with neighboring tissues. If the internal heat modifies the skin radiation, then it could be detected by infrared sensors. The goal of this work is the investigation of the factors that allow this detection, and the possible relation with any pattern referent to nodule malignancy. We aim to consider a wide range of factors, so a great number of numerical simulations of the heat transfer in the region under analysis, based on the Finite Element method, are performed to study the influence of each nodule and patient characteristics on the infrared sensor acquisition. To do so, the protocol for infrared thyroid examination used in our university’s hospital is simulated in the numerical study. This protocol presents two phases. In the first one, the body under observation is in steady state. In the second one, it is submitted to thermal stress (transient state). Both are simulated in order to verify if it is possible (by infrared sensors) to identify different behavior referent to malignant nodules. Moreover, when the simulation indicates possible important aspects, patients with and without similar characteristics are examined to confirm such influences. The results show that the tissues between skin and thyroid, as well as the nodule size, have an influence on superficial temperatures. Other thermal parameters of thyroid nodules show little influence on surface infrared emissions, for instance, those related to the vascularization of the nodule. All details of the physical parameters used in the simulations, characteristics of the real nodules and thermal examinations are publicly available, allowing these simulations to be compared with other types of heat transfer solutions and infrared examination protocols. Among the main contributions of this work, we highlight the simulation of the possible range of parameters, and definition of the simulation approach for mapping the used infrared protocol, promoting the investigation of a possible relation between the heat transfer process and the data obtained by infrared acquisitions.

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Polymer-Drug Conjugates as Nanotheranostic Agents

Journal of Nanotheranostics ◽

10.3390/jnt2010005 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 63-81

Author(s):

Sajana Manandhar ◽

Erica Sjöholm ◽

Johan Bobacka ◽

Jessica M. Rosenholm ◽

Kuldeep K. Bansal

Keyword(s):

Drug Delivery ◽

Drug Release ◽

Treatment Options ◽

The Body ◽

Drug Conjugates ◽

Imaging Characteristics ◽

Wide Range ◽

Systemic Side Effects ◽

Theranostic Agents ◽

The Stability

Since the last decade, the polymer-drug conjugate (PDC) approach has emerged as one of the most promising drug-delivery technologies owing to several benefits like circumventing premature drug release, offering controlled and targeted drug delivery, improving the stability, safety, and kinetics of conjugated drugs, and so forth. In recent years, PDC technology has advanced with the objective to further enhance the treatment outcomes by integrating nanotechnology and multifunctional characteristics into these systems. One such development is the ability of PDCs to act as theranostic agents, permitting simultaneous diagnosis and treatment options. Theranostic nanocarriers offer the opportunity to track the distribution of PDCs within the body and help to localize the diseased site. This characteristic is of particular interest, especially among those therapeutic approaches where external stimuli are supposed to be applied for abrupt drug release at the target site for localized delivery to avoid systemic side effects (e.g., Visudyne®). Thus, with the help of this review article, we are presenting the most recent updates in the domain of PDCs as nanotheranostic agents. Different methodologies utilized to design PDCs along with imaging characteristics and their applicability in a wide range of diseases, have been summarized in this article.

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Marine Polysaccharides as a Versatile Biomass for the Construction of Nano Drug Delivery Systems

Marine Drugs ◽

10.3390/md19060345 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 19 (6) ◽

pp. 345

Author(s):

Ying Sun ◽

Xiaoli Ma ◽

Hao Hu

Keyword(s):

Drug Delivery ◽

Drug Delivery System ◽

Delivery System ◽

Pharmaceutical Preparations ◽

Utilization Efficiency ◽

Wound Dressings ◽

Marine Biomass ◽

Nano Drug Delivery ◽

Wide Range ◽

Marine Polysaccharide

Marine biomass is a treasure trove of materials. Marine polysaccharides have the characteristics of biocompatibility, biodegradability, non-toxicity, low cost, and abundance. An enormous variety of polysaccharides can be extracted from marine organisms such as algae, crustaceans, and microorganisms. The most studied marine polysaccharides include chitin, chitosan, alginates, hyaluronic acid, fucoidan, carrageenan, agarose, and Ulva. Marine polysaccharides have a wide range of applications in the field of biomedical materials, such as drug delivery, tissue engineering, wound dressings, and sensors. The drug delivery system (DDS) can comprehensively control the distribution of drugs in the organism in space, time, and dosage, thereby increasing the utilization efficiency of drugs, reducing costs, and reducing toxic side effects. The nano-drug delivery system (NDDS), due to its small size, can function at the subcellular level in vivo. The marine polysaccharide-based DDS combines the advantages of polysaccharide materials and nanotechnology, and is suitable as a carrier for different pharmaceutical preparations. This review summarizes the advantages and drawbacks of using marine polysaccharides to construct the NDDS and describes the preparation methods and modification strategies of marine polysaccharide-based nanocarriers.

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Teaching Critical Vocabulary to Filipino Heritage Language Learners

Education Sciences ◽

10.3390/educsci11060260 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (6) ◽

pp. 260

Author(s):

Jayson Parba

Keyword(s):

Language Development ◽

Social Issues ◽

Language Teaching ◽

Language Teachers ◽

World Language ◽

Wide Range ◽

Teachers And Students ◽

The Status ◽

Language Classrooms ◽

L1 And L2

Engaging in critical dialogues in language classrooms that draw on critical pedagogical perspectives can be challenging for learners because of gaps in communicative resources in their L1 and L2. Since critically oriented classrooms involve discussing social issues, students are expected to deploy “literate talk” to engage in critiquing society and a wide range of texts. Although recent studies have explored teachers’ and students’ engagement with critical materials and critical dialogues, research that explores language development in critical language teaching remains a concern for language teachers. In this paper, I share my experience of fostering language development, specifically the overt teaching of critical vocabulary to students of (Tagalog-based) Filipino language at a university in Hawai’i. Through a discussion of racist stereotypes targeting Filipinos and the impacts of these discourses on students’ lived experiences, the notion of “critical vocabulary” emerges as an important tool for students to articulate the presence of and to dismantle oppressive structures of power, including everyday discourses supporting the status quo. This paper defines critical vocabulary and advances its theoretical and practical contribution to critical language teaching. It also includes students’ perspectives of their language development and ends with pedagogical implications for heritage/world language teachers around the world.

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