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The papillary and reticular dermis harbors phenotypically distinct fibroblasts, whose functions such as maintenance of skin's microvasculature are also distinct. Thus, we hypothesized that pre-selection of the subpopulations of fibroblasts would benefit the generation of skin tissue engineered (TE) constructs, promoting their prevascularization in vitro. We first isolated papillary and reticular fibroblasts using fluorescence-activated cell sorting and studied the effect of their secretome and extracellular matrix (ECM) on human dermal microvascular endothelial cell (hDMEC) organization. Subsequently, we developed a bilayered 3D polymeric structure with distinct layer-associated features to house the subpopulations of fibroblasts, to generate a skin analogue. Both papillary and reticular fibroblasts were able to stimulate capillary-like network formation in a Matrigel assay. However, the secretome of the two subpopulations was substantially different, being enriched in VEGF, IGF-1, and Angio-1 in the case of papillary fibroblasts and in HGF and FGF-2 for the reticular subset. In addition, the fibroblast subpopulations deposited varied levels of ECM proteins, more collagen I and laminin was produced by the reticular subset, but these differences did not impact hDMEC organization. Vessel-like structures with lumens were observed earlier in the 3D skin analogue prepared with the sorted fibroblasts, although ECM deposition was not affected by the cell's pre-selection. Moreover, a more differentiated epidermal layer was obtained in the skin analogue formed by the sorted fibroblasts, confirming that its whole structure was not affected. Overall, we provide evidence that pre-selection of papillary and reticular fibroblasts is relevant for promoting the in vitroprevascularization of skin TE constructs.

Purpose Examine the association of visits to the natural environment, connectedness to nature, physical activity, and the adoption of pro-environmental behaviors (PEBs) in individuals aged 18 years or older.Design Cross-sectional study.Setting City of Vila Real, located in the north of Portugal.Subjects We recruited 194 individuals (61 men and 133 women) aged 18-75 years.Mesures A self-administered questionnaire was used to measure nature visits, connectedness to nature, PEBs, and demographic characteristics. Neighborhood green space was appreciated through a Simplified Land Occupation Map and physical activity was measured using ActiGraph accelerometers (wGT3X-BT).Analysis Correlations and nonlinear canonical correlation analysis were used to analyze the data. The coefficients of canonical and multiple correlations were calculated.Results Nature visits were associated with involvement in environmental volunteering (V = .317, P ≤ .05) among men. In these, higher levels of moderate-vigorous PA were associated with green travel behavior (η2= .325, P ≤ .05). Connectedness with nature was related (P ≤ .05) to private sphere behaviors, such as purchase of eco-products (η2 = .191) and local/seasonal products (η2 = .186) in females and encouraging care and protection of natural environment (η2 = .336, P ≤ .01) in males.Conclusions Nature visits, connection to nature, and physical activity levels were related to the adoption of PEBs in the private and public sphere, and these relationships differed between men and women.

An 18-item Portuguese-language version of the CompACT scale has recently been proposed for the Portuguese population. This study aims at conducting the first Confirmatory Factor Analysis of the Portuguese CompACT in participants from two different samples (community adults and women in the post-partum period; total N = 1090). Given that the CompACT had yet to be subjected to gender invariance testing, the present study also presents an invariance analysis between male and female community participants. The measurement invariance of the Portuguese CompACT between community and post-partum women was also examined. The current study additionally explored the scale's relationships with theoretically relevant outcomes associated in the literature with psychological flexibility. Results showed that the three-factor correlated model of the Portuguese CompACT was an adequate fit for the data taken from the complete sample, with most items presenting statistically and practically significant loading values. The Portuguese CompACT presented acceptable to good internal consistencies for all factors - Openness to Experience (OE), Behavioral Awareness (BA), and Valued Action (VA). Full measurement invariance was found, with results further indicating that community women presented lower scores in BA than community men, and that women in the post-partum period scored higher than community women in BA and VA, and lower in OE. The three subscales of the Portuguese CompACT, that underpin the overarching construct of psychological flexibility, demonstrated different patterns of association from one another with various aspects of individual functioning. Although those associations were in the expected directions with flexibility being associated with lower distress, some forms of psychological flexibility assessed by the Portuguese CompACT were not significantly associated with measures of positive affect or resilience. This result underscores the difficulty of measuring psychological flexibility as a single construct, as it comprises a number of sub-component processes. Further implications of findings are discussed.

Drought is characterized by a low water precipitation rate, with strong impact on crop productivity, threatening global food production. In this context, the use of soil amendments, such as superabsorbent hydrogels constitute a potential technology for better water use efficiency and higher crop yields. In this work, we synthesised cellulose-based hydrogels, characterized their physical and functional properties, evaluated their impact on the environment, and their potential to be used as a soil amendments. The hydrogel showed pH of 6.0 to 7.5 and conductivity below 10.0 µS cm-1. The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) showed a low intensity peak in the crystallinity region, which was supported by the low crystallinity index (27.3% ± 0.6) verified by Powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD) analysis. The swelling capacity reached more than 200 g of water, the hydrogel showed good resistance to osmotic pressure and high thermostability, which favours the application in hot and arid areas. In addition, no potentially hazardous compound was detected, nor was there any adverse effect on soil microorganisms. Further, the hydrogel was found to be safe for use during seed sowing and for promoting seedling development. In the greenhouse pot experiment, the hydrogels showed a significant increase in maize shoot and root biomass, demonstrating their ability to contribute to the overall water holding capacity of the soil, thereby influencing nutrient availability for more efficient plant growth. In conclusion, the superabsorbent hydrogel exhibited promising characteristics for use as a soil amendment, scalability potential and constitutes a sustainable alternative for agricultural applications.

AbstractIn this study, different factor analysis models were employed to test the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS) in 11 distinct populations (n = 15,266) in different countries. The results strongly suggest that the most appropriate use of the SCS is to measure levels of Self-Compassionate responding (positive items) and Self-Uncompassionate responding (negative items) separately.

Vascularization is still one of the major challenges in tissue engineering. In the context of tissue regeneration, the formation of capillary-like structures is often triggered by the addition of growth factors which are associated with high cost, bolus release and short half-life. As an alternative to growth factors, we hypothesized that delivering genes-encoding angiogenic growth factors to cells in a scaffold microenvironment would lead to a controlled release of angiogenic proteins promoting vascularization, simultaneously offering structural support for new matrix deposition. Two non-viral vectors, chitosan (Ch) and polyethyleneimine (PEI), were tested to deliver plasmids encoding for vascular endothelial growth factor (pVEGF) and fibroblast growth factor-2 (pFGF2) to human dermal fibroblasts (hDFbs). hDFbs were successfully transfected with both Ch and PEI, without compromising the metabolic activity. Despite low transfection efficiency, superior VEGF and FGF-2 transgene expression was attained when pVEGF was delivered with PEI and when pFGF2 was delivered with Ch, impacting the formation of capillary-like structures by primary human dermal microvascular endothelial cells (hDMECs). Moreover, in a 3D microenvironment, when PEI-pVEGF and Ch-FGF2 were delivered to hDFbs, cells produced functional pro-angiogenic proteins which induced faster formation of capillary-like structures that were retained in vitrofor longer time in a Matrigel assay. The dual combination of the plasmids resulted in a downregulation of the production of VEGF and an upregulation of FGF-2. The number of capillary-like segments obtained with this system was inferior to the delivery of plasmids individually but superior to what was observed with the non-transfected cells. This work confirmed that cell-laden scaffolds containing transfected cells offer a novel, selective and alternative approach to impact the vascularization during tissue regeneration. Moreover, this work provides a new platform for pathophysiology studies, models of disease, culture systems and drug screening.

This study aimed to explore the role of psychological flexibility within parenting in the relationship between parenting stress and parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian and permissive) in mothers of early and middle-aged children, as well as the moderator role of global psychological flexibility. The sample comprised 250 mothers of children between 2 and 12 years old, recruited online and in-person, who answered to self-report questionnaires assessing anxiety/depression symptoms, parenting stress, psychological flexibility within parenting, global psychological flexibility and parenting styles. The mediating model presented a very good fit for the data (CFI = 0.95, RMSEA = 0.07, 90% CI = 0.046/0.094) and has shown to be invariant across mothers of different age groups. Direct and indirect effects were found, with parenting stress affecting parenting styles directly, and indirectly, through psychological flexibility within parenting. The lower levels of psychological flexibility within parenting were translated into lower use of authoritative parenting style and into a higher use of authoritarian or permissive styles of parenting. Also, multigroup analyses showed that the model was variant as a function of global psychological flexibility (Δχ2(10) = 138.09, p < .001) supporting the buffer effect of global psychological flexibility in these relationships. Our results are innovative by highlighting the important role of psychological flexibility within parenting as a self-regulatory skill in the mother-child relationship, as it influences the mothers' ability to regulate their emotions and behavior in a way that promotes a sensitive response to the child's needs and good parenting practices, even in the presence of stressful demands (parenting stress).

Idiopathic ventricular fibrillation (IVF) is diagnosed in patients who survive sudden cardiac arrest (SCA), preferably with documented ventricular fibrillation (VF), without any identifiable structural or electrical abnormality. Current evidence provides limited guidance on the diagnosis and follow-up of these patients. Our aim was to assess the clinical outcomes of survivors of an aborted SCA attributed to IVF.

The chronic shortage of organs and tissues for transplantation represents a dramatic burden on healthcare systems worldwide. Tissue Engineering (TE) offers a potential solution to address these shortages, but several challenges remain, with prevascularization being a critical factor for in vivo survival and integration of TE products. Concurrently, a different challenge hindering the clinical implementation of such products, regards their efficient preservation from the fabrication site to the bedside. Hypothermia has emerged as a potential solution for this issue due to its milder effects on biologic systems in comparison with other cold preservation methodologies. Its impact on prevascularization, however, has not been well studied. In this work, 3D prevascularized constructs were fabricated using adipose-derived stromal vascular fraction (SVF) cells and preserved at 4 °C using Hypothermosol (HTS) or basal culture media (α-MEM). HTS efficiently preserved the structural and cellular integrity of prevascular networks as compared to constructs before preservation. In contrast, the use of α-MEM led to a clear reduction in prevascular structures, with concurrent induction of high levels of apoptosis and autophagy at the cellular level. In vivo evaluation using a chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) model demonstrated that, in opposition to α-MEM, HTS preservation retained the angiogenic potential of constructs before preservation by recruiting a similar number of blood vessels from the host and presenting similar integration with host tissue. These results emphasize the need of studying the impact of preservation techniques on key properties of TE constructs such as prevascularization, in order to validate and streamline their clinical application.

SummaryMindfulness is a meditation practice defined as a specific way of paying attention. It has been adapted from Buddhist traditions to Western secular use (e.g. in stress reduction, health promotion, treatment of psychological disorders). Despite its widespread application in adult populations, mindfulness remains a neglected topic in the psychological interventions designed for children and adolescents with psychological disorders and/or chronic physical conditions. In paediatric settings, a parent-child perspective may be useful in facilitating processes of adaptation and in improving paediatric outcomes. However, the delivery of mindfulness interventions in paediatric settings raises a number of issues and challenges, which include the developmental appropriateness of mindfulness exercises, the introduction of a parent-child perspective, and specific considerations to condition, treatment and caregiving.

Correction for ‘In vitrovascularization of tissue engineered constructs by non-viral delivery of pro-angiogenic genes’ by Helena R. Moreira et al., Biomater. Sci., 2021, DOI: 10.1039/d0bm01560a.

High-sensitivity strain gauges based on single wires of close-packed 14 nm colloidal gold nanoparticles are obtained by a novel variant of convective self-assembly (CSA). This CSA mode named stop-and-go CSA enables the fabrication of nanoparticle wires only a few micrometers wide, separated by distances that can be easily tuned over tens to hundreds of micrometers. Nanoparticle wires are obtained in a single step by direct deposition of nanoparticles from suspensions onto flexible polyethylene terephthalate films, without any lithographic prepatterning. When connected between two electrodes, such single nanoparticle wires function as miniature resistive strain gauges. The high sensitivity, repeatability, and robustness demonstrated by these single-wire strain gauges make them extremely promising for integration into micro-electromechanical systems or for high-resolution strain mapping.

High-sensitivity resistive strain gauges based on electron tunneling in assemblies of gold colloidal nanoparticles are fabricated and characterized. The active area of these strain gauges consists in well-defined arrays of parallel, few micrometer wide wires of close-packed 18 nm gold nanoparticles. These nanoparticle wires are obtained by convective self-assembly (CSA) on flexible polyethylene terephtalate substrates, without any lithographic prepatterning. The fine control over the thickness and the width of the nanoparticle wires through the substrate temperature and the meniscus speed during the CSA process allows demonstrating the strong impact of the dimensionality (2D or 3D) of the nanoparticle assembly on the strain gauge sensitivity. Wires made of a single monolayer of nanoparticles turn out to give strain gauges about three times more sensitive than those made of multilayers. This work shows that the simplicity and versatility of convective self-assembly over other alternative methods make this technique very suitable for the reliable and low-cost fabrication of miniaturized, highly sensitive nanoparticle-based strain gauges.

Ordered arrays of centimeter-long nanoparticle wires are fabricated by convective self-assembly from aqueous suspensions of 18 nm gold colloids, on flat SiO2/Si substrates without any prepatterning. The orientation of the wires can be switched from parallel to perpendicular to the substrate−liquid−air contact line by controlling the substrate temperature. While the wires parallel to the meniscus are obtained by a stick−slip process, a mechanism based on critical density-triggered particle pinning is proposed to explain the formation of wires perpendicular to the meniscus. The geometry of the wire arrays is tuned by simply controlling the meniscus translation speed. Wires are typically characterized by widths of a few micrometers (1.8-8.2 µm), thicknesses of mono- to multilayers (18-70 nm), and spacings of few tens of micrometers. The fabricated nanoparticle wires are conductive, exhibiting a metallic resistive behavior in ambient conditions. Resistivity values of 5 × 10−6and 5 × 10−2Ωm are obtained on multilayer and monolayer nanoparticle wires, respectively. Such conductive nanoparticle wire arrays, fabricated by a simple and low-cost bottom-up strategy, offer opportunities for developing nanoparticle-based functional devices.

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Objective:This study was conducted to determine the association between magnesium (Mg), body composition and insulin resistance in 136 sedentary postmenopausal women, 50 to 77 years of age.Methods:Diabetics, hypertensives and women on hormonal replacement therapy were excluded and the remaining 74 were divided according to BMI≥25 (obese: OG) and BMI<25 kg/m2(non-obese: NOG). Nutritional data disclosed that intakes were high for protein and saturated fat, low for carbohydrates, polyunsaturated fat and Mg and normal for the other nutrients, according to recommended dietary allowances (RDA). Mg values in red blood cells (RBC-Mg) and plasma (P-Mg), were determined, as were fasting glucose, and insulin levels, Homeostasis Model Assessment (HOMA), body mass index (BMI), body fat percent (BF %), abdominal fat (AF) and free fat mass (FFM).Results:RBC-Mg values were low in both groups when compared with normal values. There were significant differences in body composition parameters, HOMA and insulin levels, with higher basal insulin levels in OG. RBC-Mg was directly correlated with insulin, HOMA and FFM in both groups, according to Pearson correlations. HOMA in OG was also directly correlated with BMI, FFM and AF. In NOG, HOMA was only correlated with FFM. The low RBC-Mg levels observed were probably due to low Mg intake and to deregulation of factors that control Mg homeostasis during menopause.Conclusions:Both Mg deficit and obesity may independently lead to a higher risk for insulin resistance and cardiovascular disease.

Introduction. Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) ectopic production is a rare cause of Cushing syndrome (CS). The most commonly associated tumours are small-cell lung carcinoma along with bronchial and thymic carcinoids. To date, only 5 cases have been published in the literature featuring ectopic ACTH secretion from metastatic acinic cell carcinoma (ACC) of the parotid gland. We hereby describe a very uncommon case of ectopic CS (ECS) unveiling a metastatic parotid ACC. Case Presentation. A 46-year-old man with hypertension and dyslipidemia diagnosed 4-months before, as well as new-onset diabetes mellitus unveiled 1-month earlier, was referred to emergency department for hypokalemia. Hormonal study and dynamic biochemical tests performed indicated ECS. Imaging and cytological findings pointed toward a likely primary right parotid malignancy with liver metastases. Somatostatin receptor scintigraphy has shown an increased uptake in the parotid gland and mild expression in liver metastasis. The patient underwent right parotidectomy, and histopathologic examination confirmed ACC. Meanwhile, hypercortisolism was managed with metyrapone, ketoconazole, and lanreotide. Despite chemotherapy onset, a rapid disease progression and clinical course deterioration was observed. Conclusion. The present report highlights a rare ECS, exposing a metastatic parotid ACC, with an aggressive and challenging clinical course, representing the first case whose diagnosis of ECS came prior to ACC.