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Naturally sourced elements represent a sustainable alternative solution for the textile finishing industry, in the context of intense use of contamined, fossil-based raw materials. This study focuses on the exploration of an alternative naturally sourced blue colorant matter solution, by validating the possibility of the employment of Spirulina platensis sourced phycocyanin in natural fabrics coloration through the pigment printing technique. The experiments involved the laboratory-scale exploratory studies of the application of this blue colorant matter on cotton and wool textile substrates, using commercial synthetic printing mother paste. The influence of five different mordants(Cream of tartar, Alum, Tartaric acid, Tanic acid and Aluminum triformate), though pre-mordanting treatment and the printing mother paste were analyzed by measuring the chromatic coordinates and calculating the color strength (K/S), together with the measurement of VIS absorbance spectrum. The color characterization revealed good compatibility of wool -phycocyanin – synthetic paste. Results on cotton were not as good as expected. They conclusions evidence reduced affinity between the fibres and the phycocyanin. In terms of color improvements, Tannic acid revealed the most promising results, for both cotton and wool experiments. The validation of the finishing process was obtained through a fair behavior in laundering fastness, showing low response when analyzed against light degrading external factors.

The purpose of the paper is to describe the possibility of reuse of encapsulated textile dyes into the structural cavity of CDs for a new dyeing process. The dyes to be reused represent the unfixed dyes that remain in the textile waste water after the dyeing process. Three types of cyclodextrins were tested individually with each dye and the best results were tested in a tricomy using the CDs with a larger cavity, the y CDs. The complexes formed between the dyes and CDs were proved by FTIR analysis, and the fabrics were characterized by spectrophotometric and by CIELab coordinates in order to determine their differences. It has been demonstrated that direct dyes form inclusion complexes with the CDs. It can be affirmed that the cyclodextrins are capable of encapsulating a tricomy mix wastewater successfully. Regarding the dyeing process, it was observed that the colour of the dyed fabrics presents just a minor difference compared with the original dye without the involvement of the cyclodextrins technique, making it viable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chitosan is a polysaccharide derived from chitin; chitin is the second most abundant polysaccharide in the world, after cellulose. Several remarkable properties of chitosan offered unique opportunities to the development of biomedical and agriculture applications. In addition, chitosan allows obtaining microcapsules with diferrent functionalities according to the core material, but his characteristic allows achieving a control release of the active material. Chitosan microcapsules can be obtained by different encapsulation methods; in this case the extrusion-gelling method has been selected and two kinds of nozzles have been used. The simple nozzle produce a matrix, it can be described as a solid polymer system in which the core material is distributed more or less uniformly throughout the polymer matrix. The concentric nozzle is a standard nozzle configuration to produce core-shell capsules. This study analyses the biodregradability of chitosan microcapsules obtained by co-extrusion/gelling using a single and concentric nozzle, with the aim of defining possible applications in the field of medical textiles.So the weight loss (%) has been calculated in different times, in order to compare the weight loss (%) in each type of microcapsules. The difference in degradation time is due to the quantity of chitosan in the microcapsules. The microcapsules obtained by simple coextrusion contain a greater quantity of polymer than those obtained by concentric extrusion

In a case of cephalic tetanus with left facial spasms and trismus, the repetitive stimulation of the left facial nerve at 3, 10 and 20 Hz showed no facilitation or decrement. The amplitudes of the blink reflex were 50% lower on the affected side. The silent period of the masseter muscles was shortened. Concentric needle examination of the masseters and left facial EMG of the left frontalis muscle showed increased jitter and blocking in a significant proportion of the recorded potentials. Both jitter and blocking improved on higher innervation rates. All electrophysiological findings were normal on the second examination when the patient was asymptomatic. The single fibre EMG findings point to a presynaptic defect in the neuromuscular transmission in human tetanus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cyclodextrins are cyclic oligosaccharides with a special toroid shape, obtained by the action of glucosyltransferase enzyme (CGTase) on starch molecule. Their peculiar structure allows the accommodation of different guest molecules inside their cavity forming molecular inclusion complexes. There are different types depending on the glucose units that are formed, called native. The cyclodextrins can be modified incorporating different groups (hydroxipropyl, methyl...) that changes their properties. Due their versatility in size, properties and the variety of inclusion complex can form is employed in many different industries like pharmacy, food or cosmetics to protect the molecule or to reduce their volatility. As the guest molecule is not bond with the cyclodextrin with the appropriate conditions it can release easily. In textile industry had been use in different areas: to remove surfactants from washed textiles, to substitute surfactants, in the dyeing process, in detergents… Due their capacity to fix onto textile allows the functionalization of the fabrics giving them new properties like UV protection, antimicrobial or insect repellents depending on the guest molecule, in. The project DYES4EVER employs the cyclodextrins to encapsulate dyes not fixed during the dye process that remains in the wastewater and aims to go one step further and reuse the dyes recovered as a raw material in new dyeing processes.

Microencapsulation is a process of entrapment, packaging or immobilizing an active (core) material, which can be in the state of solid, liquid or gas, within a more stable, protective secondary (wall) material that can be released at controlled rates under specific conditions. There are several microencapsulation techniques such as: spray drying, spray cooling/chilling, freeze drying, extrusion, fluidized bed coating, coacervation, liposome entrapment, coextrusion, interfacial polymerization, radical polymerization, molecular inclusion in cyclodextrins, etc. Spray drying has been commonly applied due to their simplicity process, wide availability of equipment facilities, significant merits in terms of reductions in product volume, easy of handling, etc. In the spray drying process the wall materials (shells) and their properties are parameters to be considered to achieve proper encapsulation of the active ingredients (core materials). Some commonly used wall materials and their properties related to spray drying encapsulation, including proteins, carbohydrates, and other materials, or mixtures of some of them. Proper encapsulation of the active ingredient (core) is essential to achieve this active material protecting the outer. The aim of this work is encapsulated an essential oil, sage oil, using two differet wall materials in order to determine which is the best wall material. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has been used in order to know the microcapsules morphology. Core, Shell, Gum Arabic, Alginate, Sage oil, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM)

Wide varieties of techniques are currently available for encapsulation of active components in food, nutraceutical, pharmaceutical, cosmetics, textile, etc, industries. Coextrusion and gelling technique is a physical encapsulation technique used for the formation of core-shell liquid filled microcapsules. The general microcapsules morphologies are presented as core-shell spherical microcapsules. There are several parameters to control in the process, and their control is outstanding for the correct microcapsules morphology with proper encapsulation of the active ingredient, these parameters are: frequency, potential, nozzle diameters, encapsulating material concentration, cross-linking concentration, flow rates of encapsulation and active materials, etc. Furthermore shell and core solutions must have viscosity, interfacial tension, density, solubility and thermal properties that must be compatibles with the coextrusion process. The versatility of the systems allows for encapsulation of water- or - oil soluble liquids and slurries. This work is focused on encapsulated an essential oil, rosemary oil, by coextrusion and gelling, therefore is important study and optimize the process parameters, focusing on potential and frequency. A large numbers of experiments have been made in order to know the optimal values, the microcapsules morphology allow us which are the correct values. A stereomicroscope was used as know the microcapsules morphology and determination the correct values.

Introducción: Los ancianos son un grupo de pacientes heterogéneos a los que se les prescribe un número elevado de medicamentos. Esto conlleva a prescripciones potencialmente inapropiadas. Objetivo: Analizar la farmacoterapia del paciente anciano desde la farmacia comunitaria para detectar prescripciones potencialmente inapropiadas (Beers 2012 y STOPP) y prescripciones potencialmente omitidas (START), determinando su prevalencia. Metodología: Estudio descriptivo, observacional en el que se incluyeron pacientes mayores de 65 años de atención primaria que llevaban al menos un tratamiento crónico. Se verificó la idoneidad de la medicación según los criterios Beers 2012 y STOPP & START. Resultados: Se incluyeron 223 pacientes con una edad media de 75 años. En total se prescribieron 1.558 medicamentos, con una media de 7 medicamentos por paciente. El 67 % de los pacientes eran polimedicados. Con Beers 2012 se detectaron 246 prescripciones inapropiadas y el criterio que más se repitió fue el de benzodiazepinas de acción corta, intermedia y larga (36 %). Con STOPP se detectaron 146 prescripciones inapropiadas. El criterio más frecuente fue IBP a dosis plenas durante más de 8 semanas (14 %). Con START se detectaron 103 prescripciones potencialmente omitidas, siendo antiagregantes plaquetarios en diabetes mellitus la más frecuente (11,6 %). Conclusiones: Los criterios Beers 2012 y STOPP-START, suponen una herramienta de utilidad en la detección de los posibles problemas relacionados con los medicamentos en una farmacia comunitaria. En ningún caso suponen una prohibición en la utilización de dichos medicamentos, puesto que su prescripción dependerá de las características del paciente en concreto y del juicio clínico del médico prescriptor.

El envejecimiento es un proceso complejo. Con la edad se van produciendo importantes cambios fisiológicos y aumenta la incidencia de múltiples patologías orgánicas y sistémicas. A los pacientes ancianos se les prescribe un elevado número de medicamentos. Además, son los que realizan un mayor número de visitas médicas e ingresos hospitalarios. Los ancianos son el grupo poblacional con mayor grado de polimedicación. La polimedicación genera un elevado coste para el Sistema Nacional de Salud (SNS) y puede además incrementar el número de reacciones adversas medicamentosas e interacciones. La prescripción inapropiada de fármacos es un problema frecuente en los mayores, que contribuye al aumento del riesgo de reacciones adversas a medicamentos (RAM). En los últimos años, se han desarrollado varias herramientas para detectar la prescripción potencialmente inadecuada en ancianos. El objetivo de esta revisión consiste en describir dos de estas herramientas: los criterios americanos de BEERS y los criterios europeos STOPP (Screening Tool of Older Person’s Prescriptions)/ START (Screening Tool to Alert doctors to Right i.e. appropriate, indicated Treatment). Los criterios STOPP aportan el valor añadido de detectar no sólo la prescripción inadecuada por determinados fármacos, sino también por falta de prescripción de medicamentos indicados. Los criterios STOPP/START pueden convertirse en una buena herramienta para mejorar la prescripción en los pacientes mayores.

Objective: The aims of this study were to identify potentially inappropriate prescribing using the Beers and STOPP criteria. The START criteria were applied to detect prescription omission in the geriatric population. We compared the utility of these criteria in institutionalised older people.Methods: Descriptive study reviewing the medication and clinical records of 81 residents (aged 65 years and more) by pharmacists in a nursing home in the Lleida region (Spain).Results: The mean patients’ age was 84 (SD=8) years, with an average of 5 drugs per resident (total prescriptions: 416 medicines). The Beers criteria identified potentially inappropriate medication use in 25% of patients and 48% of patients used at least 1 inappropriate medication according to STOPP criteria. The most frequent potentially inappropriate medications for both criteria were long-acting benzodiazepines and NSAIDs. START detected 58 potential prescribing omissions in 44% of patients. Calcium-vitamin D supplementation in osteoporosis was the most frequent rule (15%), but omissions corresponding to the cardiovascular system implied 23% of patients.Conclusion: The STOPP-START criteria reveal that potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) is a highly prevalent problem among Spanish nursing home residents, and a statistically significant positive correlation was found between the number of medicines prescribed and the number of PIP detected in this study. The STOPP criteria detect a larger number of PI medications in this geriatric population than the Beers criteria. The prescribing omissions detected by the START criteria are relevant and require intervention. Pharmacists’ review of medications may help identify potentially inappropriate prescribing and, through an interdisciplinary approach, working with physicians may improve prescribing practices among geriatric residents of nursing homes.

Tras el Concordato de 1753 y la consecución del derecho de presentación de los beneficios anteriormente reservados por el papa, los monarcas hispánicos tuvieron vía libre para abordar el diseño de un modelo de clero acorde a sus intereses. Durante el reinado de Carlos III, al tiempo que desde la Corona se emprendía la anhelada reforma educativa, el soberano pudo hacer uso también de sus nuevas prerrogativas en la selección del clero beneficial con el fin de modelar el nivel formativo de estos individuos. El presente trabajo analiza la formación de los eclesiásticos nombrados por este monarca para piezas de primer orden como eran las prebendas capitulares, en concreto las de los cabildos de la provincia eclesiástica de Toledo. Nos interesa conocer su nivel de estudios, los centros en los que los habían desarrollado y las disciplinas que habían escogido, así como las preferencias de la Corona en este sentido. Con este fin, hemos empleado los expedientes de provisión de estas prebendas.

El control de las reservas apostólicas de tipo beneficial por el monarca hispánico a partir de 1753 inauguró una nueva etapa en lo que respecta al reclutamiento del clero nacional. En el amplio conjunto de beneficios cuya provisión pasó a la Corona, se incluían la mayoría de las prebendas capitulares. En relación con las políticas regalistas dirigidas a diseñar un clero afín a los intereses regios, pretendemos ahora conocer el mérito personal de los individuos nombrados para estas piezas y el valor concedido al mismo por parte de quien controlaba dichas provisiones. El presente artículo analiza estas cuestiones para el caso de los prebendados de la archidiócesis de Toledo y sus sufragáneas presentados durante la primera mitad del reinado de Carlos III. Así, a través de los expedientes de estos nombramientos, hemos constatado la importancia de su currículum, el cual contó con un peso significativo en la elección, sin que ello significara el desprecio de otros factores.

Previous work by our group showed that Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) is essential for activation of innate immunity, playing a major role in the response of macrophages to Candida albicans, triggering cytokine and chemokine expression, and therefore TLR2 –/– mice are more susceptible to systemic primary candidiasis. In this work, we used a murine model of systemic C. albicans infection, in which resistance to reinfection with virulent wild-type cells is induced by prior exposure of mice to a low-virulence agerminative strain of C. albicans (primary sublethal infection), to study the influence of TLR2 gene deletion on (i) the ability to develop an acquired resistance upon vaccination; (ii) the development of the acquired humoral response; and (iii) the production of Th1 cytokines IFN-γ, IL-12 and TNF-α. Our results indicate that, although TLR2 –/– mice have a very impaired production of Th1 cytokines compared with control mice, they are equally capable of mounting a specific humoral response to the fungus and developing a vaccine-induced resistance. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]