Involvement of Inflammation and Its Resolution in Disease and Therapeutics

Inflammation plays a critical role in the response to and survival from injuries and/or infections. It occurs in two phases: initiation and resolution; however, when these events do not resolve and persist over time, the inflammatory response becomes chronic, prompting diseases that affect several systems and organs, such as the vasculature and the skin. Here, we reviewed inflammation that occurs in selected infectious and sterile pathologies. Thus, the immune processes induced by bacterial sepsis as well as T. cruzi and SARS-CoV-2 infections are shown. In addition, vaccine adjuvants as well as atherosclerosis are revised as examples of sterile-mediated inflammation. An example of the consequences of a lack of inflammation resolution is given through the revision of wound healing and chronic wounds. Then, we revised the resolution of the latter through advanced therapies represented by cell therapy and tissue engineering approaches, showing how they contribute to control chronic inflammation and therefore wound healing. Finally, new pharmacological insights into the management of chronic inflammation addressing the resolution of inflammation based on pro-resolving mediators, such as lipoxin, maresin, and resolvins, examining their biosynthesis, biological properties, and pharmacokinetic and pharmaceuticals limitations, are given. We conclude that resolution pharmacology and advanced therapies are promising tools to restore the inflammation homeostasis.

Orange Peel Oxidative Gasification on Ni Catalysts Promoted with CaO, CeO2 or K2O

Orange peel can be considered as an attractive raw material to be gasified for hydrogen or syngas production. In this work, the catalytic evaluation of several silica-supported nickel catalysts in the oxidative degradation of waste orange peel is reported. It was found that the catalytic gasification with the K2O-Ni/silica catalyst produces more hydrogen than the non-catalytic route at 600 degrees C. Surprisingly, a significant amount of ethene was obtained with the CeO2-Ni/silica catalyst, which was explained in terms of an oxidative dehydrogenation reaction of ethane formed during biomass or tar decomposition.

A comparative study of photo-assisted deposition of silver nanoparticles on TiO2

Noble metals deposited on TiO2 act as electron traps facilitating electron-hole separation and promoting the interfacial electron transfer process. In particular, silver nanoparticles have the ability to absorb visible light due to localized surface plasmon resonance. Here we report a photochemical and photocatalytic method for depositing Ag nanoparticles (2-20 nm) on TiO2 by using UV light at room temperature. UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and time-resolved microwave conductivity were used as characterization techniques. The photocatalytic activity was investigated by measuring the decomposition of rhodamine B under UV and visible light irradiation. The fastest bleaching of RhB under visible-light irradiation has been obtained by Ag/TiO2 plasmonic photocatalyst prepared by the photocatalytic route. These results were explained in terms of the more efficient photon absorption due to the presence of the surface plasmon resonance.

Hematopoietic activity of granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor is dependent upon two distinct regions of the molecule: functional analysis based upon the activities of interspecies hybrid growth factors

Granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) is an acidic glycoprotein that stimulates hematopoiesis in vitro and in vivo. Despite a high degree of sequence homology, the GM-CSFs from human and murine sources fail to crossreact in their respective colony-forming assays. On the basis of this finding, a series of hybrid molecules containing various proportions of human- and murine-specific amino acid sequences were generated by recombinant DNA techniques and assayed for species-specific activity against human and murine marrow target cells. Two regions of GM-CSF, residues 38-48 and residues 95-111, were found to be critical for hematopoietic function. These regions are structurally characterized by an amphiphilic helix and by a disulfide-bonded loop, respectively, and are homologous in position in the human and murine growth factors. In addition, competition assays suggested that, together, these regions bind to the GM-CSF receptor.