Biopharmaceuticals main classes comprise recombinant proteins, antibodies, and nucleic-acid-derived products, while synthetic pharmaceuticals include a wide variety of organic compounds. The purification of (bio)pharmaceuticals, as part of downstream processing, is mainly carried out by chromatographic processes, which are responsible for the therapeutics high cost. Therefore, there is a crucial need on the development of novel and more efficient separation/purification processes or on the improvement of the current chromatographic-based ones, aiming at producing pharmaceuticals of high quality and at a lower cost. Amongst alternative techniques, it has been demonstrated that inorganic or organic (nano)particles, used in solid-phase extraction approaches, may be promising for the purification of pharmaceuticals. This chapter provides an overview on solid-liquid separation/purification processes used to obtain high purity and high quality pharmaceuticals. The main purification processes are described and summarized. The areas where there has been a sustainable progress, combined with improved therapeutic characteristics, are highlighted. Materials based on silica (nano)particles, carbon-based (nano)particles (carbon nanotubes, graphene and activated carbon) and magnetic (nano)particles are overviewed. Based on the reported results, nanotechnology may play a key role in future pharmaceutical developments and manufacturing, where the design of suitable functionalized (nano)particles is a crucial factor to enhance the selectivity and to obtain high purification and recovery yields of (bio)pharmaceuticals.
Caffeine is one of the main ergogenic resources used in exercise and sports. Previously, we presented the ergogenic mechanism of caffeine through neuronal A 2A R antagonism in the central nervous system [1].We demonstrate here that the striatum rules the ergogenic effects of caffeine through neuroplasticity changes. Thirty-four Swiss (8-10 weeks, 47 ± 1.5 g) and twenty-four C57BL6 (8-10 weeks, 23.9 ± 0.4 g) adult male mice were challenged in behavior and electrophysiology experiments using caffeine and SH-SY5Y cells for energetic metabolism. Systemic (15 mg/kg, i.p.) or striatal (bilateral, 15 µg) caffeine was psychostimulant in the open eld (p < 0.05) and increased gripping muscle power (p < 0.05). Caffeine also induced long-term potentiation (LTP) in striatal slices (p < 0.05) and increased mitochondrial mass (p < 0.05) and membrane potential p < 0.05) in SH-SY5Y dopaminergic cells. In summary, our results demonstrate that caffeine stimulation in the striatum produces ergogenic effects accompanied by an LTP, possibly associated with acute increased mitochondrial metabolism observed in dopaminergic cell lines.
The National Museums of Scotland is engaged in producing an up-to-date archaeological and sub-surface geophysical map of an interesting and little explored area of the necropolis of Memphis at Saqqara. The area concerned comprises the Gisr el-Mudir (also known as the ‘Great Enclosure’) at the southern boundary, the open valley between the Sekhemkhet complex and the Gisr el-Mudir stretching north to the Serapeum and containing the L-shaped enclosure at the Old Kingdom tombs around the mastaba of Ptahhotep, the area of the Serapeum and its dependencies and the valley to the north-west of the Sacred Animal complex down to the edge of the remnant lake at Abusir in the north. Structural details, ceramics, archaeological contexts, human and animal skeletal remains from sondage trenches excavated to confirm geophysical anomalies are described and discussed.
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