Multifunctional albumin-stabilized gold nanoclusters for the reduction of cancer stem cells

Controlled delivery of multiple chemotherapeutics can improve the effectiveness of treatments and reduce side effects and relapses. Here in, we used albumin-stabilized gold nanoclusters modified with doxorubicin and SN38 (AuNCs-DS) as combined therapy for cancer. The chemotherapeutics are conjugated to the nanostructures using linkers that release them when exposed to different internal stimuli (Glutathione and pH). This system has shown potent antitumor activity against breast and pancreatic cancer cells. Our studies indicate that the antineoplastic activity observed may be related to the reinforced DNA damage generated by the combination of the drugs. Moreover, this system presented antineoplastic activity against mammospheres, a culturing model for cancer stem cells, leading to an efficient reduction of the number of oncospheres and their size. In summary, the nanostructures reported here are promising carriers for combination therapy against cancer and particularly to cancer stem cells.This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (CTQ2016-78454-C2-2-R, SAF2014-56763-R, and SAF2017-87305-R), Comunidad de Madrid (S2013/MIT-2850), Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer, and IMDEA Nanociencia IMDEA Nanociencia acknowledges support from the ‘Severo Ochoa’ Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D (MINECO, Grant SEV-2016-0686

Benchmarking a MOS-based algorithm on the BBOB-2010 noiseless function testbed

In this contribution, a hybrid algorithm combining Differential Evolution and IPOP-CMA-ES is presented and benchmarked on the BBOB 2010 noiseless testbed. The hybrid algorithm has been constructed within the Multiple Offspring Sampling framework, which allows the seamless combination of multiple metaheuristics in a dynamic algorithm capable of adjusting the participation of each of the composing algorithms according to their current performance. The experimental results show a robust behavior of the algorithm and a good scalability as the dimensionality increases

An Analysis of a Hybrid Evolutionary Algorithm by means of its Phylogenetic Information

The study conducted in this work analyses the interactions between different Evolutionary Algorithms when they are hybridized. For this purpose, the phylogenetic tree of the best solution reported by the hybrid algorithm is reconstructed, and the relationships among the ancestors of this solution are established. For each of these ancestors, the evolutionary techniques that generated that solution and the fitness increment introduced compared to its parents are recorded. The study reveals a structured interaction among the different evolutionary techniques that makes the hybrid algorithm to outperform each of its composing algorithms when executed individually. The Multiple Offspring Sampling framework has been used to develop the Hybrid EA studied in this work and the experiments have been conducted on the well-known CEC 2005 Benchmark for continuous optimizatio

Automatically Modeling Hybrid Evolutionary Algorithms from Past Executions

ection of the most appropriate Evolutionary Algorithm for a given optimization problem is a difficult task. Hybrid Evolutionary Algorithms are a promising alternative to deal with this problem. By means of the combination of different heuristic optimization approaches, it is possible to profit from the benefits of the best approach, avoiding the limitations of the others. Nowadays, there is an active research in the design of dynamic or adaptive hybrid algorithms. However, little research has been done in the automatic learning of the best hybridization strategy. This paper proposes a mechanism to learn a strategy based on the analysis of the results from past executions. The proposed algorithm has been evaluated on a well-known benchmark on continuous optimization. The obtained results suggest that the proposed approach is able to learn very promising hybridization strategies

Ingested insecticide to control Aedes aegypti: developing a novel dried attractive toxic sugar bait device for intra-domiciliary control

© 2020 The Author(s). Background: Illnesses transmitted by Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus, 1762) such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika comprise a considerable global burden; mosquito control is the primary public health tool to reduce disease transmission. Current interventions are inadequate and insecticide resistance threatens the effectiveness of these options. Dried attractive bait stations (DABS) are a novel mechanism to deliver insecticide to Ae. aegypti. The DABS are a high-contrast 28 inch2 surface coated with dried sugar-boric acid solution. Aedes aegypti are attracted to DABS by visual cues only, and the dried sugar solution elicits an ingestion response from Ae. aegypti landing on the surface. The study presents the development of the DABS and tests of their impact on Ae. aegypti mortality in the laboratory and a series of semi-field trials. Methods: We conducted multiple series of laboratory and semi-field trials to assess the survivability of Ae. aegypti mosquitoes exposed to the DABS. In the laboratory experiments, we assessed the lethality, the killing mechanism, and the shelf life of the device through controlled experiments. In the semi-field trials, we released laboratory-reared female Ae. aegypti into experimental houses typical of peri-urban tropical communities in South America in three trial series with six replicates each. Laboratory experiments were conducted in Quito, Ecuador, and semi-field experiments were conducted in Machala, Ecuador, an area with abundant wild populations of Ae. aegypti and endemic arboviral transmission. Results: In the laboratory, complete lethality was observed after 48 hours regardless of physiological status of the mosquito. The killing mechanism was determined to be through ingestion, as the boric acid disrupted the gut of the mosquito. In experimental houses, total mosquito mortality was greater in the treatment house for all series of experiments (P \u3c 0.0001). Conclusions: The DABS devices were effective at killing female Ae. aegypti under a variety of laboratory and semi-field conditions. DABS are a promising intervention for interdomiciliary control of Ae. aegypti and arboviral disease prevention.[Figure not available: see fulltext.

On the evaluation of information exchange strategies in dEDAs

One of the most promising areas in which probabilistic graphical models have shown an incipient activity is the field of heuristic optimization and, in particular, in the Estimation of Distribution Algorithms (EDAs). EDAs constitute a well-known family of Evolutionary Computation techniques, similar to Genetic Algorithms. Due to their inherent parallelism, different research lines have tried to improve EDAs from the point of view of execution time and/or accuracy. Among these proposals, we focus on the so-called island-based models. This approach defines several islands (EDA instances) running independently and exchanging information with a given frequency. The information sent by the islands can be a set of individuals or a probabilistic model. This paper presents a comparative study of both information exchanging techniques for a univariate EDA (UMDAg) over a wide set of parameters and problems –the standard benchmark developed for the IEEE Workshop on Evolutionary Algorithms and other Metaheuristics for Continuous Optimization Problems of the ISDA 2009 Conference

Migrating Individuals and Probabilistic Models on DEDAS: a Comparison on Continuous Functions

One of the most promising areas in which probabilistic graphical models have shown an incipient activity is the field of heuristic optimization and, in particular, in the Estimation of Distribution Algorithms (EDAs). EDAs constitute a well-known family of Evolutionary Computation techniques, similar to Genetic Algorithms. Due to their inherent parallelism, different research lines have been studied trying to improve EDAs from the point of view of execution time and/or accuracy. Among these proposals, we focus on the so-called island-based models. This approach defines several islands (EDA instances) running independently and exchanging information with a given frequency. The information sent by the islands can be a set of individuals or a probabilistic model. This paper presents a comparative study of both information exchanging techniques for a univariate EDA (U M DAg) over a wide set of parameters and problems –the standard benchmark developed for the IEEE Workshop on Evolutionary Algorithms and other Metaheuristics for Continuous Optimization Problems of the ISDA 2009 Conference. The study concludes that the configurations based on migrating individuals obtain better result

Biomimetic chitosan-mediated synthesis in heterogeneous phase of bulk and mesoporous silica nanoparticles

Both bulk and mesoporous silica nanoparticles can be obtained in the form of granular aggregates using chitosan flakes as additive under very soft biomimetic reaction conditions.Puchol Estors, Victoria, [email protected] ; El Haskouri, Jamal, [email protected] ; Latorre Saborit, Julio, [email protected] ; Beltran Porter, Aurelio, [email protected] ; Beltran Porter, Daniel, [email protected] ; Amoros del Toro, Pedro Jose, [email protected]

Disordered ultracold atomic gases in optical lattices: A case study of Fermi-Bose mixtures

We present a review of properties of ultracold atomic Fermi-Bose mixtures in inhomogeneous and random optical lattices. In the strong interacting limit and at very low temperatures, fermions form, together with bosons or bosonic holes, {\it composite fermions}. Composite fermions behave as a spinless interacting Fermi gas, and in the presence of local disorder they interact via random couplings and feel effective random local potential. This opens a wide variety of possibilities of realizing various kinds of ultracold quantum disordered systems. In this paper we review these possibilities, discuss the accessible quantum disordered phases, and methods for their detection. The discussed quantum phases include Fermi glasses, quantum spin glasses, "dirty" superfluids, disordered metallic phases, and phases involving quantum percolation.Comment: 29 pages and 11 figure