The National University of Quilmes (Spanish: Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, UNQui) is an Argentine national university and the most important one in the Quilmes area.The National University of Quilmes was founded on October 23, 1989. Located in Bernal (Quilmes County), it serves the Southern Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area, home to three million people and 20% of the country's industrial establishments.The UNQ has over thirty thousand students, distributed among its undergraduate courses and graduate courses of study. The university maintains 18 undergraduate programs (including seven through its virtual university program established in 1998), as well as four master's degree programs and two doctorates (Applied Sciences and Social Sciences).The university's stated mission is to teach in an environment of equality and diversity. Its essential functions are teaching, research, extension courses, human resources formation, technological development, productive innovation and culture promotion.The institution operates through a departmental structure. The Social Sciences and the Science and Technology Departments, along with the Study and Research Center, provide teachers and researchers for the various diploma and degree courses of study taught at the university.
Photodynamic Therapy is a directed and minimally invasive treatment modality that requires efficient and biocompatible photosensitizers. In this work, we develop a green nanomedicine platform by synthesizing Carbon Dots (CDs) using a solvothermal method from extracts of three commercially available and carbon-rich sources: spinach, green tea, and yerba mate. This approach leverages the sustainability of the starting materials and highlights the versatility of carbon-based hybrid systems while evaluating their theranostic functionality and capability as Photodynamic Therapy (PDT) therapeutic effectors. The synthesized CDs were rigorously characterized by Dynamic Light Scattering, Zeta Potential, High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy, Fourier-Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, 1H-Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy, Raman Spectroscopy, and Thermogravimetric Analysis. We found CDs populations with surface compositions rich in carboxyl, hydroxyl, and nitrogen-containing pyrrolic and pyridinic groups that contribute to their potential as nanoeffectors. We comprehensively evaluated the photogeneration of reactive oxygen species (ROS) through oxygen consumption kinetics and hydrogen peroxide quantification, identifying a clear predominance of Type I photosensitization mechanisms. A significant singlet oxygen quantum yield of nearly 29
El litio es un recurso clave, central para la transición energética por su uso en baterías para vehículos eléctricos, dispositivos y sistemas de almacenamiento de energía renovable. Más de la mitad de las reservas probadas se concentran en el Triángulo del Litio (Argentina, Bolivia y Chile), convirtiendo a América del Sur en un territorio estratégico. La creciente demanda intensificó la competencia entre Estados Unidos y China, no solo por el acceso, sino por el control de las cadenas de suministro, desde la extracción hasta la fabricación de baterías, dominadas por grandes conglomerados tecnológicos y automotrices. Si bien es un insumo central en el despliegue de energías limpias y en el proceso de electrificación del transporte, su extracción conlleva riesgos, altos costos y nuevas asimetrías. Este trabajo analiza la importancia del litio, el papel de la infraestructura y el lugar de América Latina en la disputa geopolítica global.
Access to international funding is increasingly essential for sustaining research in a highly competitive and globalized scientific landscape; however, researchers in Latin America face persistent structural constraints that limit their competitiveness. This study aimed to identify perceived barriers and strategies to mitigate structural disadvantages in accessing international research funding. We employed a sequential mixed-methods design. In the qualitative phase, a virtual focus group with five researchers from Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, and Guatemala explored experiences with international grant applications. Thematic analysis revealed three overarching themes: (1) strategies and good practices; (2) barriers and structural constraints; and (3) recommendations to support more inclusive funding practices. Barriers included language and cultural differences, perceived bias from Global North funders, differences in infrastructural expectations, and limited opportunities for networking. These insights informed the design of a quantitative survey, which was completed by 253 researchers from 16 countries; 60.4% had applied to international calls and 43.6% reported receiving at least one grant. Across 668 reported applications, success rate was 40.6%. The most frequently endorsed barriers were economic costs of networking (92.3%), misalignment between eligibility criteria and local trajectories (80.8%), rhetorical differences in grant writing (75.3%), and self-perceptions of lower competitiveness (69.2%). Results highlight persistent structural, linguistic, and cultural barriers that shape access to international funding. Participants proposed actionable strategies-particularly for international funders seeking to broaden Global South participation-including context-sensitive grant-writing training, mentorship schemes, and funding calls explicitly designed to account for the Latin American realities.
The development of nanomaterials and the search for alternatives that reduce adverse effects have become a central focus in the scientific community. However, this progress has not been accompanied by exhaustive nanotoxicological studies, often leading to the assumption that the addition of natural or inert components minimizes the harmful effects of nanostructures. Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs), widely used for their antimicrobial properties, are known to be cytotoxic and potentially harmful to the environment and human health. To mitigate these risks, in this study core-shell nanoparticles were synthesized using coatings of either natural ilex paraguariensis (yerba mate [YM]) extract or synthetic polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) to evaluate whether additives confer a safer alternative. Both formulations were fully characterized for dynamic light scattering, zeta potential, and spectroscopy UV-visible. Then, these formulations were evaluated for cytotoxicity in vitro using human skin and liver cell lines and assessed in vivo using the zebrafish model to determine general and organ-specific toxicity. Results showed that AgNPs-YM induced toxicity across all tested concentrations in both in vitro and in vivo systems, with the highest concentration causing mortality, organ damage, and increased production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In contrast, AgNPs-PVP exhibited significantly lower toxicity under the same conditions. These findings demonstrate that natural-origin coatings do not guarantee safety, and highlight the need for the implementation of exhaustive toxicological screening prior to the validation of new nanomaterials.
This paper examines Kepler’s earliest applications of the distance law in a group of manuscripts from 1601 to 1602. It argues that these texts reveal not merely a technical innovation but a methodological transformation: Kepler assumed that a physically grounded hypothesis must hold across the entire celestial system. The study reconstructs several early extensions of the law—to the Earth, to lunar theory, and to the relation between terrestrial eccentricity and the length of the year—showing how rapidly he treated the principle as universally valid. It also offers a systematic presentation of these manuscript episodes and proposes refinements to the chronology of Pulkovo XIV.
