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•Pectin-free quince waste (yield 3.2 wt% db) showed higher reactivity to pyrolysis.•Pyrolysis was well described by a multi-step mechanism for quince waste.•Activation Energy varied ...between 44.22 and 105.39 kJ/mol for the quince waste.•Activation Energy ranged between 27.92 and 115 kJ/mol for pectin free quince waste.
This work aims to study and compare the kinetic and thermodynamic behavior of pyrolysis of quince waste (QW) and pectin-free quince waste (PFQW) after extraction. The pectin extraction with acid treatment had a yield of 3.2 ± 0.1% (dry basis, db). Pyrolysis experiments were conducted in a macro-TG reactor at three heating rates (5, 10, and 15 °C/min) and temperatures in the range 27–900 °C under a nitrogen atmosphere. A better fit of the experimental data was achieved by modeling the reactions by a multi-step mechanism considering three different parallel reactions for thermal decomposition of hemicelluloses, cellulose, and lignin. The results indicated that the Flynn-Wall-Ozawa (FWO) method provided the best R2, MSE, and AAD values. The resulting values of the thermodynamic activation parameters ΔH, ΔG, and ΔS were 53.28–89.36 kJ/mol, 114.54–155.01 kJ/mol, and −0.17–(−0.04) kJ/(mol K) for pyrolysis of QW, and 29.97–90.68 kJ/mol, 99.42–158.86 kJ/mol, and −0.23 – (−0.01) kJ/(mol K) for PFQW. According to bioenergy indicators, PFQW presented good characteristics as a biofuel feedstock due to its high energy density values. The kinetic and thermodynamic parameters indicated greater reactivity of PFQW to pyrolysis compared to QW, showing that in addition to obtaining a product with added value, such as pectin, the extraction process generates a solid residue that is easier to treat under a thermochemical platform. The novelty of the paper focuses on the influence of the pretreatment of quince bio-waste (by extracting pectin compounds) on reactivity to pyrolysis, providing valuable kinetic and thermodynamic information.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPUK, ZRSKP
Severe disease attributable to Plasmodium vivax infection is already well described worldwide; however, autopsies in these patients are scarce.
From 1996 to 2010, 19 patient deaths with a clinical ...diagnosis of P. vivax infection occurred in a tertiary care center in the Brazilian Amazon. Seventeen of these 19 deaths were fully autopsied. Clinical charts, macroscopic autopsy reports, and stored paraffinized tissue blocks were retrieved. Nested polymerase chain reaction was performed in paraffinized samples of spleen and lung to confirm P. vivax monoinfection. Immunohistofluorescence was used to detect P. vivax parasitized red blood cells (RBCs).
Of 17 autopsies, 13 revealed that death could be attributed to P. vivax infection; in the remaining 4, acute diseases other than malaria were found to be the cause of death. The primary complication in patients in which malaria contributed to death was acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and pulmonary edema associated with the accumulation of neutrophils in the interalveolar space (6 cases). Spleen rupture (3 cases) and multiorgan dysfunction syndrome (3 cases) were the second most common complications. One child evolving with coma was also characterized, but no parasite was detected in the brain tissue. In one patient who developed ARDS and presented negative peripheral parasitemia by the time of death, scattered parasitized red blood cells were seen inside pulmonary capillaries, suggesting some sequestration in the lung.
In 13 of 17 deceased patients, P. vivax infection was the plausible cause of death. However, more studies are needed to understand pathogenesis related to severe disease.
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BFBNIB, NUK, PNG, UL, UM, UPUK
In order to assess the risk of hypertension development, we performed a retrospective analysis of the clinical records of consecutive transgender patients who began gender-affirming hormonal therapy ...in our Outpatient Gender Identity Clinic with <30 years of age and had a follow-up >5 years. 149 transgender women treated with estradiol and 153 transgender men treated with testosterone were included; 129 of the transgender women received also androgen blockers (54 spironolactone, 49 cyproterone acetate and 26 LHRH agonists). The annual incidence of hypertension in young transgender men (1.18%) seemed comparable to that of the general population. In young transgender women, it seemed higher (2.14%); we found that the choice of androgen blocker had a remarkable effect, with a highly significant increase in patients treated with cyproterone acetate (4.90%) vs. the rest (0.80%); the adjusted hazard-ratio was 0.227 (p = 0.001). Correlation, logistic regression and mediation analyses were performed for the associations of the available clinical variables with the increase in systolic blood pressure and the onset of hypertension, but besides the use of cyproterone acetate, only the ponderal gain was found significant (Spearman's r: 0.361, p < 0.001); with a 36.7% mediation effect (31.2-42.3%). Cyproterone acetate has additional known risks, such as meningioma; although we cannot conclusively prove that it has a role in the development of hypertension, we conclude that the use of cyproterone acetate for this indication should be reconsidered.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
Abnormalities in serum phosphorus, calcium and parathyroid hormone (PTH) have been associated with poor survival in haemodialysis patients. This COSMOS (Current management Of Secondary ...hyperparathyroidism: a Multicentre Observational Study) analysis assesses the association of high and low serum phosphorus, calcium and PTH with a relative risk of mortality. Furthermore, the impact of changes in these parameters on the relative risk of mortality throughout the 3-year follow-up has been investigated.
COSMOS is a 3-year, multicentre, open-cohort, prospective study carried out in 6797 adult chronic haemodialysis patients randomly selected from 20 European countries.
Using Cox proportional hazard regression models and penalized splines analysis, it was found that both high and low serum phosphorus, calcium and PTH were associated with a higher risk of mortality. The serum values associated with the minimum relative risk of mortality were 4.4 mg/dL for serum phosphorus, 8.8 mg/dL for serum calcium and 398 pg/mL for serum PTH. The lowest mortality risk ranges obtained using as base the previous values were 3.6-5.2 mg/dL for serum phosphorus, 7.9-9.5 mg/dL for serum calcium and 168-674 pg/mL for serum PTH. Decreases in serum phosphorus and calcium and increases in serum PTH in patients with baseline values of >5.2 mg/dL (phosphorus), >9.5 mg/dL (calcium) and <168 pg/mL (PTH), respectively, were associated with improved survival.
COSMOS provides evidence of the association of serum phosphorus, calcium and PTH and mortality, and suggests survival benefits of controlling chronic kidney disease-mineral and bone disorder biochemical parameters in CKD5D patients.
This article discusses the robustness of the multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) test for an emergent variable system and proposes a modification of this test to obtain adequate information ...from heterogeneous normal observations. The proposed approach for testing potential effects in heterogeneous MANCOVA models can be adopted effectively, regardless of the degree of heterogeneity and sample size imbalance. As our method was not designed to handle missing values, we also show how to derive the formulas for pooling the results of multiple-imputation-based analyses into a single final estimate. Results of simulated studies and analysis of real-data show that the proposed combining rules provide adequate coverage and power. Based on the current evidence, the two solutions suggested could be effectively used by researchers for testing hypotheses, provided that the data conform to normality. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
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CEKLJ, FFLJ, NUK, ODKLJ, PEFLJ, UPUK
6.
Deterioration of willow seeds during storage López-Fernández, María Paula; Moyano, Laura; Correa, María Daniela ...
Scientific reports,
11/2018, Volume:
8, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Willow (Salix spp.) seeds are able to tolerate desiccation, but differ from typical orthodox seeds in that they lose viability in a few days at room temperature, and in that the chloroplasts in ...embryo tissues do not dedifferentiate during maturation drying, thus retaining chlorophyll and maintaining intact their thylakoid membranes. In the present study, we investigated the damage generated in willow seeds during storage under appropriate conditions to exclude the eventual generation of reactive oxygen species by photooxidation. To this end, we measured different indicators of molecular damage, such as changes in the fatty acid profile, protein degradation, nuclease activities, and DNA damage, and evaluated normal germination and total germination in seeds stored for one, ten and sixteen years. We found: (i) a decrease in the fraction of unsaturated fatty acids; (ii) changes in the protein profile due to a decrease in protein solubility; (iii) activation of nucleases; and (iv) DNA fragmentation. Taken together, our findings identified programmed cell death as a key mechanism in seed deterioration during storage. We also found that, although the seeds maintained high percentages of total germination, the death program had already started in the seeds stored for ten years and was more advanced in those stored for sixteen years.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
At seed maturity, quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) perisperm consists of uniform, non-living, thin-walled cells full of starch grains. The objective of the present study was to study quinoa ...perisperm development and describe the programme of cell death that affects the entire tissue. A number of parameters typically measured during programmed cell death (PCD), such as cellular morphological changes in nuclei and cytoplasm, endoreduplication, DNA fragmentation, and the participation of nucleases and caspase-like proteases in nucleus dismantling, were evaluated; morphological changes in cytoplasm included subcellular aspects related to starch accumulation. This study proved that, following fertilization, the perisperm of quinoa simultaneously accumulates storage reserves and degenerates, both processes mediated by a programme of developmentally controlled cell death. The novel findings regarding perisperm development provide a starting point for further research in the Amaranthaceae genera, such as comparing seeds with and without perisperm, and specifying phylogeny and evolution within this taxon. Wherever possible and appropriate, differences between quinoa perisperm and grass starchy endosperm—a morphologically and functionally similar, although genetically different tissue—were highlighted and discussed.
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BFBNIB, NMLJ, NUK, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
To evaluate whether high-resolution optical coherence tomography (HR-OCT) can detect histologic tumor margins of ocular surface squamous neoplasia (OSSN).
Eight eyes of 8 patients with OSSN ...undergoing excision were studied prospectively. Immediately before surgery, the tumor was imaged using commercially available HR-OCT to identify the conjunctival margins of the neoplastic lesion. The tumor borders of the lesion determined by HR-OCT were mapped in relation to an anatomic reference point and transferred intraoperatively. The tumor was excised with 4-mm margins from the visible edge of the lesion with a “no-touch” technique. The specimens were sent for pathologic analysis and the histologic tumor margin was compared to the HR-OCT predicted tumor border.
Mean age of the 8 patients was 67 ± 9.9 years. Seven were male, 7 were white, and, ethnically, 3 were Hispanic. All 8 tumors were bulbar and in the exposure zone. Seven tumors were limbal. Corneal extension was present in 5. Mean tumor area was 17.5 ± 11.1 mm2. Clinically, 2 of the tumors were leukoplakic, 1 papillomatous, and 3 gelatinous. A conjunctival tumor margin identified with the HR-OCT coincided with the pathologically confirmed margin mark in all eyes.
HR-OCT has the potential to predict histologic tumor margins in OSSN. Optical identification of tumor margins could potentially decrease the incidence of residual positive margins and minimize healthy tissue removal. Advances in HR-OCT technology and integration into a microscope for “real-time” imaging are needed to further improve this technique. NOTE: Publication of this article is sponsored by the American Ophthalmological Society.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
The objective of this study was to evaluate the association between serum albumin levels and microcirculation changes, glycocalyx degradation, and the clinical outcomes of interest.
Observational, ...prospective study in children with sepsis. The primary outcome was the association between hypoalbuminemia and microcirculation disorders, endothelial activation and glycocalyx degradation using a perfused boundary region (PBR) (abnormal >2.0 μm on sublingual video microscopy) or plasma biomarkers (syndecan-1, angiopoietin-2).
A total of 125 patients with sepsis were included. The median age was 2.0 years (IQR 0.5-12.5). Children with hypoalbuminemia had more abnormal microcirculation with a higher PBR (2.16 μm IQR 2.03-2.47 vs. 1.92 1.76-2.28; p = .01) and more 4-6 μm capillaries recruited (60% vs. 40%; p = .04). The low albumin group that had the worst PBR had the most 4-6 μm capillaries recruited (rho 0.29; p < .01), 48% higher Ang-2 (p = .04), worse annexin A5 (p = 0.03) and no syndecan-1 abnormalities (p = .21). Children with hypoalbuminemia and a greater percentage of blood volume in their capillaries needed mechanical ventilation more often (56.3% vs. 43.7%; aOR 2.01 95% CI 1.38-3.10: p < .01).
In children with sepsis, an association was found between hypoalbuminemia and microcirculation changes, vascular permeability, and greater endothelial glycocalyx degradation.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Since December 2019, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the concept of medicine. This work aims to analyze the use of antibiotics in patients admitted to the hospital due to SARS-CoV-2 infection. This ...work analyzes the use and effectiveness of antibiotics in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 based on data from the SEMI-COVID-19 registry, an initiative to generate knowledge about this disease using data from electronic medical records. Our primary endpoint was all-cause in-hospital mortality according to antibiotic use. The secondary endpoint was the effect of macrolides on mortality. Of 13,932 patients, antibiotics were used in 12,238. The overall death rate was 20.7% and higher among those taking antibiotics (87.8%). Higher mortality was observed with use of all antibiotics (OR 1.40, 95% CI 1.21-1.62; p < .001) except macrolides, which had a higher survival rate (OR 0.70, 95% CI 0.64-0.76; p < .001). The decision to start antibiotics was influenced by presence of increased inflammatory markers and any kind of infiltrate on an x-ray. Patients receiving antibiotics required respiratory support and were transferred to intensive care units more often. Bacterial co-infection was uncommon among COVID-19 patients, yet use of antibiotics was high. There is insufficient evidence to support widespread use of empiric antibiotics in these patients. Most may not require empiric treatment and if they do, there is promising evidence regarding azithromycin as a potential COVID-19 treatment.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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