The hydrogenation of α-diketones yields α-hydroxyketones or vic-diols, both compounds of great interest in fine chemistry. The reaction tests were the liquid phase hydrogenation of 2,3-butanedione ...and 2,3-pentanedione at mild conditions. The objectives of this work were evaluating the effect over the activity and selectivity of: (a) different transition metallic phase based catalysts supported on activated carbon, (b) the symmetry of the reactants and (c) solvents. The physicochemical characterization of the catalysts was carried out by ICP, XRD, TEM, N
2
adsorption and XPS. The keto-enol equilibrium of diketones was studied by 1H-NMR. All the catalysts were active in both reactions. In terms of activity, Pt and Rh were the best active phases. For both reactants the highest selectivity towards hydroxyketones were achieved with Pd, while Ru was the most selective towards the diol. Both the activity and selectivity followed similar patterns in the hydrogenation of both diketones. The greater activity of Pt was attributed to the high dispersion of the active metal phase in this catalyst and the high efficiency of Pt for C = O bond reduction. The high selectivity of the Pd catalysts towards the intermediate product was attributed to many effects: (i) a lower interaction of the hydroxyketone with the active site as compared to the diketone, (ii) the easy reducibility of the C = C double bond on Pd, provided by the keto-enol tautomerism of diketones.
Graphic Abstract
Background: Self-injection of biologics is a mainstay of chronic disease treatment, yet the process of self-injection often causes persistent apprehension and anxiety, distinct from needle phobia. ...While literature alludes to the role that routines and rituals play in self-injection, there is no comprehensive study on the routines and rituals self-injectors employ, nor of the process by which they are discovered and ingrained. Methods: We conducted a mixed-method, observational pilot ethnography study of 27 patients with plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, or ankylosing spondylitis with and without prior biologic self-injection experience. Patients submitted self-made videos, photos, and projective exercises of an actual biologic self-injection and completed validated instruments to assess burden of treatment. Videos and photos containing routine and ritual elements were thematically categorized based on functional and emotional benefit, and analyzed for differences based on current biologic, dosing frequency, time on current biologic, and burden of treatment measures. Results: During patients' initial at-home injections, training gaps became apparent, leading to a process of experimentation aimed at reducing pain/anxiety, increasing confidence, and building a consistent injection process. Routines were present in 27/27 (100%) patients and anchored the time, place, and process for injection, and incorporated approved use steps for the injection device. Ritual elements served as emotional coping strategies for patients and were present in 21/27 (77.8%) of patients. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that providing patients device training using adult learning principles, teaching routines and rituals concurrently, and providing at-home opportunities for practice with a device trainer may be useful strategies to reduce anxiety, avoid unnecessary experimentation, and improve adherence to injection therapy. While further studies are needed to generalize our findings, we posit that routine and ritual elements can be incorporated into existing patient-clinician interactions or novel digital interventions through mobile medical applications, smart training devices, and connected injection ecosystems. Keywords: training, drug delivery device, combination product, patient support, routines, rituals, burden of treatment, chronic disease, injection trainer, mixed methods research
We evaluated stereotactic volume modulated arc radiotherapy (VMAT) for canine gliomas, alone (radiotherapy RT) and in combination with temozolomide (RT + TMZ), compared with palliation. Overall and ...disease‐specific survival times were estimated. Thirty dogs were palliated, 22 dogs were treated with RT and 20 with RT + TMZ. Complete and partial responses were observed in 63.2% and 90.9% of patients in the RT and RT + TMZ arms, respectively, that were alive at 1 year. Median survival in the palliation arm was 94 days (95% conformity index CI 87÷101). Median survivals of the RT arm (383 days, 95% CI 276÷490) and RT+TMZ arm (420 days, 95% CI 280÷560) were not significantly different (P = .61). Positive correlation with survival was found both for the ratio between target and brain (relative) volume of the tumour of <5% (P = .013) and for a clinical presentation with normal mentation (P = .032). VMAT is feasible and effective for canine brain gliomas. Combining this therapy with TMZ did not elicit any additional improvement in survival time.
Leprosy, a chronic infectious disease caused by
, is a major public health problem in poor and developing countries of the Americas, Africa, and Asia. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), which are small non-coding ...RNAs (18-24 nucleotides), play an important role in regulating cell and tissue homeostasis through translational downregulation of messenger RNAs (mRNAs). Deregulation of miRNA expression is important for the pathogenesis of various neoplastic and non-neoplastic diseases and has been the focus of many publications; however, studies on the expression of miRNAs in leprosy are rare. Herein, an extensive evaluation of differentially expressed miRNAs was performed on leprosy skin lesions using microarrays. Leprosy patients, classified according to Ridley and Jopling's classification or reactional states (R1 and R2), and healthy controls (HCs) were included. Punch biopsies were collected from the borders of leprosy lesions (10 tuberculoid, 10 borderline tuberculoid, 10 borderline borderline, 10 borderline lepromatous, 4 lepromatous, 14 R1, and 9 R2) and from 9 HCs. miRNA expression profiles were obtained using the Agilent Microarray platform with miRBase, which consists of 1,368
(hsa)-miRNA candidates. TaqMan quantitative real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to validate differentially expressed miRNAs. Sixty-four differentially expressed miRNAs, including 50 upregulated and 14 downregulated (fold change ≥2.0,
-value ≤ 0.05) were identified after comparing samples from patients to those of controls. Twenty differentially expressed miRNAs were identified exclusively in the reactional samples (14 type 1 and 6 type 2). Eight miRNAs were validated by RT-PCR, including seven upregulated (hsa-miR-142-3p, hsa-miR-142-5p, hsa-miR-146b-5p, hsa-miR-342-3p, hsa-miR-361-3p, hsa-miR-3653, and hsa-miR-484) and one downregulated (hsa-miR-1290). These miRNAs were differentially expressed in leprosy and several other diseases, especially those related to the immune response. Moreover, the integration of analysis of validated mi/mRNAs obtained from the same samples allowed target pairs opposite expression pattern of hsa-miRNA-142-3p and AKR1B10, hsa-miRNA-342-3p and FAM180b, and hsa-miRNA-484 and FASN. This study identified several miRNAs that might play an important role in the molecular pathogenesis of the disease. Moreover, these deregulated miRNAs and their respective signaling pathways might be useful as therapeutic markers, therapeutic targets, which could help in the development of drugs to treat leprosy.
The application of biomolecular techniques for the study of food practices in the Italian Bronze Age has revealed an interesting complexity. This is particularly true for the Po plain, in northern ...Italy, where the use of “alternative” grains (i.e., the millets) has been assessed isotopically through the measurement of stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope ratios in human and animal bone collagen at the site of Olmo di Nogara (Verona). This work provides new isotopic data from 12 Early, Middle, and Late Bronze Age sites from western Veneto and Friuli. Data obtained contribute to the understanding of mode and tempo of the spread of new crops in northeastern Italy, which appears to be a hotspot for the study of Bronze Age farming economies in Europe. We have successfully analyzed 146 specimens to find that δ13C values are higher, in a way that we interpret as indicative of C4 plant consumption. Four of the sites analyzed, with a specific chronological indication, show this evidence. We explain this phenomenon as the result of a discontinuous spread of new crops in northeastern Italy at a very specific moment of the Bronze Age. The data presented might call for a reconsideration of food production and consumption among Bronze Age groups of southern Europe.
Objectives
To evaluate the feasibility and efficacy of hypofractionated stereotactic volumetric‐modulated arc radiotherapy in treating canine adrenal tumours with vascular invasion.
Methods
A ...single‐arm clinical study was performed. The dogs underwent total body computed tomography, brain and abdomen magnetic resonance imaging and endocrine assay. Adrenal masses were classified as cortisol‐secreting adrenal tumour or non‐secreting adrenal tumour. Radiotherapy treatments were delivered by hypofractionated stereotactic volumetric‐modulated arc radiotherapy via a linear accelerator. The overall survival was estimated by the Kaplan–Meier method. The overall response and radio‐toxicity effects were determined.
Results
Nine dogs were enrolled. Three dogs were affected by cortisol‐secreting adrenal tumours and the remaining dogs had non‐secreting adrenal tumours. The prescribed doses ranged from 30 to 45 Gy in three or five consecutive daily fractions. The median overall survival time was 1030 days, and the overall mean reduction of the diameter and volume were ~32 and 30% respectively. The endocrine profile normalised in two dogs with cortisol‐secreting adrenal tumours. Radio‐toxicities were mild and self‐limiting. Seven deaths were recorded during the follow‐up period and two dogs were censored.
Clinical Significance
Hypofractionated stereotactic volumetric‐modulated arc radiotherapy should be considered as a feasible and effective therapeutic option for adrenal tumours with vascular invasion.
Two composite supports with a mixed inorganic–organic structure were synthesized: BTAl and UTAl. Hydrophilic–hydrophobic dual properties of the supports were suitable for preparing ...egg-shell-supported metal catalysts for selective hydrogenation reactions. The catalysts were characterized by ICP, XRD, OM, TEM, EPMA, XPS and TGA. Their mechanical resistance was assessed. Activity and selectivity were tested with the hydrogenation of 2,3-butanedione (diacetyl) to 3-hydroxy-2-butanoneacetoin (acetoin). The same order of increasing metal particle size was found for the two tested supports: Pt < Ru < Pd. The XPS analysis showed that the metal/composite catalysts reduced in H2 at 503 K had two kinds of active sites: reduced (Me°) and electron-deficient (Me
+
). It was rationalized that the hydrogen bond cleavage was performed on the Me° active sites, while reactant adsorption occurred on the Me
+
sites. The differences in activity and selectivity between the composite catalysts were attributed to electronic effects on the different metals and to different adsorptive properties of the different polymers. The high selectivity to acetoin was attributed to the preferential adsorption of diacetyl as compared to the adsorption of acetoin. The BTAl catalysts were slightly more active and selective than the UTAl ones. This was attributed to electronic effects caused by remnant organic groups on the composite supports (urethane or biphenyl on UTAl or BTAl, respectively). Pd-BTAl was the most active and selective catalyst, a fact related to electronic effects of both palladium and the support.
We investigate two-component attractive Fermi gases with imbalanced spin populations in trapped one-dimensional configurations. The ground state properties are determined with the local density ...approximation, starting from the exact Bethe-ansatz equations for the homogeneous case. We predict that the atoms are distributed according to a two-shell structure: a partially polarized phase in the center of the trap and either a fully paired or a fully polarized phase in the wings. The partially polarized core is expected to be a superfluid of the Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov type. The size of the cloud as well as the critical spin polarization needed to suppress the fully paired shell are calculated as a function of the coupling strength.
Peritoniti secondarie negli adulti Zappella, N.; Depondt, C.; Carrara, N. ...
EMC - Anestesia-Rianimazione,
February 2022, 2022-02-00, Letnik:
27, Številka:
1
Journal Article
La peritonite secondaria è un’infiammazione acuta del peritoneo conseguente alla perforazione del tratto digerente o alla diffusione di un’infezione intraddominale. Viene fatta una distinzione tra ...infezioni comunitarie e infezioni associate al trattamento, principalmente postoperatorio. I germi coinvolti sono quelli della flora digestiva, principalmente enterobatteri e anaerobi nelle infezioni comunitarie, ma anche cocchi Gram-positivi, lieviti e bacilli Gram-negativi non fermentanti nelle infezioni associate al trattamento. È spesso complicata da shock settico. Si tratta di un’urgenza diagnostica e terapeutica. Ogni ora persa peggiora la prognosi. La diagnosi è il più delle volte clinica, supportata dallaTC, e può essere difficile da stabilire durante un’infezione postoperatoria. Il trattamento è chirurgico e medico. Il trattamento eziologico si basa su tecniche chirurgiche o interventistiche per identificare ed escludere la causa dell’infezione, prelevare campioni microbiologici, eseguire una toilette peritoneale e prevenire la recidiva. Il trattamento medico supporta le conseguenze dell’infezione mediante rianimazione perioperatoria e trattamento antibiotico probabilistico poi diretto contro i germi isolati nei campioni perioperatori. La terapia antibiotica che non tiene conto di tutti i germi isolati e la gestione tardiva sono fattori di fallimento del trattamento, di persistenza dell’infezione e di morte. La peritonite rimane gravata da un’elevata mortalità, in particolare quando si manifesta in un soggetto anziano con patologie sottostanti, operato tardivamente, soprattutto quando si tratta di un’infezione postoperatoria.
PDF
