In this article, we present a rigorous reformulation of the Bell–Delaware model for the design optimization of shell and tube heat exchanger to obtain a linear model. We extend a previously presented ...methodology1,2 of rigorously reformulate the mixed‐integer nonlinear programing Kern model and we add disjunctions to automatically choose the different correlations to calculate heat transfer coefficients and pressure drop under different flow regimes. The linear character of the formulation allows the identification of the global optimum, even using conventional optimization algorithms. The proposed mixed‐integer linear programming formulation with the Bell–Delaware method is able to identify feasible solutions for the design of heat exchangers at a lower cost than those obtained through conventional design formulations in the literature. Comparisons with the Kern method also indicate an average 22% difference (usually lower) in area.
Breast cancer accounts for the highest number of female deaths worldwide. Early detection of the disease is essential to increase the chances of treatment and cure of patients. Infrared thermography ...has emerged as a promising technique for diagnosis of the disease due to its low cost and that it does not emit harmful radiation, and it gives good results when applied in young women. This work uses convolutional neural networks in a database of 440 infrared images of 88 patients, classifying them into two classes: normal and pathology. During the training of the networks, we use transfer learning of the following convolutional neural network architectures: AlexNet, GoogLeNet, ResNet-18, VGG-16, and VGG-19. Our results show the great potential of using deep learning techniques combined with infrared images in the aid of breast cancer diagnosis.
The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the effectiveness of different hormone therapies, including hormonal contraceptives, in women with premature ovarian insufficiency ...(POI). Thirty reports of 28 studies were included, with a total of 4004 participants with POI from diverse aetiologies, of whom 3785 received hormone therapies and 219 received calcium supplementation, vitamin D, placebo or no treatment. Hormone therapy was superior to non-treatment, placebo, calcitriol or calcium in preserving bone mineral density (BMD) in women with POI. Hormone therapy was associated with up to 80% reduction in the prevalence of hot flushes and with stability or improvement in the quality of life scores. Hormone therapy induced significant increases in uterine volume and endometrial thickness in women with POI. The studies yielded convergent results and were of good quality, although some lacked blinding or had incomplete outcome data. Moderate to high quality evidence was found that hormone therapy with oestrogen and progesterone or progestin (including contraceptives) is beneficial to women with POI, not only to mitigate hypoestrogenic symptoms but also to preserve BMD and avoid uterine atrophy. More studies are needed to confirm the long-term safety of this therapy and to assess its possible impact on the risk of hard outcomes such as bone fractures and cardiovascular events.
In Brazil, heavy mineral sand deposits are still barely exploited, despite some references to Brazilian reserves and ilmenite concentrate production. The goal of this project is to characterize and ...investigate the potential recovery of heavy minerals from selected Brazilian placer occurrences. Two areas of the coastal region were chosen, in Piaui state and in Bahia Provinces. In all samples, the heavy minerals of interest (ilmenite, monazite, rutile, and zircon) were identified by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques and also quantified by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) and Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). The total heavy minerals (THM) in the Piaui samples were 6.45% and 10.14% THM, while the figure for the Bahia sample was 3.4% THM. The recovery test of the Bahia sample, using only physical separation equipment such as a shaking table and magnetic separator, showed valuable metallurgical recoveries at around or greater than 70% for each stage, and the final concentrate of pure ilmenite was composed of up to 60.0% titanium dioxide after the differential magnetic separation. Another aim is to compile accessible information about Brazilian heavy mineral main deposits complemented with a short economic overview.
Paracoccidioides spp. is a thermally dimorphic fungus endemic to Latin America and the etiological agent of paracoccidioidomycosis (PCM), a granulomatous disease acquired through fungal propagule ...inhalation by its mammalian host. The infection is established after successful mycelia to yeast transition in the host pulmonary alveoli. The challenging environment inside the host exposes the fungus to the need of adaptation in order to circumvent nutritional, thermal, oxidative, immunological and other stresses that can directly affect their survival. Considering that autophagy is a response to abrupt environmental changes and is induced by stress conditions, this study hypothesizes that this process might be crucially involved in the adaptation of Paracoccidioides spp. to the host and, therefore, it is essential for the proper establishment of the disease. By labelling autophagous vesicles with monodansylcadaverine, autophagy was observed as an early event in cells during the normal mycelium to yeast transition, as well as in yeast cells of P. brasiliensis under glucose deprivation, and under either rapamycin or 3-methyladenine (3-MA). Findings in this study demonstrated that autophagy is triggered in P. brasiliensis during the thermal-induced mycelium to yeast transition and by glucose-limited conditions in yeasts, both of which modulated by rapamycin or 3-MA. Certainly, further genetic and in vivo analyses are needed in order to finally address the contribution of autophagy for adaptation. Yet, our data propose that autophagy possibly plays an important role in Paracoccidioides brasiliensis virulence and pathogenicity.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Emerging environmental contaminants, such as medicine waste, are of great concern to the scientific community and to the local environmental and health departments because of their potential ...long-term effects and ecotoxicological risk. Besides the prolonged use of medicines for the development of modern society, the elucidation of their effect on the ecosystem is relatively recent. Medicine waste and its metabolites can, for instance, cause alterations in microbial dynamics and disturb fish behavior. Bioremediation is an efficient and eco-friendly technology that appears as a suitable alternative to conventional methods of water waste and sludge treatment and has the capacity to remove or reduce the presence of emerging contaminants. Thus, this review has the objective of compiling information on environmental contamination by common medicines and their microbial biodegradation, focusing on five therapeutic classes: analgesics, antibiotics, antidepressants, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and contraceptives. Their effects in the environment will also be analyzed, as well as the possible routes of degradation by microorganisms.
Display omitted
Outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) of Neisseria meningitidis contain important antigens to trigger an immune response against meningococci and have been studied as vaccines compounds. The ...immune response to a vaccine may be affected by its constitution and route of administration. Therefore, Swiss mice were immunized by different routes with OMVs of N. meningitidis B with dimethyl dioctadecyl ammonium bromide in bilayer fragments (DDA-BF) or aluminum hydroxide (AH) as adjuvants. The adjuvants and different routes were compared regarding the immune responses by ELISA, western blot, delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) and histopathologic analysis. The antigenic preparation generated humoral and cellular immune responses. In quantitative analyzes, in general, AH was superior to DDA-BF. However, analysis such as IgG avidity index, bactericidal activity and immunoblot, revealed no important differences regarding the adjuvant or route of immunization. Regarding the parameters tested, it was not possible to define a superiority between the adjuvants and routes of immunization proposed by this study.
The carbon dioxide radical anion CO2·− is a highly reactive species of fundamental and synthetic interest. However, the direct one-electron reduction of CO2 to generate CO2·− occurs at very negative ...reduction potentials, which is often a limiting factor for applications. Here, we show that NHC–CO2–BR3 species – generated from the Frustrated Lewis Pair (FLP)-type activation of CO2 by N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) and boranes (BR3) – undergo single electron reduction at a less negative potential than free CO2. A net gain of more than one volt was notably measured with a CAAC–CO2–B(C6F5)3 adduct, which was chemically reduced to afford CAAC–CO2–B(C6F5)3·−. This room temperature stable radical anion was characterized by EPR spectroscopy and by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analysis. Of particular interest, DFT calculations showed that, thanks to the electron withdrawing properties of the Lewis acid, significant unpaired spin density is localised on the carbon atom of the CO2 moiety. Finally, these species were shown to exhibit analogous reactivity to the carbon dioxide radical anion CO2·− toward DMPO. This work demonstrates the advantage provided by FLP systems in the generation and stabilization of CO2·−-like species.
Four species of gonyleptid harvestmen, Acanthogonyleptes pulcher, Gonyleptes saprophilus (Gonyleptinae), Sodreana barbiellini, and Sodreana leprevosti (Sodreaninae), were examined by GC-MS and 1H ...NMR. All of these species release vinyl ketones, and three of them produce the corresponding pyranyl ketones, which are presumed hetero-Diels–Alder (HDA) dimers. The vinyl ketones 5-methyl-1-hexen-3-one, rac-4-methyl-1-hexen-3-one, and (S)-4-methyl-1-hexen-3-one were synthesized. Natural 4-methyl-1-hexen-3-one is present as a single stereoisomer and has the R-configuration. Vinyl ketone dimers (HDA dimers) were also observed in the scent gland exudate and characterized by HRMS, 13C NMR, and 1H NMR chemical shifts of the pyranyl moiety.
Background
Angiotensin‐converting enzyme (ACE) and ACE2 are two major enzymes of the renin–angiotensin–aldosterone system (RAAS), which control the formation/degradation of angiotensin (Ang) II and ...Ang1‐7, regulating their opposite effects. We aimed at evaluating the catalytic activity of ACE and ACE2 in the intestinal content and corresponding intestinal tissue along the gut of Wistar Han rats.
Methods
Portions of the ileum, cecum, proximal colon, and distal colon, and the corresponding intestinal content were collected from Wistar Han rats. Enzyme activity was evaluated by fluorometric assays using different substrates: Hippuryl‐His‐Leu for ACE‐C‐domain, Z‐Phe‐His‐Leu for ACE‐N‐domain, and Mca‐APK(Dnp) for ACE2. ACE and ACE2 concentration was assessed by ELISA. Ratios concerning concentrations and activities were calculated to evaluate the balance of the RAAS. Statistical analysis was performed using Friedman test followed by Dunn's multiple comparisons test or Wilcoxon matched‐pairs test whenever needed.
Key Results
ACE and ACE2 are catalytically active in the intestinal content along the rat gut. The ACE N‐domain shows higher activity than the C‐domain both in the intestinal content and in the intestinal tissue. ACE and ACE2 are globally more active in the intestinal content than in the corresponding intestinal tissue. There was a distal‐to‐proximal prevalence of ACE2 over ACE in the intestinal tissue.
Conclusions & Inferences
This work is the first to report the presence of catalytically active ACE and ACE2 in the rat intestinal content, supporting future research on the regulatory role of the intestinal RAAS on gut function and a putative link to the microbiome.
Angiotensin‐converting enzyme (ACE) and ACE2 are catalytically active in the gut and in the intestinal content of rats. Both enzymes' activities are higher in the intestinal content than in the corresponding intestinal tissue. Our study points out the hypothesis of the existence of a fecal RAAS.
PDF
