Residual biomass is acknowledged as a key sustainable feedstock for the transition towards circular and low fossil carbon economies to supply whether energy, chemical, material and food products or ...services. The latter is receiving increasing attention, in particular in the perspective of decoupling nutrition from arable land demand.
In order to provide a comprehensive overview of the technical possibilities to convert residual biomasses into edible ingredients, we reviewed over 950 scientific and industrial records documenting existing and emerging waste-to-nutrition pathways, involving over 150 different feedstocks here grouped under 10 umbrella categories: (i) wood-related residual biomass, (ii) primary crop residues, (iii) manure, (iv) food waste, (v) sludge and wastewater, (vi) green residual biomass, (vii) slaughterhouse by-products, (viii) agrifood co-products, (ix) C1 gases and (x) others. The review includes a detailed description of these pathways, as well as the processes they involve. As a result, we proposed four generic building blocks to systematize waste-to-nutrition conversion sequence patterns, namely enhancement, cracking, extraction and bioconversion. We further introduce a multidimensional representation of the biomasses suitability as potential as nutritional sources according to (i) their content in anti-nutritional compounds, (ii) their degree of structural complexity and (iii) their concentration of macro- and micronutrients. Finally, we suggest that the different pathways can be grouped into eight large families of approaches: (i) insect biorefinery, (ii) green biorefinery, (iii) lignocellulosic biorefinery, (iv) non-soluble protein recovery, (v) gas-intermediate biorefinery, (vi) liquid substrate alternative, (vii) solid-substrate fermentation and (viii) more-out-of-slaughterhouse by-products. The proposed framework aims to support future research in waste recovery and valorization within food systems, along with stimulating reflections on the improvement of resources’ cascading use.
•Comprehensive review of 950 waste-to-nutrition conversion pathways.•Four modular building blocks proposed to model any waste-to-nutrition pathway.•Waste-to-nutrition pathways classified into eight families of approaches.
To shift towards low-fossil carbon economies, making more out of residual biomass is increasingly promoted. Yet, it remains unclear if implementing advanced technologies to reuse these streams really ...achieves net environmental benefits compared to current management practices. By integrating spatially-explicit resource flow analysis, consequential life cycle assessment (LCA), and uncertainty analysis, we propose a single framework to quantify the residual biomass environmental baseline of a territory, and apply it to the case of France. The output is the environmental threshold that a future large-scale territorial bioeconomy strategy should overpass. For France, we estimate the residual biomass baseline to generate 18.4 ± 2.7 MtCO2-eq·y−1 (climate change), 255 ± 35 ktN-eq·y−1 (marine eutrophication), and 12,300 ± 800 disease incidences per year (particulate matter formation). The current use of crop residues and livestock effluents, being essentially a return to arable lands, was found to represent more than 90 % of total environmental impacts and uncertainties, uncovering a need for more certain data. At present, utilizing residual streams as organic fertilizers fulfills over half of France's total phosphorus (P) and potassium (K) demands. However, it only meets 6 % of the nitrogen demand, primarily because nitrogen is lost through air and water. This, coupled with the overall territorial diagnosis, led us to revisit the idea of using the current situation (based on 2018 data) as a baseline for future bioeconomy trajectories. We suggest that these should rather be compared to a projected baseline accounting for ongoing basic mitigation efforts, estimated for France at 8.5 MtCO2-eq·y−1.
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•Step-wise method for assessing the impacts of residual biomass management strategies•Geo-quantified residual biomass potential coupled with bottom-up LCA, applied for France•The French residual biomass potential is estimated to range between 1664 and 2401 PJ·y−1.•Their current uses generate 18.4 MtCO2-eq·y−1, but heads towards 8.5 MtCO2-eq·y−1.•Only 6 % of the nitrogen content of residual streams is currently substituting synthetic fertilizer.
► Production of substitutes required for initial use of co-substrates was included. ► Land use change emissions from maize, barley, and soybean production were included. ► Mono-digestion had good ...environmental performance, but low bio-energy production. ► Co-digestion with animal feed increased bio-energy, but also environmental impact. ► Co-digestion with roadside grass showed best environmental performance.
The aim of this work was to assess the environmental consequences of anaerobic mono- and co-digestion of pig manure to produce bio-energy, from a life cycle perspective. This included assessing environmental impacts and land use change emissions (LUC) required to replace used co-substrates for anaerobic digestion. Environmental impact categories considered were climate change, terrestrial acidification, marine and freshwater eutrophication, particulate matter formation, land use, and fossil fuel depletion. Six scenarios were evaluated: mono-digestion of manure, co-digestion with: maize silage, maize silage and glycerin, beet tails, wheat yeast concentrate (WYC), and roadside grass. Mono-digestion reduced most impacts, but represented a limited source for bio-energy. Co-digestion with maize silage, beet tails, and WYC (competing with animal feed), and glycerin increased bio-energy production (up to 568%), but at expense of increasing climate change (through LUC), marine eutrophication, and land use. Co-digestion with wastes or residues like roadside grass gave the best environmental performance.
In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), nomads account for 30 to 60 million people. Their mobility, due to a constant search for pastures and water points, makes health services less accessible to them. Few ...nomadic women use assisted delivery, which increases the risk of maternal mortality. The reasons behind this limited use have been poorly documented. The objective of this study was to understand the sociocultural determinants of assisted childbirth by nomadic women.
We conducted a qualitative research in the health area of Gossi (Mali), mainly populated by nomads. Data were collected through a literature review, 26 semi-structured interviews, a non-participant observation, and a logbook. Nomadic women who gave birth in the past three months were included in the study, whether they used assisted delivery or not. A thematic content analysis was performed with QDA Miner software.
The study identified a complex combination of determinants resulting in the use or non-use of assisted childbirth by the nomads of Gossi. Several participants recognized the value of assisted delivery but gave birth at home. They identified sociocultural determinants related to their representations and bodily experiences; the risks and emotions (fear, stress, anxiety) associated with pregnancy; the onset of labor and delivery; and their weak autonomy in terms of movement, decision-making, and economic agency. Nomadic women are not free in their movements, and in order to seek care, they require the permission and support of a man (husband, brother, or father). Furthermore, the participants are housewives, and men control family resources and make decisions regarding all financial matters. Assisted delivery is often only considered when there are complications.
This research has made it possible to understand the sociocultural determinants of the use of assisted childbirth among nomadic women, which should be taken into account when organizing health services for these populations.
In an endeavor towards GHG neutrality, alternatives to fossil carbon resources are explored, such as the use of biomass carbon. Pyrolysis, a thermochemical process that can convert residual biomasses ...into liquid (bio-oil), solid (biochar) and gaseous (non-condensable gases) products is gaining increased attention, as it both supplies alternatives to fossil carbon while potentially inducing so-called negative emissions through the biochar. Yet, the pyrolysis technical and environmental performance is heavily dependent upon process operational parameters and biomass types. In the perspective of national strategic bioeconomy planning, this study presents an easily replicable consequential life cycle assessment (LCA) framework to quantify the environmental performance of a pyrolysis biorefinery where process conditions are documented, and boundaries expanded to consider the current use of the residual biomass. Results obtained from this method are intended to provide insights for evidence-based decision making towards investments in the low fossil carbon future. The proposed LCA framework was applied to a national case study for the use of primary forestry residues (PFR). Results showed that as compared to the reference scenario in which PFR are left on soil to decay, pyrolysing PFR to biocrude oil, wood vinegar, biochar and gas presents trade-offs in six out of the 16 impact categories studied. These results highlighted that the biomass feedstock supply, the pyrolysis technology, the co-products yields, properties and uses, as well as the choice of marginal technologies have an influence on the environmental performance of pyrolysis biorefineries.
•A consequential LCA framework for pyrolysis biorefineries was developed.•A case-study for the use of primary forest residues (PFR) was presented.•Life cycle inventory data for pyrolysis were compiled and presented.•The environmental performance was assessed for 16 impact categories.•Pyrolysis of PFR is climate-efficient as 80% of biochar's carbon is sequestered.
Background
Patients with poorly controlled diabetes mellitus may present repeatedly to the emergency department (ED) for management and treatment of hyperglycemic episodes, including diabetic ...ketoacidosis and hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state. The objective of this study was to identify risk factors that predict unplanned recurrent ED visits for hyperglycemia in patients with diabetes within 30 days of initial presentation.
Methods
We conducted a 1-year health records review of patients ≥18 years presenting to one of four tertiary care EDs with a discharge diagnosis of hyperglycemia, diabetic ketoacidosis, or hyperosmolar hyperglycemic state. Trained research personnel collected data on patient characteristics and determined if patients had an unplanned recurrent ED visit for hyperglycemia within 30 days of their initial presentation. Multivariate logistic regression models using generalized estimating equations to account for patients with multiple visits determined predictor variables independently associated with recurrent ED visits for hyperglycemia within 30 days.
Results
There were 833 ED visits for hyperglycemia in the 1-year period. 54.6% were male and mean (SD) age was 48.8 (19.5). Of all visitors, 156 (18.7%) had a recurrent ED visit for hyperglycemia within 30 days. Factors independently associated with recurrent hyperglycemia visits included a previous hyperglycemia visit in the past month (odds ratio OR 3.5, 95% confidence interval CI 2.1–5.8), age <25 years (OR 2.6, 95% CI 1.5–4.7), glucose >20 mmol/L (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.3–3.7), having a family physician (OR 2.2, 95% CI 1.0–4.6), and being on insulin (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.1–3.1). Having a systolic blood pressure between 90–150 mmHg (OR 0.53, 95% CI 0.30–0.93) and heart rate >110 bpm (OR 0.41, 95% CI 0.23–0.72) were protective factors independently associated with not having a recurrent hyperglycemia visit.
Conclusions
This unique ED-based study reports five risk factors and two protective factors associated with recurrent ED visits for hyperglycemia within 30 days in patients with diabetes. These risk factors should be considered by clinicians when making management, prognostic, and disposition decisions for diabetic patients who present with hyperglycemia.
In the ambition of a transition from fossil carbon use, forestry residues are attracting considerable attention as a feedstock for the future bioeconomy. However, there is a limited ...spatially-explicit understanding of their availability. In the present study, this gap has been bridged by developing a generic framework “CamBEE”, for a transparent estimation of aboveground primary forestry residues. CamBEE further includes guidelines, based on standard uncertainty propagation techniques, to quantify the uncertainty of the generated estimates. CamBEE is a four-step procedure relying on open-access spatial data. The framework further provides insights on the appropriate spatial resolution to select. In this study, the proposed framework has been detailed and exemplified through a case study for France. In the case study, primary forestry residues have been spatially quantified at a resolution of 10 m, using spatial and statistical data on forest parameters (net annual increment, factor of basic wood density, biomass expansion factors, etc.). The results for the case study indicate a total theoretical potential of 8.4 Million Mgdry matter year−1 (4.4–13.9 Million Mgdry matter year−1) available in France, the equivalent of 161 PJ year−1. The case study validates that the CamBEE framework can be used for high-resolution spatial quantification of PFRs towards integration in local bioeconomy.
•CamBEE: A framework for high-resolution spatial quantification of forestry residues.•Uses open-source spatial data & presents results with uncertainties.•A metric for deciding the spatial resolution for such assessments is provided.•Exemplified results for France reveal 8.4 Million t DM y−1 of forestry residues.
To determine whether apparent involvement of DYRK1A in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology makes it a candidate plasma biomarker for diagnosis, we developed a method to quantify plasma DYRK1A by ...immunoblot in transgenic mouse models having different gene dosages of Dyrk1a, and, consequently, different relative protein expression. Then, we measured plasma DYRK1A levels in 26 patients with biologically confirmed AD and 25 controls (negative amyloid imaging available on 13). DYRK1A was detected in transgenic mouse brain and plasma samples, and relative levels of DYRK1A correlated with the gene copy number. In plasma from AD patients, DYRK1A levels were significantly lower compared with controls (P<0.0001). Results were similar when we compared AD patients with the subgroup of controls confirmed by negative amyloid imaging. In a subgroup of patients with early AD (CDR=0.5), lower DYRK1A expression was confirmed. In contrast, no difference was found in levels of DYRK1B, the closest relative of DYRK1A, between AD patients and controls. Further, AD patients exhibited a positive correlation between plasma DYRK1A levels and cerebrospinal fluid tau and phosphorylated-tau proteins, but no correlation with amyloid-β42 levels and Pittsburgh compound B cortical binding. DYRK1A levels detected in lymphoblastoid cell lines from AD patients were also lower when compared with cells from age-matched controls. These findings suggest that reduced DYRK1A expression might be a novel plasma risk factor for AD.
The impact of donor-recipient ABO incompatibility on long-term BMT outcomes remains controversial. A common strategy is to deplete the donor marrow of red cells, although this variably reduces the ...number of CD34+ cells. This 10-year retrospective study assessed the impact of recipient plasma exchange in major ABO-incompatible allogeneic BMT on outcomes and survival. Target Ab titres were ≤ 1:4 for anti-A and ≤ 1:8 for anti-B. Patients with higher titres underwent plasma exchange before marrow infusion. Of 133 patients who underwent allogeneic BMT, 34 had a major ABO-incompatible donor. The median number of exchanges was 2 (range 1-4). There were no acute haemolytic transfusion reactions. Engraftment times, transfusion requirements and acute and chronic GVHD were no different from those of patients with an ABO-identical donor. Treatment-related mortality at 100 days was 21% in the group with a major ABO-incompatible donor and 17% in the group with an identical donor (P=0.8). Plasma exchange of the recipient is a safe method of managing donor-recipient major ABO incompatibility before BMT without the risk of haematopoietic progenitor cell loss associated with red cell depletion of the graft.
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