Although simultaneous P-removal and nitrate reduction has been observed in laboratory studies as well as full-scale plants, there are contradictory reports on the ability of PAO I to efficiently use ...nitrate as electron acceptor. Such discrepancy could be due to other microbial groups performing partial denitrification from nitrate to nitrite. The denitrification capacities of two different cultures, a highly enriched PAO I and a PAO I-GAO cultures were assessed through batch activity tests conducted before and after acclimatization to nitrate. Negligible anoxic phosphate uptake coupled with a reduction of nitrate was observed in the highly enriched PAO I culture. On the opposite, the PAO I-GAO culture showed a higher anoxic phosphate uptake activity. Both cultures exhibited good anoxic phosphate uptake activity with nitrite (8.7 ± 0.3 and 9.6 ± 1.8 mgPO4-P/gVSS.h in the PAO I and PAO I-GAO cultures, respectively). These findings suggest that other microbial populations, such as GAOs, were responsible to reduce nitrate to nitrite in this EBPR system, and that PAO I used the nitrite generated for anoxic phosphate uptake. Moreover, the simultaneous denitrification and phosphate removal process using nitrite as electron acceptor may be a more sustainable process as can: i) reduce the carbon consumption, ii) reduce oxygen demand of WWTP, and iii) due to a lower growth yield contribute to a lower sludge production.
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•A PAO I culture did not perform a significant anoxic P-uptake using nitrate.•A PAO I-GAO culture showed a higher anoxic P-removal activity on nitrate.•GAO contributed to the reduction of nitrate to nitrite thereby supporting the anoxic activity of PAO.
The viscosity of dilute suspensions of several metal oxides (SiO2, Al2O3 and TiO2) was measured at different pH values. The intrinsic viscosity, eta, was derived from the concentration dependence of ...the viscosity. This magnitude was pH-dependent. A correlation with the shape of the kinetic unity has been proposed.
A new apparent viscosity function for shear thickening fluids is proposed, contemplating the three characteristic regions typically exhibited by these materials: slight shear thinning at low shear ...rates, followed by a sharp viscosity increase over a threshold shear rate value (critical shear rate), and a subsequent pronounced shear thinning region at high shear rates. The proposed function has a continuous derivative, making it appropriate in numerical simulations. Moreover, the function is shown to provide an excellent fit to several independent experimental data sets.
•Texture of homemade fruit beverages depends on temperature.•Beverages stability against sedimentation of fruit pulp was affected by temperature increase.•Information on the strength of ...microstructure at rest can be obtained from the activation energy approach.
Fresh fruit beverages are a tasty way to follow the recommendations of World Health Organization. A study on the rheological behaviour of water-based and milk-based fruit beverages with emphasis on the temperature effect was made. The power law model adjusted data of apparent viscosity. The flow index of each beverage was practically constant with temperature variation. Then, one could discuss the variation with temperature of the consistency index. This parameter decreased around 40% in both cases in the temperature interval 5–30 °C. The stability of beverages against the sedimentation of the fruit pulp was clearly affected by the increase of temperature. Viscoelastic moduli were obtained in the linear region. Temperature dependency of both moduli was described in the interval 5–30 °C. The activation energy for linear viscoelastic flow was slightly higher than the activation energy for viscous flow. This result was interpreted as an indication of the strength of the microstructure-at-rest.
This multicenter randomized trial compared oral capecitabine with bolus i.v. 5-fluorouracil (5-FU)/folinic acid (FA) as adjuvant therapy for stage III colon cancer.
Patients were assigned to 24 weeks ...of capecitabine 1250 mg/m2 twice daily on days 1–14 every 3 weeks or 5-FU/FA (Mayo Clinic regimen). The primary end point was disease-free survival (DFS).
The intent-to-treat population received capecitabine (n = 1004) or 5-FU/FA (n = 983). With a median follow-up of 6.9 years, capecitabine was at least equivalent to 5-FU/FA in terms of DFS hazard ratio (HR) = 0.88; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.77–1.01 and overall survival (OS) (HR = 0.86; 95% CI 0.74–1.01); the 95% CI upper limits were significantly less than the predefined noninferiority margins of 1.20 (P < 0.0001) and 1.14 (P < 0.001), respectively. This pattern was maintained in all subgroups, including patients aged ≥70 years. Preplanned multivariate analyses showed that capecitabine had statistically significant beneficial effects on DFS (P = 0.021) and OS (P = 0.020) versus 5-FU/FA. A post hoc analysis suggested that the occurrence of hand–foot syndrome may be associated with better outcomes in capecitabine recipients.
Oral capecitabine is an effective alternative to bolus 5-FU/FA as adjuvant treatment of patients with stage III colon cancer with efficacy benefits maintained at 5 years and in older patients.
► The article JNNFM,166,321–325 (2011) requires further discussion. ► We propose a slight modification of the original proposed function. ► The microstructural ideas of Cross are revisited to add ...intuition and interpretation of the parameters. ► Model parameters used in the original manuscript are included so that results can be reproduced or used for simulations.
A new apparent viscosity function for shear thickening fluids has been recently published
1, which is able to cover the three characteristic regions typically exhibited by these materials (thinning/thickening/thinning). The proposed function was shown to provide an excellent fitting to several independent data sets used. However, although its formulation has the Cross model as a starting point, the
K
i
-parameter time constants were enforced to be negative, which is counter-intuitive. In the light of the original work of Cross
2, the present short communication introduces small changes to the viscosity function developed in
1 to make the fitting parameters more natural. The original microstructural ideas of Cross are also considered in order to provide additional intuition and interpretation. Finally, the fitting values of the model parameters for all of the curves considered in the original manuscript are included here so that results can be reproduced or used for numerical simulations.
What are the principles underlying effective neurorehabilitation? The aim of neurorehabilitation is to exploit interventions based on human and animal studies about learning and adaptation, as well ...as to show that the activation of experience-dependent neuronal plasticity augments functional recovery after stroke. Instead of teaching compensatory strategies that do not reduce impairment but allow the patient to return home as soon as possible, functional recovery might be more sustainable as it ensures a long-term reduction in impairment and an improvement in quality of life. At the same time, neurorehabilitation permits the scientific community to collect valuable data, which allows inferring about the principles of brain organization. Hence neuroscience sheds light on the mechanisms of learning new functions or relearning lost ones. However, current rehabilitation methods lack the exact operationalization of evidence gained from skill learning literature, leading to an urgent need to bridge motor learning theory and present clinical work in order to identify a set of ingredients and practical applications that could guide future interventions. This work aims to unify the neuroscientific literature relevant to the recovery process and rehabilitation practice in order to provide a synthesis of the principles that constitute an effective neurorehabilitation approach. Previous attempts to achieve this goal either focused on a subset of principles or did not link clinical application to the principles of motor learning and recovery. We identified 15 principles of motor learning based on existing literature: massed practice, spaced practice, dosage, task-specific practice, goal-oriented practice, variable practice, increasing difficulty, multisensory stimulation, rhythmic cueing, explicit feedback/knowledge of results, implicit feedback/knowledge of performance, modulate effector selection, action observation/embodied practice, motor imagery, and social interaction. We comment on trials that successfully implemented these principles and report evidence from experiments with healthy individuals as well as clinical work.
Located in northern Dominican Republic, the Early Cretaceous Rio Boba mafic‐ultramafic plutonic sequence constitutes a lower crust section of the Caribbean island arc, made up by gabbroic rocks and ...subordinate pyroxenite. Modal compositions, mineral chemistry, whole‐rock compositions and thermobarometric calculations indicate that pyroxenites and gabbronorites represent a cumulate sequence formed by fractionation of tholeiitic magmas with initially very low H2O content in the lower crust of the arc (0.6–0.8 GPa). Melts evolved along a simplified crystallization sequence of olivine → pyroxenes → plagioclase → Fe‐Ti oxides. The magmatic evolution of the Rio Boba sequence and associated supra‐crustal Puerca Gorda metavolcanic rocks is multi‐stage and involves the generation of magmas from melting of different sources in a supra‐subduction zone setting. The first stage included the formation of a highly depleted substrate as result of decompressional melting of a refractory mantle source, represented by a cumulate sequence of LREE‐depleted island arc tholeiitic (IAT) and boninitic gabbronorites and pyroxenites. The second stage involved volumetrically subordinate cumulate troctolites and gabbros, which are not penetratively deformed. The mantle source was refractory and enriched by a LILE‐rich hydrous fluid derived from a subducting slab and/or overlying sediments, and possibly by a LREE‐rich melt. The third stage is recorded in the upper crust of the arc by the Puerca Gorda “normal” IAT protoliths, which are derived from an N‐MORB mantle source enriched with a strong subduction component. This magmatic evolution has implications for unraveling the processes responsible for subduction initiation and subsequent building of the Caribbean island arc.
Plain Language Summary
The process of intra‐oceanic subduction brings an oceanic slab under an overriding oceanic slab resulting in the formation of a convergent plate margin. Consequently, an oceanic island arc is formed in the upper plate, as is the case of the magmatically active arcs of southwest Pacific. Unlike continental magmatic arcs, intra‐oceanic arcs are less studied because a large part of them is located below sea level, emerging as chains of small islands that constitute just the tops of large submarine volcanoes. In the northern Dominican Republic, recent geochemical studies of the Caribbean volcanic and plutonic rocks indicate that older tholeiitic and boninitic melts were successively replaced by younger island arc tholeiitic melts. This change in the compositional magmas, as well as related mantle sources, places important constraints on the magmatic and tectonic processes associated with the initiation and evolution of the Caribbean island arc. In this sense, the results presented in this work allow to be compared with the chemical stratigraphy observed in actual oceanic arcs and with the predictions of models for the initiation of intra‐oceanic subduction, which constitutes one of the main questions not completely resolved of the global plate tectonics.
Key Points
The Rio Boba mafic‐ultramafic plutonic sequence is a lower crust section of the Caribbean island arc
It is made up by gabbroic rocks and subordinate lenses of pyroxenite
Their magmatic evolution record subduction initiation and subsequent arc building
BACKGROUNDSpain has been one of the countries most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. OBJECTIVETo create a registry of patients with COVID-19 hospitalized in Spain, in order to improve our knowledge ...of the clinical, diagnostic, therapeutic, and prognostic aspects of this disease. METHODSA multicentre retrospective cohort study, including consecutive patients hospitalized with confirmed COVID-19 throughout Spain. Epidemiological and clinical data, additional tests at admission and at seven days, treatments administered, and progress at 30 days of hospitalization were collected from electronic medical records. RESULTSUp to June 30th 2020, 15,111 patients from 150 hospitals were included. Their median age was 69.4 years (range: 18-102 years) and 57.2% were male. Prevalences of hypertension, dyslipidemia, and diabetes mellitus were 50.9%, 39.7%, and 19.4%, respectively. The most frequent symptoms were fever (84.2%) and cough (73.5%). High values of ferritin (73.5%), lactate dehydrogenase (73.9%), and D-dimer (63.8%), as well as lymphopenia (52.8%), were frequent. The most used antiviral drugs were hydroxychloroquine (85.6%) and lopinavir/ritonavir (61.4%); 33.1% developed respiratory distress. Overall mortality rate was 21.0%, with a marked increase with age (50-59 years: 4.7%, 60-69 years: 10.5%, 70-79 years: 26.9%, ≥80 years: 46.0%). CONCLUSIONSThe SEMI-COVID-19 Network provides data on the clinical characteristics of patients with COVID-19 hospitalized in Spain. Patients with COVID-19 hospitalized in Spain are mostly severe cases, as one in three patients developed respiratory distress and one in five patients died. These findings confirm a close relationship between advanced age and mortality.
Populations of “Candidatus Accumulibacter”, a known polyphosphate-accumulating organism, within clade IC have been proposed to perform anoxic P-uptake activity in enhanced biological phosphorus ...removal (EBPR) systems using nitrate as electron acceptor. However, no consensus has been reached on the ability of “Ca. Accumulibacter” members of clade IC to reduce nitrate to nitrite. Discrepancies might relate to the diverse operational conditions which could trigger the expression of the Nap and/or Nar enzyme and/or to the accuracy in clade classification. This study aimed to assess whether and how certain operational conditions could lead to the enrichment and enhance the denitrification capacity of “Ca. Accumulibacter” within clade IC. To study the potential induction of the denitrifying enzyme, an EBPR culture was enriched under anaerobic–anoxic–oxic (A2O) conditions that, based on fluorescence in situ hybridization and ppk gene sequencing, was composed of around 97% (on a biovolume basis) of affiliates of “Ca. Accumulibacter” clade IC. The influence of the medium composition, sludge retention time (SRT), polyphosphate content of the biomass (poly-P), nitrate dosing approach, and minimal aerobic SRT on potential nitrate reduction were studied. Despite the different studied conditions applied, only a negligible anoxic P-uptake rate was observed, equivalent to maximum 13% of the aerobic P-uptake rate. An increase in the anoxic SRT at the expenses of the aerobic SRT resulted in deterioration of P-removal with limited aerobic P-uptake and insufficient acetate uptake in the anaerobic phase. A near-complete genome (completeness = 100%, contamination = 0.187%) was extracted from the metagenome of the EBPR biomass for the here-proposed “Ca. Accumulibacter delftensis” clade IC. According to full-genome-based phylogenetic analysis, this lineage was distant from the canonical “Ca. Accumulibacter phosphatis”, with closest neighbor “Ca. Accumulibacter sp. UW-LDO-IC” within clade IC. This was cross-validated with taxonomic classification of the ppk1 gene sequences. The genome-centric metagenomic analysis highlighted the presence of genes for assimilatory nitrate reductase (nas) and periplasmic nitrate reductase (nap) but no gene for respiratory nitrate reductases (nar). This suggests that “Ca. Accumulibacter delftensis” clade IC was not capable to generate the required energy (ATP) from nitrate under strict anaerobic-anoxic conditions to support an anoxic EBPR metabolism. Definitely, this study stresses the incongruence in denitrification abilities of “Ca. Accumulibacter” clades and reflects the true intra-clade diversity, which requires a thorough investigation within this lineage.
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•Long term operation of an A2O reactor did not result in the acclimatization nor adaptation of a DPAO.•The PAO genome of this study did not encode the necessary genes to denitrify from nitrate.•Classification of PAO denitrifying activity based on the ppk1-gene-delineated clades I & II is not valid.
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