This study aims to improve the current method of studying potentially toxic elements (PTEs) in urban dust using direct chemical evidence (from dust, rock, and emission source samples) and robust ...geochemical methods. The provenance of urban dust was determined using rare earth elements (REEs) and geochemical diagrams (V–Ni–Th*10, TiO2 vs. Zr, and Zr/Ti vs. Nb/Y). The geogenic or anthropogenic source of PTEs was determined using the enrichment factor (EF) and compositional data analysis (CoDA), while a PTE's point emission source was identified using a 3.1*La–1.54*Ce–Zn diagram, mineralogy, and morphology analyses. The spatiotemporal distribution of PTEs was determined using a geographic information system, and their health risk (by inhalation) was estimated using a lung bioaccessibility test and particle size distribution. We collected urban dust (n = 38), rock (n = 4), and zinc concentrate (n = 2) samples and determined PTEs and REEs in a city of 1.25 million inhabitants in central Mexico. Results showed that urban dust derived from the San Miguelito Range. REEs, Sc, and Zr were geogenic, while Mn, Cu, Zn, As, and Pb were anthropogenic. Due to the presente of sphalerite particles, a zinc refinery was identified as the point emission source of Zn, As, and Pb. High concentrations of Zn (5000–20,008 mg/kg), As (120–284 mg/kg), and Pb (350–776 mg/kg) were found in urban dust near the zinc refinery. Additionally, particles of PM2.5 (66–84%), PM5.0 (13–27%), PM10 (3–8%), and PM20 (0–2%) and lung bioaccessibility of Sr (48.5–72.4%), Zn (9.6–28.4%), Cu (10.5–27.0%), Fe (4.5–8.6%), Mn (2.9–9.2%), Cr (38.3%) and Pb (30.6%) demonstrated a latent risk to human health. These approaches improve our understanding of the provenance of urban dust and its PTE emission sources in urban areas.
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•According to REE's fingerprints, urban dust derives from the San Miguelito Range.•The urban dust was enriched in As, Mn, Cr, Pb, V, Zn, and Cu.•The anthropogenic source of Zn, As, and Pb was a zinc refinery within the city.•High Zn, As, and Pb were mostly found in the surroundings of the zinc refinery.•Urban dust contained PM2.5 particles and bioaccessible Zn, Pb, and other PTEs.
The quality of the quantitative information in single-particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SP-ICP-MS) depends directly on the number concentration of the nanoparticles in the sample ...analyzed, which is proportional to the flux of nanoparticles through the plasma. Particle number concentrations must be selected in accordance with the data acquisition frequency, to control the precision from counting statistics and the bias, which is produced by the occurrence of multiple-particle events recorded as single-particle events. With quadrupole mass spectrometers, the frequency of data acquisition is directly controlled by the dwell time. The effect of dwell times from milli- to microseconds (10 ms, 5 ms, 100 μs, and 50 μs) on the quality of the quantitative data has been studied. Working with dwell times in the millisecond range, precision figures about 5 % were achieved, whereas using microsecond dwell times, the suitable fluxes of nanoparticles are higher and precision was reduced down to 1 %; this was independent of the dwell time selected. Moreover, due to the lower occurrence of multiple-nanoparticle events, linear ranges are wider when dwell times equal to or shorter than 100 μs are used. A calculation tool is provided to determine the optimal concentration for any instrument or experimental conditions selected. On the other hand, the use of dwell times in the microsecond range reduces significantly the contribution of the background and/or the presence of dissolved species, in comparison with the use of millisecond dwell times. Although the use of dwell times equal to or shorter than 100 μs offers improved performance working in single-particle mode, the use of conventional dwell times (3–10 ms) should not be discarded, once their limitations are known.
•In professional associations it is necessary that members feel committed to their association.•Participation behavior affect both the perceived value and the membership commitment.•When a member has ...a high attitudinal loyalty to a professional association, he recommends it.•Higher attitudinal loyalty also implies a higher capital value of the members.•Organizational commitment and attitudinal loyalty mediate perceived value-intention to use link.
This paper studies participation behavior, organizational commitment, perceived value and attitudinal loyalty as psychological and behavioral antecedents of the intention to use the services offered by professional associations to their members. For this purpose, an empirical study was conducted and the technique used was partial least squares (PLS). The findings highlight the importance of membership commitment and attitudinal loyalty, which have a sequential mediating effect on the relationship between perceived value and intention to use. This study contributes to the literature on professional associations, due to the scarce research on the relationships between psychological and behavioral variables linked to the member-association relationship. Additionally, to date, the constructs involved had not been integrated into a comprehensive research framework in the field of professional associations. The implications for management are the new ways to improve the intention to use the services of professional associations suggested by our findings.
•The hospitalizations and deaths from listeriosis in Spain have increased since 2000.•This increase was driven by listeriosis in the elderly and immunosuppressed.•An increased incidence in 2019 was ...related to a large outbreak in Andalusia.•Hospitalizations with Listeria decreased drastically during the COVID-19 pandemic.•Despite being declared a mandatory notifiable disease in 2015, figures are worsening.
Listeria monocytogenes (LM) is a health threat worldwide given its high mortality and the growing of high-risk susceptible populations.
All hospitalizations with a diagnosis of LM in the National Registry of Hospital Discharges were examined in Spain from 2000 to 2021.
A total of 8152 hospital admissions with LM were identified. The mean age was 59.5 years and 48% were immunosuppressed (IS).
The rate of LM hospitalizations increased from 5 per 1 million population in 2000 to 8.9 in 2021 (p < 0.001). A foodborne outbreak in Andalusia determined a sharp increase in admissions with LM during 2019. The COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns were associated with a decrease in LM admissions.
The overall in-hospital mortality was 16.7%. The number of deaths in patients hospitalized with LM rose from 7.8 per 100,000 deceased in 2000 to 18 in 2021 (p < 0.001). After adjustment, age >65 years (odds ratio OR = 2.16), sepsis (OR = 2.60), meningoencephalitis (OR = 1.72), endocarditis (OR = 2.0), neonatal listeriosis (OR = 2.10) and IS (OR = 2.09) were associated with mortality.
The number of patients hospitalized with LM in Spain has increased significantly from 2000 to 2021. The increase in the rate of admissions and deaths was largely driven by the growing proportion of elderly and IS patients.
This article seeks to review the current status of treatment and prevention of venous thromboembolic disease (VTE) in cancer patients after the addition of direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) to the ...therapeutic arsenal available. The suitability of DOAC use in complex clinical situations, poorly represented in clinical trials, is controversial and difficult for care activity, making the recommendations in clinical practice guidelines the focus of special attention in this area. Recently, several randomized trials have compared low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) to DOAC for the management of CAT. Potential drug interactions with DOACs or the increased risk of bleeding in intraluminal tumors require special precautions, as do metastatic or primary brain disease and comorbid conditions, such as renal or liver failure, which are not suitably represented in pivotal studies. Furthermore, few data are available for situations involving elevated bleeding risk, with thrombocytopenia levels below the inclusion criterion of clinical trials, or recurrence during active anticoagulant therapy. Similarly, it is less clear that patients and physicians accept the presumption that oral DOAC administration is more convenient than subcutaneous LMWH, particularly when drug absorption may be compromised. The non-inclusion or under-representation of patients at higher risk for complications with anticoagulation in randomized clinical trials, makes their use complex in certain situations in health care. This paper provides a practical review of current clinical guideline recommendations regarding LMWH and/ or DOAC to treat and prevent CAT, as well as the most controversial clinical conditions for their use.
In contrast to most of essential and heavy metals, mercury levels in seaweed are very low, and pre-concentration methods are required for an adequate total mercury determination and mercury ...speciation in this foodstuff. An ionic imprinted polymer-based solid phase extraction (on column) pre-concentration procedure has been optimized for mercury species enrichment before liquid chromatography hyphenated with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry determination. The polymer has been synthesized by the precipitation polymerization method and using a ternary pre-polymerization mixture containing the template (methylmercury), a non-vinylated monomer (phenobarbital), and a vinylated monomer (methacrylic acid). Factors affecting the adsorption/desorption of Hg species (extract pH, loading and elution flow rates, volume of eluent, etc.), and parameters such as breakthrough volume and reusability, were fully studied. Mercury species were first isolated from seaweed by ultrasound assisted extraction using a 0.1% (v/v) HCl, 0.12% (w/v) l-cysteine, 0.1% (v/v) mercaptoethanol solution. Under optimized conditions, the limits of detection were 0.007 and 0.02 μg kg−1 dw for methylmercury and Hg(II), respectively. The pre-concentration factor (volume of 10 mL of seaweed extract) was 50. Repeatability and reproducibility of the method were satisfactory with relative standard deviations lower than 16%. The proposed methodology was finally applied for the selective pre-concentration and determination of methylmercury and Hg (II) in a BCR-463 certified reference material and in several edible seaweeds.
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•Selective pre-concentration of mercury species by using an ionic imprinted polymer.•Trace levels of inorganic mercury and methylmercury are assessed in edible seaweed.•Robust and low-cost pre-concentration procedure for total mercury assessment and for mercury speciation.
Working without pores: In non‐porous, channel‐free crystals of a manganese citrate coordination polymer, neutron diffraction reveals that the water molecules, both metal‐bound and co‐crystallized, ...undergo full hydrogen/deuterium exchange. Neutron diffraction analyses show a pattern of hydrogen disorder that can be interpreted in terms of the Grotthuss proton‐cascade mechanism (see scheme).
This study combines ultrasound-assisted extraction and vortex-assisted dispersive micro-solid phase extraction using an ionic imprinted polymer as a selective sorbent for rapid isolation and ...pre-concentration of inorganic arsenic species (As(III) and As(V)) in extracts from rice samples prior to their determination by high performance liquid chromatography coupled to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. All factors affecting the ultrasound assisted extraction of the species from rice (ultrasound amplitude, sonication time and sonication mode) and their selective pre-concentration by ionic imprinted polymer-based vortex-assisted dispersive micro-solid phase extraction (sorbent amount, extract pH, vortex extraction time and speed, eluting solution and vortex elution time and speed) were optimized. The analytical performance of the procedure was studied at optimum conditions: ultrasound continuous sonication at 40% amplitude for 2.0 min using 1:1 methanol/ultrapure as an extractant, 50 mg of sorbent, extract pH at 8.0, vortex loading at 1000 rpm for 1.0 min, and elution with ultrapure water by vortexing at 1000 rpm for 1.0 min, pre-concentration procedure which leads to a pre-concentration factor of 10. The limits of detection obtained for As (III) and As (V) were 0.20 and 0.41 μg kg−1, respectively, and were well below the maximum levels established by the European Union in rice and rice containing products. The method was found to be precise (intraday and interday relative standard deviations ≤ 11%) and selective. The accuracy was confirmed by analysing the ERM-BC211 (rice, As species) certified reference material, and the method was successfully applied to commercial rice samples.
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•A vortex-assisted dispersive micro-SPE was used to separate and pre-concentrate iAs.•The ion-imprinted polymeric sorbent was selective for iAs.•iAs (As(III) plus As(V)) can be assessed by ICP-MS.•As(III) and As(V) species can be assessed by HPLC-ICP-MS.•The LOQ of the method is lower than the iAs levels in rice set by safety authorities.
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•Smart materials are a potential technology for extracting and sensing As and Hg.•Smart materials approach as a green environmentally friendly tool.•Several smart materials (IIPs, ...MOFs, ILs, aptamers …, among others) are discussed.•Drawbacks and future challenges in smart materials are considered.
In recent decades, the remarkable thermal, electronic, optical and mechanical properties of smart materials have attracted the attention of analytical chemists intending to address problems found in metal determination in food (use of time-consuming procedures and expensive techniques to reach the low limits of detection required for quality control, in particular for speciation). Moreover, some of these materials are interesting from the point of view of green chemistry, reducing waste by minimizing the consumption of reagents, solvents, extractants, and samples. In this review, we discuss the applications of some of the different smart materials found in the literature for mercury and arsenic determination in food and beverage samples: ionic imprinted polymers (IIPs), immunosorbent materials, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs), ionic liquids, aptamers, graphene-based materials, carbon nanotubes, surfactant-based materials, gold nanomaterials and silica-based nanomaterials. At the end of this study, we will examine the future challenges and present drawbacks of the existing smart materials.
Serratus intercostal fascial plane block (SIFPB) has emerged as an alternative to paravertebral block in breast surgery. It involves the administration of high volumes and doses of local anesthetics ...(LA) that can potentially reach toxic levels. Ropivacaine is widely used in thoraco-fascial blocks; however, there is no information on the plasma concentrations attained after SIPFB and whether they are associated with cardiotoxicity. Plasma concentrations of ropivacaine and its electrophysiological effects were evaluated in eight pigs after bilateral SIFPB with ropivacaine in doses of 3 mg/kg. Plasma concentrations, electrophysiological and hemodynamic parameters were measured sequentially for the following 180 min until the end of the study. The area under the curve, the maximum plasma concentration (C
) and the time to reach C
(t
) were calculated. The median arterial ropivacaine concentration C
was, 2.34 1.40 to 3.74 µg/ml. The time to reach the highest concentration was 15 10 to 20 min. Twenty-five percent of the animals had arterial concentrations above the lower limit concentration of ropivacaine for LA systemic toxicity (3.4 µg/ml). No alterations were observed in the electrophysiological or electrocardiographic parameters except for a prolongation of the QTc interval, from 489 ± 30 to 544 ± 44 ms (Δ11.38 ± 6%), P = 0.01. Hemodynamic parameters remained in the physiological range throughout the study. SIFPB with ropivacaine in doses of 3 mg/kg has reached potentially toxic levels, however, it has not been associated with adverse electrophysiological or hemodynamic effects.
