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•Anaerobic digestion (AD) of hazelnut skin (HS) was investigated in fed-batch mode.•Higher CH4 production was obtained at lower solid retention time and higher HS load.•Maceration and ...organosolv pretreatment removed 82 and 97% of the HS polyphenols.•Methanol-organosolv pretreatment increased the CH4 potential of HS by 21%.•Reactor configuration enabled enriching microorganisms capable of HS degradation.
This study provided important insights on the anaerobic digestion (AD) of hazelnut skin (HS) by operating a fed-batch AD reactor over 240 days and focusing on several factors impacting the process in the long term. An efficient reactor configuration was proposed to increase the substrate load while reducing the solid retention time during the fed-batch AD of HS. Raw HS produced maximally 19.29 mL CH4/g VSadd/d. Polyphenols accumulated in the reactor and the use of NaOH to adjust the pH likely inhibited AD. Maceration and methanol-organosolv pretreatments were, thus, used to remove polyphenols from HS (i.e. 82 and 97%, respectively) and improve HS biodegradation. Additionally, organosolv pretreatment removed 9% of the lignin. The organosolv-pretreated HS showed an increment in methane potential of 21%, while macerated HS produced less methane than the raw substrate, probably due to the loss of non-structural sugars during maceration.
Abstract
Background
Despite optimal therapy, heart failure (HF) remains a relentless and deadly disease. Given the relative inaccessibility of myocardial human tissues, identification of circulating ...biomarkers mirroring myocardial pathological signaling pathways, especially in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) is expected to be extremely relevant. Small Nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) have been shown to play important roles in various cellular physiological processes. However, the connection between snoRNAs and pathological dysfunction in the heart or peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) is still poorly understood.
Purpose
To identify novel circulating PBMC biomarkers linked to myocardial dysfunction and HF.
Methods
Myocardial left ventricle (LV) samples and PBMC were obtained from patients affected by ischemic HF (HF, n=13) undergoing heart transplantation and control donors (CD, n=7) and analyzed by RNA sequencing analysis (RNASeq). SNORD3A expression levels in the different groups were evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR. HF was induced in 8-week-old wild type C57BL/6 mice by transverse aortic constriction (TAC). Sham-operated mice (sham) were used as controls. After twelve-week-TAC (12w) or sham operation, mice were anesthetized, cardiac function was analyzed by echocardiography, and cardiac/PBMC samples were collected after sacrifice. In order to test the role of SNORD3A in cardiomyocyte hypoxia, H9C2 cardiomyoblasts were transfected with SNORD3A-targeted antisense oligonucleotides (ASO) and cell survival was analyzed by cleaved caspase-3 and PARP1 immunoblotting.
Results
RnaSeq analysis identified a small set of genes differentially expressed in the heart and PBMC from HF patients. Among these, SNORD3A was up-regulated in cardiac and PBMC samples from HF patients compared to CD (Figure 1A-B). Similarly, in murine HF induced by 12w TAC, SNORD3A levels were increased by rtPCR, both in the heart and PBMC (Figure 1C-D). SNORD3A expression levels were also significantly increased in H9C2 cells exposed to in vitro hypoxia (Figure 1E). Interestingly, H9C2 transfection with SNORD3A-specific ASO significantly reduced hypoxia-induced SNORD3A upregulation and reduced hypoxia-induced cell death (Figure 1F-G).
Conclusions
In this study, we identify SNORD3A as a novel possible biomarker in human HF, similarly up-regulated in the heart and PBMC, induced by hypoxia in vitro and modulating cell survival.
Funding Acknowledgement
Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): STAR GRANT Figure 1
Lignocellulosic residues (LRs) are one of the most abundant wastes produced worldwide. Nevertheless, unlocking the full energy potential from LRs for biofuel production is limited by their complex ...structure. This study investigated the effect of N-methylmorpholine N-oxide (NMMO) pretreatment on almond shell (AS), spent coffee grounds (SCG), and hazelnut skin (HS) to improve their bioconversion to methane. The pretreatment was performed using a 73% NMMO solution heated at 120 °C for 1, 3, and 5 h. The baseline methane productions achieved from raw AS, SCG, and HS were 54.7 (± 5.3), 337.4 (± 16.5), and 265.4 (± 10.4) mL CH
4
/g VS, respectively. The NMMO pretreatment enhanced the methane potential of AS up to 58%, although no changes in chemical composition and external surface were observed after pretreatment. Opposite to this, pretreated SCG showed increased porosity (up to 63%) and a higher sugar percentage (up to 27%) after pretreatment despite failing to increase methane production. All pretreatment conditions were effective on HS, achieving the highest methane production of 400.4 (± 9.5) mL CH
4
/g VS after 5 h pretreatment. The enhanced methane production was due to the increased sugar percentage (up to 112%), lignin removal (up to 29%), and loss of inhibitory compounds during the pretreatment. An energy assessment revealed that the NMMO pretreatment is an attractive technology to be implemented on an industrial scale for energy recovery from HS residues.
Various strategies have been explored in the last 20 years to modify the functional properties of proteins and, among these, protein/polymer conjugation resulted one of the most successful ...approaches. Thus, the surface modification of polypeptides of potential industrial interest by covalent attachment of different macromolecules is nowadays regarded as an extremely valuable technique to manipulate protein activities. Protein derivatives with a number of either natural or synthetic polymers, like different polysaccharides or polyethylene glycol, have been obtained by both chemical and enzymatic treatments, and in this context, the crosslinking enzyme transglutaminase is attracting an increasing attention as a simple and safe means for protein processing in vitro. In this short review, we summarized the most significant experimental findings demonstrating that a microbial form of the enzyme is an effective tool to obtain several biopolymer-based conjugates potentially useful for both food and pharmaceutical applications.
Purpose
To investigate critical aspects and effectiveness of in vivo dosimetry (IVD) tests obtained by an electronic portal imaging device (EPID) in a multicenter and multisystem context.
Materials ...and methods
Eight centers with three commercial systems—SoftDiso (SD, Best Medical Italy, Chianciano, Italy), Dosimetry Check (DC, Math Resolution, LCC), and PerFRACTION (PF, Sun Nuclear Corporation, SNC, Melbourne, FL)—collected IVD results for a total of 2002 patients and 32,276 tests. Data are summarized for IVD software, radiotherapy technique, and anatomical site. Every center reported the number of patients and tests analyzed, and the percentage of tests outside of the tolerance level (OTL%). OTL% was categorized as being due to incorrect patient setup, incorrect use of immobilization devices, incorrect dose computation, anatomical variations, and unknown causes.
Results
The three systems use different approaches and customized alert indices, based on local protocols. For Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) treatments OTL% mean values were up to 8.9% for SD, 18.0% for DC, and 16.0% for PF. Errors due to “anatomical variations” for head and neck were up to 9.0% for SD and DC and 8.0% for PF systems, while for abdomen and pelvis/prostate treatments were up to 9%, 17.0%, and 9.0% for SD, DC, and PF, respectively. The comparison among techniques gave 3% for Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy, 7.0% (range 4.7–8.9%) for VMAT, 10.4% (range 7.0–12.2%) for Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy, and 13.2% (range 8.8–21.0%) for 3D Conformal Radiation Therapy.
Conclusion
The results obtained with different IVD software and among centers were consistent and showed an acceptable homogeneity. EPID IVD was effective in intercepting important errors.
Beam steering performance of bent silicon crystals irradiated with high-intensity and high-energy protons has been studied. In particular, crystals of the type used for collimation and extraction ...purposes in the Large Hadron Collider and the Super Proton Synchrotron at CERN have been irradiated at the HiRadMat CERN facility with
2.5
×
10
13
440 GeV/c protons, with a pulse length of 7.2
μ
s. The purpose is to study possible changes in bending angle and channeling efficiency due to thermo-mechanical stresses in case of accidental irradiation during accelerator operations. A comparison between measurements performed before and after the irradiation does not show any appreciable performance reduction in either crystal.
The influence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes in the natural history of the disease and its response to antiviral treatment have been addressed in many studies. In Brazil, studies on HBV ...genotype circulation have been restricted to specific population groups and states. Here, we have conducted a nationwide multicentre study with an unprecedented sample size representing all Brazilian regions in an effort to better understand the viral variants of HBV circulating among chronic carriers. Seven HBV genotypes were found circulating in Brazil. Overall, HBV/A was the most prevalent, identified in 589 (58.7 %) samples, followed by HBV/D (23.4 %) and HBV/F (11.3 %). Genotypes E, G, C and B were found in a minor proportion. The distribution of the genotypes differed markedly from the north to the south of the country. While HBV/A was the most prevalent in the North (71.6 %) and Northeast (65.0 %) regions, HBV/D was found in 78.9 % of the specimens analysed in the South region. HBV/F was the second most prevalent genotype in the Northeast region (23.5 %). It was detected in low proportions (7 to 10 %) in the North, Central-West and Southeast regions, and in only one sample in the South region. HBV/E was detected in all regions except in the South, while monoinfection with HBV/G was found countrywide, with the exception of Central-West states. Our sampling covered 24 of the 26 Brazilian states and the Federal District and is the first report of genotype distribution in seven states. This nationwide study provides the most complete overview of HBV genotype distribution in Brazil to date and reflects the origin and plurality of the Brazilian population.
The Italian Dystonia Registry is a multicenter data collection system that will prospectively assess the phenomenology and natural history of adult-onset dystonia and will serve as a basis for future ...etiological, pathophysiological and therapeutic studies. In the first 6 months of activity, 20 movement disorders Italian centres have adhered to the registry and 664 patients have been recruited. Baseline historical information from this cohort provides the first general overview of adult-onset dystonia in Italy. The cohort was characterized by a lower education level than the Italian population, and most patients were employed as artisans, builders, farmers, or unskilled workers. The clinical features of our sample confirmed the peculiar characteristics of adult-onset dystonia, i.e. gender preference, peak age at onset in the sixth decade, predominance of cervical dystonia and blepharospasm over the other focal dystonias, and a tendency to spread to adjacent body parts, The sample also confirmed the association between eye symptoms and blepharospasm, whereas no clear association emerged between extracranial injury and dystonia in a body site. Adult-onset dystonia patients and the Italian population shared similar burden of arterial hypertension, type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, dyslipidemia, and hypothyroidism, while hyperthyroidism was more frequent in the dystonia population. Geographic stratification of the study population yielded no major difference in the most clinical and phenomenological features of dystonia. Analysis of baseline information from recruited patients indicates that the Italian Dystonia Registry may be a useful tool to capture the real world clinical practice of physicians that visit dystonia patients.
Studies indicate that West African and Congo basin isolates of monkeypox virus (MPXV) are genetically distinct. Here, we show Congo basin MPXV-ZAI-V79 is more virulent for cynomolgus monkeys as ...compared to presumed West African MPXV-COP-58. This finding may explain the lack of case-fatalities in the U.S. 2003 monkeypox outbreak, which was caused by a West African virus. Virulence differences between West African and Congo basin MPXV are further supported by epidemiological analyses that observed a similar prevalence of antibodies in non-vaccinated humans in both regions, while >90% of reported cases occurred in the Congo basin, and no fatal cases were observed outside of this region. To determine the basis for this difference in virulence, we sequenced the genomes of one human West African isolate, and two presumed West African isolates and compared the sequences to Congo basin MPXV-ZAI-96-I-16. The analysis identified D10L, D14L, B10R, B14R, and B19R as possible virulence genes, with D14L (ortholog of vaccinia complement protein) as a leading candidate.
•Background event incidence rates using claims can help assess vaccine safety.•Provided rates of 32 events in a large US commercially-insured population.•Event rates varied by gender, age, and ...invasive pneumococcal disease risk-group.•Event rates often varied widely by sensitivity of claims definition.
Background incidence rates (IRs) of potential safety outcomes among vaccine eligible individuals can inform assessment of vaccine safety. Vaccine safety surveillance often uses claims databases, but the impact of outcome definitions on background IR estimates is largely unexplored. Using two definitions for each outcome, we estimated background IRs of 32 cardiac, metabolic, allergic, autoimmune, neurologic, hematologic and nephrologic outcomes among individuals eligible to receive pneumococcal vaccination.
We defined a cohort of individuals aged 6–100 years in US commercial health plans who had ≥12 months of health plan enrollment between January 2007 and August 2014 and no previous record of conjugate or simple polysaccharide pneumococcal vaccination. We developed a sensitive and a specific definition for each outcome, with the specific definition requiring evidence of additional care consistent with the outcome. IRs per 100,000 person-years for each outcome were presented overall and stratified by age, gender, and invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) risk category.
We followed 19.9 million individuals for a median of 2.5 years. Wide variation was seen in IRs across different definitions of the 32 outcomes, with 19 (59%) outcomes having a specific definition IR less than half of the sensitive definition IR. IRs were particularly variable by definition for outcomes categorized as either hematologic/nephrologic or neurologic (mean ratio of specific IR to sensitive IR = 0.26 and 0.30, respectively). Across definitions, the IRs of the 32 outcomes were often highest in females, adults ≥65, and those at higher IPD risk.
Background IRs of safety outcomes relevant to populations indicated for pneumococcal vaccine varied by outcome definitions and population subgroups in this large US commercially-insured population. Given large differences in estimated IRs using sensitive versus specific case definitions, neurologic, and hematologic/nephrologic safety outcomes as compared to allergic and autoimmune outcomes may warrant more refined definitions and medical record validation.
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