The degradation of ascorbic acid was determined in a ready-to-drink orange juice–milk beverage treated by high intensity pulsed electric fields (PEF). The effects of PEF treatment were compared to ...those of heat pasteurization (90
ºC, 20
s). Four electric field strengths (15, 25, 35, 40
kV/cm) and six treatment times for each field (from 40
µs to 700
µs) were studied. Ascorbic acid degradation was adjusted to an exponential model. The obtained ascorbic acid degradation rate constants (
k
E) were −
0.11·10
−
3
±
0.03·10
−
3
μs
−
1
, −
0.23·10
−
3
±
0.07·10
−
3
μs
−
1
, −
0.42·10
−
3
±
0.09·10
−
3
μs
−
1
and −
0.60·10
−
3
±
0.06·10
−
3
μs
−
1
for field strengths of 15, 25, 35 and 40
kV/cm, respectively. For the shelf-life study a 25
kV/cm at 280
µs treatment was applied and the beverages were stored at 4 and 10
ºC. The ascorbic acid degradation rate during storage was adjusted to zero-order kinetics showing that beverages stored at 4
ºC had better ascorbic acid retention than beverages stored at 10
°C. No significant differences were found between heat pasteurization and PEF treatments during storage.
Food beverages are mainly preserved and made available to the consumer by different thermal treatments which involve a destruction of desirable food constituents such as nutrients, bioactive compounds, colour, flavour and texture. The present work demonstrates that the ascorbic acid degradation in an orange juice–milk beverage treated by pulsed electric fields was adjusted to zero-order kinetics and degradation rate during storage was adjusted to first-order kinetics. The shelf life of the orange juice–milk beverages is similar so much for the pasteurized beverages as for the treated by PEF.
Balloon dilation (with or without steroid injection) is the endoscopic treatment of choice for short strictures in Crohn's disease (CD). The placement of a stent has only rarely been reported in this ...setting, and it may be a good alternative.
To describe the efficacy of temporary placement of a self-expanding metallic stent (SEMS) in the endoscopic treatment of symptomatic strictures in CD.
We included 17 CD patients treated with SEMS (4 partially covered SEMS and 21 fully covered SEMS) for symptomatic strictures refractory to medical and/or endoscopic treatment.
We placed 25 stents in 17 patients with stenosis (<8 cm), in the colon and in the ileocolonic anastomosis. In two cases, two stents were placed in the same endoscopic procedure. All except three cases had previously been unsuccessfully treated with endoscopic dilatation. The stents were maintained for an average of 28 days (1–112). The treatment was effective in 64.7% of the patients after a mean follow-up time of 60 weeks (5–266). In four cases, removal of the stents was technically difficult due to stent impaction (moderate adverse events-AEs) and one patient had a proximal stent migration requiring delayed surgery (severe AE).
The placement of self-expanding metallic stent in Crohn's disease maintained over a period of 4 weeks is a safe, effective treatment for strictures refractory to medical treatment and/or balloon dilatation, and might be an alternative endoscopic
Objective
Recent studies suggest that hypotension thresholds in current guidelines might be too low for older patients due to arterial stiffening, possibly leading to insufficient fluid resuscitation
....
We compared intravenous (IV) fluid volumes that older (≥ 70 years) and younger (< 70 years) patients with suspected infection with similar initial systolic blood pressure (SBP) received in the emergency department (ED) and investigated whether this was associated with in-hospital mortality in older patients.
Methods
This was an observational multicenter study using an existing database in which consecutive ED patients hospitalized with suspected infection were prospectively included. We first compared the fluid volumes older and younger ED patients received per initial SBP category. Patients were then stratified into two SBP categories (≤ or > 120 mmHg; 120 has been suggested to be a better threshold) and thereafter into three fluid volume categories: 0–1 L, 1–2 L, or > 2 L. In each SBP and fluid category, case-mix-adjusted in-hospital mortality was compared between older and younger patients, using multivariable logistic regression analysis.
Results
The included 981 (37%) older and 1678 (63%) younger ED patients received similar IV fluid volumes per initial SBP category. Older patients with an initial SBP > 120 mmHg had a higher adjusted OR of 2.06 (95% CI 1.02–4.16), in the 0–1 L category, while this association was not found in the higher fluid categories of 1–2 L or > 2 L. In the SBP ≤ 120 mmHg category, this association was also absent.
Conclusion
This hypothesis-generating study suggests that older patients with suspected infection may need higher fluid volumes than younger patients, when having a seemingly normal initial SBP.
Recently, the notion that smoking may adversely affect Crohn's disease (CD) outcomes has been challenged by the suggestion that the widespread use of immunosuppressants and anti-TNF drugs might ...offset the adverse effects of tobacco.
To reassess the influence of tobacco smoking on disease phenotype and complications on a time-dependent analysis, taking into account the different therapeutic interventions.
We designed a retrospective cohort study of 3224 patients with Crohn's disease. The data were collected from the Spanish national inflammatory bowel disease registry (ENEIDA), including information regarding demographics, clinical characteristics, disease complications, therapeutic interventions and smoking status. Patients were classified as nonsmokers, smokers and former smokers, according to their present and past smoking habits.
In the univariate analysis, smokers had more strictures (22.6% vs. 19.3%, P < 0.05) and less colonic involvement (7.2% vs. 10.9%, P < 0.05), and were more frequently under treatment with steroids (91.6% vs. 85.8%, P < 0.05), immunosuppressants (73.5% vs. 63.6% P < 0.05) or anti-TNF drugs (31.4% vs. 25.1%, P < 0.05) than nonsmokers. In the time-dependent multivariate analysis, smokers were found to have a significantly decreased survival free of stricturing disease (HR: 1.5, CI 95% 1.18-1.90) or perianal complications (HR: 1.50, CI 95% 1.01-1.46), and had a higher risk for requiring thiopurine therapy (HR: 1.20, CI 95% 1.05-1.30).
These results suggest that, despite the widespread use of immunosuppressants and anti-TNF drugs, smokers with Crohn's disease still have a more severe disease course, with increased therapeutic requirements when compared with nonsmokers.
Aim/Purpose: This research aims to describe and demonstrate the results of an intervention through educational robotics to improve the computational thinking of student teachers. Background: ...Educational robotics has been increasing in school classrooms for the development of computational thinking and digital competence. However, there is a lack of research on how to prepare future teachers of Kindergarten and Elementary School in the didactic use of computational thinking, as part of their necessary digital teaching competence. Methodology: Following the Design-Based Research methodology, we designed an intervention with educational robots that includes unplugged, playing, making and remixing activities. Participating in this study were 114 Spanish university students of education. Contribution: This research helps to improve the initial training of student teachers, especially in the field of educational robotics. Findings: The student teachers consider themselves digital competent, especially in the dimensions related to social and multimedia aspects, and to a lesser extent in the technological dimension. The results obtained also confirm the effectiveness of the intervention through educational robotics in the development of computational thinking of these students, especially among male students. Recommendations for Practitioners: Teacher trainers could introduce robotics following these steps: (1) initiation and unplugged activities, (2) gamified activities of initiation to the programming and test of the robots, (3) initiation activities to Scratch, and (4) design and resolution of a challenge. Recommendation for Researchers: Researchers could examine how interventions with educational robots helps to improve the computational thinking of student teachers, and thoroughly analyze gender-differences. Impact on Society: Computational thinking and robotics are one of the emerging educational trends. Despite the rise of this issue, there are still few investigations that systematize and collect evidence in this regard. This study allows to visualize an educational intervention that favors the development of the computational thinking of student teachers. Future Research: Researchers could evaluate not only the computational thinking of student teachers, but also their didactics, their ability to teach or create didactic activities to develop computational thinking in their future students.
The FASyS (Absolutely Safe and Healthy Factory) project, aligned with the European Factories of the Future (FoF) concept, has been set-up to develop a new factory model aimed at minimizing the risks ...to the worker's health and safety, and guarantee their welfare and comfort in machining, handling and assembly factories. To this aim, ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) and wireless communication technologies in particular may represent very valuable tools to implement distributed and mobile sensing applications capable to continuously sense the working environment and the workers' health and safety conditions. The effective deployment of such applications in critical environments, like the industrial one, require the availability of a platform capable to monitor the operation and performance of the heterogeneous wireless networks that will connect the mobile sensors to remote control centers. This paper presents the platform implemented for this purpose in the context of the FASyS project. In addition to monitoring the status of heterogeneous wireless networks, the implemented platform provides the capability to reconfigure remotely the communication settings of wireless nodes based on possible malfunctioning or QoS degradation notifications. These functionalities will help guaranteeing the reliable and robust wireless communications required in industrial environments to implement innovative labor risk prevention applications exploiting ICT technologies.
Dedicated to the memory of Jacqueline Stedall
In the seventeenth century many changes occurred in the practice of mathematics. An essential change was the establishment of a symbolic language, so ...that the new language of symbols and techniques could be used to obtain new results. Pietro Mengoli (1626/7-86), a pupil of Cavalieri, considered the use of symbolic language and algebraic procedures essential for solving all kinds of problems. Following the algebraic research of Viète, Mengoli constructed a geometry of species, Geometriae Speciosae Elementa (1659), which allowed him to use algebra in geometry in complementary ways to solve quadrature problems, and later to compute the quadrature of the circle in his Circolo (1672). In a letter to Oldenburg as early as 1673, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) expressed an interest in Mengoli's works, and again later in 1676, when he wrote some excerpts from Mengoli's Circolo. The aim of this paper is to show how in these excerpts Leibniz dealt with Mengoli's ideas as well as to provide new insights into Leibniz's mathematical interpretations and comments.
One of the main changes in European Renaissance mathematics was the progressive development of algebra from practical arithmetic, in which equations and operations began to be written with ...abbreviations and symbols, rather than in the rhetorical way found in earlier arithmetical texts. In Spain, the introduction of algebraic procedures was mainly achieved through certain commercial or arithmetical texts, in which a section was devoted to algebra or the 'Arte Mayor'. This paper deals with the contents of the first arithmetical texts containing sections on algebra. These allow us to determine how algebraic ideas were introduced into Spain and what their main sources were. The first printed arithmetical Spanish text containing algebra was the Libro primero de Arithmetica Algebratica (1552) by Marco Aurel. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to analyse the possible sources of this book and show the major influence of the German text Coss (1525) by Christoff Rudolff, on Aurel's work.
Structural insights in the use of protocols and the extent of practice variation in EDs are lacking. The objective is to determine the extent of practice variation in EDs in The Netherlands, based on ...specified common practices. We performed a comparative study on Dutch EDs that employed emergency physicians to determine practice variation. Data on practices were collected via a questionnaire. Fifty-two EDs across The Netherlands were included. Thrombosis prophylaxis was prescribed for below-knee plaster immobilization in 27% of EDs. Vitamin C was prescribed in 50% of EDs after a wrist fracture. Splitting of applied casts to the upper or lower limb was performed in one-third of the EDs. Analysis of the cervical spine after trauma was performed by the NEXUS criteria (69%), the Canadian C-spine Rule (17%) or otherwise. The imaging modality for cervical spine trauma in adults was a CT scan (98%). The cast used for scaphoid fractures was divided between the short arm cast (46%) and the navicular cast (54%). Locoregional anaesthesia for femoral fractures was applied in 54% of the EDs. EDs in The Netherlands showed considerable practice variation in treatments among the subjects studied. Further research is warranted to gain a full understanding of the variation in practice in EDs and the potential to improve quality and efficiency.
Summary
Background Some limited studies of coeliac disease have shown higher frequency of coeliac disease in infancy and adolescence than in adulthood. This finding has remained unnoticed and not ...adequately demonstrated.
Aim To assess whether there are age and gender differences in coeliac disease prevalence.
Methods A total of 4230 subjects were included consecutively (1 to ≥80 years old) reproducing the reference population by age and gender. Sample size was calculated assuming a population‐based coeliac disease prevalence of 1:250. After an interim analysis, the paediatric sample was expanded (2010 children) due to high prevalence in this group. Anti‐transglutaminase and antiendomysial antibodies were determined and duodenal biopsy was performed if positive. Log‐linear models were fitted to coeliac disease prevalence by age allowing calculation of percentage change of prevalence. Differences between groups were compared using Chi‐squared test.
Results Twenty‐one subjects had coeliac disease (male/female 1:2.5). Coeliac disease prevalence in the total population was 1:204. Coeliac disease prevalence was higher in children (1:71) than in adults (1:357) (P = 0.00005). A significant decrease of prevalence in older generations was observed change of prevalence by age of −5% (95% CI: −7.58 to −2.42%). In the paediatric expanded group (1–14 years), a decrease of coeliac disease prevalence was also observed prevalence change: −17% (95% CI: −25.02 to −6.10).
Conclusions The prevalence of coeliac disease in childhood was five times higher than in adults. Whether this difference is due to environmental factors influencing infancy, or latency of coeliac disease in adulthood, remains to be demonstrated in prospective longitudinal studies.
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