Summary
Background
The frequency of eosinophilic oesophagitis (EoE) occurrence is escalating. Current diagnostic criteria recently proposed for the disease, determine that previous estimates of ...incidence and prevalence are outdated.
Aim
To gauge the current incidence and prevalence of EoE by performing a systematic review of population‐based studies.
Methods
Three electronic databases were searched from their inception dates to September 2018. A total of 2386 documents were screened; 29 studies reported on the prevalence and incidence of EoE in the general population.
Results
The pooled prevalence of EoE was 34.4 cases per 100 000 inhabitants (95% CI, 23.1‐47.5), and was higher for adults (42.2; 95% CI, 31.1‐55) than for children (34; 95% CI, 22.3‐49.2). The pooled EoE incidence rates were 6.6/100 000 person‐years (95% CI, 3‐11.7) in children and 7.7/100 000 (95% CI, 1.8‐17.8) in adults. No differences were found between North American and European studies using varied sources of data (insurance and administrative databases compared to hospital‐bases case series). Subgroup analysis according to risk of bias did not change results significantly. A steady rise in EoE incidence and prevalence rates was observed over time, comparing studies conducted under subsequent definitions for EoE. No significant publication bias was found.
Conclusions
In a systematic review and meta‐analysis, we found a sharp increase, higher than previous estimates, in the incidence and prevalence of EoE in population based studies. Results from studies carried out in developed countries show broad consistency and provide evidence of increasing pooled prevalence and incidence of EoE rates over time.
Melatonin: A Molecule for Reducing Breast Cancer Risk González-González, Alicia; Mediavilla, María Dolores; Sánchez-Barceló, Emilio J
Molecules (Basel, Switzerland),
02/2018, Letnik:
23, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
The objective of this article is to review the basis supporting the usefulness of melatonin as an adjuvant therapy for breast cancer (BC) prevention in several groups of individuals at high risk for ...this disease. Melatonin, as a result of its antiestrogenic and antioxidant properties, as well as its ability to improve the efficacy and reduce the side effects of conventional antiestrogens, could safely be associated with the antiestrogenic drugs presently in use. In individuals at risk of BC due to night shift work, the light-induced inhibition of melatonin secretion, with the consequent loss of its antiestrogenic effects, would be countered by administering this neurohormone. BC risk from exposure to metalloestrogens, such as cadmium, could be treated with melatonin supplements to individuals at risk of BC due to exposure to this xenoestrogen. The BC risk related to obesity may be reduced by melatonin which decrease body fat mass, inhibits the enhanced aromatase expression in obese women, increases adiponectin secretion, counteracts the oncogenic effects of elevated concentrations of leptin; and decreases blood glucose levels and insulin resistance. Despite compelling experimental evidence of melatonin's oncostatic actions being susceptible to lowering BC risk, there is still a paucity of clinical trials focused on this subject.
Density, speed of sound, refractive index, and viscosity of the commercial ionic liquids 1-ethyl-3-methylpyridinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, EMpyNTf2, 1-propyl-3-methylpyridinium ...bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, PMpyNTf2, 1-butyl-3-methylpyridinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, BMpyNTf2, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, EMimNTf2, 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, HMimNTf2, 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, BMpyrNTf2, 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium trifluoromethanesulfonate, BMpyrTFO, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate, BMimTFO, 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate, HMimTFO, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide, BMimN(CN)2, and 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium dicyanamide, HMimN(CN)2 were measured as a function of temperature at atmospheric pressure. The density, speed of sound, and refractive index data were properly fitted to a linear equation, while viscosity data were fitted to Arrhenius-like law, Vogel–Fulcher–Tamman (VFT), a modified VFT, Litovitz, and fluidity equations. Besides, from the experimental density values, the thermal expansion coefficient, α, was calculated. Moreover, the experimental data were used to analyze the effect of temperature, the role of the alky chain length of the cation, and the influence of the nature of the ions (cation and anion) on the physical properties. Finally, an exhaustive comparison with available literature data of the studied ionic liquids was also carried out.
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•Natural antioxidants as phenolic compounds are present in food by-products.•Extraction of phenolic compounds promotes food processing waste valorization.•Neoteric solvents can ...replace conventional organic solvents for extraction.•Ionic liquids, eutectic solvents and bio-solvents are promising extractants.
The loss and waste of food is a matter of great concern, leading to a multifaceted problem with negative economic, social, and environmental impacts as addressed in the UN Sustainable Development Goals number 2: zero hunger. The wine, fruit juice and vegetable oil processing industries generate significant amounts of wastes and side streams containing potentially valuable bioactive compounds. Some of them are plant secondary phenolic metabolites that offer remarkable health benefits (as antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds). One of the current challenges is the recovery of such bioactive compounds from residual matrices for further applications in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. Within this framework and in the scope of the Green Chemistry concept, one of the current challenges is to find eco-efficient techniques for the recovery of bioactive compounds. In this context, neoteric solvents are considered a greener alternative to traditional solvents, as the latter are more harmful to human and animal health, and environment. This overview focuses on recent advances in the use of hydrophobic neoteric solvents, i.e. ionic liquids, eutectic solvents, and bio-based solvents, for liquid–liquid extraction of phenolic compounds from liquid agri-food matrices.
In this work, we analyse the structure of a subspace of the phase space of the star-forming region NGC 2264 using the spectrum of kinematic groupings (SKG). We show that the SKG can be used to ...process a collection of star data to find substructure at different scales. We have found structure associated with the NGC 2264 region and also with the background area. In the NGC 2264 region, a hierarchical analysis shows substructure compatible with that found in previous specific studies of the area but with an objective, compact methodology that allows us to homogeneously compare the structure of different clusters and star-forming regions. Moreover, this structure is compatible with the different ages of the main NGC 2264 star-forming populations. The structure found in the field can be roughly associated with giant stars far in the background, dynamically decoupled from NGC 2264, which could be related either with the Outer Arm or Monoceros Ring. The results in this paper confirm the relationship between structure in the radial velocity phase-space subspace and different kinds of populations, defined by other variables not necessarily analysed with the SKG, such as age or distance, showing the importance of detecting phase-space substructure in order to trace stellar populations in the broadest sense of the word.
Cell membranes have been proposed to be laterally inhomogeneous, particularly in the case of mammalian cells, due to the presence of “domains” enriched in sphingolipids and cholesterol (Chol). Among ...membrane sphingolipids, sphingomyelin (SM) in the cell plasma membrane is known to be degraded to ceramide (Cer) by acid sphingomyelinases under stress conditions. Since cholesterol (Chol) is abundant in the plasma membrane, the study of ternary mixtures SM:Chol:Cer is interesting from the point of view of membrane biophysics, and it might be physiologically relevant. In previous studies, we have described the homogeneous gel phase formed by phospholipid:Chol:Cer at 54:23:23 mol ratios, where phospholipid was either SM or dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC). We now provide new data, based on trans-parinaric acid and diphenylhexatriene fluorescence, supporting that the gel phase includes all three components in a single bilayer. The main question addressed in this paper is the stability of the ternary gel phase when bilayer composition is changed, specifically when the SM proportion is varied. To this aim, we have prepared bilayers of composition phospholipid:Chol:Cer at X:Y:Y ratios, in which phospholipid increased between 54 and 70 mol %. The N-palmitoyl derivatives of SM (pSM) and Cer (pCer) have been used. We observe that for X = 54 or 60 mol %, a gel phase is clearly predominant. However, when the proportion of phospholipid increases beyond 60 mol %, i.e., in 66:17:17 or 70:15:15 mixtures, a lateral phase separation occurs at the micrometer scale. These data can be interpreted in terms of a pCer:Chol interaction, that would predominate at the lower phospholipid concentrations. The putative pCer:Chol complexes (or nanodomains) would mix well with the phospholipid. At the higher SM concentrations pSM:pCer and pSM:Chol interactions would become more important, giving rise to the coexisting gel and liquid-ordered phases respectively. Heterogeneity, or lateral phase separation, occurs more easily with pSM than with DPPC, indicating a higher affinity of SM over DPPC for Chol or Cer. The observation that heterogeneity, or lateral phase separation, occurs more easily with pSM than with DPPC, indicates a higher affinity of SM over DPPC for Chol or Cer, and can be related to cell regulation through the sphingolipid signaling pathway.
The evaluation of sustainable solvents as alternatives to more harmful conventional solvents combined with intensification techniques to recover phenolic compounds from agri-food waste is in the ...spotlight. The wine industry generates large amounts of waste as a consequence of grape processing operations, which can be revalued by solvent extraction of valuable antioxidants for food and fine chemical applications. Therefore, the present study focuses on the use of natural eutectic solvents (NAESs) with benign environmental, health, and safety profiles, for valorization of grape waste in the context of a circular economy. Herein, up to 15 NAESs consisting of combinations of three hydrogen bond acceptors (choline chloride, L-proline, and betaine) and four hydrogen bond donors (1,2-propanediol, glycerol, and 1,2- and 1,3-butanediol) were evaluated for antioxidant recovery. After an initial screening of the performance of NAESs by conventional extraction, the process was intensified by microwave-assisted extraction (MAE). The extracts were analyzed by UV/VIS spectrophotometric and HPLC methods. Promising results were obtained with the solvent betaine, 1,2-butanediol 1:4, using MAE at 100 °C for 3 min. Overall, the proposed NAESs-based MAE method was successfully applied to recover target compounds from grape waste, with great prospects for the antioxidants market and sustainable development for the winery sector.
•Extraction efficiency of phenols from water using ionic liquids was analyzed.•Aromatic versus non-aromatic ionic liquids were compared.•Phenol, o-cresol and resorcinol can be easily extracted from ...water.•The highest extraction efficiencies were obtained with the pyrrolidinium-based IL.•COSMO-RS supports that not only aromaticity but hydrogen bonding drives extraction.
The main goal of this work is to compare the ability of aromatic and non-aromatic ionic liquids (ILs) as potential solvents to extract phenolic compounds from aqueous systems. Although these liquid salts have been widely studied in the separation of organic compounds, especially aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and isomer xylenes, their application to separate phenols from wastewater is still much less widespread. For that reason, in this work, the extraction efficiency of phenolic compounds in molecular form (phenol, o-cresol, and resorcinol) from water using non-aromatic (1-hexyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, HMpyrNTf2) and aromatic (1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, HMimNTf2) ILs was analyzed and discussed. Firstly, the optimal operating conditions (stirring and settling time, and phase volume ratio Vionic liquid/Vwater) were stablished and then other variables such as initial phenol concentration and temperature were also studied. This work was performed through equilibrium distribution studies and the tracking of the concentration of phenol was carried out by absorbance measurements using a UV/visible spectrophotometer.
In order to provide a better understanding of the effect of the cation nature (aromatic and non-aromatic) as well as the role of the phenolic structure on the extraction ability of the ILs, the quantum chemical COSMO –RS method was used to seek an explanation in terms of molecular interactions between the solvents and the phenolic compounds. Overall results support that the aromatic nature of cations does not seem to be the predominant factor driving the extraction process, with hydrogen bonding significantly contributing to competitive solute-solvent interactions which promote the transfer of the phenolic compounds from the aqueous phase to the IL phase.
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•Extractive distillation columns using EMIMDCA as entrainer are studied.•A multiscale methodology based on COSMO thermodynamic models has been applied.•VLE and LLE of the ternary ...mixtures toluene–n-heptane–EMIMDCA are studied.
The conceptual engineering of a new process proposed for the aromatic–aliphatic separation from naphtha has been developed based on extractive distillation using the 1-ethyl-3-methyl imidazolium dycianamide EMIMDCA ionic liquid as entrainer. Process designs and simulations have been carried out with a computer-aided methodology recently developed in our group that integrates molecular modeling and process simulation via COSMO-based thermodynamic models in Aspen Plus. The computational analysis has been performed for two different multicomponent real-like naphtha models: a low aromatic content naphtha (10wt%) and a naphtha with a high aromatic content (90wt%). A sensitivity analysis with 8200 different extractive distillation column designs has been carried out varying the ionic liquid solvent to feed ratio, reflux ratio, number of stages and feed stage, in order to optimize the column design minimizing the reboiler duty and maximizing the throughput. In the low aromatic content naphtha, the results show that similar separation efficiencies to liquid–liquid extraction may be achieved by extractive distillation, requiring lower solvent to feed ratios but higher energy consumptions. For the high aromatic content naphtha, good separation performance is obtained with a significant reduction of the energy required per ton of naphtha fed to the system in comparison with the separation by liquid–liquid extraction. To evaluate the behavior of the process simulator using COSMOSAC, the classical NRTL thermodynamic model, fitted using experimental vapor–liquid and liquid–liquid data, was used to simulate the extractive distillation process for a simpler binary n-heptane–toluene mixture. Similar results are obtained using COSMOSAC and NRTL models for this binary aromatic–aliphatic mixture indicating the reliability of the COSMOSAC-based simulations of more complex multicomponent naphtha separation.
► Conservation agriculture is an alternative approach to sustainable production intensification compared with tillage-based agriculture, offering improved productivity and environment-related ...benefits to the producers and society. ► Conservation agriculture is now practiced on some 125 million hectares worldwide including in the dry Mediterranean climate in all continents. ► There are opportunities to harness key productivity and environmental benefits from conservation agriculture by small and large farmers in the dry Mediterranean climate of Central and West Asia and North Africa region.
The objective of this article is to review: (a) the principles that underpin conservation agriculture (CA) ecologically and operationally; (b) the potential benefits that can be harnessed through CA systems in the dry Mediterranean climate; (c) current status of adoption and spread of CA in the dry Mediterranean climate countries; and (d) opportunities for CA in the Central and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA) region. CA, comprising minimum mechanical soil disturbance and no-tillage seeding, organic mulch cover, and crop diversification is now practised on some 125 million ha, corresponding to about 9% of the global arable cropped land. The area under CA is spread across all continents and many agro-ecologies, including the dry Mediterranean climate. Empirical and scientific evidence is presented to show that significant productivity, economic, social and environmental benefits exist that can be harnessed through the adoption of CA in the dry Mediterranean climates, including those in the CWANA region. The benefits include: higher productivity and income; climate change adaptation and reduced vulnerability to the erratic rainfall distribution; and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. CA is now spread across several Mediterranean climate countries outside the Mediterranean basin particularly in South America, South Africa and Australia. In the CWANA region, CA is perceived to be a powerful tool of sustainable land management but it has not yet taken off in a serious manner except in Kazakhstan. Research on CA in the CWANA region has shown that there are opportunities for CA adoption in rainfed and irrigated farming systems involving arable and perennial crops as well as livestock.
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