The potential ability of microwave heating (MWH) for the remediation of marine sediments affected by severe hydrocarbon (HC) contamination was investigated. Decontamination effectiveness and ...environmental sustainability through a comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) were addressed. Main results revealed that the application of a 650-W MWH treatment resulted in a rapid (15min) HC removal. A citric acid (CA) dose of 0.1M led to enhanced-HC removals of 76.9, 96.5 and 99.7% after 5, 10 and 15min of MW irradiation, respectively. The increase in CA dose to 0.2M resulted in a shorter successful remediation time of 10min. The exponential kinetic model adopted showed a good correlation with the experimental data with R2 values in the 0.913–0.987 range. The nature of the MW treatment was shown to differently influence the HC fraction concentration after the irradiation process. Achieved HC removals in such a short remediation time are hardly possible by other clean-up techniques, making the studied treatment a potential excellent choice. Removal mechanisms, which allowed the enhanced-MWH to operate as a highly effective multi-step technique (pure thermal desorption+chemical washing), undoubtedly represent a key factor in the whole remediation process. The LCA highlighted that the MW technology is the most environmentally sustainable alternative for sediment decontamination applications, with a total damage, which was 75.74% lower than that associated with the EK (0.0503pt).
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•A citric acid enhanced-MW treatment of TPH-contaminated sediment was investigated.•The environmental sustainability of the treatment through a LCA study was assessed.•Citric acid/MW resulted in a very rapid and effective (>99%) decontamination.•Results revealed pure thermal desorption and chemical washing as removal mechanisms.•The LCA classified MW technology as the most effective sustainable alternative.
•We investigate a glycerol enhanced-MW treatment of TPH-contaminated sediments.•Results revealed a strong passive ability of sediment in converting MW into heat.•Glycerol addition led to a strong ...increase in sediment MW absorbing ability.•Glycerol/MW resulted in an ultra-rapid (3min) and effective (>99%) decontamination.•No toxic by-products were generated during the remediation treatment.
In this study, a new enhanced MW heating treatment using glycerol was proposed and investigated in the remediation of marine sediments highly contaminated with hydrocarbons. The heating and contaminant removal performance of different treatments using varying glycerol doses were compared. The results showed that the addition of glycerol in sediments largely promoted the MW absorbing performance that corresponded to a large increase in temperature (up to∼120°C) with a maximum sediment temperature of 342°C. This allowed much faster contaminant removal kinetic to be obtained. A glycerol dose of 5% led to drastically lowered contaminant residual concentrations of 6454 (R=∼81%), 770 (R=∼98%) and 12 (R>99%) mgkg−1 after 3, 5 and 10min, respectively, demonstrating that∼5min were sufficient to reach the regulatory remediation target. A further dose increase (10%) led to a required time of 3min (R>99%), which corresponded to almost half of the MW energy required respect to the unenhanced MW. The main advantage of MW/glycerol treatment is the possibility to obtain a very rapid and effective decontamination process potentially reducing energy costs, also in the case of a very high initial hydrocarbon concentration, without producing additional by-products (respect to MW alone), which in some cases can be toxic. A comparison with other available clean-up alternatives revealed that literature does not report similar rapid and at the same time effective treatments for hydrocarbon-contaminated sediments.
Investigating correlations between clinical, instrumental, and genetic features of primary lymphedema (PL) with the aim to facilitate the diagnosis, the staging, and the management of this subgroup ...of patients.
A prospective observational study was conducted from September 2016 to May 2018, including patients with diagnosis of nonsyndromic PL. All patients underwent a lymphoscintigraphic rest-stress test, an indocyanine green (ICG) lymphographic test, and a genetic test from sputum sample.
A total of 20 patients were enrolled in the study and 44 limbs were examined. The totality of clinically affected limbs (32/44) showed lymphographic and lymphoscintigraphic abnormalities. Concerning clinically healthy limbs (12/44), an abnormal pattern was demonstrated in 33.3% of ICG lymphographic test and 75% of lymphoscintigraphy. Regarding lymphography findings, the most frequent pattern was the distal dermal backflow (DDB). We distinguished four grades of DDB, which correlates with clinical and lymphoscintigraphic features. Furthermore, we found a new lymphographic alteration consisting of fluorescence appearing distally to the injection site of ICG, including fingers/toes and palmar/plantar surface of the hand and of the foot. This alteration, called "print sign," seems to be typical of DDB pattern PL. Genetic test did not help us make any etiological diagnosis.
To our knowledge, this is the first study about PL comparing clinical, ICG lymphographic, lymphoscintigraphic, and genetic findings. As expected, all clinically affected limbs showed abnormalities in ICG lymphographic and lymphoscintigraphic tests. In opposition to what has previously been reported, also clinically healthy limbs showed lymphographic and lymphoscintigraphic alterations and this could suggest the existence of a subclinical form of PL. We proposed a grading of the DDB pattern, which correlates with clinical and lymphoscintigraphic features. Furthermore, we have described a new lymphographic alteration that seems to be typical of DDB pattern PL, the "print sign."
Apelin regulates angiogenesis, stimulating endothelial cell proliferation and migration. It is upregulated during tumor angiogenesis, and its overexpression was reported to increase tumor growth. ...Furthermore, apelin controls vasopressin release and body fluid homeostasis. The aim of this study was to examine the correlations between apelin expression and clinical outcomes in oncologic patients, such as cancer disease progression and patient’s survival. Apelin levels were evaluated in a cohort of 95 patients affected by different varieties of cancer. Partial remission and stable disease were assigned to the ‘no progression’ group, comparing it with the progressor group. Patients were followed up for 2 years. Receiver operating characteristics analysis was employed for identifying the progression of the oncologic disease and Kaplan–Meier curves assessed the survival. Adjusted risk estimates for progression endpoint were calculated using Cox proportional hazard regression analysis. Oncologic patients had higher apelin levels compared with healthy subjects, and apelin was closely related to the stages of the disease. In the hyponatremia group, apelin values were significantly higher than patients with eunatremia. After the follow-up of 24 months, 41 patients (43 %) reached the endpoint. Progressor subjects presented significantly increased apelin values at baseline compared with non-progressor. Univariate followed by multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression analysis showed that apelin predicted cancer progression independently of other potential confounders. In patients with cancer, apelin closely reflects the stage of the disease and represents a strong and independent risk marker for cancer progression.
