Specialized diets enriched with immune nutrients could be an important supplement in patients (pts) with acute traumatic brain injury (TBI). Omega-3 and arginine may interact with immune response and ...microbiota. No data are available about the role of the specialized diets in modulating the lung microbiota, and little is known about the influence of lung microbiota structure in development of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in TBI pts. The aims of this study are to evaluate the impact of specific nutrients on the lung microbiota and the variation of lung microbiota in TBI pts developing VAP.
A cohort of 31 TBI pts requiring mechanical ventilation in ICU was randomized for treatment with specialized (16pts) or standard nutrition (15pts). Alpha and beta diversity of lung microbiota were analyzed from bronco Alveolar Lavage (BAL) samples collected at admission and 7 days post-ICU admission in both groups. A further analysis was carried out on the same samples retrospectively grouped in VAP or no VAP pts.
None developed VAP in the first week. Thereafter, ten out of thirty-one pts developed VAP. The BAL microbiota on VAP group showed significant differences in beta diversity and Staphylococcus and Acinetobacter Genera were high. The specialized nutrition had influence on beta diversity that reached statistical significance only in Bray-Curtis distance.
Our data suggest that TBI patients who developed VAP during ICU stay have different structures of BAL microbiota either at admission and at 7 days post-ICU admission, while no correlation has been observed between different enteral formulas and microbiota composition in terms of richness and evenness. These findings suggest that targeting the lung microbiota may be a promising approach for preventing infections in critically ill patients.
An increasing consumer demand for pomegranate has been globally observed, mainly thanks to the scientific evidence related to its functional and health-promoting features. Pomegranate fruits from ...twenty accessions identified in Southeastern Italy were characterized according to morphological and chemical features. Juices extracted from pomegranate fruits were fermented with selected
PU1 and the antioxidant activity investigated. Whey was added to juices to promote the microbial growth. Fermentation led to the increase of the radical scavenging activity (up to 40%) and significant inhibition of the linoleic acid peroxidation. The three fermented juices showing the highest antioxidant activity, and the corresponding unfermented controls, were further characterized. In detail, the cytotoxicity and the protective role toward artificially induced oxidative stress were determined on murine fibroblasts Balb 3T3 through the determination of the viability and the intracellular ROS (reactive oxygen species) scavenging activity (RSA). RSA reached values of
70% in fermented juices, being
40% higher than the unfermented and control samples. Phenols compounds of the pomegranate juices obtained from accessions "Bitonto Piscina," "Sanrà nero," and "Wonderful (reference cultivar) were analyzed through ultrahigh pressure liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, showing that a marked increase (up to 60%) of the ellagitannins derivatives occurred during fermentation. Sensory analysis showed suitability of the fermented juices to be used as beverage and food ingredient.
Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) has been acknowledged as a technology for CO2 emission reduction. However, developments to lower cost and energy consumption remains an important challenge.
Exergetic ...and exergoeconomic analyses are methods which could be applied to optimize the energy consumption of CO2 capture technologies. An exergetic analysis reveals the locations and causes of inefficiency in an energy conversion process and provides options for improvements. An exergoeconomic analysis establishes the process of cost formation of different streams, including products, within energy systems based on exergy and economic cost balances. This paper aims to develop an exergy-based analysis of a post-combustion CO2 capture process using chemical absorption.
A comprehensive flowsheet model has been built for an MEA-solvent chemical absorption, using ASPEN PlusTM Version 8.6 for a coal-fired power plant with a capture rate of 90%. Results have shown the highest irreversibilities to occur in the units related to the chemical capture of CO2 (77% of total losses) and in the CO2 pipeline compressor (9% of total losses). An improvement in the design of the plant reduces the unit cost of carbon capture from 35.0 US$/tonCO2 in the baseline case to of 31.8 US$/tonCO2.
•The CO2 capture cost reaches a minimum for the stripper operating at 2.8 bar.•Exergy and exergoeconomic results of a post-combustion MEA-based CO2 capture process are shown.•The design improvement method is used to assess the process of cost formation of CO2 capture.•The lean loading of 0.23 molCO2/molMEA generates the lowest overall irreversibilities of the CO2 capture plant.
We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare the accuracy of the QuantiFERON-TB® Gold In-Tube (QFT-G-IT) and the T-SPOT®.TB assays with the tuberculin skin test (TST) for the ...diagnosis of latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection (LTBI). The Medline, Embase and Cochrane databases were explored for relevant articles in November 2009. Specificities, and negative (NPV) and positive (PPV) predictive values of interferon-γ release assays (IGRAs) and the TST, and the exposure gradient influences on test results among bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccinees were evaluated. Specificity of IGRAs varied 98-100%. In immunocompetent adults, NPV for progression to tuberculosis within 2 yrs were 97.8% for T-SPOT®.TB and 99.8% for QFT-G-IT. When test performance of an immunodiagnostic test was not restricted to prior positivity of another test, progression rates to tuberculosis among IGRA-positive individuals followed for 19-24 months varied 8-15%, exceeding those reported for the TST (2-3%). In multivariate analyses, the odd ratios for TST positivity following BCG vaccination varied 3-25, whereas IGRA results remained uninfluenced and IGRA positivity was clearly associated with exposure to contagious tuberculosis cases. IGRAs may have a relative advantage over the TST in detecting LTBI and allow the exclusion of M. tuberculosis infection with higher reliability.
Histological regression in primary cutaneous melanoma occurs in 10–35% of cases. Although a large body of literature exists to suggest that histological regression serves very little purpose in ...predicting biologic behaviour with melanoma, recognizing the presence of regression at clinical and histological ground may still retain some value in grading melanoma aggressiveness. In the current review, a comprehensive overview of the main aspects of regression will be provided. Histologically, many classifications have been reported so far, but all of them only agreed on the presence of an infiltrate of lymphocytes admixed with pigment‐laden macrophages underlying an atrophic epidermis with flattened rete ridges. Upon dermoscopy, regression is also named Blue White Scar‐like areas and could be variably admixed with granularity or peppering. Almost fully regressed lesions represent a main diagnostic issue in dermoscopy, and thus, confocal microscopy can be of help to identify whether the tumour is melanocytic or not. The clinical utility of regression as a prognostic factor has been challenged recently. Nowadays, evidences showed that it is less likely associated to SLN metastases.
Although the medicinal use of boron-containing compounds (BCCs) had long been limited to antiseptics, in the last few decades, these compounds have been used as antibiotics or chemotherapeutic ...agents. In the last few years, boron has been included in the moieties of many known drugs to improve their capacity in binding to their respective target receptors.
The current review focuses on research and patent literature of the last decade related to the development of BCCs as preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic tools. It explores the possible mechanisms of action of these compounds as well as the advantageous features of their structure and chemico-pharmacological properties.
Although uncertainties exist about the mechanism of action of BCCs, increasing evidence about their toxicological profile strongly suggests that many can be safely administered to humans. Even stronger evidence exists regarding the capacity of BCCs to reach multiple targets that are involved in the treatment of common diseases. It seems fair to say that some BCCs will reach the market for medicinal use in the near future, not only for targeting microbial or neoplastic systems but also for acting on cell-signaling processes involved in many other disorders.
The knowledge of the geoid undulation, the height of the geoid relative to a given ellipsoid of reference, is fundamental to transform the ellipsoidal heights into orthometric heights. Global geoid ...undulation models developed from satellite gravity measurements appropriately integrated with other data, are free accessible in internet, but their accuracy may be inadequate for specific applications. Earth Gravitational Model 2008 (EGM2008) is one of those: usually available in grid form 2.5’ × 2.5’ (a geotif is developed by Agisoft with resolution 1’ × 1’), it defines the difference between the WGS84 ellipsoid height and the mean sea level, but in some areas the discrepancies between these geoid undulations and local correspondent measured values are on the order of various decimetres. For consequence, more accurate models are necessary. This article aims to determine a geoid undulation model suitable for Campania Region (Italy), starting from the global model EGM2008 (1’ × 1’) that is locally adjusted by using geodetic network points (GNPs) and GIS interpolation functions. Three different datasets are considered including respectively 20, 40 and 60 GNPs and three deterministic interpolators are applied in global way to generate geoid undulation grids: Inverse Distance Weight (IDW), Global Polynomial 1st order (GP1), Global Polynomial 2nd order (GP2). The resultant 9 models are tested on 20 additional GNPs. The experiments demonstrate that local geoid can be produced on a little area adapting global geoid by means of GNPs: the model obtained using GP2 and 60 GNPs, the most accurate one, fits the data with ±3.2 cm root mean square error (RMSE).
Abstract
To date, the most industrially developed technology to produce green hydrogen is represented by alkaline water electrolysis (AWE). To improve on design and efficiency of these devices, ...however, multiphysics simulations based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) are needed, able to account for electrophysical phenomena and multiphase flows. Focusing on internal flow optimization, the requirements for CFD simulations are anyhow extremely challenging, since solving the gas bubbles’ motion implies the solution of a two-phase flow characterized by very low Reynolds numbers and a high fraction of dispersed gas. Despite some interesting studies have been presented in the literature so far, validation of CFD results with detailed experimental measurements is quite rare and, therefore, the reliability of the adopted modelling approaches is not assessed yet. This study presents the results of a multivariate CFD analysis of an electrochemical cell and its validation through a literature test case. Bubbles generation is introduced as a source term, thus overlooking for the moment the electrochemistry to focus on fluid-dynamics. In particular, attention is given to the Eulerian multiphase modelling, investigating the influence of both the inter-phase interaction sub-models’ settings (e.g., lift and drag forces, virtual-mass force) and the general settings of the simulation. The mean velocity field of the PIV-measured bubbles is considered to assess the accuracy of numerical predictions, while the available high-definition flow pictures allow a qualitative assessment of the bubbles size and location. CFD results are shown to be in decent agreement with experimental data and able to reproduce the key flow features such as the spreading of the bubble curtains and the gas shifting towards the inner part of the cell. The effect of the bubbles’ diameter and of source layer thickness is also discussed.
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