Abstract
We spectroscopically analyzed a sample of 85 Sloan Digital Sky Survey compact, oxygen-dominated galaxies located at redshift
z
∼ 0.001–0.350, selected because of their large equivalent width ...of O
iii
λ
5007 (larger than 200 Å). These galaxies might be considered as extreme emission-line galaxies due to their strong O
iii
λ
5007 emission line. We detected high-ionization lines, even those related to the presence of Wolf–Rayet stars, in almost all the galaxies studied. We obtained physical properties (electron density and temperature) as well as chemical abundances by using the direct method based on the electron temperature. In this analysis, we obtained three different measurements of
T
(
high
): the usual one,
T
(O
iii
), but also that of
T
(S
iii
) and
T
(Ar
iii
) for five and three of the galaxies, respectively. Further, we established a new calibration for
T
(S
iii
). We determined oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, neon, argon, iron, and chlorine abundances when possible, and we compared to the results of other late-type, low-metallicity galaxies, such as blue compact dwarfs, Ims, and green peas. From such a detailed study, we can conclude that the majority of the galaxies in this sample have similar metallicities to the SMC (about
12
+
log
(
O
/
H
) ≈ 8 dex), and that only 12% of the galaxies are extremely metal-poor, with abundances lower than 7.7 dex. Also, a comparison with some chemical evolution models as well as a brief discussion on the chemical evolution with time is considered.
In vitro and in vivo studies described the myokine IL‐15 and its receptor IL‐15Rα as anabolic/anti‐atrophy agents, however, the protein expression of IL‐15Rα has not been measured in human skeletal ...muscle and data regarding IL‐15 expression remain inconclusive. The purpose of the study was to determine serum and skeletal muscle IL‐15 and IL‐15Rα responses to resistance exercise session and to analyze their association with myofibrillar protein synthesis (MPS). Fourteen participants performed a bilateral leg resistance exercise composed of four sets of leg press and four sets of knee extension at 75% 1RM to task failure. Muscle biopsies were obtained at rest, 0, 4 and 24 hours post‐exercise and blood samples at rest, mid‐exercise, 0, 0.3, 1, 2, 4 and 24 hours post‐exercise. Serum IL‐15 was increased by ~5.3‐fold immediately post‐exercise, while serum IL‐15Rα decreased ~75% over 1 hour post‐exercise (P<.001). Skeletal muscle IL‐15Rα mRNA and protein expression were increased at 4 hours post‐exercise by ~2‐fold (P<.001) and ~1.3‐fold above rest (P=.020), respectively. At 24 hours post‐exercise, IL‐15 (P=.003) and IL‐15Rα mRNAs increased by ~2‐fold (P=.002). Myofibrillar fractional synthetic rate between 0‐4 hours was associated with IL‐15Rα mRNA at rest (r=.662, P=.019), 4 hours (r=.612, P=.029), and 24 hours post‐exercise (r=.627, P=.029). Finally, the muscle IL‐15Rα protein up‐regulation was related to Leg press 1RM (r=.688, P=.003) and total weight lifted (r=.628, P=.009). In conclusion, IL‐15/IL‐15Rα signaling pathway is activated in skeletal muscle in response to a session of resistance exercise.
Aim
To evaluate in a laboratory setting the antibiofilm activity of several irrigating protocols including conventional irrigation, ultrasonic activation and XP‐endo Finisher, with a mixture of ...sodium hypochlorite and etidronic acid in infected isthmuses and root canals of extracted human mandibular molar teeth.
Methodology
Fifty‐six mesial roots of mandibular molars, half of them with a continuous isthmus from the cervical to the apical third between the two root canals (type 1), and the other half with a continuous isthmus from the cervical to the middle third and one canal in the apical third (type 2), were included. The root canals were contaminated for 7 days with an Enterococcus faecalis suspension. There were three experimental groups plus a control group (n = 7 per type of root canal anatomy). All the root canals, except for the control group that was not treated, were chemomechanically prepared and then assigned to one of the experimental groups according to the final adjunctive procedure: conventional irrigation, ultrasonic activation or XP‐endo Finisher activation. The irrigating solution used was a combination of 2.5% sodium hypochlorite and 9% etidronic acid, and the final protocols were applied for three cycles of 30 s with a 3 mL volume. The antibiofilm activity was evaluated at each location (root canal and isthmus) and third (cervical, middle and apical) using confocal laser scanning microscopy and the live/dead technique. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS (descriptive statistics) and SUDAAN (P‐value calculations).
Results
Root canals had significantly lower biovolume values than the isthmuses (P < 0.05). The biovolume in the root canals was significantly reduced in all the experimental groups in all the thirds except for conventional irrigation in the apical third (P > 0.05). In the cervical and middle thirds, ultrasonic activation was associated with the lowest biovolumes (P < 0.05), followed by XP‐endo Finisher. In the isthmus, disinfection was similar in all the thirds for all the protocols. Conventional irrigation was associated with intermediate values with no significant differences from the control group or from the activated protocols (P > 0.05), although the latter were significantly different from the control group (P < 0.05). No differences were found between ultrasonic activation and XP‐endo Finisher in the middle and apical thirds (P > 0.05) in the isthmuses.
Conclusions
In this laboratory study on extracted teeth, the isthmus was more difficult to disinfect than root canals. In the root canals, ultrasonic activation and XP‐endo Finisher had a greater effectiveness than conventional irrigation. In the isthmuses, no differences were observed between the two activation techniques and conventional irrigation.
ABSTRACT
We estimate chemical abundances and ionization parameters in the nuclear region of a sample of 143 galaxies from the Palomar Spectroscopic Survey, composed by star-forming galaxies (87), ...Seyferts 2 (16), and LINERs (40) using the hii-chi-mistry code. We also study for each spectral type the correlation of the derived quantities with other different properties of the host galaxies, such as morphology, stellar mass, luminosity, and mass of their supermassive black holes. The results obtained for star-forming galaxies are used to check the soundness of our methodology. Then, we replicate a similar study for our sample of AGN, distinguishing between Seyferts 2 and LINERs. We report a saturation of Oxygen abundances for the nuclear regions of SFG. The correlations between chemical abundances and their host galaxy properties for SFG are in good agreement with previous studies. We find that Seyferts 2 present slightly higher chemical abundances but this result must be reexamined in larger samples of Seyfert galaxies. In contrast, we obtain lower chemical abundances for LINERs than for SFG. We confirm these relatively lower abundances for another sample of infrared luminous LINERs in the same stellar mass range. Our analysis of AGNs (both LINERs and Seyferts) shows that their host galaxy properties are not correlated with our estimated chemical abundances.
This study compares the fertility effects of inducing ovulation using the GnRH analogue, dephereline, versus natural GnRH at the end of a 5-day progesterone(P4)-based protocol for fixed-time ...artificial insemination (FTAI) in in heat-stressed and non-heat stressed lactating dairy cows. Cows were given GnRH (GnRH group, n = 369) or dephereline (DEPH group, n = 379) and were inseminated 14–20 h later. Dephereline treatment increased corpus luteum (CL) size on Day 7 post-AI compared with GnRH (P < .0001) while a one-mm increase in CL size was found to give rise to a 1.1-fold increase in the pregnancy rate at FTAI (P = .001). Based on odds ratios, the interaction between treatment and heat stress had a significant effect on the ovulation failure rate (P < .01). This meant that relative to non-heat-stressed GnRH-treated cows, ovulation failure was 2.9 times more likely in heat-stressed GnRH-treated cows (P = .001), 0.3 times less likely in non-heat-stressed DEPH-treated cows (P = .04) and was similar in heat-stressed DEPH-treated cows. Further, non-heat-stressed DEPH-treated cows were more likely to conceive by a factor of 1.6 than the remaining cows (P = .03). Finally, GnRH-treated multiparous cows were 9.9 times more likely to suffer pregnancy loss than the remaining cows (P = .03). Our results indicate that, compared to treatment with GnRH, dephereline reduced the risk of ovulation failure and consequently increased the pregnancy rate under heat stress conditions. In multiparous cows, dephereline treatment also reduced the negative age effect on pregnancy maintenance.
•Compared to GnRH, dephereline favored ovulation under heat stress conditions.•Dephereline returned a higher pregnancy rate in heat-stressed cows than GnRH.•Dephereline treatment reduced the pregnancy loss rate in multiparous cows.
The expansion of marine renewable power is a major alternative for the reduction of greenhouse gases emissions. In Europe, however, the high penetration of offshore wind brings intermittency and ...power variability into the existing power grid. Offshore solar photovoltaic power is another technological alternative under consideration in the plans for decarbonization. However, future variations in wind, air temperature or solar radiation due to climate change will have a great impact on both renewable energy resources. In this context, this study focusses on the offshore energy assessment off the coast of Western Iberia, a European region encompassing Portugal and the Northwestern part of Spain. Making use of a vast source of data from 35 simulations of a research project called CORDEX, this study investigates the complementarity of offshore wind and solar energy sources with the aim of improving the energy supply stability of this region up to 2040. Although the offshore wind energy resource has proven to be higher than solar photovoltaic resource at annual scale, both renewable resources showed significant spatiotemporal energy variability throughout the western Iberian Peninsula. When both renewable resources are combined, the stability of the energy resource increased considerably throughout the year. The proposed wind and solar combination scheme is assessed by a performance classification method called Delphi, considering stability, resource, risk, and economic factors. The total index classification increases when resource stability is improved by considering hybrid offshore wind-photovoltaic solar energy production, especially along the nearshore waters.
•Regional Climate Models reproduce well wind, air temperature and surface radiation.•Offshore wind and solar resources show high temporal variability during the year.•Hybrid wind-solar system reduces spatial and temporal variability of the resource.•Offshore wind resource was rated at least as good in most of the western Iberia.•Hybrid wind-solar system improves the final classification in several areas.
Although there are solid findings regarding the detrimental effect of alcohol consumption, the existing evidence on the effect of other dietary factors on breast cancer (BC) risk is inconclusive. ...This study aimed to evaluate the association between dietary patterns and risk of BC in Spanish women, stratifying by menopausal status and tumour subtype, and to compare the results with those of Alternate Healthy Index (AHEI) and Alternate Mediterranean Diet Score (aMED).
We recruited 1017 incident BC cases and 1017 matched healthy controls of similar age (±5 years) without a history of BC. The association between 'a priori' and 'a posteriori' developed dietary patterns and BC in general and according to menopausal status and intrinsic tumour subtypes (ER+/PR+ and HER2-; HER2+; and ER-/PR- and HER2-) was evaluated using logistic and multinomial regression models.
Adherence to the Western dietary pattern was related to higher risk of BC (OR for the top vs the bottom quartile 1.46 (95% CI 1.06-2.01)), especially in premenopausal women (OR=1.75; 95% CI 1.14-2.67). In contrast, the Mediterranean pattern was related to a lower risk (OR for the top quartile vs the bottom quartile 0.56 (95% CI 0.40-0.79)). Although the deleterious effect of the Western pattern was similarly observed in all tumour subtypes, the protective effect of our Mediterranean pattern was stronger for triple-negative tumours (OR=0.32; 95% CI 0.15-0.66 and Pheterogeneity=0.04). No association was found between adherence to the Prudent pattern and BC risk. The associations between 'a priori' indices and BC risk were less marked (OR for the top vs the bottom quartile of AHEI=0.69; 95% CI 0.51-0.94 and aMED=0.74; 95% CI 0.46-1.18)).
Our results confirm the harmful effect of a Western diet on BC risk, and add new evidence on the benefits of a diet rich in fruits, vegetables, legumes, oily fish and vegetable oils for preventing all BC subtypes, and particularly triple-negative tumours.
•HPMC-BW coatings with antifungal food additives were tested on cherry tomatoes during cold storage.•Coatings with sodium propionate were the most effective to control gray mold caused by Botrytis ...cinerea.•None of the coatings affected negatively the quality of cherry tomatoes.•Overall, coatings with ammonium carbonate showed the best performance to extend tomato postharvest life.
Edible composite coatings based on hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), beeswax (BW), and food preservatives with antifungal properties, were evaluated on cherry tomatoes during cold storage. Food preservatives selected from previous research work included sodium propionate (SP), potassium carbonate (PC), ammonium phosphate (APh) and ammonium carbonate (AC). Cherry tomatoes artificially inoculated with Botrytis cinerea were coated and stored up to 15d at 5°C followed by 7d of shelf-life at 20°C. All antifungal HPMC-BW coatings significantly reduced gray mold development on inoculated and cold-stored cherry tomatoes, the SP-based coating being the most effective. Analytical and sensory fruit quality was also evaluated after cold storage and shelf-life. The AC-based coating was the most effective to control weight loss and maintain the firmness of coated cherry tomatoes. Respiration rate, firmness, color, sensory flavor, off-flavor, and fruit appearance were not adversely affected by the application of the antifungal coatings. Overall, the application of HPMC-BW edible composite coatings containing AC could be a promising treatment to extend the postharvest life of cherry tomatoes. Further studies should focus on the modification of some physical characteristics of the coatings in order to enhance the general performance and provide higher peel gloss.
•Model predictive control and stochastic differential equations control WRRF aeration.•MPC considers variable electricity prices, greenhouse gas emissions, effluent quality.•MPC optimize WRRF based ...on multi-objective targets (costs, climate change reduction).•High variations in electricity- price and GHG emissions increase MPC performance.
This study presents a general model predictive control (MPC) algorithm for optimizing wastewater aeration in Water Resource Recovery Facilities (WRRF) under different management objectives. The flexibility of the MPC is demonstrated by controlling a WRRF under four management objectives, aiming at minimizing: (A) effluent concentrations, (B) electricity consumption, (C) total operations costs (sum electricity costs and discharge effluent tax) or (D) global warming potential (direct and indirect nitrous oxide emissions, and indirect from electricity production) . The MPC is tested with data from the alternating WRRF in Nørre Snede (Denmark) and from the Danish electricity grid. Results showed how the four control objectives resulted in important differences in aeration patterns and in the concentration dynamics over a day. Controls B and C showed similarities when looking at total costs, while similarities in global warming potential for controls A and D suggest that improving effluent quality also reduced greenhouse gasses emissions. The MPC flexibility in handling different objectives is shown by using a combined objective function, optimizing both cost and greenhouse emissions. This shows the trade-off between the two objectives, enabling the calculation of marginal costs and thus allowing WRRF operators to carefully evaluate prioritization of management objectives. The long-term MPC performance is evaluated over 51 days covering seasonal and inter-weekly variations. On a daily basis, control A was 9–30% cheaper on average compared to controls A, D and to the current rule-based control. Similarly, control D resulted on average in 35–43% lower greenhouse gasses daily emission compared to the other controls. Difference between control performance increased for days with greater inter-diurnal variations in electricity price or greenhouse emissions from electricity production, i.e. when MPC has greater possibilities for exploiting input variations. The flexibility of the proposed MPC can easily accommodate for additional control objectives, allowing WRRF operators to quickly adapt the plant operation to new management objectives and to face new performance requirements.
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Common food preservative agents were evaluated in in vitro tests for their antifungal activity against Monilinia fructicola, the most economically important pathogen causing postharvest disease of ...stone fruits. Radial mycelial growth was measured in Petri dishes of PDA amended with three different concentrations of the agents (0.01–0.2%, v/v) after 7days of incubation at 25°C. Thirteen out of fifteen agents tested completely inhibited the radial growth of the fungus at various concentrations. Among them, ammonium carbonate, ammonium bicarbonate and sodium bicarbonate were the most effective while sodium acetate and sodium formate were the least effective. The effective agents and concentrations were tested as ingredients of hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC)–lipid edible coatings against brown rot disease on plums previously inoculated with M. fructicola (curative activity). ‘Friar’ and ‘Larry Ann’ plums were inoculated with the pathogen, coated with stable edible coatings about 24h later, and incubated at 20°C and 90% RH. Disease incidence (%) and severity (lesion diameter) were determined after 4, 6, and 8days of incubation and the ‘area under the disease progress stairs’ (AUDPS) was calculated. Coatings containing bicarbonates and parabens significantly reduced brown rot incidence in plums, but potassium sorbate, used at 1.0% in the coating formulation, was the most effective agent with a reduction rate of 28.6%. All the tested coatings reduced disease severity to some extent, but coatings containing 0.1% sodium methylparaben or sodium ethylparaben or 0.2% ammonium carbonate or ammonium bicarbonate were superior to the rest, with reduction rates of 45–50%. Overall, the results showed that most of the agents tested in this study had significant antimicrobial activity against M. fructicola and the application of selected antifungal edible coatings is a promising alternative for the control of postharvest brown rot in plums.
•Most food preservatives tested in vitro completely inhibited the growth of Monilinia fructicola.•Adding selected preservatives to HPMC–lipid edible coatings formed stable emulsions.•Coatings containing 1.0% potassium sorbate were the most effective to reduce brown rot incidence on plums.•Coatings containing sodium parabens and ammonium carbonates were the most effective to reduce brown rot severity.
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