Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is characterized by a widespread inflammation of the lungs, causing severe hypoxemia. Several mediators have been associated with it and almost all of them ...are small enough to be filtrated through a nanomembrane. We present a case report of a 41-year-old man with myasthenia gravis in remission; he developed ARDS caused by pneumonia. Although he performed well on both non-invasive and invasive mechanical ventilation, his oxygenation continued to deteriorate. As a last resort of treatment, we decided to apply nanomembrane-based apheresis to cleanse his plasma from the harmful inflammatory mediators. After 3 sessions of plasmapheresis, his condition improved and he was successfully weaned from mechanical ventilation. The obtained results gave us ground to assume that the removal of bioactive molecules can be a useful adjunct to protective mechanical ventilation in ARDS.
Lung transplantation has been accepted as a viable treatment for end-stage respiratory failure. While regression models continue to be a standard approach for attempting to predict patients’ outcomes ...after lung transplantation, more sophisticated supervised machine learning (ML) techniques are being developed and show encouraging results. Transplant clinicians could utilize ML as a decision-support tool in a variety of situations (e.g. waiting list mortality, donor selection, immunosuppression, rejection prediction). Although for some topics ML is at an advanced stage of research (i.e. imaging and pathology) there are certain topics in lung transplantation that needs to be aware of the benefits it could provide.
The treatment for esophageal fibrolipomas is exclusively surgical—classic or endoscopic esophageal resection or extraction of the tumor transorally. 2 Achalasia is an esophageal motility disorder, ...characterized by absent peristalsis in the smooth muscle portion of the esophageal body and incomplete low esophageal sphincter relaxation after swallowing. Giving the inconclusive result from the CT scan, a second endoscopy by an experienced physician showed only a megaesophagus with mild mucosal edema and food residues—features, consistent with the established diagnosis of achalasia. ...we proceeded directly to surgical treatment for achalasia—a transthoracic myotomy.
The efficient investigation of biological membranes is a constant demand in chemical biology. Several families of Near Infra‐Red (NIR) dyes have been already studied for the selective staining of a ...plethora of biological structures, macro and supramolecular assemblies. In this context, a small library of symmetrical and unsymmetrical NIR squaraine dyes have been synthetized and investigated as fluorescent probes to stain the lipid bilayer membrane in large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs) as cell membrane model. The hydrophobic‐hydrophilic character of the NIR dyes has been modulated by introducing carboxylic moieties on the aromatic core, as well as by varying the length of the alkyl chains used in the quaternarization of the indolenine nitrogen. The photophysical properties and the kinetic of the insertion into different LUVs models have been analysed with respect to the probe structures. The discussed results represent versatile key data to support the design of new NIR sensors for bioimaging.
The efficient preparation of a small library of symmetrical and unsymmetrical red emitting squaraine dyes is reported, varying the substituents to modulate the hydrophilic/hydrophobic ratio of the fluorescent probes. Their ability to stain cellular membranes is assessed by studying their interactions with liposomal model systems, screening the key features for the design of squaraine‐based cell membrane probes.
Pleural complications after pneumonectomy occur not only in the early postoperative period but also several years after surgery. Post-pneumonectomy empyema (PPE) is such a possible complication that ...must be recognized and adequately treated. Sometimes the management of PPE can be extremely challenging because of an abnormal disease presentation and the critical condition of the patient. Herein, present you a unique case of an incarcerated diaphragmal hernia with stomach perforation and necrosis in a post-pneumonectomy patient with development of PPE.
Polyethylene (PE) is the most abundant non-degradable plastic waste, posing a constant and serious threat to the whole ecosystem. In the present study, the fungal community of plastic wastes ...contaminating a landfill soil has been studied. After 6 months of enrichment, 95 fungi were isolated, mostly belonging to the Ascomycota phylum. They were screened under in vitro condition: most of fungi (97%) were capable of growing in the presence of PE powder (5–10 g L−1) as sole carbon source. Fusarium strains better tolerated high concentration of PE. Up to 13 strains were chosen for further degradation trails, where the process was monitored by respirometry tests and by observing changes in PE chemical and physical structure by FTIR analysis and SEM images. Major results were observed for Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium falciforme and Purpureocillum lilacinum, as they caused strong oxidation phenomena and changes in the PE film morphology. Results suggested that the initial oxidation mechanisms targeted first the methyl terminal groups. Changes in the infrared spectra were strongly strain-dependent, denoting the activation of different degradation pathways. Through the SEM analysis, the actual damages provoked by fungi were observed, including swellings, pits and furrows, bumps and partial exfoliations. Considering the rising concern about plastic disposal worldwide, the ability of these fungi to colonize PE and utilize it as carbon source is of great interest, as no pretreatments and pro-oxidant stimulants were needed.
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•Ninety-five fungi were isolated from plastic contaminating a landfill soil.•Fusarium, Purpureocillium and Aspergillus spp. were the most abundant fungi.•Fusarium strains were the most tolerant to high concentration of PE powder.•Three fungi deeply altered PE surface causing the strongest oxidation phenomena.
The microbial community of a plastic-polluted landfill soil was described. Among the isolated fungi, some of them showed important degradation skills against polyethylene.
Flexible perovskite solar cells (f-PSCs) are light-weight, conformal and thus ideal for seamless integration of photovoltaics onto wearable and portable electronics. Nevertheless, the spread of ...f-PSCs is limited by both the lower efficiency compared to rigid counterparts and the employment of costly materials. Among them, hole-transporting materials (HTM) represent the most expensive component and also a weak spot for long-term stability, due to poor resistance against heat and moisture. Here, we propose poly-3-hexylthiophene (P3HT)-modified HTMs embodying benzothiadiazole (BTD) moieties as electron-poor host. BTD is inserted along P3HT backbone, creating a donor-acceptor system able to promote the charge mobility throughout the HTM. A first series of copolymers, synthetized by Stille coupling, shows a decrease of benzothiadiazole/thiophene ratio (1:2, 1:4, 1:6), allowing to modulate both electronic and optical properties. Additionally, a greener approach (Kumada polycondensation) is employed to synthetize a homologous copolymer (VI-LM-027) embodying a lower amount of BTD that, used as HTM in f-PSCs, leads to power conversion efficiency comparable to commercially available P3HT and shows improved stability under continuous illumination. Finally, VI-LM-027 is also employed in 6 × 6 cm2 modules, delivering 6.9% efficiency on 16 cm2 of active area and demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed HTMs for large area manufacture.
In December 2019, a new Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in China, causing the pandemic disease COVID-19. The clinical presentation is variable, but the predominant symptoms are those of the upper ...respiratory tract.
The aim of the current study is to describe the incidence and type of the gastrointestinal injury (GI) in COVID-19, as well as their prognostic value.
We conducted a coincidental search on this topic in PubMed, Web of Science and EMBASE. We also followed a group of 31 Bulgarian COVID-19 patients throughout the course of their disease and analyzed their symptoms (catarrhal and other) and outcome.
The publications concerning our survey followed a total of 1509 COVID-19 patients. In the Bulgarian cohort, only 14 from the 31 patients were laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases. Approximately 1/3 of the infected individuals presented with GI. In some patients this was the first, or only, symptom of the disease. It was also indicative of a more severe disease course.
GI may be an important symptom and prognostic factor in COVID-19. Therefore, patients with acute gastrointestinal symptoms must be actively tested for SARS-CoV-2.
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