This study introduces to a one-step process for the fermentative production of L(+)-lactic acid from mixed restaurant food waste. Food waste was used as carbon and nitrogen source in simultaneous ...saccharification and fermentation (SSF) using Lactobacillus sp. or Streptococcus sp. strains for L(+)-lactic acid production. Waste consisted of (w/w) 33.5% starch, 14.8% proteins, 12.9% fat and 8.5% free sugars. Lactobacillus sp. strains showed a productivity of 0.27–0.53 g L−1 h−1 and a yield of 0.07–0.14 g g−1 of theoretically available sugars, while Streptococcus sp. more efficiently degraded the food waste material and produced lactic acid at a maximum rate of 2.16 g L−1 h−1 and a yield of 0.81 g g−1. For SSF, no enzymes were added or other hydrolytic treatments were carried out. Outcomes revealed a linear relationship between lactic acid concentration and solid-to-liquid ratio when Streptococcus sp. was applied. Statistically, from a 20% (w/w) dry food waste blend 52.4 g L−1 lactic acid can be produced. Experimentally, 58 g L−1 was achieved in presence of 20% (w/w), which was the highest solid-to-liquid ratio that could be treated using the equipment applied. Irrespective if SSF was performed at laboratory or technical scale, or under non-sterile conditions, Streptococcus sp. efficiently liquefied food waste and converted the released nutrients directly into lactic acid without considerable production of other organic acids, such as acetic acid. Downstream processing including micro- and nanofiltration, electrodialysis, chromatography and distillation gave a pure 702 g L−1 L(+)-lactic acid formulation.
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•An isolated Streptococcus sp. strain converted food waste efficiently into lactic acid.•Max. productivity was 2.16 g L−1 h−1 and yield was 0.81 g g−1 of available sugars.•Increase in solid-to-liquid ratio resulted in increased lactic acid titer.•A solid-to-liquid ratio of 20% (w/w) gave 58 g L−1 lactic acid.•Downstream processing resulted in a 702 g L−1 optical pure L(+)-lactic acid solution.
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•New concept of cascadic use of food waste was investigated.•SHF and SSF approaches for LA have been executed.•Yield and productivity were slightly higher for SHF compared to ...SSF.•Integration of biogas production from fermentative residues.•Preliminary economic and environmental assessment of the proposed two-step biorefinery process.
This work concerns the investigation of the sequential production of lactic acid (LA) and biogas from food waste (FW). LA was produced from FW using a Streptococcus sp. strain via simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) and separate enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation (SHF). Via SHF a yield of 0.33gLA/gFW (productivity 3.38gLA/L·h) and via SSF 0.29gLA/gFW (productivity 2.08gLA/L·h) was obtained. Fermentation residues and FW underwent anaerobic digestion (3wt% TS). Biogas yields were 0.71, 0.74 and 0.90Nm3/kgVS for FW and residues from SSF and SHF respectively. The innovation of the approach is considering the conversion of FW into two different products through a biorefinery concept, therefore making economically feasible LA production and valorising its fermentative residues. Finally, a mass balance of three different outlines with the aim to assess the amount of LA and biogas that may be generated within different scenarios is presented.
Nos últimos anos, observa-se um aumento na quantidade de serviços de atividades físicas oferecidos a população por iniciativas publicas e privadas. Dessa forma, é necessário que haja uma avaliação ...constante da qualidade do serviço prestado. Estão disponíveis na literatura instrumentos que tem como objetivo de avaliar a qualidade, no entanto se constatou uma lacuna no que diz respeito a considerar as visões dos três grupos de avaliadores (clientes, instrutores e gestores). Dessa forma, o objetivo dessa pesquisa foi construir um instrumento de avaliação da qualidade de serviços e programas de atividades físicas de maneira que o mesmo pudesse ser respondido por esses 3 grupos a fim de compreender visão dos mesmos acerca da qualidade. Para isso, foi realizada a adaptação semântica do instrumento SQSFp e processo de validação de conteúdo em duas etapas. Na primeita etapa, o conteúdo, em termos da pertinência e da clareza dos itens do instrumento, foi avaliado por painel formado por 6 especialistas. Foram realizados cálculos de porcentagem de concordância e índice de validade de conteúdo (IVC). O instrumento final resultou em 30 itens, distribuídos em 9 dimensões e foi denominado SQFSbr. A segunda etapa, de validação prática, foi a de aplicação à clientes, instrutores e gestores a fim de verificar a clareza e entendimento do mesmo por parte dos respondentes, bem como realizar um levantamento sobre a percepção dos grupos em relação às dimensões da qualidade. Não houve menção de falta de entendimento ou clareza em relação aos itens por parte dos grupos, reafirmando a validade do instrumento SQFSbr. Sugere-se que futuros estudos sejam realizados no sentido da aplicação do instrumento entre clientes, instrutores e gestores de um mesmo programa permitindo uma avaliação comparativa das visões
In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of physical activity services offered to the population by public and private initiatives. Due to this perpetual increase, a constant evaluation of the quality of services remains necessary. There are instruments available in the literature that aim to assess quality, but a gap has been identified in regard to the views of the three groups of evaluators (clients, instructors and managers). Thus, the objective of this research was to construct an instrument to evaluate the quality of services and physical activity programs utilizing the responses of these 3 groups in order to understand their view regarding the quality. For this, a semantic adaptation of the SQSFp instrument and the content validation process were performed in two stages. In the first stage, a panel of 6 specialists evaluated the content, in terms of relevance and clarity of the items of the instrument. Percentage of concordance and content validity index (IVC) calculations were performed. The final instrument resulted in 30 items, distributed in 9 dimensions and was named SQFSbr. The second stage, the practical validation, was applying the instrument to clients, instructors and managers in order to verify the clarity and understanding of the same by the respondents, as well as to carry out a survey about the perception of the groups regarding the dimensions of quality. There was no mention from the evaluators on any lack of understanding or clarity regarding the items by the groups, reaffirming the validity of the SQFSbr instrument. It is suggested that future studies be carried out towards the application of the instrument among clients, instructors and managers all from the same program allowing a comparative evaluation between the visions
Este documento é constituído por 3 partes: a primeira delas é referente à investigação efetuada acerca da Echinacea purpurea.A Echinacea purpurea é uma planta muito utilizada a nível medicinal pelas ...vastas propriedades benéficas que apresenta para o Homem e por isso também tem sido alvo de muitos estudos nos últimos anos. Desta forma, interessa aprofundar o estudo dos compostos que conferem estas propriedades, obtidos a partir da preparação de extratos.Neste trabalho, foram estudadas diferentes condições de extração para a Equinácea (planta total), diferentes solventes (água, etanol absoluto, etanol a 75%), diferentes temperaturas (temperatura ambiente e a 50ºC), durante diferentes períodos de tempo de contacto entre planta e solvente (1, 2, e 3 dias para a temperatura ambiente e, 10, 30, 60 minutos para 50ºC) e com diferentes rácios planta:solvente (0,5; 1; 2; 5g para 10mL de solvente). A resposta avaliada para as diferentes condições de extração foi o rendimento total do extrato.Verificou-se que o extrato que apresentava maior rendimento (10,794±0,315%) foi obtido com um rácio de 1g/10 mL em água num processo de maceração durante 1 dia, ou seja, uma maior quantidade de componentes de Equinácea foram extraídos com estas condições. A constituição química deste extrato será, sobretudo em polissacarídeos e glicoproteínas pois são os componentes com propriedades hidrofílicas presentes nesta planta. Também se pôde constatar que uma menor relação planta:solvente proporciona um maior rendimento de extração, assim como temperaturas mais elevadas, nomeadamente 50ºC relativamente à temperatura ambiente (20-25ºC). O tipo de solvente também mostrou influenciar o rendimento da extração, o que está relacionado com o tipo de componentes que cada solvente extrai.A segunda parte do documento é referente à atividade desenvolvida no estágio de farmácia comunitária realizado na Farmácia da Sé (Guarda) durante o período entre 3 de Fevereiro de 2014 e 2 de Maio de 2014 enquanto que, a terceira e última parte diz respeito ao estágio em farmácia hospitalar efetuado no Hospital Sousa Martins da Unidade Local de Saúde da Guarda durante o período de 5 de Maio de 2014 a 20 de Junho do mesmo ano.
Alcoholic liver disease encompasses a broad spectrum of diseases ranging from steatosis steatohepatitis,fibrosis,and cirrhosis to hepatocellular carcinoma.Forty-four per cent of all deaths from ...cirrhosis are attributed to alcohol.Alcoholic liver disease is the second most common diagnosis among patients undergoing liver transplantation(LT).The vast majority of transplant programmes(85%)require 6 mo of abstinence prior to transplantation;commonly referred to as the"6-mo rule".Both in the case of progressive end-stage liver disease(ESLD)and in the case of severe acute alcoholic hepatitis(AAH),not responding to medical therapy,there is a lack of evidence to support a 6-mo sobriety period.It is necessary to identify other risk factors that could be associated with the resumption of alcohol drinking.The"Group of Italian Regions"suggests that:in a case of ESLD with model for end-stage liver disease<19 a 6-mo abstinence period is required;in a case of ESLD,a 3-mo sober period before LT may be more ideal than a 6-mo period,in selected patients;and in a case of severe AAH,not respond-ing to medical therapies(up to 70%of patients die within 6 mo),LT is mandatory,even without achieving abstinence.The multidisciplinary transplant team must include an addiction specialist/hepato-alcohologist.Patients have to participate in self-help groups.
Objetivo: Colocar em prol a importância do enfermeiro e sua saúde diante a pandemia do covid-19. Metodologia: Trata-se de uma pesquisa qualitativa, descritiva de revisão integrativa de ...literatura nas bases de dados. Resultado: Inicialmente foram filtrados e selecionados no total de 31 artigos, disponíveis na íntegra, nos idiomas inglês e português, publicados a partir do ano de 2020. Entretanto, 4 encontravam-se duplicados e 10 foram excluídos pelo título e resumo, por não contemplarem a revisão proposta. Portanto, foram selecionados nesta presente revisão um total de 17 artigos. Discussão: Saúde mental do enfermeiro diante do covid-19 e Biossegurança em tempos de pandemia. Conclusão: O processo de trabalho muitas vezes tem excessiva carga mental, psíquica e física do profissional de Enfermagem, alguns com cargas de trabalho extremamente cansativas que se sobrepõem e se potencializam durante o trabalho da equipe.
Objectives
Recent scientific evidences suggest a relevant role of the oral cavity in the transmission and pathogenicity of SARS-CoV-2.
Methods
A literature search was performed in PubMed, up to April ...30, 2020, focusing on SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, oral cavity, and antimicrobial agents.
Results
Oral viral load of SARS-CoV-2 has been associated with the severity of COVID-19, and thus, a reduction in the oral viral load could be associated with a decrease in the severity of the condition. Similarly, a decrease in the oral viral load would diminish the amount of virus expelled and reduce the risk of transmission, since (i) during the first 10 days, the virus mainly accumulates at the nasal, oral, and pharyngeal area; (ii) the number of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE2) receptor is greater in the salivary glands as compared with the lungs; and (iii) salivary droplets represent the most relevant transmission route. To reduce the oral viral load, antiseptic agents may be used, although the evidence on its efficacy is indirect and weak.
Conclusions
Antiseptic mouth rinses, such as those containing cetylpyridinium chloride or povidone-iodine, may be able to decrease the severity of COVID-19 by reducing oral viral load in infected subjects and decreasing the risk of transmission by limiting viral load in droplets, generated in normal life, or in aerosols, produced during dental procedures. Well-designed clinical and preclinical research must be conducted to support these hypotheses.
Clinical relevance
Antiseptic mouth rinses may help in decreasing the severity of COVID-19 and in reducing the risk of transmission.
Introduction
Covid-19 infection poses a serious challenge for immune-compromised patients with inflammatory autoimmune systemic diseases. We investigated the clinical-epidemiological findings of 1641 ...autoimmune systemic disease Italian patients during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Method
This observational multicenter study included 1641 unselected patients with autoimmune systemic diseases from three Italian geographical areas with different prevalence of Covid-19 high in north (Emilia Romagna), medium in central (Tuscany), and low in south (Calabria) by means of telephone 6-week survey. Covid-19 was classified as (1)
definite
diagnosis of Covid-19 disease: presence of symptomatic Covid-19 infection, confirmed by positive oral/nasopharyngeal swabs; (2)
highly suspected
Covid-19 disease: presence of highly suggestive symptoms, in absence of a swab test.
Results
A significantly higher prevalence of patients with
definite
diagnosis of Covid-19 disease
,
or with
highly suspected
Covid-19 disease, or both the conditions together, was observed in the whole autoimmune systemic disease series, compared to “Italian general population” (
p
= .030,
p
= .001,
p
= .000, respectively); and for
definite + highly suspected
diagnosis of Covid-19 disease, in patients with autoimmune systemic diseases of the three regions (
p
= .000, for all comparisons with the respective regional general population)
.
Moreover, significantly higher prevalence of
definite + highly suspected
diagnosis of Covid-19 disease was found either in patients with various “connective tissue diseases” compared to “inflammatory arthritis group” (
p
< .000), or in patients without ongoing conventional synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs treatments (
p
= .011).
Conclusions
The finding of a higher prevalence of Covid-19 in patients with autoimmune systemic diseases is particularly important, suggesting the need to develop valuable prevention/management strategies, and stimulates in-depth investigations to verify the possible interactions between Covid-19 infection and impaired immune-system of autoimmune systemic diseases.
Key Points
• Significantly higher prevalence of Covid-19 is observed in a large series of patients with autoimmune systemic diseases compared to the Italian general population, mainly due to patients’ increased susceptibility to infections and favored by the high exposure to the virus at medical facilities before the restriction measures on individual movement.
• The actual prevalence of Covid-19 in autoimmune systemic diseases may be underestimated, possibly due to the wide clinical overlapping between the two conditions, the generally mild Covid-19 disease manifestations, and the limited availability of virological testing.
• Patients with “connective tissue diseases” show a significantly higher prevalence of Covid-19, possibly due to deeper immune-system impairment, with respect to “inflammatory arthritis group”.
• Covid-19 is more frequent in the subgroup of autoimmune systemic diseases patients without ongoing conventional synthetic disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, mainly hydroxyl-chloroquine and methotrexate, which might play some protective role against the most harmful manifestations of Covid-19.
Viruses have evolved precise mechanisms for using the cellular physiological pathways for their perpetuation. These virus-driven biochemical events must be separated in space and time from those of ...the host cell. In recent years, granular structures, known for over a century for rabies virus, were shown to host viral gene function and were named using terms such as viroplasms, replication sites, inclusion bodies, or viral factories (VFs). More recently, these VFs were shown to be liquid-like, sharing properties with membrane-less organelles driven by liquid–liquid phase separation (LLPS) in a process widely referred to as biomolecular condensation. Some of the best described examples of these structures come from negative stranded RNA viruses, where micrometer size VFs are formed toward the end of the infectious cycle. We here discuss some basic principles of LLPS in connection with several examples of VFs and propose a view, which integrates viral replication mechanisms with the biochemistry underlying liquid-like organelles. In this view, viral protein and RNA components gradually accumulate up to a critical point during infection where phase separation is triggered. This yields an increase in transcription that leads in turn to increased translation and a consequent growth of initially formed condensates. According to chemical principles behind phase separation, an increase in the concentration of components increases the size of the condensate. A positive feedback cycle would thus generate in which crucial components, in particular nucleoproteins and viral polymerases, reach their highest levels required for genome replication. Progress in understanding viral biomolecular condensation leads to exploration of novel therapeutics. Furthermore, it provides insights into the fundamentals of phase separation in the regulation of cellular gene function given that virus replication and transcription, in particular those requiring host polymerases, are governed by the same biochemical principles.
Virtual reality has been used effectively to promote relaxation and reduce stress. It is possible to find two main approaches to achieve such aims across the literature. The first one is focused on ...generic environments filled with relaxing "narratives" to induce control over one's own body and physiological response, while the second one engages the user in virtual reality-mediated activities to empower his/her own abilities to regulate emotion. The scope of the present contribution is to extend the discourse on VR use to promote relaxation, by proposing a third approach. This would be based on VR with personalized content, based on user research to identify important life events. As a second step, distinctive features of such events may be rendered with symbols, activities or other virtual environments contents. According to literature, it is possible that such an approach would obtain more sophisticated and long-lasting relaxation in users. The present contribution explores this innovative theoretical proposal and its potential applications within future research and interventions.
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