Perspective Chapter: The Toxic Silver (Hg)

In the late 1950s, residents of a Japanese fishing village known as “Minamata” began falling ill and dying at an alarming rate. The Japanese authorities stated that methyl-mercury-rich seafood and shellfish caused the sickness. Burning fossil fuels represent ≈52.7% of Hg emissions. The majorities of mercury’s compounds are volatile and thus travel hundreds of miles with wind before being deposited on the earth’s surface. High acidity and dissolved organic carbon increase Hg-mobility in soil to enter the food chain. Additionally, Hg is taken up by areal plant parts via gas exchange. Mercury has no identified role in plants while exhibiting high affinity to form complexes with soft ligands such as sulfur and this consequently inactivates amino acids and sulfur-containing antioxidants. Long-term human exposure to Hg leads to neurotoxicity in children and adults, immunological, cardiac, and motor reproductive and genetic disorders. Accordingly, remediating contaminated soils has become an obligation. Mercury, like other potentially toxic elements, is not biodegradable, and therefore, its remediation should encompass either removal of Hg from soils or even its immobilization. This chapter discusses Hg’s chemical behavior, sources, health dangers, and soil remediation methods to lower Hg levels

EPIdemiology of Surgery-Associated Acute Kidney Injury (EPIS-AKI) : Study protocol for a multicentre, observational trial

More than 300 million surgical procedures are performed each year. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common complication after major surgery and is associated with adverse short-term and long-term outcomes. However, there is a large variation in the incidence of reported AKI rates. The establishment of an accurate epidemiology of surgery-associated AKI is important for healthcare policy, quality initiatives, clinical trials, as well as for improving guidelines. The objective of the Epidemiology of Surgery-associated Acute Kidney Injury (EPIS-AKI) trial is to prospectively evaluate the epidemiology of AKI after major surgery using the latest Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) consensus definition of AKI. EPIS-AKI is an international prospective, observational, multicentre cohort study including 10 000 patients undergoing major surgery who are subsequently admitted to the ICU or a similar high dependency unit. The primary endpoint is the incidence of AKI within 72 hours after surgery according to the KDIGO criteria. Secondary endpoints include use of renal replacement therapy (RRT), mortality during ICU and hospital stay, length of ICU and hospital stay and major adverse kidney events (combined endpoint consisting of persistent renal dysfunction, RRT and mortality) at day 90. Further, we will evaluate preoperative and intraoperative risk factors affecting the incidence of postoperative AKI. In an add-on analysis, we will assess urinary biomarkers for early detection of AKI. EPIS-AKI has been approved by the leading Ethics Committee of the Medical Council North Rhine-Westphalia, of the Westphalian Wilhelms-University Münster and the corresponding Ethics Committee at each participating site. Results will be disseminated widely and published in peer-reviewed journals, presented at conferences and used to design further AKI-related trials. Trial registration number NCT04165369

Search for black holes and other new phenomena in high-multiplicity final states in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

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Effect of the Material of the Spinner Blades of a Centrifugal Broadcaster on Fertilizer Particles Size and Distributio

The effect of the material of the spinning disk blades of a centrifugal broadcast distributor on fertilizer particles size and uniformity of distribution was investigated. Three types of blades (metal, plastic, and rubber) were used at a rated rotary speed of 540 rev/min and blades' angle 9 degrees. The results showed that the percentage of broken fertilizer particles was affected by the type of blades, where it was the least for the rubber blades (0.83%), while it was high for the metal blades (6.37%). The percentage of broken fertilizer particles was 2.39% when plastic blades were used. Also, the results showed that spread patterns are influenced by the type of blades. The distribution of fertilizer was uniform when rubber blades were used. The distribution rate and uniformity increased with overlapped application width of 40%, and the distribution of the fertilizer became much uniform

An Educational Visual C++ Program Aid for Understanding

An educational program was developed to assist graduate and undergraduate students to comprehend the influence of a number of tractor parameters on its performance. The program was written in Visual C++ programming Language. The program provides an intuitive user interface by linking tractor and tire databases, and the potential interaction with traction models and performance parameters. The program offers an educational help and clarification to most of the steps and variable parameters. The program was validated by comparing predicted performance variables with the results of Al-Hamed and Al-Janobi (2001) program for bias-ply and radial tires. The same numerical values were obtained for the performance variables. The developed program was also illustrated by selecting an example Massey Ferguson MF 3090 tractor from the tractor specification database to show the various stages of predicting tractor performance parameters. The program has proven to be very user-friendly and efficient to meet the requirement

Influence of Chisel Plow Shank Shape on Horizontal and Vertical Force Requirements

The horizontal and vertical forces acting on three chisel plows having different shank shapes were measured in a sandy loam soil. The shank shape of the first plow was curved, while those of the second and third plows were semi-straight and semi-curved, respectively. The effect of forward speeds and plowing depth upon the horizontal and vertical force measurements were investigated. Soil characteristics, chisel plow specifications and results of tillage experiments were reported. A significant increase in horizontal force (N/shank/cm2 ) was observed for all the three commercial chisel plows and was proportional to the increase in the forward speed. However, non-significant increase in vertical force (N/shank/cm2) was observed for all the three plows with an increase in the forward speed. The curved shank gave values of horizontal and vertical forces (N/shank/cm2) greater than that of the other shank shapes

Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and risk of bleeding and acute ischemic events in non-hypertensive Alzheimer's patients

Introduction: Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEIs) are commonly used to treat mild to moderate cases of Alzheimer disease (AD). To the best of our knowledge, there has been no study estimating the risk of bleeding and cardiovascular events in patients with non-hypertensive AD. Therefore, this study aimed to estimate the association between AChEIs and the risk of bleeding and cardiovascular ischemic events in patients with non-hypertensive AD. Methods: A nested case-control study was conducted to estimate the risk of bleeding and ischemic events (angina, myocardial infarction [MI], and stroke) in patients with AD. This study was conducted using the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink and Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) databases. The study cohort consisted of AD patients �65 years of age. The case groups included all AD subjects in the database who had a bleeding or ischemic event during the cohort follow-up. Four controls were selected for each case. Patients were classified as current users or past users based on a 60-day threshold of consuming the drug. Simple and multivariable conditional logistic regression analyses were used to calculate the adjusted odds ratio for bleeding events and cardiovascular events. Results: We identified 507 cases and selected 2028 controls for the bleeding event cohort and 555 cases and 2220 controls for the ischemic event cohort. The adjusted odds ratio (OR) (95% confidence interval [CI]) for the association of AChEI use was 0.93 (0.75 to 1.16) for bleeding events, 2.58 (1.01 to 6.59) for angina, and 1.89 (1.07 to 3.33) for MI. Past users of AChEIs were also at increased risk of stroke (1.51 [1.00 to 2.27]). Discussion: This is the first study assessing the risk of bleeding and cardiovascular events in patients with non-hypertensive AD. Our findings could be of great interest for clinicians and researchers working on AD.Scopu