Toward the Development of Efficient Electro-Fenton Reactors for Soil Washing Wastes through Microfluidic Cells

This work focuses on the coupling of three different approaches into the same reactor at the same time: microfluidic cells, anodic oxidation with diamond anodes, and an electro-Fenton process. To supply oxygen a jet aerator was used and a CB/PTFE Duocel Al foam cathode was installed to promote the formation of hydrogen peroxide. This novel concept is applied for the direct treatment (without the addition of salts or other reagents) of soil washing wastes obtained in the remediation of soil spiked with clopyralid. Results obtained pointed out that this approach can increase the efficiency of the process by folds as compared to traditional treatment technologies. The chemical analysis of the intermediates showed different reaction mechanisms: anodic oxidation, electro-Fenton, and a negligible contribution of coagulation. The coupled systems studied in this work present several advantages such as high treatment efficiency and short treatment time which indicate that the development of electrochemical reactors for diluted liquid wastes is progressing in an adequate direction.Este trabajo se centra en el acoplamiento de tres enfoques diferentes en el mismo reactor al mismo tiempo: celdas de microfluidos, oxidación anódica con ánodos de diamante y un proceso de electro-Fenton. Para suministrar oxígeno se utilizó un aireador de chorro y se instaló un cátodo de espuma CB / PTFE Duocel Al para promover la formación de peróxido de hidrógeno. Este novedoso concepto se aplica para el tratamiento directo (sin la adición de sales u otros reactivos) de los residuos del lavado de suelos obtenidos en la remediación de suelos enriquecidos con clopiralida. Los resultados obtenidos señalaron que este enfoque puede incrementar la eficiencia del proceso por pliegues en comparación con las tecnologías de tratamiento tradicionales. El análisis químico de los intermedios mostró diferentes mecanismos de reacción: oxidación anódica, electro-Fenton y una contribución insignificante de la coagulación

Loneliness, social support and cardiovascular reactivity to laboratory stress

Self-reported or explicit loneliness and social support have been inconsistently associated with cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) to stress. The present study aimed to adapt an implicit measure of loneliness, and use it alongside the measures of explicit loneliness and social support, to investigate their correlations with CVR to laboratory stress. Twenty-five female volunteers aged between 18 and 39 years completed self-reported measures of loneliness and social support, and an Implicit Association Test (IAT) of loneliness. The systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and heart rate (HR) reactivity indices were measured in response to psychosocial stress induced in the laboratory. Functional support indices of social support were significantly correlated with CVR reactivity to stress. Interestingly, implicit, but not explicit, loneliness was significantly correlated with DBP reactivity after one of the stressors. No associations were found between structural support and CVR indices. Results are discussed in terms of validity of implicit versus explicit measures and possible factors that affect physiological outcomes

First Record of Fusarium verticillioides as an Entomopathogenic Fungus of Grasshoppers

Fusarium verticillioides (Saccardo) Nirenberg (Ascomycota: Hypocreales) is the most common fungus reported on infected corn kernels and vegetative tissues, but has not yet been documented as being entomopathogenic for grasshoppers. Grasshoppers and locusts represent a large group of insects that cause economic damage to forage and crops. Tropidacris collaris (Stoll) (Orthoptera: Acridoidea: Romaleidae) is a large and voracious grasshopper that in recent years has become an increasingly recurrent and widespread pest in progressively more greatly extended areas of some of in Argentina's northern provinces, with chemical insecticides being currently the only means of control. During February and March of 2008–09, nymphs and adults of T. collaris were collected with sweep nets in dense woodland vegetation at a site near Tres Estacas in western Chaco Province, Argentina, and kept in screened cages. F. verticillioides was isolated from insects that died within 10 days and was cultured in PGA medium. Pathogenicity tests were conducted and positive results recorded. Using traditional and molecular-biological methods, an isolate of F. verticillioides was obtained from T. collaris, and its pathogenecity in the laboratory was shown against another harmful grasshopper, Ronderosia bergi (Stål) (Acridoidea: Acrididae: Melanoplinae). The mortality caused by F. verticillioides on R. bergi reached 58 ± 6.53% by 10 days after inoculation. This is the first record of natural infection caused by F. verticillioides in grasshoppers

Calidad de vida en asistentes a un programa de actividad física en Bogotá, Colombia

The rise of chronic noncommunicable diseases in older adults is a global public health challenge, so actions to prevent or mitigate them are necessary to improve population health but quality of life. The objective focused on and rated the quality of life in users who regularly attend the Recreovía program. Non-experimental study with descriptive cross-sectional design, conducted in 280 adult women with an average age of 56.71 ± to 10.79 years, inhabitants of the city of Bogotá, who attend the Recreovía program 3 times a week. Quality of life was evaluated with WHOQOL-BREF. A statistically significant relationship was found between quality of life and socioeconomic stratum (p=0,002), between quality of life and physical health (p<0,001) and quality of life and hypertension (p=0,003). The perception of quality of life was weighted as good as referred to by the participants; as there is a relationship between intermediate and structural determinants, it encourages decision-making that actions in the population must transcend beyond collective programs but affect the living and health conditions of the population.El aumento de Enfermedades crónicas no transmisibles en los adultos mayores es un reto en salud pública a nivel mundial, por lo que las acciones que se hagan para prevenir o mitigar estas son necesarias para mejorar la salud de la población sino la calidad de vida. El objetivo se centró en evaluar la calidad de vida en las usuarias que asisten de manera regular al programa de Recreovía. Estudio no experimental con diseño descriptivo de corte transversal, realizado en 280 mujeres adultas con una edad promedio de 56.71 ± 10.79 años, habitantes de la ciudad de Bogotá, que asisten 3 veces por semana al programa de Recreovía. Se evalúo la calidad de vida con el WHOQOL-BREF. Se encontró relación estadísticamente significativa entre la calidad de vida y el estrato socioeconómico (p=0.002), entre la calidad de vida y la salud física (p<0.001) y la calidad de vida e Hipertensión (p=0.003). La percepción de calidad de vida fue ponderada como buena de acuerdo con lo referido por las participantes; al existir relación entre determinantes intermedios y estructurales, alienta a tomadores de decisión que las acciones en la población deben trascender más allá de programas colectivos, sino que afecten las condiciones de vida y salud de la población

Mouse mammary tumor virus-like gene sequences are present in lung patient specimens

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Previous studies have reported on the presence of Murine Mammary Tumor Virus (MMTV)-like gene sequences in human cancer tissue specimens. Here, we search for MMTV-like gene sequences in lung diseases including carcinomas specimens from a Mexican population. This study was based on our previous study reporting that the INER51 lung cancer cell line, from a pleural effusion of a Mexican patient, contains MMTV-like <it>env </it>gene sequences.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The MMTV-like <it>env </it>gene sequences have been detected in three out of 18 specimens studied, by PCR using a specific set of MMTV-like primers. The three identified MMTV-like gene sequences, which were assigned as INER6, HZ101, and HZ14, were 99%, 98%, and 97% homologous, respectively, as compared to GenBank sequence accession number <ext-link ext-link-id="AY161347" ext-link-type="gen">AY161347</ext-link>. The INER6 and HZ-101 samples were isolated from lung cancer specimens, and the HZ-14 was isolated from an acute inflammatory lung infiltrate sample. Two of the <it>env </it>sequences exhibited disruption of the reading frame due to mutations.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In summary, we identified the presence of MMTV-like gene sequences in 2 out of 11 (18%) of the lung carcinomas and 1 out of 7 (14%) of acute inflamatory lung infiltrate specimens studied of a Mexican Population.</p

Parental stress before, during, and after pediatric stem cell transplantation: a review article

Goals of work: Pediatric stem cell transplantation (SCT) is a stressful treatment for children with relapsed or high-risk malignancies, immune deficiencies and certain blood diseases. Parents of children undergoing SCT can experience ongoing stress related to the SCT period. The aim of this article was to present a literature review of articles on parental distress and adaptation before, during, and after SCT and to identify risk and protective factors. Materials and methods: The review was conducted systematically by using PubMed, Web of Science, PsychInfo, and Picarta databases. Eighteen articles met our inclusion criteria: publishing date between January 1, 1990 and January 1, 2009; studies concerning parents of children undergoing SCT; studies examining the psychological adjustment and/or stress reactions of parents as primary outcomes and studies available in English. Main results: Highest levels of parental stress are reported in the period preceding SCT and during the acute phase. Stress levels decrease steadily after discharge in most parents. However, in a subgroup of parents, stress levels still remain elevated post-SCT. Parents most at risk in the longer term display highest levels of stress during the acute phase of the SCT. Conclusions: Psychosocial assessment before SCT, during the acute phase and in the longer term, is necessary to identify parents in need for support and follow-up care

PRISM (Program of Resources, Information and Support for Mothers) Protocol for a community-randomised trial [ISRCTN03464021]

BACKGROUND: In the year after birth one in six women has a depressive illness, and 30% are still depressed, or depressed again, when their child is 2 years old, 94% experience at least one major health problem (e.g. back pain, perineal pain, mastitis, urinary or faecal incontinence), 26% experience sexual problems and almost 20% have relationship problems with partners. Women with depression report less practical and emotional support from partners, less social support overall, more negative life events, and poorer physical health. Their perceptions of factors contributing to depression are lack of support, isolation, exhaustion and physical health problems. Fewer than one in three affected women seek help in primary care despite frequent contacts. METHODS/DESIGN: PRISM aims to reduce depression and physical health problems of recent mothers through primary care strategies to increase practitioners' response to these issues, and through community-based strategies to develop broader family and community supports for recent mothers. Eligible local governments will be recruited and randomised to intervention or comparison arms, after stratification (urban/rural, size, birth numbers, extent of community activity), avoiding contiguous boundaries. Maternal depression and physical health will be measured six months after birth, in a one year cohort of mothers, in intervention and comparison communities. The sample size to detect a 20% relative reduction in depression, adjusting for cluster sampling, and estimating a population response fraction of 67% is 5740 × 2. Analysis of the physical and mental health outcomes, by intention to treat, will adjust for the correlated structure of the data

Inference of gene regulatory networks from time series by Tsallis entropy

Background: The inference of gene regulatory networks (GRNs) from large-scale expression profiles is one of the most challenging problems of Systems Biology nowadays. Many techniques and models have been proposed for this task. However, it is not generally possible to recover the original topology with great accuracy, mainly due to the short time series data in face of the high complexity of the networks and the intrinsic noise of the expression measurements. In order to improve the accuracy of GRNs inference methods based on entropy (mutual information), a new criterion function is here proposed. Results: In this paper we introduce the use of generalized entropy proposed by Tsallis, for the inference of GRNs from time series expression profiles. The inference process is based on a feature selection approach and the conditional entropy is applied as criterion function. In order to assess the proposed methodology, the algorithm is applied to recover the network topology from temporal expressions generated by an artificial gene network (AGN) model as well as from the DREAM challenge. The adopted AGN is based on theoretical models of complex networks and its gene transference function is obtained from random drawing on the set of possible Boolean functions, thus creating its dynamics. On the other hand, DREAM time series data presents variation of network size and its topologies are based on real networks. The dynamics are generated by continuous differential equations with noise and perturbation. By adopting both data sources, it is possible to estimate the average quality of the inference with respect to different network topologies, transfer functions and network sizes. Conclusions: A remarkable improvement of accuracy was observed in the experimental results by reducing the number of false connections in the inferred topology by the non-Shannon entropy. The obtained best free parameter of the Tsallis entropy was on average in the range 2.5 <= q <= 3.5 (hence, subextensive entropy), which opens new perspectives for GRNs inference methods based on information theory and for investigation of the nonextensivity of such networks. The inference algorithm and criterion function proposed here were implemented and included in the DimReduction software, which is freely available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/dimreduction and http://code.google.com/p/dimreduction/.Fundacao de Amparo e Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenacao de Aperfeicofamento de Pessoal de Nivel Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq