Thermal characterization of new, artificially and naturally aged leather and parchment samples

Handwritten books, codices and letters stored or displayed in historic buildings are vulnerable to changes in the outdoor environment due to the limited climate control. Understanding the degradation mechanisms and changes in the structure of leather and parchment could help to find a proper way to protect these pieces from the aging and the environmental effects. In order to identify the aging mechanisms different analytical methods, among them thermoanalytical methods were used. In this work natural aging mechanisms were modeled by acid and alkaline pretreatments. Structural changes of the samples during the aging were explored using thermoanalytical methods, in order to understand the response of parchment and leather to the environmental effects

Thermal characterization of new, artificially aged and historical leather and parchment

The aging mechanism of leather and parchment was studied by thermoanalytical methods to understand the effect of the environment on the historical manuscripts and the heritage of libraries and archives. Alkaline and acidic treatments followed by thermal dehydration were applied to achieve chemical changes in the structure of new leather and parchment similar to the slow natural aging of historical samples. Chemical and structural changes during both natural and artificial aging processes were characterized by thermoanalytical techniques. The thermal stability and the evolution profile of the decomposition products under slow heating were studied by thermogravimetry/mass spectrometry (TG/MS). The distribution of the decomposition products of these collagen-based materials under fast pyrolysis was characterized by pyrolysis-gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (Py-GC/MS). It was found that the maximal rate of the thermal decomposition (DTGmax) significantly decreases by aging in case of both leather and parchment samples indicating the degree of deterioration. Py-GC/MS has been found to be a suitable technique to sensitively monitor the degradation of the polyphenolic components of the vegetable tannins under natural or artificial aging. It was established that the tannin content of leather is more significantly affected by natural aging and alkaline treatment than the main structure of the polypeptide chains. Principal component analysis (PCA) has been used to find statistical correlations between the experimental data for leather samples. The results of the PCA confirmed that the alkaline treatment and the natural aging processes similarly modify the tannin content of the vegetable tanned leather

Hospital at Home treatment with Remdesivir for patients with COVID-19: Real life experience.

Background : Access and appropriateness of therapeutics for COVID-19 vary due to access or regulatory barriers, severity of disease, and for some therapies, stage of the pandemic and circulating variants. Remdesivir has shown benefits in clinical recovery and is the treatment of choice for selected patients, both hospitalized and non-hospitalized, in main international guidelines. The use of Remdesivir in alternatives to conventional hospitalization such as Hospital at Home units remain incompletely explored. In this work, we aim to describe the real-life experience of outpatient remdesivir infusion for COVID-19 in a Hospital at Home unit. Methods : We selected all the consecutive patients receiving remdesivir from a prospective cohort of 507 COVID-19 patients admitted at a Hospital at Home unit. Admission criteria included COVID-19 with FiO2 requirement under 0.35 and respiratory rate under 22 rpm. Patients were daily assessed in-person by a nurse and a physician. Results : Two-hundred thirty-six patients admitted in HaH received remdesivir, from whom 172 were treated at home. Only 2% presented any adverse event related to the infusion, all of them mild. HaH saved 1416 day-beds, with only 5% of the patients requiring transfer back to hospital. Conclusions : Remdesivir infusion in Hospital at Home units seems to be a safe and efficient alternative to conventional hospitalization for treating non-severe COVID-19 patients

Genomic Relationships, Novel Loci, and Pleiotropic Mechanisms across Eight Psychiatric Disorders

Genetic influences on psychiatric disorders transcend diagnostic boundaries, suggesting substantial pleiotropy of contributing loci. However, the nature and mechanisms of these pleiotropic effects remain unclear. We performed analyses of 232,964 cases and 494,162 controls from genome-wide studies of anorexia nervosa, attention-deficit/hyper-activity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, bipolar disorder, major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia, and Tourette syndrome. Genetic correlation analyses revealed a meaningful structure within the eight disorders, identifying three groups of inter-related disorders. Meta-analysis across these eight disorders detected 109 loci associated with at least two psychiatric disorders, including 23 loci with pleiotropic effects on four or more disorders and 11 loci with antagonistic effects on multiple disorders. The pleiotropic loci are located within genes that show heightened expression in the brain throughout the lifespan, beginning prenatally in the second trimester, and play prominent roles in neurodevelopmental processes. These findings have important implications for psychiatric nosology, drug development, and risk prediction.Peer reviewe

Protein-metabolite interactomics of carbohydrate metabolism reveal regulation of lactate dehydrogenase

Metabolic networks are interconnected and influence diverse cellular processes. The protein-metabolite interactions that mediate these networks are frequently low affinity and challenging to systematically discover. We developed mass spectrometry integrated with equilibrium dialysis for the discovery of allostery systematically (MIDAS) to identify such interactions. Analysis of 33 enzymes from human carbohydrate metabolism identified 830 protein-metabolite interactions, including known regulators, substrates, and products as well as previously unreported interactions. We functionally validated a subset of interactions, including the isoform-specific inhibition of lactate dehydrogenase by long-chain acyl-coenzyme A. Cell treatment with fatty acids caused a loss of pyruvate-lactate interconversion dependent on lactate dehydrogenase isoform expression. These protein-metabolite interactions may contribute to the dynamic, tissue-specific metabolic flexibility that enables growth and survival in an ever-changing nutrient environment

Quality and Sensorial Characteristics of Raw-Vegan Bars

Increased consumer interest in healthier food products is driven by a variety of factors including growing awareness of the link between diet and health, the desire to age ‘gracefully’ by maintaining good health, greater convenience in meeting nutritional needs and preventing chronic diseases. In raw food diet, food is consumed predominantly or exclusively as uncooked and unprocessed raw food; the main components of the diet are fruits, nuts, seeds, and sprouted grains and beans. The aim of this study was to obtain two raw-vegan bars using dry raw materials and to establish the physicochemical and sensory characteristics of the products. Raw-vegan bars were formulated using fruits and seeds (cranberries, figs, raisins, raspberries, cashew, chia seeds, etc.) and binding agents (honey). Raw-vegan bars stands out among fast foods due to their balanced nutritional content and convenience.  </p

Evaluating the Arterial Stiffness as a Useful Tool in the Management of Obese Children

Childhood obesity speeds up the development of arterial stiffness and progressively increases the values of arterial pressure. The purpose of this study is to investigate the value of using pulse wave analysis (PWA) to measure arterial stiffness as a sign of vascular wall impairment in obese children. The research was focused on 60 subjects: 33 obese and 27 normal-weight. Ages ranged from 6 to 18 years old. PWA includes parameters such as pulse wave velocity (PWV), augmentation index (AIx), peripheral and central blood pressure (SBP, DBP, cSBP, cDBP), heart rate, and central pulse pressure (cPP). The device used was a Mobil-O-Graph. Blood parameters were taken from the subject’s medical history, not older than 6 months. A high BMI and a large waist circumference are linked to a high PWV. The levels of LDL-c, triglycerides (TG), non-HDL-c, TG/HDL-c ratio, and total cholesterol-HDL-c ratio significantly correlate to PWV, SBP, and cSBP. Alanine aminotransferase is a reliable predictor of PWV, AIx, SBP, DBP, and cDBP, while aspartate aminotransferase is a significant predictor of AIx, mean arterial pressure (MAP), cSBP, and cPP. 25-OH-Vitamin D negatively correlates with PWV, SBP, and MAP and significantly predicts the MAP. Cortisol and TSH levels are not significant to arterial stiffness in obese children without specific comorbidities and neither is fasting glucose in obese children without impaired glucose tolerance. We conclude that PWA contributes valuable data regarding patients’ vascular health and should be considered a reliable tool in the management of obese children

Extraperitoneal Laparoscopic Approach in Inguinal Hernia&mdash;The Ideal Solution?

Background: After more than 20 years since laparoscopy was proposed as a solution for one of the most common surgical pathologies, inguinal hernia, the choice of an intra- or extraperitoneal approach has remained a highly debated topic. Purpose and objectives: This study aimed at analyzing the feasibility of the extraperitoneal approach, by routine for this team/ and answering the question of whether this type of approach can be considered a safe one. Although indications for an intra- or extraperitoneal approach largely overlap, it may also be a matter of surgeon preference in choosing one technique. Methods: The study was retrospective, conducted on a group of 493 patients operated on for inguinal hernia in the clinic, by a single operating team, between January 2012 and March 2022. Results: It was proven that out of the 493 surgeries for inguinal hernia, 95.1% (n = 469) were operated upon by laparoscopic TEP (total extra peritoneal patch plasty approach); 1.62% (n = 8) by laparoscopic TAPP (transabdominal intraperitoneal); and 3.24% (n = 16) by the open, anterior approach (Lichtenstein). There were no intraoperative complications recorded in any of the procedures, while postoperative complications were found in 10.23% of cases (n = 48) in the extraperitoneal approach, and recurrences after the TEP approach were recorded in 0.40% of cases (n = 2). Conclusions: For correctly selected cases, TEP hernia surgery can be considered a safe and reliable approach