Avaluació d’estratègies quimiomètriques per a la quantificació de pigments mitjançant espectroscòpia de fluorescència

Treballs Finals de Grau de Química, Facultat de Química, Universitat de Barcelona, Any: 2023, Tutors: Ana Maria de Juan Capdevila, Joaquim Jaumot SolerFood colourings are additives very common nowadays in the food industry. Its main applications are to give a visual value to the food and to give the costumer an idea about the quality of it. Furthermore, other uses are to recover the colour that some products may lose during the commercialization due to light exposure, temperature changes and humidity. Moreover, food colourings are also used to enhance the natural colours of the food and its appearance or to give an idea about its condition. Even though its advantages, use of food dyes is very restrictive for human consumption. An excessive intake of food colourings may lead to a variety of health issues. Nowadays, those diseases are mainly related to allergies or hyperactivity. For this reason, the use of food dyes must be regulated, and their quantities in edible foods must be controlled. There are plenty of ways to analytically quantify food dyes. Fluorescence spectroscopy is an option to quantify food colourings which has benefits such as its high selectivity and sensibility. The main objective of this project is to take advantage of fluorescence properties to analyse mixtures of different food colourings with different complexity. Afterwards, different multivariate analysis strategies will be tested with the fluorescence data obtained to build models able to quantify different food colorants. Therefore, different chemometric models based on MCR-ALS were built considering the differences between the different fluorescence acquisition modes (single or multiple excitation wavelengths). As a result, the models built with fluorescence emission at a single wavelength using MCR-ALS and calibration constraints seemed to explain the data better than the models built with 3D excitation emission spectra using classical MCR-ALS constraint

Effect of the need for preoperative dialysis on perioperative outcomes on patients undergoing laparoscopic nephrectomy: an analysis of the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database

Objective: To investigate whether patients requiring dialysis are a higher risk surgical population and would experience more perioperative adverse events even when undergoing a perceived less invasive operation as a laparoscopic radical nephrectomy (LRN). LRN is generally a well-tolerated surgical procedure with minimal morbidity and mortality. Prior to transplantation, dialysis patients will often have to undergo a LRN to remove a native kidney with a suspicious mass. Materials and Methods: Patients in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program who underwent a LRN between 2011 and 2016 were included. Patients were stratified by the need for preoperative dialysis 2 weeks prior to surgery, and perioperative outcomes were compared. A multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed to test the association between the need for preoperative dialysis and perioperative risk. Results: There were 8315 patients included in this analysis of which 445 (5.4%) patients required preoperative dialysis. Patients who required preoperative dialysis had more minor (

The Effects of Caffeine on the Induced Cognitive Impairment of a High Fat Diet on Zebrafish Danio rerio

Research has shown that a high fat diet, consisting of both unsaturated and saturated fats, has increased the risk of cognitive dysfunctions in humans. High fat diet plays a role in cognitive dysfunction by increasing oxidative stress and damaging neural connectivity. Studies have shown that caffeine reverses these effects of high fat diet induced cognitive decline. Caffeine, a central nervous system stimulant of the methylxanthine class, reduces the oxidative stress in both human and rat models, which has shown improvement in cognition. However, the relationship between a high fat diet under the effects of caffeine in the context of cognitive dysfunction is not clearly understood. Thus, my study aims to investigate the potential effects of caffeine on a high fat diet induced cognitive impairment using an adult zebrafish model. To test these, we will monitor the weight gain of the zebrafish (N=15) over a period of 8 weeks as well as perform a behavioral Y-maze test to assess spatial learning and memory and novelty recognition. I predict that the high fat diet group would have a greater average weight than the control groups. My second prediction is that the zebrafish group treated with caffeine will have a better performance in spatial learning and memory behavioral tasks than the zebrafish group treated with a high fat diet. We have found that the chronic high-fat diet increased the body weight gain of zebrafish. We also found that the chronic high-fat diet disrupts the retrieval of novelty recognition and spatial learning and memory. We found no statistical significance on caffeine's effects on weight gain and cognition. Together, these results show that a high fat diet does lead to an increased weight gain and impairs cognition. This study can help gain further understanding on the causes and effects of cognitive impairment by a high fat diet and relate it to neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease and dementia

Life in the absence of both parents of Bachelor of Science in Nursing students

This study used the qualitative descriptive method. Thirteen (13) participants were chosen using purposive sampling and snowball sampling. Data was obtained by recording the interviews with participants and by observing the significant non-verbal cues. The recorded interviews were transcribed and analyzed using Colaizzi\u27s descriptive phenomenological method. The study concluded that nursing students who have both absentee parents while studying in college were able realize the importance of surviving alone as they continue with their life\u27s milestone upon entering the College of Nursing. Despite having both parents physically absent, the students were able face the daily challenges of learning and stand on their own based on their decisions and responsibilities

Isolated adrenal metastectomy has a low morbidity rate irrespective of performing surgical sub-specialty

Introduction: There has been growing use of adrenalectomy as a potentially curative treatment option for patients with oligometastatic disease to the adrenal gland. We sought to compare the perioperative outcomes of patients undergoing isolated adrenalectomy in the setting of disseminated cancer using the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) database. Furthermore, we examined the impact of performing surgical sub-specialty on outcomes.Materials and methods: Data from the ACS-NSQIP database was obtained for patients between 2011 and 2016 who underwent adrenalectomy. Patients were stratified by the presence or absence of disseminated cancer. Univariate and multivariate regression analyses were performed to test for an association between the presence or absence of disseminated cancer and perioperative outcomes. The relationship between performing specialist and outcomes was also compared.Results: A total of 4,207 patients were identified, with 270 (6.4%) in the disseminated cancer group. There was no significant difference in perioperative outcomes between patients with disseminated cancer and without disseminated cancer. On multivariate analysis, neither the presence of disseminated cancer (p = 0.47) nor the surgical sub-specialty performing adrenalectomy (p = 0.52) were associated with an increased risk postoperative morbidity or mortality. Of note, there was a statistically significant increase in the number of adrenalectomies performed by urologists in the setting of disseminated cancer (19.3% versus 10.4%, p < 0.01).Conclusions: Patients undergoing adrenalectomy in the setting of disseminated cancer did not have significantly worse perioperative outcomes compared to patients undergoing adrenalectomy for other indications. The adverse perioperative event rate was similar whether the operation was performed by a urologist or a general surgeon

Factors affecting the completion of genitourinary physical examinations prior to urologic consultation

Proper instruction during medical training regarding performing adequate physical examinations prior to urologic consultations greatly improves patient care. We evaluated the frequency of genitourinary (GU) physical examinations performed prior to urologic consultation to determine the influence of factors affecting the completion of these examinations.Between January 2013 and December 2014, 1,596 consultations were requested by primary providers and completed by the urology department at a major tertiary care teaching institution. We reviewed patient medical records retrospectively and recorded the number of GU examinations performed prior to consultation. Patient demographics were evaluated for trends in the rates of examination. A total of 9 available urology residents saw at least one consult each.We identified a total of 1,596 urologic consultations during the study period, of which 233 of 407 (57.2%) (51 female and 182 male patients) received GU examinations prior to the urologic consult in the emergency department (ED) and 394 of 1,189 (33.1%) (118 female and 276 male patients) received GU examinations by the inpatient care team. Staff in the ED were 3.11 times more likely to perform a GU examination on a male patient than a female patient, and the inpatient teams were 1.48 times more likely to perform a GU examination on a male patient than a female patient. The likelihood of examination by either team was low in patients aged ≥65 years.Prior to urologic consultation, GU examinations are inconsistently performed. This variability may affect patient care and could be the subject of a future study

Juniors | Class of \u2714

PLEASE NOTE: Where applicable, the audio has been removed from this file due to copyrighted material. The garments shown here represent the Junior Class of \u2714. The garments were created in response to the following design challenges: Knitwear Design: explore the properties of knits and design cut-and-sew and machine-knit garments. Costume for Dance: explore the characteristics of knitted fabric as applied to the fit and movement constraints of dance costumes. These garments are displayed on the runway in Festival Ballet\u27s performance of Red Riding Hood choreography by Boyko Dossev and artistic director Mihailo Djuruc,Tailoring Project: interpret traditional tailoring techniques to create a look with a jacket