Efficient arsenic(V) and arsenic(III) removal from acidic solutions with Novel Forager Sponge-loaded superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles

Nowadays, there is awidevariety of arsenic decontamination processes being adsorption processes themost efficient. In this concern, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) have been proposed as an appropriate system to improve arsenic adsorption from acidic wastewater. The number of mines, the amount of ore processed, and thus the amount of mine (acid) wastewaters have been rapidly increased in recent decades. For this reason, arsenic removal from contaminated water is an important goal to accomplish environmental regulations. It is noteworthy that aggregation of these nanoparticles has been detected as the maindifficulty, hindering thepromising adsorption. In order toovercomethis drawback, it is proposed a system to avoid aggregation based on nanoparticles dispersion into an appropriate supporting material. To this purpose, SPION have been fixed on a cellulosic sponge achieving a decrease of the aggregation state, an increase of the active centers, and consequently, arsenic adsorption increases. Experimental results report a lower aggregation of supported SPION over sponge than the observed in the non supported nanoparticles. At this point, a remarkable improvement in the sponge system adsorption capacity is observed in comparison with superparamagnetic nanoparticles in suspension, reaching adsorption capacities about 2.1 mmol As/g SPION and 12.1 mmol As/g SPION for arsenite and arsenate, respectively at pH 3.8. Then, the developed system not only amends the aggregation problem but also keep their nanoproperties intact, making the system a suitable one for arsenic removal in acidic wastewater treatmen

Bmi1(+) cardiac progenitor cells contribute to myocardial repair following acute injury

Background: The inability of the adult mammalian heart to replace cells lost after severe cardiac injury compromises organ function. Although the heart is one of the least regenerative organs in the body, evidence accumulated in recent decades indicates a certain degree of renewal after injury. We have evaluated the role of cardiac Bmi1(+) progenitor cells (Bmi1-CPC) following acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Methods: Bmi1(Cre/+); Rosa26(YFP/+) (Bmi1-YFP) mice were used for lineage tracing strategy. After tamoxifen (TM) induction, yellow fluorescent protein (YFP) is expressed under the control of Rosa26 regulatory sequences in Bmi1(+) cells. YFP+ cells were tracked following myocardial infarction. Additionally, whole transcriptome analysis of isolated YFP+ cells was performed in unchallenged hearts and after myocardial infarction. Results: Deep-sequencing analysis of Bmi1-CPC from unchallenged hearts suggests that this population expresses high levels of pluripotency markers. Conversely, transcriptome evaluation of Bmi1-CPC following AMI shows a rich representation of genes related to cell proliferation, movement, and cell cycle. Lineage-tracing studies after cardiac infarction show that the progeny of Bmi1-expressing cells contribute to de novo cardiomyocytes (CM) (13.8 +/- 5 \% new YFP+ CM compared to 4.7 +/- 0.9 \% in age-paired non-infarcted hearts). However, apical resection of TM-induced day 1 Bmi1-YFP pups indicated a very minor contribution of Bmi1-derived cells to de novo CM. Conclusions: Cardiac Bmi1 progenitor cells respond to cardiac injury, contributing to the generation of de novo CM in the adult mouse heart.This study was supported by grants to AB from the Ministry of Science and Innovation (SAF2012-34327 and SAF2015-70882-R), the Research Program of the Comunidad Autonoma de Madrid (S2010/BMD-2420), the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (RETICS-RD12/0019/0018), and the European Commission (Proposal 242038).S

Arsenate removal with 3-mercaptopropanoic acid-coated superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles

In the present work, superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) surface-coated with 3-mercaptopropanoic acid (3-MPA) were prepared and their feasibility for the removal of arsenate from dilute aqueous solutions was demonstrated. The synthesized 3-MPA-coated SPION was characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and Fourier transform infra-red spectrometry (FTIR). Separation efficiency of the coated nanoparticles and the equilibrium isotherm of arsenate adsorption were investigated. The obtained results reveal the arsenate adsorption to be highly pH-dependent, and the maximum adsorption was attained in less than 60 min. The resulting increase of 3-MPA-coated SPION adsorption capacity to twice the adsorption capacity of SPION alone under the same conditions is attributed to the increase of active adsorption sites. An adsorption reaction is proposed. On the other hand, efficient recovery of arsenate from the loaded nanoparticles was achieved using nitric acid (HNO3) solution, which also provides a concentration over the original arsenate solutio

Effect of TiO2 and ZnO nanoparticles on the performance of dielectric nanofluids based on vegetable esters during their aging

Over the last few decades the insulating performance of transformer oils has been broadly studied under the point of view of nanotechnology, which tries to improve the insulating and heat dissipation performance of transformer oils by suspending nanoparticles. Many authors have analyzed the thermal and dielectric behavior of vegetable oil based-nanofluids, however, very few works have studied the evolution of these liquids during thermal aging and their stability. In this paper has been evaluated the performance of aged vegetable oil based-nanofluids, which have been subjected to accelerated thermal aging at 150 °C. Nanoparticles of TiO2 and ZnO have been dispersed in a commercial natural ester. Breakdown voltage, resistivity, dissipation factor and acidity of nanofluid samples have been measured according to standard methods, as well as stability. Moreover, it has been analyzed the degradation of Kraft paper through the degree of polymerization (DP). The results have showed that although nanoparticles improve breakdown voltage, they increase the ageing of insulation liquids and dielectric paper.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 823969.The authors of this research wish to thank the Ministry of Economy for its financial support for the National Research Project: Improvement of Insulation Systems of Transformers through Dielectric Nanofluids (DPI2015-71219-C2 1-R)

Investigar el paisaje de la agricultura exportadora en el interior santafesino

Como parte de la región pampeana a la que pertenece, el interior de la Provincia de Santa Fe ha experimentado las transformaciones derivadas del cambio en la matriz productiva debidas a la expansión a gran escala de la cadena de valor de oleaginosas desde fines del siglo XX y el progresivo abandono de la diversificación en la producción rural. Este proceso, que se ha dado en llamar “agriculturización” (véase, por ejemplo, Arrillaga, Busso y Herzfeld, 2010), implicó, en el sistema productivo, transformaciones profundas cuyas consecuencias se han proyectado y se proyectan hacia diversas dimensiones de la vida social.Facultad de Humanidades y Ciencias de la Educació

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticle-loaded polyacrylonitrile nanofibers with enhanced arsenate removal performance

Novel nanocomposite sorbents of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION) supported onto electrospun polyacrylonitrile nanofibers were synthesized by a simple and scalable method. The influence of both nanofiber size and SPION loading on As(V) adsorption capacity was studied and optimization was conducted. A maximum uptake capacity of 32.5 mmol As(V) per gram SPION in batch mode tests using an extremely low loading of only 2.9 mg of SPION per gram of adsorbent was achieved. This represents a remarkable improvement of 36 times compared with SPION in suspension. The optimal material was tested in continuous flow operation mode, reaching an adsorption capacity of 851.7 mg As(V) per gram of adsorbent at pH 3.8. It is also demonstrated that the new adsorbents can retain high performance when tested under real conditions using polluted wastewater from a lixiviation dump containing a large amount of competing anions (Cl- and F- ) and interfering cations (K+, Na+, Mg2+, and Ca2+). Furthermore, there was no release of nanoparticles observed during the operation and the spent porous material can be compressed, generating a small amount of solid waste that can be easily treated or stored

Retrospective study about the incidence and treatment of epistaxis in a health area in the period 2011 to 2017

Introduction and objective: Epistaxis is a frequent clinical sign and it is a usual reason for urgent consultation. We have limited data about its epidemiology and its treatment in our Region. The objectives of the study consist on: to know its incidence in our area and its epidemiological characteristics, to identify the factors associated with it and to know its different treatments. Method: An observational retrospective study that describes and analyzes all patients treated for epistaxis in the emergency department in Rafael Méndez Hospital, in Lorca (Murcia, Spain), during a period of 7 years. We studied 2.138 patients. Results: The global incidence was 1.75 cases /1,000 inhabitants per year. 96.5% were anterior epistaxis. Predominance in males, male: female ratio of 2:1. More frequent in people over 50 years old, with an average age of 54.94 years. The highest incidence was in spring and winter. 96% of the total were discharged from hospital. It is related to arterial hypertension, although without statistical significance. The most commonly used treatment was anterior nasal packing. 46% of the posterior epistaxis required surgical treatment, with a mean hospital stay of 6 days. Conclusions: Epistaxis seen in the emergency department usually has a anterior origin, affects men older than 50 years with added comorbidity, and usually resolves on an outpatient basis. Posterior epistaxis requires hospital admission and, frequently, surgical treatment.Introducción y objetivo: La epistaxis es un signo clínico frecuente y un motivo de consulta urgente habitual. Tenemos escasos datos sobre su epidemiología y el tratamiento aplicado en nuestra Región. Los objetivos del estudio son conocer su incidencia en nuestro medio, conocer sus características epidemiológicas, determinar factores asociados a ella y conocer sus distintos tratamientos. Método: Estudio observacional retrospectivo que describe y analiza los pacientes atendidos por epistaxis en la Unidad de Urgencias del Hospital Rafael Méndez, de Lorca (Murcia, España), durante un período de 7 años. Se estudian 2.138 pacientes. Resultados: La incidencia global fue de 1,75 casos /1.000 habitantes por año. El 96,5% fueron anteriores. Predominio en varones, ratio hombre/mujer de 2/1. Fue más frecuente en mayores de 50 años, con una edad media de 54,94 años. La mayor incidencia se dio en primavera e invierno. El 96% del total fueron dados de alta a domicilio. Presenta relación con la hipertensión arterial, aunque sin significación estadística. El tratamiento más utilizado en general fue taponamiento anterior. El 46% de las epistaxis posteriores precisó tratamiento quirúrgico, con una estancia media hospitalaria de 6 días. Conclusiones: Las epistaxis atendidas en urgencias suelen tener un origen anterior, afectar a varones mayores de 50 años con comorbilidad añadida, y suelen resolverse de manera ambulatoria. Las epistaxis posteriores requieren ingreso hospitalario y, con frecuencia, tratamiento quirúrgico

Evaluation of landsat-8 thermal bands to monitor land surface temperature

Ponencia presentada en: IX Congreso de la Asociación Española de Climatología celebrado en Almería entre el 28 y el 30 de octubre de 2014.[ES]El nuevo Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) a bordo del Landsat-8 (L8) dispone de dos bandas térmicas, 10 (11.60-11.19 μm) y 11 (11.50-12.51 μm), con una resolución espacial de 100m, con el fin de proporcionar temperaturas de la superficie terrestre (LST) de una manera más precisa que su predecesor Landsat-7 ETM+. El L8 fue lanzado en febrero de 2013, comenzando su adquisición operativa a mediados de abril. Los primeros estudios realizados por el equipo de calibración de L8 mostraron errores sistemáticos significativos para el TIRS, y en febrero de 2014 el archivo de imágenes L8 TIRS fue reprocesado para corregir dichos errores. En este estudio, con el fin de comprobar la calibración del L8 TIRS, realizamos medidas de campo en una zona llana y térmicamente homogénea dedicada al cultivo del arroz. A partir de estas medidas de LST simulamos las radiancias y temperaturas de brillo a nivel del satélite y las comparamos con los datos TIRS. Tal y como apuntaba el equipo de L8, nuestros resultados muestran una sobreestimación para la banda 11. Sin embargo, el recalibrado aplicado por dicho equipo para ambas bandas ha resultado no ser satisfactorio en nuestra zona experimental, ya que proponen sustraer errores sistemáticos mayores a los requeridos.[EN]The new Landsat-8 (L8) Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS) has two thermal bands, 10 (11.60- 11.19 μm) and 11 (11.50-12.51 μm) at 100-m spatial resolution, aimed to provide more accurate Land Surface Temperatures (LST) than Landsat-7 ETM+. L8 was launched on February 2013, and operational acquisitions started in middle April 2013. The first studies by the L8 Calibration Team showed significant TIRS temperature offsets, and in February 2014 the L8 TIRS archive was reprocessed to remove these offsets. In this study, ground LST measurements were performed in a flat and thermally homogeneous area of rice-crop fields for checking the calibration of the L8 TIRS bands. At-sensor radiances and brightness temperatures were simulated from ground-measured LSTs and compared with TIRS values. A significant overestimation was observed for band 11, in agreement with the L8 Calibration Team results. However, their recalibration was shown unsatisfactory in our test site for both bands, since they proposed subtracting higher offsets than required.This study was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (projects CGL2010-16364, CGL2010-17577/CLI, CGL2011-13579-E, CGL2011-30433 and GRACCIE Consolider-Ingenio 2010; and Dr. Niclòs "Ramón y Cajal" Research Contract) and Generalitat Valenciana (PROMETEO/2009/006 and PROMETEO/2009/086 projects)