Evolutionary algorithm for the optimization of meal intake and insulin administration in patients with type 2 diabetes

The optimal management of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is complex and involves an appropriate combination of diet, exercise, and different pharmacological treatments. Artificial intelligence-based tools have been shown to be very useful for the diagnosis and treatment of diverse pathologies, including diabetes. In the present study, we present a proof of concept of the potential of an evolutionary algorithm to optimize the meal size, timing and insulin dose for the control of glycemia. We found that an appropriate distribution of food intake throughout the day permits a reduction in the insulin dose required to maintain glycemia within the range recommended by the American Diabetes Association for patients with T2DM of a range of severities. Furthermore, the effects of restrictions to both the timing and amount of food ingested were assessed, and we found that an increase in the amount of insulin was required to control glycemia as dietary intake became more restricted. In the near future, the use of these computational tools should permit patients with T2DM to optimize their personal meal schedule and insulin dose, according to the severity of their diabetes

Procediment de drenatge

Drenatge; Cures d'infermeria; Redón; PenroseDrenaje; Cuidados de enfermería; Redón; PenroseDrainage; Nursing care; Redon; PenroseAquest document pretén estandarditzar les cures d’infermeria dels drenatges i també indicar com afavorir el drenatge excessiu del líquid serohemàtic i/o pus de les ferides a l’exterior. Va adreçat a tot professional sanitari que hagi de procedir a la cura o manteniment d’algun tipus de drenatge

Procediment de sondatge vesical

Sondatge vesical; Bufeta de l'orina; Cures infermeresSondaje vesical; Vejiga de la orina; Cuidados enfermerosBladder probing; Bladder; Nursing careAquest document s'adreça a tot professional sanitari que hagi de procedir a realitzar la tècnica de sondatge vesical, amb els objectius següents: assegurar la permeabilitat i el flux urinari en cas de problemes urològics obstructius; aconseguir mostres d’orina en cas que no hi hagi micció espontània; disminuir el risc d’infecció associada a catèter vesical; reduir la variabilitat clínica; permetre l’administració de fàrmacs amb finalitat terapèutica i/o diagnòstica; mesurar i controlar la diüresi de manera estricta i continuada; mantenir la bufeta buida en casos d’intervenció quirúrgica; mantenir la pell seca en persones incontinents que tinguin lesions cutànies pròximes a la zona periana

Procediment de sondatge nasogàstric

Sondatge nasogàstric; Sondatge orogàstric; Cures infermeresSondaje nasogástrico; Sondaje orogástrico; Cuidados enfermerosNasogastric tube; Orogastric sounding; Nursing careAquest document presenta la tècnica per a la col·locació i la retirada d'un sondatge nasogàstric de forma correcta, i s'adreça a tot professional que hagi de realitzar aquest procediment

The potential of wastewater grown microalgae for agricultural purposes: Contaminants of emerging concern, heavy metals and pathogens assessment

In the coming years, the use of microalgal biomass as agricultural biofertilizers has shown promising results. The use of wastewater as culture medium has resulted in the reduction of production costs, making microalgae-based fertilizers highly attractive for farmers. However, the occurrence of specific pollutants in wastewater, like pathogens, heavy metals and contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products may pose a risk on human health. This study presents an holistic assessment of the production and use of microalgal biomass grown in municipal wastewater as biofertilizer in agriculture. Results showed that pathogens and heavy metals concentrations in the microalgal biomass were below the threshold established by the European regulation for fertilizing products, except for cadmium. Regarding CECs, 25 out of 29 compounds were found in wastewater. However, only three of them (hydrocinnamic acid, caffeine, and bisphenol A) were found in the microalgae biomass used as biofertilizer. Agronomic tests were performed for lettuce growth in greenhouse. Four treatments were studied, comparing the use of microalgae biofertilizer with a conventional mineral fertilizer, and also a combination of both of them. Results suggested that microalgae can help reducing the mineral nitrogen dose, since similar fresh shoot weights were obtained in the plants grown with the different assessed fertilizers. Lettuce samples revealed the presence of cadmium and CECs in all the treatments including both negative and positive controls, which suggests that their presence was not linked to the microalgae biomass. On the whole, this study revealed that wastewater grown microalgae can be used for agricultural purposes reducing mineral N need and guaranteeing health safety of the crops.This research was supported by the European Commission (FERTILWASTES-EFA307/19) and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (CYRCLE-PID2020-113866RA-I00). E. Uggetti and R. Díez-Montero would like to thank the Spanish Ministry of Industry and Economy for their research grants [RYC2018-025514-I and ICJ2019-042069-I, respectively]. A. Álvarez-González kindly acknowledge the Departament de Recerca i Universitats de la Generalitat de Catalunya for her PhD scholarship (FI AGAUR, 2022FI_B 00488). E. Gonzalez-Flo would like to thank the European Union-NextGenerationEU, Ministry of Universities and Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan for her research grant (2021UPF-MS-12). M. Escolà Casas wants to thank the Beatriu de Pinós 2018 grant-programme (MSCA grant agreement number 801370) for the funding.Peer reviewe

Procediment de drenatge

Drenatge; Cures d'infermeria; Redón; PenroseDrenaje; Cuidados de enfermería; Redón; PenroseDrainage; Nursing care; Redon; PenroseAquest document pretén estandarditzar les cures d’infermeria dels drenatges i també indicar com afavorir el drenatge excessiu del líquid serohemàtic i/o pus de les ferides a l’exterior. Va adreçat a tot professional sanitari que hagi de procedir a la cura o manteniment d’algun tipus de drenatge

Procediment de sondatge nasogàstric

Sondatge nasogàstric; Sondatge orogàstric; Cures infermeresSondaje nasogástrico; Sondaje orogástrico; Cuidados enfermerosNasogastric tube; Orogastric sounding; Nursing careAquest document presenta la tècnica per a la col·locació i la retirada d'un sondatge nasogàstric de forma correcta, i s'adreça a tot professional que hagi de realitzar aquest procediment

Sludge Treatment Wetland for Treating Microalgae Digestate Grown in Agricultural Runoff: A Technical, Economic, and Environmental Assessment

The management and disposal of wastewater treatment sludge can be a costly and resource-intensive process. To provide a cost-effective and sustainable alternative, Sludge Treatment Wetlands (STW) have emerged as a viable solution for enhancing sludge quality through dewatering and biodegradation. In this study, the effectiveness of a full-scale STW for stabilizing and dewatering digested microalgal biomass from a domestic and agricultural wastewater treatment system was evaluated. The properties of the treated digestate in the STW were assessed after 35 weeks of operation and a resting period of 4 weeks. The dry matter content was found to be 12.8%, and the average macronutrient content was K: 3.8 mg/g DW, P: 4.9 mg/g DW, and Ca: 95 mg/g DW. The highest contents of micronutrients were for Fe: 7.8 mg/g DW and Mg: 7.6 mg/g DW, while heavy metals and pathogen contents were below the EC limits for sewage sludge reuse in agriculture. The STW was found to be a cost-effective and environmentally friendly option for treating mixed wastewater-based sludge for land application. The STW outperformed reference systems using centrifuge dewatering techniques, particularly in terms of eutrophication potential and acidification potential. However, the STW’s economic performance was slightly worse than that of the dewatering system in terms of unit production cost. This study is the first in the literature to investigate the use of STW for treating digested microalgae and its possible reuse in arable land, suggesting that STW infrastructures have great potential for the development of sustainable and eco-friendly sludge treatment technologies

Plug-and-Play Multicellular Circuits with Time-Dependent Dynamic Responses

Synthetic biology studies aim to develop cellular devices for biomedical applications. These devices, based on living instead of electronic or electromechanic technology, might provide alternative treatments for a wide range of diseases. However, the feasibility of these devices depends, in many cases, on complex genetic circuits that must fulfill physiological requirements. In this work, we explored the potential of multicellular architectures to act as an alternative to complex circuits for implementation of new devices. As a proof of concept, we developed specific circuits for insulin or glucagon production in response to different glucose levels. Here, we show that fundamental features, such as circuit’s affinity or sensitivity, are dependent on the specific configuration of the multicellular consortia, providing a method for tuning these properties without genetic engineering. As an example, we have designed and built circuits with an incoherent feed-forward loop architecture (FFL) that can be easily adjusted to generate single pulse responses. Our results might serve as a blueprint for future development of cellular devices for glycemia regulation in diabetic patients