Interfacial energy during the emulsification of water-in-heavy crude oil emulsions

The aim of this study was to investigate the interfacial energy involved in the production of water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions composed of water and a Brazilian heavy crude oil. For such purpose an experimental set-up was developed to measure the different energy terms involved in the emulsification process. W/O emulsions containing different water volume fractions (0.1, 0.25 and 0.4) were prepared in a batch calorimeter by using a high-shear rotating homogenizer at two distinct rotation speeds (14000 and 22000 rpm). The results showed that the energy dissipated as heat represented around 80% of the energy transferred to the emulsion, while around 20% contributed to the internal energy. Only a very small fraction of the energy (0.02 - 0.06%) was stored in the water-oil interface. The results demonstrated that the high energy dissipation contributes to the kinetic stability of the W/O emulsions321127137CONSELHO NACIONAL DE DESENVOLVIMENTO CIENTÍFICO E TECNOLÓGICO - CNPQCOORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR - CAPESThe authors are grateful to PETROBRAS S.A. and FINEP, Brazil, for the financial support to this study. We also acknowledge the grants conceded by CAPES and CNPq, Brazi

Zystische Adventitiadegeneration (CAD) als Ursache einer invalidisierenden Claudicatio intermittens

Zusammenfassung: Bei einem 45-jährigen Patienten mit wechselhaften Ischämiebeschwerden und initial limitierter Gehstrecke rechts von höchstens 50m führten die duplexsonographischen und angiographischen Abklärungen zur Verdachtsdiagnose einer zystischen Adventitiadegeneration. Intraoperativ zeigte sich ein zystisch aufgetriebenes Poplitealsegment mit Entleerung von gallertiger Flüssigkeit. Aufgrund der langstreckigen Veränderung erfolgte die Segmentresektion der A.poplitea und Rekonstruktion mittels eines autologen Veneninterponats. Die CAD ist ein seltenes Krankheitsbild, an das gerade bei jungen Patienten ohne systemische Arteriosklerose gedacht werden sollte. Die Therapie ist je nach Fall chirurgisch erhaltend durch Zystenresektion mittels "Exarterektomie" oder gefäßresezierend, insbesondere bei langstreckigen Veränderungen bzw. vollständiger Okklusion mittels Ersatz durch ein Veneninterpona

Gobernabilidad en Santa Cruz de la Sierra: Pautas para mayor transparencia y democracia local

A partir de los años ochenta se inició una nueva etapa democrática en Bolivia, después de quince años de alternar entre gobiernos dictatoriales y constitucionales. La profundización de la democracia fue prolongada (1978-1982), costosa, lenta y complicada. El desarrollo de las democracias locales, como parte del proceso general, constituyó un paso importante en esta consolidación y estuvo marcada por la aprobación de leyes que promueven la descentralización y la participación popular, tendientes a fortalecer la institucionalidad pública y a mejorar la calidad de vida de los ciudadanos, con una distribución más equitativa de los recursos financieros administrados bajo el régimen de vigilancia y control social. El proceso estuvo matizado por problemas de legitimidad y gobernabilidad. Una vez superados los unos se presentaron otros, generando un debate permanente y cambiante sobre el tema

Asymptomatic HIV-people present different profile of sCD14, sRAGE, DNA damage and vitamins, according to the use of cART and CD4+ T cells restoration.

We aimed to analyze markers of immune activation, inflammation, and oxidative stress in 92 asymptomatic HIV-infected patients according to the adequate (AR, >500 cells/mm(3)) or inadequate (IR, nAR > LTNP > tAR > tIR. Higher levels of 8-isoprostane were observed in nIR. LTNP presented a higher retinol dosage than tAR and less genotoxic damage induced by oxidative stress than the other groups. We suggest that the therapy, despite being related to lesser immune activation and inflammation, alters the vitamin profile and consequently increases the oxidative stress of patients. In addition, the lowest genotoxic index for LTNP indicates that both VL and cART could be responsible for the increased DNA damage. More studies are needed to understand the influence of cART on persistent immune activation and inflammation

Whole-genome sequencing of 1,171 elderly admixed individuals from Brazil

As whole-genome sequencing (WGS) becomes the gold standard tool for studying population genomics and medical applications, data on diverse non-European and admixed individuals are still scarce. Here, we present a high-coverage WGS dataset of 1,171 highly admixed elderly Brazilians from a census-based cohort, providing over 76 million variants, of which ~2 million are absent from large public databases. WGS enables identification of ~2,000 previously undescribed mobile element insertions without previous description, nearly 5 Mb of genomic segments absent from the human genome reference, and over 140 alleles from HLA genes absent from public resources. We reclassify and curate pathogenicity assertions for nearly four hundred variants in genes associated with dominantly-inherited Mendelian disorders and calculate the incidence for selected recessive disorders, demonstrating the clinical usefulness of the present study. Finally, we observe that whole-genome and HLA imputation could be significantly improved compared to available datasets since rare variation represents the largest proportion of input from WGS. These results demonstrate that even smaller sample sizes of underrepresented populations bring relevant data for genomic studies, especially when exploring analyses allowed only by WGS