The challenges of solar hybrid PVT systems in the food processing industry

This paper assesses the challenges of alternative solar systems based on hybrid PVT collectors coupled with an absorption chiller (AbCH, single-stage NH3-H2O) in the food-processing industry, from the technical, economic and environmental points of view. This type of industry is usually characterised by a constant cooling demand throughout the year, hot water demand for production processes and electricity consumption for factory equipment and lighting. To the authors’ knowledge, this work constitutes one of the first studies to address the integration of PVT-water collectors with a single-stage NH3-H2O AbCH for industrial applications. Two alternative PVT-water collectors are analysed, covered and uncovered. A biomass boiler is proposed as an auxiliary heater. To compare the proposed solar solutions, a vegetable and fruit processing and canning factory is considered as a representative case study. Hourly transient simulations considering the real factory demands and real weather data are performed over a year. Two main challenges are found for the solar systems based on the covered PVT collectors, an AbCH and a biomass boiler: the overlapping of the cooling and hot water demands of the food-processing industry, and the high hot water temperatures required. If, alternatively, the current electrical chillers are retained, the system based on uncovered PVT collectors has a reasonable-to-attractive payback time (14.3 years). When the potential environmental benefit is quantified (through carbon pricing), all the proposed solar systems become economically attractive, i.e., with positive total cost savings at the end of the system lifetime. Still, the high cost of PVT collectors, along with the considerably lower price of fuels compared to electricity, hinder the potential of systems that displace fossil fuels

The effect of self-efficacy expectations in the adherence to a gluten free diet in celiac disease

Objective: To analyse the effect of general and specific self-efficacy on the adherence to a gluten free diet (GFD) in patients with celiac disease along with the effect of other relevant variables. Design: 271 patients with celiac disease participated in this transversal descriptive study and completed a series of questionnaires regarding adherence (CDAT), general self-efficacy (GSES) and specific self-efficacy (Celiac-SE) and quality of life (CD-Qol), among others. Main Outcome Measures: Dependent variable was adherence to the Gluten Free Diet (GFD). Main independent variables were general self-efficacy, specific self-efficacy and quality of life. Model tests were conducted using regression analysis. Results: 71.9% of patients show an excellent or good adherence to the diet. Higher levels of adherence are positively associated to a high expectancy of specific self-efficacy, to the perceived adoption of recommended behaviours, risk perception and better quality of life (these variables accounted for 36.4% of the variance in the adherence to a GFD, p <.001). Conclusions: Specific self-efficacy rather than general has a predictive value in adherence to a GFD. Therefore, we need to develop and transculturally adapt new instruments to assess specific self-efficacy. Celiac-SE has proved to be a useful scale for this objective

Development and validation of a specific self-efficacy scale in adherence to a gluten-free diet

The aim of this study was to develop a scale to assess the levels of specific self-efficacy in order to enhance adherence to a gluten-free diet and the life quality of celiac patients. Celiac disease is a chronic small intestinal immune-mediated enteropathy precipitated by exposure to dietary gluten in genetically predisposed people. The only treatment is a strict lifelong gluten-free diet. Within the framework of Social Cognitive Theory, expectation of self-efficacy is understood as the degree in which a person believes himself to be capable of performing a certain task (e.g., adhering to a gluten-free diet), a construct which has been widely studied in its relation with adopting healthy behaviors, but scarcely in relation to celiac disease. A validation study was carried out in various stages: preparation of the protocol; construction of the questionnaire and a pilot run with 20 patients; validation of the scale with 563 patients and statistical analysis. A 25-item scale was developed. Feasibility was excellent (99.82% of participants completed all the questions). Factorial analysis pointed to the existence of five factors that explained 70.98% of the variance with a Cronbach alpha of 0.81 for the scale overall and between 0.64 and 0.90 for each factor. The scale showed a Spearman''s Rho coefficient of 0.279 with the General self-efficacy Scale. This easily administered scale provides good psychometric properties for evaluating specific self-efficacy of celiac patients in adhering to treatment. It seeks to be the first scale that provides not only a measurement of specific self-efficacy in celiac disease, but also to determine its levels for each of the areas as a first step toward designing interventions of self-management and empowerment programs to cope with the disease

Influence of Compliance to Diet and Self-Efficacy Expectation on Quality of Life in Patients with Celiac Disease in Spain

The purpose of this study is to understand the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with celiac disease (CD) and analyze its main determinants. A transversal descriptive study of 738 patients with celiac disease was carried out. A series of questionnaires were answered related to their HRQoL, adherence to a gluten-free diet (GFD), and self-efficacy beliefs among other relevant variables. Regression analyses were carried out in order to explore the predictive variables in adherence to the GFD and HRQoL. A total of 61.2% showed a good HRQoL, and the main predictors of HRQoL were specific self-efficacy, adherence to the diet, risk perception, time since diagnosis, and age. While 68.7% of participants showed good or excellent adherence to the GFD, and the main predictors of adherence were specific self-efficacy, perceived adoption of recommended behaviors, HRQoL and gender. The HRQoL of patients with CD, and adherence to the GFD in Spain, are good. It is the self-efficacy expectation, measured specifically and not generally, which is the best predictor of both adherence and HRQoL. It is necessary to develop programs to improve the HRQoL of patients with CD that focus on improving specific self-efficacy

Value Conflict, Lack of Rewards, and Sense of Community as Psychosocial Risk Factors of Burnout in Communication Professionals (Press, Radio, and Television)

Journalists are at particular risk of work-related stress and burnout. The objective of this study is to describe and analyze the principal factors involved in the appearance of burnout in communication professionals, as well as the possible interactions between them and with self-reported health, and to observe whether the variables involved are the same in different types of environments. To achieve this objective, 292 participants answered the following measurement instruments: Demographic and labor datasheet; Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI General survey); Areas of Worklife Scale (AWS); and General Health Questionnaire (GHQ -12). The results were the following: Emotional Exhaustion (EE) shows direct correlation and statistical significance with the other two burnout dimensions, Depersonalization (DP) and Personal Accomplishment (PA), also with health perception variables and inverse and statistical significance with the workload, control, rewards, community, fairness, and values. A multiple linear regression model shows workload and values as inverse EE predictors, which confirms a burnout process in which EE contributes as the main dimension in DP and is shown to be a precursor of PA, itself. When comparing different types of media, journalists who work in institutional press offices presented significantly lower scores in PA and higher in control, rewards, community, justice, and values. Therefore, further research should be carried out in order to analyze the protective role of these variables regarding PA and burnout

Self-sustained enzymatic cascade for the production of 2, 5-furandicarboxylic acid from 5-methoxymethylfurfural

Background: 2, 5-Furandicarboxylic acid is a renewable building block for the production of polyfurandicarboxylates, which are biodegradable polyesters expected to substitute their classical counterparts derived from fossil resources. It may be produced from bio-based 5-hydroxymethylfurfural or 5-methoxymethylfurfural, both obtained by the acidic dehydration of biomass-derived fructose. 5-Methoxymethylfurfural, which is produced in the presence of methanol, generates less by-products and exhibits better storage stability than 5-hydroxymethylfurfural being, therefore, the industrial substrate of choice. Results: In this work, an enzymatic cascade involving three fungal oxidoreductases has been developed for the production of 2, 5-furandicarboxylic acid from 5-methoxymethylfurfural. Aryl-alcohol oxidase and unspecific peroxygenase act on 5-methoxymethylfurfural and its partially oxidized derivatives yielding 2, 5-furandicarboxylic acid, as well as methanol as a by-product. Methanol oxidase takes advantage of the methanol released for in situ producing H2O2 that, along with that produced by aryl-alcohol oxidase, fuels the peroxygenase reactions. In this way, the enzymatic cascade proceeds independently, with the only input of atmospheric O2, to attain a 70% conversion of initial 5-methoxymethylfurfural. The addition of some exogenous methanol to the reaction further improves the yield to attain an almost complete conversion of 5-methoxymethylfurfural into 2, 5-furandicarboxylic acid. Conclusions: The synergistic action of aryl-alcohol oxidase and unspecific peroxygenase in the presence of 5-methoxymethylfurfural and O2 is sufficient for the production of 2, 5-furandicarboxylic acid. The addition of methanol oxidase to the enzymatic cascade increases the 2, 5-furandicarboxylic acid yields by oxidizing a reaction by-product to fuel the peroxygenase reactions

In silico-designed lignin peroxidase from Phanerochaete chrysosporium shows enhanced acid stability for depolymerization of lignin

Background: The lignin peroxidase isozyme H8 from the white-rot fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium (LiPH8) demonstrates a high redox potential and can efficiently catalyze the oxidation of veratryl alcohol, as well as the degradation of recalcitrant lignin. However, native LiPH8 is unstable under acidic pH conditions. This characteristic is a barrier to lignin depolymerization, as repolymerization of phenolic products occurs simultaneously at neutral pH. Because repolymerization of phenolics is repressed at acidic pH, a highly acid-stable LiPH8 could accelerate the selective depolymerization of recalcitrant lignin. Results: The engineered LiPH8 was in silico designed through the structural superimposition of surface-active site-harboring LiPH8 from Phanerochaete chrysosporium and acid-stable manganese peroxidase isozyme 6 (MnP6) from Ceriporiopsis subvermispora. Effective salt bridges were probed by molecular dynamics simulation and changes to Gibbs free energy following mutagenesis were predicted, suggesting promising variants with higher stability under extremely acidic conditions. The rationally designed variant, A55R/N156E-H239E, demonstrated a 12.5-fold increased half-life under extremely acidic conditions, 9.9-fold increased catalytic efficiency toward veratryl alcohol, and a 7.8-fold enhanced lignin model dimer conversion efficiency compared to those of native LiPH8. Furthermore, the two constructed salt bridges in the variant A55R/N156E-H239E were experimentally confirmed to be identical to the intentionally designed LiPH8 variant using X-ray crystallography (PDB ID: 6A6Q). Conclusion: Introduction of strong ionic salt bridges based on computational design resulted in a LiPH8 variant with markedly improved stability, as well as higher activity under acidic pH conditions. Thus, LiPH8, showing high acid stability, will be a crucial player in biomass valorization using selective depolymerization of lignin

Anticancer Gene Transfer for Cancer Gene Therapy

Gene therapy vectors are among the treatments currently used to treat malignant tumors. Gene therapy vectors use a specific therapeutic transgene that causes death in cancer cells. In early attempts at gene therapy, therapeutic transgenes were driven by non-specific vectors which induced toxicity to normal cells in addition to the cancer cells. Recently, novel cancer specific viral vectors have been developed that target cancer cells leaving normal cells unharmed. Here we review such cancer specific gene therapy systems currently used in the treatment of cancer and discuss the major challenges and future directions in this field

Delta-24-RGD combined with radiotherapy exerts a potent antitumor effect in diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma and pediatric high grade glioma models

Pediatric high grade gliomas (pHGG), including diffuse intrinsic pontine gliomas (DIPGs), are aggressive tumors with a dismal outcome. Radiotherapy (RT) is part of the standard of care of these tumors; however, radiotherapy only leads to a transient clinical improvement. Delta-24-RGD is a genetically engineered tumor-selective adenovirus that has shown safety and clinical efficacy in adults with recurrent gliomas. In this work, we evaluated the feasibility, safety and therapeutic efficacy of Delta-24-RGD in combination with radiotherapy in pHGGs and DIPGs models. Our results showed that the combination of Delta-24-RGD with radiotherapy was feasible and resulted in a synergistic anti-glioma effect in vitro and in vivo in pHGG and DIPG models. Interestingly, Delta-24-RGD treatment led to the downregulation of relevant DNA damage repair proteins, further sensitizing tumors cells to the effect of radiotherapy. Additionally, Delta-24-RGD/radiotherapy treatment significantly increased the trafficking of immune cells (CD3, CD4+ and CD8+) to the tumor niche compared with single treatments. In summary, administration of the Delta-24-RGD/radiotherapy combination to pHGG and DIPG models is safe and significantly increases the overall survival of mice bearing these tumors. Our data offer a rationale for the combination Delta-24-RGD/radiotherapy as a therapeutic option for children with these tumors. SIGNIFICANCE: Delta-24-RGD/radiotherapy administration is safe and significantly increases the survival of treated mice. These positive data underscore the urge to translate this approach to the clinical treatment of children with pHGG and DIPGs