Dark fermentative hydrogen production: from concepts to a sustainable production

ABSTRACT: The use of renewable sources and environmentally friendly processes is considered a priority for the construction of a sustainable energy future. The harmful impact of fossil fuels and the fact that we are reaching a disrupting point regarding environmental damage require the rapid implementation of new energy systems and a substantial increase in the use of alternative, unconventional energy sources. Hydrogen (H2) is considered one of the most promising sources as a clean energy vector, because of its high energy density (120 MJ/kg) and carbon-free combustion (Argun and Kargi, 2011). Hydrogen is the simplest and most abundant element on earth; however, it barely exists in nature in its molecular state. Instead, it is almost always found as part of other compounds from which it should be separated, either by thermochemical processes or through biological conversion.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ybp1 and Gpx3 signaling in Candida albicans govern hydrogen peroxide-induced oxidation of the Cap1 transcription factor and macrophage escape

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Antigenicity and diagnostic potential of vaccine candidates in human Chagas disease

Chagas disease is the most common cause of congestive heart failure related deaths among young adults in the endemic areas of South and Central America and Mexico. Diagnosis and treatment of T. cruzi infection has remained difficult and challenging after 100 years of its identification. In >95% of human cases, T. cruzi infection remains undiagnosed until several years later when chronic evolution of progressive disease results in clinical symptoms associated with cardiac damage. Diagnosis generally depends on the measurement of T. cruzi'specific antibodies that can result in false positives. A conclusive diagnosis of T. cruzi infection thus often requires multiple serological tests, in combination with epidemiological data and clinical symptoms. In this study, we investigated the antibody response to TcG1, TcG2, and TcG4 in clinically characterized chagasic patients. These antigens were identified as vaccine candidates and shown to elicit protective immunity to T. cruzi and Chagas disease in experimental animals. Our data show the serology test developed using the TcGmix (multiplex ELISA) is a significantly better alternative to epimastigote extracts currently used in T. cruzi serodiagnosis or the trypomastigote lysate used in this study for comparison purposes.Fil: Gupta, Shivali. University Of Texas Medical Branch. Department Of Pathology; Estados UnidosFil: Wan, Xianxu. University Of Texas Medical Branch. Department Of Pathology; Estados UnidosFil: Zago, María Paola. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Salta. Instituto de Patología Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Martinez Sellers, Valena C.. University Of Texas Medical Branch. Department of Pathology; Estados UnidosFil: Silva, Trevor S.. University Of Texas Medical Branch. Department of Pathology; Estados UnidosFil: Assiah, Dadjah. University Of Texas Medical Branch. Department of Pathology; Estados UnidosFil: Dhiman, Monisha. University Of Texas Medical Branch. Department of Pathology; Estados UnidosFil: Nuñez, Sonia. Provincia de Salta. Hospital Público de Gestion Descentralizada San Bernardo; ArgentinaFil: Petersen, John R.. University Of Texas Medical Branch. Department of Pathology; Estados UnidosFil: Vazquez Chagoyán, Juan C.. Universidad Autónoma de Estado de México ; MéxicoFil: Estrada Franco, Jose G.. Universidad Autónoma de Estado de México; MéxicoFil: Garg, Nisha Jain. University Of Texas Medical Branch. Department of Pathology; Estados Unido

Primary Angioplasty in a Catastrophic Presentation: Acute Left Main Coronary Total Occlusion—The ATOLMA Registry

Objectives. To determine the outcome predictors of in-hospital mortality in acute total occlusion of the left main coronary artery (ATOLMA) patients referred to emergent angioplasty and to describe the clinical presentation and the long-term outcome of these patients.Background. ATOLMA is an uncommon angiographic finding that usually leads to a catastrophic presentation. Limited and inconsistent data have been previously reported regarding true ATOLMA, yet comprehensive knowledge remains scarce.Methods. This is a multicenter retrospective cohort that includes patients presenting with myocardial infarction due to a confirmed ATOLMA who underwent emergency percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).Results. In the period of the study, 7930 emergent PCI were performed in the five participating centers, and 46 of them had a true ATOLMA (0.58%). At admission, cardiogenic shock was present in 89% of patients, and cardiopulmonary resuscitation was required in 67.4%. All the patients had right dominance. Angiographic success was achieved in 80.4% of the procedures, 13 patients (28.2%) died during the catheterization, and the in-hospital mortality rate was 58.6% (27/46). At one-year and at the final follow-up, 18 patients (39%) were alive, including four cases successfully transplanted. Multivariate analysis showed that postprocedural TIMI flow was the only independent predictor of in-hospital mortality (OR 0.23, (95% CI 0.1-0.36),p<0.001).Conclusions. Our study confirms that the clinical presentation of ATOLMA is catastrophic, presenting a high in-hospital mortality rate; nevertheless, primary angioplasty in this setting is feasible. Postprocedural TIMI flow resulted as the only independent predictor of in-hospital mortality. In-hospital survivors presented an encouraging outcome. ATOLMA and left dominance could be incompatible with life

Gravity localization in a string-cigar braneworld

We proposed a six dimensional string-like braneworld built from a warped product between a 3-brane and the Hamilton cigar soliton space, the string-cigar braneworld. This transverse manifold is a well-known steady solution of the Ricci flow equation that describes the evolution of a manifold. The resulting bulk is an interior and exterior metric for a thick string. This is a physical and feasible scenario since the source satisfies the dominant energy condition. It is possible to realize the geometric flow as a result of variations of the matter content of the brane, actually, as its tensions. Furthermore, the Ricci flow defines a family of string-like branes and we studied the effects that the evolution of the transverse space has on the geometric and physical quantities. The geometric flow makes the cosmological constant and the relationship between the Planck masses evolves. The gravitational massless mode remains trapped to the brane and the width of the mode depends on the evolution parameter. For the Kaluza-Klein modes, the asymptotic spectrum of mass is the same as for the thin string-like brane and the analogue Schroedinger potential also changes according to the flow.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures. We include new discussion about gravitational perturbation analysis and some new references. Results unchanged. Version to appear in Classical and Quantum Gravit

Herschel-ATLAS: Multi-wavelength SEDs and physical properties of 250 micron-selected galaxies at z < 0.5

We present a pan-chromatic analysis of an unprecedented sample of 1402 250 micron-selected galaxies at z < 0.5 (mean z = 0.24) from the Herschel-ATLAS survey. We complement our Herschel 100-500 micron data with UV-K-band photometry from the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey and apply the MAGPHYS energy-balance technique to produce pan-chromatic SEDs for a representative sample of 250 micron selected galaxies spanning the most recent 5 Gyr of cosmic history. We derive estimates of physical parameters, including star formation rates, stellar masses, dust masses and infrared luminosities. The typical H-ATLAS galaxy at z < 0.5 has a far-infrared luminosity in the range 10^10 - 10^12 Lsolar (SFR: 1-50 Msolar/yr) thus is broadly representative of normal star forming galaxies over this redshift range. We show that 250 micron-selected galaxies contain a larger mass of dust at a given infra-red luminosity or star formation rate than previous samples selected at 60 micron from IRAS. We derive typical SEDs for H-ATLAS galaxies, and show that the emergent SED shape is most sensitive to specific star formation rate. The optical-UV SEDs also become more reddened due to dust at higher redshifts. Our template SEDs are significantly cooler than existing infra-red templates. They may therefore be most appropriate for inferring total IR luminosities from moderate redshift submillimetre selected samples and for inclusion in models of the lower redshift submillimetre galaxy populations.Comment: 26 pages, 24 figures, Accepted by MNRA

Highlights from the Pierre Auger Observatory

The Pierre Auger Observatory is the world's largest cosmic ray observatory. Our current exposure reaches nearly 40,000 km$^2$ str and provides us with an unprecedented quality data set. The performance and stability of the detectors and their enhancements are described. Data analyses have led to a number of major breakthroughs. Among these we discuss the energy spectrum and the searches for large-scale anisotropies. We present analyses of our X$_{max}$ data and show how it can be interpreted in terms of mass composition. We also describe some new analyses that extract mass sensitive parameters from the 100% duty cycle SD data. A coherent interpretation of all these recent results opens new directions. The consequences regarding the cosmic ray composition and the properties of UHECR sources are briefly discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, talk given at the 33rd International Cosmic Ray Conference, Rio de Janeiro 201

Observation of an Excited Bc+ State

Using pp collision data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 8.5 fb-1 recorded by the LHCb experiment at center-of-mass energies of s=7, 8, and 13 TeV, the observation of an excited Bc+ state in the Bc+π+π- invariant-mass spectrum is reported. The observed peak has a mass of 6841.2±0.6(stat)±0.1(syst)±0.8(Bc+) MeV/c2, where the last uncertainty is due to the limited knowledge of the Bc+ mass. It is consistent with expectations of the Bc∗(2S31)+ state reconstructed without the low-energy photon from the Bc∗(1S31)+→Bc+γ decay following Bc∗(2S31)+→Bc∗(1S31)+π+π-. A second state is seen with a global (local) statistical significance of 2.2σ (3.2σ) and a mass of 6872.1±1.3(stat)±0.1(syst)±0.8(Bc+) MeV/c2, and is consistent with the Bc(2S10)+ state. These mass measurements are the most precise to date

Search for CP violation in D+→K−K+π+D^{+} \to K^{-}K^{+}\pi^{+} decays

A model-independent search for direct CP violation in the Cabibbo suppressed decay $D^+ \to K^- K^+\pi^+$ in a sample of approximately 370,000 decays is carried out. The data were collected by the LHCb experiment in 2010 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35 pb$^{-1}$. The normalized Dalitz plot distributions for $D^+$ and $D^-$ are compared using four different binning schemes that are sensitive to different manifestations of CP violation. No evidence for CP asymmetry is found.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Differential branching fraction and angular analysis of the decay B0→K∗0μ+μ−

The angular distribution and differential branching fraction of the decay B 0→ K ∗0 μ + μ − are studied using a data sample, collected by the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at s√=7 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1. Several angular observables are measured in bins of the dimuon invariant mass squared, q 2. A first measurement of the zero-crossing point of the forward-backward asymmetry of the dimuon system is also presented. The zero-crossing point is measured to be q20=4.9±0.9GeV2/c4 , where the uncertainty is the sum of statistical and systematic uncertainties. The results are consistent with the Standard Model predictions