Liquid hot water pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis as a valorization route of Italian green pepper waste to delivery free sugars

In this work, liquid hot water pretreatment (autohydrolysis) was used to improve enzymatic hydrolysis of a commonly consumed vegetable waste in Spain, Italian green pepper, to finally produce fermentable sugars. Firstly, the effect of temperature and contact time on sugar recovery during pretreatment (in insoluble solid and liquid fraction) was studied in detail. Then, enzymatic hydrolysis using commercial cellulase was performed with the insoluble solid resulting from pretreatment. The objective was to compare results with and without pretreatment. The results showed that the pretreatment step was effective to facilitate the sugars release in enzymatic hydrolysis, increasing the global sugar yield. This was especially notable when pretreatment was carried out at 180 °C for 40 min for glucose yields. In these conditions a global glucose yield of 61.02% was obtained. In addition, very low concentrations of phenolic compounds (ranging from 69.12 to 82.24 mg/L) were found in the liquid fraction from enzymatic hydrolysis, decreasing the possibility of fermentation inhibition produced by these components. Results showed that Italian green pepper is an interesting feedstock to obtain free sugars and prevent the enormous quantity of this food waste discarded annually

Life cycle assessment of mechanical recycling of post-consumer polyethylene flexible films based on a real case in Spain

Mechanical recycling of plastic waste is a common practice in industry and is an environmental solution to the problem of plastics disposal. In this article, a case study of mechanical recycling of post-consumer polyethylene flexible films in Granada (Spain) was analyzed from an environmental point of view by the Life-Cycle Assessment methodology. The industrial process is divided into four large areas of operation: sorting, washing, extrusion and wastewater treatment. The results show that the washing area has the largest environmental impacts, mostly due to the electricity consumption, followed by sorting. Also, the overall mechanical recycling process causes damage, mainly, on human health, which dominates over ecosystems and resources with 93.4% of the total impact of the process. Two different scenarios have also been considered for the generated waste, and they critically affect the overall environmental performance of the entire process. The first scenario considers the impacts of the landfill disposal of the humid organic matter generated and the losses of PE. In this scenario, all the CH4 resulting from the anaerobic degradation of organic matter was emitted into the atmosphere. In this case, human health impact was high. In the second end-of-life scenario, all the CH4 generated would be captured and burned in a gas turbine for energy generation. Lower impacts were found in human health and ecosystems categories, as well as the total value, in the second scenario.This work has received funds from the European Union– LIFE Programme, under Grant Agreement LIFE17ENV/ES/000229. Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada / CBUA

Projeto mulheres em ação e a luta pelo empoderamento e saúde da mulher

Anais do 35º Seminário de Extensão Universitária da Região Sul - Área temática: SaúdeOs cânceres de mama e de colo uterino estão entre as neoplasias malignas mais prevalentes entre as mulheres, e ambos possuem grande potencial de prevenção e cura quando diagnosticados precocemente. Com o objetivo de diminuir sua incidência, programas de rastreamento nacionais são realizados; porém, não vêm conseguindo a adesão necessária da população. Assim, o projeto “Mulheres em Ação”, articulado por professores, colaboradores e alunos da UFCSPA, busca promover estratégias de prevenção/diagnóstico precoce do câncer, bem como o empoderamento da mulher em relação a seu corpo e sua saúde. Com ações realizadas em diversos municípios do Rio Grande do Sul e fora dele, o projeto trabalha de forma versátil para levar o conhecimento para todos os públicos, adequando-se a suas peculiaridades, capacitando agentes multiplicadores, aproximando-se profissionais da saúde e comunidade e promovendo saúde e empoderamento feminino por meio de palestras, exposição em estandes e rodas de conversa. Até o momento, as ações do projeto têm mostrado grande retorno e ampliação de suas atividades, ratificando sua importância como projeto de extensão universitári

A privileged intraphagocyte niche is responsible for disseminated infection ofStaphylococcus aureusin a zebrafish model

The innate immune system is the primary defence against the versatile pathogen, Staphylococcus aureus. How this organism is able to avoid immune killing and cause infections is poorly understood. Using an established larval zebrafish infection model, we have shown that overwhelming infection is due to subversion of phagocytes by staphylococci, allowing bacteria to evade killing and found foci of disease. Larval zebrafish coinfected with two S. aureus strains carrying different fluorescent reporter gene fusions (but otherwise isogenic) had bacterial lesions, at the time of host death, containing predominantly one strain. Quantitative data using two marked strains revealed that the strain ratios, during overwhelming infection, were often skewed towards the extremes, with one strain predominating. Infection with passaged bacterial clones revealed the phenomenon not to be due to adventitious mutations acquired by the pathogen. After infection of the host, all bacteria are internalized by phagocytes and the skewing of population ratios is absolutely dependent on the presence of phagocytes. Mathematical modelling of pathogen population dynamics revealed the data patterns are consistent with the hypothesis that a small number of infected phagocytes serve as an intracellular reservoir for S. aureus, which upon release leads to disseminated infection. Strategies to specifically alter neutrophil/macrophage numbers were used to map the potential subpopulation of phagocytes acting as a pathogen reservoir, revealing neutrophils as the likely ‘niche’. Subsequently in a murine sepsis model, S. aureus abscesses in kidneys were also found to be predominantly clonal, therefore likely founded by an individual cell, suggesting a potential mechanism analogous to the zebrafish model with few protected niches. These findings add credence to the argument that S. aureus control regimes should recognize both the intracellular as well as extracellular facets of the S. aureus life cycle

Vascular Liver Disorders, Portal Vein Thrombosis, and Procedural Bleeding in Patients With Liver Disease:2020 Practice Guidance by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases

An overview of the current understanding of bleeding and thrombosis in cirrhosis. An evidence-based justification for bleeding risk assessment in patients with cirrhosis prior to invasive procedures, including current concepts in preprocedural testing and laboratory analysis and their role in predicting bleeding complications. An outline of established and recently identified risk factors for venous thrombosis in the portal and hepatic venous systems in both patients with and without cirrhosis along with thrombophilia testing recommendations

Clinical Characteristics and Risk Factors For Mortality During the \u27First Wave\u27 of COVID-19 In Reynosa, Tamaulipas

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted public health in Mexico. As of February 2020, there have been at least four waves of contagion that resulted in 5.82 million positive cases and more than 325 thousand deaths. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, hospital and population-based information was available, frequently with non-specific symptoms. Little was known about the risk factors for mortality in specific conditions. We described the clinical characteristics of patients with COVID-19 in Reynosa, Tamaulipas during 2020 and identified the risk factors for mortality. Methods: The COVID-19 cases registered from March to November 2020 in Reynosa were divided into survivors and non-survivors. The study had a retrospective cohort design. Data was obtained from the platform of the Respiratory Disease Surveillance System (SISVER), belonging to the National Epidemiological Surveillance System (SINAVE) of the Mexican Ministry of Health (https://sinave.gob.mx/). The variables considered were the age and gender of each patient. Twenty-five symptoms were included (fever, cough, headache, myalgia, arthralgia, among others); the outcome variable was the detection of COVID-19. Associated comorbidities were diabetes, obesity, hypertension, among others. The outcome variable was mortality. Data were analyzed using χ2 tests, Mann-Whitney tests, principal component analysis, and the Cox regression model. Results:The highest number of COVID-19 cases and deaths was observed in July, in men between 36-40 years old. The most frequent symptoms (37-51%) were headache, fever, cough, myalgia, and arthralgia. Clinical characteristics between survivors and non-survivors were significant (P Conclusions: The most frequent symptoms in positive COVID-19 patients in Reynosa during 2020 were headache, fever, cough, myalgia, and arthralgia. Age, gender and diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, COPD, and CKD increase mortality. The factors with the highest risk of death were age over 80 years, admitted to the ICU or intubated

Conception rate of artificially inseminated holstein cows affected by cloudy vaginal mucus, under intense heat conditions.

The objective of this work was to obtain prevalence estimates of cloudy vaginal mucus in artificially inseminated Holstein cows raised under intense heat, in order to assess the effect of meteorological conditions on its occurrence during estrus and to determine its effect on conception rate. In a first study, an association was established between the occurrence of cloudy vaginal mucus during estrus and the conception rate of inseminated cows (18,620 services), raised under intense heat (mean annual temperature of 22°C), at highly technified farms, in the arid region of northern Mexico. In a second study, data from these large dairy operations were used to assess the effect of meteorological conditions throughout the year on the occurrence of cloudy vaginal mucus during artificial insemination (76,899 estruses). The overall rate of estruses with cloudy vaginal mucus was 21.4% (16,470/76,899; 95% confidence interval = 21.1?21.7%). The conception rate of cows with clean vaginal mucus was higher than that of cows with abnormal mucus (30.6 vs. 22%). Prevalence of estruses with cloudy vaginal mucus was strongly dependent on high ambient temperature and markedly higher in May and June. Acceptable conception rates in high milk-yielding Holstein cows can only be obtained with cows showing clear and translucid mucus at artificial insemination.Título em português: Taxa de concepção de vacas Holandesas inseminadas artificialmente e afetadas por muco vaginal turvo, sob condições de intenso calor

Comparison of plaque prolapse in consecutive patients treated with Xience V and Taxus Liberte stents

The purpose of this article is to investigate the prevalence of plaque prolapse (PP) after Xience V and Taxus Liberte stent implantation. During the study period 2006-2007, 200 consecutive patients underwent coronary revascularization for de novo lesions and received an intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) post-stenting evaluation, (n = 124 patients with Taxus Liberte and n = 76 with Xience V) (227 stent segments). Cross-sectional and longitudinal 3D IVUS images were analyzed in a blind fashion, evaluating the prevalence of PP and calculating its depth and angle. The angulation degree of the coronary artery at the lesion site pre-stent implantation was also evaluated by angiography. The prevalence of PP was 23.9% in Xience V versus 38.1% in Taxus Liberte (P = 0.025). The depth and angle of PP were greater in Taxus Liberte stent than Xience V stent (0.4 ± 0.1 mm versus 0.5 ± 0.2 mm, P = 0.004; and 32.0 ± 8.9° versus 44.6 ± 27.6°, P = 0.044, respectively). The angulation degree of the coronary artery at the lesion site was higher in presence of plaque prolapse than in its absence (48.2 ± 29.3° vs. 38.2 ± 28.1°, P = 0.013). By multivariate analysis, stent type was independently associated with incidence of plaque prolapse. Xience V stent has less plaque prolapse than Taxus Liberte stent. Stent design may play a role in the prevalence of plaque prolapse