The Use of Smart Devices for the Detection of Aflatoxin in Ground Corn Feeds

Aflatoxin contaminates agricultural commodities, plants or animal-derived food, in warm and humid conditions primarily in tropical countries such as the Philippines. Although the type and degree of contamination are dependent on its concentration, its effect becomes critical when biomagnified. In this study, a rapid, simple, and portable detection was developed. A smart-device sensor was used to measure the pH of the samples with aflatoxin and compared it with the pH of pure samples. Concentrations in parts per billion (ppb) were calculated for each of the samples from the obtained pH readings; Cyclic voltammetry was also conducted to further study the electrochemical properties of the mixture with aflatoxin

The Use of Smart Devices for the Detection of Aflatoxin in Ground Corn Feeds

Aflatoxins are toxic and carcinogenic secondary metabolites produced predominantly by two fungal species: Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus (Gourama, H., & Bullerman, L., 1995). These fungal species are contaminants of food crops as well as animal feeds, and are responsible for aflatoxin contamination of these agricultural products. The toxicity and potency of aflatoxins make them the primary health hazard as well as responsible for losses associated with contaminations of processed foods and feeds (Gourama, H., & Bullerman, L., 1995). Determination of aflatoxins concentration in food crops and animal feeds is thus very important for Food Safety Regulatory Agencies (FRSA) to create effective policies (Shane, S.H. & Groopman, J.D., 1994). However, the current mechanism of aflatoxin detection does not provide an immediate result, requires technical expertise, and are costly (Paniel, N., Radoi, A. & Marty, J., 2010

Microscopic nanomechanical dissipation in gallium arsenide resonators

We report on a systematic study of nanomechanical dissipation in high-frequency (approximatively 300 MHz) gallium arsenide optomechanical disk resonators, in conditions where clamping and fluidic losses are negligible. Phonon-phonon interactions are shown to contribute with a loss background fading away at cryogenic temperatures (3 K). Atomic layer deposition of alumina at the surface modifies the quality factor of resonators, pointing towards the importance of surface dissipation. The temperature evolution is accurately fitted by two-level systems models, showing that nanomechanical dissipation in gallium arsenide resonators directly connects to their microscopic properties. Two-level systems, notably at surfaces, appear to rule the damping and fluctuations of such high-quality crystalline nanomechanical devices, at all temperatures from 3 to 300K

Dermite de Contacto à Mitomicina C. 6 Casos

A Mitomicina C está entre uma variedade de agentes quimioterapêuticos intravesicais actualmente disponíveis para o tratamento do carcinoma superficial da bexiga. Cerca de9% destes doentes desenvolve reacções adversas cutâneas, geralmente dermites de contacto, localizadas nas mãos, pés, genitais, ou erupções mais disseminadas. Descrevem-se 6 casos de dermite de contacto alérgica à Mitomicina C, observados entre Junho/2004 e Março/2005,emcinco doentes do sexo masculino e umdo sexo feminino, com uma idade média de 70 anos

Tratamiento quirúrgico de los síndromes dolorosos regionales complejos tipo II y utilidad de la monitorización neurofisiológica intraoperatoria

ResumenEl propósito de esta revisión era presentar las bases bilógicas y fisiopatológicas de la formación de neuromas como causa de los síndromes dolorosos regional (SDRC) tipo II y el uso de la monitorización neurofisiológica intraoperatoria en el tratamiento de los SDRC tipo II secundarios a neuromas en continuidad y en nervios adheridos en cicatrices tras cirugías previas.AbstractThe purpose of this review article was to present the biological and physiological bases of the Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) type II and the use of iIntraoperative neurophysiological monitoring in the treatment of CRPS type II secondary to neuroma-in-continuity and scar-tethered nerves

Modelling Efficient Novelty-based Search Result Diversification in Metric Spaces

Novelty-based diversification provides a way to tackle ambiguous queries by re-ranking a set of retrieved documents. Current approaches are typically greedy, requiring O(n2) document–document comparisons in order to diversify a ranking of n documents. In this article, we introduce a new approach for novelty-based search result diversification to reduce the overhead incurred by document–document comparisons. To this end, we model novelty promotion as a similarity search in a metric space, exploiting the properties of this space to efficiently identify novel documents. We investigate three different approaches: pivoting-based, clustering-based, and permutation-based. In the first two, a novel document is one that lies outside the range of a pivot or outside a cluster. In the latter, a novel document is one that has a different signature (i.e., the documentʼs relative distance to a distinguished set of fixed objects called permutants) compared to previously selected documents. Thorough experiments using two TREC test collections for diversity evaluation, as well as a large sample of the query stream of a commercial search engine show that our approaches perform at least as effectively as well-known novelty-based diversification approaches in the literature, while dramatically improving their efficiency.Fil: Gil Costa, Graciela Verónica. Yahoo; México. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico San Luis; ArgentinaFil: Santos, Rodrygo L. T.. University Of Glasgow; Reino UnidoFil: Macdonald, Craig. University Of Glasgow; Reino UnidoFil: Ounis, Iadh. University Of Glasgow; Reino Unid

Arsenic Exposure and the Induction of Human Cancers

Arsenic is a metalloid, that is, considered to be a human carcinogen. Millions of individuals worldwide are chronically exposed through drinking water, with consequences ranging from acute toxicities to development of malignancies, such as skin and lung cancer. Despite well-known arsenic-related health effects, the molecular mechanisms involved are not fully understood; however, the arsenic biotransformation process, which includes methylation changes, is thought to play a key role. This paper explores the relationship of arsenic exposure with cancer development and summarizes current knowledge of the potential mechanisms that may contribute to the neoplastic processes observed in arsenic exposed human populations

Primary immunoblastic B-cell lymphoma of the sternum

AbstractJ Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1997;114:684-

Regenerative and resorbable PLA/HA hybrid construct for tendon/ligament tissue engineering

[EN] Tendon and ligament shows extremely limited endogenous regenerative capacity. Current treatments are based on the replacement and or augmentation of the injured tissue but the repaired tissue rarely achieve functionality equal to that of the preinjured tissue. To address this challenge, tissue engineering has emerged as a promising strategy. This study develops a regenerative and resorbable hybrid construct for tendon and ligament engineering. The construct is made up by a hollow poly-lactic acid braid with embedded microspheres carrying cells and an anti-adherent coating, with all the parts being made of biodegradable materials. This assembly intends to regenerate the tissue starting from the interior of the construct towards outside while it degrades. Fibroblasts cultured on poly lactic acid and hyaluronic acid microspheres for 6 h were injected into the hollow braid and the construct was cultured for 14 days. The cells thus transported into the lumen of the construct were able to migrate and adhere to the braid fibers naturally, leading to a homogeneous proliferation inside the braid. Moreover, no cells were found on the outer surface of the coating. Altogether, this study demonstrated that PLA/HA hybrid construct could be a promising material for tendon and ligament repair.This work was supported by AITEX (Textil Research Institute, Alcoi, Alicante, Spain) through the researching contract "Development of braided biomaterials for biomedical applications'' and also funded by AEI "RTI2018-095872-B-C21 and C22/ERDF''.Araque-Monrós, MC.; García-Cruz, DM.; Escobar-Ivirico, JL.; Gil-Santos, L.; Monleón Pradas, M.; Más Estellés, J. (2020). Regenerative and resorbable PLA/HA hybrid construct for tendon/ligament tissue engineering. Annals of Biomedical Engineering. 48(2):757-767. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10439-019-02403-0S757767482Aktas, E., C. S. Chamberlain, E. E. Saether, S. E. Duenwald-Kuehl, J. Kondratko-Mittnacht, M. Stitgen, J. S. Lee, A. E. Clements, W. L. Murphy, and R. Vanderby. Immune modulation with primed mesenchymal stem cells delivered via biodegradable scaffold to repair an Achilles tendon segmental defect. J. Orthop. Res. 35(2):269, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1002/jor.23258 .Araque Monrós, M. C., J. Más Estellés, M. Monleón Pradas, L. Gil Santos, S. Gironés Bernabé. Process for obtaining a biodegradable prosthesis. Patent ES2392857, 2013.Araque-Monrós, M. C., T. C. Gamboa-Martínez, L. Gil Santos, S. Gironés-Bernabé, M. Monleón-Pradas, and J. Más-Estellés. New concept for a regenerative and resorbable prosthesis for tendon and ligament: physicochemical and biological characterization of PLA-braided biomaterial. J. Biomed. Mater. Res. A 101A:3228, 2013.Araque-Monrós, M. C., A. Vidaurre, L. Gil Santos, S. Gironés-Bernabé, M. Monleón-Pradas, and J. Más-Estellés. 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Biomaterials 30(35):6724, 2009.Dominkus, M., M. Sabeti, C. Toma, F. Abdolvahab, K. Trieb, and R. I. Kotz. Reconstructing the extensor apparatus with a new polyester ligament. Clin. Orthop. Relat. Res. 453:328, 2006.Freeman, J. W., M. D. Woods, and C. T. Laurencin. Tissue engineering of the anterior cruciate ligament using a braid-twist scaffold design. J. Biomech. 40(9):2029, 2007.García Cruz, D. M., J. L. Escobar Ivirico, M. Gomes, J. L. Gómez Ribelles, M. Salmerón Sánchez, R. L. Reis, and J. F. Mano. Chitosan microparticles as injectable scaffolds for tissue engineering. J. Tissue Eng. Regen. Med. 2(6):378, 2008.Gaspar, D., K. Spanoudes, C. Holladay, A. Pandit, and D. Zeugolis. Progress in cell-based therapies for tendon repair. Adv. Drug Deliv. Rev. 84:240, 2015.Iannace, S., A. Maffezzoli, G. Leo, and L. Nicolais. Influence of crystal and amorphous phase morphology on hydrolytic degradation of PLLA subjected to different processing conditions. Polymer 42(8):3799, 2001.Iwuagwu, F. 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Chitosan modified poly(l-lactide) microspheres as cell microcarriers for cartilage tissue engineering. Colloids Surf. B Biointerfaces 66(2):218, 2008.Lu, H. H., J. A. Cooper, S. Manuel, J. W. Freeman, M. A. Attawia, F. K. Ko, and C. T. Laurencin. Anterior cruciate ligament regeneration using braided biodegradable scaffolds: in vitro optimization studies. Biomaterials 26(23):4805, 2005.Mengstreab, P. Y., L. S. Nair, and C. T. Laurencin. The past, present and future of ligament regenerative engineering. Regen. Med. 11(8):871, 2016.Molloy, T., Y. Wang, and G. A. C. Murrell. The roles of growth factors in tendon and ligament healing. Sports Med. 33(5):381, 2003.Murray, A. W., and M. F. Macnicol. 10–16 year results of Leeds–Keio anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction. Knee 11(1):9, 2004.Nelson, C. M., and C. S. Chen. Cell–cell signaling by direct contact increases cell proliferation via a PI3K-dependent signal. FEBS Lett. 514(2–3):238, 2002.Nixon, A. J., A. E. Watts, and L. V. Schnabel. 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Las glauconitas de la plataforma continental gallega: indicadores geoquímicos del grado de evolución.

La interpretación estratigráfica de unidades que contienen glauconita requiere de una adecuada caracterización del grado de evolución, definido a partir del concepto de madurez (Amorosi, 1995). Su utilización es útil para determinar la duración de periodos asociados a bajas tasas de sedimentación o para caracterizar condiciones paleoceanográficas y paleoambientales en la interfase sedimento-agua del mar. En este tipo de estudios se asume implícitamente que la glauconita actúa como un sistema abierto, susceptible de continuos cambios en la estequiometría, como resultado del intercambio de cationes con el agua del mar que, a su vez, inducen reajustes estructurales. La determinación del grado de evolución de glauconitas está asociada habitualmente a la presencia de determinados marcadores, algunos de tipo cualitativo como es el color o bien asociados a la variación de alguna de sus propiedades físicas, como es la susceptibilidad magnética o composicionales y estructurales, como son la determinación del contenido en K+ o la distancia entre las reflexiones 001, 020 en diagramas de difracción de rayos X. Sin embargo, una caracterización adecuada del proceso evolutivo en glauconita que pueda ser aplicada de forma general debe ser capaz de establecer una relación precisa entre los cambios químicos con el medio durante el proceso de creci 233 S. Fernández-Bastero et al. Las glauconitas de la plataforma continental gallega... miento y la tendencia hacia una mayor estabilidad termodinámica, conectada con modificaciones estructurales, desde una etapa inicial de formación, casi amorfa, hasta alcanzar los últimos términos de la solución sólida, más ordenados. En este sentido, este trabajo se ha planteado con una doble finalidad: en una primera etapa se ha determinado la variabilidad composicional en glauconitas de la plataforma continental gallega y en segundo lugar, estos valores han sido comparados con la variabilidad estructural al objeto de establecer patrones de comportamiento durante las diferentes etapas del proceso evolutivo. El desarrollo de este estudio está basado en el análisis cuantitativo de los diagramas de difracción de rayos X de 50 muestras de sedimento superficial, mediante el método de Rietveld. Con este fin, se ha desarrollado una aplicación particular de este procedimiento de análisis, basada en el ajuste simultáneo de los factores de ocupación para las distintas sustituciones en lugares tetraédricos y octaédricos, así como en las intercapas de la estructura. De este modo, las modificaciones en la estequiometría, inducidas por los procesos de intercambio catiónico entre la superficie mineral y el agua del mar se pueden relacionar con cambios estructurales asociados a las diferentes etapas del proceso evolutivo. Como resultado de este análisis, ha sido posible la elaboración de mapas de contenido geoquímico que reflejan la distribución espacial, tanto para la variabilidad composicional como para la cristalinidad en las glauconitas asociadas a sedimentos superficiales de la plataforma continental gallega