Atrazine and 2, 4-D determination in corn samples using microwave assisted extraction and on-line solid-phase extraction coupled to liquid chromatography.

Abstract In this study, on-line sample pretreatment (clean-up and analyte preconcentration) using sequential injection analysis was coupled to high performance liquid chromatography with UV detection (HPLC/UV) for the determination of 2,4-D (2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid) and atrazine in corn samples. Prior to their analysis, microwave-assisted extraction approach for 2,4-D and atrazine in corn samples was carried out using MeOH: H2O (30:70 v/v) solvent at 50°C for 20 min. The on-line SPE-HPLC/UV approach combined reversed solid-phase extraction using Strata X sorbent with MeOH: H2O (80:20 v/v) at 1 mL min-1 as eluent for the enrichment of the analytes. C18 monolithic column with ACN: 10 mM CH3COOH/CH3COONa buffer at pH 4 (20:80, v/v) was employed as mobile phase at 2 mL min-1 flow rate for chromatographic separation of the compounds before UV detection. Enrichment factors up to 13.4 were achieved with a 10 mL sample volume. The developed procedure showed linear response ranges from 0.07– 0.70 mg kg−1 for 2,4-D and atrazine with correlation coefficients >0.993. The LODs were 0.03 and 0.02 mg kg-1 for 2,4-D and atrazine, respectively with RSD ranged from 4.0 to 7.2 % at concentration level of 0.07 and 0.30 mg kg-1. The extraction recoveries of 2,4-D and atrazine in corn samples were from 82.6 to 98.2%. The proposed method showed good recoveries and reasonable precision for herbicide analysis in corn samples avoiding the time-consuming batch sample pretreatment step, and thus minimizing risks of sample contamination and analyte losses. Key words: herbicide; corn; microwave assisted extraction; on-line SPE-HPLC/UV. Resumen En este estudio, el pretratamiento en línea de la muestra (limpieza y preconcentración del analito) utilizando un sistema de análisis por inyección secuencial acoplado cromatografía de líquidos con detección UV (HPLC/UV) se propuso para la determinación de 2,4-D (ácido 2,4-diclorofenoxiacético) y atrazina en muestras de maíz. Previo al análisis, se desarrolló un procedimiento de extracción asistida por microondas para 2,4-D y atrazina en muestras de maíz utilizando como solvente MeOH:H2O (30:70, v/v) a 50°C durante 20 min. El acoplamiento en línea del sistema SPE-HPLC/UV combinó la extracción en fase sólida utilizando el adsorbente Strata X y como eluente MeOH:H2O (80:20, v/v) a un caudal de 1 mL min-1. Para la separación cromatográfica de los analitos previo a la detección UV se empleó una columna monolítica de tipo C18, la fase móvil fue ACN:Buffer (CH3COOH 10 mM/CH3COONa a pH 4, 20:80, v/v) a un caudal de 2 mL min-1. Se lograron factores de enriquecimiento de hasta 13.4 con un volumen de muestra de 10 mL. El procedimiento desarrollado mostró rangos de respuesta lineal entre 0.07-0.70 mg kg-1 para 2,4-D y atrazina con coeficientes de correlación >0.993. Los LOD fueron de 0.03 y 0.02 mg kg-1 para el 2,4-D y la atrazina, respectivamente con RSD que varió de 4.0 a 7.2% a un nivel de concentración de 0.07 y 0.30 mg kg-1. Las recuperaciones obtenidas por la extracción asistida por microondas de 2,4-D y atrazina en muestras de maíz fueron de 82.6 a 98.2%. El método propuesto mostró recuperaciones aceptables y una precisión razonable para el análisis de herbicidas en muestras de maíz, evitando los inconvenientes en la etapa de pretratamiento de muestra tradicional, que consume mucho tiempo, y por lo tanto se minimiza los riesgos de contaminación y pérdidas de analitos en la muestra. Palabras clave: herbicida; maíz; extracción asistida por microondas; sistema en línea SPE-HPLC/UV

Evaluation of the Spanish population coverage of a prospective HLA haplobank of induced pluripotent stem cells

Background: iPSC (induced pluripotent stem cells) banks of iPSC lines with homozygous HLA (human leukocyte antigen) haplotypes (haplobanks) are proposed as an affordable and off-the-shelf approach to allogeneic transplantation of iPSC derived cell therapies. Cord blood banks offer an extensive source of HLA-typed cells suitable for reprogramming to iPSC. Several initiatives worldwide have been undertaken to create national and international iPSC haplobanks that match a significant part of a population. Methods: To create an iPSC haplobank that serves the Spanish population (IPS-PANIA), we have searched the Spanish Bone Marrow Donor Registry (REDMO) to identify the most frequently estimated haplotypes. From the top ten donors identified, we estimated the population coverage using the criteria of zero mismatches in HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-DRB1 with different stringencies: high resolution, low resolution, and beneficial mismatch. Results: We have calculated that ten cord blood units from homozygous donors stored at the Spanish cord blood banks can provide HLA-A, HLA-B, and HLA-DRB1 matching for 28.23% of the population. Conclusion: We confirm the feasibility of using banked cord blood units to create an iPSC haplobank that will cover a significant percentage of the Spanish and international population for future advanced therapy replacement strategies

Mortality and other adverse outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus admitted for COVID-19 in association with glucose-lowering drugs: a nationwide cohort study

Background: Limited evidence exists on the role of glucose-lowering drugs in patients with COVID-19. Our main objective was to examine the association between in-hospital death and each routine at-home glucose-lowering drug both individually and in combination with metformin in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus admitted for COVID-19. We also evaluated their association with the composite outcome of the need for ICU admission, invasive and non-invasive mechanical ventilation, or in-hospital death as well as on the development of in-hospital complications and a long-time hospital stay. Methods: We selected all patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine's registry of COVID-19 patients (SEMI-COVID-19 Registry). It is an ongoing, observational, multicenter, nationwide cohort of patients admitted for COVID-19 in Spain from March 1, 2020. Each glucose-lowering drug user was matched with a user of other glucose-lowering drugs in a 1:1 manner by propensity scores. In order to assess the adequacy of propensity score matching, we used the standardized mean difference found in patient characteristics after matching. There was considered to be a significant imbalance in the group if a standardized mean difference > 10% was found. To evaluate the association between treatment and study outcomes, both conditional logit and mixed effect logistic regressions were used when the sample size was ≥ 100. Results: A total of 2666 patients were found in the SEMI-COVID-19 Registry, 1297 on glucose-lowering drugs in monotherapy and 465 in combination with metformin. After propensity matching, 249 patients on metformin, 105 on dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, 129 on insulin, 127 on metformin/dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, 34 on metformin/sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor, and 67 on metformin/insulin were selected. No at-home glucose-lowering drugs showed a significant association with in-hospital death; the composite outcome of the need of intensive care unit admission, mechanical ventilation, or in-hospital death; in-hospital complications; or long-time hospital stays. Conclusions: In patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus admitted for COVID-19, at-home glucose-lowering drugs showed no significant association with mortality and adverse outcomes. Given the close relationship between diabetes and COVID-19 and the limited evidence on the role of glucose-lowering drugs, prospective studies are needed

Mortality and other adverse outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus admitted for COVID-19 in association with glucose-lowering drugs: a nationwide cohort study

Background: Limited evidence exists on the role of glucose-lowering drugs in patients with COVID-19. Our main objective was to examine the association between in-hospital death and each routine at-home glucose-lowering drug both individually and in combination with metformin in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus admitted for COVID-19. We also evaluated their association with the composite outcome of the need for ICU admission, invasive and non-invasive mechanical ventilation, or in-hospital death as well as on the development of in-hospital complications and a long-time hospital stay. Methods: We selected all patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in the Spanish Society of Internal Medicine’s registry of COVID-19 patients (SEMI-COVID-19 Registry). It is an ongoing, observational, multicenter, nationwide cohort of patients admitted for COVID-19 in Spain from March 1, 2020. Each glucose-lowering drug user was matched with a user of other glucose-lowering drugs in a 1:1 manner by propensity scores. In order to assess the adequacy of propensity score matching, we used the standardized mean difference found in patient characteristics after matching. There was considered to be a significant imbalance in the group if a standardized mean difference > 10% was found. To evaluate the association between treatment and study outcomes, both conditional logit and mixed effect logistic regressions were used when the sample size was ≥ 100. Results: A total of 2666 patients were found in the SEMI-COVID-19 Registry, 1297 on glucose-lowering drugs in monotherapy and 465 in combination with metformin. After propensity matching, 249 patients on metformin, 105 on dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, 129 on insulin, 127 on metformin/dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors, 34 on metformin/sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor, and 67 on metformin/insulin were selected. No at-home glucose-lowering drugs showed a significant association with in-hospital death; the composite outcome of the need of intensive care unit admission, mechanical ventilation, or in-hospital death; in-hospital complications; or long-time hospital stays. Conclusions: In patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus admitted for COVID-19, at-home glucose-lowering drugs showed no significant association with mortality and adverse outcomes. Given the close relationship between diabetes and COVID-19 and the limited evidence on the role of glucose-lowering drugs, prospective studies are needed

Línea de investigación en Helicobacter pylori para la formación de recurso humano en ciencia, tecnología e innovación en el programa de microbiología

Este libro nace de la unión de un maestro altamente calificado y alumnos dedicados con unas creatividades activas y dispuestas a trabajar por resolver los problemas que trae una bacteria a la humanidad. Las investigaciones aquí consignadas son producto de los trabajos de grado de los estudiantes del programa de Microbiología, quienes además fueron miembros del semillero de investigación, MICROORGANISMOS DE IMPORTANCIA EN SALUD HUMANA Y ANIMAL “OBVIO-MICROBIO”. Apoyados y dirigidos por la doctora Adalucy Alvarez-Aldana, quien gracias a su amplio conocimiento en el microorganismo supo sembrar curiosidad sobre el mismo durante las sesiones del semillero, incentivando a muchos de sus alumnos a dedicar su trabajo de grado a resolver alguna pregunta que les surgiera en torno a este microorganismo. Aunque diferentes son las investigaciones, todas fueron trazadas con un fin común, entregarle a la humanidad un poco más de conocimiento sobre Helicobacter pylori, por esto la unión de estas investigaciones en una sola consigna, son importantes para entender más sobre todo lo que rodea esta bacteria y pretenden resolver muchos misterios que aún aquejan la epidemiología detrás de la misma. Estos trabajos son fruto de muchos esfuerzos, materiales y académicos, de personas grandiosas, de la unión de universidades, doctores y docentes de diferentes disciplinas, razón que demuestra una vez más que la unión hace la fuerza, porque solo llegarás más rápido, pero en compañía llegarás más lejos. Además, contamos con la fortuna de tener un capitulo invitado, cuyo tema no es sobre Helicobacter pylori, pero si un sobre un tópico de gran interes en la actualidad como es la resistencia bacteriana. Capitulo titulado: “Caracterización epidemiológica y microbiológica de las bacteriemias y su perfil de resistencia durante el periodo junio 2011 a junio 2015”

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Abstract Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

Especiación de mercurio en vacunas pediátricas mediante cromatografía multijeringa acoplada a espectroscopia de fluorescencia atómica

Un nuevo enfoque del análisis automático para la especiación de compuestos de mercurio inorgánico (Hg21. Metilmercurio (MeHg) y etil-mercurio (EtHg) usando la cromatografia multijeringa (MSC), acoplado a un detector especifico como es la espectrometria de fluorescencia atómica por vapor frio (CV -AFS) se desarrolló y aplicó en este trabajo al análisis de vacunas pediátricas. La separación de especies de mercurio se llevó a cabo en una columna RP C18 monolítica utilizando un programa de elución multi-isocrática. Las especies de mercurio eluidas se oxidaron bajo radiación UV postcolumna y después fueron reducidas con SnCl2 en un medio ácido. Posteriormente, el mercurio elemental generado se separó de la fase líquido-gas con una corriente de gas argón y transportado al analizador atómico CV -AFS. Bajo las condiciones experimentales optimas, los limites de detección obtenidos son 0.03, 0.11 Y 0.09 μg L-1 para MeHg+, Hg2+ y EtHg+, respectivamente. La desviación estándar relativa (RSD, n = 6) para las concentraciones de las especies a 3, 6 y 3 μg L-1 de MeHg+, Hg2+ Y EtHg+ (respectivamente) variaron entre 2.4 y 4.0%. El sistema MSC-CV-AFS propuesto permite una frecuencia de muestreo alta y bajos costos de operación e instrumentación. El método desarrollado fue validado con el análisis del material de referencia certificado DORM-2 (músculo de cazón), y se aplicó en la determinación de especies de mercurio en vacunas pediátricas

Experiencia docente de la materia Informática Industrial en estudios de Ingeniería

[Resumen] En este trabajo se presenta la experiencia docente en la Universidad de Almería en la impartición de la materia de Informática Industrial tanto para alumnos de los Grados en Ingeniería Informática y las distintas especialidades de la Rama Industrial, como para los alumnos del Máster en Informática Avanzada e Industrial. Por otra parte, se presentan las herramientas que se han desarrollado utilizando TICs para facilitar a los alumnos el aprendizaje de los conceptos y técnicas fundamentales de un curso de Informática Industrial, como herramientas interactivas, laboratorios virtuales y laboratorios remotos.Los autores agradecen al Proyecto de Innovación Docente, 12-14-2-09, titulado “Desarrollo de plantas industriales virtuales para el aprendizaje interactivo de la automatización” la financiación en la Convocatoria de Grupos Docentes para la Creación de Materiales Didácticos y utilización de las TICs en la Universidad de Almería (año 2012-13/2013-14)Universidad de Almería; 12-14-2-09https://doi.org/10.17979/spudc.978849749808