Industrial Process Design for the Production of Aniline by Direct Amination

The objective is to design a plant from raw material to product for the production of aniline by direct amination of benzene. The process design is started on a conceptual level and ended on a basic engineering level as well as a techno-economical evaluation. The amination of benzene by hydroxylamine was used as basis. For the production of hydroxylamine four routes are proposed. The most promising route is the chemical reduction of nitric oxide with hydrogen. The process evaluation shows that 27 % of the atomic nitrogen is lost. The atomic carbon efficiency is close to unity. Furthermore, a significant amount of steam can be produced. From an economical perspective, there is still room for improvement because the return of investment is quite low and the payback period is quite high

In Mice, Tuberculosis Progression Is Associated with Intensive Inflammatory Response and the Accumulation of Gr-1dim Cells in the Lungs

Infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) results in different clinical outcomes ranging from asymptomatic containment to rapidly progressing tuberculosis (TB). The mechanisms controlling TB progression in immunologically-competent hosts remain unclear.To address these mechanisms, we analyzed TB progression in a panel of genetically heterogeneous (A/SnxI/St) F2 mice, originating from TB-highly-susceptible I/St and more resistant A/Sn mice. In F2 mice the rates of TB progression differed. In mice that did not reach terminal stage of infection, TB progression did not correlate with lung Mtb loads. Nor was TB progression correlated with lung expression of factors involved in antibacterial immunity, such as iNOS, IFN-gamma, or IL-12p40. The major characteristics of progressing TB was high lung expression of the inflammation-related factors IL-1beta, IL-6, IL-11 (p<0.0003); CCL3, CCL4, CXCL2 (p<0.002); MMP-8 (p<0.0001). The major predictors of TB progression were high expressions of IL-1beta and IL-11. TNF-alpha had both protective and harmful effects. Factors associated with TB progression were expressed mainly by macrophages (F4-80(+) cells) and granulocytes (Gr-1(hi)/Ly-6G(hi) cells). Macrophages and granulocytes from I/St and A/Sn parental strains exhibited intrinsic differences in the expression of inflammatory factors, suggesting that genetically determined peculiarities of phagocytes transcriptional response could account for the peculiarities of gene expression in the infected lungs. Another characteristic feature of progressing TB was the accumulation in the infected lungs of Gr-1(dim) cells that could contribute to TB progression.In a population of immunocompetent hosts, the outcome of TB depends on quantitatively- and genetically-controlled differences in the intensity of inflammatory responses, rather than being a direct consequence of mycobacterial colonization. Local accumulation of Gr-1(dim) cells is a newly identified feature of progressing TB. High expression of IL-1beta and IL-11 are potential risk factors for TB progression and possible targets for TB immunomodulation

Alguns dados sobre a Fauna entomológica da ilha das Flores - Açores

IV Expedição Científica do Departamento de Biologia - Flores 1989Com este trabalho, realizado em Julho de 1989 nas Flores - a ilha mais ocidental do Arquipélago dos Açores -, acrescentaram-se onze espécies de Lepidópteros à lista referenciada para aquela ilha, pertencendo uma à família Lycaenidae (Lampides boeticus L.), oito a familia Noctuidae (Agrotis ipsilon HFN., Brotolomia meticulosa L., Chrysodeixis chalcites ESPER., Heliothis armigera HBN., Noctua atlantica WARREN, Noctua pronuba L., Peridroma saucia HBN., Sesamia nonagrioides LEF.), uma à família Nymphalidae (Vanessa atalanta L.) e uma a família Pyralidae (Glyphodes unionalis HBN.). Entre os demais insectos, foram identificadas cerca de duas dezenas e meia de espécies, distribuídas pelas Ordens Dermaptera, Orthoptera, Dictyoptera, Heteroptera, Homoptera, Coleoptera, Neuroptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera e Collembola. Salienta-se ainda a importância, do ponto de vista agronómico, das pragas Mythimna unipuncta (HAWORTH) e Xestia c-nigrun L. naquela ilha.RÉSUMÉ: Avec ce travail, réalisé en Juillet 1989 a Flores - l'île plus occidental de l'archipel des Açores, onze espèces de Lépidoptères ont été ajoutées à la liste des espèces connus pour cette île, dont une appartient a la famille Lycaenidae (Lampides boelicus L.), huit à la famille Noctuidae (Agrotis ipsilon HFN., Brotolomia meticulosa L. Chrysodeicis chalcites ESPER., Heliothis armigera HBN., Noctua atlantica WARREN, Noctua pronuba L., Peridroma saucia HBN., Sesamia nonagrioides LEF.), une à la famille Nymphalidae (Vanessa atalanta L.) et une à la famille Pyralidae (Glyphodes unionalis HBN.). Parmi les autres insects ont été identifiés environ deux dizaines et demie d'espèces, lesquelles sont réparties par les Ordres Dermaptera, Orthoptera, Dictyoptera, Heteroptera, Homoptera, Coleoptera, Neuroptera, Diptera, Hymenoptera et Collembola. On remarque I'importance, du point de vue agronomique, des ravageurs Mythimna unipuncra (HAWORTH) et Xestia c-nigrum L. dans cette île

Getting More Out of Less - A Quantitative Serological Screening Tool for Simultaneous Detection of Multiple Influenza A Hemagglutinin-Types in Chickens

Current avian influenza surveillance in poultry primarily targets subtypes of interest for the veterinary sector (H5, H7). However, as virological and serological evidence suggest, surveillance of additional subtypes is important for public health as well as for the poultry industry. Therefore, we developed a protein microarray enabling simultaneous identification of antibodies directed against different HA-types of influenza A viruses in chickens. The assay successfully discriminated negative from experimentally and naturally infected, seropositive chickens. Sensitivity and specificity depended on the cut-off level used but ranged from 84.4% to 100% and 100%, respectively, for a cut off level of =1:40, showing minimal cross reactivity. As this testing platform is also validated for the use in humans, it constitutes a surveillance tool that can be applied in human-animal interface studies

Clinical characteristics of women captured by extending the definition of severe postpartum haemorrhage with 'refractoriness to treatment': a cohort study

Background: The absence of a uniform and clinically relevant definition of severe postpartum haemorrhage hampers comparative studies and optimization of clinical management. The concept of persistent postpartum haemorrhage, based on refractoriness to initial first-line treatment, was proposed as an alternative to common definitions that are either based on estimations of blood loss or transfused units of packed red blood cells (RBC). We compared characteristics and outcomes of women with severe postpartum haemorrhage captured by these three types of definitions. Methods: In this large retrospective cohort study in 61 hospitals in the Netherlands we included 1391 consecutive women with postpartum haemorrhage who received either ≥4 units of RBC or a multicomponent transfusion. Clinical characteristics and outcomes of women with severe postpartum haemorrhage defined as persistent postpartum haemorrhage were compared to definitions based on estimated blood loss or transfused units of RBC within 24 h following birth. Adverse maternal outcome was a composite of maternal mortality, hysterectomy, arterial embolisation and intensive care unit admission. Results: One thousand two hundred sixty out of 1391 women (90.6%) with postpartum haemorrhage fulfilled the definition of persistent postpartum haemorrhage. The majority, 820/1260 (65.1%), fulfilled this definition within 1 h following birth, compared to 819/1391 (58.7%) applying the definition of ≥1 L blood loss and 37/845 (4.4%) applying the definition of ≥4 units of RBC. The definition persistent postpartum haemorrhage captured 430/471 adverse maternal outcomes (91.3%), compared to 471/471 (100%) for ≥1 L blood loss and 383/471 (81.3%) for ≥4 units of RBC. Persistent postpartum haemorrhage did not capture all adverse outcomes because of missing data on timing of initial, first-line treatment. Conclusion: The definition persistent postpartum haemo

Distribution of alkaloids and tannins in the Crassulaceae

Alkaloid and tannin levels of 36 species of the Crassulaceae were compared. The taxa investigated were Crassula multicava, Echeveria venezuelensis, Pachyphytum compactum, Kalanchoe (two sop.), Bryophyllum daigremontianum, Sedum (23 spp.), Aeonium (four spp.) and Sempervivum (three spp.). Apart from the alkaloidal species of Sedum, only E. venezuelensis was found to contain piperidine alkaloids, i.e. pelletierine and N-methyl pelletierine. Proanthocyanidins (condensed tannins) and galloyl esters were found in all genera, but they were absent from six out of 11 Sedum species containing piperidine alkaloids. The results indicate a dichotomy between the distribution of alkaloids and tannins, which is in good agreement with the major evolutionary trends within the family as inferred from chloroplast DNA restriction site variation. The distribution of alkaloids appears to be limited to the ''Acre'' lineage, which comprises the Asian, Eurasian and American Sedum species with a reticulate testa as well as the Central American Sedoideae and Echeverioideae. The parallel occurrence of alkaloids and a complex of apparently primitive flower and seed characters in the terminal ''Acre'' clade indicate the derived rather than the primitive condition of the latter features. The most parsimonious explanation for this marked inconsistency is a reversal of the floral structure at the basis of the ''Acre'' lineage, mimicking the floral structure of ancestral angiosperms