Biohydrogen production from diary processing wastewater by anaerobic biofilm reactors

Fermentative hydrogen production was studied in packed bed batch reactors to assess the influence of environmental factors over yield hydrogen production from dairy wastewater. Dried stems of Opuntia imbricata were used as substratum adding a pretreated mixed culture for biofilm formation. Experimental results showed that, yield hydrogen production was significantly affected by initial COD concentration, temperature and dairy wastewater pH. Maximum yield obtained was 12.73 mM H2/g CODc when initial COD concentration was 21.1 g COD, dairy wastewater pH with no adjustment (11.32) and room temperature of 16 ± 3°C. Methane production was completely inhibit at an initial pH of 4 at all temperature studied (final pH 4.06), meanwhile, with an initial pH of 11.32, with exception for 16°C, methanogenic activity was not completely inhibit when final pH was over 5, showing an increase in methane production of 0.35 to 0.75 g CH4/l for 35 to 55°C.Key words: Biofilm, dairy wastewater, hydrogen, Opuntia imbricat

SELECTIVIDAD DE LAS ISOFORMAS DE 140-180 KDA DE NCAM EN LA PAPILA ÓPTICA DEL EMBRIÓN DE POLLO

During embryonic development of chicken retina and retinotectal proyection, neural cells showed spatiotemporal patterns in the glycosidic residues located in the plasmatic membranes. Those glycidic components are related with adhesion and recognition cellular behaviours during the generation of nervous system cytoarchitecture. Thus those sugars are included both in usual glycoproteins as in a group of molecules called as cell adhesion molecules (CAM). The first isolated molecule in this group was the neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM). This glycoprotein has a proteic core with diverse isoforms and it has a variable sialic acids chain. It was able to determine that 120 kDa NCAM isoform shows scarcely sialized chains in intermediate stages by using conventional techniques, lectins and immunohistochemistry. Meanwhile 140-180 kDa NCAM isoforms possess high content in sialic acid and they are present both in early and final stages. Other authors reported that human 120 kDa NCAM isoform was similar to that observed in the Gallus domesticus retina. Our results showed that 140- 180kDa isoforms were only presented in the nerve optic fibers when they were left the optic disc.Durante la embriogénesis de la retina del Gallus domesticus, los neuroblastos muestran variaciones temporales y espaciales de los residuos glucosilados a nivel de sus membranas plasmáticas. Se considera que estos componentes glucídicos están implicados en la organización de estructuras neurales inmaduras, mediante su participación en mecanismos de reconocimiento y adhesión celulares. Los componentes glucosilados van a formar parte de glucoproteínas convencionales, así como de un grupo de moléculas a las que genéricamente se han denominado moléculas de adhesión celular. La primera de estas moléculas aislada fue la neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM), glucoproteína compuesta por un armazón proteico con diversas isoformas y una cadena más o menos variable de polímeros de ácidos siálicos. La combinación de técnicas convencionales his- toquímicas, de lectinas e inmunocitoquímicas han permitido determinar que las moléculas de NCAM de 120 kDa presentan cadenas pobremente sializadas en estadíos intermedios del desarrollo, mientras en estadíos tempranos y finales los ácidos siálicos están más abundantemente representados en las isoformas de 140-180 kDa. Algunos autores han determinado que la isoforma de NCAM presente durante el desarrollo de la retina del Gallus domesticus es similar a la humana de 120 kDa. Nuestros resultados indican que las isoformas de 140-180 kDa sólo se presentan en las fibras del nervio óptico una vez que estas abandonan la papila óptica

Glycosylation of Stannyl Ceramides Promoted by Modified Montmorillonite­ in Supercritical Carbon Dioxide

The direct glycosylation of ceramides in supercritical carbon dioxide (scCO₂) successfully proceeded to produce β-glycolipids in high yield and with full stereoselectivity. The reaction is promoted by montmorillonite modified with a superacid (CF₃SO₃H). The value of this protocol was demonstrated in the efficient synthesis of isoglobotrihexosylceramide (iGB3)

Risk Factors Associated with Head Louse Infestation in Korea

Head louse infestation (HLI) is one of the most frequently occurring parasitic diseases in children. This study was conducted to investigate the socioeconomic and personal factors influencing HLI in the Republic of Korea. A total of 2,210 questionnaires about various factors related to HLI were obtained from children in 17 primary schools throughout the country. The rate of HLI was significantly lower in children who lived together with mother or in a family where both parents worked. In addition, HLI was lower in children whose fathers or mothers were public officers or teachers. However, HLI was higher in children who had small families and washed their hair less often. Education levels of parents and the number of children in family were not significant. Improvement of socioeconomic factors and personal hygiene will be helpful for reducing HLI

Microdevices for extensional rheometry of low viscosity elastic liquids : a review

Extensional flows and the underlying stability/instability mechanisms are of extreme relevance to the efficient operation of inkjet printing, coating processes and drug delivery systems, as well as for the generation of micro droplets. The development of an extensional rheometer to characterize the extensional properties of low viscosity fluids has therefore stimulated great interest of researchers, particularly in the last decade. Microfluidics has proven to be an extraordinary working platform and different configurations of potential extensional microrheometers have been proposed. In this review, we present an overview of several successful designs, together with a critical assessment of their capabilities and limitations

Constructing bilayer and volumetric atrial models at scale.

To enable large in silico trials and personalized model predictions on clinical timescales, it is imperative that models can be constructed quickly and reproducibly. First, we aimed to overcome the challenges of constructing cardiac models at scale through developing a robust, open-source pipeline for bilayer and volumetric atrial models. Second, we aimed to investigate the effects of fibres, fibrosis and model representation on fibrillatory dynamics. To construct bilayer and volumetric models, we extended our previously developed coordinate system to incorporate transmurality, atrial regions and fibres (rule-based or data driven diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)). We created a cohort of 1000 biatrial bilayer and volumetric models derived from computed tomography (CT) data, as well as models from MRI, and electroanatomical mapping. Fibrillatory dynamics diverged between bilayer and volumetric simulations across the CT cohort (correlation coefficient for phase singularity maps: left atrial (LA) 0.27 ± 0.19, right atrial (RA) 0.41 ± 0.14). Adding fibrotic remodelling stabilized re-entries and reduced the impact of model type (LA: 0.52 ± 0.20, RA: 0.36 ± 0.18). The choice of fibre field has a small effect on paced activation data (less than 12 ms), but a larger effect on fibrillatory dynamics. Overall, we developed an open-source user-friendly pipeline for generating atrial models from imaging or electroanatomical mapping data enabling in silico clinical trials at scale (https://github.com/pcmlab/atrialmtk)

Severe Hypercapnia and Outcome of Mechanically Ventilated Patients with Moderate or Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome

PURPOSE: To analyze the relationship between hypercapnia developing within the first 48 h after the start of mechanical ventilation and outcome in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed a secondary analysis of three prospective non-interventional cohort studies focusing on ARDS patients from 927 intensive care units (ICUs) in 40 countries. These patients received mechanical ventilation for more than 12 h during 1-month periods in 1998, 2004, and 2010. We used multivariable logistic regression and a propensity score analysis to examine the association between hypercapnia and ICU mortality. MAIN OUTCOMES: We included 1899 patients with ARDS in this study. The relationship between maximum PaCO2 in the first 48 h and mortality suggests higher mortality at or above PaCO2 of ≥50 mmHg. Patients with severe hypercapnia (PaCO2 ≥50 mmHg) had higher complication rates, more organ failures, and worse outcomes. After adjusting for age, SAPS II score, respiratory rate, positive end-expiratory pressure, PaO2/FiO2 ratio, driving pressure, pressure/volume limitation strategy (PLS), corrected minute ventilation, and presence of acidosis, severe hypercapnia was associated with increased risk of ICU mortality [odds ratio (OR) 1.93, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.32 to 2.81; p = 0.001]. In patients with severe hypercapnia matched for all other variables, ventilation with PLS was associated with higher ICU mortality (OR 1.58, CI 95% 1.04-2.41; p = 0.032). CONCLUSIONS: Severe hypercapnia appears to be independently associated with higher ICU mortality in patients with ARDS.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio