Effect of reservoir tillage on rainwater harvesting and soil erosion control under a developed rainfall simulator.

Soil erosion is a serious environmental threat in the Mediterranean region due to torrential rainfalls, and it contributes to the degradation of agricultural land. Techniques such as rainwater harvesting may improve soil water storage and increase agricultural productivity, which could result in more effective land usage. Reservoir tillage is an effective system of harvesting rainwater, but it has not been scientifically evaluated like other tillage systems. Its suitability for the conditions in Spain has not been determined. To investigate and quantify water storage from reservoir tillage and how it could be adapted to improve infiltration of harvested rainwater, a laboratory-scale rainfall simulator was developed. Rainfall characteristics, including rainfall intensity, spatial uniformity and raindrop size, confirm that natural rainfall conditions are simulated with sufficient accuracy. The simulator was auto-controlled by a solenoid valve and three pressure nozzles were used to spray water corresponding to five rainfall intensities ranging from 36 to 112 mm h-1 for 3 to 101-year return period with uniformity coefficients between 83 and 94%. In order to assess the reservoir tillage method under surface slopes of 0, 5, and 10%, three soil scooping devices with identical volume were used to make depressions in the following forms: a) truncated square pyramid, b) triangular prism, and c) truncated cone. These depressions were compared to a control soil surface with no depression. For the loam soil used in this study, results show that reservoir tillage was able to reduce soil erosion and surface runoff and significantly increase infiltration. There was significant difference between the depressions and the control. Compared to the control, depression (a) reduced surface runoff by about 61% and the sediment yield concentration by about 79%

Treatment with tocilizumab or corticosteroids for COVID-19 patients with hyperinflammatory state: a multicentre cohort study (SAM-COVID-19)

Objectives: The objective of this study was to estimate the association between tocilizumab or corticosteroids and the risk of intubation or death in patients with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) with a hyperinflammatory state according to clinical and laboratory parameters. Methods: A cohort study was performed in 60 Spanish hospitals including 778 patients with COVID-19 and clinical and laboratory data indicative of a hyperinflammatory state. Treatment was mainly with tocilizumab, an intermediate-high dose of corticosteroids (IHDC), a pulse dose of corticosteroids (PDC), combination therapy, or no treatment. Primary outcome was intubation or death; follow-up was 21 days. Propensity score-adjusted estimations using Cox regression (logistic regression if needed) were calculated. Propensity scores were used as confounders, matching variables and for the inverse probability of treatment weights (IPTWs). Results: In all, 88, 117, 78 and 151 patients treated with tocilizumab, IHDC, PDC, and combination therapy, respectively, were compared with 344 untreated patients. The primary endpoint occurred in 10 (11.4%), 27 (23.1%), 12 (15.4%), 40 (25.6%) and 69 (21.1%), respectively. The IPTW-based hazard ratios (odds ratio for combination therapy) for the primary endpoint were 0.32 (95%CI 0.22-0.47; p < 0.001) for tocilizumab, 0.82 (0.71-1.30; p 0.82) for IHDC, 0.61 (0.43-0.86; p 0.006) for PDC, and 1.17 (0.86-1.58; p 0.30) for combination therapy. Other applications of the propensity score provided similar results, but were not significant for PDC. Tocilizumab was also associated with lower hazard of death alone in IPTW analysis (0.07; 0.02-0.17; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Tocilizumab might be useful in COVID-19 patients with a hyperinflammatory state and should be prioritized for randomized trials in this situatio

Enhanced reduction in cell viability by hyperthermia induced by magnetic nanoparticles

H&amp;eacute;ctor L Rodr&amp;iacute;guez-Luccioni, Magda Latorre-Esteves, Janet M&amp;eacute;ndez-Vega, Orlando Soto, Ana R Rodr&amp;iacute;guez, Carlos Rinaldi, Madeline Torres-LugoDepartment of Chemical Engineering, University of Puerto Rico, Mayag&amp;uuml;ez 00681, Puerto RicoAbstract: Colloidal suspensions of iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles are known to dissipate energy when exposed to an oscillating magnetic field. Such energy dissipation can be employed to locally raise temperature inside a tumor between 41&amp;deg;C and 45&amp;deg;C (hyperthermia) to promote cell death, a treatment known as magnetic fluid hyperthermia (MFH). This work seeks to quantify differences between MFH and hot-water hyperthermia (HWH) in terms of reduction in cell viability using two cancer cell culture models, Caco-2 (human epithelial colorectal adenocarcinoma) and MCF-7 (human breast cancer). Magnetite nanoparticles were synthesized via the co-precipitation method and functionalized with adsorbed carboxymethyl dextran. Cytotoxicity studies indicated that in the absence of an oscillating magnetic field, cell viability was not affected at concentrations of up to 0.6 mg iron oxide/mL. MFH resulted in a significant decrease in cell viability when exposed to a magnetic field for 120 minutes and allowed to rest for 48 hours, compared with similar field applications, but with shorter resting time. The results presented here suggest that MFH most likely induces apoptosis in both cell types. When compared with HWH, MFH produced a significant reduction in cell viability, and these effects appear to be cell-type related.Keywords: magnetic fluid hyperthermia, carboxymethyl dextran magnetite, cell death, apoptosi