Specific immunotherapy by the sublingual route for respiratory allergy

Specific immunotherapy is the only treatment able to act on the causes and not only on the symptoms of respiratory allergy. Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) was introduced as an option to subcutaneous immunotherapy (SCIT), the clinical effectiveness of which is partly counterbalanced by the issue of adverse systemic reactions, which occur at a frequency of about 0.2% of injections and 2-5% of the patients and may also be life-threatening. A large number of trials, globally evaluated by several meta-analyses, demonstrated that SLIT is an effective and safe treatment for allergic rhinitis and allergic asthma, severe reactions being extremely rare. The application of SLIT is favored by a good compliance, higher than that reported for SCIT, in which the injections are a major factor for noncompliance because of inconvenience, and by its cost-effectiveness. In fact, a number of studies showed that SLIT may be very beneficial to the healthcare system, especially when its effectiveness persists after treatment withdrawal because of the induced immunologic changes

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

Meeting abstrac

Harmful Elements in Estuarine and Coastal Systems

Estuaries and coastal zones are dynamic transitional systems which provide many economic and ecological benefits to humans, but also are an ideal habitat for other organisms as well. These areas are becoming contaminated by various anthropogenic activities due to a quick economic growth and urbanization. This chapter explores the sources, chemical speciation, sediment accumulation and removal mechanisms of the harmful elements in estuarine and coastal seawaters. It also describes the effects of toxic elements on aquatic flora and fauna. Finally, the toxic element pollution of the Venice Lagoon, a transitional water body located in the northeastern part of Italy, is discussed as a case study, by presenting the procedures adopted to measure the extent of the pollution, the impacts on organisms and the restoration activities

DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE OF CONVENTIONAL AND FUZZY CONTROLS FOR A HIGH TEMPERATURE SHORT TIME PASTEURIZATION SYSTEM

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fuzzy control was applied in a high-temperature short time (HTST) pasteurization system and experimentally evaluated and compared with proportional-integral-derivative (PID)/feedback and PID/feedback/feedforward controllers. The product, a juice model solution, was pasteurized for 91C/40 s in a three-stage plate heat exchange (regeneration, heating and cooling sections). Hot water and propylene glycol were responsible to heat and cool the product, respectively. A control system was designed to assure the pasteurization temperature manipulating the hot fluid flow rate. Controllers were evaluated by means of dynamic behavior of the pasteurization temperature and performance criteria after the imposed step changes of the product inlet temperature. Configured controllers kept the process temperature within HTST requirements, having a variation of +/- 0,5C, and the similar values of performance criteria indicate an efficiency for all three tested controllers. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS The continuous need for better food products, standardized within the consumer demands, has expanded the applications and the search for solutions using automation and control techniques. The use of control strategies and automation in chemical, petroleum and other industrial processes are more intensive as compared with the same applications in food industries. The complex execution of experimental tests in lab-scale or pilot plants is the main reason for the great number of simulations in the process control area. Based on the importance of accomplishing experimental errors and uncertainties, this paper results from an extensive research developed in a pilot plant of HTST process. Theoretical methods for tuning controllers were applied and evaluated. Conventional controllers (PID/feedback and PID/feedback/feedforward) were tuned and compared with fuzzy control, one of the most recognized nonconventional controllers. Results showed that the requirements to maintain pasteurization temperature after changes in inlet process conditions were performed in all three strategies, indicating the accomplishment of the research purpose.3615865Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)FAPESP [2000/00437-0

Dynamic analysis of the cooling process in plate heat exchangers

This paper describes a dynamic simulation of a mathematical model that describes the cooling process of natural orange juice in plate heat exchangers. The goal was to obtain an evaluation of the process reaction curves, represented by the behavior of the outlet orange juice's temperature after simultaneous disturbances to the following process variables: product and refrigerant fluid temperatures and mass flow rates. The simulator was encoded using the Mat-Lab program, whose effectiveness had been previously validated (predicted values were within 2% of the published values). Assays were simulated based on the factorial design technique. The importance of variable interaction was evaluated and it was shown that each combination of disturbances to the process gave way to different effects on outlet temperature stabilization values and on the behavior of process reaction curves. The monitoring of the process variable transient behavior has been found to aid in tuning controllers throughout this process, which requires, according to the results, nonconventional controllers for truly efficient automation.26649951

Mathematical models for the prediction of rheological parameters of Brazilian concentrated orange juices

The combined effect of temperature and composition on concentrated orange juice flow properties was determined. This information is important for applications. in engineering design calculations, such as the sizing of the equipment involved in the juice processing. Published data were used to fit the mathematical models for predicting the flow behaviour and consistency indexes. The parameter adjustment was done according to Arrhenius-type relationship and the fitted functions presented correlation coefficients of >0.92. The new models were fitted according to the following experimental data ranges of soluble solids content, temperature, pulp content and shear rate of 50 to 65 degreesBrix, -19 to 30degreesC, 0 to 11% v/v of pulp content, 0 to 1700 s(-1), respectively.40436637

An Energy-Based Approach for Fatigue Life Estimation of Welded Joints without Residual Stress through Thermal-Graphic Measurement

The traditional methodologies for fatigue life assessment of welded joints strongly depend on geometries and surface characteristics, as well as time. In this paper, an energy-based approach, independent of structures though thermal-graphic measurement, was presented to predict life expectancy of welded joints, via limited number of tests. In order to eliminate the thermal elastic effect caused by the welding residual stress, annealing was first conducted on welded specimens. Both monotonic and cyclic tests for welded joints were implemented. Then, based on the thermal evolution of welded joints measured by the quantitative thermo-graphic method, an energy-based approach, taking the linear temperature evolution and the intrinsic dissipation into account, was employed on the fatigue life prediction of flat butt-welded joints. The estimated results showed good agreement with the experimental ones, and the energy tolerance to failure Ec for different stress amplitudes was found to be constant

The analysis of an alternative approach to the venting process in retorts operating under steam pressure

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)The operation named venting is a step in the sterilization process in retorts using steam pressure. It is intended to remove all air from the inside of the equipment by injecting steam. Although only for a short period of time, great quantities of steam are used, making venting an expensive operation. This study aimed to evaluate an alternative to the venting process with a reduction in steam energy expenditure. A system was adapted and instrumented, which allowed for the study of the phenomenon of venting using water for the air displacement. The alternative methodology proposed was shown to be promising and efficient for an empty retort with no load. The efficiency at this stage of the study was based on evaluating the differences in the temperature readings using a glass mercury thermometer and the temperatures recorded by thermocouples distributed within the retort. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.1093388398Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP

Rheology of sucrose-CMC model solution

The rheological behavior of an aqueous solution composed of 65% sucrose and 0.1% CMC was experimentally determined from -10C to 50C using a rotational viscometer equipped with coaxial cylinders. The model solution behaved as pseudoplastic fluid, represented by the power-law model. Flow behavior and consistency indices determined at -10.1, 0.5, 9.8, 19.0, 30.1 and 50.0C, showed values between 0.79 to 0.86 and 0.15 to 10.22 Pa.s(n), respectively. The effect of temperature on the rheological parameters was represented by Arrhenius-type relationships, with R-2 greater than or equal to 0.97. They were compared to the rheological behavior of a concentrated orange juice with 65degreesBrix and 7% pulp content. The comparison of separate rheograms for both fluids showed that the model solution can be used to represent concentrated orange juice.34439140