ABE FERMENTATION OF SUGAR IN BRAZIL

A fermentation plant was designed to ferment and process sugar cane juice into acetone, butanol, and ethanol (ABE) in Brazil. The plant was built to handle a feed of 40 tonnes of sugar per hour in 25% solution. The process runs continuously for 32 weeks out of the year, during the cane harvest, for 20 years. The two main steps of the process are the fermentation and the separation of the ABE products into the desired 99.5% product purities. The fermentation section of the plant consists of nine 500,000 gallon fermenters that convert the bulk of the sugar cane into ABE products, as well as two 500,000 gallon fermenters that supply fresh cells to these fermenters and a series of smaller tanks that scale up cell concentrations from a test tube scale to the fermenter sizes used in this project. The separation section of the plant consists of a holding tank to store the ABE products, a gas stripper to remove most of the organics from water, a decanter to further separate the products into a butanol-rich phase and a water-rich phase, molecular sieves to remove the rest of the water from the butanol-rich phase, and two distillation columns to purify the products and prepare them for sale. This design can be deemed a successful one with a 35.67% return on investment and a net present value $118,806,000. Also, the process as a whole was found to be significantly energy positive, with our combustible products having a fuel value of 3.36x108 BTU/hr and our utility inputs being only 2.14x106 BTU/hr. The main reason for our success on these two fronts was the use of a gas stripper and a molecular sieve, which allowed for most of the water in the separation step to be removed without needing to heat it

The lack of knowledge on acute stroke in Brazil: A cross-sectional study with children, adolescents, and adults from public schools

Objective: Stroke is an important cause of disability and death in adults worldwide. However, it is preventable in most cases and treatable as long as patients recognize it and reach capable medical facilities in time. This community-based study investigated students' stroke knowledge, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) activation, associated risk factors, warning signs and symptoms, and prior experience from different educational levels in the KIDS SAVE LIVES BRAZIL project. Methods: The authors conducted the survey with a structured questionnaire in 2019‒2020. Results: Students from the elementary-school (n = 1187, ∼13 y.o., prior experience: 14%, 51% women), high-school (n = 806, ∼17 y.o., prior experience: 13%, 47% women) and University (n = 1961, ∼22 y.o., prior experience: 9%, 66% women) completed the survey. Among the students, the awareness of stroke general knowledge, associated risk factors, and warning signs and symptoms varied between 42%‒66%. When stimulated, less than 52% of the students associated stroke with hypercholesterolemia, smoking, diabetes, and hypertension. When stimulated, 62%‒65% of students recognized arm weakness, facial drooping, and speech difficulty; only fewer identified acute headache (43%). Interestingly, 67% knew the EMS number; 81% wanted to have stroke education at school, and ∼75% wanted it mandatory. Women, higher education, and prior experience were associated with higher scores of knowing risk factors (OR = 1.28, 95% CI: 1.10‒1.48; OR = 2.12, 95% CI: 1.87‒2.40; OR = 1.46, 95% CI: 1.16‒1.83; respectively), and warning signs- symptoms (OR = 2.22, 95% CI: 1.89‒2.60; OR = 3.30, 95% CI: 2.81‒3.87; OR = 2.04, 95% CI: 1.58‒2.63; respectively). Conclusion: Having higher education, prior experience, and being a woman increases stroke-associated risk factors, and warning signs and symptoms identification. Schoolchildren and adolescents should be the main target population for stroke awareness

Brazilian Consensus on Photoprotection

Brazil is a country of continental dimensions with a large heterogeneity of climates and massive mixing of the population. Almost the entire national territory is located between the Equator and the Tropic of Capricorn, and the Earth axial tilt to the south certainly makes Brazil one of the countries of the world with greater extent of land in proximity to the sun. The Brazilian coastline, where most of its population lives, is more than 8,500 km long. Due to geographic characteristics and cultural trends, Brazilians are among the peoples with the highest annual exposure to the sun. Epidemiological data show a continuing increase in the incidence of nonmelanoma and melanoma skin cancers. Photoprotection can be understood as a set of measures aimed at reducing sun exposure and at preventing the development of acute and chronic actinic damage. Due to the peculiarities of Brazilian territory and culture, it would not be advisable to replicate the concepts of photoprotection from other developed countries, places with completely different climates and populations. Thus the Brazilian Society of Dermatology has developed the Brazilian Consensus on Photoprotection, the first official document on photoprotection developed in Brazil for Brazilians, with recommendations on matters involving photoprotection

Colonization and spread of Limnoperna fortunei in South America

The invasion of the exotic bivalve Limnoperna fortunei (Dunker 1857) in South America started with its introduction, presumably with ballast water from transoceanic ships trading with southeast Asia, in the Río de la Plata estuary (Argentina) around 1990. From there it spread swiftly to cover most of the Río de la Plata basin. L. fortunei is now present in five South American countries: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, as well as the basins of Guaíba and Tramandaí (Brazil), Patos-Mirim (Brazil and Uruguay), and Mar Chiquita (central Argentina). These smaller watersheds were most probably colonized as a result of secondary human-mediated introductions from waterbodies of the Río de la Plata basin. Expansion was much faster along navigable waterways, especially the Paraná and its tributaries (around 250 km/year), and slower elsewhere (Paraguay and Uruguay rivers and their tributaries). Over 20 years after its introduction to South America, new waterbodies are still being colonized by L. fortunei (e.g., the first records of the mussel in the Tramandaí River, and in Peixoto, Quadros and Itapeva lakes date from 2013). Mussels have not been recorded in a few rivers of the Río de la Plata basin where their survival seems to be limited by excessively high suspended solid loads or salinities, or by the fact that they periodically dry out (e.g., rivers Bermejo, Pilcomayo, Salado del Norte, in north-central Argentina). South American populations display a relatively high genetic differentiation, confirming that geographic spread is strongly dependent on human activities: vessel and barge traffic is the main vector that helps to disperse the mussel locally through upstream "jumps" of adults attached to ship hulls. Genetic studies also suggest that there have been multiple introductions. By early 2014, L. fortunei had not yet been reported from any of the other major South American watersheds (Amazonas, São Francisco, Orinoco), but colonization of these basins is probably inevitable. Modeling of potential distribution based on habitat fitness indicates that extensive regions could support L. fortunei including much of lowland South America, southern Mexico, the southeastern United States, Europe, and tropical Africa.Fil: Oliveira, Marcia D.. Ministerio da Agricultura Pecuaria e Abastecimento de Brasil. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria; BrasilFil: Campos, Mônica C. S.. Ministerio da Agricultura Pecuaria e Abastecimento de Brasil. Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuaria; BrasilFil: Paolucci, Esteban Marcelo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales "Bernardino Rivadavia"; ArgentinaFil: Mansur, Maria C. D.. Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Instituto de Ciências Básicas da Saude; BrasilFil: Hamilton, Stephen K.. Michigan State University; Estados Unido