Advanced treatment for non-conventional aqueous matrices: editorial

In recent years, there has been a surge of interest in the development of advanced treatments aimed at controlling, treating, or remediating various aqueous matrices. These novel solutions hold tremendous potential, but their successful implementation across different cases and varieties of effluents is still a significant challenge. While their focus has traditionally been on treating conventional matrices like municipal wastewater or drinking water, our attention must also be directed toward non-conventional effluents/water sources. These matrices, including industrial waters, highly saline/brackish waters, and produced water, demand proper treatment to remediate their contamination or enhance their quality at the source of generation

Emerging advanced oxidation processes for the elimination of micro-pollutants

Emerging advanced oxidation processes for the elimination of micro-pollutant

Institutions and Functions

What is an institution? And what distinguishes one type of institution from another? We answer these questions using a functionalist approach: types of institutions are identified by their function, or the coordination problems they solve; token institutions are specific solutions to these problems, or equilibria of strategic games. The functionalist approach provides some insights into the limits of reform, or the extent to which institutions \u2013 like marriage, property, or democracy \u2013 can be modified without turning them into entities of a different kind

Shotgun Proteomics Identifies Serum Fibronectin as a Candidate Diagnostic Biomarker for Inclusion in Future Multiplex Tests for Ectopic Pregnancy

Ectopic pregnancy (EP) is difficult to diagnose early and accurately. Women often present at emergency departments in early pregnancy with a 'pregnancy of unknown location' (PUL), and diagnosis and exclusion of EP is challenging due to a lack of reliable biomarkers. The objective of this study was to identify novel diagnostic biomarkers for EP. Shotgun proteomics, incorporating combinatorial-ligand library pre-fractionation, was used to interrogate pooled sera (n = 40) from women undergoing surgery for EP, termination of viable intrauterine pregnancy and management of non-viable intrauterine pregnancy. Western blot was used to validate results in individual sera. ELISAs were developed to interrogate sera from women with PUL (n = 120). Sera were collected at time of first symptomatic presentation and categorized according to pregnancy outcome. The main outcome measures were differences between groups and area under the receiver operating curve (ROC). Proteomics identified six biomarker candidates. Western blot detected significant differences in levels of two of these candidates. ELISA of sera from second cohort revealed that these differences were only significant for one of these candidates, fibronectin. ROC analysis of ability of fibronectin to discriminate EP from other pregnancy outcomes suggested that fibronectin has diagnostic potential (ROC 0.6439; 95% CI 0.5090 to 0.7788; P>0.05), becoming significant when 'ambiguous' medically managed PUL excluded from analysis (ROC 0.6538; 95% CI 0.5158 to 0.7918; P<0.05). Fibronectin may make a useful adjunct to future multiplex EP diagnostic tests