Usefulness of molecular biology performed with formaldehyde-fixed paraffin embedded tissue for the diagnosis of combined pulmonary invasive mucormycosis and aspergillosis in an immunocompromised patient

Immunocompromised patients who develop invasive filamentous mycotic infections can be efficiently treated if rapid identification of the causative fungus is obtained. We report a case of fatal necrotic pneumonia caused by combined pulmonary invasive mucormycosis and aspergillosis in a 66 year-old renal transplant recipient. Aspergillus was first identified during the course of the disease by cytological examination and culture (A. fumigatus) of bronchoalveolar fluid. Hyphae of Mucorales (Rhizopus microsporus) were subsequently identified by culture of a tissue specimen taken from the left inferior pulmonary lobe, which was surgically resected two days before the patient died. Histological analysis of the lung parenchyma showed the association of two different filamentous mycoses for which the morphological features were evocative of aspergillosis and mucormycosis. However, the definitive identification of the associative infection was made by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) performed on deparaffinized tissue sections using specific primers for aspergillosis and mucormycosis. This case demonstrates that discrepancies between histological, cytological and mycological analyses can occur in cases of combined mycotic infection. In this regard, it shows that PCR on selected paraffin blocks is a very powerful method for making or confirming the association of different filamentous mycoses and that this method should be made available to pathology laboratories

Search for gravitational-lensing signatures in the full third observing run of the LIGO-Virgo network

Gravitational lensing by massive objects along the line of sight to the source causes distortions of gravitational wave-signals; such distortions may reveal information about fundamental physics, cosmology and astrophysics. In this work, we have extended the search for lensing signatures to all binary black hole events from the third observing run of the LIGO--Virgo network. We search for repeated signals from strong lensing by 1) performing targeted searches for subthreshold signals, 2) calculating the degree of overlap amongst the intrinsic parameters and sky location of pairs of signals, 3) comparing the similarities of the spectrograms amongst pairs of signals, and 4) performing dual-signal Bayesian analysis that takes into account selection effects and astrophysical knowledge. We also search for distortions to the gravitational waveform caused by 1) frequency-independent phase shifts in strongly lensed images, and 2) frequency-dependent modulation of the amplitude and phase due to point masses. None of these searches yields significant evidence for lensing. Finally, we use the non-detection of gravitational-wave lensing to constrain the lensing rate based on the latest merger-rate estimates and the fraction of dark matter composed of compact objects

Search for eccentric black hole coalescences during the third observing run of LIGO and Virgo

Despite the growing number of confident binary black hole coalescences observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that include effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences, covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that were already identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total mass M>70 M⊙) binaries covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz orbital frequency, and use this to compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place an upper limit for the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities 0<e≤0.3 at 0.33 Gpc−3 yr−1 at 90\% confidence level

Ultralight vector dark matter search using data from the KAGRA O3GK run

Among the various candidates for dark matter (DM), ultralight vector DM can be probed by laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors through the measurement of oscillating length changes in the arm cavities. In this context, KAGRA has a unique feature due to differing compositions of its mirrors, enhancing the signal of vector DM in the length change in the auxiliary channels. Here we present the result of a search for U(1)B−L gauge boson DM using the KAGRA data from auxiliary length channels during the first joint observation run together with GEO600. By applying our search pipeline, which takes into account the stochastic nature of ultralight DM, upper bounds on the coupling strength between the U(1)B−L gauge boson and ordinary matter are obtained for a range of DM masses. While our constraints are less stringent than those derived from previous experiments, this study demonstrates the applicability of our method to the lower-mass vector DM search, which is made difficult in this measurement by the short observation time compared to the auto-correlation time scale of DM

Ionic Liquids and Catalysis

Esse documento analisa o crescimento do número de publicações que tratam do uso de líquidos iônicos (ILs) no período 1994-2013. A área da catálise é identificada como sendo a área pioneira e responsável para o brusco aumento do interesse pelo ILs. O mesmo é verdadeiro para a comunidade científica brasileira. As contribuições do grupo do Prof Roberto Fernando de Souza e as desenvolvidas através de numerosas colaborações estão descritas nesse contexto. O levantamento bibliográfico no período estudado mostra que o aumento significativo de publicações sobre ILs ocorre em momentos diferentes dependendo da área (catálise, energia, materiais, química analítica, biomassa, etc.).This paper explores the growing number of publications concerning the use of ionic liquids (ILs) in the period from 1994 to 2013. Catalysis can be identified as the area responsible for the surge of interest in ILs. The same is true for the Brazilian scientific community. The contributions of the group of Prof Roberto Fernando de Souza and those obtained through numerous collaborations are described in this context. The literature survey shows that in the studied period the significant increase in ILs publications occurs at different times depending on their applied area (catalysis, energy, materials, analytical chemistry, biomass, etc.)

Alkylammonium AlPO-kanemite as support for tuning catalytic activity of metallocene: in situpreparation of polyethylene nanocomposites

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Several alkylammonium-AlPO-kanemites were prepared to display a range of interlayer distances due to the presence of variable n-butyl/n-dodecylammonium concentrations. Zirconocene and titanocene dichlorides reacted with these layered materials to produce new supported metallocene catalysts. The characterization of these materials confirmed their formation and the presence of the anchored metallocene on the solid support. This study aimed to test these samples for the first time as catalysts for ethylene polymerization for verification of the influence of the metallocene supports with tunable inter layer distances on the catalytic behavior and for in situ production of nanocomposites. The data showed that the highly active new supported systems reaches values of activity comparable to that obtained by analogous homogeneous system. The increase in the interlayer space acted to increase the activity, showing that the possibility of change the interlayer space is a tool to control the activity. Polymers obtained by the supported catalysts presented higher molecular weight and lower polydispersities index than that synthetized with homogeneous catalyst. The ethylene polymerization promoted the exfoliation of the alkylammonium-AlPO-kanemite layers in the polymer matrix, characterizing the formation of a nanocomposite. Compared to the pristine polymer, the presence of inorganic fillers in the polymer matrix increased the melting temperature of the nanocomposite. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Several alkylammonium-AlPO-kanemites were prepared to display a range of interlayer distances due to the presence of variable n-butyl/n-dodecylammonium concentrations. Zirconocene and titanocene dichlorides reacted with these layered materials to produce4225968Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa no Estado de Sao Paulo by the IUPAC Polymer Division (FAPESP) [2010/50385-8]Coordenacao do Pessoal do Nivel Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional do Desenvolvimentos Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq)Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq

Hybrid ionic liquid-silica xerogels applied in CO2 capture

The imidazolium-based ionic liquids (ILs) are solvents known for selectively solubilizing CO2 from a gas CH4/CO2 mixture, hence we have produced new hybrid adsorbents by immobilizing two ILs on xerogel silica to obtain a solid-gas system that benefits the ILs' properties and can be industrially applied in CO2 capture. In this work, the ILs (MeO)3Sipmim.Cl and (MeO)3Sipmim.Tf2N were used at different loadings via the sol-gel process employing a based 1-methyl-3-(3-trimethoxysylilpropyl) imidazolium IL associated to the anion Cl- or Tf2N- as a reactant in the synthesis of silica xerogel. The CO2 adsorption measurements were conducted through pressure and temperature gravimetric analysis (PTGA) using a microbalance. SEM microscopies images have shown that there is an IL limit concentration that can be immobilized (ca. 20%) and that the xerogel particles have a spherical shape with an average size of 20 μm. The adsorbent with 20% IL (MeO)3Sipmim.Cl, SILCLX20, shows greater capacity to absorb CO2, reaching a value of 0.35 g CO2/g adsorbent at 0.1 MPa (298 K). Surprisingly, the result for xerogel with IL (MeO)3Sipmim.Tf2N shows poor performance, with only 0.05 g CO2/g absorbed, even having a hydrophobic character which would benefit their interaction with CO2. However, this hydrophobicity could interfere negatively in the xerogel synthesis process. The immobilization of ionic liquids in silica xerogel is an advantageous technique that reduces costs in the use of ILs as they can be used in smaller quantities and can be recycled after CO2 desorption.publishersversionpublishe