Preliminary assessment of terrestrial microalgae isolated from lichens as testing species for environmental monitoring: Lichen phycobionts present high sensitivity to environmental micropollutants

Bioassays constitute a tool for pollution analysis providing a holistic approach and high-quality indication of the toxicity. Microbioassays allow evaluating the toxicity of many samples, implying lower costs and enabling routine monitoring and pollution control. But tests conducted so far are limited to the use of a small number of taxa. Lichens are excellent bioindicators of pollution with great ecological significance. Studies show that the phycobiont is more sensitive to pollutants than the mycobiont. Phycobiont have features such as adaptation to anhydrobiosis and relatively rapid growth in vitro, making them suitable for microbioassays. Our aim is to determine the sensitivity of phycobionts to the pharmaceutical micropollutants carbamazepine and diclofenac as a preliminary step for the development of a toxicity microbioassay based on phycobionts. Optical dispersion and chlorophyll autofluorescence were used as endpoints of toxicity on two algal species showing that suspensions present cyclic and taxon specific patterns of aggregation. Trebouxia TR9 suspensions present a very high grade of aggregation while Asterochloris erici cells do not. Both micropollutants alter optical properties of the suspensions of both species. No significant alteration of chlorophyll autofluorescence by carbamazepine is observed. A. erici chlorophyll autofluorescence is extremely sensitive to diclofenac but the effect is not dependent on the drug concentration or on the time of exposure. Differently, TR9 only shows punctual chlorophyll alterations. Fluctuations in optical dispersion may indicate changes in the population structure of the species, including reproductive strategy. A. erici seems more sensitive to micropollutants, is better characterized and is available from commercial collections

Optimal Production Planning of Concentrated Apple and Pear Juice Plants

This paper presents a mathematical model aimed at optimizing the yearly profit of a concentrated apple and pear juice plant through the appropriate design of its production plan. This study assumes a business scenario where the products are devoted to the international market and therefore the production schedule is dictated by a fluctuating prices scenario due to the worldwide supply/demand tradeoff. Moreover, raw fruit is available only during the relatively short harvest season and suffers juice yield reduction during storage. In this context, decisions related to the manufacturing of each juice variety to exploit favorable prices, while minimizing juice yield loss due to fruit aging are not intuitive. Scenario studies, together with sensitivity analysis on some model parameters are developed to illustrate the performance of the proposed approach.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Optimal Production Planning of Concentrated Apple and Pear Juice Plants

This paper presents a mathematical model aimed at optimizing the yearly profit of a concentrated apple and pear juice plant through the appropriate design of its production plan. This study assumes a business scenario where the products are devoted to the international market and therefore the production schedule is dictated by a fluctuating prices scenario due to the worldwide supply/demand tradeoff. Moreover, raw fruit is available only during the relatively short harvest season and suffers juice yield reduction during storage. In this context, decisions related to the manufacturing of each juice variety to exploit favorable prices, while minimizing juice yield loss due to fruit aging are not intuitive. Scenario studies, together with sensitivity analysis on some model parameters are developed to illustrate the performance of the proposed approach.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

Mechanical properties and coefficient of thermal expansion of β-eucryptite sintered by microwave technique

[ES]: La técnica de sinterización no convencional de microondas permite obtener materiales de ß-eucriptita en estado sólido cristalino con densidades cercanas a la teórica (~99 %). Se ha observado una diferencia considerable en estos materiales respecto a la técnica convencional en términos de densificación, microestructura, coeficiente de expansión térmica y propiedades mecánicas. Los valores de dureza y módulo de Young obtenidos mediante sinterización por microondas a 1200 ºC-5 min han sido relativamente altos, 6.8 GPa y 101 GPa, respectivamente, en comparación con el material obtenido mediante horno convencional (3.9 GPa y 58 GPa, respectivamente). Los datos dilatométricos obtenidos, incluyendo el intervalo de temperatura criogénica (-150 ºC a +150 ºC), muestran un coeficiente de expansión térmica controlado y negativo en todo el rango de temperaturas. La combinación de un calentamiento rápido junto con la reducción drástica en el tiempo de ciclo y el ahorro energético, hace que la técnica de microondas sean una clara alternativa a otro tipo de calentamientos.[EN]: Microwave non-conventional sintering technique allows obtaining fully dense glass-free β-eucryptite bulk material (∼99 %). A considerable difference in the densification, microstructure, coefficient of thermal expansion behaviour and mechanical properties, between conventional and non-conventional sintered specimens was observed. The hardness and Young’s modulus values obtained by microwaves at 1200 °C-5min have been relatively high, 6.8 GPa and 101 GPa, respectively, compared to conventional sintering (3.9 GPa and 58 GPa, respectively). Very low thermal expansion materials have been obtained in a wide temperature range including cryogenic temperatures (from -150 ºC to 150 ºC). The high heating rate along with the lower energy consumption makes microwave technique a clear alternative to other types of sintering methods.Los autores desean agradecer el apoyo financiero recibido de la UPV dentro de los proyectos SP20120621 y SP20120677 y, al gobierno español a través del proyecto (TEC2012-37532-C02-01). A. Borrell, agradece al Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación su contrato de Juan la Cierva (JCI-2011-10498).Peer Reviewe

Global, regional, and national burden of chronic kidney disease, 1990–2017 : a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background Health system planning requires careful assessment of chronic kidney disease (CKD) epidemiology, but data for morbidity and mortality of this disease are scarce or non-existent in many countries. We estimated the global, regional, and national burden of CKD, as well as the burden of cardiovascular disease and gout attributable to impaired kidney function, for the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017. We use the term CKD to refer to the morbidity and mortality that can be directly attributed to all stages of CKD, and we use the term impaired kidney function to refer to the additional risk of CKD from cardiovascular disease and gout. Methods The main data sources we used were published literature, vital registration systems, end-stage kidney disease registries, and household surveys. Estimates of CKD burden were produced using a Cause of Death Ensemble model and a Bayesian meta-regression analytical tool, and included incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability, mortality, years of life lost, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs). A comparative risk assessment approach was used to estimate the proportion of cardiovascular diseases and gout burden attributable to impaired kidney function. Findings Globally, in 2017, 1·2 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 1·2 to 1·3) people died from CKD. The global all-age mortality rate from CKD increased 41·5% (95% UI 35·2 to 46·5) between 1990 and 2017, although there was no significant change in the age-standardised mortality rate (2·8%, −1·5 to 6·3). In 2017, 697·5 million (95% UI 649·2 to 752·0) cases of all-stage CKD were recorded, for a global prevalence of 9·1% (8·5 to 9·8). The global all-age prevalence of CKD increased 29·3% (95% UI 26·4 to 32·6) since 1990, whereas the age-standardised prevalence remained stable (1·2%, −1·1 to 3·5). CKD resulted in 35·8 million (95% UI 33·7 to 38·0) DALYs in 2017, with diabetic nephropathy accounting for almost a third of DALYs. Most of the burden of CKD was concentrated in the three lowest quintiles of Socio-demographic Index (SDI). In several regions, particularly Oceania, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America, the burden of CKD was much higher than expected for the level of development, whereas the disease burden in western, eastern, and central sub-Saharan Africa, east Asia, south Asia, central and eastern Europe, Australasia, and western Europe was lower than expected. 1·4 million (95% UI 1·2 to 1·6) cardiovascular disease-related deaths and 25·3 million (22·2 to 28·9) cardiovascular disease DALYs were attributable to impaired kidney function. Interpretation Kidney disease has a major effect on global health, both as a direct cause of global morbidity and mortality and as an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease. CKD is largely preventable and treatable and deserves greater attention in global health policy decision making, particularly in locations with low and middle SDI

Estimating Contact Process Saturation in Sylvatic Transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi in the United States

Although it has been known for nearly a century that strains of Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent for Chagas' disease, are enzootic in the southern U.S., much remains unknown about the dynamics of its transmission in the sylvatic cycles that maintain it, including the relative importance of different transmission routes. Mathematical models can fill in gaps where field and lab data are difficult to collect, but they need as inputs the values of certain key demographic and epidemiological quantities which parametrize the models. In particular, they determine whether saturation occurs in the contact processes that communicate the infection between the two populations. Concentrating on raccoons, opossums, and woodrats as hosts in Texas and the southeastern U.S., and the vectors Triatoma sanguisuga and Triatoma gerstaeckeri, we use an exhaustive literature review to derive estimates for fundamental parameters, and use simple mathematical models to illustrate a method for estimating infection rates indirectly based on prevalence data. Results are used to draw conclusions about saturation and which population density drives each of the two contact-based infection processes (stercorarian/bloodborne and oral). Analysis suggests that the vector feeding process associated with stercorarian transmission to hosts and bloodborne transmission to vectors is limited by the population density of vectors when dealing with woodrats, but by that of hosts when dealing with raccoons and opossums, while the predation of hosts on vectors which drives oral transmission to hosts is limited by the population density of hosts. Confidence in these conclusions is limited by a severe paucity of data underlying associated parameter estimates, but the approaches developed here can also be applied to the study of other vector-borne infections