Potential of ORC Systems to Retrofit CHP Plants in Wastewater Treatment Stations

Wastewater treatment stations take advantage of the biogas produced from sludge in anaerobic digesters to generate electricity (reciprocating gas engines) and heat (cooling water and engine exhaust gases). A fraction of this electricity is used to operate the plant while the remaining is sold to the grid. Heat is almost entirely used to support the endothermic anaerobic digestion and a minimum fraction of it is rejected to the environment at a set of fan coolers. This generic description is applicable to on-design conditions. Nevertheless, the operating conditions of the plant present a large seasonal variation so it is commonly found that the fraction of heat rejected to the atmosphere increases significantly at certain times of the year. Moreover, the heat available in the exhaust gases of the reciprocating engine is at a very high temperature (around 650 ºC), which is far from the temperature at which heat is needed for the digestion of sludge (around 40 ºC in the digesters). This temperature difference offers an opportunity to introduce an intermediate system between the engines and the digesters that makes use of a fraction of the available heat to convert it into electricity. An Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) with an appropriate working fluid is an adequate candidate for these hot/cold temperature sources. In this paper, the techno-economic effect of adding an Organic Rankine Cycle as the intermediate system of an existing wastewater treatment station is analysed. On this purpose, different working fluids and system layouts have been studied for a reference wastewater treatment station giving rise to optimal systems configurations. The proposed systems yield very promising results with regard to global efficiency and electricity production (thermodynamically and economically)

RESILIENCIA Y SU RELACIÓN CON ESTILOS DE VIDA DE LOS ADULTOS MAYORES AUTOVALENTES

Objetivo. Relacionar la capacidad de resiliencia de un grupo de adultos mayores autovalentes de la comuna de Chillán Viejo (Chile) respecto a sus estilos de vida. Material y métodos: Estudio de tipo correlacional y de corte transversal de 176 adultos mayores autovalentes de ambos sexos entre 65 y 85 años de edad asistentes a un centro de salud primaria de la comuna de Chillán Viejo Región del Bío-Bío, Chile. Se aplicó la escala Resiliencia de Wagnild y young adaptada por las autoras del estudio; empleándose la prueba de &#967;2 o la prueba exacta de Fischer, cuando correspondiera, considerándose como significancia estadística p<0,05. Resultados. El 82,4% de los participantes del estudio poseen una alta capacidad de resiliencia. Se observó que la capacidad de resiliencia depende significativamente de la situación de pareja (p=0,002), la mantención de actividad sexual (p=0,008), las actividades recreativas (p=0,015) y el estado de ánimo (p=0,001). Conclusión. Existen características de sus estilos de vida que se relacionan en mayor medida a su nivel de resiliencia, que le permite enfrentar cambios propios del proceso natural de envejecimiento de los adultos mayores

International lower limb collaborative (INTELLECT) study: a multicentre, international retrospective audit of lower extremity open fractures

Trauma remains a major cause of mortality and disability across the world1, with a higher burden in developing nations2. Open lower extremity injuries are devastating events from a physical3, mental health4, and socioeconomic5 standpoint. The potential sequelae, including risk of chronic infection and amputation, can lead to delayed recovery and major disability6. This international study aimed to describe global disparities, timely intervention, guideline-directed care, and economic aspects of open lower limb injuries

Systematic Collaborative Reanalysis of Genomic Data Improves Diagnostic Yield in Neurologic Rare Diseases

Altres ajuts: Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament de Salut; Generalitat de Catalunya, Departament d'Empresa i Coneixement i CERCA Program; Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación; Instituto Nacional de Bioinformática; ELIXIR Implementation Studies (CNAG-CRG); Centro de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Red de Enfermedades Raras; Centro de Excelencia Severo Ochoa; European Regional Development Fund (FEDER).Many patients experiencing a rare disease remain undiagnosed even after genomic testing. Reanalysis of existing genomic data has shown to increase diagnostic yield, although there are few systematic and comprehensive reanalysis efforts that enable collaborative interpretation and future reinterpretation. The Undiagnosed Rare Disease Program of Catalonia project collated previously inconclusive good quality genomic data (panels, exomes, and genomes) and standardized phenotypic profiles from 323 families (543 individuals) with a neurologic rare disease. The data were reanalyzed systematically to identify relatedness, runs of homozygosity, consanguinity, single-nucleotide variants, insertions and deletions, and copy number variants. Data were shared and collaboratively interpreted within the consortium through a customized Genome-Phenome Analysis Platform, which also enables future data reinterpretation. Reanalysis of existing genomic data provided a diagnosis for 20.7% of the patients, including 1.8% diagnosed after the generation of additional genomic data to identify a second pathogenic heterozygous variant. Diagnostic rate was significantly higher for family-based exome/genome reanalysis compared with singleton panels. Most new diagnoses were attributable to recent gene-disease associations (50.8%), additional or improved bioinformatic analysis (19.7%), and standardized phenotyping data integrated within the Undiagnosed Rare Disease Program of Catalonia Genome-Phenome Analysis Platform functionalities (18%)

Krüppel-like factor 6 is a transcriptional activator of autophagy in acute liver injury

Kruppel-like factor 6 (KLF6) is a transcription factor and tumor suppressor. We previously identified KLF6 as mediator of hepatocyte glucose and lipid homeostasis. The loss or reduction of KLF6 is linked to the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma, but its contribution to liver regeneration and repair in acute liver injury are lacking so far. Here we explore the role of KLF6 in acute liver injury models in mice, and in patients with acute liver failure (ALF). KLF6 was induced in hepatocytes in ALF, and in both acetaminophen (APAP)- and carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)- treated mice. In mice with hepatocytespecific Klf6 knockout (DeltaKlf6), cell proliferation following partial hepatectomy (PHx) was increased compared to controls. Interestingly, key autophagic markers and mediators LC3-II, Atg7 and Beclin1 were reduced in DeltaKlf6 mice livers. Using luciferase assay and ChIP, KLF6 was established as a direct transcriptional activator of ATG7 and BECLIN1, but was dependent on the presence of p53. Here we show, that KLF6 expression is induced in ALF and in the regenerating liver, where it activates autophagy by transcriptional induction of ATG7 and BECLIN1 in a p53-dependent manner. These findings couple the activity of an important growth inhibitor in liver to the induction of autophagy in hepatocytes

Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil: setting the baseline knowledge on the animal diversity in Brazil

The limited temporal completeness and taxonomic accuracy of species lists, made available in a traditional manner in scientific publications, has always represented a problem. These lists are invariably limited to a few taxonomic groups and do not represent up-to-date knowledge of all species and classifications. In this context, the Brazilian megadiverse fauna is no exception, and the Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil (CTFB) (http://fauna.jbrj.gov.br/), made public in 2015, represents a database on biodiversity anchored on a list of valid and expertly recognized scientific names of animals in Brazil. The CTFB is updated in near real time by a team of more than 800 specialists. By January 1, 2024, the CTFB compiled 133,691 nominal species, with 125,138 that were considered valid. Most of the valid species were arthropods (82.3%, with more than 102,000 species) and chordates (7.69%, with over 11,000 species). These taxa were followed by a cluster composed of Mollusca (3,567 species), Platyhelminthes (2,292 species), Annelida (1,833 species), and Nematoda (1,447 species). All remaining groups had less than 1,000 species reported in Brazil, with Cnidaria (831 species), Porifera (628 species), Rotifera (606 species), and Bryozoa (520 species) representing those with more than 500 species. Analysis of the CTFB database can facilitate and direct efforts towards the discovery of new species in Brazil, but it is also fundamental in providing the best available list of valid nominal species to users, including those in science, health, conservation efforts, and any initiative involving animals. The importance of the CTFB is evidenced by the elevated number of citations in the scientific literature in diverse areas of biology, law, anthropology, education, forensic science, and veterinary science, among others

Ethylene-styrene copolymerization with constrained geometry catalysts: A density functional study

4 pags., 2 figs., 2 tabs.A density functional theory (DFT) study of the ethylene-styrene copolymerization process with titanium-based constrained geometry catalyst (CGC) is presented. To establish the difference between simplified CGC or real CGC models, i.e., considering all ligands of the catalyst, we have performed calculations for ethylene and styrene insertions in both models. Thus, we have used two different DFT functional, BP86 and B3L YP along with two basis set, LANL 2DZ (without polarization functions) and DZVP (including polarization functions). We have noted certain differences between theoretical results published by other authors and our theoretical and experimental data.Thanks are given to CICYT sGrant MAT2002–01242d for funding this investigation. Sonia Martinez was awarded a fellowship by the MECD