Increasing serum calcium levels and recent return from transplantation as clues to the tuberculous nature of refractory peritoneal dialysis peritonitis

Peritoneal tuberculosis is an uncommon complication of peritoneal dialysis in Europe. It is more common in Asian immigrants. A delayed diagnosis is frequent and impairs patient outcomes. We present two cases of peritoneal tuberculosis with common features that may help suspect the disease early countries with a low incidence. Both patients were females (of Spanish origin) who had recently restarted peritoneal dialysis following kidney transplantation. Both developed bacterial peritonitis clinically that was refractory to conventional antibiotics, despite clearance of bacteria. Both stopped calcium-containing phosphate binders because of increasing serum calcium that in one case led to frank hypercalcemia that persisted despite low calcium dialysate. Peritoneal biopsy was the first positive test in both cases. This report emphasizes the recent return from transplantation and rising serum calcium levels as features that should alert the physician of a potential underlying tuberculous peritonitisGrant support: ISCII and FEDER funds FIS PS09/00447, PI13/00047, ISCIII-RETIC REDinREN/RD12/0021/0001, Comunidad de Madrid/CIFRA/ S2010/BMD-2378. Salary support: FIS Rio Hortega to BFF, CMC, LRO, Programa Intensificación Actividad Investigadora (ISCIII/Agencia Laín- Entralgo/CM) to A

Beyond conventional factorization: Non-Hermitian Hamiltonians with radial oscillator spectrum

The eigenvalue problem of the spherically symmetric oscillator Hamiltonian is revisited in the context of canonical raising and lowering operators. The Hamiltonian is then factorized in terms of two not mutually adjoint factorizing operators which, in turn, give rise to a non-Hermitian radial Hamiltonian. The set of eigenvalues of this new Hamiltonian is exactly the same as the energy spectrum of the radial oscillator and the new square-integrable eigenfunctions are complex Darboux-deformations of the associated Laguerre polynomials.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure

Quantum mechanical spectral engineering by scaling intertwining

Using the concept of spectral engineering we explore the possibilities of building potentials with prescribed spectra offered by a modified intertwining technique involving operators which are the product of a standard first-order intertwiner and a unitary scaling. In the same context we study the iterations of such transformations finding that the scaling intertwining provides a different and richer mechanism in designing quantum spectra with respect to that given by the standard intertwiningComment: 8 twocolumn pages, 5 figure

Exactly Solvable Hydrogen-like Potentials and Factorization Method

A set of factorization energies is introduced, giving rise to a generalization of the Schr\"{o}dinger (or Infeld and Hull) factorization for the radial hydrogen-like Hamiltonian. An algebraic intertwining technique involving such factorization energies leads to derive $n$-parametric families of potentials in general almost-isospectral to the hydrogen-like radial Hamiltonians. The construction of SUSY partner Hamiltonians with ground state energies greater than the corresponding ground state energy of the initial Hamiltonian is also explicitly performed.Comment: LaTex file, 21 pages, 2 PostScript figures and some references added. To be published in J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. (1998

Estudio microscópico de miel y polen apícola de la provincia de Sevilla

Twenty honey and two pollen samples from different localities of the mountainous areas in the province of Seville (Spain) have been studied by light microscopy, in order to show the plants prefered by bees. The results point out that the nectar from flowers is the main honey source in the region, though locally honey-dew can be very valuable as raw material of honey. Echium planta gineum L., Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh., Lavandula stoechas L., Thymbra capitata (L.) Cav. and Helianthus annuus L. are notable as supplying nectar to Apis mellifera L., while Cistus albidus L., C. ladanifer L., Quercus spp., Myrtus communis L. and Papaver rhoeas L. are interesting as pollen sources for honeybees.El objetivo del presente trabajo es poner de manifiesto cuál es la flora de mayor interés apícola en las áreas de sierra de la provincia de Sevilla. Se han estudiado al microscopio óptico veinte muestras de miel y dos de polen procedentes de diversas localidades de la provincia. Los resultados ponen de manifiesto que la principal fuente de miel para Apis mellifera L. es el néctar de las flores, si bien, a escala local, en Sierra Morena la mielada llega a ser muy valiosa como fuente de miel. Como principales fuentes de néctar cabe destacar a Echium planta gineum L., Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh., Lavandula stoechas L., Thymbra capitata (L.) Cav. y Helianthus annuus L., mientras que de polen lo son Cistus albidus L., C. ladanifer L., Quercus spp., Myrtus communis L. y Papaver rhoeas L

Possible ring material around centaur (2060) Chiron

We propose that several short duration events observed in past stellar occultations by Chiron were produced by rings material. From a reanalysis of the stellar occultation data in the literature we determined two possible orientations of the pole of Chiron's rings, with ecliptic coordinates l=(352+/-10) deg, b=(37+/-10) deg or l=(144+/-10) deg, b=(24+/-10) deg . The mean radius of the rings is (324 +/- 10) km. One can use the rotational lightcurve amplitude of Chiron at different epochs to distinguish between the two solutions for the pole. Both imply lower lightcurve amplitude in 2013 than in 1988, when the rotational lightcurve was first determined. We derived Chiron's rotational lightcurve in 2013 from observations at the 1.23-m CAHA telescope and indeed its amplitude is smaller than in 1988. We also present a rotational lightcurve in 2000 from images taken at CASLEO 2.15-m telescope that is consistent with our predictions. Out of the two poles the l=(144+/-10) deg, b=(24+/-10) deg solution provides a better match to a compilation of rotational lightcurve amplitudes from the literature and those presented here. We also show that using this preferred pole, Chiron's long term brightness variations are compatible with a simple model that incorporates the changing brightness of the rings as the tilt angle with respect to the Earth changes with time. Also, the variability of the water ice band in Chiron's spectra in the literature can be explained to a large degree by an icy ring system whose tilt angle changes with time and whose composition includes water ice, analogously to the case of Chariklo. We present several possible formation scenarios for the rings from qualitative points of view and speculate on the reasons why rings might be common in centaurs. We speculate on whether the known bimodal color distribution of centaurs could be due to presence of rings and lack of them

Distorted Heisenberg Algebra and Coherent States for Isospectral Oscillator Hamiltonians

The dynamical algebra associated to a family of isospectral oscillator Hamiltonians is studied through the analysis of its representation in the basis of energy eigenstates. It is shown that this representation becomes similar to that of the standard Heisenberg algebra, and it is dependent of a parameter $w\geq 0$. We name it {\it distorted Heisenberg algebra}, where $w$ is the distortion parameter. The corresponding coherent states for an arbitrary $w$ are derived, and some particular examples are discussed in full detail. A prescription to produce the squeezing, by adequately selecting the initial state of the system, is given.Comment: 21 pages, Latex, 3 figures available as hard copies upon request from the first Autho

Sustainable management of peel waste in the small-scale orange juice industries: A Colombian case study

Appropriate waste management in emerging economies like Colombia should be an asset for the overall sustainability. In the Orange Peel Waste case, incineration and Anaerobic Digestion are challenging solutions for the orange juice agro-industrial sector for avoiding the landfill, which is the conventional practice. However, these alternatives should be assessed in order to determine their feasibility. This paper aims to understand if incineration and Anaerobic Digestion are potential alternatives to landfill form a techno-economic and environmentally perspective. To this aim, a comparative Life Cycle Assessment was carried out in four scenarios. In the first scenario coal and landfill are used as source of energy and landfill disposal in the actual orange juice process. In the second scenario, the peels are incinerated to avoid landfill and reduce the need for coal. The third scenario includes the valorization of the peels by means of Anaerobic Digestion which produces biogas for the plant energy requirements. In the fourth scenario, apart from the energy from biogas, the digestate becomes a fertilizer for use in the orange crops. The results revealed that scenario III and IV are environmentally friendly options compared to Scenario I, but they incur higher costs than Scenario II. Carbon footprint found that 1.55 kg of CO2 are saving when coal substitution is reduced from 0.493 kg in SI to 0.279 kg in SII. Therefore, Scenario II is more suitable for the Colombian socioeconomic reality since Scenario II is not only techno-environmentally achievable, but also economically feasible. The methodology used in this case study could be applied to other countries or small and medium scale technologies and could also be useful for the scientific community, enterprises and policy-makers.The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support of the Fondo Regional de Tecnología Agropecuaria FONTAGRO [Contract:ATN/RF 16111RG, 2016] and of the Departamento Administrativo de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación, Doctorados Nacionales [Contract:727, 2015]. Also this article is the result of the work developed through the "Programa de investigación reconstrucción del tejido social en zonas de pos-conflicto en Colombia" [SIGP 57579] withthe research project "Competencias empresariales y de innovación para el desarrollo económico y la inclusión productiva de las regiones afectadas por el conflicto colombiano" [SIGP 58907]. Finally, the authors would like to express their appreciation to FLP Procesados Company for providing the data for the case study

The supersymmetric modified Poschl-Teller and delta-well potentials

New supersymmetric partners of the modified Poschl-Teller and the Dirac's delta well potentials are constructed in closed form. The resulting one-parametric potentials are shown to be interrelated by a limiting process. The range of values of the parameters for which these potentials are free of singularities is exactly determined. The construction of higher order supersymmetric partner potentials is also investigated.Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX file, 4 eps figure