Co-Management of COVID-19 and heart failure during the COVID-19 pandemic. lessons learned

The COVID pandemic has brought many new challenges worldwide, which has impacted on patients with chronic conditions. There is an increasing evidence base suggesting an interaction between chronic heart failure (HF) and COVID-19, and in turn the prognostic impact of co-existence of the two conditions. Patients with existing HF appear more prone to develop severe complications on contracting COVID-19, but the exact prevalence in patients with mild symptoms of COVID-19 not requiring hospital admission is poorly investigated. In addition, hospitalization rates for acute HF over the pandemic period appear reduced compared to previous periods. Several key issues remain rather unaddressed and, importantly, a specific algorithm focused on diagnostic differentiation between HF and acute respiratory distress syndrome, a severe complication of COVID-19, is still lacking. Furthermore, recent data suggests potential interaction existing between HF treatment and some anti-viral anti-inflammatory drugs prescribed during the infection, raising some doubts about a universal treatment strategy for all patients with COVID-19. With this manuscript, we aim to review the current literature in this field in light of growing understanding of COVID-19 in the setting of the HF population, its associated morbidity and mortality burden, and the impact on healthcare systems. We hope that this may stimulate a discussion to guarantee a better, more tailored delivery of care for patients with HF in the setting of concomitant COVID-19 infection

Linseed essential oil - Source of Lipids as Active Ingredients for Pharmaceuticals and Nutraceuticals

Linseed - also known as flaxseed -, is known for its beneficial effects on animal health attributed to its composition, comprising omega-6 (linoleic) and omega-3 (α-linolenic) fatty acids, various dietary fibers and lignans, which have health benefits in reducing the risk of cancer and cardiovascular diseases, lowering the levels of LDL-cholesterol and relaxing the smooth muscle cells in arteries increasing the blood flow. Essential fatty acids from flax participate in several metabolic processes of the cell, not only as structuring components of the cell membrane, but also as storage lipids. Flax is consumed in the form of seeds (whole, milled or roasted), as an oil and as flour to provide basic nutrition. Flax can be considered a functional food. Several formulations containing flax are available on the market in the form of e.g. capsules and microencapsulated powders having potential as nutraceuticals for their beneficial effects on health. This paper revises the different lipid classes found in flaxseeds and their genomics. It also discusses the beneficial effects of flax and flaxseed oil and their biological advantages as ingredients in pharmaceuticals and in nutraceuticals products.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sugars separation in a fermentative broth by simulated moving bed chromatography : SMB

Des sucres tels que les fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) sont bénéfiques pour leurs hôtes car ils stimulent la croissance de bactéries bénéfiques dans le colon du fait qu’ils ne sont pas digérés par l’organisme. Ces FOS peuvent être produits à grande échelle par un procédé de fermentation du sucrose dont le milieu résultant (FOS + autres sucres + sels) doit être séparé en ses différents constituants afin de respecter les normes agroalimentaires. Parmi les techniques permettant cette séparation, seule la chromatographie liquide est applicable à grande échelle afin d’obtenir les puretés requises. La technique de séparation par lit mobile simulé (Simulated Moving Bed – SMB) permet de rendre le procédé continu et de diminuer la consommation d’éluant tout en augmentant la productivité. L’efficacité des techniques chromatographiques dépendant en grande partie de la nature de l’adsorbant, une étude préliminaire a été réalisée dans le but d’identifier le meilleur adsorbant pour cette séparation. Une résine échangeuse d’ions choisie, différentes techniques d’identification des paramètres de fonctionnement ont été mises en oeuvre afin de tester la séparation en mode SMB. Les résultats obtenus permettent de montrer qu’à partir d’un milieu de fermentation contenant 40% de FOS, il est possible d’obtenir un produit final pur à plus de 80%. Néanmoins, il a été mis en évidence que si la présence de sucrose dans le milieu de fermentation est inévitable, il faut absolument la contrôler au maximum pour éviter la pollution du produit finalFructooligosaccharides (FOS) are non-digestible sugars which affect positively the host by stimulating the growth of specific bacteria in the colon. At large scale, FOS can be produced from sucrose through fermentation. The fermentative broth obtained from this process is a complex mixture. The application of these sugars in the food industry requires their fractionation in order to meet final product specifications. Simulated moving bed chromatography (SMB) appears to be an efficient downstream process for the fractionation of sugars at an industrial scale. Thanks to this technique it is possible to work continuously reducing the solvent consumption and increasing the productivity. The major challenge when designing the separation process is the choice of an efficient adsorbent. A preliminary study was thus realized in order to identify the best adsorbent. An ion exchange resin was chosen and several parametric identification techniques were performed in order to realize the SMB separation. The results display the possibility to increase the FOS purity from 40% to 80%. Nevertheless, it was also displayed that sucrose present in the broth troubles the separation and must be strictly controlled during the fermentation

Ibuprofen nanocrystals: Production, lyophilization and release profile

Ibuprofen (IBU) is a poorly water-soluble non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug with proven effectiveness for treating inflammatory, musculoskeletal, and rheumatic disorders. Nanocrystals (NCs) have been proposed as drug delivery systems to improve the solubility and bioavailability of poorly water-soluble compounds. Ibuprofen NCs (IBU-NCs) have been produced by the melt-emulsification method using a combination of Tween®80(1.0%, w/v)/Span®80(0.5%, w/v) as surfactant as these molecules are generally recognized as safe (GRAS) as non-toxic, non-irritating and are of low cost. The obtained main particle size (z-Ave) and polydispersity index (PdI) were 159.4 ± 3.265 nm and 0.24 ± 0.007, respectively. Lyophilization slightly increased the mean particle size and PdI compared to the non-freeze-dried IBU-NCs. The obtained IBU-NCs powders were of white and fine texture. The type and concentration of cryoprotector (trehalose, glucose, sucrose) influenced both the size and the in vitro release profile tested in Franz diffusion cells. Due to the smaller z-Ave, NCs:Trehalose (2:1) of 170.6 ± 3.880 nm (0.417 ± 0.050), NCs:Glucose (3:1) of 275.3 ± 8.351 nm (0.144 ± 0.021) and NCs:Sucrose (4:1) of 223.3 ± 10.35 nm (0.402 ± 0.016) were selected for the in vitro drug release tests. Within the first 6 hours, resuspended lyophilized nanocrystals released between 50-70% of the drug

Development and validation of the facilitative interpersonal skills scale for clients

Objective: Psychotherapy studies have revealed that therapist characteristics are responsible for 5% to 9% of outcome variance. The therapist-facilitative interpersonal skills (FIS) have been shown to predict both alliance and outcomes, indicating that higher FIS therapists are more effective than lower FIS therapists. The current study focused on the development and validation of the FIS-client version (FIS-C) instrument, aimed at collecting the clients' perspectives on relevant therapist characteristics. Method: The clinical outcomes in routine evaluation—outcome measures, the session rating scale, and the FIS questionnaire—client version were filled out by psychotherapy clients. Exploratory, confirmatory factor, and test–retest analysis were conducted. Results: Results indicate robust psychometric characteristics, in terms of validity (factorial, convergent, discriminant, and nomological), reliability, and sensitivity. Conclusion: The validation of the FIS-C represents an important contribution to clinical research and practice, namely to the field of client feedback and therapist expertise.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Enhanced optical conductivity and many-body effects in strongly-driven photo-excited semi-metallic graphite

The excitation of quasi-particles near the extrema of the electronic band structure is a gateway to electronic phase transitions in condensed matter. In a many-body system, quasi-particle dynamics are strongly influenced by the electronic single-particle structure and have been extensively studied in the weak optical excitation regime. Yet, under strong optical excitation, where light fields coherently drive carriers, the dynamics of many-body interactions that can lead to new quantum phases remain largely unresolved. Here, we induce such a highly non-equilibrium many-body state through strong optical excitation of charge carriers near the van Hove singularity in graphite. We investigate the system's evolution into a strongly-driven photo-excited state with attosecond soft X-ray core-level spectroscopy. Surprisingly, we find an enhancement of the optical conductivity of nearly ten times the quantum conductivity and pinpoint it to carrier excitations in flat bands. This interaction regime is robust against carrier-carrier interaction with coherent optical phonons acting as an attractive force reminiscent of superconductivity. The strongly-driven non-equilibrium state is markedly different from the single-particle structure and macroscopic conductivity and is a consequence of the non-adiabatic many-body state

Resultados de pesquisas com algodão herbáceo no Oeste baiano na safra 2001/2002.

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