Photo-fenton degradation of pentachlorophenol l: competition between additives and photolysis

[EN] In the present work, the photo-Fenton degradation of pentachlorophenol (PCP, 1 mg/L) has been studied under simulated and natural solar irradiation; moreover, the effect on the process efficiency of urban waste-derived soluble bio-based substances (SBO), structurally comparable to humic acids, has been investigated. Experiments showed a crucial role of PCP photolysis, present in the solar pilot plant and hindered by the Pyrex (R) filter present in the solar simulator. Indeed, the SBO screen negatively affects PCP degradation when working under natural solar light, where the photolysis of PCP is relevant. In contrast, in the absence of PCP photolysis, a significant improvement of the photo-Fenton process was observed when added to SBO. Furthermore, SBO were able to extend the application of the photo-Fenton process at circumneutral pH values, due to their ability to complex iron, avoiding its precipitation as oxides or hydroxides. This positive effect has been observed at higher concentration of Fe(II) (4 mg/L), whereas at 1 mg/L, the degradation rates of PCP were comparable in the presence and absence of SBO.This work was realized with the financial support of the academic interchange from the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange project, funded by the European Commission H2020-MSCA-RISE-2014 within the framework of the research project Mat4treaT (Project number: 645551).Vergura, EP.; García-Ballesteros, S.; Vercher Pérez, RF.; Santos-Juanes Jordá, L.; Bianco Prevot, A.; Arqués Sanz, A. (2019). Photo-Fenton Degradation of Pentachlorophenol: Competition between Additives and Photolysis. Nanomaterials. 9(8):1-8. https://doi.org/10.3390/nano9081157S189

Combining ZVI reduction with photo-Fenton process for the removal of persistent pollutants

An iron-based photochemical process able to act via reductive and oxidative stages by tuning experimental conditions has been explored. In a first step, zero-valent iron (ZVI), added as steel wool, was used to reduce those pollutants reluctant to oxidative processes. Then, the iron released in the solution was employed, upon addition of hydrogen peroxide, to drive a photo-Fenton process. This procedure has been checked with a mixture of five chemicals, namely p-toluenesulfonic acid, benzoic acid, p-nitrobenzoic acid, acetaminophen and caffeic. p-Nitrobenzoic acid resulted to be the most reluctant against oxidation but it was reduced in the absence of H2O2 to form 4-aminobenzoic acid; the presence of salts (e.g. tap water) was required and best results were reached at neutral pH. As p-aminobenzoic acid can be more easily oxidized than p-nitrobenzoic, combination of both stages is meaningful: a ZVI-based reduction followed by a photo-Fenton like-oxidation was employed to remove this pollutant from tested solutions.Instituto de Investigaciones Fisicoquímicas Teóricas y Aplicada

Modelling the photo-Fenton oxidation of the pharmaceutical paracetamol in water including the effect of photon absorption (VRPA)

A new model is proposed for the photo-Fenton oxidation of water contaminants including the effect of photon absorption (volumetric rate of photon absorption, VRPA), the effect of the geometry of the reactor and the illuminated volume to total volume ratio (Ri) in the reaction system. Fe(III) was found to be the main species in the aqueous solution responsible for photon absorption provided that hydrogen peroxide was not totally consumed. Paracetamol was used as model pollutant at a concentration of 1 mM to validate the model. The illuminated part of the raceway reactor configuration (total length of 80 cm) was operated at two liquid depths (5.0 and 2.5 cm) equivalent to two irradiated reactor volumes (2 and 1 L) and using Ri ratios in the range 0.30–0.65, which changed the dark reactor volume. These values are commonly found in photo-Fenton pilot plants for water treatment and purification. The model successfully fitted the temporal evolution of the dissolved oxygen (O2) and the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) concentrations and the evolution of the total organic carbon (TOC) in solution in both reactor geometries and for different illuminated volume to total volume ratios. The model can be easily extended to model other water contaminants and provides a robust method for process design, process control and optimization

Tracking the antibody immunome in sporadic colorectal cancer by using antigen self-assembled protein arrays

© 2021 by the authors.Sporadic Colorectal Cancer (sCRC) is the third leading cause of cancer death in the Western world, and the sCRC patients presenting with synchronic metastasis have the poorest prognosis. Genetic alterations accumulated in sCRC tumor cells translate into mutated proteins and/or abnormal protein expression levels, which contribute to the development of sCRC. Then, the tumor-associated proteins (TAAs) might induce the production of auto-antibodies (aAb) via humoral immune response. Here, Nucleic Acid Programmable Protein Arrays (NAPPArray) are employed to identify aAb in plasma samples from a set of 50 sCRC patients compared to seven healthy donors. Our goal was to establish a systematic workflow based on NAPPArray to define differential aAb profiles between healthy individuals and sCRC patients as well as between non-metastatic (n = 38) and metastatic (n = 12) sCRC, in order to gain insight into the role of the humoral immune system in controlling the development and progression of sCRC. Our results showed aAb profile based on 141 TAA including TAAs associated with biological cellular processes altered in genesis and progress of sCRC (e.g., FSCN1, VTI2 and RPS28) that discriminated healthy donors vs. sCRC patients. In addition, the potential capacity of discrimination (between non-metastatic vs. metastatic sCRC) of 7 TAAs (USP5, ML4, MARCKSL1, CKMT1B, HMOX2, VTI2, TP53) have been analyzed individually in an independent cohort of sCRC patients, where two of them (VTI2 and TP53) were validated (AUC ~75%). In turn, these findings provided novel insights into the immunome of sCRC, in combination with transcriptomics profiles and protein antigenicity characterizations, wich might lead to the identification of novel sCRC biomarkers that might be of clinical utility for early diagnosis of the tumor. These results explore the immunomic analysis as potent source for biomarkers with diagnostic and prognostic value in CRC. Additional prospective studies in larger series of patients are required to confirm the clinical utility of these novel sCRC immunomic biomarkers.We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Health Institute Carlos III (ISCIII) for the grants: FIS PI14/01538, FIS PI17/01930 and CB16/12/00400. We also acknowledge Fondos FEDER (EU) “Una manera de hacer Europa” and Junta Castilla-León (COVID19 grant COV20EDU/00187). Fundación Solórzano FS/38-2017. The Proteomics Unit belongs to ProteoRed, PRB3-ISCIII, supported by grant PT17/0019/0023, of the PE I + D + I 2017-2020, funded by ISCIII and FEDER. CNPq-National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (Brazil) (306258/2019-6) and FAPERJ-Foundation for Research Support of Rio de Janeiro State for the financial support (E-26/201.670/2017 and 210.379/2018). M. González-González is supported by MINECOPTA2019-017870-I.A. Landeira-Viñuela is supported by VIII Centenario-USAL PhD Program. P.J.-V. is supported by JCYL PhD Program and scholarship JCYL-EDU/601/2020. P.D. and E.B. are supported by a JCYL-EDU/346/2013 Ph.D. scholarship

Nursing Students' Perceptions on Healthcare-Associated Infection Control and Prevention Teaching and Learning Experience: Development and Validation of a Scale in Four European Countries

Healthcare-associated infections are one of the major concerns worldwide. This study presents the development and the validation process of the InovSafeCare scale and aimed at identifying and measuring the ecosystem variables related to healthcare-associated infection (HCAI) prevention and control practices in European nurse students. Qualitative and quantitative approaches were used to (1) elaborate an item pool related to the educational environment, the healthcare setting environment, and the attitudes, beliefs, and performance of the nursing students regarding HCAI prevention and control and (2) analyze psychometric properties of the scale using factor analysis. The validated InovSafeCare scale was applied to undergraduate nursing students of five European Higher Education Institutions. The partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) method with SMART-PLS3 software was used. The study sample consists of 657 nursing students, who responded a self-report inventory. From the analyzed data were identified 14 factors. The InovSafeCare scale reveals good validity and reliability of the dimensions in different European countries.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Nursing Students’ Perceptions on Healthcare-Associated Infection Control and Prevention Teaching and Learning Experience in Portugal

Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are one of the major concerns worldwide, posing significant challenges to healthcare professionals’ education and training. This study intended to measure nursing students’ perceptions regarding their learning experiences on HAI prevention and control. In the first phase of the study, a cross-sectional and descriptive study with a convenience sample composed of undergraduate nursing students from Portugal, Spain, Poland, and Finland was conducted to develop the InovSafeCare questionnaire. In the second phase, we applied the InovSafeCare scale in a sample of nursing students from two Portuguese higher education institutions to explore which factors impact nursing students’ adherence to HAI prevention and control measures in clinical settings. In phase one, the InovSafeCare questionnaire was applied to 1326 students internationally, with the instrument presenting adequate psychometric qualities with reliability results in 14 dimensions. During phase two, the findings supported that Portuguese nursing students’ adherence to HAI prevention and control measures is influenced not only by the curricular offerings and resources available in academic settings, but also by the standards conveyed by nursing tutors during clinical placements. Our findings support the need for a dedicated curricular focus on HAI prevention and control learning, not only through specific classroom modules, innovative resources, and pedagogical approaches, but also through a complementary and coordinated liaison between teachers and tutors in academic and clinical settings.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Global dataset of soil organic carbon in tidal marshes.

Tidal marshes store large amounts of organic carbon in their soils. Field data quantifying soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks provide an important resource for researchers, natural resource managers, and policy-makers working towards the protection, restoration, and valuation of these ecosystems. We collated a global dataset of tidal marsh soil organic carbon (MarSOC) from 99 studies that includes location, soil depth, site name, dry bulk density, SOC, and/or soil organic matter (SOM). The MarSOC dataset includes 17,454 data points from 2,329 unique locations, and 29 countries. We generated a general transfer function for the conversion of SOM to SOC. Using this data we estimated a median (± median absolute deviation) value of 79.2 ± 38.1 Mg SOC ha-1 in the top 30 cm and 231 ± 134 Mg SOC ha-1 in the top 1 m of tidal marsh soils globally. This data can serve as a basis for future work, and may contribute to incorporation of tidal marsh ecosystems into climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies and policies

The TINCR ubiquitin-like microprotein is a tumor suppressor in squamous cell carcinoma

The TINCR (Terminal differentiation-Induced Non-Coding RNA) gene is selectively expressed in epithelium tissues and is involved in the control of human epidermal differentiation and wound healing. Despite its initial report as a long non-coding RNA, the TINCR locus codes for a highly conserved ubiquitin-like microprotein associated with keratinocyte differentiation. Here we report the identification of TINCR as a tumor suppressor in squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). TINCR is upregulated by UV-induced DNA damage in a TP53-dependent manner in human keratinocytes. Decreased TINCR protein expression is prevalently found in skin and head and neck squamous cell tumors and TINCR expression suppresses the growth of SCC cells in vitro and in vivo. Consistently, Tincr knockout mice show accelerated tumor development following UVB skin carcinogenesis and increased penetrance of invasive SCCs. Finally, genetic analyses identify loss-of-function mutations and deletions encompassing the TINCR gene in SCC clinical samples supporting a tumor suppressor role in human cancer. Altogether, these results demonstrate a role for TINCR as protein coding tumor suppressor gene recurrently lost in squamous cell carcinomas.This work was supported by NIH grants P30 CA013696 (Confocal and Specialized Microscopy Shared Resource, Proteomics Shared Resource, Molecular Pathology Shared Resource, Genomics Shared Resource, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center), R01 GM102491 (A.S.), K01 CA249038 (T.F.M.), P30 AR069632 (epiCURE SCIM and SIND Core Facilities) and R35 CA210065 (A.A.F.); Dr. Frederick Paulsen Chair/Ferring Pharmaceuticals (A.S.); Plan Nacional de I + D + I/ISCIII grants PI16/00280 and PI19/00560 (J.M.G.-P.), and PI18/01527 (M.F.F. and A.F.F.); CIBERONC grant CB16/12/00390 (J.P.R.), and the FEDER Funding Program from the European Union. Crystallization screening at the National Crystallization Center at HWI was supported through NIH grant R24GM141256. This work used the NE-CAT 24-ID-E beamline (GM124165) and an Eiger detector (OD021527) at the APS (DE-AC02-06CH11357). LMP was supported by a Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Career Development fellowship (grant #5461-18). J.A.B. was the Candy and William Raveis Fellow of the Damon Runyon-Sohn Foundation Pediatric Cancer Fellowship Award (grant no. DRSG-31-19) and supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (award no. K99CA267168). R.G.-D. is a recipient of a Severo Ochoa predoctoral fellowship from the Principado de Asturias (grant # BP19-063).Peer reviewe

Global dataset of soil organic carbon in tidal marshes

Tidal marshes store large amounts of organic carbon in their soils. Field data quantifying soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks provide an important resource for researchers, natural resource managers, and policy-makers working towards the protection, restoration, and valuation of these ecosystems. We collated a global dataset of tidal marsh soil organic carbon (MarSOC) from 99 studies that includes location, soil depth, site name, dry bulk density, SOC, and/or soil organic matter (SOM). The MarSOC dataset includes 17,454 data points from 2,329 unique locations, and 29 countries. We generated a general transfer function for the conversion of SOM to SOC. Using this data we estimated a median (± median absolute deviation) value of 79.2 ± 38.1 Mg SOC ha−1 in the top 30 cm and 231 ± 134 Mg SOC ha−1 in the top 1 m of tidal marsh soils globally. This data can serve as a basis for future work, and may contribute to incorporation of tidal marsh ecosystems into climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies and policies