Turpentine as an additive for diesel engines: experimental study on pollutant emissions and engine performance

The need for reducing fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in internal combustion engines has raised the opportunity for the use of renewable energy sources. For the progressive replacement of fossil fuels like diesel, those derived from the sustainable management of forest resources may be a good option. In Portugal, pine trees (pinus pinaster) are among the most widely cultivated tree species. Turpentine can be extracted from their sap without harming the tree. Turpentine is known to be a good fuel with a lower viscosity than regular diesel but with a comparable caloric value, boiling point and ignition characteristics, although it is not widely used as a compression ignition fuel. Moreover, recent research has highlighted the possibility of substantially increasing the turpentine yield through biotechnology, bringing it closer to economic viability. The present study investigates the performance, pollutant emissions and fuel consumption of a 1.6 L four-cylinder direct-injection diesel engine operating with several blends of commercial diesel fuel and turpentine obtained from pine trees. The aim of this study was to assess whether it would be possible to maintain or even improve the performance, fuel consumption and GHG and pollutant emissions (HC, NOx, CO and PM) of the engine with the partial incorporation of this biofuel. Turpentine blends of up to 30% in substitution of regular diesel fuel were tested. The main novelties of the present work are related to (i) the careful testing of a still-insufficiently studied fuel that could gain economical attractiveness with the recent developments in yield improvement through biotechnology and (ii) the tests conducted under fixed engine load positions typical of road and highway conditions. The addition of this biofuel only slightly impacted the engine performance parameters. However, a slightly positive effect was observed in terms of torque, with an increase of up to 7.9% at low load for the 15T85D mixture and 6.8% at high load being observed. Power registered an increase of 9% for the 15T85D mixture at low speed and an increase of 5% for the 30T70D mixture at high speed when compared to the reference fuel (commercial diesel fuel). While the efficiency and fossil GHG emissions were improved with the incorporation of turpentine, it had a mixed effect on polluting emissions such as unburned hydrocarbons (HC) and smoke (PM) and a negative effect on nitrogen oxides (NOx). NOx emissions increased by 30% for high loads and 20% for low loads, mainly as an indirect effect of the improvement in the engine performance and not so much as a consequence of the marginally higher oxygen content of turpentine relative to commercial diesel fuel.This research was funded by the following projects, institutions and funding agencies: Research Project UIDB/04077/2020 from the Mechanical Engineering and Resource Sustainability Center—MEtRICs—through Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT), Norte2020, Compete2020, under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through Portuguese national funds of FCT/MCTES (PIDDAC) and the European Regional Development Fund; Research project DREAM (Dynamics of the REsources and technological Advance in harvesting Marine renewable energy), supported by the Romanian Executive Agency for Higher Education, Research, Development and Innovation Funding—UEFISCDI—grant number PN-III-P4-ID-PCE-2020-0008

Managing toxicities associated with immune checkpoint inhibitors: consensus recommendations from the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Toxicity Management Working Group.

Cancer immunotherapy has transformed the treatment of cancer. However, increasing use of immune-based therapies, including the widely used class of agents known as immune checkpoint inhibitors, has exposed a discrete group of immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Many of these are driven by the same immunologic mechanisms responsible for the drugs\u27 therapeutic effects, namely blockade of inhibitory mechanisms that suppress the immune system and protect body tissues from an unconstrained acute or chronic immune response. Skin, gut, endocrine, lung and musculoskeletal irAEs are relatively common, whereas cardiovascular, hematologic, renal, neurologic and ophthalmologic irAEs occur much less frequently. The majority of irAEs are mild to moderate in severity; however, serious and occasionally life-threatening irAEs are reported in the literature, and treatment-related deaths occur in up to 2% of patients, varying by ICI. Immunotherapy-related irAEs typically have a delayed onset and prolonged duration compared to adverse events from chemotherapy, and effective management depends on early recognition and prompt intervention with immune suppression and/or immunomodulatory strategies. There is an urgent need for multidisciplinary guidance reflecting broad-based perspectives on how to recognize, report and manage organ-specific toxicities until evidence-based data are available to inform clinical decision-making. The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) established a multidisciplinary Toxicity Management Working Group, which met for a full-day workshop to develop recommendations to standardize management of irAEs. Here we present their consensus recommendations on managing toxicities associated with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy

Electrocardiogram Features in Non-Cardiac Diseases: From Mechanisms to Practical Aspects

Alexandr Ceasovschih,1,2,* Victorița Șorodoc,1,2 Serghei Covantsev,3,* Anastasia Balta,1,2,* Jamol Uzokov,4,* Sergio E Kaiser,5 Abdallah Almaghraby,6 Cătălina Lionte,1,2 Cristian Stătescu,1,7 Radu A Sascău,1,7 Viviana Onofrei,1,8 Raluca Ecaterina Haliga,1,2,* Alexandra Stoica,1,2,* Cristina Bologa,1,2 Ștefan Ailoaei,7 Yusuf Ziya Şener,9 Nicholas G Kounis,10 Laurențiu Șorodoc1,2 1Faculty of Medicine, “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Iasi, Romania; 2 2nd Internal Medicine Department, “Sf. Spiridon” Clinical Emergency Hospital, Iasi, Romania; 3Department of Research and Clinical Development, Botkin Hospital, Moscow, Russia; 4Department of Cardiology, Republican Specialized Scientific Practical Medical Center of Therapy and Medical Rehabilitation, Tashkent, Uzbekistan; 5Discipline of Clinical and Experimental Pathophysiology, Rio de Janeiro State University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; 6Department of Cardiology, Ibrahim Bin Hamad Obaidallah Hospital, Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates; 7Department of Cardiology, “Prof. Dr. George I.M. Georgescu” Cardiovascular Diseases Institute, Iasi, Romania; 8Department of Cardiology, “Sf. Spiridon” Clinical Emergency Hospital, Iasi, Romania; 9Department of Internal Medicine, Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkiye; 10Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Cardiology, University of Patras Medical School, Patras, Greece*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Victorița Șorodoc, 2nd Internal Medicine Department, “Sf. Spiridon” Clinical Emergency Hospital, Independentei 1 Street, Iasi, 700106, Romania, Tel +40232 240 822, Email [email protected] Viviana Onofrei, Cardiology Department, “Sf. Spiridon” Clinical Emergency Hospital, Independentei 1 Street, Iasi, 700106, Romania, Email [email protected]: Despite the noteworthy advancements and the introduction of new technologies in diagnostic tools for cardiovascular disorders, the electrocardiogram (ECG) remains a reliable, easily accessible, and affordable tool to use. In addition to its crucial role in cardiac emergencies, ECG can be considered a very useful ancillary tool for the diagnosis of many non-cardiac diseases as well. In this narrative review, we aimed to explore the potential contributions of ECG for the diagnosis of non-cardiac diseases such as stroke, migraine, pancreatitis, Kounis syndrome, hypothermia, esophageal disorders, pulmonary embolism, pulmonary diseases, electrolyte disturbances, anemia, coronavirus disease 2019, different intoxications and pregnancy.Keywords: electrocardiography, electrocardiogram, features, non-cardiac diseases, EC

Regional development gaps in Argentina: A multidimensional approach to identify the location of policy priorities

Spatial inequalities within Latin American countries have historically attracted the interest ofacademics, policy-makers, and international agencies. This article aims to provide amultidimensional diagnosis of provincial development gaps in Argentina, in order to identifythe location of policy priorities. Therefore, we built a large database, which covers sevendevelopment dimensions, and applied multivariate analysis techniques to overcome someanalytical limitations of previous studies. Results show the stability of provincial developmentgaps between 2003 and 2013 and some heterogeneity within geographic regions. Instead,cluster analysis offers a better classification of Argentine provinces according to theirdevelopment gaps, which can help the government to prioritize the places wheredevelopment policies are strategic.Fil: Niembro, Andrés Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro; ArgentinaFil: Sarmiento, Jesica Isabel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Patagonia Norte; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Río Negro; Argentin

Unfolding-based corrector estimates for a reaction-diffusion system predicting concrete corrosion

We use the periodic unfolding technique to derive corrector estimates for a reaction-diffusion system describing concrete corrosion penetration in the sewer pipes. The system, defined in a periodically-perforated domain, is semi-linear, partially dissipative, and coupled via a non-linear ordinary differential equation posed on the solid-water interface at the pore level. After discussing the solvability of the pore scale model, we apply the periodic unfolding techniques (adapted to treat the presence of perforations) not only to get upscaled model equations, but also to prepare a proper framework for getting a convergence rate (corrector estimates) of the averaging procedure.Comment: 23 pages, one figur