2-Hexadecynoic Acid

The hitherto undescribed 2-hexadecynoic acid (III) was prepared by the following route. Dodecylmagnesium bromide was reacted with 2,3-dibromopropene to give 2~:bromop e ntadecene (I) in 35 % yield. Refluxing the bromo compound I with freshly prepared sodium amide in xylene gave pentadecyne(II) in 49 .1 % yiel

2-Hexadecynoic Acid

The hitherto undescribed 2-hexadecynoic acid (III) was prepared by the following route. Dodecylmagnesium bromide was reacted with 2,3-dibromopropene to give 2~:bromop e ntadecene (I) in 35 % yield. Refluxing the bromo compound I with freshly prepared sodium amide in xylene gave pentadecyne(II) in 49 .1 % yiel

Drug-related pityriasis rubra pilaris with acantholysis

Introduction. Acantholysis is rarely reported histological feature of Pityriasis rubra pilaris (PRP), recently recognized as having diagnostic specificity for differentiating PRP from psoriasis. Case report. Adult male patient one week after the introduction of simvastatin had experienced pruritic erythemo-squamous eruption on head and upper trunk that in a month progressed to erythrodermia, with islands of sparing. Histological picture combined pemphigus-like acantholysis with alternating hyper- and parakeratosis, follicular plugs and dermal inflammation, and confirmed the clinical diagnosis of classic adult type 1 PRP. Acitretin therapy resulted in a resolution of skin disease. Patch test with simvastatin was negative, scratch test was positive, and it was estimated that potential risk of oral challenge with simvastatin outweighed actual need for it. Drug triggering PRP episode is the most likely explanation for temporal relation between the start of simvastatin treatment and skin eruption. Conclusion. In management of rare inflammatory skin disease, such as PRP, we have to carefully observe and evaluate not only diagnostic features but possible external influences on its course also

Bioelements and Non-Essential Elements in Honeybees and Their Hemolymph, Larvae, Pupae, Honey, Wax, Propolis and Bee Bread

In our previous research we have explored concentrations of 16 elements in samples collected from 3 different environments: Golija (rural region), Belgrade (urban region) and Zajača (industrial region). These three locations were chosen due to their distinctly different degrees of urbanization and industrialization. Macroelements (Ca, K, Mg, Na), microelements (Cu, Fe, Mn, Zn) and non-essential elements (Al, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Ni, Pb, Sr) were determined in the whole body of honeybees, but the major novelty of the research was that hemolymph of the bees was analysed as well. Significant spatial but also seasonal variations in content of bioelements and non-essential elements were observed. These findings have raised several important questions which are addressed in our current study. In order to better understand how bees’ environment does affects concentrations of elements mentioned above, dust and pollen collected from the same locations were analysed. They represent 2 major sources of bio elements and toxic elements for the bees: food and atmospheric deposition. For the better understanding of dynamics of investigated elements the scope of our research was further extended to the analysis of bee bread, honey, crops, wax, propolis, larvae and pupae. The samples were digested in accordance with the US EPA SW-846 Method 3052. Closed microwave digestion system (ETHOS 1, Advanced Microwave Digestion System, Milestone, Italy) was used for digestion with 5 to 8 ml of concentrated HNO3 and 1 or 2 ml of concentrated H2 O2 (depending on the mass and type of the sample). Concentrations of: Al, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Na, Ni, Pb, Sr and Zn were determined by ICP-OES (iCAP 6500Duo, Thermo Scientific). Very low concentrations of: Co, Cr, Cd and Pb, which occurred in some samples were confirmed by ICP-MS (iCAP-Q-ICP-MS, Termo Scientific). Ratios between concentrations in the samples from industrial region and urban region were calculated and compared for different matrices. Concentrations of toxic metals such as Pb and Cd were significantly elevated in dust samples from the industrial site, and similar trend was observed for pollen, bee bread, wax, propolis, and the whole bees. Elevation of concentrations was not observed (or it was present in significantly lesser extent) for the samples of honey, larvae and pupae

Sulfasalazine Induced DRESS (drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms) syndrome with severe acute hepatitis: Case report

Introduction: Drug Reaction with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms Syndrome is a rare and severe form of drug induced delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction with mortality rate up to 10%. It usually manifests with skin rash, fever, lymphadenopathy, hematological abnormalities and involvement of one or more internal organs. Establishing the diagnosis is sometimes late due to variable clinical presentation. Current recommendations for therapy rely mainly on expert opinions, retrospective studies, case reports and series. Sulfasalazine was firstly synthesized in 1930 and is currently being prescribed for various inflammatory and rheumatic diseases. Case report: We present a 45-year-old patient who was prescribed sulfasalazine tablets by a rheumatologist due to reactive arthritis. In the fourth week of therapy, he developed skin rash and fever up to 39.5°C. On admission, generalized maculopapular exanthema covering over 60% of the body surface area, edema of the lower eyelids and bilateral cervical and inguinal lymphadenomegaly were registered. Laboratory findings showed leukocytosis with significant eosinophilia, lymphocytosis, elevated bilirubin values, ALT <100 U/L, while ultrasonography of the upper abdomen confirmed hepatosplenomegaly. The patient was diagnosed with Drug Reaction with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms Syndrome using RegiSCAR and J-SCAR diagnostic criteria and systemic therapy with methylprednisolone at a dose of 1.5 mg/kg and other supportive therapy was applied, which resulted in complete regression of the skin changes and normalization of laboratory values. Conclusion: The authors would like to recall the occurrence of Drug Reaction with Eosinophilia and Systemic Symptoms Syndrome as a rare and potentially fatal drug reaction in which awareness of this disease is of key importance for early recognition. Identification of the offending drug followed by a prompt withdrawal and subsequent treatment is essential for decreasing disease related morbidity and mortality and thus we wish to familiarize the sulfasalazine prescribers with this syndrome

Generalized Hamilton's Principle with Fractional Derivatives

We generalize Hamilton's principle with fractional derivatives in Lagrangian L(t,y(t),{}_0D_t^\al y(t),\alpha) so that the function $y$ and the order of fractional derivative $\alpha$ are varied in the minimization procedure. We derive stationarity conditions and discuss them through several examples

Multiphase phenomena in Diesel fuel injection systems

Fuel Injection Equipment (FIE) are an integral component of modern Internal Combustion Engines (ICE), since they play a crucial role in the fuel atomization process and in the formation of a fuel/air combustible mixture, consequently affecting efficiency and pollutant formation. Advancements and improvements of FIE systems are determined by the complexity of the physical mechanisms taking place; the spatial scales are in the order of millimetres, flow may become locally highly supersonic, leading to very small temporal scales of microseconds or less. The operation of these devices is highly unsteady, involving moving geometries such as needle valves. Additionally, extreme pressure changes imply that many assumptions of traditional fluid mechanics, such as incompressibility, are no longer valid. Furthermore, the description of the fuel properties becomes an issue, since fuel databases are scarce or limited to pure components, whereas actual fuels are commonly hydrocarbon mixtures. Last but not least, complicated phenomena such as phase change or transition from subcritical to transcritical/supercritical state of matter further pose complications in the understanding of the operation of these devices

Effects of climate and atmospheric nitrogen deposition on early to mid-term stage litter decomposition across biomes

Litter decomposition is a key process for carbon and nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems and is mainly controlled by environmental conditions, substrate quantity and quality as well as microbial community abundance and composition. In particular, the effects of climate and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition on litter decomposition and its temporal dynamics are of significant importance, since their effects might change over the course of the decomposition process. Within the TeaComposition initiative, we incubated Green and Rooibos teas at 524 sites across nine biomes. We assessed how macroclimate and atmospheric inorganic N deposition under current and predicted scenarios (RCP 2.6, RCP 8.5) might affect litter mass loss measured after 3 and 12 months. Our study shows that the early to mid-term mass loss at the global scale was affected predominantly by litter quality (explaining 73% and 62% of the total variance after 3 and 12 months, respectively) followed by climate and N deposition. The effects of climate were not litter-specific and became increasingly significant as decomposition progressed, with MAP explaining 2% and MAT 4% of the variation after 12 months of incubation. The effect of N deposition was litter-specific, and significant only for 12-month decomposition of Rooibos tea at the global scale. However, in the temperate biome where atmospheric N deposition rates are relatively high, the 12-month mass loss of Green and Rooibos teas decreased significantly with increasing N deposition, explaining 9.5% and 1.1% of the variance, respectively. The expected changes in macroclimate and N deposition at the global scale by the end of this century are estimated to increase the 12-month mass loss of easily decomposable litter by 1.1-3.5% and of the more stable substrates by 3.8-10.6%, relative to current mass loss. In contrast, expected changes in atmospheric N deposition will decrease the mid-term mass loss of high-quality litter by 1.4-2.2% and that of low-quality litter by 0.9-1.5% in the temperate biome. Our results suggest that projected increases in N deposition may have the capacity to dampen the climate-driven increases in litter decomposition depending on the biome and decomposition stage of substrate. © Copyright © 2021 Kwon, Shibata, Kepfer-Rojas, Schmidt, Larsen, Beier, Berg, Verheyen, Lamarque, Hagedorn, Eisenhauer, Djukic and TeaComposition Network

Atomic-key B-trees

Atomic-key B-trees are B-trees with keys of different sizes. This note presents two versions of an insertion algorithm and a deletion algorithm for atomic-key B-trees