Advanced Characterization of Silica–Encapsulated Aluminum Pigments

For environmental reasons, the paints industry shifts from solvent-borne towards water-borne formulations. This change is challenging the business of aluminum pigments, as the hydrogen released by the reaction of aluminum with water degrades the optical properties, besides being a safety concern. In this work, industrial-grade aluminum pigments are encapsulated, by a well-known method, in a silica matrix by sol-gel process using isopropanol - a more suitable solvent for the industry. The effectiveness of the encapsulation process is proven by advanced physical methods (Scanning Electron Microscopy, Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis, Selected Area Electron Diffraction, Fourier Transformed InfraRed Spectroscopy, Thermo-Gravimetric Analysis) and by industry-relevant tests (stability in water, hiding power, flop and granulometry). Moreover, advanced surface-applied physical methods (High Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy combined with Selected Area Electron Diffraction and Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy, and FT-IR microscopy) clearly show the homogeneity of the resulting pigments, a quality which is highly desirable for practical applications. The results demonstrate that stability comparable to that of pigments passivized by chromium-based inhibitors is easily achieved, for a variety of operating conditions. However, accomplishing a homogeneous silica layer of the right thickness is the determining factor for good optical properties

Diagnosis aspects. The congenital malformations of urinary tract in children of early age

Centrul Naţional Ştiinţifico-Practic de Chirurgie Pediatrică „Natalia Gheorghiu” Catedra de Chirurgie Pediatrică a USMF „Nicolae Testemiţanu”The article is based on the histologic research analysis of segments affected of ureter in 83 patients aged from 1,5 months – 3 years with congenital malformations of urinary tract admitted to the National Scientific and Practical Center of Pediatric Surgery „Natalia Gheorghiu” for last three years. The received changes result of histologic investigation can serve as diagnosis markers in the improvement of surgical technicues and the postoperative forecast. Lucrarea analizează rezultatele examenului histopatologic al pieselor operatorii ale ureterului afectat la 83 pacienţi în vârstă 1,5 luni – 3 ani cu uropatii malformative rezolvate medico-chirurgical în Centrul Naţional Ştiinţifico-practic de Chirurgie Pediatrică „Natalia Gheorghiu” în ultimii trei ani. Modificările obţinute prin prisma examenului histopatologic pot servi ca markerii diagnostici în ameliorarea tehnicilor chirurgicale şi pronosticului postoperator

Hemoperitoneum in close abdominal trauma - diagnostic and medico-surgical options

Scopul lucrării. Abordarea pacientului cu traumatism abdominal inchis(TAI) confruntă chirurgul cu două dileme majore: stabilirea rapidă a diagnosticului si conduita terapeutică. Prezența în traumatismele abdominale închise a lichidului liber intraabdominal reprezintă criteriul de bază, uneori și unicul semn de leziune a organelor intraperitoneale. Scopul lucrării este evaluarea rezultatelor tratamentului pacienților cu TAI și hemoperitoneu. Materiale și metode. Studiul include 49 pacienți cu TAI tratați în perioada 2021-2023. Prezența lichidului liber a fost stabilit prin USG și TC. Vârsta a variat 18-82 ani, cu media 39,3±6,8 ani. Raport b/f – 38/11. Mecanismele traumatismelor au fost diverse. Traumatism asociat - 46,9% cazuri. Rezultate. Pacienții în cunoștință, hemodinamic stabili, în lipsa hemoragiei active și peritonitei, lichid liber <500 ml conform USG și TC, au fost supuși tratamentului conservativ cu evaluare dinamică - 22 pacienți cu leziuni ale organelor parenchimatoase. Inconștiența, hemodinamica instabilă, volum lichidian >1000 ml, cât și <1000 ml cu creșterea ulterioară a volumului lichidian au servit drept criterii pentru laparoscopie diagnostică - 4 pacienți. Indicații pentru laparotomie au fost: eșecul hemostazei laparoscopice - 3 bolnavi și prezența peritonitei și instabilitatea hematoamelor retroperitoneale confirmate clinic și instrumental în 23 cazuri. Letalitatea a constituit 14,3%, cu excepția pacienților tratați non-operator, cauzele fiind șocul hemoragic gr. II-III(7,6%), traumatic(2,1%), complicațiile septice(4,1%) și TCC(2,1%). Concluzii. Elementele cheie ce determină tactica chirurgicală în TAI cu hemoperitoneu sunt – activitatea hemoragiei și volumul lichidului evaluat în dinamică. Diferențierea tacticilor de diagnostic și tratament cu implementarea tehnologiilor miniinvazive în hemoperitoneul traumatic permite reducerea considerabilă a letalității, complicațiilor și laparotomiilor neargumentate.Aim of study. The approach to the patient with closed abdominal trauma (CAT) confronts the surgeon with two major dilemmas: the rapid establishment of the diagnosis and the therapeutic attitude. In closed abdominal trauma, the presence of free intra-abdominal fluid is the basic criterion, sometimes the only sign of injury to the intraperitoneal organs. The aim is evaluation of treatment outcomes of patients with CAT and hemoperitoneum. Materials and methods. The study includes 49 patients with CAT treated during 2021-2023. The presence of free fluid was established by USG and CT. The age ranged from 18 to 82 years, with a mean of 39.3±6.8 years. Ratio m/f – 38/11. The mechanisms of trauma were diverse. Associated trauma - 46.9% of cases. Results. Conscious, hemodynamically stable patients, in the absence of active hemorrhage and peritonitis, free fluid <500 ml according to USG and CT, underwent conservative treatment with dynamic evaluation - 22 patients with lesions of parenchymal organs. Unconsciousness, unstable hemodynamics, fluid volume >1000 ml, as well as <1000 ml with subsequent increase in fluid volume served as criteria for diagnostic laparoscopy - 4 patients. Indications for laparotomy were: failure of laparoscopic hemostasis - 3 patients and the presence of peritonitis and instability of retroperitoneal hematomas confirmed clinically and instrumentally in 23 cases. The lethality was 14.3%, with the exception of patients treated non-operatively, the causes being hemorrhagic shock gr. IIIII(7.6%), traumatic(2.1%), septic complications(4.1%) and TCC(2.1%). Conclusions. The key elements that determine the surgical tactics in CAT with hemoperitoneum are – the activity of the hemorrhage and the fluid volume evaluated dynamically. The differentiation of diagnostic and treatment tactics with the implementation of miniinvasive technologies in traumatic hemoperitoneum allows the considerable reduction of lethality, complications and unproven laparotomies

Varicocelul la copil: protocol clinic național (ediția I) PCN-412

Protocolul de față a fost elaborat de un grup de lucru format din colaboratorii Catedrei de chirurgie, ortopedie și anesteziologie pediatrică „Natalia Gheorghiu”, USMF „Nicolae Testemiţanu”, ai Clinicii de chirurgie pediatrică şi urologie pediatrică a Centrului Naţional Ştiinţifico-Practic de Chirurgie Pediatrică „Natalia Gheorghiu”, LCȘ, USMF „Nicolae Testemiţanu” „Infecţii chirurgicale la copil”

Interpretarea uronefropatiilor malformative la copii în aspect clinico-morfologic. Viziuni moderne

Studiul dat s-a bazat pe rezultatele examinării clinico-morfologice a 78 de copii cu uropatii malformative rezolvate medico-chirurgical pe parcursul a 3 ani (2006-2008) în Centrul Naţional Ştiinţifi co-Practic de Chirurgie Pediatrică „Natalia Gheorghiu”. Autorii pledează pentru evaluarea corelaţiilor manifestărilor clinico- paraclinice şi morfo-structurale ale proceselor patologice ale complexului reno-ureteral, care ar permite efectuarea unui diagnostic şi pronostic de certitudine în evoluţia maladiei

Effect of Heavy Metals on the Germination of Wheat Seeds: Enzymatic Assay

Stress caused by heavy metals is a major problem which affects agricultural productivity and, implicitly, human health. Natural flora presents differences of tolerance to heavy metals. Some plants grow well in a soil enriched with heavy metals, while others cannot develop in such conditions. This study investigates the effect of heavy metals on plant viability at molecular level and draws attention to the danger of the widespread use of toxic compounds

Sindromul scrotal acut la copil: protocol clinic național (ediția I) PCN - 422

Protocolul a fost elaborat de un grup de lucru format din colaboratorii Catedrei de chirurgie, ortopedie şi anesteziologie pediatrică a USMF „Nicolae Testemiţanu”, Clinicii de Chirurgie Pediatrică şi Urologie Pediatrică a Centrului Naţional Ştiinţifico-Practic de Chirurgie Pediatrică „acad. Natalia Gheorghiu”, LICC, USMF „Nicolae Testemiţanu”. Protocolul naţional este elaborat în conformitate cu ghidurile internaţionale actuale privind sindromul scrotal acut la copii şi va servi drept bază pentru elaborarea Protocoalelor clinice instituţionale. La recomandarea Ministerului Sănătății pentru monitorizarea Protocoalelor clinice instituţionale pot fi folosite formulare suplimentare, care nu sunt incluse în Protocolul clinic naţional

Bio-and hemo-compatible silk fibroin pegylated nanocarriers for 5-fluorouracil chemotherapy in colorectal cancer:In vitro studies

5-fluorouracil (5-FU) remains the gold standard of treatment for colorectal cancer, but its poor bioavailability and high systemic toxicity highlight the urgent need for the development of novel delivery strategies to increase the efficacy of 5-FU treatment. The present study is aimed to design and validate a PEGylated Silk Fibroin Nanocarrier (SF/PEG nanoparticles (NPs)) as an efficient 5-FU delivery system for potential intravenous administration. Using the human adenocarcinoma HT–29 cell line as an in vitro model for colorectal cancer, the cytotoxicity screening of the SF/PEG NPs showed that pristine nanocarriers were highly biocompatible, while the addition of 5-FU triggers a dramatic reduction in tumor cell viability, proliferation potential and mitochondrial integrity as well as a significant increase in nitric oxide production. Despite their high in vitro cytotoxicity, the 5-FU SF/PEG NPs were found hemocompatible as no impact on red blood cells hemolysis or the phagocytic activity of the granulocytes was observed. Exposure of HT–29 tumor cells and blood samples to 5-FU SF/PEG NPs augmented the tumor necrosis factor-α levels. Moreover, 5-FU SF/PEG NPs showed an impact on tumor cell migration and invasive potential as both of these processes were inhibited by the NP treatment

Conclave: secure multi-party computation on big data (extended TR)

Secure Multi-Party Computation (MPC) allows mutually distrusting parties to run joint computations without revealing private data. Current MPC algorithms scale poorly with data size, which makes MPC on "big data" prohibitively slow and inhibits its practical use. Many relational analytics queries can maintain MPC's end-to-end security guarantee without using cryptographic MPC techniques for all operations. Conclave is a query compiler that accelerates such queries by transforming them into a combination of data-parallel, local cleartext processing and small MPC steps. When parties trust others with specific subsets of the data, Conclave applies new hybrid MPC-cleartext protocols to run additional steps outside of MPC and improve scalability further. Our Conclave prototype generates code for cleartext processing in Python and Spark, and for secure MPC using the Sharemind and Obliv-C frameworks. Conclave scales to data sets between three and six orders of magnitude larger than state-of-the-art MPC frameworks support on their own. Thanks to its hybrid protocols, Conclave also substantially outperforms SMCQL, the most similar existing system.Comment: Extended technical report for EuroSys 2019 pape