Utilización racional del estiércol fluido de porcino (EFP) como fertilizante agrícola

4 Pags.- 3 Tabls.- 2 Figs.En este trabajo se presentan los estudios estadísticos y ecuaciones de correlación entre parámetros, obtenidos de los resultados de los análisis laboratoriales de más de 300 muestras de EFP, de forma que resulte más sencillo el conocimiento de la composición cualitativa y cuantitativa para su aplicación agrícola.Peer reviewe

Exciton Gas Compression and Metallic Condensation in a Single Semiconductor Quantum Wire

We study the metal-insulator transition in individual self-assembled quantum wires and report optical evidences of metallic liquid condensation at low temperatures. Firstly, we observe that the temperature and power dependence of the single nanowire photoluminescence follow the evolution expected for an electron-hole liquid in one dimension. Secondly, we find novel spectral features that suggest that in this situation the expanding liquid condensate compresses the exciton gas in real space. Finally, we estimate the critical density and critical temperature of the phase transition diagram at $n_c\sim1\times10^5$ cm$^{-1}$ and $T_c\sim35$ K, respectively.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Estructura metálica del edificio para la central hortofrutícola de «Frutas Ponche», en Corbera. Valencia/España

Not available.La solución estructural elegida para el edificio de la central hortofrutícola de «Frutas PONCHE», que ocupa una superficie de 50 x 86 m2, es la de un pórtico a dos aguas, en el cual se evita el descenso de la cumbrera por medio de soportes en los pórticos principales y de jácenas trianguladas en los pórticos secundarios. Las dos marquesinas del edificio, de mucho canto y 8,5 m de voladizo, facilitan el desagüe y. Junto con el cielorraso de chapa lacada, forman un óptimo conjunto arquitectónico

Charge control in laterally coupled double quantum dots

We investigate the electronic and optical properties of InAs double quantum dots grown on GaAs (001) and laterally aligned along the [110] crystal direction. The emission spectrum has been investigated as a function of a lateral electric field applied along the quantum dot pair mutual axis. The number of confined electrons can be controlled with the external bias leading to sharp energy shifts which we use to identify the emission from neutral and charged exciton complexes. Quantum tunnelling of these electrons is proposed to explain the reversed ordering of the trion emission lines as compared to that of excitons in our system.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures submitted to PRB Rapid Com

Controlled manipulation of enzyme specificity through immobilization-induced flexibility constraints

It is thought that during immobilization enzymes, as dynamic biomolecules, may become distorted and this may alter their catalytic properties. However, the effects of different immobilization strategies on enzyme rigidity or flexibility and their consequences in specificity and stereochemistry at large scale has not been yet clearly evaluated and understood. This was here investigated by using as model an ester hydrolase, isolated from a bacterium inhabiting a karstic lake, with broad substrate spectrum (72 esters being converted; 61.5 U mg$^{-1}$ for glyceryl tripropionate) but initially non-enantiospecific. We found that the enzyme (7 nm × 4.4 nm × 4.2 nm) could be efficiently ionic exchanged inside the pores (9.3 nm under dry conditions) of amino-functionalized ordered mesoporous material (NH$_{2}$-SBA-15), achieving a protein load of 48 mg g−1, and a specific activity of 4.5 ± 0.1 U mg$^{-1}$. When the enzyme was site-directed immobilized through His interaction with an immobilized cationon the surface of two types of magnetic micro-particles through hexahistidine-tags, protein loads up to 10.2 μg g$^{-1}$ and specific activities of up to 29.9 ± 0.3 U mg$^{-1}$, were obtained. We found that ionically exchanged enzyme inside pores of NH2-SBA-15 drastically narrowed the substrate range (17 esters), to an extent much higher than ionically exchanged enzyme on the surface of magnetic micro-particles (up to 61 esters). This is attributed to differences in surface chemistry, particle size, and substrate accessibility to the active site tunnel. Our results also suggested, for the first time, that immobilization of enzymes in pores of similar size may alter the enzyme structures and produce enzyme active centers with different configuration which promote stereochemical conversions in a manner different to those arising from surface immobilization, where the strength of the ionic exchange also has an influence. This was shown by demonstrating that when the enzyme was introduced inside pores with a diameter (under dry conditions) slightly higher than that of the enzyme crystal structure a biocatalyst enantiospecific for ethyl (R)-4-chloro-3-hydroxybutyrate was produced, a feature not found when using wider pores. By contrast, immobilization on the surface of ferromagnetic microparticles produced selective biocatalysts for methyl (S)-(+)-mandelate or methyl (S)-lactate depending on the functionalization. This study illustrates the benefits of extensive analysis of the substrate spectra to better understand the effects of different immobilization strategies on enzyme flexibility/rigidity, as well as substrate specificity and stereochemistry. Our results will help to design tunable materials and interfaces for a controlled manipulation of specificity and to transform non-enantiospecific enzymes into stereo-chemically substrate promiscuous biocatalysts capable of converting multiple chiral molecules

Plant-wide modelling in wastewater treatment: showcasing experiences using the Biological Nutrient Removal Model

[EN] Plant-wide modelling can be considered an appropriate approach to represent the current complexity in water resource recovery facilities, reproducing all known phenomena in the different process units. Nonetheless, novel processes and new treatment schemes are still being developed and need to be fully incorporated in these models. This work presents a short chronological overview of some of the most relevant plant-wide models for wastewater treatment, as well as the authors' experience in plant-wide modelling using the general model BNRM (Biological Nutrient Removal Model), illustrating the key role of general models (also known as supermodels) in the field of wastewater treatment, both for engineering and research.Seco, A.; Ruano, MV.; Ruiz-Martínez, A.; Robles Martínez, Á.; Barat, R.; Serralta Sevilla, J.; Ferrer, J. (2020). Plant-wide modelling in wastewater treatment: showcasing experiences using the Biological Nutrient Removal Model. Water Science & Technology. 81(8):1700-1714. https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2020.056S17001714818Barat, R., Montoya, T., Seco, A., & Ferrer, J. (2011). Modelling biological and chemically induced precipitation of calcium phosphate in enhanced biological phosphorus removal systems. Water Research, 45(12), 3744-3752. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2011.04.028Barat, R., Serralta, J., Ruano, M. V., Jiménez, E., Ribes, J., Seco, A., & Ferrer, J. (2013). Biological Nutrient Removal Model No. 2 (BNRM2): a general model for wastewater treatment plants. Water Science and Technology, 67(7), 1481-1489. doi:10.2166/wst.2013.004Batstone, D. J., Hülsen, T., Mehta, C. M., & Keller, J. (2015). Platforms for energy and nutrient recovery from domestic wastewater: A review. Chemosphere, 140, 2-11. doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2014.10.021Borrás F. L. 2008 Técnicas microbiológicas aplicadas a la identificación y cuantificación de organismos presentes en sistemas EBPR (Microbiological Techniques Applied to Identification and Quantification of Organisms Present in EBPR Systems). PhD Thesis, Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia, Spain.Claros, J., Jiménez, E., Aguado, D., Ferrer, J., Seco, A., & Serralta, J. (2013). Effect of pH and HNO2 concentration on the activity of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in a partial nitritation reactor. Water Science and Technology, 67(11), 2587-2594. doi:10.2166/wst.2013.132Copp, J. B., Jeppsson, U., & Rosen, C. (2003). TOWARDS AN ASM1 – ADM1 STATE VARIABLE INTERFACE FOR PLANT-WIDE WASTEWATER TREATMENT MODELING. Proceedings of the Water Environment Federation, 2003(7), 498-510. doi:10.2175/193864703784641207Dorofeev, A. G., Nikolaev, Y. A., Kozlov, M. N., Kevbrina, M. V., Agarev, A. M., Kallistova, A. Y., & Pimenov, N. V. (2017). Modeling of anammox process with the biowin software suite. Applied Biochemistry and Microbiology, 53(1), 78-84. doi:10.1134/s0003683817010100Drewnowski, J., Zaborowska, E., & Hernandez De Vega, C. (2018). Computer Simulation in Predicting Biochemical Processes and Energy Balance at WWTPs. E3S Web of Conferences, 30, 03007. doi:10.1051/e3sconf/20183003007Durán F. 2013 Modelación matemática del tratamiento anaerobio de aguas residuales urbanas incluyendo las bacterias sulfatorreductoras. Aplicación a un biorreactor anaerobio de membranas (Mathematical Model of Urban Wastewater Anaerobic Treatment Including Sulphate Reducing Bacteria. Application to an Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactor). PhD Thesis, Universitat Politècnica de València, Valencia, Spain.Ekama, G. A. (2009). Using bioprocess stoichiometry to build a plant-wide mass balance based steady-state WWTP model. Water Research, 43(8), 2101-2120. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2009.01.036EPA 2006 User's manual version 4.03 2006. Available from: https://www.epa.gov/ceam/minteqa2-equilibrium-speciation-model (accessed July 2019).Fernández-Arévalo, T., Lizarralde, I., Fdz-Polanco, F., Pérez-Elvira, S. I., Garrido, J. M., Puig, S., … Ayesa, E. (2017). Quantitative assessment of energy and resource recovery in wastewater treatment plants based on plant-wide simulations. Water Research, 118, 272-288. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2017.04.001Ferrer, J., Seco, A., Serralta, J., Ribes, J., Manga, J., Asensi, E., … Llavador, F. (2008). DESASS: A software tool for designing, simulating and optimising WWTPs. Environmental Modelling & Software, 23(1), 19-26. doi:10.1016/j.envsoft.2007.04.005Ferrer J., Seco A., Ruano M. V., Ribes J., Serralta J., Gómez T., Robles A. 2011 LoDif BioControl® Control Software, Intellectual Property. Main Institution: Universitat de València; Universitat Politècnica de València.Flores-Alsina, X., Corominas, L., Snip, L., & Vanrolleghem, P. A. (2011). Including greenhouse gas emissions during benchmarking of wastewater treatment plant control strategies. Water Research, 45(16), 4700-4710. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2011.04.040Flores-Alsina, X., Arnell, M., Amerlinck, Y., Corominas, L., Gernaey, K. V., Guo, L., … Jeppsson, U. (2014). Balancing effluent quality, economic cost and greenhouse gas emissions during the evaluation of (plant-wide) control/operational strategies in WWTPs. Science of The Total Environment, 466-467, 616-624. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.07.046Flores-Alsina, X., Kazadi Mbamba, C., Solon, K., Vrecko, D., Tait, S., Batstone, D. J., … Gernaey, K. V. (2015). A plant-wide aqueous phase chemistry module describing pH variations and ion speciation/pairing in wastewater treatment process models. Water Research, 85, 255-265. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2015.07.014Ge, Z. (2017). Review on data-driven modeling and monitoring for plant-wide industrial processes. Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, 171, 16-25. doi:10.1016/j.chemolab.2017.09.021Grau, P., de Gracia, M., Vanrolleghem, P. A., & Ayesa, E. (2007). A new plant-wide modelling methodology for WWTPs. Water Research, 41(19), 4357-4372. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2007.06.019Grau, P., Copp, J., Vanrolleghem, P. A., Takács, I., & Ayesa, E. (2009). A comparative analysis of different approaches for integrated WWTP modelling. Water Science and Technology, 59(1), 141-147. doi:10.2166/wst.2009.589Henze M., Gujer W., Mino T., van Loosdrecht M. C. M. 2000 Activated Sludge Models ASM1, ASM2, ASM2d and ASM3. IWA Scientific and Technical Report No.9. IWA Publishing, London, UK.Jeppsson, U., & Pons, M.-N. (2004). The COST benchmark simulation model—current state and future perspective. Control Engineering Practice, 12(3), 299-304. doi:10.1016/j.conengprac.2003.07.001Jeppsson, U., Rosen, C., Alex, J., Copp, J., Gernaey, K. V., Pons, M.-N., & Vanrolleghem, P. A. (2006). Towards a benchmark simulation model for plant-wide control strategy performance evaluation of WWTPs. Water Science and Technology, 53(1), 287-295. doi:10.2166/wst.2006.031Ji, X., Liu, Y., Zhang, J., Huang, D., Zhou, P., & Zheng, Z. (2018). Development of model simulation based on BioWin and dynamic analyses on advanced nitrate nitrogen removal in deep bed denitrification filter. Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering, 42(2), 199-212. doi:10.1007/s00449-018-2025-xJiménez, E., Giménez, J. B., Ruano, M. V., Ferrer, J., & Serralta, J. (2011). Effect of pH and nitrite concentration on nitrite oxidation rate. Bioresource Technology, 102(19), 8741-8747. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2011.07.092Jiménez, E., Giménez, J. B., Seco, A., Ferrer, J., & Serralta, J. (2012). Effect of pH, substrate and free nitrous acid concentrations on ammonium oxidation rate. Bioresource Technology, 124, 478-484. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2012.07.079Kazadi Mbamba, C., Flores-Alsina, X., John Batstone, D., & Tait, S. (2016). Validation of a plant-wide phosphorus modelling approach with minerals precipitation in a full-scale WWTP. Water Research, 100, 169-183. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2016.05.003Kazadi Mbamba, C., Lindblom, E., Flores-Alsina, X., Tait, S., Anderson, S., Saagi, R., … Jeppsson, U. (2019). Plant-wide model-based analysis of iron dosage strategies for chemical phosphorus removal in wastewater treatment systems. Water Research, 155, 12-25. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2019.01.048Liu, Y., Peng, L., Ngo, H. H., Guo, W., Wang, D., Pan, Y., … Ni, B.-J. (2016). Evaluation of Nitrous Oxide Emission from Sulfide- and Sulfur-Based Autotrophic Denitrification Processes. Environmental Science & Technology, 50(17), 9407-9415. doi:10.1021/acs.est.6b02202Lizarralde, I., Fernández-Arévalo, T., Brouckaert, C., Vanrolleghem, P., Ikumi, D. S., Ekama, G. A., … Grau, P. (2015). A new general methodology for incorporating physico-chemical transformations into multi-phase wastewater treatment process models. Water Research, 74, 239-256. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2015.01.031Lizarralde, I., Fernández-Arévalo, T., Manas, A., Ayesa, E., & Grau, P. (2019). Model-based opti mization of phosphorus management strategies in Sur WWTP, Madrid. Water Research, 153, 39-52. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2018.12.056Maere, T., Verrecht, B., Moerenhout, S., Judd, S., & Nopens, I. (2011). BSM-MBR: A benchmark simulation model to compare control and operational strategies for membrane bioreactors. Water Research, 45(6), 2181-2190. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2011.01.006Mannina, G., Ekama, G., Caniani, D., Cosenza, A., Esposito, G., Gori, R., … Olsson, G. (2016). Greenhouse gases from wastewater treatment — A review of modelling tools. Science of The Total Environment, 551-552, 254-270. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.01.163Martí, N., Barat, R., Seco, A., Pastor, L., & Bouzas, A. (2017). Sludge management modeling to enhance P-recovery as struvite in wastewater treatment plants. Journal of Environmental Management, 196, 340-346. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2016.12.074Moretti, P., Choubert, J.-M., Canler, J.-P., Buffière, P., Pétrimaux, O., & Lessard, P. (2017). Dynamic modeling of nitrogen removal for a three-stage integrated fixed-film activated sludge process treating municipal wastewater. Bioprocess and Biosystems Engineering, 41(2), 237-247. doi:10.1007/s00449-017-1862-3Nagy, J., Kaljunen, J., & Toth, A. J. (2019). Nitrogen recovery from wastewater and human urine with hydrophobic gas separation membrane: experiments and modelling. Chemical Papers, 73(8), 1903-1915. doi:10.1007/s11696-019-00740-xNewhart, K. B., Holloway, R. W., Hering, A. S., & Cath, T. Y. (2019). Data-driven performance analyses of wastewater treatment plants: A review. Water Research, 157, 498-513. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2019.03.030Nopens, I., Batstone, D. J., Copp, J. B., Jeppsson, U., Volcke, E., Alex, J., & Vanrolleghem, P. A. (2009). An ASM/ADM model interface for dynamic plant-wide simulation. Water Research, 43(7), 1913-1923. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2009.01.012Nopens, I., Benedetti, L., Jeppsson, U., Pons, M.-N., Alex, J., Copp, J. B., … Vanrolleghem, P. A. (2010). Benchmark Simulation Model No 2: finalisation of plant layout and default control strategy. Water Science and Technology, 62(9), 1967-1974. doi:10.2166/wst.2010.044Ontiveros, G. A., & Campanella, E. A. (2013). Environmental performance of biological nutrient removal processes from a life cycle perspective. Bioresource Technology, 150, 506-512. doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2013.08.059Penya-Roja, J. M., Seco, A., Ferrer, J., & Serralta, J. (2002). Calibration and Validation of Activated Sludge Model No.2d for Spanish Municipal Wastewater. Environmental Technology, 23(8), 849-862. doi:10.1080/09593332308618360Pretel, R., Robles, A., Ruano, M. V., Seco, A., & Ferrer, J. (2016). A plant-wide energy model for wastewater treatment plants: application to anaerobic membrane bioreactor technology. Environmental Technology, 37(18), 2298-2315. doi:10.1080/09593330.2016.1148903Pretel, R., Robles, A., Ruano, M. V., Seco, A., & Ferrer, J. (2016). Economic and environmental sustainability of submerged anaerobic MBR-based (AnMBR-based) technology as compared to aerobic-based technologies for moderate-/high-loaded urban wastewater treatment. Journal of Environmental Management, 166, 45-54. doi:10.1016/j.jenvman.2015.10.004Rehman, U., Audenaert, W., Amerlinck, Y., Maere, T., Arnaldos, M., & Nopens, I. (2017). How well-mixed is well mixed? Hydrodynamic-biokinetic model integration in an aerated tank of a full-scale water resource recovery facility. Water Science and Technology, 76(8), 1950-1965. doi:10.2166/wst.2017.330Rieger L., Gillot S., Langergraber G., Ohtsuki T., Shaw A., Takacs I., Winkler S. 2012 Guidelines for Using Activated Sludge Models Scientific and Technical report No. 21. EWA Task Group on Good Modelling Practice. IWA Publishing Volume 11.Robles, A., Ruano, M. V., Ribes, J., Seco, A., & Ferrer, J. (2014). Model-based automatic tuning of a filtration control system for submerged anaerobic membrane bioreactors (AnMBR). Journal of Membrane Science, 465, 14-26. doi:10.1016/j.memsci.2014.04.012Robles, A., Capson-Tojo, G., Ruano, M. V., Seco, A., & Ferrer, J. (2018). Real-time optimization of the key filtration parameters in an AnMBR: Urban wastewater mono-digestion vs. co-digestion with domestic food waste. Waste Management, 80, 299-309. doi:10.1016/j.wasman.2018.09.031Ruano, M. V., Serralta, J., Ribes, J., Garcia-Usach, F., Bouzas, A., Barat, R., … Ferrer, J. (2012). Application of the general model ‘Biological Nutrient Removal Model No. 1’ to upgrade two full-scale WWTPs. Environmental Technology, 33(9), 1005-1012. doi:10.1080/09593330.2011.604877Seco, A., Ribes, J., Serralta, J., & Ferrer, J. (2004). Biological nutrient removal model No.1 (BNRM1). Water Science and Technology, 50(6), 69-70. doi:10.2166/wst.2004.0361Serralta, J., Ferrer, J., Borrás, L., & Seco, A. (2004). An extension of ASM2d including pH calculation. Water Research, 38(19), 4029-4038. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2004.07.009Shoener, B. D., Schramm, S. M., Béline, F., Bernard, O., Martínez, C., Plósz, B. G., … Guest, J. S. (2019). Microalgae and cyanobacteria modeling in water resource recovery facilities: A critical review. Water Research X, 2, 100024. doi:10.1016/j.wroa.2018.100024Solon, K., Flores-Alsina, X., Kazadi Mbamba, C., Ikumi, D., Volcke, E. I. P., Vaneeckhaute, C., … Jeppsson, U. (2017). Plant-wide modelling of phosphorus transformations in wastewater treatment systems: Impacts of control and operational strategies. Water Research, 113, 97-110. doi:10.1016/j.watres.2017.02.007Solon, K., Jia, M., & Volcke, E. I. P. (2019). Process schemes for future energy-positive water resource recovery facilities. Water Science and Technology, 79(9), 1808-1820. doi:10.2166/wst.2019.183Vanrolleghem, P. A., Rosen, C., Zaher, U., Copp, J., Benedetti, L., Ayesa, E., & Jeppsson, U. (2005). Continuity-based interfacing of models for wastewater systems described by Petersen matrices. Water Science and Technology, 52(1-2), 493-500. doi:10.2166/wst.2005.055

Anxiety as a stigma: The stereotype of the anxious person in the clinical, health-care professional, and general population

El objetivo principal de esta investigación fue la evaluación de la teoría implícita o estereotipo que diferentes grupos de población tienen de las personas con ansiedad clínica. Para ello se administró un listado de adjetivos para la heteroevaluación de la persona ansiosa a un total de 400 participantes, distribuidos en cuatro grupos: pacientes con trastorno de ansiedad, población general, médicos y diplomados en enfermería. A los pacientes ansiosos se les volvió a administrar el listado de adjetivos para su autoevaluación. Se llevó a cabo un estudio descriptivo mediante la prueba de χ2 para determinar las diferencias entre grupos en relación a los adjetivos más utilizados. Seguidamente se realizaron dos ANOVAs para establecer diferencias entre grupos a partir de la hetero-evaluación y para comprobar si había diferencias entre la heteroevaluación y la autoevaluación de las personas con trastornos de ansiedad. Los resultados muestran diferencias en la percepción de las personas ansiosas por parte de los 4 grupos; pero solo en el grupo general se detectan creencias prejuiciosas en el estereotipo que muestran de las personas ansiosas. Dichos hallazgos ponen de manifiesto las diferencias en los estereotipos de cada población referentes a las personas con ansiedad clínicaThe implicit theory or stereotype of anxious personality was assessed in different samples. A list of adjectives was administered for hetero-evaluation to 400 participants, divided into four groups: Patients with anxiety dicorders, general population, doctors, and nurses. Anxious patients were re-administered the list of adjectives for self-evaluation. A descriptive study was conducted using χ2 to discriminate the adjectives used between groups. Two ANOVAs were performed to establish differences between groups from hetero-evaluation and to test the presence of differences between the hetero- and the self-evaluation. Results showed the existence of differences between the clinically anxious group, the group of doctors and the group of nurses in the stereotype of anxious individuals, although no evidence of stigma was found. However, the general population group showed a perceptual bias of anxious individuals, which may indicate readiness to stigmatize these patients

Los otros en una relación pedagógica para el cuidado

La propuesta muestra el diálogo que se establece entre dos profesoras y unos textos de reflexión crítica, elaborados por el estudiantado de primer curso del grado de enfermería, en la asignatura Fundamentos históricos, teóricos y metodológicos. El objetivo general es exponer, mediante narrativa libre, dialógica y reflexionada, la consciencia de aprendizaje, a la vez que se reflexiona quien es el otro, tanto en la relación pedagógica como en el cuidado. Se describen los saberes docentes y enfermeros. Como experiencia docente se anota la organización de la asignatura, intercalando, a modo de narrativa libre, verbatims de los escritos del estudiantado y la reflexión de las profesoras. A modo de conclusión podemos decir que se cubren los objetivos de aprendizaje, se inician en los saberes, se reconocen como futuros profesionales e identifican al otro en la relación de cuidado

Responsive and Minimalist App Based on Explainable AI to Assess Palliative Care Needs during Bedside Consultations on Older Patients

[EN] Palliative care is an alternative to standard care for gravely ill patients that has demonstrated many clinical benefits in cost-effective interventions. It is expected to grow in demand soon, so it is necessary to detect those patients who may benefit from these programs using a personalised objective criterion at the correct time. Our goal was to develop a responsive and minimalist web application embedding a 1-year mortality explainable predictive model to assess palliative care at bedside consultation. A 1-year mortality predictive model has been trained. We ranked the input variables and evaluated models with an increasing number of variables. We selected the model with the seven most relevant variables. Finally, we created a responsive, minimalist and explainable app to support bedside decision making for older palliative care. The selected variables are age, medication, Charlson, Barthel, urea, RDW-SD and metastatic tumour. The predictive model achieved an AUC ROC of 0.83 [CI: 0.82, 0.84]. A Shapley value graph was used for explainability. The app allows identifying patients in need of palliative care using the bad prognosis criterion, which can be a useful, easy and quick tool to support healthcare professionals in obtaining a fast recommendation in order to allocate health resources efficiently.This work was supported by the InAdvance project (H2020-SC1-BHC-2018-2020 grant agreement number 825750.) and the CANCERLEss project (H2020-SC1-2020-Single-Stage-RTD grant agreement number 965351), both funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.Blanes-Selva, V.; Doñate-Martínez, A.; Linklater, G.; Garcés-Ferrer, J.; Garcia-Gomez, JM. (2021). Responsive and Minimalist App Based on Explainable AI to Assess Palliative Care Needs during Bedside Consultations on Older Patients. Sustainability. 13(17):1-11. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13179844111131

Controlled manipulation of enzyme specificity through immobilization-induced flexibility constraints

It is thought that during immobilization enzymes, as dynamic biomolecules, may become distorted and this may alter their catalytic properties. However, the effects of different immobilization strategies on enzyme rigidity or flexibility and their consequences in specificity and stereochemistry at large scale has not been yet clearly evaluated and understood. This was here investigated by using as model an ester hydrolase, isolated from a bacterium inhabiting a karstic lake, with broad substrate spectrum (72 esters being converted; 61.5 U mg−1 for glyceryl tripropionate) but initially non-enantiospecific. We found that the enzyme (7 nm × 4.4 nm × 4.2 nm) could be efficiently ionic exchanged inside the pores (9.3 nm under dry conditions) of amino-functionalized ordered mesoporous material (NH2-SBA-15), achieving a protein load of 48 mg g−1, and a specific activity of 4.5 ± 0.1 U mg−1. When the enzyme was site-directed immobilized through His interaction with an immobilized cationon the surface of two types of magnetic micro-particles through hexahistidine-tags, protein loads up to 10.2 μg g−1 and specific activities of up to 29.9 ± 0.3 U mg−1, were obtained. We found that ionically exchanged enzyme inside pores of NH2-SBA-15 drastically narrowed the substrate range (17 esters), to an extent much higher than ionically exchanged enzyme on the surface of magnetic micro-particles (up to 61 esters). This is attributed to differences in surface chemistry, particle size, and substrate accessibility to the active site tunnel. Our results also suggested, for the first time, that immobilization of enzymes in pores of similar size may alter the enzyme structures and produce enzyme active centers with different configuration which promote stereochemical conversions in a manner different to those arising from surface immobilization, where the strength of the ionic exchange also has an influence. This was shown by demonstrating that when the enzyme was introduced inside pores with a diameter (under dry conditions) slightly higher than that of the enzyme crystal structure a biocatalyst enantiospecific for ethyl (R)-4-chloro-3-hydroxybutyrate was produced, a feature not found when using wider pores. By contrast, immobilization on the surface of ferromagnetic microparticles produced selective biocatalysts for methyl (S)-(+)-mandelate or methyl (S)-lactate depending on the functionalization. This study illustrates the benefits of extensive analysis of the substrate spectra to better understand the effects of different immobilization strategies on enzyme flexibility/rigidity, as well as substrate specificity and stereochemistry. Our results will help to design tunable materials and interfaces for a controlled manipulation of specificity and to transform non-enantiospecific enzymes into stereo-chemically substrate promiscuous biocatalysts capable of converting multiple chiral molecules.This project received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program Blue Growth: Unlockingthe potential of Seas and Oceans under grant agreement no. 634486 (project acronym INMARE). This research was also supported by the grants PCIN-2014-107 (within ERA NET IB2 grant nr. ERA-IB-14-030 - MetaCat), PCIN-2017-078 (within the ERA-MarineBiotech grant ProBone), BIO2014-54494-R, MAT2016-77496-R, BIO2017-85522-R, and CTQ2016-79138-R from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness. A.B. acknowledges the support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MAT2017-88808-R grant), María de Maeztu Units of Excellence Programme (MDM-2016-0618), and the Diputación de Guipúzcoa for current funding in the frame of Gipuzkoa Fellows program. G.D. thanks the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF, Grant No. 031A095C) for funding in the frame of the Molecular Interaction Engineering program (Biotechnologie 2020+). The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support provided by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). C.C. thanks the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness for a PhD fellowship (Grant BES-2015-073829).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version