Environmental challenges of the chlor-alkali production: Seeking answers from a life cycle approach

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been used to assess the environmental sustainability of the chlor-alkali production in Europe. The three current technologies applied nowadays are mercury, diaphragm, and membrane cell technology. Despite, having achieved higher energy efficiencies since the introduction of membrane technology, energy consumption is still one of the most important issues in this sector. An emerging technology namely oxygen-depolarised cathodes (ODC) is suggested as a promising approach for reducing the electrolysis energy demand. However, its requirement of pure oxygen and the lack of production of hydrogen, which could otherwise be valorised, are controversial features for greener chlorine production. The aim of this work is to evaluate and compare the environmental profiles of the current and emerging technologies for chlorine production and to identify the main hot spots of the process. Salt mining, brine preparation, electrolysis technology and products treatment are included inside the system boundaries. Twelve environmental impact categories grouped into natural resources usage and environmental burdens are assessed from cradle to gate and further normalised and weighted. Furthermore, hydrogen valorisation, current density and allocation procedure are subjected to sensitivity analysis. Results show that the electrolysis stage is the main contributor to the environmental impacts due to energy consumption, causing 99.5–72% of these impacts. Mercury is the less environmentally sustainable technology, closely followed by diaphragm. This difference becomes bigger after normalisation, owing to hazardous waste generated by mercury technique. Conversely, best results are obtained for ODC instead of membrane scenario, although the reduction in energy requirements is lesser than expected (7%).This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) project CTM2013-43539-R. The authors are grateful for this funding

The Spanish Dietary Guidelines: A potential tool to reduce greenhouse gas emissions of current dietary patterns

This study assesses the Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions and the nutritional quality of the current food consumption and losses of an average Spanish citizen, and compares them with two alternative diets: one following the Spanish dietary guidelines (The NAOS Strategy; NAOS), and another one based on the Mediterranean (MED) diet. The diet-related GHG emissions of current eating patterns would be reduced by 17% and 11%, when shifting to the NAOS and MED diets, respectively, and even more (42% and 35%) when diets' nutritional qualities are considered within the functional unit. In addition, food losses contribute 21% to diet's emissions. Our results suggest that national dietary guidelines (NDGs) can be a good policy tool, not only to lead to a healthier condition, but also to promote a shift towards a lower-carbon diets. Finally, it is recommended that life cycle-based indicators are added within the NDGs, to better communicate the environmental impacts of dietary choices, and ultimately enhance knowledge and awareness of consumers.This research study is carried out as part of the Ceres-Procon Project: Food production and consumption strategies for climate change mitigation (CTM2016-76176-C2-1-R) (AEI/FEDER, UE), financed by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, which aims to determine strategies to improve the sustainability of current food production and consumption

Effectiveness of dry needling in improving pain and function in comparison with other techniques in patients with chronic neck pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to assess the short-, mid-, and long-term effectiveness of dry needling in improving pain and functional capacity of patients with chronic neck pain. Search strategy was performed on PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, PEDro, and Cochrane Library Plus biomedical databases. The risk of bias was assessed using the RoB2 tool. Randomised controlled clinical trials in which at least 1 of the groups received dry needling were included. 662 studies were found; 14 clinical trials were selected for qualitative analysis and 13 for quantitative analysis. The quality of most of the studies included was “high.” All the studies reported improvements in cervical pain and/or disability, regardless of the protocol followed and the muscles targeted. No serious adverse effects were reported. Dry needling showed to be more effective when compared with other therapies in both women and men, without differences by sex. When the analysis was carried out by age, patients over 40 years old benefitted more than those below 40 years old. Our meta-analysis supports the use of dry needling to improve pain and functional capacity in patients with chronic neck pain at short- and mid-term intervals

Effects of Folinic Acid Administration on Lower Limb Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in Rats

Surgery under ischemic conditions, lasting up to 3 h, is routinely performed in orthopedic surgery, causing undesirable injury due to ischemia-reperfusion syndrome, with short and medium-term functional repercussions. To date, there is no established prophylactic treatment. In this work we evaluated folinic acid (FA) in a rodent model of lower limb ischemia-reperfusion (IRI-LL). 36 male WAG rats underwent 3 h of lower limb ischemia. In the saline group, rats received intraperitoneal administration of saline (used as vehicle for treatment). In the experimental group, rats were pretreated with FA (2.5 mg/kg) before the end of ischemia. After ischemia, animals were sacrificed at 3 h, 24 h or 14 days (for biochemical determination (Na+, K+, Cl-, urea, creatinine, CK, LDH, ALP, ALT, and AST), pathological assessment, or functional study using the rotarod test; respectively). Another six animals were used to establish the reference values. The prophylactic administration of FA significantly reduced the elevation of biochemical markers, especially those that most directly indicate muscle damage (CK and LDH). In addition, it also improved direct tissue damage, both in terms of edema, weight, PMN infiltrate and percentage of damaged fibers. Finally, the administration of FA allowed the animals to equal baseline values in the rotarod test; what did not occur in the saline group, where pre-ischemia levels were not recovered. Following 3 h of lower limb ischemia, FA minimizes the increase of CK and LDH, as well as local edema and leukocyte infiltration, allowing a faster recovery of limb functionality. Therefore, it could be considered as a prophylactic treatment when tourniquet is used in clinics.This research received funding from the University of The Basque Country UPV/EHU (grant reference GIU19/088)

Life cycle energy assessment of pneumatic waste collection static systems: A case study of energy balance for decision-making process

Waste collection presents a significant influence in the environmental sustainability of municipal solid waste (MSW) management. Conventional door-to-door collection consumes high amounts of fuel for waste transportation, thus generating significant direct greenhouse gas emissions (GHG). Pneumatic collection emerges as an alternative to conventional trucking system, comprised by an underground network of long distance pipelines that carries MSW fractions to a central collection plant where the waste is collected and compacted. Such systems represent a way of arranging waste collection in densely populated urban areas and have recently been used in the design of smart cities to control waste flows. While this technology apparently reduces direct air emissions, suffers from large energy demand derived from vacuum production for waste suction. This work compares both conventional door-to-door and pneumatic collection systems from a life cycle approach, obtaining that the latter accounts for 5 and 3 times more energy demand and CO2-eq. emissions than conventional collection, respectively. Results suggests that the electricity consumption and the origin of electricity have a significant influence on the results, since vacuum production is responsible for more than 99 % of the total impacts for pneumatic scenario, while diesel for trucking accounts to around 70 % of the conventional system impacts. Greener electricity mixes and less energy consuming materials are required in order to ensure the environmental sustainability of pneumatic systems.The authors are grateful for the funding of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the Ceres-Procom: Food production and consumption strategies for climate change mitigation (CTM2016-76176- C2-1-R) (AEI/FEDER, UE). The authors wish to extend their acknowledgment to all people involved in the LIFE FENIX Project, as well as the European LIFE Financing Programme. In addition, they want to acknowledge the support of The Circular Lab founded by Ecoembes

Antioxidant-Based Therapy Reduces Early-Stage Intestinal Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury in Rats

Intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury (i-IRI) is a rare disorder with a high mortality rate, resulting from the loss of blood flow to an intestinal segment. Most of the damage is triggered by the restoration of flow and the arrival of cytokines and reactive oxygen species (ROS), among others. Inactivation of these molecules before tissue reperfusion could reduce intestinal damage. The aim of this work was to analyze the preventive effect of allopurinol and nitroindazole on intestinal mucosal damage after i-IRI. Wag/RijHsd rats were subjected to i-IRI by clamping the superior mesenteric artery (for 1 or 2 h) followed by a 30 min period of reperfusion. Histopathological intestinal damage (HID) was assessed by microscopic examination of histological sections obtained from injured intestine. HID was increased by almost 20% by doubling the ischemia time (from 1 to 2 h). Nitroindazole reduced HID in both the 1 and 2 h period of ischemia by approximately 30% and 60%, respectively (p < 0.001). Our preliminary results demonstrate that nitroindazole has a preventive/protective effect against tissue damage in the early stages of i-IRI. However, to better understand the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, further studies are needed.This research received funding from the University of The Basque Country UPV/EHU (grant reference GIU19/088)

Conditioned Medium from H2O2-Preconditioned Human Adipose-Derived Stem Cells Ameliorates UVB-Induced Damage to Human Dermal Fibroblasts

Human skin exposure to ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation can result in acute photodamage through oxidative modifications of cellular components and biomolecules involved in the metabolism of dermal cells. Recently, the therapeutic potential of human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs) has been investigated as a novel strategy for photoprotection due to their pro-angiogenic properties, protective activity against oxidative stress and paracrine effect on dermal cells. To enhance these therapeutic properties, hASCs can be preconditioned by exposing them to sublethal cellular stressors. In this study, we first analyzed response capacity against UVB-induced oxidative stress in H2O2-preconditioned hASCs (called HC016 cells); and second, we evaluated the photoprotective effect of HC016-conditioned medium (CM) in an in vitro UVB irradiation model in cultured human foreskin fibroblasts (hFFs). The results demonstrated that HC016 cells have a greater capacity to respond efficiently to UVB-induced oxidative stress, evidenced by higher Nrf2 antioxidant system activity and enhanced viability and migration capacity. Further, HC016-CM treatment increased viability, migratory capacity and collagen type I synthesis in hFFs exposed to UVB radiation, as well as reducing their cytotoxicity, apoptosis, senescence and IL-6 secretion. Collectively, these findings support the view that HC016 cells could protect against UVB-induced photodamage via paracrine mechanisms.This research was founded by the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU, grant reference numbers: GIU19/088 and PES 21/50)

Elaboración e implantación de estrategias docentes para el trabajo con estudiantes chinos

Memoria ID-0123. Ayudas de la Universidad de Salamanca para la innovación docente, curso 2016-2017