Catalytic hydroprocessing of lignin β-O-4 ether bond model compound phenethyl phenyl ether over ruthenium catalysts

The catalytic hydroprocessing of phenethyl phenyl ether (PPE), a model compound of one of the most significant ether linkages within lignin structure, β-O-4, has been studied. Reactions were carried out using two ruthenium-based catalysts, supported on different materials: 3.8 wt.% Ru/C and 3.9 wt.% Ru/Al2O3. Aiming at studying the reaction mechanism, experiments were carried out at 150 °C and 25 bar in H2 atmosphere, with varying feed to catalyst mass ratios and reaction time. Differences between the relative importance of the steps of the mechanism were observed when using those two catalysts. The most significant finding was the predominance of the cleavage of Cβ-O bonds compared to the cleavage of the Caryl-O when using Ru/Al2O3 as catalyst; whereas with Ru/C, the two routes were nearly equivalent. It has been observed that the kinetic model describes the general tendencies of consumption and formation of the different products, but some over/under estimation of concentrations occurs. Finally, the effect of temperature was also explored by carrying out reactions at 100 and 125 °C, observing that decreasing temperature from 150 to 125 or 100 °C favored the dimer hydrogenation route versus the hydrogenolysis of the ether bonds

Karnofsky performance score in acute renal failure as a predictor of short-term survival

Karnofsky Performance Scale Index (KPS) is a measure of functional status that allows patients to be classified according to their functional impairment. We aim to assess if the prior KPS may predict the risk of death among patients with acute renal failure (ARF). METHODS: A cohort of 668 consecutive patients who had been admitted in an university-affiliated hospital between June 2000 and June 2006, and had been diagnosed with ARF, were studied. Three hundred and eighty-six patients with ARF who matched at least one of the RIFLE (Risk, Injury, Failure, Loss and End stage) criteria on increased serum creatinine were included for subsequent analysis. The group was divided into four categories, according to different Karnofsky scores measured by a nephrologist (>or=80, 70, 60 and <or=50). We used an adjusted logistic regression model to assess the relationship between the Karnofky score and mortality. RESULTS: A significant risk of in-hospital mortality within 90 days was observed when the other groups were compared with the >or=80 Karnofsky group. Adjusted odds ratios were 8.87 (95% confidence interval (CI) 3.03-25.99), 6.78 (95% CI 2.61-17.58) and 2.83 (95% CI 1.04-7.68), for Karnofsky groups of <or=50, 60 and 70, respectively. An adjusted odds ratio of 1.75 (95% CI 1.37-2.23) was observed for every 10 point decrease in KPS score. CONCLUSION: Functional status as indicated by the KPS is an independent predictor of death in this cohort of patients with ARF. Patients who presented lower scores had increased mortality rate

Evaluation of the prognostic value of the risk, injury, failure, loss and end-stage renal failure (RIFLE) criteria for acute kidney injury

AIM: The experts have argued about the use of the risk, injury, failure, loss and end-stage renal failure (RIFLE) criteria as a prognosis scoring system. We examined the association between in-hospital mortality and the RIFLE criteria, and discussed its accuracy as a prognosis factor. METHODS: In this prospective study, we analysed the data gathered from a cohort of 956 patients admitted in a Spanish tertiary hospital between January 1998 and April 2006. Hazard ratios for mortality, and survival curves within 60 days were calculated. Discrimination and calibration of the model were also assessed. RESULTS: Excluding 53 patients, 903 patients were finally analysed. We classified them into groups according to the maximum RIFLE class reached during their admission. The RIFLE class was assessed by the glomerular filtration rate criterion. We found an increase in the in-hospital mortality risk. Cox proportional hazard models showed that RIFLE classes risk, injury, and failure were significant predictive factors (hazard ratios were 2.77, 3.23 and 3.52, respectively; P for trend was 0.005). The multivariate analyses from the cross-classification of the participants according to Liano score values (severity of illness) and RIFLE classes showed additive effects of the exposures on in-hospital mortality. CONCLUSION: In this population, the risk of in-hospital mortality during the acute kidney injury (AKI) episode was positively associated with RIFLE classes. We showed that the RIFLE classification system had discriminative power in predicting hospital mortality within 60 days in AKI patients, but not better than a specific AKI predictive model. However, a combined use of both may give a more robust prognosis system

Serum C-reactive protein on the prognosis of oncology patients with acute renal failure: an observational cohort study

We undertook this study to evaluate the significance of the C-reactive protein level (CRP) as a prognostic factor in oncology patients with acute renal failure (ARF) during nephrology consultation. METHODS: The study was comprised of a cohort of 375 consecutive oncology patients who had been admitted to a university-affiliated hospital between March 1998 and April 2006 and had been diagnosed with ARF. One hundred and fifty nine patients with ARF who matched at least one of the RIFLE criteria on increased serum creatinine were included for subsequent analysis. We used a Cox proportional hazard model. RESULTS: Clinical pathological variables were compared among patients with serum CRP levels > or =8 mg/dL (exposed group; cut-off point: median) and patients with serum CRP level <8 mg/dL (control group). In-hospital mortality rates associated with CRP levels were 53.8% for > or =8 mg/dL and 21.5% for <8 mg/dL (p <0.001). After adjusted analysis, the presence of a CRP level > or =8 mg/dL was significantly associated with an increased in-hospital mortality (HR 2.10; 95% CI: 1.17-3.78) than in those patients with similar Liano scoring, the same RIFLE classes, and the same treatment for ARF. In addition, each increment of 1 mg/dL of serum CRP was associated with an adjusted 4% increment of in-hospital mortality (HR 1.04, 95% CI: 1.01-1.06). CONCLUSIONS: CRP levels at nephrology consultation were an independent predictor of death in this cohort of oncology patients with ARF. Patients with levels > or =8 mg/dL may be considered at higher risk of death

Partial order label decomposition approaches for melanoma diagnosis

Melanoma is a type of cancer that develops from the pigment-containing cells known as melanocytes. Usually occurring on the skin, early detection and diagnosis is strongly related to survival rates. Melanoma recognition is a challenging task that nowadays is performed by well trained dermatologists who may produce varying diagnosis due to the task complexity. This motivates the development of automated diagnosis tools, in spite of the inherent difficulties (intra-class variation, visual similarity between melanoma and non-melanoma lesions, among others). In the present work, we propose a system combining image analysis and machine learning to detect melanoma presence and severity. The severity is assessed in terms of melanoma thickness, which is measured by the Breslow index. Previous works mainly focus on the binary problem of detecting the presence of the melanoma. However, the system proposed in this paper goes a step further by also considering the stage of the lesion in the classification task. To do so, we extract 100 features that consider the shape, colour, pigment network and texture of the benign and malignant lesions. The problem is tackled as a five-class classification problem, where the first class represents benign lesions, and the remaining four classes represent the different stages of the melanoma (via the Breslow index). Based on the problem definition, we identify the learning setting as a partial order problem, in which the patterns belonging to the different melanoma stages present an order relationship, but where there is no order arrangement with respect to the benign lesions. Under this assumption about the class topology, we design several proposals to exploit this structure and improve data preprocessing. In this sense, we experimentally demonstrate that those proposals exploiting the partial order assumption achieve better performance than 12 baseline nominal and ordinal classifiers (including a deep learning model) which do not consider this partial order. To deal with class imbalance, we additionally propose specific over-sampling techniques that consider the structure of the problem for the creation of synthetic patterns. The experimental study is carried out with clinician-curated images from the Interactive Atlas of Dermoscopy, which eases reproducibility of experiments. Concerning the results obtained, in spite of having augmented the complexity of the classification problem with more classes, the performance of our proposals in the binary problem is similar to the one reported in the literature

Hospital admission and risk assessment associated to exposure of fungal bioaerosols at a municipal landfill using statistical models

The object of this research to determine the statistical relationship and degree of association between variables: hospital admission days and diagnostic (disease) potentially associated to fungal bioaerosols exposure. Admissions included acute respiratory infections, atopic dermatitis, pharyngitis and otitis. Statistical analysis was done using Statgraphics Centurion XVI software. In addition, was estimated the occupational exposure to fungal aerosols in stages of a landfill using BIOGAVAL method and represented by Golden Surfer XVI program. Biological risk assessment with sentinel microorganism A. fumigatus and Penicillium sp, indicated that occupational exposure to fungal aerosols is Biological action level. Preventive measures should be taken to reduce the risk of acquiring acute respiratory infections, dermatitis or other skin infections

A population-based controlled experiment assessing the epidemiological impact of digital contact tracing

While Digital contact tracing (DCT) has been argued to be a valuable complement to manual tracing in the containment of COVID-19, no empirical evidence of its effectiveness is available to date. Here, we report the results of a 4-week population-based controlled experiment that took place in La Gomera (Canary Islands, Spain) between June and July 2020, where we assessed the epidemiological impact of the Spanish DCT app Radar Covid. After a substantial communication campaign, we estimate that at least 33% of the population adopted the technology and further showed relatively high adherence and compliance as well as a quick turnaround time. The app detects about 6.3 close-contacts per primary simulated infection, a significant percentage being contacts with strangers, although the spontaneous follow-up rate of these notified cases is low. Overall, these results provide experimental evidence of the potential usefulness of DCT during an epidemic outbreak in a real population

Two serological approaches for detection of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in different scenarios: a screening tool and a point-of-care test

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has infected more than 8 million people worldwide, becoming a pandemic. Detecting antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 is of utmost importance and a good indicator of exposure and circulation of the virus within the general population. Two serological tools based on a double recognition assay [enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DR-ELISA) and lateral flow assay (DR-LFA)] to detect total antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 have been developed based on the recombinant nucleocapsid protein. A total of 1065 serum samples, including positive for COVID-19 and negative samples from healthy donors or infected with other respiratory pathogens, were analyzed. The results showed values of sensitivity between 91.2% and 100%, and specificity of 100% and 98.2% for DR-LFA and DR-ELISA, respectively. No cross-reactivity against seasonal coronavirus (HCoV-NL63, HCoV-229E, HCoV-HKU1, HCoV-OC43) was found. These results demonstrate the importance of serology as a complementary tool to polymerase chain reaction for follow-up of recovered patients and identification of asymptomatic individuals

Intensive care unit discharge to the ward with a tracheostomy cannula as a risk factor for mortality: A prospective, multicenter propensity analysis

To analyze the impact of decannulation before intensive care unit discharge on ward survival in nonexperimental conditions. DESIGN: Prospective, observational survey. SETTING: Thirty-one intensive care units throughout Spain. PATIENTS: All patients admitted from March 1, 2008 to May 31, 2008. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: At intensive care unit discharge, we recorded demographic variables, severity score, and intensive care unit treatments, with special attention to tracheostomy. After intensive care unit discharge, we recorded intensive care unit readmission and hospital survival. STATISTICS: Multivariate analyses for ward mortality, with Cox proportional hazard ratio adjusted for propensity score for intensive care unit decannulation. We included 4,132 patients, 1,996 of whom needed mechanical ventilation. Of these, 260 (13%) were tracheostomized and 59 (23%) died in the intensive care unit. Of the 201 intensive care unit tracheostomized survivors, 60 were decannulated in the intensive care unit and 141 were discharged to the ward with cannulae in place. Variables associated with intensive care unit decannulation (non-neurologic disease [85% vs. 64%], vasoactive drugs [90% vs. 76%], parenteral nutrition [55% vs. 33%], acute renal failure [37% vs. 23%], and good prognosis at intensive care unit discharge [40% vs. 18%]) were included in a propensity score model for decannulation. Crude ward mortality was similar in decannulated and nondecannulated patients (22% vs. 23%); however, after adjustment for the propensity score and Sabadell Score, the presence of a tracheostomy cannula was not associated with any survival disadvantage with an odds ratio of 0.6 [0.3-1.2] (p=.1). CONCLUSION: In our multicenter setting, intensive care unit discharge before decannulation is not a risk factor

Application of biostimulant products and biological control agents in sustainable viticulture: A review

Current and continuing climate change in the Anthropocene epoch requires sustainable agricultural practices. Additionally, due to changing consumer preferences, organic approaches to cultivation are gaining popularity. The global market for organic grapes, grape products, and wine is growing. Biostimulant and biocontrol products are often applied in organic vineyards and can reduce the synthetic fertilizer, pesticide, and fungicide requirements of a vineyard. Plant growth promotion following application is also observed under a variety of challenging conditions associated with global warming. This paper reviews different groups of biostimulants and their effects on viticulture, including microorganisms, protein hydrolysates, humic acids, pyrogenic materials, and seaweed extracts. Of special interest are biostimulants with utility in protecting plants against the effects of climate change, including drought and heat stress. While many beneficial effects have been reported following the application of these materials, most studies lack a mechanistic explanation, and important parameters are often undefined (e.g., soil characteristics and nutrient availability). We recommend an increased study of the underlying mechanisms of these products to enable the selection of proper biostimulants, application methods, and dosage in viticulture. A detailed understanding of processes dictating beneficial effects in vineyards following application may allow for biostimulants with increased efficacy, uptake, and sustainability.KJ wishes to acknowledge financial support (3710473400); MS-M thanks to RTI2018-099417-B-I00 (Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities cofunded with EU FEDER funds); JB wish to acknowledge the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico/Brasil (CNPQ process number 309477/2021-2); RO-H is supported by the Ramón y Cajal program from the MICINN (RYC-2017 22032), PAIDI 2020 (Ref. 20_00323), AEI GGOO 2020 (GOPC-CA-20-0001), “José Castillejo” program from the “Ministerio de Universidades” (CAS21/00125) and PID2019-106004RA-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. SM and GT thanks to Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (grant PID2020-114330GB-100). PAIDI2020 from Junta de Andalucía, grant P18-RT-1401 to SM, MD, and GT is also acknowledged. GT acknowledge the support of the publication fee by the CSIC Open Access Publication Support Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI)