Invasive angiology in acute arterial pathology in a critically ill newborn infant

Four patients who complained of symptoms and signs compatible with biliary tract disease and in whom the diagnosis of gallbladder (three cases) and common bile duct ascariasis (one case) was made sonographically are reported. In two patients with gallbladder ascariasis, cholecystectomy corroborated the presence of the round-worms, and was curative. The third patient was a pregnant woman (32nd gestational week) who took piperazine citrate, and a second sonogram performed 29 days later was completely normal. The fourth patient with common bile duct ascariasis underwent choledochotomy with extraction of one ascaris lumbricoides from the common duct, and a T tube was left in place for 15 days. All patients received antiparasitics and had a favorable outcome. Ultrasonography is an important noninvasive diagnostic procedure in the work-up of these patients, who usually describe a clinical picture suggesting gallstone disease: this is especially true in the presence of pregnancy.     

Kinetics of phenol oxidation in a trickle bed reactor over active carbon catalyst

The wet air oxidation of phenol over a commercial active carbon catalyst was studied in a trickle bed reactor (TBR) in the temperature and oxygen partial pressure ranges of 120–160 °C and 0.1–0.2 MPa, respectively. The performance of the active carbon was compared in terms of phenol and COD destruction. The weight change of active carbon due to reaction was also measured. Finally, oxic phenol adsorption isotherms were assessed in batch conditions at 25, 125 and 160 °C. In order to use the conversion data obtained from the TBR for a kinetic study, special care was taken to check the kinetic control in the TBR experiments. Several kinetic models including power law or Langmuir–Hinshelwood expressions were considered to describe the catalytic oxidation of phenol over active carbon. The simple power law model with first order dependence on both phenol and oxygen concentration predicted satisfactorily the experimental data not only over the entire range of operating conditions studied, but also outside its validity range. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: A Promising Treatment Option for Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer?

Since 2010, several treatment options have been available for men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC), including immunotherapeutic agents, although the clinical benefit of these agents remains inconclusive in unselected mCRPC patients. In recent years, however, immunotherapy has re-emerged as a promising therapeutic option to stimulate antitumor immunity, particularly with the use of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), such as PD-1/PD-L1 and CTLA-4 inhibitors. There is increasing evidence that ICIs may be especially beneficial in specific subgroups of patients with high PD-L1 tumor expression, high tumor mutational burden, or tumors with high microsatellite instability/mismatch repair deficiency. If we are to improve the efficacy of ICIs, it is crucial to have a better understanding of the mechanisms of resistance to ICIs and to identify predictive biomarkers to determine which patients are most likely to benefit. This review focuses on the current status of ICIs for the treatment of mCRPC (either as monotherapy or in combination with other drugs), mechanisms of resistance, potential predictive biomarkers, and future challenges in the management of mCRPC.     

Carbon materials and catalytic wet air oxidation of organic pollutants in wastewater

The use of carbon materials as catalytic support or direct catalyst in catalytic wet air oxidation (WAO) of organic pollutants is reviewed. The discussion covers important engineering aspects including the characterisation, activity and stability of carbon catalysts, process performance, reaction kinetics and reactor modelling. Recommendations for further research in catalytic WAO are outlined.     

The biodrying process of sewage sludge – a review

Abstract

Sewage treatment can be classified into three phases: liquid, gaseous, and solid. Treatment of solids is performed in several steps, and the greatest difficulty in removing water from sewage sludge is due to the bound water present in the sludge. Thus, biodrying, a drying method that can be classified as biological, has been recently applied to treat this type of waste. This review paper aims to report and compile data from 49 biodrying assays of sewage sludge found in the literature (through the present, 2019) into one synthesis table, to discuss and compare the numerous variables found in these papers and their implications for biodrying, and to suggest possibilities for future research. This paper additionally intends to improve knowledge of biodrying and to consequently contribute to the monitoring and understanding of the process.     

Quality of Fresh Cut Zucchini as Affected by Cultivar,Maturity at Processing and Packaging

Appropriate plant material at processing and film packaging selection has a strong influence on product quality preservation. This is the first report studying the feasibility for minimal processing of four zucchini cultivars at two maturity stages, immature (MS1) and mature, stored at 6 °C during 10 days under different packaging conditions. The treatments consisted a 4 × 2 × 2 × 3 factorial combination of variety, maturity at processing, film packaging and storage time, including correlation studies between quality parameters. Negative effect on final quality after processing at MS1 was observed as a result of a higher respiration rate (between 15.91 and 20.12% than at mature), CO₂ production and soluble solid consumption contributing to loss of firmness, slice discolouration and less overall quality. After 10 days under 25 µm film, cv. ‘Cronos’ showed the highest values in total chlorophylls (9.03 mg/100 g FW), while slices at MS1 suffered a noticeable oxidative stress increasing the total phenolic content (cv. ‘Parador’ > ‘Amalthée’ > ‘Cronos’ > ‘Cassiope’). At the end of storage, the highest vitamin C content was observed in trays sealed with 25 µm film (more evident in cv. ‘Cronos’ at MS1). In conclusion, processing more mature zucchini and 25 µm film packaging were the most effective combination for preserving quality. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Particulate character, inertial effects and diffusion effects in concentrated suspensions

In the sedimentation of suspensions, the particles modify their settling velocity in accordance with the solids concentration. Kynch's theory assumes that in each layer, the settling velocity only depends on the solids concentration, and neglects the acceleration and deceleration processes when the particles descend with a velocity distinct from that corresponding to the solids concentration at this layer. The Kynch theory also assumes that there are so many small particles that the solid mass can be considered homogeneously distributed in the suspension, so the particulate character of the suspension is ignored. Kynch's theory also neglects the diffusion effects. An analysis of the particulate character of the suspension, the inertial effects and the diffusion effects are discussed in this paper, deducing a critical value for considering the particulate character negligible and a critical size for considering the diffusion effect also negligible. Finally, several data of different flocculated suspensions are satisfactorily analysed in view of the conclusions obtained previously.     

Sensory quality of beef from different finishing diets

Beef production under different local husbandry systems might have meat sensory quality implications for the marketing of these products abroad. In order to assess the effect of finishing diet systems on beef quality, a trained sensory taste panel assessed meat aged for 20 days from 80 Uruguayan Hereford steers that were finished on one of the following diets: T₁ = Pasture [4% of animal live weight (LW)], T₂ = Pasture [3% LW plus concentrate (0.6% LW)], T₃ = Pasture [3% LW plus concentrate (1.2% LW)], or T₄ = Concentrate plus hay ad libitum. Beef odour and flavour intensities decreased with an increase in the energy content of the diet. The meat from T₂ had the lowest acid flavour and strange odours intensities. In general, steers fed only concentrate plus hay (T₄) produced meat that had an inferior sensory quality because they had more pronounced off-flavours and was tougher.     

Effect of soil parameters on radon entry into a building by means of the transrad numerical model

High indoor radon concentration means an increased risk of developing lung cancer. When high radon levels are present in a dwelling, the major source is normally the soil. Therefore, it is useful to know the radon concentration field in the soil underneath a building. A steady-state two-dimensional radon transport model has been used to calculate the effect of a reference building on the soil radon concentration, and the influence of soil parameters on radon entry through a single crack in the basement. Both advective and diffusive flows are considered. Away from the building, the well-known undisturbed soil radon concentration profile has been obtained, while under the house the radon level is increased. A variability analysis around the reference site has shown that the most relevant soil parameters on the radon flux at the top of the crack are, in this case, effective diffusion coefficient, soil gas-permeability and deep soil radon concentration.     

Visible and near-infrared spectroscopy as a technique for screening the inorganic arsenic content in the red crayfish (procambarus clarkii Girard)

The potential of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) for screening the inorganic arsenic (i-As) content in the red crayfish (Procambarus clarkii Girard 1852) was assessed. Sixty-two samples belonging to this species were freeze-dried and scanned by NIRS. The i-As contents of the samples were obtained by acid digestion-solvent extraction followed by hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry and were regressed against different spectral transformations by modified partial least-squares (MPLS) regression. Second derivative transformation equations of the raw optical data, previously standardized by applying standard normal variate and de-trending algorithms, resulted in a coefficient of determination in the cross-validation (1-VR) of 0.84, indicative of equations of good quantitative information. The standard error of cross-validation to standard deviation ratio, shown by the second derivative equation, was similar to those obtained for other trace metal calibrations reported in NIRS reflectance. Spectral information related to chromophores and lipids of the red crayfish tissues, and also the plant matter contained in their stomachs, were the main organic components used by MPLS for modeling the selected prediction equation. This pioneering use of NIRS to predict the i-As content in red crayfish represents an important savings in time and cost of analysis.