Impact of Biomass Drying Process on the Extraction Efficiency of C-Phycoerythrin.

Drying the biomass produced is one of the critical steps to avoid cell degradation; however, its high energy cost is a significant technological barrier to improving this type of bioprocess's technical and economic feasibility. This work explores the impact of the biomass drying method of a strain of Potamosiphon sp. on the extraction efficiency of a phycoerythrin-rich protein extract. To achieve the above, the effect of time (12-24 h), temperature (40-70 °C), and drying method (convection oven and dehydrator) were determined using an I-best design with a response surface. According to the statistical results, the factors that most influence the extraction and purity of phycoerythrin are temperature and moisture removal by dehydration. The latter demonstrates that gentle drying of the biomass allows removing the most significant amount of moisture from the biomass without affecting the concentration or quality of temperature-sensitive proteins.

Bicarbonate-Hydrogen Peroxide System for Treating Dyeing Wastewater: Degradation of Organic Pollutants and Color Removal.

The textile industry is a global economic driving force; however, it is also one of the most polluting industries, with highly toxic effluents which are complex to treat due to the recalcitrant nature of some compounds present in these effluents. This research focuses on the removal of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), color, Total Organic Carbon (TOC), and Ammoniacal Nitrogen (N-NH3) on tannery wastewater treatment through an advanced oxidation process (AOPs) using sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and temperature using a central composite non-factorial design with a surface response using Statistica 7.0 software. All experiments used a 500 mL reactor with 300 mL of tannery wastewater from a company in Cúcuta, Colombia. The physicochemical characterization was done to determine the significant absorbance peaks about the color in the wavelengths between 297 and 669 nm. Statistical analysis found that the concentration of NaHCO3 affects the removal of color and N-NH3; however, it did not affect COD and TOC. The optimal process conditions for removing the different compounds under study were: NaHCO3 1 M, H2O2 2 M, and 60 °C, with efficiencies of 92.35%, 31.93%, 68.85%, and 35.5% N-NH3, COD, color, and TOC respectively. It can be concluded that AOPs using H2O2 and NaHCO3 are recommended to remove color and N-NH3.

Advanced Oxidation Processes and Biotechnological Alternatives for the Treatment of Tannery Wastewater.

The tannery industry is one of the economic sectors that contributes to the development of different countries. Globally, Europe and Asia are the main producers of this industry, although Latin America and Africa have been growing considerably in recent years. With this growth, the negative environmental impacts towards different ecosystem resources as a result of the discharges of recalcitrated pollutants, have led to different investigations to generate alternative solutions. Worldwide, different technologies have been studied to address this problem, biological and physicochemical processes have been widely studied, presenting drawbacks with some recalcitrant compounds. This review provides a context on the different existing technologies for the treatment of tannery wastewater, analyzing the physicochemical composition of this liquid waste, the impact it generates on human health and ecosystems and the advances in the different existing technologies, focusing on advanced oxidation processes and the use of microalgae. The coupling of advanced oxidation processes with biological processes, mainly microalgae, is seen as a viable biotechnological strategy, not only for the removal of pollutants, but also to obtain value-added products with potential use in the biorefining of the biomass.

Enhancement of Phycobiliprotein Accumulation in Thermotolerant Oscillatoria sp. through Media Optimization.

Phycobiliproteins (PBPs) are a group of brilliant pigment proteins found in cyanobacteria and red algae; their synthesis and accumulation depend on several factors such as the type of strain employed, nutrient concentration, light intensity, light regimes, and others. This study evaluates the effect of macronutrients (citrate buffer, NaNO3, K2HPO4, MgSO4, CaCl2, Na2CO3, and EDTA) and the concentration of trace metals in BG-11 media on the accumulation of PBPs in a thermotolerant strain of Oscillatoria sp. The strain was grown in BG-11 media at 28 °C with a light:dark cycle of 12:12 h at 100 µmol m-2 s-1 for 15 days, and the effect of nutrients was evaluated using a Plackett-Burman Design followed by optimization using a response surface methodology. Results from the concentration of trace metals show that it can be reduced up to half-strength in its initial concentration without affecting both biomass and PBPs. Results from the Plackett-Burman Design revealed that only NaNO3, Na2CO3, and K2HPO4 show a significant increase in PBP production. Optimization employed a central Non-Factorial Response Surface Design with three levels and four factors (34) using NaNO3, Na2CO3, K2HPO4, and trace metals as variables, while the other components of BG-11 media (citrate buffer, MgSO4, CaCl2, and EDTA) were used in half of their initial concentration. Results from the optimization show that interaction between Na2CO3 and K2HPO4 highly increased PBPs' concentration, with values of 15.21, 3.95, and 1.89 (% w/w), respectively. These results demonstrate that identifying and adjusting the concentration of critical nutrients can increase the concentration of PBPs up to two times for phycocyanin and allophycocyanin while four times for phycoerythrin. Finally, the reduction in non-key nutrients' concentration will reduce the production costs of colorants at an industrial scale and increase the sustainability of the process.

Building a Personalized Cancer Treatment System.

This paper reports the process by which a personalized cancer treatment system was built, following a user-centered approach. We give some background on personalized cancer treatment, the particular tumor chemosensitivity assay supported by the system, as well as some quality and legal issues related to such health systems. We describe how Contextual Design was applied when building the system. Contextual design is a user-centered design technique involving seven steps. We also provide some details about the system implementation. Finally, we explain how the Think-Aloud protocol and Heuristic Evaluation methods were used to evaluate the system and report its results. A qualitative assessment from the users perspective is also provided. Results from the heuristic evaluation indicate that only one of ten heuristics was missing from the system, while five were partially covered and four were fully covered.

Prevalencia de anemia en pacientes hospitalizados en el Hospital Universitario San José de Popayán / Prevalence of anemia in hospitalized patients in University Hospital San José of Popayán

Objetivo: Determinar la prevalencia de anemia en un grupo de pacientes hospitalizados y la caracterización de estos pacientes con anemia en los servicios de UCI, ginecología, medicina interna, traumatología y otras especialidades quirúrgicas distintas a ortopedia y ginecología. Materiales y métodos: Estudio descriptivo observacional retrospectivo de 373 pacientes egresados del Hospital Universitario San José de Popayán, Colombia, entre julio y diciembre de 2015, con datos obtenidos mediante encuesta. La base de datos se analizó con el software estadístico XLSTAT 2016. Todos los documentos fueron evaluados y aprobados por el Comité de Ética institucional. Resultados: Se incluyeron 373 pacientes, 39,7% mujeres con una media de edad de 54±19 años. La prevalencia global de anemia al ingreso fue 38,8% y al egreso 53,8% y la más común fue normocítica normocrómica. En cuanto a los diagnósticos de egreso, las infecciones están presentes en un 27%, traumatismos 23% y otros 27%. La prevalencia de anemia con estancia hospitalaria prolongada fue 73% con p = 0,035 comparado con pacientes de egreso no prolongado; y la mortalidad en paciente con anemia fue 16,4 vs. 11% sin ella. Discusión: En el hospitalizado según la literatura revisada, la anemia más común está asociada con déficit nutricional y enfermedades crónicas, encontrando en el estudio un aumento en los días de estancia hospitalaria y tendencia al incremento de la mortalidad asociada con anemia hospitalaria.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of anemia in a group of hospitalized patients and to characterize these patients with anemia in the ICU, gynecology, internal medicine, traumatology and other surgical specialties other than orthopedics and gynecology. Materials and methods: This is a retrospective observational descriptive study in 373 patients discharged from the University Hospital of San José in the city of Popayán, from July to December 2015, obtained through a survey. The database was analyzed using the XLSTAT 2016 statistical software. All study documents were evaluated and approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee. Results: 373 patients were included, 39.7% were women, with a mean age of 54±19 years. The overall prevalence of anemia at hospitalization was 38.8% and at discharge was 53.8%. The most common anemiawas normochromic, normocytic. The most common diagnosis of discharge was the infections in 27%, traumas 23% and other diagnoses 27%. The prevalence of anemia in patients with prolonged hospital stay was 73% with a p = 0.035 compared to patients with no prolonged stay, and on the other hand, the mortality in patients with anemia was 16.4 vs. 11% in patients without anemia. Discussion: In the hospitalized patient according to the reviewed literature the mostcommon anemia is associated with nutritional deficits and chronic diseases. Finding in the study an increase in the hospital days of the stay, and the tendency to increase the mortality in patient with anemia.

Relación neutrófilos-linfocitos en bacteriemia en pacientes adultos que ingresan al Servicio de Urgencias / Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in adult patients with bacteremia at the Emergency Service

Objetivo: determinar la validez diagnóstica de los valores elevados de la relación neutrófiloslinfocitos (RNL) en pacientes con bacteriemia que ingresan a urgencias. Material y métodos: se incluyeron 104 pacientes de los cuales cumplieron los criterios de inclusión 81 y se compararon con pacientes con hemocultivos negativos en relación 1:1. Se construyó la curva de la característica operativa del receptor (ROC) y se determinaron la sensibilidad, especificidad, valores predictivos y razones de probabilidades para las variables de valor absoluto de leucocitos (VAL) y de neutrófilos (VAN), PCR y RNL. Resultados: los únicos marcadores de infección con área bajo la curva (ABC) >0,7 fueron PCR y RNL. Siendo para la RNL en bacteriemia el punto de corte de 13,2 con una ABC de 0,71; sensibilidad 63% y especificidad 71,6%; valor predictivo positivo (VPP) de 69% y valor predictivo negativo (VPN) de 66%. El punto de corte para la PCR en bacteriemia fue de 17,1 con una ABC de 0,73; sensibilidad 66% y especificidad 74,7%; VPP de 73% y VPN de 69%. En el grupo de bacteriemia se encontró diferencia estadística significativa en la variable edad con una media de 68± 17,1 vs 58 ± 21,1 del grupo sin bacteriemia (p=0,001). El promedio de pacientes con TFG <60 ml/min/1.73m2 en el grupo con bacteriemia fue 69,1% al compararse en el grupo sin bacteriemia 46,9%, con un valor de p=0,0042. Conclusión: los valores elevados de la RNL en pacientes que ingresan a urgencias, son un buen predictor y de fácil acceso en bacteriemia.

Objective: To determine the diagnostic value of increased levels of the neutrophil-tolymphocyte ratio (NLR) in patients admitted to the emergency service with bacteremia. Materials and methods: One-hundred-four patients were included, of which 81 were eligible and were compared with patients with negative blood cultures in a 1:1 relationship. Receiving operating characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed and the sensitivity, specificity, predictive values and probability indicators for the absolute leukocyte count (ALC) and neutrophil absolute count (NAC), CRP and NLR were determined. Results: The only infection markers with an area under the curve (AUC) >0.7 were CRP and NLR. The cutoff value for NLR in bacteremia was 13.2 with an AUC of 0.71; which provided a sensitivity of 63%, and a specificity of 71.6%; positive predictive value (PPV) of 69% and negative predictive value (NPV) of 66%. The cutoff value for CRP in bacteremia was 17.1 with an AUC of 0.73; which provided a sensitivity of 66% and a specificity of 74.7%; PPV of 73% and NPV of 69%. A statistically significant difference was found in patients mean age 68± 17.1 years with positive blood cultures vs patients mean age 58 ± 21.1 years with negative blood cultures (p=0.001). The average number of patients with a GFR <60 ml/min/1.73m2 in the positive bacteremia group was 69.1% compared with the negative bacteremia group 46.9%, (p=0.0042). Conclusion: Increased values of NLR in patients admitted to the emergency service are a reliable and accessible predictor in bacteremia.