Quantification of the composition of pyrolysis oils of complex plastic waste by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometer detector.

Waste valorisation through pyrolysis generates solid, liquid and gaseous fractions that need to be deeply characterised in order to try to recover secondary raw materials or chemicals. Depending on the waste and the process conditions, the liquid fraction obtained (so-called pyrolysis oil) can be very complex. This work proposes a method to quantitatively measure the composition of pyrolysis oils coming from three types of polymeric waste: (1) plastic packaging from sorting plants of municipal solid waste, (2) plastic rich fractions rejected from sorting plants of waste of electrical and electronic equipment and (3) end-of-life carbon/glass fibre reinforced thermoset polymers. The proposed methodology uses a gas chromatography (GC) coupled with mass spectrometer detector (MS) analytical technique, a certified saturated alkanes' mix, an internal standard and fourteen model compounds. Validation of the methodology concluded that the average relative error was between -59 wt% and +62 wt% (with standard deviations between 0 wt% and 13 wt%). Considering that the state-of-the-art scenario to quantify complex plastic pyrolysis oils as a whole is almost none and that they are usually evaluated only qualitatively based on the area percentage of the GC-MS chromatograms, the presented quantification methodology implies a clear step forward towards complex pyrolysis oil compositional quantification in a cost-effective way. Besides, this quantification methodology enables determining what proportion is being detected by GC-MS with respect to the total oil. Finally, the presented work includes all the Kováts RI for complex temperature-program gas chromatography of all the signals identified in the analysed pyrolysis oils, to be readily available to other researchers towards the identification of chemical compounds in their studies.

Immune recovery uveitis in a patient with herpes retinitis as a complication of hairy cell leukaemia. / Respuesta similar a la uveítis de recuperación inmune en un paciente con retinitis herpética como complicación de una leucemia de células peludas.

A 51 year-old man with hairy cell leukaemia was treated with pentostatin. While receiving the treatment, he was diagnosed with herpes retinitis in his right eye. After the last cycle of pentostatin the patient developed a mild vitritis and cystoid macular oedema. There were no signs of herpes retinitis reactivation. After excluding other possible causes of intraocular inflammation, a diagnosis of immune recovery uveitis was made. The patient was treated with 2-monthly retro-septal injections of triamcinolone, oral corticosteroids, intravitreal dexamethasone implants and, finally, pars plana vitrectomy. An immune recovery uveitis-like response is possible in HIV negative individuals. The immune reconstitution after the treatment of hairy cell leukaemia may have led to intraocular inflammation. Management of immune recovery uveitis is challenging and difficult. Pars plana vitrectomy may be necessary. Ophthalmologists should be alert to the possibility of immune recovery uveitis in HIV negative patients.

Hypertensive choroidopathy, retinopathy and optic neuropathy in renal transplantation failure. / Coroidopatía, retinopatía y neuropatía óptica hipertensiva en un paciente con fracaso de trasplante renal.

A 32 year-old man who presented with severe elevation of blood pressure after failure of kidney transplant. The patient had multiple serous retinal detachments, venous dilation, arteriolar narrowing, retinal haemorrhages, as well as optic disc oedema. Due to the impossibility of performing a fluorescein angiography, an angiotomography and en-face optical coherence tomography images were used to identify the vascular alterations in the retina, choroid, and choriocapillaris. Angiotomography and en face-optical coherence tomography mode images are very useful in cases where it is not possible to perform fluorescein angiography.

Invasive aspergillosis manifesting as retinal necrosis in a patient treated with ruxolitinib. / Necrosis retiniana como manifestación de aspergilosis invasiva en un paciente tratado con ruxolitinib.

A 30 year-old man with acute myeloblastic leukaemia and secondary myelodysplastic syndrome developed graft-versus-host disease. The patient was treated with ruxolitinib. After being treated for 3 months with ruxolitinib, an inhibitor of Janus kinase, he developed Aspergillus retinal necrosis resistant to common treatment. Treatment with Janus kinase inhibitors may lead to an increased incidence of opportunistic infections. Janus kinase inhibitor administration may result in poor treatment efficacy.

Importance of 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT in hospital practice. View of the radiation oncologist. / PET/TC con 68Ga-PSMA, importancia en la práctica hospitalaria. Visión del oncólogo radioterápico.

Radiotherapy is a treatment with curative intent, both in patients with primary diagnosis of prostate cancer (PCa) and in patients presenting with biochemical recurrence after radical prostatectomy (RP). Moreover, the use of stereotactic body radiotherapy as a metastasis directed therapy in patients with oligometastatic PCa has significantly increased in the recent years. Conventional imaging techniques, including transrectal ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), morphologic magnetic resonance and bone scintigraphy have traditionally played a minor role in all those clinical scenarios due to its low diagnostic accuracy. The recent development of the positron emission tomography (PET) radiotracer 68Ga-PSMA binding to the prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA), a transmembrane glycoprotein overexpressed in PCa cells, has shown promising results. Detection rates for PCa lesions are higher than CT and higher than the best technique available, the PET/CT with choline. Its superiority has been demonstrated even at very low PSA levels (<1 ng/ml). This increase in diagnostic accuracy represents a potential impact on patient management, especially in radiotherapy. Even if this imaging technique is already available for routine clinical practice in some European countries, in Spain, unfortunately, there is very limited access. In this review, we analyze the main studies that investigate the usefulness of 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT in patients with PCa and its potential impact on radiotherapy treatments. In addition, we compared the 68Ga-PSMA PET/CT, with the multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging and the PET/CT with choline, in the different clinical scenarios.

Comparative study of the neurotrophic effects elicited by VEGF-B and GDNF in preclinical in vivo models of Parkinson's disease.

Vascular endothelial growth factor B (VEGF-B) has recently been shown to be a promising novel neuroprotective agent for several neurodegenerative conditions. In the current study we extended previous work on neuroprotective potential for Parkinson's disease (PD) by testing an expanded dose range of VEGF-B (1 and 10 µg) and directly comparing both neuroprotective and neurorestorative effects of VEGF-B in progressive unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) PD models to a single dose of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF, 10 µg), that has been established by several groups as a standard in both preclinical PD models. In the amphetamine-induced rotational tests the treatment with 1 and 10 µg VEGF-B resulted in significantly improved motor function of 6-OHDA-lesioned rats compared to vehicle-treated 6-OHDA-lesioned rats in the neuroprotection paradigm. Both doses of VEGF-B caused an increase in tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-positive cell and fiber count in the substantia nigra (SN) and striatum in the neuroprotective experiment. The effect size was comparable to the effects seen with GDNF. In the neurorestoration paradigm, VEGF-B injection had no significant effect in either the behavioral or the immunohistochemical analyses, whereas GDNF injection significantly improved the amphetamine-induced rotational behavior and reduced TH-positive neuronal cell loss in the SN. We also present a strong positive correlation (p=1.9e-50) of the expression of VEGF-B with nuclear-encoded mitochondrial genes involved in fatty acid metabolism in rat midbrain, pointing to the mitochondria as a site of action of VEGF-B. GDNF showed a positive correlation with nuclear-encoded mitochondrial genes that was not nearly as strong (p=0.018). VEGF-B counteracted rotenone-induced reduction of (a) fatty acid transport protein 1 and 4 levels and (b) both Akt protein and phosphorylation levels in SH-SY5Y cells. We further verified VEGF-B expression in the human SN pars compacta of healthy controls and PD patients, in neuronal cells that show co-expression with neuromelanin. These results have demonstrated that VEGF-B has potential as a neuroprotective agent for PD therapy and should be further investigated.

An insight into the role of autophagy in cell responses in the aging and neurodegenerative brain.

Oxidative stress, inflammation and the aggregation of oxidized, misfolded or aberrant proteins in the brain induces deregulations in programmed cell death: apoptosis and autophagy. Apoptosis is one of processes implicated in aging and neurodegenerative pathologies, and for the last decade, has been one of the most studied processes due to its essential role, not only in aging, but also in many neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson's, Alzheimer's and Huntington's. However, autophagy being the major intracellular pathway for the degradation and recycling of long-live proteins and organelles is widely involved in the pathogenesis or prevention of many age-related diseases, including neurodegenerative conditions. Recently, autophagy activation has been considered as part of the cellular responses to elevated oxidative stress, eliminating unwanted, damaged and oxidative structures; thus favouring, in this way, the key anti-aging mechanism associated with the caloric restriction. Longevity factors, such as sirtuins, and redox-sensitive transcriptional factors, such as NF-κB and p53, can also regulate basal autophagy in cells, with a direct impact on longevity and the development of inflammation and neurodegeneration. Here, we reviewed the critical changes of autophagy in the aging and neuro-degenerative brain and the role of key regulators of autophagy, which are directly related to oxidative stress, inflammation and longevity pathways.

Pyrolysis of plastic packaging waste: A comparison of plastic residuals from material recovery facilities with simulated plastic waste.

Pyrolysis may be an alternative for the reclamation of rejected streams of waste from sorting plants where packing and packaging plastic waste is separated and classified. These rejected streams consist of many different materials (e.g., polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), aluminum, tetra-brik, and film) for which an attempt at complete separation is not technically possible or economically viable, and they are typically sent to landfills or incinerators. For this study, a simulated plastic mixture and a real waste sample from a sorting plant were pyrolyzed using a non-stirred semi-batch reactor. Red mud, a byproduct of the aluminum industry, was used as a catalyst. Despite the fact that the samples had a similar volume of material, there were noteworthy differences in the pyrolysis yields. The real waste sample resulted, after pyrolysis, in higher gas and solid yields and consequently produced less liquid. There were also significant differences noted in the compositions of the compared pyrolysis products.

Mandibular solitary plasmocytoma of the jaw: a case report.

Plasma cell tumors are lymphoid neoplasms with an uncontrolled proliferation of B cells. These are divided into localized forms (solitary bone plasmocytoma -SBP- and extramedullary plasmocytoma -EP-) and disseminated forms (multiple myeloma-MM-). The SBP is a rare and controversial disease. The aim of this article is the analysis of this entity based on the presentation of a 64-year-old man without previous medical history, with a mass in the left mandibular angle extending to the parotid region on the same side. The panoramic radiography, computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging showed an osteolytic lesion 6.5 x 5 x 6.7 cm in the mandibular angle with infiltration of the masticator space and left parotid region. The normality of the extension study, and histopathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of SBP. The patient received treatment with radiotherapy with good outcome.

Readmisiones hospitalarias en recién nacidos egresados de una sala de alojamiento conjunto / Hospitalary readmission of newborns released from common mother and son internment

Introducción: la readmisión neonatal es un tema muy importante con morbilidad significativa y costosa responsabilidad, constituye un especial desafío para el pediatra, debido a la inespecificidad y labilidad con que el recién nacido reacciona ante diferentes noxas y la variedad de patologías que pueden presentarse de manera similar. Objetivo: conocer las causas de reingreso, las características perinatales y la morbimortalidad de una población de recién nacidos readmitidos en el primer mes de vida y analizar las estrategias posibles que resulten en la mejor atención de la madre y el RN en la sala de alojamiento conjunto. Material y métodos: estudio prospectivo, analítico, observacional, incluyeron todos los recién nacidosegresados del servicio de alojamiento conjunto y readmitidos en el Departamento de Neonatología del Centro Materno Infantil (San Lorenzo), en los primeros 28 días de vida, en el periodo comprendido desde enero de 2004 a junio de 2005. Resultados: total de RN readmitidos 51. Promedio de edad materna 24 años (16-41), 76 por ciento de las madres presentaron CPN suficiente, en el grupo de pacientesreadmitidos el 40 por ciento tuvieron CPN insuficientes y 30 por ciento en el límite (4). El 57% (29/51) nuligesta, 20 por ciento primigesta, nacieron por cesárea el 52 por ciento de los recién nacidos. Peso de nacimiento promedio 3189 g. DS + 593, edad gestacional promedio 38 semanas DS ± 2, 41 por ciento fueron recién nacidos casi de término y limítrofe (35-37 sem.). 63 por ciento masculinos, el 100 por ciento presentaron Apgar de 8/9. Edad media al alta 3 días ± 1, el 100 por cientocon lactancia materna exclusiva, días de vida alreingreso 9,3 ± 4.

[Adult oligosymptomatic coeliac disease]. / Enfermedad celíaca oligosintomática del adulto.

Coeliac disease is a chronic pathology of the small intestine. The pathogenic mechanism is caused by gluten intolerance. This disease present a characteristic and unspecific injury that causes nutrients and vitamins malabsorption. In adults is an underdiagnosed entity due to atypical forms. To make a premature diagnosis is basic because gluten-free diet prevent the complications after long-term like the intestinal T lymphoma and other digestives malignancies, and decrease the mortality of these patients. We present a case of adult oligosymptomatic coeliac disease in a patient with iron deficiency anaemia and vaginal bleeding. We study the clinic-nutrition and the alterations evolution of the patient.

Fortification, supplementation, and nutrient balance.

Efforts to combat nutrient deficiencies have centered on supplemental nutrient administration and addition of selected nutrients to the food chain in the form of food fortification. Over the past several decades, and as the association between diet and chronic diseases became apparent, supplementation and fortification were also targeted at healthy individuals, with the aim of reducing their risk of future diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and cancer. While supplementation strategies are playing a major role in reducing micronutrient deficiencies around the world, there is less compelling evidence for their role in reducing risk of chronic diseases in healthy individuals, perhaps with the exception of folic acid and reduction of neural tube defects. Nevertheless, with our increasing understanding of the genetic heterogeneity of human nutrient requirements, it is likely that certain groups or populations may clearly benefit from higher intakes of certain nutrients. In addition to supplementation or fortification with specific nutrients, the consumption of certain dietary patterns (such as the Mediterranean diet) is associated with a reduced risk of chronic diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases.

High bone mass as a marker for breast cancer risk.

Postmenopausal women in the highest quartile for metacarpal bone mass were found to have an increased risk of developing breast cancer, after adjusting for age and other variables known to influence breast cancer risk. Although the mechanisms responsible for this relationship have not been identified, postmenopausal bone mass may serve as an indicator of cumulative estrogen exposure.

Environmental factors affecting nutritional status in urban areas of developing countries.

The demographic and economic transition that many developing countries are undergoing is producing important changes in diet and lifestyle that greatly impact on disease risks. Among the risk behaviors associated with socioeconomic transition and urbanization are excessive dietary fat intake, sedentary lifestyle, smoking, and environmental contamination. Combined with a reduced infant mortality and increased life expectancy, those risk factors lead to an increasing prevalence of chronic disease like non-insulin dependent diabetes and coronary heart disease. This disease. This disease profile is a relatively new phenomenon in developing countries, where health programs have traditionally focused on "acute" interventions such as immunization or oral rehydration. A new approach will be needed to address chronic diseases, which frequently demand a life-long and technically complex medical management, and may have significant impact on the quality of life and productivity of the population. Efforts to address this situation should focus on a) expanding the information base on diet, nutritional status and lifestyle changes in populations migrating to urban areas; b) developing and evaluating approaches for improving diet quality in urban populations, including fortification and community-based supplementation programs; c) understanding better the social and behavioral determinants of nutritional status in the urban poor; and d) defining the role of the food industry and of agricultural production for improving the quality of the food supply in urban areas.

Epidemic optic and peripheral neuropathy in Cuba: a unique geopolitical public health problem.

During 1992 and 1993 an epidemic of optic and peripheral neuropathy affected over 50,000 Cubans. This occurred in the unique setting of a communist country which had a widespread health care network and wherein sudden changes in the economy affected most of the population. Although nutritional factors appeared to play a key role in the pathogenesis of the epidemic neuropathy, viral, toxic, and genetic factors were investigated by Cuban and North American scientists. The authors, representing different disciplines and different groups that visited Cuba during the epidemic, review and reflect on the clinical and laboratory findings which became available through their own experience and through reviewing the literature. The recent Cuban epidemic is compared to similar outbreaks of optic and peripheral neuropathy which have occurred in the past.

Cuban epidemic neuropathy, 1991 to 1994: history repeats itself a century after the "amblyopia of the blockade".

The 1991 to 1994 epidemic of neuropathy in Cuba has been one of the more devastating in recent history, affecting more than 50,000 people throughout the entire country with clinical manifestations of optic and peripheral neuropathy. Although the causes are not entirely clear, it seems that a combination of acute nutritional deficiency and the toxic effects of tobacco and possibly other unidentified toxic substances is involved. The epidemic coincided with the acute worsening of the economic situation on the island following political changes in Eastern European countries and a tightening of the US economic embargo. This paper reviews reports of a strikingly similar epidemic known as the "Amblyopia of the Blockade," which occurred in Cuba almost a century ago when the island was undergoing a US naval blockade during the Cuban-Spanish-American war. It discusses the parallelism with the recent epidemic as well as the implications of this historical evidence to clarify further the ultimate causes of these epidemics.

Estudio clínico y epidemiológico de un brote de beriberi húmedo en Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, 1992-1993 / Clinical and epidemiologic study of an outbreak of wet beriberi in Cartagena the Indias, Colombia, 1992-1993

La presente investigación ha tenido como objetivo primordial aclarar la etiología de un cuadro clínico caracterizado por edema de las piernas, disestesias con déficit motor en miembros inferiores que, en dos casos, incluyó una cardiopatía que llevó a insuficiencia cardiaca irreversible. Este brote ocurrió entre julio de 1991 y junio de 1993; afectó selectivamente infantes de marina de la Escuela Naval Almirante Padilla en Cartagena de Indias. La metodología se centró en un estudio de casos y controles en el cual se sometió a cada grupo a un cuidadoso interrogatorio, examen clínico, medición por el laboratorio de metales pesados en sangre y orina de 24 horas y estudio de niveles de tiamina en muestras de suero,; se analizaron cuatro biopsias de nervio sural y en el estudio postmorten de los fallecidos se puso especial atención a las alteraciones de miocardio. En muestras ambientales y biológicas, se analizó mercurio, plomo, arsénico y talio. Los resultados totalizan un grupo de 22 infantes de marina con un cuadro muy uniforme sobre todo por las manifestaciones de una neuropatía periférica nutricional, lo cual sumado a la cardiopatía fatal en dos pacientes, cuyo estudio tanto en microscopia de luz como electrónica demostró cambios en todo compatibles con lo observado en beriberi, permiten que se considere que el problema de fondo reune las características del beriberi humedo. Después de concluir que el problema tenía como fondo un origen nutricional basado, en primer lugar, en una falla de tiamina, se hicieron las recomendaciones y ajustes dietéticos indicados para estos casos con una respuesta inmediata y enteramente satisfactoria