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Peroxiredoxin 6 (PRDX6) is an atypical member of the peroxiredoxin family that presents not only peroxidase but also phospholipase A2 and lysophosphatidylcholine acyl transferase activities able to act on lipid hydroperoxides of cell membranes. It has been associated with the proliferation and invasive capacity of different tumoral cells including colorectal cancer cells, although the effect of its removal in these cells has not been yet studied. Here, using CRISPR/Cas9 technology, we constructed an HCT116 colorectal cancer cell line knockout for PRDX6 to study whether the mechanisms described for other cancer cells in terms of proliferation, migration, and invasiveness also apply in this tumoral cell line. HCT116 cells lacking PRDX6 showed increased ROS and lipid peroxidation, a decrease in the antioxidant response regulator NRF2, mitochondrial dysfunction, and increased sensitivity to ferroptosis. All these alterations lead to a decrease in proliferation, migration, and invasiveness in these cells. Furthermore, the reduced migratory and invasive capacity of HCT116 cancer cells is consistent with the observed cadherin switch and decrease in pro-invasive proteins such as MMPs. Therefore, the mechanism behind the effects of loss of PRDX6 in HCT116 cells could differ from that in HepG2 cells which is coherent with the fact that the correlation of PRDX6 expression with patient survival is different in hepatocellular carcinomas. Nonetheless, our results point to this protein as a good therapeutic target also for colorectal cancer.
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Plastic debris in the ocean releases chemical compounds that can be toxic to marine fauna. It was recently found that some marine bacteria can degrade such leachates, but information on the diversity of these bacteria is mostly lacking. In this study, we analysed the bacterial diversity growing on leachates from new low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and a mix of naturally weathered plastic, collected from beach sand. We used a combination of Catalysed Reporter Deposition-Fluorescence In Situ Hybridization (CARD-FISH), BioOrthogonal Non-Canonical Amino acid Tagging (BONCAT), and 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing to analyse bacterioplankton-groups specific activity responses and the identity of the responsive taxa to plastic leachates produced under irradiated and non-irradiated conditions. We found that some generalist taxa responded to all leachates, most of them belonging to the Alteromonadales, Oceanospirillales, Nitrosococcales, Rhodobacterales, and Sphingomonadales orders. However, there were also non-generalist taxa responding to specific irradiated and non-irradiated leachates. Our results provide information about bacterial taxa that could be potentially used to degrade the chemicals released during plastic degradation into seawater contributing to its bioremediation.
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Bacterias , Biodegradación Ambiental , Plásticos , ARN Ribosómico 16S , Agua de Mar , Bacterias/clasificación , Bacterias/metabolismo , Bacterias/genética , Bacterias/aislamiento & purificación , Plásticos/metabolismo , Plásticos/química , ARN Ribosómico 16S/genética , Agua de Mar/microbiología , Filogenia , Biodiversidad , Contaminantes Químicos del Agua/metabolismo , Hibridación Fluorescente in SituRESUMEN
To the best of the authors' knowledge, no study has previously investigated whether the concentration of minerals is related to reproductive outcomes in primiparous cows. For this reason, two objectives were set in the present study: (i) to assess serum mineral levels, macrominerals, and trace elements during the transition period (period of high nutritional requirements) in primiparous cows, considering reproductive efficiency, and (ii) to address if the serum mineral levels of primiparous cows are related to reproductive efficiency. Blood samples were taken (i) one month before calving, (ii) one week before calving, (iii) one week postpartum, and (iv) one month postpartum. At the beginning and the end of the study, a body condition score (BCS) was assigned to each lactating cow with no clinical signs of disease. The difference between one month before and one month after calving was the body condition loss (ΔBCS). Optimal prepartum concentrations of K and Cl were associated with fewer days open and a shorter interval calving. Furthermore, macrominerals in the serum decreased immediately after calving (one week) but recovered at one month postpartum. In contrast, the highest concentration of trace elements was found at one week postpartum. Primiparous cows with higher postpartum Se, Mn, Co, and Mo concentrations exhibited better reproductive efficiency, and the concentrations of trace elements in serum were correlated with interval calving and the number of inseminations. Finally, primiparous cows with a greater ΔBCS (at least one point) in period 4 exhibited both a longer calving interval and a greater number of days open. In summary, this study showed, for the first time in primiparous cows, that the concentration of some serum minerals not only plays a crucial role during the transition period but is also related to crucial reproductive parameters, such as interval calving and days open.
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Lactancia , Minerales , Paridad , Periodo Periparto , Reproducción , Animales , Femenino , Bovinos/fisiología , Bovinos/sangre , Periodo Periparto/sangre , Embarazo , Minerales/sangre , Reproducción/fisiología , Lactancia/fisiología , Oligoelementos/sangre , Periodo Posparto/sangreRESUMEN
Ferroptosis is an iron-dependent, non-apoptotic form of cell death resulting from the accumulation of lipid peroxides. Colorectal cancer (CRC) accumulates high levels of intracellular iron and reactive oxygen species (ROS), thereby sensitizing cells to ferroptosis. The selenoprotein glutathione peroxidase (GPx4) is a key enzyme in the detoxification of lipid peroxides and can be inhibited by the compound (S)-RSL3 ([1S,3R]-RSL3). However, the stereoisomer (R)-RSL3 ([1R,3R]-RSL3), which does not inhibit GPx4, exhibits equipotent activity to (S)-RSL3 across a panel of CRC cell lines. Utilizing CRC cell lines with an inducible knockdown of GPx4, we demonstrate that (S)-RSL3 sensitivity does not align with GPx4 dependency. Subsequently, a biotinylated (S)-RSL3 was then synthesized to perform affinity purification-mass spectrometry (AP-MS), revealing that (S)-RSL3 acts as a pan-inhibitor of the selenoproteome, targeting both the glutathione and thioredoxin peroxidase systems as well as multiple additional selenoproteins. To investigate the therapeutic potential of broadly disrupting the selenoproteome as a therapeutic strategy in CRC, we employed further chemical and genetic approaches to disrupt selenoprotein function. The findings demonstrate that the selenoprotein inhibitor Auranofin can induce ferroptosis and/or oxidative cell death both in-vitro and in-vivo. Consistent with this data we observe that AlkBH8, a tRNA-selenocysteine methyltransferase required for the translational incorporation of selenocysteine, is essential for CRC growth. In summary, our research elucidates the complex mechanisms underlying ferroptosis in CRC and reveals that modulation of the selenoproteome provides multiple new therapeutic targets and opportunities in CRC.
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The osmotrophic uptake of dissolved organic compounds in the ocean is considered to be dominated by heterotrophic prokaryotes, whereas the role of planktonic eukaryotes is still unclear. We explored the capacity of natural eukaryotic plankton communities to incorporate the synthetic amino acid L-homopropargylglycine (HPG, analogue of methionine) using biorthogonal noncanonical amino acid tagging (BONCAT), and we compared it with prokaryotic HPG use throughout a 9-day survey in the NW Mediterranean. BONCAT allows to fluorescently identify translationally active cells, but it has never been applied to natural eukaryotic communities. We found a large diversity of photosynthetic and heterotrophic eukaryotes incorporating HPG into proteins, with dinoflagellates and diatoms showing the highest percentages of BONCAT-labelled cells (49 ± 25% and 52 ± 15%, respectively). Among them, pennate diatoms exhibited higher HPG incorporation in the afternoon than in the morning, whereas small (≤5 µm) photosynthetic eukaryotes and heterotrophic nanoeukaryotes showed the opposite pattern. Centric diatoms (e.g. Chaetoceros, Thalassiosira, and Lauderia spp.) dominated the eukaryotic HPG incorporation due to their high abundances and large sizes, accounting for up to 86% of the eukaryotic BONCAT signal and strongly correlating with bulk 3H-leucine uptake rates. When including prokaryotes, eukaryotes were estimated to account for 19-31% of the bulk BONCAT signal. Our results evidence a large complexity in the osmotrophic uptake of HPG, which varies over time within and across eukaryotic groups and highlights the potential of BONCAT to quantify osmotrophy and protein synthesis in complex eukaryotic communities.
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Neutrophils are abundant immune cells in the colon tumor microenvironment. Studies have shown that neutrophils are recruited into hypoxic foci in colon cancer. However, the impact of hypoxia signaling on neutrophil function and its involvement in colon tumorigenesis remain unclear. To address this, we generated mice with a deletion of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α or HIF-2α in neutrophils driven by the MRP8Cre (HIF-1αΔNeu) or (HIF-2αΔNeu) and littermate controls. In an azoxymethane (AOM)/dextran sulfate sodium (DSS) model of colon cancer, the disruption of neutrophils-HIF-1α did not result in any significant changes in body weight, colon length, tumor size, proliferation, or burden. However, the disruption of HIF-2α in neutrophils led to a slight increase in body weight, a significant decrease in the number of tumors, and a reduction in tumor size and volume compared with their littermate controls. Histological analysis of colon tissue from mice with HIF-2α-deficient neutrophils revealed notable reductions in proliferation as compared with control mice. In addition, we observed reduced levels of proinflammatory cytokines, such as TNF-α and IL-1ß, in neutrophil-specific HIF-2α-deficient mice in both the tumor tissue as well as the neutrophils. Importantly, it is worth noting that the reduced tumorigenesis associated with HIF-2α deficiency in neutrophils was not evident in already established syngeneic tumors or a DSS-induced inflammation model, indicating a potential role of HIF-2α specifically in colon tumorigenesis. In conclusion, we found that the loss of neutrophil-specific HIF-2α slows colon tumor growth and progression by reducing the levels of inflammatory mediators.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Despite the importance of hypoxia and neutrophils in colorectal cancer (CRC), the contribution of neutrophil-specific HIFs to colon tumorigenesis is not known. We describe that neutrophil HIF-1α has no impact on colon cancer, whereas neutrophil HIF-2α loss reduces CRC growth by decreasing proinflammatory and immunosuppressive cytokines. Furthermore, neutrophil HIF-2α does not reduce preestablished tumor growth or inflammation-induced colitis. The present study offers novel potential of neutrophil HIF-2α as a therapeutic target in CRC.
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Neoplasias Asociadas a Colitis , Neoplasias del Colon , Animales , Ratones , Factores de Transcripción con Motivo Hélice-Asa-Hélice Básico/genética , Peso Corporal , Carcinogénesis/patología , Transformación Celular Neoplásica/patología , Neoplasias Asociadas a Colitis/genética , Neoplasias del Colon/genética , Neoplasias del Colon/patología , Citocinas , Hipoxia , Subunidad alfa del Factor 1 Inducible por Hipoxia/genética , Inflamación , Neutrófilos , Microambiente TumoralRESUMEN
ABSTRACT The increased demand for white teeth has intensified the commercialization of new bleaching products, particularly those that can be accessed easily, do not require the direct supervision of a dentist, and are affordable. Among these new products, several dentifrices publicized as bleaching products have been developed, most recent of them being the activated charcoal toothpaste, which entered the market promising to whiten teeth. While it is portrayed as a healthy and ecological product, there is a paucity of scientific evidence supporting its alleged benefits. Therefore, this literature review aimed to evaluate activated charcoal containing oral hygiene products on their bleaching ability and effects on enamel. After analyzing several in vitro studies on the subject, it can be concluded that these products do not have a bleaching effect per se, but act by removing the extrinsic pigments from the teeth. However, most of the products containing activated charcoal could have abrasive effects on the surface of the enamel. Therefore, it is suggested caution about the indication of these dentifrices, especially for individuals predisposed to dental wear, such as gingival recession, reduced salivary flow, and high risk of caries or dental erosion.
RESUMO A maior procura por dentes brancos tem impulsionado a comercialização de novos produtos clareadores, especialmente aqueles que possam ser de fácil acesso, que não precisem supervisão direta do dentista, e que tenham um custo acessível para o consumidor. Entre esses novos produtos diversos dentifrícios, denominados como branqueadores, têm sido comercializados. Destes o mais recente é o dentifrício a base de carvão ativado, que entrou no mercado prometendo clarear os dentes, enquanto que se apresenta como um produto saudável e ecológico, porém sem grande respaldo científico. Portanto, esta revisão da literatura teve o objetivo de avaliar a capacidade branqueadora e os efeitos no esmalte após o uso de produtos de higiene oral contendo carvão ativado. Após avaliar diversos artigos in vitro sobre o tema, pode-se concluir que estes produtos não tem um efeito clareador propriamente dito e sim agem como removedores de pigmentos extrínsecos. Porém, grande parte dos produtos contendo carvão ativado poderiam apresentar um efeito abrasivo sobre a superfície do esmalte, pelo que se sugere cautela sobre a indicação destes dentifrícios, especialmente para os pacientes sujeitos a maiores riscos de desgaste dental, como recessão gengival, fluxo salivar reduzido, alto risco de cárie ou erosão dentária.
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Plastic production continues to increase every year, yet it is widely acknowledged that a significant portion of this material ends up in ecosystems as microplastics (MPs). Among all the environmental compartments affected by MPs, the atmosphere remains the least well-known. Here, we conducted a one-year simultaneous monitoring of atmospheric MPs deposition in ten urban areas, each with different population sizes, economic activities, and climates. The objective was to assess the role of the atmosphere in the fate of MPs by conducting a nationwide quantification of atmospheric MP deposition. To achieve this, we deployed collectors in ten different urban areas across continental Spain and the Canary Islands. We implemented a systematic sampling methodology with rigorous quality control/quality assurance, along with particle-oriented identification and quantification of anthropogenic particle deposition, which included MPs and industrially processed natural fibres. Among the sampled MPs, polyester fibres were the most abundant, followed by acrylic polymers, polypropylene, and alkyd resins. Their equivalent sizes ranged from 22 µm to 398 µm, with a median value of 71 µm. The particle size distribution of MPs showed fewer large particles than expected from a three-dimensional fractal fragmentation pattern, which was attributed to the higher mobility of small particles, especially fibres. The atmospheric deposition rate of MPs ranged from 5.6 to 78.6 MPs m-2 day-1, with the higher values observed in densely populated areas such as Barcelona and Madrid. Additionally, we detected natural polymers, mostly cellulosic fibres with evidence of industrial processing, with a deposition rate ranging from 6.4 to 58.6 particles m-2 day-1. There was a positive correlation was found between the population of the study area and the median of atmospheric MP deposition, supporting the hypothesis that urban areas act as sources of atmospheric MPs. Our study presents a systematic methodology for monitoring atmospheric MP deposition.
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Anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) with leukaemic presentation (either ab initio or along the course of the disease) has been rarely reported. Irrespective of ALK expression in the neoplastic cells, it features a dismal prognosis. We report a rare case of leukaemic, small cell variant ALK-positive ALCL with 9-year survival in a young woman who was treated upfront with corticosteroids and standard chemotherapy, and review thoroughly the previously published cases. Such an unexpected, good outcome hints at the existence of different clinical subgroups in the leukaemic variant of ALK-positive ALCL.
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Linfoma Anaplásico de Células Grandes , Femenino , Humanos , Linfoma Anaplásico de Células Grandes/diagnóstico , Linfoma Anaplásico de Células Grandes/tratamiento farmacológico , Linfoma Anaplásico de Células Grandes/metabolismo , Quinasa de Linfoma Anaplásico , Proteínas Tirosina Quinasas Receptoras/uso terapéutico , PronósticoRESUMEN
Melanoma is a cancer that frequently metastasises to the small bowel, but most cases are asymptomatic and are diagnosed postmortem. Therefore, CT and PET CT cannot detect all lesions and conventional endoscopic study only detects 10-20% of lesions. In this study, we present the case of a 68-year-old patient with a history of cutaneous melanoma and a diagnosis of intestinal melanoma. Thanks to capsule endoscopy, two lesions compatible with cutaneous melanoma metastasis to the small bowel were detected, allowing a much more effective surgical planning. Capsule endoscopy is an innovative technique that improves preoperative diagnosis, as it is able to detect bowel segments that cannot be inspected by conventional endoscopy. It also has a better resolution than conventional CT, improving sensitivity in the detection of lesions.
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Endoscopía Capsular , Neoplasias Intestinales , Melanoma , Neoplasias Cutáneas , Humanos , Anciano , Melanoma/diagnóstico por imagen , Melanoma/patología , Endoscopía Capsular/métodos , Neoplasias Cutáneas/patología , Endoscopía Gastrointestinal , Intestino Delgado/patología , Neoplasias Intestinales/diagnóstico por imagen , Neoplasias Intestinales/cirugía , Hemorragia Gastrointestinal/patologíaRESUMEN
Systemic lupus erythematosus is a chronic autoimmune disease characterized by loss of tolerance against nuclear and cytoplasmic self-antigens, induction of immunity and tissue inflammation. Lupus nephritis (LN), the most important predictor of morbidity in SLE, develops in almost 30% of SLE patients at disease onset and in up to 50-60% within the first 10 years. Firstly, in this review, we put the pathogenic mechanisms of the disease into a conceptual frame, giving emphasis to the role of the innate immune system in this loss of self-tolerance and the induction of the adaptive immune response. In this aspect, many mechanisms have been described such as dysregulation and acceleration of cell-death pathways, an aberrant clearance and overload of immunogenic acid-nucleic-containing debris and IC, and the involvement of antigen-presenting cells and other innate immune cells in the induction of this adaptive immune response. This result in a clonal expansion of autoreactive lymphocytes with generation of effector T-cells, memory B-cells and plasma cells that produce autoantibodies that will cause kidney damage. Secondly, we review the immunological pathways of damage in the kidney parenchyma, initiated by autoantibody binding and immune complex deposition, and followed by complement-mediated microvascular injury, activation of kidney stromal cells and the recruitment of leukocytes. Finally, we summarize the rationale for the treatment of LN, from conventional to new targeted therapies, focusing on their systemic immunologic effects and the minimization of podocytary damage.
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The purpose of this study was to investigate the occurrence of microplastics (MPs) in drinking water in Spain by comparing tap water from different locations using common sampling and identification procedures. We sampled tap water from 24 points in 8 different locations from continental Spain and the Canary Islands by means of 25 µm opening size steel filters coupled to household connections. All particles were measured and spectroscopically characterized including not only MPs but also particles consisting of natural materials with evidence of industrial processing, such as dyed natural fibres, referred insofar as artificial particles (APs). The average concentration of MPs was 12.5 ± 4.9 MPs/m3 and that of anthropogenic particles 32.2 ± 12.5 APs/m3. The main synthetic polymers detected were polyamide, polyester, and polypropylene, with lower counts of other polymers including the biopolymer poly(lactic acid). Particle size and mass distributions were parameterized by means of power law distributions, which allowed performing estimations of the concentration of smaller particles provided the same scaling parameter of the power law applies. The calculated total mass concentration of the identified MPs was 45.5 ng/L. The observed size distribution of MPs allowed an estimation for the concentration of nanoplastics (< 1 µm) well below the ng/L range; higher concentrations are not consistent with scale invariant fractal fragmentation. Our findings showed that MPs in the drinking water sampled in this work do not represent a significant way of exposure to MPs and would probably pose a negligible risk for human health.
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Agua Potable , Contaminantes Químicos del Agua , Humanos , Microplásticos , Plásticos , Agua Potable/análisis , España , Ciudades , Contaminantes Químicos del Agua/análisis , Monitoreo del Ambiente , PolímerosRESUMEN
Mitophagy is a cargo-specific autophagic process that recycles damaged mitochondria to promote mitochondrial turnover. PTEN-induced putative kinase 1 (PINK1) mediates the canonical mitophagic pathway. However, the role of PINK1 in diseases where mitophagy has been purported to play a role, such as colorectal cancer, is unclear. Our results here demonstrate that higher PINK1 expression is positively correlated with decreased colon cancer survival, and mitophagy is required for colon cancer growth. We show that doxycycline-inducible knockdown (KD) of PINK1 in a panel of colon cancer cell lines inhibited proliferation, whereas disruption of other mitophagy receptors did not impact cell growth. We observed that PINK KD led to a decrease in mitochondrial respiration, membrane hyperpolarization, accumulation of mitochondrial DNA, and depletion of antioxidant glutathione. In addition, mitochondria are important hubs for the utilization of iron and synthesizing iron-dependent cofactors such as heme and iron sulfur clusters. We observed an increase in the iron storage protein ferritin and a decreased labile iron pool in the PINK1 KD cells, but total cellular iron or markers of iron starvation/overload were not affected. Finally, cellular iron storage and the labile iron pool are maintained via autophagic degradation of ferritin (ferritinophagy). We found overexpressing nuclear receptor coactivator 4, a key adaptor for ferritinophagy, rescued cell growth and the labile iron pool in PINK1 KD cells. These results indicate that PINK1 integrates mitophagy and ferritinophagy to regulate intracellular iron availability and is essential for maintaining intracellular iron homeostasis to support survival and growth in colorectal cancer cells.
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Neoplasias del Colon , Neoplasias Colorrectales , Mitofagia , Proteínas Quinasas , Humanos , Neoplasias del Colon/genética , Neoplasias del Colon/patología , Neoplasias Colorrectales/genética , Neoplasias Colorrectales/patología , Ferritinas , Hierro/metabolismo , Proteínas Quinasas/genética , Proteínas Quinasas/metabolismo , Ubiquitina-Proteína Ligasas/metabolismoRESUMEN
Enteric methane (CH4) is one of the main greenhouse gases emitted in livestock production systems with ruminants. Among the options to reduce such emissions, animal genetics is one of the factors that is taking relevance in recent years. The aim of the present study was to assess the emission of enteric CH4 in dairy cows with different genetic backgrounds. Sixteen cows belonging to the following three genetic groups were selected for this study: seven F1 (50% Jersey × 50% Gyr), five Triple cross (50% Jersey × 31% Holstein × 19% Sahiwal) and four Jersey. Enteric CH4 emissions were measured in all cows for 15 months, at the middle of each month, using the SF6 technique. Enteric CH4 emissions did not differ (p > 0.05) among genetic groups, although it varied with the stage of lactation, due to differences in milk yield and dry matter intake (DMI). Pasture DMI and the intensity of CH4 emissions (g kg-1 DMI) differed (p < 0.05) between dry and lactating cows, with higher DMI in the lactation period, while CH4 emission intensity was higher for dry cows. Cows with the highest proportion of Bos taurus genes presented a higher annual mean methane conversion factor (Ym), with 7.22, 7.05 and 5.90% for the Triple cross, purebred Jersey and F1, respectively. In conclusion, non-significant differences in enteric CH4 emissions and Ym were detected among dairy cows with different genetic backgrounds. However, F1 cows tended to show lower enteric CH4 emission and Ym, compared to those with more Bos taurus genes.
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Enzyme adenosine deaminase (ADA) is a marker of inflammation in domestic animals, but it is unclear whether it is a reliable marker of oxidative stress, especially in the transition period in dairy cows. This study aims to assess if ADA and redox status measurements in saliva provide the same utility to detect disease condition as that obtained from serum. Sixty-eight multiparous Holstein cows, between 2 and 3 weeks postpartum were selected. Five study groups were established: control (healthy), and cows with ketosis, mastitis, laminitis, and metritis. The parameters measured were ADA activity, total oxidants (TOS), antioxidants (TAC), and OSi ratio.Regarding redox status, no significant differences arise in both saliva and serum being the correlations negative and not significant. In saliva, ADA activity in healthy cows differs from those with pathological processes, having the lowest activities. In serum, ADA activity is similar in the healthy and ketosis cows, showing the lowest activities meanwhile animals with mastitis, laminitis, or metritis have significantly higher activities. In conclusion, the measurement of ADA activities and redox status in saliva does not give consistent results, being preferable to measure them in serum during the transition period.
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Adenosina Desaminasa , Enfermedades de los Bovinos , Cetosis , Mastitis , Saliva , Animales , Bovinos , Femenino , Adenosina Desaminasa/análisis , Adenosina Desaminasa/sangre , Enfermedades de los Bovinos/diagnóstico , Cetosis/veterinaria , Lactancia , Mastitis/veterinaria , Leche , Oxidación-Reducción , Periodo Posparto , Saliva/enzimologíaRESUMEN
BACKGROUND: Hand hygiene is key to preventing health care-associated infections. Human observation is the gold standard for measuring compliance, but its utility is increasingly being questioned with calls for the use of video monitoring approaches. The utility of video-based systems to measure compliance according to the WHO 5 moments is largely unexamined, as is its acceptability amongst health care workers (HCW) and patients. This study examined HCW acceptability of video monitoring for hand hygiene auditing. METHODS: Following trial of a video monitoring system (reported elsewhere), 5 participating HCW attended 2 in-depth group interviews where they reviewed the footage and explored responses to the approach. Transcripts were analyzed using thematic analysis. RESULTS: Four themes were identified: 1) Fears; 2) Concerns for patients; 3) Changes to feedback; and 4) Behavioral responses to the cameras. HCWs expressed fears of punitive consequences, data security, and confidentiality. For patients, HCWs raised issues regarding invasion of privacy, ethics, and consent. HCWs suggested that video systems may result in less immediate feedback but also identified potential to use the footage for feedback. They also suggested that the Hawthorne Effect was less potent with video systems than human observation. CONCLUSIONS: The acceptability of video monitoring systems for hand hygiene compliance is complex and has the potential to complicate practical implementation. Additionally, exploration of the acceptability to patients is warranted. CHECKLIST: COREQ.
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Infección Hospitalaria , Higiene de las Manos , Humanos , Adhesión a Directriz , Personal de Salud , Infección Hospitalaria/prevención & control , Investigación Cualitativa , Control de Infecciones , Desinfección de las ManosRESUMEN
Ocean acidification and plastic pollution are considered as potential planetary boundary threats for which crossing certain thresholds could be very harmful for the world's societies and ecosystems well-being. Surface oceans have acidified around 0.1 units since the Industrial Revolution, and the amount of plastic reaching the ocean in 2018 was quantified to 13 million metric tonnes. Currently, both ocean threats are worsening with time. Plastic leaching is known to alter the biogeochemistry of the ocean through the release of dissolved organic matter. However, its impact in the inorganic chemistry of the seawater is less studied. Here we show, from laboratory experiments, that abiotic plastic degradation induces a decrease in seawater pH, particularly if the plastic is already aged, as that found in the ocean. The pH decrease is enhanced by solar radiation, and it is probably induced from a combination of the release of organic acids and the production of CO2. It is also related to the amount of leached dissolved organic carbon, with higher acidification as leaching increases. In coastal areas, where plastic debris accumulates in large quantities, plastic leaching could lead to a seawater pH decrease up to 0.5 units. This is comparable to the projected decrease induced in surface oceans by the end of the twenty-first century for the most pessimistic anthropogenic emissions scenarios.
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This work aims at evaluating the fate of microplastics (MPs) along Fenton oxidation. For such goal, realistic MPs (150-250 µm) of five representative polymer types (PET, PE, PVC, PP and EPS) were obtained from commercial plastic products by cryogenic milling. Experiments (7.5 h) were performed under relatively severe operating conditions: T = 80 °C; pH0 = 3; [H2O2]0 = 1000 mgL-1 (15 doses, 1 every 0.5 h); [Fe3+]0 = 10 mgL-1 (5 doses, 1 every 1.5 h). Slight MPs weight losses (â¼10%) were achieved after Fenton oxidation regardless the MP nature. Nevertheless, oxidation yield clearly increased with decreasing the particle size given their higher exposed surface area (up to 20% weight loss with 20-50 µm EPS MPs). Clearly, MPs suffered important changes in their surface due to the introduction of oxygenated groups, which made them more acidic and hydrophilic. Furthermore, MPs progressively reduced their size. In fact, they can be completely oxidized to CO2, as demonstrated in the oxidation of PS nanoplastics (140 nm), where 70% mineralization was achieved. The nature of the plastic particles had a relevant impact on its overall oxidation, being more prone to be oxidized those polymers which contain aromatic rings in their structures (EPS and PET) compared to those formed by alkane chains (PE, PP and PVC). In the latter, the presence of substituents also reduced their oxidation potential. Remarkably, possible leachates released along reaction were more quickly oxidized than the MPs/NPs, so it can be assumed that these dissolved compounds would be completely removed once the solid particles are eliminated. Notably, the leachates obtained upon MPs oxidation were more biodegradable than the released from the fresh solids. All this knowledge is crucial for the understanding of MPs oxidation by the Fenton process and opens the door for the design and optimization of this technology either for water treatment or for analytical purposes (MPs isolation).