RESUMEN
During the last two decades, several cases of venous thrombosis (VTE) after a prolonged period at a computer have been described, denominated as "eThrombosis". Video gaming on a computer has become very popular and can be a social activity where several players gather to play against each other or in a virtual environment for several days ("LAN (i.e., Local Area Network) parties") where the participants are sedentary and consuming calorie-rich food items. The aim of this study was to investigate potential coagulation activation during a 42 h LAN party. Nine male gamers volunteered for the LAN party. Citrated blood was sampled before and every 6 h, and plasma was analyzed for thrombin generation, thrombin-antithrombin complexes (TAT), prothrombin fragment 1 + 2 (F1 + 2), and D-dimer. Thrombin generation increased slightly but not significantly during the LAN party, whereas the coagulation activation markers were unchanged. These results do not indicate that the coagulation system is activated significantly during 42 h of gaming with minimal physical activity. Although increased activity cannot be excluded, it does not directly indicate a risk of VTE in general.
RESUMEN
Scrophularia lanceolata Pursh and Scrophularia marilandica L. are two common species within the Scrophulariaceae family that are endemic to North America. Historically, these species were used by indigenous peoples and colonialists to treat sunburn, sunstroke, frostbite, edema, as well as for blood purification, and in women's health. Several iridoid and phenylethanoid/phenylpropanoid glycosides detected in these species, such as harpagoside and verbascoside, possess anti-inflammatory and anti-nociceptive properties. Due to the presence of anti-inflammatory metabolites and the historical uses of these species, we performed a two-year field study to determine the optimal production of these important compounds. We subjected the plants to shade treatment and analyzed differences in the metabolite composition between the two species and each of their leaves, stems, and roots at various times throughout the growing seasons. We determined that S. lanceolata plants grown in full sun produced 0.63% harpagoside per dried weight in their leaves compared to shade-grown plants (0.43%). Furthermore, S. lanceolata accumulated more harpagoside than S. marilandica (0.24%). We also found that verbascoside accumulated in the leaves of S. lanceolata and S. marilandica as the growing season progressed, while the production of this metabolite remained mostly seasonally unchanged in the roots of both species.
RESUMEN
The chemical recycling of postconsumer poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) bottles to produce highly thermally stable polyurethane foam (r-PUF) with excellent flame-retardant (FR) performance could be applied on an industrial scale to create a sustainable recycling industry. The advantage of oligo-ester-ether-diol obtained from waste PET glycolysis is its application in r-PUF, generating a durable foam with excellent fire resistance at rather low loadings of phosphorus-nitrogen FRs (P-N FRs), especially in high moisture environments. Compared to polyurethane foam from commercial polyol (c-PUF), r-PUF is notably more thermally stable and efficient in terms of flame retardancy, even without adding FRs. By incorporating 15 php diammonium phosphate (DAP) as a P-N FR, r-PUF/DAP self-extinguished 5 s after the removal of the 2nd flame application with a limited oxygen index value of 24%. However, for c-PUF, a much higher DAP (30 php) loading did not exhibit any rating in the vertical burning test. The aromatic moiety in the oligo-ester-ether-diol structure strongly enhanced the compressive strength and thermal stability. The positive outcomes of this study also confirmed that the r-PUF/DAP prepared from oligo-ester-ether-diol not only satisfied the fire safety requirements of polymer applications but also contained a high percentage of postconsumer PET, which could help reduce the amount of recycled polymer materials and improve waste management.
