Understanding How Chemical Pollutants Arise and Evolve in the Brewing Supply Chain: A Scoping Review.

In this study, a critical review was carried out using the Web of ScienceTM Core Collection database to analyse the scientific literature published to date to identify lines of research and future perspectives on the presence of chemical pollutants in beer brewing. Beer is one of the world's most popular drinks and the most consumed alcoholic beverage. However, a widespread challenge with potential implications for human and animal health is the presence of physical, chemical, and/or microbiological contaminants in beer. Biogenic amines, heavy metals, mycotoxins, nitrosamines, pesticides, acrylamide, phthalates, bisphenols, microplastics, and, to a lesser extent, hydrocarbons (aliphatic chlorinated and polycyclic aromatic), carbonyls, furan-derivatives, polychlorinated biphenyls, and trihalomethanes are the main chemical pollutants found during the beer brewing process. Pollution sources include raw materials, technological process steps, the brewery environment, and packaging materials. Different chemical pollutants have been found during the beer brewing process, from barley to beer. Brewing steps such as steeping, kilning, mashing, boiling, fermentation, and clarification are critical in reducing the levels of many of these pollutants. As a result, their residual levels are usually below the maximum levels allowed by international regulations. Therefore, this work was aimed at assessing how chemical pollutants appear and evolve in the brewing process, according to research developed in the last few decades.

Clinical practice guidelines for the diagnosis and management of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease.

INTRODUCTION: Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) is classified according to neurophysiological and histological findings, the inheritance pattern, and the underlying genetic defect. The objective of these guidelines is to offer recommendations for the diagnosis, prognosis, follow-up, and treatment of this disease in Spain. MATERIAL AND METHODS: These consensus guidelines were developed through collaboration by a multidisciplinary panel encompassing a broad group of experts on the subject, including neurologists, paediatric neurologists, geneticists, physiatrists, and orthopaedic surgeons. RECOMMENDATIONS: The diagnosis of CMT is clinical, with patients usually presenting a common or classical phenotype. Clinical assessment should be followed by an appropriate neurophysiological study; specific recommendations are established for the parameters that should be included. Genetic diagnosis should be approached sequentially; once PMP22 duplication has been ruled out, if appropriate, a next-generation sequencing study should be considered, taking into account the limitations of the available techniques. To date, no pharmacological disease-modifying treatment is available, but symptomatic management, guided by a multidiciplinary team, is important, as is proper rehabilitation and orthopaedic management. The latter should be initiated early to identify and improve the patient's functional deficits, and should include individualised exercise guidelines, orthotic adaptation, and assessment of conservative surgeries such as tendon transfer. The follow-up of patients with CMT is exclusively clinical, and ancillary testing is not necessary in routine clinical practice.

Flexible metallic core-shell nanostructured electrodes for neural interfacing.

Electrodes with nanostructured surface have emerged as promising low-impedance neural interfaces that can avoid the charge-injection restrictions typically associated to microelectrodes. In this work, we propose a novel approximation, based on a two-step template assisted electrodeposition technique, to obtain flexible nanostructured electrodes coated with core-shell Ni-Au vertical nanowires. These nanowires benefit from biocompatibility of the Au shell exposed to the environment and the mechanical properties of Ni that allow for nanowires longer and more homogeneous in length than their only-Au counterparts. The nanostructured electrodes show impedance values, measured by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), at least 9 times lower than those of flat reference electrodes. This ratio is in good accordance with the increased effective surface area determined both from SEM images and cyclic voltammetry measurements, evidencing that only Au is exposed to the medium. The observed EIS profile evolution of Ni-Au electrodes over 7 days were very close to those of Au electrodes and differently from Ni ones. Finally, the morphology, viability and neuronal differentiation of rat embryonic cortical cells cultured on Ni-Au NW electrodes were found to be similar to those on control (glass) substrates and Au NW electrodes, accompanied by a lower glial cell differentiation. This positive in-vitro neural cell behavior encourages further investigation to explore the tissue responses that the implantation of these nanostructured electrodes might elicit in healthy (damaged) neural tissues in vivo, with special emphasis on eventual tissue encapsulation.

Workshop for Basic Gynaecological Examinations: Improving Medical Student Learning through Clinical Simulation.

INTRODUCTION: This study was designed to evaluate whether the Workshop on Basic Principles for Clinical Gynaecological Exploration, offered to medical students, improves theoretical-practical knowledge, safety, confidence, global satisfaction and the achievement of the proposed objectives in the area of gynaecological clinical examinations. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a quasi-experimental pre-post-learning study carried out at the Gynaecology and Obstetrics department of Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid (Spain). The volunteer participants were 4th-year students earning a degree in Medicine during the 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 academic years. The study period was divided into the following stages: pre-workshop, intra-workshop and 2 weeks post-workshop. In the pre-workshop stage, students completed a brief online course to prepare for the workshop. The effectiveness of the workshop was evaluated through multiple-choice tests and self-administered questionnaires to assess self-assurance, self-confidence, self-satisfaction and the achievement of the objectives. RESULTS: Of the 277 students invited in both academic years, 256 attended the workshop (92.4%), with a total participation in the different stages of the study greater than 70%. A total of 82.5% of the students in the 2020-2021 academic year and 80.6% of students in the 2021-2022 academic year did not have any type of experience performing gynaecological clinical examinations. Between the pre-workshop and 2 weeks post-workshop stages, there was significant improvement in theoretical-practical knowledge (improvement mean = 1.38 and 1.21 in 2020-2021 and 2021-2022 academic years, respectively). The security and confidence of the students prior to the workshop were low (average scores less than 5 points) in both academic years. However, post-workshop scores for satisfaction and the achievement of objectives were high in the two academic years; all the values approached or exceeded 8 points. CONCLUSIONS: Our students, after outstanding participation, evaluated the BPCGE, and improved their theoretical and practical knowledge, as well as their skills in a gynaecological clinical examination. Moreover, in their view, after the workshop, they felt very satisfied, far outreaching the proposed aims. In addition, excellent results were maintained over time, year after year.

Impact of Magnetite Nanowires on In Vitro Hippocampal Neural Networks.

Nanomaterials design, synthesis, and characterization are ever-expanding approaches toward developing biodevices or neural interfaces to treat neurological diseases. The ability of nanomaterials features to tune neuronal networks' morphology or functionality is still under study. In this work, we unveil how interfacing mammalian brain cultured neurons and iron oxide nanowires' (NWs) orientation affect neuronal and glial densities and network activity. Iron oxide NWs were synthesized by electrodeposition, fixing the diameter to 100 nm and the length to 1 µm. Scanning electron microscopy, Raman, and contact angle measurements were performed to characterize the NWs' morphology, chemical composition, and hydrophilicity. Hippocampal cultures were seeded on NWs devices, and after 14 days, the cell morphology was studied by immunocytochemistry and confocal microscopy. Live calcium imaging was performed to study neuronal activity. Using random nanowires (R-NWs), higher neuronal and glial cell densities were obtained compared with the control and vertical nanowires (V-NWs), while using V-NWs, more stellate glial cells were found. R-NWs produced a reduction in neuronal activity, while V-NWs increased the neuronal network activity, possibly due to a higher neuronal maturity and a lower number of GABAergic neurons, respectively. These results highlight the potential of NWs manipulations to design ad hoc regenerative interfaces.

Large Magnetoresistance of Isolated Domain Walls in La2/3 Sr1/3 MnO3 Nanowires.

Generation, manipulation, and sensing of magnetic domain walls are cornerstones in the design of efficient spintronic devices. Half-metals are amenable for this purpose as large low field magnetoresistance signals can be expected from spin accumulation at spin textures. Among half metals, La1- x Srx MnO3 (LSMO) manganites are considered as promising candidates for their robust half-metallic ground state, Curie temperature above room temperature (Tc = 360 K, for x = 1/3), and chemical stability. Yet domain wall magnetoresistance is poorly understood, with large discrepancies in the reported values and conflicting interpretation of experimental data due to the entanglement of various source of magnetoresistance, namely, spin accumulation, anisotropic magnetoresistance, and colossal magnetoresistance. In this work, the domain wall magnetoresistance is measured in LSMO cross-shape nanowires with single-domain walls nucleated across the current path. Magnetoresistance values above 10% are found to be originating at the spin accumulation caused by the mistracking effect of the spin texture of the domain wall by the conduction electrons. Fundamentally, this result shows the importance on non-adiabatic processes at spin textures despite the strong Hund coupling to the localized t2g electrons of the manganite. These large magnetoresistance values are high enough for encoding and reading magnetic bits in future oxide spintronic sensors.

Stacking influence on the in-plane magnetic anisotropy in a 2D magnetic system.

The magnetization patterns on three atomic layers thick islands of Co on Ru(0001) are studied by spin-polarized low-energy electron microscopy (SPLEEM). In-plane magnetized micrometer wide triangular Co islands are grown on Ru(0001). They present two different orientations correlated with two different stacking sequences which differ only in the last layer position. The stacking sequence determines the type of magnetization pattern observed: the hcp islands present very wide domain walls, while the fcc islands present domains separated by much narrower domain walls. The former is an extremely low in-plane anisotropy system. We estimate the in-plane magnetic anisotropy of the fcc regions to be 1.96 × 104 J m-3 and of the hcp ones to be 2.5 × 102 J m-3.

Population Pharmacokinetics of Isavuconazole in Critical Care Patients with COVID-19-Associated Pulmonary Aspergillosis and Monte Carlo Simulations of High Off-Label Doses.

Isavuconazole is a triazole antifungal agent recently recommended as first-line therapy for invasive pulmonary aspergillosis. With the COVID-19 pandemic, cases of COVID-19-associated pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA) have been described with a prevalence ranging from 5 to 30%. We developed and validated a population pharmacokinetic (PKpop) model of isavuconazole plasma concentrations in intensive care unit patients with CAPA. Nonlinear mixed-effect modeling Monolix software were used for PK analysis of 65 plasma trough concentrations from 18 patients. PK parameters were best estimated with a one-compartment model. The mean of ISA plasma concentrations was 1.87 [1.29-2.25] mg/L despite prolonged loading dose (72 h for one-third) and a mean maintenance dose of 300 mg per day. Pharmacokinetics (PK) modeling showed that renal replacement therapy (RRT) was significantly associated with under exposure, explaining a part of clearance variability. The Monte Carlo simulations suggested that the recommended dosing regimen did not achieve the trough target of 2 mg/L in a timely manner (72 h). This is the first isavuconazole PKpop model developed for CAPA critical care patients underlying the need of therapeutic drug monitoring, especially for patients under RRT.

High-Performance Implantable Sensors based on Anisotropic Magnetoresistive La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 for Biomedical Applications.

We present the design, fabrication, and characterization of an implantable neural interface based on anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) magnetic-field sensors that combine reduced size and high performance at body temperature. The sensors are based on La0.67Sr0.33MnO3 (LSMO) as a ferromagnetic material, whose epitaxial growth has been suitably engineered to get uniaxial anisotropy and large AMR output together with low noise even at low frequencies. The performance of LSMO sensors of different film thickness and at different temperatures close to 37 °C has to be explored to find an optimum sensitivity of ∼400%/T (with typical detectivity values of 2 nT·Hz-1/2 at a frequency of 1 Hz and 0.3 nT·Hz-1/2 at 1 kHz), fitted for the detection of low magnetic signals coming from neural activity. Biocompatibility tests of devices consisting of submillimeter-size LSMO sensors coated by a thin poly(dimethyl siloxane) polymeric layer, both in vitro and in vivo, support their high suitability as implantable detectors of low-frequency biological magnetic signals emerging from heterogeneous electrically active tissues.

Comprehensive Review on Monitoring, Behavior, and Impact of Pesticide Residues during Beer-Making.

This paper reviews the impact of beer-making stages (malting, mashing, boiling, and fermentation) on the behavior of pesticide residues. The large use of pesticides on barley and hop could cause the occurrence of their residues in beer. The foremost factors influencing the stability of residues (pH, temperature, and water content) and the physical-chemical properties of pesticides (octanol-water partition coefficient, vapor pressure, and water solubility) are essential to know their final fate. Most pesticides show a decrease in the unhopped wort because they are adsorbed onto the spent grains after mashing. In addition, their concentrations decrease during boiling and fermentation. Generally, maltsters should dedicate particular attention to the residues of hydrophobic pesticides because they can remain on the malt. Contrarily, brewers should control residues of hydrophilic pesticides because they can be carried over into young beer, disturbing the quality and organoleptic properties (flavor, aroma, taste, or color) of the beer.

Trends in dithiocarbamates food research: A bibliometric vision.

Dithiocarbamate Fungicides (DTFs) are widely analyzed and studied mainly due to the fact that they play an important role in the cultivation of fruits and vegetables. This manuscript aims to display the results of a bibliometric analysis based on the Web of Science© database, performed in the DTF and food research area. A total of 374 publications were examined. The most scientific production was concentrated between 2012 and 2021, showing a decrease of 32% over the last two years. The Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, India, and Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology were the most productive journal, country, and institution, respectively. Reference Publication Year Spectroscopy index showed a decrease of 95% in the last last years studied. Finally, current and future trends should focus on keywords such as individual DTF (Mancozeb, Thiram and Maneb), metabolites (Ethylenethiourea, Propilenthiourea) and a change in the analysis methodology: HPLC versus traditional GC.

Removal assessment of disinfection by-products (DBPs) from drinking water supplies by solar heterogeneous photocatalysis: A case study of trihalomethanes (THMs).

Solar heterogeneous photocatalysis was used to remove trihalomethanes (THMs) from drinking water. THMs, mainly trichloromethane (TCM), tribromomethane (TBM), bromodichloromethane (BDCM) and dibromochloromethane (DBCM) are one of the main class of disinfection by-products (DBPs). THMs were determined by HSGC-MS with detection limits (LODs) ranging from 0.5 µg L-1 to 0.9 µg L-1 for TCM and BDCM, respectively. Results show that a great proportion of THMs present in water are finally transferred to air as a result of their high volatility in the order TCM > BDCM > DBCM > TBM. The use of band-gap semiconductor materials (TiO2 and mainly ZnO) used as photocatalysts in combination with Na2S2O8 as electron acceptor and sulfate radical anion (SO4•-) generator enhanced the photooxidation of all THMs as compared to photolytic test. The time required for 50% of THMs to disappear (DT50) from water calculated for the most effective treatment (ZnO/Na2S2O8) were 12, 42, 57 and 61 min for TCM, TBM, BDCM, and DBCM, respectively. Therefore, solar heterogeneous photocatalysis can be considered as an interesting strategy for THMs removal, especially in sunny areas like Mediterranean basin.

Electrodeposition as a Tool for Nanostructuring Magnetic Materials.

Electrodeposition has appeared in the last year as a non-expensive and versatile technique for the growth of nanomaterials. We review the main characteristics of electrodeposition that make this technique very suitable for its combination with different nanofabrication tools and the possibilities that this combination offers to fabricate nanowires and more complex tridimensional nanostructures. Finally, we overview the present and future impact of electrodeposition on the fabrication of a novel generation of nanomaterials with potential impact in nanomagnetism and spintronics.

Electrodeposited Magnetic Nanowires with Radial Modulation of Composition.

In the last few years, magnetic nanowires have gained attention due to their potential implementation as building blocks in spintronics applications and, in particular, in domain-wall- based devices. In these devices, the control of the magnetic properties is a must. Cylindrical magnetic nanowires can be synthesized rather easily by electrodeposition and the control of their magnetic properties can be achieved by modulating the composition of the nanowire along the axial direction. In this work, we report the possibility of introducing changes in the composition along the radial direction, increasing the degrees of freedom to harness the magnetization. In particular, we report the synthesis, using template-assisted deposition, of FeNi (or Co) magnetic nanowires, coated with a Au/Co (Au/FeNi) bilayer. The diameter of the nanowire as well as the thickness of both layers can be tuned at will. In addition to a detailed structural characterization, we report a preliminary study on the magnetic properties, establishing the role of each layer in the global collective behavior of the system.

Influence of Coating and Size of Magnetic Nanoparticles on Cellular Uptake for In Vitro MRI.

Iron oxide nanoparticles (IONPs) are suitable materials for contrast enhancement in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Their potential clinical applications range from diagnosis to therapy and follow-up treatments. However, a deeper understanding of the interaction between IONPs, culture media and cells is necessary for expanding the application of this technology to different types of cancer therapies. To achieve new insights of these interactions, a set of IONPs were prepared with the same inorganic core and five distinct coatings, to study their aggregation and interactions in different physiological media, as well as their cell labelling efficiency. Then, a second set of IONPs, with six different core sizes and the same coating, were used to study how the core size affects cell labelling and MRI in vitro. Here, IONPs suspended in biological media experience a partial removal of the coating and adhesion of molecules. The FBS concentration alters the labelling of all types of IONPs and hydrodynamic sizes ≥ 300 nm provide the greatest labelling using the centrifugation-mediated internalization (CMI). The best contrast for MRI results requires a core size range between 12-14 nm coated with dimercaptosuccinic acid (DMSA) producing R2* values of 393.7 s-1 and 428.3 s-1, respectively. These findings will help to bring IONPs as negative contrast agents into clinical settings.

Nanostructured gold electrodes promote neural maturation and network connectivity.

Progress in the clinical application of recording and stimulation devices for neural diseases is still limited, mainly because of suboptimal material engineering and unfavorable interactions with biological entities. Nanotechnology is providing upgraded designs of materials to better mimic the native extracellular environment and attain more intimate contacts with individual neurons, besides allowing for the miniaturization of the electrodes. However, little progress has been done to date on the understanding of the biological impact that such neural interfaces have on neural network maturation and functionality. In this work, we elucidate the effect of a gold (Au) highly ordered nanostructure on the morphological and functional interactions with neural cells and tissues. Alumina-templated Au nanostructured electrodes composed of parallel nanowires of 160 nm in diameter and 1.2 µm in length (Au-NWs), with 320 nm of pitch, are designed and characterized. Equivalent non-structured Au electrodes (Au-Flat) are used for comparison. By using diverse techniques in in vitro cell cultures including live calcium imaging, we found that Au-NWs interfaced with primary neural cortical cells for up to 14 days allow neural networks growth and increase spontaneous activity and ability of neuronal synchronization, thus indicating that nanostructured features favor neuronal network. The enhancement in the number of glial cells found is hypothesized to be behind these beneficial functional effects. The in vivo effect of the implantation of these nanostructured electrodes and its potential relevance for future clinical applicability has been explored in an experimental model of rat spinal cord injury. Subacute responses to implanted Au-NWs show no overt reactive or toxic biological reactions besides those triggered by the injury itself. These results highlight the translational potential of Au-NWs electrodes for in vivo applications as neural interfaces in contact with central nervous tissues including the injured spinal cord.

Outbreak of Oropouche Virus in French Guiana.

Oropouche fever is a zoonotic dengue-like syndrome caused by Oropouche virus. In August-September 2020, dengue-like syndrome developed in 41 patients in a remote rainforest village in French Guiana. By PCR or microneutralization, 23 (82.1%) of 28 tested patients were positive for Oropouche virus, documenting its emergence in French Guiana.

Scaling Up the Production of Electrodeposited Nanowires: A Roadmap towards Applications.

The use of metallic nanowires is mostly reduced to scientific areas where a small quantity of nanostructures are needed. In order to broaden the applicability of these nanomaterials, it is necessary to establish novel synthesis protocols that provide a larger amount of nanowires than the conventional laboratory fabrication processes at a more competitive cost. In this work, we propose several modifications to the conventional electrochemical synthesis of nanowires in order to increase the production with considerably reduced production time and cost. To that end, we use a soft anodization procedure of recycled aluminum at room temperature to produce the alumina templates, followed by galvanostatic growth of CoFe nanowires. We studied their morphology, composition and magnetic configuration, and found that their properties are very similar to those obtained by conventional methods.

Human Q Fever on the Guiana Shield and Brazil: Recent Findings and Remaining Questions.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: In this review, we report on the state of knowledge about human Q fever in Brazil and on the Guiana Shield, an Amazonian region located in northeastern South America. There is a contrast between French Guiana, where the incidence of this disease is the highest in the world, and other countries where this disease is practically non-existent. RECENT FINDINGS: Recent findings are essentially in French Guiana where a unique strain MST17 has been identified; it is probably more virulent than those usually found with a particularly marked pulmonary tropism, a mysterious animal reservoir, a geographical distribution that raises questions. SUMMARY: Q fever is a bacterial zoonosis due to Coxiella burnetii that has been reported worldwide. On the Guiana Shield, a region mostly covered by Amazonian forest, which encompasses the Venezuelan State of Bolivar, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, and the Brazilian State of Amapá, the situation is very heterogeneous. While French Guiana is the region reporting the highest incidence of this disease in the world, with a single infecting clone (MST 117) and a unique epidemiological cycle, it has hardly ever been reported in other countries in the region. This absence of cases raises many questions and is probably due to massive under-diagnosis. Studies should estimate comprehensively the true burden of this disease in the region.

Photocatalytic degradation of four insecticides and their main generated transformation products in soil and pepper crop irrigated with reclaimed agro-wastewater under natural sunlight.

This work is the first-ever study of the concurrence of four insecticides (chlorantraniliprole, imidacloprid, pirimicarb and thiamethoxam) and their main transformation products (TPs) in soil and pepper crop irrigated with reclaimed and non-reclaimed water under agricultural field conditions. Field experiments were conducted using different irrigation supplies: control water (CW), wastewater polluted with phytosanitary commercial products containing the studied insecticides (WW) and reclaimed wastewater after a photocatalytic processing with TiO2/Na2S2O8 at pilot plant under sunlight (RWW). Photocatalytic treatments removed most of the insecticides and their TPs generated during the photoperiod. Neither target insecticides nor their TPs were detected in pepper samples when CW and RWW were used as irrigation source, whereas the four insecticides and two TPs were detected when WW was used. In the experiment carried out with WW, all insecticides and eight TPs were detected in soil samples. The impact of using reclaimed water on the quality of pepper crop was also assessed, showing barely any significant difference.