The use of an oil-absorber-bioscrubber system during biodegradation of sequentially alternating loadings of 1,2-dichloroethane and fluorobenzene in a waste gas

This work seeks to improve the robustness of vapour phase bioscrubbing by applying an absorber prior to a bioscrubber during the dynamic treatment of sequentially alternating loads of inhibitory pollutants. Rhizobiales sp. strain F11 and Xanthobacter autotrophicus sp. GJ10, exhibiting specific degradation capabilities for fluorobenzene (FB) and 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE), respectively, were used as a compound-strain model system. The stability of a combined oil-absorber-bioscrubber (OAB) was compared to the stability of a bioscrubber only (BO) system, during sequentially alternating periods (duration 3-6 d) of FB and DCE in the gas feed. The OAB achieved >66% degradation of FB, while in the BO system the FB removal efficiency dropped to 0% upon restoring FB feed after a 3 d FB starvation period. Following 6 d of FB starvation the BO failed to recover within 10 d, while the OAB required only 2 d to recover. In contrast, during the DCE treatment periods the OAB system did not show any advantage over the BO system. Further investigation showed that the F^- (a main metabolic product from FB degradation) has a strong inhibitory effect on strain GJ10 even at concentrations below . In the OAB system the inhibitory effect persisted for longer periods due to the absorber, which continued to supply FB to the system, and caused deterioration in the DCE removal efficiency. The inhibition of the microbial culture was confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH), which showed that the activity of cells was reduced when only FB was fed. The results of this study have shown that in the presence of an inhibitory metabolic product the OAB system may not effectively improve the biological treatment of waste gas during sequential alternations in the feed of inhibitory pollutants.     

In-depth analysis and evaluation of diffusive glioma models

Glioma is one of the most aggressive types of brain tumor. Several mathematical models have been developed during the past two decades, toward simulating the mechanisms that govern the development of glioma. The most common models use the diffusion-reaction equation (DRE) for simulating the spatiotemporal variation of tumor cell concentration. Nevertheless, despite the applications presented, there has been little work on studying the details of the mathematical solution and implementation of the 3-D diffusion model and presenting a qualitative analysis of the algorithmic results. This paper presents a complete mathematical framework on the solution of the DRE using different numerical schemes. This framework takes into account all characteristics of the latest models, such as brain tissue heterogeneity, anisotropic tumor cell migration, chemotherapy, and resection modeling. The different numerical schemes presented have been evaluated based upon the degree to which the DRE exact solution is approximated. Experiments have been conducted both on real datasets and a test case for which there is a known algebraic expression of the solution. Thus, it is possible to calculate the accuracy of the different models.     

Combinatorial Treatment of Tinzaparin and Chemotherapy Can Induce a Significant Antitumor Effect in Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic Cancer (PC) is recognized as a highly thrombogenic tumor; thus, low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) such as tinzaparin is routinely used for PC patients. On the basis of combinatorial therapy approaches to treat highly malignant and refractory cancers such as PC, we hypothesized that tinzaparin can augment the effectiveness of traditional chemotherapeutic drugs and induce efficient antitumor activity. PANC-1 and MIAPaCa-2 were incubated alone or in combination with tinzaparin, nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine. In vivo evaluation of these compounds was performed in a NOD/SCID mouse using a model injected with PANC-1. Tinzaparin enhances the anti-tumor effects of nab-paclitaxel and gemcitabine in mtKRAS PC cell lines via apoptosis in in vitro experiments. The triple combination power acts through the induction of apoptosis, reduction of the proliferative potential and angiogenesis; hence, contributing to a decrease in tumor volume observed in vivo. The triple regimen provided an extra 24.3% tumor reduction compared to the double combination (gemcitabine plus nab-paclitaxel). Combinatorial strategies can create novel therapeutic approaches for the treatment of patients with PC, achieving a better clinical outcome and prolonged survival. Further prospective randomized research is needed and the investigation of various concentrations of tinzaparin above 150 UI/Kg, would potentially provide a valuable synergistic effect to the conventional therapeutic compounds.     

The Impact of Angiogenesis in the Most Common Salivary Gland Malignant Tumors

Salivary gland carcinomas (SGCs) represent a group of rare tumors, with complete surgical resection being the main treatment option. Therapeutic armory for cases of locally aggressive, recurrent, and/or metastatic SGCs, though, remains poor since they exhibit high rates of resistance to systematic therapy. Angiogenesis is considered one of the contemporary hallmarks of cancer and anti-angiogenic factors have already been approved for the treatment of several cancer types. This review aims to summarize, in a histotype-specific manner, the most current available data on the angiogenic factors implicated in SGC angiogenesis, in order to highlight the differences between the most common SGC histotypes and the factors that may have a potential role as therapeutic targets.     

α‐Alumina nanospheres from nano‐dispersed boehmite synthesized by a wet chemical route

In this work, stable aqueous suspensions of nano‐boehmite were developed through a hybrid wet‐chemical route that uses hyperbranched dendritic poly(ethylene)imine (PEI) as template material for boehmite formation aiming at the development of a deagglomerated α‐alumina nanopowder after calcination. The method involves firstly the interaction between the Al precursor and PEI followed by the hydrolysis and polycondensation reactions. The study was aiming to investigate the effect of solids content and pH during reactions on both the stability of the final suspension and the morphology of the resulting nanocrystals. For this purpose, the suspensions were evaluated through viscosity measurements, zeta potential analyses, FT‐IR, DLS and sedimentation studies, whereas after the proper centrifugation, drying, and calcination steps, the as‐received nanocrystals were evaluated through SEM, TEM and XRD studies. In addition, the boehmite nanopowder was studied using Thermogravimetric and Differential Thermal Analysis, whereas its sinterability was evaluated by dilatometric measurements. The investigation showed that the conditions employed affect greatly both the morphology of nanocrystals as well as the dispersion and the stability of the suspensions. The boehmite suspension with the optimum dispersion and stability can lead, after calcination at 1050°C, to a fine deagglomerated α‐alumina nanopowder with a mean size at about 10 nm.     

Managing design-time uncertainty

Software and Systems Modeling - Managing design-time uncertainty, i.e., uncertainty that developers have about making design decisions, requires creation of “uncertainty-aware” software...     

Spatio-Temporal Data Types: An Approach to Modeling and Querying Moving Objects in Databases

Spatio-temporal databases deal with geometries changing over time. In general, geometries cannot only change in discrete steps, but continuously, and we are talking about moving objects. If only the position in space of an object is relevant, then moving point is a basic abstraction; if also the extent is of interest, then the moving region abstraction captures moving as well as growing or shrinking regions. We propose a new line of research where moving points and moving regions are viewed as 3-D (2-D space+time) or higher-dimensional entities whose structure and behavior is captured by modeling them as abstract data types. Such types can be integrated as base (attribute) data types into relational, object-oriented, or other DBMS data models; they can be implemented as data blades, cartridges, etc. for extensible DBMSs. We expect these spatio-temporal data types to play a similarly fundamental role for spatio-temporal databases as spatial data types have played for spatial databases. The paper explains the approach and discusses several fundamental issues and questions related to it that need to be clarified before delving into specific designs of spatio- temporal algebras.     

Application of land-use planning criteria for the control of major accident hazards: a case-study

Land-use planning (LUP) with respect to major accident hazards is one of the more important requirements of Directive 96/82/EC (the so-called Seveso II Directive). Different approaches were developed by the Member States of the European Union in order to implement this aspect of the Directive. This study focuses on the comparison of the specific approaches developed for LUP with respect to major accidents hazards. An Italian industrial area has been selected to perform a case study. The different LUP criteria have been used both to evaluate the present state of the area and the effect of several proposed hazard reduction actions. The results obtained have allowed a comparison of the different LUP methodologies. Critical steps in the application of the different LUP criteria have been identified, and the different priorities of hazard reduction actions resulting from risk-based and consequence-based approaches have been highlighted.