Treatment Challenges in Severe Eosinophilic Asthma: Differential Response to Anti-IL-5 and Anti-IL-5R Therapy

Severe asthma greatly affects patients’ quality of life. Major advances have occurred in the management of severe eosinophilic asthma the past few years due to the new targeted biological therapies. There are three anti-IL-5 mAbs, mepolizumab, reslizumab and benralizumab. Despite the different mechanism of blocking IL-5 the clinical effects are quite similar as randomized controlled trials and real-life studies have shown. Moreover, there are reports of responding to one after failing to respond to another anti-IL-5 therapy. Accordingly, it is challenging to explore the possible differences in the response to anti-IL-5 treatments. This might help us not only understand possible mechanisms that contribute to the resistance to treatment in this particular asthma endotype, but also to phenotype within severe eosinophilic asthma in order to treat our patients more efficiently.     

Non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation monitoring in Greece

The design, development, and operation of a network for the monitoring of the non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation in Greece is presented in this paper. Two independent sub-networks, called “Hermes” and “pedion24” have been operating since November 2002 in many areas, and more than 4,000,000 electric field strength measurements have been conducted to date. The measurement results indicate that the non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation levels are several times below the European Commission Recommendation 1999/519/EC and the Hellenic Republic Law no. 3431 reference levels.     

Particle size and pH effects on remediation of chromite ore processing residue using calcium polysulfide (CaS5)

A long-term bench scale treatability study was performed to assess the ability to remediate chromite ore processing residue (COPR) using calcium polysulfide (CaS(5)). COPR materials were characterized with respect to particle size, pH, curing period and mineralogy. A stoichiometric ratio of sulfide species to hexavalent chromium (Cr(6+)) of 2 was used for the long-term treatment of COPR. The effectiveness of CaS(5) treatment was assessed using the toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP), alkaline digestion, and X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) analyses. The formation of ettringite, known as a heaving agent, was investigated following the treatment of CaS(5), using X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) along with an energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX). Overall, after a curing period of 18 months, the TCLP total chromium (Cr) and alkaline digestion (Cr(6+)) results obtained from the treatability study showed that the concentrations were lower than 5 mg L(-1) and 9 mg kg(-1), respectively. However, XANES results obtained from samples cured for 18 months showed that all of the treated samples had higher Cr(6+) concentrations than shown using alkaline digestion. The lowest XANES Cr(6+) concentration of 610.2 mg kg(-1) was obtained from the sample with a particle size less than 0.075 mm and a pH value of 9. Particle size reduction prior to the addition of the reductant, along with pH reduction was found to be strongly associated with the treatment performance. Ettringite formation, due to pH increase over time in the samples, where the initial pH was adjusted to 9, was verified by XRPD and SEM-EDX analyses, indicating that a pH less than 9 should be maintained to avoid ettringite formation.     

Evaluation of the treatment of chromite ore processing residue by ferrous sulfate and asphalt

The effectiveness of the treatment of chromite ore processing residue (COPR) with ferrous sulfate and encapsulation into asphalt were explored separately and in combination. The asphalt treatment was conducted by mixing COPR or ferrous sulfate pretreated COPR with varying amounts of asphalt. To assess the efficacy of the treatment, the leachability of toxicity characteristic leaching procedure (TCLP) total chromium (Cr) from all treated samples was determined for curing periods up to 16 months. X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) analyses were also performed to evaluate the Cr(6+) concentration in the selected samples. The combination treatment of ferrous sulfate and the encapsulation of the treated COPR into asphalt reduced the TCLP total Cr concentration to lower than the regulatory limit of 5mg/L for Cr contaminated soils, after 16 months. However, the Cr concentrations were still higher than the universal treatment standards (UTS) of 0.6 mg/L for hazardous waste. On the other hand, treatment with ferrous sulfate alone or the encapsulation of the COPR in asphalt failed to meet the TCLP total Cr concentration of 5mg/L, after 16 months. XANES analyses results showed that more than 75% Cr(6+) reduction was achieved upon pretreatment with ferrous sulfate.     

The potential of plastid trnL (UAA) intron polymorphisms for the identification of the botanical origin of plant oils

This work describes a methodology for the identification of the botanical origin of plant oils emphasising on the detection of adulteration of olive oil with sesame oil. This methodology comprises a PCR-based assay that exploits the polymorphisms found in the plastid genome combined with a capillary electrophoresis system to discriminate a range of 11 plant species commonly used for oil extraction on the basis of differential length of their corresponding PCR amplicons. The assay takes advantage of universal primers that amplify a region from the trnL (UAA) intron of every plant species. The results showed that amplicons from all species can be accurately discriminated apart from olive and avocado. Single-base primer extension was then proposed as an additional methodology to discriminate the two species and to confirm the results of the former approach. These assays were successfully applied on olive and sesame oils, thus confirming the validity of this approach.