Hepatotoxicity by Drugs: The Most Common Implicated Agents

Idiosyncratic drug-induced liver injury (DILI) is an underreported and underestimated adverse drug reaction. Information on the documented hepatotoxicity of drugs has recently been made available by a website that can be accessed in the public domain: LiverTox (http://livertox.nlm.nih.gov). According to critical analysis of the hepatotoxicity of drugs in LiverTox, 53% of drugs had at least one case report of convincing reports of liver injury. Only 48 drugs had more than 50 case reports of DILI. Amoxicillin-clavulanate is the most commonly implicated agent leading to DILI in the prospective series. In a recent prospective study, liver injury due to amoxicillin-clavulanate was found to occur in approximately one out of 2300 users. Drugs with the highest risk of DILI in this study were azathioprine and infliximab.     

Experimental investigation of engine emissions with marine gas oil-oxygenate blends

This paper investigates the diesel engine performance and exhaust emissions with marine gas oil-alternative fuel additive. Marine gas oil (MGO) was selected as base fuel for the engine experiments. An oxygenate, diethylene glycol dimethyl ether (DGM), and a biodiesel (BD) jatropha oil methyl ester (JOME) with a volume of 10% were blended with the MGO fuel. JOME was derived from inedible jatropha oil. Lower emissions with diesel-BD blends (soybean methyl ester, rapeseed methyl ester etc.) have been established so far, but the effect of MGO-BD (JOME) blends on engine performance and emissions has been a growing interest as JOME (BD) is derived from inedible oil and MGO is frequently used in maritime transports. No phase separation between MGO-DGM and MGO-JOME blends was found. The neat MGO, MGO-DGM and MGO-JOME blends are termed as MGO, Ox10 and B10 respectively. The experiments were conducted with a six-cylinder, four-stroke, turbocharged, direct-injection Scania DC 1102 (DI) diesel engine. The experimental results showed significant reductions in fine particle number and mass emissions, PM and smoke emissions with Ox10 and B10 fuels compared to the MGO fuel. Other emissions including total unburned hydrocarbon (THC), carbon monoxide (CO) and engine noise were also reduced with the Ox10 and B10 fuels, while maintaining similar brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) and thermal efficiency with MGO fuel. Oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions, on the other hand, were slightly higher with the Ox10 and B10 fuels at high engine load conditions.     

Surveying and digital workflow in energy performance retrofit projects using prefabricated elements

Due to the need for improving the energy efficiency of existing buildings, various methods for energy retrofitting are being developed. One such initiative is the TES Energy Façade project, a joint European academia and industry project under the umbrella of the WoodWisdom Net research platform. The project has developed a systematic approach for using prefabricated timber-framed elements that can be assembled in front of an existing façade. The TES approach requires a detailed and precise documentation of the as-built/as-maintained conditions of the existing façade. This paper discusses the approach for the surveying and documentation of a building's existing state and the need to establish a continuous digital chain that encompasses the various project stages from the survey to the site assembly of the elements. Technologies such as 3D laser scanning and BIM are efficient tools in the process but are not yet sufficiently developed to handle all of the challenges in renewal and retrofit projects.     

Reducing Statistical Noise and Extending the Size Spectrum by Applying Weighted Simulation Particles in Monte Carlo Simulation of Coagulation

The direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is widely utilized to simulate microscopic dynamic processes in dispersed systems that give rise to the population balance equation. In conventional DSMC approaches, simulation particles are equally weighted, even for broad size distributions where number concentrations in different size intervals are significantly different. The resulting statistical noise and limited size spectrum severely restrict the application of these DSMC methods. This study proposes a new Monte Carlo (MC) method, the differentially weighted time-driven method, which captures the coagulation dynamics in dispersed systems with low noise and is simultaneously able to track the size distribution over the full size range. Key elements of this method include constructing a new jump Markov process based on a new coagulation rule for two differentially weighted simulation particles, and restricting the number of simulation particles in each size interval within prescribed bounds. The method is validated by using an ideal coagulation kernel with a known analytical solution and a real coagulation kernel for which an accurate solution can be found numerically (self-preserving particle size distribution in the continuum regime).     

Liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry in food allergen detection

Food allergy is an important issue in the field of food safety because of the hazards for affected persons and the hygiene requirements and legal regulations imposed on the food industry. Consumer protection and law enforcement require suitable analytical techniques for the detection of allergens in foods. Immunological methods are currently preferred; however, confirmatory alternatives are needed. The determination of allergenic proteins by liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry has greatly advanced in recent years, and gel-free allergenomics is becoming a routinely used approach for the identification and quantitation of food allergens. The present review provides a brief overview of the principles of proteomic procedures, various chromatographic set ups, and mass spectrometry instrumentation used in allergenomics. A compendium of published liquid chromatography methods, proteomic analyses, typical marker peptides, and quantitative assays for 14 main allergy-causing foods is also included.     

Reconsidering formative measurement.

The relationship between observable responses and the latent constructs they are purported to measure has received considerable attention recently, with particular focus on what has become known as formative measurement. This alternative to reflective measurement in the area of theory-testing research is examined in the context of the potential for interpretational confounding and a construct's ability to function as a point variable within a larger model. Although these issues have been addressed in the traditional reflective measurement context, the authors suggest that they are particularly relevant in evaluating formative measurement models. On the basis of this analysis, the authors conclude that formative measurement is not an equally attractive alternative to reflective measurement and that whenever possible, in developing new measures or choosing among alternative existing measures, researchers should opt for reflective measurement. In addition, the authors provide guidelines for researchers dealing with existing formative measures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of processing parameters and molecular weight distribution on the tensile properties of polypropylene fibers

The tensile properties of polypropylene fibers, produced in a short-spin line, are correlated with the parameters of the three processing stages (spinning, drawing, and annealing), and with the molecular weight distribution. In general, tensile stiffness and strength increase with increasing molecular orientation, while the elongation at break decreases. The degree of orientation is determined by the deformation ratios and temperatures of the first two stages. Tensil modulus and strength also increase with increasing annealing stage shrinkage ratio. All the tensile properties, including the elongation at break, increase with increasing average molecular weight. The mechanisms of crystallization and deformation are related to the molecular weight distribution in different ways. Hence, the tensile modulus is highest for broad distributions when the draw ratio is low, and for narrow distributions when the draw ratio is high. The tensile strength increases and the elongation at break decreases as the width of the molecular weight distribution decreases, for all combinations of processing parameters. The distribution of tensile strength, for fibers with high draw ratios, broadens as the molecular weight distribution narrows. The total draw ratio of fibers, as experienced during processing and testing, and the true stress at break, are discussed in terms of deformation rates and relaxation times. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.