Analysis of the predictive value of clinical data in patients with suspected colonic disease

OBJECTIVE: To develop guidelines for predicting colonic disease on the basis of clinical parameters. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: A prospective study of the clinical data prior to colonoscopy. On the basis of the endoscopic findings, the patients were divided into three diagnostic groups: absence of significant disease, significant benign disease and malignant disease. The patient population was divided randomly into two subgroups. The clinical data from one of them was used to build a database which, using Bayes' theorem, was compared with the variables from the other subgroup to predict the diagnosis for each patient. PATIENTS: A total of 336 patients (170 males and 166 females; mean age: 58 years; range: 15 to 87 years) were evaluated. RESULTS: When the endoscopic findings were grouped on the basis of their clinical importance, 211 patients (63%) belonged to the group without significant disease, 60 patients (18%) had significant benign disease and 65 (19%) presented a neoplastic disease. Of the 21 variables selected for use in the database, 6 showed statistically significant differences in terms of the absence or presence of malignant disease: age, absence of previous similar episodes, weight loss, rectal bleeding, lack of improvement and the presence of a mass on digital rectal examination. The predictive model differentiated patients with neoplasm from those without malignant disease, but was not capable of identifying differences among the latter. The model was useful for assessing the risk of malignant disease for each patient. CONCLUSIONS: The predictive model obtained is a useful tool for establishing the diagnosis and the priority in the performance of colonoscopy.     

Lipids and lipogenic enzymes in adipose tissue of castrated male goats

Male goats (“Criolla Argentina” breed), castrated at 45 days of age, showed altered lipid metabolism 180 days after castration as compared to control goats. Subcutaneous, perirenal and omental adipose tissues of castrated goats showed increases in fatty acid synthetase, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and NADP-isocitrate dehydrogenase activities. Castration increased the amount of total lipids and triglycerides, but did not modify the amount of cholesterol, phospholipid and protein in the three types of adipose tissue. The incorporation of [1-¹⁴C]acetate into fatty acids of subcutaneous and perirenal adipose tissue was increased in castrated goats in relation to noncastrated goats. Our results suggest that removal of gonadal steroids increases significantly the rate of lipogenesis in adipose tissue of male goats.     

Study of gastric emptying by dual isotopes. Corrections due to contamination

The evaluation of gastric emptying by the double isotope technique involves some methodologic conditioning. Among them contamination correction or interference in the energy windows of the activity of the two isotopes used in the marking of the solids and fluids of the test food are important. The results of an experiment in which a phantom was used to evaluate the contamination between indio 111 (DTPA-Ca111In) and technecium 99m (colloid99mTc). Three test studies were posteriorly performed in healthy volunteers and 27 studies in a control group (13 males, mean age of 33 years, mean body mass index 39.02 kg/m). In these studies the contamination was corrected with the acquisition, following an initial swallow of juice marked with 111In, of activity in the windows of both isotopes. The contamination of 111In (isotope of greatest radiation energy) in the window of 99mTc was 24% in the phantom and 20%, 23% and 26% in the three initial study tests. The mean contamination in the control group was of 22% with limits of 19% to 29% and a standard deviation of 3%. Despite the comparable results, the usefulness of the individualized contamination calculation in the studies of gastric emptying with dual isotope to minimize the methodologic errors of this technique is discussed.     

Current distribution in a rectangular flow channel manufactured by 3‐D printing

The characterization and improvement of a rectangular channel electrolyte flow compartment used in an iron‐air flow battery was carried out by using an arrangement of copper electrodes to measure the current density distribution employing the limiting current technique. The present work addresses the hydrodynamics and mass transport distribution in the compartment and their improvement by an improved electrolyte compartment that results in a more uniform current distribution. The current distribution was evaluated as the ratio between the local and the averaged limiting current densities during the reduction of copper ions over a range of mean linear flow velocity across the electrode surface (2–30 cm s^?1). The initial compartment, showed larger differences between the minimum and maximum currents than the electrolyte compartment that resulted as part of the design process and showed a higher pressure drop at a given mean linear flow velocity. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 63: 1144–1151, 2017     

Environment,seed rate,and N rate influence on yield of winter barley

This study was conducted to determine the effects of rainfall and temperature during the growing season, seed rate, and N rate on grain yield and yield components of winter barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) on a Typic Haploxeralf soil in Santa Olalla (Toledo), Spain in 1986/7, 1987/8, and 1988/9. Two experiments were conducted each year using the 6-rowed variety Barbarrosa and the 2-rowed variety Reinette. Both experiments used seed rates of 80, 160, and 240 kg ha^–1 as whole plot treatments, and N rates of 0, 40, 80, 120, and 160 kg ha^–1 as subplots. Responses to N depended on both the quantity and distribution of rainfall during the growing season, and temperature during grain fill. In the high rainfall, moderate grain-fill temperature year, increasing the N rate from 0 to 160 kg ha^–1 increased grain yields (by 2.3 t ha^–1), straw yields and the harvest index while maintaining the kernel weight for both varieties. In the low rainfall, high grain-fill temperature year, N rate had little influence on grain yield, but increased the straw yield, which reduced the harvest index, and also decreased kernel weight. Seed rate had no influence on grain yields even though wide variation in N rates, rainfall and temperatures occurred in the three-year study. Results from this study indicated that strategies to reduce (or avoid) water/high temperature stress during grain fill are necessary to assure more uniform yield responses to N application across years. However, decisions about seed rate can be made independently for conditions similar to those in this study.     

A frequency-domain approach to bifurcations in control systems with saturation

Bifurcation analysis of nonlinear control systems supplies a global perspective of the system behaviour modes. In this paper, it is shown that this analysis can be implemented with very elementary and classical tools, such as frequency-domain graphical methods. The methodology proposed is illustrated analysing the effects of a saturation nonlinearity on a system designed with a linear control law. The full morphology of qualitative behaviours and of polar plots for two-dimensional systems is displayed, pointing out how bifurcations give rise to the boundaries between regions with different qualitative behaviour modes. Also a case of a three-dimensional system is analysed.     

An overview of the enzyme potential in bioenergy‐producing biorefineries

Biorefineries are considered as an integrative thinking that focuses on the possibility of obtaining as many added‐value products as technically and economically feasible. However, in practice most biorefineries comprise only enzymatic or chemical pretreatment followed by biofuel generation. The drop in oil prices may menace the development of this young industry, as has happened before in history. This has become a fundamental reason for which the biofuel industry should not consider only biofuels production, but enzyme and non‐fuel based chemicals as well. Hence, this work aims at overviewing the most important enzymes involved in biotechnological processes and to describe their role in biorefineries. Bioethanol, biogas and biodiesel biorefineries are overviewed, along with the integrated and industrial types. Finally separation and purification processes in biorefineries are discussed. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry     

Prostaglandin E2 Enhances Gap Junctional Intercellular Communication in Clonal Epithelial Cells

Prostaglandins are a group of lipids that produce diverse physiological and pathological effects. Among them, prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) stands out for the wide variety of functions in which it participates. To date, there is little information about the influence of PGE2 on gap junctional intercellular communication (GJIC) in any type of tissue, including epithelia. In this work, we set out to determine whether PGE2 influences GJIC in epithelial cells (MDCK cells). To this end, we performed dye (Lucifer yellow) transfer assays to compare GJIC of MDCK cells treated with PGE2 and untreated cells. Our results indicated that (1) PGE2 induces a statistically significant increase in GJIC from 100 nM and from 15 min after its addition to the medium, (2) such effect does not require the synthesis of new mRNA or proteins subunits but rather trafficking of subunits already synthesized, and (3) such effect is mediated by the E2 receptor, which, in turn, triggers a signaling pathway that includes activation of adenylyl cyclase and protein kinase A (PKA). These results widen the knowledge regarding modulation of gap junctional intercellular communication by prostaglandins.     

Local and global bifurcations in simple Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy systems

The relevance of bifurcation analysis in Takagi-Sugeno (T-S) fuzzy systems is emphasized mainly through examples. It is demonstrated that even the most simple cases can show a great variety of behaviors. To understand the richness of asymptotic dynamics one can find in T-S systems, a methodology is proposed by invoking bifurcation theory. Several local and global bifurcations (some of them, degenerate) are detected and summarized in the corresponding bifurcation diagrams. It is claimed,that this kind of careful analysis could help to cope with some criticism raised regarding the blind use of fuzzy systems