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Household medical waste is often improperly disposed of in several countries, despite the presence of a collection mechanism. This study attempts to identify the challenges of medical waste collection systems, focusing on the regulatory instruments and the stakeholders involved in this process in Brazil, Chile, and Colombia. A descriptive analysis was conducted to identify the differences between these countries. The results reveal that, in general, only 7 out of the 20 regulatory instruments for solid waste are applied in the household medical waste collection process, focusing on the direct stakeholders in the human medicines market, from manufacturers to consumers. The main challenges identified are incorporating veterinary medicines, defining roles for all stakeholders involved, such as healthcare providers and health teaching institutions, and expanding the use of regulatory instruments. These findings support the use of legislation to reduce the stakeholder contributions gap for the collection of household medical waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Landslides are destructive and recurrent natural disasters on steep slopes and represent a risk to lives and properties. Knowledge of relict landslides' location is vital to understand their mechanisms, update inventory maps and improve risk assessment. However, relict landslide mapping is complex in tropical regions covered with rainforest vegetation. A new CNN framework is proposed for semi-automatic detection of relict landslides, which uses a dataset generated by a k-means clustering algorithm and has a pre-training step. The weights computed in the pre-training are used to fine-tune the CNN training process. A comparison between the proposed and the standard framework is performed using CBERS-04A WPM images. Three CNNs for semantic segmentation are used (Unet, FPN and Linknet) with two augmented datasets. A total of 42 combinations of CNNs are tested. Values of precision and recall were very similar between the combinations tested. Recall was higher than 75% for every combination, but precision values were usually smaller than 20%. False positives (FP) samples were addressed as the cause for these low precision values. Predictions of the proposed framework were more accurate and correctly detected more landslides. This work demonstrates that there are limitations for detecting relict landslides in areas covered with rainforest, mainly related to similarities between the spectral response of pastures and deforested areas with Gleichenella sp. ferns, commonly used as an indicator of landslide scars. Relict landslide detection has limitations in rainforest environments The proposed framework for CNN semantic segmentation proved to be useful for relict landslide detection Land cover features spectral characteristics, and input data technical specificities are crucial to the accuracy of CNN models No optimal combination of parameters has been identified No CNN proved to be superior [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two key moments shaped the extant South Asian gene pool within the last 10 thousand years (ka): the Neolithic period, with the advent of agriculture and the rise of the Harappan/Indus Valley Civilisation; and Late Bronze Age events that witnessed the abrupt fall of the Harappan Civilisation and the arrival of Indo-European speakers. This study focuses on the phylogeographic patterns of mitochondrial haplogroups H2 and H13 in the Indian Subcontinent and incorporates evidence from recently released ancient genomes from Central and South Asia. It found signals of Neolithic arrivals from Iran and later movements in the Bronze Age from Central Asia that derived ultimately from the Steppe. This study shows how a detailed mtDNA phylogeographic approach, combining both modern and ancient variation, can provide evidence of population movements, even in a scenario of strong male bias such as in the case of the Bronze Age Steppe dispersals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A protein concentrate from jumbo squid (Dosidicus gigas) was produced under alkaline conditions. Solubility, recovery of proteins, electrophoretic profile, as well as changes in the pattern of solubility of proteins recovered were determined. In the gels, its capability (functional-technological) was evaluated in terms of texture profile analysis, folding test, water holding capacity, and color attributes. The alkaline treatment promoted the autolysis of myosin heavy chain; however, the alkaline concentrate showed better gel formation ability compared with the mantle, resulting in gel strength of 11.83 ± 0.66 and 21.53 ± 2.95 N · cm at 75% and 90% compression, respectively. Nevertheless, the gels prepared from protein concentrate showed a low water holding capacity (38.1 ± 0.1%), while the folding test showed gels grade C-A and C-B for protein concentrate and mantle, respectively. Se elaboro un concentrado proteico a partir de calamar gigante (Dosidicus gigas) bajo condiciones alcalinas. Se monitoreo la solubilidad, recuperacion de proteinas, el perfil electroforetico, asi como cambios en el patron de solubilidad de las proteinas recuperadas. En los geles se evaluo su capacidad funcional-tecnologica en terminos de su analisis del perfil de textura, prueba de doblado, capacidad de retencion de agua y los atributos de color. El tratamiento alcalino promovio la autolisis de la cadena pesada de miosina; sin embargo el concentrado alcalino mostro una mejor capacidad de formacion de geles en comparacion con el manto, obteniendose fuerzas de gel de 11,83 ± 0,66 y 21,53 ± 2,95 N · cm en compresiones al 75% y 90%, respectivamente. No obstante los geles elaborados a partir del concentrado proteico mostraron una pobre capacidad de retencion de agua (38,1 ± 0,1%), mientras que la prueba de doblado mostro geles grado C-A y C-B para concentrado proteico y manto, respectivamente. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural mycoflora and fumonisins were analysed in 490 samples of freshly harvested corn (Zea mays L.) (2003 and 2004 crops) collected at three points in the producing chain from the Northern region of Parana State, Brazil, and correlated to the time interval between the harvesting and the pre-drying step. The two crops showed a similar profile concerning the fungal frequency, and Fusarium sp. was the prevalent genera (100%) for the sampling sites from both crops. Fumonisins were detected in all samples from the three points of the producing chain (2003 and 2004 crops). The levels ranged from 0.11 to 15.32 µg g-1in field samples, from 0.16 to 15.90 µg g-1in reception samples, and from 0.02 to 18.78 µg g-1in pre-drying samples (2003 crop). Samples from the 2004 crop showed lower contamination and fumonisin levels ranged from 0.07 to 4.78 µg g-1in field samples, from 0.03 to 4.09 µg g-1in reception samples, and from 0.11 to 11.21 µg g-1in pre-drying samples. The mean fumonisin level increased gradually from ≤ 5.0 to 19.0 µg g-1as the time interval between the harvesting and the pre-drying step increased from 3.22 to 8.89 h (2003 crop). The same profile was observed for samples from the 2004 crop. Fumonisin levels and the time interval (ρ = 0.96) showed positive correlation (p ≤ 0.05), indicating that delay in the drying process can increase fumonisin levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the problem of determination of stability regions for linear systems with amplitude and successive dynamics restricted actuator through anti-windup strategies. Considering a linear dynamic output feedback designed with respect to the linear system (without saturation), an anti-windup design method is investigated to guarantee both the stability of the closed-loop system and the respect of the controlled output constraints for a region of admissible initial states as large as possible. Based on the modelling of the closed-loop system resulting from the controller plus the anti-windup loop as a linear system with dead-zone and dynamics restricted nonlinearities, LMI stability conditions are formulated. Numerical optimization procedures are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rapid and simple method for determination of cefaclor in human plasma samples, by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), was developed. This method includes a deproteinization with perchloric acid as extraction procedure. Plasma extracts were analyzed on a reversed phase column eluted with a mixture of acetonitrile and 0.01 M sodium dihydrogen phosphate solution, adjusted to pH 6.5 with potassium hydroxide (7:93, v/v), and detected by absorbance at 260 nm. Retention times for cefaclor and the internal standard were 5.2 and 7.2 min, respectively. The method was linear in the range of 0.5–30 µg/mL and the detection limit of the method was 100 ng/mL. This method was useful and suitable for determination of cefaclor after oral administration in healthy volunteers, and could be used for bioavailability and bioequivalence studies of the drug. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During two vegetation periods, the behaviour of the tria‐dimefon metabolite, triadimenol, in different plant parts of winter wheat and in soil was investigated. The fungicide Bayleton DF (triadimefon + captafol) was applied at the beginning of earing. Different ratios of triadimenol‐A/‐B were found in individual plant parts. Triadimenol‐A predominated in the two uppermost leaves, and triadimenol‐B in the roots and in the soil. No residues of triadimenol were found in grain at harvest time (detection limit 0.01 mg/kg). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Last year our white rats (Wistar origin) showed acute behavioral andphysiological changes followed by death in 70% of the animals. We detected that the malfunctions could be attributed to the new batch of laboratory rat pellets provided two weeks before. High levels of urea(260 mg/kg and ammonia (540 mg/kg) were found in the feed while usual values in other similar feed were 48 mg/kg and 82 mg/kg respectively. Suspecting an ammonia intoxication, concentrations of ammonia and urea were determined in blood, brain and liver. Brain neurotransmitters and blood tryptophan and serotonine (5HT) were also determined. Blood ammonia in rats fed the contaminated feed was about 100% higher than those fed the normal feed while liver and brain ammonia were three and fourfold high respectively. Liver and brain urea were four to fivefold and about 100% higher in the exposed group than in the group fed the control diet respectively. Blood 5-HT increased 62.33% in females and 99% in males whereas brain 5-HT increased 83.13% in females and 70.47% in males. But, we detected a 59.8% decrease in brain dopamine levels in females and a 38.65% decrease in males. Liver histologyshowed small droplets of fat stores mainly in centrolobular hepatocyte. No differences in blood or liver cholesterol concentrations were observed whereas liver triacylglycerides were significantly higher inintoxicated females. This study illustrates a problem of food borne intoxication that justifies the need for exhaustive analyses of even not usual compounds in every feed batch; moreover, it is demonstratedthat rat behavior appears to be the earliest biomarker of ammonia exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]