Search

In this paper the degradation of gaseous alcohols (methanol, ethanol, 1-propanol and 1-butanol) has been studied in a continuous reaction system. Methanol and ethanol, but not 1-propanol and 1-butanol, have caused the catalyst bare-TiO2 to become deactivated. The catalyst containing activated carbon, AC-TiO2, has not shown almost deactivation in any experiment.To explain this behaviour variation, a thorough FTIR study concerning the interaction of gaseous alcohols with the catalyst surface and the effect of light on the process was performed. Thus, the interaction of the different catalysts with the selected alcohols, the formed species and the hydroxyl group evolution under irradiation was studied. [Copyright &y& Elsevier] more...

Background Cranial autonomic parasympathetic symptoms (CAPS) appear in at least half of migraine patients theoretically as a result of the release of peptides by the trigemino-vascular system (TVS). Cranial pain pathways become sensitised by repeated episodes of TVS activation, leading to migraine chronification. Objective The objective of this article is to correlate the presence of CAPS with serum levels of vasoactive intestinal peptides (VIP) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP). Patients and methods Patients with chronic migraine (CM) were asked about the presence - during migraine attacks - of five CAPS, which were scored from 0 to 10 by using a quantitative scale. Serum VIP and CGRP levels were determined by ELISA. Results We interviewed 87 CM patients (82 females; mean age 44.7 ± 10.6 years). Seventeen had no CAPS, while 70 reported at least one CAPS. VIP levels ranged from 20.8 to 668.2 pg/ml (mean 154.5 ± 123.2). There was a significant positive correlation between scores in the CAPS scale and VIP levels (Spearman correlation coefficient = 0.227; p = 0.035). VIP levels were significantly higher in CM patients by at least one point in the scale vs those with 0 points ( p = 0.002). Analysing symptoms individually, VIP levels were numerically higher in those patients with symptoms, though they were significantly higher only in those patients with lacrimation vs those without it ( p = 0.013). There was no significant correlation between CGRP levels and the score in the CAPS scale. Conclusions Serum VIP, but not CGRP, levels seem to reflect the rate of activation of the parasympathetic arm of the TVS in migraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

During the last years, there has been an increasing research interest in the analysis of biological fluids requiring non-invasive sampling for biomedical and clinical applications. In this work, we have focused on the nasal exudate with the aim of investigating the potential use of this fluid to know the role of iron in stroke and also for diagnosis. Potential differences in the nasal exudate, collected in swabs, from diagnosed hemorrhagic stroke, ischemic stroke, and control groups were investigated with regard to total iron by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, iron fractionation studies by size exclusion chromatography together with post-column isotope dilution analysis, and four proteins containing iron (ferritin, transferrin, lactoferrin, and ferroportin) with ELISA kits. All these analyses represent an analytical challenge, considering the rather limited amount of sample (10-40 mg) available, being the nasal exudate extracted from the swab with 300 µL 10 mM Tris/HCl, pH = 7.4. Studies to obtain reliable analytical information, such as the blank contribution of the sampling step, evaluation of the extraction efficiency of the nasal exudate from the swab, and normalization strategies for data treatment, have been carried out. Results showed that despite the limited number of investigated samples, fractionation studies as well as the concentrations of ferritin and ferroportin obtained with ELISA kits showed a differential behavior between the different cohorts., (© 2024. The Author(s).) more...

Background/Objectives . A Mediterranean diet (MD) has been associated with neuroprotective effects. We aimed to assess the MD's association with stroke prognosis and the potential mediators involved. Methods . Seventy patients with acute anterior circulation ischemic stroke were included. Dietary patterns were evaluated using the MEDAS scale, a food-frequency questionnaire, and a 24 h recall. Circulating biomarkers including insulin resistance (HOMA index), adipokines (resistin, adiponectin, leptin), choline pathway metabolites (TMAO, betaine, choline), and endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) were measured. Early neurological improvement (ENI) at 24 h, final infarct volume, and functional outcome at 3 months were assessed. Results . Adherence to MD and olive oil consumption were associated with a lower prevalence of diabetes and atherothrombotic stroke, and with lower levels of fasting glycemia, hemoglobinA1C, insulin resistance, and TMAO levels. Monounsaturated fatty acids and oleic acid consumption correlated with lower resistin levels, while olive oil consumption was significantly associated with EPC mobilization. Multivariate analysis showed that higher MD adherence was independently associated with ENI and good functional prognosis at 3 months. EPC mobilization, lower HOMA levels, and lower resistin levels were associated with ENI, a smaller infarct volume, and good functional outcome. Conclusions . MD was associated with better prognosis after ischemic stroke, potentially mediated by lower insulin resistance, increased EPC mobilization, and lower resistin levels, among other factors. more...

Deer antlers are the fastest growing tissue. Because they are based on proto-oncogenes, to avoid the risk of cancer, antlers evolved strong anticancer mechanisms, and thus their extract (DVA) is effective also against the few human tumours studied so far. We assessed whether DVA is a general anticancer compound by testing the direct effects in cells of different tumours: glioblastoma (GBM; lines U87MG and U251), colorectal (CRC; lines DLD-1, HT-29, SW480, and SW620), breast cancer (BRCA; lines MCF7, SKBR3, and PA00), and leukaemia (THP-1). DVA reduced the viability of tumours but not healthy cells (NHC; lines 293T and HaCaT). Mobility decreased at least for the longest test (72 h). Intraperitoneal/oral 200 mg DVA/kg administration in GBM xenograft mice for 28 d reduced tumour weight by 66.3% and 61.4% respectively, and it also reduced spleen weight (43.8%). In addition, tumours treated with DVA showed symptoms of liquefactive necrosis. Serum cytokines showed DVA up-regulated factors related to tumour fighting and down-regulated those related to inducing immune tolerance to the tumour. DVA shows general anticancer effects in the lines tested and, in GBM mice, also strong indirect effects apparently mediated by the immune system. DVA may contain a future anticancer medicine without secondary effects. more...

Chestnut and chestnut byproducts are of worldwide interest, so there is a constant need to develop faster and more accurate monitoring techniques. Recent advances in simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithms and user accessibility have led to increased use of handheld mobile laser scanning (HHLS) in precision agriculture. We propose a tree growth monitoring methodology, based on HHLS point cloud processing, that calculates the length of branches through spatial discretization of the point cloud for each tree. The methodology was tested by comparing two point clouds collected almost simultaneously for each of a set of sweet chestnut trees. The results obtained indicated that our HHLS method was reliable and accurate in efficiently monitoring sweet chestnut tree growth. The same methodology was used to calculate the growth of the same set of trees over 37 weeks (from spring to winter). Differences in week 0 and week 37 scans showed an approximate mean growth of 0.22 m, with a standard deviation of around 0.16 m reflecting heterogeneous tree growth. more...

Background: Differential diagnosis between ischemic stroke (IS) and intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a great challenge. Recently, the discovery of cerebral lymphatic drainage toward the nostrils suggested nasal exudate (NE) as a new source for measuring biomarkers from neural damage., Objectives: In this study, we sought to confirm whether glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) levels in NE could identify ICH., Methods: GFAP in nasal exudate (nGFAP) was studied in 5 IS and 5 ICH patients. All patients underwent neurological examination, brain computed tomography, laboratory tests, and measurement of nGFAP and serum GFAP., Results: We found higher concentrations in ICH patients (p = 0.02). The area under the ROC curve for IS/ICH discrimination was 0.840, with a cut-off point of 0.06 pg/mg for 100% sensitivity and 80% specificity., Conclusions: These findings suggest that nGFAP could be a useful biomarker for differential diagnosis between IS and ICH and opens a potential field of study for other biomarkers in NE in neurological disorders., (© 2023 S. Karger AG, Basel.) more...

Water-soluble, stable, and monodisperse palladium nanoclusters (PdNCs) were synthesized using NaBH 4 as a reductant and lipoic acid as a ligand. PdNCs, measured by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, showed a round shape and a diameter of 2.49 ± 0.02 nm. It was found that each PdNC contains 550 Pd atoms on average. These PdNCs offer high amplification as a label of biochemical reactions when inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is used as a detector. In addition, PdNCs have catalytic activity on electrochemical reactions, allowing detection by linear sweep voltammetry (LSV). As a proof of applicability, a competitive immunoassay based on PdNC labels was developed for the determination of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in human serum, comparing ICP-MS and LSV detection. GFAP is a biomarker for differentiating between patients with ischemic stroke (IS) and hemorrhagic stroke (HS). The limit of detection (LoD), corresponding to IC 10 (4-parameter logistic curve), was 0.03 pM of GFAP, both by ICP-MS and LSV, being lower than the 0.31 pM LoD provided by the ELISA commercial kit. Using the error profile method, 0.03 pM and 0.11 pM LoDs were obtained respectively by ICP-MS and LSV: LoD is lower by ICP-MS due to the better precision of the measurements. The analyses of human serum samples from IS, HS, and control (CT) donors using PdNC labels and detection by ICP-MS and LSV were validated with a commercial ELISA kit (for CT donors only ICP-MS provided enough sensitivity). Results point out toward the future use of PdNCs as a label in other immunoprobes for the determination of specific proteins requiring very low LoDs as well as the development of electrochemical decentralized methodologies., (© 2023. The Author(s).) more...