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Background: Perioperatively, unexpected hypothermia may cause adverse surgical outcomes. However, few studies have explored the efficacy of forced-air warming in patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery., Aim/objective: To determine the efficacy of forced-air warming for preventing perioperative hypothermia and complications in patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery., Methods: A total of 127 participants undergoing laparoscopic thoracic or abdominal surgery were recruited between January and November 2015. Participants were randomly allocated to intervention (forced-air warming, n = 64) and control groups (passive insulation, n = 63). Oesophageal core temperature was measured during surgery, whilst tympanic core temperature was measured every 30 minutes preoperatively and in the postanaesthesia care unit. Levels of shivering and pain, amount of bleeding, and adverse cardiac events were measured before the transfer from the postanaesthesia care unit. The generalized estimating equation was used for data analysis., Results: The intervention group had better warming efficacy than the control group between 90 and 330 minutes during surgery. The intervention group had fewer complications than the control group in terms of intraoperative bleeding, time to rewarm to 36°C, pain levels, and shivering levels in the postanaesthesia care unit., Conclusion: Forced-air warming can increase warming efficacy and reduce complications of perioperative hypothermia in patients undergoing laparoscopic surgery., (© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.)

Several Salmonella outbreaks linked to black pepper call for effective inactivation processes, because current decontamination methods result in quality deterioration. Radio-frequency (RF) heating provides a rapid heating rate and volumetric heating, resulting in a shorter come-up time. This allows for choosing a high-temperature and short-time combination to achieve the desired inactivation with minimal quality deterioration. The objectives of this study were to evaluate RF heating for inactivation of Salmonella enterica and Enterococcus faecium in black peppercorn and evaluate quality changes of RF-treated black peppercorn. Black peppercorns were inoculated with a five-strain cocktail of Salmonella or E. faecium to attain initial population levels of 6.8 and 7.3 log CFU/g, respectively, and were then adjusted to a moisture content of 12.7% (wet basis) and a water activity of 0.60 at room temperature. A stability test was performed to quantify the microbial reduction during inoculation and equilibration before RF heating inactivation. During RF heating, the cold spot was determined to be at the center on the top surface of the treated sample. In addition to inoculating the entire sample, an inoculated packed sample was placed at the cold spot of the tray. An RF heating time of 2.5 min provided a 5.31- and 5.26-log CFU/g reduction in the entire sample contained in the tray for Salmonella and E. faecium, respectively. Color parameters (L*, a*, b*), piperine content, total phenolics, scavenging activity, and most of the volatile compounds of 2.5-min RF-treated samples were not significantly different from those of the control samples. These data suggest that RF heating is a promising thermal inactivation treatment for Salmonella without significant quality deterioration, and E. faecium seems to be a suitable surrogate for Salmonella to validate the efficacy of RF heating of black peppercorn.

With the introduction of novel and potentially less polluting nicotine containing products to the market, the impacts of their usage to indoor air quality as opposed to conventional pollution sources must be reviewed and considered. This review study aimed to comparatively analyse changes in indoor air quality as the consequence of tobacco heating system (THS) generated pollution against general indoor air quality in various micro-environments, especially with combustion-based pollution sources present. Indoor concentrations of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, benzene, toluene, nicotine and PM 2.5 were reviewed and compared; concentrations of other harmful and potentially harmful substances (HPHCs) were discussed. Generally, the usage of THS has been associated with lower or comparable indoor air pollutant concentrations compared against other conventional indoor sources or environments, in most cases distinguishable above background, thus potentially being associated with health effects at prolonged exposures as any other artificial air pollution source. In the controlled environment the use of THS (as well as an electronic cigarette) resulted in the lowest concentrations of formaldehyde, benzene, toluene, PM 2.5, among majority researched pollution sources (conventional cigarettes, waterpipe, incense, mosquito coils). The exposure to significantly higher pollution levels of benzene, toluene, and formaldehyde occurred in public environments, especially transport micro-environments. Such low levels of conventionally-assessed indoor pollutants resulting from the use of new nicotine containing products raise challenges for epidemiological studies of second-hand exposure to THS aerosol in real-life environments., (Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: Warming intravenous fluids is essential to prevent hypothermia in patients with trauma, especially when large volumes are administered. Prehospital and transport settings require fluid warmers to be small, energy efficient and independent of external power supply. We compared the warming properties and resistance to flow of currently available battery-operated fluid warmers., Methods: Fluid warming was evaluated at 50, 100 and 200 mL/min at a constant input temperature of 20°C and 10°C using a cardiopulmonary bypass roller pump and cooler. Output temperature was continuously recorded., Results: Performance of fluid warmers varied with flows and input temperatures. At an input temperature of 20°C and flow of 50 mL/min, the Buddy Lite, enFlow, Thermal Angel and Warrior warmed 3.4, 2.4, 1 and 3.6 L to over 35°C, respectively. However, at an input temperature of 10°C and flow of 200 mL/min, the Buddy Lite failed to warm, the enFlow warmed 3.3 L to 25.7°C, the Thermal Angel warmed 1.5 L to 20.9°C and the Warrior warmed 3.4 L to 34.4°C (p<0.0001)., Conclusion: We found significant differences between the fluid warmers: the use of the Buddy Lite should be limited to moderate input temperature and low flow rates. The use of the Thermal Angel is limited to low volumes due to battery capacity and low output temperature at extreme conditions. The Warrior provides the best warming performance at high infusion rates, as well as low input temperatures, and was able to warm the largest volumes in these conditions., Competing Interests: Competing interests: AR reports receiving consultant fee from Medtronic outside the submitted work. This project received non-financial support from QinFlow Ltd, Tel-Aviv, Israel (providing a Belmont Buddy Lite, Estill Medical Technologies Thermal Angel and QinFlow Warrior units for testing) and from the Israel Defense Forces, Medical Corps (providing CareFusion enFlow unit for testing)., (© Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.)

To investigate the effect one of the oil products, domestic heating oil (DHO), on freshwater mollusks, Unio tigridis and Viviparous bengalensis were exposed to three DHO concentrations for each species (5.8, 8.7, and 17.4 ml L -1 for mussels; 6.5, 9.7, and 19.5 mlL -1 for snails, respectively). Antioxidant enzymes (superoxide dismutase, catalase), malondialdehyde, acetylcholinesterase and DNA damage in both species tissues were monitored over 21 days. The results showed that both antioxidant enzymes concentration (SOD and CAT) increased in the lowest DHO concentrations (5.8, and 8.7 ml L -1 ), and then decreased in the highest concentration (17.4 ml L -1 ) as the same pattern for Unio tigridis, but this not occurred for Viviparous bengalensis. MDA values recorded significantly increased compared to control. No reduction was observed in AChE concentrations in soft tissues of both mollusks may due to that DHO was a non-neurotoxicant to Unio tigridis and Viviparous bengalensis. The results of DNA damage parameters were showed significant differences (p≤ 0.05) between control and DHO concentrations except lowest concentration for each parameter measured in digestive gland of Unio tigridis. As well as, these significant differences were recorded between control and three concentrations of DHO exposure for comet length, and tail length parameters, and between control and highest oil concentration for tail moment in Viviparous bengalensis. DHO has the ability to prevent the reproduction of Viviparous bengalensis snail relation to control, that is what we considered strong evidence of the toxicity properties of DHO on the reproductive status of this species of snails. SOD, CAT, and MDA were useful biomarkers for evaluating the toxicity of DHO in mussel and snails, and comet assay was a good tool to assess the potential genotoxicity of DHO., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The aim of this paper is to contribute to the exploration of environmental modeling methods based on the elicitation of stakeholders' mental models. This aim is motivated by the necessity to understand the dilemmas and behavioral rationales of individuals for supporting the management of environmental problems. The methodology developed for this paper integrates qualitative and quantitative methods by deploying focus groups for the elicitation of the behavioral rationales of the target population, and grounded theory to code the information gained in the focus groups and to guide the development of a dynamic simulation model. The approach is applied to a case of urban air pollution caused by residential heating with wood in central Chile. The results show how the households' behavior interrelates with the governmental management strategies and provide valuable and novel insights into potential challenges to the implementation of policies to manage the local air pollution problem. The experience further shows that the developed participatory modeling approach allows to overcome some of the issues currently encountered in the elicitation of individuals' behavioral rationales and in the quantification of qualitative information.

Background: Perioperative temperature management is fundamental to ensure normothermia in patients. Fluid warmers, which have become smaller in size over the past few years, can help to maintain a stable body temperature. Potentially, the reduction of the size may influence the heating performance., Methods: Therefore, we tested the effectiveness of enFlow®, Fluido compact® and Thermosens® fluid warmers by measuring the inlet and outlet temperature for room-tempered and ice-cooled saline at flow rates of 25, 50, 75 and 100 ml/min., Results: At all examined flow rates, the tested heating devices warmed up room-tempered saline effectively. The enFlow® provided the significantly (p < 0.05) highest outlet temperature throughout all tested flow rates in comparison to the other devices. When ice-cooled saline was used, the enFlow® maintained a stable outlet temperature > 38 °C at all tested flow rates. The Fluido compact® ensured this only at flow rates of 25 and 50 ml/min, while the Thermosens® provided these conditions at flow rates of 25, 50 and 75 ml/min., Conclusions: The heating capability for room-tempered saline was effective in all tested devices, but with ice-cooled saline enFlow® is superior at high flow rates. At low flow rates the heating capabilities of enFlow®, Fluido compact® and Thermosens® are comparable.

This study determined the inactivation kinetic parameters of selected pathogens in heat, ultraviolet-C and combined heat-UV-C treated coconut liquid endosperm. Separate cocktails of Escherichia coli O157:H7, Salmonella enterica serovars, and Listeria monocytogenes strains were inoculated into coconut liquid endosperm (pH 5.15, TSS 4.4 o Bx, TA 0.062% malic acid, extinction coefficient (ε) at 254 nm of 0.0154 cm -1 ) for inactivation studies. Result showed that all organisms generally exhibited a log-linear heat inactivation behavior (R 2 0.81-0.99). The E. coli O157:H7 cocktail (D 55  = 19.75 min, D 57  = 10.79 min, D 60  = 3.38 min, and D 63  = 0.46 min) was found to be significantly more resistant (P > 0.05) than the tested cocktail of L. monocytogenes (D 55  = 11.68 min, D 57  = 4.53 min, D 60  = 1.82 min and D 63  = 0.26 min) and S. enterica cocktail (D 55  = 3.08 min, D 57  = 2.60 min, D 60  = 0.89 min and D 63  = 0.25 min). Despite the differences in D T values, computed z values for L. monocytogenes cocktail (5.12 ± 0.43 °C) and E. coli O157:H7 cocktail (4.95 ± 0.12 °C) were not significantly different (P > 0.05), but were both significantly (P < 0.05) lower than that of S. enterica cocktail (7.10 ± 0.15 °C). All test organisms also exhibited a generally log-linear UV-C inactivation behavior (R 2 0.90-0.99) with E. coli O157:H7 cocktail (D UV-C  = 25.26 mJ/cm 2 ) demonstrating greatest resistance to UV-C than S. enterica (D UV-C  = 24.65 mJ/cm 2 ) and L. monocytogenes (D UV-C  = 17.30 mJ/cm 2 ) cocktails. The D 55 values of each organism cocktail were used to calculate for the 3-log reduction heating process schedules, during which UV-C treatments were simultaneously applied. Lethal rates (F values) calculations in the combined processes revealed that within the 3-log reduction heating processes, co-exposure of UV-C resulted in 5.62 to 6.20 log reductions in the test organism populations. Heating caused 69.3, 97.2, and 67.4% of the reduction in E. coli O157:H7, S. enterica and L. monocytogenes cocktails, respectively. These results can be used as baseline data in the establishment of mild heat treatment in combination with UV-C process schedules for coconut liquid endosperm and other similar products., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Hypothermia is associated with an increased postoperative morbidity and mortality. Forced-air warming systems are the most effective methods for its prevention. When using a mattress, a reduction in the area of diffusion of warm air by crushing due to excess weight cannot be ruled out., Methods: We designed a prospective study to compare the efficacy of a forced-air warming mattress (Bair Hugger® 585) to prevent hypothermia (core temperature (CT°) < 36 °C) in morbidly obese (group MO, body mass index (BMI) ≥ 40 kg/m 2 ) and non-obese patients (group NO, BMI < 30 kg/m 2 )., Results: Twenty-six patients were included in group MO (84% bariatric surgery, 96% laparoscopic procedures) and 32 in group NO (37.5% cholecystectomy, 62.5% laparoscopic procedures). The incidence of hypothermia was not different between the two groups 1 h after induction (H1) and at extubation: 22 vs 19% (not significant (NS)) and 23 vs 19% (NS) for the group MO versus group NO. At H1, the mean CT° was not different: 36.3 ± 0.4 °C vs 36.4 ± 0.5 °C (NS), group MO versus group NO. No patient presented severe hypothermia (CT° < 34.9 °C). Dysfunction of the forced-air warming mattress was observed for eight patients (31%) in group MO but for none in group NO., Conclusion: The forced-air warming mattress is effective in preventing hypothermia in MO patients. However, excess weight is associated with frequent dysfunction of the system, which does not make it a practical system in a context of MO.

By analyzing the status quo of the district heating energy consumption and air quality in China, it was found that with the environmental quality degradation, the previous assessment method using energy efficiency as the index cannot consider the impact on the environmental quality and human health simultaneously. Hence, to analyze the environmental quality deterioration and human health hazard due to the heating emissions, a novel assessment method was proposed and can be used to guide the improvement strategies. In this study, based on the quantitative influence of the heating emissions, urban population density and pollution duration, heating impact index (HII) as a new comprehensive evaluation index was introduced. It can be used to assess the urgency of the heating improvement in the studied regions. To estimate the air pollution status quo caused by heating emissions, 66 main heating cities in China were selected as the studied objects. The results showed that the calculated average heating emission-contributed air quality index (AQI) was 45% and polluted time percentage was 39%. The industrial emissions in 19 cities were the main reason to deteriorate the environmental quality during the heating season. While in the remaining 47 cities (71.2% of total studied cities), heating emissions dominated the deterioration of environmental quality. Subsequently, the cities with HII larger than 0.1 were divided into six levels to provide a guide for the Chinese government and relevant departments to improve the heating system and reduce human health hazard. This study can also be used as a reference for other polluted cities to investigate the environmental quality deterioration and human health hazard degrees due to the heating emissions., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Accurate estimation of pollutant emissions from household solid fuel combustion has been a challenging issue in developing regions, especially in the heavily polluted northern China region. Basing on a survey of residential household energy use in all villages in Beijing, this study developed a village-based emission inventory of PM 2.5 , SO 2 , NOx, and NMVOCs emitted from household combustion in Beijing, as well as three emission control scenarios. Notably, 3805 kt and 556 kt of coal were used for household heating and cooking in 2015, respectively. The emissions of NO X , NMVOCs, SO 2 , and PM 2.5 forhousehold heating totaled11.5 kt, 29.3 kt, 43.1 kt, and 34.7 kt in 2015, respectively, while those for household cooking totaled 1.55 kt, 4.02 kt, 6.55 kt, and 3.99 kt. Emissions from household heating contributed to∼70% of PM 2.5 and ∼60% of SO 2 emissions in winter. Additionally, downtown Beijing is surrounded by polluted suburbs. A coal forbiddance policy (e.g. "coal to gas") could gradually improve the air quality in urban Beijing., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: This study investigated the effects of thermal stimulation on corticomotor excitability with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)., Material and Methods: Participants consisted of healthy young adults (n = 20) and seniors (n = 15). Each experimental session consisted of a baseline (BL) assessment, followed by a warming and a cooling protocol. At BL, recordings of motor evoked potentials (MEPs) and skin temperature were performed with the index finger covered with a 'neutral' gel pack (24 °C). For warming, the same measurements were performed, but with the index covered with a warmed gel pack (45 °C). The gel pack was kept for 5 min, and the measurements were performed at 1 min during warming and 5 and 10 min post. After a break, participants were tested with the cooling protocol (gel pack 10 °C) by repeating the same sequence as in the warming., Results: The two thermal protocols induced the desired range of skin temperatures (warming = 35-45°; cooling = 13-24°). For MEP modulation, the primary analysis revealed no main effects or interactions, owing to the variability of responses to either warming or cooling stimulation. Further analysis of individual responses revealed that modulation, when present, was short-lasting and was characterized by a depression in about half of the participants. Facilitation was also observed, but only in smaller clusters, especially with cooling (13/35). Modulation in MEP amplitude did not correlate with changes in skin temperature., Conclusion: These results are consistent with previous reports regarding variability in response to sensory stimulation protocols. In the case of thermal stimulation, such variability likely reflects individual differences in the influences exerted by thermal afferents centrally.

Introduction: Biomass smoke exposure (BSE) is a recognized cause of COPD particularly in rural areas. However, little research has been focused on BSE in suburban areas., Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of COPD, respiratory symptoms (RS) and BSE in women living in a suburban area of Mexico City exposed to BSE., Methods: A cross-sectional epidemiological survey of a female population aged >35 years was performed using a multistage cluster sampling strategy. The participants completed questionnaires on RS and COPD risk factors. The COPD prevalence was based on the postbronchodilator forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV 1 )/forced vital capacity (FVC) ratio. Of the 1,333 women who completed the respiratory questionnaires, spirometry data were obtained from 1,190, and 969 of these were scored as A-C., Results: The prevalence of BSE was 47%, and the estimated prevalence of COPD was 2.5% for the total population (n=969) and 3.1% for those with BSE only. The spirometry and oximetry values were significantly lower in women with greater exposure levels. The prevalence of RS (cough, phlegm, wheezing and dyspnea) was significantly higher in the women with BSE compared to those without exposure. We concluded that the association of COPD with biomass exposure is not only a rural phenomenon but also may be observed in the suburban areas of the big cities., Competing Interests: Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Objective: To analyze the status and distribution characteristics of household polluting fuel use in China. Methods: The data were collected from the adults aged ≥40 years who were recruited through multi-stage stratified cluster sampling in 2014-2015 COPD surveillance conducted in 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in China. A total of 75 107 adults aged ≥40 years in 125 surveillance points were surveyed in face to face interview. Polluting fuels included biomass fuels (wood, dung, crop residues and charcoal), coal (including coal dust and lignite) and kerosene. The weighted percentage of family using polluting fuels, combustion method for cooking or heating and ventilation installation with 95 %CI were estimated by complex sampling design. Results: According to the survey results from 75 075 adults, the percentage of family using polluting fuels for cooking or heating was 59.9 % (95 %CI : 54.2 % -65.7 % ), the percentage in rural areas was significantly higher than that in urban areas ( P <0.001). As for different polluting fuels, the percentage of using only biomass fuels for cooking or heating was 25.9 % (95 %CI :20.5 % -31.3 % ), the percentage of using only coal (including kerosene) was 18.9 % (95 %CI : 13.2 % -24.7 % ), and the percentage of using both biomass fuels and coal was 15.1 % (95 %CI : 10.8 % -19.4 % ). Among seven geographic areas in China, the percentages of using biomass fuels ranged from 53.8 % in southern China to 23.0 % in northern China ( P =0.039), the percentages of using coal (including kerosene) ranged from 59.5 % in northwestern China to 22.3 % in southern China ( P =0.001). Among the families using polluting fuels, the percentages of mainly using traditional open fires and stoves were 21.3 % (95 %CI : 16.9 % -25.8 % ) and 31.5 % (95 %CI : 25.8 % -37.2 % ), respectively; the percentage of having ventilation installation was72.7 % (95 %CI : 66.9 % -78.5 % ). Conclusions: Household polluting fuel use is common in China, but differs with area, traditional fuel combustion method is widely used, the coverage of ventilation installation need to be improved. In order to promote COPD prevention and control, it is necessary to develop strategies on fuels and fuel combustion method improvement to reduce indoor air pollution resulted from household fuel combustion.

Solid fuels, such as coal, straw, and firewood are wildly used for cooking and heating in China, with the negative side effects of indoor air pollution and residential health problems. This article investigates the current and historical trend of China's disease burden caused by indoor air pollution (IAP) at the provincial level. The Global Burden Disease data set and national/provincial yearbooks are used. The results show the following: (1) In recent years, the burden of disease caused by IAP is decreasing; (2) in all health aspects, eastern coastal regions performed better than inland regions; (3) health risk is extremely severe in Henan, Sichuan, and Guizhou provinces; (4) IAP gives rise to serious diseases, including chronic obstructive respiratory diseases and cerebrovascular diseases. This article discusses the relevant causes and countermeasures.

Study Objectives: Insomnia is one of the most common disorders in the general population. Hypnotic medications are efficacious, but their use is limited by adverse events (AEs). This study evaluated the safety and efficacy of a novel forehead temperature-regulating device that delivers frontal cerebral thermal therapy (maintained at 14-16°C, equivalent to 57-61°F) for the treatment of insomnia., Methods: This was a prospective, randomized controlled trial involving two nights of therapy in 106 adults diagnosed with insomnia. The main outcome measures included latency to persistent sleep and sleep efficiency derived from polysomnographic (PSG) recordings and frequency and severity of AEs., Results: The safety profile was comparable to sham treatment. Statistically significant differences were not found in the two a priori co-primary endpoint measures absolute latency to persistent sleep (p = 0.092) or absolute sleep efficiency. Frontal cerebral thermal therapy produced improvements over sham in other convergent measures of sleep latency including relative changes from baseline in latency to persistent sleep (p = 0.013), the latency to stage 1 NREM sleep (p = 0.006), the latency to stage 2 NREM sleep (p = 0.002), a trend for the latency to stage 3 NREM sleep (p = 0.055), and an increase in the minutes of sleep during the first hour of the night (p = 0.024)., Conclusions: Two-night frontal cerebral thermal therapy produced improvements in PSG measures of insomnia patients' ability to fall asleep and had a benign safety profile. Further studies are warranted to determine the role of this therapy in the longer-term management of insomnia., Trial Registration: clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT01966211.

The present study combined air sampling with pulmonary function tests (PFTs) to determine both the extent of air pollution proximal to an electric arc furnace (EAF) and its impact on human health. The mass concentrations of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters less than 2.5 µm (PM 2.5 ) in exposure areas were not significantly higher than the samples taken at a control area. However, the concentrations of five metal elements, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, and Zn in PM 2.5 were significantly higher in the exposure area than that of the control area. PFTs showed that the average forced vital capacity (FVC) of boys was decreased with decreasing distance from the EAF factory. With normalization of pulmonary function by age, height, and weight, we found that the FVC became more negative with a decrease in distance from the EAF. Lastly, regression analysis was performed to analyze the impact of the concentrations of the five metals in PM 2.5 on the performance of pulmonary function. The results showed that the metals can be ranked from the highest to the lowest in terms of impact on the FVC of boys as follows: Cr, Cd, Ni, Cu, and Zn. This finding is consistent with the ranking of metal toxicity reported in the literature for a rat lung epithelial cell line. The results of this study showed that only measuring PM 2.5 mass concentrations may not provide a full explanation of its toxicity and health effects. The chemical composition of the PM 2.5 can be an important factor that determined the health impact of PM 2.5 .

Radio frequency (RF) heating has been successfully used for inactivating microorganisms in agricultural and food products. Athermal (non-thermal) effects of RF energy on microorganisms have been frequently proposed in the literature, resulting in difficulties for developing effective thermal treatment protocols. The purpose of this study was to identify if the athermal inactivation of microorganisms existed during RF treatments. Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus in apple juice and mashed potato were exposed to both RF and conventional thermal energies to compare their inactivation populations. A thermal death time (TDT) heating block system was used as conventional thermal energy source to simulate the same heating treatment conditions, involving heating temperature, heating rate and uniformity, of a RF treatment at a frequency of 27.12 MHz. Results showed that a similar and uniform temperature distribution in tested samples was achieved in both heating systems, so that the central sample temperature could be used as representative one for evaluating thermal inactivation of microorganisms. The survival patterns of two target microorganisms in two food samples were similar both for RF and heating block treatments since their absolute difference of survival populations was <1 log CFU/ml. The statistical analysis indicated no significant difference (P > 0.05) in inactivating bacteria between the RF and the heating block treatments at each set of temperatures. The solid temperature and microbial inactivation data demonstrated that only thermal effect of RF energy at 27.12 MHz was observed on inactivating microorganisms in foods., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Cigarette smoking is a major risk factor for many adverse health conditions. Novel tobacco heating products (THPs) heat tobacco, reducing exposure to many of the harmful combustion toxicants in conventional cigarette emissions. In vitro studies have been employed to support the toxicological evaluation of chemicals and complex mixtures, including cigarette smoke. The use of automated robotics platforms for in vitro toxicological screening complements traditional testing approaches. Multiparametric toxicity and oxidative stress endpoints were used to assess in vitro biological responses elicited after exposure to total particulate matter (TPM) from two commercially available THPs, and the reference tobacco product 3R4F, in human bronchial epithelial cells. A luciferase-based reporter gene assay was used to assess antioxidant response element (ARE) transcriptional activation in stably transfected H292 cells after 6 and 24 h exposures. High-content screening was used to assess 10 endpoints normal human bronchial epithelial cells after 4 or 24 h exposures. 3R4F TPM stimulated significant increases in ARE activation (p < 0.005) and moderate activity in HCS cell-based assays compared to THP at comparable doses. THPs showed little or no activity in all assays. HCS techniques can extend safety assessments providing information quickly in the early stages of product innovation and development., (Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

A four-arm study was undertaken in Japan to determine the puffing topography, mouth level exposure and average daily consumption by consumers of the tobacco heating products (THPs): the non-mentholated THP1.0(T), the mentholated THP1.0(M) and a tobacco heating system (THS). The extent of lip blocking of air inlet holes while using THP1.0(T) was also assessed. Groups 1, 2, and 4 included smokers, and group 3 included regular THP users. Smokers of 7-8 mg ISO nicotine free dry particulate matter (NFDPM) non-mentholated cigarettes took on average larger mean puff volumes from THPs than from conventional cigarettes, but puff numbers and durations were similar. Mouth level exposure to NFDPM and nicotine levels were significantly lower when using THPs than conventional cigarettes. Similar trends were observed among smokers of 7-8 mg ISO NFDPM mentholated cigarettes who used mentholated cigarettes and THP1.0(M). Regular users of commercial THS had similar puffing behaviours irrespective of whether they were using THS or THP1.0(T), except for mean puff volume which was lower with THP1.0(T). No smokers blocked the air inlet holes when using THP1.0(T). The puffing topography results support the machine puffing regime used to generate toxicant emissions data and in vitro toxicology testing., (Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This series of nine papers described the operation and pre-clinical assessment of a tobacco heating product THP1.0. This last paper contextualises the pre-clinical assessment data on THP1.0 with data from other next generation products relative to cigarette smoke. The tobacco and nicotine risk continuum is a concept that ranks products according to their potential harm, with cigarettes at the highest risk extreme and Nicotine Replacement Therapy at the least risky extreme. Data generated in pre-clinical studies on THP1.0 and a range of Next Generation Products (NGPs) may provide some initial indication of potential ranking of these products, although importantly, data from such studies are limited and cannot take into consideration several important aspects for risk such as long term product use patterns. In each of the studies, the responses to the emissions from THP1.0 were substantially reduced relative to cigarette smoke. Additionally, responses from THP1.0 were very similar to those from the other NGP emissions. A comparison of the results clearly showed the emissions from all the NGPs were considerably lower than those from cigarettes and all in around the same emissions level. These results show that THP1.0 could have the potential to be a reduced risk product compared to cigarettes, though further studies assessing the exposure, individual and population risk reduction profile would be required to substantiate this potential., (Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

For a tobacco heating product (THP), which heats rather than burns tobacco, the emissions of toxicants in the aerosol were compared with those in cigarette smoke under a machine-puffing regimen of puff volume 55 ml, puff duration 2 s and puff interval 30 s. The list of toxicants included those proposed by Health Canada, the World Health Organization Study Group on Tobacco Product Regulation (TobReg), the US Food and Drug Administration and possible thermal breakdown products. In comparison to the University of Kentucky 3R4F reference cigarette the toxicant levels in the THP1.0 emissions were significantly reduced across all chemical classes. For the nine toxicants proposed by TobReg for mandated reduction in cigarette emissions, the mean reductions in THP1.0 aerosol were 90.6-99.9% per consumable with an overall average reduction of 97.1%. For the abbreviated list of harmful and potentially harmful constituents of smoke specified by the US Food and Drug Administration Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee for reporting in cigarette smoke (excluding nicotine), reductions in the aerosol of THP1.0 were 84.6-99.9% per consumable with an overall average reduction of 97.5%., (Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

In vitro studies have been widely used to support the toxicological evaluation of chemicals and complex mixtures including cigarette smoke. In this study, the total particulate matter and whole aerosol from a Kentucky reference 3R4F cigarette and two commercially available tobacco heating products (THPs) were assessed using in vitro mutagenicity, cytotoxicity and tumour-promoting activity assays. The Ames assay assessed mutagenicity using Salmonella typhimurium tester strains TA98, TA100, TA1535, TA1537 and TA102 ± metabolic activation (S9). The mouse lymphoma assay was used with short 3 h and longer 24 h exposures. The Bhas 42 cell transformation assay was incorporated as an in vitro alternative for detecting tumour promoters, and the neutral red uptake cell viability assay provided an acute measure of cytotoxicity. To complement the approach, the Ames assay was also employed with S. typhimurium tester strains TA98, TA100, TA1535, TA97 and TA102 using a scaled down methodology for the assessment of aerosols. All the in vitro techniques employed produced a clear positive response with cigarette smoke and in contrast, a negative response to THPs at doses equivalent to or higher than a cigarette smoke test matrix. The data show little difference between the THPs assessed suggesting parity between products., (Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Being unable to meet basic household energy needs can have dire health consequences and merits more attention and resources.

Tobacco heating products (THPs) represent a subset of the next-generation nicotine and tobacco product category, in which tobacco is typically heated at temperatures of 250-350 °C, thereby avoiding many of the harmful combustion-related toxicant emissions of conventional cigarettes. In this study, we have assessed aerosol generation and cytotoxicity from two commercially available THPs, THP1.0 and THS, relative to tobacco smoke from 3R4F reference cigarettes, using an adapted Borgwaldt RM20S Smoking Machine. Quantification of nicotine in the exposed cell-culture media showed greater delivery of nicotine from both THPs than from the cigarette. Using Neutral Red Uptake assay, THPs demonstrated reduced in vitro cytotoxicity in H292 human bronchial epithelial cells as compared with 3R4F cigarette exposure at the air-liquid interface (p < 0.0001). Both THPs demonstrated a statistically similar reduction in biological response, with >87% viability relative to 3R4F at a common aerosol dilution (1:40, aerosol:air). A similar response was observed when plotted against nicotine; a statistical difference between 3R4F and THPs (p < 0.0001) and no difference between the THPs (p = 0.0186). This pre-clinical in vitro biological testing forms part of a larger package of data to help assess the safety and risk reduction potential of next-generation tobacco products relative to cigarettes, using a weight of evidence approach., (Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

A novel tobacco heating product, THP1.0, that heats tobacco below 245 °C is described. It was designed to eliminate tobacco combustion, while heating tobacco to release nicotine, tobacco volatiles and glycerol to form its aerosol. The stewardship assessment approach behind the THP 1.0 design was based on established toxicological principles. Thermophysical studies were conducted to examine the extent of tobacco thermal conversion during operation. Thermogravimetric analysis of the tobacco material revealed the major thermal behaviour in air and nitrogen up to 900 °C. This, combined with the heating temperature profiling of the heater and tobacco rod, verified that the tobacco was not subject to combustion. The levels of tobacco combustion markers (CO, CO 2 , NO and NO x ) in the aerosol of THP1.0 were significantly lower than the levels if there were any significant pyrolysis or combustion. Quantification of other tobacco thermal decomposition and evaporative transfer markers showed that these levels were, on average, reduced by more than 90% in THP1.0 aerosol as compared with cigarette smoke. The physical integrity of the tobacco consumable rod showed no ashing. Taken together, these data establish that the aerosol generated by THP1.0 is produced mainly by evaporation and distillation, and not by combustion or pyrolysis., (Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The tobacco heating product THP1.0, which heats but does not burn tobacco, was tested as part of a modified-risk tobacco product assessment framework for its impacts on indoor air quality and residual tobacco smoke odour. THP1.0 heats the tobacco to less than 240 °C ± 5 °C during puffs. An environmentally controlled room was used to simulate ventilation conditions corresponding to residential, office and hospitality environments. An analysis of known tobacco smoke constituents, included CO, CO 2 , NO, NO 2 , nicotine, glycerol, 3-ethenyl pyridine, sixteen polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, eight volatile organic compounds, four carbonyls, four tobacco-specific nitrosamines and total aerosol particulate matter. Significant emissions reductions in comparison to conventional cigarettes were measured for THP1.0. Levels of nicotine, acetaldehyde, formaldehyde and particulate matter emitted from THP1.0 exceeded ambient air measurements, but were more than 90% reduced relative to cigarette smoke emissions within the laboratory conditions defined Residual tobacco smoke odour was assessed by trained sensory panels after exposure of cloth, hair and skin to both mainstream and environmental emissions from the test products. Residual tobacco smoke odour was significantly lower from THP1.0 than from a conventional cigarette. These data show that using THP1.0 has the potential to result in considerably reduced environmental emissions that affect indoor air quality relative to conventional cigarettes., (Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Whereas the application of optically or magnetically heated nanoparticles to destroy tumours is now well established, the extension of this concept to target pathogens has barely begun. Here we examine the challenge of targeting pathogens by this means and, in particular, explore the issues of power density and heat transfer. Depending on the rate of heating, either hyperthermia or thermoablation may occur. This division of the field is fundamental and implies very different sources of excitation and heat transfer for the two modes, and different strategies for their clinical application. Heating by isolated nanoparticles and by agglomerates of nanoparticles is compared: hyperthermia is much more readily achieved with agglomerates and for large target volumes, a factor which favours magnetic excitation and moderate power densities. In contrast, destruction of planktonic pathogens is best achieved by localised thermoablation and very high power density, a scenario that is best delivered by pulsed optical excitation.

Wood pellets are increasingly used for space heating in the United States and globally. Prior work has shown that stored bulk wood pellets produce sufficient carbon monoxide (CO) to represent a health concern and exceed regulatory standards for occupational exposures. However, most of the pellets used for residential heating are sold in 40-pound (18.1 kg) plastic bags. This study measured CO emission factors from fresh, bagged-wood pellets as a function of temperature and relative humidity. CO concentrations increased with increasing temperature and moisture in the container. CO measurements in a pellet mill warehouse with stored pallets of bagged pellets had 8-h average CO concentrations up to 100 ppm exceeding occupational standards for worker exposure. Thus, manufacturers, distributors, and home owners should be aware of the potential for CO in storage areas and design facilities with appropriate ventilation and CO sensors., (© The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Occupational Hygiene Society.)

Background: The purpose of this study was to compare the efficiency between 2 thermal blanket models: the upper blanket and the underbody blanket in patient heating and hypothermia prevention during endovascular surgery., Methods: Fifty patients, American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status 2-4, receiving endovascular surgery repair of infrarenal abdominal aortic aneurysm or lower limb angioplasty by endovascular technique were studied. Primary outcome was to determine which forced-air blanket is more warming effective during the surgeries. Age, type of surgery, gender, body mass index, surgery duration, and initial patient temperature were analyzed to determine possible hypothermia association as secondary outcomes. Patients were randomized and split into 2 groups based on blanket model. All patients received general anesthesia, and temperature was obtained by an esophageal thermometer inserted after tracheal intubation and registered at intervals of 15 min until extubation., Results: Groups significantly differed in body temperature (P = 0.006) and hypothermia occurrence (P = 0.020). The underbody blanket group hada higher ratio of hypothermic patients and a lower average temperature at the end of surgery. The average temperature after 60 min in the underbody blanket group was lower than the upper blanket group,although this difference was only significant after 150 min (P = 0.020)., Conclusions: We conclude that upper thermal blanket is more effective thanunderbody thermal blanket in patient warming and hypothermia prevention during endovascular abdominal aortic aneurysm repair and lower limb angioplasty after 150 min of anesthetic-surgical time duration., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Forced-air warming devices have been reported to present a potential risk for surgical site infections (SSIs) and periprosthetic joint infections. Due to a lack of consensus, we reviewed the infection risk of forced-air warming devices., Materials and Methods: A systematic literature review was performed, evaluating overall infection risk and bacterial load. A total of eight studies reporting outcomes from 1,965 subjects were included., Results and Conclusions: There is no current evidence in the orthopaedic literature that forced-air warming devices translate to increased SSIs. Accordingly, these devices should continue to be used for the maintenance of intraoperative normothermia.

Doxil ® is a stealth marketed PEGylated liposomal formulation, containing the anticancer drug doxorubicin. After loading via a pH gradient, fibrillar supramolecular structures of doxorubicin sulfate originates inside the core of the liposomes. Recently, the crystallinity of doxorubicin sulfate has been confirmed by high-resolution calorimetry. However, no detailed information are available on the nature of doxorubicin sulfate nanocrystals and on the effect of different thermal treatments. Thus, the aim of this work was to characterize the thermal behaviour of Doxil ® in comparison to the unloaded liposomes using microcalorimetry, dynamic light scattering and high-resolution ultrasound spectroscopy (HR-US). Different thermal programmes were applied with the aim to highlight the effect of the treatments on the formulation. The used techniques confirmed the ordered state of doxorubicin nanocrystals inside PEGylated liposomes. Particularly, microcalorimetry and HR-US highlighted the changes in the thermal behaviour of the drug under different heating programmes. Doxorubicin nanocrystals were found to be stable after heating up to 80°C, but an irreversible thermal behaviour was observed after a prolonged heating at elevated temperature (2h at 80°C). The non-reversibility could be related to the formation of a different ordered structure and enhanced by the slight leakage of the drug occurring after a prolonged heating., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Humans with a patent foramen ovale (PFO) have a higher esophageal temperature (T esoph ) than humans without a PFO (PFO-). Thus the presence of a PFO might also be associated with differences in thermal responsiveness to passive cooling and heating such as shivering and hyperpnea, respectively. The purpose of this study was to determine whether thermal responses to passive cooling and heating are different between PFO- subjects and subjects with a PFO (PFO+). We hypothesized that compared with PFO- subjects PFO+ subjects would cool down more rapidly and heat up slower and that PFO+ subjects who experienced thermal hyperpnea would have a blunted increase in ventilation. Twenty-seven men (13 PFO+) completed two trials separated by >48 h: 1 ) 60 min of cold water immersion (19.5 ± 0.9°C) and 2 ) 30 min of hot water immersion (40.5 ± 0.2°C). PFO+ subjects had a higher T esoph before and during cold water and hot water immersion ( P < 0.05). However, the rate of temperature change was similar between groups for each condition. Within a subset of 18 subjects (8 PFO+) who experienced thermal hyperpnea, PFO+ subjects experienced thermal hyperpnea at a higher absolute T esoph but with a blunted magnitude compared with PFO- subjects. These data suggest that PFO+ subjects have a higher T esoph at rest and have blunted thermal hyperpnea during passive heating. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Patent foramen ovale (PFO) is found in ~25-40% of the population. The presence of a PFO appears to be associated with a greater core body temperature and blunted ventilatory responses during passive heating. The reason for this blunted ventilatory response to passive heating is unknown but may suggest differences in thermal sensitivity in PFO+ subjects compared with PFO- subjects., (Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.)

Anesthetic agents depress thermoregulatory mechanisms, causing hypothermia within minutes of induction of general anesthesia. The consequences of hypothermia include delayed recovery and increased experimental variability. Even when normothermia is maintained during anesthesia, hypothermia may occur during recovery. The primary aim of this study was to identify an effective warming period for maintaining normothermia during recovery. Adult male (n = 8) and female (n = 9) Sprague-Dawley rats were randomized to 30 min (post30) or 60 min (post60) of warming after recovery from anesthesia. During a 40-min anesthetic period, normothermia (target, 37.5 ± 1.1 °C) was maintained by manual adjustment of an electric heating pad in response to measured rectal temperatures (corrected to estimate core body temperature). Warming was continued in a recovery cage according to treatment group. Rectal temperature was measured for a total of 120 min after anesthesia. Heating pad performance was assessed by measuring temperatures at various sites over its surface. One female rat in the post30 group was excluded from analysis. Normothermia was effectively maintained during and after anesthesia without significant differences between groups. In the post60 group, core temperature was slightly but significantly increased at 90 and 100 min compared with baseline. One rat in each treatment group became hyperthermic (>38.6 °C) during recovery. During recovery, the cage floor temperature required approximately 30 min to stabilize. The heating pad produced heat unevenly over its surface, and measured temperatures frequently exceeded the programmed temperature. Providing 30 min of warming immediately after anesthesia effectively prevented hypothermia in rats. Shorter warming periods may be useful when recovery cages are preheated.

Rising energy demands place pressure on domestic energy consumption, but savings can be delivered through home automation and engaging users with their heating and energy behaviours. The aim of this paper is to explore user experiences (UX) of living with an automated heating system regarding experiences of control, understanding of the system, emerging thermal behaviours, and interactions with the system as this area is not sufficiently researched in the existing homes setting through extended deployment. We present a longitudinal deployment of a quasi-autonomous spatiotemporal home heating system in three homes. Users were provided with a smartphone control application linked to a self-learning heating algorithm. Rich qualitative and quantitative data presented here enabled a holistic exploration of UX. The paper's contribution focuses on highlighting key aspects of UX living with an automated heating systems including (i) adoption of the control interface into the social context, (ii) how users' vigilance in maintaining preferred conditions prevailed as a better indicator of system over-ride than gross deviation from thermal comfort, (iii) limited but motivated proactivity in system-initiated communications as best strategy for soliciting user feedback when inference fails, and (iv) two main motivations for interacting with the interface - managing irregularities when absent from the house and maintaining immediate comfort, latter compromising of a checking behaviour that can transit to a system state alteration behaviour depending on mismatches. We conclude by highlighting the complex socio-technical context in which thermal decisions are made in a situated action manner, and by calling for a more holistic, UX-focused approach in the design of automated home systems involving user experiences., (Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

The interest in biomass fuel is continuing to expand globally and in the northeastern United States as wood pellets are becoming a primary source of fuel for residential and small commercial systems. Wood pellets for boilers are often stored in basement storage rooms or large bag-type containers. Due to the enclosed nature of these storage areas, the atmosphere may exhibit increased levels of carbon monoxide. Serious accidents in Europe have been reported over the last decade in which high concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO) have been found in or near bulk pellet storage containers. The aim of this study was to characterize the CO concentrations in areas with indoor storage of bulk wood pellets. Data was obtained over approximately 7 months (December 2013 to June 2014) at 25 sites in New Hampshire and Massachusetts: 16 homes using wood pellet boilers with indoor pellet storage containers greater than or equal to 3 ton capacity; 4 homes with wood pellet heating systems with outdoor pellet storage; 4 homes using other heating fuels; and a university laboratory site. CO monitors were set up in homes to collect concentrations of CO in the immediate vicinity of wood pellet storage containers, and data were then compared to those of homes using fossil fuel systems. The homes monitored in this study provided a diverse set of housing stock spanning two and a half centuries of construction, with homes built from 1774 to 2013, representing a range of air exchange rates. The CO concentration data from each home was averaged hourly and then compared to a threshold of 9 ppm. While concentrations of CO were generally low for the homes studied, the need to properly design storage locations for pellets is and will remain a necessary component of wood pellet heating systems to minimize the risk of CO exposure., Implications: This paper is an assessment of carbon monoxide (CO) exposure from bulk wood pellet storage in homes in New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Understanding the CO concentrations in homes allows for better designs for storage bins and ventilation for storage areas. Hence, uniform policies for stored wood pellets in homes, schools, and businesses can be framed to ensure occupant safety. Currently in New York State rebates for the installation of wood pellet boilers are only provided if the bulk pellet storage is outside of the home, yet states such as New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine currently do not have these restrictions.

Whey protein products are of widespread use as food ingredients because of their high nutritional, biological and functional properties. Whey proteins are important structural components in many foods as used in their native form, for example for their heat-induced gelation abilities. Furthermore, they also offer reliable functionalities when modified by heating processes as denatured or aggregated proteins. Heat treatment of whey proteins in a liquid state has received much attention in recent years. While dry heating of whey proteins, say heating whey proteins in the dry state, is frequently cited in the literature as a potential and efficient means to improve the functional properties of proteins, it has received very little attention. We report first on the dry heating of whey products as applied to promote glycation of whey proteins with a low denaturation, and second, to promote their denaturation and aggregation and on their consequences on the functional properties of whey proteins., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Cell detachment is an essential process in adherent cell culture. However, trypsinization, which is the most popular detachment technique used in culture, damages cellular membranes. Reducing cellular membrane damage during detachment should improve the quality of cell culture. In this article, we propose an enzyme-free cell detachment method based on resonance vibration with temperature modulation. We developed a culture device that can excite a resonance vibration and control temperature. We then evaluated the cell detachment ratio and the growth response, observed the morphology, and analyzed the cellular protein of the collected cells-mouse myoblast cell line (C2C12). With the temperature of 10°C and the maximum vibration amplitude of 2 μm, 77.9% of cells in number were successfully detached compared with traditional trypsinization. The 72-h proliferation ratio of the reseeded cells was similar to that with trypsinization, whereas the proliferation ratio of proposed method was 12.6% greater than that of trypsinization after freezing and thawing. Moreover, the cells can be collected relatively intact and both intracellular and cell surface proteins in the proposed method were less damaged than in trypsinization. These results show that this method has definite advantages over trypsinization, which indicates that it could be applied to subcultures of cells that are more susceptible to trypsin damage for mass culture of sustainable clinical use. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 2279-2288. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc., (© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Background and Objectives: We examined the association of respiratory symptoms, health status, and lung function with the use of solid fuel (wood, charcoal, coal or crop residue) for cooking or heating in a predominantly non-smoking population., Methods: Using the protocol of the Burden of Obstructive Lung Diseases (BOLD) initiative, we collected representative population data using questionnaires and spirometry tests. We categorized solid fuel use into 'never user', 'ex user' and 'current user' based on responses to the survey. We developed regression models to evaluate the relation between use of solid fuel and the prevalence of respiratory symptoms, quality of life and lung function adjusting for confounding variables., Results: Out of 1147 respondents with complete information on domestic fuel type, 33% were 'never-users', 19% were 'ex-users' while 48% reported current use of solid fuel for domestic cooking and/or indoor heating. Compared with never-users, current solid fuel users were more likely to report cough (OR: 1.7, 95% CI: 1.0, 2.9), cough or phlegm (OR: 1.6, 95% CI: 1.0, 2.5) and the association was stronger among women (OR: 3.0, 95% CI: 1.3, 7.1 and OR: 2.3, 95% CI: 1.1, 5.2, respectively). Current solid fuel users also had lower mental health status (coefficient: ?1.5, 95% CI: ?2.8, - 0.2) compared with the group of never-users. Current or previous domestic use of solid fuels for cooking or heating was not associated with higher prevalence of chronic airflow obstruction (FEV 1 /FVC < LLN)., Conclusions: Using solid fuel for domestic cooking or heating was associated with a higher risk of cough or phlegm and a lower mental quality of life. However we found no significant effect in the prevalence of chronic airflow obstruction in Ife, Nigeria., (Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Nanoscale zerovalent iron (NZVI) is a promising remediation agent for volatile organic compound (VOC) contamination in saturated sub-surfaces, but is rarely applied to the vadose zone as there are not enough water molecules in the unsaturated zone to participate in reductive dechlorination. In this study, we evaluated the possibility of using foam as a carrying vehicle to emplace NZVI in unsaturated porous media followed by the application of low frequency-electromagnetic field (LF-EMF) to enhance VOC volatilization in laboratory batch reactors. We found that the optimal condition for generating foam-based NZVI (F-NZVI) was using sodium lauryl ether sulfate (SLES) at a concentration of 3% (w/w) and a N 2 flow rate of 500 mL/min. Also, F-NZVI could carry as much as 41.31 g/L of NZVI in the liquid phase of the foam and generate heat to raise ΔT to 77 °C in 15 min under an applied LF-EMF (150 kHz and 13 A). Under these conditions, F-NZVI together with LF-EMF enhanced trichloroethylene (TCE) volatilization from TCE-dense non-aqueous phase liquid (DNAPL) in unsaturated sand by 39.51 ± 6.59-fold compared to reactors without LF-EMF application. This suggested that using F-NZVI together with LF-EMF could theoretically be an alternative to radio frequency heating (RFH) as it requires a much lower irradiation frequency (336-fold lower), which should result in significantly lower capital and operational costs compared to RFH., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study was conducted to investigate the efficacy of radio-frequency (RF) heating to reduce Salmonella enterica serovars Enteritidis, Typhimurium, and Senftenberg in raw shelled almonds compared to conventional convective heating, and the effect of RF heating on quality by measuring changes in the color and degree of lipid oxidation. Agar-grown cells of three pathogens were inoculated onto the surface or inside of raw shelled almonds using surface inoculation or the vacuum perfusion method, respectively, and subjected to RF or conventional heating. RF heating for 40s achieved 3.7-, 6.0-, and 5.6-log reductions in surface-inoculated S. Enteritidis, S. Typhimurium, and S. Senftenberg, respectively, whereas the reduction of these pathogens following convective heating for 600s was 1.7, 2.5, and 3.7 log, respectively. RF heating reduced internally inoculated pathogens to below the detection limit (0.7 logCFU/g) after 30s. However, conventional convective heating did not attain comparable reductions even at the end of treatment (600s). Color values, peroxide values, and acid values of RF-treated (40-s treatment) almonds were not significantly (P>0.05) different from those of nontreated samples. These results suggest that RF heating can be applied to control internalized pathogens as well as surface-adhering pathogens in raw almonds without affecting product quality., (Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background  Perioperative hypothermia is frequent during thoracic surgery. After approval by the local ethics committee and written informed consent from patients, we examined the efficiency of prewarming and intraoperative warming with a convective warming system and conductive warming system to prevent perioperative hypothermia during video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS). Methods  We randomized 60 patients with indication for VATS in two groups (convective warming with an underbody blanket vs. conductive warming with an underbody mattress and additional warming of the legs). All patients were prewarmed before induction of anesthesia with the corresponding system. Core temperature was measured sublingual and in the nasopharynx. Results  Both groups were not significantly different in regard to clinical parameter, prewarming, and initial core temperature. The patients in conduction group had lower intraoperative core temperatures and a higher incidence of intraoperative (73.9 vs. 24%) and postoperative hypothermia (56.5 vs. 8%) compared with convective warming. Conclusions  Pre- and intraoperative convective warming with an underbody blanket prevents perioperative hypothermia during VATS better than conductive warming. The inferior prevention in conductive warming group may be caused by reduced body contact to the warming mattresses in lateral position., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest: Prof. Bräuer is a member of the Advisory Board for the 3M company and receives consultancy fees from 3M and 37°Company. The device for conductive warming was made available free of charge to the Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, University Medical Center Göttingen., (Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)

The aim of the present study was to determine whether 10 days of repeated local heating could induce peripheral adaptations in the cutaneous vasculature and to investigate potential mechanisms of adaptation. We also assessed maximal forearm blood flow to determine whether repeated local heating affects maximal dilator capacity. Before and after 10 days of heat training consisting of 1-h exposures of the forearm to 42°C water or 32°C water (control) in the contralateral arm (randomized and counterbalanced), we assessed hyperemia to rapid local heating of the skin ( n = 14 recreationally active young subjects). In addition, sequential doses of acetylcholine (ACh, 1 and 10 mM) were infused in a subset of subjects ( n = 7) via microdialysis to study potential nonthermal microvascular adaptations following 10 days of repeated forearm heat training. Skin blood flow was assessed using laser-Doppler flowmetry, and cutaneous vascular conductance (CVC) was calculated as laser-Doppler red blood cell flux divided by mean arterial pressure. Maximal cutaneous vasodilation was achieved by heating the arm in a water-spray device for 45 min and assessed using venous occlusion plethysmography. Forearm vascular conductance (FVC) was calculated as forearm blood flow divided by mean arterial pressure. Repeated forearm heating did not increase plateau percent maximal CVC (CVC max ) responses to local heating (89 ± 3 vs. 89 ± 2% CVC max , P = 0.19), 1 mM ACh (43 ± 9 vs. 53 ± 7% CVC max , P = 0.76), or 10 mM ACh (61 ± 9 vs. 85 ± 7% CVC max , P = 0.37, by 2-way repeated-measures ANOVA). There was a main effect of time at 10 mM ACh ( P = 0.03). Maximal FVC remained unchanged (0.12 ± 0.02 vs. 0.14 ± 0.02 FVC, P = 0.30). No differences were observed in the control arm. Ten days of repeated forearm heating in recreationally active young adults did not improve the microvascular responsiveness to ACh or local heating. NEW & NOTEWORTHY We show for the first time that 10 days of repeated forearm heating is not sufficient to improve cutaneous vascular responsiveness in recreationally active young adults. In addition, this is the first study to investigate cutaneous cholinergic sensitivity and forearm blood flow following repeated local heat exposure. Our data add to the limited studies regarding repeated local heating of the cutaneous vasculature., (Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.)

The objective of this study was to examine the ability of 3D implants with trabecular-bone-inspired porosity and micro-/nano-rough surfaces to enhance vertical bone ingrowth. Porous Ti-6Al-4V constructs were fabricated via laser-sintering and processed to obtain micro-/nano-rough surfaces. Male and female human osteoblasts were seeded on constructs to analyze cell morphology and response. Implants were then placed on rat calvaria for 10 weeks to assess vertical bone ingrowth, mechanical stability and osseointegration. All osteoblasts showed higher levels of osteocalcin, osteoprotegerin, vascular endothelial growth factor and bone morphogenetic protein 2 on porous constructs compared to solid laser-sintered controls. Porous implants placed in vivo resulted in an average of 3.1 ± 0.6 mm 3 vertical bone growth and osseointegration within implant pores and had significantly higher pull-out strength values than solid implants. New bone formation and pull-out strength was not improved with the addition of demineralized bone matrix putty. Scanning electron images and histological results corroborated vertical bone growth. This study indicates that Ti-6Al-4V implants fabricated by additive manufacturing to have porosity based on trabecular bone and post-build processing to have micro-/nano-surface roughness can support vertical bone growth in vivo, and suggests that these implants may be used clinically to increase osseointegration in challenging patient cases.

Background: Indoor burning of fuel for heating or cooking releases carcinogens. Little is known about the impact of indoor air pollution from wood-burning stoves or fireplaces on breast cancer risk., Objectives: In a large prospective cohort study, we evaluated the risk of breast cancer in relation to indoor heating and cooking practices., Methods: Sister Study participants ( n =50,884) were recruited from 2003–2009. Breast cancer–free women in the United States or Puerto Rico, 35–74 y old, with a sister with breast cancer were eligible. Participants completed questionnaires on indoor heating and cooking practices for both their enrollment and their longest adult residence. Cox regression was used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for the association between indoor heating/cooking and breast cancer., Results: A total of 2,416 breast cancer cases were diagnosed during follow-up (mean=6.4 y). Having an indoor wood-burning stove/fireplace in the longest adult residence was associated with a higher breast cancer risk [HR=1.11 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.22)]; the risk increased with average frequency of use [≥once/week, HR=1.17 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.34)] (p for trend=0.01). An elevated HR was seen for women burning wood [HR=1.09 (95% CI: 0.98, 1.21)] or natural gas/propane [HR=1.15 (95% CI: 1.00, 1.32)]. No association was observed for burning artificial fire-logs [HR=0.98 (95% CI: 0.85, 1.12)] except among women from western states [HR=1.36 (95% CI: 1.02, 1.81)]., Conclusions: In this prospective study, using an indoor wood-burning stove/fireplace in the longest adult residence at least once a week and burning either wood or natural gas/propane was associated with a modestly higher risk of breast cancer. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP827.

Despite the positive effects of mild hypothermic conditions on monoclonal antibody (mAb) productivity (q mAb ) during mammalian cell culture, the impact of reduced culture temperature on mAb Fc-glycosylation and the mechanism behind changes in the glycan composition are not fully established. The lack of knowledge about the regulation of dynamic intracellular processes under mild hypothermia restricts bioprocess optimization. To address this issue, a mathematical model that quantitatively describes Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell behavior and metabolism, mAb synthesis and mAb N-linked glycosylation profile before and after the induction of mild hypothermia is constructed. Results from this study show that the model is capable of representing experimental results well in all of the aspects mentioned above, including the N-linked glycosylation profile of mAb produced under mild hypothermia. Most importantly, comparison between model simulation results for different culture temperatures suggests the reduced rates of nucleotide sugar donor production and galactosyltransferase (GalT) expression to be critical contributing factors that determine the variation in Fc-glycan profiles between physiological and mild hypothermic conditions in stable CHO transfectants. This is then confirmed using experimental measurements of GalT expression levels, thereby closing the loop between the experimental and the computational system. The identification of bottlenecks within CHO cell metabolism under mild hypothermic conditions will aid bioprocess optimization, for example, by tailoring feeding strategies to improve NSD production, or manipulating the expression of specific glycosyltransferases through cell line engineering. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2017;114: 1570-1582. © 2016 The Authors. Biotechnology and Bioengineering Published by Wiley Periodicals Inc., (© 2016 The Authors. Biotechnology and Bioengineering Published by Wiley Periodicals Inc.)

This study was designed to verify whether preheating could decrease the complications that may be associated with the use of streamlined liner of pharyngeal airway (SLIPA). We evaluated the incidence of sore throat, maximum sealing pressure, hoarseness and blood stains after preheating of SLIPA. Eighty patients scheduled for hysteroscopic surgery to whom the SLIPA was considered suitable were randomly allocated to preheating group or control group. The SLIPA in preheating group was placed in the incubator at 42 °C. The control group temperature was 24 °C. The mean maximum sealing pressure and duration of insertion were compared. Patients were interviewed at recovery room about sore throat and other complications. There were statistical differences in incidence of sore throat, severity of sore throat and blood stains between groups. However there was no statistical difference in the maximum sealing pressure. Our results suggest preheating of the SLIPA decreased the complications related with the insertion of SLIPA. Clinical Trials.gov Identifier NCT02539485.

Microfluidic chips have demonstrated their significant application potentials in microbiological processing and chemical reactions, with the goal of developing monolithic and compact chip-sized multifunctional systems. Heat generation and thermal control are critical in some of the biochemical processes. The paper presents a laser direct-write technique for rapid prototyping and manufacturing of microheater chips and its applicability for lab-on-a-chip cell culture outside a cell incubator. The aim of the microheater is to take the role of conventional incubators for cell culture for facilitating microscopic observation and/or other online monitoring activities during cell culture and provides portability of cell culture operation. Microheaters (5mm×5mm) have been successfully fabricated on soda-lime glass substrates covered with aluminium layer of thickness 120nm. Experimental results show that the microheaters exhibit good performance in temperature rise and decay characteristics, with localized heating at targeted spatial domains. These microheaters were suitable for a maximum long-term operation temperature of 120°C and validated for operation at 37°C for 48h. Results demonstrated that the microheaters are suitable for the culture of immortalised cell lines. The growth and viability of SW480 colon adenocarcinoma cells cultured the developed microheater chip were comparable to the results obtained in a conventional cell incubator., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Radio frequency (RF) heating has been proposed and tested to achieve a required anti-fungal efficacy on various food samples due to its advantage of deeper penetration depth and better heating uniformity. The purpose of this study was to validate applications of RF treatments for controlling Aspergillus parasiticus in corn while maintaining product quality. A pilot-scale, 27.12MHz, 6kW RF heating system together with hot air heating was used to rapidly pasteurize 3.0kg corn samples. Results showed that the pasteurizing effect of RF heating on Aspergillus parasiticus increased with increasing heating temperature and holding time, and RF heating at 70°C holding in hot air for at least 12min resulted in 5-6 log reduction of Aspergillus parasiticus in corn samples with the moisture content of 15.0% w.b. Furthermore, thermal resistance of Aspergillus parasiticus decreased with increasing moisture content (MC) of corn samples. Quality (MC, water activity - a w , protein, starch, ash, fat, fatty acid, color, electrical conductivity and germination rate) of RF treated corn met the required quality standard used in cereal industry. Therefore, RF treatments can provide an effective and rapid heating method to control Aspergillus parasiticus and maintain acceptable corn quality., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)