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In recent years, hydroconversion of vegetable oils has been considered a promising route for biodiesel production. The process involves highly asymmetric mixtures of hydrocarbons and triglycerides which exhibit complex phase behaviours. In this work, thermodynamic modelling of C3-C16 and C3-triglyceride mixtures was performed by means of Peng-Robinson and PC-SAFT EOS. Critical properties and PC- SAFT parameters for triglycerides were estimated with group contribution methods; furthermore, an approach for evaluation of triglyceride PC-SAFT parameters, based on regression of experimental binary phase equilibrium data, was proposed. The PC-SAFT model showed its capacity to depict chain molecule phase behaviour providing better predictions for all the system investigated and it is recommended as reference EOS to represent phase equilibria involved in vegetable oils hydroconversion process.

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Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of baseline screening and follow-up with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for detecting trilateral retinoblastoma (TRb) and assessing the risk of TRb development., Design: Prospective multicenter cohort study., Methods: A total of 607 retinoblastoma patients from 2012 through 2022 were included and followed up until September 1, 2023. At each center, a neuroradiologist categorized pineal glands on baseline and follow-up scans into 4 groups: (A) normal, (B) cystic gland, (C) suspicious gland, or (D) TRb. Different follow-up schedules were assigned to each category. Categories B and C were followed up with MRI after approximately 3 months and repeated 3 months later if suspicion remained. On each MRI, they measured the height and width, evaluated the aspect (solid, partly cystic, and completely cystic) of the pineal gland, and evaluated radiologic features suspicious of pineal TRb. The effectiveness of the current TRb screening method was assessed by evaluating its sensitivity and specificity to detect TRb. Determining the TRb incidence was a secondary outcome measure., Results: Heritable retinoblastoma patients had a risk of 3.78% to develop TRb. One of 4 pineal TRbs was detected during a follow-up scan and 4 of 5 nonpineal TRbs were detected on the baseline MRI. Screening for pineal TRb had a sensitivity of 25% and specificity of 100%; for nonpineal TRb, the sensitivity was 80%. It required 494 follow-up scans to detect 1 pineal TRb. However, when restricting the follow-up to solely suspicious glands, only 22 scans were required to detect 1 pineal TRb., Conclusion: During extended follow-up after baseline MRI, only 1 pineal trilateral retinoblastoma was detected in our study. Follow-up after 3 months should be restricted to patients with a suspicious pineal gland defined as irregular thickening of the cyst wall (>2 mm), fine nodular aspect of the cyst wall, or when a solid or cystic gland exceeds the upper 99% prediction interval for size; patients with an unsuspicious cystic gland should not be followed up. Baseline MRI screening was able to detect most nonpineal trilateral retinoblastomas., (Copyright © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Protective strategies against perinatal brain injury represent a major challenge for modern neonatology. Erythropoietin (Epo) enhances endogenous mechanisms of repair and angiogenesis. In order to analyse the newest evidence on the role of Epo in prematurity, hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) and perinatal stroke, a critical review using 2020 PRISMA statement guidelines was conducted. This review uncovered 26 clinical trials examining the use of Epo for prematurity and brain injury-related outcomes. The effects of Epo on prematurity were analysed in 16 clinical trials. Erythropoietin was provided until 32-35 weeks of corrected postnatal age with a dosage between 500-3000 UI/kg/dose. Eight trials reported the Epo effects on HIE term newborn infants: Erythropoietin was administered in the first weeks of life, at different multiple doses between 250-2500 UI/kg/dose, as either an adjuvant therapy with hypothermia or a substitute for hypothermia. Two trials investigated Epo effects in perinatal stroke. Erythropoietin was administered at a dose of 1000 IU/kg for three days. No beneficial effect in improving morbidity was observed after Epo administration in perinatal stroke. A positive effect on neurodevelopmental outcome seems to occur when Epo is used as an adjuvant therapy with hypothermia in the HIE newborns. Administration of Epo in preterm infants still presents inconsistencies with regard to neurodevelopmental outcome. Clinical trials show significant differences mainly in target population and intervention scheme. The identification of specific markers and their temporal expression at different time of recovery after hypoxia-ischemia in neonates might be implemented to optimize the therapeutic scheme after hypoxic-ischemic injury in the developing brain. Additional studies on tailored regimes, accounting for the risk stratification of brain damage in newborns, are required.

Background The higher cardiovascular variability and the increased prevalence of arrhythmias in patients with obstructive sleep apneas may contribute to their higher rate of fatal events during sleep. In this regard, the use of beta blockers (BB) is debated because they may induce bradyarrhythmias and alter the pattern of heart rate changes induced by apneas. Thus, the aim of our study is to quantify peri-apneic heart-rate swings and prevalence of nocturnal bradyarrhythmias in BB-treated and BB-naïve patients with obstructive sleep apnea. Methods and Results Our real-life, retrospective, cohort study analyzed data from patients with obstructive sleep apnea after a basal cardiorespiratory polysomnography. Among 228 eligible participants, we enrolled 78 BB-treated and 88 BB-naïve patients excluding those treated with antiarrhythmic drugs or pacemakers, or with uninterpretable ECG traces during polysomnography. In each patient, type and frequency of arrhythmias were identified and peri-apneic changes of RR intervals were evaluated for each apnea. BB-treated patients were older and with more comorbidities than BB-naïve patients, but had similar obstructive sleep apnea severity, similar frequency of arrhythmic episodes, and similar prevalence of bradyarrhythmias. Apnea-induced heart-rate swings, unadjusted for age, showed lower RR interval changes in BB-treated (133.5±63.8 ms) than BB-naïve patients (171.3±87.7 ms, P =0.01), lower RR interval increases during apneas (58.5±28.5 versus 74.6±40.2 ms, P =0.01), and lower RR interval decreases after apneas (75.0±42.4 versus 96.7±55.5 ms, P <0.05). Conclusions BB appear to be safe in patients with obstructive sleep apnea because they are not associated with worse episodes of nocturnal bradyarrhythmias and even seem protective in terms of apnea-induced changes of heart rate.

A comprehensive sustainable Food Waste (FW) management is globally needed in order to reduce the environmental pollution and the financial costs due to FW disposal; anaerobic digestion is considered as one of the best environmental-friendly alternatives to this aim. A deep investigation of the chemical composition of different Food waste types (cooked kitchen waste (CKW), fruit and vegetable scraps (FVS) and organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW)) is here reported, in order to evaluate their relevant substance-specific properties and their impact on anaerobic biodegradability by means of a sophisticated automatic batch test system. Suitability for a mild thermal pre-treatment (T = 134 °C and p = 3.2 bar) to enhance the biological degradation of hardly accessible compounds was investigated. The pre-treatment affected significantly the carbohydrates solubilisation, and was able in reducing part of the lignocellulosic matrix. Moreover, in mesophilic conditions, the high solubilized sugars content favoured the initial recovery of hydrogen (not consumed by hydrogenotrophic methanogenesis), allowing to newly assess the extent of prompt fermentability. Pre-treatment enhanced hydrogen yields of FVS and OFMSW, with gains up to +50%, while the successive methane production, occurring in the same reactor, resulted affected by the lack of the soluble part of carbohydrates, "subtracted" for H 2 production. Only in thermophilic conditions, when no hydrogen in the biogas was detected, pre-treatment of OFMSW significantly increased methane yield (from 0.343 to 0.389 L CH 4 g -1 VS fed ). A thermal pre-treatment seems the recommended solution in order to reduce part of the recalcitrant lignocellulosic matrix of food waste, to improve energy recovery and to eliminate the extra cost needed for pasteurization., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)