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Background: The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented amount of face mask consumption around the world. The increase in face mask consumption has brought focus to their environmental impact. To keep up with the increased demand for face masks, different variations of reusable face masks such as the embedded filtration layer (EFL) reusable face mask have emerged in the market. This study quantifies the environmental impact of the EFL reusable face mask and the single-use surgical face mask., Methods: The life cycle assessment (LCA) study of the entire value chain from cradle-to-grave is applied to each face mask. Both face masks are evaluated over 1 functional unit (FU) of 31 12-h days for a single person. The ReCiPe method with the Hierachist perspective was applied. A total of nine impact categories as well as the generated waste of each face mask are evaluated., Results: The results show that for 1 functional unit, the use of single-use surgical face mask and EFL reusable face mask will contribute 0.580 kg CO 2 -eq and 0.338 kg CO 2 -eq to climate change and generate 0.004 kg and 0.0004 kg of waste respectively., Conclusion: Comparing both face masks, the EFL reusable face mask will have a lower emission of at least 30% in terms of the generated waste and the impact categories considered, except for water depletion, freshwater eutrophication, marine eutrophication, and human toxicity., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Hidden Markov models representing 167 protein sequence families were used to infer the presence or absence of homologs within the transcriptomes of 183 algal species/strains. Statistical analyses of the distribution of HMM hits across major clades of algae, or at branch points on the phylogenetic tree of 98 chlorophytes, confirmed and extended known cases of metabolic loss and gain, most notably the loss of the mevalonate pathway for terpenoid synthesis in green algae but not, as we show here, in the streptophyte algae. Evidence for novel events was found as well, most remarkably in the recurrent and coordinated gain or loss of enzymes for the glyoxylate shunt. We find, as well, a curious pattern of retention (or re-gain) of HMG-CoA synthase in chlorophytes that have otherwise lost the mevalonate pathway, suggesting a novel, co-opted function for this enzyme in select lineages. Finally, we find striking, phylogenetically linked distributions of coding sequences for three pathways that synthesize the major membrane lipid phosphatidylcholine, and a complementary phylogenetic distribution pattern for the non-phospholipid DGTS (diacyl-glyceryl-trimethylhomoserine). Mass spectrometric analysis of lipids from 25 species was used to validate the inference of DGTS synthesis from sequence data.

Background: Associating liver partition and portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy (ALPPS) has been widely described for colorectal liver metastases with insufficient future liver remnant (FLR). However, its role in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) remains poorly defined and not widely accepted., Methods: A retrospective comparison of clinical data, liver volumetry, histological characteristics, and surgical outcomes between nine HCC and four non-HCC patients who underwent ALPPS was performed., Results: Patients with HCC were more likely to have histological evidence of hepatic fibrosis (HCC vs. non-HCC, 66.7 vs. 0%, p = 0.049). Baseline demographic and disease characteristics were otherwise comparable between both groups. FLR growth after ALPPS-Stage 1 was significantly less in HCC patients (HCC vs. non-HCC, 154.5 vs. 251.0 ml, p = 0.012). FLR growth was also significantly decreased in patients with hepatic fibrosis (fibrosis vs. non-fibrosis, 157.5 vs. 247.5 ml, p = 0.033). There was no difference in post-hepatectomy liver failure (HCC vs. non-HCC, 28.6 vs. 25%, p = 0.721) or 90-day mortality (HCC vs. non-HCC, 11.1 vs. 0%, p = NS)., Discussion: In our study, HCC patients demonstrated significantly less FLR growth after ALPPS-Stage 1 compared to non-HCC patients. Hepatic fibrosis was also found to negatively impact FLR growth. When considering suitability for ALPPS, patients with HCC may benefit from additional pre-operative assessment of fibrosis.

Background: Associating liver partition with portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy (ALPPS) and conventional staged hepatectomy (CSH) are options for patients with unresectable liver tumors due to insufficient future liver remnant (FLR)., Methods: A retrospective comparison of clinical data, liver volumetry and surgical outcomes between 10 ALPPS and 29 CSH patients was performed., Results: Patient demographics and disease characteristics were similar between both groups. ALPPS induced superior FLR growth (ALPPS vs. CSH, 48.1% (IQR 39.4-96.9%) vs. 11.8% (IQR 4.3-41.9%), p = 0.013). However, post-operative day 5 international normalized ratio (INR) (ALPPS vs. CSH, 1.6 (IQR 1.5-1.8) vs. 1.4 (IQR 1.3-1.6), p = 0.015) and rate of post-hepatectomy liver failure (ALPPS vs. CSH, 25 vs. 0%, p = 0.032) was higher in the ALPPS group. 90-day mortality (ALPPS vs. CSH, 12.5% vs. 0%, p = 0.320) was similar in both groups., Conclusion: ALPPS was superior in inducing FLR growth but associated with increased post-hepatectomy liver failure compared to CSH., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Hypomethylation of LINE-1 repeats in cancer has been proposed as the main mechanism behind their activation; this assumption, however, was based on findings from early studies that were biased toward young and transpositionally active elements. Here, we investigate the relationship between methylation of 2 intergenic, transpositionally inactive LINE-1 elements and expression of the LINE-1 chimeric transcript (LCT) 13 and LCT14 driven by their antisense promoters (L1-ASP). Our data from DNA modification, expression, and 5'RACE analyses suggest that colorectal cancer methylation in the regions analyzed is not always associated with LCT repression. Consistent with this, in HCT116 colorectal cancer cells lacking DNA methyltransferases DNMT1 or DNMT3B, LCT13 expression decreases, while cells lacking both DNMTs or treated with the DNMT inhibitor 5-azacytidine (5-aza) show no change in LCT13 expression. Interestingly, levels of the H4K20me3 histone modification are inversely associated with LCT13 and LCT14 expression. Moreover, at these LINE-1s, H4K20me3 levels rather than DNA methylation seem to be good predictor of their sensitivity to 5-aza treatment. Therefore, by studying individual LINE-1 promoters we have shown that in some cases these promoters can be active without losing methylation; in addition, we provide evidence that other factors (e.g., H4K20me3 levels) play prominent roles in their regulation.