Water-Facilitated Electrodeposition of Neodymium in a Phosphonium-Based Ionic Liquid.

Rare-earth metals are considered critical metals due to their extensive use in energy-related applications such as wind turbines and nickel-metal hybrid batteries found in hybrid electrical vehicles. A key drawback of the current processing methods includes the generation of large amounts of toxic and radioactive waste. Thus the efficient recovery of these valuable metals as well as cleaner processing methods are becoming increasingly important.

Analysis of two autoimmunity genes, IRAK1 and MECP2, in giant cell arteritis.

Objectives: The Xq28 region, containing IRAK and MECP2, represent a common susceptibility locus for a high number of autoimmune diseases. Our aim in the present study was to evaluate the influence of the IRAK1 and MECP2 autoimmunity-associated genetic variants in the giant cell arteritis (GCA) susceptibility and its clinical subphenotypes.

Methods: We analysed a total of 627 female biopsy-proven GCA patients and 1,520 female healthy controls of Spanish Caucasian origin.

Autoimmune disease-associated CD226 gene variants are not involved in giant cell arteritis susceptibility in the Spanish population.

Objectives: CD226 genetic variants have been associated with a number of autoimmune diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential implication of the CD226 loci in the susceptibility to and main clinical manifestations of giant cell arteritis (GCA).

Methods: A Spanish Caucasian cohort of 455 patients diagnosed with biopsy-proven GCA and 1414 healthy controls were included in the study.

A nonsynonymous functional variant of the ITGAM gene is not involved in biopsy-proven giant cell arteritis.

Objective: To investigate whether a functional integrin alpha M (ITGAM) variant is involved in susceptibility to and clinical manifestations of giant cell arteritis (GCA).

Methods: A Spanish cohort of 437 white patients with biopsy-proven GCA and 1388 healthy controls were genotyped using the TaqMan allele discrimination technology.

Results: No association was observed between ITGAM rs1143679 and GCA (p = 0.

Role of the CCR5/Δ32CCR5 polymorphism in biopsy-proven giant cell arteritis.

To further explore the potential role of chemokines in giant cell arteritis (GCA), we have studied whether the CCR5/Δ32CCR5 polymorphism is implicated in the susceptibility to the disease and its specific features. A total of 352 Spanish patients with biopsy-proven GCA and 479 matched controls were assessed. DNA was obtained from peripheral blood.

Intestinal involvement secondary to the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS): clinical and immunologic characteristics of 97 patients: comparison of classic and catastrophic APS.

Objective: To analyze the clinical and laboratory characteristics of 97 patients with intestinal involvement secondary to the antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) (37 patients with classic APS and 60 with catastrophic APS).

Methods: A computer-assisted (PubMed) search of the literature was performed to identify all cases of intestinal involvement associated with the APS from 1983 to December 2005. In addition, we analyzed the web-site-based international registry of patients with catastrophic APS ("CAPS Registry").