Food waste offers a potential source for bioethanol production, but productivity depends on the chemical composition of the raw materials and the processes involved. However, assessment of the environmental sustainability of these processes is often absent and can be carried out using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology. This study aimed to perform an LCA on bioethanol production from mixtures of different wastes, including tubers, fruits, and processed foods, focusing on the gate-to-gate phase.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) currently face major challenges toward the removal of microcontaminants and/or microbial matrices and consequently play an important role in the potential dissemination of biological resistance in freshwater. The ultraviolet (UV) system is a tertiary treatment strategy increasingly applied worldwide, although many studies have shown that disinfected effluent can still contain antibiotic-resistant bacteria and resistance genes. Therefore, to better understand the effects of UV radiation doses on the removal of all resistance elements (antibiotics, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and antibiotic resistance genes), the present study was designed using a pilot-scale photoreactor.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The relationship between thrombosis and cancer is based on evidence that cancer promotes prothrombotic changes in the host hemostatic system. The activation of blood coagulation is closely linked to tumor growth and dissemination.
Aims: To evaluate whether quantifications of plasma circulation tumor deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and thrombin-antithrombin complex could act as predictors for thrombotic events and death in patients with gastric or colorectal adenocarcinomas, while also evaluating the Karnofsky Performance Status.
Background: Gut-parasite transmission often involves faecal shedding, and detecting parasites in stool samples remains the cornerstone of diagnosis. However, not all samples drawn from infected hosts contain parasites (because of intermittent shedding), and no test can detect the target parasites in 100% of parasite-bearing samples (because of imperfect sensitivity). Disentangling the effects of intermittent shedding and imperfect sensitivity on pathogen detection would help us better understand transmission dynamics, disease epidemiology, and diagnostic-test performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Previous studies indicated that face masks reduce the probability of infection by SARS-CoV-2 but did not examine the relationship between SARS-CoV-2 viral load and mask usage. This study analyzed this relationship.
Methods: This cross-sectional study evaluated patients admitted to a public Emergency Care Unit in Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil, between October 2020 and March 2021.