How to Easily Depolymerize Polyurethane Foam Wastes by Superbase Catalysts in Ionic Liquids Below 100 °C.

This study introduces a novel and sustainable approach using Ionic Liquids (ILs) as a non-innocent solvent that enhances the performance of the basic catalysts to depolymerize polyurethane foam wastes (PUFWs) through hydrolysis, alcoholysis or aminolysis under mild conditions. The system is stable, fully recoverable, and reusable. Hydrolysis of PUFWs can occur in just 2 minutes at 95-98 °C, producing a white polyol that is easily separated and reused in new polyurethane synthesis.

Immunotherapy for Cancer in Kidney Transplant Patients: A Difficult Balance Between Risks and Benefits.

Cancer is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in kidney transplant patients. Unfortunately, the use of new anti-cancer therapies such as immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICPIs) in this population has been associated with rejection rates up to 40%, in retrospective studies. The main challenge is to maintain the patient in a delicate immunologic balance in which, while antitumor therapy defeats cancer the graft is safely protected from rejection.

Collateral susceptibility-guided alternation of ceftolozane/tazobactam with imipenem prevents resistance development in XDR biofilms.

Objectives: New combinations of β-lactams and β-lactamase inhibitors, such as ceftolozane/tazobactam could be useful to combat biofilm-driven chronic infections by extensively resistant (XDR) but resistance development by mutations in the Ω-loop of AmpC has been described. However, these mutations confer collateral susceptibility to carbapenems. Thus we aimed to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy and the prevention of resistance development of regimen alternating ceftolozane/tazobactam and imipenem.

Woody plant taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity decrease along elevational gradients in Andean tropical montane forests: Environmental filtering and arrival of temperate taxa.

Mountains are paramount for exploring biodiversity patterns due to the mosaic of topographies and climates encompassed over short distances. Biodiversity research has traditionally focused on taxonomic diversity when investigating changes along elevational gradients, but other facets should be considered. For first time, we simultaneously assessed elevational trends in taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity of woody plants in Andean tropical montane forests and explored their underlying ecological and evolutionary causes.