Bio-oils from vacuum ablative pyrolysis of torrefied tobacco residues.

Fast pyrolysis, in combination with torrefaction pretreatment, was used to convert tobacco residues to value-added bio-fuels and chemicals. Tobacco plant residues were torrefied at 220, 260, and 300 °C, before being pyrolyzed at 450, 500, 550, and 600 °C in a rotating blade ablative reactor under vacuum conditions to test the effects on product yields. With torrefaction, tobacco residues thermally decomposed 20-25% w/w at low temperatures.

Screening umbilical cord blood for congenital Iron deficiency.

Objectives: Small for gestational age infants (SGA), infants of diabetic mothers (IDM), and very low birth weight infants (VLBW) are at risk for congenital iron deficiency. We evaluated the iron status of SGA, IDM, and VLBW neonates at birth and sought mechanistic explanations in those with iron deficiency.

Methods: This was a prospective study.

Automated Quantification of Fragmented Red Blood Cells: Neonatal Reference Intervals and Clinical Disorders of Neonatal Intensive Care Unit Patients with High Values.

Background: Schistocytes are circulating erythrocyte fragments. They can be identified microscopically from a blood smear; but automated systems evaluate more cells and avoid inconsistencies in microscopy. Studies using adult subjects indicate that automated quantification of schistocytes can be clinically useful.

Non-Immune Hydrops, Hypotonia, Encephalopathy, and Liver Failure with Novel Compound Heterozygous AHCY Mutations.

A late-preterm infant with a prenatal diagnosis of non-immune hydrops was born with hypotonia, poor respiratory effort, chylothorax, encephalopathy, coagulopathy, progressive hepatic failure, and refractory pulmonary hypertension. Life support was withdrawn at 7 days of life due to multisystem organ failure. Rapid whole exome sequencing revealed novel compound heterozygous mutations in the gene encoding S-adenosylhomocysteine hydrolase (AHCY); each novel variant was carried by an asymptomatic parent.

Reference intervals for stool calprotectin in preterm neonates and their utility for the diagnosis of necrotizing enterocolitis.

Objective: Calprotectin is an antimicrobial protein found in stool when released by granulocytes. We sought to create stool calprotectin reference ranges in preterm neonates and to evaluate whether levels exceeding the upper reference interval are diagnostic for necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).

Study Design: Stool calprotectin was measured in premature neonates without gastrointestinal pathology to create reference intervals.

ABO hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn: thirteen years of data after implementing a universal bilirubin screening and management program.

Objective: ABO hemolytic disease occurs among neonates with blood groups A or B delivered to group O women. Extreme neonatal hyperbilirubinemia due to ABO disease has been reported, but its frequency is not well known. We sought to determine the odds of developing severe ABO hemolytic disease in the 13 years since adopting universal bilirubin screening/management in the Intermountain Healthcare system.

Iron Supplements for Infants at Risk for Iron Deficiency.

Professional societies have published recommendations for iron dosing of preterm neonates, but differences exist between guidelines. To help develop standardized guidelines, we performed a 10-year analysis of iron dosing in groups at risk for iron deficiency: IDM (infants of diabetic mothers), SGA (small for gestational age), and VLBW premature neonates (very low birth weight, <1500 g). We analyzed iron dosing after red cell transfusions and erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESA).

Two novel mutations in TMPRSS6 associated with iron-refractory iron deficiency anemia in a mother and child.

In an iron deficient child, oral iron repeatedly failed to improve the condition. Whole exome sequencing identified one previously reported plus two novel mutation in the TMPRSS6 gene, with no mutations in other iron-associated genes. We propose that these mutations result in a novel variety of iron-refractory iron deficiency anemia.

The immature platelet fraction: creating neonatal reference intervals and using these to categorize neonatal thrombocytopenias.

Objective: The immature platelet fraction (IPF) is a laboratory measurement analogous to the reticulocyte count, but reflecting the thrombopoietic state. Similar to a reticulocyte count, it can be expressed as a percent (IPF%=percent of platelets that are immature) or as an absolute number per μl blood; the immature platelet count (IPC=IPF% × platelets per μl of blood).

Study Design: Using a retrospective analysis of de-identified data from non-thrombocytopenic neonates, we created reference intervals for IPF% and IPC.

The iron status at birth of neonates with risk factors for developing iron deficiency: a pilot study.

Objective: Small-for-gestational-age (SGA) neonates, infants of diabetic mothers (IDM) and very-low-birth weight premature neonates (VLBW) are reported to have increased risk for developing iron deficiency and possibly associated neurocognitive delays.

Study Design: We conducted a pilot study to assess iron status at birth in at-risk neonates by measuring iron parameters in umbilical cord blood from SGA, IDM, VLBW and comparison neonates.

Results: Six of the 50 infants studied had biochemical evidence of iron deficiency at birth.

A critical question for NEC researchers: Can we create a consensus definition of NEC that facilitates research progress?

In the last decades the reported incidence of preterm necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) has been declining in large part due to implementing comprehensive NEC prevention initiatives, including breast milk feeding, standardized feeding protocols, transfusion guidelines, and antibiotic stewardship and improving the rigor with which non-NEC cases are excluded from NEC data. However, after more than 60 years of NEC research in animal models, the promise of a "magic bullet" to prevent NEC has yet to materialize. There are also serious issues involving clinical NEC research.

Recombinant tissue plasminogen activator to restore catheter patency: efficacy and safety analysis from a multihospital NICU system.

Objective: In 2001, the US Food and Drug Administration approved recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (alteplase, Cathflo Activase) to reestablish patency of central catheters occluded, presumably, by a fibrin clot. We conducted a multicenter quality improvement study to determine the value of this procedure in our Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICUs), including analyses of efficacy, safety and costs.

Study Design: We conducted a retrospective quality analysis of neonates in level III NICUs, who received alteplase for the purpose of reestablishing patency of occluded central catheters.

Elevated fecal calprotectin levels during necrotizing enterocolitis are associated with activated neutrophils extruding neutrophil extracellular traps.

Objective: Neonates with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) have higher calprotectin levels in stool than do healthy neonates. However, it is not known whether high stool calprotectin at the onset of bowel symptoms identifies neonates who truly have NEC vs other bowel disorders.

Study Design: Neonates were eligible for this study when an x-ray was ordered to 'rule-out NEC'.

Comparing automated vs manual leukocyte differential counts for quantifying the 'left shift' in the blood of neonates.

Objective: The neutrophil 'left shift' can be measured via the immature to total (I/T) neutrophil ratio or the absolute bands per μl using a manual differential count. It can also be measured from an automated differential count by the immature granulocyte percentage (IG%) or the absolute IG per μl. In neonates, it is unknown if the manual or automated differential count is superior.

Heart-rate-corrected QT interval evolution in premature infants during the first week of life.

Automated monitoring of the QT interval is increasingly common in a variety of clinical settings. A better understanding of how the heart-rate-corrected QT interval (QTc) evolves in early postnatal life is needed before its clinical utility in neonates can be determined. This study aimed to use real-time bedside monitoring as a tool to describe the QTc evolution of premature neonates during the first week of life.

Mouse mammary gland is refractory to the effects of ethanol after natural lactation.

Ethanol is a dietary factor that dose-dependently increases breast cancer risk in women. We previously have shown that ethanol increases mammary epithelial density through increased branching after dietary exposure during puberty in CD2/F1 mice. To extend these studies to parous mice in a breast cancer model, we used a transgenic mouse model of human parity-associated breast cancer, the FVB-MMTV-Her2/Neu mouse, which overexpresses wildtype EGFR2, resulting in constitutive activation of growth signaling in the mammary epithelium.

A case of "borrowed identity syndrome" after severe traumatic brain injury.

Background: It is well known that traumatic brain injury often changes the way the patient perceives reality, which often means a distortion of the perception of self and the world. The purpose of this article is to understand the processes of identity change after traumatic brain injury.

Case Report: We describe progressive deterioration in personal identity in a former physician who had sustained a serious head injury (1998), resulting in focal injuries to the right frontal and temporal areas.

Intermolecular C-F...H-C contacts in the molecular packing of three isostructural N-(fluorophenyl)mannopyranosylamines.

Among the three compounds reported here, namely N-(4-fluorophenyl)-β-D-mannopyranosylamine, (I), N-(3-fluorophenyl)-β-D-mannopyranosylamine, (II), and N-(2-fluorophenyl)-β-D-mannopyranosylamine, (III), all with chemical formula C(12)H(16)FNO(5), (I) and (II) are isostructural, whereas (III) assumes the same packing arrangement as the unfluorinated analogue N-phenyl-β-D-mannopyranosylamine, (IV), which has been reported previously. Similarities with respect to the intermolecular hydrogen-bonding patterns exist across the series (I)-(III). A packing motif that distinguishes the shared packing arrangement of (I) and (II) from that of (III) is a C-F.

Early neurorehabilitation in a patient with severe traumatic brain injury to the frontal lobes.

Background: It seems to be generally believed that early neurostimulation after severe TBI is useless or even harmful, and neuropsychological intervention should not be initiated until the patient is medically stable. On the other hand, the unstimulated brain can incur irreversible damage. The purpose of the present study is to assess the impact of early neuropsychological rehabilitation on a patient with an extremely severe TBI.

The autistic mind: a case study.

Background: Despite years of intensive research, there is much about autism that remains theoretically and practically difficult to understand. There are presently three main theories: (1) defect of theory of mind, (2) executive dysfunction, and (3) lack of central coherence, i.e.

Neuropsychological diagnosis and treatment after closed-head injury in a patient with a psychiatric history of schizophrenia.

Background: Despite recent interest in the brain/mind problem and possible organic correlates of mental disease, relatively few case studies have examined the problem concretely. The present paper describes a 66-year-old male patient with a long history of schizophrenia, whose psychotic symptoms displayed qualitative and quantitative changes after a closed-head injury.

Case Report: After a very disturbed childhood and youth, including several jail terms, the patient was diagnosed with schizophrenia in the early 1960s and frequently thereafter hospitalized.

The rehabilitation of executive functions in patients with closed-head injuries.

One of the most difficult problems in the rehabilitation of patients with closed-head injuries is posed by executive function disturbances, that is, difficulty in making the transition from thinking to acting. This article presents the working hypotheses and a description of a rehabilitation program developed by the authors, oriented directly towards training executive functions, in contract to the existing standard program, based on physical therapy with the addition of neuropsychological exercises directed towards training particular cognitive functions. The program consists of exercises supporting the development of not only cognitive and emotional-motivational elements, but also mediating metaprocesses and behavioral processes.

Disturbances of cognitive and emotional functions in patients with whiplash injuries.

The goal of this article is to present the results of research on cognitive and emotional disturbances in patients with the "whiplash" injuries typically incurred as a result of rear-end collisions. Despite considerable controversy and discussion surrounding the whiplash syndrome the most recent literature on the subject contains several reports suggesting that many of these patients complain of specific symptoms that are not only physical, but also cognitive, emotional, and even linguistic, the existence of which can be detected by standard neuropsychological tests. In their own research involving 58 patients with late "whiplash" syndrome and an equal number of normals, the authors have confirmed the occurrence of objective symptoms in various tests.

An evaluation of executive functions in sportsmen after traumatic brain injury.

Background. A particularly difficult problem in the rehabilitation of patients with closed-head injuries (TBI) is executive dysfunction, i.e.

An evaluation of neuropsychological rehabilitation for patients with high spinal cord injuries and brain damage.

This article describes a program of neuropsychological rehabilitation for high cervical SCI patients with psycho-organic syndrome. Traumatic injury to the cervical spine is frequently accompanied by organic damage to the brain, either caused by the same accident that injured the spine or resulting from secondary causes. The result of concomitant brain damage in cervical SCI patients is psycho-organic syndrome, which consists of both cognitive (higher level language functioning, disturbances in memory, language, attention, and thinking) and personality components (mood and behavioral disorders).