Influence of interleukin-8 polymorphism on endometriosis-related pelvic pain.

Endometriosis presents a pro-inflammatory microenvironment influenced by cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-8, which expression may be influenced by genetic polymorphisms. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the role of interleukin (IL)-8 rs4073 polymorphism in endometriosis' development and its related symptoms. A case-control study was conducted with 207 women with endometriosis and 193 healthy controls.

Ultrasoft Classical Systems at Zero Temperature.

At low temperatures, classical ultrasoft particle systems develop interesting phases via the self-assembly of particle clusters. In this study, we reach analytical expressions for the energy and the density interval of the coexistence regions for general ultrasoft pairwise potentials at zero temperatures. We use an expansion in the inverse of the number of particles per cluster for an accurate determination of the different quantities of interest.

Solvent-free bottom-up patterning of zeolitic imidazolate frameworks.

Patterning metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) at submicrometer scale is a crucial yet challenging task for their integration in miniaturized devices. Here we report an electron beam (e-beam) assisted, bottom-up approach for patterning of two MOFs, zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIF), ZIF-8 and ZIF-67. A mild pretreatment of metal oxide precursors with linker vapor leads to the sensitization of the oxide surface to e-beam irradiation, effectively inhibiting subsequent conversion of the oxide to ZIFs in irradiated areas, while ZIF growth in non-irradiated areas is not affected.

Application of the experimental design in the optimization of a procedure for antimony (Sb) remediation in environmental samples employing mesoporous array.

This study describes the sustainable and eco-friendly synthesis of the silica-based mesoporous structure from the use of alternative amorphous silica extracted from rice husk ash (RHA). The mesoporous material was called MCM-48 (RHA), and its application as adsorbent to the antimony (Sb) remediation in environmental samples was tested. The adsorbent was prepared by an efficient and sustainable hydrothermal method, which exhibited an amorphous framework with type IV isotherms and type H1 hysteresis, and surface area, total pore volume, and pore diameter values of 820.

Multiway Calibration Strategies in Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy: A Proposal.

In this study, a new approach to laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) data modeling using multiway algorithms was investigated. Two case studies, parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) and unfolded-partial least-squares with residual bilinearization (U-PLS/RBL) algorithms were used in (1) the determination of Al, Cu, and Fe in samples of reference material of printed circuit board (PCB) from electronic waste and (2) the determination of Ca, K, and Mg in samples of a human mineral supplement, where depth was used to obtain multidimensional data in the first case and delay-time in the second. In addition, univariate calibration was applied and compared with the multiway approaches.

ZIF-8 Membrane Permselectivity Modification by Manganese(II) Acetylacetonate Vapor Treatment.

Vapor-phase treatment of ZIF-8 membranes with manganese(II) acetylacetonate (Mn(acac) ) allows permselectivity tuning. Propylene/propane selectivity increases from 31 to 210 after the Mn(acac) treatment at 165 °C for 30 min, while selectivities increase from 14.6 to 242 for H /CH , from 2.

ZIF-8 Membrane Separation Performance Tuning by Vapor Phase Ligand Treatment.

Vapor phase ligand treatment (VPLT) of 2-aminobenzimidazole (2abIm) for 2-methylimidazole (2mIm) in ZIF-8 membranes prepared by two different methods (LIPS: ligand induced permselectivation and RTD: rapid thermal deposition) results in a notable shift of the molecular level cut-off to smaller molecules establishing selectivity improvements from ca. 1.8 to 5 for O /N ; 2.

Vapor- and Liquid-Phase Adsorption of Alcohol and Water in Silicalite-1 Synthesized in Fluoride Media.

In this work, batch-adsorption experiments and molecular simulations are employed to probe the adsorption of binary mixtures containing ethanol or a linear alkane-1,n-diol solvated in water or ethanol onto silicate-1. Since the batch-adsorption experiments require an additional relationship to determine the amount of solute (and solvent adsorbed, as only the bulk liquid reservoir can be probed directly, molecular simulations are used to provide a relationship between solute and solvent adsorption for input to the experimental bulk measurements. The combination of bulk experimental measurements and simulated solute-solvent relationship yields solvent and solute loadings that are self-consistent with simulation alone, and allow for an assessment of the various assumptions made in literature.