Dexmedetomidine in Palliative Care: A Versatile New Weapon Against Delirium and Pain-Systematic Review.

At the end of life, the prevalence of delirium and pain is high. Current therapy is not satisfactory. Dexmedetomidine could be useful in the control of delirium and pain but is not approved outside of intensive care setting.

Valorization of plant by-products in the biosynthesis of silver nanoparticles with antimicrobial and catalytic properties.

Biosynthesis based on natural compounds has emerged as a sustainable approach for the production of metallic nanoparticles (MNP). The main objective of this study was to biosynthesize stable and multifunctional silver nanoparticles (AgNP) using different plant by-products as reducers and capping agents. Extracts obtained from Eucalyptus globulus, Pinus pinaster, Citrus sinensis, Cedrus atlantica and Camellia sinensis by-products, were evaluated.

Exploring Optimization of Zeolites as Adsorbents for Rare Earth Elements in Continuous Flow by Machine Learning Techniques.

Unsupervised machine learning (ML) techniques are applied to the characterization of the adsorption of rare earth elements (REEs) by zeolites in continuous flow. The successful application of principal component analysis (PCA) and K-Means algorithms from ML allowed for a wide range assessment of the adsorption results. This global approach permits the evaluation of the different stages of the sorption cycles and their optimization and improvement.

Current Challenges for Biological Treatment of Pharmaceutical-Based Contaminants with Oxidoreductase Enzymes: Immobilization Processes, Real Aqueous Matrices and Hybrid Techniques.

The worldwide access to pharmaceuticals and their continuous release into the environment have raised a serious global concern. Pharmaceuticals remain active even at low concentrations, therefore their occurrence in waterbodies may lead to successive deterioration of water quality with adverse impacts on the ecosystem and human health. To address this challenge, there is currently an evolving trend toward the search for effective methods to ensure efficient purification of both drinking water and wastewater.

Group B Streptococcal Neonatal Meningitis.

Neonatal bacterial meningitis is a devastating disease, associated with high mortality and neurological disability, in both developed and developing countries. Streptococcus agalactiae, commonly referred to as group B Streptococcus (GBS), remains the most common bacterial cause of meningitis among infants younger than 90 days. Maternal colonization with GBS in the gastrointestinal and/or genitourinary tracts is the primary risk factor for neonatal invasive disease.

Ligninolytic enzymes production during polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons degradation: effect of soil pH, soil amendments and fungal co-cultivation.

Soil microorganisms play an important role in the degradation of PAHs and use various metabolic pathways for this process. The effect of soil pH, different soil amendments and the co-cultivation of fungi on the degradation of PAHs in soil and on the activity of ligninolytic enzymes was evaluated. For that purpose, three fungi were studied: Trichoderma viride, Penicillium chrysogenum and Agrocybe aegerita.

Development of a packed bed reactor for the removal of aromatic hydrocarbons from soil using laccase/mediator feeding system.

Polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) are persistent pollutants of great concern due to their potential toxicity, mutagenicity and carcinogenicity. A biotechnological approach to remove PAH from soil was evaluated in this work using a laccase mediator system. Initially, laccase was produced by fungal co-cultivation, using kiwi peels as substrate.

Evaluation of multi-starter S. cerevisiae/ D. bruxellensis cultures for mimicking and accelerating transformations occurring during barrel ageing of beer.

During beer ageing, endogenous barrel microbes grow spontaneously and transform wort/beer composition, being Dekkera bruxellensis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae among the main contributors to the chemical and sensory profile of aged beer. This work aims at the application of multi-starter cultures to mimic and accelerate biological modifications occurring during barrel ageing of beer, in controlled fermentation processes. Co-cultures of D.

A Review on Biological Processes for Pharmaceuticals Wastes Abatement-A Growing Threat to Modern Society.

Over the last decades, the production and consumption of pharmaceuticals and health care products grew manifold, allowing an increase in life expectancy and a better life quality for humans and animals, in general. However, the growth in pharmaceuticals production and consumption comes with an increase in waste production, which creates a number of challenges as well as opportunities for the waste management industries. The conventional current technologies used to treat effluents have shown to be inefficient to remove or just to reduce the concentrations of these types of pollutants to the legal limits.

Factors affecting extraction of adsorbed wine volatile compounds and wood extractives from used oak wood.

During ageing, wood adsorbs volatile compounds from beverages. However, chemical interactions involved in sorption still remain unclear, as well as wood capacity to transfer such compounds to subsequent matrices when reused. Therefore, extractions were conducted from used wood manipulating variables such as ethanol concentration, contact temperature and pH, in order to determine their effect in the interaction and consequent recovery of wine volatiles from wood.

Assessment of patient satisfaction and preferences with an intensive care diary.

Objectives: To evaluate the satisfaction of patients admitted to the intensive care unit using a diary and analyze possible points for improving this instrument.

Methods: This was an observational, retrospective study, conducted between March 2014 and July 2017, in a multidisciplinary intensive care unit of a district hospital. The diary was implemented in patients sedated for 3 or more days.

Recovery of Rare Earth Elements from Wastewater Towards a Circular Economy.

The use of rare earth elements is a growing trend in diverse industrial activities, leading to the need for eco-friendly approaches to their efficient recovery and reuse. The aim of this work is the development of an environmentally friendly and competitive technology for the recovery of those elements from wastewater. Kinetic and equilibria batch assays were performed with zeolite, with and without bacterial biofilm, to entrap rare earth ions from aqueous solution.

Understanding wine sorption by oak wood: Modeling of wine uptake and characterization of volatile compounds retention.

Cooperage wood is a porous material and beverages exchange compounds with it by penetrating into its pores. This work demonstrates the enrichment of wood with wine during ageing. Three oak varieties were cut into different sized chips and immersed in fortified wine and water.

Wicherhamomyces anomalus biofilm supported on wood husk for chromium wastewater treatment.

A Wickeramomyces anomalus biofilm supported on wood husk was used to remediate water bodies contaminated with chromium (Cr), in batch and open systems. The favorable adhesion ability of the chromium-resistant yeast strain on the wood husk was predicted by XDLVO theory and confirmed by environmental scanning electronic microscopy. The chromium decontamination was then optimized in a batch mode using a central composite design (CCD).

Pilot-scale sorption studies of diethylketone in the presence of Cd and Ni.

The effect of pH on the sorption capacity of vermiculite towards cadmium and nickel was tested in batch systems and it was shown that the sorption percentages increase with an increase in the mass of vermiculite and with an increase in the initial pH. Maximum sorption percentages were obtained for a pH of 8 and 4 g of vermiculite (86.5% for Cd and 86.

The role of Arthrobacter viscosus in the removal of Pb(II) from aqueous solutions.

The aim of this paper was to establish the optimum parameters for the biosorption of Pb(II) by dead and living Arthrobacter viscosus biomass from aqueous solution. It was found that at an initial pH of 4 and 26 °C, the dead biomass was able to remove 97% of 100 mg/L Pb(II), while the living biomass removed 96% of 100 mg/L Pb(II) at an initial pH of 6 and 28 ± 2 °C. The results were modeled using various kinetic and isotherm models so as to find out the mechanism of Pb(II) removal by A.

Predicting prognosis in patients with advanced cancer: A prospective study.

Background: Prognosis is one of the most challenging questions with which physicians are confronted. Accuracy in the prediction of survival is necessary for clinical, ethical, and organizational reasons.

Aim: Evaluate young doctors' clinical prediction of survival and the aids they could get: expert opinion, Palliative Prognostic score, and Palliative Prognostic Index.

Sorption studies of diethylketone in the presence of Al, Cd, Ni and Mn, from lab-scale to pilot scale.

The toxic effects of diethylketone (DEK) in aqueous solution with different concentrations of Al, Cd, Ni and Mn were evaluated at lab-scale. It was established that Streptococcus equisimilis is able to efficiently remove DEK with different concentrations with heavy metals. It was proved that this joint-system has excellent capacity to biodegrade high concentrations of DEK in the presence of Al, Cd, Ni and Mn.

Enhanced selective metal adsorption on optimised agroforestry waste mixtures.

The aim of this work is to ascertain the potentials of different agroforestry wastes to be used as biosorbents in the removal of a mixture of heavy metals. Fern (FE), rice husk (RI) and oak leaves (OA) presented the best removal percentages for Cu(II) and Ni(II), Mn(II) and Zn(II) and Cr(VI), respectively. The performance of a mixture of these three biosorbents was evaluated, and an improvement of 10% in the overall removal was obtained (19.

Experimental analysis and mathematical prediction of Cd(II) removal by biosorption using support vector machines and genetic algorithms.

We investigated the bioremoval of Cd(II) in batch mode, using dead and living biomass of Trichoderma viride. Kinetic studies revealed three distinct stages of the biosorption process. The pseudo-second order model and the Langmuir model described well the kinetics and equilibrium of the biosorption process, with a determination coefficient, R(2)>0.

[Vital prognosis in advanced cancer patients: a systematic literature review].

Prognostication is a critical medical task for the adequacy of treatment and management of priorities and expectations of patients and families. In 2005, the European Association of Palliative Care (EAPC) published recommendations on the formulation of vital prognosis in advanced cancer patients. The aim of this study is to analyze the literature subsequent to this review and to update the presented recommendations.

Removal of Ni(II) from aqueous solutions by an Arthrobacter viscosus biofilm supported on zeolite: from laboratory to pilot scale.

This study discusses the retention of Ni(II) by Arthrobacter viscosus supported on zeolite 13 X in batch mode and in continuous mode, at laboratory scale and at pilot scale. The maximum adsorption capacities of 28.37, 20.

Bioremoval of diethylketone by the synergistic combination of microorganisms and clays: uptake, removal and kinetic studies.

The performance of two bacteria, Arthrobacter viscosus and Streptococcus equisimilis, and the effect of the interaction of these bacteria with four different clays on the retention of diethylketone were investigated in batch experiments. The uptake, the removal percentages and the kinetics of the processes were determined. S.