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What should be the goal of our environmental efforts?
No full textThe world’s population has already reached almost 8 billion people and continues to grow rapidly. Environmental and climatic changes caused by human activity are continuously progressing; therefore, their impact on the further development of civilization has become one of the most acute and widely discussed problems.</p
Comparison between different parameters for anaerobic digestion technologies
No full textDue to the increased demand for energy and the near depletion of fossil fuel sources, in addition to the problems of global warming, the world has turned to renewable energy sources as an alternative solution. One energy source is the anaerobic digestion of organic matter, such as animal or food waste. Biogas is produced from this process, used to generate electricity and heat, or processed for use as a transportation fuel and compost production for agriculture. This process is affected by many factors like the potential of hydrogen (PH), temperature, carbon/nitrogen ratio (C/N), and other factors. Dry anaerobic digestion has higher total solid content (TS) than wet anaerobic digestion. On the other hand, it has lower maintenance and construction costs compared with wet anaerobic digestion. In this research, we will highlight the operational conditions of the process in addition to its different types. It also contains an overview of this system, its working principle, its advantages, and the system component and show the best ways to improve its efficiency. </p
Chickpea breeding program and research in Portugal
No full textChickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is a very important crop in the world. Portugal was traditionally sown as a spring crop and so extremely affected by long periods of drought and temperature variation throughout the growth cycle. Chickpea grain yields decrease substantially due to increased air temperature and the severity of drought. To face the Mediterranean-type climate pattern, chickpea breeding programs were reoriented to develop chickpea germplasm tolerant/resistant to the main abiotic and biotic stress and adapted to different environments and production systems. This study relates chickpea yields (35 years) with rainfall average in Alentejo, a Southern Portugal region with a Mediterranean-type climate. Our approach shows that selection should apply multiple and complementary criteria. The physiological and morphological studies are important in breeding programs, to combine not only resistance to drought and temperature, and biotic stress but also high yield potential and yield stability. The main objective is to obtain new chickpea varieties for the rainfed conditions of the Mediterranean region. From this work, four chickpea varieties (Kabuli type), were registered on the National Variety Catalogue. Actually, the national chickpea genetic breeding program has already registered 11 varieties. </p
Melissopalynology: The Louveaux method on honey samples in the marche region and their allergenic potential
No full textThe research arises from the interest in investigating the pollen contained in the various honey samples analyzed to identify its geographical and botanical origin and to evaluate its allergenic potential.With the Louveaux method, the pollen content shall be observed under a microscope using the same procedure as the aerobiological analysis described in national and European standards.From the microscopic observation of the pollen grains, it is possible to identify the plants that produced them, thus going back to a particular type of vegetation that distinguishes the production area. The percentage values for pollen of nectariferous plants identified have been calculated to establish frequency classes and dominant species. Starting from an exploratory analysis, the results obtained with melissopalynology provide assessments that, combined with sensory and physical analysis, represent a useful control tool to address the growing trend of food fraud as an element of consumer choice. By comparing the percentages of the pollen taxa contained in the honey analyzed with those reported in the characterization cards, it was possible to verify the conformity to the declared botanical origin. The samples were analyzed in duplicate to reduce operator uncertainty and to ensure the identification of the largest number of species/families present and the recognition of botanical families. The results provided a clear picture of a first assessment of the conformity of the reference values; in general, most of the samples examined, both those taken on the market and those of local producers, are in line with the data obtained. Bibliographical research on cross allergies related to the presence of pollen in honey has established that allergic forms to honey are still a rare condition and the incidence does not exceed 0.001%. Studying the few reported cases worldwide, it is difficult to say that pollen proteins are the only and directly responsible for the allergic manifestations that follow the ingestion of honey; however, if we wanted to attribute the responsibility, we could refer in particular to Compositae pollens, such as mugwort, ragweed, and dandelion. This work, while identifying many possible triggers for allergic reactions, has detected a very low number of cases of ingestion of honey; therefore, the study can be a starting point to investigate the allergenic potential.</p
High-precision blood glucose prediction and hypoglycemia warning based on the LSTM-GRU model
No full textObjective: The performance of blood glucose prediction and hypoglycemia warning based on the LSTM-GRU (Long Short Term Memory - Gated Recurrent Unit) model was evaluated.Methods: The research objects were 100 patients with Diabetes Mellitus (DM) who were chosen from Henan Provincial People’s Hospital. Their continuous blood glucose curves of 72 hours were acquired by a Continuous Glucose Monitoring System (CGMS). The blood glucose levels were predicted based on the LSTM, GRU and LSTM-GRU models, respectively. Analyses of the best predictive model were performed using Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE), Mean Absolute Error (MAE) and correlation analysis between the prediction blood glucose level and the original blood glucose level acquired by CGMS and Clark Error Grid Analysis (EGA). Repeated-measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyze whether the RMSE values of the three models were statistically significant. 60 patients who had experienced hypoglycemia among 100 cases were selected for hypoglycemia warning. The sensitivity, false-positive rate and false-negative rate were used to evaluate the hypoglycemia warning performance of the LSTM-GRU model. This paper explored the changing relationship of the hypoglycemia warning performance of the model over time.Results: The predicted blood glucose levels of the three models were strongly correlated with the blood glucose levels acquired by CGMS (p < 0.001). The correlation coefficient (R-value) of the LSTM-GRU model remained stable over time (R = 0.995), nevertheless, a reduction in the R-value of the LSTM and GRU models when the Prediction Horizon (PH) was 30 min or longer. When PH was 15min, 30min, 45min and 60min, the mean RMSE values of the LSTM-GRU model were 0.259, 0.272, 0.275 and 0.278 (mmol/l), respectively, which were lower than the LSTM and GRU models and the RMSE values were statistically significant (p < 0.001). The EGA results showed the LSTM-GRU model had the highest proportion in zones A and B, as the PH extended. When PH was 30min or longer, the sensitivity and false-negative rate of the hypoglycemia warning of the LSTM-GRU model had subtle changes and the false-positive rate remained stable over time.Conclusions: The LSTM-GRU model demonstrated good performance in blood glucose prediction and hypoglycemia warning. </p
About Segmath, a new Cerebral Vascular Segmentation Software after CTA
No full textObjectives: The new segmentation software Segmath delivers a 3D view of the cerebral vascular structures without superposition of bony or other structures. This will, according to the literature, improve the workflow of stroke patients and increase the occlusion detection rate on the original CTA.Materials and methods: The software written in MATLAB is based on the analysis of the local Hessian matrix with new original functions of the resulting local eigenvalues. No user intervention in the segmentation process is needed.Results: The validation of the new software yields good results both with synthetic data and real CTA’s. Conclusion: This segmentation software is a powerful additional diagnostic tool available to radiologists and neurologists examining and treating stroke patients. This will improve the workflow of suspected stroke patients.</p
The role of the ERP system in the rapid increase of production
No full textERP systems can play a crucial role in the company’s ability to adapt to new situations and unexpected changes. This paper deals with the example of a company that unexpectedly, after several years of stagnation, got the opportunity to double its production. The main challenge was not only the increase in production but also the additional requirements for the traceability of individual packages of raw materials and individual packages of finished products. An additional request was a completely different method of product costing and production order settlement than previously used.The management reacted quickly and took all the necessary steps to adjust the existing production lines and the existing ERP system to the new requirements. While local managers took care of the adjustment of production lines, an experienced SAP consultant was hired to work on the necessary adjustments to the ERP system and design the interface with external systems. He took over all communication with developers of external systems. A central project team was formed, which decided on the way in which the change of all parts of the ERP system will take place, primarily in terms of the time planning of the necessary actions. The plan was completely successful. In just 5 months, the production lines were technically adjusted and prepared for the new production method. At the same time, the ERP system was completely revised and supplemented with requested new functionalities, including the creation of all necessary interfaces with external systems for scanning individual packages. The management’s final assessment is that this would not have been possible without first having a fast and robust ERP system.</p
Psychological assistance to ostomate patients. Proposal of intervention protocol (Perrotta-Guerrieri Psychological Care for Ostomy Patients, PCOP) and clinical questionnaire (Perrotta-Guerrieri Psychological Care for Ostomy Patients Questionnaire – first
No full textOstomy patients are subject to significant negative psychological impact, affecting their quality of life in all respects (physical, psychological, social, economic, and spiritual), especially if they are not properly constructed or if there are complications during the recovery phase. In the light of published research and studies, the main problems are as follows: a) alteration of body image; loss of sphincter control; b) odor, leakage, and complications related to the stoma; c) impairment of sexuality; d) alteration of nutrition and sleep; e) anxiety, depression, and loneliness; embarrassment and shame; f) loss of control of the situation; drop in self-esteem; g) rejection; h) stigmatization; i) disinvestment in social activities; l) abandonment of work and sports activities; isolation; m) difficulties in couple relationships and social contacts. The psychological problems caused by ostomy can be avoided, or at least contained, by comprehensive care of the patient, both before and after the operation. In addition to purely technical care, teaching, accompaniment and constant support are the main components of care that can make a difference to how the patient will accept his or her ostomy. Setting the care only on the management of the physical dimension will hardly allow the person to integrate the ostomy into his life. The present work proposes a specific protocol of psychological intervention (Perrotta-Guerrieri Psychological Care for Ostomy Patients, PCOP), for all the clinical phases (pre-operative, operative, post-operative, follow-up) and a specific questionnaire (Perrotta-Guerrieri Psychological Care for Ostomy Patients Questionnaire - first version, PCOP-Q1) to be submitted to the patient which investigates the 9 subjective functions (physical, psychological, sexual, emotional, sentimental, work, family and social), in 45 items with a response on L1-5 scale, for the study of quality of life in the ostomised patient.</p
Isolating Lysobacter enzymogenes strains with enhanced protease activity via chemical mutagenesis
No full textProteases are the most important industrial enzymes which have attracted enormous attention due to their vast variety and well-defined specificity. Microbial proteases are superior to other sources like plant and animal proteases because of their desired characteristics for biotechnological application. In this regard, Lysobacter enzymogenes is a rich source for the production of antibiotics and proteases. However, strain improvement in order to obtain overproduced microorganisms is always demanded at an industrial scale. Therefore, in the present study in order to enhance L. enzymogenes protease production, random mutagenesis was applied using N-methyl-N’-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (NTG) as a chemical mutagen. Random mutagenesis was conducted on L. enzymogenes suspension cultivated on nutrient broth using different concentrations of NTG (100, 150, and 200 µg/ml) for 20 and 40 minutes. The treated bacteria were cultivated on nutrient agar containing casein as a selective media. Primary and secondary screenings were performed by measuring the diameter of the casein hydrolysis zones in the isolated bacteria and the related supernatants, respectively. Finally, the unit of protease activity was quantified by Anson’s method of examining bacterial supernatants. Among the total of 30 isolated mutants, two mutants showed the highest level of extracellular proteolytic activity which showed 2.65 and 1.86 fold increments in contrast to the wild type, respectively. In general, the effect of mutagenesis by NTG can be emphasized to increase protease activity.</p
Tachycardia as a cardiovascular risk factor. Role of ambulatory heart rate
No full textThere is a large body of evidence that resting Heart Rate (HR) is a strong predictor of cardiovascular events and mortality in hypertension [1,2]. This association was consistent across 9 Cohort studies and 7 large clinical trials performed on patients with hypertension [1].</p