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Cleaner Water Jun 2024Environmental sustainability has gained acceptance to achieving the goal of a secure ecosystem with a reliable management system. Heavy metal remediation of aqueous...
Environmental sustainability has gained acceptance to achieving the goal of a secure ecosystem with a reliable management system. Heavy metal remediation of aqueous streams is of special concern due to the intractability and persistence in the environment. Adsorption is a potential alternative to the existing inefficient conventional technologies for the removal and recovery of metal ions from aqueous solutions and becomes vital to align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and mitigate the adverse environmental and social impacts. Calcium Alginate-Graphene oxide (CA-GO) composite has been synthesized for the adsorption of heavy metals including Cr, Cu, and Cd ions from tannery effluents. Graphene oxide is prepared from commercial graphite powder and reacted with sodium alginate and calcium chloride to form the beads of CA-GO composite. The developed composite was characterized by FTIR, elemental analysis, SEM, XRD analysis, and Raman spectroscopy. Moreover, the effect of pH, adsorbent dosage, contact time, and initial concentration of metal ions on the adsorption capacity were investigated through batch experiments. At a pH>3.0 (pHzpc), the carboxyl group of CA-GO was deprotonated to make the surface negatively charged and facilitate metal adsorption. The optimum pH and maximum adsorption capacity of CA-GO for removal of Cr(III), Cu(II), and Cd(II) were 4.5, 6.0, and 7.0, and 90.58, 108.57, and 134.77 mg g, respectively. The kinetics, adsorption isotherms, and thermodynamics were studied to determine the adsorption mechanism. The kinetic of adsorption adopted the second-order model. Thermodynamic parameter were calculated and the adsorption process was determined to be exothermic and spontaneous at room temperature. The developed composite has been efficaciously applied for the removal of metal ions and pollution from real tannery effluents.
PubMed: 38948691
DOI: 10.1016/j.clwat.2024.100016 -
Biofilm Jun 2024platforms capable of mimicking the hydrodynamic conditions prevailing in natural aquatic environments have been previously validated and used to predict the fouling...
platforms capable of mimicking the hydrodynamic conditions prevailing in natural aquatic environments have been previously validated and used to predict the fouling behavior on different surfaces. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) has been used to predict the shear forces occurring in these platforms. In general, these predictions are made for the initial stages of biofilm formation, where the amount of biofilm does not affect the flow behavior, enabling the estimation of the shear forces that initial adhering organisms have to withstand. In this work, we go a step further in understanding the flow behavior when a mature biofilm is present in such platforms to better understand the shear rate distribution affecting marine biofilms. Using 3D images obtained by Optical Coherence Tomography, a mesh was produced and used in CFD simulations. Biofilms of two different marine cyanobacteria were developed in agitated microtiter plates incubated at two different shaking frequencies for 7 weeks. The biofilm-flow interactions were characterized in terms of the velocity field and shear rate distribution. Results show that global hydrodynamics imposed by the different shaking frequencies affect biofilm architecture and also that this architecture affects local hydrodynamics, causing a large heterogeneity in the shear rate field. Biofilm cells located in the streamers of the biofilm are subjected to much higher shear values than those located on the bottom of the streamers and this dispersion in shear rate values increases at lower bulk fluid velocities. This heterogeneity in the shear force field may be a contributing factor for the heterogeneous behavior in metabolic activity, growth status, gene expression pattern, and antibiotic resistance often associated with nutrient availability within the biofilm.
PubMed: 38948680
DOI: 10.1016/j.bioflm.2024.100204 -
Turkish Journal of Physical Medicine... Jun 2024This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of local ozone (O) injection versus corticosteroid injection in the treatment of mild to moderate carpal tunnel syndrome...
OBJECTIVES
This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of local ozone (O) injection versus corticosteroid injection in the treatment of mild to moderate carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS).
PATIENTS AND METHODS
This double-blind randomized controlled trial was performed on 42 patients (9 males, 33 females; mean age: 46.7±2.1 years; range, 18 to 70 years) with mild to moderate CTS between May 2021 and June 2021. The corticosteroid group (n=21) was injected with 40 mg triamcinolone, and in the O group B (n=21), 4 mL of a 10 mcg/mL oxygen (O)-O mixture was injected. Symptom severity and functional impairments were assessed using a Visual Analog Scale and Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire. Electrodiagnostic and ultrasonographic parameters were obtained at baseline and eight weeks after the procedure.
RESULTS
The O-O solution improved pain and Boston Carpal Tunnel Questionnaire score after eight weeks (p<0.001); however, the change was nonsignificant compared to the corticosteroid group (p>0.05). Sensory nerve and compound muscle action potential latencies were not significantly changed eight weeks after O-O injection (p>0.05), while both were significantly decreased in the steroid injection group (p<0.001). Volar bulging and median nerve cross-section surface area were not improved after O-O injection, while the improvement was significant in the corticosteroid arm (p=0.02).
CONCLUSION
Symptoms in patients with mild to moderate CTS may be alleviated by local O-O injection; however, electrodiagnostic and ultrasonographic indices may be unchanged. Corticosteroid local injection may alleviate patient symptoms along with electrodiagnostic and ultrasonographic parameters.
PubMed: 38948651
DOI: 10.5606/tftrd.2024.12590 -
Journal of Family Medicine and Primary... May 2024Artificial intelligence (AI) has led to the development of various opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic. An abundant number of applications have surfaced...
BACKGROUND
Artificial intelligence (AI) has led to the development of various opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic. An abundant number of applications have surfaced responding to the pandemic, while some other applications were futile.
OBJECTIVES
The present study aimed to assess the perception and opportunities of AI used during the COVID-19 pandemic and to explore the perception of medical data analysts about the inclusion of AI in medical education.
MATERIAL AND METHODS
This study adopted a mixed-method research design conducted among medical doctors for the quantitative part while including medical data analysts for the qualitative interview.
RESULTS
The study reveals that nearly 64.8% of professionals were working in high COVID-19 patient-load settings and had significantly more acceptance of AI tools compared to others ( < 0.05). The learning barrier like engaging in new skills and working under a non-medical hierarchy led to dissatisfaction among medical data analysts. There was widespread recognition of their work after the COVID-19 pandemic.
CONCLUSION
Notwithstanding that the majority of professionals are aware that public health emergency creates a significant strain on doctors, the majority still have to work in extremely high case load setting to demand solutions. AI applications are still not being integrated into medicine as fast as technology has been advancing. Sensitization workshops can be conducted among specialists to develop interest which will encourage them to identify problem statements in their fields, and along with AI experts, they can create AI-enabled algorithms to address the problems. A lack of educational opportunities about AI in formal medical curriculum was identified.
PubMed: 38948570
DOI: 10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1543_23 -
F1000Research 2023To report the ocular surface and meibomian gland changes in polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) women taking hormone supplementation. Case series. Three women (27 ±...
To report the ocular surface and meibomian gland changes in polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) women taking hormone supplementation. Case series. Three women (27 ± 11 years) already diagnosed with PCOS presented with dry eye symptoms (mean OSDI, 37.5) for a mean duration of 13 months and were taking hormonal supplements for a mean duration of 60 ± 11 months. The hormonal supplements included oral estrogen (n=3), oral progesterone (n=3), antiandrogen cyproterone (n=1) and isotretinoin (n=1). Ocular surface evaluation revealed mean NIBUT of 9.9 ± 1.6 seconds and mean TMH of 0.27 ± 0.05 mm, assessed non-invasively using Oculus keratograph 5M (K5M). Meibography (K5M) showed near total loss of all meibomian glands (n=8/12 eyelids) with residual ghost glands in all four eyelids of two patients, and gland shortening alone in one patient. The gland morphology did not change following intense thermal pulsation treatment or cessation of hormonal therapy. Near-total irreversible meibomian gland loss was seen in two young PCOS women taking hormonal supplements. Collaboration between ophthalmologists and gynecologists is advisable for early detection and better understanding of dry eye disease (DED) progression in these patients.
PubMed: 38948507
DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.139229.1 -
BJR Open Jan 2024Toxicity-driven adaptive radiotherapy (RT) is enhanced by the superior soft tissue contrast of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging compared with conventional computed...
OBJECTIVES
Toxicity-driven adaptive radiotherapy (RT) is enhanced by the superior soft tissue contrast of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging compared with conventional computed tomography (CT). However, in an MR-only RT pathway synthetic CTs (sCT) are required for dose calculation. This study evaluates 3 sCT approaches for accurate rectal toxicity prediction in prostate RT.
METHODS
Thirty-six patients had MR (T2-weighted acquisition optimized for anatomical delineation, and T1-Dixon) with same day standard-of-care planning CT for prostate RT. Multiple sCT were created per patient using bulk density (BD), tissue stratification (TS, from T1-Dixon) and deep-learning (DL) artificial intelligence (AI) (from T2-weighted) approaches for dose distribution calculation and creation of rectal dose volume histograms (DVH) and dose surface maps (DSM) to assess grade-2 (G2) rectal bleeding risk.
RESULTS
Maximum absolute errors using sCT for DVH-based G2 rectal bleeding risk (risk range 1.6% to 6.1%) were 0.6% (BD), 0.3% (TS) and 0.1% (DL). DSM-derived risk prediction errors followed a similar pattern. DL sCT has voxel-wise density generated from T2-weighted MR and improved accuracy for both risk-prediction methods.
CONCLUSIONS
DL improves dosimetric and predicted risk calculation accuracy. Both TS and DL methods are clinically suitable for sCT generation in toxicity-guided RT, however, DL offers increased accuracy and offers efficiencies by removing the need for T1-Dixon MR.
ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE
This study demonstrates novel insights regarding the effect of sCT on predictive toxicity metrics, demonstrating clear accuracy improvement with increased sCT resolution. Accuracy of toxicity calculation in MR-only RT should be assessed for all treatment sites where dose to critical structures will guide adaptive-RT strategies.
CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER
Patient data were taken from an ethically approved (UK Health Research Authority) clinical trial run at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust. Study Name: MR-simulation in Radiotherapy for Prostate Cancer. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03238170.
PubMed: 38948455
DOI: 10.1093/bjro/tzae014 -
Proceedings of the International... May 2024High performance RF coils are needed for better SNR so that higher resolution and spectral dispersion can be obtained in small animal MR imaging.
MOTIVATION
High performance RF coils are needed for better SNR so that higher resolution and spectral dispersion can be obtained in small animal MR imaging.
GOALS
To develop a surface coil with improved SNR over the conventional surface coil for small animal imaging at 7T.
APPROACH
A small animal surface coil is designed based on multimodal surface coil technique. The coil is investigated and compared with conventional surface coil using full-wave electromagnetic simulations.
RESULTS
The multimodal surface coil shows superior B1 field efficiency and lower E field over standard coils, indicating a potential to gain SNR and resolution.
IMPACT
The proposed multimodal surface coil can operate at high frequency and provides improved SNR over conventional surface coils at 7T, opening avenues for highly efficient coil design in small animal imaging, ultimately enabling the detection of previously indiscernible physiological details.
PubMed: 38948448
DOI: No ID Found -
Proceedings of the International... May 2024
PubMed: 38948447
DOI: No ID Found -
World Journal of Experimental Medicine Jun 2024In traditional descriptions, the upper surface of the liver is smooth and convex, but deep depressions are variants that are present in 5%-40% of patients. We sought to...
BACKGROUND
In traditional descriptions, the upper surface of the liver is smooth and convex, but deep depressions are variants that are present in 5%-40% of patients. We sought to determine the relationship between surface depressions and the diaphragm.
AIM
To use exploratory laparoscopy to determine the relationship between surface depressions and the diaphragm.
METHODS
An observational study was performed in all patients undergoing laparoscopic upper gastro-intestinal operations between January 1, 2023 and January 20, 2024. A thirty-degree laparoscope was used to inspect the liver and diaphragm. When surface depressions were present, we recorded patient demographics, presence of diaphragmatic bands, rib protrusions and/or any other source of compression during inspection.
RESULTS
Of 394 patients, 343 had normal surface anatomy, and 51 (12.9%) had prominent surface depressions on the liver. There was no significant relationship between the presence of surface depressions and gender nor the presence of rib projections. However, there was significant association between the presence of surface depressions and diaphragmatic muscular bands ( < 0.001).
CONCLUSION
With these data, the diaphragmatic-band theory has gained increased importance over other theories for surface depressions. Further studies are warranted using cross sectional imaging to confirm relationships with intersectional planes as well as beta-catenin assays in the affected liver parenchyma.
PubMed: 38948419
DOI: 10.5493/wjem.v14.i2.94357 -
World Journal of Experimental Medicine Jun 2024Traditional descriptions of liver anatomy refer to a smooth, convex surface contacting the diaphragm. Surface depressions are recognized anatomic variants. There are... (Review)
Review
Traditional descriptions of liver anatomy refer to a smooth, convex surface contacting the diaphragm. Surface depressions are recognized anatomic variants. There are many theories to explain the cause of the depressions. We discuss the theory that these are caused by hypertrophic muscular bands in the diaphragm.
PubMed: 38948413
DOI: 10.5493/wjem.v14.i2.92157