Hot-dip galvanized steel dip-coatedwith ureasilicate hybrid in simulated concrete pore solution: Assessment of coating morphology and corrosion protection efficiency

The barrier effect and the performance of an organic–inorganic hybrid (OIH) sol–gel coating are highlydependent on the coating deposition method as well as processing conditions. In this work, studies onthe influence of experimental parameters using the dip coating method were performed. Factors suchas residence time (Rt), a curing step between each dip step and the number of layers of sol–gel OIHfilms deposited on HDGS to prevent corrosion in highly alkaline environments were studied. These OIHcoatings were obtained using a functionalized siloxane, 3-isociantepropyltriethoxysilane that reactedwith a diamino-functionalized oligopolymer (Jeffamine®D-230). The barrier efficiency of OIH coatings insimulated concrete pore solutions (SCPS) was assessed in the first moments of contact, by electrochemicalimpedance spectroscopy and potentiodynamic methods. The durability and stability of the OIH coatings inSCPS was monitored during eight days by macrocell current density. The morphological characterizationof the surface was performed by scanning electronic microscopy before and after exposure to SCPS.Glow discharge optical emission spectroscopy was used to obtain quantitative composition profiles toinvestigate the thickness of the OIH coatings as a function of the number of layers deposited and theinfluence of the Rt in the coating thickness.

Organic load of substrata for wastewater treatment constructed wetlands

In Portugal the use of Constructed Wetlands (CW) for wastewater treatment has been increasing. However a number of these facilities need new strategies to achieve better efficiency. Keeping the culms of reeds on the CW beds not always results as desired, but the use of widely available agro-forest wastes, may be suitable as CW support matrix. This study was performed at lab-scale with dried culms of Phragmites and eucalyptus bark maintained in tap water, to assess them as CW substrata. With a 7 days residence time in water, Phragmites culms added a high organic load (about 400 mg L-1 BOD5) to the medium, while the eucalyptus bark added only, about 60 mg L-1 BOD5. However, by lixiviation, the organic load decreased to about 25 mg L-1 BOD5 in 5 weeks. With the organic load reduction of the leachate water, its surface tension increased, approaching the surface tension of tap water.

Biodegradable drug-eluting stents: Targeting urothelial tumors of upper urinary tract

INTRODUCTION & OBJECTIVES: Urothelial tumors of upper urinary tract are ranked among the most common types of cancers worldwide. The current standard therapy to prevent recurrence is intravesical Bacillus Calmetteâ Guerin (BCG) immunotherapy, but it presents several disadvantages such as BCG failure and intolerance. Another way is to use chemotherapy, which is generally better tolerated that BCG. In this case, drugs such as epirubicin, doxorubicin, paclitaxel and gemcitabine are used. Nevertheless, intravesical chemotherapy only prevents recurrence in the short-term. These failings can be partially attributed to the short residence time and low bioavailability of the drug within the upper urinary tract and the cancer cells, resulting in a need for frequent drug instillation. To avoid these problems, biodegradable ureteral stents impregnated by supercritical fluid CO2 (SCF) with each of the four anti-cancer drugs were produced. MATERIAL & METHODS: Four formulations with different concentrations of gelatin and alginate and crosslink agent were tested and bismuth was added to confer radiopaque properties to the stent. The preliminary in vivo validation studies in female domestic pigs was conducted at the University of Minho, Braga, after formal approval by the institutionâ s review board and in accordance with its internal ethical protocol for animal experiments. Paclitaxel, epirubicin, doxorubicin and gemcitabine were impregnated in the stents and the release kinetics was measured in artificial urine solution (AUS) for 9 days by UV spectroscopy in a microplate reader. The anti-tumoral effect of the developed stents in transitional cell carcinoma (TCC) and HUVEC primary cells, used as control, was evaluated. RESULTS: The in vivo validation of this second-generation of ureteral stents performed was herein demonstrated. Biodegradable ureteral stents were placed in the ureters of a female pigs, following the normal surgical procedure. The animals remained asymptomatic, with normal urine flow. The in vitro release study in AUS of the stent impregnated showed a higher release in the first 72h for the four anti-cancer drugs impregnated after this time the plateau was achieved and the stent degraded after 9 days. The direct and indirect contact of the anti-cancer biodegradable stents with the TCC and HUVEC cell lines confirm the anti-tumor effect of the stents impregnated with the four anti-cancer drugs, reducing around 75% of the viability of the TCC cell line after 72h and no killing effect in the HUVEC cells. CONCLUSIONS: The use of biodegradable ureteral stent in urology clinical practice not only reduce the stent-related symptoms but also open new treatment therapyâ s, like in urothelial tumors of upper urinary tract. Furthermore, we have demonstrated the clinical validation in vivo pig model. This study has thus shown the killing efficacy of the anti-cancer drug eluting biodegradable stents in vitro for the TCC cell line, with no toxicity observed in the control, non-cancerous cells.The direct and indirect contact of the anti-cancer biodegradable stents with the TCC and HUVEC cell lines confirm the anti-tumor effect of the stents impregnated with the four anti-cancer drugs, reducing around 75% of the viability of the TCC cell line after 72h and no killing effect in the HUVEC cells. This study has thus shown the killing efficacy of the anti-cancer drug eluting biodegradable stents in vitro for the TCC cell line, with no toxicity observed in the control, non-cancerous cells.

All different or all the same? Exploring the diversity of professional practices in Portuguese school psychology

"Published online: 29 March 2016"

Search for new phenomena in the dijet mass distribution using pp collision data at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Dijet events produced in LHC proton--proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy s√=8 TeV are studied with the ATLAS detector using the full 2012 data set, with an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb−1. Dijet masses up to about 4.5 TeV are probed. No resonance-like features are observed in the dijet mass spectrum. Limits on the cross section times acceptance are set at the 95% credibility level for various hypotheses of new phenomena in terms of mass or energy scale, as appropriate. This analysis excludes excited quarks with a mass below 4.09 TeV, color-octet scalars with a mass below 2.72 TeV, heavy W′ bosons with a mass below 2.45 TeV, chiral W∗ bosons with a mass below 1.75 TeV, and quantum black holes with six extra space-time dimensions with threshold mass below 5.82 TeV.

Nonparametric estimation of the survival function for ordered multivariate failure time data: a comparative study

In longitudinal studies of disease, patients may experience several events through a follow-up period. In these studies, the sequentially ordered events are often of interest and lead to problems that have received much attention recently. Issues of interest include the estimation of bivariate survival, marginal distributions and the conditional distribution of gap times. In this work we consider the estimation of the survival function conditional to a previous event. Different nonparametric approaches will be considered for estimating these quantities, all based on the Kaplan-Meier estimator of the survival function. We explore the finite sample behavior of the estimators through simulations. The different methods proposed in this article are applied to a data set from a German Breast Cancer Study. The methods are used to obtain predictors for the conditional survival probabilities as well as to study the influence of recurrence in overall survival.

A new page on the road book of inorganic mercury in fish body - tissue distribution and elimination following waterborne exposure and post-exposure periods

prova tipográfica / uncorrected proof

Predicting triage waiting time in maternity emergency care by means of data mining

Healthcare organizations often benefit from information technologies as well as embedded decision support systems, which improve the quality of services and help preventing complications and adverse events. In Centro Materno Infantil do Norte (CMIN), the maternal and perinatal care unit of Centro Hospitalar of Oporto (CHP), an intelligent pre-triage system is implemented, aiming to prioritize patients in need of gynaecology and obstetrics care in two classes: urgent and consultation. The system is designed to evade emergency problems such as incorrect triage outcomes and extensive triage waiting times. The current study intends to improve the triage system, and therefore, optimize the patient workflow through the emergency room, by predicting the triage waiting time comprised between the patient triage and their medical admission. For this purpose, data mining (DM) techniques are induced in selected information provided by the information technologies implemented in CMIN. The DM models achieved accuracy values of approximately 94% with a five range target distribution, which not only allow obtaining confident prediction models, but also identify the variables that stand as direct inducers to the triage waiting times.