Factors influencing privatization of urban solid waste collection: some evidence from Spain

In this paper we analyse some of the organisational aspects of the urban solid waste collection and, in particular, the privatization modality of contracting out. We start by discussing some of the theoretical aspects of contracting out. We then specify and estimate an explanatory model on a sample of municipalities that we surveyed. Our purpose is twofold: on the one hand, we identify the economic factors at work when deciding to contract out the service and, on the other hand, we analyse the role of ideological factors in choosing between the public production of the service or contracting it out. The results show a significant effect of the demand for waste collection on contracting out. There also appears to be a neighbouring effect as the municipalities close to other cities that contract out are also more prone to do so. Finally, the decisions to contract seem to have been motivated by pragmatic rather than ideological reasons.

Solid-phase synthesis and DNA binding studies of dichloroplatinum(II) conjugates of dicarba analogues of octreotide as a new anticancer drugs

The first dichloroplatinum(II) conjugates of dicarba analogues of octreotide , which is expected to act as a"tumour-targeting device", have been efficiently synthesized following a stepwise solid-phase approach; these compounds emulate the mechanism of cisplatin since they form a 1,2-intrastrand cross-link with two consecutive guanines of an oligonucleotide.

Regime económico e financeiro para a GESTÃO DA ÁGUA no Directiva Quadro da Água (Directiva 2000/60/CE). Questões de transposição ITS no sistema jurídico espanhol

Se analiza la transposición de la Directiva Marco de Aguas 2000/60/CE al ordenamiento jurídico español, acotando la materia al régimen económico financiero de la obra pública hidráulica y en general del Dominio Público Hidráulico. A tal fin se estudian los principios rectores del régimen económico financiero comunitario del Dominio Público Hidráulico y su transposición al Ordenamiento Jurídico Español: a) Principio de recuperación de costes de los servicios relacionados con el agua y excepciones. El régimen tarifario del DPH (valor versus precio del agua). B) Principio de utilización eficiente de los recursos híbridos a través de una política de precios del agua que proporciona los incentivos adecuados a tal fin. c) Principio de contribución adecuada de los usos del agua desglosados, al menos, en industria, hogares y agricultura, basado en el análisis económico y en el principio del que contamina paga. d) Principio ambiental (creado por la OCDE): quien contamina paga (user-pays-principle). Finalmente también se analizan los costes de los servicios relacionados con el dominio público hidráulico

Synthesis of triheptanoin and formulation as a solid diet for rodents

Triheptanoin-enriched diets have been successfully used in the experimental treatment of various metabolic disorders. Maximal therapeutic effect is achieved in the context of a ketogenic diet where triheptanoin oil provides 3040% of the daily caloric intake. However, pre-clinical studies using triheptanoin-rich diets are hindered by the difficulty of administering to laboratory animals as a solid foodstuff. In the present study, we successfully synthesized triheptanoin to the highest standards of purity from glycerol and heptanoic acid, using sulfonated charcoal as a catalyst. Triheptanoin oil was then formulated as a solid, stable and palatable preparation using a ketogenic base and a combination of four commercially available formulation agents: hydrophilic fumed silica, hydrophobic fumed silica, microcrystalline cellulose, and talc. Diet compliance and safety was tested on C57Bl/6 mice over a 15-week period, comparing overall status and body weight change. Practical applications: This work provides a complete description of (i) an efficient and cost-effective synthesis of triheptanoin and (ii) its formulation as a solid, stable, and palatable ketogenic diet (triheptanoin-rich; 39% of the caloric intake) for rodents. Triheptanoin-rich diets will be helpful on pre-clinical experiments testing the therapeutic efficacy of triheptanoin in different rodent models of human diseases. In addition, using the same solidification procedure, other oils could be incorporated into rodent ketogenic diet to study their dosage and long-term effects on mammal health and development. This approach could be extremely valuable as ketogenic diet is widely used clinically for epilepsy treatment.

Clinical pharmacokinetics of mycophenolic acid and its metabolites in solid organ transplant recipient

Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), an ester prodrug of the immunosuppressant mycophenolic acid (MPA), is widely used for maintenance immunosuppressive therapy and prevention of renal allograft rejection in renal transplant recipients.MPA inhibits inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), an enzyme involved in the “de novo” synthesis of purine nucleotides, thus suppressing both T-cell and B-cell proliferation. MPA shows a complex pharmacokinetics with considerable interand intra- patient by between- and within patient variabilities associated to MPA exposure. Several factors may contribute to it. The pharmacokinetic modeling according to the population pharmacokinetic approach with the non-linear mixed effects models has shown to be a powerful tool to describe the relationships between MMF doses and the MPA exposures and also to identify potential predictive patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics for dose tailoring during the post-transplant immunosuppresive treatment.

Clinical pharmacokinetics of mycophenolic acid and its metabolites in solid organ transplant recipient

Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), an ester prodrug of the immunosuppressant mycophenolic acid (MPA), is widely used for maintenance immunosuppressive therapy and prevention of renal allograft rejection in renal transplant recipients.MPA inhibits inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), an enzyme involved in the “de novo” synthesis of purine nucleotides, thus suppressing both T-cell and B-cell proliferation. MPA shows a complex pharmacokinetics with considerable interand intra- patient by between- and within patient variabilities associated to MPA exposure. Several factors may contribute to it. The pharmacokinetic modeling according to the population pharmacokinetic approach with the non-linear mixed effects models has shown to be a powerful tool to describe the relationships between MMF doses and the MPA exposures and also to identify potential predictive patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics for dose tailoring during the post-transplant immunosuppresive treatment.

Synthesis of triheptanoin and formulation as a solid diet for rodents

Triheptanoin-enriched diets have been successfully used in the experimental treatment of various metabolic disorders. Maximal therapeutic effect is achieved in the context of a ketogenic diet where triheptanoin oil provides 3040% of the daily caloric intake. However, pre-clinical studies using triheptanoin-rich diets are hindered by the difficulty of administering to laboratory animals as a solid foodstuff. In the present study, we successfully synthesized triheptanoin to the highest standards of purity from glycerol and heptanoic acid, using sulfonated charcoal as a catalyst. Triheptanoin oil was then formulated as a solid, stable and palatable preparation using a ketogenic base and a combination of four commercially available formulation agents: hydrophilic fumed silica, hydrophobic fumed silica, microcrystalline cellulose, and talc. Diet compliance and safety was tested on C57Bl/6 mice over a 15-week period, comparing overall status and body weight change. Practical applications: This work provides a complete description of (i) an efficient and cost-effective synthesis of triheptanoin and (ii) its formulation as a solid, stable, and palatable ketogenic diet (triheptanoin-rich; 39% of the caloric intake) for rodents. Triheptanoin-rich diets will be helpful on pre-clinical experiments testing the therapeutic efficacy of triheptanoin in different rodent models of human diseases. In addition, using the same solidification procedure, other oils could be incorporated into rodent ketogenic diet to study their dosage and long-term effects on mammal health and development. This approach could be extremely valuable as ketogenic diet is widely used clinically for epilepsy treatment.

Liquid and solid scintillation: principles and applications

Scintillation counting is one of the most important developments in the application of radioisotopes to procedures needed by scientists, physicians, engineers, and technicians from many diverse discipline for the detection and quantitative measurement of radioactivity. In fact, Scintillation is the most sensitive and versatile technique for the detection and quantification ofradioactivity. Particularly, Solid and Liquid scintillation measurement are,nowadays, standard laboratory methods in the life-sciences for measuringradiation from gamma- and beta-emitting nuclides, respectively. Thismethodology is used routinely in the vast majority of diagnostic and/or researchlaboratories from those of biochemistry and biology to clinical departments.

Clinical pharmacokinetics of mycophenolic acid and its metabolites in solid organ transplant recipient

Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), an ester prodrug of the immunosuppressant mycophenolic acid (MPA), is widely used for maintenance immunosuppressive therapy and prevention of renal allograft rejection in renal transplant recipients.MPA inhibits inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), an enzyme involved in the “de novo” synthesis of purine nucleotides, thus suppressing both T-cell and B-cell proliferation. MPA shows a complex pharmacokinetics with considerable interand intra- patient by between- and within patient variabilities associated to MPA exposure. Several factors may contribute to it. The pharmacokinetic modeling according to the population pharmacokinetic approach with the non-linear mixed effects models has shown to be a powerful tool to describe the relationships between MMF doses and the MPA exposures and also to identify potential predictive patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics for dose tailoring during the post-transplant immunosuppresive treatment.

Clinical pharmacokinetics of mycophenolic acid and its metabolites in solid organ transplant recipient

Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), an ester prodrug of the immunosuppressant mycophenolic acid (MPA), is widely used for maintenance immunosuppressive therapy and prevention of renal allograft rejection in renal transplant recipients.MPA inhibits inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), an enzyme involved in the “de novo” synthesis of purine nucleotides, thus suppressing both T-cell and B-cell proliferation. MPA shows a complex pharmacokinetics with considerable interand intra- patient by between- and within patient variabilities associated to MPA exposure. Several factors may contribute to it. The pharmacokinetic modeling according to the population pharmacokinetic approach with the non-linear mixed effects models has shown to be a powerful tool to describe the relationships between MMF doses and the MPA exposures and also to identify potential predictive patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics for dose tailoring during the post-transplant immunosuppresive treatment.

Clinical pharmacokinetics of mycophenolic acid and its metabolites in solid organ transplant recipient

Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), an ester prodrug of the immunosuppressant mycophenolic acid (MPA), is widely used for maintenance immunosuppressive therapy and prevention of renal allograft rejection in renal transplant recipients.MPA inhibits inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), an enzyme involved in the “de novo” synthesis of purine nucleotides, thus suppressing both T-cell and B-cell proliferation. MPA shows a complex pharmacokinetics with considerable interand intra- patient by between- and within patient variabilities associated to MPA exposure. Several factors may contribute to it. The pharmacokinetic modeling according to the population pharmacokinetic approach with the non-linear mixed effects models has shown to be a powerful tool to describe the relationships between MMF doses and the MPA exposures and also to identify potential predictive patients’ demographic and clinical characteristics for dose tailoring during the post-transplant immunosuppresive treatment.

Recent Advances in Valorization Methods of Inorganic/Organic Solid, Liquid, and Gas Wastes

The main goal of this special issue was to gather contributions dealing with the latest breakthrough methods for providing value compounds and energy/fuel from waste valorization. Valorization is a relatively new approach in the area of industrial wastes management, a key issue to promote sustainable development. In this field, the recovery of value-added substances, such as antioxidants, proteins, vitamins, and so forth, from the processing of agroindustrial byproducts, is worth mentioning. Another important valorization approach is the use of biogas from waste treatment plants for the production of energy. Several approaches involving physical and chemical processes, thermal and biological processes that ensure reduced emissions and energy consumptions were taken into account. The papers selected for this topical issue represent some of the mostly researched methods that currently promote the valorization of wastes to energy and useful materials ...

Solid-Phase Synthesis of New Trp(Nps)-Containing Dipeptide Derivatives as TRPV1 Channel Blockers

Trp(Nps)-Lys-NH2 derivatives, bearing alkyl or guanidine groups either at the N-terminus or on the Lys side-chain or at both positions were conveniently prepared on solid-phase and evaluated as TRPV1 channel antagonists.

Copy number variation in the porcine genome inferred from a 60 k SNP BeadChip

Background: Recent studies in pigs have detected copy number variants (CNVs) using the Comparative Genomic Hybridization technique in arrays designed to cover specific porcine chromosomes. The goal of this study was to identify CNV regions (CNVRs) in swine species based on whole genome SNP genotyping chips. Results: We used predictions from three different programs (cnvPartition, PennCNV and GADA) to analyze data from the Porcine SNP60 BeadChip. A total of 49 CNVRs were identified in 55 animals from an Iberian x Landrace cross (IBMAP) according to three criteria: detected in at least two animals, contained three or more consecutive SNPs and recalled by at least two programs. Mendelian inheritance of CNVRs was confirmed in animals belonging to several generations of the IBMAP cross. Subsequently, a segregation analysis of these CNVRs was performed in 372 additional animals from the IBMAP cross and its distribution was studied in 133 unrelated pig samples from different geographical origins. Five out of seven analyzed CNVRs were validated by real time quantitative PCR, some of which coincide with well known examples of CNVs conserved across mammalian species. Conclusions: Our results illustrate the usefulness of Porcine SNP60 BeadChip to detect CNVRs and show that structural variants can not be neglected when studying the genetic variability in this species.

Protein oligomers studied by solid-state NMR the case of the full-length nucleoid-associated protein histone-like nucleoid structuring protein

Members of the histone-like nucleoid structuring protein (H-NS) family play roles both as architectural proteins and as modulators of gene expression in Gram-negative bacteria. The H-NS protein participates in modulatory processes that respond to environmental changes in osmolarity, pH, or temperature. H-NS oligomerization is essential for its activity. Structural models of different truncated forms are available. However, high-resolution structural details of full-length H-NS and its DNA-bound state have largely remained elusive. We report on progress in characterizing the biologically active H-NS oligomers with solid-state NMR. We compared uniformly ((13)C,(15)N)-labeled ssNMR preparations of the isolated N-terminal region (H-NS 1-47) and full-length H-NS (H-NS 1-137). In both cases, we obtained ssNMR spectra of good quality and characteristic of well-folded proteins. Analysis of the results of 2D and 3D (13)C-(13)C and (15)N-(13)C correlation experiments conducted at high magnetic field led to assignments of residues located in different topological regions of the free full-length H-NS. These findings confirm that the structure of the N-terminal dimerization domain is conserved in the oligomeric full-length protein. Small changes in the dimerization interface suggested by localized chemical shift variations between solution and solid-state spectra may be relevant for DNA recoginition.