Stability of a Lipase Extracted from Seeds of Pachira aquatica in Commercial Detergents and Application Tests in Poultry Wastewater Pretreatment and Fat Particle Hydrolysis

A protein extract containing a plant lipase from oleaginous seeds of Pachira aquatica was tested using soybean oil, wastewater from a poultry processing plant, and beef fat particles as substrate. The hydrolysis experiments were carried out at a temperature of 40°C, an incubation time of 90 minutes, and pH 8.0-9.0. The enzyme had the best stability at pH 9.0 and showed good stability in the alkaline range. It was found that P. aquatica lipase was stable in the presence of some commercial laundry detergent formulations, and it retained full activity up to 0.35% in hydrogen peroxide, despite losing activity at higher concentrations. Concerning wastewater, the lipase increased free fatty acids release by 7.4 times and promoted the hydrolysis of approximately 10% of the fats, suggesting that it could be included in a pretreatment stage, especially for vegetable oil degradation.

Usefulness of vaginal cytology tests in women with previous hysterectomy for benign diseases: assessment of 53,891 tests

Objective. To assess the value of vaginal screening cytology after hysterectomy for benign disease.Methods. This cross-sectional study used cytology audit data from 2,512,039 screening tests in the metropolitan region of Campinas from 2000 to 2012; the object was to compare the prevalence of abnormal tests in women who had undergone a hysterectomy for benign diseases (n = 53,891) to that of women who had had no hysterectomy. Prevalence ratios (95% confidence intervals, 95% Cl) were determined, and chi-square analysis, modified by the Cochrane-Armitage test for trend, was used to investigate the effects of age.Results. The prevalence of atypical squamous cells (ASC), low-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion (LSIL), and high-grade squamous intraepithelial lesion or squamous-cell carcinoma (HSIL/SCC) was 0.13%, 0.04% and 0.03%, respectively, in women who had undergone hysterectomy, and 0.93%, 0.51% and 0.26% in women who had not undergone hysterectomy. The prevalence ratios for ASC, LSIL and HSIL/SCC were 0.14(0.11-0.17), 0.08 (0.06-0.13) and 0.13 (0.08-020), respectively, in women with a hysterectomy versus those without. For HSIL/SCC, the prevalence ratios were 0.09 and 029, respectively, for women <50 or >= 50 years. The prevalence rates in women with a previous hysterectomy showed no significant variation with age.Conclusion. The prevalence rates of ASC, LSIL and HSIL/SCC were significantly lower in women with a previous hysterectomy for benign disease compared with those observed in women with an intact uterine cervix. This study reinforces the view that there is no evidence that cytological screening is beneficial for women who have had a hysterectomy for benign disease. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Tests of fed and unfed Amblyomma cajennense ticks (Acari: Ixodidae): first morphological data

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Reliability of peak O-2 uptake and O-2 uptake kinetics in step exercise tests in healthy subjects

To date little is known about the reliability of peak oxygen consumption (VO2pEAK) in incremental metronome paced step tests (1ST) and the reliability of on-kinetics VO2 has never been studied. We aimed to study the reliability of both tests. Eleven healthy subjects performed two ISTs until exhaustion. On two different days two duplicate 4 min constant metronome paced step tests (CST) were performed. VO2PEAK, mean response time (MRT) and phase II time constant (tau) were tested for reproducibility using the paired t-tests, in addition to the limits of agreement (LOA) and within subject coefficient of variation (COV). With a 95% LOA of 0.38 to 0.26 L min(-1), -8.7 to 9.1 s and -9.9 to 10.5 s they exhibit a COV of 3%, 4.5% and 6.9% for VO2PEAK, MRT and tau respectively. ST are sufficiently reliable for maximal and submaximal aerobic power assessments in healthy subjects and new studies of oxygen uptake kinetics in selected patient groups are warranted. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Recovery Tests of an Hybrid Current Limiter Composed of a SFCL in Parallel to an Air-Core Power Reactor

The resistive-type superconducting fault current limiters (RSFCL) prototypes using YBCO-coated conductors have shown current limitation for medium voltage class applications for acting time up to 80 ms. By connecting an air-core reactor in parallel with the RSFCL, thus making an hybrid current limiter, one can extend the acting time for up to 1 s. In this work, we report the performance of a hybrid current limiter subjected to an AC peak fault current of 2 kA during 1 s for which within the first 80 ms the SFCL limits the current concurrently with the air-core reactor, and for the remaining 920 ms, only the air-core reactor limits the current. In order to evaluate the actual conditions for subsequent reconnection of RSFCL to the power grid, the hybrid fault current limiter was tested varying the time interval for recovery from 900 ms and 1.2 s, followed again by the concurrent operation of the hybrid limiter during 1 s (SFCL during 80 ms). From this evaluation test, the recovery time can be measured and compared using the voltage peak generated in superconducting module from the first and second fault test. The recovery time was also determined through the pulsed current method (PCM) on short-length sample test. The results showed that the fault current was limited from 1.9 kA down to 514 A after 1 cycle of 60 Hz frequency, with recovery time lower than 1.2 s for two subsequent fault current tests.

Precise determination of the mass of the Higgs boson and tests of compatibility of its couplings with the standard model predictions using proton collisions at 7 and 8 TeV

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Accelerated aging and electrical conductivity tests in crambe seeds

The aim of this study was to adapt the methodology of the accelerated aging and electrical conductivity tests for determination of physiological potential in crambe seeds. Six seed lots of crambe (cv. FMS Brilhante) were subjected to determination of moisture content, germination test, first count germination, emergence, and emergence speed index. For the accelerated aging test, the traditional methodology was used with water, and with a saturated potassium chloride and sodium chloride solution in three periods of exposure (24, 48, and 72 hours) at 41 degrees C; the electrical conductivity test was performed with four pre-soaking treatments (0, 2, 4, and 8 hours) and four soaking periods (4, 8, 16, and 24 hours) at 25 degrees C. The accelerated aging test with water for 72 hours and the electrical conductivity test with 2 hours of pre-soaking and assessment after 16 hours were effective for classification of the crambe seed lots in regard to physiological quality.

A critical evaluation of bond strength tests for the assessment of bonding to Y-TZP

Objectives. To compare three different designs for measuring the bond strength between Y-TZP ceramic and a composite material, before and after ceramic surface treatment, evaluating the influence of the size of the adhesive interface for each design.Methods. 'Macro'tensile, microtensile, 'macro'shear, microshear, 'macro'push-out, and micropush-out tests were carried out. Two Y-TZP surface treatments were evaluated: silanization (sil) and tribochemical silica coating (30 mu m silica-modified Al2O3 particles + silanization) (TBS). Failure mode analysis of tested samples was also performed. Results. Both the surface treatment and the size of the bonded interface significantly affected the results (p = 0.00). Regardless of the type of surface treatment, the microtensile and microshear tests had higher values than their equivalent "macro" tests. However, the push-out test showed the highest values for the "macro" test. The tensile tests showed the greatest variability in results. The tribochemical silica coating method significantly increased bond strength for all tests.Significance. Different test designs can change the outcome for Y-TZP/cement interfaces, in terms of mean values and reliability (variability). The 'micro'tests expressed higher bond strengths than their equivalent 'macro'tests, with the exception of the push-out test (macro > micro). (C) 2015 Academy of Dental Materials. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.