The importance of arterial blood gas analysis as a systemic diagnosis approach in assessing and preventing chronic diseases, from emergency medicine to the daily practice.

Blood gas analysis is a diagnostic tool to evaluate the partial pressures of gas in blood and acid-base content. The use of blood gas analysis enables a clear understanding of respiratory, circulatory, and metabolic disorders. The arterial blood gas (ABG) explicitly analyzes blood taken from an artery, assessing the patient's partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2) and carbon dioxide (PaCO2) pH (acid/base). PaO2 indicates the oxygenation status, and PaCO2 indicates the ventilation status (chronic or acute respiratory failure). PaO2 is affected by hyperventilation, characterized by rapid or deep breathing, and hypoventilation, characterized by slow or shallow breathing. The acid-base balance tested by the ABG procedure measures the pH and PaCO2 directly, while the use of the Hasselbach equation gives the serum bicarbonate (HCO3) and base deficit or excess. The measured HCO3 is based on a strong alkali that frees all CO2 in serum, including dissolved CO2, carbamino compounds, and carbonic acid. The calculation uses a standard chemistry analysis, giving the amount of "total CO2"; the difference will amount to around 1.2 mmol/L. Though ABG is frequently ordered in emergency medicine contests for acute conditions, it may also be needed in other clinical settings. The ABG analysis shows to be an exceptional diagnostic tool, including the group of diseases known as acid-base diseases (ABDs), which include a great variety of conditions such as severe sepsis, septic shock, hypovolemic shock, diabetic ketoacidosis, renal tubular acidosis, chronic respiratory failure, chronic heart failure, and diverse metabolic diseases.

The efficiency of potential food waste-degrading bacteria under harsh conditions.

AIMS: Investigate the impact of highly adapted bacterial strains and their ability in waste degradation under a wide range of temperatures. METHODS AND RESULTS: Bacteria isolated from soil and food waste were grown in various media under fluctuated temperatures. After screening for organic compound degradation, the seven strongest bacterial strains have been selected for further experiments. Their enzyme activities were expressed in terms of the size of the hydrolysis zone in a wide temperature range of 2·5-70°C. The enzyme production assay was carried out for each protease, cellulase and amylase. The waste degradation was determined with a maximum 80% decrease in the volume of food waste in 21 days compared to the control in lab scale with enriched bacterial cultures and soil bacteria as additives at room temperature around 18-20°C. CONCLUSION: These seven bacteria are promising candidates for food waste biodegradation in composting especially in the winter without heating expense for maintaining ambient temperature. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: It is necessary to coax the uncultured bacteria from the various environments into the laboratory for investigating their valuable functions. Herein, using enrichment culture of consortium and additive of soil has illustrated the significant mean in food waste degradation.

Rapid and sensitive diagnostic procedure for multiple detection of pandemic Coronaviridae family members SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and HCoV: a translational research and cooperation between the Phan Chau Trinh University in Vietnam and University of Bari "Aldo Moro" in Italy.

OBJECTIVE: A new pandemic coronavirus causing coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19), initially called 2019-nCoV and successively named Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The COVID-19 refers to the disease while the SARS-CoV-2 refers to the virus and is characterized by a rapid contagious capacity able to spread worldwide in a very short time. The rise in the number of infected patients and deaths is of great concern especially because symptoms are vague and similar to other forms of flu infection and corona syndrome infections characterized by fever, fatigue, dry cough, and dyspnea. According to the latest guidelines published by the World Health Organization (WHO), the diagnosis of COVID-19 must be confirmed by quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) or gene sequencing of specimen obtained from throat, sputum and blood samples. However, the limitations due to logistics, as well as low sensitivity and specificity diagnostic tools currently available have been reported as the main cause of high incidence of either false-negative or positive results. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The purpose of the present translational research protocol is to discuss and present the original findings from our research team on new diagnostic technique to detect four Coronaviridae family members (SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV, HCoV and MERS-CoV), highlighting the methodology, the procedure and the possible advantages. Moreover, the authors review the current epidemiology, precautions and safety measures for health personnel to manage patients with known or suspected COVID-19 infection. RESULTS: Implementation of an effective and rapid plan of diagnosing, screening and checking is a key factor to reduce and prevent further transmission. This procedure based on rRT-PCR could be of great help to decisively validate the results obtained from more conventional diagnostic procedures such as chest computed tomography (CT) imaging and chest ultrasound. CONCLUSIONS: This translational diagnostic tool will assist emergency and primary care clinicians, as well as out-of-hospital providers, in effectively managing people with suspected or confirmed SARS-CoV-2.

Bone decay and beyond: how can we approach it better.

Osseo-degeneration is a disorder related to several factors, that may lead to the disruption of several skeletal regions providing support, such as the femur head, the vertebrae and the alveolar bone. The functional condition can be restored by means of grafting procedures, using different materials: calcium powder, xenografts, ceramics and metals. Such procedures aim at reforming an adequate bone volume and strength, that is necessary to support loading forces. Bone regeneration requires that the basic biological principles of osteogenesis, osteoinduction, osteoconduction and biocompatibility are followed. The success of regenerative procedures may depend on the inner structural, mechanical and metabolic condition of the host's bone on which implants should be inserted, on the surgical technique, and on the biomaterial used. Among these, the aging process of the patient appears to be relevant. It can be associated with metabolic disease leading to systemic functional decay, which involves a gradual steady decline of hormonal, immune function and osteo-metabolic activity. The latter can affect the positive outcomes of bone reconstruction and implant therapy. This review will analyze the biological and physiological factors involved in the bone tissue break-down, such as the influences from gut microbiome unbalance and the consequent metabolic, endocrine, immune dysfunctions, the surgery procedures and the quality of the grafting material used. The decline of bone architecture and strength should be corrected by using an appropriate clinical regenerative approach, based on a bio-endocrine, metabolic and immunologic know-how. The final characteristics of the regenerated bone must be able to support the loading forces transmitted by the implants, independent of the body location, and should be individualized according to the different condition of each patient.

Impacts of 25 years of groundwater extraction on subsidence in the Mekong delta, Vietnam.

Many major river deltas in the world are subsiding and consequently become increasingly vulnerable to flooding and storm surges, salinization and permanent inundation. For the Mekong Delta, annual subsidence rates up to several centimetres have been reported. Excessive groundwater extraction is suggested as the main driver. As groundwater levels drop, subsidence is induced through aquifer compaction. Over the past 25 years, groundwater exploitation has increased dramatically, transforming the delta from an almost undisturbed hydrogeological state to a situation with increasing aquifer depletion. Yet the exact contribution of groundwater exploitation to subsidence in the Mekong delta has remained unknown. In this study we deployed a delta-wide modelling approach, comprising a 3D hydrogeological model with an integrated subsidence module. This provides a quantitative spatially-explicit assessment of groundwater extraction-induced subsidence for the entire Mekong delta since the start of widespread overexploitation of the groundwater reserves. We find that subsidence related to groundwater extraction has gradually increased in the past decades with highest sinking rates at present. During the past 25 years, the delta sank on average ∼18 cm as a consequence of groundwater withdrawal. Current average subsidence rates due to groundwater extraction in our best estimate model amount to 1.1 cm yr-1, with areas subsiding over 2.5 cm yr-1, outpacing global sea level rise almost by an order of magnitude. Given the increasing trends in groundwater demand in the delta, the current rates are likely to increase in the near future.

Brevundimonas albigilva sp. nov., isolated from forest soil.

Strain NHI-13T, a Gram-stain-negative, aerobic and short rod-shaped bacterium, was isolated from forest soil at Kyonggi University in Suwon, South Korea. It grew optimally in R2A medium, at 20-30 °C, in the presence of 0-4 % NaCl. Colonies resulting from incubation of the strain on agar plates for 2 days were circular, raised, translucent, viscous and whitish-yellow, with entire margins. This strain exhibited high catalase activity but was negative for oxidase. 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis showed that strain NHI-13T formed a coherent cluster with members of the genus Brevundimonas. Its similarities were 98.0 % with Brevundimonas aurantiaca DSM 4731T, 97.9 % with Brevundimonas vesicularis LMG 2350T, 97.6 % with Brevundimonas intermedia ATCC 15262T, 97.5 % with Brevundimonas nasdae GTC 1043T, 97.1 % with 'Brevundimonas olei' MJ15, 97.1 % with Brevundimonas mediterranea V4.BO.10T and 97.0 % with Brevundimonas poindexterae FWC40T. The major cellular fatty acids were summed feature 8 (C18 : 1ω7c/C18 : 1ω6c), C16 : 0 and 11-methyl C18 : 1ω7c. The DNA G+C content was 63 mol%. The predominant quinone was ubiquinone Q-10. The polar lipid profile contained 1,2-di-O-acyl-3-O-α-d-glycopyranuronosyl glycerol, 1,2-di-O-acyl-3-O-α-d-glycopyranosyl glycerol, 1,2-di-O-acyl-3-O-[d-glycopyranosyl (1 → 4)-α-d-glucopyranuronosyl] glycerols, phosphatidylglycerol, 1,2-diacyl-3- O-(6'-phosphatidyl-α-d-glucopyranosyl) glycerol and other unknown lipids. The DNA relatedness of strain NHI-13T with its reference strains was in the range of 43-56 %. On the basis of its phenotypic, genotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic distinctiveness, strain NHI-13T is suggested to be a representative of a novel species, belonging to the genus Brevundimonas. Therefore, the name Brevundimonas albigilva. sp. nov. is proposed, with the type strain being NHI-13T ( = KEME 9005-016T = KACC 18249T = JCM 30385T).

Aetiology of branchial cysts.

The aetiology of branchial cysts is unknown. It is possible that they arise by more than one mechanism. The major theories are that they originate either from the branchial apparatus or from lymphoid tissues. A retrospective review was conducted of 61 cases occurring over a recent 14-year period. Eighty-five percent were diagnosed after the age of 10 years, 80% occurred in the 'classical' position, 80% had a squamous epithelial lining and 87% had lymphoid tissue in the wall. The clinical and histological features strongly support the lymphoid aetiology theory for the majority of branchial cysts.

[A study by infrared spectroscopy of interactions between the time of disintegration of tablets and liberation of the active principal]. / Mise en évidence par spectroscopie infrarouge des interactions affectant le temps de délitement de comprimés et la vitesse de libération du principe actif.

It was shown that the study of the infrared spectra of a drug and of the mixture drug + additives facilitates the preliminary studies for a tablet formulation. Thus, any interaction that may occur or affect the product stability can be detected and located. Furthermore, it was noticed that an interaction between an active ingredient and the various additives may modify the tablet desintegration time, but not necessarily the dissolution rate of this substance.