Asunto(s)
Bloqueo Nervioso , Osteoartritis de la Rodilla , Reumatología , Humanos , Articulación de la Rodilla/diagnóstico por imagen , Osteoartritis de la Rodilla/complicaciones , Osteoartritis de la Rodilla/diagnóstico por imagen , Osteoartritis de la Rodilla/terapia , Dolor , Ultrasonografía IntervencionalRESUMEN
While we increasingly turn to desalination as a secure water supply, it is still perceived as an expensive and environmentally damaging solution, affordable only for affluent societies. In this contribution, we recast desalination from one of a last resort to a far-reaching, climate change mitigating, water security solution. First, we argue that the benefits of desalination go beyond the single-use value of the water produced. If coupled with water reuse for irrigation, desalination reduces groundwater abstraction and augments the water cycle. As such, it may support both adaptation to, and mitigation of climate change impacts by deploying plentiful water for human use, with all the benefits that entails, while helping preserve and restore ecosystems. Second, we counter two arguments commonly raised against desalination, namely its environmental impact and high cost. The environmental impact can be fully controlled so as not to pose long-term threats, if driven by renewable energy. Desalination may then have a zero carbon footprint. Moreover, appropriately designed outfalls make the disposal of brine at sea compatible with marine ecosystems.. Recovery of energy, minerals and more water from brine reject (particularly in the form of vapour for cooling to enable more crops and vegetation to grow), while possible, is often hardly economically justified. However, resource recovery may become more attractive in the future, and help reduce the brine volumes to dispose of. When fresh water becomes scarce, its cost tends to go up, making desalination increasingly economic. Moreover, desalination can have virtually no environmental costs. Considering the environmental costs of over-abstraction of freshwater, desalination tilts the balance in its favour.
Asunto(s)
Ciclo Hidrológico , Purificación del Agua , Ecosistema , Humanos , Agua de Mar , Abastecimiento de AguaRESUMEN
Although Membrane Distillation (MD) has been extensively studied for desalination, it has other applications like removing all kinds of solutes from water and concentrating non-volatile substances. MD offers the possibility of producing a clean stream while concentrating valuable compounds from waste streams towards their recovery, or emerging contaminants and pathogens present in wastewater in order to facilitate their chemical elimination. This paper analyses the elimination of bacterial spores from contaminated water with MD and the role of MD in the subsequent treatment of the concentrate with photo-Fenton process. The experiments were performed at Plataforma Solar de Almería (PSA) using a plate and frame bench module with a Permeate Gap Membrane Distillation (PGMD) configuration. Tests were done for two different kinds of spores in two different water matrixes: distilled water with 3.5wt% of sea salts contaminated with spores of Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) and wastewater after a secondary treatment and still contaminated with Clostridium sp. spores. An analysis of the permeate was performed in all cases to determine its purity, as well as the concentrated stream and its further treatment in order to assess the benefits of using MD. Results showed a permeate free of spores in all the cases, demonstrating the viability of MD to treat biological contaminated wastewater for further use in agriculture. Moreover, the results obtained after treating the concentrate with photo-Fenton showed a shorter treatment time for the reduction of the spore concentration in the water than that when only photo-Fenton was used.
Asunto(s)
Bacillus/aislamiento & purificación , Clostridium/aislamiento & purificación , Microbiología del Agua , Contaminantes del Agua/aislamiento & purificación , Purificación del Agua/métodos , Destilación , Peróxido de Hidrógeno , Hierro , Esporas Bacterianas/aislamiento & purificaciónRESUMEN
OBJECTIVES: Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are considered key elements in the development of effective health promotion. However, there is little research to back the enthusiasm for these partnerships. Our objective was to describe the diversity of visions on PPPs and to assess the links between the authors and corporations engaged in such ventures. METHODS: We reviewed the scientific literature through PubMed in order to select all articles that expressed a position or recommendation on governments and industries engaging in PPPs for health promotion. We included any opinion paper that considered agreements between governments and corporations to develop health promotion. Papers that dealt with healthcare provision or clinical preventive services and those related to tobacco industries were excluded. We classified the articles according to the authors' position regarding PPPs: strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree and strongly disagree. We related the type of recommendation to authors' features such as institution and conflicts of interest. We also recorded whether the recommendations were based on previous assessments. RESULTS: Of 46 papers analysed, 21 articles (45.6%) stated that PPPs are helpful in promoting health, 1 was neutral and 24 (52.1%) were against such collaborations. 26 papers (57%) set out conditions to assure positive outcomes of the partnerships. Evidence for or against PPPs was mentioned in 11 papers that were critical or neutral (44%) but not in any of those that advocated collaboration. Where conflicts were declared (26 papers), absence of conflicts was more frequent in critics than in supporters (86% vs 17%). CONCLUSIONS: Although there is a lack of evidence to support PPPs for health promotion, many authors endorse this approach. The prevalence of ideas encouraging PPPs can affect the intellectual environment and influence policy decisions. Public health researchers and professionals must make a contribution in properly framing the PPP issue.
Asunto(s)
Conflicto de Intereses , Promoción de la Salud/métodos , Asociación entre el Sector Público-Privado/ética , Asociación entre el Sector Público-Privado/normas , Conducta Cooperativa , Humanos , Salud PúblicaRESUMEN
3p deletion syndrome is a rare disorder involving developmental delay, dysmorphic physical features, and growth retardation. Molecular mapping of several cases in the literature have identified a critical region on chromosome 3p26. We present a child patient with characteristic features of 3p deletion syndrome and a de novo unbalanced translocation involving chromosomes 3 and 13. Fine mapping of this rearrangement using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and array-based comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) revealed an unbalanced abnormality including a 4.5 Mb terminal deletion of chromosome 3p, telomeric to ITPR1 on 3p26.2, which was not previously identified with routine cytogenetic analysis. In addition, these investigations confirmed and refined the boundaries of a 26.5 Mb deletion of chromosome 13. This study confirms the minimal candidate region for 3p deletion syndrome, provides further evidence implicating haploinsufficiency of CNTN4 in the disorder, and demonstrates the utility of high-resolution investigations of rare chromosomal rearrangements.
Asunto(s)
Deleción Cromosómica , Trastornos de los Cromosomas/genética , Cromosomas Humanos Par 3/genética , Preescolar , Trastornos de los Cromosomas/patología , Cromosomas Humanos Par 13/genética , Hibridación Genómica Comparativa , Anomalías Craneofaciales/genética , Discapacidades del Desarrollo/genética , Femenino , Humanos , Hibridación Fluorescente in Situ , Cariotipificación , Deformidades Congénitas de las Extremidades/genética , Masculino , Fenotipo , Síndrome , Translocación GenéticaRESUMEN
We characterized two Y-ring microchromosomes (MC) found in an azoospermic patient with Turner stigmata (case A) and a male infant with hypospadias (case B). The karyotypes, as assessed by banding, FISH, and STRs/STSs analyses, were 46,X,r(Y).ish r(Y)(p11.3q11.222)(SRY+,DYZ3+) and 46,X,+r(Y)/45,X.ish r(Y)(p 11.2q11.2)(Xp/Yp-,SRY+,DYZ3+) respectively. In both cases, we evaluated the association of each MC with the centromere of the nearest and second nearest chromosomes in G-banded metaphases by means of measuring the intervening distance according to two criteria: < or =1 time or < or =3 times the size of the MC in each metaphase. The case A's MC was associated 84 times in 98 cells according to the latter or less strict criterion and two times in 98 cells according to the strict criterion; the corresponding values for case B were 84 and two in 95 cells respectively. The centromeric association appears to be related to centromeric attraction mediated by heterochromatin or centromere-specific proteins, the replication time, and the Rabl orientation.
Asunto(s)
Centrómero/genética , Centrómero/ultraestructura , Cromosomas Humanos Y/genética , Adulto , Cromosomas Humanos Par 18/genética , Cromosomas Humanos Par 21/genética , Cromosomas Humanos Par 22/genética , Humanos , Hipospadias/complicaciones , Cariotipificación , Masculino , Síndrome de Turner/complicaciones , Síndrome de Turner/genética , Proteínas de Unión al GTP rab5/genéticaRESUMEN
No disponible
Asunto(s)
Adulto , Embarazo , Femenino , Humanos , Hemorragia Posparto/complicaciones , Choque/etiología , Embolización Terapéutica , Complicaciones del Trabajo de PartoRESUMEN
El objetivo del trabajo es la presentación de un modelo de predicción de la siniestralidad laboral basado en datos empíricos en un conjunto de variables susceptibles de intervención. El método empleado es un diseño transversal y correlacional, en el que a partir de una muestra representativa de más de 500 trabajadores de diferentes sectores de actividad de la provincia de Valencia, se cuantifica la importancia relativa de cada uno de los aspectos definidos como relevantes para predecir la ocurrencia de accidentes. El uso metodológico de modelos de ecuaciones estructurales permite la consideración simultánea de un gran número de variables, junto con un adecuado control estadístico, reflejando así con mayor fidelidad la problemática de la siniestralidad laboral. Los resultados muestran el impacto de la variables organizacionales y los riesgos sobre variables del trabajador, la importancia de éstas en la predicción de accidentes, junto con su papel mediador en los efectos de las variables organizacionales (clima de seguridad, formación en seguridad, sobrecarga de trabajo, etc.) sobre la ocurrencia de accidentes laborales. La conclusión es que los aspectos psicosociales son claves en la explicación de los accidentes laborales y abren vías para una intervención eficaz (AU)
Asunto(s)
Femenino , Masculino , Humanos , Accidentes de Trabajo/psicología , Riesgos Laborales , Agotamiento Profesional/psicología , Notificación de Accidentes del Trabajo , Encuestas y Cuestionarios , Estudios Transversales , Factores de Riesgo , Accidentes de Trabajo/prevención & control , EspañaRESUMEN
We describe a female child with a ring chromosome 3, found after investigation for short stature. Her karyotype was 46,XX,r(3)(p26-q29). Her phenotype mainly differs from that of the nine patients previously reported with ring chromosome 3, by the presence of hypoplastic right thumb and bilateral coloboma of the iris.
Asunto(s)
Cromosomas Humanos Par 3 , Coloboma/genética , Enfermedades del Iris/genética , Cromosomas en Anillo , Pulgar/anomalías , Niño , Femenino , Humanos , Cariotipificación , MasculinoRESUMEN
Interchange trisomy 21 by t(1:21)(p22:q22)mat: Interchange trisomy 21 by t(1;21)(p22;q22)mat was identified in a sporadic patient with Down syndrome. With a 21q22 specific probe, we observed signals on both normal 21 chromosomes and on the der. We reviewed the 23 published reports of families with reciprocal translocations leading to viable offspring with interchange trisomy 21. The breakpoints in chromosome 21 were mainly located in 21q (19/24 instances, including the present report) and in 19/23 cases the other chromosome involved in the translocation was <