Biohydrogen and polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) as products of a two-steps bioprocess from deproteinized dairy wastes.

In this study a two-steps bioprocess approach aimed at biohydrogen production via dark-fermentation, and polyhydroxyalkanoates-PHA production by mixed microbial cultures, was proposed to valorise two dairy-waste streams coming from cheese whey deproteinization (i.e. Ricotta cheese production and ultrafiltration). During the first step, the increase of OLR was tested, resulting in higher daily H2 volume (3.47 and 5.07 NL H2 d-1 for second cheese whey-SCW and concentrated cheese whey permeate-CCWP) and organic acids production (14.6 and 12.6 g L-1 d-1 for SCW and CCWP) for both the substrates, keeping good conversion of sugars into H2 (1.37 and 1.93 mol H2 mol-1 sugars for SCW and CCWP). During the second step, the organic acids were used for PHA production reaching high conversion yields for both the fermented streams (as average 0.74 ±â€¯0.14 mg CODPHA mg-1 CODOA-in), with a maximum polymer content of 62 ±â€¯4.5 and 55.1 ±â€¯1.3% (g PHA g-1 VSS) for fermented SCW and fermented CCWP respectively. For the results reported, this study could be taken into consideration for larger scale application.

[Magnetic resonance and extramural vascular invasion in patients with rectal cancer and liver metastases]. / Resonancia magnética e invasión vascular extramural en pacientes con cáncer rectal y metástasis hepaticas.

BACKGROUND: Extramural vascular invasion (EMVI) in patients with rectal cancer (RC) is associated with more locally advanced tumors, and independently predicts local and distant recurrence and poor overall survival. OBJETIVE: To determine the association between EMVI and synchronous liver metastases in patients with RC. METHODS: We performed a retrospective cohort study including patients with cancer of middle and lower rectum, which were evaluated with magnetic resonance (MRI) for initial staging in the period from January 2011 to January 2012 inclusive. All patients were evaluated with MRI for EMVI and were followed for a year to detect synchronous liver metastases by imaging methods (January 2012 to January 2013 inclusive). Multivariate analysis was performed by logistic regression. RESULTS: We included 68 patients. Twenty had liver metastases during the observation period (29.41%), of whom 15 had signs of MRI EMVI (75%). The incidence of synchronous liver metastases had a marginally significant association with the presence of EMVI (RR 3.35, 95% CI: 1.0001-11.2187, P = 0.050). CONCLUSION: The presence of MRI EVMI is a poor prognostic predictor factor of development of synchronous liver metastases in patients with RC.