Calcium applications throughout fruit development enhance olive quality, oil yield, and antioxidant compounds' content.

BACKGROUND: Calcium is a preservative and firming agent largely used in the table olive industry. Foliar applications of calcium (as calcium chloride, CaCl2 ) before harvest have been proposed in other fruits to increase firmness and reduce physiological disorders or internal damage. However, there is still a shortage of information regarding the source, the concentration, the number, and the period of calcium application onto the canopy to get an effective response of olive quality. In this study, we aimed to investigate the effect of two concentrations of CaCl2 foliar treatments (0.5% and 1.0%), applied at different stages of fruit development (at the end of fruit set, end of pit hardening, and prior to harvesting), on olive quality for two varieties ('Manzanilla de Sevilla' and 'Ascolanta tenera'), cultivated in two different geographical areas (Spain and Italy respectively). RESULTS: The calcium concentrations applied enhanced the fruit calcium content and decreased sodium and potassium. They also improved the mechanical properties without modifying fruit morphology or cuticle thickness; nor did they cause phytotoxicity. Foliar treatments increased the oil content in the pulp (dry weight basis) and the amount of hydroxytyrosol, tyrosol, and oleuropein, among other phenols. CONCLUSION: Calcium foliar applications during fruit development effectively increase olive quality. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

Ketamine-Based Anesthetic Protocols and Evoked Potential Monitoring: A Risk/Benefit Overview.

Since its discovery, ketamine, a non-competitive N-methyl D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist related to phencyclidine, has been linked to multiple adverse reactions sometimes described as "out of body" and "near death experiences," including emergence phenomena, delusions, hallucinations, delirium, and confusion. Due to these effects, ketamine has been withdrawn from mainstream anesthetic use in adult patients. Evoked potentials (EPs) are utilized to monitor neural pathways during surgery, detect intraoperative stress or damage, detect and define the level of neural lesions, and define abnormalities. Unfortunately, many of the volatile anesthetics commonly used during spinal and neurologic procedures suppress EP amplitude and monitoring. Ketamine has been found in several preclinical and clinical studies to actually increase EP amplitude and thus has been used as an analgesic adjunct in procedures where EP monitoring is critical. Once the gap in our knowledge of ketamine's risks has been sufficiently addressed in animal models, informed clinical trials should be conducted in order to properly incorporate ketamine-based anesthetic regimens during EP-monitored neurosurgeries.

La compliance y la diferencia entre las concentraciones inspiradas y espiradas de O2 en el curso de la cirugía ginecológica laparoscópica / The compliance and difference among O2 concentrations inspired and expired along the laparoscopic gynecological surgery

La compliance dinámica ha sido usada como uno de los parámetros que caracterizan la monitorización de la ventilación y la mecánica respiratoria en el curso de la cirugía laparoscópica. Las complicaciones fisiológicas asociadas al pneumoperitoneo dependen de la presión intraabdominal(PIA),la cantidad de CO2 absorbido, el volúmen circulatorio del paciente, la técnica de ventilación usada, las condiciones patológicas subyacentes,la técnica anestésica usada y la posición del paciente durante el proceder. Los aspectos técnicos para realizar una laparascopía ginecológica contempla como en otras la posición de Trendelenburg y la insuflación de O2 en la cavidad abdominal, crean cambios respiratorios y hemodinámicos independientes del tipo de anestesia usada. Ambas maniobras disminuyen la compliance pulmonar total y la capacidad residual funcional con el consiguiente aumento de áreas de pulmón con alteraciones de la relación ventilación perfusión (V/Q), debido a la compresión mecánica. La monitorizacion de la respiración y de la mecánica respiratotia son pilares fundamentales en la vigilancia de la cirugia laparoscópica. Consideramos que el impacto de la técnica laparoscópica sobre la relación ventilación perfusión (V/Q) puede eventualmente conllevar alteraciones de la oxigenación que con respecto a la saturación de la hemoglobina (SHb), pueden cursar de formas subclínica y pot lo tanto la diferencia entre las concentraciones de oxígeno inspirada y espirada (FiO2-FeO) resultar de excelente ayuda en la monitorización durante este tipo de cirugía(AU)

Co-oxidation of p-hydroxybenzoic acid and atrazine by the Fenton's like system Fe(III)/H2O2.

The system Fe(III)/H2O2 has been used to oxidise an aqueous solution of p-hydroxybenzoic acid (pHB) in the absence of light. In the process, typical operating variables such as reagent concentration exert a positive influence in the pHB degradation rate. Optimum pH has been found to be around 3. The kinetic study suggests that the mechanism involved in this system differs to some extent from that reported for the classic Fenton's chemistry in pure water. Thus, formation of a complex Fe(III)-pHB seems to be a key step to initiate the oxidising mechanism. Stoichiometric measurements of the H2O2 consumption per mole of pHB degraded indicate a possible reduction of complexed Fe(III). Simultaneous oxidation of pHB (and other similar compounds such as tyrosol (Ty) or p-coumaric acid (pCu)) and atrazine have shown a synergistic effect of the first substance to remove the pesticide.