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AbstractThe protic ionic liquid (PIL) N‐butylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate ([BIm][TfO]) was obtained for the first time and incorporated into a sol–gel‐derived di‐ureasil matrix with a concentration of X=5, 10, and 30 %, where X is the ratio of the mass of PIL per mass of poly(oxyethylene). Four years after their synthesis, the resulting quasi‐anhydrous electrolytes remained amorphous, homogeneous, flexible, and thermally stable below 200 °C. SEM/EDS data revealed the presence of the PIL at the surface of the xerogels with X>5 %, demonstrating that this type of morphological characterization is mandatory to avoid misleading ionic conductivity values. The highest ionic conductivity was produced in the washed sample with X=30 % (3.5×10−5 and 2.1×10−3 S cm−1 at 25 and 170 °C, respectively). The present family of electrolytes yielded higher conductivities than the N‐ethylimidazolium trifluoromethanesulfonate‐based analogues introduced earlier by our group and may thus be considered as promising candidates for applications in fuel cells.

While the harmful effects of alcohol abuse are well documented, experimental and clinical data support a potential benefit of light to moderate alcohol consumption. Cross-sectional studies have suggested an association between alcohol consumption and multiple sclerosis (MS) disability. In the absence of prospective, longitudinal studies, the causal nature of this relationship cannot be established. It remains possible that patients with increased disability progression reduce their alcohol intake. Even though there is substantial evidence for anti-inflammatory effects of low-to-moderate doses of alcohol, the associations need to be interpreted very cautiously. This study discusses the current state of knowledge about MS and alcohol consumption, and the limitations in conducting research with retrospective data in patients with MS.

Activity pacing (AP) is a concept that is central to many chronic pain theories and treatments, yet there remains confusion regarding its definition and effects.To review the current knowledge concerning AP and integrate this knowledge in a manner that allows for a clear definition and useful directions for future research.A narrative review of the major theoretical approaches to AP and of the empirical evidence regarding the effects of AP interventions, followed by an integrative discussion.The concept of AP is derived from 2 main traditions: operant and energy conservation. Although there are common elements across these traditions, significant conceptual and practical differences exist, which has led to confusion. Little empirical evidence exists concerning the efficacy of AP as a treatment for chronic pain.Future research on AP should be based on a clear theoretical foundation, consider the context in which the AP behavior occurs and the type of pacing problem ("underactivity" vs. "overactivity"), and should examine the impact of AP treatment on multiple clinical outcomes. We provide a provisional definition of AP and specific recommendations that we believe will move the field forward.

AbstractBluetongue (BT) is a commonly cited example of a disease with a distribution believed to have recently expanded in response to global warming. The BT virus is transmitted to ruminants by biting midges of the genus Culicoides, and it has been hypothesized that the emergence of BT in Mediterranean Europe during the last two decades is a consequence of the recent colonization of the region by Culicoides imicola and linked to climate change. To better understand the mechanism responsible for the northward spread of BT, we tested the hypothesis of a recent colonization of Italy by C. imicola, by obtaining samples from more than 60 localities across Italy, Corsica, Southern France, and Northern Africa (the hypothesized source point for the recent invasion of C. imicola), and by genotyping them with 10 newly identified microsatellite loci. The patterns of genetic variation within and among the sampled populations were characterized and used in a rigorous approximate Bayesian computation framework to compare three competing historical hypotheses related to the arrival and establishment of C. imicola in Italy. The hypothesis of an ancient presence of the insect vector was strongly favoured by this analysis, with an associated P ≥ 99%, suggesting that causes other than the northward range expansion of C. imicola may have supported the emergence of BT in southern Europe. Overall, this study illustrates the potential of molecular genetic markers for exploring the assumed link between climate change and the spread of diseases.

A 67-year-old Caucasian male with lung cancer was presented to the Emergency Department with asthenia, anorexia, jaundice and choluria. The patient's lung cancer was being treated medically by a combination of paclitaxel/carboplatin with bi-monthly frequency. The patient was also self-medicating with several natural products, including Chlorella (520 mg/day), Silybum marianum (total of 13.5 mg silymarin/day), zinc sulphate (5.5 mg), selenium (50 μg) and 15 g/day of Curcuma longa. In first chemotherapy cycle no toxicity was observed even he was taking other medications as budesonide and sitagliptin. The toxic events started only after the introduction of the dietary products. Chlorella had contamination with cyanobacteria (Oscillatoriales) and 1.08 μg of cyanotoxin Microcystin-LR (MC-LR) per gram of biomass was found. Patient was consuming ca 0.01 μg MC-LR/kg/day. This case report describes the first known case of paclitaxel toxicity probably related to pharmacokinetic interaction with Turmeric and a contaminated Chlorella supplement resulting in an acute toxic hepatitis and the impact on oncologic patient health.

Background: Impairments in decision making are a consistent finding in substance use disorder (SUD) populations. However, decision‐making deficits are not specific for SUDs and are also reported in the context of other psychiatric disorders such as antisocial and borderline personality disorders (PDs). Given the frequent comorbidity between SUD and cluster B PD, it might be questioned whether the decision‐making impairments typically reported in SUD populations reflect the addictive disorder, the cluster B PD, or a combination of the 2.Methods: In the current study, we compare the decision‐making performance of non–substance‐abusing controls (n=53) on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) with the decision‐making performance of 3 abstinent alcohol‐dependent samples, i.e., alcoholic patients without any PD (n=38), alcoholic patients with a cluster A or C PD (n=19), and alcoholic patients with a cluster B PD (n=23).Results: Overall, all 3 alcohol‐dependent subsamples performed inferior compared with controls. Between alcoholic subsamples, the alcoholic patients with a cluster A or C PD had the highest IGT score, followed by the alcoholic patients without a PD, while the cluster B alcoholic patients were the most impaired.Conclusion: These findings suggest that impairments in decision making underlie both alcohol dependence and cluster B PD, and alcoholic patients with a comorbid cluster B PD are particularly impaired in their decision making. These deficits may underlie the severe problems that characterize cluster B alcoholic patients specifically in inappropriate behaviors (e.g., poly substance abuse, legal, and professional dysfunction).

Mitigation of carbon dioxide emissions has become an utmost important global agenda, keeping into consideration the associated environmental hardships. As a result, it is important to unearth the factors which can neutralize carbon emissions to transform the world economy into a low-carbon one. Against this backdrop, this study explores the carbon dioxide neutralizing effects of economic growth, international tourism, clean energy promotion, and technological innovation in the context of five European Union (EU-5) nations during the 1990-2015 period. This study's main contribution is in terms of its approach to test the interaction effect between foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows and energy innovation on carbon dioxide emissions. The econometric analysis chronologically involves the employment of unit root, cointegration, causality, and regression methods. Overall, the findings support the inverted-U-shaped economic growth-carbon dioxide emissions nexus to verify the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis. Besides, the Pollution Haven Hypothesis in the context of the selected panel is also verified as higher FDI inflows are seen to boost the carbon dioxide emission levels. The results also confirm that energy innovation moderates the harmful effect of air transport (a proxy for international tourism) on carbon dioxide emissions during the developing stage of the tourism industry. On the other hand, renewable energy promotion is found to curb carbon dioxide emissions. These findings suggest that the European governments need to enhance investments in their respective renewable energy sectors and simultaneously ensure the development of clean industries, which can collectively help these nations become carbon-neutral in the future.

Accurate predictive equations of resting energy expenditure (REE) are crucial in devising nutritional strategies to manage overweight/obesity, especially in countries where these are highly prevalent. REE is the most common measurement used to estimate energy requirements in the nutritional context; the most accurate method of measuring REE is indirect calorimetry (IC). However, this method is costly and often rarely feasible in many clinical settings. The objective of the present study was to develop and validate a new equation for predicting REE in adults with overweight and obesity.This was a cross-sectional study including 410 men and women with overweight and obesity (20-60 y). Participants were randomly assigned; the development group included 200 subjects and the validation group 210 subjects. The new predictive equation was derived using stepwise multiple linear regression analysis. The accuracy of the new equation was compared to several existing predictive equations (PEs). The accuracy rate was calculated as the percentage of subjects whose REE-PE was within ±10% of the REE-IC. REE was measured by IC and anthropometric measurements.One predictive equation was developed (NEQ) in which weight was the strongest predictor of REE. Compared with others predicted equations already using, the new designed equation showed the less mean bias (Kj/day): NEQ: 25.7, Valencia:129, WHO/FAO/United Nations University: 270, Mifflin-St Jeor: 308, Owen: -808, Carrasco: -1097, Korth: -36.4, Johnstone: -375, Livingstone: -315, De Lorenzo: -28.3, Lazzer: -123, Muller: -145, Huang: -399 and Bernstein: -1335.The present equation had the highest predictive accuracy in subjects with overweight or obesity compared with the previous equations derived from different populations. Thus, these new equation can be used to assist the nutritional management of these subjects.