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Although cigarette smoking is the most important cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a substantial proportion of COPD cases cannot be explained by smoking alone.To evaluate the risk factors for COPD besides personal cigarette smoking.We constituted an ad hoc subcommittee of the American Thoracic Society Environmental and Occupational Health Assembly. An international group of members was invited, based on their scientific expertise in a specific risk factor for COPD. For each risk factor area, the committee reviewed the literature, summarized the evidence, and developed conclusions about the likelihood of it causing COPD. All conclusions were based on unanimous consensus.The population-attributable fraction for smoking as a cause of COPD ranged from 9.7 to 97.9%, but was less than 80% in most studies, indicating a substantial burden of disease attributable to nonsmoking risk factors. On the basis of our review, we concluded that specific genetic syndromes and occupational exposures were causally related to the development of COPD. Traffic and other outdoor pollution, secondhand smoke, biomass smoke, and dietary factors are associated with COPD, but sufficient criteria for causation were not met. Chronic asthma and tuberculosis are associated with irreversible loss of lung function, but there remains uncertainty about whether there are important phenotypic differences compared with COPD as it is typically encountered in clinical settings.In public health terms, a substantive burden of COPD is attributable to risk factors other than smoking. To prevent COPD-related disability and mortality, efforts must focus on prevention and cessation of exposure to smoking and these other, less well-recognized risk factors.

The aim of the study was to investigate if alcohol and disulfiram (DSF) individually and in combination affect bioelements' and red-ox homeostasis in testes of the exposed rats. The animals were divided into groups according to the duration of treatments (21 and/or 42 days): C21/C42 groups (controls); OL21 and OL22-42 groups (0.5 mL olive oil intake); A1-21 groups (3 mL 20% ethanol intake); DSF1-21 groups (178.5 mg DSF/kg/day intake); and A21+DSF22-42 groups (the DSF ingestion followed previous 21 days' treatment with alcohol). The measured parameters in testes included metals: zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg) and selenium (Se); as well as oxidative stress (OS) parameters: superoxide anion radical (O2•-), glutathione reduced (GSH) and oxidized (GSSG), malondialdehyde (MDA), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) decomposition and activities of total superoxide dismutase (tSOD), glutathione-S-transferase (GST) and glutathione reductase (GR). Metal status was changed in all experimental groups (Fe rose, Zn fell, while Cu increased in A21+DSF24-32 groups). Development of OS was demonstrated in A1-21 groups, but not in DSF1-21 groups. In A21+DSF22-42 groups, OS was partially reduced compared to A groups (A1-21>MDA>C; A1-21

Plaice, Pleuronectes platessa, and dab, Limanda limanda, were sampled with a Glommen lobster trawl at 25 to 40 m depth in the SE Kattegat during spring and autumn of 1984 to 1990. During autumn, hypoxia (O2-concentration < 3 mg I−1) occurred in the bottom water below the halocline for four to ten weeks every year, except in 1984 when moderate hypoxia (O2-concentration 3–5 mg 1−1) occurred. Biomass of both species was shown to be negatively correlated with oxygen concentration during autumn. Further, a decrease in population mean total length was observed during the study period in both spring and autumn samples. Laboratory studies of growth of juvenile plaice and dab, at 15° C and 30–34%, showed that growth is reduced at 50 and 30% O2-saturation for both species during a 20 d period. There was some adaptation to hypoxia resulting in less reduction of growth during the second half of the experiment. The frequency of fish eating was reduced in plaice at 30% O2-saturation. Reduced mean total length of the plaice and dab population of the SE Kattegat is discussed in view of sublethal effects of oxygen deficiency.

We report here on an inexpensive, solid and stable solar cell designed and made entirely of synthesized materials, Sb2S3/hypericin (dye) thin film on ITO‐coated glass (working electrode), aluminum (counter electrode), and PVA matrix (solid carrier) loaded with electrolyte (0.5M KI + 0.05M I2). The fact that the cell is inexpensive but also stable and solid, with efficiency of around 1.3%/cm2 at a very low light intensity of only 5% sun, makes it particularly suitable for indoor applications. At higher light intensities of 25 and 55% sun, however, the cell exhibits lower efficiency, around 0.3 and 0.07%/cm2, respectively. Development of low‐cost cell technology combined with understanding of low light utilization and setting of standard conditions should be some of the future directions the research in this area should follow. Therefore, in this work, we tried to give sufficient reasons for establishing standard conditions related to low light intensity. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 36: 1507–1516, 2017

AbstractA metal‐free organic sensitizer, suitable for the application in dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), has been designed, synthesized and characterized both experimentally and theoretically. The structure of the novel donor–acceptor–π‐bridge–acceptor (D–A–π–A) dye incorporates a triphenylamine (TPA) segment and 4‐(benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazol‐4‐ylethynyl)benzoic acid (BTEBA). The triphenylamine unit is widely used as an electron donor for photosensitizers, owing to its nonplanar molecular configuration and excellent electron‐donating capability, whereas 4‐(benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazol‐4‐ylethynyl)benzoic acid is used as an electron acceptor unit. The influences of I3−/I−, [Co(bpy)3]3+/2+ and [Cu(tmby)2]2+/+ (tmby=4,4′,6,6′‐tetramethyl‐2,2′‐bipyridine) as redox electrolytes on the DSSC device performance were also investigated. The maximal monochromatic incident photon‐to‐current conversion efficiency (IPCE) reached 81 % and the solar light to electrical energy conversion efficiency of devices with [Cu(tmby)2]2+/+ reached 7.15 %. The devices with [Co(bpy)3]3+/2+ and I3−/I− electrolytes gave efficiencies of 5.22 % and 6.14 %, respectively. The lowest device performance with a [Co(bpy)3]3+/2+‐based electrolyte is attributed to increased charge recombination.

Abstract Hospitals are among the most energy-intensive commercial buildings in the service industry. Their energy demand is characterized by specific features, being operative 24 h a day, 365 days a year. Several activities performed inside the building require strict control of the indoor climate conditions to ensure comfort and security standards. They present complex HVAC systems, needing various energy forms like electricity and heat in the form of hot water, chilled water, and steam. Consequently, hospitals are ideal applications to exploit the cogeneration systems potential. Indeed, the number of hospitals using combined heat and power (CHP) systems has grown steadily in past years. Hospitals that use CHP take advantage of favorable rate structures and protect themselves from rising electricity prices. Since CHP uses waste heat to produce thermal energy for heating and cooling, hospitals using CHP systems are more energy-efficient, leading to a reduction in the global emissions connected to the hospital activity. The present study involves the development of a numerical model of the gas turbine-based cogeneration system installed in a hospital facility. The realized model has been used to define the system management strategies that enabled two achievements. The minimization of the main global emissions parameters of the system as CO and NOx and the maximization of operational CHP parameters as total efficiency and primary energy saving (PES). The present work describes in detail the realized model and its exploitation, leading to defining the optimal system management strategy based on control parameters applicable to the real test case management system.

To investigate the structural development of the colloid phases generated during lipolysis of a lipid-based formulation in an in vitro lipolysis model, which simulates digestion in the small intestine.Small-Angle X-Ray scattering (SAXS) coupled with the in vitro lipolysis model which accurately reproduces the solubilizing environment in the gastrointestinal tract and simulates gastrointestinal lipid digestion through the use of bile and pancreatic extracts. The combined method was used to follow the intermediate digestion products of a self nano emulsified drug delivery system (SNEDDS) under fasted conditions. SNEDDS is developed to facilitate the uptake of poorly soluble drugs.The data revealed that a lamellar phase forms immediately after initiation of lipolysis, whereas a hexagonal phase is formed after 60 min. The change of the relative amounts of these phases clearly demonstrates that lipolysis is a dynamic process. The formation of these phases is driven by the lipase which continuously hydrolyzes triglycerides from the oil-cores of the nanoemulsion droplets into mono- and diglycerides and fatty acids. We propose that this change of the over-all composition of the intestinal fluid with increased fraction of hydrolyzed nanoemulsion induces a change in the composition and effective critical packing parameter of the amphiphilic molecules, which determines the phase behavior of the system. Control experiments (only the digestion medium) or the surfactant (Cremophor RH 40) revealed the formation of a lamellar phase demonstrating that the hexagonal phase is due to the hydrolysis of the SNEDDS formulation.The current results demonstrate that SAXS measurements combined with the in vitro dynamic lipolysis model may be used to elucidate the processes encountered during the digestion of lipid-based formulations of poorly soluble drugs for oral drug delivery. Thus the combined methods may act as an efficient screening tool.

t dontogenic keratocysts (OKCs) are known for their ropensity to recur. The rate of recurrence is probaly largely depending on the mode of treatment used. nfortunately, there are only a few reliable studies vailable from which meaningful conclusions can be rawn with regard to the best possible treatment trategy. The main drawback of most studies is the etrospective nature of the study, the variable folow-up time, the lack of information about the perentage of patients available for follow-up, and the ack of details about the actual surgery. Many papers re written by pathologists who obviously are deending on the written and often incomplete notes of urgeons, hence the link with the clinical parameters s often based on less than optimal information. It is he aim of this article to present a rational treatment rotocol based on clinical and histologic studies.