| 1. |
- Matabuena, Marcos, et al.
(författare)
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Identification of Asthma Phenotypes in the Spanish MEGA Cohort Study Using Cluster Analysis
- 2023
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Ingår i: Archivos de Bronconeumologia. - : Elsevier BV. - 0300-2896. ; 59:4, s. 223-231
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Introduction: The definition of asthma phenotypes has not been fully established, neither there are cluster studies showing homogeneous results to solidly establish clear phenotypes. The purpose of this study was to develop a classification algorithm based on unsupervised cluster analysis, identifying clusters that represent clinically relevant asthma phenotypes that may share asthma-related outcomes. Methods: We performed a multicentre prospective cohort study, including adult patients with asthma (N = 512) from the MEGA study (Mechanisms underlying the Genesis and evolution of Asthma). A standardised clinical history was completed for each patient. Cluster analysis was performed using the kernel k-groups algorithm. Results: Four clusters were identified. Cluster 1 (31.5% of subjects) includes adult-onset atopic patients with better lung function, lower BMI, good asthma control, low ICS dose, and few exacerbations. Cluster 2 (23.6%) is made of adolescent-onset atopic asthma patients with normal lung function, but low adherence to treatment (59% well-controlled) and smokers (48%). Cluster 3 (17.1%) includes adult-onset patients, mostly severe non-atopic, with overweight, the worse lung function and asthma control, and receiving combination of treatments. Cluster 4 (26.7%) consists of the elderly-onset patients, mostly female, atopic (64%), with high BMI and normal lung function, prevalence of smokers and comorbidities. Conclusion: We defined four phenotypes of asthma using unsupervised cluster analysis. These clusters are clinically relevant and differ from each other as regards FEV1, age of onset, age, BMI, atopy, asthma severity, exacerbations, control, social class, smoking and nasal polyps.
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| 2. |
- Beal, Jacob, et al.
(författare)
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Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density
- 2020
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Ingår i: Communications Biology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2399-3642. ; 3:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data.
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| 3. |
- Benitez, Almudena, et al.
(författare)
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Recent advances in lithium-sulfur batteries using biomass-derived carbons as sulfur host
- 2022
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Ingår i: Renewable & sustainable energy reviews. - : Elsevier. - 1364-0321 .- 1879-0690. ; 154
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- While biomass waste is generated in abundance, these materials and their production processes are generally environmentally friendly, low cost, non-hazardous and easily scalable. These advantages position biomass materials as excellent candidates to solve problems of environmental pollution, primarily by substitution of less sustainable counterparts. This also applies to energy storage systems such as batteries, where several components have large environmental impacts. Lithium-Sulfur batteries have, in this context, been extensively researched to cope with the growing energy needs, and are expected to foresee a growing commercialization. Specifically, advances in the use of renewable cathode materials for Li-S batteries is a field that has been widely addressed in recent years, with carbonaceous materials (C) and/or activated carbons (AC), obtained from biomass, being intensively studied. We here reviewed this field through a classification and discussion of carbonaceous materials from natural waste according to the type of biomass: (1) woody, (2) herbaceous and agricultural, (3) aquatic, (4) animal and human, and (5) contaminated and industrial biomass waste materials. In addition, all porous carbons or activated carbons used as sulfur hosts have been exhaustively evaluated in terms of origin, synthesis parameters, physical properties, and electrochemical performance in Li-S batteries. The purpose is to provide a general description of the progress in the preparation of carbons from biomass resources, examine the textural and electrochemical properties of these materials focusing on the last decade, and also to present an outlook for future research in this developing area.
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| 4. |
- Bolívar Caballero, José Juan, et al.
(författare)
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Advanced application of a geometry-enhanced 3D-printed catalytic reformer for syngas production
- 2023
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Ingår i: Energy Conversion and Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0196-8904 .- 1879-2227. ; 287
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Catalyst research on reforming processes for syngas production has mainly focused on the active metals and support materials, while the effect of the catalyst's geometry on the reforming reactions has been poorly studied. The application of 3D-printed materials with enhanced geometries has recently started to be studied in heterogeneous catalysis and is of interest to be implemented for reforming biomass and plastic waste to produce H2-rich syngas. In this study, a geometry-enhanced 3D-printed Ni/Al2O3/FeCrAl-based monolithic catalyst with a periodic open cellular structure (POCS) was designed and fabricated. The catalyst was used for batch steam reforming biomass pyrolysis volatiles for syngas production at different parameters (temperature and steam-to-carbon ratio). The results showed complete reforming of pyrolysis volatiles in all experimental cases, a high H2 yield of ≈ 7.6 wt% of biomass was obtained at the optimized steam-to-carbon ratio of 8 and a reforming temperature of 800 °C, which is a higher yield compared to other batch reforming tests reported in the literature. Moreover, CFD simulation results in COMSOL Multiphysics demonstrated that the POCS configuration improves the reforming of pyrolysis volatiles for tar/bio-oil reforming and H2 production thanks to enhanced mass and heat transfer properties compared to the regular monolithic single-channel configuration.
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| 5. |
- Bolívar Caballero, José Juan, et al.
(författare)
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Reforming processes for syngas production : A mini-review on the current status, challenges, and prospects for biomass conversion to fuels
- 2022
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Ingår i: Applications in Energy and Combustion Science. - : Elsevier BV. - 2666-352X. ; 10, s. 100064-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Dedicated bioenergy combined with carbon capture and storage are important elements for the mitigation scenarios to limit the global temperature rise within 1.5 °C. Thus, the productions of carbon-negative fuels and chemicals from biomass is a key for accelerating global decarbonisation. The conversion of biomass into syngas has a crucial role in the biomass-based decarbonisation routes. Syngas is an intermediate product for a variety of chemical syntheses to produce hydrogen, methanol, dimethyl ether, jet fuels, alkenes, etc. The use of biomass-derived syngas has also been seen as promising for the productions of carbon-negative metal products. This paper reviews several possible technologies for the production of syngas from biomass, especially related to the technological options and challenges of reforming processes. The scope of the review includes partial oxidation (POX), autothermal reforming (ATR), catalytic partial oxidation (CPO), catalytic steam reforming (CSR) and membrane reforming (MR). Special attention is given to the progress of CSR for biomass-derived vapours as it has gained significant interest in recent years. Heat demand and efficiency together with properties of the reformer catalyst were reviewed more deeply, in order to understand and propose solutions to the problems that arise by the reforming of biomass-derived vapours and that need to be addressed in order to implement the technology on a big scale.
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| 6. |
- Chng, Kern Rei, et al.
(författare)
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Cartography of opportunistic pathogens and antibiotic resistance genes in a tertiary hospital environment
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature Medicine. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1078-8956 .- 1546-170X. ; 26, s. 941-951
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Although disinfection is key to infection control, the colonization patterns and resistomes of hospital-environment microbes remain underexplored. We report the first extensive genomic characterization of microbiomes, pathogens and antibiotic resistance cassettes in a tertiary-care hospital, from repeated sampling (up to 1.5 years apart) of 179 sites associated with 45 beds. Deep shotgun metagenomics unveiled distinct ecological niches of microbes and antibiotic resistance genes characterized by biofilm-forming and human-microbiome-influenced environments with corresponding patterns of spatiotemporal divergence. Quasi-metagenomics with nanopore sequencing provided thousands of high-contiguity genomes, phage and plasmid sequences (>60% novel), enabling characterization of resistome and mobilome diversity and dynamic architectures in hospital environments. Phylogenetics identified multidrug-resistant strains as being widely distributed and stably colonizing across sites. Comparisons with clinical isolates indicated that such microbes can persist in hospitals for extended periods (>8 years), to opportunistically infect patients. These findings highlight the importance of characterizing antibiotic resistance reservoirs in hospitals and establish the feasibility of systematic surveys to target resources for preventing infections. Spatiotemporal characterization of microbial diversity and antibiotic resistance in a tertiary-care hospital reveals broad distribution and persistence of antibiotic-resistant organisms that could cause opportunistic infections in a healthcare setting.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Danko, David, et al.
(författare)
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A global metagenomic map of urban microbiomes and antimicrobial resistance
- 2021
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Ingår i: Cell. - : Elsevier BV. - 0092-8674 .- 1097-4172. ; 184:13, s. 3376-3393
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We present a global atlas of 4,728 metagenomic samples from mass-transit systems in 60 cities over 3 years, representing the first systematic, worldwide catalog of the urban microbial ecosystem. This atlas provides an annotated, geospatial profile of microbial strains, functional characteristics, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) markers, and genetic elements, including 10,928 viruses, 1,302 bacteria, 2 archaea, and 838,532 CRISPR arrays not found in reference databases. We identified 4,246 known species of urban microorganisms and a consistent set of 31 species found in 97% of samples that were distinct from human commensal organisms. Profiles of AMR genes varied widely in type and density across cities. Cities showed distinct microbial taxonomic signatures that were driven by climate and geographic differences. These results constitute a high-resolution global metagenomic atlas that enables discovery of organisms and genes, highlights potential public health and forensic applications, and provides a culture-independent view of AMR burden in cities.
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| 9. |
- de Erausquin, Gabriel A, et al.
(författare)
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Chronic neuropsychiatric sequelae of SARS-CoV-2: Protocol and methods from the Alzheimer's Association Global Consortium.
- 2022
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Ingår i: Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.). - : Wiley. - 2352-8737. ; 8:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused >3.5 million deaths worldwide and affected >160 million people. At least twice as many have been infected but remained asymptomatic or minimally symptomatic. COVID-19 includes central nervous system manifestations mediated by inflammation and cerebrovascular, anoxic, and/or viral neurotoxicity mechanisms. More than one third of patients with COVID-19 develop neurologic problems during the acute phase of the illness, including loss of sense of smell or taste, seizures, and stroke. Damage or functional changes to the brain may result in chronic sequelae. The risk of incident cognitive and neuropsychiatric complications appears independent from the severity of the original pulmonary illness. It behooves the scientific and medical community to attempt to understand the molecular and/or systemic factors linking COVID-19 to neurologic illness, both short and long term.This article describes what is known so far in terms of links among COVID-19, the brain, neurological symptoms, and Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias. We focus on risk factors and possible molecular, inflammatory, and viral mechanisms underlying neurological injury. We also provide a comprehensive description of the Alzheimer's Association Consortium on Chronic Neuropsychiatric Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (CNS SC2) harmonized methodology to address these questions using a worldwide network of researchers and institutions.Successful harmonization of designs and methods was achieved through a consensus process initially fragmented by specific interest groups (epidemiology, clinical assessments, cognitive evaluation, biomarkers, and neuroimaging). Conclusions from subcommittees were presented to the whole group and discussed extensively. Presently data collection is ongoing at 19 sites in 12 countries representing Asia, Africa, the Americas, and Europe.The Alzheimer's Association Global Consortium harmonized methodology is proposed as a model to study long-term neurocognitive sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection.The following review describes what is known so far in terms of molecular and epidemiological links among COVID-19, the brain, neurological symptoms, and AD and related dementias (ADRD)The primary objective of this large-scale collaboration is to clarify the pathogenesis of ADRD and to advance our understanding of the impact of a neurotropic virus on the long-term risk of cognitive decline and other CNS sequelae. No available evidence supports the notion that cognitive impairment after SARS-CoV-2 infection is a form of dementia (ADRD or otherwise). The longitudinal methodologies espoused by the consortium are intended to provide data to answer this question as clearly as possible controlling for possible confounders. Our specific hypothesis is that SARS-CoV-2 triggers ADRD-like pathology following the extended olfactory cortical network (EOCN) in older individuals with specific genetic susceptibility.The proposed harmonization strategies and flexible study designs offer the possibility to include large samples of under-represented racial and ethnic groups, creating a rich set of harmonized cohorts for future studies of the pathophysiology, determinants, long-term consequences, and trends in cognitive aging, ADRD, and vascular disease.We provide a framework for current and future studies to be carried out within the Consortium. and offers a "green paper" to the research community with a very broad, global base of support, on tools suitable for low- and middle-income countries aimed to compare and combine future longitudinal data on the topic.The Consortium proposes a combination of design and statistical methods as a means of approaching causal inference of the COVID-19 neuropsychiatric sequelae. We expect that deep phenotyping of neuropsychiatric sequelae may provide a series of candidate syndromes with phenomenological and biological characterization that can be further explored. By generating high-quality harmonized data across sites we aim to capture both descriptive and, where possible, causal associations.
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| 10. |
- Hidalgo, D., et al.
(författare)
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Three planets transiting the evolved star EPIC 249893012: a hot 8.8-Mearth super-Earth and two warm 14.7 and 10.2-Mearth sub-Neptunes
- 2020
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Ingår i: Astronomy and Astrophysics. - : EDP Sciences. - 0004-6361 .- 1432-0746. ; 636
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We report the discovery of a new planetary system with three transiting planets, one super-Earth and two sub-Neptunes, that orbit EPIC 249893012, a G8 IV-V evolved star (M⋆ = 1.05 ± 0.05 M☉, R⋆ = 1.71 ± 0.04 R☉, Teff = 5430 ± 85 K). The star is just leaving the main sequence. We combined K2 photometry with IRCS adaptive-optics imaging and HARPS, HARPS-N, and CARMENES high-precision radial velocity measurements to confirm the planetary system, determine the stellar parameters, and measure radii, masses, and densities of the three planets. With an orbital period of 3.5949-0.0007+0.0007days, a mass of 8.75-1.08+1.09 M⊕, and a radius of 1.95-0.08+0.09 R⊕, the inner planet b is compatible with nickel-iron core and a silicate mantle (ρb = 6.39-1.04+1.19 g cm-3). Planets c and d with orbital periods of 15.624-0.001+0.001 and 35.747-0.005+0.005 days, respectively, have masses and radii of 14.67-1.89+1,84 M⊕ and 3.67-0.14+0.17 R⊕ and 10.18-2.42+2.46 M⊕ and 3.94-0.12+0.13 R⊕, respectively, yielding a mean density of 1.62-0.29+0.30 and 0.91-0.23+0.25 g cm-3, respectively. The radius of planet b lies in the transition region between rocky and gaseous planets, but its density is consistent with a rocky composition. Its semimajor axis and the corresponding photoevaporation levels to which the planet has been exposed might explain its measured density today. In contrast, the densities and semimajor axes of planets c and d suggest a very thick atmosphere. The singularity of this system, which orbits a slightly evolved star that is just leaving the main sequence, makes it a good candidate for a deeper study from a dynamical point of view.
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