Activity

Palladium (Pd) and platinum (Pt) are extensively used as catalysts in the petrochemical and automotive industries, and due to high demand for them on the market, their recycling from spent supported catalysts is clearly needed. To assess the content of Pd and Pt in catalysts in order to establish their commercial value or to evaluate the recovery efficiency of technologies used for recycling, reliable analytical methods for determination of these elements are required. Spectrometric methods, such as inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) are powerful tools that can be employed for the determination of Pd and Pt in various sample matrices. However, these methods allow only the injection of liquid samples. In this regard, the digestion of solid sample by microwave-assisted acid extraction procedures at high pressures and temperatures is often used. In this study, a microwave acid digestion method was optimized for the extraction of Pd and Pt from spent catalysts, using a four-step program, at a maximum 200 °C. The resulting solutions were analyzed using ICP-OES, at two different wavelengths for each metal (Pd at 340.458 and 363.470 nm, and Pt at 265.945 and 214.423 nm, respectively) and using GFAAS (Pd at 247.64 nm, Pt at 265.94 nm). Five types of spent catalyst were analyzed and the standard deviations of repeatability for five parallel samples were less than predicted relative standard deviations (PRSD%) calculated using Horvitz’s equation for all the analyzed samples.Patients with dementia are predisposed to multiple physiological abnormalities. It is uncertain if dementia associates with higher rates of perioperative mortality and morbidity. We used reimbursement claims data of Taiwan’s National Health Insurance and conducted propensity score matching analyses to evaluate the risk of mortality and major complications in patients with or without dementia undergoing major surgery between 2004 and 2013. We applied multivariable logistic regressions to calculate adjusted odds ratios (aORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the outcome of interest. After matching to demographic and clinical covariates, 7863 matched pairs were selected for analysis. Dementia was significantly associated with greater risks of 30-day in-hospital mortality (aOR 1.71, 95% CI 1.09-2.70), pneumonia (aOR 1.48, 95% CI 1.16-1.88), urinary tract infection (aOR 1.59, 95% CI 1.30-1.96), and sepsis (OR 1.77, 95% CI 1.34-2.34) compared to non-dementia controls. The mortality risk in dementia patients was attenuated but persisted over time, 180 days (aOR 1.49, 95% CI 1.23-1.81) and 365 days (aOR 1.52, 95% CI 1.30-1.78) after surgery. Additionally, patients with dementia were more likely to receive blood transfusion (aOR 1.32, 95% CI 1.11-1.58) and to need intensive care (aOR 1.40, 95% CI 1.12-1.76) compared to non-dementia controls. Senile dementia and Alzheimer’s disease were independently associated with higher rates of perioperative mortality and complications, but vascular dementia was not affected. We found that preexisting dementia was associated with mortality and morbidity after major surgery.Natural toxic contaminants have been recognized as threats to human health. Ustiloxins are the toxic secondary metabolites of fungus generated from rice false smut disease, which are harmful to animal/human reproduction and growth. However, there are rare researches on the control and reduction of ustiloxins through physical, chemical and biological ways. Herein, we demonstrated that photocatalysis of semiconductor nanomaterials could be as a potential way to degrade or mitigate the contamination of ustiloxin A. A kind of wormlike graphitic carbon nitride (g-C3N4) was facilely prepared from modified dicyandiamide precursor via pyrolysis method and characterized by X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscope and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy etc. It was found that g-C3N4 from modified dicyandiamide precursor showed better activity for ustiloxin A degradation under visible light irradiation than that of pristine g-C3N4. This was ascribed to the lager specific surface area, more uniform microstructure, better photogenerated charges separation and transformation of wormlike g-C3N4 compared with pristine g-C3N4. Most important, the structure of degradation intermediates and the possible pathway were proposed based on the results of high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry after 80 min photoreaction treatment. Our findings may provide a green, efficient way for ustiloxins mitigation and useful information for future study.There are mainly two types of data modulation methods used for enhanced LOng-RAnge Navigation (eLORAN) systems pulse position modulation (PPM) and supernumerary interpulse modulation (SIM). The typical application for PPM is tri-state PPM (3S-PPM), also known as Eurofix. The typical application for SIM is ninth pulse modulation. Both of these methods are phase modulation methods. Phase modulation coding, a very mature technology, is used at present. To achieve a better demodulation success rate of eLORAN digital modulation signals at longer distances, a method of using the transmitting station duplex mode to transmit a digital modulation pulse group after LORAN-C transmitting a pulse group is proposed to realize modulation pulse on-off modulation. In this method, a broadcasting experiment was performed on the BPL (The call sign of eLORAN time service system in China) broadcaster station. After monitoring, a good receiving demodulation effect was initially obtained.The carcinogenesis process is associated with inflammation, which can be modified by diet. There is limited evidence regarding the inflammatory status and diet in association with breast cancer (BC). The aim of this study was to investigate the association of hybrid dietary-blood inflammatory profiles (HD-BIPs) with postmenopausal breast cancer occurrence. The case-control study was conducted among 420 women (230 controls, 190 primary BC cases) aged 40-79 years from north-eastern Poland. Blood levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and leukocyte count were marked in 129 postmenopausal women (82 controls, 47 cases). Metabolism agonist The 62-item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ-6) was used to the dietary data collection. Two HD-BIPs were found using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The “Pro-healthy/Neutral-inflammatory” profile was characterized by the frequent consumption of wholemeal cereals/coarse groats, legumes, vegetables, fruits, nuts/seeds and fish. The “Unhealthy/Pro-inflammatory” profile was characterized by the frequent consumption of red/processed meats, animal fats, sugar/honey/sweets, refined cereals/fine groats, and an increased concentration of CRP, IL-6 and granulocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio.