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This paper investigates the thermo-mechanical volume change behavior of municipal solid waste (MSW) by conducting drained heating-cooling tests at constant stresses and isothermal consolidation tests using a temperature- controlled triaxial apparatus. The experimental results show that the compression and swelling indexes of MSW specimen were temperature independent, and the heating-induced volumetric contraction was partially reversible upon cooling. Different from conventional soils, the thermally induced reversible and irreversible volumetric strains of MSW were much larger and stress level dependent. Apart from the experimental study, an isotropic thermo-elastoplastic constitutive model was developed in the framework of existing modified Cam-clay model, which allows the prediction of thermally induced volume changes of MSW. An important feature in this model was the derivation of thermally induced plastic volumetric strain based on the concept of equivalent stress. The capability of the proposed model was validated against the experimental results and showed good predictions. This paper serves as the first attempt to study the thermo-mechanical volume change behavior of MSW, and has provided additional data for the serviceability evaluation of existing pipes as well as settlement and capacity estimation of MSW landfills at elevated temperatures. Key words: Municipal solid waste, temperature, volume change, constitutive model, thermo-mechanical, 1. Introduction Elevated temperatures (ETs) caused by biochemical degradation of organic wastes within municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills are widely observed and reported, which are usually featured with long periods [...]

Background: Currently, there remains insufficient focus on non-severe community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) patients who are at risk of clinical deterioration, and there is also a dearth of research on the related risk factors. Early recognition of hospitalized patients at risk of clinical deterioration will be beneficial for their clinical management. Method: A retrospective study was conducted in The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, China, spanning from January 1, 2018 to April 30, 2022, and involving a total of 1,632 non-severe CAP patients. Based on whether their condition worsened within 72 h of admission, patients were divided into a clinical deterioration group and a non-clinical deterioration group. Additionally, all patients were randomly assigned to a training set containing 75% of patients and a validation set containing 25% of patients. In the training set, risk factors for clinical deterioration in patients with non-severe CAP were identified by using LASSO regression analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis. A nomogram was developed based on identified risk factors. The effectiveness of the nomogram in both the training and validation sets was assessed using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves, calibration curves, and decision curve analysis (DCA). Results: Age, body mass index (BMI), body temperature, cardiovascular comorbidity, respiratory rate, LDH level, lymphocyte count and D-dimer level were identified as risk factors associated with the clinical deterioration of non-severe CAP within 72 h of admission. The area under curve (AUC) value of the nomogram was 0.78 (95% CI: 0.74–0.82) in the training set and 0.75 (95% CI: 0.67–0.83) in the validation set. Furthermore, the calibration curves for both the training and validation sets indicated that the predicted probability of clinical deterioration aligned with the actual probability. Additionally, DCA revealed clinical utility for the nomogram at a specific threshold probability. Conclusion: The study successfully identified the risk factors linked to the clinical deterioration of non-severe CAP and constructed a nomogram for predicting the probability of deterioration. The nomogram demonstrated favorable predictive performance and has the potential to aid in the early identification and management of non-severe CAP patients at elevated risk of deterioration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For a half-century, the commercial wild silkworm, Antheraea pernyi, has been protected by coumaphos, which is an internal organophosphorus insecticide used to kill the potential parasitic fly larvae inside. Knowledge about the detoxification genes of A. pernyi as well as the detoxification mechanism for this species remains severely limited. In this study, we identified 281 detoxification genes (32 GSTs, 48 ABCs, 104 CYPs, and 97 COEs) in the genome of this insect, which are unevenly distributed over 46 chromosomes. When compared to the domesticated silkworm, Bombyx mori, a lepidopteran model species, A. pernyi has a similar number of ABCs, but a greater number of GSTs, CYPs, and COEs. By transcriptome-based expression analysis, we found that coumaphos at a safe concentration level significantly changed the pathways related to ATPase complex function and the transporter complex in A. pernyi. KEGG functional enrichment analysis indicated that protein processing in the endoplasmic reticulum was the most affected pathway after coumaphos treatment. Finally, we identified four significantly up-regulated detoxification genes (ABCB1, ABCB3, ABCG11, and ae43) and one significantly down-regulated detoxification gene (CYP6AE9) in response to coumaphos treatment, suggesting that these five genes may contribute to detoxification of coumaphos in A. pernyi. Our study provides the first set of detoxification genes for wild silkworms from Saturniidae and highlights the importance of detoxification gene repertoire in insect pesticide tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two new α-pyrones, micropyrones A (1) and B (2), along with four known γ-pyrones, nocapyrone D (3), nocapyrone A (4), marinactinone A (5), and nocapyrone H (6), were isolated from the culture extract of actinomycete Microbacterium sp. GJ312, which was isolated from Glycyrrhiza uralensis. The structures of these compounds were identified by analysis of spectral data. They are the first α- and γ-pyrones reported from the genus Microbacterium. The antibacterial activity of all compounds against Staphylococcus aureus and methicillin resistant S. aureus was evaluated. However, none of them showed significant activity. This study represents the first phytochemical example of a Glycyrrhiza-derived actinomycete. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) infection significantly contributes to morbidity and mortality in bronchiectasis patients. Initiating antibiotics early may lead to the eradication of PA. Here we outline the design of a trial (ERASE; NCT06093191) assessing the efficacy and safety of inhaled tobramycin, alone or with oral ciprofloxacin, in bronchiectasis patients with a new isolation of PA. This multicentre, 2×2 factorial randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial includes a 2-week screening period, a 12-week treatment phase (with a combination of ciprofloxacin or a placebo at initial 2 weeks) and a 24-week follow-up. 364 adults with bronchiectasis and a new PA isolation will be randomly assigned to one of four groups: placebo (inhaled saline and ciprofloxacin placebo twice daily), ciprofloxacin alone (750 mg ciprofloxacin and inhaled saline twice daily), inhaled tobramycin alone (inhaled 300 mg tobramycin and ciprofloxacin placebo twice daily) or a combination of both drugs (inhaled 300 mg tobramycin and 750 mg ciprofloxacin twice daily). The primary objective of this study is to assess the proportion of patients successfully eradicating PA in each group by the end of the study. Efficacy will be evaluated based on the eradication rate of PA at other time points (12, 24 and 36 weeks), the occurrence of exacerbations and hospitalisations, time to first pulmonary exacerbations, patient-reported outcomes, symptom measures, pulmonary function tests and the cost of hospitalisations. To date no randomised trial has evaluated the benefit of different PA eradication strategies in bronchiectasis patients. The ERASE trial will therefore generate crucial data to inform future clinical guidelines., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: W-J. Guan reports consulting fees from Joincare Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., lecture fees from Joincare Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., support for travel to attend domestic meetings from Joincare Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., and is an associate editor of this journal. Conflict of interest: S.H. Chotirmall reports grants paid to his institution from the Singapore Ministry of Education, National Medical Research Council Singapore, consulting fees from CSL Behring, Pneumagen Ltd, Boehringer Ingelheim and Pneumagen Ltd, lecture fees from AstraZeneca and Chiesi, and participation in Data Safety and Monitoring Committees for Inovio Pharmaceuticals and Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University. Conflict of interest: J.D. Chalmers reports grants from GSK, Boehringer Ingelheim, Genentech, Insmed, Grifols, Novartis, Gilead and AstraZeneca, consulting fees from AstraZeneca, Grifols, Genentech, GSK, Chiesi, Zambon, Trudell and Pfizer, and is an associate editor of this journal. Conflict of interest: J.F. Xu reports consulting fees from AstraZeneca and Boehringer Ingelheim. Conflict of interest: The remaining authors have nothing to disclose., (Copyright ©The authors 2024.)