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We investigate neutrinoless double-beta decay (0νββ) in minimal extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics where gauge-singlet right-handed neutrinos give rise to Dirac and Majorana neutrino mass terms. We argue that the standard treatment of these scenarios, based on mass-dependent nuclear matrix elements, is missing important contributions to the 0νββ amplitude. First, new effects arise from the exchange of neutrinos with very small (ultrasoft) momenta, for which we compute the associated nuclear matrix elements for the decays of 76Ge and 136Xe. These contributions can dominate the 0νββ rate in cases with light sterile neutrinos. The ultrasoft terms are also relevant in the more standard scenario of just three light Majorana neutrinos where they lead to a 10% reduction of the total 0νββ amplitude. Secondly, we highlight the importance of short-range terms associated with medium-heavy sterile neutrinos and provide explicit formulae that can be used in phenomenological analyses. As examples we discuss impact of these new effects in several explicit scenarios, including a realistic 3 + 2 model with two right-handed gauge-singlet neutrinos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We introduce a family of equations of state (EoS) for hybrid neutron star (NS) matter that is obtained by a two-zone parabolic interpolation between a soft hadronic EoS at low densities and a set of stiff quark matter EoS at high densities within a finite region of chemical potentials μ H < μ < μ Q . Fixing the hadronic EoS as the APR one and choosing the color-superconducting, nonlocal NJL model with two free parameters for the quark phase, we perform Bayesian analyses with this two-parameter family of hybrid EoS. Using three different sets of observational constraints that include the mass of PSR J0740+6620, the tidal deformability for GW170817, and the mass-radius relation for PSR J0030+0451 from NICER as obligatory (set 1), while set 2 uses the possible upper limit on the maximum mass from GW170817 as an additional constraint and set 3 instead of the possibility that the lighter object in the asymmetric binary merger GW190814 is a neutron star. We confirm that in any case, the quark matter phase has to be color superconducting with the dimensionless diquark coupling approximately fulfilling the Fierz relation η D = 0.75 and the most probable solutions exhibiting a proportionality between η D and η V , the coupling of the repulsive vector interaction that is required for a sufficiently large maximum mass. We used the Bayesian analysis to investigate with the method of fictitious measurements the consequences of anticipating different radii for the massive 2 M ⊙ PSR J0740+6220 for the most likely equation of state. With the actual outcome of the NICER radius measurement on PSR J0740+6220 we could conclude that for the most likely hybrid star EoS would not support a maximum mass as large as 2.5 M ⊙ so that the event GW190814 was a binary black hole merger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A strain of Alcaligenes faecalis A12C (A. faecalis A12C) isolated from Argyrosomus regius is a probiotic in fish. Previous experiments showed that A. faecalis A12C had inhibitory effects on the growth of multidrug-resistant bacteria. We aimed to confirm whether A. faecalis A12C is safe and has adequate intestinal colonization in experimental rats, and evaluate its efficacy in an animal model of peritonitis. We used 30 male rats, randomly divided into 6 groups (n = 5): three groups (HA7, HA15, HA30) received A. faecalis A12C in drinking water (6 × 108 CFU/mL) for 7 days, and three control groups received drinking water only. All groups were evaluated at 7, 15, and 30 days. Survival after A. faecalis A12C administration was 100% in all groups. Mild eosinophilia (1.5%, p < 0.01) and increased aspartate aminotransferase (86 IU/L, p < 0.05) were observed in HA7, followed by progressive normalization. No histological signs of organ injury were found. We observed significant E. coli decline in faeces, parallel to an increase in A. faecalis A12C at 7 days. E. coli had a tendency to recover initial values, while A. faecalis A12C disappeared from the intestinal microbiota at 30 days. To evaluate its efficacy against peritonitis, we studied two additional groups of animals: IA group pretreated with A. faecalis A12C before E. coli intra-abdominal inoculation, and IC group inoculated with no A. faecalis A12C. We found an increase in C-reactive protein, alanine aminotransferase, urea, and eosinophils in IC animals when compared with IA. Peritonitis was more evident in IC than in IA animals. Our findings suggest that A. faecalis A12C altered clinically relevant parameters in sepsis and was associated with a lesser spread of infection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Despite advances in personalizing the efficacy of cancer therapy, our ability to identify patients at risk of severe treatment side effects and provide individualized supportive care is limited. This is particularly the case for mucositis (oral and gastrointestinal), with no comprehensive risk evaluation strategies to identify high-risk patients. We, the Multinational Association for Supportive Care in Cancer/International Society for Oral Oncology (MASCC/ISOO) Mucositis Study Group, therefore aimed to systematically review current evidence on that factors that influence mucositis risk to provide a foundation upon which future risk prediction studies can be based.Methods: We identified 11,018 papers from PubMed and Web of Science, with 197 records extracted for full review and 113 meeting final eligibility criteria. Data were then synthesized into tables to highlight the level of evidence for each risk predictor.Results: The strongest level of evidence supported dosimetric parameters as key predictors of mucositis risk. Genetic variants in drug-metabolizing pathways, immune signaling, and cell injury/repair mechanisms were also identified to impact mucositis risk. Factors relating to the individual were variably linked to mucositis outcomes, although female sex and smoking status showed some association with mucositis risk.Conclusion: Mucositis risk reflects the complex interplay between the host, tumor microenvironment, and treatment specifications, yet the large majority of studies rely on hypothesis-driven, single-candidate approaches. For significant advances in the provision of personalized supportive care, coordinated research efforts with robust multiplexed approaches are strongly advised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This manuscript reports the study of lanthanum- and cerium-based surface functionalization of activated carbons and chars, prepared from a lignocellulosic-based precursor, for facing the geogenic water pollution caused by fluoride and arsenic (V) ions. The incorporation of these rare elements on the adsorbents increased the adsorption capacities up to 2537% especially for arsenic (V). Chars and activated carbons functionalized with lanthanum and cerium showed adsorption capacities of 1.3–9.2 mg/g and 0.1–9.2 mg/g for fluoride and arsenic (V) ions, respectively. However, the adsorbents with lanthanum functional groups were the best for the removal of these hazardous water pollutants. A detailed physicochemical characterization of the adsorbents was utilized to explain their adsorption properties. Results showed that a ligand exchange of OH− from adsorbent surfaces and the presence of electrostatic forces could be associated to the adsorption mechanism of fluoride and arsenic (V) ions. Simultaneous adsorption of fluoride and arsenic (V) ions was antagonistic using lanthanum-modified adsorbents where fluoride ion reduced significantly the removal of arsenic (V) species. Therefore, new findings are reported for the tailoring of surface chemistry of chars and activated carbons for reducing the risks caused by geo-environmental hazardous chemicals dissolved in water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: Laparoscopic gastric plication (LGP) is a bariatric surgical technique based on the anatomical principles of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG), but its effects on the metabolic profile are still uncertain. The aim of our study is to compare the changes in weight, metabolic parameters and gastric histology following intervention by gastric plication (GP) and sleeve gastrectomy (SG) in an experimental model of obesity.Methods: To conduct the study, 32 8-week-old male Sprague-Dawley rats (Charles River®) were fattened by means of a cafeteria diet and randomly assigned to the following experimental groups: group 1: GP (n = 12); group 2: SG (n = 12) and group 3: sham (n = 8).Results: Unlike the SG group, the GP group attained the weight of the sham group at the end of the experiment (week 16). The GP group continued to eat more cafeteria diet than the SG group. In addition, the SG group achieved better glycaemic control than the GP group. Significantly higher plasma ghrelin levels were observed at week 16 in the GP group than in the SG group (2.29 ± 0.5 vs 1.07 ± 0.4, p < 0.05), which also occurred for the glucagon plasmatic levels (62.71 ± 36.2 vs 24.63 ± 9.3, p < 0.05).Conclusions: GP is not as effective as SG and cannot be considered a metabolic surgery due to observed hormonal variations. The animals subjected to a GP continued to have a high appetite for the cafeteria diet unlike the animals submitted to an SG. Hormonal mechanisms possibly related to glucagon and ghrelin may be involved in this metabolic response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study introduces the application of a dynamic fuzzy neural network for fitting and simulating the adsorption of nickel, cadmium, and zinc ions in mono- and bi-metallic solutions (nickel-cadmium, nickel-zinc, and cadmium-zinc) using packed-bed columns with bone char. This neural network model has shown a flexible and self-adaptive architecture with a faster learning speed than that of traditional artificial neural approaches. Results showed that this neural network model was reliable for representing the high asymmetry behavior of concentration profiles in both mono- and bi-metallic breakthrough curves where its accuracy was quite reasonable. Breakthrough parameters for mono-component and binary systems of tested heavy metals were calculated and compared. This analysis showed that the removal of these heavy metal ions in binary systems was a strong competitive adsorption process where the presence of co-ions reduced the removal performance of bone char at fixed-bed adsorbers. Results of surface characterization of adsorbent samples with X-ray photoelectron and infrared spectroscopy supported a removal mechanism based on an ion exchange between calcium from hydroxyapatite of bone char and heavy metal ions in the solution forming new metal-phosphate interactions in the adsorbent surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy is one of the most common techniques in bariatric surgery, but there is no consensus on the optimal distance from the pylorus to start the gastric transection. The aim of this study is to determine the differences in gastric emptying, gastric distension and metabolic response between two starting distances. Material and Methods: This is a prospective randomised study of 60 patients (30 patients with the section at 3 cm and 30 patients at 8 cm from the pylorus). We calculate at 6 and 12 months from surgery gastric emptying by scintigraphy (T1/2 min), gastric volume by CT scan (cc) and metabolic response by blood sample analysis (glucose, HbA1c, insulin, HOMA-IR, GLP-1, GIP and C-peptide). Results: Gastric emptying increases the speed significantly in both groups but is greater in the 3-cm group ( p < 0.05). Dividing groups into type 2 diabetic patients and non-diabetic patients, the speed in non-diabetic patients is significantly higher for the 3-cm group. Residual volume increases significantly in both groups, and there are no differences between them. One year after surgery, there are significant improvements in the hyperinsulinaemia in the patients of the 3-cm group with respect to the 8-cm group, but only in diabetic patients. No differences between groups are found regarding changes in GLP-1 or GIP. Conclusions: Gastric emptying is faster in patients with antrum resection. The distance does not influence the gastric emptying of diabetic patients. Other mechanisms may explain metabolic response besides GLP-1 and its association with improvements in diabetes via gastric emptying. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Anal fissure has a very large number of treatment options. The choice is difficult. In an effort to assist in that, choice presented here is a systematic review and meta-analysis of all published treatments for anal fissure that have been studied in randomized controlled trials. Methods: Randomized trials were sought in the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, Medline, EMBASE and the trials registry sites clinicaltrials.gov and who/int/ictrp/search/en. Abstracts were screened, full-text studies chosen, and finally eligible studies selected and abstracted. The review was then divided into those studies that compared two or more surgical procedures and those that had at least one arm that was non-surgical. Studies were further categorized by the specific interventions and comparisons. The outcome assessed was treatment failure. Negative effects of treatment assessed were headache and anal incontinence. Risk of bias was assessed for each study, and the strength of the evidence of each comparison was assessed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE) approach. Results: One hundred and forty-eight eligible trials were found and assessed, 31 in the surgical group and 117 in the non-surgical group. There were 14 different operations described in the surgical group and 29 different non-surgical treatments in the non-surgical group along with partial lateral internal sphincterotomy (LIS). There were 61 different comparisons. Of these, 47 were reported in 2 or fewer studies, usually with quite small patient samples. The largest single comparison was glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) versus control with 19 studies. GTN was more effective than control in sustained cure (OR 0.68; 95% CI 0.63-0.77), but the quality of evidence was very poor because of severe heterogeneity, and risk of bias due to inadequate clinical follow-up. The only comparison to have a GRADE quality of evidence of high was a subgroup analysis of LIS versus any medical therapy (OR 0.12; CI 0.07-0.21). Most of the other studies were downgraded in GRADE due to imprecision. Conclusions: LIS is superior to non-surgical therapies in achieving sustained cure of fissure. Calcium channel blockers were more effective than GTN and with less risk of headache, but with only a low quality of evidence. Anal incontinence, once thought to be a frequent risk with LIS, was found in various subgroups in this review to have a risk between 3.4 and 4.4%. Among the surgical studies, manual anal stretch performed worse than LIS in the treatment of chronic anal fissure in adults. For those patients requiring surgery for anal fissure, open LIS and closed LIS appear to be equally efficacious, with a moderate GRADE quality of evidence. All other GRADE evaluations of procedures were low to very low due mostly to imprecision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports the chemical modification of the Byrsonima crassifolia biomass with citric acid to improve its sorption properties for the removal of cadmium and nickel ions from aqueous solutions under competitive sorption conditions (i.e., multicomponent solutions). The best operating conditions of the chemical modification process were identified using the signal-to-noise ratio to enhance the metal uptakes and to reduce the competitive sorption effects during the simultaneous removal of these metals using the modified biomass. Results indicated that both the sorption capacity and selectivity for heavy metal removal can be improved in multicomponent metal solutions. This improvement in sorption properties of B. crassifolia biomass is mainly related to an increment of the acidic functional groups on the biomass surface caused by the chemical reaction between citric acid and this lignocellulosic material. The methodology reported in this study can be used to increase the sorption properties of other biomasses for the effective removal of toxic pollutants from multicomponent solutions and for the synthesis of sorbents with tailored sorption properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, the denim fiber scraps were reused as an alternative low-cost sorbent for the removal of heavy metals Pb2+, Cd2+, Zn2+ and arsenic from aqueous solutions. Results showed that this textile waste was an effective sorbent for the removal of these heavy metal ions and offered a better removal performance than those reported for other synthetic and natural sorbents such as activated carbons and zeolites. On the other hand, raw and metal-loaded denim wastes were also useful for the removal of arsenic (V) from aqueous solutions and their sorption capacities were higher than 1.5 mg/g. In particular, the presence of Pb2+ ions on the surface of denim wastes improved significantly its arsenic (V) sorption performance. In summary, the reuse of denim textile wastes in wastewater treatment can be considered as an eco-friendly application that could be useful for waste management and also for reducing the production costs in this important industrial sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various guidelines recommend that women with triple-negative breast cancer should be tested for BRCA1 mutations, but the prevalence of mutations may vary with ethnic group and with geographic region, and the optimal cutoff age for testing has not been established. We estimated the frequencies of BRCA1 and BRCA2 (BRCA) mutations among 190 women with triple-negative breast cancer, unselected for family history, diagnosed at age 50 or less at a single hospital in Mexico City. Patients were screened for 115 recurrent BRCA mutations, which have been reported previously in women of Hispanic origin, including a common large rearrangement Mexican founder mutation ( BRCA1 ex9-12del). A BRCA mutation was detected in 44 of 190 patients with triple-negative breast cancer (23 %). Forty-three mutations were found in BRCA1 and one mutation was found in BRCA2. Seven different mutations accounted for 39 patients (89 % of the total mutations). The Mexican founder mutation ( BRCA1 ex9-12del) was found 18 times and accounted for 41 % of all mutations detected. There is a high prevalence of BRCA1 mutations among young triple-negative breast cancer patients in Mexico. Women with triple-negative breast cancer in Mexico should be screened for mutations in BRCA1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Obesity severely affects human health, and the accompanying non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Rapid and non-invasive methods to detect this condition may substantially improve clinical care.Methods: We used liquid and gas chromatography-quadruple time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (LC/GC-QTOF-MS) analysis in a non-targeted metabolomics approach on the plasma from morbidly obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery to gain a comprehensive measure of metabolite levels. On the basis of these findings, we developed a method (GC-QTOF-MS) for the accurate quantification of plasma α-ketoglutarate to explore its potential as a novel biomarker for the detection of NAFLD.Results: Plasma biochemical differences were observed between patients with and without NAFLD indicating that the accumulation of lipids in hepatocytes decreased β-oxidation energy production, reduced liver function and altered glucose metabolism. The results obtained from the plasma analysis suggest pathophysiological insights that link lipid and glucose disturbances with α-ketoglutarate. Plasma α-ketoglutarate levels are significantly increased in obese patients compared with lean controls. Among obese patients, the measurement of this metabolite differentiates between those with or without NAFLD. Data from the liver were consistent with data from plasma. Clinical utility was assessed, and the results revealed that plasma α-ketoglutarate is a fair-to-good biomarker in patients (n=230). Other common laboratory liver tests used in routine application did not favourably compare.Conclusion: Plasma α-ketoglutarate is superior to common liver function tests in obese patients as a surrogate biomarker of NAFLD. The measurement of this biomarker may potentiate the search for a therapeutic approach, may decrease the need for liver biopsy and may be useful in the assessment of disease progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A molecular crystal of silver cyclic amide Ag(CHNO)(HO) is studied using first-principles density functional theory calculations within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA). A number of different exchange-correlation functionals are considered for a possible treatment of the system. It is found that the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE) GGA exchange-correlation functionals are adequate for the Ag(CHNO)(HO) crystal. The results obtained show the possibility to reproduce rather well the geometry of at least some molecular crystals by means of the periodic solid-state calculations if the computational parameters are chosen adequately. The present work also reports the analysis of the chemical bonding in the material and gives the total and partial density of states. Our solid-state computations point out the possible magnetic properties of the molecular crystal under study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context:It has been suggested that weight loss can improve systemic inflammation associated with obesity by decreasing the adipose production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. This suggestion, however, remains controversial.Objective:To analyse the effect of weight loss on peripheral inflammatory markers and subcutaneous adipocytokine production.Design:Patients were studied at baseline, at the end of the weight loss period, and after 2 weeks of weight stabilisation.Subjects:Nineteen morbid obese non-diabetic patients and 20 lean control subjects.Intervention:During the weight loss period patients followed a 6-week low-calorie diet.Measurements:Plasma levels of inflammatory markers, maximal in vitro whole-blood cytokine production, subcutaneous adipose tissue expression and content of several cytokines.Results:Obese subjects had higher circulating levels of C reactive protein (CRP), serum amyloid A (SAA), interleukin IL-6, IL-1 and soluble tumor necrosis factor receptors (sTNFR). Weight loss was associated with a significant decrease in CRP, SAA, leucocytes and plasma IL-6. Maximal in vitro cytokine production of IL-1 and sTNFR1 increased during this period. Weight loss did not induce significant changes in the adipose concentrations of IL-6, IL-1 or sTNF-receptors. However, adipose expression of IL-6, IL-1, TNFα, membrane cofactor protein-1 and adiponectin increased at the end of the weight loss period. During weight maintenance, circulating inflammatory parameters increased and in some cases returned to baseline.Conclusions:A low-calorie diet is associated with an improvement in the systemic inflammatory status. This seems to be due to energy restriction rather than to adipose mass loss, since inflammatory levels return to baseline soon after weight stabilisation. Furthermore, a negative energy balance and fat mobilisation are associated with increased subcutaneous cytokine adipose expression.International Journal of Obesity (2006) 30, 1714–1720. doi:10.1038/sj.ijo.0803348; published online 25 April 2006 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report on the photoinduced anisotropy in the holographic recording in spiropyran doped polymers as a result of the photoizomerization of spiropyran into merocyanine. Photoizomerization is achieved with UV polarized light (&lamda; = 355 nm) from the third harmonic of Q-switched Nd:YAG laser. After UV illumination a strong and broad polarization-dependent absorption peak centered ∼ 600nm appears. Absorption holograms were recorded with low power He-Ne lasers with 2.2% output diffraction efficiency for polarization parallel to the polarization of the UV laser. The extremely long lifetime of the merocyanine states (∼12 days in the dark) and their high resolution makes this material promising as an optical memory element. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]