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Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional bowel disorder characterized by abdominal pain or discomfort and an irregular bowel habit. The prevalence is up to 20% in Western adults, which makes IBS the most common diagnosis in gastroenterology. Despite extensive interest and investigation, IBS's precise aetiology and pathophysiology are poorly understood. Current knowledge suggests that an altered gut microbiota, altered motility, visceral hyperalgesia, and dysregulation of the brain-gut axis are central to IBS. This is also significantly related to a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome and elevated triglycerides among the adult population. This retrospective study examines the effect of a novel nutraceutical compound, Triobiotix, on gastrointestinal symptoms in IBS patients. Effects on lipid profiles have also been recorded. Objectives: The focus of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of Triobiotix, a nutraceutical compound composed of prebiotics and probiotics. Methods:Triobiotix is a nutraceutical consisting of Maltodextrin; mineralized extract of Lithothamnion (Lithothamnion calcareum (Pallas) Areschoug, thallus dry extract); Bioecolians® gluco-oligosaccharides; Ferment mix (corn starch, Bifidobacterium animalis ssp. Lactis BLC1 (DSM 17741), Lactobacillus acidophilus LA3 (DSM 17742), Lactobacillus rhamnosus IMC 501 (DSM 16104), Lactobacillus paracasei Streptococcus 501 IMC102 SP4 (DSM 19385); short-chain fructo-oligosaccharides powder. The database of 40 Italian General Practitioners (GPs) was analyzed. A total of 587 patients with IBS treated with Triobiotix were identified. Among them, 535/587 (91.1%) completed the first (T0) and second (T1) visits and their data were available. The primary endpoint of this analysis was to assess if Triobiotix, at a dosage of 1 sachet per day for 30 days, could reduce abdominal pain and bloating, thus resulting in a lower intensity of the main gastrointestinal symptoms. Secondary endpoints were to evaluate presence of any significant changes in triglycerides blood levels and glycaemia.Results: Treatment with this nutraceutical for one month resulted in a reduction in the frequency and intensity of bloating, abdominal pain, flatulence, and tenesmus. In the 85 patients who reported evacuative urgency, the frequency of the episodes didn’t significantly change while their intensity was statistically reduced. Unexpectedly, triglyceride levels also significantly decreased.Conclusions:Our analysis demonstrates this formulation is effective in the relief of the main symptoms associated with IBS. Moreover, an unexpected effect of this combination of micronutrients on tryglicerides, beyond IBS symptoms, was also found. However, further studies are needed to confirm this evidence and to evaluate the particular compound responsible of this effect.Keywords: Irritable bowel disease; Triglyceridemia; Nutraceuticals

En la Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso se desarrollaron durante el año 2021 dos programas de mentoría, dentro del proyecto europeo W-STEM, uno dirigido por la Unidad de Inclusión y Género de la universidad en las carreras de ingeniería con menos participación femenina según datos reportados por la Dirección de Análisis Institucional(programa 1) y el otro realizado en la Escuela de Ingeniería Industrial, cuya participación femenina de ha mantenido inferior a 35% en la última década(programa 2)., The European Commission support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents which reflects the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Introduction. The clinical course of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is highly heterogenous, ranging from asymptomatic to fatal forms. The identification of clinical and laboratory predictors of poor prognosis may assist clinicians in monitoring strategies and therapeutic decisions. Materials and Methods. In this study, we retrospectively assessed the prognostic value of a simple tool, the complete blood count, on a cohort of 664 patients ( F 260; 39%, median age 70 (56-81) years) hospitalized for COVID-19 in Northern Italy. We collected demographic data along with complete blood cell count; moreover, the outcome of the hospital in-stay was recorded. Results. At data cut-off, 221/664 patients (33.3%) had died and 453/664 (66.7%) had been discharged. Red cell distribution width (RDW) ( χ 2 10.4; p < 0.001 ), neutrophil-to-lymphocyte (NL) ratio ( χ 2 7.6; p = 0.006 ), and platelet count ( χ 2 5.39; p = 0.02 ), along with age ( χ 2 87.6; p < 0.001 ) and gender ( χ 2 17.3; p < 0.001 ), accurately predicted in-hospital mortality. Hemoglobin levels were not associated with mortality. We also identified the best cut-off for mortality prediction: a NL ratio > 4.68 was characterized by an odds ratio for in-hospital mortality OR = 3.40 (2.40-4.82), while the OR for a RDW > 13.7 % was 4.09 (2.87-5.83); a platelet count > 166,000 /μL was, conversely, protective (OR: 0.45 (0.32-0.63)). Conclusion. Our findings arise the opportunity of stratifying COVID-19 severity according to simple lab parameters, which may drive clinical decisions about monitoring and treatment.

In this century, a broad scientific interest has been devoted to fulfill sustainable industrial processes and climatic change remediation. In this prospective, various green technologies have been studied to valorize CO 2• The aim of this research is the CO 2 reduction in presence of water by using the photocatalytic technology with nanomaterials as the photocatalysts. The present work overviews the main outcomes obtained by using graphitic and oxide based photocatalysts both in gas/solid and liquid/solid batch reactors under simulated solar light. In all gas/solid regime tests the major products detected were methane, carbon monoxide, and acetaldehyde.