An integrated biorefinery concept for olive mill waste management : Supercritical CO2 extraction and energy recovery

Commercial production of olive oil generates four times the amount of waste as it does oil, along with a number of environmental issues. We propose an integrated biorefinery concept for the management of pomace, i.e. solid Olive Mill Waste (OMW), that utilizes supercritical carbon dioxide (SCO2), coupled with a polar co-solvent (Ethanol), for extracting value-added polyphenols and mono/poly-unsaturated fatty acids (MUFA/PUFA), followed by thermochemical (oxidation or pyrolysis) recovery of energy, biofuels and materials. The SCO2 + EtOH extraction recovered 77.6 g of freeze-dried extract per kg of raw OMW, with relatively high concentrations in polyphenols (10.9 g kg 121 of which 60.1% of di-hydroxytyrosol), PUFA (20 g kg 121), MUFA (601 g kg 121) and other valuable compounds, such as squalene (10 g kg 121). All these substances are of extreme interest in pharmaceutical and nutraceutical market, for their antioxidant, anticancer, functional, anti-bacterial and nutritional properties. The SCO2 + EtOH flux acted as physical/ chemical carrier for over 85% of humidity, leaving the exhaust OMW almost dry, with evident advantages for downstream. Using nonisothermal thermogravimetric analysis, the apparent activation energies required to pyrolyze OMW to produce fuel and biochar ranged from 20 to 140 kJ mol 121 depending on heating ramp rate and temperature regime. BET analysis of unactivated biochars show increased (+25%) mesopore surface areas after SCO2 extractions (up to 500 m2 g 121). A more in-depth view on the proposed biorefinery is needed, to consider the overall energy balance, as well as possible market values of the obtained extract, and evaluate the real feasibility of the proposed concept

Tight control for Crohn's disease with adalimumab-based treatment is cost-effective: an economic assessment of the CALM trial

Objective To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of an inflammatory biomarker and clinical symptom directed tight control strategy (TC) compared with symptom-based clinical management (CM) in patients with Crohn’s disease (CD) naïve to immunosuppressants and biologics using a UK public payer perspective. Design A regression model estimated weekly CD Activity Index (CDAI)-based transition matrices (remission: CDAI <150, moderate: CDAI ≥150 to <300, severe: CDAI ≥300 to <450, very severe: CDAI ≥450) based on the Effect of Tight Control Management on Crohn’s Disease (CALM) trial. A regression predicted hospitalisations. Health utilities and costs were applied to health states. Work productivity was monetised and included in sensitivity analyses. Remission rate, CD-related hospitalisations, adalimumab injections, other direct medical costs, quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) and incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) were calculated. Results Over 48 weeks, TC was associated with a higher clinical remission (CDAI <150) rate (58.2% vs 46.8%), fewer CD-related hospitalisations (0.124 vs 0.297 events per patient) and more injections of adalimumab (40 mg sc) (mean 31.0 vs 24.7) than CM. TC was associated with 0.032 higher QALYs and £593 higher total medical costs. The ICER was £18 656 per QALY. The ICER was cost-effective in 57.9% of simulations. TC became dominant, meaning less costly but more effective, when work productivity was included. Conclusion A TC strategy as used in the CALM trial is cost-effective compared with CM. Incorporating costs related to work productivity increases the economic value of TC. Cross-national inferences from this analysis should be made with caution given differences in healthcare systems. Trial registration number NCT01235689

CAMbase – A XML-based bibliographical database on Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)

The term "Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM)" covers a variety of approaches to medical theory and practice, which are not commonly accepted by representatives of conventional medicine. In the past two decades, these approaches have been studied in various areas of medicine. Although there appears to be a growing number of scientific publications on CAM, the complete spectrum of complementary therapies still requires more information about published evidence. A majority of these research publications are still not listed in electronic bibliographical databases such as MEDLINE. However, with a growing demand by patients for such therapies, physicians increasingly need an overview of scientific publications on CAM. Bearing this in mind, CAMbase, a bibliographical database on CAM was launched in order to close this gap. It can be accessed online free of charge or additional costs. The user can peruse more than 80,000 records from over 30 journals and periodicals on CAM, which are stored in CAMbase. A special search engine performing syntactical and semantical analysis of textual phrases allows the user quickly to find relevant bibliographical information on CAM. Between August 2003 and July 2006, 43,299 search queries, an average of 38 search queries per day, were registered focussing on CAM topics such as acupuncture, cancer or general safety aspects. Analysis of the requests led to the conclusion that CAMbase is not only used by scientists and researchers but also by physicians and patients who want to find out more about CAM. Closely related to this effort is our aim to establish a modern library center on Complementary Medicine which offers the complete spectrum of a modern digital library including a document delivery-service for physicians, therapists, scientists and researchers

Impacts of a Post-Transport/Pre-Processing Rest Period on the Growth Performance and Serum Metabolites of Cattle Entering a Feedlot

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of a post-transport rest period on receiving calf growth performance and blood serum metabolites as indicators of immune function. Study Description: Eighty heifers were purchased from a sale barn and transported 6 hours to the Kansas State University Beef Cattle Research Center where they were processed at one of four times: immediately upon arrival or after a 6-, 24-, or 48-hour rest period. Cattle were then fed for 35 days with growth performance data collected weekly. Blood samples were also collected and analyzed for serum infectious bovine rhinotracheitis (IBR) titer and biochemical parameters. Results: Processing time did not impact (P \u3e 0.05) heifer average daily gain. Overall, dry matter intake (DMI) decreased linearly (P = 0.027) as the rest time increased. The number of days for heifers to reach a targeted DMI of 2.5% body weight was linearly increased (P = 0.023) as time of rest increased. Serum IBR titer for heifers processed at either 0 or 6 hours upon arrival was higher (P \u3c 0.01) on day 35 compared to day 0. This response was expected, as these cattle were vaccinated immediately or shortly after arrival. Interestingly, no difference in IBR titer was observed (P \u3e 0.05) between day 0 and day 35 for heifers processed at either 24 or 48 hours upon arrival, indicating potential seroconversion of IBR antibodies before vaccination. The Bottom Line: These results indicate that rest time after arrival and prior to processing may not affect calf growth performance, but there is evidence that a 6-hour rest period could maximize DMI upon arrival to a feedlot. Additional research with greater replication and more industry-standard experimental conditions should be conducted to further evaluate these parameters

Spiritual Needs in Patients Suffering from Fibromyalgia

The objective of this study was to assess spiritual needs of patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) and to evaluate correlations with disease and health associated variables. Using a set of standardized questionnaires (i.e., Spiritual Needs Questionnaire, Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, SF-36's Quality of Life, Brief Multidimensional Life Satisfaction Scale, etc.), we enrolled 141 patients (95% women, mean age 58 +/- 10 years). Here, needs for inner peace and giving/generativity scored the highest, while existential needs and religious needs scored lowest. Particularly inner peace needs and existential needs correlated with different domains of reduced mental health, particularly with anxiety, the intention to escape from illness, and psychosocial restrictions. Thirty-eight percent of the patients stated needs to be forgiven and nearly half to forgive someone from their past life. Therefore, the specific spiritual needs of patients with chronic diseases should be addressed in clinical care in order to identify potential therapeutic avenues to support and stabilize their psychoemotional situation

Investigating Issues in Aging and Work Performance Using a Customer Service Task Simulator

This paper discusses the use of a simulation tool for investigating information search performance in customer service work involving e-mail correspondence. Some unique opportunities for examining issues in aging and task performance that this customer service task simulator provides are also discussed. Integrated into this discussion are some results from an initial study of age group differences in performance of this type of task. Most importantly, this simulator's portability and the ease in which realistic customer queries can be captured enable it to be used as a platform for translating experimental research findings into more real-world settings by investigating task performance within the user's home environment