Due to the continuous rise in conventional plastic production and the deficient management of plastic waste, industry is developing alternative plastic products made of biodegradable or biobased polymers. The challenge nowadays is to create a new product that combines the advantages of conventional plastics with environmentally friendly properties. This study focuses on the assessment of the potential impact that polyvinyl alcohol (PVA)-based polymers may have once they are released into the marine environment, in terms of biodegradation in seawater (assessed by the percentage of the Theoretical Oxygen Demand, or % ThOD, of each compound) and aquatic toxicity, according to the standard toxicity test using Paracentrotus lividus larvae. We have tested three different materials: two glycerol-containing PVA based ones, and another made from pure PVA. Biodegradation of PVA under marine conditions without an acclimated inoculum seems to be negligible, and it slightly improves when the polymer is combined with glycerol, with a 5.3 and 8.4% ThOD achieved after a period of 28 days. Toxicity of pure PVA was also negligible (<1 toxic units, TU), but slightly increases when the material included glycerol (2.2 and 2.3 TU). These results may contribute to a better assessment of the behavior of PVA-based polymers in marine environments. Given the low biodegradation rates obtained for the tested compounds, PVA polymers still require further study in order to develop materials that are truly degradable in real marine scenarios.
Abstract Stochastic simulation is used to compare different systems of mating to reduce rates of inbreeding in selection programmes with phenotypic or animal model best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) evaluation. Compensatory mating (the mating between individuals from the largest selected families to individuals from the smallest) turns out to be proportionately about 0-30 more effective than minimum coancestry matings for situations with low rates of inbreeding, such as phenotypic selection or high population size, although the advantage is less apparent if common environmental effects are important. A modification of this system of mating is proposed which can be applied for overlapping generations, and this is shown to reduce rates of inbreeding proportionately by about 0-50 more than for discrete generations. Under high inbreeding, however, such as for BLUP selection and small population size, minimum coancestry matings, or even avoidance of sib matings are more effective. A procedure combining compensatory and minimum coancestry matings is also simulated and gives the largest reductions in the rate of inbreeding. The effects of these and other systems of mating on the rate of inbreeding are shown to occur through a reduction in the cumulative effect of selection and a deviation from Hardy-Weinberg proportions.
The cost-effectiveness of ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring (ABPM) versus traditional office BP measurement (OBPM) for the diagnosis and management of hypertension has been evaluated only by few studies and based solely on the reduction of medical care expenses through avoiding treatment of isolated-office hypertension. Data from the 21963 participants in the Hygia Project, a multicenter outcomes study that incorporates into routine primary care periodic, at least yearly, 48 h ABPM evaluation, were utilized to assess the cost-effectiveness – relative to vascular pathology expenditures countrywide in Spain – of ABPM versus OBPM. The actual reported Spanish healthcare expenditure for vascular pathology in 2015 – aggregate costs of medical examinations, outpatient and inpatient care, therapeutic interventions, plus non-healthcare services (productivity losses due to morbidity/mortality and informal family/friends-provided care) – was used to compare yearly costs when diagnostic and treatment decisions for hypertension are based on the OBPM versus the ABPM-model. Our economic analysis is based on the more realistic and feasible approach of restricting ABPM solely to high-risk individuals of age ≥60 years and/or with diabetes, chronic kidney disease, and/or previous cardiovascular event, who in the Hygia Project accounted for >90% of all documented events. The projected net benefit countrywide in favor of the proposed ABPM-model is ~5294M€/year, i.e., 360.33€/year (95%CI [347.52–374.85]) per ABPM-evaluated person. This highly conservative economic analysis indicates ABPM is a much more cost-effective strategy than repeated OBPM not only for accurate diagnosis and management of true hypertension but marked reduction of expenditures on elevated BP-associated vascular pathology.
There is a standard genetic code that is used by most organisms, but exceptions exist in which particular codons are translated with a different meaning, i.e., as a different amino acid. The characterization of the genetic code of an organism is hence a key step for properly analyzing and translating its protein-coding genes. Such characterization is particularly important in the case of metazoan mitochondrial genomes for two reasons: first, many variant codes occur in them and second, mitochondrial data is frequently used for evolutionary studies. Variant codes are usually found by comparative sequence analyses. Given a protein alignment, if a particular codon for a given species occurs at positions in which a particular amino acid is frequently found in other species, then the most likely hypothesis is that the codon is translated as that particular amino acid in that species. Previously, we have shown that this method can be very reliable provided that enough taxa and positions are included in the comparisons and have implemented it in the web-ser GenDecoder (http://darwin.uvigo.es/software/gendecoder.html). In this chapter we describe the rationale of the method used by GenDecoder and its usage through worked examples, highlighting the potential problems that can arise during the analysis.
A precise, accurate and validated HPLC method is developed for the determination of caffeine and its metabolites in vivo and used for enzyme assays. The separation is performed on a Hypersil BDS C18 column. The mobile phase composed by phase A (acetonitrile) and phase B (10mM ammonium formate/formic acid (998/2, v/v)) pumped according to a gradient elution program at a flow rate of 1ml·min-1 with detection at 280nm. Chloroform/isopropanol(9:1,v/v) is used as extractant, acetaminophen is selected as internal standard(IS). AFMU, 1U, 1X, IS, 17U, 17X and caffeine elute at 3.3, 7.3, 8.9, 10.7, 11.7, 12.1, 15.0 respectively, linear response (r>0.99) is observed for samples ranging from 1.25 to 160mM and the method provides recoveries of 81-94% in the concentration range of 1.25-80mM for these substances, intra- and inter-day variation in <10% R.S.D. The limit of detection (LOD) is 0.62mM for AFMU, 1X, 1U and 0.31mM for 17U, 17X, 137X.
European Union directive 90/128/EEC prescribes a specific migration limit of 0.05 mg/kg for the aliphatic diamine m-xylylenediamine (m-XDA) into food or food simultants, but there is no generally accepted method of analysis available for compliance testing with the given restriction. A method is described for the determination of m-XDA monomer in the following food simulants: distilled water, 3% (w/v) acetic acid, and 15% (v/v) ethanol. The method is appropriate for the quantitative determination of m-XDA at a minimum level of 0.020 mg/kg in these food simulants. Detection limits are in the range of 0.004 to 0.010 mg m-XDA per kilogram food simulant (depending on the type of food simulant). The method should also be applicable to other aqueous food simulants. m-XDA in aqueous simulant test samples is determined by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection following derivatization with fluorescamine. Quantitation is relative to external standards. The identity of m-XDA may be confirmed by the presence of a second peak in the chromatograms obtained from samples derivatized with less fluorescamine or by comparison with authentic samples.
