Kales (Brassica oleracea acephala group) are important vegetable crops in traditional farming systems in the Iberian Peninsula. They are grown throughout the year to harvest their leaves and flower buds. The glucosinolate content of kales is dependent upon the environmental factors, plant part examined, phenological stage of plant growth, and level of insect damage. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the changes in the total and individual glucosinolate concentrations during plant development and to determine if significant variation of glucosinolate levels can be explained by insect pests attack and other environmental factors in four locations in northwestern Spain. The total glucosinolate concentration in leaves of B. oleracea increased with plant age from seedling to early flowering stages. At that stage, the aliphatic glucosinolate content in leaves of B. oleracea declined drastically over time as the content in the flower buds increased. The highest contents of indolyl glucosinolate (glucobrassicin) and of the aromatic glucosinolate occurred in leaves harvested at the optimum consumption stage while flower buds contained the highest concentration of aliphatic glucosinolates, especially sinigrin. Sinigrin is reported to have anticarcinogenic properties. There appears to be a loss of total and individual glucosinolate concentrations related to pest attack. Leaves damaged by lepidopterous pests contained a lower total glucosinolate content (25.8 micromol g-1 dw) than undamaged leaves (41 micromol g-1 dw). The amounts of sinigrin, glucoiberin, and glucobrassicin were also lowest in insect-damaged leaves. Environmental factors such as soil properties and temperature appear to influence the glucosinolate content in leaves although more research on this subject is needed.

The quantitative analysis of tear analytes in point‐of‐care settings can enable early diagnosis of ocular diseases. Here, a fluorescent scleral lens sensor is developed to quantitatively measure physiological levels of pH, Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+, and Zn2+ ions. Benzenedicarboxylic acid, a pH probe, displays a sensitivity of 0.12 pH units within pH 7.0–8.0. Crown ether derivatives exhibit selectivity to Na+ and K+ ions within detection ranges of 0–100 and 0–50 mmol L−1, and selectivities of 15.6 and 8.1 mmol L−1, respectively. A 1,2 bis(o‐aminophenoxy)ethane‐N,N,‐N',N'‐tetraacetic‐acid‐based probe allows Ca2+ ion sensing with 0.02–0.05 mmol L−1 sensitivity within 0.50–1.25 mmol L−1 detection range. 5‐Oxazolecarboxylic acid senses Mg2+ ions, exhibiting a sensitivity of 0.10–0.44 mmol L−1 within the range of 0.5–0.8 mmol L−1. The N‐(2‐methoxyphenyl)iminodiacetate Zn2+ ion sensor has a sensitivity of 1 µmol L−1 within the range of 10–20 µmol L−1. The fluorescent sensors are subsequently multiplexed in the concavities of an engraved scleral lens. A handheld ophthalmic readout device comprising light‐emitting diodes (LEDs) and bandpass filters is fabricated to excite as well as read the scleral sensor. A smartphone camera application and an user interface are developed to deliver quantitative measurements with data deconvolution. The ophthalmic system enables the assessment of dry eye severity stages and the differentiation of its subtypes.

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HighlightsWe present a case of nflammatory pseudotumor of spleen.It is an extremely rare condition of unknown etiology.It is considered as a benign lesion with multiple differential diagnoses.Splenectomy is indicated to confirm diagnosis.

ObjectiveRheoencephalography is a simple and inexpensive technique for cerebral blood flow assessment, however, it is not used in clinical practice since its correlation to clinical conditions has not yet been extensively proved. The present study investigates the ability of Poincaré Plot descriptors from rheoencephalography signals to detect apneas in volunteers.MethodsA group of 16 subjects participated in the study. Rheoencephalography data from baseline and apnea periods were recorded and Poincaré Plot descriptors were extracted from the reconstructed attractors with different time lags (τ). Among the set of extracted features, those presenting significant differences between baseline and apnea recordings were used as inputs to four different classifiers to optimize the apnea detection.ResultsThree features showed significant differences between apnea and baseline signals: the Poincaré Plot ratio (SDratio), its correlation (R) and the Complex Correlation Measure (CCM). Those differences were optimized for time lags smaller than those recommended in previous works for other biomedical signals, all of them being lower than the threshold established by the position of the inflection point in the CCM curves. The classifier showing the best performance was the classification tree, with 81% accuracy and an area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic of 0.927. This performance was obtained using a single input parameter, either SDratio or R.ConclusionsPoincaré Plot features extracted from the attractors of rheoencephalographic signals were able to track cerebral blood flow changes provoked by breath holding. Even though further validation with independent datasets is needed, those results suggest that nonlinear analysis of rheoencephalography might be a useful approach to assess the correlation of cerebral impedance with clinical changes.

Retinal embolism is a highly infrequent complication of cardiac catheterization of thrombotic, lipidic, and calcific etiology. We provide the first reported clinical case of retinal embolism caused by cholesterol crystal without systemic adverse effects as a severe complication of diagnostic cardiac catheterization. Cathet. Cardiovasc. Intervent. 51:323-325, 2000.

Organic thin film deposition presents a multiplicity of challenges. Most notably, layer thickness control, homogeneity and subsequent characterization have been not cleared yet. Phospholipid bilayers are frequently used to model cell membranes. Bilayers can be disrupted by changes in mechanical stress, pH and temperature. The strategy presented in this article is based on thermal study of 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DPPC) through analysis of slight changes in material thickness. The sample was prepared by depositing X- or Y-type DPPC bilayers using Langmuir-Blodgett technique over silicon wafer. Thus, molecular inclination degree, mobility and stability of phases and their respective phase transitions were observed and analyzed through ellipsometric techniques during heating cycles and corroborated by Grazing Incidence X-ray Diffraction and Atomic Force Microcopy measurements. DPPC functional group vibrations were detected by Raman spectra analysis. Scanning Electron Microscope with Field Emission gun (FE-SEM) and conventional SEM micrographs were also used to characterize sample morphology, demonstrating that homogenous bilayer formations coexist with some vesicles or micelles at surface level. Contact angle measurements corroborate DPPC surface wettability, which is mainly related to surface treatment methods of silicon wafer used to create either hydrophilic or hydrophobic nature regarding the substrate surface. Also, shifting and intensity changes of certain functional groups into Raman spectra confirm water presence between DPPC layers. Signal analysis detects certain interdigitation between aliphatic chains. These studies correspond to the base of future biosensors based on proteins or antimicrobial peptides stabilized into phospholipid bilayers over thin hydrogel films as moist scaffold.

The catalyzed hydrogasification of pyrolyzed almond shells was studied with the main objective of obtaining a gas with a high heating value (synthetic natural gas), as the major component of the gas is CH 4 (with small amounts of CO). A kinetic study was also carried out using ideal models. Five experimental series were performed by varying particle size (0.4-2-mm diameter), initial sample weight (0.15-1 g), gas flow rate (150-300 cm 3 min -1 ), temperature (700-900°C ), and hydrogen partial pressure (0.02-0.1 MPa). The range of particle size used in this work exerted little influence on the CH 4 production. The hydrogasification rate was independent of the initial sample mass and hydrogen flow rate for values <0.25 g and >250 cm 3 min -1 , respectively. The particle size exerted a slight negative influence on the hydrogasification rate, whereas temperature and hydrogen partial pressure exerted positive effects. The optimum temperature for the process was found to lie in the range 800-850°C, giving a production of gas of 1.86 Nm 3 /kg of converted char (where Nm 3 indicates m 3 at normal conditions, T ) 0°C and P ) 1 atm) with a high heating value of 74 170 kJ/kg of converted char. The activation energy and reaction order with respect to hydrogen were found to be 103.1 kJ mol -1 and 1, respectively.