Despite comprehensive diagnostic work-up, the aetiology of communityacquired pneumonia (CAP) remains undetermined in 30-60% of cases. The authors studied factors associated with undiagnosed pneumonia.Patients hospitalised with CAP and being evaluated by two blood cultures, at least one valid lower respiratory tract sample, and serology on admission were prospectively recorded. Patients who had received antimicrobial pretreatment were excluded. Patients with definite or probable aetiology were compared to those with undetermined aetiology by uni-and multivariable analysis.A total 204 patients were eligible for the study. The aetiology remained undetermined in 82 (40%) patients, whereas a definite aetiology could be established in 89 (44%) and a probable one in 33 (16%). In multivariable analysis, factors associated with undetermined aetiology included age w70 yrs, renal and cardiac comorbidity, and nonalveolar infiltrates on the chest radiograph. There was no association of undiagnosed pneumonia with mortality.Age and host factors were associated with unknown aetiology of community-acquired pneumonia. Some of these cases may also represent fluid volume overload mimicking pneumonia.

We show that pentaerythritol tetranitrate reductase (PETNR), a member of the 'ene' reductase old yellow enzyme family, catalyses the asymmetric reduction of a variety of industrially relevant activated α,β-unsaturated alkenes including enones, enals, maleimides and nitroalkenes. We have rationalised the broad substrate specificity and stereochemical outcome of these reductions by reference to molecular models of enzyme-substrate complexes based on the crystal complex of the PETNR with 2-cyclohexenone 4a. The optical purity of products is variable (49-99% ee), depending on the substrate type and nature of substituents. Generally, high enantioselectivity was observed for reaction products with stereogenic centres at Cβ (>99% ee). However, for the substrates existing in two isomeric forms (e.g., citral 11a or nitroalkenes 18-19a), an enantiodivergent course of the reduction of E/Z-forms may lead to lower enantiopurities of the products. We also demonstrate that the poor optical purity obtained for products with stereogenic centres at Cα is due to non-enzymatic racemisation. In reactions with ketoisophorone 3a we show that product racemisation is prevented through reaction optimisation, specifically by shortening reaction time and through control of solution pH. We suggest this as a general strategy for improved recovery of optically pure products with other biocatalytic conversions where there is potential for product racemisation.

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El seguimiento morfológico de más de 60 barras intermareales del tipo "swash bar" en el sector Chipiona-Rota (litoral de Cádiz), efectuado a diferentes escalas temporales, ha permitido determinar sus principales características morfométricas y morfodinámicas, evidenciando las diferencias de comportamiento respecto a las barras "ridge and runnel". Las barras asociadas a playas disipativas son de escasa altura y sin una cara de avalancha bien definida; las barras asociadas a playas intermediasreflectivas presentan morfologías más abruptas, mientras que las barras asociadas a playas con plataforma rocosa presentan morfologías parecidas a las observadas en playas intermedias-reflectivas. Se han estudiado también la estructura interna y la dinámica de las barras asociadas a playas disipativas. Éstas se encuentran compuestas por láminas paralelas a la superficie y, cuando la barra se ubica en la parte alta del estrán, la cara de avalancha presenta láminas de foreset nítidas. En cuanto a su morfodinámica, se ha visto que ésta está controlada por diferentes procesos que dependen de las características del oleaje, de la morfología de la barra y de las variaciones del nivel del mar a lo largo de un ciclo mareal. Finalmente, en cuanto a su distribución temporal, las barras presentan una mayor frecuencia en la época primaveral, con un máximo secundario en otoño.

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