Degree Centigrade Research Articles

Bioinspired Synthesis of Novel Different Nanoparticles and its Utility in Biodiesel and Animals Applications

Because of its ability to speed up the reaction, the catalyst is critical to its success. Most catalysts are either homogeneous or heterogeneous. It has been shown that utilizing a heterogeneous catalyst, which is easier to remove from the product after the reaction has been finished. Because of the large surface area of the Nano-catalyst results in high catalytic efficiency. To enhance the performance of catalysts a range of various types of support materials have been used. SO42--ZnO and So42-/TiO active acid catalyst was prepared and characterized. ZnO nanoparticles catalyst synthesized by precipitation of zinc nitrate for comparison with supported catalyst. Sulphated zinc oxide (SO42--ZnO) and sulphated titania (SO42-/TiO) catalysts were synthesized using impregnation methods, to test their efficacy in biodiesel production. Various waste oils from different wastes such as mutton or beef tallow, chicken fat, and methanol are preferred to use during the esterification of waste animal fat oils using solid acid catalysts to produce biodiesel. Biodiesel synthesis generates a substantial amount of glycerol as a byproduct. Effect of optimum parameters such as temperature 60 degree centigrade (°C) shown 90% yield, time 1 hour resulted in 85% yield, catalyst dose 2wt% resulted in 80% yield, stirring speed 250rpm resulted in 80% yield, methanol to oil ratio12:1 resulted as 85.5% yield for transesterification of waste fat oil. It is valuable that the supported acid catalysts showed more yield than simply synthesized ZnO nanocatalyst similarly sulphated zinc oxide showed more FAME yield than sulphated titania.

Fabrication of Bioplastics from Sea Weeds

Abstract: This research deals with the production of bio-plastics from sea weeds. The main objectives is to produce bio-plastics from sea weeds (marine algae). The research has got two specific objectives which are to produce plastics that are environmental friendly whereby the plastic produced can be at least decomposed to smaller substance by the living organism and also to check the stability of the bio-plastics produced via mechanical and physical testing. In this study, marine algae specifically brown algae such as sargasum are the raw materials. Other materials required are glycerol, starch, gelatin, and colors. Methods used were observation to identify what type of algae has high content of agar and green algae were most the most efficient type. Experimentation involved the chemical processes to extract agar content from the from the algae by addition of sodium hydroxide to a powder form of algae which was dried and grinded, thereafter the mixture was heated 100 degree centigrade and allowed to cool agar powder was extracted and mixed with starch (as strengthening materials) and glycerol (plasticizer) and heated at 100 degree centigrade to get the tough semi-solid that helps to mould the plastics on a modal vessel

Climate change and agriculture in a coastal region: A case study of betel leaf cultivation in Sagar Island, Kakdwip, South 24 Parganas

Agriculture is a function of temperature and precipitation. Any change in these parameters, above and below the threshold value, will affect photosynthesis and transpiration in the crops, leading to an overall negative impact on agriculture, threatening global food security. Underdeveloped and developing worlds are most likely to be affected due to this situation because more than 80% of the population in this area is economically dependent on agriculture. With this background in mind, the present study attempts to delve into the impact of climate change on betel leaf cultivation in the study area because it forms the backbone of the local economy. Low lying coastal areas bear testimony of the primary evidences of climate change. The study area, therefore, is an ideal location to study the impact of climate change as it is situated in the path of frequent extreme weather phenomena. Such areas are particularly vulnerable to climate change in the form of sea level rise in response to increased precipitation resulting out of rise in temperature. The sensitivity of betel leaf to minor fluctuations in climatic parameters and its economic importance in the selected study area justifies the theme of enquiry. The present paper analyses meteorological data on temperature and rainfall along with field observation to investigate the issue. Given the sensitivity of betel leaf to such changes, an adverse impact on its production seems inevitable. However, findings of the present study prove otherwise. Firstly because the rise in temperature is less than 1.5 degree centigrade, which according to IPCC is the threshold value for impact on agriculture. Secondly, the adoption of adaptive strategies like use of fertilizer, soil treatment etc. practiced in the area largely offsets the adverse impact of climate change on crop production. However, the impacts are not entirely escapable.

Analysis of Pressure Depletion Tests Using Methane Gas Saturated Crude oil from Argentina

The dataset in this article demonstrates the consequences of the important tests that were led with Argentinian crude oil saturated with methane gas. Four primary depletion tests were conducted with crude oil using depletion rates of 0.35psi/min, 0.23psi/min, 0.048psi/min, and 0.023psi/ min. All tests started with the sand-pack fully saturated with live oil at irreducible water saturation. All the tests were conducted at a room temperature of 22 ±0.7 degree centigrade. What's more, the outcomes were dissected to surmise the impact of gas oil proportion and other foamy oil parameters on the depletion trend.

Cold-Induced Urticaria Exacerbated During Treatment With Pembrolizumab

An 80-year-old woman was assessed for cutaneous edema at the site of her intravenous (IV) access during infusion of normal saline (Figure 1). She had no associated symptoms and was otherwise well. The same reaction occurred in the contralateral arm with dextrose 5%. She was treated with IV diphenhydramine and the reaction subsided. The patient was on a research protocol including cyclophosphamide, pembrolizumab, and antisurvivin tumor vaccine to treat refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Her previous medical conditions included chronic hepatitis B on tenofovir and hypothyroidism on levothyroxine. She described a more than 20-year history of cold intolerance, reporting local hives with exposure to subzero degree centigrade temperatures, as well as throat tightness and epigastric pain after consuming frozen foods. She managed her symptoms by cold avoidance alone. Her symptom severity increased after starting pembrolizumab. Cold-induced urticaria (CIndU) was suspected on the basis of history and hypothesized as the cause of her cutaneous reaction to room temperature saline. To support the diagnosis of CIndU, skin testing was performed. Latex and chlorhexidine skin prick test (SPT) results were negative, ruling out the possibility of contact urticaria. Results for the ice cube test and SPT with room temperature saline were both positive (60 mm and 40 mm wheals, respectively), with histamine control of 4 mm; SPT result to saline warmed to 30°C was negative. After pretreatment with 20 mg of cetirizine, repeat SPT result to room temperature saline was negative. She then tolerated challenge to an IV infusion of 250 mL of 30°C saline. In the context of her history and diagnostic testing, CIndU triggered by room temperature IV fluid was diagnosed. The patient was started on daily oral antihistamine therapy (20 mg of bilastine). Subsequent IV infusions were successfully administered by heating the IV lines at the point of insertion to 30°C. She was able to receive additional chemotherapy doses in this manner but was moved to palliative care before any additional testing could be performed. Interestingly, although there is often no identified underlying disease trigger for CIndU, the comorbidities of our patient (hypothyroidism, chronic hepatitis B, malignancy) are all established potential etiologies. However, her CIndU predated these health conditions and did not worsen until pembrolizumab therapy. The cold protein diseases (cryoglobulins, cryofibrinogen, or cold agglutinins) should also be considered in the differential of cold-exacerbated diseases, especially cryoglobulinemic vasculitis, which can be linked to chronic hepatitis and malignancy. However, cold proteins have not been clearly linked to the pathophysiology of CIndU, and this patient was not experiencing symptoms compatible with vasculitis or worsening anemia, making cold protein disease unlikely.1Maltseva N. Borzova E. Fomina D. Bizjak M. Terhorst-Molawi D. Košnik M. et al.Cold urticaria – what we know and what we do not know.Allergy. 2020; 76: 1077-1094Crossref PubMed Scopus (30) Google Scholar Why was the patient’s CIndU acutely exacerbated after many years of stable disease? We hypothesized that pembrolizumab might have lowered the patient’s CIndU temperature threshold. Indeed, pembrolizumab is an IgG4 antibody that inhibits the programmed cell death protein 1 (PDI) inhibitor on lymphocytes. PDI is an “immune checkpoint” on activated effector T and B cells that binds to its cognate receptor PD-L1, inhibiting activated lymphocytes. Many cancer cells produce PD-L1 as an immune evasion strategy. Pembrolizumab removes this inhibition, enabling lymphocytes to better target and attack cancer cells. However, pembrolizumab also has many off-target effects, mainly immune-mediated adverse events. Cutaneous adverse events (CAEs) are the most common type of adverse event occurring on pembrolizumab, affecting approximately 25% of patients. Most CAEs are nonspecific rash or pruritis, but urticaria can occur in 0.7% of patients.2Wongvibulsin S. Pahalyants V. Kalinich M. Murphy W. Yu K. Wang F. et al.Epidemiology and risk factors for the development of cutaneous toxicities in patients treated with immune-checkpoint inhibitors: a United States population-level analysis.J Am Acad Dermatol. 2022; 86: 563-572Abstract Full Text Full Text PDF PubMed Scopus (22) Google Scholar A mechanism for exacerbating preexisting CIndU is not established. Extrapolating from other immune-mediated CAEs on pembrolizumab, such as bullous pemphigoid and vitiligo, PD-1 blockade may have caused increased autoantibody formation (IgE or IgG autoantibodies to FcεRI or IgE), thus decreasing the patient’s CIndU threshold. Chronic urticaria index or autologous skin testing, when positive, would have provided evidence of autoantibody formation to support this hypothesis, but was not possible for this patient. This case highlights the need for ongoing research on both the pathophysiology of CIndU and the expanding field of immune-mediated side effects of checkpoint inhibitors.

Stuck-at-Fault Immunity Enhancement of Memristor-Based Edge AI Systems

Deep Neural Networks (DNNs) are widely used in edge AI. But the complex perception and decision-making demands the overlarge computation and makes the DNN architecture very sophisticated. Memristors have multilevel resistance property that enables faster in-memory DNN computation to remove the bottleneck caused by the von Neumann architecture and CMOS technology. However, the Stuck-at-Fault (SAF) defect of memristor generated from immature fabrication and heavy device utilization makes the memristor-based edge AI commercially unavailable. To mitigate this problem, an Adaptive Mapping Method (AMM) is proposed in this paper. Based on the analysis for the VGG8 model with CIFAR10 dataset, the experiment results show that the AMM is efficient in restoring the inference accuracy up to 90% (the original accuracy without SAF) under SAFs from 0.1% to 50%, where Stuck-at-One (SA1): Stuck-at-Zero (SA0) = 5:1, 1:5, and 1:1. Additionally, the AMM has a significant immunity against the nonlinearity and conductance drift. The AMM improves the accuracy more than 50% in presence of high nonlinearity LTP = 4 and LTD = −4 and the standard conductance drift (10 years at 85 degree centigrade) nearly has no influence on the inference accuracy of the DNN in edge AI with the AMM.

Copper-catalyzed C-N Bond Cleavage: Synthesis of N-sulfonylformamidines from N-(2-pyridinylmethyl)benzenesulfonamides.

N-sulfonylamidines have gained considerable attention from schools and industries because of their unique bioactivity. Since Pinner's strategy, expanding the synthesis methods of Nsulfonylamidines has been the goal of many organic chemists over the past decades. Besides the crash reaction conditions and the participation of undesirable reagents, the production of Nsulfonylamidines commonly required unstable ammonia and azides as the source of nitrogen that hindered the further development and application of N-sulfonylamidine derivatives. The study aims to find a stable N source to replace NaN3 or NH3 to synthesize N-sulfonylamidines from sulfonyl chlorides. Firstly, N-(2-pyridinylmethyl)benzenesulfonamides were smoothly synthesized via 2- pyridinemethanamine and sulfonyl chlorides. Then the reaction conditions of N-(2-pyridinylmethyl) benzenesulfonamides and N,N-dimethylformamide dimethyl acetal (DMF-DMA) were screened and optimized. The reaction was processed in glycol at 80 degree centigrade for 8 hours with the addition of 5 mol% Cu(OAc)2·H2O as a catalyst. Taking advantage of pyridin-2-ylmethyl, a scope of N-Sulfonylformamidines were synthesized from those N-(2-pyridinylmethyl)benzenesulfonamides under copper-catalyzed C-N bond cleavage. This ready synthetic method will be more of a promising inspiration for bioactive compound synthesis and drug development than for an innovative approach to synthesizing N-sulfonylformamidines.

Effects of various agitation techniques on sealer penetration in dentinal tubules using CLSM

Aim: To compare the effect of ultrasonic, sonic and rotary sealer activation techniques on depth of penetration of sealer in the dentinal tubules. Materials and Methods: Freshly extracted 60 single rooted human permanent mandibuar premolar with mature apex were collected. A size 10 no. K file (Dentsply Maillefer) was introduced into each canal. The irrigation procedure was accomplished by using 2ml of 5.25% NAOCl for each file used. Roots were randomly divided into 3 groups on the basis of sealer activation techniques. The specimens were kept in incubator at 37 degree Centigrade temperature for 2 days. The dentin segments were examined on a confocal microscope in Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi under 4X,10X magnification. Results: A total of 60 teeth were included in the study and they were divided into three groups on the basis of method of agitation of sealer: GROUP I - Lentulospiral, Group II-Ultrasonic endodontic tip, Group III - Endoactivator and obturation was done with gutta percha. Mean percentage and depth of penetration was greatest in Group II i.e. Ultrasonics when used for agitation and statistically significant than Group I lentulospiral and Group III Endoactivator.

Utilization of Waste Plastic in Manufacturing of Bricks

Abstract: Plastic waste which is increasing day by day becomes eyesore and in turn pollutes the environment, especially in high mountain villages where no garbage collection system exists. A large amount of plastic is being brought into the tourist trekking regions are discarded or burned which leads to the contamination of environment and air. Hence, these waste plastics are to be effectively utilized. Low-density polyethylene bags are cleaned and added with sand at particular percentages to obtain high strength bricks that possess thermal and sound insulation properties to control pollution and to reduce the overall cost of construction; this is one of the best ways to avoid the accumulation of plastic waste which is an on-degradable pollutant. This alternatively saves the quantity of sand/clay that has to be taken away from the precious river beds/mines. The plastic waste is naturally available in surplus quantity and hence the cost factor comes down. Also coloring agents can be added to the mixture to attain desired shades. Hence in this thesis, an attempt is made to study regard the properties of the brick which is manufactured using plastic wastes. The present work deals with the manufacturing and analysis of bricks made with waste plastic (LDPE) and fine aggregates. The bricks produced are light weight, have smooth surface and fine edges, do not have cracks and have high crushing strength and very low water absorption. The bricks are manufactured by heating waste plastic to temperature range of 120 to 150 degree centigrade and mixing sand to the molten plastic.

Screening of different wheat genotypes against leaf rust and role of environmental factors affecting disease development

Leaf rust caused by pathogen Puccinia has more potential to threaten the yield of wheat up to 10% as compared to the other two types of rust stem and yellow rust. The severity of the disease depends upon the developmental stage of the plant and susceptibility of the plant. The variability of wheat growing conditions favorable climatic patterns, and genomic polyploidy nature it becomes the most financial and nutritional crop. The Food and Agriculture organization (FAO) report on annual global supply and demand for wheat is ample for wheat production. The population development rate is increasing, which is estimated at 9 billion by 2025. To meet the demand for staple food the production of wheat is an important interest for its significance turn out Puccinia triticinacausing brown rust disease in our country causes a huge amount of yield losses up to 50% (in severe cases) every year in all wheat-growing areas. Breeding of resistant varieties is the best and economic way to control this problem. Moreover, developing varieties is a continuous process because it can break the resistance of any variety by mutation. After screening 45 commercial varieties in 2019,2020 and 2021, only one variety was symptomless. After comparing varieties, showing resistance against urediniospores in the last three years only three varieties were similar showing resistant response against leaf rust. Moreover, after comparing environmental conditions favoring disease development in last three years it was observed that low temperature from 18 to 25 degree centigrade, humidity above 80% and high rainfall increases the incidence of disease development.

Experimental Study of the Electrochemical and Biological Properties of (Nb-1%Zr-xGe) Alloy for Biomedical Applications

Because of its relatively inert and unreactive surface, niobium seems to be especially attractive metal for use as a biomaterial. Mechanical property constraints, on the other hand, have limited the material's usage in this field. In terms of processing, microstructure, and mechanical characteristics, the (Nb-1 percent Zr) alloy is one of the most adaptable materials. Because of their features, such as reduced modulus of elasticity, excellent biocompatibility, and superior corrosion resistant than other alloys, these alloys have been frequently employed in biomedical applications, mostly substituting rigid textiles. This research focuses on recent discoveries in low modulus (Nb-1 percent Zr) based alloys with varied (0.5-6) wt. percent germanium additions for biomedical applications. Alloys were made in a steel mold using a powder metallurgy process, then sintered at 1200 degree centigrade for 6 hours. X-ray diffraction and mechanical characteristics such as wear, elastic modulus, compression, and Brinell hardness were utilized to examine the influence of germanium alloy additions. It has been discovered that increasing the germanium concentration increases porosity. Increased amount of germanium particles, on the other hand, enhances wear resistant, compressive strength, and micro-hardness. With applying additional loads for all alloying components concentration in germanium, the wear resistant reduced. The findings suggest that the alloy containing (0.5-6) wt. percent germanium particles has comparatively good mechanical and wear characteristics when compared to the base alloy, and it might be regarded acceptable for biomaterials applications due to its strong corrosion resistance.

Curating maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH) datasets for spatiotemporal data analytics

We provide in this Data Note the details of maternal, neonatal and child health (MNCH) datasets curated directly from patients’ medical records; comprising 538 maternal, 720 neonatal and 425 child records, captured at St Luke’s General Hospital, Anua, Uyo, Nigeria, from 2014 to 2019. Variables included in the datasets are gender, age, class of patient (mother/infant/child), LGA (local government area), diagnosis, symptoms, prescription, blood pressure (mm Hg), temperature (degree centigrade), and weight (Kg). The purpose of this publication is to describe the datasets for researchers who may be interested in its reuse (for analysis, research, quality assurance, policy formulation/decision, patient safety, and more). The curated datasets also involved the capturing of location information (GPS: global positioning system data) from the study area, to aid spatiotemporal and informed demographic analysis. We detail the methods used to curate the datasets and describe the protocol of variables selection and processing. For reasons of data privacy, some patients’ personal information such as names were replaced with patient numbers (a sequence generated using Microsoft Excel). Furthermore, the addresses/locations of the patients, date of visit, latitude, longitude, elevation, and GPS accuracy are restricted. Restricted data can be made available to readers after a formal request to the corresponding author (see data restriction statement). The curated datasets are available at the Open Science Framework.

Innovative Study on Microstructural Change in Duplex Stainless Steel in Corrosive Media

Abstract: Duplex Stainless Steel was developed long back in 1930 and gradually finds its wide application because of its high strength, good weldability, good toughness and resistance to stress corrosion cracking. This alloy finds its application in pressure vessels, bridges, process plants and also in typically down to minus 50 degree centigrade applications. However, because of its high alloy content thermal conductivities of duplex stainless steel are low. Casting this alloy is difficult and can be industrially used after proper heat treatment. In this present study corrosion rates were measured for CD4MCu in terms of weight loss/unit area/hour and microstructures were observed in different corrosive medium with time as variable.

MWCNTS-YSZ coating deposited by plasma thermal spray on INCONEL 738 low carbon substrate

The surface of Inconel 738 LC samples has been coated with carbon nanotube and yttria stabilized zirconia utilizing the plasma thermal spray method. Various percentages of carbon nanotubes and yttria stabilized zirconia were utilized in the coating (100 percent nano YSZ, 96 percent nano YSZ +4 percent CNTs, 94 percent nano YSZ +6 percent CNTs, and 92 percent nano YSZ +8 percent CNTs). After coating, a cyclic hot corrosion testing has been conducted, followed by SEM and XRD on all samples. SEM cross-section micrographs were utilized to quantify coating thickness. After 50 hrs of corrosion in 67 percent wt. V2O5 +33 percent wt. Na2SO4 at 950 degree centigrade, the changing weight of absence and coated specimens was measured. The cumulative weight change per surface area of coated specimens at temperatures of 950 °C was found to be 0.0095, 0.0075, 0.006, and 0.0057 mg.cm–2, (E,F,G,H) respectively. The best coating to resist hot corrosion was showed by specimens coated with 92% wt. yttria +8%wt. carbon nanotube. There are no oxides in the base specimens, according to X-rays of coated samples. Images of scanning electron microscopy for the surface layer revealed that it has a significant porosity and that some of the layer of coating s had microcracks.

Efficacy of Ḥammām-i-yābis (dry bath) in metabolic syndrome: a single arm, open-labelled clinical trial.

This study intended to evaluate the efficacy of Ḥammām-i-yabis (dry bath) in metabolic syndrome as primary objective and perceived improvement and changes in quality of life as secondary objective. The study was designed as single arm, open-labelled, pre and post without control clinical trial comprising 30 diagnosed cases of metabolic syndrome belonging to 20-50 years of age of either sex. The enrolled patients were exposed to the dry heat of Ḥammām-i-yābis for 15min at a temperature of 60 degree centigrade on every third day for a duration of 30days (a total of 10 sittings). Objective parameters comprising systolic and diastolic blood pressure and waist circumference were assessed on every follow up, while other objective parameters (FBS, HDL and Serum Triglycerides) were assessed before and after the study. Significant statistical difference was observed in objective parameters. Two tailed paired Student's t-test, (for pre and post) and repeated measure ANOVA (for 0, 15th and 30th day) were used to find the significance of mean change in study parameters. No significant adverse change appeared in safety parameters. Ḥammām-i-yābis was found effective, safer, more feasible and less expensive regimenal modality for the patients of metabolic syndrome.

The Survival Status and Predictors of Mortality Among Stroke Patients at North West Ethiopia.

IntroductionStroke is one of the commonest non-communicable disease types that has a great public health impact both in developed and developing countries. However, in Ethiopia, the long-term survival status of stroke patients is not very understood. This study aimed at assessing survival status and predictors of mortality among stroke patients at Felege Hiwot comprehensive specialized hospital from September 1, 2014, to August 31, 2019, Bahirdar, North West Ethiopia.MethodsAn institutional-based retrospective cohort study was conducted using 368 registered stroke patients between September 1, 2014, and August 31, 2019. We used Kaplan–Meier together with a Log-rank test to compare the survival rate of the study participants using categorical variables and to compare covariate and both bi-variable and multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression analysis model was conducted to identify predictors of mortality among stroke patients. The association between outcome and independent variables was expressed using an adjusted hazard ratio (AHR) with a 95% confidence interval and statistical significances were declared at P-value of <0.05.ResultsFifty-six (15.2%) of the 368 stroke patients included in the study died, and 312 (84.8%) were correctly censored. The overall survival rate was 72.2% at 51 months of follow-up with a median survival time of 0.26 months. Age greater than 65 (AHR 6.31, 95% CI 1.75–22.74), body temperature >7.1 degree centigrade (AHR = 7.14, 95% CI: 2.76–18.5), potassium level below <2 mmol/l (AHR = 2, 95% CI: 1.9–23.53) and creatinine level >1.2 mg/dl (AHR = 7.85, 95% CI: 2.7–22.6) were predictive predictors of mortality.ConclusionsIn the follow-up of 51 months, significant mortality occurred. Important predictive predictors of survival status were identified. Interventions should be focused on health education and awareness creation of the community for the early management of stroke.

Food Security Under The Era Of Climate Change Threat

Food Security Under The Era Of Climate Change Threat

Acting rapidly to deploy readily available methane mitigation measures by sector can immediately slow global warming

Methane mitigation is essential for addressing climate change, but the value of rapidly implementing available mitigation measures is not well understood. In this paper, we analyze the climate benefits of fast action to reduce methane emissions as compared to slower and delayed mitigation timelines. We find that the scale up and deployment of greatly underutilized but available mitigation measures will have significant near-term temperature benefits beyond that from slow or delayed action. Overall, strategies exist to cut global methane emissions from human activities in half within the next ten years and half of these strategies currently incur no net cost. Pursuing all mitigation measures now could slow the global-mean rate of near-term decadal warming by around 30%, avoid a quarter of a degree centigrade of additional global-mean warming by midcentury, and set ourselves on a path to avoid more than half a degree centigrade by end of century. On the other hand, slow implementation of these measures may result in an additional tenth of a degree of global-mean warming by midcentury and 5% faster warming rate (relative to fast action), and waiting to pursue these measures until midcentury may result in an additional two tenths of a degree centigrade by midcentury and 15% faster warming rate (relative to fast action). Slow or delayed methane action is viewed by many as reasonable given that current and on-the-horizon climate policies heavily emphasize actions that benefit the climate in the long-term, such as decarbonization and reaching net-zero emissions, whereas methane emitted over the next couple of decades will play a limited role in long-term warming. However, given that fast methane action can considerably limit climate damages in the near-term, it is urgent to scale up efforts and take advantage of this achievable and affordable opportunity as we simultaneously reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

Influence of climatic variables on chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patient attendance to a pulmonary rehabilitation program.

Implementing adherence to pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) programs is key to obtaining the best results. The objective of our study was to evaluate the influence of weather conditions (humidity, temperature, and precipitation) on attendance to a PR program in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. This prospective observational study, carried out in Seville (Spain), included COPD patients who participated in a 36-session outpatient mixed (strength and endurance) training program for 12weeks. The program included educational sessions as well. The attendance at the program scheduled sessions during 1year was evaluated in relation to the meteorological conditions of relative humidity in percentage (%), temperature in degree centigrade (°C), and precipitation in millimeters (mm) according to the data from the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET) and the meteorological center of La Rinconada. A total of 81 COPD patients who underwent 2903 sessions were analyzed. The annual average attendance of the program was 78.6%. No differences were found in the attendance to the program depending on the climatic conditions evaluated throughout the year. In a specific geographical area such as Seville, meteorological conditions are not a determining factor of attendance to the PR program for COPD patients.

Gas temperature spatial distribution in air corona discharge with plane comb of metal rod electrodes derived from schlieren images

Gas temperature fields in the air corona discharge with a plane comb electrode system have been determined for the negative and positive polarities of the applied voltage. Highly sensitive schlieren technique used in the study allowed detecting a temperature change in tenths of a degree centigrade at room temperature of the gas flow. The obtained results suggest that the gas in the studied electrode system does not undergo heating at the given range of working parameters.