Calcineurin inhibitors (CNI) are the pillars of immunosuppression in transplantation. However, they display a potent nephrotoxicity whose mechanisms remained widely unsolved. We used an untargeted quantitative proteomic approach (iTRAQ technology) to highlight new targets of CNI in renal proximal tubular cells (RPTCs). CNI-treated RPTCs proteome displayed an over-representation of actin-binding proteins with a CNI-specific expression profile. Cyclosporine A (CsA) induced F-actin remodeling and depolymerization, decreased F-actin-stabilizing, polymerization-promoting cofilin (CFL) oligomers, and inhibited the G-actin-regulated serum response factor (SRF) pathway. Inhibition of CFL canonical phosphorylation pathway reproduced CsA effects; however, S3-R, an analogue of the phosphorylation site of CFL prevented the effects of CsA which suggests that CsA acted independently from the canonical CFL regulation. CFL is known to be regulated by the Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase. Molecular docking calculations identified two inhibiting sites of CsA on Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase and a 23% decrease in Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase activity of RPTCs was observed with CsA. Ouabain, a specific inhibitor of Na⁺/K⁺-ATPase also reproduced CsA effects on actin organization and SRF activity. Altogether, these results described a new original pathway explaining CsA nephrotoxicity.

Harvest and dewatering poses a significant economical burden for industrial algae biomass production. To mitigate these effects, energy efficient techniques for these process steps have to be developed. Flocculation of the microalgae Scenedesmus obtusiusculus in salt based medium was induced by pH-shift and alternatively by addition of two biological flocculants, chitosan, and the commercial tannin CFL-PT. This is the first time that CFL-PT is used as an algae flocculant particularly focusing on harvesting of halophilic strains. The method was characterized and subsequently optimized. In comparison to biological flocculants, induction by pH shift is far cheaper, but due to buffering effects of the brackish cultivation medium infeasible amounts of base are required to raise the pH-value. tannin appears to be superior compared to chitosan not only in the absence of algae organic matter (AOM), but tannin-based harvest is also more robust regarding culture pH in presence of AOM. A higher flocculant-demand for modified tannin compared to chitosan is offset by the lower price. Given the employed strain and cultivation conditions, cultivation time had no pronounced effect on flocculation efficiencies (FE) while algae zeta-potential and bacterial communities also remained stable.

Motion information is essential in daily life because it provides cues to depth, timing, object identification, and self-motion, as well as input to the oculomotor system. As the peripheral visual field is exquisitely sensitive to motion, we investigated the periphery of individuals with central visual field loss (CFL) to determine whether speed and direction discrimination are intact in this population. We compared CFL participants' (N = 8), older (N = 6), and young controls' (N = 6) ability to discriminate motion speed and direction in a two-spatial-alternative forced-choice design. Participants viewed moving dots on the left and right of a fixation marker and judged which side had the faster speed or more clockwise direction. For the young control group, we repeated the experiment with the stimulus limited to thin strips of fixed width at eccentricities of 5°, 10°, and 15°. There was no significant difference in mean speed or direction discrimination thresholds of CFL participants and older controls for either velocity. Young controls had significantly lower thresholds than the CFL group for both tasks. We did not find an effect of visual acuity, viewing eccentricity, or scotoma location on individuals' ability to discriminate speed or direction. Our results indicate that for high-visibility stimuli moving at 5°-10°/s, speed and direction discrimination are intact in the periphery of individuals with CFL.

Albonoursin production was greatly enhanced when cyclo (L-Leu-L-Phe) (CFL), a tetrahydro derivative of albonoursin, was added to the 2-day culture of an albonoursin-producing actinomycete, Streptomyces albulus KO-23. The increase in albonoursin production paralleled the amount of CFL added. Furthermore, the resting cells of the strain catalyzed the bioconversion of CFL to albonoursin. The optimum pH and temperature for the conversion were found to be pH 10.0 and 50 degrees C. The feeding experiments and the resting-cell reactions revealed that albonoursin is biosynthesized by dehydrogenation of CFL in the actinomycete. This is the first report for a dehydrogenation of amino acid residues at the alpha,beta-positions in cyclic dipeptides.

Combretum leprosum Mart. (Combretaceae), a shrub popularly known as mofumbo, is used in folk medicine for treatment of uterine bleeding, pertussis, gastric pain, and as a sedative. The aim of this study was to (1) determine the phytochemical profile,(2) identify chemical constituents and (3) examine antioxidant and cytogenotoxic activity of ethanolic extracts and fractions of stem bark and leaves. The plant material (leaf and stem bark) was submitted to extraction with ethanol, followed by partition using hexane, chloroform, and ethyl acetate. It was possible to identify and quantify the epicatechin in the ethanolic stem bark extract (0.065 mg/g extract) and rutin in the leaf extract (3.33 mg/g extract). Based upon in vitro tests a significant relationship was noted between findings from antioxidant tests and levels of total phenolic and flavonoid. Comparing all samples (extracts and fractions), the ethyl acetate fractions of stem bark (411.40 ± 15.38 GAE/g) and leaves (225.49 ± 9.47 GAE/g) exhibited higher phenolic content, whereas hexanic fraction of stem bark (124.28 ± 56 mg/g sample) and ethyl acetate fraction of leaves (238.91 ± 1.73 mg/g sample) demonstrated a higher content of flavonoids. Among the antioxidant tests, the intermediate fraction of stem bark (28.5 ± 0.60 μg/ml) and ethyl acetate fraction of leaves (40 ± 0.56 μg/ml) displayed a higher % inhibition of free radical DPPH activity, whereas intermediate fraction of stem bark (27.5 ± 0.9 μg/ml) and hydromethanol fraction of leaves (81 ± 1.4 μg/ml) demonstrated inhibition of the free radical ABTS. In biological tests (Allium cepa and micronucleus in peripheral blood), data showed that none of the tested concentrations of ethanolic extracts of leaves and stem bark produced significant cytotoxicity, genotoxicity, and mutagenic activity.Abbreviations AA%: percentage of antioxidant activity; ABTS: 2,2'-azinobis-(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid); CEUA: Ethics Committee in the Use of Animals; TLC: Thin Layer Chromatography; DNA: deoxyribonucleic acid; DPPH: 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl; ROS: Reactive oxygen species; EEB: ethanol extract of the stem bark; HFB: Hexanic fraction of stem bark; IFB: Intermediate fraction of stem bark; CFB: Chloroform fraction of stem bark; EAFB: Ethyl acetate fraction of stem bark; HMFB: Hydromethanol fraction of the stem bark; EEL: Ethanol extract from leaves; HFL: Hexane fraction of leaves; CFL: Chloroform fraction of leaves; EAFL: Ethyl acetate fraction of leaves; HMFL: Hydromethanol fraction of leaves; GAE: Gallic Acid Equivalent; IC₅₀: 50% inhibition concentration; HCOOH: Formic acid; HCl: hydrochloric acid; HPLC: High-performance liquid chromatography; MN: micronucleus; WHO: World Health Organization; UFLC: Ultra-Fast Liquid Chromatography; UESPI: State University of Piauí.

Keywords: combretum leprosum; Chemical constituents; antioxidant; cytogenotoxic.

Introduction: Anatomic reduction of talar body fractures is critical in restoring congruency to the talocrural joint. Previous studies have indicated 43% talar body access with a single incision and without malleolar osteotomy. The aim of this study was to investigate the percentage talar body exposure when using the lateral transligamentous approach.

Methods: The lateral transligamentous approach to the talus was undertaken in 10 fresh frozen cadaveric specimens by surgeons inexperienced in the approach following demonstration of the technique. An incision was made on the anterolateral aspect of the ankle augmented by the removal of the anterior talofibular ligament (ATFL) and the calcaneofibular ligament (CFL) from their fibular insertions. A bone lever was then placed behind the lateral aspect of the talus and levered forward with the foot in equinus and inversion. A mark was made on the talar dome where an instrument could be placed 90 degrees to the talar surface. The talus was subsequently disarticulated and high-resolution images were taken of the talar dome surface. The images were overlain with a reproducible nine-grid division. Accessibility to each zone within the grid was documented using the mark made on the talar surface. ImageJ software was used to calculate the surface area exposed with each approach.

Results: The mean percentage area of talar dome available through the transligamentous approach was 77.3% (95% confidence interval 73.3, 81.3). In all specimens the complete lateral talar process was accessible, along with the lateral and dorsomedial aspect of the talar neck. This approach gives complete access to Zones 1, 2, 3, 5 & 6 with partial access to Zones 4, 8 & 9.

Conclusion: The lateral transligamentous approach to the talus provides significantly greater access to the talar dome as compared to standard approaches. The residual surface area that is inaccessible with this approach is predominantly within Zones 4,7 and 8, the posteromedial corner.

Level of clinical evidence: V.

Keywords: Blood supply; Osteochondral lesion; Surgical approach; Talar body fracture; Talus.

We present a class of efficient parametric closure models for 1D stochastic Burgers equations. Casting it as statistical learning of the flow map, we derive the parametric form by representing the unresolved high wavenumber Fourier modes as functionals of the resolved variable's trajectory. The reduced models are nonlinear autoregression (NAR) time series models, with coefficients estimated from data by least squares. The NAR models can accurately reproduce the energy spectrum, the invariant densities, and the autocorrelations. Taking advantage of the simplicity of the NAR models, we investigate maximal space-time reduction. Reduction in space dimension is unlimited, and NAR models with two Fourier modes can perform well. The NAR model's stability limits time reduction, with a maximal time step smaller than that of the K-mode Galerkin system. We report a potential criterion for optimal space-time reduction: the NAR models achieve minimal relative error in the energy spectrum at the time step, where the K-mode Galerkin system's mean Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy (CFL) number agrees with that of the full model.

Keywords: CFL number; closure model; data-driven modeling; stochastic Burgers equation.

A total of 240 Holstein bulls (121 ± 2.0 kg initial BW; 99 ± 1.0 d of age), from 2 consecutive fattening cycles, were randomly allocated in 1 of 6 pens and assigned to 1 of the 3 treatments consisting of different concentrate feeder designs: a control feeder with 4 feeding spaces (CF), a feeder with less concentrate capacity (CFL), and a single-space feeder with lateral protections (SF). Each pen had a straw feeder and a drinker. All animals were fed a high-concentrate diet for ad libitum intake. Concentrate consumption was recorded daily using a computerized feeder, straw consumption was recorded weekly, and BW was recorded every 14 d. Animal behavior was registered on d 1, 3, 5, 8, and 14 and every 28 d by scan sampling. Eating behavior at concentrate feeders was filmed on d 12, 125, and 206. On d 7, 120, and 204, samples of rumen contents were collected for measurement of pH and VFA and blood samples were obtained to analyze NEFA, haptoglobin, glucose, and insulin. Animals were slaughtered after 223 d, and HCW and lesions of the rumen wall and liver were recorded. The accumulative concentrate consumption per animal tended (P = 0.09) to be greater with CF than with CFL and SF. Also, CV of concentrate consumption was greater (P < 0.01) for SF than for CF or CFL. However, feeder design did not influence the other performance and carcass data. Also, no differences among treatments in rumen wall evaluation and liver abscesses were observed. At 7 and 204 d of study, SF bulls had greater (P < 0.05) rumen pH compared with CF and CFL bulls. On d 7, the acetate to propionate ratio from SF was greater (P < 0.05) than for CFL or CF. At d 7, NEFA of SF were greater (P < 0.05) compared with CF and CFL. Bulls fed with CF have the greatest (P < 0.01) concentrate disappearance velocity followed by bulls fed with CFL and finally by bulls fed with SF, and this was associated with different feeding behaviors. Bulls on SF spent more time (P < 0.05) eating straw and exhibited fewer (P < 0.05) displacements at concentrate feeder than CF and CFL bulls. The CFL bulls exhibited (P < 0.01) more attempted mounts and tended (P = 0.10) to exhibit more completed mounts than CF bulls. In conclusion, both alternative feeder designs (CFL and SF) are good strategies to reduce total concentrate consumption without impairing performance, rumen health, or animal welfare in Holstein bulls fed high-concentrate diets. However, at the beginning, there was evidence that animals fed using SF had problems with adaptation.

Yellow bud, caused by Pseudomonas sp., is an emerging bacterial disease of onion. A polymerase chain reaction assay based on the coronafacate ligase (cfl) and HrpZ genes was used to detect initial suspected bacteria on weeds. Growth on an agar medium, ability to cause a hypersensitive response in tobacco, pathogenicity on onion, and sequence analysis of 16S ribosomal RNA and cfl genes were used to confirm the identity of Pseudomonas sp. recovered from 10 asymptomatic weed species in the Vidalia onion-growing zone (VOZ) of Georgia. Among the weeds identified as epiphytic hosts for Pseudomonas sp., Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum) and curly dock (Rumex crispus) were prominent because ≥73% of the samples from five sample sites were positive for the bacterium. These weeds are commonly found throughout Georgia and, thus, were selected to assess their role in yellow bud epidemiology. Samples of the two weed species were collected from sites along the perimeter of and within the VOZ (n = 5 sites) during late June, August, and September 2012 and 2013, which represented the time interval between onion growing seasons. Samples (n = 10/weed species/site) were collected and processed for bacterial detection as described above. In June (2012 and 2013), Pseudomonas sp. was detected from Italian ryegrass and curly dock in 100 and 40% of the sample sites, respectively. During the months of August and September (2012), the bacterium was recovered from Italian ryegrass in 60 and 10% of the sample sites, respectively; whereas, in August (2013), Pseudomonas sp. was recovered from 40% of the sample sites. However, the bacterium was not recovered from any of the sites in September (2013). In contrast, during August and September (2012), Pseudomonas sp. was recovered from curly dock in 20 and 80% of the sample sites, respectively. Similarly, in August and September (2013), the bacterium was detected from 40 and 100% of the sample sites, respectively. These data demonstrated that the Pseudomonas sp. responsible for yellow bud can survive as an epiphyte on Italian ryegrass and curly dock between onion crops. Furthermore, using artificially infested onion seed, we demonstrated that Pseudomonas sp. can be transmitted through contaminated seed.

Adenylate cyclase from a spruce budworm cell line, IBRI-Cfl, is activated by octopamine (Ka = 50 microM), guanine nucleotides and sodium fluoride but not by forskolin. In addition, forskolin does not potentiate the octopamine-sensitive response. To our knowledge, this is the first published report of a hormone-sensitive adenylate cyclase, with a functional guanine nucleotide regulatory protein, that is insensitive to forskolin both in intact cells and washed membrane preparations.

Microfluidics has proven to be an extraordinary working platform to mimic and study blood flow phenomena and the dynamics of components of the human microcirculatory system. However, the use of real blood increases the complexity to perform these kinds of in vitro blood experiments due to diverse problems such as coagulation, sample storage, and handling problems. For this reason, interest in the development of fluids with rheological properties similar to those of real blood has grown over the last years. The inclusion of microparticles in blood analogue fluids is essential to reproduce multiphase effects taking place in a microcirculatory system, such as the cell-free layer (CFL) and Fähraeus-Lindqvist effect. In this review, we summarize the progress made in the last twenty years. Size, shape, mechanical properties, and even biological functionalities of microparticles produced/used to mimic red blood cells (RBCs) are critically exposed and analyzed. The methods developed to fabricate these RBC templates are also shown. The dynamic flow/rheology of blood particulate analogue fluids proposed in the literature (with different particle concentrations, in most of the cases, relatively low) is shown and discussed in-depth. Although there have been many advances, the development of a reliable blood particulate analogue fluid, with around 45% by volume of microparticles, continues to be a big challenge.

Keywords: RBC templates; biomicrofluidics; blood analogue; microparticle.

Intravenous drug incompatibilities are a common cause of medical errors, contributing to ineffective therapy and even life-threatening events. The co-administration of drugs must always be supported by studies confirming compatibility and thus guarantee the therapy's safety. Particular attention should be paid to the possible incompatibilities or degradation of intravenous cephalosporins in different infusion regimens since the administration of drugs with inadequate quality may cause treatment failure. Therefore, an appropriate stability test should be performed. The study aimed to present various aspects of the stability and compatibility of five cephalosporins: cefepime (CFE), cefuroxime (CFU), ceftriaxone (CFX), ceftazidime (CFZ), and cefazoline (CFL). The degradation studies in parenteral infusion fluids and PN admixtures were conducted for CFE and CFU. The interactions between CFX or CFZ and PN admixtures, as well as the compatibility of CFL with five commercial parenteral nutrition (PN) admixtures, were investigated. The content of CFX and CFZ in PN admixture after 24 h was >90%. CFL administered simultaneously with PN admixture by the same infusion set using Y-site was compatible only with Nutriflex Lipid Special. CFE and CFU were stable in all tested infusion fluids for a minimum of 48 h and decomposed in PN admixtures during storage.

Keywords: cephalosporins; compatibility; parenteral nutrition; stability.

We further develop a new framework, called PDE acceleration, by applying it to calculus of variation problems defined for general functions on ${ℝ}^n$ , obtaining efficient numerical algorithms to solve the resulting class of optimization problems based on simple discretizations of their corresponding accelerated PDEs. While the resulting family of PDEs and numerical schemes are quite general, we give special attention to their application for regularized inversion problems, with particular illustrative examples on some popular image processing applications. The method is a generalization of momentum, or accelerated, gradient descent to the PDE setting. For elliptic problems, the descent equations are a nonlinear damped wave equation, instead of a diffusion equation, and the acceleration is realized as an improvement in the CFL condition from Δt ~ Δx ² (for diffusion) to Δt ~ Δx (for wave equations). We work out several explicit as well as a semi-implicit numerical scheme, together with their necessary stability constraints, and include recursive update formulations which allow minimal-effort adaptation of existing gradient descent PDE codes into the accelerated PDE framework. We explore these schemes more carefully for a broad class of regularized inversion applications, with special attention to quadratic, Beltrami, and total variation regularization, where the accelerated PDE takes the form of a nonlinear wave equation. Experimental examples demonstrate the application of these schemes for image denoising, deblurring, and inpainting, including comparisons against primal-dual, split Bregman, and ADMM algorithms.

Keywords: 35Q93; 65K10; 65M06; 97N40; Accelerated gradient descent; Beltrami regularization; Image deblurring; Image denoising; Image restoration; Nesterov acceleration; Nonlinear wave equations; PDE acceleration; Total variation.

It is often observed that polymer patterns fabricated by capillary force lithography (CFL) are not identical, position-dependent even in one sample. The drawback has not been successfully explained so far. This paper reveals that the position-dependent pattern is mainly caused by the volume expansion and contraction of the elastomer stamp during heating and cooling in the CFL process. The stamp expands on a polymer liquid on heating, accumulating the polymer at one side-wall of each pattern of the stamp. And the stamp shrinks back to the initial position, accumulating the polymer at the opposite wall of the stamp pattern. For crystalline polymers, the morphology was mainly determined by the annealing temperature, that is, the degree of expansion. The position-dependence of the morphology was enhanced as the annealing temperature was increased. For amorphous polymers, the morphology was sensitive to cooling rate. Fast cooling led to a frozen morphology generated at the hot annealing temperature, while slow cooling produced an opposite morphology from the one at the annealing. The experimental results were theoretically explained by analyzing thermal expansion of the stamp and the shear stress exerted in the polymer layer. In the conclusion, we added our suggestions to avoid the nonuniformity in the polymer pattern by CFL process.

Industrialization plays a vital role in building up of a nation, but in this process, neglecting environmental issues has become a common and major issue almost for every country. Groundwater contamination is a major problem prevailed in most of the industrialized countries. Visakhapatnam city in India has been developing with rapid industrialization. Amongst the existing 14 major industries, a major industrial belt, abutting an industrial trio, namely Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL), Coromandal Fertilizers Limited (CFL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) had started production since 1970s in the heart of the city. The heavy dumps of these industrial wastes mixed with groundwaters doubled the TDS levels of the localities of the industrial belt for each decadal increase. In 1980s the TDS levels measured were in the range of 2000 to 4000 mg/L for the three industries. Presently, the TDS levels are varying from 3000 to 7500 mg/L. Therefore, appropriate measures should be taken prior to the breaking of situation into worst levels.

CONCLUSIONS

In the field of visual rehabilitation of patients with central visual field loss (CFL), knowledge on how peripheral visual function can be improved is essential. This study presents measurements of peripheral dynamic contrast sensitivity (with optical correction) for off-axis viewing angles in subjects with CFL.

OBJECTIVE

Subjects with CFL rely on a peripheral preferred retinal locus (PRL) for many visual tasks. It is therefore important to ascertain that contrast sensitivity (CS) is maximized in the PRL. This study evaluates the effect of stimulus motion, in combination with optical correction, on CS in subjects with CFL.

METHODS

The off-axis refractive errors in the PRL of five young CFL subjects were measured with a COAS open-view Hartmann-Shack aberrometer. Low-contrast (25% and 10%) and high-contrast resolution acuity for stationary gratings was assessed with and without optical correction. High-contrast resolution was also measured for gratings drifting at 7.5 Hz (within a fixed Gaussian window). Furthermore, resolution CS was evaluated for both stationary and moving gratings with optical correction for a total of two to three spatial frequencies per subject.

RESULTS

High-contrast resolution acuity was relatively insensitive to stimulus drift motion of 7.5 Hz, whereas CS for gratings of 0.5 cycles per degree improved with drift for all subjects. Furthermore, both high- and low-contrast static resolution improved with optical correction.

CONCLUSIONS

Just as for healthy eyes, stimulus motion of 7.5 Hz enhances CS for gratings of low spatial frequency also in the PRL of eyes with CFL. Concurrently, high-contrast resolution is unaffected by the 7.5-Hz drift but improves with off-axis optical correction. This highlights the importance of providing optimal refractive correction for subjects with CFL and that stimulus motion can be used to further enhance CS at low spatial frequencies.

The effect of H(2)O(2) on the induction of ciprofloxacin (CFL) resistant mutants of Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium was evaluated and determinants of CFL resistance in the mutants were analyzed. Factors associated with CFL resistance in H(2)O(2)-induced mutants included (i) mutations in gyrA gene, predominantly (63 %) Asp(87)->>Asn and less (37 %) Ser(83)->>Phe substitutions, (ii) mutations in the regulatory genes of MarRAB or SoxRS or in the individual structural genes of these operons. Such mutations are induced by H(2)O(2) in a much lower extent. Reduced OmpF expression simultaneously with enhanced efflux was detected only in one mutant strain and 20 % of mutant strains had increased CFL efflux from the cells.

This study investigated that the spinal MFs can create compressive follower loads (CFLs) in the lumbar spine in a dynamic state. Three-dimensional optimization and finite element (FE) models of the spinal system were developed and validated using reported experimental data. An optimization analysis was performed to determine the MFs that create CFLs in the lumbar spine in various sagittal postures from 10° extension to 40° flexion. Optimization solutions for the MFs, CFLs, and follower load path (FLP) location were feasible for all studied postures. The FE predictions demonstrated that MFs which created CFLs along the base spinal curve connecting the geometrical centers or along a curve in its vicinity (within anterior or posterior shift by 2 mm) produced stable deformation of the lumbar spine in the neutral standing and flexed postures, whereas the MFs which created the smallest CFLs resulted in unstable deformation. For extended postures, however, finding CFLs creating MFs that produce stable deformation of the extended spine was not possible. The results of this study support the hypothesis that the spinal muscles may stabilize the spine via the CFL mechanism.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to investigate the potential confounding effects of four different types of ambient lighting on the results of Laser Doppler Imaging (LDI) of a standardized cutaneous injury model.

METHODS

After applying a mechanical stimulus to the anterior forearm of a healthy volunteer and inducing a wheal and arteriolar flare (the Triple response), we used a Laser Doppler Line Scanner (LDLS) to image the forearm under four different types of ambient lighting: light-emitting-diode (LED), compact fluorescent lighting (CFL), halogen, daylight, and darkness as a control. A spectrometer was used to measure the intensity of light energy at 785 nm, the wavelength used by the scanner for measurement under each type of ambient lighting.

RESULTS

Neither the LED nor CFL bulbs emitted detectable light energy at a wavelength of 785 nm. The color-based representation of arbitrary perfusion unit (APU) values of the Triple response measured by the scanner was similar between darkness, LED, and CFL light. Daylight emitted 2 mW at 785 nm, with a slight variation tending more towards lower APU values compared to darkness. Halogen lighting emitted 6 mW of light energy at 785 nm rendering the color-based representation impossible to interpret.

CONCLUSIONS

Halogen lighting and daylight have the potential to confound results of LDI of cutaneous injuries whereas LED and CFL lighting did not. Any potential sources of daylight should be reduced and halogen lighting completely covered or turned off prior to wound imaging.

Currently, the generated brake lining waste dust, which contains asbestos as its major component, is disposed of into a secure landfill without any additional treatment. As an alternative to this, solidification/stabilization (S/S) disposal of the dust was investigated using Portland cement alone and Portland cement mixed with activated carbon (AC), as the binders. Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedure (TCLP) results on the solidified matrix showed that cement was able to immobilize the heavy metals, Ba, Zn, Cr, Pb, Cu and Fe, to within the limits set by the US EPA for TCLP. Addition of AC to the cement reduced the leaching of heavy metals by an additional 4-24% compared to cement alone. The pH of the TCLP leachate extracted from virgin cement, and from dust treated with cement with or without AC was found to increase to 10.9-12.5 as opposed to an initial value of 4.93 for the TCLP extract for the untreated dust. Results of ANS 16.1 (modified) leach protocol revealed that Ba in cement-treated samples showed the highest leach rate, followed by Zn, Pb, Cr, Cu and Fe. The leach rate of heavy metals decreased with progress in time. Cement mixed with AC exhibited similar leach characteristics, however, the leach rate was lower. The linear relationship between the cumulative fraction leached (CFL) and the square root of leaching time in all cement-based samples indicate that a diffusional process is the controlling transport mechanism for the leaching of the heavy metals. The obtained Leachability Indices (L(i)) of 7.6-9.1 and 8.3-9.5 for cement and cement with AC, respectively, were low but exceeded the guidance value of 6, which clearly indicates that all the heavy metals studied are retained well within solid matrices. Cement-based S/S hardening times increased from 30 to 96 h as the dust content increased from 40 to 70 wt.%. The resulting solid matrices exhibited a compressive strength ranging from 1 to 12 MPa, which was well above the specified limit of 414 kPa for such matrices. An economic analysis indicates that the disposal costs for the dust in the only available secure landfill would increase by 40.3% if one were to go for the cement S/S option. Addition of AC to the cement would escalate this by an additional 43.8%. Although the S/S of brake lining dust using cement effectively immobilized the heavy metals of concern, cost considerations may hinder the commercial adaptation of this technique for waste disposal unless new regulatory demands are implemented.