Objective: To evaluate the accuracy of a 12-hour urine collection to diagnose preeclampsia and to determine whether time of collection influences the performance of this test.Methods: A prospective observational study was conducted in a tertiary obstetric center in Portugal between November 1, 2015, and November 30, 2016. Pregnant women (≥20 weeks) admitted for observation with suspected pre-eclampsia were eligible for inclusion. Two consecutive 12-hour urine samples were collected (07:00-19:00 hours vs 19:00-07:00 hours). Protein levels were measured in each 12-hour sample, as well as in a pooled sample (07:00-07:00 hours). The diagnostic cut-off values for pre-eclampsia were 150 mg (12-hour samples) and 300 mg (24-hour sample). Results:The study included 99 patients and diagnoses of pre-eclampsia were confirmed among 42 (42%) patients. In all, 456 12-hour urine samples were analyzed (equivalent to 228 24-hour samples). Qualitative analysis (pre-eclampsia vs no preeclampsia) indicated substantial agreement between the 12-and 24-hour samples (Cohen κ 0.779). The sensitivity was 85.9% (95% confidence interval [CI] 81%-90%) and the specificity was 91.7% (95% CI 88%-95%). No statistically significant difference was found between the two 12-hour collections. Conclusion:The 12-hour test showed acceptable accuracy for detecting pre-eclampsia, regardless of the time of collection. K E Y W O R D S24-hour urine collection; Hypertensive disorders of pregnancy; Non-inferiority; Pre-eclampsia; Proteinuria | INTRODUCTIONPre-eclampsia and other hypertensive disorders of pregnancy account for 10.3%-22.1% of all maternal deaths worldwide.1 The current diagnostic criteria indicate that proteinuria should no longer be considered an obligatory component of pre-eclampsia 2,3 ; however, quantification of urinary protein levels is still routine practice.A 24-hour urine collection, with a 300 mg cut-off level for proteinuria, remains the gold standard to diagnose the presence of substantial proteinuria. Nonetheless, alternative methods-including the urine spot protein-to-creatinine ratio with a cut-off of 0.3-are considered equivalent by many obstetric societies. 2,3 The protein-to-creatinine ratio test is undoubtedly more practical and convenient to perform than the 24-hour urine collection test but some controversy remains given the wide range of sensitivity (65%-96%), specificity (49%-100%), and clinical heterogeneity reported. 4-6A systematic review and meta-analysis by Stout et al. 7 found that 12-hour urine collection, with a 150 mg cut-off level for proteinuria, performed well among women with hypertension during pregnancy.However, the main limitations were the small sample sizes of the studies included in the analysis, the heterogeneous methods used for urine collection, and the lack of information on time of collection.

Produced water (PW) and spent oil-based wastewaters are some of the largest mineral oil wastewaters produced. Due to the high toxicity of hydrocarbons, several countries set stringent discharge limits and its treatment is compulsory before discharge. In this work, biological treatment of mineral oil wastewaters coupled with the production of bacterial lipids is demonstrated in sequential batch airlift reactors (SBAR). Two SBAR (2 L working volume) were used for treatment of PW and lubricant-based wastewater (LW), inoculated with Alcanivorax borkumensis SK2 (SBAR Ab+PW ) and Rhodococcus opacus B4 (SBAR R.o+LW ), respectively. A total petroleum hydrocarbon removal (TPH) efficiency up to 96% and 80% were achieved for SBAR Ab+PW and SBAR R.o+LW , respectively. Intracellular lipids production in SBAR Ab+PW increased when lower TPH/N ratios and higher feast stage duration were applied (up to 0.74 g g -1 cell dry weight (CDW)), whereas in SBAR R.o+LW higher lipids production was observed for higher TPH/N ratios (0.94 g g -1 in CDW). Triacylglycerols (TAG) were the main intracellular lipid accumulated in both SBAR Ab+PW and SBAR R.o+LW operations, while wax ester (WE) production was only observed extracellularly in the SBAR Ab+PW .

No abstract

Biosorbent materials are effective in the removal of spilled oil from water, but their effect on hydrocarbonoclastic bacteria is not known. Here, we show that corksorb, a cork-based biosorbent, enhances growth and alkane degradation by Rhodococcus opacus B4 (Ro) and Alcanivorax borkumensis SK2 (Ab). Ro and Ab degraded 96 ± 1% and 72 ± 2%, respectively, of a mixture of n-alkanes (2 g L–1) in the presence of corksorb. These values represent an increase of 6 and 24%, respectively, relative to the assays without corksorb. The biosorbent also increased the growth of Ab by 51%. However, no significant changes were detected in the expression of genes involved in alkane uptake and degradation in the presence of corksorb relative to the control without the biosorbent. Nevertheless, transcriptomics analysis revealed an increased expression of rRNA and tRNA coding genes, which confirms the higher metabolic activity of Ab in the presence of corksorb. The effect of corksorb is not related to the release of soluble stimulating compounds, but rather to the presence of the biosorbent, which was shown to be essential. Indeed, scanning electron microscopy images and downregulation of pili formation coding genes, which are involved in cell mobility, suggest that cell attachment on corksorb is a determinant for the improved activity. Furthermore, the existence of native alkane-degrading bacteria in corksorb was revealed, which may assist in situ bioremediation. Hence, the use of corksorb in marine oil spills may induce a combined effect of sorption and stimulated biodegradation, with high potential for enhancing in situ bioremediation processes.