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Purpose: Technology challenges have been recognized as one of the growth retarding factors of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), which further reduced their potential contribution to the national economy. Hence, this research aims to study the Sri Lankan agribusiness SMEs' overall perception of institutional support towards facing technology challenges. Research Method: A qualitative case study-based methodology was adopted, and a series of key informant interviews were held with 10 SME owners in the Agribusiness sector, using purposive sampling. An indepth thematic area analysis was used to analyze the data gathered from the interviews and identified five technology challenges faced by SMEs. Findings: SMEs repeatedly stated weak financial base, lack of technical know-how, lack of institutional support, and practical problems that arose when commercializing new products. Many respondents showed a low tendency towards adopting E-Commerce/M-Commerce/E-Marketing and database management systems. The study revealed that they had built network partnerships with other SMEs in the industry on their own. Most SMEs are currently facing difficulties in connecting with Multi-National Companies (MNCs)/Trans-National Companies (TNCs)/Large-scale companies. According to the SMEs' overall perception of institutional support, many had low satisfaction in most of the areas. Originality/value: This study is important for the government institutions and relevant policymakers to identify the requirements of SMEs, and thereby, organize customized supportive programs to overcome technology challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Osteoradionecrosis (ORN) is an uncommon and debilitating consequence of head and neck radiotherapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has been advocated for prophylaxis prior to performing dentoalveolar procedures. The aim of this study was to evaluate a prophylactic HBOT protocol and describe the outcomes of susceptible individuals. Methods: A retrospective audit of adults who attended the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery department at the Royal Adelaide Hospital (South Australia) who received dental extractions with a history of radiotherapy to the jaws from 2008 to 2020. Data including demographic information and outcomes of osteoradionecrosis and delayed healing was recorded. Results: A total of 121 individuals were eligible for case note review; 68.6% of individuals were male and 55.4% were aged over 67 years. Osteoradionecrosis occurred in 9.1% of individuals and delayed healing for 3.3%; fifteen individuals (12.4%) were unable to complete the HBOT protocol. The individuals who were diagnosed with ORN had a significant association with age (P = 0.006) and binary analysis showed alcohol consumption to be a significant predictor. Conclusions: Prophylactic HBOT protocol had a lower proportion of individuals diagnosed with ORN and those who were diagnosed were more likely to be younger males and have current alcohol consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphine gold(I) thiolate complexes react with aromatic disulfides via two pathways: either thiolate–disulfide exchange or a pathway that leads to formation of phosphine oxide. We have been investigating the mechanism of gold(I) thiolate–disulfide exchange. Since the formation of phosphine oxide is a competing reaction, it is important for our kinetic analysis to understand the conditions under which phosphine oxide forms. 1H and 31P{1H} NMR, and GC-MS techniques were employed to study the mechanism of formation of phosphine oxide in reactions of R3PAu(SRʹ) (R = Ph, Et; SRʹ = SC6H4CH3, SC6H4Cl, SC6H4NO2, or tetraacetylthioglucose (TATG)) and R*SSR* (SR* = SC6H4CH3, SC6H4Cl, SC6H4NO2, or SC6H3(COOH)(NO2)). The phosphine oxide pathway is most significant for disulfides with strongly electron withdrawing groups and in high dielectric solvents, such as DMSO. Data suggest that phosphine does not dissociate from gold(I) prior to reaction with disulfide. 2D (1H-1H) NMR ROESY experiments are consistent with an intermediate in which the disulfide and phosphine gold(I) thiolate are in close proximity. Water is necessary but not sufficient for formation of phosphine oxide since no phosphine oxide forms in acetonitrile, a solvent, which frequently contains water.

Soil contamination with used lubricating oil (ULO) is an emerging environmental threat in many parts of the world. Bioremediation is a cost-effective and green, technological approach with the potential to remediate soil contaminated with ULO. Therefore, as an attempt to develop a bioremediation technique, the present study aimed to isolate and characterize microorganisms from soil contaminated with ULO. Bacteria and fungi were isolated from soil exposed to ULO for a long period, by enrichment culture in a mineral salt medium (MSM). Biodegradation assays and total microbial activity (TMA) studies were carried out for the microbial isolates in laboratory-scale microcosms with 1-4% w/w contamination levels of ULO. The initial screening experiment confirmed that two novel strains, RUH-K01 and RUH-F07 were efficient ULO degraders. They were identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa RUH-K01 and Aspergillus fumigatus RUH-F07 with respect to their morphological characteristics and 16S rRNA gene sequences. Microcosm experiments revealed the biodegradation percentage in soil with 1% w/w ULO was 82.27% and 70.09% for P. aeruginosa and A. fumigatus, respectively. A slight reduction in ULO degradation was observed by both strains when the ULO contamination level increased. At 4% w/w ULO contamination level, the degradation was 56.91% for RUH-K01 and 50.25% for RUH-F07. The potential to produce bio-surfactants and other species-specific metabolic activities may be reasons for the efficient biodegradation of ULO by P. aeruginosa. The resulting significant negative correlation (p < 0.05) between the residual total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) content and TMA of both strains confirmed the applicability of the FDA assay as an appropriate method to characterize the ULO degradation efficiency of microorganisms. In conclusion, the overall results indicate the potential of P. aeruginosa RUH-K01 and A. fumigatus RUH-F07 to be used in bioremediation of ULO contaminated soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Raman Lidar for Meteorological Observations (RALMO) is operated at the MeteoSwiss station of Payerne (Switzerland) and provides, amongst other products, continuous measurements of temperature since 2010. The temperature profiles are retrieved from the pure rotational Raman (PRR) signals detected around the 355 nm Cabannes line. The transmitter and receiver systems of RALMO are described in detail, and the reception and acquisition units of the PRR channels are thoroughly characterized. The FastCom P7888 card used to acquire the PRR signal, the calculation of the dead time and the desaturation procedure are also presented. The temperature profiles retrieved from RALMO PRR data during the period going from July 2017 to the end of December 2018 have been validated against two reference operational radiosounding systems (ORSs) co-located with RALMO, i.e. the Meteolabor SRS-C50 and the Vaisala RS41. The ORSs have also served to perform the calibration of the RALMO temperature during the validation period. The maximum bias (ΔTmax), mean bias (μ) and mean standard deviation (σ) of RALMO temperature Tral with respect to the reference ORS, Tors , are used to characterize the accuracy and precision of Tral along the troposphere. The daytime statistics provide information essentially about the lower troposphere due to lower signal-to-noise ratio. The ΔTmax , μ and σ of the differences ΔT=Tral-Tors are, respectively, 0.28, 0.02±0.1 and 0.62±0.03 K. The nighttime statistics provide information for the entire troposphere and yield ΔTmax=0.29 K, μ=0.05±0.34 K and σ=0.66±0.06 K. The small ΔTmax , μ and σ values obtained for both daytime and nighttime comparisons indicate the high stability of RALMO that has been calibrated only seven times over 18 months. The retrieval method can correct for the largest sources of correlated and uncorrelated errors, e.g. signal noise, dead time of the acquisition system and solar background. Especially the solar radiation (scattered into the field of view from the zenith angle Φ) affects the quality of PRR signals and represents a source of systematic error for the retrieved temperature. An imperfect subtraction of the background from the daytime PRR profiles induces a bias of up to 2 K at all heights. An empirical correction f(Φ) ranging from 0.99 to 1 has therefore been applied to the mean background of the PRR signals to remove the bias. The correction function f(Φ) has been validated against the numerical weather prediction model COSMO (Consortium for Small-scale Modelling), suggesting that f(Φ) does not introduce any additional source of systematic or random error to Tral. A seasonality study has been performed to help with understanding if the overall daytime and nighttime zero bias hides seasonal non-zero biases that cancel out when combined in the full dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a one-dimensional variational (1D Var) retrieval of fifth-generation European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecast reanalysis (ERA5) temperature and relative humidity profiles above Payerne, Switzerland, assimilating raw backscatter measurements from the MeteoSwiss Raman Lidar for Meteorological Observations (RALMO). Our reanalysis is called ERA5-reRH. We use an optimal estimation method to perform the 1D Var data retrieval. The forward model combines the Raman lidar equation with the Hyland and Wexler expression for water vapor saturation pressure. The error covariance matrix of ERA5 was derived from the differences between ERA5 and a set of 50 special radiosoundings that have not been assimilated into ERA5. We validate ERA5-reRH, ERA5, and RALMO temperature and relative humidity profiles against the same set of special radiosoundings and found the best agreement was with our reanalysis, with a bias of less than 2% relative humidity with respect to water (%RHw) and a spread of less than 8%RHw below 8 km in terms of relative humidity. Improvements for temperature in our reanalysis are only found in the boundary layer, as ERA5 assimilates a large number of upper-air temperature observations. Our retrieval also provides a full uncertainty budget of the reanalyzed temperature and relative humidity including both random and systematic uncertainties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The RAman Lidar for Meteorological Observations (RALMO) is operated at the MeteoSwiss station of Payerne (Switzerland) and provides, amongst other products, continuous measurements of temperature since 2010. The temperature profiles are retrieved from the pure rotational Raman (PRR) signals detected around the 355-nm Cabannes line. The transmitter-receiver system of RALMO is described in detail and the reception and acquisition units of the PRR channels are thoroughly characterized. The FastCom P7888 card used to acquire the PRR signal, the calculation of the dead-time and the desaturation procedure are also presented. The temperature profiles retrieved from RALMO data during the period going from July 2017 to the end of December 2018 have been validated against two reference operational radiosounding systems (ORS) co-located with RALMO, i.e. the Meteolabor SRS-C50 and the Vaisala RS41. These radiosondes have also been used to perform seven calibrations during the validation period. The maximum bias (ΔTmax), mean bias (μ) and mean standard deviation (σ) of RALMO temperature Tral with respect to the reference ORS Tors are used to characterize the accuracy and precision of Tral in the troposphere. The ΔTmax, μ and σ of the daytime differences ΔT=Tral−Tors in the lower troposphere are 0.28 K, 0.02±0.1 K and 0.62±0.03 K, respectively. The nighttime differences suffer a mean bias of μ = 0.05±0.34 K, a mean standard deviation σ=0.66±0.06 , and a maximum bias ΔTmax=0.29 K over the whole troposphere. The small ΔTmax, μ and σ values obtained for both daytime and nighttime comparisons indicate the high stability of RALMO that has been calibrated only seven times over 18 months. The retrieval method can correct for the largest sources of correlated and uncorrelated errors, e.g. signal noise, dead-time of the acquisition system and solar background. Especially the solar radiation (scattered into the field of view from the Zenith angle Phi affects the quality of PRR signals and represents a source of systematic error for the retrieved temperature. An imperfect subtraction of the background from the daytime PRR profiles induces a bias of up to 2 K at all heights. An empirical correction f(Φ) ranging from 0.99 to 1, has therefore been applied to the mean background of the PRR signals to remove the bias. The correction function f(Φ) has been validated against the numerical weather prediction model COSMO suggesting that f(Φ) does not introduce any additional source of systematic or random error to Tral. A seasonality study has been performed to help understanding if the overall daytime and nighttime zero-bias hides seasonal non-zero biases that cancel out when combined in the full dataset. Finally, the validated RALMO temperature has been used in combination with the humidity profiles retrieved from RALMO to calculate the relative humidity and to perform a qualitative study of supersaturation occurring in liquid stratus clouds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates a GaAs multilayer homojunction far-infrared detector. Homojunction interfacial work-function internal photoemission; Silicon quantum efficiency; Secondary-ion-mass spectroscopy; Spectral response results; Important parameters for detectors.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a heterogeneous disease which is poorly studied in Asia, where the disease is known to be rare with significant differences in clinical and radiological presentations and intrathecal antibody response. Therefore the objective of this study was to determine clinical presentation, radiological and neurophysiological characteristics, and oligoclonal band status in Sri Lankan MS patients, following careful exclusion of patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders and other conditions mimicking multiple sclerosis. Sixty-nine MS patients were recruited to the study adhering to McDonald 2010 criteria. Their clinical presentation, characteristics of central nervous system lesions in magnetic resonance imaging, visual evoked potential (VEP) results, oligoclonal bands (OCB), and AQP4 antibody status were studied. Of 69 MS patients, 54%, 6%, and 1% were relapsing remitting, secondary progressive, and primary progressive, respectively, and 39% were patients with clinically isolated syndrome. The commonest clinical presentations were cerebral motor followed by cerebral sensory and optic neuritis. Majority had typical periventricular and infratentorial lesions in MRI. Though not clinically apparent, bilateral delay of P100 wave latency was present in 52%. OCB positivity was 42% and AQP4 antibody was positive in only one patient. In conclusion, this group of Sri Lankan MS patients shares most of the clinical and radiological features of Caucasian MS patients. However, the OCB positivity is lower in this group, when compared to the Caucasian MS populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The mechanism of gold(i)-thiolate, disulfide exchange was investigated by using initial-rate kinetic studies, 2D (1H–1H) ROESY NMR spectroscopy, and electrochemical/chemical techniques. The rate law for exchange is overall second order, first order in gold(i)-thiolate and disulfide. 2D NMR experiments show evidence of association between gold(i)-thiolate and disulfide. Electrochemical/chemical investigations do not show evidence of free thiolate and are consistent with a mechanism involving formation of a [Au–S, S–S], four-centered metallacycle intermediate during gold(i)-thiolate, disulfide exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BackgroundPatient travel history can be crucial in evaluating evolving infectious disease events. Such information can be challenging to acquire in electronic health records, as it is often available only in unstructured text. ObjectiveThis study aims to assess the feasibility of annotating and automatically extracting travel history mentions from unstructured clinical documents in the Department of Veterans Affairs across disparate health care facilities and among millions of patients. Information about travel exposure augments existing surveillance applications for increased preparedness in responding quickly to public health threats. MethodsClinical documents related to arboviral disease were annotated following selection using a semiautomated bootstrapping process. Using annotated instances as training data, models were developed to extract from unstructured clinical text any mention of affirmed travel locations outside of the continental United States. Automated text processing models were evaluated, involving machine learning and neural language models for extraction accuracy. ResultsAmong 4584 annotated instances, 2659 (58%) contained an affirmed mention of travel history, while 347 (7.6%) were negated. Interannotator agreement resulted in a document-level Cohen kappa of 0.776. Automated text processing accuracy (F1 85.6, 95% CI 82.5-87.9) and computational burden were acceptable such that the system can provide a rapid screen for public health events. ConclusionsAutomated extraction of patient travel history from clinical documents is feasible for enhanced passive surveillance public health systems. Without such a system, it would usually be necessary to manually review charts to identify recent travel or lack of travel, use an electronic health record that enforces travel history documentation, or ignore this potential source of information altogether. The development of this tool was initially motivated by emergent arboviral diseases. More recently, this system was used in the early phases of response to COVID-19 in the United States, although its utility was limited to a relatively brief window due to the rapid domestic spread of the virus. Such systems may aid future efforts to prevent and contain the spread of infectious diseases.

Accurate estimation of hydrological losses is required for making vital decisions in design applications that are based on design rainfall models and rainfall-runoff models. The use of representative single values of hydrological losses, despite their wide variability, is common practice, especially in Australian studies. This practice leads to issues such as over or under estimation of design floods. The probability distribution method is potentially a better technique to describe losses. However, a lack of understanding of how losses are distributed can limit the use of this technique. This paper aims to identify a probability distribution function that can successfully describe hydrological losses of a catchment of interest. The paper explains the systematic process of identifying probability distribution functions, the problems faced during the distribution fitting process and a new generalised method to test the adequacy of fitted distributions. The goodness-of-fit of the fitted distributions are examined using the Anderson-Darling test and the Q-Q plot method and the errors associated with quantile estimation are quantified by estimating the bias and mean square error (MSE). A two-parameter gamma distribution was identified as one that successfully describes initial loss (IL) data for the selected catchments. Further, non-parametric standardised distributions that describe both IL and continuing loss data are also identified. This paper will provide a significant contribution to the Australian Rainfall and Runoff (ARR) guidelines that are currently being updated, by improving understanding of hydrological losses in South Australian catchments. More importantly, this study provides new knowledge on how IL in a catchment is characterised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Intussusception is invagination of a proximal segment of bowel into the distal segment in telescopic manner. Although intussusception is common among children, intussusception secondary to terminal ileal endometriosis in an adult is a very rare encounter. We present such a case of intussusception in a Sri Lankan female. Case presentation: A 43 year old Sri Lankan female presented to the surgical casualty unit with features of a subacute intestinal obstruction. Her past surgical and medical histories were unremarkable. On examination she was haemodynamically stable with distended abdomen and there was generalized tenderness. There was no guarding or rigidity. No masses were palpable. Bowel sounds were increased. Her urine was negative for Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin hormone. Full blood count revealed an increased white blood cell count with predominant number of neutrophils. Plain abdominal X-ray film showed dilated small bowel loops with empty rectum and distal colon. Patient underwent emergency exploratory laparotomy. An annular growth at terminal ileum was noted. Proximal bowel loops were distended. There was no free fluid in the abdomen. Ileo caecal tuberculosis was suspected and right hemicolectomy was performed. Uterus and bilateral ovaries appeared normal. Post surgical recovery was uneventful. The pathologist has noted endometriosis of terminal ileum contributing to the stricture formation and intussusception at the site. Following recovery patient was referred to a Gynaecologist for management of endometriosis. Conclusion: Though terminal ileal endometriosis is a very rare cause of intussusception it is important to consider the possibility of it, especially when a female patient of reproductive age presents with symptoms and signs of intestinal obstruction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tests the potential for establishing late- and mid-seral rain forest tree species within different canopy removal treatments of a Caribbean pine plantation. Root collar diameter; Seedling mortality; Dry mass ratios; Use of analysis of variance.

Purpose: The aim of this scoping review was to explore current program evaluation practices across various medical schools., Methods: We conducted searches in MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Elsevier) and ERIC (ed.gov) for original research and review articles related to medical education evaluation with key words evaluation, program, medical education, pre-registration, framework, curriculum, outcomes, evaluation, quality. We followed Arksey and O'Malley's (2005) process for scoping reviews., Results: Thirty-two articles were included. Studies were primarily concerned with either proving (n = 21) or improving efficacy of their programs (n = 11). No studies aimed at comparing programs. Nine were literature reviews. Others aimed to develop a new evaluation model (n = 7) or apply (n = 12) or validate (n = 4) an existing model (or part thereof). Twenty-two studies explicitly identified an evaluation model they had used or would recommend. Most frequently used models for evaluation were: Context-Input-Process-Product, Kirkpatrick, World Federation Medical Education, and the Standards by Joint Committee on Standards for Educational Evaluation. Overall, evaluations were learner-focused and accreditation driven with a minority considering the broader influences of program success., Conclusion: Program evaluation is fundamental to driving the quality of education delivered to produce workforce-ready healthcare professionals. The focus of current evaluations is on student experience and content delivery with a significant gap in the existing literature on evaluation related to staff, learner/staff well-being, equity, diversity, and meta evaluation., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Kodagoda Gamage et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Female genital tract tumors are an infrequent cause of secondary pulmonary metastases. Endometrial carcinoma (EC) has a propensity to cause metachronous lung metastasis with an average three-year interval of the radical treatment for EC. We present the case of a patient with hemoptysis who had an isolated right middle lobe lung metastatic adenocarcinoma of the endometrium 23 years following radical hysterectomy for International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage 1 EC., Competing Interests: Human subjects: Consent was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: All authors have declared that no financial support was received from any organization for the submitted work. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work., (Copyright © 2024, Gunathilaka et al.)

In the search for much-needed new antibacterial chemical matter, a myriad of compounds have been reported in academic and pharmaceutical screening endeavors. Only a small fraction of these, however, are characterized with respect to mechanism of action (MOA). Here, we describe a pipeline that categorizes transcriptional responses to antibiotics and provides hypotheses for MOA. 3D-printed imaging hardware PFIboxes) profiles responses of Escherichia coli promoter-GFP fusions to more than 100 antibiotics. Notably, metergoline, a semi-synthetic ergot alkaloid, mimics a DNA replication inhibitor. In vitro supercoiling assays confirm this prediction, and a potent analog thereof (MLEB-1934) inhibits growth at 0.25 μg/mL and is highly active against quinolone-resistant strains of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Spontaneous suppressor mutants map to a seldom explored allosteric binding pocket, suggesting a mechanism distinct from DNA gyrase inhibitors used in the clinic. In all, the work highlights the potential of this platform to rapidly assess MOA of new antibacterial compounds., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

In the Sri Lankan context, the lack of baseline studies to mitigate microplastic emissions through personal care and cosmetic products poses a huge problem. Hence this study serves as the first scientific investigation to analyze and characterize microplastics in selected personal care and cosmetic items available in the Sri Lankan markets. Fifteen brands representing five categories (face wash, facial scrubs, baby creams, shaving creams, and skin creams) of personal care and cosmetic items served as the basis for this investigation. Based on a questionnaire survey, from each category, three highly utilized brands were chosen and triplicates from each brand were used for the analysis. All samples were treated with the Fenton reagent to extract microplastics. Then through Nile red staining suspected microplastic were screened and characterized through FT-IR spectroscopy. The Nile Red analysis revealed seven brands of the fifteen to be stained with Nile Red and demonstrate luminance properties under UV light. However, FT-IR analysis proved only six brands contained actual microplastics. Low-density polyethylene and ethylene-propylene copolymer were the dominant types of microplastic. Most microplastics were irregularly shaped and white in color with sizes ranging from 238.55 ± 50.74 to 450.69 ± 174.9 μm. An emission estimation revealed that products FS-01 and FW-03 contain 3.36 ± 0.20 g and 0.2 ± 0.05 g of isolatable microplastics per product. While the present study provides scientific evidence for the availability of microplastics in products in Sri Lankan markets, it also provides a great opportunity to develop relevant policies and regulations to control them., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Author(s).)

Acetylation plays a critical role in regulating eukaryotic transcription via the modification of histones. Beyond this well-documented function, a less explored biological frontier is the potential for acetylation to modify and regulate the function of RNA molecules themselves. N 4 -Acetylcytdine (ac 4 C) is a minor RNA nucleobase conserved across all three domains of life (archaea, bacteria, and eukarya), a conservation that suggests a fundamental role in biological processes. Unlike many RNA modifications that are controlled by large enzyme families, almost all organisms catalyze ac 4 C using a homologue of human Nat10, an essential disease-associated acetyltransferase enzyme.A critical step in defining the fundamental functions of RNA modifications has been the development of methods for their sensitive and specific detection. This Account describes recent progress enabling the use of chemical sequencing reactions to map and quantify ac 4 C with single-nucleotide resolution in RNA. To orient readers, we first provide historical background of the discovery of ac 4 C's position in a polynucleotide by exploiting the nucleobase's selective susceptibility to reduction by hydride donors. A notable feature of this chemistry, which may serve as a prototype for nucleotide resolution RNA modification sequencing reactions more broadly, is its ability to drive a penetrant and detectable gain of signal specifically at ac 4 C's position in a polynucleotide by exploiting the nucleobase's selective susceptibility to reduction by hydride donors. A notable feature of this chemistry, which may serve as a prototype for nucleotide resolution RNA modification sequencing reactions more broadly, is its ability to drive a penetrant and detectable gain of signal specifically at ac 4 C sites. Emphasizing practical applications, we present how this optimized chemistry can be integrated into experimental workflows capable of sensitive, transcriptome-wide analysis. Such readouts can be applied to quantitatively define the ac 4 C landscape across the tree of life. For example, in human cell lines and yeast, this method has uncovered that ac 4 C is highly selective, predominantly occupying dominant sites within rRNA (rRNA) and tRNA (tRNA). By contrast, when we extend these analyses to thermophilic archaea they identify the potential for much more prevalent patterns of cytidine acetylation, leading to the discovery of a role for this modification in adaptation to environmental stress. Nucleotide resolution analyses of ac 4 C have also allowed for the determination of structure-activity relationships required for short nucleolar RNA (snoRNA)-catalyzed ac 4 C deposition and the discovery of organisms with unexpectedly divergent tRNA and rRNA acetylation signatures. Finally, we share how these studies have shaped our approach to evaluating novel ac 4 C sites reported in the literature and highlight unanswered questions and new directions that set the stage for future research in the field.

First aid intervention and pre-hospital (FAPH) practices are common in patients suffering from snakebite envenomation (SBE). In this study, we have reviewed the literature concerning the use of these practices in various regions of the world in the period 1947-2023 based on published prospective studies. A total of 71 publications fulfilled the inclusion criteria. In terms of the total number of patients in all studies that used each FAPH intervention, the most common practice was the application of tourniquets (45.8%). Other FAPH practices described include cuts/incisions (6.7%), the application of a variety of natural or synthetic substances at the bite site (5.6%), and ingestion of natural, usually herbal, remedies (2.9%). Washing the site of the bite was described in 9.1% of patients. There were other less frequent FAPH practices, including suction, splinting-immobilization, pressure-bandage, ice packs, application of a snake/black stone, and administration of alcoholic beverages. There were differences in the extent of application of FAPH interventions in different continents. Tourniquets were highest (55.7%) in Asia. Topical application of various products was common in South America, while pressure-bandage was only reported in Australia. We did not find any statistically significant variations in the frequency of the most frequent FAPH interventions at three-time intervals (before 2006, between 2006 and 2015, and after 2015). Our findings highlight the use of FAPH interventions in patients suffering SBE, some of which are known to be harmful. It is necessary to study these practices to a higher level of geographic granularity, using community-based surveys. Programs tailored to local contexts should be promoted, aimed at avoiding the use of harmful FAPH practices. It is also necessary to assess the efficacy and safety of some interventions through robust preclinical and clinical studies., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)