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Background: phenotypic approach in the treatment of COPD is lacking in general medical facilities, despite the importance of this data. Objectives: The study aimed to identify divergences in features, pharmacologic regimens of COPD by clinical phenotypes in the real-life context of care units in Can Tho City that manage outpatients with chronic respiratory diseases. Materials and methods: a prospective cohort study was carried out. We enrolled 158 patients who met the sampling criteria for this study. Data collected include (1) biometric characteristics, (2) medical history, (3) characteristics of COPD (including: symptoms, chest radiograph, peripheral blood eosinophil count, pulmonary ventilation parameters, bronchodilator test, and pharmacological regimen). COPD were classified into three phenotypic groups according to the criteria of the 2017 Spanish guideline (GesEPOC) and were also categorized into four groups (ABCD) according to the 2019 GOLD guideline. Results: the clinical AE phenotype was predominant at 41.8%, whereas the NON-AE and ACO was 38.6% and 19.6%. According to the GOLD, classifying as group A, B, C, D is 19%, 34.8%, 10.1%, and 36.1%, respectively. Between the different phenotypic groups, there were a variety of variances in the eosinophil count of the peripheral blood, but there were no changes in some kinds of chest radiograph images. Response-to-bronchodilator-test rate was higher in the ACO phenotype than in the NON-AE and the AE phenotypes. All ACO patients who received LABA/ICS. The proportion of using LABA/ICS accounted for most NON-AE and AE patients. Conclusions: among clinical phenotypes, the AE phenotype accounted for the highest percentage. There were differences in the clinical characteristics among phenotypes. ICS using is popular among COPD patients.

Metal-support interface influences the catalytic activity and physical properties of heterocatalysts dramatically. Herein, the effect of cerium on material properties and catalytic activity of cobalt over gamma-alumina applied in dry reforming of methane (DRM) was investigated. The dispersion of cobalt over gamma-alumina was noticeably improved with low cerium dosages ranging from 0.1 to 0.5 wt%. In addition, the presence of Ce promoter on catalyst surface led to an enhancement in reducibility of cobalt oxide to cobalt metal in the catalyst activation. Using CO2-temperature programmed desorption technique, the catalyst basicity was found to increase proportionally with cerium loading. At an optimal dosage of 0.3–0.5 wt%, the cerium promoted cobalt supported on gamma catalyst displayed outstanding performance in DRM with noticeable conversion improvements up to 11% in both methane and carbon dioxide.

Background: The substantial female hormone fluctuations associated with pregnancy and postpartum have been linked to a greater risk of developing depressive symptoms, particularly in high-risk women (HRW), i.e. those with histories of mood sensitivity to female hormone fluctuations. We have shown that glutamate (Glu) levels in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) decrease during perimenopause, a period of increased risk of developing a major depressive episode. Our team has also demonstrated that percentage gray matter (%GM), another neural correlate of maternal brain health, decreases in the MPFC during pregnancy. Objective: To investigate MPFC Glu levels and %GM from late pregnancy up to 7 weeks postpartum in HRW and healthy pregnant women (HPW). Methods: Single-voxel spectra were acquired from the MPFC of 41 HPW and 22 HRW using 3- Tesla in vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy at five different time points. Results: We observed a statistically significant interaction between time and group for the metabolite Glu, with Glu levels being lower for HRW during pregnancy and early postpartum (p Conclusion: This investigation suggests that the vulnerability towards PPD is associated with unique fluctuations of MPFC Glu levels during pregnancy and early postpartum period. Our results also suggest that the decline in MPFC %GM associated with pregnancy seems to progressively recover over time. Further investigations are needed to determine the specific role that female hormones play on the physiological changes in %GM during pregnancy and postpartum.

Virtually all organisms are colonized by microbes. Average temperatures are rising because of global climate change - accompanied by increases in extreme climatic events and heat shock - and symbioses with microbes may determine species persistence in the 21st century. Although parasite infection typically reduces host upper thermal limits, interactions with beneficial microbes can facilitate host adaptation to warming. The effects of warming on the ecology and evolution of the microbial symbionts remain understudied but are important for understanding how climate change might affect host health and disease. We present a framework for untangling the contributions of symbiosis to predictions of host persistence in the face of global change.

Left atrial appendage closure is an alternative to chronic oral anticoagulation to prevent embolic events related to nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. After device implantation, antithrombotic treatment is prescribed to prevent device-related thrombosis, a dreadful complication associated with an increased risk of ischemic events. However, the optimal antithrombotic treatment after left atrial appendage closure, effective on both device-related thrombus prevention and bleeding risk mitigation, remains to be determined. In more than 10 years experience with left atrial appendage closure, a wide range of antithrombotic treatments have been used, mostly in observational studies. In this review, we analyzed the body of evidence for each antithrombotic regimen after left atrial appendage closure to provide tools to guide the physician choice and describe future perspectives in the field.

Despite the significant progress made in recent years, Multi-Object Tracking (MOT) approaches still suffer from several limitations, including their reliance on prior knowledge of tracking targets, which necessitates the costly annotation of large labeled datasets. As a result, existing MOT methods are limited to a small set of predefined categories, and they struggle with unseen objects in the real world. To address these issues, Generic Multiple Object Tracking (GMOT) has been proposed, which requires less prior information about the targets. However, all existing GMOT approaches follow a one-shot paradigm, relying mainly on the initial bounding box and thus struggling to handle variants e.g., viewpoint, lighting, occlusion, scale, and etc. In this paper, we introduce a novel approach to address the limitations of existing MOT and GMOT methods. Specifically, we propose a zero-shot GMOT (Z-GMOT) algorithm that can track never-seen object categories with zero training examples, without the need for predefined categories or an initial bounding box. To achieve this, we propose iGLIP, an improved version of Grounded language-image pretraining (GLIP), which can detect unseen objects while minimizing false positives. We evaluate our Z-GMOT thoroughly on the GMOT-40 dataset, AnimalTrack testset, DanceTrack testset. The results of these evaluations demonstrate a significant improvement over existing methods. For instance, on the GMOT-40 dataset, the Z-GMOT outperforms one-shot GMOT with OC-SORT by 27.79 points HOTA and 44.37 points MOTA. On the AnimalTrack dataset, it surpasses fully-supervised methods with DeepSORT by 12.55 points HOTA and 8.97 points MOTA. To facilitate further research, we will make our code and models publicly available upon acceptance of this paper.

The studies on coral bleaching were conducted at 21 sites of 4 reef areas in Southern Vietnam, using point transect technique in June–July 2019. Cover of hard corals in the selected sites was quite high with the average values of 65.6 ± 18% % in Con Dao islands, 58.7 ± 26.2% in Ninh Thuan coastal waters, 55.9 ± 17.8% in Phu Quoc island but lower in Nha Trang bay (22.8 ± 15.9%). Soft corals were not abundant with the highest cover in Nha Trang bay (4.73 ± 5.5%) and the lowest in Ninh Thuan (0.16 ± 0.3%). Hard corals were most impacted in Nha Trang bay with 39.5 ± 8.1% bleached, followed by Ninh Thuan reefs (32.9 ± 13.3%), Con Dao Islands (25.0 ± 11.1%) and least affected in Phu Quoc island (7.3 ± 9.05%). For soft corals, ratios of bleached corals were 79.4%, 65.8% and 23.8% in Con Dao islands, Nha Trang bay and Ninh Thuan reefs respectively. No bleached soft coral was recorded in Phu Quoc. At the genus level, Acropora corals were severely affected in Nha Trang bay, Ninh Thuan reefs and Phu Quoc island but not impacted in Con Dao islands. The Porites, Montipora, Millepora genera were quite vulnerable in all sites but no bleaching was observed for Galaxea and Diploastrea genera.

More than 20,300 fragment corals belonging to 24 species, eight genera and six families were rehabilitated in marine protected areas of south Vietnam. Mean survival rates of coral fragments ranged from 60–97.7%, the average growth rate of the branched corals was 4.8 mm/month meanwhile the foliose coral was 1.9 mm/month. The survival and growth rate of corals are different among areas because each coral species has different biological characteristics, structure colonies and due to differences in natural conditions each area. The results showed that the growth rate of corals will return to normal after 4 months rehabilitation. The factors affected the effective coral rehabilitation including: Coral reef predators, spatial competition among species, environmental conditions change due to human’s activities; and other factors such as hydrodynamic regimes, cutting fragment corals cause its injury damage. The rehabilitation and protection activities of coral reefs in marine protected areas should be continued and expanded, contributing to the protection of biodivesity, marine resource and sustainable coral reefs ecosystem development.

Vietnam is a country that experiences extreme climate conditions and annual accumulated damage due to typhoons and floods, which seriously destroy houses and cause many deaths. Approximately half a million people currently living within 200 m from the coastline live in unsafe houses. Therefore, the Coastal Resilience Project (the project) was implemented to build 4000 storm- and flood-resistant houses for five coastal provinces in Central Vietnam. The paper is carried out to review existing policies and practices related to the maintenance of resilient houses, as well as to propose feasible maintenance solutions for houses to ensure the sustainability of the project. The result shows that currently, there are no technical instructions or manuals on the maintenance and repair of individual houses in general, or the project houses in particular. Most of the households in the project also have very low and unstable incomes. In addition, as they lack knowledge of how construction works, they know little to nothing about the maintenance of a house. From these findings, the authors recommend several solutions for better maintenance policies and practices on the resilient houses of the project in Vietnam. The project provides several lessons in terms of the maintenance of the resilient houses of future projects in Vietnam and elsewhere, by reviewing existing policies and current practices, as well as proposing feasible measures to ensure the sustainability of the project. The findings in this paper provide valuable information for better maintenance policies and practices of resilient houses for other vulnerable coastal provinces in Vietnam and similar contexts elsewhere.

At the end of the year 2021, all 4000 resilient houses that are under the project “Improving the resilience of vulnerable coastal communities to climate change-related impacts in Vietnam” were completed. However, the project sponsor and implementor need to be aware of the level of satisfaction of the stakeholders of these resilient houses, especially for local beneficiaries. This study is carried out to answer several practical questions such as what are the strengths and weaknesses of the project house designs, focusing on the basic needs of beneficiaries. Or, are the beneficiaries satisfied with the house constructed with support from the project, and what are their suggestions to improve either the relevant procedures and processes or future houses to be built by the project or other stakeholders. The findings show several aspects of design and construction of resilient houses such as utilization effectiveness, satisfaction of beneficiaries, and participation of local communities. However, several practical limitations of this phase have been identified, namely, the approved designs do not fully reflect the needs of beneficiaries, the designs lack some essential and basic functionalities, some technical shortcomings exist in design drawings, and support funding is limited. On the basis of that, the authors recommended several valuable measures for effective and sustainable designing and constructing resilient houses.

Hydrophobic porous polymeric materials have attracted great interests recently as potential candicate for oil-water separation due to their high selectivity and sorption capacity. Herein, we present a green, simple and cost-effective method to change hydrophilic melamine formaldehyde (MF) foam to hydrophobic carbon nanotubes (CNTs) coated MF foam through an immersion process. The MF foam was produced from the MF resin which was synthesized in a laboratory by a condensation reaction between melamine and formaldehyde under alkaline condition with a molar ratio of melamine to formaldehyde of 1:3. The MF foam has an open-cell structure with the average pore diameter of 350 m, density of 25 kg •m-3 and porosity of 98 %. The as-prepared CNTs-coated MF foam exhibits high sorption capacity (23–-66 g/g) for oils and organic solvents, good recyclability and high selectivity.

Platinum(IV) was extracted from chloride solution using kerosene solution of trioctyl ammonium chloride, methyltrioctylammonium chloride, and tetraoctyl ammonium chloride ionic liquids as solvents in high yields. To increase the Pt(IV) recovery and heterogenize the process for easy handling at industrial scale, these three ionic liquids were directly impregnated on some solid carriers, such as silica gel-60, silica gel-100, Amberlite XAD-7 ion-exchange resin, and Amberlite XAD-7 ion-exchange resin to form sorbents in nature of supported ionic liquid phase. The influence of some factors, such as ionic liquid and solid carrier structure, IL/Pt molar ratio, and ionic liquid loading as well as sorption isotherms, was investigated. The stripping and desorption of Pt(IV) using different eluents and reusability of ionic liquids and supported ionic liquid phases were also evaluated.

The aim of this study was to investigate survival differences between equivalent residual disease [complete gross resection (CGR), minimal residual disease (MRD), suboptimal] at the time of primary debulking surgery (PDS) and interval debulking surgery (IDS). The National Cancer Database was used to identify patients from 2010 to 2015 with stage IIIC/IV primary peritoneal or ovarian cancer who had residual disease recorded. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used to correct for differences in characteristics between the PDS and IDS groups. Of 8683 patients with advanced ovarian cancer, 4493 (52%), 2546 (29%), and 1644 (19%) had CGR, MRD, or suboptimal resection, respectively. From 2010 to 2015, the number of patients undergoing IDS increased 27% (ptrend

OBJECTIVES:Shared decision-making (SDM) is the pinnacle of patient-centered care and has been shown to improve health outcomes, especially for children with chronic medical conditions. However, parents perceive suboptimal involvement during hospitalization. The objective was to explore the perspectives of parents of hospitalized children and their hospital providers on facilitators and barriers to SDM in the hospital and identify strategies to increase SDM.METHODS:A qualitative study was conducted by using semistructured interviews with parents of hospitalized children with and without complex chronic conditions and their pediatric hospital medicine faculty. Parents and faculty were matched and individually interviewed on the same day. Two investigators iteratively coded transcripts and identified themes using modified grounded theory, with an additional author reviewing themes.RESULTS:Twenty-seven parents and 16 faculty participated in the interviews. Four themes emerged: (1) parents and providers value different components of SDM; (2) providers assume SDM is easier with parents of children with medical complexity; (3) factors related to providers, parents, patients, and family-centered rounds were identified as barriers to SDM; and (4) parents and providers identified strategies to facilitate SDM in the hospital.CONCLUSIONS:There is a discrepancy between parents’ and providers’ understanding of SDM, with parents most valuing their providers’ ability to actively listen and explain the medical issue and options with them. There are many barriers that exist that make it difficult for both parties to participate. Several strategies related to family-centered rounds have been identified that can be implemented into clinical practice to mitigate these barriers.

In the consolidated financial statements, the non-controlling interest is an important indicator, a part of equity. The recognition of this criteria will help the consolidated financial statements become more public, transparent and accurate, and help shareholders to understand their interests in the investment process and in the capital contribution process. However, at present, the regulations on recognition of non-controlling interest are still controversial when corporations, parent companies, and groups are implemented in practice, including Dong Bac Corporation. By analyzing, synthesizing and evaluating methods, the author focuses on researching the theoretical basis of non-controlling interest, clarifying how to recognize and present non-controlling interests at the Dong Bac Corporation.

Sharing economy models are expanding and making substantial contributions to economic transitions and quality of life globally. This has been made possible mainly because of the development of information and communication technologies. Vietnam – an emerging economy with high technology adaptability – cannot escape the inevitable global trend by which sharing economy models – mainly Uber, Grab and Airbnb – have recently made a significant appearance throughout the country to meet the high demand for transportation or to enhance individuals’ quality of life. We employ a rich set of quantitative techniques, such as logit and probit estimations and propose that eight antecedents of customer intention to use Uber/Grab services exist, including gender, age, living costs, distance, utility of Uber/Grab, dissemination of Uber/Grab, tendency to use Uber/Grab from relatives and the community and attractiveness of public and private transport. This study provides new empirical evidence on customer behaviour within the context of new technological infrastructure. Hence, based on the findings of the paper, we propose recommendations for stimulating and enhancing the development of Uber/Grab services in Vietnam.

OBJECTIVE: To measure anti-glycan antibodies (AGA) in cervical cancer (CC) patient sera and assess their effect on therapeutic outcome. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Serum AGA was measured in 276 stage II and 292 stage III Peruvian CC patients using a high content and throughput Luminex multiplex glycan array (LMGA) containing 177 glycans. Association with disease-specific survival (DSS) and progression free survival (PFS) were analyzed using Cox regression. RESULTS: AGAs were detected against 50 (28.3%) of the 177 glycans assayed. Of the 568 patients, 84.5% received external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) plus brachytherapy (BT), while 15.5% only received EBRT. For stage-matched patients (Stage III), receiving EBRT alone was significantly associated with worse survival (HR 6.4, p < 0.001). Stage III patients have significantly worse survival than Stage II patients after matching for treatment (HR = 2.8 in EBRT+BT treatment group). Furthermore, better PFS and DSS were observed in patients positive for AGA against multiple glycans belonging to the blood group H, Lewis, Ganglio, Isoglobo, lacto and sialylated tetrarose antigens (best HR = 0.49, best p = 0.0008). CONCLUSIONS: Better PFS and DSS are observed in cervical cancer patients that are positive for specific antiglycan antibodies and received brachytherapy.

Korea is considered one of the original centers of Chrysanthemum species, which are important flower crops due to their ornamental and economic values. At present, the genetic resources in wild Chrysanthemum have not been fully exploited. In this study, we evaluated the morphological characteristics and chromosome analysis using forescence in situ hybridization (FISH) technique in four wild Chrysanthemum species to better understand the relationships among species and their evolutionary adaptations to environmental conditions. Although there were some similarities in leaf and flower characteristics, there was high overall variation among the investigated species based on our analysis. Flower diameters ranged from 1.57 ± 0.07 cm (A102) to 3.10 ± 0.10 cm (A7). Also, the RGB values of the white flowers of species A7 were higher than those of the yellow flowers of species A5, A102, and B6. The longest leaf length was observed in species A5 (8.14 ± 0.10 cm), which was dark in color on the upper leaf side, whereas A102 exhibited the shortest leaf length (5.67 ± 0.28 cm) and width (3.20 ± 0.20 cm). FISH karyotype analysis showed that one pair of 5S and three pair of 18S rDNA were observed in all investigated species. The number and distribution pattern of rDNA showed similar arrangement in A5, A102, and B6. One pair of 18S rDNA signals were detected on the terminal region of the short arm chromosomes 3, 7, and 8, respectively. One pair of 5S rDNA signal was located in the interstitial region of chromosome 4. For the A7 species, 5S rDNA were detected in the long arm of chromosome 7 and one pair of 18S rDNA were found in the short arm of chromosomes 2, 5, and 6. According to the results, this study provides basic knowledge on the relationships between the evolution and genomics of Chrysanthemum traits, which are especially important for selecting donor and recipient plants in modern Chrysanthemum breeding programs.

Hòn Rồng massif granitoid has a high mountainous terrain, with an absolute height of 728 m, relatively equal, slightly extended in the Northwest-Southeast direction, occupying an area of ​​about 29 km2. Petrographical composition is mainly medium - grained biotite granite (phase 2), minor is fine- grained biotite granite (phase 3), vein rocks are aplite granite and pegmatite and a little of xenolith of granodiorite in medium - grained biotite granite. Medium-grained biotite granite: major mineral composition (%): plagioclase (oligoclase) 25–35, quartz 30, orthoclas 25, biotite 5 - 8 and few hornblend; fine-grained granite (%): plagioclase (oligoclase) 30 - 35; quartz 30 - 35; feldspar kali (orthoclase, and microclin) 30, biotite 3 - 5; accessory mineral is zircon, orthite, apatite, sphen, and very little ore minerals (about ​​2%); epimagmatic minerals including: chlorite, epidot, kaolinite, sericite, carbonate, sausorite-replaced association. Rocks are altered alkalization strongly (albitization and microlinization), and minor are chloritization, epidotization and sericitization. Averaged chemical compositions (%)SiO2: 69.07–72.07; total alkali(K2O+Na2O) 7.35–7.96. Ratio of K2O/Na2O 1.04, low TiO2 (0.24–0.37). Ratios of A/CNK 1.02–1.09, Rb/Sr: 0.27–1.62; Ba/Sr: 1.82–2.56, Ba/Rb: 1.58–7.13; K/Rb: 0.42–0.62; Ca/Sr: 0.21–0.47; the value of Eu anomalies is low. Granite belongs to calc-alkaline, aluminum content is from medium to high; K-Na alkaline series, I-granite type. Granitoid had been formed in plutonic - volcanic arc of subduction-zone. Compared with the granitoid formations in South Vietnam territory, Hòn Rồng massif granitoid belongs to phase 2 (main) and phase 3 (minor) of Đèo Cả complex with late Kreta age.

Chrysanthemum boreale (Asteraceae) is a wild flowering plant that has both ornamental and herbal uses. In the present study, colchicine was used as a chemical mutagen to induce polyploidy using in vitro shoots, which were cultured from C. boreale (2n = 2x = 18) nodal segments, and the efficacy of various colchicine concentrations and treatment durations were investigated. The results demonstrated that the induction of tetraploid plants by colchicine treatment were clearly successful. A total of 21 tetraploid and 110 chimera plants were identified using the chromosome counting method, and the colchicine concentrations of 200 ppm (48 h) and 300 ppm (12 and 24 h) were the most effective for inducing tetraploidy. Details about the successful induction, morphological characteristics, and cytology of the polyploids are described and compared with those of control plants. The tetraploid plants exhibited thicker and larger leaves, as well as larger and fewer stomata than the diploid plants. In this study, the polyploid plants of Chrysanthemum were induced successfully using colchicine treatment. This procedure contributed to the improvement of high-value species in the Chrysanthemum breeding program.

Determine the utility of a clinical calculator to predict the benefit of chemotherapy in stage IA uterine papillary serous cancer (UPSC).Data were collected from NCDB from years 2010-2014. Based on demographic and surgical characteristics, a clinical score was developed using the random survival forest machine learning algorithm.Of 1,751 patients with stage IA UPSC, 1,012 (58%) received chemotherapy and 739 (42%) did not. Older age (HR 1.06), comorbidities (HR 1.31), larger tumor size (HR 1.27), lymphovascular invasion (HR 1.86), positive peritoneal cytology (HR 2.62), no pelvic lymph node dissection (HR 1.51), and no chemotherapy (HR 2.16) were associated with poorer prognosis. Compared to no chemotherapy, patients who underwent chemotherapy had a 5-year overall survival of 80% vs. 67%. To better delineate those who may derive more benefit from chemotherapy, we designed a clinical calculator capable of dividing patients into low, moderate, and high-risk groups with associated 5-year OS of 86%, 73%, and 53%, respectively. Using the calculator to assess the relative benefit of chemotherapy in each risk group, chemotherapy improved the 5-year OS in the high (42% to 64%; p 0.001) and moderate risk group (66% to 79%; p 0.001) but did not benefit the low risk group (84% to 87%; p = 0.29).Our results suggest a clinical calculator is useful for counseling and personalizing chemotherapy for stage IA UPSC.

Membrane proteins are a ubiquitous group of bio-macromolecules responsible for many crucial biological processes and serve as drug targets for a wide range of modern drugs. Detergent-free technologies such as styrene-maleic acid lipid particles (SMALP), diisobutylene-maleic acid lipid particles (DIBMALP), and native cell membrane nanoparticles (NCMN) systems have recently emerged as revolutionary alternatives to the traditional detergent-based approaches for membrane protein research. NCMN systems aim to create a membrane-active polymer library suitable for high-resolution structure determination. Herein, we report our design, synthesis, characterization and comparative application analyses of three novel classes of NCMN polymers, NCMNP13-x, NCMNP21-x and NCMNP21b-x. Although each NCMN polymer can solubilize various model membrane proteins and conserve native lipids into NCMN particles, only the NCMNP21b-x series reveals lipid-protein particles with good buffer compatibility and high homogeneity suitable for single-particle cryo-EM analysis. Consequently, the NCMNP21b-x polymers that bring out high-quality NCMN particles are particularly attractive for membrane protein structural biology.Graphical abstractHighlightsDemonstrate straightforward strategies for tailoring styrene-maleic co-polymer (SMA) that revealed novel buffer compatible polymers, NCMNP13-50, NCMNP21-20 and NCMNP21b-x.Elucidate how modification factors alter the membrane-active properties of these polymers, i.e., membrane protein extraction efficiency, morphology, etc.Provide valuable insights into the rational design of membrane-active polymers for membrane protein structural biology.NCMNP21b-x polymers are highly compatible with high-resolution structure determination using an emerging technique, cryo-EM.

The article examines the legal nature of corporations, their definition and main features. In this material, a comparative analysis of the system of non-subject partnerships in the UK and Germany is carried out. The article focuses on the evolution of UK partnerships and types of corporations. The paper indicates that there are no minimum requirements for authorized capital in the UK. The author points out that in the continental system, a slightly different approach to defining the types of corporations and indicates that the system allows corporations to be created in two main directions: non-subject associations of persons (simple, general and limited partnerships) and legal entities associations of persons (joint-stock company, joint-stock limited partnership, limited liability company, cooperative and non-profit association). The materials indicate the main conditions for the emergence of a limited liability company as a separate institution. The article indicates that in Germany, stricter requirements for the minimum size of the statutory fund, but under the influence of uniform directives, in Germany allowed the creation of limited liability companies with one euro. Keywords: corporation, partnerships, company, charter capital, limited liability, blending of capital.

The dry reforming of methane is a potential solution to mitigate the global warming effect. In this study, the effects of various preparation methods including the impregnation, coprecipitation, and combined coprecipitation-impregnation on physical characteristics and DRM catalytic performance of Ni-CeO2-Al2O3 were investigated. The synthetic procedure was discovered to have a crucial role in the basicity and reducibility, as well as nickel dispersion of catalyst. With affordable basicity and high reducibility, the combination of coprecipitation-impregnation exhibited the best performance with CH4 and CO2 steady-state conversions of 72% and 82%, respectively. Moreover, the deactivation of catalysts was also studied. The formation of low graphitic type showed less harmful to catalyst.

In the search of smarter routes to control the conditions of N-heterocyclic carbene (NHCs) formation, a two-component air-stable NHC photogenerating system is reported. It relies on the irradiation at 365 nm of a mixture of 2-isopropylthioxanthone (ITX) with 1,3-bis(mesityl)imidazoli(ni)um tetraphenylborate. The photoinduced liberation of NHC is evidenced by reaction with a mesitoyl radical to form an NHC-radical adduct detectable by electron spin resonance spectroscopy. The NHC yield can be determined by 1 H NMR spectroscopy through the formation of a soluble and stable NHC-carbodiimide adduct. To deprotonate the azolium salt and liberate the NHC, a mechanism is proposed in which the role of base is played by ITX radical anion formed in situ by a primary photoinduced electron-transfer reaction between electronically excited ITX (oxidant) and BPh4 - (reductant). An NHC yield as high as 70 % is achieved upon starting with a stoichiometric ratio of ITX and azolium salt. Three different photoNHC-mediated polymerizations are described: synthesis of polyurethane and polyester by organocatalyzed step-growth polymerization and ring-opening copolymerization, respectively, and generation of polynorbornene by ring-opening metathesis polymerization using an NHC-coordinated Ru catalyst formed in situ.

Ionic liquids (ILs) may have various applications as less hazardous solvents because of their thermal stabilities and low vapor pressures. However, it is challenging to remove heat from large amount because of IL’s high viscosity and low vapor pressure when cooling failure or abnormal reaction occurs. Because chemical processes using ILs on an industrial scale are still in the early phase of development, it is important to assess the associated thermal hazards of chemical process using ILs. This work proposes a systematic approach of analyzing thermal hazards of chemical process using ILs, based on the approach proposed by Stoessel and analyze the cellulose dissolution process using ILs containing impurities as a test case. Copper oxide, which might be contaminated from wood chips, was chosen as a model impurity. To analyze the thermal hazards of cellulose dissolution process using ILs, thermal analysis using small-scale reaction calorimeter, differential scanning calorimeter and thermogravimetry–differential thermal analysis–mass spectrometry were performed. From these results, reaction heat and heat value of ILs and its mixture were low, while CuO lowers the decomposition temperature of ILs and produces flammable gases. From these trials, exothermal reaction was not observed, while flammable gaseous products might be produced in vapor phase in the reactor.

A series of nickel phosphide/activated carbon (Ni2P/C) catalysts with varying nickel loading levels and nickel-to-phosphorous molar ratios (Ni:P) were synthesized by wet co-impregnation and treated by temperature programed reduction. The Ni2P phase was clearly present in the Ni2P/C catalyst with a Ni:P ratio of 1.5 and a 5.37 mmol Ni loading level. The catalysts were then evaluated for the hydrodeoxygenation of the pyrolysis vapor derived from the integrated pyrolysis and upgrading of Napier grass, with two fixed bed reactors in series, at different upgrading temperatures and space velocities. The reaction could be carried out at atmospheric pressure. The maximum bio-oil yield was obtained at an upgrading temperature of 340 °C, while the major components of the bio-oil were phenolic compounds (>50%). An upgrading temperature of 360 °C did not only present dehydration but aromatization was also predominant. Moreover, the phenolic compounds decreased with increasing space velocity. The oxygen content in the pyrolysis vapor was catalytically removed via the dehydration pathway, which significantly decreased the oxygen/carbon ratio from 0.24 to 0.17. Due to advantages spanning from highly efficient deoxygenation activity to the requirement of mild conditions, the Ni2P/C catalyst shows great potential as a catalyst for bio-oil upgrading.

Little is known about the effect of long-term P fertilisation on soil P pools and how they are influenced by straw addition and plant growth. Two experiments were carried out with soil which had been amended with 0, 10 and 20 kg P ha−1 for 7 years (referred to 0P, 10P, 20P). In experiment 1, soil was incubated moist for 4 months without or with 5 g kg−1 barley straw (C/P 255). Then wheat was grown for 4 weeks. In experiment 2, wheat was grown for 5, 10 and 15 weeks. HCl P, citrate P, resin P and microbial biomass P (MBP) were two-fold higher with 20P and 10P than 0P. After 4 months compared to 10 days, HCl P and citrate P were 25% lower with straw, but unchanged without straw. Resin P and MBP were two-fold higher. With 10P and 20P after 4-week wheat growth, citrate P was 25% higher and HCl P 25% lower. Plant P uptake was higher with straw, In experiment 2 after 10 and 15 weeks compared to the start at 10P and 20P, HCl P and citrate P were reduced by 20%. Plant P uptake was smaller than the decrease in HCl and citrate P. The greater P uptake by wheat in soil with straw indicates that microbial biomass P is an important P source for plants. In P amended soil, wheat mobilised HCl and citrate P, but only took up a fraction of the mobilised P.

Cryptorchidism or undescended testis is one of the most common pediatric disorders of the male endocrine glands and the most typical congenital abnormality identified at birth. Bilateral cryptorchidism is frequently associated with azoospermia and male infertility. The standard therapy is the surgical repositioning of the testes (orchidopexy) within the scrotal sac after the age of six months to eighteen months. Current findings suggest that no sperm is recovered in the ejaculate, for patients with bilateral cryptorchidism, when the mean age at the time of orchidopexy is around 16 years and above. Here we report an unusual case of an adult patient with bilateral cryptorchidism and non-obstructive azoospermia for which orchidopexy resulted in the recovery of sperm in the ejaculate, improving his options for future fertility treatment.

The atmospheric-pressure hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) of waste cooking oil (WCO) was investigated in a continuous fixed-bed reactor over a series of activated carbon (AC)-supported nickel phosphide catalysts with different initial Ni/P molar ratios (0.5–2.0) and nickel loading levels (1.16–38.90 mmol/g AC). The formation of the Ni2P phase on the AC, which was produced from commercial charcoal, as well as its structural and acidic properties was characterized by hydrogen-temperature programmed reduction (TPR), X-ray diffraction analysis, N2 adsorption–desorption measurements performed at −196 °C, and ammonia-temperature programmed desorption. The effects of the Ni/P molar ratio, nickel loading level, reaction temperature, and gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) on the catalytic activity were elucidated. The complete formation of the Ni2P phase on the AC was observed at a Ni/P ratio of 1.5, while smaller Ni2P crystallite sizes were observed at lower Ni/P ratios. In addition, it was observed that the acidity increased and the specific surface area decreased with an increase in the nickel loading level, presumably because nickel phosphate is not readily reduced to Ni2P. The 5.37-Ni2P/1.5-TPR catalyst (Ni loading level of 5.37 mmol/g AC and Ni/P molar ratio of 1.5) exhibited good activity and stability during the HDO of WCO. The high-quality deoxygenated product primarily consisted of n-alkanes at the moderately high temperature of 300 °C and GHSV of 2.33 min−1. Based on the results, we propose that the mechanism underlying the hydrotreatment of WCO involves hydrogenolysis, hydrodeoxygenation, dehydration-decarbonylation, and hydrogenation. To conclude, the synthesized Ni2P/AC catalyst could readily deoxygenate WCO at atmospheric pressure, producing n-paraffins as the primary component.

International audience; Although N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs) have brought profound changes in catalytic organic synthesis, their generation generally requires an inert atmosphere and harsh conditions. To overcome these limitations, an air-stable NHC photogenerator has been developed involving two mild components: 1,3-bis(mesityl)imidazolium tetraphenylborate (IMesH+BPh4−) and electronically excited isopropylthioxanthone (ITX). In this study, the photochemical mechanism is investigated via the accurate identification of the transient species and photoproducts. Electron transfer reaction between the excited triplet state of ITX and BPh4− is demonstrated as being the primary photochemical step. Nanosecond laser spectroscopy shows an efficient quenching and the formation of the expected ITX radical anion. The oxidized borane species is not observed, suggesting that this short-lived species could dissociate very rapidly to give the phenyl radical – successfully identified using electron paramagnetic resonance – and triphenylborane. As regards the final photoproducts, 1H and 13C NMR spectroscopies support the formation of the targeted NHC, 1,3-bis(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene (IMes), suggesting the occurrence of a subsequent proton transfer reaction between ITX radical anion and imidazolium cation (IMesH+). Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry reveals three other products: biphenyl, isopropylthioxanthene and ITX. Their formation can be reconciled with a 2-step mechanism of photoinduced electron/proton transfer reactions. 11B NMR spectroscopy demonstrates that the main organoboron photoproduct is diphenylborinic acid formed by oxidation of BPh3. Due to its Lewis acidity, Ph2BOH can react with IMes to yield an NHC–boron adduct.

• Membrane proteins (MPs) play essential roles in biological and pharmacological processes. Many of them require cholesterol (CHOL) as their structure supportive lipid component and modulator for functionality. Unfortunately, commercially available CHOL and its derivatives have limitations on solubility or bio-activity. • We report 4-((cholesteryloxy)-4-oxobut-2-enamido)ethyl) dimethylam-monio) propane-1-sulfonate (CHEAPS), a novel CHOL alternative for MP study. CHEAPS can be readily solubilized in both detergents and membrane-active polymers. Interestingly, it could stabilize and support a new discovered enzyme function of human mitochondrial TSPO. As such CHEAPS may have a broad application for MP structural biology.

Relatively little is known about the seroprevalence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) IgG antibodies and COVID-19-related behaviors in the general population in Vietnam, where the first case of COVID-19 was detected on January 22, 2020. We surveyed a group of 885 blood donors at community blood donation sessions in Ho Chi Minh City from August 27 to November 7, 2020. Blood was collected to test for SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies using the plaque reduction neutralization test. We adjusted the seroprevalence by weight for ages 18 to 59 years old obtained from the 2019 population census. The weighted seroprevalence estimate for SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing IgG antibodies was 0.20% (95% CI, 0.05–0.81). Reports of usually or always using a mask in public places were observed at high levels of 28.6% and 67.5%, respectively. The percentages of usually or always washing hands with soap or disinfecting with hand sanitizer after touching items in public places were 48.0% and 37.6%, respectively. Although our findings suggest undocumented exposure to the virus, the seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies among blood donors was low in this city.