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Abstract In this brief report, we present laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) evidence of deuterium (D) production in a 3:1 urethane dimethacrylate (UDMA) and triethylene glycol dimethacrylate (TEGDMA) polymer doped with resonant gold nanorods, induced by intense, 40 fs laser pulses. The in situ recorded LIBS spectra revealed that the D/(2D + H) increased to 4–8% in the polymer samples in selected events. The extent of transmutation was found to linearly increase with the laser pulse energy (intensity) between 2 and 25 mJ (up to 3 × 1017W/cm2). The observed effect is attributed only to the field enhancing effects due to excited localized surface plasmons on the gold nanoparticles.

OBJECTIVE: Enteric fever remains a leading cause of febrile illness, especially in developing countries. Due to limited resources, all investigations are not available in every health facility, but simpler investigations and clinical examinations may help in the early diagnosis of the disease. In this study, we evaluated the usefulness of eosinopenia and clinical features in predicting enteric fever in children. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from March 2018 to March 2019. A total of 100 children with a fever of a minimum of 5 days duration and without any focus of infection were included in the study. Investigations such as hemogram with absolute eosinophil count, liver function test, Widal test, and blood culture were performed. Absolute eosinopenia was defined as the eosinophilic count of 0 μg/dl. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of absolute eosinopenia and other clinical indicators were calculated. RESULTS: We analyzed data from 100 children, including 75 cases in the enteric fever group (culture/Widal positive) and 25 cases in the suspected enteric fever group. The presence of eosinopenia was statistically significant in the enteric group (p-value = 0.02). Absolute eosinopenia was seen in 52% of confirmed enteric cases, compared to 4% of the suspected enteric group (p-value = 0.001). The positive predictive values for relative bradycardia and coated tongue were 84.3% and 91.4%, respectively. Absolute eosinopenia had a specificity of 96% and PPV of 97.5%. Relative bradycardia, eosinopenia, and absolute eosinopenia were significantly more present in the culture-positive group (p-value = 0.02, 0.04, 0.02, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Absolute eosinopenia can be used as a strong predictor of the disease and can help in the early institution of appropriate therapy, especially in a resource-limited setting. Relative bradycardia, coated tongue, along with low TLC, thrombocytopenia, and eosinopenia can be used as other predictors.

Emotional intelligence (EI) has a positive correlation with the academic performance of medical students. However, why there is a positive correlation needs further exploration. We hypothesized that the capability of answering higher-order knowledge questions (HOQs) is higher in students with higher EI. Hence, we assessed the correlation between EI and the capability of medical students to answer HOQs in physiology. First-year undergraduate medical students (n = 124) from an Indian medical college were recruited as a convenient sample. EI was assessed by the Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT), a 33-item self-administered validated questionnaire. A specially designed objective examination with 15 lower-order and 15 higher-order multiple-choice questions was conducted. The correlation between the examination score and the EI score was tested by Pearson's correlation coefficient. Data from 92 students (33 females and 59 males) with a mean age of 20.14±1.87 yr were analyzed. Overall, students got a percentage of 53.37±14.07 in the examination, with 24.46±9.1 in HOQs and 28.91±6.58 in lower-order knowledge questions (LOQs). They had a mean score of 109.58±46.2 in SSEIT. The correlation coefficient of SSEIT score with total marks was r ¼ 0.29 (P ¼ 0.0037), with HOQs was r ¼ 0.41 (P < 0.0001), and with LOQs was r = 0.14 (P = 0.19). Hence, there is a positive correlation between EI and the capability of medical students to answer HOQs in physiology. This study may be the foundation for further exploration of the capability of answering HOQs in other subjects.

Cu dissolution has been identified as the dominant process that causes cathode degradation and losses even under cathodic conditions involving methylamine. Despite extensive experimental research, our fundamental and theoretical understanding of the atomic-scale mechanism for Cu dissolution under electrochemical conditions, eventually coupled with surface restructuring processes, is limited. Here, driven by the observation that the working Cu electrode is corroded using mixtures of acetone and methylamine even under reductive potential conditions (-0.75 V vs. RHE), we employed Grand Canonical density functional theory to understand this dynamic process under potential from a microscopic perspective. We show that amine ligands in solution directly chemisorb on the electrode, coordinate with the metal center, and drive the rearrangement of the copper surface by extracting Cu as adatoms in low coordination positions, where other amine ligands can coordinate and stabilize a surface copper-ligand complex, finally forming a detached Cu-amine cationic complex in solution, even under negative potential conditions. Calculations predict that dissolution would occur for a potential of -1.1 V vs. RHE or above. Our work provides a fundamental understanding of Cu dissolution facilitated by surface restructuring in amine solutions under electroreduction conditions, which is required for the rational design of durable Cu-based cathodes for electrochemical amination or other amine involving reduction processes.

Di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) is one of the frequently detected phthalates in environmental samples. The effects of phthalates are extensively studied in the animals but the effects on plants are scarce. Therefore, the present study is aimed to envisage the effects of DBP on the antioxidative defense system in Hordeum vulgare L. seedlings grown under laboratory conditions for 7 d. The activities of different antioxidative enzymes were enhanced in the shoots. In the roots, the activity of guaiacol peroxidase increased and the catalase activity decreased initially but increased at higher DBP concentrations, whereas the activities of superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase, and glutathione reductase declined. Furthermore, the content of polyphenols elevated after exposure of seedlings to DBP. The possible reason for these responses of barley seedlings is the oxidative burst, i.e., enhanced production of reactive oxygen species, which were confirmed using confocal microscopy in terms of loss in plasma membrane integrity. DBP also disturbed the normal stomatal morphology of barley seedlings. The study may help to provide insights into the defense of crop plants against phthalate stress.

RNase R (encoded by the rnr gene) is a highly processive 3' → 5' exoribonuclease essential for the growth of the psychrotrophic bacterium P. syringae Lz4W at low temperature. The cell death of a rnr deletion mutant at low temperature has been previously attributed to the processing defects in 16S rRNA, defective ribosomal assembly and inefficient protein synthesis. We recently showed that RNase R is required to protect P. syringae Lz4W from DNA damage and oxidative stress, independent of its exoribonuclease activity. Here, we show that the processing defect in 16S rRNA does not cause cell death of the rnr mutant of P. syringae at low temperature. Our results demonstrate that the rnr mutant of P. syringae Lz4W, complemented with a RNase R deficient in exoribonuclease function (RNase RD284A) is defective in 16S rRNA processing but can grow at 4 oC. This suggested that the processing defect in ribosomal RNAs is not a cause of the cold sensitivity of the rnr mutant. We further show that the rnr mutant accumulates copies of the indigenous plasmid of P. syringae Lz4W, pLz4W, that bears a type II toxin-antitoxin system (psA-psT). This phenotype was rescued by over-expressing antitoxin psA in the rnr mutant, suggesting that activation of the type II toxin-antitoxin system leads to cold sensitivity of the rnr mutant of P. syringae Lz4W. Here, we report a previously unknown functional relationship between the cold sensitivity of the rnr mutant and a type II toxin-antitoxin system in P. syringae Lz4W.

Deficits in memory performance have been linked to a wide range of neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions. While many studies have assessed the memory impacts of individual conditions, this study considers a broader perspective by evaluating how memory recall is differentially associated with nine common neuropsychiatric conditions using data drawn from 55 international studies, aggregating 15,883 unique participants aged 15-90. The effects of dementia, mild cognitive impairment, Parkinsons disease, traumatic brain injury, stroke, depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder on immediate, short-, and long-delay verbal learning and memory (VLM) scores were estimated relative to matched healthy individuals. Random forest models identified age, years of education, and site as important VLM covariates. A Bayesian harmonization approach was used to isolate and remove site effects. Regression estimated the adjusted association of each clinical group with VLM scores. Memory deficits were strongly associated with dementia and schizophrenia (p < 0.001), while neither depression nor ADHD showed consistent associations with VLM scores (p > 0.05). Differences associated with clinical conditions were larger for longer delayed recall duration items. By comparing VLM across clinical conditions, this study provides a foundation for enhanced diagnostic precision and offers new insights into disease management of comorbid disorders.

Abstract: To study the chemical evolution across cosmic epochs, we investigate Ne, S, Cl, and Ar abundance patterns in the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph Legacy Archive Spectroscopic SurveY (CLASSY). CLASSY comprises local star-forming galaxies (SFGs; 0.02 < z < 0.18) with enhanced star formation rates, making them strong analogues to high-z SFGs. With direct measurements of electron temperature, we derive accurate ionic abundances for all elements and assess ionization correction factors (ICFs) to account for unseen ions and derive total abundances. We find Ne/O, S/O, Cl/O, and Ar/O exhibit constant trends with gas-phase metallicity for 12+log(O/H) < 8.5 but significant correlation for Ne/O and Ar/O with metallicity for 12+log(O/H) > 8.5, likely due to ICFs. Thus, the applicability of the ICFs to integrated spectra of galaxies could bias results, underestimating true abundance ratios. Using CLASSY as a local reference, we assess the evolution of Ne/O, S/O, and Ar/O in galaxies at z > 3, finding no cosmic evolution of Ne/O, while the lack of direct abundance determinations for S/O and Ar/O can bias the interpretation of the evolution of these elements. We determine the fundamental metallicity relationship (FMR) for CLASSY and compare to the high-redshift FMR, finding no evolution. Finally, we perform the first mass–neon relationship analysis across cosmic epochs, finding a slight evolution to high Ne at later epochs. The robust abundance patterns of CLASSY galaxies and their broad range of physical properties provide essential benchmarks for interpreting the chemical enrichment of the early galaxies observed with the JWST.