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Graphical AbstractSudden cardiac death after early-onset myocardial infarction. MI, myocardial infarction; SCD, sudden cardiac death.

We evaluated various heat treatments (HT) for maximizing the Nb3Sn layer thickness while retaining a refined grain microstructure in low filament count internal-Sn Nb3Sn Rod-In-Tube wires with internally oxidized nanoparticles. These wires were manufactured in our laboratory using SnO2 as oxygen source and Nb alloys containing Ta and Zr or Hf. By reacting the wires at 650 °C for 200 hours we obtained relatively thin reaction layers but high layer critical current densities (layer JC) of ∼3000 A/mm2 for Hf-containing wires and ∼2700 A/mm2 for Zr-containing wires, both at 4.2 K and 16 T. Notably, both of these values are over the layer JC threshold of 2500 A/mm2, which is estimated to be necessary for attaining the corresponding Future Circular Collider (FCC) target non-Cu JC of 1500 A/mm2. Following this heat treatment, the fine-grained Nb3Sn area occupies only ∼35% of the filament area for Hf-containing wires and ∼20% for Zr-containing wires. After heat treatments with a reaction step at 700 °C these values increase to 70–80% and ∼60%, respectively, with only a minor increase of the grain size. However, we observed a noticeable decrease in the layer JC for these HT. Magnetic measurements show that the high JC wires exhibit a point defect contribution from precipitates to the pinning force, which is missing in wires with depressed JC values. The higher heat treatment temperatures may have caused excessive coarsening of the oxide precipitates, to sizes unsuitable for flux pinning. Reaction heat treatment temperatures in the range of 650 °C to 700 °C and durations between 50 and 200 hours may provide a better compromise between the Nb3Sn layer thickness, its grain size and nanoparticle size.

Internal oxidation can achieve significantly enhanced Jc in Nb3Sn wires, but the mechanism of oxygen transport and oxide precipitation is not fully understood. Our investigation employs X-ray Absorption Near-Edge Structure (XANES) spectroscopy, revealing insights into the oxidation of Zr and its interaction with oxygen in different areas of the wire cross section. We discovered that in samples reacted at 650 °C the majority of Zr in the Nb3Sn layer is oxidized as ZrO2, whereas it predominantly remains non-oxidized within the residual alloy. This is an interesting finding especially for samples where oxygen has to diffuse first through the entire layer of Nb alloy to reach the regions where Nb3Sn will form. The onset critical temperature (Tc) of the residual Nb alloy was the lowest in such samples, most probably due to a higher content of interstitial oxygen resulting from the diffusion gradient. This report adds to existing indications that ZrO2 precipitates in superconductors employing internal oxidation are only located within the Nb3Sn layer and opens new avenues of research on the formation of this precipitates.

In this work the etherification reaction of glycerol with isobutene (IB) and tert-butyl alcohol (TBA) has been studied with the aim of preparing mixtures with high content of poly-substituted ethers. The results obtained using solid acid catalysts have shown that the reaction with IB proceeds at a high rate but the formation of undesired di-isobutene (DIB) represents a serious problem when catalysts with high density of acid sites, such as Amberlyst, are used. When using TBA as a reactant, the main problem is the formation of water that, due to thermodynamic reasons, prevents the formation of poly-substituted ethers regardless of the catalyst used. Some preliminary experiments carried out with a water permselective tubular membrane have demonstrated that the yield of poly-substituted ethers significantly increases once water was selectively removed from the reaction medium by recirculation of the gas phase.

We report a study of the contact resistance between commercial Cu-stabilized REBCO tapes coated with V2O3, which is a functional material that passes through a metal-to-insulator transition at cryogenic temperatures. We prove that a simple dip coating technique, potentially scalable to coat long-length conductors, allows the deposition of ∼10-μm-thick V2O3 layers. We find that the contact resistance between the REBCO tapes is mainly determined by the properties of the V2O3 layer and that it varies by more than 8 orders of magnitude from 10 K to room temperature. Based on our experimental results and on previous studies [Denis Markiewicz et al., 2019], we deduce that an effective quench propagation may take place in REBCO pancake coils when the hot spot temperature is in the range 135 K–175 K, depending on the V2O3 layer thickness. Because of the metal-to-insulator transition of the V2O3, the contact resistance rapidly increases at lower temperatures, assuming values comparable with those of insulated coils. In a general perspective, the results of this research can help magnet designers to assess the role of metal-to-insulator-transition materials for future REBCO-based magnets.

It is easy to characterize the U.S. Army in the 19th century as an organization of amateurs lacking the professionalism of its European contemporaries. The United States Military Academy at [...]

AbstractModern scholarship often attributes to Eusebius of Caesarea (d. circa 340 AD) the view that God's heavenly kingdom had become manifest in the Roman Empire of Constantine the Great. Consequently, Eusebius is deemed significant in the development of Christian eschatological thought as the supposed formulator of a new “realized eschatology” for the Christian Roman Empire. Similarly, he is considered the originator of so-called “Byzantine imperial eschatology”—that is, eschatology designed to justify the existing imperial order under the emperors in Constantinople. Scholars advancing these claims most frequently cite a line from Eusebius's Tricennial Orationin which he identified the accession of the sons of Constantine with the prophesied kingdom of the saints in the Book of Daniel. Further supposed evidence has been adduced in his other writings, especially his Life of Constantine. This article argues that this common interpretation of Eusebius's eschatology is mistaken and has resulted from treating a few passages in isolation while overlooking their rhetorical context. It demonstrates instead that Eusebius adhered to a conventional Christian eschatology centered on the future kingdom of heaven that would accompany the second coming of Christ and further suggests that the concept of “Byzantine imperial eschatology” should be reconsidered.

DME may be considered a promising circular hydrogen carrier, as it can be produced also from CO2. Catalytic aspects of both hydrogenation/dehydrogenation steps are deeply discussed for pushing advances in this field.

This research was focused on the valorisation of glycerol, exploring the feasibility of an efficient route for oxygenated additives production based on its etherification with bio-butanol. A home-made BEA zeolite sample with a tuneable acidity has been proposed as the catalytic system, being tested in a stirred reactor under different etherification conditions. Although a reaction temperature as high as 200 °C resulted to be beneficial in terms of glycerol conversion (~90%), only by operating at milder conditions the product selectivity to glycerol-ethers can be better controlled, in order to obtain a bio-fuel complying with the requirements for mixing with fossil diesel or biodiesel, without any need of purification from large amount of by-products. A comprehensive identification of all the compounds formed during the reaction was performed by a GC–MS analysis, on the basis of the complex network of consecutive and parallel reaction paths leading not only to the desired ethers, but also to many side products not detected in similar acid-catalyzed reactions in liquid phase and not available in the most used mass-spectra libraries.

Byline: Chris Bonura TDC Energy, a New Orleans-based oil exploration company, filed for bankruptcy protection last week, but the company's senior vice president says its creditors will be paid in [...]

As the director of the Tulane Center for Gene Therapy, Dr. Darwin Prockop is a prime mover in New Orleans' efforts to start a biotech industry. Tulane lured him in [...]

Remember that 'tax rebate' that you got from the federal government last year? The checks from the U.S. Treasury were usually written out for $300 or $600 that taxpayers were [...]

A deal the Port of New Orleans has struck with a local warehousing company will bring activity back to two idle docks in Bywater. The Mandeville Street Wharf and the [...]

ABSTRACTObjectives: Periodical assessments of population susceptibility to polioviruses (PV) is essential for evaluating population protection and planning appropriate vaccination strategies. The aim of the current work was to assess serological protective titers against all three polioviruses in the general population of Florence. Methods: A convenience sample of 328 sera, collected in 2009 in Florence (Central Italy) was analyzed. Samples were considered protective if neutralizing antibodies were detected at dilutions ≥1:8, according to the WHO protocols. Results: The immune coverage was 75.3%, 69.2% and 46% for PV1, PV2 and PV3, respectively. The protective titers of neutralizing antibodies were generally higher in children up to 14 years of age, with 74.4% (PV1), 75.6% (PV2) and 56.7% (PV3) of seroprevalence. From the age of 11 years, most of the study subjects were seronegative for PV3. Conclusions: In a polio-free country with strong migration pressures, such as Italy, our results bring clear support to the recent recommendation of Italian health authorities to introduce a fifth dose of IPV vaccine in adolescence all over the country.

Nationally, the number of internal medicine physicians practicing in primary care has decreased amidst increasing interest in hospitalist medicine. Current priorities in the Military Health System include access to primary care and retention of trained personnel. Recently, we have conducted a study of military internal medicine residents' decision to enter infectious disease. As part of our larger effort, we saw an opportunity to characterize factors impacting decision making of internal medicine residents' desire to apply for subspecialty training and to extend active duty service obligations.

•The direct CO2-to-DME hydrogenation was performed with CuZnZr/FER hybrid catalysts.•Ferrierite samples of different acidity and grain size were embedded in catalyst composition.•Water formation was claimed as responsible for the progressive decay of activity over time.•The density of Brønsted acid sites induces a significant metal sintering on copper particles.•The size of the ferrierite grains plays a crucial role on the catalytic behaviour.

The selective N-alkylation of amines with alcohols viathe borrowing hydrogen strategy represents a prominent sustainable catalytic method, which produces water as the only by-product and is ideally suited for the catalytic transformation of widely available alcohol reaction partners that can be derived from renewable resources. Intensive research has been devoted to the development of novel catalysts that are mainly based on expensive noble metals. However, the availability of homogeneous or heterogeneous non-precious metal catalysts for this transformation is very limited. Herein we present a highly active and remarkably easy-to-prepare Ni based catalyst system for the selective N-alkylation of amines with alcohols, that is in situgenerated from Ni(COD)2and KOH under ligand-free conditions. This novel method is very efficient for the functionalization of aniline and derivatives with a wide range of aromatic and aliphatic alcohols as well as diols and exhibits excellent functional group tolerance including halides, benzodioxane and heteroaromatic groups. Several TEM measurements combined with elemental analysis were conducted in order to gain insight into the nature of the active catalyst and factors influencing reactivity.

THE GREAT WAR, Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg, Charles Messenger, ed., Greenhill Books, London, 2006, 236 pages, $34.95. The Great War is an edited single volume of Field Marshal Paul [...]

This work highlights the effectiveness of an unconventional synthesis of hybrid systems for the direct hydrogenation of carbon dioxide into dimethyl ether (DME), based on micro-extrusion of a ink-like catalytic paste by a robocasting procedure. Due to the possibility to exert a fine control over the structure, surface and geometric architecture, the adopted printing technique really ensures a superior management of heat and mass constraints in respect of the conventional powdered catalysts, the catalyst functionality resulting to be tightly dependent on the cooperation between metal-oxide and acidic phase. Additionally, the accessibility both of the CO2activation and methanol (MeOH) dehydration sites over the hybrid micro-extruded catalyst most importantly affects the catalytic performance, as suggested by the values of turnover frequency of CO2conversion and DME formation pointing out the need for a favorable exposure of chemisorption sites of different nature to enhance the specific reactivity.

'UPDATE: OSTEOPOROSIS' STEVEN R. GOLDSTEIN, MD (NOVEMBER 2012) Dr. Goldstein recommended annual use of the FRAX tool (WHO fracture risk assessment tool) in patients with osteopenia to determine when pharmacologic [...]

Purpose Adjuvant chemotherapy improves survival of patients with gastric cancer. Intergroup Trial of Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Adenocarcinoma of the Stomach (ITACA-S) was a phase III study comparing sequential FOLFIRI followed by docetaxel/cisplatin versus 5-fluorouracil monotherapy. The intensive regimen was not superior in terms of disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS).Methods The treatment was to be started within 8 weeks from surgery. This analysis evaluates the impact of time from surgery to chemotherapy start (TSC) on outcomes.Results Out of 1,106 randomized, 1,072 patients without major violations of eligibility criteria and receiving at least one treatment cycle were analyzed. Median TSC was 50 days. Chemotherapy was interrupted in 201 (18.8%) cases, whereas it was completed without or with modifications in 277 (25.8%) and 594 (55.4%), respectively. At a median follow-up of 56.9 months, 513 progressions and 472 deaths occurred. A longer TSC was significantly associated with longer DFS (hazard ratio [HR] 0.95; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.89-1.00; p = 0.05) and OS (HR 0.91; 95% CI 0.86-0.97; p = 0.004), after adjustment for treatment arm, age, sex, primary tumor site, number of resected nodes, and tumor stage. Better treatment compliance was associated with improved survival.Conclusions Our findings suggest that longer TSC had at least no detrimental effect on DFS and OS, whereas treatment completion had a protective effect. Our findings need to be confirmed prospectively.

ABSTRACTThe National Research Council of Italy (CNR) has been undertaking scientific and technological activities aimed at implementing intelligent and automated systems for the collection of data in support of oceanography and fisheries science, as well as providing services for fishing operators. Two independent operational units autonomously developed two original devices, the Fishery Observing System (FOS) and the Information and Communications Technology kit (ICT-kit), recently converging towards a new modular system named the Fishery and Oceanography Observing System (FOOS) that can be adapted to fit the specific research needs of the areas in which it is used. This paper reports the development process and describes the two applications in use in Italy.

'HOW DID WE ARRIVE AT A WORLDWIDE EPIDEMIC OF VITAMIN D DEFICIENCY?' ROBERT L. BARBIERI, MD (EDITORIAL; JUNE 2010) I appreciated Dr. Barbieri's editorial on vitamin D deficiency. Most obstetricians [...]

"WE MUST TAKE THE LEAD IN THE BATTLE AGAINST BREAST CANCER" ROBERT L. BARBIERI, MD (EDITORIAL, JULY). My practice consists of menopausal patients, all of whom are screened annually to […]

ABSTRACTA carbapenem-resistant sequence type 512 (ST512) Klebsiella pneumoniaecarbapenemase 3 (KPC-3)-producing K. pneumoniaestrain showing a novel variant plasmid content was isolated in Palermo, Italy, in 2014. ST512 is a worldwide successful clone associated with the spread of blaKPCgenes located on the IncFIIk pKpQIL plasmid. In our ST512 strain, the blaKPC-3gene was unusually located on an IncX3 plasmid, whose complete sequence was determined. Two copies of blaKPC-3::Tn4401acaused by intramolecular transposition events were detected in the plasmid.

AbstractBackground:Globally, antimicrobial drug–resistant Escherichia coliis among the most common etiological agents of invasive disease in humans. In Europe, increasing proportions of infections due to third-generation cephalosporins and/or fluoroquinolone-resistant extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli(ExPEC) strains are reported. E. colifrom poultry are those more closely linked to human E. coli, but lack of reliable data makes it difficult to assess the attributable risk of different food sources. In the present study, our objective was to investigate the antimicrobial resistance profile, phylogenetic background, and virulence factors of E. coliisolates from broiler chicken meat sold at retail in Palermo, Italy.Materials and Methods:Isolation of multidrug resistant (MDR) E. coliwas performed during April–December 2013 on a total of 163 chicken meat samples. Susceptibility to a panel of nine antimicrobial agents was determined. PCR assays were carried out to detect extended-spectrum β-lactamase (ESBL), plasmid-mediated AmpC β-lactamase, and plasmid-mediated quinolone resistance (PMQR) genes, phylogenetic group, and ExPEC-associated traits. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) PCR was done to detect E. colisequence type (ST)131.Results:One hundred thirty-four isolates from 109 meat samples were MDR. B1 was the most prevalent phylogenetic group (47.8%), followed by groups D (25.4%), A (22.3%), and B2 (4.5%). ESBLs and AmpC β-lactamases were detected by PCR in 132 (98.5%) and 15 (11.2%) isolates. PMQR determinants were detected in 122 (91%) isolates. Twenty-two MDR isolates met the molecular definition of ExPEC. SNP-PCR results confirmed that four B2 isolates were ST131. Enterobacterial Repetitive Intergenic Consensus sequence–PCR analysis showed a large heterogeneity with 55 unique profiles and 31 clusters including 2–4 isolates.Conclusions:An alarmingly high prevalence of MDR E. colifrom broiler chicken meat is evident in our geographic area. The ongoing use of antimicrobial drugs in livestock should be urgently restricted, particularly in the poultry sector.

Purified recombinant Parj1 and Parj2 allergens bind an IgE repertoire common to the Parietariaspecies, allowing their use as marker molecules for diagnosis and therapy of allergic disease induced by the Urticaceae family. Preclinical studies on the in vivoimmunogenicity of recombinant Parj1, Parj2 and their isoforms indicated differential capacity to induce IgG1 antibody responses, as indication of potential clinical use. A recombinant hetero-dimeric hybrid derivative (PjED), encompassing the shorter Parj1 isoform (Parj1.0201) and Parj2 allergen, was characterised. In vivoimmunisation with PjED induces IgG1 antibodies capable of binding all the isoforms of Parietariamajor allergens, overcoming the poor immunogenicity of single monomeric allergens. This feature makes PjED a promising candidate molecule to be further characterised for clinical applications in the treatment of Parietariaallergy.