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Introduction: The use of medications by emergency medical services (EMS) is increasing. Conventional scores are time‐consuming and therefore difficult to use in an emergency setting. For early decision‐making, an easy‐to‐use score based on the medications administered by the EMS may have prognostic value. The primary objective of this study was to develop the prehospital drug‐derived score (PDDS) for 2‐day mortality. Methods: A prospective, multicenter, ambulance‐based cohort study was conducted in adults with undifferentiated acute diseases treated by EMS and transferred to the emergency department. Demographic data, prehospital diagnosis data, prehospital medication and variables for the calculation of the National Early Warning Score 2 (NEWS2), Rapid Emergency Medicine Score (REMS), and Rapid Acute Physiology Score (RAPS) were collected. The PDDS was developed and validated, establishing three levels of risk of 2‐day mortality. The predictive capability of each score was determined by the area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) and compared using the Delong's test (p‐value). Results: A total of 6401 patients were included. The PDDS included age and the use of norepinephrine, analgesics, neuromuscular blocking agents, diuretics, antihypertensive agents, tranexamic acid, and bicarbonate. The AUROC of PDDS was.86 (95% CI:.816–.903) versus NEWS2.866 (95% CI:.822–.911), p =.828; versus REMS.885 (95% CI:.845–.924), p =.311; versus RAPS.886 (95% CI:.846–.926), p =.335, respectively. Conclusion: The newly developed easy‐to‐use prehospital drug‐derived PDDS score has an excellent predictive value of early mortality. The PDDS score was comparable to the conventional risk scores and therefore might serve as an alternative score in the prehospital emergency setting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports a new approach toward fabrication and directed assembly of nanoparticulate reactive system (Nanofoils) on patterned substrates. Different from current state‐of‐the‐art, gas phase electrodeposition uses nanoparticles instead of atoms to form densely packed multilayered thin films at room temperature‐pressure. On ignition, the multilayer system undergoes an exothermic self‐propagating reaction. The numerous contact points between two metallic nanoparticulate layers aid in high heat release. Sub‐10‐nm Platinum (Pt) and Aluminum (Al) particles are synthesized through cathode erosion of metal electrodes in a flow of pure nitrogen gas (spark ablation). Pt/Al bilayer stacks with total thickness of 3–8 µm undergo self‐propagating reaction with a 10.3 mm s−1 wavefront velocity on local ignition. The reaction wavefront is captured using high speed videography. Calorimetry studies reveal two exothermic peaks suggesting Pt/Al alloy formation. The peak at 135 °C has a higher calorific value of 150 mW g−1 while the peak at 400 °C has a 12 mW g−1 exothermic peak. X‐ray diffraction study shows reaction‐products are cubic Al2Pt with small quantities of orthorhombic Al6Pt and orthorhombic AlPt2. Electron microscopy studies help draw a correlation between film morphology, bimetallic interface, nanoparticle oxidation, and self‐propagating reaction kinetics that is significant in broadening our understanding towards nanoparticulate reactive systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Restoration ecology that maximizes ecosystem services (ES) requires planning at large spatial scales, which are often the most meaningful for ecosystem functioning and ES supply. As economic resources to undertake ecological restoration at large scales are scarce, prioritizing sites to enhance multiple ES supply is critical. We present the Relative Aggregated Value of Ecosystem Services (RAVES) index, to prioritize sites for ecological restoration based on the assessment of multiple ES. We tested the spatial heterogeneity of ES to identify the relevant scale to managing ES and to apply the RAVES index using a local case study. We also used the RAVES index to compare three alternative restoration scenarios to enhance ES based on the availability of socio‐economic resources. The highest RAVES values were found in areas with natural vegetation and in gorges with riparian forests. The lowest values were found in crop fields, steep slopes and river stretches without riparian forest. The multiscale spatial analysis indicated that most ES showed significant heterogeneity at multiple spatial scales, especially at broad (20–30 km) and very broad (40–50 km) scales. For spatial scales smaller than 2 km, only biological control showed significant heterogeneity. The optimal socio‐economic conditions to enhance ES supply were met when both private and public land, together with economic funds, were available to implement ecological restoration. As most areas with low RAVES were in private lands, even with limited funds restoration of private lands would result in a large increase in RAVES. Synthesis and applications. The Relative Aggregated Value of Ecosystem Services (RAVES) index is a practical tool to hierarchically prioritize sites for ecological restoration across large spatial scales. The RAVES index integrates both ecological information and societal values by weighting ecosystem services (ES) via a multicriteria analysis and can be used in scenario analysis to identify optimal management scenarios. We highlight the importance of analysing the spatial heterogeneity of ES to identify the most relevant scale to applying the RAVES index and to managing ES via ecological restoration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Alprazolam is a pharmaceutical compound that it is detected in surface waters. Some degradation studies in aqueous solutions and pharmaceutical products are available, but there is no reliable information about its stability in river water. Here, assays have been conducted under forced biological, photochemical, and thermal conditions, and under non-forced conditions, to estimate the fate of alprazolam in river water and know its degradation products. The forced assays indicated that the biological and photochemical degradation of alprazolam was negligible; heating at 70°C for a long time barely affected it. The degradation of alprazolam in river water at 100 μg/L was about 5% after 36 weeks, keeping the water under a natural day-night cycle at room temperature and limiting partially the exposure to sunlight as happens inside a body of water; no change in concentration was observed when the monitoring was performed at 2 μg/L. The results suggest the persistence of alprazolam in surface water and a possible accumulation over time. Residues were monitored by ultra-pressure liquid chromatography/quadrupole time-of-flight/mass spectrometry after solid-phase extraction; nine degradation products were found and the structures for most of them were proposed from the molecular formulae and fragmentation observed in high-resolution tandem mass spectra. (5-chloro-2-(3-methyl-4H-1,2,4-triazol-4-yl)phenyl)(phenyl)methanol was the main long-term transformation product in conditions that simulate those in a mass of water. The degradation rate in presence of sediment was equally very low under non-forced conditions; adsorption coefficients of alprazolam and major degradation products were calculated. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have evaluated the cloning and functional expression of previously described broad antimicrobial spectrum bacteriocins SRCAM 602, OR-7, E-760, and L-1077, by recombinant Pichia pastoris. Synthetic genes, matching the codon usage of P. pastoris, were designed from the known mature amino acid sequence of these bacteriocins and cloned into the protein expression vector pPICZαA. The recombinant derived plasmids were linearized and transformed into competent P. pastoris X-33, and the presence of integrated plasmids into the transformed cells was confirmed by PCR and sequencing of the inserts. The antimicrobial activity, expected in supernatants of the recombinant P. pastoris producers, was purified using a multistep chromatographic procedure including ammonium sulfate precipitation, desalting by gel filtration, cation exchange-, hydrophobic interaction-, and reverse phase-chromatography (RP-FPLC). However, a measurable antimicrobial activity was only detected after the hydrophobic interaction and RP-FPLC steps of the purified supernatants. MALDI-TOF MS analysis of the antimicrobial fractions eluted from RP-FPLC revealed the existence of peptide fragments of lower and higher molecular mass than expected. MALDI-TOF/TOF MS analysis of selected peptides from eluted RP-FPLC samples with antimicrobial activity indicated the presence of peptide fragments not related to the amino acid sequence of the cloned bacteriocins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, honeybees ( Apis mellifera) have been strangely disappearing from their hives, and strong colonies have suddenly become weak and died. The precise aetiology underlying the disappearance of the bees remains a mystery. However, during the same period, Nosema ceranae, a microsporidium of the Asian bee Apis cerana, seems to have colonized A. mellifera, and it's now frequently detected all over the world in both healthy and weak honeybee colonies. For first time, we show that natural N. ceranae infection can cause the sudden collapse of bee colonies, establishing a direct correlation between N. ceranae infection and the death of honeybee colonies under field conditions. Signs of colony weakness were not evident until the queen could no longer replace the loss of the infected bees. The long asymptomatic incubation period can explain the absence of evident symptoms prior to colony collapse. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that healthy colonies near to an infected one can also become infected, and that N. ceranae infection can be controlled with a specific antibiotic, fumagillin. Moreover, the administration of 120 mg of fumagillin has proven to eliminate the infection, but it cannot avoid reinfection after 6 months. We provide Koch's postulates between N. ceranae infection and a syndrome with a long incubation period involving continuous death of adult bees, non-stop brood rearing by the bees and colony loss in winter or early spring despite the presence of sufficient remaining pollen and honey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]