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Antimony (Sb-V), a carcinogenic metalloid, is becoming prevalent in water and soil due to anthropogenic activities. Biochar could be an effective remedy for Sb(V)-contaminated water and soil. In this study, we used pristine and engineered pinecone-derived biochar as an innovative approach for treating Sb(V)-contaminated water and shooting range soil. Biochar was produced from pine-cone waste (pristine biochar) and enriched with Fe and Al salts via saturation (engineered biochar). Adsorption tests in water revealed that iron-modified biochar showed higher adsorption capacity (8.68 mg g -1 ) than that of the pristine biochar (2.49 mg g -1 ) and aluminum-modified biochar (3.40 mg g -1 ). Isotherm and kinetic modeling of the adsorption data suggested that the adsorption process varied from monolayer to multilayer, with chemisorption as the dominant interaction mechanism between Sb(V) and the biochars. The post-adsorption study of iron-modified biochar by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) further supported the chemical bonding and outer-sphere complexation of Sb(V) with Fe, N-H, O-H, C-O and CC components. The pristine and iron-modified biochars also successfully immobilized Sb(V) in a shooting range soil, more so in the latter. Subsequent sequential extractions and post-analysis by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX), and elemental dot mapping revealed that Sb in the treated soil transformed to a more stable form. It was concluded that iron-modified biochar could act as an efficient material for the adsorption and immobilization of Sb(V) in water and soil, respectively., 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 © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 17 (SCA17) is a neurodegenerative disease caused by a polyglutamine-encoding trinucleotide repeat expansion in the gene of transcription factor TATA box-binding protein (TBP). While its underlying pathomechanism is elusive, polyglutamine-expanded TBP fragments of unknown origin mediate the mutant protein's toxicity. Calcium-dependent calpain proteases are protagonists in neurodegenerative disorders. Here, we demonstrate that calpains cleave TBP, and emerging C-terminal fragments mislocalize to the cytoplasm. SCA17 cell and rat models exhibited calpain overactivation, leading to excessive fragmentation and depletion of neuronal proteins in vivo. Transcriptome analysis of SCA17 cells revealed synaptogenesis and calcium signaling perturbations, indicating the potential cause of elevated calpain activity. Pharmacological or genetic calpain inhibition reduced TBP cleavage and aggregation, consequently improving cell viability. Our work underlines the general significance of calpains and their activating pathways in neurodegenerative disorders and presents these proteases as novel players in the molecular pathogenesis of SCA17., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Diagnosis rates of familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) remain low. We implemented FH ALERT to assess whether alerting physicians for the possibility of FH impacted additional diagnostic activity. The study was conducted from SYNLAB laboratory Weiden (Bavaria). Beyond common reporting of LDL-C or TC, 1411 physicians covering approximately a population of 1.5 million people were eligible to receive an alert letter (AL) including information on FH, if laboratory results exceeded thresholds as follows: adults LDL-C ≥ 190-250 mg/dl (to convert into mmol/l multiply with 0.0259), TC ≥ 250 to ≤ 310 mg/dl (probable suspicion); LDL-C > 250 mg/dl and TC > 310 mg/dl (strong suspicion). Persons below 18 years were alerted for LDL-C  140 mg/dl and TC ≥ 200 mg/dl (strong suspicion). Patients above 60 years were excluded. Our readouts were characteristics of involved physicians, rate of ALs issued, acceptance, and subsequent diagnostic activity. Physicians were mainly general practitioners in ambulatory care. 75% of the ordered tests were for TC, 25% for LDL-C. We issued 3512 ALs (~ 5% of tests) triggered by 2846 patients. 86% of eligible physicians stayed with the initiative, 32.7% were alerted, and 70% were positive upon call-center survey. We registered 101 new visitors of www.fhscore.eu and sent out 93 kits for genetics. Thereof, 26 were returned and 5 patients were positive for FH. Physicians were in general open to our approach. Although genetic testing was taken up with caution, this 3-months pilot examination resulted in a greater rate of patients with FH diagnosed than previous screening projects. Further education on FH in primary care is required to improve FH detection in the community., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

Unlabelled: Accurate estimates of tibialis anterior (TA) muscle force are important in many contexts. Two approaches commonly used to estimate moment arms are the tendon excursion (TE) and geometric (GEO) methods. Previous studies report poor agreement between the two approaches., Purpose: The purposes of this study were to 1) assess the effect of methodological variations in the two methods of moment arm estimation and 2) determine how these variations affect agreement between the methods., Methods: TA moment arms were determined using TE and GEO. Errors associated with tendon stretch/hysteresis, talus rotation relative to the foot, and the location of the line of action were investigated., Results: For TE, large errors in moment arm estimates across the range of motion were found when tendon length changes (P = 0.001) were not corrected for. For GEO, the estimated moment arm was reduced at an ankle angle of -15° when discrepancies between talus and foot rotations were accounted for or when an alternative tendon line of action was used either separately (effect size (ES), 0.46 and 0.58, respectively; P > 0.05) or together (ES, 0.89; P > 0.05). TE-derived moment arms were smaller than GEO-derived moment arms (ES, 0.68-4.86, varying by angle) before accounting for sources of error. However, these differences decreased after error correction (ES, 0.09-1.20, P > 0.05). Nonetheless, the shape of the moment arm-joint angle relation was curvilinear for TE but linear for GEO., Conclusions: Of all methodological modifications, accounting for tendon length changes had the largest effect on TA moment arm estimates. We conclude that the TE method is viable to determine TA moment arms as long as changes in tendon length are accounted for.

Objectives: To compare the clinical, socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of individuals diagnosed with Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) in the community using a concomitant nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT, AptimaCombo2) as part of the (community-based) UK Chlamydia Screening Programme (CSP), with those diagnosed in hospital-based genitourinary medicine (GUM) services., Design: A retrospective case note review of all 643 patients treated for NG at a GUM in north west England (January 2007-April 2009)., Participants: All 643 treated for NG (including CSP cases, since all cases were referred to GUM for treatment). Limited data were available for 13 CSP cases who failed to attend GUM., Primary Outcome Measure: Whether the case was detected in the community or GUM services. Predictors were demographics (age, gender, postcode for deprivation analysis), sexual history (eg, number of partners) and clinical factors (eg, culture positivity)., Results: 131 cases were diagnosed by CSP (13 of whom did not attend GUM). A further four cases were contacts of these. The GUM caseload was thus inflated by 23% (from 521 to 643). Community cases were overwhelmingly female (85% vs 27% in GUM, p<0.001) and younger (87% females were <25 years vs 70% GUM females, p=0.001). Logistic regression analysis restricted to the target age of the CSP (<25 years) revealed that CSP cases, compared with GUM cases, were more likely to reside in deprived areas (adjusted OR=5.6, 95% CI 1.4 to 21.8 and 5.3, CI 1.7 to 16.6 for the most and second most deprived group respectively, compared with the averagely deprived group, p=0.037) and be asymptomatic (adjusted OR=1.9, CI 1.1 to 3.4, p=0.02)., Conclusions: Community screening for NG led to a 79% increase in the number of infections detected in women aged <25 years. Screening is targeted at young people, and tends to disproportionately attract young women, a group under-represented at GUM. Screening also contributed further to case detection in deprived areas.

Purpose: Children demonstrate lower force production capacities compared with adults, which has often been attributed to "neuromuscular immaturity." However, tendon stiffness, which influences both the electromechanical delay (EMD) and rate of force development (RFD) in adults, is lower in children and may influence rapid force production. The aims of this study were 1) to document EMD and RFD variation as a function of age, 2) to determine the relationships between tendon stiffness and parameters relating to rapid force production in children and adults, and 3) to estimate the relative neural and mechanical contributions to age-related changes in force production by examining the effects of tendon stiffness and muscle activation rate (rate of EMG increase [REI]) on RFD., Methods: Achilles tendon stiffness, EMD, RFD, and REI were measured during plantarflexion contractions in 47 prepubertal children (5-12 yr) and 19 adults. Relationships were determined between 1) stiffness and EMD, 2) stiffness and RFD, and 3) REI and RFD. The relative contributions of age, stiffness, and REI on RFD were determined using a multiple regression analysis. Age-related differences in tendon stiffness, EMD, RFD, and REI were also examined according to chronological age (5-6, 7-8, and 9-10 yr) and compared with adults., Results: Increases in tendon stiffness with age were correlated with decreases in EMD (r < -0.83). Stiffness and REI could account for up to 35% and 30% of RFD variability in children, respectively, which increased to 58% when these variables were combined., Conclusions: Both neural and mechanical factors influence rapid force production in prepubertal children. Children's longer EMD and slower RFD indicate a less effective development and transfer of muscular forces, which may have implications for complex movement performance.

Accurate and reliable estimation of muscle moment arms is a prerequisite for the development of musculoskeletal models. Numerous techniques are available to estimate the Achilles tendon moment arm in vivo. The purposes of this study were 1) to compare in vivo Achilles tendon moment arms obtained using the center of rotation (COR) and tendon excursion (TE) methods and 2) to assess the reliability of each method. For the COR method, magnetic resonance (MR) images from nine participants were obtained at ankle angles of -15°, 0°, and +15° and analyzed using Reuleaux' method. For the TE method, the movement of the gastrocnemius medialis-Achilles tendon junction was recorded using ultrasonography as the ankle was passively rotated through its range of motion. The Achilles tendon moment arm was obtained by differentiation of tendon displacement with respect to ankle angular excursion using seven different differentiation techniques. Moment arms obtained using the COR method were significantly greater than those obtained using the TE method (P < 0.01), but results from both methods were well correlated. The coefficient of determination between moment arms derived from the COR and TE methods was highest when tendon displacement was linearly differentiated over a ± 10° interval (R(2) = 0.94). The between-measurement coefficient of variation was 3.9% for the COR method and 4.5-9.7% for the TE method, depending on the differentiation technique. The high reliabilities and strong relationship between methods demonstrate that both methods are robust against their limitations. The large absolute between-method differences (∼ 25-30%) in moment arms have significant implications for their use in musculoskeletal models.