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The conservation of humpback whale populations faces ongoing challenges, including human-induced mortality, despite the ban on commercial whaling. Recent advancements in high-resolution satellite imagery offer promise for estimating whale populations, particularly in remote and inaccessible regions. However, significant research gaps persist, necessitating innovative approaches for effective monitoring and conservation efforts. This paper presents a novel methodology that integrates high- resolution satellite imagery with state-of-the-art deep learning techniques to monitor and conserve humpback whale populations, with a focus on the Indian Ocean region. Specifically, application of cutting-edge deep learning models such as YOLO for object detection and EfficientNet for classification to automate the detection, classification, and tracking of humpback whales in satellite images is explored. By leveraging deep convolutional neural networks (CNNs), the proposed ensemble system offers a robust and generalizable approach for automatically detecting, classifying, and tracking whales in space-borne satellite imagery, thereby addressing the challenge of uncertain whale populations in the world’s oceans. The results demonstrate promising accuracy and performance metrics: the Segment Anything Model(SAM) achieves an accuracy of 89.2%, YOLO achieves an accuracy of 99.2%, EfficientNet achieves an accuracy of 99% across various tasks.

The current convergence of global challenges, particularly the climate change emergency, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Black Lives Matter movement, have highlighted the need for a new lens to challenge and interrogate key urban planning assumptions related to spatial urban inequality. Yet urban inequality is often and invariably described from a limited economic perspective, commonly interpreted and measured as income inequality. This is an overtly statistical measure, or Gini-Type index, often giving limited and unsatisfactory results. Yet, in practice, the spatial distribution and concentration of income inequality is a multi-scalar, multi-variant, and multi-disciplinary issue and has links with other and wider dimensions of inequality and well-being. As such, this article argues for a holistic understanding of urban inequality that goes beyond narrow empirical and quantitative models. It presents collaborative research that aims to impact the actions of urban professionals, to accurately identify and adequately respond to urban inequalities. Through the establishment of an interdisciplinary expert panel, we have uncovered a series of provisional mechanisms and responses to aid practitioners to achieve more spatial equality. We introduce an integrated analytical method, the “litmus test,” that acts as a planning tool for understanding, evaluating, and responding to inequalities and segregation present in the built environment. This novel methodology and procedural framework will assist us in (a) identifying and defining different forms of inequality and segregation beyond the current scope of physical and agency-based forms; (b) measuring and demonstrating the latter with a combination of qualitative, empirical sources that are materially significant in supporting and evidencing planning strategies; and (c) setting out a series of planning and built environment specific responses.

One of the main reasons for air pollution is industrial plants releasing huge amounts of air pollutants in the form of gas emissions. The different chemical pollutants and their corresponding levels present in these emissions, and their proximity to the industrial source, have serious effects on the nearby ecosystems. Some of the industrial nuisances include noise, smoke, dirt, dust, odor and noxious gases, which have to be minimized (if possible, eliminated), especially if the location is desired to be used as a community site. When choosing locations at which to build either new industrial plants or new community sites, software can be used to assess both the short-term and long-term concentration profiles of the various detrimental air pollutants. In this study, the AERMOD model was used to find an optimal location to build a new plant in Toledo, Ohio, USA. Simulations were performed to study the pollutant emissions and their dispersion patterns for four different geographic locations situated away from an existing plant in this region. The AERMOD model, along with the IRAP-h View model, which is approved by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has been successfully used to assess the fate and transport of pollutants from the proposed new industrial plants. The hazard quotients from the analysis of the results for these four different geographic locations were assessed. The highest total non-cancer hazard indices of 18.7 and 13.2 were obtained for fisher adult and fisher child, respectively, in one of the four locations. The acute inhalation quotient risk was less than the target hazard index of 0.25 for all the four locations. With respect to the concentrations of several chemicals of potential concern (COPC), such as soil, produce, beef, chicken, milk and pork, the fourth location (farthest east) recorded the minimum range values compared to the other three locations.

A record number of photovoltaic (PV) systems have been installed around the globe as a result of the shift towards renewable energy sources, especially solar electricity. But the problem of how to sustainably handle solar panels at the end of their lifecycle will inevitably arise with this increase. Using empirical data to provide light on important trends and consequences, this paper explores sustainable alternatives of recycling solar panel materials within the framework of a circular economy. The majority of solar panels are made of silicon, which accounts for 60% of their composition. Aluminum makes up 10%, glass is 20%, copper is 5%, plastic is 3%, and other materials make up 2%. The need for efficient waste management solutions became acute as yearly garbage output climbed from 1,000 tons to 1,250 tons during a five-year period. As far as recycling efficiency rates go, silicon was at 95%, then copper at 85%, glass at 90%, aluminum at 80%, plastics at 70%, and other materials at 60%. Plastics produced 700 tons, silicon 950 tons, aluminum 800 tons, copper 850 tons, glass 900 tons, and other materials 600 tons, all thanks to recycling efforts that overcame obstacles. Based on these results, it's clear that the solar energy industry needs more efficient use of resources and better recycling procedures. Solar energy may be ensured to remain a clean and sustainable source of energy for the long term by using technical advancements, regulatory assistance, and stakeholder engagement to speed the transition towards a circular economy model for solar panel materials.

This study delves into the ground-breaking applications of optical fiber grids for material analysis. In it, we look at the correlation between light intensity and temperature, analyze the material composition, and conduct a comprehensive examination into sensor calibration. Optical fiber grids are quite accurate in detecting changes in temperature and refractive index, as shown by the calibration results, which showed an outstanding average accuracy of 98%. The grids were able to distinguish between different materials with an average accuracy of 96%, according to the material composition research. The correct identification of a polymer sample with 45% polyethylene and 55% polypropylene demonstrated this. Also, the grids were able to properly react to changing temperatures since there was a strong linear relationship between light intensity and temperature (92 percent explanatory power). Taken together, the findings highlight optical fiber grids’ versatility and reliability, showing how they might revolutionize material research across several industries.

To better understand the characteristics and seasonality of trace elements in fine aerosols (PM2.5) in the Tianjin region, North China, we conducted a long-term PM2.5 sampling during July 2018 to July 2019 (n = 121) at an urban location in Tianjin. We measured 28 trace elements in PM2.5 using inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy (ICP-MS). Zn, As, Cd, V, and Ni, which are mainly emitted from anthropogenic sources, found to be abundant followed by the elements of natural origin and of dust, respectively. Concentrations of most of the elements varied substantially from season to season, indicating the seasonal differences in emission sources. However, V, Ni, and Cr did not show any significant seasonal variation during the whole campaign, which suggested that the impact of local emissions from the industry was significant throughout the year at Tianjin. The positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis of the data resulted six factors, representing the sources: emissions of coal combustion, industries, biomass burning, soil dust, vehicle exhaust and secondary formation, with the relative contributions of 17.3%, 12.5%, 14.3%, 18.8%, 25.3% and 11.9%, respectively. Although the annual contribution to PM2.5 from vehicle exhaust was higher, the contributions from biomass burning, secondary formation, coal combustion and the vehicle exhaust were dominated in spring, summer, autumn and winter, respectively. This study provides insights on PM2.5 seasonal characteristics and to develop a controlling strategy for air pollution in mid-latitude coastal cities, especially in northeastern Asia.

Abstract Preseptal cellulitis is a serious diagnosis that can progress to postseptal cellulitis leading to grave consequences. Clinically, viral and bacterial cellulitis can be indistinguishable from each other. Using rapid DNA/RNA sequencing can be helpful.

Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) by both ripe and unripe fruit extract was carried out by an important medicinal plant Tinospora cordifolia. The ripe and unripe fruit extract mediated bio-inspired Ag NPs showed surface plasmon resonance (SPR) band at 431 and 421 nm respectively and confirmed the formation of Tc-Ag NPs. The functional groups of bioactive components of ripe and unripe fruits were identified which reduced silver nitrate to silver ions by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The size distribution of biosynthesized Tc-Ag NPs of ripe and unripe was determined by particle size analyzer which revealed that the Z average of Tc-Ag NPs was around 30-35 nm ± 1 nm and 30-35.8 nm ± 1 nm with an Z average of 25.9 and 28.5 nm respectively. Tc-Ag NPs exhibited stability due to its high negative zeta potential for both ripe and unripe fruit extract mediated Tc-Ag NPs as of -27.2 and -24.6 mV. Tc-Ag NPs were used to evaluate the antibacterial, antioxidant and catalytic activities. The Tc-Ag NPs revealed good antimicrobial activity. Antibiotic erythromycin was used as a standard in the present study. The Tc-Ag NPs of both ripe and unrippen fruits disclosed greater free radical scavenging efficacy which proved to be potent antioxidant agents and also exhibited potential catalytic activity by converting 4 nitro-phenol to 4 amino phenols at rapid pace. It was concluded that the Tc-Ag NPs synthesized by ripe and unripe fruits almost showed similar results, and so both of them proved to have excellent multifunctional biomedical properties.

Abstract Immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome in AIDS patients can lead to an initial worsening of underlying diseases due to body's ability to mount a strong immune response after recovery of CD4 counts.

Phenolic compounds (PhCs) are ubiquitously distributed phytochemicals found in many plants, body fluids, food items, medicines, pesticides, dyes, etc. Many PhCs are priority pollutants that are highly toxic, teratogenic, and carcinogenic. Some of these are present in body fluids and affect metabolism, while others possess numerous bioactive properties such as retaining antioxidant and antimicrobial activity in plants and food products. Therefore, there is an urgency for developing an effective, rapid, sensitive, and reliable tool for the analysis of these PhCs to address their environmental and health concern. In this context, carbonaceous nanomaterials have emerged as a promising material for the fabrication of electrochemical biosensors as they provide remarkable characteristics such as lightweight, high surface: volume, excellent conductivity, extraordinary tensile strength, and biocompatibility. This review outlines the current status of the applications of carbonaceous nanomaterials (CNTs, graphene, etc.) based enzymatic electrochemical biosensors for the detection of PhCs. Efforts have also been made to discuss the mechanism of action of the laccase enzyme for the detection of PhCs. The limitations, advanced emerging carbon-based material, current state of artificial intelligence in PhCs detection, and future scopes have also been summarized.

Network intrusion detection is a vital element of cybersecurity, focusing on identification of malicious activities within computer networks. With the increasing complexity of cyber-attacks and the vast volume of network data being spawned, traditional intrusion detection methods are becoming less effective. In response, machine learning has emerged as a promising solution to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of intrusion detection. This abstract provides an overview of proper utilization of machine learning techniques in intrusion detection and its associated benefits. The base paper explores various machine learning algorithms employed for intrusion detection and evaluates their performance. Findings indicate that machine learning algorithms exhibit a significant improvement in intrusion detection accuracy compared to traditional methods, achieving an accuracy rate of approximately 90 percent. It is worth noting that the previous work experienced computational challenges due to the time-consuming nature of the utilized algorithm when processing datasets. In this paper, we propose the exertion of more efficient algorithms to compute datasets, resulting in reduced processing time and increased precision compared to other algorithms to provide sustainability. This approach proves particularly when computational resources are limited or when the relationship between features and target variables is relatively straightforward.

Role of free radicals has been proposed in the pathogenesis of many diseases. Gastric cancer is a common disease worldwide, and leading cause of cancer death in India. Severe oxidative stress produces reactive oxygen species (ROS) and induces uncontrolled lipid peroxidation. Albumin, uric acid (UA) and Bilirubin are important physiological antioxidants. We aimed to evaluate and assess the role of oxidative stress (OS) and physiological antioxidant system in stomach cancer patients. Lipid peroxidation measured as plasma Thio Barbituric Acid Reactive substances (TBARS), was found to be elevated significantly (p=0.001) in stomach cancer compared to controls along with a decrease in plasma physiological antioxidant system. The documented results were due to increased lipid peroxidation and involvement of physiological antioxidants in scavenging free radicals but not because of impaired hepatic and renal functions.

The separation of solid particles from gas-solid process streams is an important unit operation in many chemical processes. Out of the many different types of separation equipment that are used for gas-solid separation, cyclone separators are widely used for their operational flexibility, efficiency and capital cost. This study focused on the design of an optimal configuration for several cyclones used in a fertilizer plant. The granulation step in the fertilizer plant leads to using different size cyclones and a different number of cyclones in series or parallel or a mix of both arrangements. A Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP) model is formulated to find the best cyclone arrangement with the optimal number of cyclones and dimensions from several combinations of 1D3D and 2D2D cyclones arranged in parallel-series for a high volume and heavy loading of solid particles. The objective function was to minimize the total cost, including the operating cost and the capital cost. The results indicated that a maximum of 90% efficiency is achieved with a parallel-series arrangement of 1D3D and 2D2D cyclones to be an optimal configuration for the maximum reduction in pollution level.

Present article emphasizes, harmonic frequency characteristics of functionally graded (FG) curved panels in rectangular and tilted planforms are investigated. A micromechanical material model is used through power-law based Voigt’s material model. A mathematical formulation is formulated in the form of rectangular/tilted FG curved panels using third-order shear deformation mid-plane kinematic theory (TOSDT). The final form of equilibrium equation of vibrated curved panel is governed through Hamilton’s principle and solved simultaneously using finite element (FE) approach via 9-noded element. To show the adaptability of present finite element solution generated outcomes are compared with the earlier reported results. In addition, new results are exemplified to exhibit the significance of power-law index, shallowness ratio, aspect ratio, side to thickness ratio and support condition on the frequency responses of FG flat and spherical shell panel in rectangular and tilted planforms. Keywords: FGM, Free vibration, Tilted panels, TOSDT, FEM

Abstract The emerging demand for wearable, lightweight portable devices has led to the development of new materials for flexible electronics using non‐rigid substrates. In this context, nanomaterial‐modified conducting paper (CP) represents a new concept that utilizes paper as a functional part in various devices. Paper has drawn significant interest among the research community because it is ubiquitous, cheap, and environmentally friendly. This review provides information on the basic characteristics of paper and its functionalization with nanomaterials, methodology for device fabrication, and their various applications. It also highlights some of the exciting applications of CP in point‐of‐care diagnostics for biomedical applications. Furthermore, recent challenges and opportunities in paper‐based devices are summarized.

Background: Respiratory tract infections are a common occurrence after open heart surgery, leading to prolonged hospital stay, morbidity and costing the hospital exchequer. This study was conducted to study the utility of postextubation endotracheal tube [ET] tip culture in providing an early-basis for starting evidence-based antibiotic therapy. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the case records of 172 patients who had undergone heart surgery at our tertiary care teaching hospital for occurrence of post-operative infections from clinical and microbiological data. Results: Bacterial culture was positive in 67(39%) patients. Endotracheal tube patients, grew organisms that were sensitive to empirical antibiotic therapy, in 39 (58%) patients. In 28 (42%) patients organisms resistant to empirical therapy were grown; only 14 of the 28 patients (50%) were symptomatic. Staphylococcus was the most common organism isolated followed by Acinetobacter and Enterobacter. Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates were sensitive to all the antibiotics tested. Resistance was high among Acinetobacter sp. All the Gram-negative bacteria were sensitive to tigecycline. Resistance for beta-lactam antibiotics ranged from 35%-66% with imipenem being the most effective antibiotic. Conclusion: Our observations provide useful information regarding the microbiology of respiratory infection occurring in post-operative patients who had undergone open-heart surgery. Post-extubation endotracheal tip culture appears to be a useful tool for reliable and accurate diagnosis and treatment of these infections.

Background: Blood serves as a vehicle for transmission of blood-borne pathogens including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV). The present study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of these transfusion transmitted infections (TTIs) in blood donors. Methods: All blood donors presenting to the blood bank at our tertiary care teaching hospital were screened for HIV, HBV and HCV by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method. Results: During the period January to December 2014, 9958 blood donors were screened for viral markers. The prevalence of HIV, HBsAg and HCV was 0.36%, 1.67%, and 0.56% respectively. Conclusions: Although multiple critical steps are taken to minimize the risk of infection from transfusion of blood or blood products, this risk can never be entirely eliminated. Stringent donor selection, proper counseling and deferral/ self exclusion may reduce the seroreactivity in donated blood and wastage of resources.

Background: Blood serves as a vehicle for transmission of blood-borne pathogens including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), malaria parasite (MP) and syphilis. Safe blood and blood products should be transfused to all patients in need for blood transfusion. Material and Methods: All blood donors attending to the blood bank during the period January 2009 to December 2014 were screened for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), anti HCV antibody, anti HIV-1, 2 antibodies and HIV p24 antigen by using the appropriate enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method and further confirmed using an ELISA kit from a different manufacturer. Malarial antigen testing was done by rapid diagnostic device, which is based on immunochromatographic technique. The rapid plasma reagin (RPR) test was used for estimation of syphilis infection and further confirmed by Treponema pallidum haemagglutination assay (TPHA). Results: Of the 41,785 donors who were screened during the study period, 20 (0.05%) were reactive for different combination of infections. The various combination of infections seen were as follows; HBV+HCV and HBV+HIV (6/20) each, HIV+HCV (3/20), HIV + syphilis (2/20) and HBV+HIV+HCV, HBV+MP, HBV+syphilis (1/20 each); and HIV+Syphilis constituted for 10% (2/20). Conclusion: A properly conducted donor screening, notification and counseling of permanently deferred donors will help in reducing these co-infection rates.

One of the repeating themes around the provision of the knowledge and skills needed for delivering sustainable communities is the idea of a “common language” for all built environment professionals. This suggestion has been repeated regularly with each new political and professional review within and between different sectors responsible for the delivery of sustainable communities. There have been multiple efforts to address academic limitations, industry fragmentation and promote more interdisciplinary working and sector collaboration. This research explored the role of skills for sustainable communities, particularly within the higher education (HE) sector, and the responses to support the development of a “common language of sustainability” that can be shared between different sectors, professional disciplines and stakeholders. As an interdisciplinary group of academics and practitioners working with the HE sector in the North East of England, we evaluate the progression of sector collaboration to develop a quintuple helix model for HE. We use this as a suitable framework for systematically “mapping” out the mixed sector (academic, public, business, community and environmental organisations) inputs and influences into a representative sample of HE degree modules that are delivered from foundation and undergraduate to postgraduate levels, including examples of part-time and distance-learning modules. We developed a cascade of models which demonstrate increasing levels of collaboration and their potential positive impact on the effectiveness of education on sustainable communities. The methodological assessments of modules were followed by semi-structured group reflective analysis undertaken through a series of online workshops (recorded during the Covid19 lockdown) to set out a collective understanding of the generic skills needed for the delivery of sustainable communities. These generic skills for sustainable communities are presented as a pedagogical progression model of teaching activities and learning outcomes applied to the levels within HE. We propose sustainability education principles and progressions with the hope that they can have an impact on the design or review of current degree modules and programmes. The paper informs future sustainability research to be grounded in holism and systems thinking; better understanding of values, ethics, influencing and political impact; and procedural authenticity.

Social media is a popular platform for information sharing. Any piece of information can be spread rapidly across the globe at lightning speed. The biggest challenge for social media platforms like Twitter is how to trust news shared on them when there is no systematic news verification process, which is the case for traditional media. Detecting false information, for example, detection of rumors is a non-trivial task, given the fast-paced social media environment. In this work, we proposed an ensemble model, which performs majority-voting scheme on a collection of predictions of neural networks using time-series vector representation of Twitter data for fast detection of rumors. Experimental results show that proposed neural network models outperformed classical machine learning models in terms of micro F1 score. When compared to our previous works the improvements are 12.5% and 7.9%, respectively.

Introduction: Blood transfusion is a life-saving measure in emergencies and is important for the medical treatment of every patient. Among all adverse effects of transfusion, transfusion transmitted infections (TTI) are very important. Accurate estimations on risk of TTI are needed, in order to monitor the safety of the blood supply. Aim: The objective of the present study is to analyze the seroreactivity for TTI of apparently healthy blood donors. Study Design: It is a retrospective cross sectional analytical study carried out in the Department of Transfusion Medicine at Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences (SVIMS), Tirupati; Andhra Pradesh State, a tertiary care teaching hospital from January 2009 to December 2014. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted on 41,942 blood donors. All blood donors were screened for hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by using the appropriate enzymelinked immunosorbent assay and reactive donors were retested using a standard immunochromatographic technique. Malarial antigen testing was carried by rapid diagnostic device, which was based on immunochromatographic technique. The rapid plasma reagin (RPR) test was used for estimation of syphilis infection. Results: A total of 41,942 blood donors were screened during the study period, of which 40,718 (97.1%) were males and 1,224 (2.9%) were females. The overall seroprevalence of TTI were 3.5% among these HIV, HBV and HCV were 0.7%, 2.3% and 0.4% respectively; for malaria and syphilis, the seroprevalence was estimated to be 0.02% and 0.05% respectively. Conclusion: The risk of TTI remains despite of serological testing because of donors window period. Steps should be under taken to prevent these transmissions by careful selection of potential blood donors through a health history questionnaire and create opportunities for self-deferral.

Introduction: Each unit of blood is precious and has to be utilized properly with minimal discards. The aim of this study was to find out the reasons for discarding blood and blood components. Materials and Methods: We retrospectively studied all whole blood and blood components collected during January 2013 to June 2014 at our tertiary care teaching hospital blood bank in South India. Results: Of the 5261 whole blood bags, 298 (5.7%) were discarded. Of these, 146 (49%) were discarded because of seroreactivity for transfusion transmitted infections (TTI). Of the 19586 blood components prepared, 1449 (7.4%) were discarded. Among blood components discarded, most common units were platelets (16.3%). The most common cause of discarding the blood components was due to expired date (36.9%). Conclusion: A properly conducted donor screening, notification and counselling of permanently deferred donors will help in discarding less number of bags which are positive for different TTI. Properly implemented blood transfusion policies will help to utilize the blood components in a proper way resulting in discarding the less number of blood bags due to expiry.

Background: The ABO and Rhesus (Rh) blood group systems are important for transfusion of blood and its components, organ transplantation, genetic studies and in medico-legal issues. Despite the long list of several other blood groups discovered so far, the knowledge and distribution of ABO and Rh-D blood group are essential for effective management of blood bank inventory. Methods: We retrospectively studied the distribution of ABO and Rh blood group antigens in donors presenting to our tertiary care teaching hospital blood bank in south India during the period January 2007 to August 2014. Blood group was determined by commercially available standard monoclonal antisera by test tube agglutination technique. Results: A total of 49,110 donor samples were tested during the study period for ABO grouping and Rh-D typing. Out of these 96.9% were males. The frequency of O, B, A, AB and Bombay blood groups were 41.7%, 32.2% 20%, 6.1% and 0.03% respectively. Rh (D) positive and negative blood groups were seen in 92.8% and 7.2% respectively. The allele frequencies of the I A , IB and IO alleles were 0.1398, 0.2148 and 0.6454 respectively. In case of Rh-D group, the calculated gene frequencies for ID and Id were 0.7321 and 0.2679 respectively. Conclusion: Knowledge of blood group systems as documented in the present study helps in efficient management of blood bank and transfusion services in emergencies.

BACKGROUND: Copper (Cu), an essential trace mineral regulating multiple actions of inflammation and oxidative stress, has been implicated in risk for preterm birth (PTB). OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to determine the association of maternal Cu concentration during pregnancy with PTB risk and gestational duration in a large multicohort study including diverse populations. METHODS: Maternal plasma or serum samples of 10,449 singleton live births were obtained from 18 geographically diverse study cohorts. Maternal Cu concentrations were determined using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The associations of maternal Cu with PTB and gestational duration were analyzed using logistic and linear regressions for each cohort. The estimates were then combined using meta-analysis. Associations between maternal Cu and acute-phase reactants (APRs) and infection status were analyzed in 1239 samples from the Malawi cohort. RESULTS: The maternal prenatal Cu concentration in our study samples followed normal distribution with mean of 1.92 μg/mL and standard deviation of 0.43 μg/mL, and Cu concentrations increased with gestational age up to 20 wk. The random-effect meta-analysis across 18 cohorts revealed that 1 μg/mL increase in maternal Cu concentration was associated with higher risk of PTB with odds ratio of 1.30 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.08, 1.57) and shorter gestational duration of 1.64 d (95% CI: 0.56, 2.73). In the Malawi cohort, higher maternal Cu concentration, concentrations of multiple APRs, and infections (malaria and HIV) were correlated and associated with greater risk of PTB and shorter gestational duration. CONCLUSIONS: Our study supports robust negative association between maternal Cu and gestational duration and positive association with risk for PTB. Cu concentration was strongly correlated with APRs and infection status suggesting its potential role in inflammation, a pathway implicated in the mechanisms of PTB. Therefore, maternal Cu could be used as potential marker of integrated inflammatory pathways during pregnancy and risk for PTB.

n -Alkanes and fatty acids are important molecular markers for the source apportionment of organic matter in the atmosphere. Traditional approaches to date have mostly relied upon the source-specific differences in their molecular distributions and carbon preference index. Alternatively, we demonstrate here the use of stable carbon and radiocarbon isotopic composition ( δ ^13 C and Δ ^14 C, respectively) of n -alkanes and n -fatty acids in aerosols from two urban receptor sites (Beijing and Tianjin) in Northeast China to assess their sources in autumn. The Δ ^14 C _n _-alkanes of C _19 –C _24 and C _26 –C _32 even-carbon homologs (−851 to −708‰) indicate their dominance from fossil fuel combustion. In contrast, the Δ ^14 C of most abundant palmitic acid (C _16:0 ) and stearic acid (C _18:0 ) suggest a larger contribution from nonfossil sources (∼91%–94%), mainly due to inputs from cooking, biomass burning and microorganisms. Compared with lower Δ ^14 C of C _27 and C _31 n -alkanes (−449‰), C _29 n -alkane (−241‰) and C _20 –C _30 n -fatty acids (−263‰) showed more contemporary likely due to significant contribution from plant litter and biomass burning that contain more fresh biogenic material. Fossil character of C _27 –C _31 n -alkanes (40%) and C _20 –C _30 n -fatty acids (30%) could be from soil resuspension and/or loess deposits in upwind regions through long-range atmospheric transport.

Cleidocranial dysplasia (CCD) is a rare autosomal dominant skeletal disease, which is caused by mutation in the gene on 6p21 encoding transcription factor CBFA1, i.e runt-related transcription factor 2 (RUNX2). The disease is characterized by a persistently open anterior fontanelle and skull sutures, hypoplastic or aplastic clavicles, dental abnormalities, short stature, a wide pubic symphysis and a variety of other skeletal changes. A major finding of CCD is hypoplasia or aplasia of clavicular bones resulting in the ability of the patient to approximate the shoulders. Delayed closure of the anterior fontanelle and of metopic sutures causes frontal bossing. We report a rare case of CCD in a 15-year-old boy and in his father and emphasize the importance of clinical and radiographic findings in CCD.

The Women's Center of Jamaica Foundation's (WCJF) Programme for Adolescent Mothers)--has supported pregnant girls and adolescent mothers to have uninterrupted access to education and allied services since 1978. This paper analyzes the conception, establishment, scale up and sustainability of the Programme. The Programme evolved from a small, local initiative into a national and international model. Repeat pregnancy has remained under 2% among programme beneficiaries since inception. While the core package of interventions has remained for the past 40 years, some new dimensions have been added, with the most recent one being support for transition to higher education, all of which are aimed at strengthening the impact of the Programme. The achievements of the Programme were propelled prominently by a progressive national policy environment with the support of several non-state actors. The PAM demonstrates the value of sustained cross-sectoral support, spearheaded, or fully supported by the state in providing opportunities for adolescent mothers.