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Abstract Lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) are used globally as a key component of clean and sustainable energy infrastructure, and emerging LiB technologies have incorporated a class of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) known as bis-perfluoroalkyl sulfonimides (bis-FASIs). PFAS are recognized internationally as recalcitrant contaminants, a subset of which are known to be mobile and toxic, but little is known about environmental impacts of bis-FASIs released during LiB manufacture, use, and disposal. Here we demonstrate that environmental concentrations proximal to manufacturers, ecotoxicity, and treatability of bis-FASIs are comparable to PFAS such as perfluorooctanoic acid that are now prohibited and highly regulated worldwide, and we confirm the clean energy sector as an unrecognized and potentially growing source of international PFAS release. Results underscore that environmental impacts of clean energy infrastructure merit scrutiny to ensure that reduced CO2 emissions are not achieved at the expense of increasing global releases of persistent organic pollutants.

Current approaches to biosignal handling in a medical environment increasingly rely on machine learning, which requires precise annotations. In multi-centric annotation scenarios, the diversity in annotation protocols leads to imprecise semantics of the annotations. This context shows the need for interoperable annotations, that can be reused with little cost across different protocols. The presented free and open-source software is an application for handling biosignals. It implements a novel method to add asynchronous and interoperable annotations with precise semantics. The annotations are stored in Allotrope Data Format (ADF), a structure based on the Hierarchical Data Format (HDF5). It allows for high performance I/O and aggregating of related patient data (e.g. different acquisition modalities). This research tool can be used solely in a web browser to facilitate integration in more complete environments.

Abstract In nature, microorganisms often reside in symbiotic co‐existence providing nutrition, stability, and protection for each partner by applying “division of labor.” This principle may also be used for the overproduction of targeted compounds in bioprocesses. It requires the engineering of a synthetic co‐culture with distributed tasks for each partner. Thereby, the competition on precursors, redox cofactors, and energy—which occurs in a single host—is prevented. Current applications often focus on unidirectional interactions, that is, the product of partner A is used for the completion of biosynthesis by partner B. Here, we present a synthetically engineered Escherichia coli co‐culture of two engineered mutant strains marked by the essential interaction of the partners which is achieved by implemented auxotrophies. The tryptophan auxotrophic strain E. coli ANT‐3, only requiring small amounts of the aromatic amino acid, provides the auxotrophic anthranilate for the tryptophan producer E. coli TRP‐3. The latter produces a surplus of tryptophan which is used to showcase the suitability of the co‐culture to access related products in future applications. Co‐culture characterization revealed that the microbial consortium is remarkably functionally stable for a broad range of inoculation ratios. The range of robust and functional interaction may even be extended by proper glucose feeding which was shown in a two‐compartment bioreactor setting with filtrate exchange. This system even enables the use of the co‐culture in a parallel two‐level temperature setting which opens the door to access temperature sensitive products via heterologous production in E. coli in a continuous manner.

ContextDeveloping brain imaging is a critical subject for infants born preterm. Impaired brain growth is correlated with poor neurological outcomes, regardless of overt brain lesions, such as hemorrhage or leukomalacia. As magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) remains a research tool for assessing regional brain volumes, two-dimensional metrics (2D metrics) provide a reliable estimation of brain structures. In neonatal intensive care, cerebral ultrasound (cUS) is routinely performed to assess brain integrity. This prospective work has compared US and MRI accuracy for the measurement of 2D brain metrics and identification of overt injuries.MethodsMRI and cUS were performed at term equivalent age (TEA) in infants born before 32 weeks of gestation (GW). Demographical data and results of serial cUS (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit [NICU]-US) performed during hospitalization were gathered from medical charts. Blinded, experienced senior doctors reviewed the scans for both standard analysis and standardized, 2D measurements. The correlation of 2D metrics and inter-/intraobserver agreements were evaluated using Pearson’s coefficient, Bland-Altman plots, and intraclass coefficient (ICC), respectively.ResultsIn total, 102 infants born preterm were included. The performance of “TEA-cUS and NICU-cUS” when compared to “TEA-MRI and NICU-cUS” was identical for the detection of high-grade hemorrhages and close for low-grade ones. However, TEA-MRI only detected nodular lesions of the white matter (WM). No infant presented a cerebellar infarct on imaging. Intra- and inter-observer agreements were excellent for all 2D metrics except for the corpus callosum width (CCW) and anteroposterior vermis diameter. MRI and cUS showed good to excellent correlation for brain and bones biparietal diameters, corpus callosum length (CCL), transcerebellar diameters (TCDs), and lateral ventricle diameters. Measures of CCW and vermis dimensions were poorly correlated.Conclusion and perspectiveThe cUS is a reliable tool to assess selected 2D measurements in the developing brain. Repetition of these metrics by serial cUS during NICU stay would allow the completion of growth charts for several brain structures. Further studies will assess whether these charts are relevant markers of neurological outcome.

Abstract. Background:. Acute thrombosis of the superior mesenteric vein (SMV) is a rare but potentially catastrophic condition. Clinically separate from portal venous thrombosis due to a higher proportion of associated thrombophilic disorders and intestinal infarction, SMV thrombosis warrants a distinct approach to management. The aim of this review is to report the evidence for current practice. Methods:. A systematic review was carried out in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Four clinical trials databases and 4 trial registries were searched. This search was not limited by language or study type, but was limited to an adult population (18 years and above). The search period was between January 1, 2000 and February 28, 2019. The review was registered in the PROSPERO database: CRD42018116825. Bias was assessed using the ROBINS-I tool. Results:. A total of 7989 studies were identified, resulting in 19 observational studies being analyzed. Eighteen studies reported on anti-coagulation, 1 reported on anti-coagulation plus endovascular thrombectomy, 9 reported on thrombolysis, and 10 reported on the role of surgery. Bias assessment showed that confounding was a significant area of potential bias. This review has reported that the management of SMV thrombosis is centered around a patients’ perceived hemodynamic stability. If there is evidence of perforation or peritonism then surgical intervention is advocated. Otherwise, anti-coagulation or thrombolysis is preferred. Conclusions:. The data reported were compared with, and added to, that presented by the European Society for Vascular Surgery 2017 guidelines. Overall the source data were heterogenous, with multiple sources of bias and statistical comparison was not achievable.

Pediatric morbidity from meningitis remains considerable. Preventing complications is a major challenge to improve neurological outcome. Seizures may reveal the meningitis itself or some complications of this disease. Amplitude-integrated electroencephalography (aEEG) is gaining interest for the management of patients with acute neurological distress, beyond the neonatal age. This study aimed at evaluating the predictive value of aEEG monitoring during the acute phase in meningitis among a population of infants hospitalized in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), and at assessing the practicability of the technique. AEEG records of 25 infants younger than one year of age hospitalized for meningitis were retrospectively analyzed and correlated to clinical data and outcome. Recording was initiated, on average, within the first six hours for n = 18 (72%) patients, and overall quality was considered as good. Occurrence of seizure, of status epilepticus, and the background pattern were significantly associated with unfavorable neurological outcomes. AEEG may help in the management and prognostic assessment of pediatric meningitis. It is an easily achievable, reliable technique, and allows detection of subclinical seizures with minimal training. However, it is important to consider the limitations of aEEG, and combinate it with conventional EEG for the best accuracy.

A pandemic linked to the new coronavirus strain (SARS-CoV-2) has been raging for several months. Pediatric populations are less impacted than adults, and critical respiratory diseases seem rare (1, 2). We report the case of an infant, who presented with life-threatening apneas at home requiring basic life support. SARS-CoV-2 was subsequently identified in the patient's nasopharyngeal aspirate. He did not present with bronchiolitis or hypoxic failure as described in severe forms of COVID−19. The outcome was favorable in a few hours. The occurrence of apneas is not uncommon during viral respiratory infections in early infancy; however, there are very few descriptions related to a documented SARS-CoV-2 respiratory tract infection. In light of this clinical case, it seems necessary to quickly bring up a potential COVID-19 contamination in infants admitted for life-threatening apnea, in order to properly report and isolate these patients to avoid further nosocomial dissemination of SARS-CoV-2.

Background: Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a key tool for the prognostication of encephalic newborns in the context of hypoxic−ischemic events. The purpose of this study was to finely characterize brain injuries in this context. Methods: We provided a complete, descriptive analysis of the brain MRIs of infants included in the French national, multicentric cohort LyTONEPAL. Results: Among 794 eligible infants, 520 (65.5%) with MRI before 12 days of life, grade II or III encephalopathy and gestational age ≥36 weeks were included. Half of the population had a brain injury (52.4%); MRIs were acquired before 6 days of life among 247 (47.5%) newborns. The basal ganglia (BGT), white matter (WM) and cortex were the three predominant sites of injuries, affecting 33.8% (n = 171), 33.5% (n = 166) and 25.6% (n = 128) of participants, respectively. The thalamus and the periventricular WM were the predominant sublocations. The BGT, posterior limb internal capsule, brainstem and cortical injuries appeared more frequently in the early MRI group than in the late MRI group. Conclusion: This study described an overview of brain injuries in hypoxic−ischemic neonatal encephalopathy. The basal ganglia with the thalamus and the WM with periventricular sublocation injuries were predominant. Comprehensive identification of brain injuries in the context of HIE may provide insight into the mechanism and time of occurrence.

Preterm birth disrupts the in utero environment, preventing the brain from fully developing, thereby causing later cognitive and behavioral disorders. Such cerebral alteration occurs beneath an anatomical scale, and is therefore undetectable by conventional imagery. Prematurity impairs the microstructure and thus the histological process responsible for the maturation, including the myelination. Cerebral MRI diffusion tensor imaging sequences, based on water’s motion into the brain, allows a representation of this maturation process. Similarly, the brain’s connections become disorganized. The connectome gathers structural and anatomical white matter fibers, as well as functional networks referring to remote brain regions connected one over another. Structural and functional connectivity is illustrated by tractography and functional MRI, respectively. Their organizations consist of core nodes connected by edges. This basic distribution is already established in the fetal brain. It evolves greatly over time but is compromised by prematurity. Finally, cerebral plasticity is nurtured by a lifetime experience at microstructural and macrostructural scales. A preterm birth causes a negative and early disruption, though it can be partly mitigated by positive stimuli based on developmental neonatal care.

Abstract Background Functional neuroimaging research in autism spectrum disorder has reported patterns of decreased long-range, within-network, and interhemispheric connectivity. Research has also reported increased corticostriatal connectivity and between-network connectivity for default and attentional networks. Past studies have excluded individuals with autism and low verbal and cognitive performance (LVCP), so connectivity in individuals more significantly affected with autism has not yet been studied. This represents a critical gap in our understanding of brain function across the autism spectrum. Methods Using behavioral support procedures adapted from Nordahl, et al. (J Neurodev Disord 8:20–20, 2016), we completed non-sedated structural and functional MRI scans of 56 children ages 7–17, including LVCP children (n = 17, mean IQ = 54), children with autism and higher performance (HVCP, n = 20, mean IQ = 106), and neurotypical children (NT, n = 19, mean IQ = 111). Preparation included detailed intake questionnaires, video modeling, behavioral and anxiety reduction techniques, active noise-canceling headphones, and in-scan presentation of the Inscapes movie paradigm from Vanderwal et al. (Neuroimage 122:222–32, 2015). A high temporal resolution multiband echoplanar fMRI protocol analyzed motion-free time series data, extracted from concatenated volumes to mitigate the influence of motion artifact. All participants had > 200 volumes of motion-free fMRI scanning. Analyses were corrected for multiple comparisons. Results LVCP showed decreased within-network connectivity in default, salience, auditory, and frontoparietal networks (LVCP

Am Beispiel des Publikumsverlags C.H.Beck zeigt dieser Beitrag, wie und unter welchen Rahmenbedingungen digitale Bibliotheksangebote entstehen in Verlagen, deren Veröffentlichungen sich nicht primär an akademisch arbeitende Leser richten. Nach einer Vorbemerkung zu den Zielgruppen der verschieden Verlagsbereiche von C.H.Beck und die sich daraus ergebende historische Entwicklung digitaler Angebote legt der Beitrag dar, wie es zur Entwicklung des spezifischen Bibliotheksangebots „C.H.Beck eLibrary“ kam und welche Erwägungen bei der Preisfindung für dieses Angebot eine Rolle gespielt haben. Besondere Aufmerksamkeit gilt dabei den Kalkulationsgrundlagen in Publikumsverlagen sowie den relevanten rechtlichen und ökonomischen Umständen im Buchmarkt. Using the trade imprint C.H.Beck as example, this article shows how and under which restrictions digital library offers are created by publishers whose publications are not primarily focused on academic readers. Following introductory remarks regarding the target groups of the various C.H.Beck publishing divisions and on the consequential historical development of its digital offers, the article describes how the specific library offer “C.H.Beck eLibrary” was developed and which considerations were important in determining its pricing. Particular attention is given to cost factors in trade publishing and to relevant legal and economic conditions in book publishing.

BackgroundDepending on the initial pathology, hypovolemia, intra-abdominal hypertension, and sepsis are often encountered in neonatal digestive surgery. Accurate newborn monitoring during and after surgery is essential to adapt resuscitation protocols. Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is non-invasive and can detect hypoperfusion which indicates a low circulatory blood flow, regardless of the cause.ObjectiveEvaluating changes in cerebral and renal regional oxygen saturation during neonatal digestive surgeries, conducted according to normal practices, with commonly used monitoring parameters. Analyzing retrospectively the inter-relationships between NIRS values and mean arterial pressure (MAP) values as well as pre-ductal SpO2.MethodsProspective, descriptive, monocentric study. All neonates referred for surgery were included. NIRS allows the measurement of cerebral and renal oxygenation fluctuations, as well as calculating difference in intraoperative and postoperative values.ResultsNineteen patients were included. Cerebral regional oxygen saturation (C rSO2) values were stable while renal regional oxygen saturation (R rSO2) values tended to decrease with time during surgery. Indeed, 72% of rSO2 decline episodes occurred after the first 30 min of surgery, without any significant statistical differences for the next 90 min of surgery. After surgery, the lowest average C and R rSO2 values were evidenced during the first 6 h, with 60% of C rSO2 and R rSO2 anomalies occurring in that time frame. There was no significant statistical difference observed in the following 18 h. There was a significant correlation between R rSO2 and SpO2 values (p

The COVID-19 pandemic caused an abrupt change in educational programs worldwide, including workforce development education in community colleges. Given the hands-on requirements of these programs, considerations for changes included if and how instructors and students could maintain academic continuity during the pandemic. This article focuses on aviation maintenance technology schools (AMTS) as a case study to understand how programs that rely heavily on hands-on learning responded to COVID-19 significant disruption to education. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) must approve educational training for aviation maintenance careers, and the FAA requires specific hands-on activities in the curriculum. Of the 182 AMTS in the United States, 143 are located within community colleges. We conducted 43 interviews with AMTS students, administrators, and instructors from 18 different community colleges. Following content analysis of the interviews, the authors identified six findings related to how these programs responded to the pandemic, with special attention to maintaining academic stability. The article advocates for integrating digital learning tools (DLT) to create resilient educational programs when disruptions occur. These tools allow for students to continue to asynchronously practice the procedures and familiarize themselves with the materials needed for projects, provide students immediate feedback on their learning, and save schools money on expensive resources when students require extra practice on certain skills and processes. The application of these tools is relevant beyond the pandemic, helping students in many scenarios succeed in the face of natural disasters, family obligations, and the need for extra learning resources.

Loneliness is a complex human trait that is highly polygenic and found to affect gene expression related to inflammatory and immunological functioning. To date, no epigenome-wide association studies of loneliness have tested whether differentially methylated sites are annotated to genes associated with inflammatory and immunological processes. Using 281 individual adult twins’ DNA methylation data from the Louisville Twin Study, we performed an epigenome-wide analysis of loneliness to address this gap in the literature. In the discovery analysis, 169 twins were used to prioritize probes and test associations with DNA methylation age acceleration, and 56 independent monozygotic (MZ) twin pairs (112 individuals) were used in a within-family replication analysis. Among the 837,274 sites analyzed, no probe sites were statistically significant at the genome-wide level (p

Abstract Pending questions regarding cochlear amplification and tuning are hinged upon the organ of Corti (OoC) active mechanics: how outer hair cells modulate OoC vibrations. Our knowledge regarding OoC mechanics has advanced over the past decade thanks to the application of tomographic vibrometry. However, recent data from live cochlea experiments often led to diverging interpretations due to complicated interaction between passive and active responses, lack of image resolution in vibrometry, and ambiguous measurement angles. We present motion measurements and analyses of the OoC sub-components at the close-to-true cross-section, measured from acutely excised gerbil cochleae. Specifically, we focused on the vibrating patterns of the reticular lamina, the outer pillar cell, and the basilar membrane because they form a structural frame encasing active outer hair cells. For passive transmission, the OoC frame serves as a rigid truss. In contrast, motile outer hair cells exploit their frame structures to deflect the upper compartment of the OoC while minimally disturbing its bottom side (basilar membrane). Such asymmetric OoC vibrations due to outer hair cell motility explain how recent observations deviate from the classical cochlear amplification theory.

A microwave-assisted synthesis of dialkyl and cyclic H-phosphonates via bis(2,2,2 trifluoroethyl) phosphonate (BTFEP) is described. This method enables the synthesis of various cyclic H-phosphonates and hetero-substituted dialkyl H-phosphonates by simple alcoholysis under non-inert and additive-free conditions. Short reaction times and the requirement for only stoichiometric amounts of alcohol render this method attractive for synthetic applications.

The redox reactions of various lanthanide metals with 3-(4-pyridyl)pyrazole (4-PyPzH) or 3-(3-pyridyl)pyrazole (3-PyPzH) ligands yield the 2D network ∞2[Eu(4-PyPz)2(Py)2] containing divalent europium, the 3D frameworks ∞3[Ln(4-PyPz)3] and ∞3[Ln(3-PyPz)3] for trivalent cerium, praseodymium, neodymium, holmium, erbium, and thulium as well as ∞3[La(4-PyPz)3], and the 2D networks ∞2[Ln(4-PyPz)3(Py)] for trivalent cerium and thulium and ∞2[Ln2(4-PyPz)6]·Py for trivalent ytterbium and lutetium. The 18 lanthanide coordination polymers were synthesized under solvothermal conditions in pyridine (Py), partly acting as a co-ligand for some networks. The compounds exhibit a variety of luminescence properties, including metal-centered 4f–4f/5d–4f emission in the visible and near-infrared spectral range, metal-to-ligand energy transfer, and ligand-centered fluorescence and phosphorescence. The anionic ligands 3-PyPz− and 4-PyPz− serve as suitable antennas for lanthanide-based luminescence in the visible and near-infrared range through effective sensitization followed by emission through intra–4f transitions of the trivalent thulium, holmium, praseodymium, erbium, and neodymium. ∞2[Ce(4-PyPz)3(Py)], ∞3[Ce(4-PyPz)3], and ∞3[Ce(3-PyPz)3] exhibit strong degrees of reduction in the 5d excited states that differ in intensity compared to the ligand-based emission, resulting in a distinct emission ranging from pink to orange. The direct current magnetic studies show magnetic isolation of the lanthanide centers in the crystal lattice of ∞3[Ln(3-PyPz)3], Ln = Dy, Ho, and Er.

Abstract The purpose of this study was to determine how sensory neurons respond to high‐frequency membrane potential alternation between depolarization and hyperpolarization. Membrane currents were recorded from dissociated dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons of adult rats using the whole cell patch clamp technique in voltage clamp mode. Stepwise depolarization of the membrane was applied first to determine the threshold membrane potential for inducing an action potential (AP) current. Then, membrane potential alternation between depolarization (to +20 mV) and hyperpolarization (to −110 mV) was applied to the neuron for 10 s at different frequencies (10 Hz to 1 kHz). The tested DRG neurons had APs of either a long duration (>10 ms) or a short duration (

Machine learning and specifically deep learning techniques address many of the issues faced in visual object detection and classification tasks. However, they have the caveat of needing large amounts of annotated training data. In the maritime domain one may encounter objects fairly infrequently, depending on weather and location. This creates an issue of data collection. Areas such as harbors and channels see a lot of traffic, but the ships are of a specific class. Furthermore, the variability of the buoys from region to region and within regions is difficult and expensive to sample. Thus the amount and quality of available data is severely lacking. Furthermore very few publicly available maritime datasets exist In this work, we present a novel approach that detects possible “poor” training samples and automatically re-annotates them, based on the current state of the object detector. We show the applicability of our approach on real-life maritime data and show that the poor annotation quality of the datasets used can be mitigated. We show performance gain with respect to a baseline approach is proportional to the amount of poorly annotated data in the dataset. When 25% of the data is poor we achieve a 5.5%, 13.7%, and 8.0% increase in performance on 3 separate datasets, compared to a baseline model. With 50% noise we reach 58.5%, 18.7% and 94.2% increase respectively. Our approach also allows for the iterative improvement of a given dataset by providing a set of pseudo-annotations to replace the current incorrect ones.

The title hydrated copper(I)–l-cysteine–chloride complex has a polymeric structure of composition {[Cu16(CysH2)6Cl16]·xH2O}n [CysH2 = HO2CCH(NH3+)CH2S− or C3H7NO2S], namely, poly[[tetra-μ3-chlorido-deca-μ2-chlorido-dichloridohexakis(μ4-l-cysteinato)hexadecacopper] polyhydrate]. The copper atoms are linked by thiolate groups to form Cu12S6 nanoclusters that take the form of a tetrakis cuboctahedron, made up of a Cu12 cubo-octahedral subunit that is augmented by six sulfur atoms that are located symmetrically atop of each of the Cu4 square units of the Cu12 cubo-octahedron. The six S atoms thus form an octahedral subunit themselves. The exterior of the Cu12S6 sphere is decorated by chloride ions and trichlorocuprate units. Three chloride ions are coordinated in an irregular fashion to trigonal Cu3 subunits of the nanocluster, and four trigonal CuCl3 units are bonded via each of their chloride ions to a copper ion on the Cu12S6 sphere. The trigonal CuCl3 units are linked via Cu2Cl2 bridges covalently connected to equivalent units in neighboring nanoclusters. Four such connections are arranged in a tetrahedral fashion, thus creating an infinite diamond-like net of Cu12S6Cl4(CuCl3)4 nanoclusters. The network thus formed results in large channels occupied by solvent molecules that are mostly too ill-defined to model. The content of the voids, believed to be water molecules, was accounted for via reverse Fourier-transform methods using the SQUEEZE algorithm [Spek (2015). Acta Cryst. C71, 9–18]. The protonated amino groups of the cysteine ligands are directed away from the sphere, forming N—H...Cl hydrogen bonds with chloride-ion acceptors of their cluster. The protonated carboxy groups point outwards and presumably form O—H...O hydrogen bonds with the unresolved water molecules of the solvent channels. Disorder is observed in one of the two crystallographically unique [Cu16(CysH2)6Cl16] segments for three of the six cysteine anions.

Not all instructors in higher education enter the classroom with teaching experience, but all have observed teaching in higher education from the perspective of a student. This “apprenticeship of observation” that Lortie (1975) wrote about decades ago at least gives instructors the opportunity to empathize with their students, an important disposition for successful instructors. As more and more instructors are being asked to teach via distance education, they are being asked to do so with no online teaching experience and no or limited experience as an online student. One way, then, for them to develop empathy for online students and become a better online instructor would be to read systematic explications of the lived experiences of online learners. Phenomenology as a research design is purposeful towards gaining an understanding of “lifeworlds.” There is a small but growing body of phenomenological research on distance education, but most of the work is thin, not consistent with core principles of phenomenological research, and not tailored to the uniqueness of the distance education environment. This article makes the case for more phenomenological research on distance education and works towards a framework for this kind of research.