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Potentially prebiotic chemical reactions leading to RNA nucleotides involve periods of UV irradiation, which are necessary to promote selectivity and destroy biologially irrelevant side products. Nevertheless, UV light has only been applied to promote specific stages of prebiotic reactions and its effect on complete prebiotic reaction sequences has not been extensively studied. Here, we report on an experimental and computational investigation of the photostability of 2-thiooxazole (2-TO), a potential precursor of pyrimidine and 8-oxopurine nucleotides on early Earth. Our UV-irradiation experiments resulted in rapid decomposition of 2-TO into unidentified small molecule photoproducts. We further clarify the underlying photochemistry by means of accurate

Sodium-ion batteries are a prospective sustainable alternative to the ubiquitous lithium-ion batteries due to the abundancy of sodium, and their cobalt free cathodes. The high nickel O3-type oxides show promising energy densities, however, a time dependency in the rheological properties of the composite electrode slurries is observed, which leads to inhomogeneous coatings being produced. A combination of electron microscopy and infra-red spectroscopy were used to monitor the O3-oxide surface changes upon exposure to air, and the effect upon the rheology and stability of the inks was investigated. Upon exposure to air, NaOH rather than Na2CO3 was observed on the surfaces of the powder through FTIR and EDS. The subsequent gelation of the slurry was initiated by the NaOH and dehydrofluorination with crosslinking of PVDF was observed through the reaction product, NaF. Approximately 15% of the CF bonds in PVDF undergo this dehydrofluorination to form NaF. As observed in the relaxation time of fitted rheological data, the gelation undergoes a three-stage process: a dehydrofluorination stage, creating saturated structures, a crosslinking stage, resulting in the highest rate of gelation, and a final crosslinking stage. This work shows the mechanism for instability of high nickel containing powders and electrode slurries, and presents a new time dependent oscillatory rheology test that can be used to determine the process window for these unstable slurry systems.

Onshore wind electricity generation is key to mitigating greenhouse gas emissions.​ Poorly sited wind farms degrade high carbon soils and habitats, diminishing overall emission reductions. We explore the viability of the Scottish Government’s renewable energy plan with respect to land use, natural capital and low carbon storage. With avoidance of sensitive peatlands a main consideration, six constraining factors were combined to determine areas of least habitat and soil sensitivity to onshore wind development in Scotland. Currently, 14 out of 21 terrestrial habitats have been impacted by installation of 389 onshore wind sites. Accounting for 73% of the total area, Coniferous Woodland, Acid Grassland, Bog, and Heather Grassland have been the largest habitats impacted. The most common soils of the least sensitive areas available for installation are brown earth and podzols, and construction of new wind farms on environmentally sensitive areas can be minimised by targeting relatively disturbed habitats such as improved grasslands. Scotland has a potential of 2.75 Mha of relatively low sensitive land, the largest areas sited in the Highlands, Dumfries and Galloway and Aberdeenshire. Additional to current installed capacity (13.9 GW), Scotland would require 6.6 GW of installed onshore wind capacity to function without nuclear energy generation and 464 GWh additional storage capacity (provided by 8.2 GW wind capacity). This equates to an installed and additional total of 346.676 ha required for wind electricity generation, potentially satisfied by shared land use with 23% of Scottish improved grasslands. Scotland has the available land area to achieve the Scottish Government’s policy to move towards carbon-neutral, nuclear-free electricity generation through the use of renewables alone. Questions remain on which source of low carbon dispatchable (immediately accessible) energy to use in the case of a several day wind lull.

Introducción: En la edad pediátrica hay factores predisponentes importantes que hacen a los niños ser más vulnerables a presentar insuficiencia respiratoria aguda (IRA). Objetivo: Demostrar los beneficios del uso de la cánula nasal de alto flujo (CNAF) en pacientes menores de 5 años con IRA secundaria a enfermedades respiratorias y admitidos a la unidad de cuidados intensivos pediátricos (UCIP). Sujetos y Métodos: Estudio analítico observacional de cohortes mixtas, donde una cohorte esta formada por un grupo expuesto a la CNAF evaluada de manera prospectiva, mientras se comparo con una cohorte histórica. Resultados: 138 pacientes fueron admitidos al estudio de los cuales 69 fueron casos manejados con CNAF y 69 fueron controles que no estuvieron expuestos al uso de la CNAF pero sí a otros modos de ventilación mecánica invasiva. Los días de oxigenoterapia fueron estadísticamente menores en el grupo de casos de 13 (DE 8.01) días a 22 (DE 20.7) días en el grupo control (P =

In 2021, the University of Delaware, in cooperation with the National Park Service (NPS), completed the sixteenth year of a habitat-based landbird monitoring program in park units of the Northern Colorado Plateau Network. This program is designed to provide rigorous pop-ulation trend data for most diurnal, regularly occurring breeding landbird species throughout the network. This population information is useful for land managers and supports the Na-tional Park Service’s goal of long-term monitoring of biological indicators for network parks. In 2021, university biologists surveyed 44 (of 45) survey locations within 11 NPS units. Fifteen transects were located in each of the three habitats of interest: low-elevation ripar-ian, pinyon-juniper, and sage shrubland. Each location was surveyed once. In addition to the habitat-based surveys, four point counts and an area search were conducted at Pipe Spring National Monument using a modified monitoring design. Over 16 years of data collection, 15,139 point-count surveys have been conducted in 11 NCPN units, detecting 178 unique species. During the 2021 field season, 656 point-count surveys were conducted, detecting 105 unique species. Using data from 2005 to 2021, 117 population-density trends were estimated across the three habitats. Eight of the estimated density trends were significant (p-value < 0.05), including six negative trends (mourning dove [Zenaida macroura] in low-elevation riparian and pinyon-juniper, white-throated swift [Aeronautes saxatalis] in low-elevation riparian and pinyon-juniper, rock wren [Salpinctes obsoletus] in low-elevation riparian and sagebrush shrubland) and two positive trends (vesper sparrow [Pooecetes gramineus] in pinyon-juniper and lark sparrow [Chondestes grammacus] in sagebrush shrubland). There were sufficient sample sizes to estimate the densities of 61 species in at least one of the three habitats surveyed.

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text., SP142 programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1) status predicts response to atezolizumab in triple-negative breast carcinoma (TNBC). Prevalence of VENTANA PD-L1 (SP142) Assay positivity, concordance with the VENTANA PD-L1 (SP263) Assay and Dako PD-L1 IHC 22C3 pharmDx assay, and association with clinicopathologic features were assessed in 447 TNBCs. SP142 PD-L1 intraobserver and interobserver agreement was investigated in a subset of 60 TNBCs, with scores enriched around the 1% cutoff. The effect of a 1-hour training video on pretraining and posttraining scores was ascertained. At a 1% cutoff, 34.2% of tumors were SP142 PD-L1 positive. SP142 PD-L1 positivity was significantly associated with tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (P

We present a case of orbital giant cell myositis (OGCM), presenting with bilateral subacute progressive ophthalmoplegia and optic nerve dysfunction. An early extraocular muscle biopsy confirmed the diagnosis and guided appropriate management. Comprehensive investigation excluded any underlying systemic disease, including myocarditis. Twenty two months after presentation, the patient remains well on azathioprine with complete resolution of orbital signs.

The main barrier to a cure for HIV is the persistence of long-lived and proliferating latently infected CD4+ T-cells despite antiretroviral therapy (ART). Latency is well characterized in multiple CD4+ T-cell subsets, however, the contribution of regulatory T-cells (Tregs) expressing FoxP3 as well as immune checkpoints (ICs) PD-1 and CTLA-4 as targets for productive and latent HIV infection in people living with HIV on suppressive ART is less well defined. We used multiplex detection of HIV DNA and RNA with immunohistochemistry (mIHC) on formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) cells to simultaneously detect HIV RNA and DNA and cellular markers. HIV DNA and RNA were detected by in situ hybridization (ISH) (RNA/DNAscope) and IHC was used to detect cellular markers (CD4, PD-1, FoxP3, and CTLA-4) by incorporating the tyramide system amplification (TSA) system. We evaluated latently infected cell lines, a primary cell model of HIV latency and excisional lymph node (LN) biopsies collected from people living with HIV (PLWH) on and off ART. We clearly detected infected cells that coexpressed HIV RNA and DNA (active replication) and DNA only (latently infected cells) in combination with IHC markers in the in vitro infection model as well as LN tissue from PLWH both on and off ART. Combining ISH targeting HIV RNA and DNA with IHC provides a platform to detect and quantify HIV persistence within cells identified by multiple markers in tissue samples from PLWH on ART or to study HIV latency.

BACKGROUND Spinal bronchogenic cysts are rare nonneoplastic congenital variants of neurenteric cysts. The natural history and surgical management of these lesions are poorly understood. OBSERVATIONS A 25-year-old male presented with progressive back pain and bilateral lower limb sciatica of 6 months’ duration. He had undergone subtotal resection of an intramedullary bronchogenic conus medullaris cyst 5 years prior. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed a recurrent bilobed intramedullary and extramedullary conus medullaris cystic lesion. The authors resected the lesion via a posterior approach with the aid of intraoperative neuromonitoring. Gross total resection was precluded by the tightly adherent nature of the cyst and the fact that stimulation of a residual intramedullary portion of the lesion evoked external anal sphincter responses. LESSONS This is the first reported case of a bilobed intramedullary and extramedullary bronchogenic cyst of the conus medullaris. This unique case lends insight into the poorly defined embryogenesis of bronchogenic cysts by favoring the split notochord syndrome theory rather than the ectopic ectoderm proposal. The importance of neuromonitoring when resecting these tightly adherent lesions is demonstrated. Finally, although the secretory nature of these lesions portends a tendency for cyst reaccumulation, it is imperative to recognize that this is usually a slow process.

Logistic regression models can serve as important tools in developing a framework to establish the value of electrical energy storage systems (ESSs). This study provides models that aggregate use-case scenarios of five battery types, as well as pumped hydro-electric storage systems. The grid applications include: bulk energy at generation, auxiliary services at transmission and distribution, and end-use customer services at distributed generation. The data is derived from 1,261 real world systems. Five different models were developed for short, medium, and long-duration grid services. The models are designed to be technology agnostic and are not sensitive to either performance characteristics or operating conditions of the ESS. The results indicate the probability that an energy storage project will provide an individual service use case given that it may also yield another service, and how technology types and multiple selected applications influence those probabilities.

This literature review covers the solubility and processability of fluoropolymer polyvinylidine fluoride (PVDF). Fluoropolymers consist of a carbon backbone chain with multiple connected C–F bonds; they are typically nonreactive and nontoxic and have good thermal stability. Their processing, recycling and reuse are rapidly becoming more important to the circular economy as fluoropolymers find widespread application in diverse sectors including construction, automotive engineering and electronics. The partially fluorinated polymer PVDF is in strong demand in all of these areas; in addition to its desirable inertness, which is typical of most fluoropolymers, it also has a high dielectric constant and can be ferroelectric in some of its crystal phases. However, processing and reusing PVDF is a challenging task, and this is partly due to its limited solubility. This review begins with a discussion on the useful properties and applications of PVDF, followed by a discussion on the known solvents and diluents of PVDF and how it can be formed into membranes. Finally, we explore the limitations of PVDF’s chemical and thermal stability, with a discussion on conditions under which it can degrade. Our aim is to provide a condensed overview that will be of use to both chemists and engineers who need to work with PVDF.

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a multisystem autosomal dominant hamartoma syndrome caused by mutations in TSC1 or TSC2 genes, leading to upregulation of cell growth signalling pathways. Subependymal giant cell astrocytomas (SEGAs) are seen almost exclusively in TSC patients. We report a 'solitary SEGA' in an adult patient, with confirmed deletion of the entire TSC2 gene on tumour tissue DNA, in the absence of detectable constitutional mutation or clinical manifestations of TSC. These rare cases may be secondary to somatic mosaicism and provide an opportunity to explore the genetic basis of the syndrome and its related tumours.

Community partnered participatory research (CPPR) emphasizes community engagement, respect, and empowerment as guiding principles to promote mental health equity. This article describes the “Vision” stage of a CPPR-informed model to implement evidence-based practices for de­pression in two African American churches in Harlem, New York. Essential parts of the Vision include engagement of stakeholders and collaborative planning. The engage­ment process increased awareness about the project via a community-focused mental health symposium. The collaborative plan­ning stage resulted in creating a multi-dis­ciplinary Community Coalition for Mental Health, establishing the Coalition’s values, agreeing to change the initial chosen study intervention from Interpersonal Counseling to Mental Health First Aid, and developing a website to disseminate the group’s work. Key lessons learned from our partnered process are: 1) support from the lead pas­tor is crucial; 2) balancing community and academic interests can be challenging; 3) icebreaker activities foster relationships and reinforce CPPR principles; 4) multiple com­munication channels can enhance commu­nity participation; and, 5) should organize data in ways that make them easier to interpret.Ethn Dis. 2018;28(Suppl 2):467- 474; doi:10.18865/ed.28.S2.467

Thermal energy storage has the potential to decarbonize the heating sector, facilitating the use of renewable energy sources, in particular solar thermal energy. In this paper we present a study on...

Somatic GNAS and USP8 mutations have been implicated in sporadic somatotrophinomas and corticotrophinomas, respectively.However, no genes are known to be recurrently mutated in sporadic prolactinomas. The prevalence of copy number variants (CNV), which is emerging as a mechanism of tumorigenesis in sporadic pituitary adenomas in general, is also unclear in prolactinomas. To characterize the genetic events underpinning sporadic prolactinomas, we performed whole exome sequencing of paired tumor and germline DNA from 12 prolactinoma patients. We observed recurrent large-scale CNV, most commonly in the form of copy number gains. We also identified sequence variants of interest in 15 genes. This included the DRD2, PRL, TMEM67, and MLH3 genes with plausible links to prolactinoma formation. Of the 15 genes of interest, CNV was seen at the genelocus in the corresponding tumor in 10 cases, and pituitary expression of eight genes was in the top 10% of tissues. However,none of our shortlisted somatic variants appeared to be classical driver mutations as no variant was found in more than one tumor.Future directions of research include mechanistic studies to investigate how CNV may contribute to prolactinoma formation,larger studies of relevant prolactinoma subsets according to clinical characteristics, and additional genetic investigations for aberrations not captured by whole exome sequencing. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

Robotics-based capstone design projects provide unique educational opportunities for engineering students and help prepare them as future professional engineers. Robotics projects allow students to experience all steps of the engineering design cycle and to extend their knowledge in a wide range of subjects across multiple disciplines that include electrical, mechanical, and computer engineering. Designing and building robots for capstone design projects support a number of student learning outcomes. These include (i) the ability to apply engineering design to produce solutions that meet specified needs; (ii) the ability to function effectively on a team whose members together provide leadership, create a collaborative and inclusive environment, establish goals, plan tasks, and meet objectives; (iii) the ability to communicate effectively with a range of audiences; and (iv) the ability to create and use software both as an analysis and design tool and as part of systems containing hardware and software. Over the last 15 years, several engineering student teams from our robotics lab built mobile robots and competed in the annual robotics event organized by Region 5 (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers [IEEE] is the world’s largest technical professional organization dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity (https://www.ieee.org). IEEE is organized into ten regions worldwide. Region 5 is comprised of states within the southwestern region of the United States that include Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Illinois (southern), Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska (western), New Mexico (southern), Oklahoma, South Dakota (western), Texas, and Wyoming (eastern) (http://ieeer5.org)) of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, one of the world’s largest technical professional organizations. Every year, the competition theme is different and the event hosts more than 30 student teams from different universities from Region 5. Robots designed for the competition are expected to autonomously complete a specified number of tasks on a playing field. This chapter presents an overview of our robotics lab educational program and chronicles the experience of a team of engineering students who built a mobile robot as part of their capstone design project for the 2018 robotics competition. The educational values gained from working on a robotics-themed capstone project and the lessons learned from the participation in the robotics competition are discussed.

Merkel cell carcinoma is a rare neuroendocrine tumor of subspecialized dermal mechanoreceptors, associated with immunosuppression. The usual ophthalmic presentation is an eyelid lesion. The authors present a case of biopsy-proven orbital metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma in the absence of any eyelid lesion, in an immunosuppressed patient with a history of multiple cancers. There are to the authors' knowledge only 2 other case reports of presumed metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma to the orbit, though neither were biopsied. Despite its rarity, metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma should be included in the differential of a metastatic orbital lesion, in the patient with a known or suspected cutaneous primary. The patient has had an excellent response to combined radiotherapy and programmed death-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab, and this case highlights the potential benefit of an exciting new biologic therapy.

Sodium-ion batteries have the potential to be cheaper alternatives to lithium-ion batteries, mainly due to sourcing the alkali metals; the price of the mineral sources of lithium have increased by more than 15% between 2015-2016 and have continued to rise.[1] Studies of sodium-ion cathodes establish layered nickel based oxides as potential active materials,[2] for which the highest energy density to date has been demonstrated in a full cell configuration (320Wh/L) [3]. However, further investigations have shown a need to modify some of the existing manufacturing methods used for lithium and sodium-ion batteries, due to revealed material instabilities in air.[4] Current layered nickel based oxides are unstable in air and can cause gelation of the binder material, PVDF.[5] It has been shown that the active materials can degrade to produce basic conditions,[6] which leads to a degradation of the PVDF, causing the electrode inks to gel. Therefore low temperatures and a dry atmosphere are required. However, the inks still exhibit poor time stability (see Fig. 1), and variations in the viscosity of the inks appear within minutes of formulation.[7] It is generally deemed that at least 4-5 hrs (or longer) at a stable viscosity is required to coat homogeneously;[8] additives are required to increase the window of stability of the electrode inks. We have investigated and compared a collection of additives that successfully reduce the effects of the instabilities of materials in an electrode ink, in air. These additives reduce the need for drastic changes to the manufacturing methodologies used in lithium ion batteries. Low concentrations (0.1-5 wt%) of additives were added to sodium-ion cathode inks containing layered nickel based oxides as the active material, C65 carbon black as a conductive additive, PVDF as a binding material, and NMP as solvent. A number of measurements were used to verify these interactions. Under controlled conditions, ink shear flow rheology over time was measured, viscosity and stability improvements against ‘standard’ (or non-additive-containing) electrode formulations were observed. Fourier transform infra-red spectroscopy of the electrode inks over time showed enhancements to the stability of the materials in air. Similar observations were noted in the analysis of the physical properties and homogeneity of the electrodes. Furthermore, in a sodium metal half-cell arrangement, the cells demonstrated comparable electrochemical performance to ‘standard’ coatings, with slight changes observable in the first cycles of each additive-containing electrode. [1] M. Á. Muñoz-Márquez, D. Saurel, J. L. Gómez-Cámer, M. Casas-Cabanas, E. Castillo-Martínez, and T. Rojo, “Na-Ion Batteries for Large Scale Applications: A Review on Anode Materials and Solid Electrolyte Interphase Formation,” Advanced Energy Materials, vol. 7, no. 20. 2017. [2] E. Kendrick et al., “Tin Containing Compounds,” WO 2015177568 A1, 2015. [3] K. Smith, J. Treacher, D. Ledwoch, P. Adamson, and E. Kendrick, “Novel High Energy Density Sodium Layered Oxide Cathode Materials: From Material to Cells,” ECS Trans., vol. 75, no. 22, pp. 13–24, 2017. [4] M. H. Han, E. Gonzalo, G. Singh, and T. Rojo, “A comprehensive review of sodium layered oxides: powerful cathodes for Na-ion batteries,” Energy Environ. Sci., vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 81–102, 2015. [5] M. Biso, R. Colombo, M. Uddin, M. Stanga, and S. Cho, “A Rheological Behavior of Various Polyvinylidene Difluoride Binders for High Capacity LiNi0.6Mn0.2Co0.2O2,” Polym. Eng. Sci., pp. 6–10, 2016. [6] J. M. Paulsen, H. Park, and Y. H. Kwon, “Process of making cathode material containing Ni-based lithium transition metal oxide,” US8574541B2, 2013. [7] S. Roberts and E. Kendrick, “The re-emergence of sodium ion batteries: testing, processing, and manufacturability,” Nanotechnol. Sci. Appl., vol. 11, pp. 23–33, 2018. [8] H.-C. Chen et al., “Electrochemical Na+ storage properties of SnO 2/graphene anodes in carbonate-based and ionic liquid electrolytes,” J. Mater. Chem. A, vol. 5, no. 26, pp. 13776–13784, 2017. Figure 1

Despite the growing popularity of women's ice hockey in North America, players continue to face limitations because of the prohibition of body checking. In this paper we argue from a liberal feminist philosophical perspective that this prohibition reinforces existing traditional stereotypes of female athletes. Because the women's game does not incorporate checking, female ice hockey players are not afforded the same opportunity to flourish as men and experience bodily agency, which results in continued male domination of the game, therefore, indirectly reinforcing a gender hierarchy in hockey and society.

In the 1950s and early 1960s, a growing coalition of volunteer neighborhoods-based organizations emerged in New York and other U.S. cities that addressed youthful drug use through casework,...

One of the major concerns in detecting changes in higher moments is these changes may be due to outliers or process errors that are not biologically significant. For example, a larger variance observed in the expression levels may simply due to the larger variation in the data collecting process. Several outliers, which exhibit some extreme expression levels than the rest of the samples, may also increase the variance or skewness of the expression levels significantly. So it is very important to reduce the effect of outliers and process errors by proper experimental designs [27], such as technical replicates and biological replicates, before high sensitivity criterion, such as ADS, can be applied. We have presented and demonstrated the operation of two new criteria, ADS and the MDS, for identifying differentially expressed genes. These two criteria were compared with several commonly used criteria, namely WTS, WRS, FCS, and ICE. Experiments with simulated data show ADS to be more powerful than the WTS. When high-sensitivity screening is required, ADS appears to be preferable to WTS. When an FPR similar to WTS is desired, MDS should be used. The popular Wilcoxon rank sum is a more conservative approach that should be employed when the lowest FPR is desired, even at the expense of lower TPRs. ICE is a less desirable criterion because it does not perform well for data generated by the normal model. FCS gave results similar to those of WTS. Evaluation of these algorithms using real biological datasets showed that ADS and MDS flagged several biologically significant genes that were missed by WTS, besides selecting most of the genes that are also selected by WTS.