Mine reclamation in the Athabasca oil sands region Canada, is required by law where companies must reconstruct disturbed landscapes into functioning ecosystems such as forests, wetlands and lakes that existed in the Boreal landscape prior to mining. Winter is a major hydrological factor in this region as snow covers the landscape for 5 to 6 months and is ~25% of the annual precipitation, yet few studies have explored the influence of winter processes on the hydrology of constructed watersheds. One year (2017-2018) of intensive snow hydrology measurements are supplemented with six years (2013-2018) of meteorological measurements from the constructed Sandhill Fen Watershed to: 1) understand snow accumulation and redistribution, snowmelt timing, rate and partitioning, 2) apply a physically-based model for simulating winter processes on hillslopes and 3) evaluate the impact of soil prescriptions and climate change projections on winter processes in reclaimed systems. The 2017-2018 snow season was between November and April and SWE ranged between 40-140 mm. Snow distribution was primarily influenced by topography with little influence of snow trapping from developing vegetation. Snow accumulation was most variable on hillslopes and redistribution was driven by slope position, with SWE greatest at the base of slopes and decreased towards crests. Snowmelt on hillslopes was controlled by slope aspect, as snow declined rapidly on west and south-facing slopes, compared to east and north-facing slopes. Unlike results previously reported on constructed uplands, snowmelt runoff from uplands was much less (~30%), highlighting the influence of different construction materials. Model simulations indicate that antecedent soil moisture and soil temperature have a large influence on partitioning snowmelt over a range of observed conditions. Under a warmer and wetter climate, average annual peak SWE and snow season duration could decline up to 52 % and up to 61 days, respectively while snowmelt runoff ceases completely under the warmest scenarios. Results suggest considerable future variability in snowmelt runoff from hillslopes, yet soil properties can be used to enhance vertical or lateral flows.

Next generation manufacturing (NGM) has evolved over the past decade to a point where large biopharmaceutical organizations are making large investments in the technology and considering implementation in clinical and commercial processes. There are many well-considered reasons to implement NGM. For the most part, organizations will not fund NGM unless the implementation benefits the funding organization by providing reduced costs, reduced time or additional needed capabilities. Productivity improvements gained from continuous purification are shown in this work, which used a new system that fully integrates and automates several downstream unit operations of a biopharmaceutical process to provide flexibility and easy implementation of NGM. The equipment and automation supporting NGM can be complicated and expensive. Biopharmaceutical Process Development considered two options: (1) design its own NGM system or (2) buy a pre-built system. PAK BioSolutions (Virginia, US), provides a turn-key automated and integrated system that can operate up to four continuous purification stages simultaneously, while maintaining a small footprint in the manufacturing plant. The PAK system provides significant cost benefits (~10x lower) compared to the alternative – integration of many different pieces of equipment through a Distributed Control System (DCS) that would require significant engineering time for design, automation and integration. Integrated and Continuous Biomanufacturing can lead to significant reductions in facility size, reduced manufacturing costs, and enhanced product quality when compared to the traditional batch mode of operation. The PAK system uses new automation strategies that robustly link unit operations. We present the optimized process fit, sterility and bioburden control strategy, and automation features (such as pH feedback control and in-line detergent addition) that enabled continuous operation of a 14 day end-to-end monoclonal antibody purification process at the clinical manufacturing scale.

Introduction: Guidelines recommend using a pulse oximeter rather than arterial blood gas (ABG) for COVID-19 patients. However, significant differences can be observed between oxygen saturation measured by pulse oximetry (SpO2) and arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) in some clinical conditions. We aimed to assess the reliability of pulse oximeter in patients with COVID-19 Methods: We retrospectively reviewed ABG analyses and SpO2 levels measured simultaneously with ABG in patients hospitalized in COVID-19 wards. Results: We categorized total 117 patients into two groups; in whom the difference between SpO2 and SaO2 was 4% (acceptable difference) and >4% (large difference). Large difference group exhibited higher neutrophil count, C-reactive protein, ferritin, fibrinogen, D-dimer and lower lymphocyte count. Multivariate analyses revealed that increased fibrinogen, increased ferritin and decreased lymphocyte count were independent risk factors for large difference between SpO2 and SaO2. The total study group demonstrated the negative bias of 4.02% with the limits of agreement of −9.22% to 1.17%. The bias became significantly higher in patients with higher ferritin, fibrinogen levels and lower lymphocyte count. Conclusion: Pulse oximeters may not be sufficient to assess actual oxygen saturation especially in COVID-19 patients with high ferritin and fibrinogen levels and low lymphocyte count low SpO2 measurements.

The aim of this paper is to give an alternative technique for the derivation of a prior energy estimate. Consequently, this allows to define a natural energy norm of the long-term well-posedness result established by S. Israwi in [2] but for the original system, in which the partial operator ∇× is not involved.

The regulation of cell density is an important segment in microfluidic cell culture, particularly in the repeated assays. Traditionally, the consistent cell density is difficult to achieve owing to the inaccurate regulation of cell density with manual feedback. A novel microfluidic culture method with automatic feedback is proposed for real-time regulation of cell density in this paper. Here, an integrated microfluidic system combining cell culture, density detection and control of proliferation rate was developed. Interdigital electrode structures (IDES) are sputtered on the microchannel for automatically providing the real-time feedback information of impedance. The most sensitive frequency is studied to improve the detection resolution of the sensing chip. Cells were cultured on the chip surface and the cell density was detected by monitoring the alternation of the impedance. The feedback controller is established by least squares support vector machines (LS-SVM). Then, the cell proliferation rate was automatically controlled using the feedback controller to achieve the desired cell density in the repeated assays. The results show that the standard error of this method is 2.8% indicating that the method can keep consistency of cell density in the repeated assays. This study provides a basis for improving the accuracy and repeatability in the further assays of finding the optimal drug concentration.

The climate of the Eurasia inland basin (EIB) is characterized by limited precipitation and high potential evapotranspiration; as such, water storage in the EIB is vulnerable to global warming and human activities. There is increasing evidence pointing to varying trends in water storage across different regions; however, a consistent conclusion on the main attributes of these trends is lacking. Based on the hydrological budget in a closed inland basin, the main attributes of changes in actual evapotranspiration (AET) and terrestrial water storage (TWS) were identified for the EIB and each closed basin. In the EIB and most of its closed basins, the TWS and AET showed significantly decreasing and non-significantly increasing trends, respectively. The primary cause underpinning the significantly decreasing TWS in the EIB was increasing AET. Approximately 70% of the increase in AET has been supplied by increased irrigation diversions and glacial melt runoff. At the basin scale, similar to the EIB, changes in AET were the predominant factor driving changes in TWS in most basins; the exception to this was the Balkhash Lake basin (BLB), Iran inland river basin (IIRB), Qaidam basin (QB), and Turgay River basin (TuRB). In these basins, changes in precipitation largely contributed to the TWS changes. The AET consumption of other water resources was the main factor contributing to AET changes in seven of 16 basins, including the Aral Sea, Caspian Sea, Junggar, Monglia Plateau, Qiangtang Plateau, and Tarim River basins. The increase in precipitation contributed more than 60% of increasing AET in four of 16 basins, particularly in the Helmand River basin and QB (>90%). Changes in precipitation and consumption by other water supply sources contributed to approximately half of the AET changes in the other five basins, including the Inner Mongolia Plateau, Issyk-Kul Sarysu, BLB, IIRB, and TuRB basins.

Background Pregnancy and childbirth increase the risk for pelvic floor dysfunction, including sexual dysfunction. So far, the mechanisms and the extent to which certain risk factors play a role, remain unclear. Objectives In this systematic review of literature, we aimed to determine the risk factors for sexual dysfunction in the first year after delivery. Search Strategy We searched MEDLINE, Embase and CENTRAL using the search strategy: Sexual dysfunction AND Obstetric events. Selection Criteria We included original English, comparative studies that used validated questionnaires and the ICS/IUGA terminology for sexual dysfunction, dyspareunia and vaginal dryness. Data Collection and Analysis We assessed the quality and the risk of bias of the included studies with the Newcastle Ottawa Scale. We extracted the reported data and we performed random-effects meta-analysis to obtain the summary Odds Ratios (OR) with 95% Confidence Intervals. Heterogeneity across studies was assessed using the I2 statistic. Main Results We found no significant difference in the odds for both sexual dysfunction and dyspareunia between cesarean section and spontaneous delivery (OR:1.17[0.88-1.57] and OR:0.75[0.53-1.07]) and between operative delivery and spontaneous delivery (OR:1.56[0.87-2.79] and OR:1.35[0.75-2.42]). Anal sphincter injury was associated with increased odds for both sexual dysfunction (OR:3.00[1.28-7.03]) and dyspareunia (OR:1.71[1.09-2.67]). Episiotomy was associated with dyspareunia (OR:1.65[1.20-2.29]) but not with sexual dysfunction (OR:1.90[0.94-3.84]). We retrieved one study of low quality which reported on vaginal dryness and found no significant association with obstetric events.

Preface by Prof. Titia de Lange, Laboratory for Cell Biology and Genetics, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA The 19th Annual Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences celebrated a breakthrough in cell biology: how membrane-less cellular compartments are formed. The existence of membrane-less organelles, often called bodies or puncta, have been known for a long time, but what exactly they represented and how they were formed was not known. This problem was solved by a physicist, Clifford Brangwynne, a cell biologist, Anthony Hyman and a chemist, Michael Rosen. Each, synergistically, made groundbreaking contributions to the discovery that membrane-less organelles are liquid-liquid phase-separated entities. The two independent discoveries leading to the principle that multivalent low-affinity interactions between selected sets of macromolecules, some containing intrinsically disordered regions, formed a molecular condensate with unique dynamic properties, gave birth to the large, blossoming field of biomolecular condensates. The implications of those findings have influenced almost all further research of intracellular processes, including RAS signaling, immune synapses, DNA repair, transcriptional activation, and the functions of nuclear pores, the nucleolus and centrosomes. In this Perspective article, the laureates of the award take us on their personal and professional trip that led to their scientific discoveries. Their stories are a celebration of the interdisciplinary essence of Natural Sciences and the potential unlocked when scientists from different fields work together to solve mysteries.

Groundbreaking Discoveries in ImmunologyTitle : IgE sialylation: unravelling a key anaphylactic mediatorAuthors : Beatriz Moyaa, Chiara Tontinib and Alexandra Santosc, d, e, fa. Allergy Service. Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spainb. Lydia Becker Institute for Immunology and Inflammation, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UKc. Department of Women and Children’s Health (Paediatric Allergy), School of Life Course Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, King’s College London, London, UKd. Peter Gorer Department of Immunobiology, School of Immunology and Microbial Sciences, King’s College London, London, UKe. Children’s Allergy Service, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital, London, UKf. Asthma UK Centre of Allergic Mechanisms of Asthma, London, UKCorrespondence to : Beatriz Moya. Allergy Service. Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, SpainEmail: [email protected]: Ig, Immunoglobulin; Fab, antigen-binding fragments; Fc, fragment crystallizable region; FcεRI, Fc epsilon receptor I; MC, mast cells.Word count: 637/1000

Chemically defined (CD) media are routinely used in the production of biologics in Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell culture and provide enhanced raw material control. Nutrient optimized CD media is an important path to increase cell growth and monoclonal antibody (mAb) productivity in recombinant CHO cell lines. However, nutrient optimization efforts for CD media typically rely on multi-factorial and experimental design of experiment (DoE) approaches or complex mathematical models of cellular metabolism or gene expression systems. Moreover, the majority of these efforts are aimed at amino acids since they constitute essential nutrients in CD media as they directly contribute to biomass and protein production. In this study, we demonstrate the utilization of multi-variate data analytics (MVDA) coupled with amino acid stoichiometric balances (SBs) to increased cell growth and mAb productivity in efforts to reduce CD media development efforts. SBs measure the difference between theoretical demand of amino acids and the empirically measured fluxes to identify metabolic states of the cell. When coupled with MVDA, the statistical models were not only able to highlight key amino acids towards cell growth or productivity, but also provided direction on metabolic favorability of the amino acid. Experimental validation of our approach resulted in a 55% increase in total cell growth and about an 80% increase in total mAb productivity. Increased specific consumption of stoichiometrically balanced amino acids and decreased specific consumption of glucose was also observed in optimized CD media suggesting favorable consumption of desired nutrients and a potential for energy redistribution towards increased cellular growth or mAb productivity.

There is a gap between healthcare workforce research and decision-making in policy and practice. This matters more than ever given the urgent staffing crisis, with shortfalls of key workers and increasing service pressures. As a national research network, we held the first ever UK forum on health and care workforce research and evidence in March 2023 which aimed to bridge this gap. We brought together clinical and system leaders, policymakers and regulators with workforce researchers. Fifteen sessions convened by leading experts combined knowledge exchange with deliberative dialogue over two days. Topics ranged from workforce analytics, forecasting, international migration to interprofessional working. In these small groups, important knowledge gaps were identified, where existing research had not reached decision-makers. Managers were not aware of accepted high quality evidence in areas like the relationship between registered nurse staffing levels and patient outcomes. Participants also identified important gaps in research, both topic area and study design. More work is needed to engage new disciplines, from labour economics and occupational health to academic human resources. Mobilising knowledge across disciplines will strengthen the quality and range of research as well as identifying relevant and novel interventions. Discussion at the forum highlighted a number of national and local workforce initiatives which had been implemented at pace, from virtual wards to e-rostering and apprentice levies, without a good evidence base or concurrent evaluation. The pandemic had accelerated many changes, including important shifts in skill mix and new roles with little learning from other countries and systems. Existing evaluations were often small-scale or focused on individual, rather than organisational, solutions in areas such as staff wellbeing. The paper provides a summary of an emerging UK workforce research agenda developed at the forum meeting, together with actions to build workforce research capacity and increase reach of findings into policy and practice.

As implantable medical electronics (IMEs) developed for healthcare monitoring and biomedical therapy are extensively explored and deployed clinically, the demand for non-invasive implantable biomedical electronics is rapidly surging. Current rigid and bulky implantable microelectronic power sources are prone to immune rejection and incision, or cannot provide enough energy for long-term use, which greatly limits the development of implantable medical devices. Herein, a comprehensive review of the historical development of IMEs and the applicable miniaturised power sources along with advantages and limitations is given. Despite recent advances in microfabrication techniques, biocompatible materials have facilitated the development of IMEs system toward non-invasive, ultra-flexible, bioresorbable, wireless and multifunctional, progress in the development of minimally invasive power sources in implantable systems has remained limited. Here we summarise three promising minimally invasive power sources, including energy storage devices (biodegradable primary batteries, rechargeable batteries and supercapacitors), human body energy harvesters (nanogenerators and biofuel cells) and wireless power transfer (far-field radiofrequency radiation, near-field wireless power, ultrasonic and photovoltaic power). The energy storage and harvesting mechanism, configurational design, output power and applications in vivo are discussed. It is expected to give a comprehensive understanding of the IMEs for painless health monitoring and biomedical therapy with long-term stable function

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the ABO and Rh blood group distribution and clinical characteristics in patients with Covid-19. Materials and Methods: The clinical characteristics and blood groups of 1667 patients who were hospitalized due to Covid-19 (with a positive PCR test) between 16 March and 10 July were reviewed cross-sectionally.. Results: When blood groups of patients diagnosed with Covid-19 and control group were compared, it was observed that there was increase in the number of Covid-19 patients with blood groups A and AB, decrease in the number of Covid-19 patients with blood group O, a statistically significant increase in the number of individuals with blood group A in Covid-19 patients compared to healthy individuals, and almost significant increase in the number of Covid-19 patients with blood group AB and a very significant decrease in the number of Covid-19 patients with blood group O. Conclusion: Our study has found that having blood group O may be protective, that blood group A may have greater susceptibility to the disease, but this does not affect the course of the disease and is not associated with mortality.

In our writing, we voice stories of two Australian rivers to convey Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Interweaving academic literature, nature writing and creativity, we craft a story of reconnection that is transformative, action-oriented and potentially political. An open mind, place-intuition and the process of attending can deepen our river relationships, creating a sense of love and communicative connectedness. Paying deep attention, we notice meanings embedded in plain sight, within hearing range of rivers and watery places. Our relationships may be ‘in our faces’ such as the wind, or the air, water or bushes nearby. We communicate across binaries to experience the dissolution of imagined barriers. Feeling, hearing, writing and storytelling can support verbalising of experience, helping to bring to mind place-wisdom. It offers an everyday possibility for people now estranged from their riverine kin. The process uses a post human-centred, common worlds frame to consider the Anthropocene in regenerative ways. It is creative and liberating, and rivers are dying for people to take action by speaking out for and with our greater selves. In this learning journey, we synthesise learnings, hoping to inspire people everywhere to hear the call of rivers, to respond, take action and learn to love their rivers again.

Water resources management is fundamental for rural communities in drylands. Water Harvesting Technologies (WHT) intercept and store the excess rainfall (surface runoff) in soils for increased plant available water and agricultural productivity. The so-called ‘Marab’ WHT was initially developed by Middle Eastern agro-pastoralists that reside or commute in semi-arid and arid rangelands. The Marab WHT is a macro-catchment measure consisting of earth dams and stone spillways along the contours of a lowland depression or floodplain. Dependent on the local context (i.e. climate, soil, management, etc.) the established Marabs show highly-variable effectiveness. This study aims at filling the knowledge gap on the WHT’s performance in changing environments by simulating its hydro-agrological effects for different soils and climatic conditions using the AquaCrop model. A case study performed for a Jordanian Marab over three seasons (2019-2022) confirms its huge improvement potential for barley production. Through Marab-farming, barley production reached 8.37 t ha -1 on average, versus highly variable 0.34 t ha -1 without the WHT. The simulation-based assessment of soil textures identified that silty soils have the largest potential for producing up to 9.25 t ha -1 barley, compared to 6.60 t ha -1 produced in clay soils. Assessing different climate scenarios, a slight increase in daily average temperatures (+ 0.5°C) led to a considerable production decline of 4-8%, while a significant reduction of precipitation (-20%) decreased biomass production by a similar rate (4-10%). This underlines the robustness of the ‘Marab’ WHT to rainfall amount variation. However, simulations also highlight the sensitivity of timing and frequency of flood events: removing the last and the first flood event reduced biomass production by approximately 50% and 80% respectively, while the barley fails to develop if both events were suppressed.

We report a rare case of multiple giant coronary artery aneurysms combined with anomalous aortic origin of left coronary artery in a 30-years old man precisely diagnosed by multimodality imaging, including echocardiography, coronary computed tomographic angiography (CCTA), cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) and selective coronary angiography. The imaging results were finally confirmed by surgery. We present the clinical value of multimodality imaging in diagnosing coronary artery aneurysm and anomalous origin.

Objective: No effective treatment has yet been found for SARS-cov-2, which caused a pandemic outbreak in 2019. It is crucial to detect the progression of Covid-19 in patients as early as possible. Fibrinogen to albumin ratio (FAR) has been used as a new inflammatory marker. We aimed to find out whether the use of the FAR ratio as a predictor of mortality in Covid-19 patients provides clinical benefit. Materials and Methods: Data from 590 patients with Covid-19 from 15/03/2020 to 15/01/2021 in medicine wards and intensive care units (ICU) were retrospectively analyzed. Demographic data and other laboratory markers were collected from the electronic medical records. Relationship between FAR ratio was investigated between patients in the survivor/non-survivor patients. Findings: The mean FAR levels in patients who were non survivor was 24.44±30.3 (n:272 and 11.29±6.29 (n:275) (p:0.000) in patients survivor COVID-19 infection. In ROC curve for FAR, the threshold FAR that may pose a risk for mortality was determined as 13.84 ((AUC: 0.808(0.771-0.844)); 74.9% Sensitivity, 74.6% Specificity; p:0.000 )). Result: As a result of this study, increased FAR were found to be important markers in determining the mortality levels in Covid-19 patients. What is already known about FAR ratio: The fibrinogen albumin ratio is a value that has been used to determine the prognosis, especially in malignancies. [32] In a recent study 91 Covid-19 patients were analyzed 22 patients with severe disease higher FAR ratio compare to mild disaese [36] What does this article add about FAR ratio in Covid-19 patients: It has been concluded that the FAR ratio, which is used in diseases such as malignancy, hypertension, and coronary syndrome as a marker of disease progression, can be used as a mortality indicator in Covid-19

It has long been of interest to identify the phenotypic traits that mediate reproductive isolation between related species, and more recently, the genes that underpin them. Much work has focused on identifying genes associated with animal colour, with the candidate gene CYP2J19 identified in laboratory studies as the ketolase converting yellow dietary carotenoids to red ketocarotenoids in birds with red pigments. But evidence that CYP2J19 explains variation between red and yellow feather coloration in wild populations of birds is lacking. Hybrid zones between related species provide the opportunity to identify genes associated with specific traits. Here we investigate genomic regions associated with forecrown colour in red-fronted and yellow-fronted tinkerbirds across a hybrid zone in southern Africa. We sampled 79 individuals, measuring spectral reflectance of forecrown feathers as well as scoring colours from photographs. We performed a genome-wide association study to identify associations with carotenoid-based coloration, using double-digest RAD sequencing aligned to a short-read whole genome of a Pogoniulus tinkerbird that we assembled. Admixture mapping using 104,933 SNPs identified a region of chromosome 8 that includes CYP2J19 as the only locus with more than two SNPs significantly associated with both crown hue and crown score. The hybrid zone was bimodal with asymmetric backcrossing, consistent with the hypothesis that yellow-fronted females mate more often with red-fronted males than vice versa. Female red-fronted tinkerbirds mating assortatively with red-crowned males may reinforce species divergence and is consistent with the hypothesis that converted carotenoids are an honest signal of quality.