Nitric oxide (NO) is a ubiquitous signaling molecule in a variety of physiological and pathological process in living organisms. A two-photon probe, i.e., 2-acetyl-6-dialkylaminonaphthalene as the reporter and an o-diaminobenzene as the reaction site for NO, linked by prolinamide (ANO1), has been synthesized. Based on the experimental study, five other two-photon probes have been designed by substituting the naphthalene fluorophore in ANO1 with the luciferin analogue (ANO2), pyrene (substitution at 1,6-position, ANO3, and 2,7-position, ANO3’), fluorene (ANO4), and boron-dipyrromethene (ANO5) units. DFT/TDDFT studies have been conducted on both experimental two-photon probe ANO1 and designed ANOn (n=2–5). Our results indicated that for designed probes, both absorption and emission spectra show red shifts compared with ANO1. The one- and two-photon absorption band positions as well as the emission wavelength do have no significant change for each probe before and after reaction with NO. However, the fluorescence intensities are enhanced after reaction with NO. ANO3 and ANO4 have large two-photon absorption cross sections. Furthermore, analysis of molecular orbitals is exhibited to interpret the photoinduced electron transfer mechanism between the donor and acceptor.

Purpose: With the expansion of research utilizing electronic healthcare data to identify transgender (TG) population health trends, the validity of computational phenotype algorithms to identify TG patients is not well understood. We aim to identify the current state of the literature that has utilized CPs to identify TG people within electronic healthcare data and their validity, potential gaps, and a synthesis of future recommendations based on past studies. Methods: Authors searched the National Library of Medicine’s PubMed, Scopus, and the American Psychological Association Psyc Info’s databases to identify studies published in the United States that applied CPs to identify TG people within electronic health care data. Results: Twelve studies were able to validate or enhance the positive predictive value (PPV) of their CP through manual chart reviews (n=5), hierarchy of code mechanisms (n=4), key text-strings (n=2), or self-surveys (n=1). CPs with the highest PPV to identify TG patients within their study population contained diagnosis codes and other components such as key text-strings. However, if key text-strings were not available, researchers have been able to find most TG patients within their electronic healthcare databases through diagnosis codes alone. Conclusion: CPs with the highest accuracy to identify TG patients contained diagnosis codes along with components such as procedural codes or key text-strings. CPs with high validity are essential to identifying TG patients when self-reported gender identity is not available. Still, self-reported gender identity information should be collected within electronic healthcare data as it is the gold standard method to better understand TG population health patterns.

Introduction: Ablation Index guided ablation according to the CLOSE protocol is very effective in terms of chronic pulmonary vein isolation (PVI). However, the optimal RF power remains controversial. Here, we thought to investigate the efficiency and safety of an AI guided fixed circumferential 50W high power short duration (HPSD) PVI using the CLOSE protocol Methods and results: In a single-centre prospective “proof of concept” trial 40 patients underwent randomized PVI using AI guided RF ablation without oesophageal temperature monitoring. In 20 patient fixed 50W HPSD was used irrespective to the anatomical localization. 20 subjects were ablated with standard power settings (20W posterior and 40W roof and anterior wall). Additionally, 80 consecutive patients were treated according to the HPSD protocol to gather additional safety data. All patients underwent post-procedural oesophago-gastro-duodenoscopy to reveal oesophageal lesions (EDEL). The mean total procedural time was 80.3±22.5 minutes in HPSD compared to control 109.1±27.4 (p<0.001). The total RF-time was significantly lower in HPSD 1379±505 sec vs. control 2374±619 sec (p<0.001).There were no differences in periprocedural complications. EDEL occurred in 13% in the HPSD and 10% in control group. EDEL occurring in the 50W HSDP patients were smaller, more superficial and had a faster healing tendency. Conclusions: A fixed 50W HPSD circumferential PVI relying to the ablation index and CLOSE protocol reduces the total procedure time and the total RF time compared to standard CLOSE protocol, without increasing the complication rates. The incidence of oesophageal lesions was similar using 50W at the posterior atrial wall.

IImmunodeficiency and hyperinflammation characterize COVID-19 associated states; thus, repurposing of multiple cytokine and/or anti-cytokine drugs currently being used in other therapeutic areas has been suggested as a potential therapeutic strategy in COVID-19 patients. Clinical trials involving these drugs target the most frequent and life-threatening peripheral consequences of the disease, mainly focusing on lung, heart, and coagulation functions; however, a growing number of reports describe a wide range of COVID-associated neurological manifestations (altogether defined as neuro-COVID) including anosmia, seizures, confusion, stroke, encephalopathy, and paralysis. Notably, the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms for neuro-COVID may also include dysregulation of cytokines/chemokines, deficiencies in the innate immune response, and autoimmunity. This suggests that therapeutic attempts with drugs targeting cytokine-mediated inflammation in peripheral organs could also positively affect neuro-COVID manifestations. As a matter of fact, some of these drugs have also been scrutinized for their potential efficacy in treating neuroinflammatory diseases such as optic neuromyelitis, epilepsy, stroke, and traumatic brain injury, among others. On the other hand, anti-cytokine drugs, by impairing relevant physiological activities exerted by these mediators in the CNS, may also be endowed with significant neurological risk. Therefore, the primary aim of the present manuscript is to review the available preclinical and clinical data regarding the neurological effects of the drugs targeting cytokine-mediated inflammation, in order to raise awareness about their potentially beneficial or detrimental neurological consequences when used to treat COVID-19 patients.

An 82-year old woman with third degree atrioventricular block underwent left bundle branch area pacing (LBBAP) lead implantation

The outcomes of the arterial switch operation have improved over a period of time with the elimination of coronary artery anatomy as a risk factor for operative mortality in some series. However, cumulatively, when all the series published so far are analyzed, two coronary variations, namely the single sinus coronary artery origin and intramural type, persist as risk factors for an adverse operative outcome.

Abstract A case of a supraclavicular cystic mass arising from the brachial plexus and histologically confirmed to be a schwannoma is presented. Due to its low accuracy, FNAC should not be used as an ultimate diagnostic tool. Complete surgical removal while maintaining the nerve trunk was performed.

There are no solid evidence from literature that compare Cox-Maze with pulmonary vein isolation technique for atrial fibrillation in the context of concomitant mitral valve surgery. While the first is perhaps more effective and linked to higher freedom form atrial fibrillation, it is more invasive compared to the pulmonary isolation.

Subsurface chlorophyll maxima layers (SCML) are ubiquitous features of stratified aquatic systems. Availability of the micronutrient iron is known to influence marine SCML, but iron has not been explored in detail as a factor in the development of freshwater SCML. This study investigates the relationship between dissolved iron and the SCML within the dimictic, ferruginous lake Grosses Heiliges Meer in northern Germany. The occurrence of the SCML under non-ferruginous conditions in the spring and ferruginous conditions in the fall are context to explore temporal changes in the phytoplankton community and indicators of primary productivity. Results indicate that despite more abundant chlorophyll in the spring, the SCML sits below a likely primary productivity maximum within the epilimnion, inferred based on co-located dissolved oxygen, δ13CDIC, and pH maxima. The peak amount of chlorophyll in the SCML is lower in the fall than in the spring, but in the fall the SCML is co-located with elevated dissolved iron concentrations and a local δ13CDIC maximum. Cyanobacteria and Chlorophyta have elevated abundances within the SCML in the fall. Further investigation of the relationship of iron to primary productivity within ferruginous SCML may help to understand the environmental controls on primary productivity in past ferruginous oceans.

This article aims to investigate the numerical study of electroosmotic flow of the Eyring Powell fluid under the peristaltic mechanism with the influence of the porous medium in the micro-channel. The modified system is applied externally to an electrical field in the horizontal direction and to a magnetic field in the transverse direction. The flow of nanofluids is considered in the computation. The governing equations in the nano-fluid flow are modulated. Influence of lubrication theory approximation longequations are shortened. Reduced coupled nonlinear partial differential equations like velocity and energy equations are numerically solved using the powerful and well-known mathematical software MATHEMATICA by built in NDSolve command. The influence of various important parameters on the velocity and temperature profile is summarised by graphs.

Background: As in LMICs, the prognosis of childhood ALL in Indonesia was lower than in HICs. Indonesian-ALL2013 protocol resulted in more toxicities and abandonments than expected. Therefore, it was modified into a pilot ALL2016 protocol. Changes to the ALL2013 protocol: no anthracyclines in SR, dexamethasone replaced prednisone in reinduction for HR and some drugs were rescheduled. Procedure: We compare the outcome of ALL2013 and ALL2016. Results: A total of 383 children with ALL were diagnosed, 21 were excluded. ALL2013 included 174 patients (106 SR and 68 HR) and ALL2016 188 (91 SR and 97 HR). The outcome of the ALL2016 was better than the ALL2013 (pOS 67.0% vs 60.3%; p=0.087 and pEFS 50.0% vs 37.9%; p=0.012) even when the number of HR patients was significantly higher in ALL2016 (51.6% vs 39.1%). The ALL2016 showed an early advantage for SR patients (pEFS 56.7% vs 47.2%; p=0.114 and pOS 74.4% vs 69.8%; p=0.298) due to the decrease of toxic deaths (10.4% vs 5.5%; p=0.211) however the number of late relapses were still high (19.5% vs 13.2%; p=0.282). In the HR group, both pEFS and pOS were significantly better in ALL2016 (pEFS 43.3% vs 23.5%; p=0.010 and pOS 59.8% vs 45.6%; p=0.036) due to less relapses (14.4% vs 29.4%; p=0.019). Both SR and HR showed a smaller number of abandonments in ALL2016. Conclusions: After small changes in protocol, initial toxicity and abandonments were reduced and the pOS and pEFS were improved. However, relapses still need to be lessened in the next protocol.

Bioprocess optimization for cell-based therapies is a resource heavy activity. To reduce the associated cost and time, it is advantageous to carry out process development in small volume systems, with the caveat that such systems be predictive for process scaleup. The transport of oxygen from the gas phase into the culture medium, characterized using the volumetric mass transfer coefficient, kLa, has been identified as a critical parameter for predictive process scaleup. In both large- and small-scale bioreactors, kLa is controlled via mixing, with the method employed dependent upon the size of the reactor. However, existing microplate bioreactor platforms, beneficial for their low working volumes and throughput and automation capabilities, struggle to achieve desired kLa for mammalian cell cultures. Here, we describe the development and testing of a 96-well microplate with integrated Redbud Posts to provide mixing and thus enhanced kLa. Mixing characteristics were investigated, with actuating Redbud Posts shown (visually) to increase convective transport while producing enhanced kLa, providing means to mimic macroscale mammalian cell growth conditions at the microscale. Improved cell growth rates with mixing was demonstrated for two cell types, indicating the potential for this technology to play a valuable role in early stage bioprocess development and optimization.

Process understanding of the interaction between streamflow, groundwater and water usages under drought are hampered by a limited number of gauging stations, especially in tributaries. Recent technological advances facilitate the application of non-commercial measurement devices for monitoring environmental systems. The Dreisam River in the South-West of Germany was affected by several hydrological drought events from 2015 to 2020, when parts of the main stream and tributaries fell dry. A flexible longitudinal water quality and quantity monitoring network was set up in 2018. Among other measurements it employs an image based method with QR codes as fiducial marker. In order to assess under which conditions the QR-code based water level loggers (WLL) deliver data according to scientific standards, we present a comparison to conventional capacitive based WLL. The results from 20 monitoring stations reveal that the riverbed was dry for > 50 \% at several locations and even for > 70 \% at most severely affected locations during July and August 2020, with the north western parts of the catchment being especially concerned. Thus, the highly variable longitudinal drying patterns of the stream reaches could be monitored. The image-based method was found to be a valuable asset for identification of confounding factors and validation of zero level occurrences. Nevertheless, a simple image processing approach (based on an automatic thresholding algorithm) did not compensate for errors due to natural conditions and technical setup. Our findings highlight that the complexity of measurement environments is a major challenge when working with image-based methods.

Long-distance migrations by marine fish have long fascinated scientists, but are difficult to track by visual surveys. Here, we propose a new method to easily and precisely track such migrations using stable nitrogen isotopic composition at the base of the food web (δ15NBase), which can be estimated by using compound-specific isotope analysis. δ15NBase exclusively reflects the δ15N of nitrate in the ocean at a regional scale and is not affected by the trophic position of sampled organisms. We initially constructed a δ15NBase isoscape in the northern North Pacific, and determined retrospective δ15NBase values of chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) from their vertebral centra. Then, we estimated the migration routes of chum salmon during their skeletal growth by using a state-space model. Our isotope tracking method successfully reproduced a known chum salmon migration route between the Okhotsk and Bering seas, and indicates the presence of a novel migration route to the eastern Bering Sea Shelf during a later growth stage.

Global climate change is expected to increase the frequency of drought and heavy precipitation, which could create more frequent drying-rewetting cycles (DWC) in the soils. Although DWC effects on SOC decomposition has been widely studied, the effect of DWC and the subsequent legacy effect on the decomposition of different SOC pools is still unclear. We conducted a 128-d laboratory incubation to investigate the DWC effects by using soils from old-field for 15 years (OF, representing active SOC), bare-fallow for 15 years (BF), and bare-fallow for 23 years plus extra 815-d incubation (BF+, representing relatively resistant SOC). The experiment included nine 10-d DWC of three treatments: 1) constant-moisture at 60% WHC, 2) mild DWC with 10-d drying to 40% WHC and rewetting to 80% WHC, and 3) strong DWC with 10-d drying to 20% WHC and rewetting to 100% WHC. Following DWC period, there was a 10-d stabilization period (adjusting all treatments to 60% WHC), and then a 28-d extended incubation. During DWC period, the strong DWC had strong effect on CO2 release compared with the constant-moisture control, reducing the SOC decomposition from OF by 8% and BF by 10%, while increasing the SOC decomposition of BF+ by 16%. During extended period, both mild and strong DWC significantly increased SOC mineralization of OF, but decreased that of BF and BF+. This legacy effect compensated the changes in CO2 release during DWC period, resulting in the minor response of SOC decomposition of OF and BF+ to the DWC during the entire incubation.

Many model organisms have obtained a prominent status due to an advantageous combination of their life-history characteristics, genetic properties and also practical considerations. In non-crop plants, Arabidopsis thaliana is the most renowned model and has been used as study system to elucidate numerous biological processes at the molecular level. Once a complete genome sequence was available, research has markedly accelerated and further established A. thaliana as the reference to stimulate studies in other species with different biology. Within the Brassicaceae family, the arctic-alpine perennial Arabis alpina has become a model complementary to A. thaliana to study life-history evolution and ecological genomics in harsh environments. In this review, we provide an overview of the properties that facilitated the rapid emergence of A. alpina as a plant model. We summarize the evolutionary history of A. alpina, including the diversification of its mating system, and discuss recent progress in the molecular dissection of developmental traits that are related to its perennial life history and environmental adaptation. We indicate open questions from which future research might be developed in other Brassicaceae species or more distantly related plant families.

A document by Mehul Mahrishi. Click on the document to view its contents.

Ellis--van Creveld syndrome is a rare autosomal recessive disorder. We describe the case of a 7-year-old girl with Ellis--van Creveld Syndrome with the diagnosis of common atrium and partial atrioventricular septal defect. She underwent a successful surgical repair, and intraoperatively, a double orifice mitral valve was diagnosed as well.