Drug‐induced liver injury (DILI) is the most frequent reason cited for the withdrawal of approved drugs from the market and accounts for up to 15% of the cases of acute liver failure. Investigators ...around the globe have begun to identify and study patients with DILI; several large registries and tissue banks are being established. In order to gain the maximum scientific benefit from these efforts, the definitions and terminology related to the clinical phenotypes of DILI must be harmonized. For this purpose, an international DILI Expert Working Group of clinicians and scientists reviewed current DILI terminology and diagnostic criteria so as to develop more uniform criteria that would define and characterize the spectrum of clinical syndromes that constitute DILI. Consensus was established with respect to the threshold criteria for definition of a case as being DILI, the pattern of liver injury, causality assessment, severity, and chronicity. Consensus was also reached on approaches to characterizing DILI in the setting of chronic liver diseases, including autoimmune hepatitis (AIH).
Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2011) 89 6, 806–815. doi:10.1038/clpt.2011.58
Combinatorial chemistry is a tool for selecting molecules with special properties. Dynamic combinatorial chemistry started off aiming to be just that. However, unlike ordinary combinatorial ...chemistry, the interconnectedness of dynamic libraries gives them an extra dimension. An understanding of these molecular networks at systems level is essential for their use as a selection tool and creates exciting new opportunities in systems chemistry. In this feature article we discuss selected examples and considerations related to the advanced exploitation of dynamic combinatorial libraries for their originally conceived purpose of identifying strong binding interactions. Also reviewed are examples illustrating a trend towards increasing complexity in terms of network behaviour and reversible chemistry. Finally, new applications of dynamic combinatorial chemistry in self-assembly, transport and self-replication are discussed.
Dynamic combinatorial libraries, initially a tool to identify molecules with exceptional properties, now also create exciting new opportunities in systems chemistry.
Current research in meat color Mancini, R.A.; Hunt, M.C.
Meat science,
09/2005, Letnik:
71, Številka:
1
Journal Article, Conference Proceeding
Recenzirano
This review surveyed recent literature focused on factors that affect myoglobin chemistry, meat color, pigment redox stability, and methodology used to evaluate these properties. The appearance of ...meat and meat products is a complex topic involving animal genetics, ante- and postmortem conditions, fundamental muscle chemistry, and many factors related to meat processing, packaging, distribution, storage, display, and final preparation for consumption. These factors vary globally, but the variables that affect basic pigment chemistry are reasonably consistent between countries. Essential for maximizing meat color life is an understanding of the combined effects of two fundamental muscle traits, oxygen consumption and metmyoglobin reduction. In the antemortem sector of research, meat color is being related to genomic quantitative loci, numerous pre-harvest nutritional regimens, and housing and harvest environment. Our knowledge of postmortem chilling and pH effects, atmospheres used for packaging, antimicrobial interventions, and quality and safety of cooked color are now more clearly defined. The etiology of bone discoloration is now available. New color measurement methodology, especially digital imaging techniques, and improved modifications to existing methodology are now available. Nevertheless, unanswered questions regarding meat color remain. Meat scientists should continue to develop novel ways of improving muscle color and color stability while also focusing on the basic principles of myoglobin chemistry.
Sediment, nutrients, organic carbon and pollutants are funnelled down submarine canyons from continental shelves by sediment-laden flows called turbidity currents, which dominate particulate transfer ...to the deep sea. Post-glacial sea-level rise disconnected more than three quarters of the >9000 submarine canyons worldwide from their former river or long-shore drift sediment inputs. Existing models therefore assume that land-detached submarine canyons are dormant in the present-day; however, monitoring has focused on land-attached canyons and this paradigm remains untested. Here we present the most detailed field measurements yet of turbidity currents within a land-detached submarine canyon, documenting a remarkably similar frequency (6 yr
) and speed (up to 5-8 ms
) to those in large land-attached submarine canyons. Major triggers such as storms or earthquakes are not required; instead, seasonal variations in cross-shelf sediment transport explain temporal-clustering of flows, and why the storm season is surprisingly absent of turbidity currents. As >1000 other canyons have a similar configuration, we propose that contemporary deep-sea particulate transport via such land-detached canyons may have been dramatically under-estimated.
Aims
. We present the design and pre-launch performance of the Solar Orbiter Heliospheric Imager (SoloHI) which is an instrument prepared for inclusion in the ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter mission, ...currently scheduled for launch in 2020.
Methods
. The goal of this paper is to provide details of the SoloHI instrument concept, design, and pre-flight performance to give the potential user of the data a better understanding of how the observations are collected and the sources that contribute to the signal.
Results
. The paper discusses the science objectives, including the SoloHI-specific aspects, before presenting the design concepts, which include the optics, mechanical, thermal, electrical, and ground processing. Finally, a list of planned data products is also presented.
Conclusions
. The performance measurements of the various instrument parameters meet or exceed the requirements derived from the mission science objectives. SoloHI is poised to take its place as a vital contributor to the science success of the Solar Orbiter mission.
Valence electronic structure is crucial for understanding and predicting reactivity. Valence non-resonant X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (NRXPS) provides a direct method for probing the overall ...valence electronic structure. However, it is often difficult to separate the varying contributions to NRXPS; for example, contributions of solutes in solvents or functional groups in complex molecules. In this work we show that valence resonant X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (RXPS) is a vital tool for obtaining atomic contributions to valence states. We combine RXPS with NRXPS and density functional theory calculations to demonstrate the validity of using RXPS to identify atomic contributions for a range of solutes (both neutral and ionic) and solvents (both molecular solvents and ionic liquids). Furthermore, the one-electron picture of RXPS holds for all of the closed shell molecules/ions studied, although the situation for an open-shell metal complex is more complicated. The factors needed to obtain a strong RXPS signal are investigated in order to predict the types of systems RXPS will work best for; a balance of element electronegativity and bonding type is found to be important. Additionally, the dependence of RXPS spectra on both varying solvation environment and varying local-covalent bonding is probed. We find that RXPS is a promising fingerprint method for identifying species in solution, due to the spectral shape having a strong dependence on local-covalency but a weak dependence on the solvation environment.
We demonstrate the validity of using valence resonant X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to identify atomic contributions for both solutes and solvents.
Seismology records the presence of various heterogeneities throughout the lower mantle1,2, but the origins of these signals- whether thermal or chemical-remain uncertain, and therefore much of the ...information that they hold about the nature of the deep Earth is obscured. Accurate interpretation of observed seismic velocities requires knowledge of the seismic properties of all of Earth's possible mineral components. Calcium silicate (CaSiO3) perovskite is believed to be the third most abundant mineral throughout the lower mantle. Here we simultaneously measure the crystal structure and the shear-wave and compressional-wave velocities of samples of CaSiO3 perovskite, and provide direct constraints on the adiabatic bulk and shear moduli of this material. We observe that incorporation of titanium into CaSiO3 perovskite stabilizes the tetragonal structure at higher temperatures, and that the material's shear modulus is substantially lower than is predicted by computations3-5 or thermodynamic datasets6. When combined with literature data and extrapolated, our results suggest that subducted oceanic crust will be visible as low-seismic-velocity anomalies throughout the lower mantle. In particular, we show that large low-shear-velocity provinces (LLSVPs) are consistent with moderate enrichment of recycled oceanic crust, and mid-mantle discontinuities can be explained by a tetragonal-cubic phase transition in Ti-bearing CaSiO3 perovskite.
► Bioretention hydrology was modeled with DRAINMOD, a widely accepted drainage model. ► Four bioretention cells monitored for 2year periods were used in calibration. ► DRAINMOD can model an internal ...water storage (IWS) zone configuration. ► It can be used to predict bioretention hydrology on a continuous, long-term basis. ► In the validation period, Nash–Sutcliffe coefficients commonly exceeded 0.7.
Previous field studies have shown that the hydrologic performance of bioretention cells varies greatly because of factors such as underlying soil type, physiographic region, drainage configuration, surface storage volume, drainage area to bioretention surface area ratio, and media depth. To more accurately describe bioretention hydrologic response, a long-term hydrologic model that generates a water balance is needed. Some current bioretention models lack the ability to perform long-term simulations and others have never been calibrated from field monitored bioretention cells with underdrains. All peer-reviewed models lack the ability to simultaneously perform both of the following functions: (1) model an internal water storage (IWS) zone drainage configuration and (2) account for soil–water content using the soil–water characteristic curve. DRAINMOD, a widely-accepted agricultural drainage model, was used to simulate the hydrologic response of runoff entering a bioretention cell. The concepts of water movement in bioretention cells are very similar to those of agricultural fields with drainage pipes, so many bioretention design specifications corresponded directly to DRAINMOD inputs. Detailed hydrologic measurements were collected from two bioretention field sites in Nashville and Rocky Mount, North Carolina, to calibrate and test the model. Each field site had two sets of bioretention cells with varying media depths, media types, drainage configurations, underlying soil types, and surface storage volumes. After 12months, one of these characteristics was altered – surface storage volume at Nashville and IWS zone depth at Rocky Mount. At Nashville, during the second year (post-repair period), the Nash–Sutcliffe coefficients for drainage and exfiltration/evapotranspiration (ET) both exceeded 0.8 during the calibration and validation periods. During the first year (pre-repair period), the Nash–Sutcliffe coefficients for drainage, overflow, and exfiltration/ET ranged from 0.6 to 0.9 during both the calibration and validation periods. The bioretention cells at Rocky Mount included an IWS zone. For both the calibration and validation periods, the modeled volume of exfiltration/ET was within 1% and 5% of the estimated volume for the cells with sand (Sand cell) and sandy clay loam (SCL cell) underlying soils, respectively. Nash–Sutcliffe coefficients for the SCL cell during both the calibration and validation periods were 0.92.
Abstract A major goal in evolutionary biology is to elucidate common principles that drive human and other animal societies to adopt either a warlike or peaceful nature. One proposed explanation for ...the variation in aggression between human societies is the democratic peace hypothesis. According to this theory, autocracies are more warlike than democracies because autocratic leaders can pursue fights for private gain. However, autocratic and democratic decision-making processes are not unique to humans and are widely observed across a diverse range of non-human animal societies. We use evolutionary game theory to evaluate whether the logic of democratic peace may apply across taxa; specifically adapting the classic Hawk-Dove model to consider conflict decisions made by groups rather than individuals. We find support for the democratic peace hypothesis without mechanisms involving complex human institutions and discuss how these findings might be relevant to non-human animal societies. We suggest that the degree to which collective decisions are shared may explain variation in the intensity of intergroup conflict in nature.
the National Overactive BLadder Evaluation (NOBLE) Program was initiated to better understand the prevalence and burden of overactive bladder in a broad spectrum of the United States population.
to ...estimate the prevalence of overactive bladder with and without urge incontinence in the US, assess variation in prevalence by sex and other factors, and measure individual burden.
US national telephone survey using a clinically validated interview and a follow-up nested study comparing overactive bladder cases to sex- and age-matched controls.
noninstitutionalized US adult population.
a sample of 5,204 adults >/=18 years of age and representative of the US population by sex, age, and geographical region.
prevalence of overactive bladder with and without urge incontinence and risk factors for overactive bladder in the US. In the nested case-control study, SF-36, CES-D, and MOS sleep scores were used to assess impact.
the overall prevalence of overactive bladder was similar between men (16.0%) and women (16.9%), but sex-specific prevalence differed substantially by severity of symptoms. In women, prevalence of urge incontinence increased with age from 2.0% to 19% with a marked increase after 44 years of age, and in men, increased with age from 0.3% to 8.9% with a marked increase after 64 years of age. Across all age groups, overactive bladder without urge incontinence was more common in men than in women. Overactive bladder with and without urge incontinence was associated with clinically and significantly lower SF-36 quality-of-life scores, higher CES-D depression scores, and poorer quality of sleep than matched controls.
the NOBLE studies do not support the commonly held notion that women are considerably more likely than men to have urgency-related bladder control problems. The overall prevalence of overactive bladder does not differ by sex; however, the severity and nature of symptom expression does differ. Sex-specific anatomic differences may increase the probability that overactive bladder is expressed as urge incontinence among women compared with men. Nonetheless, overactive bladder, with and without incontinence, has a clinically significant impact on quality-of-life, quality-of-sleep, and mental health, in both men and women.
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