Conventionally, evolution has always been described in terms of species. The Chemistry of Evolution takes a novel, not to say revolutionary, approach and examines the evolution of chemicals and the ...use and degradation of energy, coupled to the environment, as the drive behind it. The authors address the major changes of life from bacteria to man in a systematic and unavoidable sequence, reclassifying organisms as chemotypes. Written by the authors of the bestseller The Biological Chemistry of the Elements - The Inorganic Chemistry of Life (Oxford University Press, 1991), the clarity and precision of The Chemistry of Evolution plainly demonstrate that life is totally interactive with the environment. This exciting theory makes this work an essential addition to the academic and public library.* Provides a novel analysis of evolution in chemical terms * Stresses Systems Biology * Examines the connection between life and the environment, starting with the 'big bang' theory * Reorientates the chemistry of life by emphasising the need to analyse the functions of 20 chemical elements in all organisms
This living systematic review aims to summarize evidence on the prevalence of oral signs and symptoms in patients with COVID-19. The review was reported per the PRISMA checklist, and the literature ...search was conducted in 6 databases and in gray literature. Studies published in any language mentioning oral symptoms and signs in patients with COVID-19 were included. The risk of bias was assessed by the Joanna Briggs Institute appraisal tools. The certainty of evidence was evaluated through GRADE assessment. After a 2-step selection, 40 studies were included: 33 cross-sectional and 7 case reports. Overall, 10,228 patients (4,288 males, 5,770 females, and 170 unknown) from 19 countries were assessed. Gustatory impairment was the most common oral manifestation, with a prevalence of 45% (95% CI, 34% to 55%; I2 = 99%). The pooled eligible data for different taste disorders were 38% for dysgeusia and 35% for hypogeusia, while ageusia had a prevalence of 24%. Taste disorders were associated with COVID-19 (odds ratio OR, 12.68; 95% CI, 6.41 to 25.10; I2 = 63%; P < 0.00001), mild/moderate severity (OR, 2.09; 95% CI, 1.25 to 3.49; I2 = 66%; P = 0.005), and female patients (OR, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.23 to 2.17; I2 = 70%; P = 0.0007). Oral mucosal lesions presented multiple clinical aspects, including white and erythematous plaques, irregular ulcers, small blisters, petechiae, and desquamative gingivitis. Tongue, palate, lips, gingiva, and buccal mucosa were affected. In mild cases, oral mucosal lesions developed before or at the same time as the initial respiratory symptoms; however, in those who required medication and hospitalization, the lesions developed approximately 7 to 24 d after onset symptoms. Therefore, taste disorders may be common symptoms in patients with COVID-19 and should be considered in the scope of the disease’s onset and progression. Oral mucosal lesions are more likely to present as coinfections and secondary manifestations with multiple clinical aspects (PROSPERO CRD42020184468).
Abnormal hypothalamic/posterior pituitary development appears to be a major determinant of pituitary stalk interruption syndrome (PSIS). The observation of familial cases and associated congenital ...abnormalities suggests a genetic basis. Single‐gene mutations explain less than 5% of the cases, and whole exome sequencing has shown heterogeneous results. The present study aimed to assess copy number variation (CNV) using array‐based comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) in patients with non‐syndromic PSIS and comprehensively review data from the literature on CNV analysis in congenital hypopituitarism (CH) patients. Twenty‐one patients with sporadic CH from our outpatient clinics presented with ectopic posterior pituitary (EPP) and no central nervous system abnormalities on magnetic resonance image (MRI) or any other malformations on physical examination at presentation were enrolled in the study. aCGH using a whole‐genome customized 400K oligonucleotide platform was performed in our patients. For the literature review, we searched for case reports of patients with CH and CNV detected by either karyotype or aCGH reported in PubMed up to November 2021. Thirty‐five distinct rare CNVs were observed in 18 patients (86%) and two of them (6%) were classified as pathogenic: one deletion of 1.8 Mb in chromosome 17 (17q12) and one deletion of 15 Mb in chromosome 18 (18p11.32p11.21), each one in a distinct patient. In the literature review, 67 pathogenic CNVs were published in 83 patients with CH, including the present study. Most of these patients had EPP (78% out of the 45 evaluated by sellar MRI) and were syndromic (70%). The most frequently affected chromosomes were X, 18, 20 and 1. Our study has found that CNV can be a mechanism of genetic abnormality in non‐syndromic patients with CH and EPP. In future studies, one or more genes in those CNVs, both pathogenic and variant of uncertain significance, may be considered as good candidate genes.
Pituitary development takes place from two embryonal apposed ectodermal tissues. The anterior pituitary (AP), so‐called adenohypophysis, forms from an upward protrusion of the epithelium of the roof of the mouth (Rathke's pouch, Rp) that extends toward the posterior pituitary (PP), or neurohypophysis, which grows downward by a ventral evagination from the diencephalon (de) of the developing brain. PP is attached to the infundibular (inf) stalk, which arises from an anlage in the floor of the third ventricle. Ectopic posterior pituitary (EPP) is the hallmark of pituitary stalk interruption syndrome (PSIS), which is mainly associated with AP endocrine defects because of its early neural induction of the Rp. However, pituitary‐development single‐gene mutations explain less than 5% of the cases, and whole exome sequencing still presents heterogeneous results. Our findings demonstrate the contribution of searching for copy number variation (CNV) using array‐based comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) in patients with PSIS, suggesting that CNV can be an additional mechanism of developmental abnormality in non‐syndromic patients with congenital hypopituitarism and ectopic posterior pituitary.
In this Letter, we study the structural and electronic properties of single-layer and bilayer phosphorene with graphene. We show that both the properties of graphene and phosphorene are preserved in ...the composed heterostructure. We also show that via the application of a perpendicular electric field, it is possible to tune the position of the band structure of phosphorene with respect to that of graphene. This leads to control of the Schottky barrier height and doping of phosphorene, which are important features in the design of new devices based on van der Waals heterostructures.
The annotation of small molecules is one of the most challenging and important steps in untargeted mass spectrometry analysis, as most of our biological interpretations rely on structural ...annotations. Molecular networking has emerged as a structured way to organize and mine data from untargeted tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) experiments and has been widely applied to propagate annotations. However, propagation is done through manual inspection of MS/MS spectra connected in the spectral networks and is only possible when a reference library spectrum is available. One of the alternative approaches used to annotate an unknown fragmentation mass spectrum is through the use of in silico predictions. One of the challenges of in silico annotation is the uncertainty around the correct structure among the predicted candidate lists. Here we show how molecular networking can be used to improve the accuracy of in silico predictions through propagation of structural annotations, even when there is no match to a MS/MS spectrum in spectral libraries. This is accomplished through creating a network consensus of re-ranked structural candidates using the molecular network topology and structural similarity to improve in silico annotations. The Network Annotation Propagation (NAP) tool is accessible through the GNPS web-platform https://gnps.ucsd.edu/ProteoSAFe/static/gnps-theoretical.jsp.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Agricultural soil erosion is thought to perturb the global carbon cycle, but estimates of its effect range from a source of 1 petagram per year⁻¹ to a sink of the same magnitude. By using caesium-137 ...and carbon inventory measurements from a large-scale survey, we found consistent evidence for an erosion-induced sink of atmospheric carbon equivalent to approximately 26% of the carbon transported by erosion. Based on this relationship, we estimated a global carbon sink of 0.12 (range 0.06 to 0.27) petagrams of carbon per year⁻¹ resulting from erosion in the world's agricultural landscapes. Our analysis directly challenges the view that agricultural erosion represents an important source or sink for atmospheric CO₂.
This is the first update of the previously published living systematic review that summarized evidence on the prevalence of oral signs and symptoms in patients with COVID-19. Hitherto, 183 studies ...were included, reporting data from 64,876 patients with COVID-19 worldwide. The overall prevalence of taste disorders was 38% (95% CI = 22% to 56%, I2 = 98%). Hypogeusia, dysgeusia, and ageusia were also evaluated by a meta-analysis, and the pooled prevalence was 34% for hypogeusia, 33% for dysgeusia, and 26% for ageusia. Taste disorders were associated with a positive COVID-19 test (odds ratio OR = 7.54, 95% CI = 5.24 to 10.86, I2 = 93%, P < 0.00001), showing high certainty of evidence. However, the association between taste disorders and mild/moderate severity of COVID-19 (OR = 1.63, 95% CI = 1.33 to 1.99, I2 = 69%, P < 0.0001) and female patients with COVID-19 (OR = 1.77, 95% CI = 1.26 to 2.48, I2 = 79%, P = 0.001) presented low certainty of evidence. Xerostomia was a new feature of this update, and the pooled data demonstrated a prevalence of 43% (95% CI = 36% to 50%, I2 = 71%) in patients with COVID-19. Regarding oral mucosal lesions, the most common clinical pattern was aphthous like, followed by herpes-like lesions, candidiasis, glossitis/depapillation/geographic tongue, parotitis, and angular cheilitis. Oral lesions were more frequent in the tongue, lips, and palate, presenting miscellaneous clinical aspects that are more likely to represent coinfections. Therefore, the reanalysis of current evidence suggests the triad xerostomia, taste dysfunction, and oral mucosal lesions as common manifestations in patients with COVID-19. However, these outcomes are under discussion, and more studies will be necessary to confirm their association with direct SARS-CoV-2 infection in the oral cavity.
In this work, we study the extended viscous dark energy models in the context of matter perturbations. To do this, we assume an alternative interpretation of the flat ...Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker Universe, through the nonadditive entropy and the viscous dark energy. We implement the relativistic equations to obtain the growth of matter fluctuations for a smooth version of dark energy. As result, we show that the matter density contrast evolves similarly to the
Λ
CDM model in high redshift; however, in late time, it is slightly different from the standard model. Using the latest geometrical and growth rate observational data, we carry out a Bayesian analysis to constrain parameters and compare models. We see that our viscous models are compatible with cosmological probes, and the
Λ
CDM recovered with a
1
σ
confidence level. The viscous dark energy models relieve the tension of
H
0
in
2
∼
3
σ
. Yet, by involving the
σ
8
tension, some models can alleviate it. In the model selection framework, the data discards the extended viscous dark energy models.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The Standard Cosmological Model has experienced tremendous success at reproducing observational data by assuming a universe dominated by a cosmological constant and dark matter in a flat geometry. ...However, several studies, based on local measurements, indicate that the universe is expanding too fast, in disagreement with the Cosmic Microwave Background. Taking into account combined data from CMB, Baryon Acoustic Oscillation, and type Ia Supernovae, we show that if the mechanism behind the production of dark matter particles has at least a small non-thermal origin, one can induce larger values of the Hubble rate Formula: see text, within the Formula: see textCDM, to alleviate the trouble with Formula: see text. In the presence of non-standard cosmology, however, we can fully reconcile CMB and local measurements and reach Formula: see text-74 Formula: see text.
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