Amorphous films deposited by pulsed laser deposition from a crystalline Li2PO2N target in a N2 ambient atmosphere (LiPON-PLD) have been examined as an approach to reduce the charge-transfer ...resistance at the electrode-solid electrolyte interface. Despite the relatively low ionic conductivity of ca. 1.5 × 10−8 S cm−1 at 25 °C, the amorphous LiPON-PLD films deposited between a LiMn1.485Ni0.45Cr0.05O4 (LNM) cathode and LiPON electrolyte resulted in sharply improved electrochemical performance in terms of charge-transfer resistance and CV profiles. Cells without a LiPON-PLD film had a charge-transfer resistance of 4470 Ω-cm2 compared to 760 and 960 Ω-cm2 for the sample with 17 nm and 31 nm thick LiPON-PLD films, respectively. The LiPON-PLD amorphous films show no evidence of the continuous planar PNPN- backbone characteristic of the crystalline target material, but compared with LiPON prepared from radio frequency magnetron sputtering with Li3PO4 in a N2 atmosphere, the LiPON-PLD films were composed of a higher amount of triply coordinated P−N<PP with relatively lower contributions of PNP.
•Amorphous films were deposited by PLD from crystalline Li2PO2N in N2.•Films significantly improved charge-transfer resistance and CV profiles.•Films show no evidence of planar PNPN backbone observed in the target.•Using a crystalline Li2PO2N PLD target increases the ratio of N/P in the films.
Biomass pyrolysis to produce biofuel and hydrogen yields large amounts of charred byproducts with low commercial value. A study was conducted to evaluate their potential for being converted into ...higher value activated carbons by a low-cost process. Six chars derived from various lignocellulosic precursors were activated in CO2 at 800 °C to 30–35% weight loss, and their surface area and porosity were characterized by nitrogen adsorption at 77 K. It was found that, in similar activation conditions, the surface area of the activated carbons correlates with the activation energy of the oxidation reaction by CO2, which in turn varies inversely with the carbon yield after thermolysis in nitrogen at 1000 °C. Since lignin is the most thermally-stable component of lignocellulosic biomass, these results demonstrate, indirectly, that robust, lignin-rich vegetal precursors are to be preferred to produce higher quality activated carbons. The chars derived from white pine (pinus strobus) and chestnut oak (quercus prinus) were converted to activated carbons with the highest surface area (900–1100 m2/g) and largest mesopores volume (0.85–1.06 cm3/g). These activated carbons have properties similar to those of commercially-available activated carbons used successfully for removal of pollutants from aqueous solutions.
Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) spectrometry is a method for determining the quaternary structure of protein oligomers from distributions of FRET efficiencies that are drawn from pixels of ...fluorescence images of cells expressing the proteins of interest. FRET spectrometry protocols currently rely on obtaining spectrally resolved fluorescence data from intensity-based experiments. Another imaging method, fluorescence lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM), is a widely used alternative to compute FRET efficiencies for each pixel in an image from the reduction of the fluorescence lifetime of the donors caused by FRET. In FLIM studies of oligomers with different proportions of donors and acceptors, the donor lifetimes may be obtained by fitting the temporally resolved fluorescence decay data with a predetermined number of exponential decay curves. However, this requires knowledge of the number and the relative arrangement of the fluorescent proteins in the sample, which is precisely the goal of FRET spectrometry, thus creating a conundrum that has prevented users of FLIM instruments from performing FRET spectrometry. Here, we describe an attempt to implement FRET spectrometry on temporally resolved fluorescence microscopes by using an integration-based method of computing the FRET efficiency from fluorescence decay curves. This method, which we dubbed
(or tiFRET), was tested on oligomeric fluorescent protein constructs expressed in the cytoplasm of living cells. The present results show that tiFRET is a promising way of implementing FRET spectrometry and suggest potential instrument adjustments for increasing accuracy and resolution in this kind of study.
The introduction of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) antibody rapid testing (RT) in resource-limited settings has proven to be a successful intervention to increase access to prevention measures ...and improve timely linkage to care. However, the quality of testing has not always kept pace with the scale-up of this testing strategy. To monitor the accuracy of HIV RT test results, a national proficiency testing (PT) program was rolled out at selected testing sites in Ghana using the dried tube specimen (DTS) approach. Between 2015 and 2018, 635 HIV testing sites, located in five regions and supported by the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), were enrolled in the HIV PT program of the Ghana Health Service National AIDS/STI Control Programme. These sites offered various services: HIV Testing and Counselling (HTC), prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) and Antiretroviral Treatment (ART). The PT panels, composed of six DTS, were prepared by two regional laboratories, using fully characterized plasma obtained from the regional blood banks and distributed to the testing sites. The results were scored by the PT providers according to the predefined acceptable performance criteria which was set at greater than or equal to 95%. Seven rounds of PT panels were completed successfully over three years. The number of sites enrolled increased from 205 in round 1 (June 2015) to 635 in round 7 (December 2018), with a noticeable increase in Greater Accra and Eastern regions. The average participation rates of enrolled sites ranged from 88.0% to 98.0% across the PT rounds. By round 7, HTC (257/635 (40.5%)) and PMTCT (237/635 (37.3%)) had a larger number of sites that participated in the PT program than laboratory (106/635 (16.7%)) and ART (12/635 (1.9%)) sites. The average testing performance rate improved significantly from 27% in round 1 to 80% in round 7 (p < 0.001). The highest performance rate was observed for ART (100%), HTC (92%), ANC/PMTCT (90%) and Laboratory (89%) in round 5. The DTS PT program showed a significant increase in the participation and performance rates during this period. Sub-optimal performances observed was attributed to non-compliance to the national testing algorithm and testing technique. However, the implementation of review meetings, peer-initiated corrective action, supportive supervisory training, and mentorship proved impactful. The decentralized approach to preparing the PT panels ensured ownership by the region and districts.
The risk of losing traditional knowledge of medicinal plants and their use and conservation is very high. Documenting knowledge on distribution and use of medicinal plants by different ethnic groups ...and at spatial scale on a single platform is important from a conservation planning and management perspective. The sustainable use, continuous practice, and safeguarding of traditional knowledge are essential. Communication of such knowledge among scientists and policy makers at local and global level is equally important, as the available information at present is limited and scattered in Nepal.
In this paper, we aimed to address these shortcomings by cataloguing medicinal plants used by indigenous ethnic groups in Nepal through a systematic review of over 275 pertinent publications published between 1975 and July 2021. The review was complemented by field visits made in 21 districts. We determined the ethnomedicinal plants hotspots across the country and depicted them in heatmaps.
The heatmaps show spatial hotspots and sites of poor ethnomedicinal plant use documentation, which is useful for evaluating the interaction of geographical and ethnobotanical variables. Mid-hills and mountainous areas of Nepal hold the highest number of medicinal plant species in use, which could be possibly associated with the presence of higher human population and diverse ethnic groups in these areas.
Given the increasing concern about losing medicinal plants due to changing ecological, social, and climatic conditions, the results of this paper may be important for better understanding of how medicinal plants in use are distributed across the country and often linked to specific ethnic groups.
Abstract
STUDY QUESTION
What is the role of SFRP2 in endometriosis?
SUMMARY ANSWER
SFRP2 acts as a canonical WNT/CTNNB1 signaling agonist in endometriosis, regulating endometriosis lesion growth and ...indicating endometriosis lesion borders together with CTNNB1 (also known as beta catenin).
WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY
Endometriosis is a common, chronic disease that affects women of reproductive age, causing pain and infertility, and has significant economic impact on national health systems. Despite extensive research, the pathogenesis of endometriosis is poorly understood, and targeted medical treatments are lacking. WNT signaling is dysregulated in various human diseases, but its role in extraovarian endometriosis has not been fully elucidated.
STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION
We evaluated the significance of WNT signaling, and especially secreted frizzled-related protein 2 (SFRP2), in extraovarian endometriosis, including peritoneal and deep lesions. The study design was based on a cohort of clinical samples collected by laparoscopy or curettage and questionnaire data from healthy controls and endometriosis patients.
PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS
Global gene expression analysis in human endometrium (n = 104) and endometriosis (n = 177) specimens from 47 healthy controls and 103 endometriosis patients was followed by bioinformatics and supportive qPCR analyses. Immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, primary cell culture and siRNA knockdown approaches were used to validate the findings.
MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE
Among the 220 WNT signaling and CTNNB1 target genes analysed, 184 genes showed differential expression in extraovarian endometriosis (P < 0.05) compared with endometrium tissue, including SFRP2 and CTNNB1. Menstrual cycle-dependent regulation of WNT genes observed in the endometrium was lost in endometriosis lesions, as shown by hierarchical clustering. Immunohistochemical analysis indicated that SFRP2 and CTNNB1 are novel endometriosis lesion border markers, complementing immunostaining for the known marker CD10 (also known as MME). SFRP2 and CTNNB1 localized similarly in both the epithelium and stroma of extraovarian endometriosis tissue, and interestingly, both also indicated an additional distant lesion border, suggesting that WNT signaling is altered in the endometriosis stroma beyond the primary border indicated by the known marker CD10. SFRP2 expression was positively associated with pain symptoms experienced by patients (P < 0.05), and functional loss of SFRP2 in extraovarian endometriosis primary cell cultures resulted in decreased cell proliferation (P < 0.05) associated with reduced CTNNB1 protein expression (P = 0.05).
LIMITATIONS REASONS FOR CAUTION
SFRP2 and CTNNB1 improved extraovarian endometriosis lesion border detection in a relatively small cohort (n = 20), although larger studies with different endometriosis subtypes in variable cycle phases and under hormonal medication are required.
WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS
The highly expressed SFRP2 and CTNNB1 improve endometriosis lesion border detection, which can have clinical implications for better visualization of endometriosis lesions over CD10. Furthermore, SFRP2 acts as a canonical WNT/CTNNB1 signaling agonist in endometriosis and positively regulates endometriosis lesion growth, suggesting that the WNT pathway may be an important therapeutic target for endometriosis.
STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S)
This study was funded by the Academy of Finland and by Tekes: Finnish Funding Agency for Innovation. The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
The absorption measure distribution (AMD) in the X-ray outflows of Seyfert active galactic nuclei describes the distribution of absorbing column density as a function of ionization parameter. Up to ...now, the AMD has been measured only for seven objects with high-resolution X-ray data that contain absorption lines from ionized heavy elements. Even though the number of measured AMDs is not large, they display a universal broad shape containing a prominent dip, for which the absorbing column drops by around two orders of magnitude. In this paper, we test a range of photoionization models against the overall shape of the AMD as observed in Seyferts. In particular, we demonstrate that the shape of the AMD depends both on the spectral energy distribution (SED) of radiation that enters the outflow, and the density of the warm absorber (WA). The model that best reproduces the observed shape of the AMD is one wherein the gas density of the WA is of the order of 1012 cm−3, irradiated by an SED whose optical/UV luminosity is 100 times higher than the X-ray luminosity. When the cloud density is higher than ∼1011 cm−3, free-free heating dominates the entire absorber, and only one instability zone occurs, in agreement with observations.
An attention guided convolutional neural network (CNN) for the classification of breast cancer histopathology images is proposed. Neural networks are generally applied as black box models and often ...the network's decisions are difficult to interpret. Making the decision process transparent, and hence reliable is important for a computer-assisted diagnosis (CAD) system. Moreover, it is crucial that the network's decision be based on histopathological features that are in agreement with a human expert. To this end, we propose to use additional region-level supervision for the classification of breast cancer histopathology images using CNN, where the regions of interest (RoI) are localized and used to guide the attention of the classification network simultaneously. The proposed supervised attention mechanism specifically activates neurons in diagnostically relevant regions while suppressing activations in irrelevant and noisy areas. The class activation maps generated by the proposed method correlate well with the expectations of an expert pathologist. Moreover, the proposed method surpasses the state-of-the-art on the BACH microscopy test dataset (part A) with a significant margin.
Malnutrition is a threat to optimal child development, with its occurrence during foetal and infancy stages associated with poor cognitive, motor and socio‐emotional skills. However, information on ...the effects of various types of malnutrition on early childhood development (ECD) is limited in Nepal. To assess the association of stunting, wasting and underweight (three prominent forms of malnutrition) with the four domains of the ECD index (literacy‐numeracy, physical, social‐emotional and learning development) among children 36–59 months of age, we conducted an adjusted logistic regression using Nepal's national household Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2019 data set. The study sample consisted of children aged 36–59 months (n = 2871). Children were considered developmentally on track if they met criteria in each of the four ECD domains. Regarding ECD status of children 36–59 months old, 35% of children were not developmentally on track for the ECD index. The adjusted odds ratio indicated that stunting was associated with lower odds of not being developmentally on track according to the ECD index as well as the literacy‐numeracy, physical and learning domains of the ECD index. Likewise, underweight was associated with lower odds of not being developmentally on track according to the ECD index, primarily for ECD domains of literacy‐numeracy, physical and learning. Notably, no association between wasting and ECD indicators was observed. Children's nutrition status impacts child development outcomes. Adding ECD interventions, such as responsive and stimulating caregiving, within nutrition programmes among children who are stunted and underweight could improve child development outcomes.
Key messages
In Nepal, 35% of children in our data set did not display optimal early childhood development (ECD).
Children who are malnourished, especially indicating signs of stunting and underweight, are likely to exhibit poor ECD indicators and may have limited cognitive capabilities in adulthood.
Wasting demonstrated no notable association with ECD indicators.
Study findings suggest that ECD interventions among children who are stunted and underweight could support optimal childhood development globally.
Establishing partnerships between nutrition and ECD sectors to adopt the Nurturing Care Framework, especially targeting the first 5 years of life, would contribute to childhood development efforts.
Background. Staphylococcus aureus has numerous virulence factors, including exotoxins that may increase the severity of infection. This study was aimed at assessing whether preexisting antibodies to ...S. aureus toxins are associated with a lower risk of sepsis in adults with S. aureus infection complicated by bacteremia. Methods. We prospectively identified adults with S. aureus infection from 4 hospitals in Baltimore, MD, in 2009-2011. We obtained serum samples from prior to or at presentation of S. aureus bacteremia to measure total immunoglobulin G (IgG) and IgG antibody levels to 11 S. aureus exotoxins. Bacterial isolates were tested for the genes encoding S. aureus exotoxins using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results. One hundred eligible subjects were included and 27 of them developed sepsis. When adjusted for total IgG levels and stratified for the presence of toxin in the infecting isolate as appropriate, the risk of sepsis was significantly lower in those patients with higher levels of IgG against δ-hemolysin (Hla), δ-hemolysin (Hld), Panton Valentine leukocidin (PVL), staphylococcal enterotoxin C-1 (SEC-1), and phenol-soluble modulin α3 (PSM-α3). Conclusions. Our results suggest that higher antibody levels against Hla, Hid, PVL, SEC-1, and PSM-α3 may protect against sepsis in patients with invasive S. aureus infections.
PDF
