Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) is a micro-focus X-ray fluorescence spectrometer mounted on the robotic arm of NASA’s
Perseverance
rover. PIXL will acquire high spatial ...resolution observations of rock and soil chemistry, rapidly analyzing the elemental chemistry of a target surface. In 10 seconds, PIXL can use its powerful 120 μm-diameter X-ray beam to analyze a single, sand-sized grain with enough sensitivity to detect major and minor rock-forming elements, as well as many trace elements. Over a period of several hours, PIXL can autonomously raster-scan an area of the rock surface and acquire a hyperspectral map comprised of several thousand individual measured points. When correlated to a visual image acquired by PIXL’s camera, these maps reveal the distribution and abundance variations of chemical elements making up the rock, tied accurately to the physical texture and structure of the rock, at a scale comparable to a 10X magnifying geological hand lens. The many thousands of spectra in these postage stamp-sized elemental maps may be analyzed individually or summed together to create a bulk rock analysis, or subsets of spectra may be summed, quantified, analyzed, and compared using PIXLISE data analysis software. This hand lens-scale view of the petrology and geochemistry of materials at the
Perseverance
landing site will provide a valuable link between the larger, centimeter- to meter-scale observations by Mastcam-Z, RIMFAX and Supercam, and the much smaller (micron-scale) measurements that would be made on returned samples in terrestrial laboratories.
Background
Thought to capture the nutritional and functional reserve of the cancer patient, whether the computed tomography (CT)‐derived sarcopenia score (CT‐SS) has complimentary prognostic value to ...commonly utilized pre‐treatment host assessments in patients with oesophago‐gastric (OG) cancer is unknown. The aim of the present study was to examine if the CT‐SS can stratify survival in OG cancer patients with good performance status Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group Performance Status (ECOG‐PS) 0/1. Furthermore, if the CT‐SS had complimentary prognostic value to cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) performance and systemic inflammation.
Methods
Consecutive patients with confirmed OG cancer and good performance status, who received neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) with a view to surgical resection with curative intent, between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2015, within NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) and NHS Forth Valley (NHSFV), were identified from a prospectively maintained database. CT‐SSs were grouped as 0/1/2. CPET variables recorded included VO2 anaerobic threshold (AT) and peak. Systemic inflammatory response was determined by modified Glasgow prognostic score (mGPS) and neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR). Associations between categorical variables were examined using χ2 test and binary logistics regression analysis.
Results
A total of 232 patients met the inclusion criteria. 75% (n = 174) of patients were male, 54% (n = 126) were 65 years or older, and 60% (n = 139) were overweight body mass index (BMI) ≥25 kg/m2; 33% (n = 77) of patients had CT‐SS ≥ 1, 36% (n = 83) had a low VO2 AT (≤11 ml/kg/min), and 57% (n = 132) had a low VO2 peak (≤19 ml/kg/min). Of the 200 patients who had pre‐NAC bloods facilitating calculation of the mGPS, 28% (n = 55) had mGPS ≥ 1. Of the 211 patients who had pre‐NAC bloods facilitating calculation of NLR, 38% (n = 80) had an NLR ≥ 3; 82% (n = 190) and 53% (n = 122) were alive at 1 and 3 years post‐NAC, respectively. On univariate analysis, CT‐SS was significantly associated with sex (P < 0.05), histological cell type (P < 0.05), low VO2 AT (P < 0.05), low VO2 peak (P < 0.05), BMI (P < 0.05), mGPS (P < 0.05), and 3‐year survival (P < 0.05). On multivariate analysis, tumour, node, and metastasis (TNM) stage (P < 0.05) and CT‐SS (P < 0.05) remained significantly associated with 3‐year survival. CT‐SS was significantly associated with 3‐year survival in patients who had mGPS 0 (P < 0.05), but not low VO2 AT (P = 0.066) or peak (P = 0.065).
Conclusion
The CT‐SS would appear to capture the nutritional and functional reserve of the patient and is a useful objective measure for stratifying long‐term survival in patients with good performance status undergoing potentially curative treatment for OG cancer.
One of the most important and persistent complications of blood transfusion is red blood cell (RBC) alloimmunization. When a patient is exposed to RBC antigens that differ from their own they can ...form alloantibodies to these foreign antigens. Blood group antigens are highly conserved and follow ancestral patterns of inheritance that may demonstrate population restriction. Minority populations who require chronic transfusion are at particularly high risk of alloimmunization when the blood donor population does not share the same ancestral background, resulting in exposure to non-self RBC antigens. It is incumbent on blood collectors to support patients with risk factors for alloimmunization as well as patients who have already formed alloantibodies. Increasing utilization of RBC genotyping may represent an opportunity to improve access to RBC units from donors that match the extended RBC phenotype of all possible patients.
Mental health problems during pregnancy and post partum are common and associated with negative short- and long-term impacts on pregnant individuals, obstetric outcomes, and child socioemotional ...development. Socio-environmental factors are important predictors of perinatal mental health, but the effects of the environment on mental health are heterogeneous. The differential susceptibility theory and the environmental sensitivity framework suggest that individuals differ in their degree of sensitivity to positive and negative environments, which can be captured by individual phenotypes such as temperament and personality. While there is strong evidence for these models in childhood, few studies examined them in adults, and they were not examined in pregnancy.
The primary objective of the Experiences of Pregnancy study is to explore whether childhood and current environments are associated with mental health and well-being in pregnancy and whether these effects depend on individual sensitivity phenotypes (personality). This study also aims to gather important psychosocial and health data for potential secondary data analyses and integrative data analyses.
We will conduct a longitudinal cohort study. The study was not registered elsewhere, other than this protocol. Participants will be recruited through social media advertisements linking to the study website, followed by an eligibility call on Zoom (Zoom Video Communications). Participants must be aged 18 years or older, currently residing in the United States as citizens or permanent residents, and currently planning to continue the pregnancy. A minimum of 512 participants will be recruited based on power analyses for the main objectives. Since the data will also be a resource for secondary analyses, up to 1000 participants will be recruited based on the available budget. Participants will be in their first trimester of pregnancy, and they will be followed at each trimester and once post partum. Data will be obtained through self-reported questionnaires assessing demographic factors; pregnancy-related factors; delivery, labor, and birth outcomes; early infant feeding; individual personality factors; childhood and current environments; mental health and well-being; attachment; and infant temperament. A series of measures were taken to safeguard the study from web robots and fraudulent participants, as well as to reduce legal and social risks for participants following Dobbs v. Jackson.
The study received ethics approval in April 2023 from the University of Oklahoma-Norman Campus Institutional Review Board. Recruitment occurred from May to August 2023, with 3 follow-ups occurring over 10 months.
The Experiences of Pregnancy study will extend theories of environmental sensitivity, mainly applied in children to the perinatal period. This will help better understand individual sensitivity factors associated with risk, resilience, plasticity, and receptivity to negative and positive environmental influences during pregnancy for pregnant individuals.
PRR1-10.2196/49243.
Urbanization contributes to the formation of novel elemental combinations and signatures in terrestrial and aquatic watersheds, also known as ‘chemical cocktails.’ The composition of chemical ...cocktails evolves across space and time due to: (1) elevated concentrations from anthropogenic sources, (2) accelerated weathering and corrosion of the built environment, (3) increased drainage density and intensification of urban water conveyance systems, and (4) enhanced rates of geochemical transformations due to changes in temperature, ionic strength, pH, and redox potentials. Characterizing chemical cocktails and underlying geochemical processes is necessary for: (1) tracking pollution sources using complex chemical mixtures instead of individual elements or compounds; (2) developing new strategies for co-managing groups of contaminants; (3) identifying proxies for predicting transport of chemical mixtures using continuous sensor data; and (4) determining whether interactive effects of chemical cocktails produce ecosystem-scale impacts greater than the sum of individual chemical stressors. First, we discuss some unique urban geochemical processes which form chemical cocktails, such as urban soil formation, human-accelerated weathering, urban acidification-alkalinization, and Freshwater Salinization Syndrome. Second, we review and synthesize global patterns in concentrations of major ions, carbon and nutrients, and trace elements in urban streams across different world regions and make comparisons with reference conditions. In addition to our global analysis, we highlight examples from watersheds in the Baltimore-Washington DC area, USA, which show increased transport of major ions, trace metals, and nutrients across streams draining a well-defined land-use gradient. Urbanization increased the concentrations of multiple major and trace elements in streams draining human-dominated watersheds compared to reference conditions. Chemical cocktails of major and trace elements were formed over diurnal cycles coinciding with changes in streamflow, dissolved oxygen, pH, and other variables measured by high-frequency sensors. Some chemical cocktails of major and trace elements were also significantly related to specific conductance (p < 0.05), which can be measured by sensors. Concentrations of major and trace elements increased, peaked, or decreased longitudinally along streams as watershed urbanization increased, which is consistent with distinct shifts in chemical mixtures upstream and downstream of other major cities in the world. Our global analysis of urban streams shows that concentrations of multiple elements along the periodic table significantly increase when compared with reference conditions. Furthermore, similar biogeochemical patterns and processes can be grouped among distinct mixtures of elements of major ions, dissolved organic matter, nutrients, and trace elements as chemical cocktails. Chemical cocktails form in urban waters over diurnal cycles, decades, and throughout drainage basins. We conclude our global review and synthesis by proposing strategies for monitoring and managing chemical cocktails using source control, ecosystem restoration, and green infrastructure. We discuss future research directions applying the watershed chemical cocktail approach to diagnose and manage environmental problems. Ultimately, a chemical cocktail approach targeting sources, transport, and transformations of different and distinct elemental combinations is beneficial to more holistically monitor and manage the emerging impacts of chemical mixtures in the world's fresh waters.
•Urbanization has altered global elemental concentrations in streams compared to baseline reference conditions.•The chemical composition of global freshwaters can be classified as distinct elemental mixtures or ‘chemical cocktails’.•Chemical cocktails can be applied to track pollution sources, co-manage contaminants, and identify Anthropocene signatures.•There is a growing need to holistically monitor and manage the emerging impacts of chemical cocktails in global freshwaters.
Background
The COVID‐19 pandemic has brought tremendous challenges to the United States blood supply. Decreased collections have caused blood product shortages. The number of hospital‐based donor ...centers (HBDCs) has decreased in the past decades, but they provide important support to their hospital systems.
Materials/Methods
We identified 79 active HBDCs through an information request to the FDA. These centers were invited to participate in a survey about their activities, blood product collections, and perceived value.
Results
Thirty‐six centers responded (46% response rate). The centers represented a wide range of states and geographic settings. Whole blood collection was most common, but some respondents also prepared specialized products such as COVID‐19 convalescent plasma and pathogen‐reduced platelets. Positive impacts of HBDCs included inventory availability, cost‐effectiveness/savings, community outreach, supporting special patient populations, and collecting specialty products. All respondents anticipate at least stable operations, if not growth, in the future.
Conclusion
HBDCs continue to be valuable assets in addressing emerging patient transfusion needs. Their unique offerings are tailored to the populations their hospitals support, and demonstrate the value in having the collection infrastructure in place to rapidly respond to critical shortages. This survey provides benchmark data about a broad group of HBDCs including products prepared, inventory self‐sufficiency levels, and reasons for positive impact.
Using cluster analysis, we investigated whether perceived social support and individual differences in preferences to use support combined to form distinct profiles. Self-report data were collected ...from U.S. adults (N = 454; aged 40-90, M
age
= 55.37, SD = 9.73). Four profiles were identified: disengaged, interpersonally connected, isolated independent, and connected independent. Profiles characterized by high perceived support were associated with better overall health, even among those who preferred not to use support; men and those not married or cohabiting were less likely to be in these profiles. Implications for understanding associations between social support and health and the identification of at-risk groups are discussed.
Older adults consistently report a lower likelihood of engaging in health and safety risks (e.g., substance use, not wearing seatbelts) than younger adults. However, the mechanisms that explain this ...age difference are not clear. Greater dispositional mindfulness is associated with lower engagement in health risk behaviors, and older adults tend to score higher in dispositional mindfulness than younger adults. Thus, we tested whether older adults’ greater dispositional mindfulness helped to explain their lesser health and safety risk-taking propensity. Two community-dwelling samples of younger (25–36 years) and older (60+ years) adults completed self-report measures of dispositional mindfulness and health and safety risk-taking propensity. In Study 1, older adults reported greater dispositional mindfulness and a lower likelihood to engage in health and safety risk behaviors than younger adults. Greater dispositional mindfulness was associated with lesser health and safety risk-taking propensity. Importantly, older adults’ greater dispositional mindfulness partially accounted for their lesser health and safety risk-taking propensity. These findings were replicated in Study 2, and an alternative mechanism (i.e., perceived health) was ruled out. The results suggest that age-related decreases in health and safety risk behaviors may be statistically explained, in part, by dispositional mindfulness. The current research has implications for behavioral interventions intended to increase preventative health behaviors and decrease health risk behaviors.
There has been a proliferation of digital health interventions (DHIs) targeting dietary intake. Despite their potential, the effectiveness of DHIs are thought to be dependent, in part, on user ...engagement. However, the relationship between engagement and the effectiveness of dietary DHIs is not well understood. The aim of this review is to describe the association between DHI engagement and dietary intake. A systematic search of four electronic databases and grey literature for records published before December 2019 was conducted. Studies were eligible if they examined a quantitative association between objective measures of engagement with a DHI (subjective experience or usage) and measures of dietary intake in adults (aged ≥18 years). From 10,653 citations, seven studies were included. Five studies included usage measures of engagement and two examined subjective experiences. Narrative synthesis, using vote counting, found mixed evidence of an association with usage measures (5 of 12 associations indicated a positive relationship, 7 were inconclusive) and no evidence regarding an association with subjective experience (both studies were inconclusive). The findings provide early evidence supporting an association between measures of usage and dietary intake; however, this was inconsistent. Further research examining the association between DHI engagement and dietary intake is warranted.
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