Shape-controlled synthesis of uniform noble metal nanoparticles (NPs) is crucial for the development of future plasmonic devices. The use of nanocrystals with well-defined morphologies and ...crystallinity as seed particles is expected to provide excellent shape control and monodispersity. We report the aqueous-based seed-mediated growth of monodisperse gold octahedra with wide range of sizes (50–150 nm in side length) by reducing different amounts of HAuCl4 on preformed single crystalline gold nanorods using butenoic acid as reducing agent. Butenoic acid plays a key role as a mild reducing agent as well as favoring the thermodynamic control of the reaction. The uniformity of the as-prepared Au octahedra combined with the use of a microfluidic technique based on microevaporation will allow the self-assembly of octahedra into uniform 3D supercrystals. Additionally, these plasmonic substrates exhibit high and uniform SERS signals over extended areas with intensities increasing with the Au nanoparticle size.
La investigación presenta una descripción del tiempo de uso y las motivaciones que los jóvenes españoles manifiestan para pasar gran parte de su jornada diaria conectados a las redes sociales (rrss). ...El estudio partió de una encuesta realizada a 572 personas de entre 15 y 26 años en España y puso de manifiesto que los jóvenes pasan un promedio de 5,5 horas al día navegando por las rrss. Con respecto a las motivaciones que más expresan los encuestados, se encuentran las de compartir fotos o vídeos y ver qué hacen diariamente sus contactos. A pesar de que muchos usuarios califican su uso como adictivo, muestran muy poca voluntad para cambiar de hábitos. Además, los resultados del artículo también evidenciaron que la atención de los jóvenes se concentra en unas pocas plataformas, pertenecientes en su mayoría a Facebook Inc. (recientemente renombrado como Meta), lo que favorece una posición dominante de pocas grandes empresas tecnológicas que controlan el mercado de la atención.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread worldwide, it is crucial that we determine populations that are at-risk and develop appropriate clinical care policies to protect them. While several ...respiratory illnesses are known to seriously impact pregnant women and newborns, preliminary data on the novel SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus suggest that these groups are no more at-risk than the general population. Here, we review the available literature on newborns born to infected mothers and show that newborns of mothers with positive/suspected SARS-CoV-2 infection rarely acquire the disease or show adverse clinical outcomes. With this evidence in mind, it appears that strict postnatal care policies, including separating mothers and newborns, discouraging breastfeeding, and performing early bathing, may be more likely to adversely impact newborns than they are to reduce the low risk of maternal transmission of SARS-CoV-2 or the even lower risk of severe COVID-19 disease in otherwise healthy newborns.
Objective
Real‐world studies are needed to identify factors associated with response to biologic therapies in patients with axial spondyloarthritis (SpA). The objective was to assess sex differences ...in response to tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFi) and to explore possible risk factors associated with TNFi efficacy.
Methods
A total of 969 patients with axial SpA (315 females, 654 males) enrolled in the BIOBADASER registry (2000–2019) who initiated a TNFi (first, second, or further lines) were studied. Statistical and artificial intelligence (AI)–based data analyses were used to explore the association of sex differences and other factors to TNFi response, using the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Index (BASDAI), to calculate the BASDAI50, with an improvement of at least 50% of the BASDAI score, and using the Ankylosing Spondylitis Disease Activity Score, calculated using the C‐reactive protein level (ASDAS‐CRP).
Results
Females had a lower probability of reaching a BASDAI50 response with a first line TNFi treatment at the second year of follow‐up (P = 0.018) and a lesser reduction of the ASDAS‐CRP at this time point. The logistic regression model showed lower BASDAI50 responses to TNFi in females (P = 0.05). Other factors, such as older age (P = 0.004), were associated with unfavorable responses. The AI data analyses reinforced the idea that age at the beginning of the treatment was the main factor associated with an unfavorable response. The combination of age with other clinical characteristics (female sex or cardiovascular risk factors and events) potentially contributed to an unfavorable response to TNFi.
Conclusion
In this national multicenter registry, female sex was associated with less response to a first‐line TNFi by the second year of follow‐up. A higher age at the start of the TNFi was the main factor associated with an unfavorable response to TNFi.
Bacterial cells are equipped with a variety of immune strategies to fight bacteriophage infections. Such strategies include unspecific mechanisms directed against any phage infecting the cell, ...ranging from the identification and cleavage of the viral DNA by restriction nucleases (restriction-modification systems) to the suicidal death of infected host cells (abortive infection, Abi). In addition, CRISPR-Cas systems generate an immune memory that targets specific phages in case of reinfection. However, the timing and coordination of different antiviral systems in bacterial cells are poorly understood. Here, we use simple mathematical models of immune responses in individual bacterial cells to propose that the intracellular dynamics of phage infections are key to addressing these questions. Our models suggest that the rates of viral DNA replication and cleavage inside host cells define functional categories of phages that differ in their susceptibility to bacterial anti-phage mechanisms, which could give raise to alternative phage strategies to escape bacterial immunity. From this viewpoint, the combined action of diverse bacterial defenses would be necessary to reduce the chances of phage immune evasion. The decision of individual infected cells to undergo suicidal cell death or to incorporate new phage sequences into their immune memory would be determined by dynamic interactions between the host's immune mechanisms and the phage DNA. Our work highlights the importance of within-cell dynamics to understand bacterial immunity, and formulates hypotheses that may inspire future research in this area.
Bisphenol A (BPA) is an endocrine disruptor used in manufacturing of plastic devices, resulting in an ubiquitous presence in the environment linked to human infertility, obesity or cardiovascular ...diseases. Both transcriptome and epigenome modifications lie behind these disorders that might be inherited transgenerationally when affecting germline. To assess potential effects of paternal exposure on offspring development, adult zebrafish males were exposed to BPA during spermatogenesis and mated with non-treated females. Results showed an increase in the rate of heart failures of progeny up to the F2, as well as downregulation of 5 genes involved in cardiac development in F1 embryos. Moreover, BPA causes a decrease in F0 and F1 sperm remnant mRNAs related to early development. Results reveal a paternal inheritance of changes in the insulin signaling pathway due to downregulation of insulin receptor β mRNAs, suggesting a link between BPA male exposure and disruption of cardiogenesis in forthcoming generations.
•We examine the effects of adult male exposure to BPA on the progeny (F1 and F2).•Paternal exposure promotes similar cardiac malformations to those caused by direct exposure.•BPA applied during spermatogenesis decrease the insra and insrb transcripts in spermatozoa.•Sperm insrb transcript controls embryonic expression being the downregulation inherited by F1.•Paternal BPA exposure impairs heart development in F1 and F2 disrupting insulin signaling pathway.
Paternal bisphenol A exposure impairs cardiac development throughout generations.
Applying mulch to severely burned soils is common practice in fire-prone areas such as the NW Spain. Mulch that provides >80% cover can reduce post-fire soil erosion by up to 90%; however, this level ...of cover can sometimes be difficult to achieve in remote areas due to the logistic constraints. Although application of mulch strips is a possible alternative approach, there is no information available about the effectiveness of this technique. Such information is critical in protected areas where mulch application can modify the recovery of natural vegetation by altering the soil moisture regime.
In this study, the effects of the application of 20 m wide straw mulch strips on soil erosion, soil moisture and vegetation recovery were assessed during the first year after a high-severity fire that occurred in September 2020 in two European dry-heathland areas.
During the first year after the fire, the mean sediment yields in the untreated plots were 18.5 Mg ha−1 and 33.8 Mg ha−1, respectively at the Lobios and Vilariño study sites. Although the straw mulch strips reduced soil erosion by >70% on average, erosion rates remained high at both sites. Soil moisture contents in mulch-treated areas were significantly higher than in untreated areas during spring and summer.
Mulching affected vegetation recovery in different ways, i.e., it had neutral to positive effects, depending on the study site. No alteration in species composition was observed in either of the sites as a result of treatment application.
In summary, the reduction in soil erosion after the application of straw mulch strips covering 67% of burned soil under the conditions of the present study under the conditions of the present study reduced a 70–75% of soil erosion after a high-severity wildfire.
•Straw mulch strips significantly reduced (70–75%) post-fire soil erosion.•Mulch application increases soil moisture relatively to the control in spring-summer.•The effects of mulch on vegetation cover ranged from neutral to positive.•Mulching did not affect plant species richness.
Mitral regurgitation (MR) is a common entity in patients with aortic stenosis undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), but its influence on outcomes remains controversial. The ...purpose of this meta-analysis was to assess the clinical impact of and changes in significant (moderate-severe) MR in patients undergoing TAVR, overall and according to valve design (self-expandable (SEV) vs balloon-expandable (BEV)).
All national registries and randomised trials were pooled using meta-analytical guidelines to establish the impact of moderate-severe MR on mortality after TAVR. Studies reporting changes in MR after TAVR on an individual level were electronically searched and used for the analysis.
Eight studies including 8015 patients (SEV: 3474 patients; BEV: 4492 patients) were included in the analysis. The overall 30-day and 1-year mortality was increased in patients with significant MR (OR 1.49, 95% CI 1.16 to 1.92; HR 1.32, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.55, respectively), but a significant heterogeneity across studies was observed (p<0.05). The impact of MR on mortality was not different between SEV and BEV in meta-regression analysis for 30-day (p=0.360) and 1-year (p=0.388) mortality. Changes in MR over time were evaluated in nine studies including 1278 patients. Moderate-severe MR (SEV: 326 patients; BEV: 192 patients) improved in 50.5% of the patients at a median follow-up of 180 (30-360) days after TAVR, and the degree of improvement was greater in patients who had received a BEV (66.7% vs 40.8% in the SEV group, p=0.001).
Concomitant moderate-severe MR was associated with increased early and late mortality following TAVR. A significant improvement in MR severity was detected in half of the patients following TAVR, and the degree of improvement was greater in those patients who had received a BEV.
Among biofuel production processes using microalgae biomass, biogas generation seems to be the least complex. Nevertheless, its efficiency is hampered due to the hard cell wall. In order to enhance ...its anaerobic biodegradability, the present investigation evaluated the effect of two pretreatments (low temperature autohydrolysis at 50 °C for 24 and 48 h incubation and alkaline (0.5, 2 and 5% w/w NaOH dosages)) on Chlorella vulgaris and Scenedesmus sp. The autohydrolysis resulted in 16 and 6% chemical oxygen demand (COD) solubilisation for Chlorella and Scenedesmus, respectively. During thermoalkaline pretreatment, COD in soluble phase (CODsol) was increased up to 19% for Chlorella and 17% for Scenedesmus sp. The highest carbohydrates solubilisation corresponded to 2 and 5% w/w NaOH dosage for 48 h at 50 °C for Chlorella (20%) and Scenedesmus (40–43%). When compared to Chlorella, Scenedesmus biomass exhibited higher carbohydrates solubilisation, although methane yield enhancement was low for both substrates. Best case scenario for Scenedesmus sp. (20% increase) was attained with 5% NaOH at 50 °C for 24 h. Despite the lower carbohydrates solubilisation observed for Chlorella, similar methane yields were similar to Scenedesmus sp. The low methane production enhancement was ascribed to the fact that the organic matter solubilised were exopolymers released during pretreatments rather than intracellular material.
•Scenedesmus and Chlorella sp. cell wall disruption hinders high methane production.•Autohydrolysis and thermoalkaline pretreatments resulted in carbohydrates release and enhanced methane production.•Methane production was increased by 20% for Scenedesmus sp. and 17% for Chlorella sp.•The low methane production enhancement was ascribed to exopolymers released.
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