The new third‐generation synchrotron radiation source PETRA III located at the Deutsches Elektronen‐Synchrotron DESY in Hamburg, Germany, has been operational since the second half of 2009. PETRA III ...is designed to deliver hard X‐ray beams with very high brilliance. As one of the first beamlines of PETRA III the high‐resolution diffraction beamline P08 is fully operational. P08 is specialized in X‐ray scattering and diffraction experiments on solids and liquids where extreme high resolution in reciprocal space is required. The resolving power results in the high‐quality PETRA III beam and unique optical elements such as a large‐offset monochromator and beryllium lens changers. A high‐precision six‐circle diffractometer for solid samples and a specially designed liquid diffractometer are installed in the experimental hutch. Regular users have been accepted since summer 2010.
In this communication, the simulation and experimental results of a novel wideband wearable circularly polarized textile antenna for low-power transmission in the 2.45 GHz ISM band are presented. The ...wide impedance and axial ratio bandwidths make it perfect for low microwave power transmission to a wearable sensor system. The antenna is flexible, robust and light weight so that it can be easily integrated into clothes. It is shown that the circularly polarized textile antenna has a 3-dB axial ratio bandwidth of 564 MHz (23%) and a {-}10 dB impedance bandwidth of 1086 MHz (44%) on a human body with the maximum gain of 4.9 dBic. Lastly, the textile antenna is employed on the battery-less temperature sensor system on a human arm to demonstrate the effective power transmission over a metre distance.
We use a 2005–2009 record of isoprene emissions over Africa derived from Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) satellite observations of formaldehyde (HCHO) to better understand the factors controlling ...isoprene emission in the continent and evaluate the impact on atmospheric composition. OMI-derived isoprene emissions show large seasonality over savannas driven by temperature and leaf area index (LAI), and much weaker seasonality over equatorial forests driven by temperature. The commonly used MEGAN (Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature, version 2.1) global isoprene emission model reproduces this seasonality but is biased high, particularly for equatorial forests, when compared to OMI and relaxed-eddy accumulation measurements. Isoprene emissions in MEGAN are computed as the product of an emission factor Eo, LAI, and activity factors dependent on environmental variables. We use the OMI-derived emissions to provide improved estimates of Eo that are in good agreement with direct leaf measurements from field campaigns (r = 0.55, bias = −19%). The largest downward corrections to MEGAN Eo values are for equatorial forests and semi-arid environments, and this is consistent with latitudinal transects of isoprene over western Africa from the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) aircraft campaign. Total emission of isoprene in Africa is estimated to be 77 Tg C a−1, compared to 104 Tg C a−1 in MEGAN. Simulations with the GEOS-Chem oxidant–aerosol model suggest that isoprene emissions increase mean surface ozone in western Africa by up to 8 ppbv, and particulate matter by up to 1.5 μg m−3, due to coupling with anthropogenic influences.
Organic compounds and liquid water are major aerosol constituents in the southeast United States (SE US). Water associated with inorganic constituents (inorganic water) can contribute to the ...partitioning medium for organic aerosol when relative humidities or organic matter to organic carbon (OM/OC) ratios are high such that separation relative humidities (SRH) are below the ambient relative humidity (RH). As OM/OC ratios in the SE US are often between 1.8 and 2.2, organic aerosol experiences both mixing with inorganic water and separation from it. Regional chemical transport model simulations including inorganic water (but excluding water uptake by organic compounds) in the partitioning medium for secondary organic aerosol (SOA) when RH > SRH led to increased SOA concentrations,· particularly at night. Water uptake to the organic phase resulted in even greater SOA concentrations as a result of a positive feedback in which water uptake increased SOA, which further increased aerosol water and organic aerosol. Aerosol properties· such as the OM/OC and hygroscopicity parameter (
), were captured well by the model compared with measurements during the Southern Oxidant and Aerosol Study (SOAS) 2013. Organic nitrates from monoterpene oxidation were predicted to be the least water-soluble semivolatile species in the model, but most biogenically derived semivolatile species in the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model were highly water soluble and expected to contribute to water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC). Organic aerosol and SOA precursors were abundant at night, but additional improvements in daytime organic aerosol are needed to close the model-measurement gap. When taking into account deviations from ideality, including both inorganic (when RH > SRH) and organic water in the organic partitioning medium reduced the mean bias in SOA for routine monitoring networks and improved model performance compared to observations from SOAS. Property updates from this work will be released in CMAQ v5.2.
To evaluate the utilization of hypotension diagnosis codes by shock type and year in known hypotensive patients.
Retrospective analysis of the Medicare fee-for-service claims database. Patients with ...a shock diagnosis code between 2011 and 2017 were identified using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth and Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM and ICD-10-CM). Based on specific ICD codes corresponding to each shock type, patients were classified into four mutually exclusive cohorts: cardiogenic shock, hypovolemic shock, septic shock, and other/unspecified shock. Annual proportion and counts of cases with at least one hypotension ICD code for each shock cohort were generated to produce 7-year medical code utilization trends. A Cochran-Armitage test for trend was performed to evaluate the statistical significance.
A total of 2,200,275 shock patients were analyzed, 13.3% (n=292,192) of which received a hypotension code. Hypovolemic shock cases were the most likely to receive a hypotension code (18.02%, n=46,544), while septic shock cases had the lowest rate (11.48%, n=158,348). The proportion of patients with hypotension codes for other cohorts were 18.0% (n=46,544) for hypovolemic shock and 16.9% (n=32,024) for other/unspecified shock. The presence of hypotension codes decreased by 0.9% between 2011 and 2014, but significantly increased from 10.6% in 2014 to 17.9% in 2017 (p <0.0001, Z=-105.05).
Hypotension codes are remarkably underutilized in known hypotensive patients. Patients, providers, and researchers are likely to benefit from improved hypotension coding practices.
Telcagepant is a calcitonin gene‐related peptide (CGRP) receptor antagonist being evaluated for acute migraine treatment. CGRP is a potent vasodilator that is elevated after myocardial infarction, ...and it delays ischemia during treadmill exercise. We tested the hypothesis that CGRP receptor antagonism does not reduce treadmill exercise time (TET). The effects of supratherapeutic doses of telcagepant on TET were assessed in a double‐blind, randomized, placebo‐controlled, two‐period, crossover study in patients with stable angina and reproducible exercise‐induced angina. Patients received telcagepant (600 mg, n = 46; and 900 mg, n = 14) or placebo and performed treadmill exercise at Tmax (2.5 h after the dose). The hypothesis that telcagepant does not reduce TET was supported if the lower bound of the two‐sided 90% confidence interval (CI) for the mean treatment difference (telcagepant–placebo) in TET was more than −60 s. There were no significant between‐treatment differences in TET (mean treatment difference: −6.90 (90% CI: −17.66, 3.86) seconds), maximum exercise heart rate, or time to 1‐mm ST‐segment depression using pooled data or with stratification for dose.
Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2012); 91 3, 459–466. doi:10.1038/clpt.2011.246
Volatile chemical products (VCPs) are commonly-used consumer and industrial items that are an important source of anthropogenic emissions. Organic compounds from VCPs evaporate on atmospherically ...relevant time scales and include many species that are secondary organic aerosol (SOA) precursors. However, the chemistry leading to SOA, particularly that of intermediate volatility organic compounds (IVOCs), has not been fully represented in regional-scale models such as the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model, which tend to underpredict SOA concentrations in urban areas. Here we develop a model to represent SOA formation from VCP emissions. The model incorporates a new VCP emissions inventory and employs three new classes of emissions: siloxanes, oxygenated IVOCs, and nonoxygenated IVOCs. VCPs are estimated to produce 1.67 μg m
of noontime SOA, doubling the current model predictions and reducing the SOA mass concentration bias from -75% to -58% when compared to observations in Los Angeles in 2010. While oxygenated and nonoxygenated intermediate volatility VCP species are emitted in similar quantities, SOA formation is dominated by the nonoxygenated IVOCs. Formaldehyde and SOA show similar relationships to temperature and bias signatures indicating common sources and/or chemistry. This work suggests that VCPs contribute up to half of anthropogenic SOA in Los Angeles and models must better represent SOA precursors from VCPs to predict the urban enhancement of SOA.
Volatile chemical products (VCPs) are an increasingly important source of anthropogenic reactive organic carbon (ROC) emissions. Among these sources are everyday items, such as personal care ...products, general cleaners, architectural coatings, pesticides, adhesives, and printing inks. Here, we develop VCPy, a new framework to model organic emissions from VCPs throughout the United States, including spatial allocation to regional and local scales. Evaporation of a species from a VCP mixture in the VCPy framework is a function of the compound-specific physiochemical properties that govern volatilization and the timescale relevant for product evaporation. We introduce two terms to describe these processes: evaporation timescale and use timescale. Using this framework, predicted national per capita organic emissions from VCPs are 9.5 kg per person per year (6.4 kg C per person per year) for 2016, which translates to 3.05 Tg (2.06 Tg C), making VCPs a dominant source of anthropogenic organic emissions in the United States. Uncertainty associated with this framework and sensitivity to select parameters were characterized through Monte Carlo analysis, resulting in a 95 % confidence interval of national VCP emissions for 2016 of 2.61-3.53 Tg (1.76-2.38 Tg C). This nationwide total is broadly consistent with the U.S. EPA's 2017 National Emission Inventory (NEI); however, county-level and categorical estimates can differ substantially from NEI values. VCPy predicts higher VCP emissions than the NEI for approximately half of all counties, with 5 % of all counties having greater than 55 % higher emissions. Categorically, application of the VCPy framework yields higher emissions for personal care products (150 %) and paints and coatings (25 %) when compared to the NEI, whereas pesticides (-54 %) and printing inks (-13 %) feature lower emissions. An observational evaluation indicates emissions of key species from VCPs are reproduced with high fidelity using the VCPy framework (normalized mean bias of -13 % with
0.95). Sector-wide, the effective secondary organic aerosol yield and maximum incremental reactivity of VCPs are 5.3 % by mass and 1.58 gO
g
, respectively, indicating VCPs are an important, and likely to date underrepresented, source of secondary pollution in urban environments.
A selective and sensitive LC/MS/MS assay was developed for the quantification of d
2-nicotine and d
2-cotinine in plasma of current and past smokers administered d
2-nicotine. After solid phase ...extraction and liquid–liquid extraction, HPLC separation was achieved on a capillary hydrophilic interaction chromatography phase column. The analytes were monitored by tandem mass spectrometry with electrospray positive ionization. Linear calibration curves were generated for d
2-nicotine (0.03–6.0
ng/ml plasma) and d
2-cotinine (0.15–25
ng/ml plasma). The lower limits of quantitation were 0.15
ng/ml and 0.25
ng/ml for d
2-nicotine and d
2-cotinine, respectively. The coefficient of variation was 3.7% for d
2-nicotine and 2.5% for d
2-cotinine. The method was applied to two ongoing studies of d
2-nicotine metabolism in prior and current smokers. Preliminary analysis of a subset of subjects from these studies detected a significantly lower rate of nicotine conversion to cotinine by past smokers compared to current smokers.
We describe methods for producing and analyzing large, thin flakes of air-sensitive two-dimensional materials. Thin flakes of layered or van der Waals crystals are produced using mechanical ...exfoliation, in which layers are peeled off a bulk crystal using adhesive tape. This method produces high-quality flakes, but they are often small and can be hard to find, particularly for materials with relatively high cleavage energies such as black phosphorus. By heating the substrate and the tape, two-dimensional material adhesion to the substrate is promoted, and the flake yield can be increased by up to a factor of ten. After exfoliation, it is necessary to image or otherwise analyze these flakes but some two-dimensional materials are sensitive to oxygen or water and will degrade when exposed air. We have designed and tested a hermetic transfer cell to temporarily maintain the inert environment of a glovebox so that air-sensitive flakes can be imaged and analyzed with minimal degradation. The compact design of the transfer cell is such that optical analysis of sensitive materials can be performed outside of a glovebox without specialized equipment or modifications to existing equipment.