Although a large amount of acoustic indicators have already been proposed in the literature to evaluate the hypokinetic dysarthria of people with Parkinson's Disease, the goal of this work is to ...identify and interpret new reliable and complementary articulatory biomarkers that could be applied to predict/evaluate Parkinson's Disease from a diadochokinetic test, contributing to the possibility of a further multidimensional analysis of the speech of parkinsonian patients. The new biomarkers proposed are based on the kinetic behaviour of the envelope trace, which is directly linked with the articulatory dysfunctions introduced by the disease since the early stages. The interest of these new articulatory indicators stands on their easiness of identification and interpretation, and their potential to be translated into computer based automatic methods to screen the disease from the speech. Throughout this paper, the accuracy provided by these acoustic kinetic biomarkers is compared with the one obtained with a baseline system based on speaker identification techniques. Results show accuracies around 85% that are in line with those obtained with the complex state of the art speaker recognition techniques, but with an easier physical interpretation, which open the possibility to be transferred to a clinical setting.
Technological approaches which enable the effective utilization of CO2 for manufacturing value-added chemicals and fuels can help to solve environmental problems derived from large CO2 emissions ...associated with the use of fossil fuels. One of the most interesting products that can be synthesized from CO2 is methanol, since it is an industrial commodity used in several chemical products and also an efficient transportation fuel. In this review, we highlight the recent advances in the development of heterogeneous catalysts and processes for the direct hydrogenation of CO2 to methanol. The main efforts focused on the improvement of conventional Cu/ZnO based catalysts and the development of new catalytic systems targeting the specific needs for CO2 to methanol reactions (unfavourable thermodynamics, production of high amount of water and high methanol selectivity under high or full CO2 conversion). Major studies on the development of active and selective catalysts based on thermodynamics, mechanisms, nano-synthesis and catalyst design (active phase, promoters, supports, etc.) are highlighted in this review. Finally, a summary concerning future perspectives on the research and development of efficient heterogeneous catalysts for methanol synthesis from CO2 will be presented.
In electrochemical processes, an oxidation half-reaction is always paired with a reduction half-reaction. Although systems for reactions such as the reduction of CO2 can be coupled to water oxidation ...to produce O2 at the anode, large-scale O2 production is of limited value. One may replace a low-value half-reaction with a compatible half-reaction that can produce a valuable chemical compound and operate at a lower potential. In doing so, both the anodic and cathodic half-reactions yield desirable products with a decreased energy demand. Here we demonstrate a paired electrolysis in the case of the oxidative condensation of syringaldehyde and o-phenylenediamine to give 2-(3,5-dimethoxy-4-hydroxyphenyl)benzimidazole coupled with the reduction of CO2 to CO mediated by molecular electrocatalysts. We also present general principles for evaluating current–voltage characteristics and power demands in paired electrolyzers.
The efficient construction of a protective protein shell or capsid is one of the most crucial steps in the replication cycle of a virus. The formation of the simplest capsid typically proceeds by the ...spontaneous assembly of identical building blocks. This process can also be achieved in vitro even in the absence of genetic material, thus opening the door to the production of artificial viral cages for a myriad of applications. In this work, we analyze the efficiency and the kinetic peculiarities of this self-assembly process using Brownian Dynamics simulations. We use a minimal model that considers identical assembly units and is able to reproduce successfully the correct final architecture of spherical capsids. The selection of a specific size and structure is achieved by changing a single parameter that imposes an angular anisotropy on the interaction. We analyze how the geometrical constraints of the interaction affect the efficiency of the assembly. We find that the optimal conditions for an efficient assembly from a kinetic point of view strongly depart from the lowest capsid energy corresponding to the minimum of the potential energy landscape. Our work illustrates the important differences between the equilibrium and dynamic characteristics of viral self-assembly, and provides important insights on how to design specific interactions for a successful assembly of artificial viral cages.
Caprine tuberculosis (TB) is a zoonosis caused by members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC). Caprine TB control and eradication programmes have traditionally been based on intradermal ...tuberculin tests and slaughterhouse surveillance. However, this strategy has limitations in terms of sensitivity and specificity. Different factors may affect the performance of the TB diagnostic tests used in goats and, subsequently, the detection of TB-infected animals. In the present study, the effect of two of the factors that may affect the performance of the techniques used to diagnose TB in goats, the topical administration of corticosteroids and a recent pre-sensitisation with tuberculin, was analysed.
The animals (n = 151) were distributed into three groups: (1) a group topically treated with corticosteroids 48 h after intradermal tuberculin tests (n = 53); (2) a group pre-sensitised with bovine and avian purified protein derivatives (PPDs) 3 days before the intradermal tuberculin test used for TB diagnosis (n = 48); and (3) a control group (n = 50). All the animals were tested using single and comparative intradermal tuberculin (SIT and CIT, respectively) tests, an interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA) and a P22 ELISA.
The number of SIT test reactors was significantly lower in the group treated with corticosteroids when compared to the pre-sensitised (p < 0.001) and control (p = 0.036) groups. In contrast, pre-sensitisation with bovine and avian PPDs did not cause a significant reduction in the number of SIT and CIT test reactors compared with the control group. In fact, a higher number of reactors was observed after the prior tuberculin injection in the pre-sensitised group (p > 0.05). No significant effect was observed on IGRA and P22 ELISA due to corticosteroids administration. Nevertheless, a previous PPD injection affected the IGRA performance in some groups.
The application of topical corticosteroid 24 h before reading the SIT and CIT tests can reduce the increase in skin fold thickness and subsequently significantly decrease the number of positive reactors. Corticosteroids used can be detected in hair samples. A previous pre-sensitisation with bovine and avian PPDs does not lead to a significant reduction in the number of intradermal tests reactors. These results are valuable in order to improve diagnosis of caprine TB and detect fraudulent activities in the context of eradication programs.
A literature review of quantitative data was carried out to conduct a cross-system study on methane emissions relating peak emissions (PE) and annual emissions (AE) in five types of non-managed ...ecosystems: estuaries, lakes, oceans, streams and wetlands. PE spanned eight orders of magnitude (0.015 μg CH4 m−2 h−1–300 mg CH4 m−2 h−1) while AE spanned seven (0.078–19044 g CH4 m−2 yr−1). PE and AE were strongly related worldwide (r2 = 0.93). There was no relationship between AE and latitude, with highly variable PE across latitudes and climates. The coefficient of variation (CV) was greatest for emissions in oceans and estuaries, while the highest emission rate was recorded in wetlands and lakes. Efflux from coastal areas and estuaries was higher than that from upwelling areas and deep seas. Concerning wetland types, marshes showed the highest PE with the highest wetland emissions occurring in sites dominated by big helophytes. Non-stratifying- and eutrophic lakes displayed more emissions than other lake types, but there was no environmental variable that might predict methane emissions from lakes on a worldwide basis. Generally, most ecosystem types followed a seasonal pattern of emissions, with a maximum in summer, except in estuaries which did not show any distinct pattern. Regarding the importance of hot spots within most ecosystems, more spatial variability of CH4 emissions was observed in lakes than in wetlands and oceans; however, no relationship between emissions and spatial variability was found. A positive relationship, albeit weak, was found between methane flux and either temperature or irradiance in wetlands; a narrow range of both negative and positive values of the water table promoted CH4 emissions. Previously, little was known about the factors controlling efflux from river and marine environments. Our study suggests that local conditions are important in controlling CH4 emissions, because the variability explained by the more commonly studied abiotic factors is low worldwide. This precludes the use of these variables to develop models to predict emissions at regional scales or wider, despite the many attempts made in the past. This makes local assessments of emissions essential, particularly in warm, temperate and tropical areas of the world. Future research aiming to shed light on CH4 fluxes from estuaries, lakes, oceans, rivers and wetlands must: 1) produce more detailed data on controlling factors; 2) increase efforts to fully characterize spatial and temporal heterogeneity; 3) combine bottom-up (measurements) and top-down (modelling) approaches.
► We report maximal and yearly CH4 emissions in different latitudes, climates and ecosystem types. ► We outline how CH4 emissions vary among different wetland- and marine ecosystem types. ► Seasonality of emissions in different aquatic environments has been described. ► The influence of spatial variability on emissions has been taking into account. ► We assess the influence of abiotic factors in aquatic environments and how different types of plants affect emissions.
•A magnetorheological fluid has been computed with the FV method in a collocated grid.•Computing the magnetic induction field is fundamental for obtaining accurate results.•Some recirculation zones ...at the magnetic-nonmagnetic interfaces were found that showed some discrepancies with other authors.
In this paper, a study on the motion of a magnetorheological fluid (MRF) under application of a magnetic external field is presented. The magnetic field is perpendicular to two non-conducting flat parallel plates which are stationary. Numerical simulations are provided by an in-house CFD code developed by the authors and adapted to include the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) field equations. Solutions studied show how these magnetic fields can modify both the velocity profile and the pressure drop along the channel. Numerical solutions are firstly compared with analytical ones in some simple cases in order to verify the computational code. Relative errors remained around 10−4. A second test was set up where a magnetic field is applied only in a portion of the channel in order to control the flowrate. The results showed that with strong magnetic fields, the flowrate could be reduced up to 90% from a normal state, i.e. B=0 T. The maximum velocity at the centreline shows a peak at the outlet of the region where the magnetic field is applied due to the acceleration of the fluid when the magnetic forces disappear. When employing the code in a geometry similar to that presented in a previous paper in which the authors used a commercial code, some discrepancies were found, especially at the edges of the zone where the magnetic field was applied. Some speculations about this disagreement are put forward.
The main goal of this work is the design of a coarse-grained theoretical model of minimal resolution for the study of the physical properties of icosahedral virus capsids within the linear-response ...regime. In this model the capsid is represented as an interacting many-body system whose composing elements are capsid subunits (capsomers), which are treated as three-dimensional rigid bodies. The total interaction potential energy is written as a sum of pairwise capsomer-capsomer interactions. Based on previous work Gomez Llorente et al., Soft Matter, 2014, 10, 3560, a minimal and complete anisotropic binary interaction that includes a full Hessian matrix of independent force constants is proposed. In this interaction model, capsomers have rotational symmetry around an axis of order n > 2. The full coarse-grained model is applied to analyse the low-frequency normal-mode spectrum of icosahedral T = 1 capsids. The model performance is evaluated by fitting its predicted spectrum to the full-atom results for the Satellite Tobacco Necrosis Virus (STNV) capsid Dykeman and Sankey, Phys. Rev. Lett., 2008, 100, 028101. Two capsomer choices that are compatible with the capsid icosahedral symmetry are checked, namely pentamers (n = 5) and trimers (n = 3). Both subunit types provide fair fits, from which the magnitude of the coarse-grained force constants for a real virus is obtained. The model is able to uncover latent instabilities whose analysis is fully consistent with the current knowledge about the STNV capsid, which does not self-assemble in the absence of RNA and is thermally unstable. The straightforward generalisability of the model beyond the linear regime and its completeness make it a promising tool to theoretically interpret many experimental data such as those provided by the atomic force microscopy or even to better understand processes far from equilibrium such as the capsid self-assembly.
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