Intercalation of Polyacrylonitrile Nanoparticles in TiCT MXene Layers for Improved Supercapacitance.

We report the intercalation of polyacrylonitrile nanoparticles in TiCT MXene layers through simple sonication. The use of polyacrylonitrile, which was synthesized via radical polymerization, offered dual benefits: (1) It increased the interlayer spacing of MXene, thereby exposing more surface area and enhancing ion transport channels during charge and discharge cycles, and (2) Integrating MXene with polyacrylonitrile enables the creation of a composite with conductive properties, following percolation principle. X-ray diffraction analysis showed an increase in the c-lattice parameter, indicative of the interlayer spacing, from 22.

Supergenes are not necessary to explain the maintenance of complex alternative phenotypes.

Evolutionary biology aims to explain the diversity seen in nature. Evolutionary theory provides frameworks to understand how simple polymorphisms or continuous variation are maintained, but phenotypes inherited as discrete suites of quantitative traits are difficult to fit into this framework. Supergenes have been proposed as a solution to this problem-if causal genes are co-located, they can be inherited as if a single gene, thus bridging the gap between simple polymorphisms and continuous traits.

Precision Medicine in Peritoneal Dialysis: An Expert Opinion on the Application of the Sharesource Platform for the Remote Management of Patients.

The management of end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) has been constantly evolving over the last decade with the development of targeted approaches. In this field, telemedicine and remote monitoring are based on the availability of new cyclers that allow for bidirectional communication (between patient and physician) and for the application of the Sharesource cloud-based platform. These technologies allow patients with ESKD to undergo automated peritoneal dialysis (APD) at home.

Patterns of spawning and settlement of reef fishes as strategic responses to post-settlement competition.

Settlement is a critical transition in the life history of reef fish, and the timing of this event can have a strong effect on fitness. Key factors that influence settlement timing are predictable lunar cyclic variation in tidal currents, moonlight, and nocturnal predation risk as larvae transition from pelagic to benthic environments. However, populations typically display wide variation in the arrival of settlers over the lunar cycle.

Lunar rhythms and their carry-over effects may shape environmental sex determination in a coral reef fish.

Lunar rhythms shape spawning phenology and subsequent risks and rewards for early life-history stages in the sea. Here, we consider a perplexing spawning phenology of the sixbar wrasse (), in which parents spawn disproportionately around the new moon, despite the low survival of these larvae. Because primary sex determination in this system is highly plastic and sensitive to social environments experienced early in development, we ask whether this puzzling pattern of spawning is explained by fitness trade-offs associated with primary sexual maturation.

On the resolution of sexual conflict over shared traits.

Anisogamy, different-sized male and female gametes, sits at the heart of sexual selection and conflict between the sexes. Sperm producers (males) and egg producers (females) of the same species generally share most, if not all, of the same genome, but selection frequently favours different trait values in each sex for traits common to both. The extent to which this conflict might be resolved, and the potential mechanisms by which this can occur, have been widely debated.

Hydrothermal synthesis of hierarchical microstructure tungsten oxide/carbon nanocomposite for supercapacitor application.

A hierarchical nanocomposite of carbon microspheres decorated with tungsten oxide (WO) nanocrystals resulted from the hydrothermal treatment of a precursor solution containing glucose and tungstic acid. The dehydration of glucose molecules formed oligosaccharides, which consequently carbonized, turning into carbon microspheres. The carbon microspheres then acted as a spherical nucleus onto which WO nanocrystals grew via heterogeneous nucleation.

An ABC approach to cardiothoracic complications and sequelae of COVID-19: a tertiary centre experience.

The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has caused unprecedented challenges to healthcare professionals (HCPs) worldwide. HCPs faced an unknown disease causing many complications, including now well-established acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and pulmonary artery thromboembolic disease, and some not so well known, for instance, tracheobronchomalacia, tracheal tear or dehiscence, granulation tissue formation and pulmonary hypertension. Many of these complications require highly specialist care warranting early recognition of complications and involvement of appropriately trained professionals.

Bone Disorders in Pediatric Chronic Kidney Disease: A Literature Review.

Intense changes in mineral and bone metabolism are frequent in chronic kidney disease (CKD) and represent an important cause of morbidity and reduced quality of life. These disorders have conventionally been defined as renal osteodystrophy and classified based on bone biopsy, but due to a lack of bone biopsy data and validated radiological methods to evaluate bone morphology in children, it has been challenging to effectively assess renal osteodystrophy in pediatric CKD; the consequence has been the suboptimal management of bone disorders in children. CKD-mineral and bone disorder (CKD-MBD) is a new expression used to describe a systemic disorder of mineral and bone metabolism as a result of CKD.

Social Environment Influences the Temporal Dynamics of Sneak-Spawning in a Fish with Alternative Reproductive Tactics.

AbstractSeveral predictions of sperm competition theory are not well supported empirically. One potential reason is that most current theory and empirical research ignore how the social environment influence the temporal dynamics of mating. We propose that understanding these dynamics is key to understanding sexual selection and improving the predictive power of theory.

The coevolutionary dynamics of cryptic female choice.

In contrast to sexual selection on traits that affect interactions between the sexes before mating, little theoretical research has focused on the coevolution of postmating traits via cryptic female choice (when females bias fertilization toward specific males). We used simulation models to ask (a) whether and, if so, how nondirectional cryptic female choice (female-by-male interactions in fertilization success) causes deviations from models that focus exclusively on male-mediated postmating processes, and (b) how the risk of sperm competition, the strength of cryptic female choice, and tradeoffs between sperm number and sperm traits interact to influence the coevolutionary dynamics between cryptic female choice and sperm traits. We found that incorporating cryptic female choice can result in males investing much less in their ejaculates than predicted by models with sperm competition only.

Learning from Our Study Organisms about Sexual Selection: Lessons from the Ocellated Wrasse.

AbstractSexual selection is a powerful force shaping not only the details but also the breadth of what we see in nature. Yet so much unexplained variation remains. Organisms often solve the "problem" of how to pass on their genes in ways that do not fit our current expectations.

Unmet needs about iron deficiency in peritoneal dialysis: a Delphi consensus panel.

Background: Anaemia and iron deficiency (ID) are common in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients and related to outcomes. There is growing interest about the role of iron supplementation in CKD, particularly ferric carboxymaltose (FCM), also in relation to the use of erythropoiesis stimulating agents (ESAs). Despite a greater knowledge on ID management in patients receiving haemodialysis, a paucity of data exists about peritoneal dialysis (PD).

Machine-learning media bias.

We present an automated method for measuring media bias. Inferring which newspaper published a given article, based only on the frequencies with which it uses different phrases, leads to a conditional probability distribution whose analysis lets us automatically map newspapers and phrases into a bias space. By analyzing roughly a million articles from roughly a hundred newspapers for bias in dozens of news topics, our method maps newspapers into a two-dimensional bias landscape that agrees well with previous bias classifications based on human judgement.

Multispecies colour polymorphisms associated with contrasting microhabitats in two Mediterranean wrasse radiations.

Intraspecific colour polymorphisms (CPs) present unique opportunities to study fundamental evolutionary questions, such as the link between ecology and phenotype, mechanisms maintaining genetic diversity and their putative role in speciation. Wrasses are highly diverse in ecology and morphology and harbour a variety of colour-polymorphic species. In the Mediterranean Sea, wrasses of the tribe Labrini evolved two species radiations each harbouring several species with a brown and a green morph.

How moonlight shapes environments, life histories, and ecological interactions on coral reefs.

The lunar cycle drives variation in nocturnal brightness. For the epipelagic larvae of coral reef organisms, nocturnal illumination may have widespread and underappreciated consequences. At sea, the onset of darkness coincides with an influx of mesopelagic organisms to shallow water (i.

Life history, mating dynamics and the origin of parental care.

Parental care, mating dynamics and life history co-evolve. Understanding the diversity of reproductive patterns found in nature is a major focus of evolutionary ecology research. Previous research suggests that the origin of parental care of eggs will be favoured when egg and adult death rates and juvenile survival are relatively high.

Ejaculate Allocation and Sperm Characteristics Differ among Alternative Male Types in a Species of Fish with Cooperation and Competition among Unrelated Males.

Sexual selection arising from sperm competition has driven the evolution of immense variation in ejaculate allocation and sperm characteristics not only among species, but also among males within a species. One question that has received little attention is how cooperation among males affects these patterns. Here we ask how male alternative reproductive types differ in testes size, ejaculate production, and sperm morphology in the ocellated wrasse, a marine fish in which unrelated males cooperate and compete during reproduction.

Anti-racist interventions to transform ecology, evolution and conservation biology departments.

Racial and ethnic discrimination persist in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, including ecology, evolution and conservation biology (EECB) and related disciplines. Marginalization and oppression as a result of institutional and structural racism continue to create barriers to inclusion for Black people, Indigenous people and people of colour (BIPOC), and remnants of historic racist policies and pseudoscientific theories continue to plague these fields. Many academic EECB departments seek concrete ways to improve the climate and implement anti-racist policies in their teaching, training and research activities.

Lunar rhythms in growth of larval fish.

Growth and survival of larval fishes is highly variable and unpredictable. Our limited understanding of this variation constrains our ability to forecast population dynamics and effectively manage fisheries. Here we show that daily growth rates of a coral reef fish (the sixbar wrasse, ) are strongly lunar-periodic and predicted by the timing of nocturnal brightness: growth was maximized when the first half of the night was dark and the second half of the night was bright.

Sperm and alternative reproductive tactics: a review of existing theory and empirical data.

Males that exhibit alternative reproductive tactics (ARTs) often differ in the risk of sperm competition and the energetic trade-offs they experience. The resulting patterns of selection could lead to between-tactic differences in ejaculate traits. Despite extensive research on male ARTs, there is no comprehensive review of whether and what differences in sperm traits exist between male ARTs.

Reproductive phenology across the lunar cycle: parental decisions, offspring responses, and consequences for reef fish.

Most organisms reproduce in a dynamic environment, and life-history theory predicts that this can favor the evolution of strategies that capitalize on good times and avoid bad times. When offspring experience these environmental changes, fitness can depend strongly upon environmental conditions at birth and at later life stages. Consequently, fitness will be influenced by the reproductive decisions of parents (i.