Castor bean (Ricinus communis) is cultivated agriculturally for oil and ornamentally for its bright foliage and seed. Ornamental castor bean has naturalized in many areas of the world, including the state of Sinaloa, Mexico, where it is not planted commercially. In a survey conducted in 2019 in Sinaloa, wild castor bean was found widely affected by a foliar blight with symptoms similar to Alternaria ricini previously described in the United States (Stevenson 1945) and in the state of Chiapas, Mexico (López-Guillén et al.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSudden death after myocardial infarction (MI) is associated with electrophysiological heterogeneities and ionic current remodelling. Low ejection fraction (EF) is used in risk stratification, but its mechanistic links with pro-arrhythmic heterogeneities are unknown. We aim to provide mechanistic explanations of clinical phenotypes in acute and chronic MI, from ionic current remodelling to ECG and EF, using human electromechanical modelling and simulation to augment experimental and clinical investigations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMarine plastic pollution is an emerging global threat for biodiversity. Plastic ingestion is one of the most typical and studied consequences with petrels being a particularly vulnerable group. We studied the plastic ingestion by Cory's shearwater (Calonectris borealis) fledglings in three islands of the Canarian Archipelago (Tenerife, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBiofouling in membrane filtration systems poses significant operational challenges, leading to decreased permeate flux. The aim of this work was to study the anti-biofilm properties of new nanofiltration membranes produced via layer-by-layer, LBL, assembly by coating a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) support with a polyethylenimine (PEI) and poly(acrylic acid)/graphene oxide (PAA-GO) mixture. The membranes were characterized according to contact angle, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy and their Z-potential.
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