AI-driven remote sensing enhances Mediterranean seagrass monitoring and conservation to combat climate change and anthropogenic impacts.

Seagrasses are undergoing widespread loss due to anthropogenic pressure and climate change. Since 1960, the Mediterranean seascape lost 13-50% of the areal extent of its dominant and endemic seagrass-Posidonia oceanica, which regulates its ecosystem. Many conservation and restoration projects failed due to poor site selection and lack of long-term monitoring.

Diagnosis of childhood febrile illness using a multi-class blood RNA molecular signature.

Background: Appropriate treatment and management of children presenting with fever depend on accurate and timely diagnosis, but current diagnostic tests lack sensitivity and specificity and are frequently too slow to inform initial treatment. As an alternative to pathogen detection, host gene expression signatures in blood have shown promise in discriminating several infectious and inflammatory diseases in a dichotomous manner. However, differential diagnosis requires simultaneous consideration of multiple diseases.

Detection of gases and organic vapors by cellulose-based sensors.

The growing interest in the development of cost-effective, straightforward, and rapid analytical systems has found cellulose-based materials, including cellulose derivatives, cellulose-based gels, nanocellulosic materials, and the corresponding (nano)cellulose-based composites, to be valuable platforms for sensor development. The present work presents recent advances in the development of cellulose-based sensors for the determination of volatile analytes and derivatives of analytical relevance. In particular, strategies described in the literature for the fabrication and modification of cellulose-based substrates with responsive materials are summarized.

Paper-Based Analytical Devices for Colorimetric and Luminescent Detection of Mercury in Waters: An Overview.

Lab-on-paper technologies, also known as paper-based analytical devices (PADs), have received increasing attention in the last years, and nowadays, their use has spread to virtually every application area, i.e., medical diagnostic, food safety, environmental monitoring, etc.

Biallelic PI4KA variants cause a novel neurodevelopmental syndrome with hypomyelinating leukodystrophy.

Phosphoinositides are lipids that play a critical role in processes such as cellular signalling, ion channel activity and membrane trafficking. When mutated, several genes that encode proteins that participate in the metabolism of these lipids give rise to neurological or developmental phenotypes. PI4KA is a phosphoinositide kinase that is highly expressed in the brain and is essential for life.

A Novel Framework for Phenotyping Children With Suspected or Confirmed Infection for Future Biomarker Studies.

The limited diagnostic accuracy of biomarkers in children at risk of a serious bacterial infection (SBI) might be due to the imperfect reference standard of SBI. We aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of a new classification algorithm for biomarker discovery in children at risk of SBI. We used data from five previously published, prospective observational biomarker discovery studies, which included patients aged 0- <16 years: the Alder Hey emergency department ( = 1,120), Alder Hey pediatric intensive care unit ( = 355), Erasmus emergency department ( = 1,993), Maasstad emergency department ( = 714) and St.

Nanomaterial-Integrated Cellulose Platforms for Optical Sensing of Trace Metals and Anionic Species in the Environment.

The development of disposable sensors that can be easily adapted to every analytical problem is currently a hot topic that is revolutionizing many areas of science and technology. The need for decentralized analytical measurements at real time is increasing for solving problems in areas such as environment pollution, medical diagnostic, food quality assurance, etc., requiring fast action.

The role of Zfp467 in mediating the pro-osteogenic and anti-adipogenic effects on bone and bone marrow niche.

Conditional deletion of the PTH receptor (Pth1r) in mesenchymal progenitors reduces osteoblast differentiation and bone mass while enhancing adipogenesis and bone marrow adipose tissue. Mechanistically, PTH suppresses the expression of Zfp467, a pro-adipogenic zinc finger transcription factor. Consequently, Pth1r deficiency in mesenchymal progenitors leads to increased Zfp467 expression.

[Celiac disease: causes, pathology, and nutritional assessment of gluten-free diet. A review].

Introduction: celiac patients suffer deficiencies before and during their maintenance of a gluten-free diet. This is due to malabsorption, associated with the disease, and to non-enriched, mostly processed foods high in saturated fats and deficient in the minerals typically present in wheat. Objectives: the main objective of this review was to determine the molecular basis of celiac disease and the nutritional deficiencies that gluten-free diet entails, as well as an assessment of gluten-free diet and its nutritional deficiencies once the intestinal microvilli have been restored.

One-pot synthesis of a magnetic nanocomposite based on ultrasound-assisted co-precipitation for enrichment of Hg(II) prior to detection by a direct mercury analyzer.

Ultrasound-assisted co-precipitation was applied to construct a magnetic nanocomposite following a 'one-pot' synthetic strategy for Hg(II) enrichment. The presence of a noble metal such as Ag(I), Au(III), Pd(II) in the synthesis medium proved to be essential in order to attain an efficient co-precipitation of Hg with the magnetic nanoparticles. Following this preconcentration procedure, thermal desorption and a further preconcentration was carried out by amalgamation onto a gold coil placed inside a direct mercury analyzer working under the principle of atomic absorption.

Study of the presence of micro- and nanoparticles in drinks and foods by multiple analytical techniques.

A variety of food and drink samples (n = 21) were analyzed to evaluate the presence of (nano-) particles in their composition. After assessment of the sample pre-treatment step, a fast screening analysis was performed for drinks by Dynamic Light Scattering showing particles from 10 to 300 nm that could correspond to organic or metallic NPs. Metallic NPs were identified in foods by Single-Particle mode Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry and Asymmetrical Flow Field-Flow Fractionation coupled to Multiangle Laser Light Scattering and Inductively-Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry.

Unsolicited consultation by infectious diseases specialist improves outcomes in patients with bloodstream infection: A prospective cohort study.

Introduction: The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of an intervention based on unsolicited consultations by an infectious diseases specialist (IDS) on the adequacy of antimicrobial treatment and mortality in patients with BSI.

Methods: A prospective cohort study was performed in a 410-bed hospital. An intervention based on unsolicited consultation by an IDS for patients with BSI was performed only on days when an IDS was available.

Screening of TiO and Au nanoparticles in cosmetics and determination of elemental impurities by multiple techniques (DLS, SP-ICP-MS, ICP-MS and ICP-OES).

Cosmetics are part of the daily life of most of the people. Thus, a complete characterization of the products we applied in our skin is necessary. In this work, an analytical investigation of a wide variety of cosmetics from the point of view of total element content and metallic nanoparticles (NPs) has been performed.

Liquid-phase microextraction combined with graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry: A review.

An overview of the combination of liquid-phase microextraction (LPME) techniques with graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) is reported herein. The high sensitivity of GFAAS is significantly enhanced by its association with a variety of miniaturized solvent extraction approaches. LPME-GFAAS thus represents a powerful combination for determination of metals, metalloids and organometallic compounds at (ultra)trace level.

Rainfall-induced removal of copper-based spray residues from vines.

The continuous use of copper against fungal diseases and off-target effects causes major environmental and agronomic problems. However, the rain-induced removal of Cu-based residues is known only for a limited number of crops. We present the results of rain-induced removal of fungicides from two monitored vineyard plots which were sprayed with two widely used Cu-based formulations: copper-oxychloride (CO) and Bordeaux mixture (BM), respectively.

Cr(VI) speciation in foods by HPLC-ICP-MS: investigation of Cr(VI)/food interactions by size exclusion and Cr(VI) determination and stability by ion-exchange on-line separations.

A method has been developed for the specific and sensitive determination of Cr(VI) in foods. First, the interactions between Cr(VI) and the matrices were investigated by size-exclusion HPLC-ICP-MS (SEC-ICP-MS). Evidence was found for the complexation of Cr(VI) potentially present with the ligands.

Coumarins as turn on/off fluorescent probes for detection of residual acetone in cosmetics following headspace single-drop microextraction.

In this work, a new method based on headspace-single drop microextraction for the determination of residual acetone in cosmetics by microfluorospectrometry is proposed. Acetone causes fluorescence changes in a 2.5 µL-ethanolic drop (40% v/v) containing 3.

Ultrasound-assisted single extraction tests for rapid assessment of metal extractability from soils by total reflection X-ray fluorescence.

In this work, ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) was employed for acceleration of metal extraction from soil samples. After extraction, multielemental analysis (Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb) of EDTA and acetic acid extracts was performed by total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (TXRF). High-intensity ultrasonic processors, i.

Fast method for multielemental analysis of plants and discrimination according to the anatomical part by total reflection X-ray fluorescence spectrometry.

Fast and reliable analytical methodologies are required for quality control of plants in order to assure human health. Ultrasound-assisted extraction in combination with total reflection X-ray fluorescence is proposed as a fast and simple method for multielemental analysis of plants on a routine basis. For this purpose, five certified reference materials have been analysed for the determination of P, K, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb.

Enzymatic single-drop microextraction for the assay of ethanol in alcohol-free cosmetics using microvolume fluorospectrometry detection.

A green assay based on the development of an enzymatic reaction in drop format under headspace single-drop microextraction conditions is described for the first time. An aqueous drop containing the enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase and the cofactor β-Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide has been used as fluorescence probe for determining ethanol in alcohol-free cosmetics by microvolume fluorospectrometry. Experimental parameters affecting the microextraction performance were carefully optimized.

Fast screening of terpenes in fragrance-free cosmetics by fluorescence quenching on a fluorescein-bovine serum albumin probe confined in a drop.

A headspace single drop microextraction procedure is proposed for terpene screening in fragrance-free cosmetics. The drop is composed by an aqueous solution of a fluorescence probe formed by bovine serum albumin and fluorescein. Extracted volatile terpenes produce a fluorescence quenching that can be monitored by microvolume-fluorospectrometry.

Directly suspended droplet microextraction in combination with microvolume UV-vis spectrophotometry for determination of phosphate.

A miniaturized methodology for the determination of phosphate in waters has been developed by combining directly suspended droplet microextraction (DSDME) with microvolume spectrophotometry. The method is based on the extraction of the ion pair formed between 12-molybdophosphate and malachite green onto a microdrop of methyl isobutyl ketone and subsequent spectrophotometric determination with no dilution. An enrichment factor of 325 was obtained after 7.

Ion pair-based dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction for gold determination at ppb level in solid samples after ultrasound-assisted extraction and in waters by electrothermal-atomic absorption spectrometry.

A new methodology was developed for the determination of ultratrace levels of gold in water samples, soils and river sediments. Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction was used to preconcentrate the ion pair formed between AuCl(4)(-) and [CH(3)(CH(2))(3)](4)N(+) in a microliter-range volume of chlorobenzene using acetone as disperser solvent. When solid samples were analyzed, the method consisted of a combination of ultrasound-assisted extraction and dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction with final detection by electrothermal-atomic absorption spectrometry.