Aromatic Polymethacrylates from Lignin-Based Feedstock: Synthesis, Thermal Properties, Life-Cycle Assessment and Toxicity.

There is currently a great need for rigid, high-performance and processable bio-based polymers and plastics as alternatives to the fossil-based materials used today. Here, we report on the straightforward synthesis and polymerization of lignin-derived methacrylate monomers based on the methyl esters of 4-hydroxybenzoic, vanillic, and syringic acid, respectively. The corresponding homopolymethacrylates exhibit high glass transition temperatures (Ts) at 106, 128, and 197 °C, respectively.

Production of Composite Zinc Oxide-Polylactic Acid Radiopaque Filaments for Fused Deposition Modeling: First Stage of a Feasibility Study.

Three-dimensional printing technologies are becoming increasingly attractive for their versatility; the geometrical customizability and manageability of the final product properties are the key points. This work aims to assess the feasibility of producing radiopaque filaments for fused deposition modeling (FDM), a 3D printing technology, starting with zinc oxide (ZnO) and polylactic acid (PLA) as the raw materials. Indeed, ZnO and PLA are promising materials due to their non-toxic and biocompatible nature.

Video clips for patient comprehension of atrial fibrillation and deep vein thrombosis in emergency care. A randomised clinical trial.

Integrating video clips in the discharge process may enhance patients' understanding and awareness of their condition. To determine the effect of video clip-integrated discharge discussion on patient comprehension of atrial fibrillation (AF) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and their main complications (stroke and pulmonary embolism), we designed a multicentre, pragmatic, parallel groups, randomised clinical trial, that was conducted at two Emergency Units in Italy. A convenience sample of 144 adult patients (or their caregivers) discharged home with either AF or DVT were randomised to receive standard verbal instructions (control) or video clip-integrated doctor-patient discharge discussion.

Screening parent-adolescent relationships, screen behaviors, tridimensional acculturation, and health among Black immigrant and refugee adolescents during dual pandemics.

This brief report assesses parent-adolescent relationships, screen behaviors, and tridimensional acculturation as risk and promotive or protective factors for health among Black U.S. immigrant or refugee adolescents during the dual COVID-19 and racism or Whiteness pandemics.

Eco-toxicological and climate change effects of sludge thermal treatments: Pathways towards zero pollution and negative emissions.

The high moisture content and the potential presence of hazardous organic compounds (HOCs) and metals (HMs) in sewage sludge (SS) pose technical and regulatory challenges for its circular economy valorisation. Thermal treatments are expected to reduce the volume of SS while producing energy and eliminating HOCs. In this study, we integrate quantitative analysis of SS concentration of 12 HMs and 61 HOCs, including organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) and per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), with life-cycle assessment to estimate removal efficiency of pollutants, climate change mitigation benefits and toxicological effects of existing and alternative SS treatments (involving pyrolysis, incineration, and/or anaerobic digestion).

Ethical applications of digital community-based research with Black immigrant and refugee youth and families.

The capacity to conduct psychology research online has expanded more quickly than have ethics guidelines for digital research. We argue that researchers must proactively plan ways to engage ethically in online psychological research with vulnerable groups, including marginalized and immigrant youth and families. To that end, this article describes the ethical use of internet and cell phone technologies in psychological research with Black immigrant and refugee youth and families, which demands efforts to both deepen and extend the Belmont principles of respect for persons, beneficence, and justice.

A global daily evapotranspiration deficit index dataset for quantifying drought severity from 1979 to 2022.

Droughts cause multiple ecological and social damages. Drought indices are key tools to quantify drought severity, but they are mainly limited to timescales of monthly or longer. However, shorter-timescale (e.

An action plan for the agri-food sector at the time of the climate and biodiversity crises.

Agriculture is responsible for about one third of global greenhouse gas emissions and it is the primary driver of habitat destruction. A paradigm shift embracing changes in lifestyles, agricultural practices, and policies is required to realize a sustainable transition in the agri-food sector.

Upgrading protected areas can improve or reverse the decline in conservation effectiveness: Evidence from the Tibetan Plateau, China.

Protected areas (PAs) are considered essential for maintaining biodiversity. Several governments would like to strengthen the management levels of their PAs (as shorthand for a hierarchy in PA administrative governance) to consolidate their conservation effectiveness. This upgrade (e.

Climate change mitigation potentials of biofuels produced from perennial crops and natural regrowth on abandoned and degraded cropland in Nordic countries.

Bioenergy expansion is present in most climate change mitigation scenarios. The associated large land use changes have led to concerns on how bioenergy can be sustainably deployed. Promising win-win strategies include the production of perennial bioenergy crops on recently abandoned cropland or on cropland prone to land degradation, as perennial crops typically reduce soil erosion rates.

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in the post-pandemic era.

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose substantial challenges to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Exploring systematic SDG strategies is urgently needed to aid recovery from the pandemic and reinvigorate global SDG actions. Based on available data and comprehensive analysis of the literature, this paper highlights ongoing challenges facing the SDGs, identifies the effects of COVID-19 on SDG progress, and proposes a systematic framework for promoting the achievement of SDGs in the post-pandemic era.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Trajectories the Year after COVID-19 Hospitalization.

Background: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) hospitalization has been related to Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Available information is limited by insufficient follow-up and lack of longitudinal studies. Baseline factors (e.

LCA and negative emission potential of retrofitted cement plants under oxyfuel conditions at high biogenic fuel shares.

The implementation of oxyfuel carbon capture and storage technologies in combination with use of alternative fuels comprising high biogenic shares is promoted as an attractive climate change mitigation option for the cement sector to achieve low or even negative carbon emissions. Here, we perform a prospective life cycle assessment of two state-of-the art cement plants, one in Sweden and one in Germany, under conventional and retrofitted oxyfuel conditions considering alternative fuel mixes with increasing bio-based fractions of forest residues or dedicated bioenergy crops. The analysis also considers effects of the projected changes in the electricity systems up to 2050.

Sensitivity and future exposure of ecosystem services to climate change on the Tibetan Plateau of China.

Context: Climate change has imposed tremendous impacts on ecosystem services. Recent attempts to quantify such impacts mainly focused on a basin or larger scale, or used limited time periods that largely ignore observations of long-term trends at a fine resolution, thereby affecting the recognition of climate change's effect on ecosystem services.

Objectives: This study conducts a detailed and spatially explicit recognition of climate change's effect on ecosystem services and provides an intuitive map for decision-making and climate change adaptation planning.

The role of crystallinity and particle morphology on the sorption of dibutyl phthalate on polyethylene microplastics: Implications for the behavior of phthalate plastic additives.

The sorption behavior of phthalate additives in plastic and microplastic litter is an important process controlling the exposure, net health risk and ecotoxicity of these co-occurring pollutants. Plastic crystallinity and particle morphology are hypothesized to be important variables for microplastics sorption behavior, but to date there have been few direct studies to explicitly test for the influence of these parameters. To address this, in this study we explored the sorption of dibutyl phthalate (DBP) as a probe molecule to diverse polyethylene microplastics including irregularly-shaped pure polyethylene microplastics (IPPM), black plastic film microplastics (BPFM), white plastic film microplastics (WPFM), and commercial microspheres (CM), which had crystallinities ranging from 17 to 99%.

Circulating calprotectin as a supporting inflammatory marker in discriminating SARS-CoV-2 infection: an observational study.

Objective And Design: Fecal calprotectin (CLP) is widely known for its detection in stools of patients with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), to investigate the intestinal inflammatory status. Current research is promoting the circulating protein role as a systemic inflammatory marker. However, most studies report serum calprotectin analysis although plasma assay prevents its massive release by granulocytes.

Integrated process simulation for bioethanol production: Effects of varying lignocellulosic feedstocks on technical performance.

Variations in lignocellulosic feedstock composition can influence conversion performance of bioethanol production, but such effects are overlooked in several studies that rely on standard conversion factors. This study investigates the effects of seven lignocellulosic feedstocks (belonging to the categories energy crops, forest and agricultural residues) on mass, carbon, water and energy balances for biochemical bioethanol production, including a comparison of individual process step yields. We find that overall bioethanol yields vary considerably, ranging between 19.

Anti-phospholipids antibodies and immune complexes in COVID-19 patients: a putative role in disease course for anti-annexin-V antibodies.

Introduction: Besides distinctive respiratory and digestive hallmarks, COVID-19 has been recently associated with a high prevalence of pro-inflammatory and hypercoagulable states known as "COVID-19 Associated Coagulopathy" (CAC), corresponding to a worsening in patients' conditions, whose causes are still to be elucidated. A link between anti-phospholipid antibodies (aPLs) and viral infections has long been suggested. APLs are assessed for anti-phospholipid syndrome (APS) diagnosis, characterized by thrombocytopenia, thrombosis, and coagulopathy.

The impact of interventions in the global land and agri-food sectors on Nature's Contributions to People and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Interlocked challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation require transformative interventions in the land management and food production sectors to reduce carbon emissions, strengthen adaptive capacity, and increase food security. However, deciding which interventions to pursue and understanding their relative co-benefits with and trade-offs against different social and environmental goals have been difficult without comparisons across a range of possible actions. This study examined 40 different options, implemented through land management, value chains, or risk management, for their relative impacts across 18 Nature's Contributions to People (NCPs) and the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Predominant regional biophysical cooling from recent land cover changes in Europe.

Around 70 Mha of land cover changes (LCCs) occurred in Europe from 1992 to 2015. Despite LCCs being an important driver of regional climate variations, their temperature effects at a continental scale have not yet been assessed. Here, we integrate maps of historical LCCs with a regional climate model to investigate air temperature and humidity effects.

Frataxin deficiency in Friedreich's ataxia is associated with reduced levels of HAX-1, a regulator of cardiomyocyte death and survival.

Frataxin deficiency, responsible for Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA), is crucial for cell survival since it critically affects viability of neurons, pancreatic beta cells and cardiomyocytes. In FRDA, the heart is frequently affected with typical manifestation of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which can progress to heart failure and cause premature death. A microarray analysis performed on FRDA patient's lymphoblastoid cells stably reconstituted with frataxin, indicated HS-1-associated protein X-1 (HAX-1) as the most significantly upregulated transcript (FC = +2, P < 0.

Which practices co-deliver food security, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and combat land degradation and desertification?

There is a clear need for transformative change in the land management and food production sectors to address the global land challenges of climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, combatting land degradation and desertification, and delivering food security (referred to hereafter as "land challenges"). We assess the potential for 40 practices to address these land challenges and find that: Nine options deliver medium to large benefits for all four land challenges. A further two options have no global estimates for adaptation, but have medium to large benefits for all other land challenges.