Impact of Early Exposure to Play Materials on Motor Development in High-Risk Infants: A Randomised Controlled Trial.

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of early exposure to play materials on motor development in high-risk infants.

Materials And Methods: A 1:1 parallel group randomised control study was conducted. A total of 36 participants were recruited, with 18 in each group.

Factors controlling surface oxygen exchange in oxides.

Reducing the working temperature of solid oxide fuel cells is critical to their increased commercialization but is inhibited by the slow oxygen exchange kinetics at the cathode, which limits the overall rate of the oxygen reduction reaction. We use ab initio methods to develop a quantitative elementary reaction model of oxygen exchange in a representative cathode material, LaSrCoO, and predict that under operating conditions the rate-limiting step for oxygen incorporation from O gas on the stable, (001)-SrO surface is lateral (surface) diffusion of O-adatoms and oxygen surface vacancies. We predict that a high vacancy concentration on the metastable CoO termination enables a vacancy-assisted O dissociation that is 10-10 times faster than the rate limiting step on the Sr-rich (La,Sr)O termination.

Ab initio GGA+U study of oxygen evolution and oxygen reduction electrocatalysis on the (001) surfaces of lanthanum transition metal perovskites LaBO₃ (B = Cr, Mn, Fe, Co and Ni).

In this work, we performed density functional theory (DFT) calculations with inclusion of Hubbard U corrections for the transition metal d-electrons, to investigate stability and electrocatalytic activities of the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) for the ABO3 (A = La; B = Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, and Ni) (001) surfaces. We showed surface binding energies of relevant ORR/OER species are coupled strongly to surface polarity and local oxidation states, giving large (∼1 eV scale per adsorbate) differences in binding between (001) AO and BO2 surfaces, where the more oxidized BO2 bare surfaces in general exhibit weak coverage dependence, while the more reduced AO bare surfaces of the LaCrO3, LaMnO3, and LaFeO3 perovskites with lower d-electron filling show strong/moderate coverage dependences. We then predicted that surface coverage can play a key role in determining surface stability, and when coverage effects are included the AO and BO2(001) surfaces have either similar stability or the AO surface is more stable, as found for 1 monolayer HO* covered AO surfaces of LaCrO3 and LaFeO3 under ORR conditions and 1 monolayer O* covered LaNiO3 AO surface under OER conditions.

Dynamic layer rearrangement during growth of layered oxide films by molecular beam epitaxy.

The A(n+1)B(n)O(3n+1) Ruddlesden-Popper homologous series offers a wide variety of functionalities including dielectric, ferroelectric, magnetic and catalytic properties. Unfortunately, the synthesis of such layered oxides has been a major challenge owing to the occurrence of growth defects that result in poor materials behaviour in the higher-order members. To understand the fundamental physics of layered oxide growth, we have developed an oxide molecular beam epitaxy system with in situ synchrotron X-ray scattering capability.

Anomalous Interface and Surface Strontium Segregation in (La1-ySry)2CoO4±δ/La1-xSrxCoO3-δ Heterostructured Thin Films.

Heterostructured oxides have shown unusual electrochemical properties including enhanced catalytic activity, ion transport, and stability. In particular, it has been shown recently that the activity of oxygen electrocatalysis on the Ruddlesden-Popper/perovskite (La1-ySry)2CoO4±δ/La1-xSrxCoO3-δ heterostructure is remarkably enhanced relative to the Ruddlesden-Popper and perovskite constituents. Here we report the first atomic-scale structure and composition of (La1-ySry)2CoO4±δ/La1-xSrxCoO3-δ grown on SrTiO3.

Tuning the Spin State in LaCoO Thin Films for Enhanced High-Temperature Oxygen Electrocatalysis.

The slow kinetics of oxygen surface exchange hinders the efficiency of high-temperature oxygen electrocatalytic devices such as solid oxide fuel cells and oxygen separation membranes. Systematic investigations of material properties that link to catalytic activity can aid in the rational design of highly active cathode materials. Here, we explore LaCoO thin films as a model system for tuning catalytic activity through strain-induced changes in the Co spin state.

Cation interdiffusion model for enhanced oxygen kinetics at oxide heterostructure interfaces.

An interface between the perovskite La(0.8)Sr(0.2)CoO(3-δ) (LSC-113) and the K(2)NiF(4)-type (La(0.

Performance of amplified DNA in an Illumina GoldenGate BeadArray assay.

Whole genome amplification (WGA) offers a means to enrich DNA quantities for epidemiologic studies. We used an ovarian cancer study of 1,536 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 2,368 samples to assess performance of multiple displacement amplification (MDA) WGA using an Illumina GoldenGate BeadArray. Initial screening revealed successful genotyping for 93.

Genetic variation in the one-carbon transfer pathway and ovarian cancer risk.

Dysfunction in enzymes involved in one-carbon (1-C) metabolism can lead to increased chromosomal strand breaking and abnormal methylation patterns, which are both associated with cancer risk. Availability of 1-C units may modify risk. We investigated the association of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in 21 genes in the 1-C transfer pathway among 829 Caucasian cases with primary epithelial ovarian cancer and 941 frequency-matched unaffected controls enrolled at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN) and Duke University (Durham, NC) and examined risk modification by multivitamin supplement use.