Splitting apheresis platelets as a contingency measure for inventory shortages.

Background: Splitting apheresis platelet (PLT) units increase available inventory during shortages. The impact of prolonged storage in gas-impermeable aliquot bags on PLT quality in vitro and transfusion outcomes in patients remains uncertain.

Study Design And Methods: We assessed in vitro PLT quality and thromboelastography (TEG) in PLTs stored for 8 or 24 h in aliquot bags compared with baseline (T0).

Emerging investigator series: open dumping and burning: an overlooked source of terrestrial microplastics in underserved communities.

Open dumping and burning of solid waste are widely practiced in underserved communities lacking access to solid waste management facilities; however, the generation of microplastics from these sites has been overlooked. We report elevated concentrations of microplastics (MPs) in soil of three solid waste open dump and burn sites: a single-family site in Tuttle, Oklahoma, USA, and two community-wide sites in Crow Agency and Lodge Grass, Montana, USA. We extracted, quantified, and characterized MPs from two soil depths (0-9 cm and 9-18 cm).

Viability of elutriation for the extraction of microplastics from environmental soil samples.

In this study, we evaluated the suitability of elutriation, a method successfully employed in the extraction of microplastics from marine sediments, for the extraction of microplastics from freshwater and terrestrial soils. Five soils were sampled throughout Oklahoma, USA in order to capture a range of sand, silt, clay, and organic matter composition. Each soil was subjected to microplastic extraction with and without elutriation, followed by digestion in 7.

Quantitation and identification of microplastics accumulation in human placental specimens using pyrolysis gas chromatography mass spectrometry.

The exponential increase in global plastic usage has led to the emergence of nano- and microplastic (NMP) pollution as a pressing environmental issue due to its implications for human and other mammalian health. We have developed methodologies to extract solid materials from human tissue samples by saponification and ultracentrifugation, allowing for highly specific and quantitative analysis of plastics by pyrolysis-gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (Py-GC-MS). As a benchmark, placenta tissue samples were analyzed using fluorescence microscopy and automated particle count, which demonstrated the presence of >1-micron particles and fibers, but not nano-sized plastic particles.

Implications of orbital hybridization on the electronic properties of doped quantum dots: the case of Cu:CdSe.

This paper investigates how chemical dopants affect the electronic properties of CdSe quantum dots (QDs) and why a model that incorporates the concepts of orbital hybridization must be used to understand these properties. Extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy measurements show that copper dopants in CdSe QDs occur primarily through a statistical doping mechanism. Ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS) experiments provide a detailed insight on the valence band (VB) structure of doped and undoped QDs.