On the Non-Catalytic Role of Lytic Polysaccharide Monooxygenases in Boosting the Action of PETases on PET Polymers.

Synthetic polymers are resistant to biological attack, resulting in their long-term accumulation in landfills and in natural aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs) are enzymes which oxidatively cleave the polysaccharide chains in recalcitrant polysaccharides such as cellulose. It has been widely hypothesised that LPMOs could be used to aid in the enzymatic breakdown of synthetic polymers.

Evaluation of Antibacterial Activity of Bismuth Ferrites Nanoparticles in the Inhibition of E. Coli and S. Aureus Bacteria.

In this work, bismuth ferrites (BFO) nanoparticles were produced in the form of using sol-gel technique, followed by annealing in a tube furnace in temperatures from 400 °C to 650 °C. X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed the formation of small sizes nanoparticles (NPs) with high purity. Structural analysis displayed that annealing at 600 °C could make BFO NPs be fitted to rhombohedral space group (R3c), with small quantity of spurious phases.

Reproductive neuroendocrine defects programmed by prenatal testosterone treatment between gestational days 60-90 are amplified by postnatal obesity in sheep.

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the leading cause of anovulatory infertility in women of reproductive age, and obesity can increase the severity and development of the PCOS phenotype. Prenatal testosterone (T) treatment between gestational days 30-90 advanced puberty and disrupted the reproductive and metabolic phenotype in female sheep, recapitulating attributes of women with PCOS, with postnatal obesity amplifying its severity. On the other hand, prenatal T treatment from gestational days 60-90 led to a much milder phenotype.

Aural hematoma in lambs associated with Otobius megnini (Ixodida: Argasidae) infestation.

In this report we described a case of aural hematomas in three lambs associated with Otobius megnini (Ixodida: Argasidae) infestation. From April to May 2021, five 3-month-old Hampshire cross lambs presented with unilateral aural hematomas. Upon otoscopic examination, engorged soft ticks (O.

Multi-pollutant biosorption of organic and inorganic pollutants by brown algae waste from alginate production: batch and fixed-bed investigation.

The reuse of biomass waste has been gaining attention in adsorption processes to remove pollutants of emerging concern from water and wastewater. In this work, the potential of alginate-extracted macro-algae waste to uptake synthetic dyes and metal cations was evaluated in comparison with raw algae. In affinity assays, both materials were able to remove metal cations and cationic dyes up to maximum rates, and no significant removal was observed for an anionic dye in an acidic medium.

Unravelling the surface structure of β-GaO (100).

The present work is on a comprehensive surface atomic structure investigation of β-GaO (100). The β-GaO single crystal was studied by a structural model system in the simulations and characterization X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) and X-ray photoelectron diffraction (XPD) allowed for probing the outermost layers' properties. XPD characterization allows for the collection of valuable element-specific short-range information from the β-GaO surface, and the results were compared to a systematic and precise multiple scattering simulation approach.

Research Alliance for Veterinary Science and Biodefense BSL-3 Network (RAV3N): Report on network origin and phase I activities.

Recent disease events have heightened awareness for the need for collaboration between the nation's public health and veterinary infectious disease communities to improve preparedness for current and future biological threats. To address this need, the U.S.

Using natural language processing and machine learning to replace human content coders.

Content analysis is a common and flexible technique to quantify and make sense of qualitative data in psychological research. However, the practical implementation of content analysis is extremely labor-intensive and subject to human coder errors. Applying natural language processing (NLP) techniques can help address these limitations.

Case Report: Thrombotic-Thrombocytopenic Purpura Following Ipilimumab and Nivolumab Combination Immunotherapy for Metastatic Melanoma.

A man in his early 50s presented with small bowel obstruction, requiring emergency laparoscopic small bowel resection for the metastatic melanoma of the jejunum with no identifiable primary lesion. One week after his first treatment with ipilimumab and nivolumab, he presented with diffuse abdominal pain, constipation, and fatigue. A computerized tomography scan did not identify a cause for his symptoms.

Auditing the AI auditors: A framework for evaluating fairness and bias in high stakes AI predictive models.

Researchers, governments, ethics watchdogs, and the public are increasingly voicing concerns about unfairness and bias in artificial intelligence (AI)-based decision tools. Psychology's more-than-a-century of research on the measurement of psychological traits and the prediction of human behavior can benefit such conversations, yet psychological researchers often find themselves excluded due to mismatches in terminology, values, and goals across disciplines. In the present paper, we begin to build a shared interdisciplinary understanding of AI fairness and bias by first presenting three major lenses, which vary in focus and prototypicality by discipline, from which to consider relevant issues: (a) individual attitudes, (b) legality, ethicality, and morality, and (c) embedded meanings within technical domains.

Theory-driven game-based assessment of general cognitive ability: Design theory, measurement, prediction of performance, and test fairness.

Games, which can be defined as an externally structured, goal-directed type of play, are increasingly being used in high-stakes testing contexts to measure targeted constructs for use in the selection and promotion of employees. Despite this increasing popularity, little is known about how theory-driven game-based assessments (GBA), those designed to reflect a targeted construct, should be designed, or their potential for achieving their simultaneous goals of positive reactions and high-quality psychometric measurement. In the present research, we develop a theory of GBA design by integrating game design and development theory from human-computer interaction with psychometric theory.

Frequency domain measurements of melt pool recoil force using modal analysis.

Recoil pressure is a critical factor affecting the melt pool dynamics during Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) processes. Recoil pressure depresses the melt pool. When the recoil pressure is low, thermal conduction and capillary forces may be inadequate to provide proper fusion between layers.

Intra-abdominal resection of the umbilical vein and urachus of bovine fetuses using laparoscopy and celiotomy: surgical time and feasibility (cadaveric study).

Surgical intervention for umbilical diseases in calves, when indicated, is a complementary and indispensable therapeutic resource for the treatment of umbilical conditions and is commonly performed using celiotomy. However, laparoscopy has demonstrated feasibility in many diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of the techniques and the surgical time of laparoscopy and celiotomy used in intra-abdominal resection of the umbilical vein and urachus of bovine fetuses (cadavers).

Pay for performance, satisfaction and retention in longitudinal crowdsourced research.

In the social and cognitive sciences, crowdsourcing provides up to half of all research participants. Despite this popularity, researchers typically do not conceptualize participants accurately, as gig-economy worker-participants. Applying theories of employee motivation and the psychological contract between employees and employers, we hypothesized that pay and pay raises would drive worker-participant satisfaction, performance, and retention in a longitudinal study.

Outlining cell interaction and inflammatory cytokines on UV-photofunctionalized mixed-phase TiO thin film.

Photofunctionalization mediated by ultraviolet (UV) light seems to be a promising approach to improve the physico-chemical characteristics and the biological response of titanium (Ti) dental implants. Seeing that photofunctionalization is able to remove carbon from the surface, besides to promote reactions on the titanium dioxide (TiO) layer, coating the Ti with a stable TiO film could potentialize the UV effect. Thus, here we determined the impact of UV-photofunctionalized mixed-phase (anatase and rutile) TiO films on the physico-chemical properties of Ti substrate and cell biology.

Selecting 'convenient observers' to probe the atomic structure of CVD graphene on Ir(111) via photoelectron diffraction.

CVD graphene grown on metallic substrates presents, in several cases, a long-range periodic structure due to a lattice mismatch between the graphene and the substrate. For instance, graphene grown on Ir(111), displays a corrugated supercell with distinct adsorption sites due to a variation of its local electronic structure. This type of surface reconstruction represents a challenging problem for a detailed atomic surface structure determination for experimental and theoretical techniques.

Developmental programming: gestational testosterone excess disrupts LH secretion in the female sheep fetus.

Background: Prenatal testosterone (T) excess results in reproductive and metabolic perturbations in female sheep that closely recapitulate those seen in women with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). At the neuroendocrine level, prenatal T-treated sheep manifest increased pituitary sensitivity to GnRH and subsequent LH hypersecretion. In this study, we investigated the early effects of gestational T-treatment on LH secretion and pituitary function in the female sheep fetus.

Physicochemical Studies on the Surface of Polyamide 6.6 Fabrics Functionalized by DBD Plasmas Operated at Atmospheric and Sub-Atmospheric Pressures.

This work proposes the use of a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor operating at atmospheric pressure (AP) using air and sub-atmospheric pressure (SAP) using air or argon to treat polyamide 6.6 (PA6.6) fabrics.

Synthesis of bioactive glass-based coating by plasma electrolytic oxidation: Untangling a new deposition pathway toward titanium implant surfaces.

Hypothesis: Although bioactive glass (BG) particle coatings were previously developed by different methods, poor particle adhesion to surfaces and reduced biological effects because of glass crystallization have limited their biomedical applications. To overcome this problem, we have untangled, for the first time, plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) as a new pathway for the synthesis of bioactive glass-based coating (PEO-BG) on titanium (Ti) materials.

Experiments: Electrolyte solution with bioactive elements (NaSiO-5HO, CHOCa, NaNO, and CHNaOP) was used as a precursor source to obtain a 45S5 bioglass-like composition on a Ti surface by PEO.

Probing the Site-Selective Doping in SrSnO:Eu Oxides and Its Impact on the Crystal and Electronic Structures Using Synchrotron Radiation and DFT Simulations.

The impact of Eu doping at the Sr and Sn sites in SrSnO on its structural and electronic properties was studied and correlated with the photocatalytic efficiency. The compounds were synthesized using a modified Pechini method. Refinement of the synchrotron X-ray diffraction (S-XRD) data showed that the samples had an orthorhombic symmetry.

Metallic copper removal optimization from real wastewater using pulsed electrodeposition.

The recovery of metals from wastewater is a recurrent problem due to numerous productive activities that produce wastewaters rich in toxic metals. Within this context, this research presents the study and optimization of copper recovery of real wastewater using pulsed electrodeposition. The studied parameters - method, current, temperature, and rotation- influence both the removal of Cu and the composition of the formed deposit, noting that the variation of these parameters enables the removal of copper with formation from crystalline oxides to crystalline copper in its metallic form.

3D Printed Graphene Electrodes Modified with Prussian Blue: Emerging Electrochemical Sensing Platform for Peroxide Detection.

3D printing technologies have been considered an important technology due to the ease manufacturing of objects, freedom of design, waste minimization, and fast prototyping. In chemistry, this technology potentializes the fabrication of conductive electrodes in large scale for sensing applications. Herein, we reported the modification of a 3D printed graphene electrode with Prussian blue.

Electrochemical water oxidation by cobalt-Prussian blue coordination polymer and theoretical studies of the electronic structure of the active species.

The search for earth-abundant metal-based catalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) that operates under neutral conditions is a challenge in the field of sustainable energy. Many strategies have been used, and coordination polymers with structures similar to Prussian blue appear to be interesting electrocatalysts due to their efficiency, stability and tunable properties. In this paper, a novel catalyst produced from a cobalt-pentacyanidoferrate precursor is presented and applied in studies of the OER.

Color stability of maxillofacial prosthetic silicone functionalized with oxide nanocoating.

Statement Of Problem: Maxillofacial prostheses made of silicone elastomers undergo undesirable color degradation over time. How this color change can be prevented is unclear.

Purpose: The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the ability of an oxide nanocoating to prevent color degradation of maxillofacial silicone elastomers after artificial accelerated aging.

Catalytic oxidation at pilot-scale: Efficient degradation of volatile organic compounds in gas phase.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are responsible for environmental problems and may affect human health. Several treatment technologies minimize VOCs emissions; among those, catalytic oxidation appears as a promising alternative. In this study, a pilot-scale catalytic reactor was developed and the influence of process parameters on toluene degradation were investigated.