Green and blue infrastructure as model system for emissions of technology-critical elements.

Over the recent decades, technological advancements have led to a rise in the use of so-called technology-critical elements (TCEs). Environmental monitoring of TCEs forms the base to assess whether this leads to increased anthropogenic release and to public health implications. This study employs an exploratory approach to investigate the distribution of the TCEs Li, Be, V, Ga, Ge, Nb, Sb, Te, Ta, Tl, Bi and the REYs (rare-earth elements including yttrium) in urban aerosol in the city of Vienna, Austria.

Rare presentation of thrombosis with bleeding in Behcet's disease.

Behcet's disease (BD) is a rare autoimmune and autoinflammatory disease characterised by recurrent oral and genital aphthous ulcers as well as gastrointestinal, ocular, neurological, articular and vascular inflammation. Patients are at risk for both thrombotic events and bleeding, so providers are often challenged in deciding whether to start patients on anticoagulation. We report a rare, complex case of a patient with BD who presented with massive gastrointestinal bleeding.

On the Stability and Homogeneous Ensemble of Feature Selection for Predictive Maintenance: A Classification Application for Tool Condition Monitoring in Milling.

Feature selection (FS) represents an essential step for many machine learning-based predictive maintenance (PdM) applications, including various industrial processes, components, and monitoring tasks. The selected features not only serve as inputs to the learning models but also can influence further decisions and analysis, e.g.

To Waste or Not to Waste: Questioning Potential Health Risks of Micro- and Nanoplastics with a Focus on Their Ingestion and Potential Carcinogenicity.

Micro- and nanoplastics (MNPs) are recognized as emerging contaminants, especially in food, with unknown health significance. MNPs passing through the gastrointestinal tract have been brought in context with disruption of the gut microbiome. Several molecular mechanisms have been described to facilitate tissue uptake of MNPs, which then are involved in local inflammatory and immune responses.

Determination of 48 elements in 7 plant CRMs by ICP-MS/MS with a focus on technology-critical elements.

Seven plant certified reference materials (NIST SRM1515 Apple Leaves, NIST SRM1547 Peach Leaves, BCR-129 Hay Powder, BCR-670 Aquatic Plant, GBW07603 Bush Twigs and Leaves, GBW10015 Spinach Leaves and NCS ZC73036a Green Tea) were analysed for their mass fractions of 48 elements by inductively coupled plasma tandem-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS): Li, Be, Na, Mg, Al, Ca, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Ga, Ge, As, Se, Rb, Sr, Y, Nb, Mo, Ag, Cd, Sb, Te, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, Ta, Tl, Pb, Bi, Th, U. Special focus was put on the determination of technology-critical elements (TCEs), to which, e.g.

Falsely Elevated Estradiol Results in a 62-Year-Old Male Patient.

Falsely increased estradiol levels can lead to unnecessary tests and therapeutic interventions. Here, we present a case of a 62-year-old man with falsely elevated estradiol, which led to subsequent follow-up testing and prescriptions. Alternative immunoassay testing, in conjunction with Scantibodies' blocking reagents, polyethylene glycol precipitation, and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry confirmation demonstrated that the falsely elevated estradiol was due to the presence of macro-estradiol.

Sugar is not always sweet: exploring the relationship between hyperglycemia and COVID-19 in a predominantly African American population.

Introduction: The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of admission glucose in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 with and without diabetes mellitus in a largely African American cohort.

Design And Methods: This study included 708 adults (89% non-Hispanic Black) admitted with COVID-19 to an urban hospital between 1 March and 15 May 2020. Patients with diabetes were compared with those without and were stratified based on admission glucose of 140 and 180 mg/dL.

Modeling and Fault Detection of Brushless Direct Current Motor by Deep Learning Sensor Data Fusion.

Only with new sensor concepts in a network, which go far beyond what the current state-of-the-art can offer, can current and future requirements for flexibility, safety, and security be met. The combination of data from many sensors allows a richer representation of the observed phenomenon, e.g.

Barriers to Vaccination Among People with Parkinson's Disease and Implications for COVID-19.

Background: Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) are at higher risk of vaccine-preventable respiratory infections. However, advanced, homebound individuals may have less access to vaccinations. In light of COVID-19, understanding barriers to vaccination in PD may inform strategies to increase vaccine uptake.

[Treatment of extreme anemia with polymerized bovine hemoglobin : Case report and review of the literature].

This article reports the case of a 29-year-old female Jehovah's Witness with severe anemia after intrauterine fetal death in the 25th week of gestation, complicated by vaginal bleeding, acute renal failure and hemolysis. Due to her religious beliefs the patient categorically refused blood transfusions. Despite adhering to the recommendations for patient blood management, the hemoglobin (Hb) level gradually decreased to 1.

Disease severity and quality of life in homebound people with advanced Parkinson disease: A pilot study.

Background: As Parkinson disease (PD) progresses, symptoms increase, quality of life (QoL) declines, and individuals may become homebound, often losing access to neurologic care. We aimed to determine whether facilitating expert care could improve our understanding of disease progression, treatment options, and unmet needs in this vulnerable population, and whether such a model could mitigate decline in QoL.

Methods: Patients with PD meeting Medicare homebound criteria were eligible for quarterly interdisciplinary home visits over 12 months.

Authentication of meat and dairy products using rare earth element labeling and detection by solution based and laser ablation ICP-MS.

In order to meet the increasing customer demand for local food products, various methods for verification of food origin by means of region specific trace element fingerprinting have been developed. However, for products from conventional agriculture, without a close relationship to the local soil, other methods for food authentication are required. In an alternative approach, foodstuffs produced in a certain region, by a specific producer or under certain conditions can be safeguarded against imitation by chemical labeling.

Sex-related differences in homebound advanced Parkinson's disease patients.

Background: Women with Parkinson's disease (PD) are more likely to be older, have greater disease severity and comorbidities, and yet are less likely to receive care from a neurologist, as compared with men with PD. Within the PD population, homebound individuals are a particularly vulnerable group facing significant barriers to care, yet within this understudied population, sex-related differences have not been reported.

Purpose: To identify and describe differences in homebound men and women with advanced PD and related disorders, participating in an interdisciplinary home visit program.

Rare Earth Element Labeling as a Tool for Assuring the Origin of Eggs and Poultry Products.

Laying hens were fed terbium and thulium supplemented feed in order to introduce a distinctive rare earth element pattern that allows discrimination of labeled from unlabeled poultry products. Samples of egg yolk, egg shells, meat, bones, liver, blood, and feces were analyzed using either conventional or laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Already after a short time of administering supplemented feed, terbium and thulium enrichment could be unambiguously detected in the products, while absolute terbium and thulium contents remained low enough to ensure safety for the customer.

A tool to assure the geographical origin of local food products (glasshouse tomatoes) using labeling with rare earth elements.

Background: Trace element fingerprinting has been widely used for identification of provenance of regional food. In the case of products from conventional agriculture, it is expected that the elemental composition will comply with that of the commercially available substrate of the plants. Therefore, for products without a direct relationship with the regional soil the region-specific differences in elemental composition are no longer recognizable.

Interdisciplinary Home Visits for Individuals with Advanced Parkinson's Disease and Related Disorders.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a complex, multisymptom, neurodegenerative disease affecting primarily older adults. With progression, many individuals become homebound and removed from coordinated, expert care, resulting in excess morbidity, mortality, and healthcare expenditures in acute care settings and institutions. Home visit care models have achieved the triple aim of improving individual and population health while reducing costs in many frail, community-dwelling geriatric cohorts.

Evidence for Anisotropic Electronic Coupling of Charge Transfer States in Weakly Interacting Organic Semiconductor Mixtures.

We present a comprehensive investigation of the charge-transfer (CT) effect in weakly interacting organic semiconductor mixtures. The donor-acceptor pair diindenoperylene (DIP) and N,N'-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-1,7-dicyanoperylene-3,4/9,10-bis(dicarboxyimide) (PDIR-CN) has been chosen as a model system. A wide range of experimental methods was used in order to characterize the structural, optical, electronic, and device properties of the intermolecular interactions.

"We're Almost Guests in Their Clinical Care": Inpatient Provider Attitudes Toward Chronic Disease Management.

Background: Many hospitalized patients have at least 1 chronic disease that is not optimally controlled. The purpose of this study was to explore inpatient provider attitudes about chronic disease management and, in particular, barriers and facilitators of chronic disease management in the hospital.

Methods: We conducted a qualitative study of semi-structured interviews of 31 inpatient providers from an academic medical center.

Active biomonitoring of palladium, platinum, and rhodium emissions from road traffic using transplanted moss.

The use of transplanted moss (Pleurozium schreberi) in active biomonitoring of traffic-related emissions of Pd, Pt, and Rh was studied. Moss mats were transplanted to three locations along highway E75 (in Oulu, Finland) at three different distances from the highway. Five samples were collected from a background site after the same exposure period.

The potential impact of municipal solid waste incinerators ashes on the anthropogenic osmium budget.

Osmium release from Municipal Solid Waste Incinerators (MSWI), even if acknowledged to occur at least over the last fifteen years, remains overlooked in the majority of recent studies. We present the osmium concentration and (187)Os/(188)Os isotopic measurements of different kinds of bottom and fly ash samples from MSWI plants and reference materials of incinerator fly ash (BCR176 and BCR176R). The analysis of the unknown ash samples shows a relatively wide range of (187)Os/(188)Os ratios (0.

Solid residues from Italian municipal solid waste incinerators: A source for "critical" raw materials.

The incineration of municipal solid wastes is an important part of the waste management system along with recycling and waste disposal, and the solid residues produced after the thermal process have received attention for environmental concerns and the recovery of valuable metals. This study focuses on the Critical Raw Materials (CRM) content in solid residues from two Italian municipal waste incinerator (MSWI) plants. We sampled untreated bottom ash and fly ash residues, i.

Emission of perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCA) from heated surfaces made of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) applied in food contact materials and consumer products.

Polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) has been widely discussed as a source of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), which has been used in the production of fluoropolymers. PTFE may also contain unintended perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs) caused by thermolysis of PTFE, which has been observed at temperatures above 300°C. Common PTFE coated food contact materials and consumer goods are operated at temperatures above 200°C.

Suitability of elemental fingerprinting for assessing the geographic origin of pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo var. styriaca) seed oil.

An analytical method was developed and validated for the classification of the geographical origin of pumpkin seeds and oil from Austria, China and Russia. The distribution of element traces in pumpkin seed and pumpkin seed oils in relation to the geographical origin of soils of several agricultural farms in Austria was studied in detail. Samples from several geographic origins were taken from parts of the pumpkin, pumpkin flesh, seeds, the oil extracted from the seeds and the oil-extraction cake as well as the topsoil on which the plants were grown.