Assembly of Pyrenes through a Quadruple Photochemical Cascade: Blocking Groups Allow Diversion from the Double Mallory Path to Photocyclization at the Bay Region.

We present a six-step cascade that converts 1,3-distyrylbenzenes (-stilbenes) into nonsymmetric pyrenes in 40-60% yields. This sequence merges photochemical steps, ,-alkene isomerization, a 6π photochemical electrocyclization (Mallory photocyclization); the new bay region cyclization, with two radical iodine-mediated aromatization steps; and an optional aryl migration. This work illustrates how the inherent challenges of engineering excited state reactivity can be addressed by logical design.

Photostimulation decreases fearfulness, but improves growth performance and egg quality of breeder Pekin ducks.

Lighting is a critical environmental factor that influences production performance and welfare of poultry, however Pekin ducks can typically be housed under 24 h (24 h) of light. 460 hatchlings were randomly allocated to 4 rooms with two pens in each room. The rooms were allocated to 24 h light or PS.

Differences in central dopamine, but not serotonin, activity and welfare associated with age but not with preening cup use in commercial grow-out Pekin duck barns.

Preening cups are a semi-open water source for Pekin duck enrichment. To evaluate the ducks' affective state, we combined measuring welfare by walking a transect in the barn with mass spectrometry and qRT-PCR to measure brain neurotransmitter levels and gene expression for serotonin (5-HT) and dopamine (DA) synthesis and metabolism. 5-HT and DA have been established as indicators of mental state and emotions.

Transportation increases circulating corticosterone levels and decreases central serotonergic activity in a sex dependent manner in Pekin ducks.

Previous studies from our lab suggest that transportation of early adulthood ducks can have long lasting physiological effects. To better understand how transportation affects the ducks' physiology, we evaluated several central and peripheral parameters. Thirty-six, 23-week-old ducks were collected at a commercial breeder facility and randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups (n = 6/sex/treatment): 1) caught and euthanized (control), 2) caught and put in a crated in the pen for 90 min (crate), or 3) caught, crated, and transported in a truck for 90 min (transport) to simulate actual transportation.

Probing Active Sites on Pd/Pt Alloy Nanoparticles by CO Adsorption.

We studied the adsorption of CO on Pd/Pt nanoparticles (NPs) with varying compositions using polarization-dependent Fourier transform infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (FT-IRRAS) and theoretical calculations (DFT). We prepared PtPd alloy NPs via physical vapor codeposition on α-AlO(0001) supports. Our morphological and structural characterization by scanning electron microscopy and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction revealed well-defined, epitaxial NPs.

Vocalizations of the Pekin duck (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus): how stimuli, sex, and social groups affect their vocal repertoire.

Pekin ducks are exposed to stressors such as heat stress, enteric pathogens, mycotoxins, and other environmental stressors. We know from wild bird literature that birds communicate through vocalizations. We hypothesized that Pekin ducks would have a diverse repertoire that is affected by the sex, social group, and specific stimuli.

Preening cups in duck housing are associated with an increase in central dopamine activity that suggests a negative affective state.

Preening cups are a form of environmental enrichment that provides Pekin ducks a semi-open water source to express their natural behaviors. We recently observed that preening cups may increase feather pecking behaviors in ducks. Thus, we set out to determine if this form of enrichment can impact the affective state of Pekin ducks.

Chiral Anomaly and Dynamos from Inhomogeneous Chemical Potential Fluctuations.

In the standard model of particle physics, the chiral anomaly can occur in relativistic plasmas and plays a role in the early Universe, protoneutron stars, heavy-ion collisions, and quantum materials. It gives rise to a magnetic instability if the number densities of left- and right-handed electrically charged fermions are unequal. Using direct numerical simulations, we show this can result just from spatial fluctuations of the chemical potential, causing a chiral dynamo instability, magnetically driven turbulence, and ultimately a large-scale magnetic field through the magnetic α effect.

Symptomatic and functional recovery after transurethral resection of bladder tumor: Data from ecological momentary symptom assessment.

Objectives: To quantitatively describe the nature, severity, and duration of symptoms and functional impairment during recovery from transurethral resection of bladder tumors.

Materials And Methods: All patients scheduled for transurethral resection were approached for enrollment in a text-message based ecological momentary symptom assessment platform. Nine patients reported outcomes were measured 7 days before surgery and on postoperative days 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, and 14 using a 5-point Likert scale.

Hydroxyl radical-driven transformations of bisphenol A and 2,4-dinitroanisole: Experimental and computational analysis.

This study used experimental and computational analysis to investigate the advanced oxidation of bisphenol A (BPA) and 2,4-dinitroanisole (DNAN). The pseudo first-order reaction rate constants depended on the molar peroxide ratio and were between 0.13 and 0.

Chronic Heat Stress Part 2: Increased Stress and Fear Responses in F Pekin Ducks Raised from Parents That Experienced Heat Stress.

The effects of HS on the welfare of poultry have been reported to have a transgenerational effect on phenotype plasticity. The goal of our experiment was to determine whether parental exposure to HS would impair the performance, HPA axis response, or behavior of their offspring. We treated adult drakes and hens (n = 80 ducks/treatment) at peak lay with HS or the control temperature for 3 weeks and incubated eggs collected from the last 3 days of the experiment.

Preening cups increase apparent wet preening behaviors, but have no impact on other behaviors, body condition, growth, or body morphometrics of grow-out Pekin ducks.

Preening cups may be a form of open water that would allow ducks to express preening behaviors. We set out to test the hypothesis that preening cups would not have detrimental effects on ducks or their environment. Control pens (N = 6, 65 ducks/pen) had nipple lines while experimental pens (N = 6, 65 ducks/pen) had the same nipple line plus one preening cup (PC).

Real-time estimation of nephron activity with a linear measurement system (RENAL-MS) predicts postoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate.

Objective: To determine whether a simple point-of-care measurement system estimating renal parenchymal volume using tools ubiquitously available could be used to replace nuclear medicine renal scintigraphy (NMRS) in current clinical practice to predict estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) after nephrectomy by estimating preoperative split renal function.

Patients And Methods: We performed a retrospective review of patients who underwent abdominal cross-sectional imaging (computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging) and mercaptoacetyltriglycine (MAG3) NMRS prior to total nephrectomy at a single institution. We developed the real-time estimation of nephron activity with a linear measurement system (RENAL-MS) method of estimating postoperative renal function via the following technique: renal parenchymal volume of the removed kidney relative to the remaining kidney was estimated as the product of renal length and the average of six renal parenchymal thickness measurements.

Small-scale dynamo with finite correlation times.

Fluctuation dynamos occur in most turbulent plasmas in astrophysics and are the prime candidates for amplifying and maintaining cosmic magnetic fields. A few analytical models exist to describe their behavior, but they are based on simplifying assumptions. For instance, the well-known Kazantsev model assumes an incompressible flow that is δ-correlated in time.

Clinical Performance of Technetium-99m-Sestamibi SPECT/CT Imaging in Differentiating Oncocytic Tumors From Renal Cell Carcinoma in Routine Clinical Practice.

Purpose: Technetium-99m-sestamibi single-photon emission CT/x-ray CT is an emerging clinical tool to differentiate oncocytic tumors from renal cell carcinomas. We report data from a large institutional cohort of patients who underwent technetium-99m-sestamibi scans during evaluation of renal masses.

Materials And Methods: Patients who underwent technetium-99m-sestamibi single-photon emission CT/x-ray CT between February 2020 and December 2021 were included in the analysis.

Oncologic Outcomes of cT1 and cT2 Micropapillary Variant Compared with cT1 and cT2 Conventional Urothelial Carcinoma Treated with Radical Cystectomy.

Introduction: Our objective was to estimate the difference in outcomes for patients with clinical T stage 1 (cT1) and 2 (cT2) micropapillary (MPBC) and urothelial carcinoma (UCBC) bladder cancer treated with radical cystectomy (RC).

Methods: We reviewed the National Cancer Database for patients with cT1/2N0M0 MPBC and UCBC treated with RC from 2004-2016. Patients were classified by cT stage and histology.

Point of care parenchymal volume analyses to estimate split renal function and predict functional outcomes after radical nephrectomy.

Accurate prediction of new baseline GFR (NBGFR) after radical nephrectomy (RN) can inform clinical management and patient counseling whenever RN is a strong consideration. Preoperative global GFR, split renal function (SRF), and renal functional compensation (RFC) are fundamentally important for the accurate prediction of NBGFR post-RN. While SRF has traditionally been obtained from nuclear renal scans (NRS), differential parenchymal volume analysis (PVA) via software analysis may be more accurate.

No difference in renal function outcomes for patients with oncocytoma managed with active surveillance vs. partial nephrectomy.

Objectives: To investigate the difference in renal function outcomes for patients with oncocytomas undergoing active surveillance (AS) vs. partial nephrectomy (PN).

Methods: We reviewed our institutional database for patients with biopsy/surgically confirmed oncocytoma from 2000-2020.

The Phenomenon of "Therapeutic" Nodal Yield at Cystectomy for Bladder Cancer: Do Not Discount the Will Rogers Effect.

Unlabelled: While multiple mechanisms have been hypothesized to explain the therapeutic effect of lymph node (LN) yield in patients with urothelial cell carcinoma (UCC) undergoing radical cystectomy (RC), the effect of stage migration, commonly known as the Will Rogers effect, is often discounted. We reviewed the National Cancer Database for patients with UCC undergoing RC with pathologically node-negative (pN0) disease from 2004 to 2016. We tested for an adjusted association between LN yield and overall survival using multivariable Cox proportional-hazard models.

Chronic heat stress part 1: Decrease in egg quality, increase in cortisol levels in egg albumen, and reduction in fertility of breeder pekin ducks.

Global warming poses detrimental effects on poultry production leading to substantial economic losses. The goal of our experiment was to test the hypothesis that heat stress (HS) would alter welfare and egg quality (EQ) of breeder ducks. Furthermore, we wanted to test if HS would increase cortisol levels in egg albumen.