Electrospinning of LaB/PEDOT:PSS/PEO Fiber Composites of Unique Morphologies.

We present a direct electrospinning fabrication technique for the manufacture of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate)/poly(ethylene oxide) (PEDOT:PSS/PEO) polymer fibers containing embedded cubic lanthanum hexaboride (LaB) particles. We focus on the impact of relative humidity on the formation of uniform polymer fibers and show that a relative humidity of 5% is optimal, resulting in an average fiber thickness of 266 ± 88 nm. As the relative humidity is increased, the fibers contain beads as a consequence of Rayleigh instabilities.

Analyzing Modern Biomolecules: The Revolution of Nucleic-Acid Sequencing - Review.

Recent developments have revolutionized the study of biomolecules. Among them are molecular markers, amplification and sequencing of nucleic acids. The latter is classified into three generations.

Disseminated lomentosporiosis in a heart transplant recipient: Case report and review of the literature.

Background: Lomentospora prolificans (formerly S prolificans) is a saprophyte fungi that causes opportunistic infections in solid organ transplant (SOT) recipients. Resulting disseminated infections are difficult to treat and have a high mortality. Indications for antifungal prophylaxis after heart transplantation (HT) include CMV disease, reoperation, renal replacement therapy, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), and high environmental exposure to Aspergillus spores.

Predicting the size of salt-containing aqueous Na-AOT reverse micellar water-in-oil microemulsions with consideration for specific ion effects.

Hypothesis: Reverse micellar solutions are thermodynamically stable systems in which surfactant molecules surround water droplets within a continuous organic phase. Among their many applications, they can be used for the synthesis of nanoparticles of controlled agglomeration. Here, we consider the role specific ion effects play in reverse micelle size reduction.

Phase Stability and Miscibility in Ethanol/AOT/-Heptane Systems: Evidence of Multilayered Cylindrical and Spherical Microemulsion Morphologies.

We describe the effects of ethanol on the phase behavior of sodium bis(2-ethylhexyl) sulfosuccinate (AOT) in -heptane. Using dynamic light scattering (DLS), molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and nuclear magnetic resonance (H NMR) spectroscopy, we investigate the aggregation behavior of AOT across a wide range of ethanol/AOT/-heptane compositions. We conclude that reverse micelles do not form at any of the investigated concentrations.

Toxicity and Alkaloid Profiling of the Skin of the Golfo Dulcean Poison Frog Phyllobates vittatus (Dendrobatidae).

Frogs in the genus Phyllobates are known for the presence of batrachotoxin, a highly toxic alkaloid, in their skin. Nevertheless, Phyllobates frogs from Costa Rica and Panama (P. lugubris and P.

Interaction of Hydrogen with MB (M = Ba, Ca, La, and Sr) Surfaces from First Principles.

We show results of basic energetics and interacting behavior of hydrogen with metal hexaboride surfaces using a combination of self-consistent density functional calculations and dynamics based on the Car-Parrinello method. Our results show that hydrogen is strongly attracted to localized exposed boron atoms and interactions with the terminal cations are strictly repulsive. From these, preliminary local adsorption energy calculations suggest that a single hydrogen molecule per surface unit-cell is possible (one ML).

Infections in patients after Berlin Heart EXCOR assist device implantation.

Objectives: Berlin Heart EXCOR devices (BHED) are ventricular assist devices (VAD) used mainly as a bridge to heart transplantation (HT) in pediatric population. The aim of our study is to report the infections diagnosed in adult patients undergoing a BHED implantation.

Methods: Adult patients receiving a BHED between Jul 2009 and Oct 2017 at our institution were included.

Dengue, chikungunya, and Zika virus infections imported to Paris between 2009 and 2016: Characteristics and correlation with outbreaks in the French overseas territories of Guadeloupe and Martinique.

Background: Dengue virus (DENV), chikungunya virus (CHIKV), and Zika virus (ZIKV) infections are rapidly expanding across countries and are being diagnosed in returned travellers who represent epidemiological sentinels. The French Territories of America (FTA) such as Guadeloupe and Martinique see high levels of tourism and have experienced three consecutive outbreaks by these viruses in the last decade.

Objective: This study was performed to evaluate how ill returned travellers could have represented epidemiological sentinels for these three expanding arboviral diseases over eight consecutive years.

Refining the : How Plant Fiber Technology Drove Social Complexity During the Preceramic Period.

Moseley's (1975) hypothesis challenges, in one of humanity's few pristine hearths of civilization, the axiom that agriculture is necessary for the rise of complex societies. We revisit that hypothesis by setting new findings from La Yerba II (7571-6674 Cal bp) and III (6485-5893 Cal bp), Río Ica estuary, alongside the wider archaeological record for the end of the Middle Preceramic Period on the Peruvian coast. The La Yerba record evinces increasing population, sedentism, and "Broad Spectrum Revolution" features, including early horticulture of and beans.

Effect of Current on Diffusivity in Metal Hexaborides: A Spark Plasma Sintering Study.

We present the effect of pulsed direct current on metal ion diffusion in CaB-SrB diffusion couples, showing that the diffusivity of Ca and Sr across the diffusion couple interface is higher toward the positive electrode when subjected to a current flow of 2.2 kA at a temperature of 2007 K. We attribute this enhanced mobility to the movement of negatively charged metal vacancies toward the positive electrode in the system.

A generalized method for the inversion of cohesive energy curves from isotropic and anisotropic lattice expansions.

Cohesive energy curves contain important information about energetics of atomic interactions in crystalline materials, and these are more often obtained using ab initio methods such as density functional theory. Decomposing these curves into the different interatomic contributions is of great value to evaluate and characterize the energetics of specific types of atom-atom interactions. In this work, we present and discuss a generalized method for the inversion of cohesive energy curves of crystalline materials for pairwise interatomic potentials extraction using detailed geometrical descriptions of the atomic interactions to construct a list of atomic displacements and degeneracies, which is modified using a Gaussian elimination process to isolate the pairwise interactions.

Isolation of major components from the roots of Godmania aesculifolia and determination of their antifungal activities.

From the methanol root extract of Godmania aesculifolia, a species selected in a multinational OAS program aimed at discovering antifungal compounds from Latin American plants, a new chavicol diglycoside (1), the known 3,4-dihydroxy-2-(3-methylbut-2-en-1-yl)-3,4-dihydronaphthalen-1(2H)-one (2), and lapachol (3) were isolated and characterized by 1D and 2D NMR and MS techniques. Only 3 exhibited fairly good activity against a panel of clinical isolates of Cryptococcus neoformans (MIC50 between 7.8 and 31.

Reaction kinetics of hydrothermal carbonization of loblolly pine.

Hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) is a pretreatment process to convert diverse feedstocks to homogeneous energy-dense solid fuels. Understanding of reaction kinetics is necessary for reactor design and optimization. In this study, the reaction kinetics and effects of particle size on HTC were investigated.

Identification of anziaic acid, a lichen depside from Hypotrachyna sp., as a new topoisomerase poison inhibitor.

Topoisomerase inhibitors are effective for antibacterial and anticancer therapy because they can lead to the accumulation of the intermediate DNA cleavage complex formed by the topoisomerase enzymes, which trigger cell death. Here we report the application of a novel enzyme-based high-throughput screening assay to identify natural product extracts that can lead to increased accumulation of the DNA cleavage complex formed by recombinant Yersinia pestis topoisomerase I as part of a larger effort to identify new antibacterial compounds. Further characterization and fractionation of the screening positives from the primary assay led to the discovery of a depside, anziaic acid, from the lichen Hypotrachyna sp.

Sekikaic acid and lobaric acid target a dynamic interface of the coactivator CBP/p300.

Capturing a coactivator, naturally: the natural products sekikaic acid and lobaric acid, isolated after a high-throughput screen of a structurally diverse extract collection, effectively target the dynamic binding interfaces of the GACKIX domain of the coactivator CBP/p300. These molecules are the most effective inhibitors of the GACKIX domain yet described and are uniquely selective for this domain.

Ionic concentration effects on reverse micelle size and stability: implications for the synthesis of nanoparticles.

We present a systematic investigation and analysis of the structure and stability of reverse micelle systems with the addition of NH(4)OH, ZrOCl(2), and Al(NO(3))(3) salts. We demonstrate that the reverse micelle size decreases with increasing salt additions until one reaches a critical concentration, which characterizes the onset of system destabilization. The concept of an electrical double layer, as it applies to reverse micelles, is considered for explaining features of destabilization, including the initial decrease in reverse micelle size, the destabilization concentration, and the effect of cation valence.

Pretreatment of rice hulls by ionic liquid dissolution.

As a highly available waste product, rice hulls could be a starting block in replacing liquid fossil fuels. However, their silica covering can make further use difficult. This preliminary study investigates effects of dissolving rice hulls in the ionic liquids 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium acetate (EMIM Ac), 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride, (HMIM Cl), and 1-allyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (AMIM Cl), and what lignocellulosic components can be precipitated from the used ionic liquid with water and ethanol.

Acetic acid and lithium chloride effects on hydrothermal carbonization of lignocellulosic biomass.

As a renewable non-food resource, lignocellulosic biomass has great potential as an energy source or feedstock for further conversion. However, challenges exist with supply logistics of this geographically scattered and perishable resource. Hydrothermal carbonization treats any kind of biomass in 200 to 260°C compressed water under an inert atmosphere to produce a hydrophobic solid of reduced mass and increased fuel value.

Effect of thermal pretreatment on equilibrium moisture content of lignocellulosic biomass.

The equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of raw lignocellulosic biomass, along with four samples subjected to thermal pretreatment, was measured at relative humidities ranging from 11% to 97% at a constant temperature of 30 °C. Three samples were prepared by treatment in hot compressed water by a process known as wet torrefaction, at temperatures of 200, 230, and 260 °C. An additional sample was prepared by dry torrefaction at 300 °C.

Helical structures from an isotropic homopolymer model.

We present Monte Carlo simulation results for square-well homopolymers at a series of bond lengths. Although the model contains only isotropic pairwise interactions, under appropriate conditions this system shows spontaneous chiral symmetry breaking, where the chain exists in either a left- or a right-handed helical structure. We investigate how this behavior depends upon the ratio between bond length and monomer radius.

Accounting for both random errors and systematic errors in uncertainty propagation analysis of computer models involving experimental measurements with Monte Carlo methods.

A Monte Carlo method is presented to study the effect of systematic and random errors on computer models mainly dealing with experimental data. It is a common assumption in this type of models (linear and nonlinear regression, and nonregression computer models) involving experimental measurements that the error sources are mainly random and independent with no constant background errors (systematic errors). However, from comparisons of different experimental data sources evidence is often found of significant bias or calibration errors.