Uptake of cyclic CO in maize and tomato: Results from a greenhouse study.

Cyclic CO (cCO, CAS number 1190931-27-1) is a perfluoralkyl ether used as a polymerization aid in the synthesis of fluoropolymers and produced since 2011 as substitute of PFOA. This work reports the first data on bioaccumulation of cCO on terrestrial plants (maize and tomato). In general, the observed accumulation and translocation of cCO in plants is low or negligible.

Multifunctional polymer-based nanocomposites for synergistic adsorption and photocatalytic degradation of mixed pollutants in water.

Water pollution is a growing concern for mankind due to its harmful effects on humans, animals and plants. Usually, several pollutants are present in wastewater. For example, dyes and antibiotics are found in wastewater because of their widespread use in factories and hospitals.

A better integration of health and economic impact assessments of climate change.

Climate change could lead to high economic burden for individuals (i.e. low income and high prices).

The Laccase Catalysed Tandem Lignin Depolymerisation/Polymerisation.

The development of strategies allowing either the production of high value phenolics, or the isolation of properties-enhanced materials from technical lignins represents a fundamental step in the industrial upcycling of technical lignins. Both aims are met by the strategy presented in the present work, relying on the coupling of solvent-based fractionation with the oxidative action of a new type of alkaline-stable genetically modified bacterial laccase. The described approach succeeded in the tandem, high-yield and selective isolation of valuable lignin-monomeric compounds (MCs) and high molecular weight and hydrophobicity-tailored polymerised materials (PMs) from two technical lignins, namely softwood kraft lignin (SKL), and wheat straw organosolv lignin (WSL).

Intraoperative transcystic laparoscopic common bile duct stone clearance with SpyGlass™ discover during emergency and elective cholecystectomy: a single-center case series.

Background And Study Aim: The development of a new cholangioscope, the SpyGlass™ Discover (Boston Scientific), has allowed the laparoscopic transcystic common bile duct exploration and stone clearance. The possibility of simultaneous treatment of choledocholithiasis during early laparoscopic cholecystectomy offers the opportunity to enormously reduce the time between acute cholecystitis diagnosis and the execution of cholecystectomy with better outcomes for patients. Furthermore, an altered anatomy of the gastrointestinal tract is not an obstacle to this technique.

Network topology mapping of chemical compounds space.

We define bipartite and monopartite relational networks of chemical elements and compounds using two different datasets of inorganic chemical and material compounds, as well as study their topology. We discover that the connectivity between elements and compounds is distributed exponentially for materials, and with a fat tail for chemicals. Compounds networks show similar distribution of degrees, and feature a highly-connected club due to oxygen .

Uptake and translocation of brominated flame retardants in tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum L.): Results from a standard soil-based biotest.

The uptake and translocation of four polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and four novel brominated flame retardants (NBFRs) in tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum L.) were investigated via the RHIZOtest, a standard soil-based biotest, optimized for organic compounds. Tomato plants were exposed to soil samples spiked with 0 (i.

All-Inorganic Hydrothermally Processed Semitransparent SbS Solar Cells with CuSCN as the Hole Transport Layer.

An inorganic wide-bandgap hole transport layer (HTL), copper(I) thiocyanate (CuSCN), is employed in inorganic planar hydrothermally deposited SbS solar cells. With excellent hole transport properties and uniform compact morphology, the solution-processed CuSCN layer suppresses the leakage current and improves charge selectivity in an n-i-p-type solar cell structure. The device without the HTL (FTO/CdS/SbS/Au) delivers a modest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.

Impact of population aging on future temperature-related mortality at different global warming levels.

Older adults are generally amongst the most vulnerable to heat and cold. While temperature-related health impacts are projected to increase with global warming, the influence of population aging on these trends remains unclear. Here we show that at 1.

A Tale of Two Chains: Geometries of a Chain Model and Protein Native State Structures.

Linear chain molecules play a central role in polymer physics with innumerable industrial applications. They are also ubiquitous constituents of living cells. Here, we highlight the similarities and differences between two distinct ways of viewing a linear chain.

A 2000-Year-Old Strain Sheds Light on the Evolution of Cyclic Antimicrobial Lipopeptide Synthesis.

Some bacteria (notably the genera and ) have the capacity to form endospores that can survive for millions of years in isolated habitats. The genomes of such ancient bacteria provide unique opportunities to understand bacterial evolution and metabolic capabilities over longer time scales. Herein, we sequenced the genome of a 2000-year-old bacterial strain (Mal05) isolated from intact apple seeds recovered during archaeological excavations of a Roman villa in Italy.

An overview on dispersion procedures and testing methods for the ecotoxicity testing of nanomaterials in the marine environment.

Considerable efforts have been devoted to develop or adapt existing guidelines and protocols, to obtain robust and reproducible results from (eco)toxicological assays on engineered nanomaterials (NMs). However, while many studies investigated adverse effects of NMs on freshwater species, less attention was posed to the marine environment, a major sink for these contaminants. This review discusses the procedures used to assess the ecotoxicity of NMs in the marine environment, focusing on the use of protocols and methods for preparing NMs dispersions and on the NMs physicochemical characterization in exposure media.

SHARE-ENV: A Data Set to Advance Our Knowledge of the Environment-Wellbeing Relationship.

Climate change interacts with other environmental stressors and vulnerability factors. Some places and, owing to socioeconomic conditions, some people, are far more at risk. The data behind current assessments of the environment-wellbeing nexus is coarse and regionally aggregated, when considering multiple regions/groups; or, when granular, comes from ad hoc samples with few variables.

Ammoniacal nitrogen recovery from swine slurry using a gas-permeable membrane: pH control strategies and feed-to-trapping volume ratio.

Gas-permeable membrane (GPM) technology is gaining interest to recover nitrogen from residual effluents due to its effectiveness, simple operation and capacity of producing a nutrient rich product with fertilising value. In this study, a GPM contactor was used at 25 °C to recover total ammoniacal nitrogen (TAN) from swine slurry as a concentrated (NH)SO solution. Firstly, a synthetic solution was tested on a wide pH range (6-12).

SERS nanostructures with engineered active peptides against an immune checkpoint protein.

The immune checkpoint programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) protein is expressed by tumor cells and it suppresses the killer activity of CD8 T-lymphocyte cells binding to the programmed death 1 (PD-1) protein of these immune cells. Binding to either PD-L1 or PD1 is used for avoiding the inactivation of CD8 T-lymphocyte cells. We report, for the first time, Au plasmonic nanostructures with surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) properties (SERS nanostructures) and functionalized with an engineered peptide (CLP002: Trp-His-Arg-Ser-Tyr-Tyr-Thr-Trp-Asn-Leu-Asn-Thr), which targets PD-L1.

Highly Efficient Solar-Light-Driven Photodegradation of Metronidazole by Nickel Hexacyanoferrate Nanocubes Showing Enhanced Catalytic Performances.

Environmental pollution is a complex problem that threatens the health and life of animal and plant ecosystems on the planet. In this respect, the scientific community faces increasingly challenging tasks in designing novel materials with beneficial properties to address this issue. This study describes a simple yet effective synthetic protocol to obtain nickel hexacyanoferrate (Ni-HCF) nanocubes as a suitable photocatalyst, which can enable an efficient photodegradation of hazardous anthropogenic organic contaminants in water, such as antibiotics.

Characteristics and quantification of small microplastics (<100 µm) in seasonal svalbard snow on glaciers and lands.

Small microplastics (SMPs < 100 µm) can easily be transported over long distances far from their sources through the atmospheric pathways and reach even remote regions, including the Arctic. However, these sizes of MPs are mostly overlooked due to different analytical challenges; besides, their pathways through atmospheric depositions, such as snow depositions, are mostly unknown. The spatial variability in bulk snow samples was investigated for the first time in distinct sites (e.

Toxicity and bioaccumulation of the fluorosurfactant cCO in the earthworm Eisenia foetida (Savigny, 1826).

Cyclic CO (cCO, CAS number 1190931-27-1) is a perfluoralkyl ether PFAS used as a polymerization aid in the synthesis of fluoropolymers and produced in Italy since 2011 as substitute of PFOA. To date, available ecotoxicological information on cCO is related to regulatory requirements and limited to data on aquatic organisms, while the information on the effects for terrestrial organisms is completely lacking. This work reports the first ecotoxicological data of cCO on terrestrial invertebrates: short- and long-term toxicity of cCO on Eisenia foetida (Savigny, 1826), exposed to spiked soil under laboratory conditions, was investigated evaluating the earthworm survival and growth (observed after 7, 14 and 28 days of exposure), and reproduction (observed after an exposure period of 56 days).

Textual heritage and digital archives - the case of the Hyakugo Archive in Kyoto.

What are the effects and significance of inscribing an archive or group of documents in a heritage list? In light of the positive effects of digital technology on archival science, should all archives and past documents be considered "heritage," or are some more significant than others? What are the implications and benefits of a heritage archive? Is creating a digital database of a specific archive considered part of heritage conservation? Is the term "heritagization" or "heritage making" a synonym for preservation or conservation? In this article, I will attempt to answer some of these questions from the point of view of premodern literature, drawing on recent researches in heritage studies, specifically in the subfield of "critical heritage studies. After briefly introducing the current state of heritage scholarship, I will present the definition of "textual heritage" that I developed during my most recent project. Secondly, to reflect on how the concept of textual heritage can affect our understanding of historical archives, I will present the case of the Hyakugo Archive of Toji Temple (Kyoto, Japan), a collection of 19,000 documents dating from the eight to the eighteenth century, which was inscribed on the UNESCO Memory of the World List in 2005 and has been fully digitized and made available to the public via the Internet.

Human Omental Mature Adipocytes used as Paclitaxel Reservoir for Cell-Based Therapy in Ovarian Cancer.

Primary human omental adipocytes and ovarian cancer(OC) cells establish a bidirectional communication in which tumor driven lipolysis is induced in adipocytes and the resulting fatty acids are delivered to cancer cells within the tumor microenvironment. Despite meaningful improvement in the treatment of OC, its efficacy is still limited by hydrophobicity and untargeted effects related to chemotherapeutics. Herein, omental adipocytes are firstly used as a reservoir for paclitaxel, named Living Paclitaxel Bullets (LPB) and secondly benefit from the established dialogue between adipocytes and cancer cells to engineer a drug delivery process that target specifically cancer cells.

Electrochemical detection of miRNA using commercial and hand-made screen-printed electrodes: liquid biopsy for cancer management as case of study.

The growth of liquid biopsy, i. e., the possibility of obtaining health information by analysing circulating species (nucleic acids, cells, proteins, and vesicles) in peripheric biofluids, is pushing the field of sensors and biosensors beyond the limit to provide decentralised solutions for nonspecialists.

Seasonality of mortality under climate change: a multicountry projection study.

Background: Climate change can directly impact temperature-related excess deaths and might subsequently change the seasonal variation in mortality. In this study, we aimed to provide a systematic and comprehensive assessment of potential future changes in the seasonal variation, or seasonality, of mortality across different climate zones.

Methods: In this modelling study, we collected daily time series of mean temperature and mortality (all causes or non-external causes only) via the Multi-Country Multi-City Collaborative (MCC) Research Network.