Are Patients who are Diagnosed with Hypertension or Diabetes more likely to Receive the COVID-19 Booster? Data from PR-CEAL's Community Survey Tool.

Objective: Evaluate the relationship between diabetes and hypertension and COVID-19 booster uptake.

Methods: Members of the Community Outreach Group of the Puerto Rico Community Engagement Alliance Against COVID-19 Disparities (PR-CEAL) administered a survey at 229 community events between November 2021 and May 2023. Information on 2,145 participants' sociodemographic information and chronic disease diagnoses was gathered.

A high-efficiency and long-cycling aqueous indium metal battery enabled by synergistic In/K interactions.

Aqueous trivalent metal batteries are promising options for energy storage, owing to their ability to transfer three electrons during redox reactions. However, advances in this field have been limited by challenges such as incompatible M/M electrode potentials and salt hydrolysis. Herein, we identify the trivalent indium metal as a viable candidate and demonstrate a high-performance indium-Prussian blue hybrid battery using a K/In mixture electrolyte.

Unveiling BaTiO-SrTiO as Anodes for Highly Efficient and Stable Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Amidst the swift expansion of the electric vehicle industry, the imperative for alternative battery technologies that balance economic feasibility with sustainability has reached unprecedented importance. Herein, we utilized Perovskite-based oxide compounds barium titanate (BaTiO) and strontium titanate (SrTiO) nanoparticles as anode materials for lithium-ion batteries from straightforward and standard carbonate-based electrolyte with 10% fluoroethylene carbonate (FEC) additive [1M LiPF (1:1 EC: DEC) + 10% FEC]. SrTiO and BaTiO electrodes can deliver a high specific capacity of 80 mA h g at a safe and low average working potential of ≈0.

Enhancing Electrochemical Performance of Si@CNT Anode by Integrating SrTiO Material for High-Capacity Lithium-Ion Batteries.

Silicon (Si) has attracted worldwide attention for its ultrahigh theoretical storage capacity (4200 mA h g), low mass density (2.33 g cm), low operating potential (0.4 V vs.

Increasing culturally relevant science media coverage: exploring the outcomes of a collaboration in Puerto Rico.

CienciaPR, a nonprofit that brings together the largest network of Puerto Rican scientists and one of the largest networks of Hispanic/Latine scientists in the world, has collaborated with El Nuevo Día (END), Puerto Rico's newspaper of record, to increase culturally relevant stories in their science section. This Practice Insight quantifies and compares the presence of culturally relevant elements (e.g.

Building a High-Potential Silver-Sulfur Redox Reaction Based on the Hard-Soft Acid-Base Theory.

Sulfur holds immense promise for battery applications owing to its abundant availability, low cost, and high capacity. Currently, sulfur is commonly combined with alkali or alkaline earth metals in metal-sulfur batteries. However, these batteries universally face challenges in cycling stability due to the inevitable issue of polysulfide dissolution and shuttling.

Metabolomic Analysis and Antiviral Screening of a Marine Algae Library Yield Jobosic Acid (2,5-Dimethyltetradecanoic Acid) as a Selective Inhibitor of SARS-CoV-2.

Current small-molecule-based SARS-CoV-2 treatments have limited global accessibility and pose the risk of inducing viral resistance. Therefore, a marine algae and cyanobacteria extract library was screened for natural products that could inhibit two well-defined and validated COVID-19 drug targets, disruption of the spike protein/ACE-2 interaction and the main protease (M) of SARS-CoV-2. Following initial screening of 86 extracts, we performed an untargeted metabolomic analysis of 16 cyanobacterial extracts.

Building a Rechargeable Voltaic Battery via Reversible Oxide Anion Insertion in Copper Electrodes.

Voltaic pile, the very first battery built by humanity in 1800, plays a seminal role in battery development history. However, the premature design leads to the inevitable copper ion dissolution issue, which dictates its primary battery nature. To address this issue, solid-state electrolytes, ion exchange membranes, and/or sophisticated electrolytes are widely utilized, leading to high costs and complicated cell configuration.

Quantitative Proteomics Reveal That CB2R Agonist JWH-133 Downregulates NF-κB Activation, Oxidative Stress, and Lysosomal Exocytosis from HIV-Infected Macrophages.

HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) affect 15-55% of HIV-positive patients and effective therapies are unavailable. HIV-infected monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) invade the brain of these individuals, promoting neurotoxicity. We demonstrated an increased expression of cathepsin B (CATB), a lysosomal protease, in monocytes and post-mortem brain tissues of women with HAND.

An Ultralow-concentration and Moisture-resistant Electrolyte of Lithium Difluoro(oxalato)borate in Carbonate Solvents for Stable Cycling in Practical Lithium-ion Batteries.

The electrolyte concentration not only impacts the battery performance but also affects the battery cost and manufacturing. Currently, most studies focus on high-concentration (>3 M) or localized high-concentration electrolytes (~1 M); however, the expensive lithium salt imposes a major concern. Most recently, ultralow concentration electrolytes (<0.

Development and Content Validity of a Disability Self-Management Questionnaire for Hispanic Older Adults.

Objective: There is no Spanish-language instrument for assessing the self-management strategies used by older adults with physical function disabilities to manage the difficulties that can occur in daily living activities. This study aimed to design and test the content validity of a Spanish version of the newly developed Self-Management of Function in Daily Living Activities Questionnaire (SF-DLAQ).

Methods: A methodological study, guided by the Person-Environment-Occupation-Performance (PEOP) model, was conducted to develop the SF-DLAQ.

Fostering greater recognition of Caribbean traditional plant knowledge.

The Caribbean is a hotspot of biological and cultural diversity, manifested in traditional plant knowledge of Afrodescendant peoples and other ethnicities. To strengthen the visibility of this knowledge in research, education, and policy making, we propose an eight-step action plan centered on reciprocal relationships with Caribbean plant stewards, especially subsistence farmers.

Trivalent Indium Metal as a High-Capacity, High-Efficiency, Low-Polarization, and Long-Cycling Anode for Aqueous Batteries.

Aqueous batteries using multivalent metals hold great promise for energy storage due to their low cost, high energy, and high safety. Presently, divalent metals (zinc, iron, nickel, and manganese) prevail as the leading choice, which, however, suffer from low Coulombic efficiency or dendrite growth. In stark contrast, trivalent metals have received rare attention despite their capability to unlock unique redox reactions.

Prioritizing cardiovascular disease-associated variants altering NKX2-5 and TBX5 binding through an integrative computational approach.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death worldwide and are heavily influenced by genetic factors. Genome-wide association studies have mapped >90% of CVD-associated variants within the noncoding genome, which can alter the function of regulatory proteins, such as transcription factors (TFs). However, due to the overwhelming number of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (>500,000) in genome-wide association studies, prioritizing variants for in vitro analysis remains challenging.

Prioritizing Cardiovascular Disease-Associated Variants Altering NKX2-5 Binding through an Integrative Computational Approach.

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death worldwide and are heavily influenced by genetic factors. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have mapped > 90% of CVD-associated variants within the non-coding genome, which can alter the function of regulatory proteins, like transcription factors (TFs). However, due to the overwhelming number of GWAS single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (>500,000), prioritizing variants for in vitro analysis remains challenging.

Impact of antiretroviral therapy intensification with C-C motif chemokine receptor 5 antagonist maraviroc on HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment.

Objectives: Chemokine receptor CCR5 is the principal co-receptor for entry of M-tropic HIV virus into immune cells. It is expressed in the central nervous system and may contribute to neuro-inflammation. The CCR5 antagonist maraviroc (MVC) has been suggested to improve HIV-associated neurocognitive impairment (NCI).

Thin-Film Organic Heteroepitaxy.

Incorporating crystalline organic semiconductors into electronic devices requires understanding of heteroepitaxy given the ubiquity of heterojunctions in these devices. However, while rules for commensurate epitaxy of covalent or ionic inorganic material systems are known to be dictated by lattice matching constraints, rules for heteroepitaxy of molecular systems are still being written. Here, it is found that lattice matching alone is insufficient to achieve heteroepitaxy in molecular systems, owing to weak intermolecular forces that describe molecular crystals.

Paramagnetism in Microwave-Synthesized Metal-Free Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Quantum Dots.

Nitrogen-doped graphene quantum dots (NGQDs) have gained significant attention due to their various physical and chemical properties; however, there is a gap in the study of NGQDs' magnetic properties. This work adds to the efforts of bridging the gap by demonstrating the room temperature paramagnetism in GQDs doped with Nitrogen up to 3.26 at.

Monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater: A surveillance tool to foresee infection's evolution in the Mexican Caribbean.

The study aims to determine SARS-CoV-2 RNA in sewage of Cancun wastewater treatment plants, the main touristic destination of Mexico, and to estimate the infected persons during the sampling period. SARS-CoV-2 RNA traces were detected in the inlet of the five plants during almost all the sampling months. However, there is no presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA traces in the effluent of the five WWTPs during the study period.