Emission of volatile organic compounds from residential biomass burning and their rapid chemical transformations.

Biomass combustion releases a complex array of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) that pose significant challenges to air quality and human health. Although biomass burning has been extensively studied at ecosystem levels, understanding the atmospheric transformation and impact on air quality of emissions in urban environments remains challenging due to complex sources and burning materials. In this study, we investigate the VOC emission rates and atmospheric chemical processing of predominantly wood burning emissions in a small urban centre in Greece.

Proliferation of atmospheric datasets can hinder policy making: a data blending technique offers a solution.

The proliferation of atmospheric datasets is a key outcome from the continued development and advancement of our collective scientific understanding. Yet often datasets describing ostensibly identical processes or atmospheric variables provide widely varying results. As an example, we analyze several datasets representing rainfall over Nepal.

Effects of drought and recovery on soil volatile organic compound fluxes in an experimental rainforest.

Drought can affect the capacity of soils to emit and consume biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Here we show the impact of prolonged drought followed by rewetting and recovery on soil VOC fluxes in an experimental rainforest. Under wet conditions the rainforest soil acts as a net VOC sink, in particular for isoprenoids, carbonyls and alcohols.

variants associated with reduced enzymatic activity but lack of Pompe-related symptoms, incidentally identified by exome sequencing.

Pompe disease is a rare metabolic myopathy caused by pathogenic variants affecting the activity of the lysosomal glycogen-degrading enzyme acid alpha-glucosidase (GAA). Impaired GAA function results in the accumulation of undegraded glycogen within lysosomes in multiple tissues but predominantly affects the skeletal, smooth and cardiac muscle. The degree of residual enzymatic activity appears to roughly correlate with the age of onset and the severity of the clinical symptoms.

Exome sequencing identifies breast cancer susceptibility genes and defines the contribution of coding variants to breast cancer risk.

Linkage and candidate gene studies have identified several breast cancer susceptibility genes, but the overall contribution of coding variation to breast cancer is unclear. To evaluate the role of rare coding variants more comprehensively, we performed a meta-analysis across three large whole-exome sequencing datasets, containing 26,368 female cases and 217,673 female controls. Burden tests were performed for protein-truncating and rare missense variants in 15,616 and 18,601 genes, respectively.

The Marginal Ice Zone as a dominant source region of atmospheric mercury during central Arctic summertime.

Atmospheric gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) concentrations in the Arctic exhibit a clear summertime maximum, while the origin of this peak is still a matter of debate in the community. Based on summertime observations during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition and a modeling approach, we further investigate the sources of atmospheric Hg in the central Arctic. Simulations with a generalized additive model (GAM) show that long-range transport of anthropogenic and terrestrial Hg from lower latitudes is a minor contribution (~2%), and more than 50% of the explained GEM variability is caused by oceanic evasion.

Developmental Neuroendocrinology of Early-Life Stress: Impact on Child Development and Behavior.

Our internal balance, or homeostasis, is threatened or perceived as threatened by stressful stimuli, the stressors. The stress system is a highly conserved system that adjusts homeostasis to the resting state. Through the concurrent activation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the locus coeruleus/norepinephrine-autonomic nervous systems, the stress system provides the appropriate physical and behavioral responses, collectively termed as "stress response", to restore homeostasis.

Reconciling a national methane emission inventory with in-situ measurements.

Reconciling top-down and bottom-up country-level greenhouse gas emission estimates remains a key challenge in the MRV (Monitoring, Reporting, Verification) paradigm. Here we propose to independently quantify cumulative emissions from a significant number of methane (CH) emitters at national level and derive robust constraints for the national inventory. Methane emissions in Cyprus, an insular country, stem primarily from waste and agricultural activities.

FUS-mediated blood-brain barrier disruption for delivering anti-Aβ antibodies in 5XFAD Alzheimer's disease mice.

Purpose: Amyloid-β (Aβ) peptides, the main component of amyloid plaques found in the Alzheimer's disease (AD) brain, are implicated in its pathogenesis, and are considered a key target in AD therapeutics. We herein propose a reliable strategy for non-invasively delivering a specific anti-Aβ antibody in a mouse model of AD by microbubbles-enhanced Focused Ultrasound (FUS)-mediated Blood-brain barrier disruption (BBBD), using a simple single stage MR-compatible positioning device.

Methods: The initial experimental work involved wild-type mice and was devoted to selecting the sonication protocol for efficient and safe BBBD.

Source apportionment of PM oxidative potential in an East Mediterranean site.

This study aimed to evaluate the oxidative potential (OP) of PM collected for almost a year in an urban area of the East Mediterranean. Two acellular assays, based on ascorbic acid (AA) and dithiothreitol (DTT) depletion, were used to measure the OP. The results showed that the mean volume normalized OP-AA value was 0.

Novel Iron Chelator SK4 Drives Cytotoxicity through Inhibiting Mitochondrial Metabolism in Ovarian and Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cell Lines.

Anti-cancer therapy by iron chelation has been shown to inhibit many cellular processes including DNA replication, mitochondrial metabolism and oncogenic signalling pathways (e.g., EGFR).

Niclosamide Attenuates Inflammation-Associated Profibrotic Responses in Human Subepithelial Lung Myofibroblasts.

Niclosamide is a commonly used helminthicidic drug for the treatment of human parasitosis by helminths. Recently, efforts have been focusing on repurposing this drug for the treatment of other diseases, such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Subepithelial lung myofibroblasts (SELMs) isolated from tissue biopsies of patients undergoing surgery for lung cancer were stimulated with TNF-α (50 ng/mL), IL-1α (5 ng/mL), added alone or in combination, and TGF-β (5 ng/mL).

Gold Nanobipyramids for Near-Infrared Fluorescence-Enhanced Imaging and Treatment of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.

There is an imminent need for novel strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of aggressive triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). Cell-targeted multifunctional nanomaterials hold great potential, as they can combine precise early-stage diagnosis with local therapeutic delivery to specific cell types. In this study, we used mesoporous silica (MS)-coated gold nanobipyramids (MS-AuNBPs) for fluorescence imaging in the near-infrared (NIR) biological window, along with targeted TNBC treatment.

Understanding the genetic complexity of puberty timing across the allele frequency spectrum.

Pubertal timing varies considerably and has been associated with a range of health outcomes in later life. To elucidate the underlying biological mechanisms, we performed multi-ancestry genetic analyses in ~800,000 women, identifying 1,080 independent signals associated with age at menarche. Collectively these loci explained 11% of the trait variance in an independent sample, with women at the top and bottom 1% of polygenic risk exhibiting a ~11 and ~14-fold higher risk of delayed and precocious pubertal development, respectively.

Diurnal pattern of Poaceae and Betula pollen flight in Central Europe.

In Central Europe the most common allergies are provoked by grass or birch pollen allergens. We determined the intra-daily behavior of airborne pollen grains of grasses (Poaceae) and birch (Betula ssp.) in Central Europe, based on data obtained from a network of automatic pollen monitors over Europe (www.

Accelerating the energy transition towards photovoltaic and wind in China.

China's goal to achieve carbon (C) neutrality by 2060 requires scaling up photovoltaic (PV) and wind power from 1 to 10-15 PWh year (refs. ). Following the historical rates of renewable installation, a recent high-resolution energy-system model and forecasts based on China's 14th Five-year Energy Development (CFED), however, only indicate that the capacity will reach 5-9.

Catching up with tetrazines: coordination of Re(I) to 1,2,4-triazine facilitates an inverse electron demand Diels-Alder reaction with strained alkynes to a greater extent than in corresponding 1,2,4,5-tetrazines.

Inverse electron demand Diels Alder (IEDDA) reactions of 1,2,4-triazines are of interest to biorthogonal chemistry but suffer from slow kinetics. It is shown here that coordination of Re(I) to a 1,2,4-triazine ring speeds up the IEDDA reaction with bicyclooctyne (BCN) by a factor of 55. Comparative analysis with corresponding 1,2,4,5-tetrazine analogues reveals that the origin of the increased reactivity is markedly different and more profound than in tetrazine analogues.

The effect of chemical constitution on polyisoprene dynamics.

Polyisoprene (PI) melts have been studied, with most reports focusing on systems with high 1,4-cis content. In contrast, 1,4-trans PI homopolymers or random copolymers have seldom been examined, despite a handful of investigations suggesting a distinct dynamic behavior. Herein, we employ all-atom simulations to investigate the effect of chemical architecture on the dynamics of cis and trans-PI homopolymers, as well as copolymers.

Treatment of the CRND8 mouse model for cerebral amyloid angiopathy, exhibited increased levels of neuron specific enolase in brain tissue following long-term treatment with a modified C5a receptor agonist, accompanied by improved cognitive function.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an irreversible neurodegenerative disorder characterized by amyloid plaques, neurofibrillary tangles, and cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). CAA is a condition manifesting as amyloid deposits in the cerebral vasculature, eventually leading to microhemorrhage. Here, we have treated the CRND8 mouse model with the C5a agonist (EP67) in order to observe the effects on cerebral amyloidosis, CAA, and hyperphosphorylated tau.

Comprehensive chemical characterization of PM in the large East Mediterranean-Middle East city of Beirut, Lebanon.

The chemical composition of PM at two sites in Lebanon, a country in the East Mediterranean - Middle East region, is investigated in the spring and summer seasons. The average PM concentrations were of (29 ± 16) µg/m for Beirut urban site and (32 ± 14) µg/m for Beirut suburban site. This study showed that the geographic location of the East Mediterranean region, such as its proximity to the Mediterranean Sea and the dust storm intrusion are a significant contributor to the high PM levels from natural sources, which cannot be mitigated, rendering the PM WHO annual Air Quality guideline unattainable due to high natural background, which also applies to the entire Middle East region.