Palladium sorption by aminofunctionalized macroporous copolymer from chloride–nitrate solutions

Macroporous poly(glycidyl methacrylate-co-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) with attached diethylene triamine [PGME-deta] with high amino-group content was used for the investigation of the Pd(II) sorption kinetics from mixed chloride/nitrate aqueous solutions in acidic medium (pH 2.0) at T=298 K. Four kinetic models were employed in order to comprehend the mechanism of Pd(II) sorption. The maximum experimental Pd(II) sorption capacity at initial pH 2.0 and 298 K was 20 mg g-1

Evaluation of the universality of NMR metabolic fingerprints of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia (SCZ) is a very disabling mental disorder whose molecular basis is a combination of many factors still not completely understood, with a diagnosis based on observed behavior, the person's reported experiences and reports of others that are familiar with the person, with no objective test. Also, up to date, there are no reliable markers for monitoring the SCZ. NMR-metabolomics [1] reported in 2017 bring some of the possible markers from blood serum of SCZ individuals linked strongly with known dopamine, glutamate and GABA dysfunction in SCZ. As to verify if these findings are universal, we have compared the SCZ patients from geographically different environments and cited interesting SCZ characteristics. The first set of samples was collected in Belgrade, Serbia. 14 mental health patients (50% male) with 52.86 ± 7.27 years of age had a confirmed diagnosis of SCZ. The control group of 13 healthy individuals (69% male) had none of psychotic disorders, and individuals were 23.07 ± 2.79 years of age. Blood serum samples were collected and prepared for the analysis following the published methodology [1, 2]. NMR spectra were measured on a Bruker AVANCE III spectrometer (500.26 MHz for 1H). The spectra were acquired at 298 K with 128 scans and 32 k. The serum samples were prepared and measured as triplicates. On the other side, the group of individuals from Brazil that was matched in number, age, gender and history of mental illness with individuals from Serbia was previously described [1]. 1H NMR spectra were phase and baseline corrected using MestreNova and the lactate doublet was used as the chemical shift reference. The data were binned (0.005 ppm) in a spectral range 0.50 - 9.00 ppm, while the residual HDO peak (4.50-5.00 ppm) was excluded. Then, the data were normalized by the sum equal to 1000, the variables were mean centered and PCA and PLS-DA were performed using MATLAB. It was shown that the mental health patients have clearly different blood serum metabolites when compared to the healthy ones independently from where the samples were obtained with almost identical marker set. Also, it was shown that the samples are different metabolically when Brazilian and Serbian samples were compared. 1] L. Tasic et al., Schizophrenia Research 2017, 185, 182. [2] J. Pontes et al., Analytical Methods 2017, 9, 1078

Targeted plant improvement through genome editing: from laboratory to field

This review illustrates how far we have come since the emergence of GE technologies and how they could be applied to obtain superior and sustainable crop production. The main challenges of today's agriculture are maintaining and raising productivity, reducing its negative impact on the environment, and adapting to climate change. Efficient plant breeding can generate elite varieties that will rapidly replace obsolete ones and address ongoing challenges in an efficient and sustainable manner. Site-specific genome editing in plants is a rapidly evolving field with tangible results. The technology is equipped with a powerful toolbox of molecular scissors to cut DNA at a pre-determined site with different efficiencies for designing an approach that best suits the objectives of each plant breeding strategy. Genome editing (GE) not only revolutionizes plant biology, but provides the means to solve challenges related to plant architecture, food security, nutrient content, adaptation to the environment, resistance to diseases and production of plant-based materials. This review illustrates how far we have come since the emergence of these technologies and how these technologies could be applied to obtain superior, safe and sustainable crop production. Synergies of genome editing with other technological platforms that are gaining significance in plants lead to an exciting new, post-genomic era for plant research and production. In previous months, we have seen what global changes might arise from one new virus, reminding us of what drastic effects such events could have on food production. This demonstrates how important science, technology, and tools are to meet the current time and the future. Plant GE can make a real difference to future sustainable food production to the benefit of both mankind and our environment.European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) CA18111info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

BacHBerry: BACterial Hosts for production of Bioactive phenolics from bERRY fruits

BACterial Hosts for production of Bioactive phenolics from bERRY fruits (BacHBerry) was a 3-year project funded by the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) of the European Union that ran between November 2013 and October 2016. The overall aim of the project was to establish a sustainable and economically-feasible strategy for the production of novel high-value phenolic compounds isolated from berry fruits using bacterial platforms. The project aimed at covering all stages of the discovery and pre-commercialization process, including berry collection, screening and characterization of their bioactive components, identification and functional characterization of the corresponding biosynthetic pathways, and construction of Gram-positive bacterial cell factories producing phenolic compounds. Further activities included optimization of polyphenol extraction methods from bacterial cultures, scale-up of production by fermentation up to pilot scale, as well as societal and economic analyses of the processes. This review article summarizes some of the key findings obtained throughout the duration of the project

Non-exponential tunneling ionization probability distribution as a function of different laser beam profiles

In this paper, we discussed the probability distribution of exponential and non-exponential tunneling ionization of atoms, taking into account that the tunneling is not instantaneous, but requires a very short time interval. We also investigated how different laser beam profiles affected the probability distribution. These physical situations were analyzed for the valence electron of a potassium atom exposed to a strong laser field in a wide range of intensities (1012 ¡ 1015 W/cm2). We used the ADK theory formalism to compute probability distributions. The results demonstrate that the probability distribution in the non-exponential mode has a significantly lower value than in the exponential mode, calculated under the same conditions. We showed that various laser beam profiles on these probability distributions produce different tunneling time intervals

Encouraging the development of cognitive operations in early school age children by applying the system of didactic games

© Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek Toruń 2016. The aim of this research was to examine whether the development of cognitive abilities of students can be encouraged under the influence of didactic games. The research was conducted on a sample of 163 first grade primary school pupils and an experiment with parallel groups was applied. The results obtained have shown that there is a statistically significant difference (r=0.000 < 0.05) between the achievements of the experimental and control groups in recognizing, naming, abstracting, forming and defining geometric shapes. Hence, this proved that the possibility of applying this approach at the beginning of schooling should be considered

Transition Rate Dependence on the Non-Zero Initial Momentum in the ADK-Theory

Tunneling regime, introduced by Keldysh, in the interaction of strong lasers with atoms has been now accepted as the reliable method for describing processes when low frequency lasers are involved. Yet it was always assumed that the ionized electrons are leaving the atom with zero initial momentum. Because we are interested in how non-zero momentum influences the transition probability of tunnel ionization, we obtained the exact expression for the momentum. Here the estimation of the transition probability with nonzero momentum included was conducted. Potassium atoms in the laser field whose intensity varied from 10 13 W/cm 2 to 10 14 W/cm 2 were studied. It seems that all energy of laser field is used for tunneling ionization process at the beginning of laser pulse -ionization probability is large. After that, with further action of laser pulse, ionization probability decreases, probably because part of laser pulse energy is used for increasing momentum of ejected electrons, leaving smaller amounts of light quanta available for ionization of remaining electrons. If laser pulse lasts long enough, then the amounts of light quanta available for ionization become larger, resulting in increase in ionization probability, now with greater starting energy of ejected electrons