Inkjet printed 2D-crystal based strain gauges on paper

We present an investigation of inkjet printed strain gauges based on two-dimensional (2D) materials. The technology leverages water-based and biocompatible inks to fabricate strain measurement devices on flexible substrates such as paper. We demonstrate that the device performance and sensitivity are strongly dependent on the printing parameter (i.e., drop-spacing, number of printing passes, etc.). We show that values of the Gauge Factor up to 125 can be obtained, with large sensitivity (>20) even when small strains (0.3) are applied. Furthermore, we provide preliminary examples of heterostructure-based strain sensors, enabled by the inkjet printing technology

Shifting Diets of Lake Trout in Northeastern Lake Michigan

Prey fish communities in Lake Michigan have been steadily changing, characterized by declines in both the quantity and quality of Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus. To evaluate concurrent changes in the diet of Lake Trout Salvelinus namaycush in northeastern Lake Michigan, we analyzed stomach contents of Lake Trout caught during gill‐net surveys and fishing tournaments from May through October 2016. We then compared the composition, on a wet‐weight basis, of 2016 diets with those previously described in a recent survey conducted in 2011. Overall, we found that Lake Trout diets in 2016 consisted mostly (94% by wet weight) of Alewives and Round Goby Neogobius melanostomus. Averaging across May through October, 61% of the Lake Trout diet consisted of Alewives. A clear seasonal shift was apparent: the diet was dominated by Round Goby (67%) during May–June, whereas Alewives dominated the diet (76%) during July–October. Seasonal dominance of Round Goby in spring Lake Trout diets has not been previously observed in northeastern Lake Michigan as Round Goby represented only 21% of the Lake Trout diet in spring of 2011. Diet composition of Lake Trout caught in gill nets did not significantly differ from diet composition of Lake Trout caught by anglers in either the May–June period or the July–October period. Although Lake Trout showed increased diet flexibility in 2016 compared with 2011, Alewives were still the predominant diet component during 2016, despite reduced Alewife biomass throughout Lake Michigan. Nonetheless, this further evidence of diet plasticity suggests that Lake Trout may be resilient to ongoing and future forage base changes.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151367/1/nafm10318.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151367/2/nafm10318_am.pd

Phylogenetic analysis in the clinical risk management of an outbreak of hepatitis C virus infection among transfused thalassaemia patients in Italy

Background: Occurrence of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is reduced by effective risk management procedures, but patient-to-patient transmission continues to be reported in healthcare settings. Aim: To report the use of phylogenetic analysis in the clinical risk management of an HCV outbreak among 128 thalassaemia outpatients followed at a thalassaemia centre of an Italian hospital. Methods: Epidemiological investigation and root-cause analysis were performed. All patients with acute hepatitis and known chronic infection were tested for HCV RNA, HCV genotyping, and NS3, NS5A, and NS5B HCV genomic region sequencing. To identify transmission clusters, phylogenetic trees were built for each gene employing Bayesian methods. Findings: All patients with acute hepatitis were infected with HCV genotype 1b. Root-cause analysis, including a lookback procedure, excluded blood donors as the source of HCV transmission. The phylogenetic analysis, conducted on seven patients with acute infection and eight patients with chronic infection, highlighted four transmission clusters including at least one patient with chronic and one patient with acute HCV infection. All patients in the same cluster received a blood transfusion during the same day. Two patients with acute hepatitis spontaneously cleared HCV within four weeks and nine patients received ledipasvir plus sofosbuvir for six weeks, all achieving a sustained virological response. Conclusion: Combined use of root-cause analysis and molecular epidemiology was effective in ascertaining the origin of the HCV outbreak. Antiviral therapy avoided the chronic progression of the infection and further spread in care units and in the family environment

Diagnostic performance of serum pentraxin-3 in pediatric acute appendicitis: a prospective diagnostic validation study

Introduction Pediatric acute appendicitis (PAA) is a pathology with a high rate of diagnostic error. The search for new diagnostic tools is justified by the high morbidity and healthcare costs associated with diagnostic error. Methods We designed a prospective study to validate serum pentraxin-3 (PTX3) as a diagnostic tool in PAA. Participants were divided into three groups: (1) patients with no underlying pathology (2) patients with non-surgical abdominal pain and (3) patients with a confirmed diagnosis of PAA. For further analyses, patients in group 3 were divided into complicated or uncomplicated PAA. Quantitative variables were expressed as medians and interquartile ranges and categorical variables as percentages. Quantitative variables were compared using the Kruskal–Wallis test and the Mann–Whitney U test. Diagnostic performance was evaluated with ROC curves. Results This study included 215 patients divided into group 1 (n : 63), group 2 (n : 53) and group 3 (n : 99). Median serum PTX3 values were 2.54 (1.70–2.95) ng/mL, 3.29 (2.19–7.64) ng/mL and 8.94 (6.16–14.05) in groups 1, 2 and 3, respectively (p : 0.001). Patients with complicated PAA showed significantly higher values than patients with uncomplicated PAA (p = 0.04). The AUC (group 2 vs. 3) was 0.77 (95/100 CI 0.69–0.85) and the best cut-off point was at 7.28 ng/mL, with a sensitivity of 61.3/100 and a specificity of 73.1/100. The AUC (complicated vs. uncomplicated PAA) was 0.65 (95/100 CI 0.54–0.77) and the best cut-off point was 12.33 ng/mL, with a sensitivity of 51.72/100 and a specificity of 72.73/100. Conclusions The diagnostic ability of serum PTX3 in PAA is only moderate and therefore it cannot be considered a definitive diagnostic test. The discriminatory ability of PTX3 between complicated and uncomplicated PAA is poor. These findings, which contrast with those reported to date, should be validated with future properly designed prospective studies

Temporal instability of lake charr phenotypes: synchronicity of growth rates and morphology linked to environmental variables

Pathways through which phenotypic variation among individuals arise can be complex. One assumption often made in relation to intraspecific diversity is that the stability or predictability of the environment will interact with expression of the underlying phenotypic variation. To address biological complexity below the species level, we investigated variability across years in morphology and annual growth increments between and within two sympatric lake charr Salvelinus namaycush ecotypes in Rush Lake, USA. A rapid phenotypic shift in body and head shape was found within a decade. The magnitude and direction of the observed phenotypic change was consistent in both ecotypes, which suggests similar pathways caused the variation over time. Over the same time period, annual growth increments declined for both lake charr ecotypes and corresponded with a consistent phenotypic shift of each ecotype. Despite ecotype‐specific annual growth changes in response to winter conditions, the observed annual growth shift for both ecotypes was linked, to some degree, with variation in the environment. Particularly, a declining trend in regional cloud cover was associated with an increase of early stage (ages 1‐3) annual growth for lake charr of Rush Lake. Underlying mechanisms causing changes in growth rates and constrained morphological modulation are not fully understood. An improved knowledge of the biology hidden within the expression of phenotypic variation promises to clarify our understanding of temporal morphological diversity and instability

Impact of outdoor air pollution on severity and mortality in COVID-19 pneumonia

The relationship between exposure to air pollution and the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia and other outcomes is poorly understood. Beyond age and comorbidity, risk factors for adverse outcomes including death have been poorly studied. The main objective of our study was to examine the relationship between exposure to outdoor air pollution and the risk of death in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia using individual-level data. The secondary objective was to investigate the impact of air pollutants on gas exchange and systemic inflammation in this disease. This cohort study included 1548 patients hospitalised for COVID-19 pneumonia between February and May 2020 in one of four hospitals. Local agencies supplied daily data on environmental air pollutants ($PM_{10}$, $PM_{2.5}$, $O_3$, $NO_2$, $NO$ and $NO_X$) and meteorological conditions (temperature and humidity) in the year before hospital admission (from January 2019 to December 2019). Daily exposure to pollution and meteorological conditions by individual postcode of residence was estimated using geospatial Bayesian generalised additive models. The influence of air pollution on pneumonia severity was studied using generalised additive models which included: age, sex, Charlson comorbidity index, hospital, average income, air temperature and humidity, and exposure to each pollutant. Additionally, generalised additive models were generated for exploring the effect of air pollution on C-reactive protein (CRP) level and Sp$O_2$/Fi$O_2$ at admission. According to our results, both risk of COVID-19 death and CRP level increased significantly with median exposure to $PM_{10}$, $NO_2$, $NO$ and $NO_X$, while higher exposure to $NO_2$, $NO$ and $NO_X$ was associated with lower Sp$O_2$/Fi$O_2$ ratios. In conclusion, after controlling for socioeconomic, demographic and health-related variables, we found evidence of a significant positive relationship between air pollution and mortality in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 pneumonia. Additionally, inflammation (CRP) and gas exchange (Sp$O_2$/Fi$O_2$) in these patients were significantly related to exposure to air pollution

Role of Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells in Amelioration of Experimental Autoimmune Hepatitis Following Activation of TRPV1 Receptors by Cannabidiol

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) are getting increased attention as one of the main regulatory cells of the immune system. They are induced at sites of inflammation and can potently suppress T cell functions. In the current study, we demonstrate how activation of TRPV1 vanilloid receptors can trigger MDSCs, which in turn, can inhibit inflammation and hepatitis.Polyclonal activation of T cells, following injection of concanavalin A (ConA), in C57BL/6 mice caused acute hepatitis, characterized by significant increase in aspartate transaminase (AST), induction of inflammatory cytokines, and infiltration of mononuclear cells in the liver, leading to severe liver injury. Administration of cannabidiol (CBD), a natural non-psychoactive cannabinoid, after ConA challenge, inhibited hepatitis in a dose-dependent manner, along with all of the associated inflammation markers. Phenotypic analysis of liver infiltrating cells showed that CBD-mediated suppression of hepatitis was associated with increased induction of arginase-expressing CD11b(+)Gr-1(+) MDSCs. Purified CBD-induced MDSCs could effectively suppress T cell proliferation in vitro in arginase-dependent manner. Furthermore, adoptive transfer of purified MDSCs into naïve mice conferred significant protection from ConA-induced hepatitis. CBD failed to induce MDSCs and suppress hepatitis in the livers of vanilloid receptor-deficient mice (TRPV1(-/-)) thereby suggesting that CBD primarily acted via this receptor to induce MDSCs and suppress hepatitis. While MDSCs induced by CBD in liver consisted of granulocytic and monocytic subsets at a ratio of ∼2∶1, the monocytic MDSCs were more immunosuppressive compared to granulocytic MDSCs. The ability of CBD to induce MDSCs and suppress hepatitis was also demonstrable in Staphylococcal enterotoxin B-induced liver injury.This study demonstrates for the first time that MDSCs play a critical role in attenuating acute inflammation in the liver, and that agents such as CBD, which trigger MDSCs through activation of TRPV1 vanilloid receptors may constitute a novel therapeutic modality to treat inflammatory diseases

IMOS national reference stations: A continental-wide physical, chemical and biological coastal observing system

Sustained observations allow for the tracking of change in oceanography and ecosystems, however, these are rare, particularly for the Southern Hemisphere. To address this in part, the Australian Integrated Marine Observing System (IMOS) implemented a network of nine National Reference Stations (NRS). The network builds on one long-term location, where monthly water sampling has been sustained since the 1940s and two others that commenced in the 1950s. In-situ continuously moored sensors and an enhanced monthly water sampling regime now collect more than 50 data streams. Building on sampling for temperature, salinity and nutrients, the network now observes dissolved oxygen, carbon, turbidity, currents, chlorophyll a and both phytoplankton and zooplankton. Additional parameters for studies of ocean acidification and bio-optics are collected at a sub-set of sites and all data is made freely and publically available. Our preliminary results demonstrate increased utility to observe extreme events, such as marine heat waves and coastal flooding; rare events, such as plankton blooms; and have, for the first time, allowed for consistent continental scale sampling and analysis of coastal zooplankton and phytoplankton communities. Independent water sampling allows for cross validation of the deployed sensors for quality control of data that now continuously tracks daily, seasonal and annual variation. The NRS will provide multi-decadal time series, against which more spatially replicated short-term studies can be referenced, models and remote sensing products validated, and improvements made to our understanding of how large-scale, long-term change and variability in the global ocean are affecting Australia's coastal seas and ecosystems. The NRS network provides an example of how a continental scaled observing systems can be developed to collect observations that integrate across physics, chemistry and biology

Pediatric splenic torsion in an orthotopic spleen without fixation elements

A 4-year-old girl presented with acute left upper quadrant abdominal pain and anorexia of 4 days’ duration. She had no relevant medical history and no trauma history was reported. Findings of the physical examination showed abdominal guarding and peritoneal irritation in the left upper quadrant. The rest of the examination was normal