The effect of size and composition on structural transitions in monometallic nanoparticles

Predicting the morphological stability of nanoparticles is an essential step towards the accurate modelling of their chemophysical properties. Here we investigate solid–solid transitions in monometallic clusters of 0.5–2.0 nm diameter at finite temperatures and we report the complex dependence of the rearrangement mechanism on the nanoparticle’s composition and size. The concerted Lipscomb’s Diamond-Square-Diamond mechanisms which connects the decahedral or the cuboctahedral to the icosahedral basins, take place only below a material dependent critical size above which surface diffusion prevails and leads to low-symmetry and defected shapes still belonging to the initial basin

Dimethyl fumarate in patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 (RECOVERY): a randomised, controlled, open-label, platform trial

Dimethyl fumarate (DMF) inhibits inflammasome-mediated inflammation and has been proposed as a treatment for patients hospitalised with COVID-19. This randomised, controlled, open-label platform trial (Randomised Evaluation of COVID-19 Therapy [RECOVERY]), is assessing multiple treatments in patients hospitalised for COVID-19 (NCT04381936, ISRCTN50189673). In this assessment of DMF performed at 27 UK hospitals, adults were randomly allocated (1:1) to either usual standard of care alone or usual standard of care plus DMF. The primary outcome was clinical status on day 5 measured on a seven-point ordinal scale. Secondary outcomes were time to sustained improvement in clinical status, time to discharge, day 5 peripheral blood oxygenation, day 5 C-reactive protein, and improvement in day 10 clinical status. Between 2 March 2021 and 18 November 2021, 713 patients were enroled in the DMF evaluation, of whom 356 were randomly allocated to receive usual care plus DMF, and 357 to usual care alone. 95% of patients received corticosteroids as part of routine care. There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of DMF on clinical status at day 5 (common odds ratio of unfavourable outcome 1.12; 95% CI 0.86-1.47; p = 0.40). There was no significant effect of DMF on any secondary outcome

Interactive effects of drought and shade on three arid zone chenopod shrubs with contrasting distributions in relation to tree canopies

The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com1. Plants that grow beneath trees in arid systems may frequently experience both water and light limitation, although protection from high radiation loads during drought may compensate for a loss of productivity due to reduced light availability when water is plentiful. 2. We examined the effects of shading, during an imposed water deficit, on the carbon gain, stomatal conductance (gs) and shoot water potential ({Psi}s) of seedlings of three shrubs: Atriplex vesicaria (Heward ex Benth.), a C4 species, and Enchylaena tomentosa (R. Br.) and Rhagodia spinescens (R. Br.), which are restricted to shaded sites beneath trees. 3. Under conditions of limiting water, photosynthetic rates measured at saturating light (Amax) were negative in high-light grown Enchylaena plants but remained positive in shade-grown plants. When water was not limiting, Amax was reduced in shade-grown Atriplex but shade did not affect carbon gain in the other two species. 4. Atriplex {Psi}s was higher in shaded than in unshaded plants, but in unshaded plants positive carbon gain was maintained at {Psi}s below -10 MPa. Stomatal conductance and Amax decreased more slowly with increasing water deficit in shaded conditions in all species. 5. Atriplex was tolerant of a broader range of light and soil moisture conditions than Enchylaena, with Rhagodia intermediate between these two species. The interactive effect between drought and shade and the ecophysiological tolerances of these three species have consequences for their field distributions.J. N. Prider and J. M. Facell