Morphology and environment in the Jurassic Nucleatidae (Brachiopoda) from Western Tethys

Nucleatidae (Brachiopoda, Terebratulida) are commonly considered as typical members of the Mediterranean assemblages during the Jurassic. However, nucleatids occasionally also occur in the margins of Western Tethys (Northwestern European shelf). Some of these occurrences in northeastern Spain are analysed, detecting a relation between nucleatid morphology and palaeoenvironment during the Jurassic. The validity of this relationship for the whole of the representatives of the group in the Western Tethys during the Jurassic is tested by means of morphofunctional analyses (principal components analysis and discriminant analysis), concluding that reduction of the lateral expansion of the shell is the key morphological feature whereby epioceanic and epicontinental taxa differ. This change can have functional significance because it can be interpreted as a mechanism to reduce the area exposed when the valves gape, increasing protection against harmful particles in environments characterized by higher terrigenous input. Some modifications on the systematics of the Nucleatidae at the genus level are proposed on the basis of the temporal and biogeographical distribution of these adaptations

A detailed study of the diastereoselective catalytic hydrogenation of 6-hydroxytetrahydroisoquinoline-(3R)-carboxylic ester intermediates

A key step towards a highly-selective antagonist of ionotropic glutamate receptors entails the diastereoselective arene hydrogenation of an enantiopure tetrahydroisoquinoline. An extensive screen using parallel reactors was conducted and led to the discovery of several Pd/C catalysts giving high yield and improved diastereoselectivity from 75 : 25 to 95 : 5. A detailed kinetic study of the best system was performed and supports the reduction occuring in two-steps.

The effect of Psychological First Aid training on knowledge and understanding about psychosocial support principles; a cluster-randomized controlled trial

Fiona O'May - ORCID 0000-0003-4417-2819 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4417-2819Alastair Ager - ORCID 0000-0002-9474-3563 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9474-3563Replaced AM with VoR 13 Jan 2020.Psychological First Aid (PFA) is a world-wide implemented approach to helping people affected by an emergency, disaster or other adverse event. Controlled evaluations of PFA’s training effects are lacking. We evaluated the effectiveness of a one-day PFA training on the acquisition and retention of knowledge of appropriate psychosocial responses and skills in the acute aftermath of adversity in Peripheral Health Units (PHUs) in post-Ebola Sierra Leone. Secondary outcomes were professional quality of life, confidence in supporting a distressed person and professional attitude.PHUs in Sierra Leone (N=129) were cluster-randomized across PFA (206 participants) and control (202 participants) in March 2017. Knowledge and understanding of psychosocial support principles and skills were measured with a questionnaire and two patient scenarios to which participants described helpful responses. Professional attitude, confidence, and professional quality of life were assessed using self-report instruments. Assessments took place at baseline and at 3 and 6 months post-baseline. The PFA group had a stronger increase in PFA knowledge and understanding at the post-PFA training assessment (d=0.50; p<0.001) and at follow-up (d=0.43; p=0.001). In addition, the PFA group showed better responses to the scenarios at 6 months follow-up (d=0.38; p=0.0002) but not at the post-assessment (d=0.04; p=0.26). No overall significant differences were found for professional attitude, confidence and professional quality of life. In conclusion, PFA training improved acquisition and retention of knowledge and understanding of appropriate psychosocial responses and skills to individuals exposed to acute adversity. Our data support the use of PFA trainings to strengthen capacity for psychosocial support in contexts of disaster and humanitarian crisis. Future studies should examine the effects of PFA on psychosocial outcomes for people affected by crises. Trial registration: Nederlands Trial Register (NTR6846)The work described in this paper was funded by Elrha’s Research for Health in Humanitarian Crises (R2HC) Programme (Grant number 21163). The R2HC programme is funded by the UK Government (DFID), the Wellcome Trust, and the UK National Institute for Health Research (NHIR). Additional funding was obtained at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the Advancing Partners & Communities project, implemented by JSI Research &Training Institute, Inc., in collaboration with FHI 360 under Cooperative Agreement No. AID-OAA-A-12-00047. The opinions herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID.https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph1702048417pubpub

Phosphoramidite-controlled asymmetric hydrogenation with rhodium catalysts

Phosphoramidites, and in particular those derived from BINOL, the MonoPhos family of ligands, have proven extremely useful for the asymmetric hydrogenation of carbon-carbon unsaturation using a rhodium catalyst. Many classes of alkenes can be reduced by these catalyst systems. The use of high-throughput experimentation can be applied to the synthesis of MonoPhos ligands and their subsequent screening, in order to find an appropriate candidate for a specific transformation. Suitable mixtures of ligands can also be found by these high-throughput methods

Aperiodic dynamical decoupling sequences in presence of pulse errors

Dynamical decoupling (DD) is a promising tool for preserving the quantum states of qubits. However, small imperfections in the control pulses can seriously affect the fidelity of decoupling, and qualitatively change the evolution of the controlled system at long times. Using both analytical and numerical tools, we theoretically investigate the effect of the pulse errors accumulation for two aperiodic DD sequences, the Uhrig's DD UDD) protocol [G. S. Uhrig, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 98}, 100504 (2007)], and the Quadratic DD (QDD) protocol [J. R. West, B. H. Fong and D. A. Lidar, Phys. Rev. Lett {\bf 104}, 130501 (2010)]. We consider the implementation of these sequences using the electron spins of phosphorus donors in silicon, where DD sequences are applied to suppress dephasing of the donor spins. The dependence of the decoupling fidelity on different initial states of the spins is the focus of our study. We investigate in detail the initial drop in the DD fidelity, and its long-term saturation. We also demonstrate that by applying the control pulses along different directions, the performance of QDD protocols can be noticeably improved, and explain the reason of such an improvement. Our results can be useful for future implementations of the aperiodic decoupling protocols, and for better understanding of the impact of errors on quantum control of spins.Comment: updated reference

Toarcian (Lower Jurassic) brachiopods in Asturias (Northern Spain): Stratigraphic distribution, critical events and palaeobiogeography

Brachiopod assemblages recorded in the Toarcian outcropping of the Asturian coast, between Gijón and Ribadesella, are described. In the Tenuicostatum Zone of the Early Toarcian, an assemblage dominated by Gibbirhynchia cantabrica nov. sp., which also includes some other species of North European affinities, has been recorded. Brachiopods disappear in the region at the end of this Zone, coinciding with a sedimentary episode of black shales, and they are not recorded again until the Variabilis Zone of the Middle Toarcian. Between this zone and the Aalensis Zone, several species appear with wide stratigraphic distribution but scarce representation, except for Soaresirhynchia renzi, which is very abundant, particularly in the Insigne Subzone. This assemblage differs from the ones recorded in other nearby Spanish basins and can be related to the ones described in part of the Lusitanian Basin (Portugal), Western Pyrenees and South-Western France. This similarity can be related to environmental characteristics, such as the existence in these cases of an external, relatively deep platform environment

Understanding key drivers of performance in the provision of maternal health services in eastern cape, South Africa: a systems analysis using group model building

Background The Eastern Cape Province reports among the poorest health service indicators in South Africa with some of its districts standing out as worst performing as regards maternal health indicators. To understand key drivers and outcomes of this underperformance and to explore whether a participatory analysis could deepen action-oriented understanding among stakeholders, a study was conducted in one of the chronically poorly performing districts. Methods The study used a systems analysis approach to understand the drivers and outcomes affecting maternal health in the district in order to identify key leverage points for addressing the situation. The approach included semi-structured interviews with a total of 24 individuals consisting health system managers at various levels, health facility staff and patients. This was followed by a participatory group model building exercise with 23 key stakeholders to analyze system factors and their interrelationships affecting maternal health in the district using rich pictures and interrelationship diagraphs (IRDs) and finally the development of causal loop diagrams (CLDs). Results The stakeholders were able to unpack the complex ways in which factors were interrelated in contributing to poor maternal health performance and identified the feedback loops which resulted in the situation being intractable, suggesting strategies for sustainable improvement. Quality of leadership was shown to have a pervasive influence on overall system performance by linking to numerous factors and feedback loops, including staff motivation and capacity building. Staff motivation was linked to quality of care in turn influencing patient attendance and feeding back into staff motivation through its impact on workload. Without attention to workload, patient waiting times and satisfaction, the impact of improved leadership and staff support on staff competence and attitudes would be diminished. Conclusion Understanding the complex interrelationships of factors in the health system is key to identifying workable solutions especially in the context of chronic health systems challenges. Systems modelling using group model building methods can be an efficient means of supporting stakeholders to recognize valuable resources within the context of a dysfunctional system to strengthen systems performance

Aminoquinolines afford resistance to cerebral malaria in susceptible mice

Objectives: Malaria treatment is impeded by increasing resistance to conventional antimalarial drugs. Here we explored the activity of ten novel benzothiophene, thiophene and benzene aminoquinolines. Methods: In vitro testing was performed by the lactate dehydrogenase assay in chloroquine (CQ)-sensitive Plasmodium falciparum strain 3D7 and CQ-resistant (CQ(R)) P. falciparum strain Dd2. In vivo activity was evaluated by a modified Thompson test using C57BL/6 mice infected with Plasmodium berghei ANKA strain. Results: Nine of the ten compounds had a lower 50% inhibitory concentration (IC50) than CQ against the CQ(R) strain Dd2. Five of these compounds that were available for in vivo evaluation were shown to be nontoxic. All five compounds administered at a dose of 160 mg/kg/day for 3 days prolonged the survival of treated compared with untreated mice. Untreated control mice died by Day 7 with a mean parasitaemia of 15%. Among treated mice, a dichotomous outcome was observed, with a two-third majority of treated mice dying by Day 17 with a low mean parasitaemia of 5%, whilst one-third survived longer with a mean hyperparasitaemia of 70%; specifically, five of these mice survived a mean of 25 days, whilst two even survived past Day 31. Conclusions: The significant antimalarial potential of this aminoquinoline series is illustrated by its excellent in vitro activity against the CQ(R) P. falciparum strain and significant in vivo activity. Interestingly, compounds CIAQ7, CIAQ9 and CIAQ11 were able to confer resistance to cerebral malaria and afford a switch to hyperparasitaemia to mice prone to the neurological syndrome

CVD diamond coated silicon nitride self-mated systems : tribological behaviour under high loads

Friction and wear behaviour of self-mated chemical vapour deposited (CVD) diamond films coating silicon nitride ceramics (Si3N4) were investigated in ambient atmosphere. The tribological tests were conducted in a reciprocal motion ball-on-flat type tribometer under applied normal loads up to 80 N (~10 GPa). Several characterisation techniques - including scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and micro-Raman studies - were used in order to assess the quality, stress state and wear resistance of the coatings. In addition, a novel method is presented to estimate the wear coefficient of the diamond coated flat specimens from AFM and optical microscopy (OM) observations of the wear tracks