Free radical activity of PM10: iron-mediated generation of hydroxyl radicals.

The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that particulate matter < or = 10 microns in aerodynamic diameter (PM10) particles have the ability to generate free radical activity at their surface. We collected PM10 filters from the Edinburgh, United Kingdom, Enhanced Urban Network sampling site, removed particles from the filter, and tested their ability to cause free radical damage to supercoiled plasmid DNA. We found that the PM10 particles did cause damage to the DNA that was mediated by hydroxyl radicals, as shown by inhibition of the injury with mannitol. The PM10-associated hydroxyl radical activity was confirmed using a high-performance liquid chromatography-based assay to measure the hydroxyl radical adduct of salicylic acid. Desferrioxamine abolished the hydroxyl radical-mediated injury, which suggests that iron was involved. Analysis of PM10 filters confirmed the presence of large amounts of iron and leaching studies confirmed that the PM10 samples could release substantial amounts of Fe(III) and lesser amounts of Fe(II). To investigate the size of the particles involved in the hydroxyl radical injury, we centrifuged the suspension of PM10 to clarity, tested the clear supernatant, and found that it had all of the suspension activity. We conclude, therefore, that the free radical activity is derived either from a fraction that is not centrifugeable on a bench centrifuge, or that the radical generating system is released into solution

Modelling Temperature Variation of Mushroom Growing Hall Using Artificial Neural Networks

The recent developments of computer and electronic systems have made the use of intelligent systems for the automation of agricultural industries. In this study, the temperature variation of the mushroom growing room was modeled by multi-layered perceptron and radial basis function networks based on independent parameters including ambient temperature, water temperature, fresh air and circulation air dampers, and water tap. According to the obtained results from the networks, the best network for MLP was in the second repetition with 12 neurons in the hidden layer and in 20 neurons in the hidden layer for radial basis function network. The obtained results from comparative parameters for two networks showed the highest correlation coefficient (0.966), the lowest root mean square error (RMSE) (0.787) and the lowest mean absolute error (MAE) (0.02746) for radial basis function. Therefore, the neural network with radial basis function was selected as a predictor of the behavior of the system for the temperature of mushroom growing halls controlling system

Associations between maternal urinary iodine assessment, dietary iodine intakes and neurodevelopmental outcomes in the child: A Systematic Review

Abstract Objective Mild to moderate iodine deficiency during pregnancy has been associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in offspring. Few research studies to date combine assessment of urinary iodine (UIC and/or ICr), biomarkers that best reflect dietary intake, with reported dietary intake of iodine rich foods in their assessment of iodine deficiency. Thus, a systematic review was conducted to incorporate both these important measures. Design Using PRISMA guidelines, a comprehensive search was conducted in three electronic databases (EMBASE®, MedLine® and Web of Science®) from January 1970–March 2021. Quality assessment was undertaken using the Newcastle Ottawa Scale. Eligible studies included reported assessment of iodine status through urinary iodine (UIC and/or ICr) and/or dietary intake measures in pregnancy alongside neurodevelopmental outcomes measured in the children. Data extracted included study author, design, sample size, country, gestational age, child age at testing, cognitive tests, urinary iodine assessment (UIC in μg/L and/or ICr in μg/g), dietary iodine intake assessment and results of associations for the assessed cognitive outcomes. Results Twelve studies were included with nine reporting women as mild-moderately iodine deficient based on World Health Organization (WHO) cut-offs for urinary iodine measurements < 150 μg/l, as the median UIC value in pregnant women. Only four of the nine studies reported a negative association with child cognitive outcomes based on deficient urinary iodine measurements. Five studies reported urinary iodine measurements and dietary intakes with four of these studies reporting a negative association of lower urinary iodine measurements and dietary iodine intakes with adverse offspring neurodevelopment. Milk was identified as the main dietary source of iodine in these studies. Conclusion The majority of studies classified pregnant women to be mild-moderately iodine deficient based on urinary iodine assessment (UIC and/or ICr) and/or dietary intakes, with subsequent offspring neurodevelopment implications identified. Although a considerable number of studies did not report an adverse association with neurodevelopmental outcomes, these findings are still supportive of ensuring adequate dietary iodine intakes and urinary iodine monitoring throughout pregnancy due to the important role iodine plays within foetal neurodevelopment. This review suggests that dietary intake data may indicate a stronger association with cognitive outcomes than urinary iodine measurements alone. The strength of this review distinguishes results based on cognitive outcome per urinary iodine assessment strategy (UIC and/or ICr) with dietary data. Future work is needed respecting the usefulness of urinary iodine assessment (UIC and/or ICr) as an indicator of deficiency whilst also taking account of dietary intakes

Defining the relative performance of isothermal assays that can be used for rapid and sensitive detection of foot-and-mouth disease virus

This study describes the first multiway comparison of portable isothermal assays for the detection of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), benchmarked against real-time reverse transcription RT-PCR (rRT-PCR). The selected isothermal chemistries included reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) and reverse transcription recombinase polymerase amplification (RT-RPA). The analytical sensitivity of RT-LAMP was comparable to rRT-PCR (101 RNA copies), while RT-RPA was one log10 less sensitive (102 RNA copies). Diagnostic performance was evaluated using a panel of 35 samples from FMDV-positive cattle and eight samples from cattle infected with other vesicular viruses. Assay concordance for RT-LAMP and RT-RPA was 86?98% and 67?77%, respectively, when compared to rRT-PCR, with discordant samples consistently having high rRT-PCR cycle threshold values (no false-positives were detected for any assay). In addition, a hierarchy of sample preparation methods, from robotic extraction to simple dilution of samples, for epithelial suspensions, serum and oesophageal-pharyngeal (OP) fluid were evaluated. Results obtained for RT-LAMP confirmed that FMDV RNA can be detected in the absence of RNA extraction. However, simple sample preparation methods were less encouraging for RT-RPA, with accurate results only obtained when using RNA extraction. Although the evaluation of assay performance is specific to the conditions tested in this study, the compatibility of RT-LAMP chemistry with multiple sample types, both in the presence and absence of nucleic acid extraction, provides advantages over alternative isothermal chemistries and alternative pen-side diagnostics such as antigen-detection lateral-flow devices. These characteristics of RT-LAMP enable the assay to be performed over a large diagnostic detection window, providing a realistic means to rapidly confirm positive FMD cases close to the point of sampling

The European Solar Telescope

The European Solar Telescope (EST) is a project aimed at studying the magnetic connectivity of the solar atmosphere, from the deep photosphere to the upper chromosphere. Its design combines the knowledge and expertise gathered by the European solar physics community during the construction and operation of state-of-the-art solar telescopes operating in visible and near-infrared wavelengths: the Swedish 1m Solar Telescope, the German Vacuum Tower Telescope and GREGOR, the French Télescope Héliographique pour l'Étude du Magnétisme et des Instabilités Solaires, and the Dutch Open Telescope. With its 4.2 m primary mirror and an open configuration, EST will become the most powerful European ground-based facility to study the Sun in the coming decades in the visible and near-infrared bands. EST uses the most innovative technological advances: the first adaptive secondary mirror ever used in a solar telescope, a complex multi-conjugate adaptive optics with deformable mirrors that form part of the optical design in a natural way, a polarimetrically compensated telescope design that eliminates the complex temporal variation and wavelength dependence of the telescope Mueller matrix, and an instrument suite containing several (etalon-based) tunable imaging spectropolarimeters and several integral field unit spectropolarimeters. This publication summarises some fundamental science questions that can be addressed with the telescope, together with a complete description of its major subsystems