Emotive Captioning and Access to Television

Closed captioning has been enabling access to television for people who are deaf and hard of hearing since the early 1970s. Since that time, technology and people’s demands have been steadily improving and increasing. Closed captioning has not kept up with these changes. We present the results of a study that used graphics, colour, icons and animation as well as text, emotive captions, to capture more of the sound information contained in television content. deaf and hard of hearing participants compared emotive and conventional captions for two short video segments. The results showed that there was a significant difference between deaf and hard of hearing viewers in their reaction to the emotive captions. Hard of hearing viewers seemed to enjoy them and find them interesting. deaf viewers had a strong dislike for them although they did see some potential for intermittent use of emotive captions or for use with children’s programs

Acidogenic digestion of organic municipal solid waste in a pilot scale reactor: Effect of waste ratio and leachate recirculation and dilution on hydrolysis and medium chain fatty acid production

The purpose of this investigation is to study the effect of 1) leachate recirculation (LR) and dilution (LD), 2) the increment of the waste ratio, and 3) co-digestion using poultry waste as co-substrate for enhancing the acidogenesis process of the organic municipal solid waste (OMSW), thereby increasing the medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs) production. The results of the experiment carried in a batch pilot reactor show that LR increases hydrolysis as well as the OMSW conversion efficiency. Meanwhile, the highest total MCFA production of around 62,000 mg/L is shown for LR with a high OMSW ratio. Thus, a high concentration of hexanoic acid is shown in LR lysimeters (5475 mg/L, 6627 mg/L, and 10,889 mg/L respectively). However, a metabolic shift toward the production of heptanoic and octanoic acids is reported for LD samples. Nonetheless, the use of poultry waste as co-substrate in the co-digestion process multiplied the concentration of the produced MCFAs

Cellular Communication through Light

Information transfer is a fundamental of life. A few studies have reported that cells use photons (from an endogenous source) as information carriers. This study finds that cells can have an influence on other cells even when separated with a glass barrier, thereby disabling molecule diffusion through the cell-containing medium. As there is still very little known about the potential of photons for intercellular communication this study is designed to test for non-molecule-based triggering of two fundamental properties of life: cell division and energy uptake. The study was performed with a cellular organism, the ciliate Paramecium caudatum. Mutual exposure of cell populations occurred under conditions of darkness and separation with cuvettes (vials) allowing photon but not molecule transfer. The cell populations were separated either with glass allowing photon transmission from 340 nm to longer waves, or quartz being transmittable from 150 nm, i.e. from UV-light to longer waves. Even through glass, the cells affected cell division and energy uptake in neighboring cell populations. Depending on the cuvette material and the number of cells involved, these effects were positive or negative. Also, while paired populations with lower growth rates grew uncorrelated, growth of the better growing populations was correlated. As there were significant differences when separating the populations with glass or quartz, it is suggested that the cell populations use two (or more) frequencies for cellular information transfer, which influences at least energy uptake, cell division rate and growth correlation. Altogether the study strongly supports a cellular communication system, which is different from a molecule-receptor-based system and hints that photon-triggering is a fine tuning principle in cell chemistry

Broad neutralization of SARS-related viruses by human monoclonal antibodies

Broadly protective vaccines against known and preemergent human coronaviruses (HCoVs) are urgently needed. To gain a deeper understanding of cross-neutralizing antibody responses, we mined the memory B cell repertoire of a convalescent severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) donor and identified 200 SARS coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) binding antibodies that target multiple conserved sites on the spike (S) protein. A large proportion of the non-neutralizing antibodies display high levels of somatic hypermutation and cross-react with circulating HCoVs, suggesting recall of preexisting memory B cells elicited by prior HCoV infections. Several antibodies potently cross-neutralize SARS-CoV, SARS-CoV-2, and the bat SARS-like virus WIV1 by blocking receptor attachment and inducing S1 shedding. These antibodies represent promising candidates for therapeutic intervention and reveal a target for the rational design of pan-sarbecovirus vaccines

Chemical synthesis, characterisation and in vitro and in vivo metabolism of the synthetic opioid MT-45 and its newly identified fluorinated analogue 2F-MT-45 with metabolite confirmation in urine samples from known drug users

© 2018 The Author(s) Purpose: The detection of a novel psychoactive substance, 2F-MT-45, a fluorinated analogue of the synthetic opioid MT-45, was reported in a single seized tablet. MT-45, 2F-, 3F- and 4F-MT-45 were synthesised and reference analytical data were reported. The in vitro and in vivo metabolisms of MT-45 and 2F-MT-45 were investigated. Method: The reference standards and seized sample were characterised using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, ultra-performance liquid chromatography–quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry, gas chromatography–mass spectrometry, attenuated total reflectance-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Presumptive tests were performed and physicochemical properties of the compounds determined. Metabolite identification studies using human liver microsomes, human hepatocytes, mouse hepatocytes and in vivo testing using mice were performed and identified MT-45 metabolites were confirmed in authentic human urine samples. Results: Metabolic pathways identified for MT-45 and 2F-MT-45 were N-dealkylation, hydroxylation and subsequent glucuronidation. The major MT-45 metabolites identified in human in vitro studies and in authenticated human urine were phase I metabolites and should be incorporated as analytical targets to existing toxicological screening methods. Phase II glucuronidated metabolites were present in much lower proportions. Conclusions: 2F-MT-45 has been detected in a seized tablet for the first time. The metabolite identification data provide useful urinary metabolite targets for forensic and clinical testing for MT-45 and allows screening of urine for 2F-MT-45 and its major metabolites to determine its prevalence in case work