Wettability of natural root mucilage studied by atomic force microscopy and contact angle: Links between nanoscale and macroscale surface properties

Organic coatings are considered as main cause of soil water repellency (SWR). This phenomenon plays a crucial role in the rhizosphere, at the interface of plant water uptake and soil hydraulics. Still, there is little knowledge about the nanoscale properties of natural soil compounds such as root-mucilage and its mechanistic effect on wettability. In this study, dried films of pure and diluted natural root-mucilage from Sorghum (Sorghum sp., moench) on glass substrates were studied in order to explore experimental and evaluation methods that allow to link between macroscopic wettability and nano-/microscopic surface properties in this model soil system. SWR was assessed by optical contact angle (CA) measurements. The nanostructure of topography and adhesion forces of the mucilage surfaces was characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements in ambient air, using PeakForce Quantitative Nanomechanical Mapping (PFQNM). Undiluted mucilage formed hydrophobic films on the substrate with CA > 90° and rather homogeneous nanostructure whereas the contact angles of diluted samples were < 90°. AFM height and adhesion images displayed incomplete mucilage surface coverage for diluted samples. Hole-like structures in the film frequently exhibited increased adhesion forces. The spatial analysis of the AFM data via variograms enabled a numerical description of such ‘adhesion holes’. The use of geostatistical approaches in AFM studies of the complex surface structure of soil compounds was considered meaningful in view of the need of comprehensive analysis of large AFM image data sets that exceed the capability of comparative visual inspection. Furthermore, force curves measured with the AFM showed increased break-free distances and pull-off forces inside the observed ‘adhesion holes’, indicating enhanced capillary forces due to adsorbed water films at hydrophilic domains for ambient RH (40 ± 2 %). This offers the possibility of mapping the nanostructure of water layers on soil surfaces and assessing the consequences for wettability. The collected information on macroscopic wetting properties, nanoscale roughness and adhesion structure of the investigated surfaces in this study are discussed in view of the applicability of the mechanistic wetting models given by Wenzel and Cassie-Baxter

Prenatal exposure to methadone or buprenorphine: Early childhood developmental outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Methadone and buprenorphine are recommended to treat opioid use disorders during pregnancy. However, the literature on the relationship between longer-term effects of prenatal exposure to these medications and childhood development is both spare and inconsistent. METHODS: Participants were 96 children and their mothers who participated in MOTHER, a randomized controlled trial of opioid-agonist pharmacotherapy during pregnancy. The present study examined child growth parameters, cognition, language abilities, sensory processing, and temperament from 0 to 36 months of the child\u27s life. Maternal perceptions of parenting stress, home environment, and addiction severity were also examined. RESULTS: Tests of mean differences between children prenatally exposed to methadone vs. buprenorphine over the three-year period yielded 2/37 significant findings for children. Similarly, tests of mean differences between children treated for NAS relative to those not treated for NAS yielded 1/37 significant finding. Changes over time occurred for 27/37 child outcomes including expected child increases in weight, head and height, and overall gains in cognitive development, language abilities, sensory processing, and temperament. For mothers, significant changes over time in parenting stress (9/17 scales) suggested increasing difficulties with their children, notably seen in increasing parenting stress, but also an increasingly enriched home environment (4/7 scales). CONCLUSIONS: Findings strongly suggest no deleterious effects of buprenorphine relative to methadone or of treatment for NAS severity relative to not-treated for NAS on growth, cognitive development, language abilities, sensory processing, and temperament. Moreover, findings suggest that prenatal opioid agonist exposure is not deleterious to normal physical and mental development

Models of Outdoor Recreational Travel

The purpose of this investigation was to evaluate models of travel flow from population centers throughout the United States to outdoor recreational areas in Kentucky. Data were obtained by means of a license-plate, origin-destination survey at 160 sites within 42 recreational areas and by means of a continuous vehicle counting program at eight of these sites. Attempts to simulate distributed travel flows concentrated on various single-equation models, a cross-classification model, and gravity and intervening opportunities models. The cross-classification model was found to be an acceptable means for simulating and predicting outdoor recreational travel flows and was decidedly superior to the other models. From the cross-classification model, per capita distributed flows were found to (1) decrease at a decreasing rate with increasing population of the origin zone, (2) increase at a variable rate with increasing attraction of tbe recreational area, and (3) decrease at a decreasing rate with increasing distance. The intervening opportunities model was found to be unacceptable as a distribution model since it could not effectively accommodate the widely differing sizes of the 42 recreational areas. The gravity model, on the other hand, was quite effective in distributing actual productions and attractions. Problems associated with tbe gravity model were limited to difficulties in accurately estimating trip productions and attractions in the trip generation phase of analysis

Solubility of Calcined Kaolinite, Montmorillonite, and Illite in High Molar NaOH and Suitability as Precursors for Geopolymers

Clays and clay minerals dissolve over a broad pH range, such as during sediment diagenesis and in a variety of applications, including nuclear waste storage, landfills, and geopolymer binders in the construction industry. The solubility depends on process parameters (pH, temperature, pressure, etc.) and material properties (phase content, clay mineral composition, particle size, etc.). Pretreatments such as calcination or severe grinding change the material properties and could enhance solubility, which is called activation. The aim of the current study was to determine the solubility of three different clay minerals after calcination (metakaolinite, metamontmorillonite, and metaillite) in high molar alkaline solutions (NaOH) up to 10.79 mol/L and pH = 14.73. Furthermore, the solubility of an Al(OH)3 powder in alkaline solution (NaOH) was analyzed, as it can be used to adjust the Si:Al ratio of geopolymer precursors. The residues of the clay minerals after the alkaline treatment were investigated to disclose potential alterations in their phase contents. Based on the results of the thermal and alkaline activation, conclusions about the suitability as geopolymer precursors were made. All clay minerals showed an increase in solubility proportional to the concentration of the alkaline solution. The solubility decreased in the order metakaolinite > metamontmorillonite > metaillite. Thereby, dissolution was incomplete for all three clay minerals (<90%) after 7 days and congruent for metakaolinite and metaillite but incongruent for metamontmorillonite

Activation of the central nervous system induced by micro-magnetic stimulation

Electrical and transcranial magnetic stimulation have proven to be therapeutically beneficial for patients suffering from neurological disorders. Moreover, these stimulation technologies have provided invaluable tools for investigating nervous system functions. Despite this success, these technologies have technical and practical limitations impeding the maximization of their full clinical and preclinical potential. Recently, micro-magnetic stimulation, which may offer advantages over electrical and transcranial magnetic stimulation, has proven effective in activating the neuronal circuitry of the retina in vitro. Here we demonstrate that this technology is also capable of activating neuronal circuitry on a systems level using an in vivo preparation. Specifically, the application of micro-magnetic fields to the dorsal cochlear nucleus activates inferior colliculus neurons. Additionally, we demonstrate the efficacy and characteristics of activation using different magnetic stimulation parameters. These findings provide a rationale for further exploration of micro-magnetic stimulation as a prospective tool for clinical and preclinical applications

Hemodynamic effects of nitroglycerin in an experimental model of acute aortic regurgitation

AbstractAfterload reduction is an accepted therapeutic modality for the treatment of congestive heart failure caused by chronic aortic regurgitation. However, the role of vasodilator therapy in acute aortic incompetence has not been established. To investigate this, left ventricular volume overload was produced in 18 dogs by constructing a valved conduit from the descending thoracic aorta to the left ventricular apex. The time course of aortic, pulmonary and conduit flows was analyzed in eight control studies and established stability of the experimental model.In the remaining 10 dogs, intravenous nitroglycerin, titrated to reduce mean aortic blood pressure by 40%, and placebo (ethanol) were each infused for 20 min periods. Compared with placebo, nitroglycerin significantly reduced aortic flow (3,945 ± 324 to 3,397 ± 362 ml/min, p < 0.01), regurgitant flow (1,304 ± 131 to 764 ± 90 ml/min, p < 0.001), septal-lateral end-diastolic diameter (47.5 ± 1.8 to 46.5 ± 1.8 mm, p < 0.001), left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (6.9 ± 0.8 to 6.0 ± 0.6 mm Hg, p < 0.05), left ventricular stroke work (19.0 ± 2.6 to 10.8 ± 1.7 g-m/beat, p < 0.001) and systemic vascular resistance (2,253 ± 173 to 1,433 ± 117 dyne-s/cm5, p < 0.001). In contrast, pulmonary flow, left anterior descending coronary flow and subendocardial pH did not change during infusion of either nitroglycerin or placebo.These data indicate that by decreasing preload and afterload, and by preserving coronary flow and tissue pH, nitroglycerin effectively reduced ventricular and regurgitant volumes in the setting of acute volume overload. This study supports the clinical use of nitroglycerin in severe acute aortic incompetence

Cost Effectiveness Analysis Evaluating Real-Time Characterization of Diminutive Colorectal Polyp Histology using Narrow Band Imaging (NBI)

Background: Endoscopists and new computer-aided programs can achieve performance benchmarks for real-time diagnosis of colorectal polyps using Narrow-Band Imaging (NBI), though do not perform as well as endoscopists with expertise in advanced imaging. Previous cost-effectiveness studies on optical diagnosis have focused on expert performance, potentially over-estimating its benefits. Aim: Determine cost-effectiveness of an NBI ‘characterize, resect and discard (CRD)’ strategy using updated assumptions based on non-expert performance. Methods: Markov model was constructed to compare cost-effectiveness of the CRD strategy, where diminutive polyps characterized as non-adenomas with high confidence are not resected and adenomas are resected and discarded, versus standard of care (SOC) in which all polyps are resected with histologic analysis. Rates related to NBI performance, missed polyps, polyp progression, malignancy, and complications, as well as quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) were derived from the literature. Costs were age and insurer-specific. Mean QALYs and costs were calculated using first order Monte Carlo simulation. Deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were conducted. Results: The mean QALY estimates were similar for the CRD (8.563, 95% CI: 8.557-8.571) and SOC strategy (8.563, 8.557-8.571), but costs were reduced ($2,693.06 vs.$2,800.27, mean incremental cost savings: $107.21/person). Accounting for colonoscopy rates, the CRD strategy would save$708 million to $1.06 billion annually. The model was sensitive to the incidence of tubular adenomas; the results were otherwise robust in all other one-way and probabilistic analyses. Conclusions: An NBI CRD strategy is cost-effective when compared to the SOC, even when employed by non-experts. The appreciated benefit is primarily due to cost savings of the CRD strategy

Pain in Multiple System Atrophy a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Individuals with multiple system atrophy (MSA) often complain about pain, nonetheless this remains a poorly investigated non-motor feature of MSA. Objectives: Here, we aimed at assessing the prevalence, characteristics, and risk factors for pain in individuals with MSA. Methods: Following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyzes (PRISMA) guidelines, we systematically screened the PubMED, Cochrane, and Web of Science databases for papers published in English until September 30, 2022, combining the following keywords: “pain,” “multiple system atrophy,” “MSA,” “olivopontocerebellar atrophy,” “OPCA,” “striatonigral degeneration,” “SND,” “Shy Drager,” and “atypical parkinsonism.”. Results: The search identified 700 records. Sixteen studies provided information on pain prevalence in cohorts of MSA individuals and were included in a qualitative assessment based on the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS) tool. Thirteen studies (11 cross-sectional, two longitudinal) scored ≥14 points on QUADAS assessment and were included in a quantitative analysis, pooling data from 1236 MSA individuals. The resulting pooled prevalence of pain in MSA was 67% (95% confidence intervals [CI] = 57%–75%), and significantly higher in individuals with MSA of parkinsonian rather than cerebellar type (76% [95% CI = 63%–87%] vs. 45% [95% CI = 33%–57%], P = 0.001). Pain assessment tools and collected information were highly heterogeneous across studies. Two studies reported pain treatment strategies and found that only every second person with MSA complaining about pain had received targeted treatment. Conclusions: We found that pain is a frequent, but still under-recognized and undertreated feature of MSA. Further research is needed to improve pain detection and treatment in MSA

Bilateral Dorsal Cochlear Nucleus Lesions Prevent Acoustic-Trauma Induced Tinnitus in an Animal Model

Animal experiments suggest that chronic tinnitus (“ringing in the ears”) may result from processes that overcompensate for lost afferent input. Abnormally elevated spontaneous neural activity has been found in the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) of animals with psychophysical evidence of tinnitus. However, it has also been reported that DCN ablation fails to reduce established tinnitus. Since other auditory areas have been implicated in tinnitus, the role of the DCN is unresolved. The apparently conflicting electrophysiological and lesion data can be reconciled if the DCN serves as a necessary trigger zone rather than a chronic generator of tinnitus. The present experiment used lesion procedures identical to those that failed to decrease pre-existing tinnitus. The exception was that lesions were done prior to tinnitus induction. Young adult rats were trained and tested using a psychophysical procedure shown to detect tinnitus. Tinnitus was induced by a single unilateral high-level noise exposure. Consistent with the trigger hypothesis, bilateral dorsal DCN lesions made before high-level noise exposure prevented the development of tinnitus. A protective effect stemming from disruption of the afferent pathway could not explain the outcome because unilateral lesions ipsilateral to the noise exposure did not prevent tinnitus and unilateral lesions contralateral to the noise exposure actually exacerbated the tinnitus. The DCN trigger mechanism may involve plastic circuits that, through loss of inhibition, or upregulation of excitation, increase spontaneous neural output to rostral areas such as the inferior colliculus. The increased drive could produce persistent pathological changes in the rostral areas, such as high-frequency bursting and decreased interspike variance, that comprise the chronic tinnitus signal

CORUM: the comprehensive resource of mammalian protein complexes

Protein complexes are key molecular entities that integrate multiple gene products to perform cellular functions. The CORUM (http://mips.gsf.de/genre/proj/corum/index.html) database is a collection of experimentally verified mammalian protein complexes. Information is manually derived by critical reading of the scientific literature from expert annotators. Information about protein complexes includes protein complex names, subunits, literature references as well as the function of the complexes. For functional annotation, we use the FunCat catalogue that enables to organize the protein complex space into biologically meaningful subsets. The database contains more than 1750 protein complexes that are built from 2400 different genes, thus representing 12% of the protein-coding genes in human. A web-based system is available to query, view and download the data. CORUM provides a comprehensive dataset of protein complexes for discoveries in systems biology, analyses of protein networks and protein complex-associated diseases. Comparable to the MIPS reference dataset of protein complexes from yeast, CORUM intends to serve as a reference for mammalian protein complexes