Design of hidden thermodynamic driving for non-equilibrium systems via mismatch elimination during DNA strand displacement

Recent years have seen great advances in the development of synthetic self-assembling molecular systems. Designing out-of-equilibrium architectures, however, requires a more subtle control over the thermodynamics and kinetics of reactions. We propose a mechanism for enhancing the thermodynamic drive of DNA strand-displacement reactions whilst barely perturbing forward reaction rates: the introduction of mismatches within the initial duplex. Through a combination of experiment and simulation, we demonstrate that displacement rates are strongly sensitive to mismatch location and can be tuned by rational design. By placing mismatches away from duplex ends, the thermodynamic drive for a strand-displacement reaction can be varied without significantly affecting the forward reaction rate. This hidden thermodynamic driving motif is ideal for the engineering of non-equilibrium systems that rely on catalytic control and must be robust to leak reactions

The sleeping ghost: a work with infant-parent in a situation of feeding difficulty

A alimentação é, literalmente, uma questão de vida e morte. Infelizmente, dificuldades de alimentação não são incomuns e sempre deixam os pais e profissionais preocupados, por conta do risco da criança não se desenvolver. A teoria psicanalítica tem dedicado atenção ao assunto a fim de entender e oferecer formas de intervir quando necessário. Ela enfatiza que o desenvolvimento infantil pode ser pensado como parte do relacionamento da criança com seus pais. Este artigo pretende refletir sobre os fatores emocionais que, provavelmente, resultaram na dificuldade de alimentação no caso de Felipe. Usarei a literatura psicanalítica, em especial as teorias de Klein e Bion, como norte. A dificuldade de alimentação será endereçada como um sintoma da relação pais-bebê.Feeding is literally a matter of life and death. Unfortunately, feeding difficulties are not uncommon and always leave parents and professionals worried, because of the risk of failure to thrive. Psychoanalytic theory has given attention to the subject and has tried to understand and provide ways of intervening where necessary, and it emphasizes that infant development can be regarded as a part of the child's relationship with his or her parents. This paper intends to reflect on the emotional factors that might lead to feeding difficulties in Felipe's case, and it is guided by psychoanalytic literature, particularly Klein and Bion. Feeding difficulties will be shown to be symptomatic of the infant-parent relationship.La alimentación es, literalmente, una cuestión de vida o muerte. Lamentablemente, dificultades de alimentación no son raras y siempre preocupan a los padres y a los profesionales, debido al riesgo de que el niño no se desarrolle. La teoría psicoanalítica tiene dedicado atención al asunto a fin de entender y ofrecer formas de intervenir cuando sea necesario. Esta teoría enfatiza que el desarrollo infantil puede ser pensado como parte del relacionamiento del niño con sus padres. Este artículo pretende deliberar sobre los factores emocionales que, probablemente, resultaran en la dificultad de alimentación en el caso de Felipe. Para ese intento la literatura psicoanalítica, en especial las teorías de Klein y Bion, serán tomadas como referencia. La dificultad de alimentación será pensada como un síntoma de la relación padres-bebé

Comparison between spectral analysis and symbolic dynamics for heart rate variability analysis in the rat

Spectral analysis of heart rate (HR) has been widely used to assess the autonomic cardiovascular control. A nonlinear approach, known as symbolic analysis, has been reported to be very useful to assess the autonomic control of cardiovascular system in humans, but very few studies reported on the differences between these two approaches on experimental models. Two distinct approaches were used to elicit autonomic changes in conscious Wistar rats: (1) pharmacological blockade of cardiac autonomic receptors with atenolol (ATE, N\u2009=\u20099) or methylatropine (ATR, N\u2009=\u20099) and (2) mild changes in arterial pressure (AP) induced by phenylephrine (PHE, N\u2009=\u20099) or sodium nitroprusside (NPS, N\u2009=\u20099). Series of cardiac interval (CI) and systolic AP (SAP) were assessed using spectral analysis and symbolic dynamics. Results show that, for spectral analysis, the power in high frequency band of CI and the power in low frequency band of SAP are the most reliable indices of vagal and sympathetic modulation, respectively. For symbolic analysis, results point 0V% and 1V% to be related to sympathetic and 2UV% to vagal modulation. Interestingly, the incidence of 1V patterns, hitherto with unknown meaning, was revealed the best index of sympathetic modulation in the rat and should be accounted for in the future studies

Gyrokinetic treatment of a grazing angle magnetic field

>We develop a gyrokinetic treatment for ions in the magnetic presheath, close to the plasma-wall boundary. We focus on magnetic presheaths with a small magnetic field to wall angle, α ⟪ 1. Characteristic lengths perpendicular to the wall in such a magnetic presheath scale with the typical ion Larmor orbit size, pi. The smallest scale length associated with variations parallel to the wall is taken to be across the magnetic field, and ordered l = ρi/δ, where δ ⟪ 1 is assumed. The scale lengths along the magnetic field line are assumed so long that variations associated with this direction are neglected. These orderings are consistent with what we expect close to the divertor target of a tokamak. We allow for a strong electric field E in the direction normal to the electron repelling wall, with strong variation in the same direction. The large change of the electric field over an ion Larmor radius distorts the orbit so that it is not circular. We solve for the lowest order orbits by identifying coordinates, which consist of constants of integration, an adiabatic invariant and a gyrophase, associated with periodic ion motion in the system with α = δ = 0. By using these new coordinates as variables in the limit α ~ δ ⟪ 1, we obtain a generalized ion gyrokinetic equation. We find another quantity that is conserved to first order and use this to simplify the gyrokinetic equation, solving it in the case of a collisionless magnetic presheath. Assuming a Boltzmann response for the electrons, a form of the quasineutrality equation that exploits the change of variables is derived. The gyrokinetic and quasineutrality equations give the ion distribution function and electrostatic potential in the magnetic presheath if the entrance boundary condition is specified

Dependence on ion temperature of shallow-angle magnetic presheaths with adiabatic electrons

The magnetic presheath is a boundary layer occurring when magnetized plasma is in contact with a wall and the angle α between the wall and the magnetic field B is oblique. Here, we consider the fusion-relevant case of a shallow-angle, α �1, electron-repelling sheath, with the electron density given by a Boltzmann distribution, valid for α/√τ + 1 �√me/mi, where me is the electron mass, mi is the ion mass, τ = Ti/ZTe,Te is the electron temperature, Ti is the ion temperature and Z is the ionic charge state. The thickness of the magnetic presheath is of the order of a few ion sound Larmor radii ρs = √mi(ZTe + Ti)/ZeB, where e is the proton charge and B = |B| is the magnitude of the magnetic field. We study the dependence on τ of the electrostatic potential and ion distribution function in the magnetic presheath by using a set of prescribed ion distribution functions at the magnetic presheath entrance, parameterized by τ . The kinetic model is shown to be asymptotically equivalent to Chodura’s fluid model at small ion temperature, τ � 1, for |ln α| > 3|ln τ | � 1. In this limit, despite the fact that fluid equations give a reasonable approximation to the potential, ion gyroorbits acquire a spatial extent that occupies a large portion of the magnetic presheath. At large ion temperature, τ � 1, relevant because Ti is measured to be a few times larger than Te near divertor targets of fusion devices, ions reach the Debye sheath entrance (and subsequently the wall) at a shallow angle whose size is given by √α or 1/√τ, depending on which is largest

Solution to a collisionless shallow-angle magnetic presheath with kinetic ions

Using a kinetic model for the ions and adiabatic electrons, we solve a steady state, electron-repelling magnetic presheath in which a uniform magnetic field makes a small angle $\alpha \ll 1$ (in radians) with the wall. The presheath characteristic thickness is the typical ion gyroradius ${\rho }_{{\rm{i}}}$. The Debye length ${\lambda }_{{\rm{D}}}$ and the collisional mean free path of an ion λ mfp satisfy the ordering λ D Lt ρ i Lt α λ mfp, so a quasineutral and collisionless model is used. We assume that the electrostatic potential is a function only of distance from the wall, and it varies over the scale ρ i. Using the expansion in α Lt 1, we derive an analytical expression for the ion density that only depends on the ion distribution function at the entrance of the magnetic presheath and the electrostatic potential profile. Importantly, we have added the crucial contribution of the orbits in the region near the wall. By imposing the quasineutrality equation, we derive a condition that the ion distribution function must satisfy at the magnetic presheath entrance—the kinetic equivalent of the Chodura condition. Using an ion distribution function at the entrance of the magnetic presheath that satisfies the kinetic Chodura condition, we find numerical solutions for the self-consistent electrostatic potential, ion density and flow across the magnetic presheath for several values of α. Our numerical results also include the distribution of ion velocities at the Debye sheath entrance. We find that at small values of α there are substantially fewer ions travelling with a large normal component of the velocity into the wall

Gyrokinetic treatment of a grazing angle magnetic field

>We develop a gyrokinetic treatment for ions in the magnetic presheath, close to the plasma-wall boundary. We focus on magnetic presheaths with a small magnetic field to wall angle, α ⟪ 1. Characteristic lengths perpendicular to the wall in such a magnetic presheath scale with the typical ion Larmor orbit size, pi. The smallest scale length associated with variations parallel to the wall is taken to be across the magnetic field, and ordered l = ρi/δ, where δ ⟪ 1 is assumed. The scale lengths along the magnetic field line are assumed so long that variations associated with this direction are neglected. These orderings are consistent with what we expect close to the divertor target of a tokamak. We allow for a strong electric field E in the direction normal to the electron repelling wall, with strong variation in the same direction. The large change of the electric field over an ion Larmor radius distorts the orbit so that it is not circular. We solve for the lowest order orbits by identifying coordinates, which consist of constants of integration, an adiabatic invariant and a gyrophase, associated with periodic ion motion in the system with α = δ = 0. By using these new coordinates as variables in the limit α ~ δ ⟪ 1, we obtain a generalized ion gyrokinetic equation. We find another quantity that is conserved to first order and use this to simplify the gyrokinetic equation, solving it in the case of a collisionless magnetic presheath. Assuming a Boltzmann response for the electrons, a form of the quasineutrality equation that exploits the change of variables is derived. The gyrokinetic and quasineutrality equations give the ion distribution function and electrostatic potential in the magnetic presheath if the entrance boundary condition is specified

Solution to a collisionless shallow-angle magnetic presheath with kinetic ions

Using a kinetic model for the ions and adiabatic electrons, we solve a steady state, electron-repelling magnetic presheath in which a uniform magnetic field makes a small angle $\alpha \ll 1$ (in radians) with the wall. The presheath characteristic thickness is the typical ion gyroradius ${\rho }_{{\rm{i}}}$. The Debye length ${\lambda }_{{\rm{D}}}$ and the collisional mean free path of an ion λ mfp satisfy the ordering λ D Lt ρ i Lt α λ mfp, so a quasineutral and collisionless model is used. We assume that the electrostatic potential is a function only of distance from the wall, and it varies over the scale ρ i. Using the expansion in α Lt 1, we derive an analytical expression for the ion density that only depends on the ion distribution function at the entrance of the magnetic presheath and the electrostatic potential profile. Importantly, we have added the crucial contribution of the orbits in the region near the wall. By imposing the quasineutrality equation, we derive a condition that the ion distribution function must satisfy at the magnetic presheath entrance—the kinetic equivalent of the Chodura condition. Using an ion distribution function at the entrance of the magnetic presheath that satisfies the kinetic Chodura condition, we find numerical solutions for the self-consistent electrostatic potential, ion density and flow across the magnetic presheath for several values of α. Our numerical results also include the distribution of ion velocities at the Debye sheath entrance. We find that at small values of α there are substantially fewer ions travelling with a large normal component of the velocity into the wall

User needs analysis for the definition of operational coastal services

According to the global growth of the “Blue economy”, coastal zones are under pressure from both land and marine side economic activities. The fragmentation of sectorial interests and legislation along the coasts has led to the need for bridging knowledge (data/information and methods/tools) and governance (decision-makers at every level) in order to ensure sustainable economic development and social and ecosystem resilience. This poses the need for an interaction process that associates user needs to the European and national legislative framework to create a policy-oriented demand of Copernicus Earth Observation services in coastal areas. Such goals need a strong and effective system to monitor compliance and to assess the progress of the legislation. This study aims at identifying potential gaps in the current Copernicus product offer for the monitoring of the coastal sector through the elicitation of stakeholder requirements. The methodology is applied to the Italian landscape of users, but it is scalable at European level. The results provide a clear overview of the coastal user requirements, highlighting the common need of integrated information for the management, and represents the basis for defining the coastal services

Intralipid in acute caffeine intoxication: a case report

Caffeine is arguably the most widely used stimulant drug in the world. Here we describe a suicide attempt involving caffeine overdose whereby the patient’s severe intoxication was successfully treated with the prompt infusion of Intralipid. A 19-year-old man was found in an agitated state at home by the volunteer emergency team about 1 h after the intentional ingestion of 40 g of caffeine (tablets). His consciousness decreased rapidly, followed quickly by seizures, and electrocardiographic monitoring showed ventricular fibrillation. Advanced life support maneuvers were started immediately, with the patient defibrillated 10 times and administered 5 mg epinephrine in total and 300 + 150 mg of amiodarone (as well as lidocaine and magnesium sulfate). The cardiac rhythm eventually evolved to asystole, necessitating the intravenous injection of epinephrine to achieve the return of spontaneous circulation. However, critical hemodynamic instability persisted, with the patient’s cardiac rhythm alternating between refractory irregular narrow complex tachycardia and wide complex tachycardia associated with hypotension. In an attempt to restore stability we administered three successive doses of Intralipid (120 + 250 + 100 mg), which successfully prevented a severe cardiovascular collapse due to a supra-lethal plasma caffeine level (>120 mg/L after lipid emulsion). The patient survived without any neurologic complications and was transferred to a psychiatric ward a few days later. The case emphasizes the efficacy of intravenous lipid emulsion in the resuscitation of patients from non-local anesthetic systemic toxicity. Intralipid appears to act initially as a vehicle that carries the stimulant drug away from heart and brain to less well-perfused organs (scavenging mechanism) and then, with a sufficient drop in the caffeine concentration, possibly as a tonic to the depressed heart