Reaction Optimization for Greener Chemistry with a Comprehensive Spreadsheet Tool

Green chemistry places an emphasis on safer chemicals, waste reduction, and efficiency. Processes should be optimized with green chemistry at the forefront of decision making, embedded into research at the earliest stage. To assist in this endeavor, we present a spreadsheet that can be used to interpret reaction kinetics via Variable Time Normalization Analysis (VTNA), understand solvent effects with linear solvation energy relationships (LSER), and calculate solvent greenness. With this information, new reaction conditions can be explored in silico, calculating product conversions and green chemistry metrics prior to experiments. The application of this tool was validated with literature case studies. Reaction performance was predicted and then confirmed experimentally for examples of aza-Michael addition, Michael addition, and an amidation. The combined analytical package presented herein permits a thorough examination of chemical reactions, so that the variables that control reaction chemistry can be understood, optimized, and made greener for research and education purposes

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

Imageability Effects, Phonological Errors, And The Relationship Between Auditory Repetition And Picture Naming: Implications For Models Of Auditory Repetition

this paper. the mistakes that he made when repeating words were responses that were phonologically similar to the word that he was attempting to repeat. For example, 20/22 of the errors that he made when repeating 60 words of high imageability were phonological, and 47/49 errors that he made when repeating 60 words of low imageability were phonological (see Hanley & Kay, 1997, page 1070). Approximately two thirds of the phonological errors were nonword responses (e.g., idiom /Indio/) and one third were real word responses (e.g., meek meet). There were no semantic errors. Although the literature contains a large number of studies of patients who make phonological errors in auditory repetition and naming, it is unusual for such patients to show such a strong effect of imageability as PS (Nickels, 1995