Ball pen probe in strongly magnetised RF plasmas

A study of ball pen probes (BPPs) in a rf strongly magnetised plasma is reported for the first time. These probes have been successfully used in fusion plasmas, with magnetic fields up to 2.5 T, to measure the plasma potential. In this paper experimental results of various ball pen designs (2 and 4 mm diameter with flat and conical collectors) are presented up to 0.5 T in a low pressure capacitively coupled rf plasma. A theory of the BPP is developed, showing that the increase of the collector potential and plateau region, with collector retraction, requires the electron current to decrease faster than the ion current. Experimentally, it is found that to develop effective electron screening the electron Larmor radius should be smaller than the tunnel internal diameter. Smaller tunnels improve screening due to the tunnel entrance wall sheaths. Inside the tunnel a plateau region forms at 81 mT reducing to a broad peak at higher field strengths. Ion shielding and surface losses (for small tunnel diameters) reduce the collector peak width and maximum potential with increasing magnetic field. Conical collectors were found to increase the length of the plateau region and broaden the peak. Particle in cell simulations were in good agreement with the experimental results. The electron shielding and plateau regions were reproduced but not the broad peak at higher field strengths. Good agreement between both 2 mm BPPs and an emissive probe was found only at 81 mT to within 3 V or 1.3 electron temperatures (T e). For all BPPs at higher field strengths (≥ 250 mT) the maximum collector potential underestimated the emissive probe by more than 2.7 T e (7 V). At these field strengths all BPPs agree with each other to within 1.5 T e (4.1 V). Possible reasons for these disagreements are discussed

Application of ¹⁴C analyses to source apportionment of carbonaceous PM_2.5 in the UK

Determination of the radiocarbon (<sup>14</sup>C) content of airborne particulate matter yields insight into the proportion of the carbonaceous material derived from fossil and contemporary carbon sources. Daily samples of PM<sub>2.5</sub> were collected by high-volume sampler at an urban background site in Birmingham, UK, and the fraction of <sup>14</sup>C in both the total carbon, and in the organic and elemental carbon fractions, determined by two-stage combustion to CO<sub>2</sub>, graphitisation and quantification by accelerator mass spectrometry. OC and EC content was also determined by Sunset Analyzer. The mean fraction contemporary TC in the PM<sub>2.5</sub> samples was 0.50 (range 0.27–0.66, n = 26). There was no seasonality to the data, but there was a positive trend between fraction contemporary TC and magnitude of SOC/TC ratio and for the high values of these two parameters to be associated with air-mass back trajectories arriving in Birmingham from over land. Using a five-compartment mass balance model on fraction contemporary carbon in OC and EC, the following average source apportionment for the TC in these PM<sub>2.5</sub> samples was derived: 27% fossil EC; 20% fossil OC; 2% biomass EC; 10% biomass OC; and 41% biogenic OC. The latter category will comprise, in addition to BVOC-derived SOC, other non-combustion contemporary carbon sources such as biological particles, vegetative detritus, humic material and tyre wear. The proportion of total PM<sub>2.5</sub> at this location estimated to derive from BVOC-derived secondary organic aerosol was 9–29%. The findings from this work are consistent with those from elsewhere in Europe and support the conclusion of a significant and ubiquitous contribution from non-fossil biogenic sources to the carbon in terrestrial aerosol

Myasthenia Gravis in pregnancy: Systematic review and case series

Background: Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune disease which can impact pregnancy. Methods: Six databases were systematically searched for studies with at least five subjects reporting pregnancy outcomes for women with myasthenia gravis in pregnancy. Assessment of bias was performed for all included studies. Forty-eight cases from our own centre were also included in the analysis. Results: In total, 32 publications met inclusion criteria for systematic review, for a total of 33 unique data sets including 48 cases from our institution. Outcome data was available for 824 pregnancies. Spontaneous vaginal delivery occurred in 56.3% of pregnancies. Overall risk of myasthenia gravis exacerbation was 33.8% with a 6.4% risk of myasthenic crisis in pregnancy and 8.2% postpartum. The incidence risk of transient neonatal myasthenia gravis was 13.0%. Conclusions: The current systematic review provides the best estimates of risk currently available to aid in counselling women with myasthenia gravis in pregnancy

Transient rapamycin treatment can increase lifespan and healthspan in middle-aged mice

The FDA approved drug rapamycin increases lifespan in rodents and delays age-related dysfunction in rodents and humans. Nevertheless, important questions remain regarding the optimal dose, duration, and mechanisms of action in the context of healthy aging. Here we show that 3 months of rapamycin treatment is sufficient to increase life expectancy by up to 60% and improve measures of healthspan in middle-aged mice. This transient treatment is also associated with a remodeling of the microbiome, including dramatically increased prevalence of segmented filamentous bacteria in the small intestine. We also define a dose in female mice that does not extend lifespan, but is associated with a striking shift in cancer prevalence toward aggressive hematopoietic cancers and away from non-hematopoietic malignancies. These data suggest that a short-term rapamycin treatment late in life has persistent effects that can robustly delay aging, influence cancer prevalence, and modulate the microbiome.P30 AG013280 - NIA NIH HHS; T32 AG000057 - NIA NIH HH

Evaluation of the pathways of tropospheric nitrophenol formation from benzene and phenol using a multiphase model

Phenols are a major class of volatile organic compounds (VOC) whose reaction within, and partitioning between, the gas and liquid phases affects their lifetime within the atmosphere, the local oxidising capacity, and the extent of production of nitrophenols, which are toxic chemicals. In this work, a zero-dimension box model was constructed to quantify the relative importance of different nitration pathways, and partitioning into the liquid phase, of mono-aromatic compounds in order to help elucidate the formation pathways of 2- and 4-nitrophenol in the troposphere. The liquid phase contributed significantly to the production of nitrophenols for liquid water content (Lc) values exceeding 3x10-9, and for a range of assumed liquid droplet diameter, even though the resultant equilibrium partitioning to the liquid phase was much lower. For example, in a "typical" model scenario, with Lc=3x10-7, 58% of nitrophenol production occurred in the liquid phase but only 2% of nitrophenol remained there, i.e. a significant proportion of nitrophenol observed in the gas phase may actually be produced via the liquid phase. The importance of the liquid phase was enhanced at lower temperatures, by a factor ~1.5-2 at 278K c.f. 298K. The model showed that nitrophenol production was particularly sensitive to the values of the rate coefficients for the liquid phase reactions between phenol and OH or NO3 reactions, but insensitive to the rate coefficient for the reaction between benzene and OH, thus identifying where further experimental data are require

Aqueous-phase nitration of phenol by N2O5 and ClNO2

Nitrophenols are present in the atmospheric gas phase and in cloud and rainwater. Their formation via aqueous-phase reactions of phenol with the nitronium ion, NO2+, arising from N2O5 and ClNO2 partitioning into the aqueous phase, has been proposed but not verified experimentally. Here we demonstrate for the first time that gaseous N2O5 and ClNO2 partitioning into dilute aqueous solutions of phenol yields 2- and 4-nitrophenol (and 4-nitrosophenol), but no dinitrophenol isomers. The rate of nitration does not vary significantly between 5 and 20 degrees C, presumably because of opposing temperature dependences in Henry’s law partitioning and reaction rate coefficients. The rate coefficient for reaction of NO2+ with phenol could not be directly quantified but is evidently large enough for this reaction to compete effectively with the reaction between NO2+ and water and to provide a feasible route to nitrophenol production in the atmosphere

Experimentally determined Henry's Law coefficients of phenol, 2-methylphenol and 2-nitrophenol in the temperature range 281-302 K

The Henry’s Law coefficient is a key physical parameter in the partitioning, and hence environmental fate, of a chemical species between air and water. Despite the acknowledged polluting potential of phenol, 2-methylphenol (o-cresol) and 2-nitrophenol, there is extremely poor agreement in the literature of their Henry’s law coefficients and, in particular, no apparent systematic measurement of the variation with temperature. Here a temperature controlled column-stripping method was employed to determine the Henry's Law coefficients for these compounds over the temperature range 281-302 K. Coefficients were derived from regression fits to the observed rates of loss from the liquid phase as a function of column depth in order explicitly to take account of potential non-attainment of equilibrium between liquid and gas phases. Temperature dependent expressions summarising the Henry's Law coefficient of phenol, o-cresol and 2-nitrophenol over the stated temperature range are ln H (/ M atm-1) = 5850/T - 11.6, ln H (/ M atm-1) = 6680/T - 15.4 and ln H (/ M atm-1) = 6270/T - 16.6, respectively (to within 15% of all measured values in this work). A thorough comparison with previous literature-published values has been undertaken