A new silent hemoglobin variant in a black family from French West Indies Hemoglobin Le Lamentin α20 His → Gln

AbstractA new abnormal hemoglobin Hb Le Lamentin α20 (B1) His→Gln was discovered during a survey of cord blood from the French West Indies (Martinique). This variant displays an electrophoretic pattern similar to that of Hb A but can be isolated by isoelectric focusing (IEF) and Biorex 70 chromatography. Family studies showed the presence of this hemoglobin variant in the father and in two of his three children. Hematological data from the carriers were normal

Crystal Structure of the Sodium Cobaltate Deuterate Superconductor NaxCoO2o4xD2O (x=1/3)

Neutron and x-ray powder diffraction have been used to investigate the crystal structures of a sample of the newly-discovered superconducting sodium cobaltate deuterate compound with composition Na0.31(3)CoO2o1.25(2)D2O and its anhydrous parent compound Na0.61(1)CoO2. The deuterate superconducting compound is formed by coordinating four D2O molecules (two above and two below) to each Na ion in a way that gives Na-O distances nearly equal to those in the parent compound. One deuteron of the D2O molecule is hydrogen bonded to an oxygen atom in the CoO2 plane and the oxygen atom and the second deuteron of each D2O molecule lie approximately in a plane between the Na layer and the CoO2 layers. This coordination of Na by four D2O molecules leads to ordering of the Na ions and D2O molecules. The sample studied here, which has Tc=4.5 K, has a refined composition of Na0.31(3)CoO2o1.25(2)D2O, in agreement with the expected 1:4 ratio of Na to D2O. These results show that the optimal superconducting composition should be viewed as a specific hydrated compound, not a solid solution of Na and D2O (H2O) in NaxCoO2oyD2O. Studies of physical properties vs. Na or D2O composition should be viewed with caution until it is verified that the compound remains in the same phase over the composition range of the study.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figure

Sweet Sorghum: Genetics, Breeding and Commercialization

This chapter describes sweet sorghum characteristics and utilization as food and fuel; climate requirements and distribution; reproductive biology including floral biology, pollination, fertilization and seed development; genomics; genetic transformation; breeding objectives and methods; and commercialization. Full exploration of the available genetic resources through plant breeding with the aid of molecular tools could dramatically increase biomass yield of sorghum and thus meet the demand of feedstocks for biofuel production without a significant impact on our food supply and natural environment

Are Child and Adolescent Responses to Placebo Higher in Major Depression than in Anxiety Disorders? A Systematic Review of Placebo-Controlled Trials

BACKGROUND: In a previous report, we hypothesized that responses to placebo were high in child and adolescent depression because of specific psychopathological factors associated with youth major depression. The purpose of this study was to compare the placebo response rates in pharmacological trials for major depressive disorder (MDD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and other anxiety disorders (AD-non-OCD). METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We reviewed the literature relevant to the use of psychotropic medication in children and adolescents with internalized disorders, restricting our review to double-blind studies including a placebo arm. Placebo response rates were pooled and compared according to diagnosis (MDD vs. OCD vs. AD-non-OCD), age (adolescent vs. child), and date of publication. From 1972 to 2007, we found 23 trials that evaluated the efficacy of psychotropic medication (mainly non-tricyclic antidepressants) involving youth with MDD, 7 pertaining to youth with OCD, and 10 pertaining to youth with other anxiety disorders (N = 2533 patients in placebo arms). As hypothesized, the placebo response rate was significantly higher in studies on MDD, than in those examining OCD and AD-non-OCD (49.6% [range: 17-90%] vs. 31% [range: 4-41%] vs. 39.6% [range: 9-53], respectively, ANOVA F = 7.1, p = 0.002). Children showed a higher stable placebo response within all three diagnoses than adolescents, though this difference was not significant. Finally, no significant effects were found with respect to the year of publication. CONCLUSION: MDD in children and adolescents appears to be more responsive to placebo than other internalized conditions, which highlights differential psychopathology

Recovery of dialysis patients with COVID-19 : health outcomes 3 months after diagnosis in ERACODA

Background. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related short-term mortality is high in dialysis patients, but longer-term outcomes are largely unknown. We therefore assessed patient recovery in a large cohort of dialysis patients 3 months after their COVID-19 diagnosis. Methods. We analyzed data on dialysis patients diagnosed with COVID-19 from 1 February 2020 to 31 March 2021 from the European Renal Association COVID-19 Database (ERACODA). The outcomes studied were patient survival, residence and functional and mental health status (estimated by their treating physician) 3 months after COVID-19 diagnosis. Complete follow-up data were available for 854 surviving patients. Patient characteristics associated with recovery were analyzed using logistic regression. Results. In 2449 hemodialysis patients (mean ± SD age 67.5 ± 14.4 years, 62% male), survival probabilities at 3 months after COVID-19 diagnosis were 90% for nonhospitalized patients (n = 1087), 73% for patients admitted to the hospital but not to an intensive care unit (ICU) (n = 1165) and 40% for those admitted to an ICU (n = 197). Patient survival hardly decreased between 28 days and 3 months after COVID-19 diagnosis. At 3 months, 87% functioned at their pre-existent functional and 94% at their pre-existent mental level. Only few of the surviving patients were still admitted to the hospital (0.8-6.3%) or a nursing home (∼5%). A higher age and frailty score at presentation and ICU admission were associated with worse functional outcome. Conclusions. Mortality between 28 days and 3 months after COVID-19 diagnosis was low and the majority of patients who survived COVID-19 recovered to their pre-existent functional and mental health level at 3 months after diagnosis

Materials Informatics Approach to Material Extrusion Additive Manufacturing

Process-structure-property relationships in material extrusion additive manufacturing (MEAM) are complex, non-linear, and poorly understood. Without proper characterization of the effects of each processing parameter, products produced through fused filament fabrication (FFF) and other MEAM processes may not successfully reach the material properties required of the usage environment. The two aims of this thesis were to first use an informatics approach to design a workflow that would ensure the collection of high pedigree data from each stage of the printing process; second, to apply the workflow, in conjunction with a design of experiments (DOE), to investigate FFF processing parameters. Environmental, material, and print conditions that may impact performance were monitored to ensure that relevant data was collected in a consistent manner. Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) filament was used to print ASTM D638 Type V tensile bars. MakerBot Replicator 2X, Ultimaker 3, and Zortrax M200 were used to fabricate the tensile bars. Data was analyzed using multivariate statistical techniques, including principal component analysis (PCA). The magnitude of effect of layer thickness, extrusion temperature, print speed, and print bed temperature on the tensile properties of the final print were determined. Other characterization techniques used in this thesis included: differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results demonstrated that printer selection is incredibly important and changes the effects of print parameters; moreover, further investigation is needed to determine the sources of these differences

Computing the field of values and pseudospectra using the Lanczos method with continuation

The field of values and pseudospectra are useful tools for understanding the behaviour of various matrix processes. To compute these subsets of the complex plane it is necessary to estimate one or two eigenvalues of a large number of parametrized Hermitian matrices; these computations are prohibitively expensive for large, possibly sparse, matrices, if done by use of the QR algorithm. We describe an approach based on the Lanczos method with selective reorthogonalization and Chebyshev acceleration that, when combined with continuation and a shift and invert technique, enables efficient and reliable computation of the field of values and pseudospectra for large matrices. The idea of using the Lanczos method with continuation to compute pseudospectra is not new, but in experiments reported here our algorithm is faster and more accurate than existing algorithms of this type