Nanoplasmon-enabled macroscopic thermal management

In numerous applications of energy harvesting via transformation of light into heat the focus recently shifted towards highly absorptive materials featuring nanoplasmons. It is currently established that noble metals-based absorptive plasmonic platforms deliver significant light-capturing capability and can be viewed as super-absorbers of optical radiation. However, direct experimental evidence of plasmon-enabled macroscopic temperature increase that would result from these efficient absorptive properties is scarce. Here we derive a general quantitative method of characterizing light-capturing properties of a given heat-generating absorptive layer by macroscopic thermal imaging. We further monitor macroscopic areas that are homogeneously heated by several degrees with plasmon nanostructures that occupy a mere 8% of the surface, leaving it essentially transparent and evidencing significant heat generation capability of nanoplasmon-enabled light capture. This has a direct bearing to thermophotovoltaics and other applications where thermal management is crucial

Can eccentric training give a long-term effect on the extensibility of the musculotendinous complex? : a literature study

Background. Good flexibility is one of the basic conditions for optimum performance, regardless of the patient or athlete concerned. Traditional methods of increasing the extensibility of the musculo-tendinous complex show only short-term effect. Training with focus on the eccentric muscle contraction has shown potential to fill this gap. Purpose. To summarize the long-term effect of eccentric training on the extensibility of the musculo-tendinous complex as measured by angular joint mobility. Method. A literature review was conducted. Search was made in the databases PubMed and CINAHL. Seven studies were included. The quality of the studies was examined by SBU´s review template. Results. Of the seven included studies three showed significant increases in extensibility in the musculo-tendinous complex measured as the impact on the range of motion (ROM) and lasting longer than 24 hours. Four studies showed no increase or a slight decline of the ROM. Conclusion. Eccentric exercise performed to the end range of motion, lasting a longer time with medium to high training load indicates a long-term effect on the extensibility of the musculo-tendinous complex and thus an increase in angular joint movement. The mechanism behind the improvement is probably by addition of sarcomeres in series in the muscle cell.Bakgrund: God rörlighet är en av grundförutsättningarna för optimal funktion oberoende av vilken patientgrupp eller idrottsutövare det gäller. Traditionella metoder för att öka töjbarheten i muskel-senkomplexet har visat sig endast ha kortvarigt resultat. Träning med fokus på excentrisk muskelkontraktion har visat en potentiell möjlighet att fylla luckan. Syfte: Att sammanställa kunskap avseende excentrisk tränings långvariga effekt på muskel-senkomplexets töjbarhet mätt via angulär ledrörlighet. Metod: En litteraturstudie genomfördes. Litteratur söktes i databaserna PubMed och CINAHL. Sju studier inkluderades. De kvalitetsgranskades med SBUs granskningsmall. Resultat: Av de sju inkluderade studierna visade tre signifikanta ökningar av muskel-senkomplexets töjbarhet med en långvarig effekt på rörelseomfånget (ROM) i knäleden mätt efter minst 24 timmar. Fyra studier visade ingen ökning eller en liten minskning av rörelseomfånget. Konklusion: Excentrisk träning som utförs till rörelsebanans ytterläge, har pågått en längre tid och har medel till hög belastning indikerar en långvarig effekt på muskel-senkomplexets töjbarhet och därmed en ökning av angulär ledrörlighet. Bakomliggande mekanism är troligen ett ökat antal sarcomerer i muskelcellernas längsriktning

A diabetic milieu increases ACE2 expression and cellular susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infections in human kidney organoids and patient cells

Altres ajuts: European Research Council (ERC); EIT Health under grant ID 20366 (R2U-Tox-Assay); IBEC Faster Future program (A por la COVID-19); European Regional Development Fund (FEDER); Gobierno de Navarra, Departamento de Desarrollo Económico y Empresarial (AGATA 0011-1411-2020-000011, DIANA 0011-1411-2017-000029); Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO); IBEC International PhD Programme "La Caixa" Severo Ochoa fellowships (LCF/BQ/SO16/52270019); start-up funds from the College of Medicine at the University of Florida, Gainesville; T. von Zastrow Foundation; the FWF Wittgenstein award (Z 271-B19); the Austrian Academy of Sciences and the Canada 150 Research Chairs Program (F18-01336); the Canadian Institutes of Health Research COVID-19 (F20-02343, F20-02015); Swiss National Science Foundation fellowship (P400PM_194473/1); Swedish Research Council (2018-05766); the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking (JU 101005026); Ayudas Fundación BBVA a Equipos de Investigación Científica SARS-CoV-2 y COVID-19 through the project "Identifying SARS-CoV-2-host cell interactions exploiting CRISPR-Cas9-engineered human organoids: through the development of specific therapies against COVID19"; Fundació la Marató de TV3 (201910-31 and 202125-3).It is not well understood why diabetic individuals are more prone to develop severe COVID-19. To this, we here established a human kidney organoid model promoting early hallmarks of diabetic kidney disease development. Upon SARS-CoV-2 infection, diabetic-like kidney organoids exhibited higher viral loads compared with their control counterparts. Genetic deletion of the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) in kidney organoids under control or diabetic-like conditions prevented viral detection. Moreover, cells isolated from kidney biopsies from diabetic patients exhibited altered mitochondrial respiration and enhanced glycolysis, resulting in higher SARS-CoV-2 infections compared with non-diabetic cells. Conversely, the exposure of patient cells to dichloroacetate (DCA), an inhibitor of aerobic glycolysis, resulted in reduced SARS-CoV-2 infections. Our results provide insights into the identification of diabetic-induced metabolic programming in the kidney as a critical event increasing SARS-CoV-2 infection susceptibility, opening the door to the identification of new interventions in COVID-19 pathogenesis targeting energy metabolism

Determinants and impact of role-related time use allocation on self-reported health among married men and women: a cross-national comparative study

Background Research on the effects of marriage on health maintains that there is a gender-specific gradient, with men deriving far greater benefits than women. One reason provided for this difference is the disproportionate amount of time spent by women on housework and childcare. However, this hypothesis has yet to be explicitly tested for these role-related time use activities. This study provides empirical evidence on the association between role-related time use activities (i.e. housework, childcare and paid work) and self-reported health among married men and women. Methods Data from the Multinational Time Use Study (MTUS) on 32,881 men and 26,915 women from Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and the US were analyzed. Seemingly unrelated regression (SUR) models and multivariable logistic regression were used to estimate the association between role-related time use activities and self-reported health among married men and women. Results The findings showed that education, occupation and number of children under 18 years old in the household were the most consistent predictors of time allocation among married men and women. Significant gender differences were also found in time allocation, with women sacrificing paid working time or reducing time devoted to housework for childcare. Men, in contrast, were less likely to reduce paid working hours to increase time spent on childcare, but instead reduced time allocation to housework. Allocating more time to paid work and childcare was associated with good health, whereas time spent on housework was associated with poor health, especially among women. Conclusions Time allocation to role-related activities have differential associations on health, and the effects vary by gender and across countries. To reduce the gender health gap among married men and women, public policies need to take social and gender roles into account

Bubble barriers to guide downstream migrating Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar): An evaluation using acoustic telemetry

Structures for guiding fish around migration barriers are frequently used for maintaining connectivity in regulated riverine systems. However, for non-physical barriers, experimental studies providing direct and detailed observations of fish-barrier interactions in rivers are largely lacking. In this study, we quantify the efficiency of bubble barriers (alone or in combination with light stimuli, and in both daylight and darkness) for diverting downstream migrating Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Both a laboratory-based migration experiment and a largescale field experiment in a regulated river were used to evaluate efficiency of bubble barriers. In the latter, we used acoustic telemetry to provide in situ measurements of how downstream migrating Atlantic salmon smolts interact with bubble barriers. We show that bubbles divert smolts with high efficiency in both a laboratory flume (95%) and in natural settings (90%). This latter efficiency is higher compared to an already present physical barrier (46%) covering the upper two meters of the water column in the large river. The bubble barrier did not affect flume migration in darkness, suggesting that visual cues are crucial for the observed repelling effect of bubbles. We conclude that bubble barriers can be effective, largely maintenance free and low-cost alternatives to physical structures currently used to divert salmon away from high-mortality passages

Traditional Swedish timber buildings – A study around a preindustrial carpenter’s toolbox

This work brings up the subject of importance in the use of traditional tools in the process of making timber buildings. Who they were, what they looked like, their usage and if there is any connection between usage and design. In today’s literature they are well documented but not in any form of practice. They are only documented as they are without the context of the process they are used in. So with the help of literature sources, pictures from archives and museums create the tools necessary to be able to build a timber building. Without the extra use of modern tools recreate scenarios of problem – solving to come closer to a historical perspective with the traditional ones. With the use of questions like where they were used in the process and the connection between usage and design in the tools come forward with results that answers the questions asked. Use a timber building process as a platform to evaluate and critic what they are doing and maybe give a deeper understanding in these tools pros and cons and why they were used. With the help of photo and describing text make this capture of the tools in motion to fill the gap that there is in the already existing literature. About traditional ways of building in Sweden out of one of the perspectives. The tools perspective is used to hopefully give assistants to the modern carpenters who produce new timber buildings but also the ones working in conservation of older timber buildings