Membrane Pre-treatment Using Chemical Disinfectants in Halide Impaired Waters

The use of membrane filtration processes for desalination, water reuse, and water reclamation techniques are becoming more prevalent given freshwater shortages. However, the treatment of these waters is challenging because of the membranes used in these processes. During nanofiltration and reverse osmosis the membranes undergo biofouling. Reverse osmosis and nanofiltration are high-pressure membrane filtration techniques that treat seawater, brackish waters, and industrial wastewaters. Because of the biofouling, the polyamide thin film needs to be pretreated with chlorine (HOCl/ OCl-) as a disinfectant, but this damages the polyamide membrane. When the free chlorine is in the presence of halide-impaired waters, it changes the chemistry of the membrane thus continuing to damage it. In order to find how halide concentration and other water quality parameters affect nanofiltration and reverse osmosis, this project requires liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry method to analyze different aromatic amine compounds (e.g. benzanilide) with similar structures to the polyamide membrane. The LC/MS is optimized in order to find the limits of detection for each of the compounds. The chlorination reactions are done to quantify how much these compounds react in the presence of free chlorine. Future research with regards to this includes kinetic measurements of compound degradation and by-product formation to see how these compounds are affected by free chlorine over time

Transferring a molecular foundation model for polymer property predictions

Transformer-based large language models have remarkable potential to accelerate design optimization for applications such as drug development and materials discovery. Self-supervised pretraining of transformer models requires large-scale datasets, which are often sparsely populated in topical areas such as polymer science. State-of-the-art approaches for polymers conduct data augmentation to generate additional samples but unavoidably incurs extra computational costs. In contrast, large-scale open-source datasets are available for small molecules and provide a potential solution to data scarcity through transfer learning. In this work, we show that using transformers pretrained on small molecules and fine-tuned on polymer properties achieve comparable accuracy to those trained on augmented polymer datasets for a series of benchmark prediction tasks

Remote sensing restores predictability of ectotherm body temperature in the world’s forests

AIM: Rising global temperatures are predicted to increase ectotherms’ body temperatures, benefitting some species but threatening others. Biophysical models predict a key role for shade in buffering these effects, but the difficulty of measuring shade across broad spatial extents limits predictions of ectotherms’ thermal futures at the global scale. Here, we extend biophysical models of ectotherm body temperature to include effects of forest canopy shade, via leaf area index, and test whether considering remotely-sensed canopy density improves predictions of body temperature variation in heavily shaded habitats.LOCATION: Worldwide.TIME PERIOD: 1990–2010.MAJOR TAXA STUDIED: Lizards.METHODS: We test predictions from biophysical ecological theory for how body temperature should vary with microclimate for 269 lizard populations across open, semi-open, and closed habitats worldwide. We extend existing biophysical models to incorporate canopy shade effects via leaf area index, test whether body temperature varies with canopy density as predicted by theory, and evaluate the extent to which incorporating canopy density improves model performance in heavily-shaded areas.RESULTS: We find that body temperatures in open habitats, like deserts, vary with air temperature and incident solar radiation as predicted by biophysical equations, but these relationships break down in forests, where body temperatures become unpredictable. Incorporating leaf area index into our models revealed lower body temperatures in more heavily shaded environments, restoring the predictability of body temperature in forests.CONCLUSIONS: Although biophysical ecological theory can predict ectotherm body temperature in open habitats, like deserts, these relationships decay in closed forests. Models incorporating remotely sensed data on canopy density improved predictability of body temperatures in these habitats, providing an avenue to incorporate canopy shade effects into predictions of animals’ vulnerability to climate change. These results highlight the thermal threat of changes in canopy structure and loss of forest cover for the world’s ectotherms

State-Dependent Effects of Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Continuous Thetaburst Stimulation on Cocaine Cue Reactivity in Chronic Cocaine Users

Cue-induced craving is a significant barrier to obtaining abstinence from cocaine. Neuroimaging research has shown that cocaine cue exposure evokes elevated activity in a network of frontal-striatal brain regions involved in drug craving and drug seeking. Prior research from our laboratory has demonstrated that when targeted at the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS), an inhibitory form of non-invasive brain stimulation, can decrease drug cue-related activity in the striatum in cocaine users and alcohol users. However, it is known that there are individual differences in response to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), with some individuals being responders and others non-responders. There is some evidence that state-dependent effects influence response to rTMS, with baseline neural state predicting rTMS treatment outcomes. In this single-blind, active sham-controlled crossover study, we assess the striatum as a biomarker of treatment response by determining if baseline drug cue reactivity in the striatum influences striatal response to mPFC cTBS. The brain response to cocaine cues was measured in 19 cocaine-dependent individuals immediately before and after real and sham cTBS (110% resting motor threshold, 3600 total pulses). Group independent component analysis (ICA) revealed a prominent striatum network comprised of bilateral caudate, putamen, and nucleus accumbens, which was modulated by the cocaine cue reactivity task. Baseline drug cue reactivity in this striatal network was inversely related to change in striatum reactivity after real (vs. sham) cTBS treatment (ρ = -.79; p < .001; R2Adj = .58). Specifically, individuals with a high striatal response to cocaine cues at baseline had significantly attenuated striatal activity after real but not sham cTBS (t9 = -3.76; p ≤ .005). These data demonstrate that the effects of mPFC cTBS on the neural circuitry of craving are not uniform and may depend on an individual’s baseline frontal-striatal reactivity to cues. This underscores the importance of assessing individual variability as we develop brain stimulation treatments for addiction

Towards an Integrated Framework for Assessing the Vulnerability of Species to Climate Change

Climate change is a major threat to global biodiversity. A novel integrated framework to assess vulnerability and prioritize research and management action aims to improve our ability to respond to this emerging crisis

Multi-Proxy Characterisation of the Storegga Tsunami and Its Impact on the Early Holocene Landscapes of the Southern North Sea

This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (ERC funded project No. 670518 LOST FRONTIERS, https://europa.eu/european-union/index_en, https://lostfrontiers.teamapp.com/). The project gratefully acknowledges the support of the Estonian Research Council (https://www.etag.ee/en/estonian-research-council/, Grant number: PUTJD829). PGS (https://www.pgs.com/) is acknowledged through provision of data used in this paper under license CA-BRAD-001-2017.Doggerland was a landmass occupying an area currently covered by the North Sea until marine inundation took place during the mid-Holocene, ultimately separating the British landmass from the rest of Europe. The Storegga Event, which triggered a tsunami reflected in sediment deposits in the northern North Sea, northeast coastlines of the British Isles and across the North Atlantic, was a major event during this transgressive phase. The spatial extent of the Storegga tsunami however remains unconfirmed as, to date, no direct evidence for the event has been recovered from the southern North Sea. We present evidence of a tsunami deposit in the southern North Sea at the head of a palaeo-river system that has been identified using seismic survey. The evidence, based on lithostratigraphy, geochemical signatures, macro and microfossils and sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA), supported by optical stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon dating, suggests that these deposits were a result of the tsunami. Seismic identification of this stratum and analysis of adjacent cores showed diminished traces of the tsunami which was largely removed by subsequent erosional processes. Our results confirm previous modelling of the impact of the tsunami within this area of the southern North Sea, and also indicate that these effects were temporary, localized, and mitigated by the dense woodland and topography of the area. We conclude that clear physical remnants of the wave in these areas are likely to be restricted to now buried, palaeo-inland basins and incised river valley systems.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Long-term, high frequency in situ measurements of intertidal mussel bed temperatures using biomimetic sensors

At a proximal level, the physiological impacts of global climate change on ectothermic organisms are manifest as changes in body temperatures. Especially for plants and animals exposed to direct solar radiation, body temperatures can be substantially different from air temperatures. We deployed biomimetic sensors that approximate the thermal characteristics of intertidal mussels at 71 sites worldwide, from 1998-present. Loggers recorded temperatures at 10-30 min intervals nearly continuously at multiple intertidal elevations. Comparisons against direct measurements of mussel tissue temperature indicated errors of similar to 2.0-2.5 degrees C, during daily fluctuations that often exceeded 15 degrees-20 degrees C. Geographic patterns in thermal stress based on biomimetic logger measurements were generally far more complex than anticipated based only on 'habitat-level' measurements of air or sea surface temperature. This unique data set provides an opportunity to link physiological measurements with spatially-and temporally-explicit field observations of body temperature

Microclimate buffering and thermal tolerance across elevations in a tropical butterfly

Microclimatic variability in tropical forests plays a key role in shaping species distributions and their ability to cope with environmental change, especially for ectotherms. Nonetheless, currently available climatic datasets lack data from the forest interior and, furthermore, our knowledge of thermal tolerance among tropical ectotherms is limited. We therefore studied natural variation in the microclimate experienced by tropical butterflies in the genus Heliconius across their Andean range in a single year. We found that the forest strongly buffers temperature and humidity in the understory, especially in the lowlands where temperatures are more extreme. There were systematic differences between our yearly records and macroclimate databases (WorldClim2), with lower interpolated minimum temperatures and maximum temperatures higher than expected. We then assessed thermal tolerance of ten Heliconius butterfly species in the wild and showed that populations at high elevations had significantly lower heat tolerance than those at lower elevations. However, when we reared populations of the widespread H. erato from high and low elevations in a common-garden environment, the difference in heat tolerance across elevations was reduced, indicating plasticity in this trait. Microclimate buffering is not currently captured in publicly available datasets but could be crucial for enabling upland shifting of species sensitive to heat such as highland Heliconius. Plasticity in thermal tolerance may alleviate the effects of global warming on some widespread ectotherm species, but more research is needed to understand the long-term consequences of plasticity on populations and species

Promoting activity, independence and stability in early dementia and milk cognitive impairment (PrAISED): randomised controlled trial

Objective To determine the effectiveness of an exercise and functional activity therapy intervention in adults with early dementia or mild cognitive impairment compared with usual care. Design Randomised controlled trial. Setting Participants’ homes and communities at five sites in the United Kingdom. Participants 365 adults with early dementia or mild cognitive impairment who were living at home, and family members or carers. Intervention The intervention, Promoting activity, Independence, and Stability in Early Dementia and mild cognitive impairment (PrAISED), was a specially designed, dementia specific, rehabilitation programme focusing on strength, balance, physical activity, and performance of activities of daily living, which was tailored and progressive and addressed risk and the psychological needs of people with dementia. Up to 50 therapy sessions were provided over 12 months. The control group received usual care plus a falls risk assessment. Procedures were adapted during the covid-19 pandemic. Main outcome measures The primary outcome was score on the carer (informant) reported disability assessment for dementia scale 12 months after randomisation. Secondary outcomes were self-reported activities of daily living, physical activity, quality of life, balance, functional mobility, fear of falling, frailty, cognition, mood, carer strain, service use at 12 months, and falls between months 4 and 15. Results 365 patient participants were randomised, 183 to intervention and 182 to control. The median age of participants was 80 years (range 65-95), median Montreal cognitive assessment score was 20 out of 30 (range 13-26), and 58% (n=210) were men. Intervention participants received a median of 31 therapy sessions (interquartile range 22-40) and reported completing a mean 121 minutes of PrAISED exercise each week. Primary outcome data were available for 149 intervention and 141 control participants. Scores on the disability assessment for dementia scale did not differ between groups: adjusted mean difference −1.3, 95% confidence interval −5.2 to 2.6; Cohen’s d effect size −0.06, 95% confidence interval −0.26 to 0.15; P=0.51). Upper 95% confidence intervals excluded small to moderate effects on any of the range of outcome measures. Between months 4 and 15 the intervention group experienced 79 falls and the control group 200 falls (adjusted incidence rate ratio 0.78, 95% confidence interval 0.5 to 1.3; P=0.3). Conclusion The intensive PrAISED programme of exercise and functional activity training did not improve activities of daily living, physical activity, or quality of life; reduce falls; or improve any other secondary health status outcomes, despite good uptake. Future research should consider alternative approaches to maintaining ability and wellbeing in people with dementia