Evaluating the use of 3'-(p-Aminophenyl) fluorescein for determining the formation of highly reactive oxygen species in particle suspensions

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Given the importance of highly reactive oxygen species (hROS) as reactants in a wide range of biological, photochemical, and environmental systems there is an interest in detection and quantification of these species. The extreme reactivity of the hROS, which includes hydroxyl radicals, presents an analytical challenge. 3'-(<it>p</it>-Aminophenyl) fluorescein (APF) is a relatively new probe used for measuring hROS. Here, we further evaluate the use of APF as a method for the detection of hydroxyl radicals in particle suspensions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Particle-generated hROS can be quantified with an estimated detection limit of 50 nM. Measurements of hROS in two National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST 2709 and 2710) soil suspensions and a pyrite suspension show non-linear particle dose-response curves for hROS generation. APF can also be used in solutions containing no dissolved molecular oxygen (O₂) to determine the role of O₂in the formation of hROS. Results confirm that O₂is mechanistically important in the formation of hROS by dissolved ferrous iron and in pyrite suspensions.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Given the non-linear dose-response curves for particle generation of hROS, we recommend using several particle loadings in experiments aimed to compare particles for their hROS generation potential. The method presented here is specific to hROS and simple to perform. The analysis can be conducted in mobile labs as only basic laboratory equipment is required.</p

Attention-based LSTM network for rumor veracity estimation of tweets

YesTwitter has become a fertile place for rumors, as information can spread to a large number of people immediately. Rumors can mislead public opinion, weaken social order, decrease the legitimacy of government, and lead to a significant threat to social stability. Therefore, timely detection and debunking rumor are urgently needed. In this work, we proposed an Attention-based Long-Short Term Memory (LSTM) network that uses tweet text with thirteen different linguistic and user features to distinguish rumor and non-rumor tweets. The performance of the proposed Attention-based LSTM model is compared with several conventional machine and deep learning models. The proposed Attention-based LSTM model achieved an F1-score of 0.88 in classifying rumor and non-rumor tweets, which is better than the state-of-the-art results. The proposed system can reduce the impact of rumors on society and weaken the loss of life, money, and build the firm trust of users with social media platforms

Bank level stability factors and consumer confidence – a comparative study of Islamic and conventional banks’ product mix

This study examines the behaviour of key bank level stability factors of liquidity, capital, risk-taking and consumer confidence in Islamic and conventional banks which operate in the same market. Using fixed effect sample of 194 banks of Gulf Cooperating Countries between 2000 and 2007, we found that liquidity is not determined by bank’s product mix but rather attributed to systematic factors. However, non performing assets (representing loans to sub prime borrowers) have positive and significant relationship with liquidity implying that during the crisis, Islamic banks tend to take stringent risk strategies compared to conventional banks. Furthermore, Islamic banks generally tend to provide higher consumer confidence levels as they were more capitalized than conventional banks, although conventional banks had carried higher averages of liquidity compared to Islamic banks. Consumer confidence levels or depositors’ discipline as proxied by deposits and customer funding over liabilities generally appear to be higher in Islamic banks than conventional banks

Twelve-month observational study of children with cancer in 41 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction Childhood cancer is a leading cause of death. It is unclear whether the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted childhood cancer mortality. In this study, we aimed to establish all-cause mortality rates for childhood cancers during the COVID-19 pandemic and determine the factors associated with mortality. Methods Prospective cohort study in 109 institutions in 41 countries. Inclusion criteria: children &lt;18 years who were newly diagnosed with or undergoing active treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, retinoblastoma, Wilms tumour, glioma, osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, medulloblastoma and neuroblastoma. Of 2327 cases, 2118 patients were included in the study. The primary outcome measure was all-cause mortality at 30 days, 90 days and 12 months. Results All-cause mortality was 3.4% (n=71/2084) at 30-day follow-up, 5.7% (n=113/1969) at 90-day follow-up and 13.0% (n=206/1581) at 12-month follow-up. The median time from diagnosis to multidisciplinary team (MDT) plan was longest in low-income countries (7 days, IQR 3-11). Multivariable analysis revealed several factors associated with 12-month mortality, including low-income (OR 6.99 (95% CI 2.49 to 19.68); p&lt;0.001), lower middle income (OR 3.32 (95% CI 1.96 to 5.61); p&lt;0.001) and upper middle income (OR 3.49 (95% CI 2.02 to 6.03); p&lt;0.001) country status and chemotherapy (OR 0.55 (95% CI 0.36 to 0.86); p=0.008) and immunotherapy (OR 0.27 (95% CI 0.08 to 0.91); p=0.035) within 30 days from MDT plan. Multivariable analysis revealed laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (OR 5.33 (95% CI 1.19 to 23.84); p=0.029) was associated with 30-day mortality. Conclusions Children with cancer are more likely to die within 30 days if infected with SARS-CoV-2. However, timely treatment reduced odds of death. This report provides crucial information to balance the benefits of providing anticancer therapy against the risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children with cancer

Mapping geographical inequalities in access to drinking water and sanitation facilities in low-income and middle-income countries, 2000-17

Background Universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities is an essential human right, recognised in the Sustainable Development Goals as crucial for preventing disease and improving human wellbeing. Comprehensive, high-resolution estimates are important to inform progress towards achieving this goal. We aimed to produce high-resolution geospatial estimates of access to drinking water and sanitation facilities. Methods We used a Bayesian geostatistical model and data from 600 sources across more than 88 low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) to estimate access to drinking water and sanitation facilities on continuous continent-wide surfaces from 2000 to 2017, and aggregated results to policy-relevant administrative units. We estimated mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive subcategories of facilities for drinking water (piped water on or off premises, other improved facilities, unimproved, and surface water) and sanitation facilities (septic or sewer sanitation, other improved, unimproved, and open defecation) with use of ordinal regression. We also estimated the number of diarrhoeal deaths in children younger than 5 years attributed to unsafe facilities and estimated deaths that were averted by increased access to safe facilities in 2017, and analysed geographical inequality in access within LMICs. Findings Across LMICs, access to both piped water and improved water overall increased between 2000 and 2017, with progress varying spatially. For piped water, the safest water facility type, access increased from 40.0% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 39.4-40.7) to 50.3% (50.0-50.5), but was lowest in sub-Saharan Africa, where access to piped water was mostly concentrated in urban centres. Access to both sewer or septic sanitation and improved sanitation overall also increased across all LMICs during the study period. For sewer or septic sanitation, access was 46.3% (95% UI 46.1-46.5) in 2017, compared with 28.7% (28.5-29.0) in 2000. Although some units improved access to the safest drinking water or sanitation facilities since 2000, a large absolute number of people continued to not have access in several units with high access to such facilities (>80%) in 2017. More than 253 000 people did not have access to sewer or septic sanitation facilities in the city of Harare, Zimbabwe, despite 88.6% (95% UI 87.2-89.7) access overall. Many units were able to transition from the least safe facilities in 2000 to safe facilities by 2017; for units in which populations primarily practised open defecation in 2000, 686 (95% UI 664-711) of the 1830 (1797-1863) units transitioned to the use of improved sanitation. Geographical disparities in access to improved water across units decreased in 76.1% (95% UI 71.6-80.7) of countries from 2000 to 2017, and in 53.9% (50.6-59.6) of countries for access to improved sanitation, but remained evident subnationally in most countries in 2017. Interpretation Our estimates, combined with geospatial trends in diarrhoeal burden, identify where efforts to increase access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities are most needed. By highlighting areas with successful approaches or in need of targeted interventions, our estimates can enable precision public health to effectively progress towards universal access to safe water and sanitation. Copyright (C) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.Peer reviewe

Chronic, intermittent treatment with a cannabinoid receptor agonist impairs recognition memory and brain network functional connectivity

Elucidating how cannabinoids affect brain function is instrumental for the development of therapeutic tools aiming to mitigate 'on target' side effects of cannabinoid based therapies. A single treatment with the cannabinoid receptor agonist, WIN 55,212-2, disrupts recognition memory in mice. Here we evaluate how prolonged, intermittent (30 days) exposure to WIN 55,212-2 (1mg/kg) alters recognition memory and impacts on brain metabolism and functional connectivity. We show that chronic, intermittent treatment with WIN 55,212-2 disrupts recognition memory (Novel Object Recognition Test) without affecting locomotion and anxiety-like behaviour (Open Field and Elevated Plus Maze). Through 14 C-2-deoxyglucose functional brain imaging we show that chronic, intermittent WIN 55,212-2 exposure induces hypometabolism in the hippocampal dorsal subiculum and in the mediodorsal nucleus of the thalamus, two brain regions directly involved in recognition memory. In addition, WIN 55,212-2 exposure induces hypometabolism in the habenula with a contrasting hypermetabolism in the globus pallidus. Through the application of the Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR) algorithm to the brain imaging data, we observed that prolonged WIN 55,212-2 administration alters functional connectivity in brain networks that underlie recognition memory, including that between the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex, the thalamus and prefrontal cortex, and between the hippocampus and the perirhinal cortex. In addition, our results support disturbed lateral habenula and serotonin system functional connectivity following WIN 55,212-2 exposure. Overall, this study provides new insight into the functional mechanisms underlying the impact of chronic cannabinoid exposure on memory and highlights the serotonin system as a particularly vulnerable target. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved