Mineralogy and geochemistry of atypical reduction spheroids from the Tumblagooda Sandstone, Western Australia

Funding Information: This research was supported by a CSIRO Mineral Resources studentship, a Curtin University student scholarship and a Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia scholarship. The editors of Sedimentology and three anonymous reviewers are acknowledged for their assistance in improving the manuscript. We would also like to thank Mike Paxman and the Parks and Wildlife Service for permission to sample in Kalbarri National Park. Finally, the authors would like to pay tribute to the memory of Professor Nigel Trewin, whose work laid much of the foundation for this study and many others on the Tumblagooda Sandstone.Peer reviewedPostprin

Predicting household water use behaviour for improved hygiene practices in internet of things environment via dynamic behaviour intervention model

Recent advances in Internet of Things (IoT) enabled technologies allow the intelligent sensor systems to effectively and efficiently observe and identify human behaviour in many applications, particularly in energy consumption and healthcare sectors. One typical case is that how to use IoT technologies to understand human water use behaviour for improved and sustained hygiene practice. Traditionally, static behaviour intervention models are widely utilised to simulate behaviour intervention process over time. These static methods can predict targeted human behaviour reasonably well, but lack of capabilities on understanding and responding behaviour change process in IoT environments. In this study, the authors proposed a dynamic behaviour intervention model for predicting household water user behaviour for improved hygiene practices. This model is based on an expanded theory of planned behaviour (ETPB), and adopted structure equation model approach and control engineering concept. A case study of household water consumption model using artificial neural network is utilised to evaluate intervention trend of proposed ETPB dynamic behaviour model with system parameter identification. The ETPB dynamic model has been proved to be effective for modelling human behaviour intervention process

Anti-trypanosomatid drug discovery:an ongoing challenge and a continuing need

The WHO recognizes human African trypanosomiasis, Chagas disease and the leishmaniases as neglected tropical diseases. These diseases are caused by parasitic trypanosomatids and range in severity from mild and self-curing to near invariably fatal. Public health advances have substantially decreased the effect of these diseases in recent decades but alone will not eliminate them. In this Review, we discuss why new drugs against trypanosomatids are required, approaches that are under investigation to develop new drugs and why the drug discovery pipeline remains essentially unfilled. In addition, we consider the important challenges to drug discovery strategies and the new technologies that can address them. The combination of new drugs, new technologies and public health initiatives is essential for the management, and hopefully eventual elimination, of trypanosomatid diseases from the human population.</p

How early is too early? A review of infant seizure surgery literature

In the US, epilepsy is credited with 2.75 deaths per 1 million people. This number is slightly lower in the UK at 1.79, but higher in Canada at 6.74. (4) Surgery for intractable epilepsy has been in use for hundreds of years, and in recent decades has demonstrated good success. However, many practitioners and the public still view surgery as a last resort, to be explored only after all possible medical therapy combinations have been exhausted and a good length of time has elapsed. Now, however, many major centers have begun to push surgery further and further to the front of their treatment paradigm, predicated on the discovery that medical refractiveness can be predicted after failure of just a few medications. (1) As collective experience grows, the idea that surgery should be planned early in the disease course is gaining momentum. Now that surgical success rates can top 80% in carefully selected cases (2), the American Academy of Neurology, in association with the American Epilepsy Society and American Association of Neurological Surgeons, after reviewing one class 1 and 24 class 4 studies, recommend referral to an epilepsy center so that patients can be expediently evaluated for surgery. (3) Not only is the length of preoperative disease decreasing in these patients, but they are becoming younger. This raises the question: how early is too early? Even if early intervention makes sense in adults, is there a minimum age for which this holds true? Does intervention before this age cause increased harm? Several studies examining this area were reviewed, which in combination demonstrate that seizure surgery in young patients is efficacious. At Dell Children\u27s Medical Center, we advocate early evaluation and surgery for patients with medically refractory epilepsy who are candidates. In the last two years we have done 17 surgeries on patients under 4 years of age, 3 of which have been on patients under one year. Once a patient is deemed medically refractory with a high likelihood of surgical benefit and acceptable surgical risk, we will proceed with surgery regardless of age. Patient selection, however, requires the coordinated effort of a quality multidisciplinary team. © 2012 Bentham Science Publishers

Targeting the lung using siRNA and antisense based oligonucleotides

The accessibility to topical administration through inhalation, combined with its large surface area, has led to speculation that the lung might offer an ideal target for the application of oligonucleotide based therapeutics. In this review, we shall critically examine the challenges facing antisense and siRNA based approaches for target validation in vivo and as potential therapeutics. In particular, we shall discuss the antisense and siRNA based approaches in relation to factors such as delivery, distribution, stability, off-target effects, unwanted immune responses and the selection of the optimum mRNA targets

Early oxygenation of the terrestrial environment during the Mesoproterozoic

Geochemical data from ancient sedimentary successions provide evidence for the progressive evolution of Earth’s atmosphere and oceans&lt;sup&gt;1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7&lt;/sup&gt;. Key stages in increasing oxygenation are postulated for the Palaeoproterozoic era (~2.3 billion years ago, Gyr ago) and the late Proterozoic eon (about 0.8 Gyr ago), with the latter implicated in the subsequent metazoan evolutionary expansion&lt;sup&gt;8&lt;/sup&gt;. In support of this rise in oxygen concentrations, a large database&lt;sup&gt;1, 2, 3, 9&lt;/sup&gt; shows a marked change in the bacterially mediated fractionation of seawater sulphate to sulphide of Δ&lt;sup&gt;34&lt;/sup&gt;S &#60; 25‰ before 1 Gyr to &#8805;50‰ after 0.64 Gyr. This change in Δ&lt;sup&gt;34&lt;/sup&gt;S has been interpreted to represent the evolution from single-step bacterial sulphate reduction to a combination of bacterial sulphate reduction and sulphide oxidation, largely bacterially mediated&lt;sup&gt;3, 7, 9&lt;/sup&gt;. This evolution is seen as marking the rise in atmospheric oxygen concentrations and the evolution of non-photosynthetic sulphide-oxidizing bacteria&lt;sup&gt;3, 7, 10&lt;/sup&gt;. Here we report Δ34S values exceeding 50‰ from a terrestrial Mesoproterozoic (1.18 Gyr old) succession in Scotland, a time period that is at present poorly characterized. This level of fractionation implies disproportionation in the sulphur cycle, probably involving sulphide-oxidizing bacteria, that is not evident from Δ&lt;sup&gt;34&lt;/sup&gt;S data in the marine record1, &lt;sup&gt;2, 3, 9&lt;/sup&gt;. Disproportionation in both red beds and lacustrine black shales at our study site suggests that the Mesoproterozoic terrestrial environment was sufficiently oxygenated to support a biota that was adapted to an oxygen-rich atmosphere, but had also penetrated into subsurface sediment

How carbonate dissolution facilitates sediment-hosted Zn-Pb mineralization

Abstract Most of the world's Zn and Pb is extracted from sediment-hosted Zn-Pb deposits. The Zn-Pb deposits hosted in carbonate rocks are hypothesized to form by mixing of acidic metal-bearing brines with reduced sulfur-bearing fluids while dissolving sedimentary carbonate. To test the role of carbonate in this process, we conducted hydrothermal experiments simulating ore formation by reacting Zn ± Pb ± Ba–bearing brines with H2S and SO42– produced by native sulfur, with and without carbonate minerals (calcite or dolomite crystals), at 200 °C and water-saturated pressure. Sphalerite, galena, and barite (or anhydrite) crystals formed only when carbonate was present in the experiment, accompanied by carbonate dissolution. The textures of sphalerite clusters are similar to those observed in ancient and modern hydrothermal deposits. Thermodynamic modeling at 150 °C and 250 °C demonstrates that mixing of metal-rich brines and H2S causes most of the Zn in solution to precipitate as sphalerite only when carbonate dissolution occurs to buffer the pH, consistent with the experimental observations. The need for a pH buffer increases with increasing temperature, and different pH buffers may play a role for different deposit types. We propose that carbonate-buffered fluid mixing is a critical process for forming post-sedimentary Zn ± Pb ± Ba deposits in sedimentary carbonate rocks.</jats:p