Formation of oligopeptides in high yield under simple programmable conditions

Many high-yielding reactions for forming peptide bonds have been developed but these are complex, requiring activated amino-acid precursors and heterogeneous supports. Herein we demonstrate the programmable one-pot dehydration–hydration condensation of amino acids forming oligopeptide chains in around 50% yield. A digital recursive reactor system was developed to investigate this process, performing these reactions with control over parameters such as temperature, number of cycles, cycle duration, initial monomer concentration and initial pH. Glycine oligopeptides up to 20 amino acids long were formed with very high monomer-to-oligomer conversion, and the majority of these products comprised three amino acid residues or more. Having established the formation of glycine homo-oligopeptides, we then demonstrated the co-condensation of glycine with eight other amino acids (Ala, Asp, Glu, His, Lys, Pro, Thr and Val), incorporating a range of side-chain functionality

Effectiveness of resilient wheels in reducing noise and vibrations

This study focuses on the effectiveness of resilient wheels in reducing railway noise and vibrations, and compares the effectiveness of three types of wheels. The finite elements method has been used to characterise the vibratory behaviour of these wheels. The model has been excited with a realistic spectrum of vertical track irregularities, and a spectral analysis has been carried out. Results have been post-processed in order to estimate the sound power emitted. These calculations have been used to assess the effectiveness of the resilient wheel designs in reducing noise emitted to the environment and in propagating structural vibrations

Solar Coronal Loops Associated with Small-scale Mixed Polarity Surface Magnetic Fields

How and where are coronal loops rooted in the solar lower atmosphere? The details of the magnetic environment and its evolution at the footpoints of coronal loops are crucial to understanding the processes of mass and energy supply to the solar corona. To address the above question, we use high-resolution line-of-sight magnetic field data from the Imaging Magnetograph eXperiment instrument on the SUNRISE balloon-borne observatory and coronal observations from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory of an emerging active region. We find that the coronal loops are often rooted at the locations with minor small-scale but persistent opposite-polarity magnetic elements very close to the larger dominant polarity. These opposite-polarity small-scale elements continually interact with the dominant polarity underlying the coronal loop through flux cancellation. At these locations we detect small inverse Y-shaped jets in chromospheric Ca II H images obtained from the SUNRISE Filter Imager during the flux cancellation. Our results indicate that magnetic flux cancellation and reconnection at the base of coronal loops due to mixed polarity fields might be a crucial feature for the supply of mass and energy into the corona.Comment: Published in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Serie

Morphological properties of slender Ca II H fibrils observed by SUNRISE II

We use seeing-free high spatial resolution Ca II H data obtained by the SUNRISE observatory to determine properties of slender fibrils in the lower solar chromosphere. In this work we use intensity images taken with the SUFI instrument in the Ca II H line during the second scientific flight of the SUNRISE observatory to identify and track elongated bright structures. After the identification, we analyze theses structures in order to extract their morphological properties. We identify 598 slender Ca II H fibrils (SCFs) with an average width of around 180 km, a length between 500 km and 4000 km, an average lifetime of ~400 s, and an average curvature of 0.002 arcsec^-1. The maximum lifetime of the SCFs within our time series of 57 minutes is ~2000 s. We discuss similarities and differences of the SCFs with other small-scale, chromospheric structures such as spicules of type I and II, or Ca II K fibrils.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Serie

Kinematics of Magnetic Bright Features in the Solar Photosphere

Convective flows are known as the prime means of transporting magnetic fields on the solar surface. Thus, small magnetic structures are good tracers of the turbulent flows. We study the migration and dispersal of magnetic bright features (MBFs) in intergranular areas observed at high spatial resolution with Sunrise/IMaX. We describe the flux dispersal of individual MBFs as a diffusion process whose parameters are computed for various areas in the quiet Sun and the vicinity of active regions from seeing-free data. We find that magnetic concentrations are best described as random walkers close to network areas (diffusion index, gamma=1.0), travelers with constant speeds over a supergranule (gamma=1.9-2.0), and decelerating movers in the vicinity of flux emergence and/or within active regions (gamma=1.4-1.5). The three types of regions host MBFs with mean diffusion coefficients of 130 km^2/s, 80-90 km^2/s, and 25-70 km^2/s, respectively. The MBFs in these three types of regions are found to display a distinct kinematic behavior at a confidence level in excess of 95%.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Sustainable development, poverty eradication and reducing inequalities

This chapter takes sustainable development as the starting point and focus for analysis. It considers the broad and multifaceted bi-directional interplay between sustainable development, including its focus on eradicating poverty and reducing inequality in their multidimensional aspects, and climate actions in a 1.5°C warmer world. These fundamental connections are embedded in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The chapter also examines synergies and trade-offs of adaptation and mitigation options with sustainable development and the SDGs and offers insights into possible pathways, especially climate-resilient development pathways towards a 1.5°C warmer world

A population-based controlled experiment assessing the epidemiological impact of digital contact tracing

While Digital contact tracing (DCT) has been argued to be a valuable complement to manual tracing in the containment of COVID-19, no empirical evidence of its effectiveness is available to date. Here, we report the results of a 4-week population-based controlled experiment that took place in La Gomera (Canary Islands, Spain) between June and July 2020, where we assessed the epidemiological impact of the Spanish DCT app Radar Covid. After a substantial communication campaign, we estimate that at least 33% of the population adopted the technology and further showed relatively high adherence and compliance as well as a quick turnaround time. The app detects about 6.3 close-contacts per primary simulated infection, a significant percentage being contacts with strangers, although the spontaneous follow-up rate of these notified cases is low. Overall, these results provide experimental evidence of the potential usefulness of DCT during an epidemic outbreak in a real population

Harm reduction for the treatment of patients with severe injection-related infections: description of the Jackson SIRI Team

Introduction: Hospitalizations for severe injection-related infections (SIRI), such as endocarditis, osteomyelitis, and skin and soft tissue infections (SSTI) are increasingly common. People who inject drugs (PWID) experiencing SIRIs often receive inadequate substance use disorder (SUD) treatment and lack of access to harm reduction services. This translates into lengthy hospitalizations with high rates of patient-directed discharge, readmissions, and post-hospitalization mortality. The purpose of this study was to describe the development of an integrated “SIRI Team” and its initial barriers and facilitators to success. Materials and methods: The Jackson SIRI Team was developed to improve both hospital and patient-level outcomes for individuals hospitalized with SIRIs at Jackson Memorial Hospital, a 1550-bed public hospital in Miami, Florida, United States. The SIRI Team provides integrated infectious disease and SUD treatment across the healthcare system starting from the inpatient setting and continuing for 90-days post-hospital discharge. The team uses a harm reduction approach, provides care coordination, focuses on access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), and utilizes a variety of infection and addiction treatment modalities to suit each individual patient. Results: Over the initial 8-months of the SIRI Team, 21 patients were treated with 20 surviving until discharge. Infections included osteomyelitis, endocarditis, bacteraemia/fungemia, SSTIs, and septic arthritis. All patients had OUD and 95% used stimulants. All patients were discharged on MOUD and 95% completed their prescribed antibiotic course. At 90-days post-discharge, 25% had been readmitted and 70% reported taking MOUD. Conclusions: A model of integrated infectious disease and SUD care for the treatment of SIRIs has the potential to improve infection and addiction outcomes. Providing attentive, patient-centered care, using a harm reduction approach can facilitate engagement of this marginalized population with the healthcare system.KEY MESSAGES Integrated infectious disease and addiction treatment is a novel approach to treating severe injection-related infections. Harm reduction should be applied to treating patients with severe injection-related infections with a goal of facilitating antibiotic completion, remission from substance use disorder, and reducing hospital readmissions

Microplate technique to determine hemolytic activity for routine typing of Listeria strains

Because the hemolysis produced by Listeria monocytogenes and Listeria seeligeri on blood agar is frequently difficult to interpret, we developed a microplate technique for the routine determination of hemolytic activity with erythrocyte suspensions. This microtechnique is a simple and reliable test for distinguishing clearly between hemolytic and nonhemolytic strains and could be used instead of the CAMP (Christie-Atkins-Munch-Petersen) test with Staphylococcus aureus in the routine typing of Listeria strains. Furthermore, our results suggest that the quantitation of the hemolytic activity of the Listeria strains, along with the D-xylose, L-rhamnose, and alpha-methyl-D-mannoside acidification tests, allows the differentiation of L. monocytogenes, L. seeligeri, and Listeria ivanovii. We also observed that the treatment of erythrocytes with crude exosubstances of rhodococcus equi, Pseudomonas fluorescens, Acinetobacter calcoaceticus, and S. aureus enhanced the hemolytic activity of all Listeria strains with this characteristic

Results of an Early Access Treatment Protocol of Daratumumab Monotherapy in Spanish Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Multiple Myeloma

Daratumumab is a human CD38-targeted monoclonal antibody approved as monotherapy for heavily pretreated relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma. We report findings for the Spanish cohort of an open-label treatment protocol that provided early access to daratumumab monotherapy and collected safety and patient-reported outcomes data for patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma. At 15 centers across Spain, intravenous daratumumab (16 mg/kg) was administered to 73 patients who had >= 3 prior lines of therapy, including a proteasome inhibitor and an immunomodulatory drug, or who were double refractory to both. The median duration of daratumumab treatment was 3.3 (range: 0.03-13.17) months, with a median number of 12 (range: 1-25) infusions. Grade 3/4 treatment-emergent adverse events were reported in 74% of patients and included lymphopenia (28.8%), thrombocytopenia (27.4%), neutropenia (21.9%), leukopenia (19.2%), and anemia (15.1%). Common (>5%) serious treatmentemergent adverse events included respiratory tract infection (9.6%), general physical health deterioration (6.8%), and back pain (5.5%). Infusion-related reactions occurred in 45% of patients. The median change from baseline in all domains of the EQ-5D-5L and EORTC QLQ-C30 was mostly 0. A total of 18 (24.7%) patients achieved a partial response or better, with 10 (13.7%) patients achieving a very good partial response or better. Median progression-free survival was 3.98 months. The results of this early access treatment protocol are consistent with previously reported trials of daratumumab monotherapy and confirm its safety and antitumoral efficacy in Spanish patients with heavily treated relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma