The BaSICS (Baby Skin Integrity Comparison Survey) study : a prospective experimental study using maternal observations to report the effect of baby wipes on the incidence of irritant diaper dermatitis in infants, from birth to eight weeks of age

Background Baby wipes have been shown to be safe and effective in maintaining skin integrity when compared to the use of water alone. However, no previous study has compared different formulations of wipe. The aim of the BaSICS study was to identify any differences in incidence of irritant diaper dermatitis (IDD) in infants assigned to three different brands of wipe, all marketed as suitable for neonates, but which contained varying numbers of ingredients. Methods Women were recruited during the prenatal period. Participants were randomly assigned to receive one of three brands of wipe for use during the first eight weeks following childbirth. All participants received the same nappies. Participants reported their infant’s skin integrity on a scale of 1 to 5 daily using a bespoke smartphone application. Analysis of effect of brand on clinically significant IDD (score 3 or more) incidence was conducted using a negative binomial generalised linear model, controlling for possible confounders at baseline. Analysts were blind to brand of wipe. Results Of 737 women enrolled, 15 were excluded (admitted to neonatal intensive care, premature or other infant health issues). Of the 722 eligible babies, 698 (97%) remained in the study for the full 8-week duration, 24.6% of whom had IDD at some point during the study. Mothers using the brand with the fewest ingredients reported fewer days of clinically significant nappy rash (score≥3) than participants using the two other brands (p=0.002 and p<0.001). Severe IDD (grades 4 and 5) was rare (2.4%). Conclusions Rarity of severe IDD suggested that sensitive formula baby wipes are safe when used in cleansing babies from birth to eight weeks during nappy changes. The brand with fewest ingredients had significantly fewer days of clinically significant IDD. Daily observations recorded on a smartphone application proved to be a highly acceptable method of obtaining real-time data on IDD

Adjunctive treatment with oral AKL1, a botanical nutraceutical, in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Purpose: The objective of this pilot trial was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of AKL1, a patented botanical formulation containing extracts of Picrorhiza kurroa, Ginkgo biloba, and Zingiber officinale, as add-on therapy for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and chronic cough. Patients and methods: This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial enrolled male and female patients .18 years old with COPD and Leicester Cough Questionnaire (LCQ) score of ,18. The 10-week study period comprised a 2-week single-blind placebo run-in period followed by add-on treatment with AKL1 or placebo twice daily for 8 weeks. The primary study endpoint was the change from week 0 to week 8 in cough-related health status, as assessed by the LCQ. Results: Of 33 patients enrolled, 20 were randomized to AKL1 and 13 to placebo. Patients included 19 (58%) men and 14 (42%) women of mean (standard deviation [SD]) age of 67 (9.4) years; 15 (45%) patients were smokers and 16 (49%) were ex-smokers. The mean (SD) change from baseline in LCQ score at 8 weeks was 2.3 (4.9) in the AKL1 group and 0.6 (3.7) in the placebo group, with mean difference in change of 1.8 (95% confidence interval: -1.5 to 5.1; P=0.28). The St George’s Respiratory Questionnaire score improved substantially in the AKL1 treatment group by a mean (SD) of -7.7 (11.7) versus worsening in the placebo group (+1.5 [9.3]), with mean difference in change of -9.2 (95% confidence interval: -19.0 to 0.6; P=0.064). There were no significant differences between treatment groups in change from baseline to week 8 in other patient-reported measures, lung function, or the 6-minute walk distance. Conclusion: Further study is needed with a larger patient population and over a longer duration to better assess the effects of add-on therapy with AKL1 in COPD

Chemical imaging of Fischer-Tropsch catalysts under operating conditions

Although we often understand empirically what constitutes an active catalyst, there is still much to be understood fundamentally about how catalytic performance is influenced by formulation. Catalysts are often designed to have a microstructure and nanostructure that can influence performance but that is rarely considered when correlating structure with function. Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) is a well-known and potentially sustainable technology for converting synthetic natural gas (“syngas”: CO + H2) into functional hydrocarbons, such as sulfur- and aromatic-free fuel and high-value wax products. FTS catalysts typically contain Co or Fe nanoparticles, which are often optimized in terms of size/composition for a particular catalytic performance. We use a novel, “multimodal” tomographic approach to studying active Co-based catalysts under operando conditions, revealing how a simple parameter, such as the order of addition of metal precursors and promoters, affects the spatial distribution of the elements as well as their physicochemical properties, that is, crystalline phase and crystallite size during catalyst activation and operation. We show in particular how the order of addition affects the crystallinity of the TiO2 anatase phase, which in turn leads to the formation of highly intergrown cubic close-packed/hexagonal close-packed Co nanoparticles that are very reactive, exhibiting high CO conversion. This work highlights the importance of operando microtomography to understand the evolution of chemical species and their spatial distribution before any concrete understanding of impact on catalytic performance can be realized

Automatic processing of multimodal tomography datasets

With the development of fourth-generation high-brightness synchrotrons on the horizon, the already large volume of data that will be collected on imaging and mapping beamlines is set to increase by orders of magnitude. As such, an easy and accessible way of dealing with such large datasets as quickly as possible is required in order to be able to address the core scientific problems during the experimental data collection. Savu is an accessible and flexible big data processing framework that is able to deal with both the variety and the volume of data of multimodal and multidimensional scientific datasets output such as those from chemical tomography experiments on the I18 microfocus scanning beamline at Diamond Light Source

X-ray physico-chemical imaging during activation of cobalt-based Fischer-Tropsch synthesis catalysts

The imaging of catalysts and other functional materials under reaction conditions has advanced significantly in recent years. The combination of the computed tomography (CT) approach with methods such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and X-ray absorption near-edge spectroscopy (XANES) now enables local chemical and physical state information to be extracted from within the interiors of intact materials which are, by accident or design, inhomogeneous. In this work, we follow the phase evolution during the initial reduction step(s) to form Co metal, for Co-containing particles employed as Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) catalysts; firstly, working at small length scales (approx. micrometre spatial resolution), a combination of sample size and density allows for transmission of comparatively low energy signals enabling the recording of ‘multimodal’ tomography, i.e. simultaneous XRF–CT, XANES–CT and XRD–CT. Subsequently, we show high-energy XRD–CT can be employed to reveal extent of reduction and uniformity of crystallite size on millimetre-sized TiO2 trilobes. In both studies, the CoO phase is seen to persist or else evolve under particular operating conditions and we speculate as to why this is observed

Characterization of growth and metabolism of the haloalkaliphile Natronomonas pharaonis

Natronomonas pharaonis is an archaeon adapted to two extreme conditions: high salt concentration and alkaline pH. It has become one of the model organisms for the study of extremophilic life. Here, we present a genome-scale, manually curated metabolic reconstruction for the microorganism. The reconstruction itself represents a knowledge base of the haloalkaliphile's metabolism and, as such, would greatly assist further investigations on archaeal pathways. In addition, we experimentally determined several parameters relevant to growth, including a characterization of the biomass composition and a quantification of carbon and oxygen consumption. Using the metabolic reconstruction and the experimental data, we formulated a constraints-based model which we used to analyze the behavior of the archaeon when grown on a single carbon source. Results of the analysis include the finding that Natronomonas pharaonis, when grown aerobically on acetate, uses a carbon to oxygen consumption ratio that is theoretically near-optimal with respect to growth and energy production. This supports the hypothesis that, under simple conditions, the microorganism optimizes its metabolism with respect to the two objectives. We also found that the archaeon has a very low carbon efficiency of only about 35%. This inefficiency is probably due to a very low P/O ratio as well as to the other difficulties posed by its extreme environment

Chemical imaging of single catalyst particles with scanning μ-XANES-CT and μ-XRF-CT

The physicochemical state of a catalyst is a key factor in determining both activity and selectivity; however these materials are often not structurally or compositionally homogeneous. Here we report on the 3-dimensional imaging of an industrial catalyst, Mo-promoted colloidal Pt supported on carbon. The distribution of both the active Pt species and Mo promoter have been mapped over a single particle of catalyst using microfocus X-ray fluorescence computed tomography. X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES) and extended X-ray absorption fine structure revealed a mixed local coordination environment, including the presence of both metallic Pt clusters and Pt chloride species, but also no direct interaction between the catalyst and Mo promoter. We also report on the benefits of scanning μ-XANES computed tomography for chemical imaging, allowing for 2- and 3-dimensional mapping of the local electronic and geometric environment, in this instance for both the Pt catalyst and Mo promoter throughout the catalyst particle

MultiMetEval: comparative and multi-objective analysis of genome-scale metabolic models

Comparative metabolic modelling is emerging as a novel field, supported by the development of reliable and standardized approaches for constructing genome-scale metabolic models in high throughput. New software solutions are needed to allow efficient comparative analysis of multiple models in the context of multiple cellular objectives. Here, we present the user-friendly software framework Multi-Metabolic Evaluator (MultiMetEval), built upon SurreyFBA, which allows the user to compose collections of metabolic models that together can be subjected to flux balance analysis. Additionally, MultiMetEval implements functionalities for multi-objective analysis by calculating the Pareto front between two cellular objectives. Using a previously generated dataset of 38 actinobacterial genome-scale metabolic models, we show how these approaches can lead to exciting novel insights. Firstly, after incorporating several pathways for the biosynthesis of natural products into each of these models, comparative flux balance analysis predicted that species like Streptomyces that harbour the highest diversity of secondary metabolite biosynthetic gene clusters in their genomes do not necessarily have the metabolic network topology most suitable for compound overproduction. Secondly, multi-objective analysis of biomass production and natural product biosynthesis in these actinobacteria shows that the well-studied occurrence of discrete metabolic switches during the change of cellular objectives is inherent to their metabolic network architecture. Comparative and multi-objective modelling can lead to insights that could not be obtained by normal flux balance analyses. MultiMetEval provides a powerful platform that makes these analyses straightforward for biologists. Sources and binaries of MultiMetEval are freely available from https://github.com/PiotrZakrzewski/MetEv​al/downloads

A supersonic crowdion in mica: Ultradiscrete kinks with energy between 40^{40}K recoil and transmission sputtering

In this chapter we analyze in detail the behaviour and properties of the kinks found in an one dimensional model for the close packed rows of potassium ions in mica muscovite. The model includes realistic potentials obtained from the physics of the problem, ion bombardment experiments and molecular dynamics fitted to experiments. These kinks are supersonic and have an unique velocity and energy. They are ultradiscrete involving the translation of an interstitial ion, which is the reason they are called 'crowdions'. Their energy is below the most probable source of energy, the decay of the $^{40}$K isotope and above the energy needed to eject an atom from the mineral, a phenomenon that has been observed experimentallyComment: 28 pages, 15 figure