Alkenes - ester polymeric solvents thermodynamic interactions - Part 1

This work focused on the interactions between ester solvents and volatile organic compounds of alkene in nature. Infinite dilution activity coefficients of alkenes in various fatty acid ester solvents were predicted in order to study and thermodynamically understand the nature and effect of the bond interactions involved. Activity coefficients were computed using Microsoft Excel model specifically designed for this purpose. The ester solvent chain length and saturation influenced the solubility of alkene organics. Saturated and longer ester chains gave better absorption performance. Alkenes were found to be more soluble than their alkane counterparts of similar carbon count

Alkenes - ester polymeric solvents thermodynamic interactions - part 2

This paper is a continuation of our work reported previously [1] on the interaction between ester solvents and alkene volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The interactions were presented inform of infinite dilution activity coefficients. A Microsoft Excel spreadsheet for the modified UNIFAC Dortmund group contribution method [2] was designed and used in computing the required phase equilibrium. The size of the solvent molecule (biodiesel) relative to the VOC molecule influenced the thermodynamic interactions. The degree of ester (biodiesel) bond saturation influenced the ease in which cyclic VOCs interacted with the solvent compared to their straight chain counterparts. The location of branches such as methyl branches in relation to the double-bonded carbons had an impact on the predicted infinite dilution activity coefficients

Intermolecular dynamics between aromatic compounds and ester polymeric solvents

This work focused on the interactions that occur between ester solvents and simple aromatic solutes. Solutes were selected from various functional groups in their simplest form, and predictions of activity coefficients at infinite dilution were made using the Modified UNIFAC Dortmund group contribution model. The model computation was set up on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet specifically designed for this purpose. For polar aromatic solutes, solubility decreased with increase in size of the ester solvent molecule and the opposite was found to be true for non-polar solutes. For all aromatic/ ester solvent interactions there was a decrease in activity coefficients with an increase in the degree of ester unsaturation

Global fine-resolution data on springtail abundance and community structure

Springtails (Collembola) inhabit soils from the Arctic to the Antarctic and comprise an estimated ~32% of all terrestrial arthropods on Earth. Here, we present a global, spatially-explicit database on springtail communities that includes 249,912 occurrences from 44,999 samples and 2,990 sites. These data are mainly raw sample-level records at the species level collected predominantly from private archives of the authors that were quality-controlled and taxonomically-standardised. Despite covering all continents, most of the sample-level data come from the European continent (82.5% of all samples) and represent four habitats: woodlands (57.4%), grasslands (14.0%), agrosystems (13.7%) and scrublands (9.0%). We included sampling by soil layers, and across seasons and years, representing temporal and spatial within-site variation in springtail communities. We also provided data use and sharing guidelines and R code to facilitate the use of the database by other researchers. This data paper describes a static version of the database at the publication date, but the database will be further expanded to include underrepresented regions and linked with trait data.</p

Clinical characteristics of women captured by extending the definition of severe postpartum haemorrhage with 'refractoriness to treatment': a cohort study

Background: The absence of a uniform and clinically relevant definition of severe postpartum haemorrhage hampers comparative studies and optimization of clinical management. The concept of persistent postpartum haemorrhage, based on refractoriness to initial first-line treatment, was proposed as an alternative to common definitions that are either based on estimations of blood loss or transfused units of packed red blood cells (RBC). We compared characteristics and outcomes of women with severe postpartum haemorrhage captured by these three types of definitions. Methods: In this large retrospective cohort study in 61 hospitals in the Netherlands we included 1391 consecutive women with postpartum haemorrhage who received either ≥4 units of RBC or a multicomponent transfusion. Clinical characteristics and outcomes of women with severe postpartum haemorrhage defined as persistent postpartum haemorrhage were compared to definitions based on estimated blood loss or transfused units of RBC within 24 h following birth. Adverse maternal outcome was a composite of maternal mortality, hysterectomy, arterial embolisation and intensive care unit admission. Results: One thousand two hundred sixty out of 1391 women (90.6%) with postpartum haemorrhage fulfilled the definition of persistent postpartum haemorrhage. The majority, 820/1260 (65.1%), fulfilled this definition within 1 h following birth, compared to 819/1391 (58.7%) applying the definition of ≥1 L blood loss and 37/845 (4.4%) applying the definition of ≥4 units of RBC. The definition persistent postpartum haemorrhage captured 430/471 adverse maternal outcomes (91.3%), compared to 471/471 (100%) for ≥1 L blood loss and 383/471 (81.3%) for ≥4 units of RBC. Persistent postpartum haemorrhage did not capture all adverse outcomes because of missing data on timing of initial, first-line treatment. Conclusion: The definition persistent postpartum haemo

A year of genomic surveillance reveals how the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic unfolded in Africa.

The progression of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pandemic in Africa has so far been heterogeneous, and the full impact is not yet well understood. In this study, we describe the genomic epidemiology using a dataset of 8746 genomes from 33 African countries and two overseas territories. We show that the epidemics in most countries were initiated by importations predominantly from Europe, which diminished after the early introduction of international travel restrictions. As the pandemic progressed, ongoing transmission in many countries and increasing mobility led to the emergence and spread within the continent of many variants of concern and interest, such as B.1.351, B.1.525, A.23.1, and C.1.1. Although distorted by low sampling numbers and blind spots, the findings highlight that Africa must not be left behind in the global pandemic response, otherwise it could become a source for new variants

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance.

Investment in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing in Africa over the past year has led to a major increase in the number of sequences that have been generated and used to track the pandemic on the continent, a number that now exceeds 100,000 genomes. Our results show an increase in the number of African countries that are able to sequence domestically and highlight that local sequencing enables faster turnaround times and more-regular routine surveillance. Despite limitations of low testing proportions, findings from this genomic surveillance study underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic and illuminate the distinct dispersal dynamics of variants of concern-particularly Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron-on the continent. Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve while the continent faces many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

The evolving SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Africa: Insights from rapidly expanding genomic surveillance

INTRODUCTION Investment in Africa over the past year with regard to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) sequencing has led to a massive increase in the number of sequences, which, to date, exceeds 100,000 sequences generated to track the pandemic on the continent. These sequences have profoundly affected how public health officials in Africa have navigated the COVID-19 pandemic. RATIONALE We demonstrate how the first 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 sequences from Africa have helped monitor the epidemic on the continent, how genomic surveillance expanded over the course of the pandemic, and how we adapted our sequencing methods to deal with an evolving virus. Finally, we also examine how viral lineages have spread across the continent in a phylogeographic framework to gain insights into the underlying temporal and spatial transmission dynamics for several variants of concern (VOCs). RESULTS Our results indicate that the number of countries in Africa that can sequence the virus within their own borders is growing and that this is coupled with a shorter turnaround time from the time of sampling to sequence submission. Ongoing evolution necessitated the continual updating of primer sets, and, as a result, eight primer sets were designed in tandem with viral evolution and used to ensure effective sequencing of the virus. The pandemic unfolded through multiple waves of infection that were each driven by distinct genetic lineages, with B.1-like ancestral strains associated with the first pandemic wave of infections in 2020. Successive waves on the continent were fueled by different VOCs, with Alpha and Beta cocirculating in distinct spatial patterns during the second wave and Delta and Omicron affecting the whole continent during the third and fourth waves, respectively. Phylogeographic reconstruction points toward distinct differences in viral importation and exportation patterns associated with the Alpha, Beta, Delta, and Omicron variants and subvariants, when considering both Africa versus the rest of the world and viral dissemination within the continent. Our epidemiological and phylogenetic inferences therefore underscore the heterogeneous nature of the pandemic on the continent and highlight key insights and challenges, for instance, recognizing the limitations of low testing proportions. We also highlight the early warning capacity that genomic surveillance in Africa has had for the rest of the world with the detection of new lineages and variants, the most recent being the characterization of various Omicron subvariants. CONCLUSION Sustained investment for diagnostics and genomic surveillance in Africa is needed as the virus continues to evolve. This is important not only to help combat SARS-CoV-2 on the continent but also because it can be used as a platform to help address the many emerging and reemerging infectious disease threats in Africa. In particular, capacity building for local sequencing within countries or within the continent should be prioritized because this is generally associated with shorter turnaround times, providing the most benefit to local public health authorities tasked with pandemic response and mitigation and allowing for the fastest reaction to localized outbreaks. These investments are crucial for pandemic preparedness and response and will serve the health of the continent well into the 21st century

Temperature dependence of limiting activity temperature coefficients in C18 Ester solvents - part 2

This work continued our focus on the influence of temperature on the activity coefficients of biodiesel ester/ VOC (volatile organic compound) interactions. The VOC families studied in this work were alkenes, alkynes, halogenated alkanes and amines. Solubility predictions in the form of infinite dilution activity coefficients were made using the Modified UNIFAC Dortmund group contribution model, and were computed using a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet specifically designed for this purpose. It was found that, with the exception of cyclopentadiene, alkene activity coefficients decreased slightly with increasing temperature thereby generally deviating from ideality. Solubility of alkyne interactions with unsaturated esters increased with increasing temperature, but decreased with saturated ester interactions for the terminal alkynes. With the exception of trichloromethane halogenated alkane activity coefficients decreased with increasing temperature, thus deviating from ideality. Interactions of esters with amines yielded a decrease in activity coefficients with increasing temperature, hence also deviating from ideality

Glycerol - a viable solvent for absorption of highly polar solutes II : behaviour of molecular interactions

This work focused on the potential of glycerol as a scrubbing solvent for stripping of highly polar volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from industrial waste gas streams. Results for glycerol interactions were compared to those of water. Solubility predictions in the form of infinite dilution activity coefficients were made using the Modified UNIFAC Dortmund group contribution model, which was set up on a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet specifically designed for this purpose. Activity coefficients for VOCs in water and glycerol (highly polar solvents) increased with an increase in the length of the VOC solute nonpolar tail. Furthermore, activity coefficients decreased with an increase in the degree of branching of the VOC solute. The results show that low chain length highly polar alcohol, ketone, organic acid and aldehyde solutes are very soluble in glycerol. Diols, dicarbonyl aldehydes, some ketone derivatives and the ethanolamines also show good solubility. Highly polar diesters and ester derivatives are less soluble in glycerol and water. This study has found glycerol to be a better scrubbing solvent than water in treating highly polar VOCs. However it is possible that the standard method of building up the glycerol molecule in the UNIFAC may result in under-predictions of activity coefficients and thus special group interaction parameters for glycerol are required