New potential carbon emission reduction enterprises in China: deep geological storage of CO2 emitted through industrial usage of coal in China

Deep geological storage of carbon dioxide (CO2) could offer an essential solution to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from the continued use of fossil fuels. Currently, CO2 capture is both costly and energy intensive; it represents about 60% of the cost of the total carbon capture and storage (CCS) chain which is causing a bottleneck in advancement of CCS in China. This paper proposes capturing CO2 from coal chemical plants where the CO2 is high purity and relatively cheap to collect, thus offering an early opportunity for industrial-scale full-chain CCS implementation. The total amount of high concentration CO2 that will be emitted (or is being emitted) by the coal chemical factories approved by the National Development and Reform Commission described in this paper is 42 million tonnes. If all eight projects could utilize CCS, it would be of great significance for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in China. Basins which may provide storage sites for captured CO2 in North China are characterized by large sedimentary thicknesses and several sets of reservoir-caprock strata. Some oil fields are nearing depletion and a sub-set of these are potentially suitable for CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and CCS demonstration but all these still require detailed geological characterization. The short distance between the high concentration CO2 sources and potential storage sites should reduce transport costs and complications. The authors believe these high purity sources coupled with EOR or aquifer storage could offer China an opportunity to lead development in this globally beneficial CCS optio

Increasing Short-Stay Unplanned Hospital Admissions among Children in England; Time Trends Analysis '97-'06

BACKGROUND: Timely care by general practitioners in the community keeps children out of hospital and provides better continuity of care. Yet in the UK, access to primary care has diminished since 2004 when changes in general practitioners' contracts enabled them to 'opt out' of providing out-of-hours care and since then unplanned pediatric hospital admission rates have escalated, particularly through emergency departments. We hypothesised that any increase in isolated short stay admissions for childhood illness might reflect failure to manage these cases in the community over a 10 year period spanning these changes. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We conducted a population based time trends study of major causes of hospital admission in children 2 days. By 2006, 67.3% of all unplanned admissions were isolated short stays <2 days. The increases in admission rates were greater for common non-infectious than infectious causes of admissions. CONCLUSIONS: Short stay unplanned hospital admission rates in young children in England have increased substantially in recent years and are not accounted for by reductions in length of in-hospital stay. The majority are isolated short stay admissions for minor illness episodes that could be better managed by primary care in the community and may be evidence of a failure of primary care services

Effects of Gruel Feeding and Oral Dextrose on the Survivability of Pigs After Weaning

Two experiments were conducted using 3,087 (Exp. 1) and 988 (Exp. 2) pigs to determine the effect of gruel feeding (Exp. 1) and administering oral dextrose (Exp. 2) on pig survivability after weaning. Upon arrival to the nursery, the smallest 10% of pigs were selected and randomly placed in designated pens with 61 to 108 pigs per pen. Pens of small pigs were assigned to 1 of 2 treatments in a completely randomized design. Treatments consisted of gruel feeding two or four times per day starting 14-d post-placement. At each gruel feeding, approximately 2.5 lb of solid feed was added to a round Rotecna bowl (Rotecna S.A., Agramunt, Spain) located at the front of the pen. Water was added to feed at a decreasing rate over time such that d 0 to 5, 6 to 10, and 11 to 14 the ratio of water to feed was 3:1, 1:1, and 1:3, respectively. In Exp. 2, every other pig removed from general population or pens of small pigs for welfare considerations (lameness, sick, or fallback) received a single 10 mL oral dose of a 50% dextrose solution (Vet One, MWI Animal Health, Boise, ID), as a source of glucose, before being placed in a removal pen. All removed pigs were tagged and weighed, blood glucose measured prior to and 30 min after entering removal pens, and their body temperature recorded. Overall, gruel feeding the small pigs two or four times per day for 14-d post-placement did not influence (P \u3e 0.10) mortality from weaning to the end of gruel feeding (3.78 vs. 4.25%, respectively). Likewise, dextrose administration did not influence (P \u3e 0.10) pig mortality after removal to approximately d 38 after weaning (21.4 vs. 23.4% respectively), even though blood glucose levels increased (P \u3c 0.001) for pigs administered dextrose compared to pigs not administered dextrose (increased by 11.4 vs. 19.1 mg/dL). An interaction was observed for blood glucose and body temperature (P \u3c 0.001). Pigs with a blood glucose less than 70 mg/dL had increased mortality as body temperature at removal increased. In contrast, pigs with a blood glucose between 70 and 120 mg/dL or greater than 120 mg/dL had decreased mortality as body temperature increased. Pigs weighing less than 10 lb at removal had an increased mortality (P \u3c 0.001) compared to pigs weighing greater than 10 lb at removal. In summary, gruel feeding four times per day vs. two times per day or providing removed pigs glucose supplementation did not improve survivability of pigs after weaning. Additionally, removed pigs with low body weight, body temperature below or above the normal range, or high blood glucose had decreased survivability

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

Functional antibody and T-cell immunity following SARS-CoV-2 infection, including by variants of concern, in patients with cancer: the CAPTURE study

Patients with cancer have higher COVID-19 morbidity and mortality. Here we present the prospective CAPTURE study (NCT03226886) integrating longitudinal immune profiling with clinical annotation. Of 357 patients with cancer, 118 were SARS-CoV-2-positive, 94 were symptomatic and 2 patients died of COVID-19. In this cohort, 83% patients had S1-reactive antibodies, 82% had neutralizing antibodies against WT, whereas neutralizing antibody titers (NAbT) against the Alpha, Beta, and Delta variants were substantially reduced. Whereas S1-reactive antibody levels decreased in 13% of patients, NAbT remained stable up to 329 days. Patients also had detectable SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells and CD4+ responses correlating with S1-reactive antibody levels, although patients with hematological malignancies had impaired immune responses that were disease and treatment-specific, but presented compensatory cellular responses, further supported by clinical. Overall, these findings advance the understanding of the nature and duration of immune response to SARS-CoV-2 in patients with cancer

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

Gene expression variability across cells and species shapes innate immunity.

As the first line of defence against pathogens, cells mount an innate immune response, which varies widely from cell to cell. The response must be potent but carefully controlled to avoid self-damage. How these constraints have shaped the evolution of innate immunity remains poorly understood. Here we characterize the innate immune response's transcriptional divergence between species and variability in expression among cells. Using bulk and single-cell transcriptomics in fibroblasts and mononuclear phagocytes from different species, challenged with immune stimuli, we map the architecture of the innate immune response. Transcriptionally diverging genes, including those that encode cytokines and chemokines, vary across cells and have distinct promoter structures. Conversely, genes that are involved in the regulation of this response, such as those that encode transcription factors and kinases, are conserved between species and display low cell-to-cell variability in expression. We suggest that this expression pattern, which is observed across species and conditions, has evolved as a mechanism for fine-tuned regulation to achieve an effective but balanced response

Identification of Genomic Regions Associated with Phenotypic Variation between Dog Breeds using Selection Mapping

Peer reviewe

Multiorgan MRI findings after hospitalisation with COVID-19 in the UK (C-MORE): a prospective, multicentre, observational cohort study

Introduction: The multiorgan impact of moderate to severe coronavirus infections in the post-acute phase is still poorly understood. We aimed to evaluate the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities after hospitalisation with COVID-19, evaluate their determinants, and explore associations with patient-related outcome measures. Methods: In a prospective, UK-wide, multicentre MRI follow-up study (C-MORE), adults (aged ≥18 years) discharged from hospital following COVID-19 who were included in Tier 2 of the Post-hospitalisation COVID-19 study (PHOSP-COVID) and contemporary controls with no evidence of previous COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibody negative) underwent multiorgan MRI (lungs, heart, brain, liver, and kidneys) with quantitative and qualitative assessment of images and clinical adjudication when relevant. Individuals with end-stage renal failure or contraindications to MRI were excluded. Participants also underwent detailed recording of symptoms, and physiological and biochemical tests. The primary outcome was the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities (two or more organs) relative to controls, with further adjustments for potential confounders. The C-MORE study is ongoing and is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04510025. Findings: Of 2710 participants in Tier 2 of PHOSP-COVID, 531 were recruited across 13 UK-wide C-MORE sites. After exclusions, 259 C-MORE patients (mean age 57 years [SD 12]; 158 [61%] male and 101 [39%] female) who were discharged from hospital with PCR-confirmed or clinically diagnosed COVID-19 between March 1, 2020, and Nov 1, 2021, and 52 non-COVID-19 controls from the community (mean age 49 years [SD 14]; 30 [58%] male and 22 [42%] female) were included in the analysis. Patients were assessed at a median of 5·0 months (IQR 4·2–6·3) after hospital discharge. Compared with non-COVID-19 controls, patients were older, living with more obesity, and had more comorbidities. Multiorgan abnormalities on MRI were more frequent in patients than in controls (157 [61%] of 259 vs 14 [27%] of 52; p&lt;0·0001) and independently associated with COVID-19 status (odds ratio [OR] 2·9 [95% CI 1·5–5·8]; padjusted=0·0023) after adjusting for relevant confounders. Compared with controls, patients were more likely to have MRI evidence of lung abnormalities (p=0·0001; parenchymal abnormalities), brain abnormalities (p&lt;0·0001; more white matter hyperintensities and regional brain volume reduction), and kidney abnormalities (p=0·014; lower medullary T1 and loss of corticomedullary differentiation), whereas cardiac and liver MRI abnormalities were similar between patients and controls. Patients with multiorgan abnormalities were older (difference in mean age 7 years [95% CI 4–10]; mean age of 59·8 years [SD 11·7] with multiorgan abnormalities vs mean age of 52·8 years [11·9] without multiorgan abnormalities; p&lt;0·0001), more likely to have three or more comorbidities (OR 2·47 [1·32–4·82]; padjusted=0·0059), and more likely to have a more severe acute infection (acute CRP &gt;5mg/L, OR 3·55 [1·23–11·88]; padjusted=0·025) than those without multiorgan abnormalities. Presence of lung MRI abnormalities was associated with a two-fold higher risk of chest tightness, and multiorgan MRI abnormalities were associated with severe and very severe persistent physical and mental health impairment (PHOSP-COVID symptom clusters) after hospitalisation. Interpretation: After hospitalisation for COVID-19, people are at risk of multiorgan abnormalities in the medium term. Our findings emphasise the need for proactive multidisciplinary care pathways, with the potential for imaging to guide surveillance frequency and therapeutic stratification