Optimization and Synthesis of Silver Nanoparticles Embedded Within a Porous Substrate for Raman Spectroscopy

Raman spectroscopy is a promising method for detection of a wide range of water contaminants. Raman spectroscopy’s growing list of applications relies upon signal enhancement achieved in recent years. A test strip or substrate designed to optimize Raman spectra, capable of withholding water and enhancing signal, would be a useful tool for applications including water quality tests. Signal enhancement may be achieved by the addition of silver nanoparticles (NPs) into a three-dimensional structure of cellulose nanofibers (CNF). The magnitude of signal enhancement may be related to nanoparticle size and morphology, and so control over the synthesis of silver nanoparticles could prove essential to this emerging technology. Particle diameter may be controlled by careful selection and concentration adjustment of the reducing agent in addition to varying the reaction’s duration. In addition to the resulting size, the reliability of the signal would rely upon its reproducibility, which would in turn be affected by the size distribution of nanoparticles produced, as well as their even dispersion within the test strip. To produce a nanoparticle engineered for use within a cellulose nanofiber substrate, a number of these parameters were investigated

“You Got To Know Us”: A Hopeful Model for Music Education in Urban Schools

Urban schools, and the students and teachers within, are often characterized by a metanarrative of deficit and crisis, causing the complex realities of urban education to remain unclear behind a wall of assumptions and stereotypes. Within music education, urban schools have received limited but increasing attention from researchers. However, voices from practitioners are often missing from this dialogue, and the extant scholarly dialogue has had a very limited effect on music teacher education. In this article, five music educators with a combined thirty years of experience in urban schools examine aspects of their experiences in the light of critical pedagogy in an attempt to disrupt the metanarrative of deficit, crisis, and decline that continues to surround urban music education. By promoting the lived-stories of successful urban music students, teachers, and programs, the authors hope to situate urban music education as a site of renewal, reform, and meaningful learning. This paper emerged from a panel discussion regarding promising practices in secondary general music with urban youth that took place at the New Directions in Music Education conference held at Michigan State University in October of 2011

Emergency Care Handover (ECHO study) across care boundaries : the need for joint decision making and consideration of psychosocial history

Background: Inadequate handover in emergency care is a threat to patient safety. Handover across care boundaries poses particular problems due to different professional, organisational and cultural backgrounds. While there have been many suggestions for standardisation of handover content, relatively little is known about the verbal behaviours that shape handover conversations. This paper explores both what is communicated (content) and how this is communicated (verbal behaviours) during different types of handover conversations across care boundaries in emergency care. Methods: Three types of interorganisational (ambulance service to emergency department (ED) in ‘resuscitation’ and ‘majors’ areas) and interdepartmental handover conversations (referrals to acute medicine) were audio recorded in three National Health Service EDs. Handover conversations were segmented into utterances. Frequency counts for content and language forms were derived for each type of handover using Discourse Analysis. Verbal behaviours were identified using Conversation Analysis. Results: 203 handover conversations were analysed. Handover conversations involving ambulance services were predominantly descriptive (60%–65% of utterances), unidirectional and focused on patient presentation (75%–80%). Referrals entailed more collaborative talk focused on the decision to admit and immediate care needs. Across all types of handover, only 1.5%–5% of handover conversation content related to the patient's social and psychological needs. Conclusions: Handover may entail both descriptive talk aimed at information transfer and collaborative talk aimed at joint decision-making. Standardisation of handover needs to accommodate collaborative aspects and should incorporate communication of information relevant to the patient's social and psychological needs to establish appropriate care arrangements at the earliest opportunity

Changes in postural sway and gait characteristics as a consequence of anterior load carriage

INTRODUCTION: Previous research has indicated that carrying a backpack elicits an increase in postural sway during quiet standing (Heller et al. 2009) and stride-to-stride gait variability during walking (Qu and Yeo, 2011). Despite these initial enquires into the effects of carrying external loads on postural stability, little research has examined the effects of anterior load carriage. This gap in the literature is important because many daily (e.g. carrying a laundry basket) and occupational (e.g. courier delivery) activities require loads to be carried in front of the body. Within this context, to further develop the external load-postural stability database we examined the effects of increasing loads carried anteriorly on postural sway and gait parameters in healthy adults. METHODS: Twenty-nine subjects (19 males, 10 females, age = 33.8 ± 12.7 years, height = 1.73 ± 0.07 m, mass = 75.1 ± 13.7 kg) were assessed in four conditions; (1) carrying no load (CON), (2) carrying a load with no added weight (i.e. empty box), (3) carrying a load with 5% body mass, and (4) carrying a load with 10% body mass. Anteroposterior and mediolateral centre of pressure (COP) displacement (cm) and the mean COP velocity (cm·s-1) were used to characterise postural sway. Coefficient of variation of the stride length, stride time and double support time were calculated from 1 min of treadmill walking at a preferred pace for gait assessment. RESULTS: When compared to CON, anteroposterior COP displacement increased with the addition of a 5% (P < 0.001, d = 0.74) and 10% (P < 0.001, d = 1.59) load. The anteroposterior COP displacement also increased from the 5% to the 10% load (P < 0.001, d = 0.75). The addition of the 10% load increased stride time (d = 1.71) and stride length (d = 1.20) variability when compared to CON (P < 0.001). Additionally, stride length variability was significantly greater during 10% compared to 0% (P = 0.004, d = 1.08) and 5% (P = 0.001, d = 1.01) conditions. CONCLUSION: In summary, the increase in postural sway and gait variability with added weight is dependent on the magnitude of the load, where the greater the load, the greater the effect on static and dynamic stability. Changes in the mass-inertia characteristics of the body is one of several mechanisms that have been offered to explain the increased postural sway and gait variability when holding an external load. Given that increased postural sway (Johansson et al. 2017) and gait variability (Verghese et al. 2009) are indicators of increased fall-risk, it can be inferred from the present findings that carrying heavy loads in front of the body increases the likelihood of fall-related incidents

Corals of the genus Porites are a locally abundant component of the epibiont community on mangrove prop roots at Calabash Caye, Turneffe Atoll, Belize

Mangroves are generally regarded as inhospitable for corals, but recent reports suggest they provide ecological refuge for some species. We surveyed diverse mangrove habitats on Turneffe Atoll, Belize, documenting 127 colonies of Porites divaricata (Thin Finger Coral) along 1858 m of mangrove prop roots at Calabash Caye and a much more diverse coral assemblage at Crooked Creek. At Calabash, corals were highly clumped, and varied widely in size and morphology, including large well-arborized colonies, encrusting forms with few branches, and new recruits with no branches, suggesting an age-structuredpopulation exhibiting extensive morphological plasticity. The data described here contributeto an emerging picture of mangroves as potentially critical habitat for many Caribbeancoral species.Accepted manuscrip

Black Hole Genealogy: Identifying Hierarchical Mergers with Gravitational Waves

In dense stellar environments, the merger products of binary black hole mergers may undergo additional mergers. These hierarchical mergers are naturally expected to have higher masses than the first generation of black holes made from stars. The components of hierarchical mergers are expected to have significant characteristic spins, imprinted by the orbital angular momentum of the previous mergers. However, since the population properties of first-generation black holes are uncertain, it is difficult to know if any given merger is first-generation or hierarchical. We use observations of gravitational waves to reconstruct the binary black hole mass and spin spectrum of a population including the possibility of hierarchical mergers. We employ a phenomenological model that captures the properties of merging binary black holes from simulations of globular clusters. Inspired by recent work on the formation of low-spin black holes, we include a zero-spin subpopulation. We analyze binary black holes from LIGO and Virgo's first two observing runs, and find that this catalog is consistent with having no hierarchical mergers. We find that the most massive system in this catalog, GW170729, is mostly likely a first-generation merger, having a 4% probability of being a hierarchical merger assuming a 5 × 10⁵ M_⊙ globular cluster mass. Using our model, we find that 99% of first-generation black holes in coalescing binaries have masses below 44 M_⊙, and the fraction of binaries with near-zero component spins is less than 0.16 (90% probability). Upcoming observations will determine if hierarchical mergers are a common source of gravitational waves

Genetic screening in sporadic ALS and FTD.

The increasing complexity of the genetic landscape in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) presents a significant resource and physician training challenge. At least 10% of those diagnosed with ALS or FTD are known to carry an autosomal dominant genetic mutation. There is no consensus on what constitutes a positive family history, and ascertainment is unreliable for many reasons. However, symptomatic individuals often wish to understand as much as possible about the cause of their disease, and to share this knowledge with their family. While the right of an individual not to know is a key aspect of patient autonomy, and despite the absence of definitive therapy, many newly diagnosed individuals are likely to elect for genetic testing if offered. It is incumbent on the practitioner to ensure that they are adequately informed, counselled and supported in this decision

Changes in postural sway and gait characteristics as a consequence of anterior load carriage

BACKGROUND: Anterior load carriage represents a common daily and occupational activity. Carrying loads in front of the body could potentially increase instability during standing and walking. RESEARCH QUESTION: This study examined the effects of anterior load carriage on postural sway and gait parameters in healthy adults. METHODS: Twenty-nine participants (19 males, 10 females, age = 33.8 ± 12.7 years, height = 1.73 ± 0.07 m, mass = 75.1 ± 13.7 kg) were assessed in four conditions; (1) carrying no load (CON), (2) carrying a load with no added weight (i.e. empty box), (3) carrying a load with 5% body mass, and (4) carrying a load with 10% body mass. Anteroposterior and mediolateral centre of pressure (COP) displacement (cm) and the mean COP velocity (cm s-1) were used to characterise postural sway. Coefficient of variation of the stride length, stride time and double support time were calculated from 1 min of treadmill walking at a preferred pace for gait assessment. RESULTS: The addition of the 10% load elicited an increase in anteroposterior COP displacement when compared to CON (d = 1.59), 0% (d = 1.50), and 5% (d = 0.75) (P < 0.001). The addition of the 10% load increased stride time (d = 1.71) and stride length (d = 1.20) variability when compared to CON (P < 0.001). SIGNIFICANCE: In summary, the increase in postural sway and gait variability with added weight is dependent on the magnitude of the load, where the greater the load, the greater the effect on static and dynamic stability. Anterior load carriage potentially increases the risk of fall-related injuries

Therapeutic strategies for spinal muscular atrophy: SMN and beyond

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a devastating neuromuscular disorder characterized by loss of motor neurons and muscle atrophy, generally presenting in childhood. SMA is caused by low levels of the survival motor neuron protein (SMN) due to inactivating mutations in the encoding gene SMN1 A second duplicated gene, SMN2, produces very little but sufficient functional protein for survival. Therapeutic strategies to increase SMN are in clinical trials, and the first SMN2-directed antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) therapy has recently been licensed. However, several factors suggest that complementary strategies may be needed for the long-term maintenance of neuromuscular and other functions in SMA patients. Pre-clinical SMA models demonstrate that the requirement for SMN protein is highest when the structural connections of the neuromuscular system are being established, from late fetal life throughout infancy. Augmenting SMN may not address the slow neurodegenerative process underlying progressive functional decline beyond childhood in less severe types of SMA. Furthermore, individuals receiving SMN-based treatments may be vulnerable to delayed symptoms if rescue of the neuromuscular system is incomplete. Finally, a large number of older patients living with SMA do not fulfill the present criteria for inclusion in gene therapy and ASO clinical trials, and may not benefit from SMN-inducing treatments. Therefore, a comprehensive whole-lifespan approach to SMA therapy is required that includes both SMN-dependent and SMN-independent strategies that treat the CNS and periphery. Here, we review the range of non-SMN pathways implicated in SMA pathophysiology and discuss how various model systems can serve as valuable tools for SMA drug discovery