Preliminary Results on Predation of Gypsy Moth Pupac during a Period of Latency in Slovakia

Proceedings : IUFRO Kanazawa 2003 "Forest Insect Population Dynamics and Host Influences"., Scedule:14－19 September 2003, Vemue: Kanazawa Citymonde Hotel, Kanazawa, Japan, Joint metting of IUFRO working groups : 7.01.02 Tree resistance to Insects | 7.03.06 Integrated management of forset defoloating insects | 7.03.07 Population dynamics of forest insects, Sponsored by: IUFRO-J | Ishikawa Prefecture | Kanazawa City | 21st-COE Program of Kanazawa University, Editors: Kamata, Naoto | Liebhold, Nadrew M. | Quiring, Dan T. | Clancy, Karen M

Thrombolysis in Stroke With Unknown Onset Based on Non-Contrast Computerized Tomography (TRUST CT).

Background Intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) in wake-up stroke (WUS) or stroke with unknown onset (SUO) has been recently proven to be safe and effective using advanced neuroimaging (magnetic resonance imaging or computerized tomography-perfusion) for patient selection. However, in most of the thrombolyzing centers advanced neuroimaging is not instantly available. We hypothesize that pragmatic non-contrast computed tomography-based IVT in WUS/SUO may be feasible and safe. Methods and Results TRUST-CT (Thrombolysis in Stroke With Unknown Onset Based on Non-Contrast Computerized Tomography) is an international multicenter registry-based study. WUS/SUO patients undergoing non-contrast computed tomography-based IVT with National Institute of Health Stroke Scale ≥4 and initial Alberta Stroke Program Early Computerized Tomography score ≥7 were included and compared with propensity score matched non-thrombolyzed WUS/SUO controls. Primary end point was the incidence of symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage; secondary end points included 24-hour National Institute of Health Stroke Scale improvement of ≥4 and modified Rankin Scale at 90 days. One hundred and seventeen WUS/SUO patients treated with non-contrast computed tomography-based IVT were included. As compared with 112 controls, the median admission National Institute of Health Stroke Scale was 10 and the median Alberta Stroke Program Early Computerized Tomography score was 10 in both groups. Four (3.4%) IVT patients and one control patient (0.9%) suffered symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage (adjusted odds ratio 7.9, 95% CI 0.65-96, P=0.1). A decrease of ≥4 National Institute of Health Stroke Scale points was observed in 67 (57.3%) of IVT patients as compared with 25 (22.3%) in controls (adjusted odds ratio 5.8, CI 3.0-11.2, P<0.001). A months, 39 (33.3%) IVT patients reached a modified Rankin Scale score of 0 or 1 versus 23 (20.5%) controls (adjusted odds ratio 1.94, CI 1.0-3.76, P=0.05). Conclusions Non-contrast computed tomography-based thrombolysis in WUS/SUO seems feasible and safe and may be effective. Randomized prospective comparisons are warranted. Clinical Trial Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/. Unique identifier: NCT03634748

Maximising the hydrogen evolution activity in organic photocatalysts by co-polymerisation

The hydrogen evolution activity of a polymeric photocatalyst was maximised by co-polymerisation, using both experimental and computational screening, for a family of 1,4-phenylene/2,5-thiophene co-polymers. The photocatalytic activity is the product of multiple material properties that are affected in different ways by the polymer composition and microstructure. For the first time, the photocatalytic activity was shown to be a function of the arrangement of the building blocks in the polymer chain as well as the overall composition. The maximum in hydrogen evolution for the co-polymer series appears to result from a trade-off between the fraction of light absorbed and the thermodynamic driving force for proton reduction and sacrificial electron donor oxidation, with the co-polymer of p-terphenyl and 2,5-thiophene showing the highest activity

Ocrelizumab versus Interferon Beta-1a in Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis

Supported by F. Hoffmann–La Roche

An evolutionary algorithm for the discovery of porous organic cages

The chemical and structural space of possible molecular materials is enormous, as they can, in principle, be built from any combination of organic building blocks. Here we have developed an evolutionary algorithm (EA) that can assist in the efficient exploration of chemical space for molecular materials, helping to guide synthesis to materials with promising applications. We demonstrate the utility of our EA to porous organic cages, predicting both promising targets and identifying the chemical features that emerge as important for a cage to be shape persistent or to adopt a particular cavity size. We identify that shape persistent cages require a low percentage of rotatable bonds in their precursors (<20%) and that the higher topicity building block in particular should use double bonds for rigidity. We can use the EA to explore what size ranges for precursors are required for achieving a given pore size in a cage and show that 16 Å pores, which are absent in the literature, should be synthetically achievable. Our EA implementation is adaptable and easily extendable, not only to target specific properties of porous organic cages, such as optimal encapsulants or molecular separation materials, but also to any easily calculable property of other molecular materials

Computational discovery of molecular C60 encapsulants with an evolutionary algorithm

Computation is playing an increasing role in the discovery of materials, including supramolecular materials such as encapsulants. In this work, a function-led computational discovery using an evolutionary algorithm is used to find potential fullerene (C60) encapsulants within the chemical space of porous organic cages. We find that the promising host cages for C60 evolve over the simulations towards systems that share features such as the correct cavity size to host C60, planar tri-topic aldehyde building blocks with a small number of rotational bonds, di-topic amine linkers with functionality on adjacent carbon atoms, high structural symmetry, and strong complex binding affinity towards C60. The proposed cages are chemically feasible and similar to cages already present in the literature, helping to increase the likelihood of the future synthetic realisation of these predictions. The presented approach is generalisable and can be tailored to target a wide range of properties in molecular material systems

Computationally-Inspired Discovery of an Unsymmetrical Porous Organic Cage

A completely unsymmetrical porous organic cage was synthesised from a C2v symmetrical building block that was identified by a computational screen. The cage was formed through a 12-fold imine condensation of a tritopic C2v symmetric trialdehyde with a ditopic C2 symmetric diamine in a [4 + 6] reaction. The cage was rigid and microporous, as predicted by the simulations, with an apparent Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area of 578 m2 g−1. The reduced symmetry of the tritopic building block relative to its topicity meant there were 36 possible structural isomers of the cage. Experimental characterisation suggests a single isomer with 12 unique imine environments, but techniques such as NMR could not conclusively identify the isomer. Computational structural and electronic analysis of the possible isomers was used to identify the most likely candidates, and hence to construct a 3-dimensional model of the amorphous solid. The rational design of unsymmetrical cages using building blocks with reduced symmetry offers new possibilities in controlling the degree of crystallinity, porosity, and solubility, of self-assembled materials

Bark beetles in the Tatra Mountains. International research 1998-2005 - an overview

This paper is a review of fundamental information on bark beetles and their interactions with several predisposing factors (air pollution, drought/temperature interactions, windthrows, management activities) that are thought to contribute to the outbreaks in the High Tatra Mountains. The findings of many research projects indicate that the impact of air pollution on bark beetle populations is indirect and complex and that the disturbances in the physiology and natural resistance of trees may be of crucial importance to bark beetle population dynamics. An active forest protection approach is needed to be applied to the secondary Norway spruce forests affected in the past by human activity. Bark beetle populations in natural and near-natural forests (mainly in the upper montane zone) are regulated by natural mechanisms; bark beetles are therefore a natural factor contributing to forest development, including the transition of future generations of spruce