Mechanically and chemically robust ZIF-8 monoliths with high volumetric adsorption capacity

The resultant monoliths are mechanically robust structures and present up to 3 times higher volumetric adsorption capacities than the conventional, powder MOF.This work was funded by the EPSRC IAA Partnership Development Award (RG/75759). D.F.-J. thanks the Royal Society for funding through a University Research Fellowship. T.D.B would like to thank Trinity Hall for funding and Professor Anthony Cheetham for use of lab facilities and equipmentThis is the accepted manuscript of a paper published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A (Tian T, Velazquez-Garcia J, Bennett TD, Fairen-Jimenez D, Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2015, 3, 2999-3005, doi:10.1039/c4ta05116e). The final version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/c4ta05116e

Nanooptomechanical Transduction in a Single Crystal with 100% Photoconversion.

Materials that exhibit nanooptomechanical transduction in their single-crystal form have prospective use in light-driven molecular machinery, nanotechnology, and quantum computing. Linkage photoisomerization is typically the source of such transduction in coordination complexes, although the isomers tend to undergo only partial photoconversion. We present a nanooptomechanical transducer, trans-[Ru(SO2)(NH3)4(3-bromopyridine)]tosylate2, whose S-bound η1-SO2 isomer fully converts into an O-bound η1-OSO photoisomer that is metastable while kept at 100 K. Its 100% photoconversion is confirmed structurally via photocrystallography, while single-crystal optical absorption and Raman spectroscopies reveal its metal-to-ligand charge-transfer and temperature-dependent characteristics. This perfect optical switching affords the material good prospects for nanooptomechanical transduction with single-photon control

Firewood extraction affects carbon pools and nutrients in remnant fragments of temperate forests at the Mexican Transvolcanic Belt

Globally, remnant fragments of forests represent the main carbon reservoir of terrestrial ecosystems, but they suffer strong degradation due to uncontrolled wood extraction mainly by tree cut for household fuel use and charcoal production. The present study evaluates the degradation caused by wood extraction on carbon pools and soil nutrient dynamics in temperate forests distributed in remnant fragments located in central Mexico. Four sites with different intensity of wood extraction were chosen for measuring carbon pools and nutrient fluxes during two years. Both, aboveground carbon biomass and soil organic carbon values decreased with the intensity of forest degradation. The degraded forest (DF) showed total carbon content 55 % lower than that shown by the seminatural forest (SF). Additionally, litterfall production was reduced in DF as compared to SF; the decomposition rate of standing litter was higher in the latter site. As a consequence, DF had lower organic matter inputs to the soil than that presented by SF. Soil extractable ammonium and microbial biomass-carbon and -nitrogen were lower in DF than in SF. It was concluded that the uncontrolled wood extraction in these remnants of temperate forest in Mexico significantly reduced the carbon pools, carbon and nutrient fluxes through litterfall and consequently, the soil nutrient dynamics were disrupted

Proper motions of the HH1 jet

We describe a new method for determining proper motions of extended objects, and a pipeline developed for the application of this method. We then apply this method to an analysis of four epochs of [S~II] HST images of the HH~1 jet (covering a period of $\sim 20$~yr). We determine the proper motions of the knots along the jet, and make a reconstruction of the past ejection velocity time-variability (assuming ballistic knot motions). This reconstruction shows an "acceleration" of the ejection velocities of the jet knots, with higher velocities at more recent times. This acceleration will result in an eventual merging of the knots in $\sim 450$~yr and at a distance of $\sim 80"$ from the outflow source, close to the present-day position of HH~1.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

Pranlukast Antagonizes CD49f and Reduces Sternness in Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Cells

Introduction: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) drive the initiation, maintenance, and therapy response of breast tumors. CD49f is expressed in breast CSCs and functions in the maintenance of stemness. Thus, blockade of CD49f is a potential therapeutic approach for targeting breast CSCs. In the present study, we aimed to repurpose drugs as CD49f antagonists. Materials and Methods: We performed consensus molecular docking using a subdomain of CD49f that is critical for heterodimerization and a collection of pharmochemicals clini-cally tested. Molecular dynamics simulations were employed to further characterize drug-target binding. Using MDA-MB-231 cells, we evaluated the effects of potential CD49f antagonists on 1) cell adhesion to laminin; 2) mammosphere formation; and 3) cell viability. We analyzed the effects of the drug with better CSC-selectivity on the activation of CD49f-downstream signaling by Western blot (WB) and co-immunoprecipitation. Expressions of the stem cell markers CD44 and SOX2 were analyzed by flow cytometry and WB, respectively. Transactivation of SOX2 promoter was evaluated by luciferase reporter assays. Changes in the number of CSCs were assessed by limiting-dilution xenotransplantation. Results: Pranlukast, a drug used to treat asthma, bound to CD49f in silico and inhibited the adhesion of CD49f+ MDA-MB-231 cells to laminin, indicating that it antagonizes CD49f-containing integrins. Molecular dynamics analysis showed that pranlukast binding induces con-formational changes in CD49f that affect its interaction with β1-integrin subunit and constrained the conformational dynamics of the heterodimer. Pranlukast decreased the clonogenicity of breast cancer cells on mammosphere formation assay but had no impact on the viability of bulk tumor cells. Brief exposure of MDA-MB-231 cells to pranlukast altered CD49f-dependent signaling, reducing focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) activation. Further, pranlukast-treated cells showed decreased CD44 and SOX2 expression, SOX2 promoter transacti-vation, and in vivo tumorigenicity, supporting that this drug reduces the frequency of CSC. Conclusion: Our results support the function of pranlukast as a CD49f antagonist that reduces the CSC population in triple-negative breast cancer cells. The pharmacokinetics and toxicology of this drug have already been established, rendering a potential adjuvant therapy for breast cancer patients

Rapid detection of A. pleuropneumoniae from clinical samples using recombinase polymerase amplification

Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae (APP) is the causative agent of porcine pleuropneumonia, resulting in high economic impact worldwide. There are currently 19 known serovars of APP, with different ones being predominant in specific geographic regions. Outbreaks of pleuropneumonia, characterized by sudden respiratory difficulties and high mortality, can occur when infected pigs are brought into naïve herds, or by those carrying different serovars. Good biosecurity measures include regular diagnostic testing for surveillance purposes. Current gold standard diagnostic techniques lack sensitivity (bacterial culture), require expensive thermocycling machinery (PCR) and are time consuming (culture and PCR). Here we describe the development of an isothermal point-of-care diagnostic test - utilizing recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) for the detection of APP, targeting the species-specific apxIVA gene. Our APP-RPA diagnostic test achieved a sensitivity of 10 copies/µL using a strain of APP serovar 8, which is the most prevalent serovar in the UK. Additionally, our APP-RPA assay achieved a clinical sensitivity and specificity of 84.3% and 100%, respectively, across 61 extracted clinical samples obtained from farms located in England and Portugal. Using a small subset (n = 14) of the lung tissue samples, we achieved a clinical sensitivity and specificity of 76.9% and 100%, respectively) using lung imprints made on FTA cards tested directly in the APP- RPA reaction. Our results demonstrate that our APP-RPA assay enables a suitable rapid and sensitive screening tool for this important veterinary pathogen

Measurement report: Atmospheric new particle formation at a peri-urban site in Lille, northern France

Formation of ultrafine particles (UFPs) in the urban atmosphere is expected to be less favored than in the rural atmosphere due to the high existing particle surface area acting as a sink for newly formed particles. Despite large condensation sink (CS) values, previous comparative studies between rural and urban sites reported higher frequency of new particle formation (NPF) events over urban sites in comparison to background sites as well as higher particle formation and growth rates attributed to the higher concentration of condensable species. The present study aims at a better understanding the environmental factors favoring, or disfavoring, atmospheric NPF over Lille, a large city in the north of France, and to analyze their impact on particle number concentration using a 4-year long-term dataset. The results highlight a strong seasonal variation of NPF occurrences with a maximum frequency observed during spring (27 events) and summer (53 events). It was found that high temperature (T&gt;295 K), low relative humidity (RH &lt;45 %), and high solar radiation are ideal to observe NPF events over Lille. Relatively high CS values (i.e., ∼2×10-2 s−1) are reported during event days suggesting that high CS does not inhibit the occurrence of NPF over the ATmospheric Observations in LiLLE (ATOLL) station. Moreover, the particle growth rate was positively correlated with temperatures most probably due to higher emission of precursors. Finally, the nucleation strength factor (NSF) was calculated to highlight the impact of those NPF events on particle number concentrations. NSF reached a maximum of four in summer, evidencing a huge contribution of NPF events to particle number concentration at this time of the year.</p

Box- and peanut-shaped bulges. III. A new class of bulges: Thick Boxy Bulges

Inspecting all 1224 edge-on disk galaxies larger than 2' in the RC3 on DSS images we have found several galaxies with extraordinary bulges meeting two criteria: They are box shaped and large in respect to the diameters of their galaxies. These bulges are often disturbed, show frequently prominent irregularities and asymmetries, and some possess possible merger remnants or merging satellites. For these bulges we have introduced the term "Thick Boxy Bulges" (TBBs). About 2% of all disk galaxies (S0-Sd), respectively 4% of all galaxies with box- and peanut-shaped (b/p) bulges, belong to this class of galaxies. Using multicolour CCD and NIR data we have enlarged and followed up our sample of nearly 20 galaxies with a TBB. The disturbed morphology of a large fraction of these galaxies shows that many of the TBB galaxies are not dynamically settled. For the TBBs the extent of the box shape seems to be too large to result from a normal bar potential. Therefore we conclude that two classes of b/p bulges exist with different origins. While most (~96%) b/p bulges can be explained by bars alone, the extended boxy structures of TBBs result most likely from accreted material by infalling satellite companions (soft merging).Comment: LaTeX, 14 pages, 19 figures, accepted to be published in A&A. Figs. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 12 and 14 are available as jpg-file