The influence of water/rock − water/clay interactions and mixing in the salinization processes of groundwater

Study region: Groundwater from the Precambrian Shield rock and Pleistocene deposit aquifers in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean region ( >13 000 km2) in the province of Quebec, Canada. Study focus: Interpretations are based on the combination of hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) results, principal component analysis (PCA), binary plots investigations ([Na+, Ca2+, Br−] vs. Cl−; Ca2+ vs. HCO3−; Ca2+ vs. Na+) and Piper diagram investigations. The HCA and PCA was applied on 321 samples to specifically enable the identification of two very distinct salinization paths that produce the brackish groundwater in the study area. New hydrological insights for the region: The results show that each of the two salinization paths exerts a major and different influence on the chemical signature of groundwater. Groundwater present in the crystalline bedrock naturally evolve from a recharge-type groundwater (Ca-HCO3-dominant) to a type of brackish groundwater (Ca-(Na)-Cl-dominant) due to water/rock interactions (plagioclase weathering and mixing with deep basement fluids). Groundwater evolution in confined aquifers is dominated by water/clay interactions. The term water/clay interactions was introduced in this paper to account for a combination of processes: ion exchange and/or leaching of salt water trapped in the regional aquitard. Mixing with fossil seawater might also increase the groundwater salinity. PCA revealed that Ca2+, Sr2+, Ba2+ are highly correlated with groundwater from bedrock aquifers, while Mg2+, SiO2, K+, SO42− and HCO3− are more representative of the regional confining conditions

Responsible Conduct of Research in Research-Creation: Moving into Uncharted Terrain

Responsible conduct of research (RCR) is ubiquitous, and present in most areas of research. One area that has received little attention is Research-Creation (RC): • an emergent eld at the interface of academic research and creative activities • in Quebec, Canada, RC is de ned as “research activities or approaches that foster the creation or interpretation/ performance of literary or artistic works of all types” Researcher-Creators – who are at the same time researchers and practising artists, musicians, or designers – may be faced with very di erent issues or challenges from colleagues in the rest of academia. • How do researcher-creators reconcile their dual obligations to creation and to research? • Are the usual research ethics guidelines (e.g., TCPS2, ICH relevant and how do they apply? • How do the creative/artistic dimensions of research a ect evaluations by grant committees and REBs? To better understand how RCR issues are articulated in the very heterogeneous RC community, we combine here results from a literature review and an international survey on RCR in RC.FRQ Action concerté

Oligohydramnios compromises lung cells size and interferes with epithelial–endothelial development

Funded by National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health. Grant Number: P30GM114750 Department of Pediatrics Kilguss Research Core of Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode IslandPeer reviewedPostprin

Portrait of blood-derived extracellular vesicles in patients with Parkinson's disease.

The production of extracellular vesicles (EV) is a ubiquitous feature of eukaryotic cells but pathological events can affect their formation and constituents. We sought to characterize the nature, profile and protein signature of EV in the plasma of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients and how they correlate to clinical measures of the disease. EV were initially collected from cohorts of PD (n = 60; Controls, n = 37) and Huntington's disease (HD) patients (Pre-manifest, n = 11; manifest, n = 52; Controls, n = 55) - for comparative purposes in individuals with another chronic neurodegenerative condition - and exhaustively analyzed using flow cytometry, electron microscopy and proteomics. We then collected 42 samples from an additional independent cohort of PD patients to confirm our initial results. Through a series of iterative steps, we optimized an approach for defining the EV signature in PD. We found that the number of EV derived specifically from erythrocytes segregated with UPDRS scores corresponding to different disease stages. Proteomic analysis further revealed that there is a specific signature of proteins that could reliably differentiate control subjects from mild and moderate PD patients. Taken together, we have developed/identified an EV blood-based assay that has the potential to be used as a biomarker for PD

Three long period transiting giant planets from TESS

We report the discovery and orbital characterization of three new transiting warm giant planets. These systems were initially identified as presenting single transit events in the light curves generated from the full frame images of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Follow-up radial velocity measurements and additional light curves were used to determine the orbital periods and confirm the planetary nature of the candidates. The planets orbit slightly metal-rich late F- and early G-type stars. We find that TOI 4406b has a mass of $M_P$= 0.30 $\pm$ 0.04 $M_J$ , a radius of $R_P$= 1.00 $\pm$ 0.02 $R_J$ , and a low eccentricity orbit (e=0.15 $\pm$ 0.05) with a period of P= 30.08364 $\pm$ 0.00005 d . TOI 2338b has a mass of $M_P$= 5.98 $\pm$ 0.20 $M_J$ , a radius of $R_P$= 1.00 $\pm$ 0.01 $R_J$ , and a highly eccentric orbit (e= 0.676 $\pm$ 0.002 ) with a period of P= 22.65398 $\pm$ 0.00002 d . Finally, TOI 2589b has a mass of $M_P$= 3.50 $\pm$ 0.10 $M_J$ , a radius of $R_P$= 1.08 $\pm$ 0.03 $R_J$ , and an eccentric orbit (e = 0.522 $\pm$ 0.006 ) with a period of P= 61.6277 $\pm$ 0.0002 d . TOI 4406b and TOI 2338b are enriched in metals compared to their host stars, while the structure of TOI 2589b is consistent with having similar metal enrichment to its host star.Comment: 24 pages, 16 figures, accepted in A

A Search for Technosignatures Around 11,680 Stars with the Green Bank Telescope at 1.15-1.73 GHz

We conducted a search for narrowband radio signals over four observing sessions in 2020-2023 with the L-band receiver (1.15-1.73 GHz) of the 100 m diameter Green Bank Telescope. We pointed the telescope in the directions of 62 TESS Objects of Interest, capturing radio emissions from a total of ~11,680 stars and planetary systems in the ~9 arcminute beam of the telescope. All detections were either automatically rejected or visually inspected and confirmed to be of anthropogenic nature. In this work, we also quantified the end-to-end efficiency of radio SETI pipelines with a signal injection and recovery analysis. The UCLA SETI pipeline recovers 94.0% of the injected signals over the usable frequency range of the receiver and 98.7% of the injections when regions of dense RFI are excluded. In another pipeline that uses incoherent sums of 51 consecutive spectra, the recovery rate is ~15 times smaller at ~6%. The pipeline efficiency affects calculations of transmitter prevalence and SETI search volume. Accordingly, we developed an improved Drake Figure of Merit and a formalism to place upper limits on transmitter prevalence that take the pipeline efficiency and transmitter duty cycle into account. Based on our observations, we can state at the 95% confidence level that fewer than 6.6% of stars within 100 pc host a transmitter that is detectable in our search (EIRP > 1e13 W). For stars within 20,000 ly, the fraction of stars with detectable transmitters (EIRP > 5e16 W) is at most 3e-4. Finally, we showed that the UCLA SETI pipeline natively detects the signals detected with AI techniques by Ma et al. (2023).Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, submitted to AJ, revise

Rehabilitation needs for older adults with stroke living at home: perceptions of four populations

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Many people who have suffered a stroke require rehabilitation to help them resume their previous activities and roles in their own environment, but only some of them receive inpatient or even outpatient rehabilitation services. Partial and unmet rehabilitation needs may ultimately lead to a loss of functional autonomy, which increases utilization of health services, number of hospitalizations and early institutionalization, leading to a significant psychological and financial burden on the patients, their families and the health care system. The aim of this study was to explore partially met and unmet rehabilitation needs of older adults who had suffered a stroke and who live in the community. The emphasis was put on needs that act as obstacles to social participation in terms of personal factors, environmental factors and life habits, from the point of view of four target populations.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Using the focus group technique, we met four types of experts living in three geographic areas of the province of Québec (Canada): older people with stroke, caregivers, health professionals and health care managers, for a total of 12 groups and 72 participants. The audio recordings of the meetings were transcribed and NVivo software was used to manage the data. The process of reducing, categorizing and analyzing the data was conducted using themes from the Disability Creation Process model.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Rehabilitation needs persist for nine capabilities (e.g. related to behaviour or motor activities), nine factors related to the environment (e.g. type of teaching, adaptation and rehabilitation) and 11 life habits (e.g. nutrition, interpersonal relationships). The caregivers and health professionals identified more unmet needs and insisted on an individualized rehabilitation. Older people with stroke and the health care managers had a more global view of rehabilitation needs and emphasized the availability of resources.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Better knowledge of partially met or unmet rehabilitation needs expressed by the different types of people involved should lead to increased attention being paid to education for caregivers, orientation of caregivers towards resources in the community, and follow-up of patients' needs in terms of adjustment and rehabilitation, whether for improving their skills or for carrying out their activities of daily living.</p

A pair of Sub-Neptunes transiting the bright K-dwarf TOI-1064 characterised with CHEOPS

Funding: TGW, ACC, and KH acknowledge support from STFC consolidated grant numbers ST/R000824/1 and ST/V000861/1, and UKSA grant ST/R003203/1.We report the discovery and characterization of a pair of sub-Neptunes transiting the bright K-dwarf TOI-1064 (TIC 79748331), initially detected in the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) photometry. To characterize the system, we performed and retrieved the CHaracterising ExOPlanets Satellite (CHEOPS), TESS, and ground-based photometry, the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) high-resolution spectroscopy, and Gemini speckle imaging. We characterize the host star and determine Teff,⋆=4734±67K⁠, R⋆=0.726±0.007R⊙⁠, and M⋆=0.748±0.032M⊙⁠. We present a novel detrending method based on point spread function shape-change modelling and demonstrate its suitability to correct flux variations in CHEOPS data. We confirm the planetary nature of both bodies and find that TOI-1064 b has an orbital period of Pb = 6.44387 ± 0.00003 d, a radius of Rb = 2.59 ± 0.04 R⊕, and a mass of Mb=13.5+1.7−1.8 M⊕, whilst TOI-1064 c has an orbital period of Pc=12.22657+0.00005−0.00004 d, a radius of Rc = 2.65 ± 0.04 R⊕, and a 3σ upper mass limit of 8.5 M⊕. From the high-precision photometry we obtain radius uncertainties of ∼1.6 per cent, allowing us to conduct internal structure and atmospheric escape modelling. TOI-1064 b is one of the densest, well-characterized sub-Neptunes, with a tenuous atmosphere that can be explained by the loss of a primordial envelope following migration through the protoplanetary disc. It is likely that TOI-1064 c has an extended atmosphere due to the tentative low density, however further radial velocities are needed to confirm this scenario and the similar radii, different masses nature of this system. The high-precision data and modelling of TOI-1064 b are important for planets in this region of mass–radius space, and it allow us to identify a trend in bulk density–stellar metallicity for massive sub-Neptunes that may hint at the formation of this population of planets.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Effect of Hydrocortisone on Mortality and Organ Support in Patients With Severe COVID-19: The REMAP-CAP COVID-19 Corticosteroid Domain Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Evidence regarding corticosteroid use for severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is limited. Objective: To determine whether hydrocortisone improves outcome for patients with severe COVID-19. Design, Setting, and Participants: An ongoing adaptive platform trial testing multiple interventions within multiple therapeutic domains, for example, antiviral agents, corticosteroids, or immunoglobulin. Between March 9 and June 17, 2020, 614 adult patients with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 were enrolled and randomized within at least 1 domain following admission to an intensive care unit (ICU) for respiratory or cardiovascular organ support at 121 sites in 8 countries. Of these, 403 were randomized to open-label interventions within the corticosteroid domain. The domain was halted after results from another trial were released. Follow-up ended August 12, 2020. Interventions: The corticosteroid domain randomized participants to a fixed 7-day course of intravenous hydrocortisone (50 mg or 100 mg every 6 hours) (n = 143), a shock-dependent course (50 mg every 6 hours when shock was clinically evident) (n = 152), or no hydrocortisone (n = 108). Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary end point was organ support-free days (days alive and free of ICU-based respiratory or cardiovascular support) within 21 days, where patients who died were assigned -1 day. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model that included all patients enrolled with severe COVID-19, adjusting for age, sex, site, region, time, assignment to interventions within other domains, and domain and intervention eligibility. Superiority was defined as the posterior probability of an odds ratio greater than 1 (threshold for trial conclusion of superiority >99%). Results: After excluding 19 participants who withdrew consent, there were 384 patients (mean age, 60 years; 29% female) randomized to the fixed-dose (n = 137), shock-dependent (n = 146), and no (n = 101) hydrocortisone groups; 379 (99%) completed the study and were included in the analysis. The mean age for the 3 groups ranged between 59.5 and 60.4 years; most patients were male (range, 70.6%-71.5%); mean body mass index ranged between 29.7 and 30.9; and patients receiving mechanical ventilation ranged between 50.0% and 63.5%. For the fixed-dose, shock-dependent, and no hydrocortisone groups, respectively, the median organ support-free days were 0 (IQR, -1 to 15), 0 (IQR, -1 to 13), and 0 (-1 to 11) days (composed of 30%, 26%, and 33% mortality rates and 11.5, 9.5, and 6 median organ support-free days among survivors). The median adjusted odds ratio and bayesian probability of superiority were 1.43 (95% credible interval, 0.91-2.27) and 93% for fixed-dose hydrocortisone, respectively, and were 1.22 (95% credible interval, 0.76-1.94) and 80% for shock-dependent hydrocortisone compared with no hydrocortisone. Serious adverse events were reported in 4 (3%), 5 (3%), and 1 (1%) patients in the fixed-dose, shock-dependent, and no hydrocortisone groups, respectively. Conclusions and Relevance: Among patients with severe COVID-19, treatment with a 7-day fixed-dose course of hydrocortisone or shock-dependent dosing of hydrocortisone, compared with no hydrocortisone, resulted in 93% and 80% probabilities of superiority with regard to the odds of improvement in organ support-free days within 21 days. However, the trial was stopped early and no treatment strategy met prespecified criteria for statistical superiority, precluding definitive conclusions. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02735707