Retractable Visual Indicator Assembly

A retractable indicator assembly may be mounted on a container which transmits air through the container and removes deleterious gases with an activated charcoal medium in the container. The assembly includes: an elongate indicator housing has a chamber therein; a male adaptor with an external threads is used for sealing engagement with the container; a plug located at the upper end of the housing; a housing that includes a transparent wall portion for viewing at least a portion of the chamber; a litmus indicator, moveable by a retractable rod from a retracted position within the container to an extended position within the chamber of the housing; and an outer housing that is secured to the upper end of the rod, and protects the indicator housing while the litmus indicator is in its normally retracted position. The assembly may be manually manipulated between its extended position wherein the litmus indicator may be viewed through the transparent wall of the indicator housing, and a retracted position wherein the outer housing encloses the indicator housing and engages the exterior of the container

Microorganisms and spatial distribution of the sinkholes of the Yucatan Peninsula, underestimated biotechnological potential?

Investigación basada en el potencial bio-tecnológico de las micro-especies que habitan los cenotes de la Península de YucatánAbstract Objective: To detect the spatial distribution of the sinkholes of the Peninsula of Yucatan (SPY) and identify those cenotes where microorganisms have been registered. Methods: The geographic coordinates of the SPYs were obtained from various databases, as well as from scientific publications relating to the terminology ‘sinkholes’, ‘karst systems’ and ‘cenotes’. All coordinates were transformed into the Universal Transverse Mercator reference system (UTM) with datum WGS84. An infrared composite image was created with 432 RGB bands from the Landsat 8 satellite. The points with the location of the cenotes were imported into the Software TerrSet. Results: Total 1026 coordinates of sinkholes were recorded in the Yucatan Peninsula. In 18 sinkholes (<2%), microorganisms have been recovered and identified in various taxonomic levels, and only 6 sinkholes (<0.6%) has their biotechnological potential been evaluated. Conclusions: The microorganisms that inhabit the sinkholes of the Yucatan Peninsula are a reservoir with practically unexplored biotechnological potential.CONACY

Ultralight vector dark matter search using data from the KAGRA O3GK run

Among the various candidates for dark matter (DM), ultralight vector DM can be probed by laser interferometric gravitational wave detectors through the measurement of oscillating length changes in the arm cavities. In this context, KAGRA has a unique feature due to differing compositions of its mirrors, enhancing the signal of vector DM in the length change in the auxiliary channels. Here we present the result of a search for U(1)B−L gauge boson DM using the KAGRA data from auxiliary length channels during the first joint observation run together with GEO600. By applying our search pipeline, which takes into account the stochastic nature of ultralight DM, upper bounds on the coupling strength between the U(1)B−L gauge boson and ordinary matter are obtained for a range of DM masses. While our constraints are less stringent than those derived from previous experiments, this study demonstrates the applicability of our method to the lower-mass vector DM search, which is made difficult in this measurement by the short observation time compared to the auto-correlation time scale of DM

Evaluation of the molecular inclusion process of β-hexachlorocyclohexane in cyclodextrins

The present work aimed to study the guest–host complexes of β-hexachlorocyclohexane (β-HCH), a pesticide with high environmental stability that can cause severe health problems, with the most common cyclodextrins (α-, β-, and γ-CDs). The formation reactions of these molecular inclusion complexes were addressed in this research. The multiple minima hypersurface methodology, quantum calculations based on density functional theory and a topological exploration of the electron density based on the quantum theory of atoms in molecules approach were used to characterize the interaction spaces of the pollutant with the three CDs. Additionally, charge distribution, charge transfer and dual descriptor analyses were employed to elucidate the driving forces involved in the formation of these molecular inclusion complexes. Three types of fundamental interactions were observed: total occlusion, partial occlusion and external interaction (non-occlusion). Finally, experiments were performed to confirm the formation of the studied complexes. The most stable complexes were obtained when γ-CD was the host molecule. The interactions between the pesticide and CDs have fundamentally dispersive natures, as was confirmed experimentally by spectroscopic results. All the obtained results suggest the possibility of using CDs for the purification and treatment of water polluted with β-HCH.ISSN:2046-206

Reply to "Recommendation on an updated standardization of serum magnesium reference ranges," Jeroen H.F. de Baaij et al

We thank de Baaij et al. [1] for their provocative and thoughtful letter regarding our paper on the need to standardize serum magnesium reference ranges in clinical medicine [2]. We are especially pleased that the authors emphasize the essential role of magnesium in health and disease and the importance of measuring serum magnesium in the clinical setting. We also thank the authors for their appraisal of cohort studies and randomized clinical trials relative to magnesium reference ranges that may interest the readership of the European Journal of Nutrition. However, we would like to emphasize that any discussion related to the measurement of serum magnesium needs to consider that even the gold-standard methods have limitations [3, 4]