Sortion-Desorption Study of a Herbicide 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic Acid on Acididc Tropical Soils.

The sorption and desorption of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) was evaluated on different soils with different range of organic matter content. The batch equilibrium technique under laboratory condition was used to determine the sorption/desorption behavior of 2,4-D in 4 different soil orders of Malaysia viz Histosols (peat), Inceptisols (Selangor and Briah) and Ultisols (Rengam and Serdang) and Oxisol (Munchong). Sorption data were fitted to the linear and Freundlich equations. The values of Kd and KF ranged from 1.35 to 35.26 and 2.70 to 42.04, respectively. Highest sorption was observed in peat soil and the lowest was in Rengam soil. According to the sorption and desorption results, organic matter and clay seemed to be the most important factor influencing the sorption capacity of 2,4-D. Thus, the contributions of organic matter were evaluated by comparing changes in 2,4-D of sorption before and after organic matter removal. After organic matter was removed from the soils, the Kd values for sorption by Selangor and Munchong, which were calculated from linear and Freundlich equations, decreased by 26.7 % and 28.0 %, respectively. This revealed that soil organic matter greatly influenced the 2,4-D sorption. Based on their sorption capacity, the soils can be ranked in the following decreasing order: Peat> Selangor> Munchong> Briah> Serdang> Rengam Soil Series

Fast splice site detection using information content and feature reduction

Background: Accurate identification of splice sites in DNA sequences plays a key role in the prediction of gene structure in eukaryotes. Already many computational methods have been proposed for the detection of splice sites and some of them showed high prediction accuracy. However, most of these methods are limited in terms of their long computation time when applied to whole genome sequence data. Results: In this paper we propose a hybrid algorithm which combines several effective and informative input features with the state of the art support vector machine (SVM). To obtain the input features we employ information content method based on Shannon\u27s information theory, Shapiro\u27s score scheme, and Markovian probabilities. We also use a feature elimination scheme to reduce the less informative features from the input data. Conclusion: In this study we propose a new feature based splice site detection method that shows improved acceptor and donor splice site detection in DNA sequences when the performance is compared with various state of the art and well known method

Twelve-month observational study of children with cancer in 41 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction Childhood cancer is a leading cause of death. It is unclear whether the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted childhood cancer mortality. In this study, we aimed to establish all-cause mortality rates for childhood cancers during the COVID-19 pandemic and determine the factors associated with mortality. Methods Prospective cohort study in 109 institutions in 41 countries. Inclusion criteria: children <18 years who were newly diagnosed with or undergoing active treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, retinoblastoma, Wilms tumour, glioma, osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, medulloblastoma and neuroblastoma. Of 2327 cases, 2118 patients were included in the study. The primary outcome measure was all-cause mortality at 30 days, 90 days and 12 months. Results All-cause mortality was 3.4% (n=71/2084) at 30-day follow-up, 5.7% (n=113/1969) at 90-day follow-up and 13.0% (n=206/1581) at 12-month follow-up. The median time from diagnosis to multidisciplinary team (MDT) plan was longest in low-income countries (7 days, IQR 3-11). Multivariable analysis revealed several factors associated with 12-month mortality, including low-income (OR 6.99 (95% CI 2.49 to 19.68); p<0.001), lower middle income (OR 3.32 (95% CI 1.96 to 5.61); p<0.001) and upper middle income (OR 3.49 (95% CI 2.02 to 6.03); p<0.001) country status and chemotherapy (OR 0.55 (95% CI 0.36 to 0.86); p=0.008) and immunotherapy (OR 0.27 (95% CI 0.08 to 0.91); p=0.035) within 30 days from MDT plan. Multivariable analysis revealed laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (OR 5.33 (95% CI 1.19 to 23.84); p=0.029) was associated with 30-day mortality. Conclusions Children with cancer are more likely to die within 30 days if infected with SARS-CoV-2. However, timely treatment reduced odds of death. This report provides crucial information to balance the benefits of providing anticancer therapy against the risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children with cancer

Complete electrochemical dechlorination of chlorobenzenes in the presence of various arene mediators

Electrochemical dechlorination of chlorobenzenes in the presence of various arene mediators such as naphthalene, biphenyl, phenanthrene, anthracene, and pyrene, was studied. The amount of mediator required was able to be reduced to 0.01 equiv. for all mediators except for anthracene, with the complete dechlorination of mono-, 1,3-di- and 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene still achieved. This catalytic amount of mediator plays an important role in accelerating the dechlorination through the rapid formation of radical anions prior to reduction of the chlorobenzenes