• Lindsey Blanchard posted an update 1 week ago

    The study demonstrates that hybrid catalysts are a promising approach for oxygen electrocatalysts for renewable and sustainable energy devices.Iron is typically the dominant metal in the ultrafine fraction of airborne particulate matter. Various studies have investigated the toxicity of inhaled nano-sized iron oxide particles (FeOxNPs) but their results have been contradictory, with some indicating no or minor effects and others finding effects including oxidative stress and inflammation. Most studies, however, did not use materials reflecting the characteristics of FeOxNPs present in the environment. We, therefore, analysed the potential toxicity of FeOxNPs of different forms (Fe3O4, α-Fe2O3 and γ-Fe2O3) reflecting the characteristics of high iron content nano-sized particles sampled from the environment, both individually and in a mixture (FeOx-mix). A preliminary in vitro study indicated Fe3O4 and FeOx-mix were more cytotoxic than either form of Fe2O3 in human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B). Follow-up in vitro (0.003, 0.03, 0.3 µg/mL, 24 h) and in vivo (Sprague-Dawley rats, nose-only exposure, 50 µg/m3 and 500 µg/m3, 3 h/d × 3 d) studies therefore focused on these materials. Experiments in vitro explored responses at the molecular level via multi-omics analyses at concentrations below those at which significant cytotoxicity was evident to avoid detection of responses secondary to toxicity. Inhalation experiments used aerosol concentrations chosen to produce similar levels of particle deposition on the airway surface as were delivered in vitro. These were markedly higher than environmental concentrations. No clinical signs of toxicity were seen nor effects on BALF cell counts or LDH levels. There were also no significant changes in transcriptomic or metabolomic responses in lung or BEAS-2B cells to suggest adverse effects.This paper reports an independently tunable graphene-based metamaterial absorber (GMA) designed by etching two cascaded resonators with dissimilar sizes in the unit cell. Two perfect absorption peaks were obtained at 6.94 and 10.68 μm with simple single-layer metal-graphene metamaterials; the peaks show absorption values higher than 99%. The mechanism of absorption was analyzed theoretically. The independent tunability of the metamaterial absorber (MA) was realized by varying the Fermi level of graphene under a set of resonators. RG108 inhibitor Furthermore, multi-band and wide-band absorption were observed by the proposed structure upon increasing the number of resonators and resizing them in the unit cell. The obtained results demonstrate the multipurpose performance of this type of absorber and indicate its potential application in diverse applications, such as solar energy harvesting and thermal absorbing.A fast-response colorimetric ultraviolet-C (UVC) sensor was demonstrated using a gallium oxide (Ga2O3) photocatalyst with small amounts of triethanolamine (TEOA) in methylene blue (MB) solutions and a conventional RGB photodetector. The color of the MB solution changed upon UVC exposure, which was observed using an in situ RGB photodetector. Thereby, the UVC exposure was numerically quantified as an MB reduction rate with the R value of the photodetector, which was linearly correlated with the measured spectral absorbance using a UV-Vis spectrophotometer. Small amount of TEOA in the MB solution served as a hole scavenger, which resulted in fast MB color changes due to the enhanced charge separation. However, excessive TEOA over 5 wt.% started to block the catalytical active site on the surface of Ga2O3, prohibiting the chemical reaction between the MB molecules and catalytic sites. The proposed colorimetric UVC sensor could monitor the detrimental UVC radiation with high responsivity at a low cost.To describe the experience of the Italian Program to Enhance Relations and Communication Skills (PERCS-Italy) for difficult healthcare conversations. PERCS-Italy has been offered in two different hospitals in Milan since 2008. Each workshop lasts 5 h, enrolls 10-15 interdisciplinary participants, and is organized around simulations and debriefing of two difficult conversations. Before and after the workshops, participants rate their preparation, communication, relational skills, confidence, and anxiety on 5-point Likert scales. Usefulness, quality, and recommendation of the program are also assessed. Descriptive statistics, t-tests, repeated-measures ANOVA, and Chi-square were performed. A total of 72 workshops have been offered, involving 830 interdisciplinary participants. Participants reported improvements in all the dimensions (p less then 0.001) without differences across the two hospitals. Nurses and other professionals reported a greater improvement in preparation, communication skills, and confidence, compared to physicians and psychosocial professionals. Usefulness, quality, and recommendation of PERCS programs were highly rated, without differences by discipline. PERCS-Italy proved to be adaptable to different hospital settings, public and private. After the workshops, clinicians reported improvements in self-reported competencies when facing difficult conversations. PERCS-Italy’s sustainability is based on the flexible format combined with a solid learner-centered approach. Future directions include implementation of booster sessions to maintain learning and the assessment of behavioral changes.Olive quick decline syndrome (OQDS) is a multifactorial disease affecting olive plants. The onset of this economically devastating disease has been associated with a Gram-negative plant pathogen called Xylella fastidiosa (Xf). Liquid chromatography separation coupled to high-resolution mass spectrometry detection is one the most widely applied technologies in metabolomics, as it provides a blend of rapid, sensitive, and selective qualitative and quantitative analyses with the ability to identify metabolites. The purpose of this work is the development of a global metabolomics mass spectrometry assay able to identify OQDS molecular markers that could discriminate between healthy (HP) and infected (OP) olive tree leaves. Results obtained via multivariate analysis through an HPLC-ESI HRMS platform (LTQ-Orbitrap from Thermo Scientific) show a clear separation between HP and OP samples. Among the differentially expressed metabolites, 18 different organic compounds highly expressed in the OP group were annotated; results obtained by this metabolomic approach could be used as a fast and reliable method for the biochemical characterization of OQDS and to develop targeted MS approaches for OQDS detection by foliage analysis.