Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Aerosol emission from the respiratory tract: an analysis of relative risks from oxygen delivery systems

Background: Risk of aerosolisation of SARS-CoV-2 directly informs organisation of acute healthcare and PPE guidance. Continuous positive airways pressure (CPAP) and high-flow nasal oxygen (HFNO) are widely used modes of oxygen delivery and respiratory support for patients with severe COVID-19, with both considered as high risk aerosol generating procedures. However, there are limited high quality experimental data characterising aerosolisation during oxygen delivery and respiratory support. Methods: Healthy volunteers were recruited to breathe, speak, and cough in ultra-clean, laminar flow theatres followed by using oxygen and respiratory support systems. Aerosol emission was measured using two discrete methodologies, simultaneously. Hospitalised patients with COVID-19 were also recruited and had aerosol emissions measured during breathing, speaking, and coughing. Findings: In healthy volunteers (n = 25 subjects; 531 measures), CPAP (with exhalation port filter) produced less aerosols than breathing, speaking and coughing (even with large >50L/m facemask leaks). HFNO did emit aerosols, but the majority of these particles were generated from the HFNO machine, not the patient. HFNO-generated particles were small (<1 micron), passing from the machine through the patient and to the detector without coalescence with respiratory aerosol, thereby unlikely to carry viral particles. Coughing was associated with the highest aerosol emissions with a peak concentration at least 10 times greater the mean concentration generated from speaking or breathing. Hospitalised patients with COVID-19 (n = 8 subjects; 56 measures) had similar size distributions to healthy volunteers. Interpretation: In healthy volunteers, CPAP is associated with less aerosol emission than breathing, speaking or coughing. Aerosol emission from the respiratory tract does not appear to be increased by HFNO. Although direct comparisons are complex, cough appears to generate significant aerosols in a size range compatible with airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2. As a consequence, the risk of SARS-CoV-2 aerosolisation is likely to be high in all areas where patients with Covid-19 are coughing. Guidance on personal protective equipment policy should reflect these updated risks. Funding: NIHR-UKRI Rapid COVID call (COV003), Wellcome Trust GW4-CAT Doctoral Training Scheme (FH), MRC CARP Fellowship(JD, MR/T005114/1). Natural Environment Research Council grant (BB, NE/P018459/1)
The earthquake cycle in the dry lower continental crust: insights from two deeply exhumed terranes (Musgrave Ranges, Australia and Lofoten, Norway)

This paper discusses the results of field-based geological investigations of exhumed rocks exposed in the Musgrave Ranges (Central Australia) and in Nusfjord (Lofoten, Norway) that preserve evidence for lower continental crustal earthquakes with focal depths of approximately 25–40 km. These studies have established that deformation of the dry lower continental crust is characterized by a cyclic interplay between viscous creep (mylonitization) and brittle, seismic slip associated with the formation of pseudotachylytes (a solidified melt produced during seismic slip along a fault in silicate rocks). Seismic slip triggers rheological weakening and a transition to viscous creep, which may be already active during the immediate post-seismic deformation along faults initially characterized by frictional melting and wall-rock damage. The cyclical interplay between seismic slip and viscous creep implies transient oscillations in stress and strain rate, which are preserved in the shear zone microstructure. In both localities, the spatial distribution of pseudotachylytes is consistent with a local (deep) source for the transient high stresses required to generate earthquakes in the lower crust. This deep source is the result of localized stress amplification in dry and strong materials generated at the contacts with ductile shear zones, producing multiple generations of pseudotachylyte over geological time. This implies that both the short- and the long-term rheological evolution of the dry lower crust typical of continental interiors is controlled by earthquake cycle deformation. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Understanding earthquakes using the geological record’.
Aerosol and Product Yields from NO3 Radical-Initiated Oxidation of Selected Monoterpenes

Atmospheric transformation of monoterpenes gives products that may cause environmental consequences. In this work the NO3 radical-initiated oxidation of the monoterpenes α-pinene, β-pinene, Δ3-carene, and limonene has been investigated. All experiments were conducted in EUPHORE, the EUropean PHOto REactor facility in Valencia, Spain. The aerosol and product yields were measured in experiments with a conversion of the terpenes in the interval from 7 to 400 ppb. The lower end of the concentrations used are close to those measured in ambient pine forest air. Products were measured using long path in situ FTIR. Aerosol yields were obtained using a DMA-CPC system. The aerosol mass yields measured at low concentrations (10 ppb terpene reacted) were <1, 10, 15, and 17% for α-pinene, β-pinene, Δ3-carene, and limonene, respectively. The total molar alkylnitrate yields were calculated to be 19, 61, 66, and 48%, and molar carbonyl compound yields were estimated to be 71, 14, 29, and 69% for α-pinene, β-pinene, Δ3-ca.
Chemical composition of some citrus oils from Malaysia

ABSTRACT The chemical composition of the peel and leaf oils of four Malaysian Citrus species (C. hystrix D.C., C. aurantifolia Swingle, C. maxima Merr. and C. microcarpa Bunge) was examined by co-chromatography, two columns of different polarity, GC/MS and linear retention indices. β-Pinene and limonene were the major constituents of the peel oils of C. hystrix (39.3% and 14.2%) and C. aurantifolia (28.4% and 39.3%). The peel oils of C. maxima and C. microcarpa were found to be rich in limonene (>94%). Citronellal at 72.4% was the most abundant compound in the leaf oil of C. hystrix. The major components of the leaf oil of C. aurantifolia were geranial (19.4%), limonene (16.4%) and neral (11.4%). Sesquiterpenes were present at 70.8% in the leaf oil of C. microcarpa where hedycaryol (19.0%), β-sesquiphellandrene (18.3%) and α-eudesmol (14.4%) were the major constituents. The leaf oil of C. maxima contained significant amounts of phytol (23.1%) and β-caryophyllene (15.4%).
DepthFuseNet: an approach for fusion of thermal and visible images using a convolutional neural network

Abstract. We address an approach called “DepthFuseNet” for the fusion of thermal and visible images using convolutional neural networks (CNN). The thermal image acquires radiating energy of the sensed objects and hence it can easily distinguish the objects from its background. However, the visible image (i.e., the image acquired within the range of visible wavelength of electromagnetic spectrum) provides a more visual context of the objects with high spatial resolution. Due to this complement nature of thermal and visible images, it is always an interest of the community to combine those two images to obtain more meaningful information from the individual source images. In DepthFuseNet method, features are extracted from given source images using CNN architecture, and they are integrated using the different fusion strategies. The auto-weighted sum fusion strategy performs better than that obtained using the other existing methods. To reduce the complexity of the architecture, we use depthwise convolution in the network. The experimental evaluation demonstrates that the proposed method exhibits salient features from the source images, and hence it performs better than the other state-of-the-art fusion methods in terms of qualitative and quantitative assessments.
Hyperspectral phase retrieval: spectral–spatial data processing with sparsity-based complex domain cube filter

Abstract. Hyperspectral (HS) imaging retrieves information from data obtained across broadband spectral channels. Information to retrieve is a 3D cube, where two coordinates are spatial and the third one is spectral. This cube is complex-valued with varying amplitude and phase. We consider shearography optical setup, in which two phase-shifted broadband copies of the object projections are interfering at a sensor. Registered observations are intensities summarized over spectral channels. For phase reconstruction, the variational setting of the phase retrieval problem is used to derive the iterative algorithm, which includes the original proximity spectral analysis operator and the sparsity modeling of the complex-valued object 3D cube. We resolve the HS phase retrieval problem without random phase coding of wavefronts typical for the most conventional phase retrieval techniques. We show the performance of the algorithm for object phase and thickness imaging in simulation and experimental tests.
New species of Kuzinellus Wainstein and redescription of Kuzinellus querellus (Ueckermann & Loots) (Acari: Phytoseiidae) with morphological and DNA barcode data

Abstract In this paper, a new species of Kuzinellus Wainstein, K. gabonensis sp. nov., is described based on specimens collected in Gabon. This new species is morphologically similar to K. querellus (Ueckermann & Loots), but it can be distinguished mainly by the knobbed tip of the dorsal setae Z4, spermatheca shape and by its possession of more than 15% divergence in the DNA barcode region of COI. Additionally, Kuzinellus querellus is reported for the first time from Kenya and accompanied by a redescription of morphological and DNA barcode data.
Morphological ontogeny of Ctenobelba pilosella (Acari: Oribatida: Ctenobelbidae), with comments on Ctenobelba Balogh

Abstract The morphological ontogeny of Ctenobelba pilosella Jeleva, 1962 is described and illustrated. This species was investigated from its description mainly in ecological aspect. It was recorded from the forest and meadow soils, with rather low density, and small percent of juveniles.The adult is of medium size and has setiform bothridial seta, with 6–10 anterior spines. Notogaster is covered with asteriform granules and has 10 pairs of medium size, barbed setae. Seta d is absent from genua I–III and all tibia. Bothridial seta of juveniles is setiform and barbed, prodorsal and gastronotal setae are short, except of medium size ro and long, curved inwards lp. Nymphs are quadrideficient and eupheredermous i.e. they carry the exuvial scalps of previous instars. Anal valves of protonymph and deutonymph have two pairs of alveolar setae, which is rare in Brachypylina. The juveniles have seta d on all genua and tibiae.
Spider mites (Acari: Tetranychidae) from Serbia: new species for the country and the Balkan Peninsula, with a key to all known Serbian species

Abstract Seven spider mite species were recorded for the first time in Serbia: Bryobia macedonica Hatzinikolis & Panou, 1996 and Bryobia querci Hatzinikolis & Panou, 1997 from Bryobiinae, and Eutetranychus orientalis Klein, 1936; Oligonychus bicolor Banks, 1894; Oligonychus platani McGregor, 1950 Tetranychus canadensis McGregor, 1950 and Tetranychus ludeni Zacher, 1913 from Tetranychinae. Together with previously reported data, these findings raise the number of known tetranychid species in Serbia to 44, the second highest number of spider mite species recorded in the Balkan countries. The records of O. bicolor and T. canadensis are also the first ones on the Balkan Peninsula. The most frequent species were T. ludeni and E. orientalis, found in 24 and 13 out of 57 sampling locations. Spider mites were recorded on host plants in four basic habitat types, but predominantly in cultivated habitats and woodlands. A total of 27 plant species from nine families were recorded as hosts for newly recorded spider mites, including 12 plant species as new hosts for four tetranychids, and three plant species as new hosts for the family Tetranychidae. Plant family Rosaceae had the highest number of new hosts (7) and harbored the highest number of spider mite species (5). Tetranychus ludeni had the highest number of host plants (11) with two plant species as its new hosts. Oligonychus bicolor was found on eight host plants including five new hosts for this species and one new host for the family Tetranychidae. The other two new hosts for the family Tetranychidae harbored O. platani and B. querci, respectively. Symptoms of heavy infestations by E. orientalis and T. ludeni were recorded on host plants in several locations.
Niobium‐Doped Titania Photocatalyst Film Prepared via a Nonaqueous Sol‐Gel Method

Niobium-doped Titanium dioxide (Nb:TiO2) transparent films were successfully deposited on glass substrates using a non-aqueous sol-gel spin coating technique. The effect of Nb concentration on the structural and photocatalytic properties of Nb:TiO2 films was studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and UV visible spectroscopy. The films with 12 at. % (atomic percent) Nb doped TiO2 showed excellent photocata- lytic activity through 97.3% degradation of methylene blue (MB) after 2 h of UV irradiation. formation of Nb=O clusters worked as electron-hole recom- bination centers, making Nb:TiO2 less photocatalytically active. Archana et al. 7 also discussed carrier recombination centers due to lattice strain raised from the mismatch of Nb and Ti ions with the increase in Nb concentration. In their work, they deposited Nb-TiO2 nanowires by electrospinning for dye synthesized solar cell application. They showed that the doping of 5 at. % Nb in TiO2 gave a slight appearance of a rutile phase ( 85% transparent Nb:TiO2 films on glass using DC/RF magnetron co-sputtering. The best photocatalytic activity on methylene blue (MB) was observed for Nb:TiO2 films annealed at 400°C under visible light irradiation. Porous Nb:TiO2 microspheres were synthesized by Yang et al. 9 using ultrasonic spray pyrolysis. The photo- catalytic activity of these Nb:TiO2 microspheres was investi- gated on MB dye, where photocatalytic activity enhanced monotonically with an increase in Nb concentration due to the suppression of electron hole pair recombination. This article presents the synthesis of Nb:TiO2 sols using a nonaqueous sol-gel method that firstly involves the complexa- tion of the titanium alkoxide precursor, and secondly involves an in situ production of water. In the nonaqueous sol-gel synthesis route, the in situ production of water via esterifica- tion reaction was initiated due to the addition of acetic acid solution. The advantage of this nonaqueous sol-gel method is that it yields uniform nanoparticles with crystal size in the range of only a few nanometers. 10 Thus, films were prepared by using the abovementioned sol-gel method produce trans- parent, adherent, homogeneous and photocatalytically active Nb:TiO2 thin films with a thickness of ~250 nm by spin coat- ing on a glass substrate. The study of the characteristics of transparent TiO2 and Nb:TiO2 thin films for photocatalysis application has been carried out. The effect of Nb concentra- tion on the decomposition of MB under UV illumination has been investigated using MB as a model organic pollutant.
Aerosol-cloud-climate cooling overestimated by ship-track data

Making tracks The magnitude of the effect of anthropogenic aerosols on the formation of clouds is an important unknown about how humans are affecting climate. Studies of stratocumulus cloud tracks that are formed by ship exhaust have been used to estimate the radiative impact of this process, but Glassmeier et al. now show that this approach overestimates the cooling effect of aerosol addition by up to 200%. These findings underscore the need to quantify stratocumulus cloud responses to anthropogenic aerosols to understand the climate system. Science, this issue p. 485 Anthropogenic aerosols have a weaker cooling effect than ship-track studies suggest. The effect of anthropogenic aerosol on the reflectivity of stratocumulus cloud decks through changes in cloud amount is a major uncertainty in climate projections. In frequently occurring nonprecipitating stratocumulus, cloud amount can decrease through aerosol-enhanced cloud-top mixing. The climatological relevance of this effect is debated because ship exhaust only marginally reduces stratocumulus amount. By comparing detailed numerical simulations with satellite analyses, we show that ship-track studies cannot be generalized to estimate the climatological forcing of anthropogenic aerosol. The ship track–derived sensitivity of the radiative effect of nonprecipitating stratocumulus to aerosol overestimates their cooling effect by up to 200%. The offsetting warming effect of decreasing stratocumulus amount needs to be taken into account if we are to constrain the cloud-mediated radiative forcing of anthropogenic aerosol.
Dynamics of Geminate Recombination of NO with Myoglobin in Aqueous Solution Probed by Femtosecond Mid-IR Spectroscopy

The dynamics of nitric oxide (NO) rebinding to ferrous myoglobin (Mb) and its model system, microperoxidase (Mp), in D2O solution at 283 K after photolysis was directly observed by monitoring the stretching mode of NO using femtosecond mid-IR absorption spectroscopy. The transient spectra of photolyzed MbNO reveal two overlapping vibrational bands for bound NO: 1598 (13.1 cm-1 fwhm) and 1611 cm-1 (12.7 cm-1 fwhm). Time-resolved spectra of photolyzed MpNO are well described by a single vibrational band at 1658 cm-1 (26 cm-1 fwhm). Narrower vibrational bands within MbNO indicate that the protein environment encompassing bound NO is more homogeneous than the solvent environment of MpNO. The rebinding kinetics of photolyzed MbNO are the same for both vibrational bands, but are nonexponential and evolve according to the biexponental function: 0.54 exp(−t/5.3 ps) + 0.46 exp(−t/133 ps). In contrast, rebinding to MpNO is exponential with a time constant of 5.6 ps. MbNO exists in two distinct conformational subs.
Adipose saturation reduces lipotoxic systemic inflammation and explains the obesity paradox

Saturated fat breaks down less during sudden illnesses, resulting in lower monomer concentrations, and reducing disease severity. Obesity sometimes seems protective in disease. This obesity paradox is predominantly described in reports from the Western Hemisphere during acute illnesses. Since adipose triglyceride composition corresponds to long-term dietary patterns, we performed a meta-analysis modeling the effect of obesity on severity of acute pancreatitis, in the context of dietary patterns of the countries from which the studies originated. Increased severity was noted in leaner populations with a higher proportion of unsaturated fat intake. In mice, greater hydrolysis of unsaturated visceral triglyceride caused worse organ failure during pancreatitis, even when the mice were leaner than those having saturated triglyceride. Saturation interfered with triglyceride’s interaction and lipolysis by pancreatic triglyceride lipase, which mediates organ failure. Unsaturation increased fatty acid monomers in vivo and aqueous media, resulting in greater lipotoxic cellular responses and organ failure. Therefore, visceral triglyceride saturation reduces the ensuing lipotoxicity despite higher adiposity, thus explaining the obesity paradox.
Single-cell molecular profiling of all three components of the HPA axis reveals adrenal ABCB1 as a regulator of stress adaptation

Dissection of the HPA axis using single-cell RNA sequencing uncovers adrenal ABCB1 as an important player of stress adaptation. Chronic activation and dysregulation of the neuroendocrine stress response have severe physiological and psychological consequences, including the development of metabolic and stress-related psychiatric disorders. We provide the first unbiased, cell type–specific, molecular characterization of all three components of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, under baseline and chronic stress conditions. Among others, we identified a previously unreported subpopulation of Abcb1b+ cells involved in stress adaptation in the adrenal gland. We validated our findings in a mouse stress model, adrenal tissues from patients with Cushing’s syndrome, adrenocortical cell lines, and peripheral cortisol and genotyping data from depressed patients. This extensive dataset provides a valuable resource for researchers and clinicians interested in the organism’s nervous and endocrine responses to stress and the interplay between these tissues. Our findings raise the possibility that modulating ABCB1 function may be important in the development of treatment strategies for patients suffering from metabolic and stress-related psychiatric disorders.
Early plant organics increased global terrestrial mud deposition through enhanced flocculation

What matters for mudrocks Rock such as slate and shale, which form from mud, suddenly start appearing in the geologic record around 450 million years ago. Their appearance at about the same time as certain plants seems to implicate plant roots in the formation of these ubiquitous rocks. Zeichner et al. found a different route for creating the flocculation required for mudrock. Using analog experiments, the authors found that organic matter from plants alone was sufficient for the formation of flocs—aggregates of small silt and clay particles—which are required to deposit mudrock. This observation could explain the appearance of these rocks in places where the plants did not have deep roots. Science, this issue p. 526 Organic matter from plants is responsible for the sudden appearance of mudrock in the geologic record. An irreversible increase in alluvial mudrock occurred with the Ordovician-Silurian evolution of bryophytes, challenging a paradigm that deep-rooted plants were responsible for this landscape shift. We tested the idea that increased primary production and plant organics promoted aggregation of clay into flocs in rivers and facilitated mud deposition on floodplains. In experiments, we observed that clay readily flocculated for organic and clay concentrations common to modern rivers, yielding settling velocities three orders of magnitude larger than those without organics. Using a transport model, we found that flocculation substantially increased mud deposition, resulting in muddier floodplains. Thus, organic-induced flocculation may have been more critical than deep-rooted plants in the proliferation of muddy floodplains.