bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The Karen Women’s Organization
Authors: Ralph Saw , Sheera Naw , Olinga-Shannon Stephanie
Published: May 2020

This chapter details Naw Sheera's experiences as part of the Karen Women's Organization (KWO), and also contains her reminiscences on some of the KWO members. KWO membership was open to all Karen women eighteen years and older, from all religions. Naw Sheera joined the organization in the hopes of helping other Karen women. She eventually took on the role of organizer in the Organization Department at the central office in Manerplaw. She wanted to do the organizer's job to empower uneducated Karen women. Her duty was to go out each month to the districts and coordinate the KWO and its structure in the townships and villages in the seven Karen districts.
Negotiating Evidence and Efficacy in Experimental Medicine
Authors: Song Priscilla
Published: May 2020

This chapter examines how urban Chinese neurosurgeons have leveraged fetal cell therapies in order to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing healthcare system. Their experimental practices raise key questions about the ethics and epistemology of clinical experimentation at the “cutting edge” of biomedical practice in contemporary China. It demonstrates how the pursuit of science and technology is not just a strategy for individual triumph but a broader cultural mandate for national salvation, which is described as “technonationalism.” While changes in the financing and organization of healthcare sparked by China's transition to market socialism over the past few decades have enabled and encouraged entrepreneurial physicians to develop advanced therapeutic interventions, these high-tech desires must be situated in a broader Chinese program of scientific and technological modernization. The chapter also takes a closer look at the semiotics by which practitioners and patients recognize medical authenticity and charlatanism.
Unmasking a Gendered Materialism
Authors: Kohrman Matthew
Published: May 2020

This chapter analyses some of the cultural methods behind the seemingly comedic madness of “cigarette masks.” Rather than casting them aside as senseless, the chapter looks into the “cigarette mask memes” as a scholarly portal, seeing them as imagistic gateways for understanding air filtration in contemporary China. For one thing, the memes gesture to an uncanny backstory hitherto untold regarding China's current market for home air purifiers. This is a backstory heavily tied to the development of an air filtration product—the cigarette—manufactured across China in far greater numbers today than home purification units. The chapter also discusses a variety of materially tangible filters, ones that are manufactured currently for daily use across China and are ostensibly providing people immediate access to cleaner air. The smallest of the filters mentioned are no bigger than a pinky finger and typically come twenty to a pack. The largest ones—free-standing air purifiers—come encased in plastic and metal, as small as a toaster or as large as a multi-drawer file cabinet.
Tentacles
Authors: Kraus Joe
Published: May 2020

This chapter tracks the growing influence of Lenny Patrick during the 1960s. His notoriety as the man who ran Chicago Jewish organized crime for more than a generation made him an obvious candidate for others' imagination, even if he was not involved in high-profile cases such as the Kennedy assassination. Because he was suspected of having killed so many in his work as a Syndicate operative, he was a character who could be plugged into the stories that others were telling. Casting Patrick as Kennedy’s assassin makes him into a villain who changed the trajectory of American history. It should have been enough that he had changed the trajectory of Chicago Jewish organized crime when he led the Syndicate’s takeover of Benjamin Zuckerman’s operation.
The Evolution of Skis
Authors: Eimeleus K. B. E. E.
Published: May 2020

This chapter turns to the evolution of skis. It shows that the ski did not appear in its modern form immediately. It evolved and improved step by step as people needed and then developed a convenient means of transportation. In its primitive configuration, it hardly resembled a contemporary ski: it was a circular slat or willow frame with wicker netting—the so-called truga—whose purpose was to prevent the foot from sinking into the snow. Even today, similar skis are used in Scandinavia and other snowy regions of the world. From there, the chapter traces the advances in skiing technology and its growing diversity through to smooth-based skis more familiar today.
Material for Skis
Authors: Eimeleus K. B. E. E.
Published: May 2020

This chapter turns to ski manufacturing. It tries to ascertain when skis are well made from appropriate material and considers the advantages and disadvantages of different types of material used for skis. Concerning the quality of raw material, the chapter asserts that the most useful timber comes from pine or hardwoods. It has to be a hard, lightweight, supple, and durable type of wood. In Scandinavia, several ski makers use primarily deciduous trees: aspen, ash, and even goat willow. Birch is used extensively in Finland because the countryside has almost no other species of trees. Manufacturers have tried to build many kinds of metal skis, but they have not had much success because metal's friction greatly increases as temperatures drop.
Fabrication of Skis
Authors: Eimeleus K. B. E. E.
Published: May 2020

This chapter concerns other aspects of ski manufacturing. Above all, material for making skis has to be absolutely dry to avoid the possibility of warping. Moreover, the chapter instructs on the care and maintenance of new skis, including the application of tar to prevent warping. It also discusses other aspects of a ski, including their dimensions and type, detailing their advantages and disadvantages depending on how they are used. This includes cross-sections, recommendations for the quality manufacture of skis, and measurements for skis depending on their particular functions. Here, location, weather, and snow conditions can govern the dimensions and type of ski used.
Ski-Running: Its History, Theory, Method, and Technique1
Authors: Eimeleus K. B. E. E.
Published: May 2020

This chapter traces the history of the evolution of a skier's motion. In prehistoric times, skis served exclusively to keep from floundering in deep snow with a motion that hardly differed from normal walking or running. The transition of the ski from a primitive plodding apparatus into a sliding type facilitated different methods of walking; some of which have survived several millennia right up to the present day. In addition to this history, the chapter takes up the theory and technique of various methods for walking. It does so by reviewing movement on different types of skis, particularly the representative mountain and running skis.
Riding with a Sail1
Authors: Eimeleus K. B. E. E.
Published: May 2020

This chapter explains riding on skis with a sail. Although this is more a sport and is unlikely to have any military applications, the chapter argues that ski sailing has many advantages to it—as well as drawbacks. One certainly can develop tremendous speed, so much so that several people can travel under one sail while preserving strength and vitality. On the other hand, the weight of the sail amounts to extra cargo, which has great significance in the military, where every pound counts. During a headwind, it becomes cumbersome and an inefficient deadweight; tacking into the wind takes a lot of time, disrupting operational plans, and revealing one to the enemy prematurely.
A Chronicle of Ski Competitions
Authors: Eimeleus K. B. E. E.
Published: May 2020

This chapter considers ski results achieved over a variety of terrain and under various conditions. It is the rare person who develops into a good skier without engaging in the sport since childhood, because only through extensive practice can one gain sufficient limb and muscle strength for the essentials of skiing. Furthermore it is difficult to compare results across different locations, because variations in trails, weather, place, time of year, time of day, and many other less important considerations can lead to discrepancies of several minutes. Therefore, when a question arises about minutes and seconds, paying attention to all of the circumstances is necessary in order to make a reasoned evaluation. In this context, the chapter takes a look at every type of ski practice: ski sailing, Indian skis, ski-running behind a horse, mountain descents, and ski runs over distance both for speed and endurance.
Genesis: Riga before Riga
Authors: O'Connor Kevin C.
Published: May 2020

This chapter is an origin story that introduces the watery and sandy landscape of early Riga and the pagans who lived in or near it at the close of the twelfth century. Riga's relationship with the waters that run past, through, and under it has given rise to many legends and sayings. The chapter considers the efforts of German merchants and Catholic missionaries to trade with and establish Christian communities among the Livish tribes. These tribes lived along the banks of the Düna River (which Latvians know as the Daugava). In doing so, the chapter provides readers with a broader context for understanding these early encounters by examining western Europe's commercial and religious expansion during the Middle Ages.
Watering the Nations: Riga and the Northern Crusades
Authors: O'Connor Kevin C.
Published: May 2020

This chapter explores the notion of Riga as a “city of God” to which thousands of monk-knights and other warriors arrived to do battle with the pagans in Livonia, which the crusaders called the “Land of Mary.” Here, the chapter considers the city's role in the Baltic crusade as both a regional trading center and as a gathering point for military expeditions against pagans and Rus'. Riga was virtually surrounded by native tribes, and both pagans and newly baptized converts. And within the city was a military order dedicated to holy war. Riga was also, in every respect, a colonial city, dominated by strangers to the region who arrived in shiploads to make a comfortable living, conquer territory, and spread the faith.
Leadership and Regimes
Authors: Johnson Laurie M.
Published: May 2020

This chapter looks at the similarities and differences between Thucydides and Hobbes on the subject of regimes. Hobbes was convinced that Thucydides had proved the absurdity of democracy and the desirability of absolute monarchy. However, Hobbes misread Thucydides on this point. For Hobbes, monarchy was the only regime in which the selfish interests of the ruler and ruled rationally coincide. Revealingly, in order to deal with the leadership of Pericles, Hobbes had to characterize him superficially as a monarch, ignoring how Pericles won and maintained his power. But it is just the type of statesmanship exemplified by Pericles that Hobbes cannot accept because of his rigid assumptions about human nature. Thucydides' focus on the importance of studying the thought, character, and actions of statesmen is an important difference between the Thucydidean and the Hobbesian realist models. Hobbes's horror at civil violence led him to lose faith in ordinary human reason and thus in political deliberation. It is because he lost faith in the latter that scientific reason emerged as a powerful alternative. But if human beings are so unreasonable that one can no longer take seriously what they say, how can one expect them to be reasonable enough to accept Hobbes's prescriptions? The Hobbesian solution is that an absolute government must enforce the plan. The chapter then argues that this solution to political problems is even more dangerous than the Thucydidean solution, which relies on political rhetoric and judgment.
Introduction
Authors: Sullivan Vickie B.
Published: May 2020

This introductory chapter shows how Niccolò Machiavelli's account of a new Rome points to the tremendous impact that he believes Christianity has had and can have on politics. In order to overcome the politically deleterious consequences of Christianity and the pagan beliefs that engendered it, as well as to forestall the rise of another tyranny of its magnitude, Machiavelli appeals to certain Christian doctrines to support his vision of an earthly discipline that exercises the strength that he views as essential to sustain political life. In so doing, he creates a wholly temporal interpretation of Christianity. Furthermore, the argument that he infuses his presentation of Livy's Rome with a temporal form of Christianity that can fortify political life allows this chapter to account for several otherwise puzzling and controversial features of Machiavelli's work. His many changes in Livy's history can be seen as a conscious—indeed, an acknowledged—attempt to mask his innovations as a recourse to antiquity. His divergences from Livy reveal an innovation that, if successful, will establish a new epoch.
The Church and Machiavelli’s Depiction of Italy’s Historical Situation
Authors: Sullivan Vickie B.
Published: May 2020

This chapter provides an analysis of The Prince. This analysis indicates that the papacy's characteristic features—its lack of arms and its politically deleterious form of nobility—produce a weakness so debilitating to Italian politics as to prevent the founding of a state resilient enough to solve Italy's very evident problems. When this analysis is properly grasped, Cesare Borgia's fate stands not as an example worthy of emulation, but as a warning to anyone who looks to the Church to assume responsibility for Italy's political fate. Niccolò Machiavelli's view of this institution as irremediably troublesome induces him to contemplate the possibility of its violent extirpation. Even if these passages are to be regarded merely as devilish sport on Machiavelli's part, they still retain a chilling character that bespeaks the depth of his hatred of the Church's hierarchy.
Corruption, Youth, and Foreign Influences
Authors: Sullivan Vickie B.
Published: May 2020

This chapter shows how the defects of the city's constitution that permitted the Gracchi, Marius, and Caesar to gain such prominence also allowed Christianity, a foreign religion, to find a hospitable environment in this most mighty of ancient cities. Even as Niccolò Machiavelli's gratified assessment of Rome's maintenance in Discourses recognizes, corruption threatens both from within and from beyond a city's borders. Machiavelli insists that Rome's conquests of increasingly far-flung places brought the city in contact with the most insalubrious customs, including the corrupting influence of ozio and subversive religious practices. Through the importation of Christianity into Rome, one finds the source of all the elements of corruption Machiavelli had previously identified: the danger of a particularly appealing young man who gathers followers and the corrupting influences of foreign ozio and of foreign religious practices. Ultimately Rome was felled by a conspiracy with origins in the city's foreign conquests.
Machiavelli’s Ambiguous Praise of Paganism
Authors: Sullivan Vickie B.
Published: May 2020

This chapter argues that Niccolò Machiavelli considers the Roman leaders' use of pagan religion to maintain popular support as pernicious. It enabled the leaders of the people to put this religion to a very different purpose. The successive innovations of aspiring tyrants strengthened such appeals and eventuated in the destruction of the republic. Christianity transcends the methods of Caesar and the Gracchi in a critical way. Christ's followers pique the passions of the people not merely with lands that many Romans have not seen, but with domains beyond human experience. This appeal to transcendence trumped all the benefits the city of Rome could offer. When the Roman people accepted the imported doctrine, they no longer needed to devote themselves to the earthly city to receive their rewards, and thus “civil life” was utterly transcended in Rome. Therefore, only when the critical element of a promise of divine provision was added to the familiar litany of private benefits did the line of ingenious aspiring tyrants, who wished to transcend civil life, achieve its goal.
A Temporal Christianity and the Princes of the Republic
Authors: Sullivan Vickie B.
Published: May 2020

This chapter considers Niccolò Machiavelli's new and improved Rome. It attempts to locate his new land, without mistaking it either for the Rome of Livy's history or for the Rome that Machiavelli criticizes, with the benefit of hindsight. It has already been shown how Machiavelli both praises and criticizes Rome. Without reducing interpretation to a mere formula, the chapter assumes that those changes Machiavelli makes, and of which he ultimately approves, will be a part of his new Rome, whereas those he makes and ultimately criticizes indicate where in his view critical pitfalls lie. By pointing to these pitfalls he warns those who will complete his project to avoid them assiduously.
Before the Provinces: Pastoral and Anti-Pastoral in Pushkin’s Countryside
Authors: Lounsbery Anne
Published: May 2020

This chapter illustrates how Alexander Pushkin's provinces are simply not provincial in the sense that later writers' are. And while his vision of Russian space was to resonate powerfully with certain writers who resisted the capital/provinces binary, in a book about peripheral places, Pushkin must be shifted a bit toward the margins. Among his most famous settings—most notably the Larins' countryside home in Eugene Onegin—are cozy estates and villages, places that are limited and behind the times but also culturally coherent and authentic, often presented with warm humor. Such places have nothing to do with the overdetermined emptiness that will characterize Dead Souls' Town of N. For this chapter's purposes, Pushkin's vision of the provinces—the Onegin version—serves mostly to emphasize the inventedness of the provintsiia trope seen elsewhere. Indeed much of the present chapter focuses on spaces that could later be marked, in works by other writers, as provincial in the new sense of derivative, culturally barren, and homogeneous.
Inventing Provincial Backwardness, or “Everything is Barbarous and Horrid” (Herzen, Sollogub, and Others)
Authors: Lounsbery Anne
Published: May 2020

This chapter considers not only how a new image of the Russian provinces took shape in literary texts. But it also looks at how these texts insisted that the image was old. By the 1830s, not only is it assumed that the provinces epitomize all that is grimly familiar, it is further assumed that such has always been the case, and that everyone has always known it. In the texts analyzed here, the supposedly timeless, ahistorical nature of provintsiia becomes both a stereotype and a preoccupation. And in a slightly later period, this is the image of provintsiia that will come to serve as a static non-modernity against which other forms of time and historicalness take on value.
Melnikov and Leskov, or What is Regionalism in Russia?
Authors: Lounsbery Anne
Published: May 2020

This chapter gives a sense of certain discourses that were capable of challenging the powerful and familiar trope of provincial meaninglessness. The main authors of fiction addressed here are Pavel Melnikov-Pechersky and, more briefly, Nikolai Leskov, both of whom imagine geographies that are not organized around a simple provinces–capital divide. Melnikov focuses explicitly and exclusively on a particular region (the Volga), and his fiction is read alongside the tradition of local scholarship that fostered his intensely local point of view. Leskov, by contrast, often imagines Russian space as open and uncentered, populated by wanderers and off-the-grid characters whose movements take little account of the provintsiia-stolitsa opposition. Both writers resist the polarized symbolic geography that is this book's focus, and although their resistance takes different forms, they share an interest in specific places that they invest with specific meanings. And yet this chapter argues, when it comes to reception and canonization, a nuanced representation of Russian space seems not to have worked to either writer's advantage.
Agreement between the GAITRite® System and the Wearable Sensor BTS G-Walk® for measurement of gait parameters in healthy adults and Parkinson’s disease patients
Authors: Vítečková Slávka , Horáková Hana , Poláková Kamila , Krupička Radim , Růžička Evžen , Brožová Hana
Published: May 2020

Background

Nowadays, the most widely used types of wearable sensors in gait analysis are inertial sensors. The aim of the study was to assess the agreement between two different systems for measuring gait parameters (inertial sensor vs. electronic walkway) on healthy control subjects (HC) and patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD).

Methods

Forty healthy volunteers (26 men, 14 women, mean age 58.7 ± 7.7 years) participated in the study and 24 PD patients (19 men, five women, mean age 62.7 ± 9.8 years). Each participant walked across an electronic walkway, GAITRite, with embedded pressure sensors at their preferred walking speed. Concurrently a G-Walk sensor was attached with a semi-elastic belt to the L5 spinal segment of the subject. Walking speed, cadence, stride duration, stride length, stance, swing, single support and double support phase values were compared between both systems.

Results

The Passing-Bablock regression slope line manifested the values closest to 1.00 for cadence and stride duration (0.99 ≤ 1.00) in both groups. The slope of other parameters varied between 0.26 (double support duration in PD) and 1.74 (duration of single support for HC). The mean square error confirmed the best fit of the regression line for speed, stride duration and stride length. The y-intercepts showed higher systematic error in PD than HC for speed, stance, swing, and single support phases.

Conclusions

The final results of this study indicate that the G-Walk system can be used for evaluating the gait characteristics of the healthy subjects as well as the PD patients. However, the duration of the gait cycle phases should be used with caution due to the presence of a systematic error.
Plant-derived angiogenin fusion protein’s cytoprotective effect on trabecular meshwork damage induced by Benzalkonium chloride in mice
Authors: Jeong Jae Hoon , Lee Soo Jin , Ko Kisung , Lee Jeong Hwan , Lyu Jungmook , Park Moon Hyang , Kang Jaeku , Kim Jae Chan
Published: May 2020

Background

Benzalkonium chloride (BAK), commonly used in glaucoma treatment, is an eye drop preservative with dose-dependent toxicity. Previous studies have observed the multi-functional benefits of angiogenin (ANG) against glaucoma. In our study, we evaluated ANG’s cytoprotective effect on the trabecular meshwork (TM) damage induced by BAK. Additionally, we developed a plant-derived ANG fusion protein and evaluated its effect on TM structure and function.

Methods

We synthesized plant-derived ANG (ANG-FcK) by fuzing immunoglobulin G’s Fc region and KDEL to conventional recombinant human ANG (Rh-ANG) purified from transgenic tobacco plants. We established a mouse model using BAK to look for degenerative changes in the TM, and to evaluate the protective effects of ANG-FcK and Rh-ANG. Intraocular pressure (IOP) was measured for 4 weeks and ultrastructural changes, deposition of fluorescent microbeads, type I and IV collagen, fibronectin, laminin and α-SMA expression were analyzed after the mice were euthanized.

Results

TM structural and functional degeneration were induced by 0.1% BAK instillation in mice. ANG co-treatment preserved TM outflow function, which we measured using IOP and a microbead tracer. ANG prevented phenotypic and ultrastructure changes, and that protective effect might be related to the anti-fibrosis mechanism. We observed a similar cytoprotective effect in the BAK-induced degenerative TM mouse model, suggesting that plant-derived ANG-FcK could be a promising glaucoma treatment.
As condições objetivas para o enfrentamento ao COVID-19: abismo social brasileiro, o racismo, e as perspectivas de desenvolvimento social como determinantes
Authors: Calmon Tricia Viviane Lima
Published: May 2020

O Brasil construiu ao longo da sua história um abismo social amparado na herança da escravidão racial, que tem relegado milhões de pessoas a viverem, atualmente, em extrema situação de pobreza. A necessidade de enfrentamento a Covid-19 expôs ainda mais a realidade do país, na medida em que grande parcela da sua população, que vive em situação de rua e em territórios bastante empobrecidos, tem encontrado dificuldade em realizar as orientações mínimas para prevenção à proliferação do coronavírus, como o isolamento social e higienização adequada. Nesse artigo discutimos as bases dessas dificuldades e a necessidade de alcançarmos um outro patamar de desenvolvimento social que supere a tragédia social produzida pela desigualdade sociorracial e econômica.
Entre pisar suavemente na terra ou comer suas entranhas: as escolhas que fazemos nos definem
Authors: Bronzo Carla
Published: May 2020

O artigo discute os desafios que se colocam, em diversos campos e disciplinas, com a emergência da pandemia do Covid19. A partir da análise de artigos que foram veiculados recentemente pela mídia, dando voz a cientistas e pensadores de diversas disciplinas e campos de conhecimento e ação, o texto afirma o momento de inflexão que vivemos e a necessária mudança de paradigma para o enfrentamento do duplo desafio que vivemos: da emergência climática e da desigualdade social.
Para superar o divórcio entre economia e sociedade: diagnóstico crítico e notas propositivas em um contexto de pandemia
Authors: França Filho Genauto Carvalho de , Magnelli André , Eynaud Philippe
Published: May 2020

O presente artigo se propõe a pensar a relação entre economia e sociedade em tempos de pandemia. O artigo inicia com (I) um diagnóstico crítico-analítico das causas e razões do divórcio entre economia e sociedade, identificando suas origens históricas e, ao mesmo tempo, buscando esclarecer como opera sua lógica na forma do neoliberalismo contemporâneo e como ela está em contradição com a democracia e, mesmo, com os próprios valores liberais. Em seguida (II), refletimos sobre as consequências do divórcio entre economia e sociedade, cujas insustentabilidades geradas serão analisadas tanto no nível macro-estruturante – ambientais, sócio-econômicas e políticas –, como no nível meso- e microssocial – territoriais e subjetivas. Por fim (III), passamos para as “notas propositivas” a favor de uma retomada da relação entre economia e sociedade, onde propomos reformulações conceituais e analíticas aptas para abrir um horizonte de sociedade do pós-bem estar social e também para formular, operacionalmente, um desenho de políticas públicas voltadas para o desenvolvimento solidário de territórios.
Navegando pelos Mares da Discursividade: democracia, políticas públicas e COVID-19
Authors: Social Revista Nau
Published: May 2020

Texto do Editorial deste número.
Impact of Vaccination and Pathogen Exposure Dosage on Shedding Kinetics of Infectious Hematopoietic Necrosis Virus (IHNV) in Rainbow Trout
Authors: Jones Darbi R. , Rutan Barbara J. , Wargo Andrew R.
Published: May 2020

Vaccine efficacy in preventing clinical disease has been well characterized. However, vaccine impacts on transmission under diverse field conditions, such as variable pathogen exposure dosages, are not fully understood. We evaluated the impacts of vaccination on disease-induced host mortality and shedding of infectious hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV) in Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss. Fish, in up to three different genetic lines, were exposed to different dosages of IHNV to simulate field variability. Mortality and viral shedding of each individual fish were quantified over the course of infection. As the exposure dosage increased, mortality, number of fish shedding virus, daily virus quantity shed, and total amount of virus shed also increased. Vaccination significantly reduced mortality but had a much smaller impact on shedding, such that vaccinated fish still shed significant amounts of virus, particularly at higher viral exposure dosages. These studies demonstrate that the consideration of pathogen exposure dosage and transmission are critical for robust inference of vaccine efficacy.
Monosubstituted, Anionic Imidazolyl Ligands from N−H NHC Precursors and Their Activity in Pd‐Catalyzed Cross‐Coupling Reactions
Authors: Martinez Erin E. , Jensen Christopher A. , Larson Alexandra J. S. , Kenney Karissa C. , Clark Kyle J. , Nazari S. Hadi , Valdivia‐Berroeta Gabriel A. , Smith Stacey J. , Ess Daniel H. , Michaelis David J.
Published: May 2020

We report that treatment of several 2‐diphenylphosphinoimidazoles with Pd(II) salts generates monosubstituted N−H NHC−Pd complexes via insertion into the C−P bond. Removal of the N−H proton in situ leads to anionic (X‐type) or imidazolyl‐Pd complexes that are highly stable and catalytically active, achieving up to 340,000 turnovers at 1 ppm catalyst loading in Suzuki‐Miyaura reactions. DFT‐calculated Tolman electronic parameters for the sterically small ligands suggest that these ligands are significantly more donating than traditional NHCs, which provides a rationale for rapid cross‐coupling catalysis. Excellent reactivity is also demonstrated in Sonogashira reactions.

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Green and simple method for preparing iron oxide nanoparticles supported on mesoporous biochar as a Fenton catalyst
Authors: Xu Lusheng , Ni Binghong , Fan Wenluxi , Fu Qingyun , Zhang Ying , Zhu Lingsha , Hong Yingmin , Pan Zhiyan
Published: May 2020

With the on‐going development of nanotechnology, iron‐containing nanomaterials have received much attention in wastewater treatment and site remediation. Here, we synthesized a biochar‐supported iron oxide nanocomposite (FemOn/BC) by simply pyrolysing rice root, which is a natural source both of iron and carbon. The FemOn/BC nanocomposite nicely preserved the vascular bundle structure of rice root. With iron oxide doped on the mesoporous biocarbon, the composite has the usability as a Fenton‐like catalyst in the Fenton system. FemOn/BC‐700 (pyrolysis at 700 °C) was selected to catalysis the reactive brilliant red X‐3B degradation. Under the same catalytic effect, the service life of FemOn/BC‐700 almost doubles that of iron microparticles. We believe this green and energy‐efficient method might have value in biomass usage and helps sustainable development.
New multifunctional heterobinuclear palladium (II) complexes based on organometallic dithiocarbazate ligands
Authors: Huentupil Yosselin , Chung Patricio , Novoa Néstor , Klahn A. Hugo , Medina Manuela E. , Cisterna Jonathan , Brito Iván , Rivera Andrés , López‐Muñoz Rodrigo , Arancibia Rodrigo
Published: May 2020

In the research of new compounds with multifunctional applications, heterobinuclear palladium (II) complexes based on organometallic dithiocarbazates (DTCZs) have been isolated. The organometallic DTCZ ligands of the general formula [{(η5‐C5H4)‐CH=NNHC(S)SCH3}]MLn [MLn = Re (CO)3 (2a); Mn (CO)3 (2b); FeCp (2c)] were prepared by the reaction between formyl organometallic precursors (1a−c) with S‐methyldithiocarbazate. Subsequently, a two‐step reaction of 2a−c with: (i) K2[PdCl4] and (ii) PPh3 yielded heterobinuclear complexes [Pd{MLn(η5‐C5H4)‐CH=NNHC(S)SCH3}–(Cl)(PPh3)] [MLn = Re (CO)3 (3a); Mn (CO)3 (3b); FeCp (3c)]. All compounds were characterized by conventional spectroscopic techniques (infrared spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and elemental analysis). In addition, the molecular structures of 2a, 2c and 3c were determined by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction. The new palladium (II) complexes (3a−c) were evaluated as antiproliferative agents against non‐small cell lung cancer cells (H1299 cells). Complexes 3a and 3b containing cyrhetrenyl‐ and cymantrenyl‐DTCZ ligands, respectively, were more active than their ferrocenyl analogue 3c. The activity was associated with the electron‐withdrawing properties of the (η5‐C5H4)M (CO)3 moieties and their better lipophilicity than that of the ferrocenyl analogue. In addition, we studied the capacity of metalloligands (2a−c) and palladium (II) complexes (3a−c) to remove methylene blue in water under UV–visible light irradiation. The results established that the complexes showed moderate efficiency and were less active than their corresponding free ligands.
A novel hybrid electrode of zeolitic imidazolate framework–derived carbon encapsulated in reduced‐TiO2 nanotube arrays: Fabrication and photoelectrocatalytic activity
Authors: Song Huihui , Zhang Junming , Sun Zhongqiao , Sun Ting , Han Yide , Meng Hao , Zhang Xia
Published: May 2020

Constructing high‐efficient photoelectrodes is one of the promising tasks in photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) technology. Al‐reduced TiO2 nanotube arrays (R‐TNTAs) exhibit distinct improved visible‐light response ability in comparison with traditional TiO2 nanomaterials. In addition, metal–organic framework (MOF)‐derived porous carbon materials possess versatile advantages partly due to preserved geometry configuration of MOF. Inspired by these characteristics, in this work, we synthesized the novel hybrid electrodes of C–N (Zn)@R‐TNTAs through the pyrolysis of ZIF‐8@R‐TNTAs at controlled temperatures, which were pre‐synthesized by coating zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIF‐8) onto R‐TNTAs. The resulting hybrid electrodes were characterized using field‐emission scanning electron microscopy, powder X‐ray diffraction, X‐ray photoelectron spectra, and Fourier‐transform infrared techniques. The EC property and PEC activity of the composite electrodes were also analyzed, and the dependence of these on the pyrolysis temperature was also explored. The results showed that the pyrolyzed carbon materials were uniformly deposited in the inner TiO2 nanotubes and thus effectively enhanced their EC and PEC activities. The best EC and PEC capacities were obtained by C–N (Zn)@R‐TNTAs (600); the maximum photocurrent density was 0.85 mA cm−2, which is ~1.5 times that of single R‐TNTAs; and the maximum H2 evolution rate was 58.83 μmol h−1 cm−2, being ~2.3 times that of R‐TNTAs. In addition, C–N (Zn)@R‐TNTAs (600) exhibited the best PEC activity in the degradation of rhodamine B with excellent catalytic stability. Based on EC analyses, a possible band structure and enhanced PEC mechanism for C–N (Zn)@R‐TNTAs were proposed. There are only a few reports related to reduced TiO2 nanotubes, and this work highlights the ideas of designing the hybrid electrodes based on reduced TNTAs and MOF‐derived carbon materials, which may find broad applications in PC and PEC processes.
Synthesis, spectral, MOE and cytotoxic studies of nano Ru (III), Pr (III) and Gd (III) metal complexes with new Schiff base ligand based on dibenzoyl methane and anthranilic acid
Authors: Mahmoud Nessma F. , Mahmoud Walaa H. , Mohamed Gehad G.
Published: May 2020

Three metal complexes of Gd (III), Pr (III) and Ru (III) metal ions with Schiff base ligand (H2L) (prepared through l:2 condensation of dibenzoyl methane and anthranilic acid) were prepared and characterized using various physio‐chemical methods like: elemental analyses, IR, mass spectrometry, magnetic moment, 1H NMR, SEM and TG/DTG thermal analysis. The analytical and spectroscopic tools showed that the complexes had composition of ML type with octahedral geometry. The mass spectra gave the possible molecular ion peaks of the Schiff base ligand and three metal chelates. The 1H NMR data supported the IR finding that the ligand coordinated to the metal ions via carboxylate proton displacement. Thermal analysis (TG/DTG) was utilized to differentiate between coordinated and hydrated water molecules. The Schiff base (H2L) and its metal complexes have been screened for their antibacterial activity against Gram (+) bacteria (Streptococcus aureus and Bacillis subtilis), Gram (−) bacteria (Salmonella typhimurium and Escherichia coli) and two fungi (Aspergillus fumigatu and Candida albicans) organisms by agar diffusion method. The anticancer activity was screened against human breast cancer cell line (MCF‐7). The H2L ligand and its metal chelates were docked using MOE 2008 software with crystal structure of Gram (+) bacteria: Staphylococcus aureus (PDB ID: 3Q8U) and Gram (−) bacteria: Salmonella typhimurium (PDB ID: lDZR) to identify the binding orientation or conformation of the complex in the active site of the protein.
A sustainable perspective of microalgal biorefinery for co‐production and recovery of high‐value carotenoid and biofuel with CO2 valorization
Authors: Dineshkumar Ramalingam , Sen Ramkrishna
Published: May 2020

Process biotechnology can play a very important role in addressing contemporary global challenges in the areas of energy, the environment, and healthcare. This review discusses the development of a biorefinery model using sustainable feedstocks such as microalgal biomass, with multiple benefits. As a case study, it demonstrates the development of a microalgal biorefinery to produce lipid for biofuel and carotenoids like lutein for healthcare applications, along with CO2 mitigation. However, there has been a question mark regarding the economic viability of microalgal biorefinery, mainly for low biomass and product yields and discrete downstream processing steps. To provide sustainable solutions for these technological challenges, process intensification strategies can be implemented to enhance the yields of biomass‐derived biofuels and value‐added products. This article investigates the design aspects of photo‐bioreactors to enhance biomass productivity and CO2 sequestration. Despite efforts made by researchers to improve product yields, there is ample scope to improve the economic viability of lutein and lipid production by integrating upstream and downstream operations to reduce the cost associated with the process. The future of algal biorefineries will rely on the development of rationally integrated genome and process‐scale engineering strategies to improve further the production of lipid and carotenoids. This review critically analyzes the current state of the art and presents the future prospects for microalgal biorefinery to address some of the challenges in the areas of healthcare, energy, and the environment. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Identification of the key genes associated with chemotherapy sensitivity in ovarian cancer patients
Authors: Zheng Hui , Zhang Meiqin , Ma Shuang , Yang Wenting , Xie Suhong , Wang Yanchun , Liu Yixuan , Kai Jinyan , Ma Qian , Lu Renquan , Guo Lin
Published: May 2020

Background

Ovarian cancer (OC) is the deadliest gynecological cancer. The absence of biomarkers in early detection and chemotherapy resistance is a principal cause of treatment failure in OC.

Methods

In this study, next generation sequencing (NGS) was used to sequence the mRNA of 44 OC patients including 14 chemotherapy insensitive and 18 sensitive patients. Differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from OC patients (compared with healthy controls) and chemotherapy sensitive patients (compared with chemotherapy insensitive patients) were identified by edgeR v3.12.0 in R v3.2.2, which were enriched using Gene Ontology (GO) database and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway (KEGG). The common DEGs in cancer occurring and chemotherapy sensitivity were further screened. Among them, genes participating in chemotherapy sensitivity associated pathways were regarded as chemotherapy sensitivity‐related key genes. Quantitative real‐time PCR (qPCR) and immunohistochemistry (IHC) were used to verify the expression of the key genes.

Results

We found 1588 DEGs between OC patients and healthy controls (HCs), which were mainly enriched in cell cycle pathway. Meanwhile, 249 DEGs were identified between chemotherapy sensitive and insensitive OC patients, which were mainly enriched in MAPK signaling pathway, ERBB signaling pathway, TNF signaling pathway, and IL‐17 signaling pathway. Thirty‐five DEGs were shared in chemotherapy sensitivity group and cancer occurring group. Among them, there are five genes (JUND, JUNB, MUC5B, NRG1, and NR4A1) participating in the above four chemotherapy sensitivity‐related pathways. It is remarkable that JUND is in the upstream of MUC5B in IL‐17 signaling pathway and their expressions were verified by qPCR and IHC.

Conclusions

The expression levels of the key genes related to chemotherapy sensitivity might be used as biomarkers to predict the treatment outcome and as a target to improve prognosis.
Nasal polyps with osseous metaplasia: A misunderstood situation
Authors: Mat Quentin , Mehta Rupal , Tainmont Sophie , Duterme Jean‐Pierre
Published: May 2020

Osseous metaplasia in nasal polyps is rare but benign. To exclude dangerous lesions, sending the entirety of histological samples is mandatory in cases presenting with clustered densities on CT scan. Microdebrider should not be used for this surgery.
Conjunctive Photoluminescence Enhancement Through Plasmonic and Photonic Band‐Gap Pathways in a Chiral Self‐Assembled System
Authors: Baral Marlin , Krishna Prasad S. , Bhat Sachin A. , Nayak Rashmi A. , Yelamaggad C. V.
Published: May 2020

We describe two parallel pathways for enhancing the intrinsic photoluminescence of an organic emitter dispersed in a liquid crystal (LC) medium. The pathways have independent origins: (i) Metal enhanced fluorescence (MEF) incorporating gold nanoparticles having an organic shell of pro‐mesogenic cholesterol esters; and (ii) Matching the photonic band gap (PBG) due to the helical structure in a self‐assembled chiral system with the excitation wavelength. This unprecedented combination of both pathways achieves a level of photoluminescence exceeding the sum of the contribution from the individual methods. This conjunctive protocol results in an overall enhancement by a factor of 37 between the emitter dispersed in a non‐chiral LC and that appealing to both MEF and PBG pathways. Circular polarized luminescence measurements also show that this protocol helps in effective discrimination of chiral light achieving a large dissymmetry factor whose magnitude (+0.33) is comparable to the highest recorded to date. Electric field switching between two states is also shown to result in appreciable fluorescence modulation. Being generic in nature the protocol employed can be adapted to a variety of situations with the large magnitude as well the modulation level suitable for applications such as biosensors, various analyte detection, and other photonic devices.
Hydrophobic Interaction Chromatography in 2 D Liquid Chromatography Characterization of Lignosulfonates
Authors: Musl Oliver , Sulaeva Irina , Bacher Markus , Mahler A. Kai , Rosenau Thomas , Potthast Antje
Published: May 2020

Lignosulfonates are bulk‐scale byproducts of industrial sulfite pulping. Their amphiphilic character plays a central role in their successful application in large‐scale materials production. As an inherent feature of the chemical structure, this amphiphilic character poses a major analytical challenge. In this study, the amphiphilic behavior of an industrial lignosulfonate was investigated by hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC). This technique exploits hydrophobic regions present on the surface of lignosulfonates. Extensive characterization of the obtained fractions from preparative HIC, in terms of elemental composition, functional‐group content, chemical structure, and molecular weight distribution, revealed a detailed picture of the chemical composition distribution. The charge‐to‐size ratio, that is, differences in the degree of sulfonation, was the dominant factor governing separation in HIC. A combination of HIC with size exclusion chromatography showed good orthogonality of separation and demonstrated the power of this 2 D liquid chromatography approach for an in‐depth characterization, in general, and amphiphilicity, in particular.
Why Challenge Trials of SARS‐CoV‐2 Vaccines Could Be Ethical Despite Risk of Severe Adverse Events
Authors: Eyal Nir
Published: May 2020

Human challenge trials to test the efficacy of vaccine candidates against SARS‐CoV‐2, the novel coronavirus behind Covid‐19, could save considerable time and many lives. But they may initially seem unethical because they expose healthy volunteers to a live virus that is killing many people and for which no cure exists. This article argues that this is not the correct test of their ethics. The correct test is comparative. And in the special circumstances of the Covid‐19 pandemic, human challenge trials meet the correct test better than standard efficacy testing would.
Evolutionary history drives aspects of stoichiometric niche variation and functional effects within a guild
Authors: Atkinson Carla L. , van Ee Brian C. , Pfeiffer John M.
Published: May 2020

Functional traits are characteristics of an organism that represents how it interacts with its environment and can influence the structure and function of ecosystems. Ecological stoichiometry provides a framework to understand ecosystem structure and function by modeling the coupled flow of elements (e.g. carbon [C], nitrogen [N], phosphorus [P]) between consumers and their environment. Animals tend to be homeostatic in their nutrient requirements and preferentially sequester the element in shortest supply relative to demand, and release relatively more of the element in excess. Tissue stoichiometry is an important functional trait that allows for predictions among the elemental composition of animals, their diet, and their waste products, with important effects on the cycling and availability of nutrients in ecosystems. Here, we examined the tissue stoichiometric niches (C:N:P) and nutrient recycling stoichiometries (N:P) of several filter‐feeding freshwater mussels in the subfamily Ambleminae. Despite occupying the same functional‐feeding group and being restricted to a single subfamily‐level radiation, we found that species occupied distinct stoichiometric niches and that these niches varied, in part, as a function of their evolutionary history. The relationship between phylogenetic divergence and functional divergence suggests that evolutionary processes may be shaping niche complementarity and resource partitioning. Tissue and excretion stoichiometry were negatively correlated as predicted by stoichiometric theory. When scaled to the community, higher species richness and phylogenetic diversity resulted in greater functional evenness and reduced functional dispersion. Filter‐feeding bivalves are an ecologically important guild in freshwater ecosystems globally, and our study provides a more nuanced view of the stoichiometric niches and ecological functions performed by this phylogenetically and ecologically diverse assemblage.