Feedstock nitrogen content mediates maximum possible Pb sorption capacity of biochars.

The use of biochar for the adsorption of contaminants from soil and water has received considerable interest due to biochar's high surface area, negative charge, and resistance to degradation. However, a knowledge gap still exists concerning the optimum selection of feedstocks and pyrolysis temperatures to maximise sorption capacity for metals. In this study, biochars were produced from 4 different feedstock materials (hay, wheat straw, coco coir, and pine bark) at 10 pyrolysis temperatures ranging from 300 °C to 750 °C, at 50 °C intervals. Batch sorption experiments were conducted to determine the maximum Pb sorption capacity for each biochar using the Langmuir model. The sorption isotherms fit the Langmuir model well (generally R2 > 0.7). The Langmuir maximum sorption capacity increased with an increase in pyrolysis temperature, according to a sigmoidal relationship. A sigmoidal model was fit to the data to derive the theoretical maximum possible sorption capacity obtainable from a feedstock. We observed a positive correlation between the nitrogen content of the feedstock and the theoretical maximum possible sorption capacity obtainable from the feedstock. This relationship highlights the importance of nitrogen content in feedstock to create biochars with a high Pb sorption capacity. It is possible that cation-π interactions with heterocyclic N structures are the primary mechanism for the sorption of Pb to these biochars, and this warrants further investigation.

Organosolv Pretreatment of Cocoa Pod Husks: Isolation, Analysis, and Use of Lignin from an Abundant Waste Product.

Cocoa pod husks (CPHs) represent an underutilized component of the chocolate manufacturing process. While industry's current focus is understandably on the cocoa beans, the husks make up around 75 wt % of the fruit. Previous studies have been dominated by the carbohydrate polymers present in CPHs, but this work highlights the presence of the biopolymer lignin in this biomass. An optimized organosolv lignin isolation protocol was developed, delivering significant practical improvements. This new protocol may also prove to be useful for agricultural waste-derived biomasses in general. NMR analysis of the high quality lignin led to an improved structural understanding, with evidence provided to support deacetylation of the lignin occurring during the optimized pretreatment. Chemical transformation, using a tosylation, azidation, copper-catalyzed click protocol, delivered a modified lignin oligomer with an organophosphorus motif attached. Thermogravimetric analysis was used to demonstrate the oligomer's potential as a flame-retardant. Preliminary analysis of the other product streams isolated from the CPHs was also carried out.

Effects of anthropogenic nitrogen additions and elevated CO2 on microbial community, carbon and nitrogen content in a replicated wetland.

Anthropogenic deposition of nitrogen (N) and elevated CO2 (eaCO2) are expected to increase continuously and rapidly in the near future and influence global carbon cycling. These parameters affect the ecosystem by regulating the microbial community and contribute to soil organic matter decomposition. The study was performed to understand the effects of N additions (4 and 6mgl-1) and eaCO2 (700 ppm) on carbon (C)/nitrogen (N) content in the soil, microbial community, and plant biomass (Alternanthera philoxeroides species). The results showed that when the atmospheric CO2 concentration was raised, the total organic carbon (TOC) in the soil statistically increased (P < 0.05) by 4% and 3% under low and high N additions respectively, while the inorganic carbon content also increased by 1% and 3% (P > 0.05) under the same conditions. The increase in the soil TOC content was a result of the movement of carbon from water to the soil due to the presence of vascular tissues of plants in the water. The redundancy analysis (RDA) results revealed that the presence of plant species was responsible for the carbon content increment in the soil. The plant biomass content increased by 30.96% (P = 0.081) and 31.36%, (P = 0.002) under low and high N addition respectively due to the increment in atmospheric CO2. The nitrogen content in the plant species decreased (p > 0.05) by 8.62% and 6.25% at low and high N addition respectively when atmospheric CO2 was raised. This suggests that soil microbes competed with the plants for inorganic nitrogen in the soil and the microbes used up the inorganic nitrogen before it got to the plants. The gram-positive bacteria and fungi population decreased under high N addition and eaCO2 while gram-negative bacteria increased, suggesting that N additions and eaCO2 affected the microbial function and correlated with the nitrogen reduction in the soil. The results from this study serve as a guide to researchers and stakeholders in making policies with regard to the constant increasing CO2 concentration in the atmosphere.

Analyzing a faculty online learning community as a mechanism for supporting faculty implementation of a guided-inquiry curriculum.

BACKGROUND: Adoption and use of effective, research-based instructional strategies (RBISs) for STEM education is less widespread than hoped. To promote further use of RBISs, the propagation paradigm suggests that developers work with potential adopters during the development process, and provide ongoing support after adoption. This article investigates the impact of a faculty online learning community (FOLC) as a professional development mechanism for supporting faculty adopting a research-based curriculum. A FOLC uses video conference technology and online platforms to connect geographically dispersed faculty with similar backgrounds (e.g., physics faculty) and supports their teaching development. In the context of a specific FOLC, this article seeks to determine the outcomes the FOLC achieves, and how. RESULTS: Analysis of a FOLC meeting identified opportunities for rich, complex social interaction centered on the research-based curriculum. By functioning as a sounding board for ideas, a space to share experiences, a source of affective support, and a venue for troubleshooting, the FOLC mediates the achievement of a range of outcomes related to implementation of the curriculum. Survey results indicate that members feel a sense of community in the FOLC and that it provides encouragement through teaching challenges. Further results indicate participants' increased confidence in using the curriculum; familiarity with the curriculum structure and content; increased knowledge of pedagogical techniques; reflection on teaching practices in the curriculum; and use of pedagogical techniques aligned with the curriculum's core principles. Emerging evidence supports more distal outcomes, including student learning, persistence in using the curriculum, reflection in teaching practice across courses taught, and use of research-based pedagogy in other courses. CONCLUSIONS: The propagation paradigm emphasizes the need for ongoing support for adopters of RBISs. The FOLC model provides participating faculty with ongoing support through participation in a community and is an effective support mechanism for adopters of a research-based curriculum. In this study, FOLC members are increasing their knowledge and use of pedagogical techniques in the curriculum-specific course and beyond. This is facilitated by the opportunities in the FOLC for troubleshooting, idea sharing, and receiving encouragement through challenges. This model has the potential to support adopters of additional educational innovations. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40594-020-00268-7.

Exploiting High-Throughput Indoor Phenotyping to Characterize the Founders of a Structured B. napus Breeding Population.

Phenotyping is considered a significant bottleneck impeding fast and efficient crop improvement. Similar to many crops, Brassica napus, an internationally important oilseed crop, suffers from low genetic diversity, and will require exploitation of diverse genetic resources to develop locally adapted, high yielding and stress resistant cultivars. A pilot study was completed to assess the feasibility of using indoor high-throughput phenotyping (HTP), semi-automated image processing, and machine learning to capture the phenotypic diversity of agronomically important traits in a diverse B. napus breeding population, SKBnNAM, introduced here for the first time. The experiment comprised 50 spring-type B. napus lines, grown and phenotyped in six replicates under two treatment conditions (control and drought) over 38 days in a LemnaTec Scanalyzer 3D facility. Growth traits including plant height, width, projected leaf area, and estimated biovolume were extracted and derived through processing of RGB and NIR images. Anthesis was automatically and accurately scored (97% accuracy) and the number of flowers per plant and day was approximated alongside relevant canopy traits (width, angle). Further, supervised machine learning was used to predict the total number of raceme branches from flower attributes with 91% accuracy (linear regression and Huber regression algorithms) and to identify mild drought stress, a complex trait which typically has to be empirically scored (0.85 area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, random forest classifier algorithm). The study demonstrates the potential of HTP, image processing and computer vision for effective characterization of agronomic trait diversity in B. napus, although limitations of the platform did create significant variation that limited the utility of the data. However, the results underscore the value of machine learning for phenotyping studies, particularly for complex traits such as drought stress resistance.

Haploidentical stem cell transplantation for patients with lymphoma: a position statement from the Lymphoma Working Party-European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation.

Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (alloSCT) continues to be the only potentially curative treatment for patients with refractory lymphomas or relapsing after autologous stem cell transplantation. Until recently, alloSCT was restricted to patients who had a matched donor, sibling or unrelated. In the past years, substantial progress in haploidentical transplantation (haploSCT) has resulted in a significant increase in the number of patients treated with this procedure, worldwide. Given the fact that an HLA haplo-identical donor can be found within the immediate family for almost any patient, virtually every patient can receive an haploSCT. Another reason to use haploSCT, especially in diseases like lymphomas where the decision to perform an alloSCT is being taken sometimes late in the course of the disease, is the considerable delay to find a matched unrelated donor (MUD), when an HLA-identical sibling (MSD) is not available. In this paper, we summarize available evidence supporting the use of haploSCT in lymphoma patients and share current recommendations of the Lymphoma Working Party of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) on how to integrate haploSCT in this population.

Outcomes of 44 Consecutive Complete Bilateral Cleft Lip and Palate Patients Treated With Secondary Alveolar Bone Grafting and Premaxillary Osteotomy.

OBJECTIVE: To report the surgical outcomes of secondary alveolar bone grafting with premaxillary osteotomy in a single surgeon cohort of complete bilateral cleft lip and palate patients. DESIGN: Retrospective review of 44 consecutive patients using hospital notes and radiographs. SETTING: Single specialist cleft lip and palate center, UK. PATIENTS: Consecutive patients with complete bilateral cleft lip and palate who were being treated with secondary alveolar bone grafting incorporating premaxillary osteotomy. OUTCOME MEASURES: Assessment of success of bone graft by Kindelan score; canine eruption; closure of fistulae and assessment of morbidity. RESULTS: Between January 6, 2000, and August 8, 2013, 44 patients with complete BCLP underwent secondary ABG with a premaxillary osteotomy as a one-stage procedure. The mean follow-up was 7.3 years (range 1.4 to 14.6). Eighty-five percent of ABGs were successful (a Kindelan score of 1 or 2), and canine eruption was 89%. Failure of the ABG occurred in 7%. Fistulae recurrence rate was 11%, all of which were asymptomatic. No premaxillae were devitalized. CONCLUSION: Incorporating a premaxillary osteotomy into the secondary ABG surgical protocol can be a safe technique that gives excellent surgical exposure for fistula repair.

Risk Factors for Retreatment Following Myopic LASIK with Femtosecond Laser and Custom Ablation for the Treatment of Myopia.

PURPOSE: To identify risks factors for retreatment post-laser in situ keratomeliusis (LASIK). MATERIALS & METHODS: A retrospective chart review from December 2008 to September 2012 identified 1,402 patients (2,581 eyes) that underwent LASIK treatment for myopia with the Intralase™ FS, STAR S4 IR™ Excimer Laser, and WaveScan WaveFront™ technology. In this group, 83 patients were retreated. All charts were reviewed for preoperative age, gender, initial manifest refraction spherical equivalent (MRSE), total astigmatism, and iris registration. RESULTS: Increased incidence rates of retreatment post-LASIK were preoperative age >40 years (p < 0.001), initial MRSE > -3.0 D (p = 0.02), and astigmatism >1D (p = 0.001). Iris registration capture did not significantly reduce the retreatment rate (p = 0.12). CONCLUSIONS: Risk factors for retreatment included preoperative age >40 years, initial MRSE > -3.0 D, and astigmatism >1D. There was no difference in retreatment rate for patients based on gender or iris registration capture.

Risk factors for loss of epithelial flap integrity in laser-assisted subepithelial keratectomy surgery.

PURPOSE: To evaluate risk factors leading to loss of epithelial flap integrity in laser-assisted subepithelial keratectomy (LASEK). SETTING: Boston Eye Group, Brookline, Massachusetts, USA. DESIGN: Retrospective case study. METHODS: This retrospective chart review was performed for LASEK surgeries that occurred between January 2009 and October 2013. Logistic regression was performed to determine whether epithelium preservation was correlated with age, sex, sphere, cylinder, spherical equivalent (SE), keratometry, and central corneal thickness (CCT). RESULTS: The study reviewed 1009 eyes of 509 patients with a mean age of 29.1 years ± 12.2 (SD). The mean preoperative spherical refraction was -4.7 ± 2.5 diopters (D), and the mean preoperative cylinder was -1.1 ± 0.8 D. The mean preoperative decimal corrected distance visual acuity was 1.01 ± 0.07. Single-sheet mobilization of the loosened epithelium flap was found in 72.3% of cases. Fragmented preservation events occurred in 17.6% of cases; the flap was discarded in 10.0% of cases. Epithelium preservation was significantly correlated with age (P = .048) but not with other parameters (P > .05 for sex, sphere, cylinder, SE, keratometry, CCT, and surgeon experience). Epithelial flap dissection was less likely to lead to a single epithelial sheet in patients older than 50 years than in younger patients (56.3% versus 74.9%). The mean postoperative decimal uncorrected distance visual acuity (UDVA) at 3 months was 0.98 ± 0.08. There was no statistical difference in postoperative UDVA between the undiscarded flap group and discarded flap group (P = .128). CONCLUSION: Successful dissection of single-sheet epithelial flap diminished with age. FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE: No author has a financial or proprietary interest in any material or method mentioned.

Multiple Individual Audit Outcome Web--a novel tool to evaluate patient outcomes.

Multiple Individual Audit Outcome Web (MIAOW) is a pictorial representation of outcomes, which is used widely in industry, finance, and sports, but not, to the best of our knowledge, in our specialty. It was developed to display multiple audit outcomes for patients in cleft surgery and we show its use in that area, but equally it could be applied to other areas such as orthognathic surgery, and head and neck oncology. We report how it can be used to display surgical outcomes.

Computational methodologies for modelling, analysis and simulation of signalling networks.

This article is a critical review of computational techniques used to model, analyse and simulate signalling networks. We propose a conceptual framework, and discuss the role of signalling networks in three major areas: signal transduction, cellular rhythms and cell-to-cell communication. In order to avoid an overly abstract and general discussion, we focus on three case studies in the areas of receptor signalling and kinase cascades, cell-cycle regulation and wound healing. We report on a variety of modelling techniques and associated tools, in addition to the traditional approach based on ordinary differential equations (ODEs), which provide a range of descriptive and analytical powers. As the field matures, we expect a wider uptake of these alternative approaches for several reasons, including the need to take into account low protein copy numbers and noise and the great complexity of cellular organisation. An advantage offered by many of these alternative techniques, which have their origins in computing science, is the ability to perform sophisticated model analysis which can better relate predicted behaviour and observations.

Determination of human ventricular repolarization by noncontact mapping: validation with monophasic action potential recordings.

BACKGROUND: Noncontact mapping (NCM) has not been validated as a clinical technique to measure ventricular repolarization. We used NCM to determine repolarization characteristics by analysis of reconstructed unipolar electrograms (UEs) at the same sites as monophasic action potential (MAP) recordings in the human ventricle. METHODS AND RESULTS: MAPs were recorded from a total of 355 beats at 46 sites in the left or right ventricle of 9 patients undergoing ablation of ventricular tachycardia guided by NCM (EnSite system). Measurements were made during sinus rhythm, constant right ventricular pacing, and ventricular extrastimuli during restitution-curve construction. The EnGuide locator signal was used to document MAP catheter locations on the endocardial geometry. UE-determined activation-recovery interval (ARI) measured at the maximum derivative of the T wave (Wyatt method) and the minimum derivative of the positive T wave (alternative method) was correlated with MAP measured at 90% repolarization (MAP90%) at the same sites. ARI correlated with MAP90% during steady state by the Wyatt method (r=0.83, P<0.001) and the alternative method (r=0.94, P<0.001). Restitution curves constructed from MAP and UE data exhibited the same characteristics, with a mean correlation coefficient of 0.95 (range, 0.90 to 0.99, P<0.001). The error between ARI and MAP90% was greater over a shorter diastolic coupling interval but was not influenced by distance of the sampling site from the multielectrode array. CONCLUSIONS: NCM accurately determines steady-state and dynamic endocardial repolarization in humans. Global, high-density, NCM data could be used to characterize abnormalities of human ventricular repolarization.