Rapid and Universal Synthesis of 2D Transition Metal (Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, and W) Sulfides through Oxide Sulfurization in CS2 Vapor.

Transition metal (TM) sulfides belong to the class of 2D materials with a wide application range. Various methods, including solvothermal, hydrothermal, chemical vapor deposition, and quartz ampoule-based approaches, have been employed for the synthesis of TM sulfides. Some of them face limitations due to the low stability of TM sulfides and their susceptibility to oxidation, and others require more sophisticated equipment or complex and rare precursors or are not scalable. In this work, we propose an alternative approach for the synthesis of 2D TM sulfides by sulfurization of corresponding metal oxides in the vapor of CS2 at elevated temperature. Subsequent treatment in liquid nitrogen allows exfoliation of created sulfides to a 2D structure. A proposed approach was successfully applied to nine transition metals: Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, Ta, Cr, Mo, and W. The resulting materials were extensively characterized using various analytical techniques with a focus on their crystalline structure and 2D nature. Our approach offers several advantages including the use of simple precursors (CS2 and metal oxides), universality (in all cases, the sulfides were obtained), equipment simplicity (tube furnace and quartz reactor), short preparation time (3 h), and the ability of morphology and phase tuning (in particular cases) of the created materials by adjusting the temperature. In addition, gram-scale bulk materials can be obtained in the entry-level laboratories using the proposed approach.

Gross morphology and adhesion-associated physical properties of Drosophila larval salivary gland glue secretion.

One of the major functions of the larval salivary glands (SGs) of many Drosophila species is to produce a massive secretion during puparium formation. This so-called proteinaceous glue is exocytosed into the centrally located lumen, and subsequently expectorated, serving as an adhesive to attach the puparial case to a solid substrate during metamorphosis. Although this was first described almost 70 years ago, a detailed description of the morphology and mechanical properties of the glue is largely missing. Its main known physical property is that it is released as a watery liquid that quickly hardens into a solid cement. Here, we provide a detailed morphological and topological analysis of the solidified glue. We demonstrated that it forms a distinctive enamel-like plaque that is composed of a central fingerprint surrounded by a cascade of laterally layered terraces. The solidifying glue rapidly produces crystals of KCl on these alluvial-like terraces. Since the properties of the glue affect the adhesion of the puparium to its substrate, and so can influence the success of metamorphosis, we evaluated over 80 different materials for their ability to adhere to the glue to determine which properties favor strong adhesion. We found that the alkaline Sgs-glue adheres strongly to wettable and positively charged surfaces but not to neutral or negatively charged and hydrophobic surfaces. Puparia formed on unfavored materials can be removed easily without leaving fingerprints or cascading terraces. For successful adhesion of the Sgs-glue, the material surface must display a specific type of triboelectric charge. Interestingly, the expectorated glue can move upwards against gravity on the surface of freshly formed puparia via specific, unique and novel anatomical structures present in the puparial's lateral abdominal segments that we have named bidentia.

Exercise capacity after total cavopulmonary anastomosis: a longitudinal paediatric and adult study.

AIMS: Fontan palliation is a surgical strategy for patients with complex congenital heart disease, in whom biventricular circulation cannot be achieved. Long-term survival is negatively affected by the absence of sub-pulmonary ventricle and increased systemic venous pressure. Exercise capacity is a known predictor of overall survival and quality of life in congenital heart defects. We aim to track individual trends of peak oxygen uptake (V̇O2 peak) after total cavopulmonary connection (TCPC), identify predictors of deterioration, and derive a disease-specific reference V̇O2 peak dataset. METHODS AND RESULTS: A retrospective study of serial cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET) data, gathered from all patients who underwent TCPC in the Czech Republic between 1992 and 2016. Of 354 consecutive patients with TCPC, 288 (81.4%) patients underwent one or more CPETs yielding 786 unique V̇O2 peak values used as a reference dataset. Longitudinal data were available in 206 (58.2%) patients, who underwent a median (inter-quartile range) of 3.0 (2.0-5.0) CPETs over a mean (standard deviation) of 8.9 (5.5) years. The decline of exercise capacity with age was linear and not faster than in healthy peers (P = 0.47), but relative values of V̇O2 peak in TCPC patients were 12.6 mL/min/kg lower. Single ventricular morphology and pulmonary artery size had no significant influence on the exercise capacity dynamics. V̇O2 peak decline correlated negatively with the trend of body mass index z-score (P = 0.006) and was faster in women than men (P = 0.008). CONCLUSIONS: Total cavopulmonary connection patients have significantly reduced exercise capacity. The age-related decline paralleled the healthy population and correlated negatively with the body mass index trend. The presented V̇O2 peak reference dataset may help the clinicians to grade the severity of exercise capacity impairment in individual TCPC patients.

Plastic ingestion by the Wels catfish (Silurus glanis L.): detailed chemical analysis and degradation state evaluation.

Plastic ingestion by various organisms within different trophic levels, including humans, is becoming a serious problem worldwide. Plastic waste samples are often found concentrated in an organism's digestive tract and can be degraded and further translocate to the surrounding tissue or circulatory systems and accumulate in food chains. In the present work, we report a detailed chemical analysis and degradation state evaluation of a relatively large piece of plastic waste found in the gastrointestinal tract of a Wels catfish (Silurus glanis L.) caught in the Bodrog River (Danube River basin), eastern Slovakia. Chemical analysis by surface-sensitive X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was performed to identify the surface composition of the digested plastic piece. Micro-Fourier transform infrared (µFTIR) spectroscopy showed that the plastic waste was oxidized low-density polyethylene (LDPE), with some nylon fibers adhered on the surface. Glyceraldehyde adhered onto LDPE was also detected, which might come from the carbohydrate metabolism of that fish. A morphology study by digital optical microscopy indicated solid inorganic particles attached to the surface of LDPE. A degradation study by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) showed considerable oxidation of LDPE, leading to fragmentation and disintegration of the plastic waste material.

Remarkable differences in the voltammetric response towards hydrogen peroxide, oxygen and Ru(NH3)63+ of electrode interfaces modified with HF or LiF-HCl etched Ti3C2Tx MXene.

An electrochemical study was performed on the behavior of Ti3C2Tx MXenes prepared by using either HF (MXene1) or LiF/HCl as etchants (MXene2). The use of two redox probes indicates the presence of a higher negative charge density on MXene2 in comparison to MXene1. The characterization of two nanomaterials shows that titanium and fluoride are present higher by one order of magnitude at the interface of MXene2, compared to MXene1. The high Ti and F content is accompanied by a 82-fold larger (249 µA·cm-2 vs. 5.64 µA·cm-2) anodic peak at the peak potential near 0.4 V (vs. Ag/AgCl). Similarly, the peak current on MXene2 is 317-fold higher for the oxygen reduction at pH 7.0 (at a voltage of -0.84 V) and 215-fold higher for the reduction of H2O2 at -0.89 V, when compared to MXene1. Graphical abstractDifference in electrochemical behavior of MXene prepared by HF (MXene1) and LiF/HCl (MXene2) as etchants.

de.NBI Cloud federation through ELIXIR AAI.

The academic de.NBI Cloud offers compute resources for life science research in Germany.  At the beginning of 2017, de.NBI Cloud started to implement a federated cloud consisting of five compute centers, with the aim of acting as one resource to their users. A federated cloud introduces multiple challenges, such as a central access and project management point, a unified account across all cloud sites and an interchangeable project setup across the federation. In order to implement the federation concept, de.NBI Cloud integrated with the ELIXIR authentication and authorization infrastructure system (ELIXIR AAI) and in particular Perun, the identity and access management system of ELIXIR. The integration solves the mentioned challenges and represents a backbone, connecting five compute centers which are based on OpenStack and a web portal for accessing the federation.This article explains the steps taken and software components implemented for setting up a federated cloud based on the collaboration between de.NBI Cloud and ELIXIR AAI. Furthermore, the setup and components that are described are generic and can therefore be used for other upcoming or existing federated OpenStack clouds in Europe.

Common ELIXIR Service for Researcher Authentication and Authorisation.

A common Authentication and Authorisation Infrastructure (AAI) that would allow single sign-on to services has been identified as a key enabler for European bioinformatics. ELIXIR AAI is an ELIXIR service portfolio for authenticating researchers to ELIXIR services and assisting these services on user privileges during research usage. It relieves the scientific service providers from managing the user identities and authorisation themselves, enables the researcher to have a single set of credentials to all ELIXIR services and supports meeting the requirements imposed by the data protection laws. ELIXIR AAI was launched in late 2016 and is part of the ELIXIR Compute platform portfolio. By the end of 2017 the number of users reached 1000, while the number of relying scientific services was 36. This paper presents the requirements and design of the ELIXIR AAI and the policies related to its use, and how it can be used for serving some example services, such as document management, social media, data discovery, human data access, cloud compute and training services.

Surface Nanostructures Composed of Thiolated Cyclodextrin/Au and Fe Species: Gas- and Liquid-Phase Preparation.

Supramolecular surface nanostructures have application potential as functional devices. The complex combination of thiolated cyclodextrin, chemisorbed on an Au surface (Au-S-CD), with deposited Fe species is studied by secondary ion mass spectrometry. The Fe species are prepared by pulsed laser ablation in water and thermal effusion in vacuum. Using laser ablation in water, the solution of Fe species is dropped on Au-S-CD, where mass peaks at 1227 m/z, 1243 m/z, and 1260 m/z are observed and assigned to C42 H68 O34 SNa-Fe(+) , C42 H68 O34 SK-Fe(+) together with C42 H68 O34 SNa-FeO(+) , and C42 H68 O34 SK-FeO(+) , respectively. On the other hand, laser ablation directly linked to the Au-S-CD surface results in desorption of CD-S. Thermal effusion, even with a cooled surface, was negative with respect to the complex observation. Laser ablation results in the formation of a supramolecular host-guest complex of the form Au-S-CD-Fe, and in the formation of an adduct of the form Au-S-CD-FeO.

Validation of physical activity monitors in individuals with diabetes: energy expenditure estimation by the multisensor SenseWear Armband Pro3 and the step counter Omron HJ-720 against indirect calorimetry during walking.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to test the agreement between energy expenditure estimate of the SenseWear(®) Armband Pro3 (SWA) (BodyMedia, Pittsburgh, PA) and the Omron HJ-720 (Omron Healthcare, Kyoto, Japan) step counter with indirect calorimetry (IC) as a gold standard in older individuals with type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus while walking on a treadmill. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: In total, six men (60.3±3.1 years old) and 13 women (51.1±11.0 years old) with type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus were included in the study. Each subject performed three 15-min walking sessions with different combinations of speed and incline (3 km/h, 0%; 4 km/h, 0%; 5 km/h, 5%) on a treadmill. Energy expenditure (EE) was simultaneously measured by the SWA, Omron, and IC. Mean over-/underestimation and Pearson's correlation coefficients were used for statistical evaluation of the agreement between tested methods and IC. RESULTS: At the speed of 3 km/h with 0% incline, mean overestimation of +81.19±23.81% was found for SWA (r=0.79, P<0.001) and +70.51±20.91% for Omron (r=0.77, P<0.001). At the speed of 4 km/h and 0% incline, mean overestimation found for SWA was +78.18±33.96% (r=0.63, P<0.01) and +75.77±33.36% for Omron (r=0.52, P<0.05). At the level of high-intensity exercise at the speed of 5 km/h and 5% incline, mean underestimation was -7.88±16.86% for SWA (r=0.74, P<0.001) and -7.37±16.07% for Omron (r=0.75, P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Both methods led to considerable overestimation of calculated EE in level walking and a relatively minor underestimation during fast uphill walking.

Incidence, severity, and etiology of drug-induced acute pancreatitis.

INTRODUCTION: Drug-induced acute pancreatitis is considered to be a rare diagnosis. The incidence of drug-induced acute pancreatitis is usually estimated from case reports. AIM: The aim of this study was to determine the incidence, etiology, and severity of drug-induced pancreatitis during a 2-year period in a tertiary hospital. METHODS: The study was conducted as a retrospective analysis of all cases of pancreatitis in the University Hospital in Olomouc (1,432 beds) in 2006-2007. All cases of acute pancreatitis were re-evaluated and divided according to the causative factor. In drug-induced cases, the WHO Probability Scale for the evaluation of causality relationship was used. RESULTS: The inclusion criteria were met by 170 medical files. There were 91 (53%) cases in men and 79 (47%) in women, and mean age was 57 years old (5-91 years old). The etiology was in 53% biliary, 31% alcohol-induced, 12% other determined, and in 4% the cause could not be established. The proportion of drug-induced acute pancreatitis was 5.3% and it was the third most frequent cause of the AP. Azathioprine was the most frequent causative factor (three cases in two patients); all the other causative drugs were documented only in single cases: mesalazine, dexamethasone, ramipril, mycophenolate mofetil, cytarabine, and valproate. CONCLUSIONS: The diagnosis of drug-induced acute pancreatitis seems to be underestimated because of the difficulties in determining the causative agent and the need for a retrospective re-evaluation of the suspected causative factors. The disease is more probable in younger persons, women, and patients suffering from Crohn's disease.

Secure and pervasive collaborative platform for medical applications.

Providing secure, extensible, pervasive and easy to implement collaborative environment for medical applications poses significant challenge for state-of-the-art computer systems and networks. In this paper, we describe such a collaborative environment developed for Ithanet project, based on Grid authentication mechanisms. Significant effort has been put into developing a system, that is capable of deployment across tightly secured networking environments as implemented in vast majority of hospitals. The environment is extensible enough to incorporate Grid-service based collaborative systems like AccessGrid.

CHRM3 gene variation is associated with decreased acute insulin secretion and increased risk for early-onset type 2 diabetes in Pima Indians.

The muscarinic acetylcholine receptor subtype M3 (CHRM3) gene is expressed in islet beta-cells and has a role in stimulating insulin secretion; therefore, CHRM3 was analyzed as a candidate gene for type 2 diabetes in Pima Indians. Ten variants were genotyped in a family-based sample (n = 1,037), and 1 variant (rs3738435) located in the 5' untranslated region of an alternative transcript was found to be modestly associated with both early-onset type 2 diabetes and the acute insulin response in a small subset of these subjects. To better assess whether this variant has a role in acute insulin secretion, which could affect risk for early-onset type 2 diabetes, rs3738435 was genotyped in a larger group of normal glucose-tolerant Pima Indians who had measures of acute insulin secretion (n = 282) and a larger case-control group of Pima Indians selected for early-onset type 2 diabetes (n = 348 case subjects with age of onset <25 years; n = 392 nondiabetic control subjects aged >45 years). Genotyping in these larger sets of subjects confirmed that the C allele of rs3738435 was associated with a reduced acute insulin response (adjusted P = 0.00006) and was also modestly associated with increased risk of early-onset type 2 diabetes (adjusted P = 0.02).

Association of amino acid variants in the activating transcription factor 6 gene (ATF6) on 1q21-q23 with type 2 diabetes in Pima Indians.

Activating transcription factor 6 (ATF6) is important for protective cell response to accumulation of unfolded and misfolded proteins in endoplasmic reticulum, and disturbances of this process can contribute to beta-cell apoptosis. We analyzed the structural gene located within a region on 1q21-q23 linked with type 2 diabetes in several populations for variants in the Pima Indians. Functionally important segments of ATF6 were sequenced in 15 diabetic and 15 nondiabetic Pimas and representative single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) tested for association with type 2 diabetes in 900-1,000 subjects. We identified 20 variants including three amino acid substitutions [Met(67)Val, Pro(145)Ala, and Ser(157)Pro]. Pro(145)Ala and Ser(157)Pro were in a complete linkage disequilibrium and showed a nominal association with type 2 diabetes (P = 0.05; odds ratio 2.3 [95% CI 1.0-5.2]) and with 30-min plasma insulin during oral glucose tolerance test in 287 nondiabetic individuals (P = 0.045). Although the associations with type 2 diabetes and plasma insulin levels are marginal and their functional consequences are yet unknown, all three amino acid substitutions are located in a functionally important part of ATF6. Because these variants are not unique to the Pimas, it will be feasible to investigate their association with type 2 diabetes in other populations to better evaluate their significance for a predisposition to the disease.

The transcribed endosulfine alpha gene is located within a type 2 diabetes-linked region on 1q: sequence and expression analysis in Pima Indians.

Endosulfine alpha (ENSA) is an endogenous ligand of the sulfonylurea receptor 1 (SUR1) that can stimulate insulin secretion by pancreatic beta cells. Originally, an intronless gene coding for this protein was assigned to Chr. 14q, but more recent information available in public databases indicated the position of ENSA on 1q21. We show here that the 1q21 locus represents the expressed gene consisting of 6 exons, whereas the locus on Chr. 14q is apparently a pseudogene. The ENSA gene on 1q21 produces several alternatively spliced transcripts, and is located within a region linked with T2DM in diverse populations including the Pima Indians. We analyzed ENSA in this Native American population and identified seven variants, which fall into three linkage disequilibrium groups. Analysis of representative markers in over 1200 Pima Indians did not reveal any significant association with T2DM, or with differences in insulin action and insulin secretion in a subset of approximately 270 non-diabetic subjects. In addition, we did not detect any significant correlation of skeletal muscle ENSA transcript levels with differences in insulin action in 49 non-diabetic subjects. We conclude that sequence alterations in ENSA are an unlikely cause for the linkage of T2DM with 1q21-q23 in the Pima Indians.

Evaluation of the microsomal glutathione S-transferase 3 (MGST3) locus on 1q23 as a Type 2 diabetes susceptibility gene in Pima Indians.

Elevation of plasma glucose concentration may induce generation of oxygen-free radicals, which can play an important role in the progression of diabetes and/or development of its complications. Various glutathione transferases utilize the availability of reduced glutathione for the cellular defense against oxygen-free radicals. One such enzyme is microsomal glutathione S-transferase 3 encoded by MGST3, which maps to chromosome 1q23, a region linked to Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Pima Indians, Caucasian, and Chinese populations. We investigated the MGST3 gene as a potential susceptibility gene for T2DM by screening this locus for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in diabetic and non-diabetic Pima Indians. We also measured the skeletal muscle MGST3 mRNA level by Real-Time (RT) PCR and its relationship with insulin action in non-diabetic individuals. We identified 25 diallelic variants, most of which, based on their genotypic concordance, could be divided into three distinct linkage disequilibrium (LD) groups. We genotyped unique representative SNPs in selected diabetic and non-diabetic Pima Indians and found no evidence for association with T2DM. Furthermore, inter-individual variation of skeletal muscle MGST3 mRNA was not correlated with differences in insulin action in non-diabetic subjects. We conclude that alterations of MGST3 are unlikely to contribute to T2DM or differences in insulin sensitivity in the Pima Indians.

Molecular analysis of KCNJ10 on 1q as a candidate gene for Type 2 diabetes in Pima Indians.

The KCNJ10 gene is located within a region on chromosome 1q linked to type 2 diabetes in the Pima Indians and six other populations. We therefore investigated this gene as a potential type 2 diabetes candidate gene in Pima Indians. KCNJ10 consists of two exons, spans approximately 33 kb, and we identified eight single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), including one (SNP2) in the coding region leading to a Glu359Lys substitution. Association studies were carried out in a case-control group composed of 149 affected and 150 unaffected Pimas, and the linkage analysis was performed in a linkage set of 1,338 Pimas. SNP1 in the promoter and SNP2 in the intron, which were in a complete linkage disequilibrium, and SNP5 in the 3' untranslated region showed association with diabetes in the case-control group (P = 0.02 and P = 0.01, respectively). When genotyped in the linkage set, only the KCNJ10-SNP1 variant showed a modest association with type 2 diabetes (P = 0.01). KCNJ10-SNP1 is in a strong linkage disquilibrium with SNP14 of the adjacent KCNJ9 locus, which we previously found to be associated with type 2 diabetes. After adjustment for KCNJ10-SNP1, the original linkage score at this locus was marginally reduced from 3.1 to 2.9. We conclude that these variants in KCNJ10 are unlikely to be the cause of linkage of type 2 diabetes with 1q in Pima Indians.

Cloning, expression and genomic structure of human LMX1A, and variant screening in Pima Indians.

LIM-homeodomain containing protein LMX1A activates transcription of the insulin gene. The human LMX1A gene maps to 1q22-q23, a region identified as a putative type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) locus in several different populations. We analyzed LMX1A as a positional and biological candidate gene for T2DM in the Pima Indians, in whom a linkage of T2DM to 1q21-q23 has been previously reported. In the present study, we describe the cloning, expression and genomic organization of the LMX1A gene, which is composed of 11 exons spanning approximately 151 kb. In addition to a transcript encoding the predicted full-length protein of 382 amino acids, we identified two truncated cDNA forms produced via additional transcription start sites and alternative splicing. We identified seven single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) throughout the LMX1A locus and determined allele frequency distributions in 150 diabetic and 150 unaffected Pimas. We did not find evidence for association of any LMX1A SNPs with T2DM and conclude that LMX1A does not contribute significantly to T2DM etiology in Pima Indians.

Identification of susceptibility genes for complex metabolic diseases.

There are few successful attempts to identify genes for common, non-Mendelian diseases such as diabetes, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, etc. Such common disorders are typically both metabolically and genetically complex and the genetic technologies to identify their underlying susceptibility genes are still in their infancy. Nonetheless, genetic strategies have emerged that, when the technologies are fully developed, should allow similar success rates as for Mendelian diseases.