Integrating science-based and local ecological knowledge: a case study of mangrove restoration and rehabilitation projects in the Philippines.

Mangrove forest is an ecosystem-based solution for disaster risk reduction in the Philippines, but its historical deforestation has hampered its capacity to protect coastal communities. With the increasing occurrence of storm surge in the Philippines, mangrove reforestation projects have received renewed attention, but many have failed. Community participation was deemed to be essential in those projects that did well. Hence, this paper examines successful mangrove restoration and rehabilitation projects in the Philippines to find out how community participation contributed to the accomplishments. The study found that while the transfer of science-based ecological knowledge from project managers to the community is an important factor in ensuring successful initial planning and implementation, its integration into existing local ecological knowledge-'localisation' of science-based ecological knowledge or hybrid ecological knowledge formation-helped to facilitate long-term community-based mangrove management beyond project duration by empowering community members and enabling project acceptance and ownership. Still, continuous local institutional support is a necessary anchor for community resilience.

Tight-Binding Approach to Pyrazine-Mediated Superexchange in Copper-Pyrazine Antiferromagnets.

We investigate the cause of spatial superexchange anisotropy in a family of copper-based, quasi-two-dimensional materials with very similar geometries. The compounds in this family differ mainly in their inter-layer separation but they have very different magnetic interactions, even within the basal plane. We use density functional theory and Wannier functions to parameterize two complimentary tight-binding models and show that the superexchange between the Cu2+ ions is dominated by a σ-mediated interaction between hybrid Cu-pyrazine orbitals centered on the copper atoms. We find no correlations between the strength of this exchange interaction and homologous geometric features across the compounds, such as Cu and pyrazine bond lengths and orientations of nearby counterions. We find that the pyrazine tilt angles do not affect the Cu-pyrazine-Cu exchange because the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital on pyrazine is at a very high energy (relative to the frontier orbitals, which are Cu-based). We conclude that careful control of the entire crystal structure, including non-homologous geometric features such as the inter-layer organic ligands, is vital for engineering magnetic properties.

Patient characteristics and predictors of mortality in 470 adults admitted to a district general hospital in England with Covid-19.

Understanding risk factors for death from Covid-19 is key to providing good quality clinical care. We assessed the presenting characteristics of the 'first wave' of patients with Covid-19 at Royal Oldham Hospital, UK and undertook logistic regression modelling to investigate factors associated with death. Of 470 patients admitted, 169 (36%) died. The median age was 71 years (interquartile range 57-82), and 255 (54.3%) were men. The most common comorbidities were hypertension (n = 218, 46.4%), diabetes (n = 143, 30.4%) and chronic neurological disease (n = 123, 26.1%). The most frequent complications were acute kidney injury (AKI) (n = 157, 33.4%) and myocardial injury (n = 21, 4.5%). Forty-three (9.1%) patients required intubation and ventilation, and 39 (8.3%) received non-invasive ventilation. Independent risk factors for death were increasing age (odds ratio (OR) per 10 year increase above 40 years 1.87, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.57-2.27), hypertension (OR 1.72, 95% CI 1.10-2.70), cancer (OR 2.20, 95% CI 1.27-3.81), platelets <150 × 103/µl (OR 1.93, 95% CI 1.13-3.30), C-reactive protein ≥100 µg/ml (OR 1.68, 95% CI 1.05-2.68), >50% chest radiograph infiltrates (OR 2.09, 95% CI 1.16-3.77) and AKI (OR 2.60, 95% CI 1.64-4.13). There was no independent association between death and gender, ethnicity, deprivation level, fever, SpO2/FiO2, lymphopoenia or other comorbidities. These findings will inform clinical and shared decision making, including use of respiratory support and therapeutic agents.

Spin-State Ice in Elastically Frustrated Spin-Crossover Materials.

Molecules with bistable spin states are widely studied because of their importance to the natural world and their potential applications as molecular scale switches. In molecular crystals and framework materials, elastic interactions between molecules lead to collective phenomena including hysteresis, multistep transitions, and antiferroelastic order of spin states. Elastic frustration, the inability to simultaneously minimize competing elastic interactions, plays a key role in many of the most important phenomena in spin crossover materials. Here we use an elastic model to predict that a new phase of matter occurs for bistable molecules on the kagome lattice, which is intrinsically frustrated as it is composed of equilateral triangles. In this phase, which we call "spin-state ice" in analogy to water and spin ices, there is no long-range order of spin-states; instead they follow a local "ice rule" that each triangle must contain two metal centers in one spin state and one in the other. We show that spin-state ice supports mobile collective excitations that carry a spin midway between the two spin states of a single metal center but no electrical charge. We show that there are distinctive signatures of spin-state ice in neutron scattering, electron paramagnetic resonance, and thermodynamic experiments.

Erratum: Dynamical Reduction of the Dimensionality of Exchange Interactions and the "Spin-Liquid" Phase of κ-(BEDT-TTF)_{2}X [Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 087204 (2017)].

This corrects the article DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.087204.

Increase in the reduction potential of uranyl upon interaction with graphene oxide surfaces.

Coordination of uranyl (U(vi)) with carboxylate groups on functionalized graphene oxide (GO) surfaces has been shown to alter the reduction potential of the sorbed uranium ion. A quantitative measure of the reduction potential and qualitative estimation of sorption/desorption processes were conducted using cyclic voltammetry, and the proposed coordination environment was determined using the surface sensitive attenuated total reflection mode of infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). GO is a nanostructured material possessing a large amount of oxygen-containing functional groups both on basal planes and at the edges, which can form strong surface complexes with radionuclides. The presence of these functional groups on the surface of GO allows efficient immobilization of uranium due to sorption of uranyl (UO22+) to carboxylate, hydroxide, or sulfonate functional groups and the potential for enhanced reduction of U(vi) to more strongly sorbing and insoluble U(iv). Herein, binding of U(vi) to carboxylate groups on the GO surface is proposed as the primary sorption mechanism based on the FTIR study. Furthermore, the coordination of uranium with the surface increases the reduction potential of the U(vi)/U(iv) redox couple as compared to the case of the aqueous U(vi)/U(iv) species. This is consistent with the alteration of the electronic structure of the sorbed ion, which can be determined in our case due to the use of a GO-coated working electrode. Thus, GO-coated glassy carbon electrodes and other semi-conducting electrodes with high ion sorption capacities may provide a means of examining the oxidation/reduction potentials of sorbed ions.

Dynamical Reduction of the Dimensionality of Exchange Interactions and the "Spin-Liquid" Phase of κ-(BEDT-TTF)_{2}X.

We show that the anisotropy of the effective spin model for the dimer Mott insulator phase of κ-(BEDT-TTF)_{2}X salts is dramatically different from that of the underlying tight-binding model. Intradimer quantum interference results in a model of coupled spin chains, where frustrated interchain interactions suppress long-range magnetic order. Thus, we argue, the "spin liquid" phase observed in some of these materials is a remnant of the Tomonaga-Luttinger physics of a single chain. This is consistent with previous experiments and resolves some outstanding puzzles.

Electrochemotherapy in the treatment of metastatic malignant melanoma: a prospective cohort study by InspECT.

BACKGROUND: (ECT) is an effective local treatment for cutaneous metastasis. Treatment involves the administration of chemotherapeutic drugs followed by delivery of electrical pulses to the tumour. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effectiveness of ECT in cutaneous metastases of melanoma and to identify factors that affect (beneficially or adversely) the outcome. METHODS: Thirteen cancer centres in the International Network for Sharing Practices on Electrochemotherapy consecutively and prospectively uploaded data to a common database. ECT consisted of intratumoral or intravenous injection of bleomycin, followed by application of electric pulses under local or general anaesthesia. RESULTS: In total, 151 patients with metastatic melanoma were identified from the database, 114 of whom had follow-up data of 60 days or more. Eighty-four of these patients (74%) experienced an overall response (OR = complete response + partial response). Overall, 394 lesions were treated, of which 306 (78%) showed OR, with 229 showing complete response (58%). In multivariate analysis, factors positively associated with overall response were coverage of deep margins, absence of visceral metastases, presence of lymphoedema and treatment of nonirradiated areas. Factors significantly associated with complete response to ECT treatment were coverage of deep margins, previous irradiation of the treated area and tumour size (< 3 cm). One-year overall survival in this cohort of patients was 67% (95% confidence interval 57-77%), while melanoma-specific survival was 74% (95% confidence interval 64-84%). No serious adverse events were reported, and the treatment was in general very well tolerated. CONCLUSIONS: ECT is a highly effective local treatment for melanoma metastases in the skin, with no severe adverse effects noted in this study. In the presence of certain clinical factors, ECT may be considered for local tumour control as an alternative to established local treatments, or as an adjunct to systemic treatments.

Haldane phase in the Hubbard model at 2/3-filling for the organic molecular compound Mo3S7(dmit)3.

We report the discovery of a correlated insulator with a bulk gap at 2/3 filling in a geometrically frustrated Hubbard model that describes the low-energy physics of Mo3S7(dmit)3. This is very different from the Mott insulator expected at half-filling. We show that the insulating phase, which persists even for very weak electron-electron interactions (U), is adiabatically connected to the Haldane phase and is consistent with experiments on Mo3S7(dmit)3.

Bone characteristics and femoral strength in commercial toms: the effect of protein and energy restriction.

Selection for rapid growth in turkeys has resulted in skeletal problems such as femoral fractures. Slowing growth rate has improved bone structure, but the effect on mechanical properties of the bone is unclear. The current study's hypothesis was that slowing the growth of turkeys by reducing energy and CP in the diet would result in increased femur integrity. Commercial turkeys were fed 1 of 3 diets: control with 100% of NRC energy and CP levels, as well as a diet feeding 80 or 60% of NRC energy and CP levels. All other nutrients met or exceeded NRC requirements. Control birds were grown to 20 wk of age, whereas the 80 and 60% NRC birds were sampled when BW matched that of control birds at wk 4, 8, 12, 16, and 20. Both femurs were extracted, with one being measured and ashed and the other twisted to failure to evaluate mechanical properties. Total bone length, diameter, cortical thickness, and cortical density were measured. The total femur length was longer in the 60% NRC birds at 5 and 10 kg of BW compared with control (P < 0.05); this significance was lost by the time birds reached 16 kg of BW. At 5 and 10 kg of BW, ash content was higher in the control birds than in the 60% NRC birds (P < 0.05). At 16 kg of BW, the 60% NRC birds had the highest femur ash (P < 0.05). The mechanical testing parameters were failure torque, shear strength, and shear modulus of the bones. The 60% diet produced the highest failure torque (P < 0.05), at 16 kg of BW and onward. The shear strength was greater (P = 0.01) once the birds reached 5 kg of BW for the 60% diet than other diets. In conclusion, reducing the energy and protein in the diet to 60% of NRC recommendations, thus slowing growth, improved bone strength, as measured by failure torque, and bone quality, as measured by shear strength, without altering bone length or ash content by the time birds reached market weight.

Geometric morphometrics of face profile across horse breeds and within Arabian horses.

Horse traits under selection are largely quantitative and affected by multiple genes. Horse face shape is an example of a continuous trait, which due to the reliance on observational assessments, is classified into; "dished", "straight", and "roman-nosed". This categorization is often inadequate to convey the full spectrum of the face shape variation especially for genetic studies. The first objective of the current study was to use geometric morphometric methods to quantitatively phenotype face shapes and examine its variation across horse breeds. The second objective was to analyze the face shape variation within Arabian horses since face shape is (1) favored, valued, and genetically selected in certain lineages (e.g. Egyptian), (2) is evaluated by registries and scored in shows, and (3) in its extreme forms pose health concerns. We digitized landmarks on lateral profile photos, particularly on the dorsal curvature of the rostrum, and subjected these landmarks to Generalized Procrustes Analysis to generate independent shape and size variables which were statistically compared across breeds and within Arabians. Horse breeds varied in nasal curvature, ranging from extremely concave to extremely convex, with over 70 % of horse breeds exhibiting intermediate concavity (i.e., straight profile). Interestingly, Arabian horses possessed the highest diversity in face profile and individuals clustered into three distinct shape sub-groups (one dished and two straight profile clusters). Our quantitative phenotyping method can be the basis of future genetic studies of facial profile within Arabian lineages as a favored traits and potentially manage its extreme forms as a likely genetic disease.

Boning up on glypicans--opportunities for new insights into bone biology.

Bone formation is remarkable for the convergence in the activity of four major signalling pathways, the bone morphogenetic protein (BMP), fibroblast growth factor (FGF), hedgehog (HH) and wingless-integrated (WNT) pathways. These pathways cooperate in morphogenetic, proliferative and differentiative processes that underpin the development, growth and repair of skeletal structures. They are regulated by pathway-specific modulators and by another class of molecules, the glypicans. Glypicans are proteoglycans located on the cell surface, where they act as coreceptors to promote or inhibit signalling by ligands of the BMP, FGF, HH and WNT pathways, through protein-protein and protein-carbohydrate interactions. In this review, we discuss glypican structure, expression and function in the context of bone development and growth, with emphasis on the long bone growth plate where five of the six glypicans are expressed in overlapping patterns in the chondrogenic zone. Analyses of gene knockout models and the human conditions of Simpson-Golabi-Behmel syndrome and omodysplasia, which arise from mutations in glypican 3 (GPC3) and GPC6, respectively, highlight both subtle and striking effects of glypicans on bone growth. We draw attention to challenges and areas of opportunity, where the actions of glypicans on BMP, FGF, HH and WNT signalling might be profitably studied to help illuminate the complex interplay of signalling that drives bone growth.

PIK3CA is implicated as an oncogene in ovarian cancer.

Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death from gynecological malignancy and the fourth leading cause of cancer death among American women, yet little is known about its molecular aetiology. Studies using comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) have revealed several regions of recurrent, abnormal, DNA sequence copy number that may encode genes involved in the genesis or progression of the disease. One region at 3q26 found to be increased in copy number in approximately 40% of ovarian and others cancers contains PIK3CA, which encodes the p110alpha catalytic subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-kinase). The association between PIK3CA copy number and PI3-kinase activity makes PIK3CA a candidate oncogene because a broad range of cancer-related functions have been associated with PI3-kinase mediated signalling. These include proliferation, glucose transport and catabolism, cell adhesion, apoptosis, RAS signalling and oncogenic transformation. In addition, downstream effectors of PI3-kinase, AKT1 and AKT2, have been found to be amplified or activated in human tumours, including ovarian cancer. We show here that PIK3CA is frequently increased in copy number in ovarian cancers, that the increased copy number is associated with increased PIK3CA transcription, p110alpha protein expression and PI3-kinase activity and that treatment with the PI3-kinase inhibitor LY294002 decreases proliferation and increases apoptosis. Our observations suggest PIK3CA is an oncogene that has an important role in ovarian cancer.

Dystrophin expression in the human retina is required for normal function as defined by electroretinography.

We have studied retinal function by electroretinography in five Becker and six Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients. All had abnormal electroretinograms with a markedly reduced amplitude for the b-wave in the dark-adapted state. Using three antisera raised to different domains of dystrophin, we identified dystrophin in the outer plexiform layer of human retina. The retinal dystrophin is present in multiple isoforms as the result of alternative splicing. The localization of dystrophin to the outer plexiform layer coincident with the abnormal b-wave suggests that dystrophin is required for normal retinal electrophysiology.

Crystal structure of a three-tetrad, parallel, K+-stabilized human telomeric G-quadruplex at 1.35†Šresolution.

The crystal structure of the G-rich human telomeric DNA Tel22 has been determined at 1.35 Šresolution in space group P6. Tel22 forms a non-canonical DNA structure called the G-quadruplex. The space group and unit-cell parameters are comparable to those in the crystal structures with PDB codes 6ip3 (1.40 Šresolution) and 1kf1 (2.15 Šresolution). The G-quadruplexes are highly similar in all of the structures. However, this structure of Tel22 displays clear density for polyethylene glycol and two potassium ions, which are located outside the ion channel in the G-quadruplex and play an important role in stabilizing the crystal contacts. In addition, 111 water molecules were identified (compared with 79 and 68 in PDB entries 6ip3 and 1kf1, respectively) that participate in intricate and extensive networks providing high stability to the G-quadruplex.

External validation of the Oldham composite Covid-19 associated mortality model (OCCAM), a prognostic model for death in patients hospitalised with Covid-19.

OBJECTIVE: External validation of the Oldham Composite Covid-19 associated Mortality Model (OCCAM), a prognostic model for Covid-19 mortality in hospitalised patients comprised of age, history of hypertension, current or previous malignancy, admission platelet count < 150 × 103/µL, admission CRP ≥ 100 µg/mL, acute kidney injury (AKI), and radiographic evidence of > 50% total lung field infiltrates. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Retrospective study assessing discrimination (c-statistic) and calibration of OCCAM for death in hospital or within 30 days of discharge. 300 adults admitted to six district general and teaching hospitals in North West England for treatment of Covid-19 between September 2020 and February 2021 were included. RESULTS: Two hundred and ninety-seven patients were included in the validation cohort analysis, with a mortality rate of 32.8%. The c-statistic was 0.794 (95% confidence interval 0.742-0.847) vs. 0.805 (95% confidence interval 0.766 - 0.844) in the development cohort. Visual inspection of calibration plots demonstrate excellent calibration across risk groups, with a calibration slope for the external validation cohort of 0.963. CONCLUSION: The OCCAM model is an effective prognostic tool that can be utilised at the time of initial patient assessment to aid decisions around admission and discharge, use of therapeutics, and shared decision-making with patients. Clinicians should remain aware of the need for ongoing validation of all Covid-19 prognostic models in light of changes in host immunity and emerging variants.

Corrigendum to "A review on urban agriculture: Technology, socio-economy, and policy" [Heliyon 8(11), (2022) Article e11583].

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e11583.].

Geometrical frustration in the spin liquid ß'-Me3EtSb[Pd(dmit)2]2 and the valence-bond solid Me3EtP[Pd(dmit)2]2.

We show that the electronic structures of the title compounds predicted by density functional theory are well described by tight binding models. We determine the frustration ratio, J'/J, of the Heisenberg model on the anisotropic triangular lattice, which describes the spin degrees of freedom in the Mott insulating phase for a range of Pd(dmit)2 salts. All of the antiferromagnetic materials studied have J'/J is < or approximately equal to 0.5 or J'/J > or approximately equal to 0.9, and all salts with 0.5 < or approximately equal to J'/J < or approximately equal to 0.9 are known, experimentally, to be charge ordered valence-bond solids or spin liquids.

Effects of fluorination on iridium(III) complex phosphorescence: magnetic circular dichroism and relativistic time-dependent density functional theory.

We use a combination of low temperature, high field magnetic circular dichroism, absorption, and emission spectroscopy with relativistic time-dependent density functional calculations to reveal a subtle interplay between the effects of chemical substitution and spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in a family of iridium(III) complexes. Fluorination at the ortho and para positions of the phenyl group of fac-tris(1-methyl-5-phenyl-3-n-propyl-[1,2,4]triazolyl)iridium(III) cause changes that are independent of whether the other position is fluorinated or protonated. This is demonstrated by a simple linear relationship found for a range of measured and calculated properties of these complexes. Further, we show that the phosphorescent radiative rate, k(r), is determined by the degree to which SOC is able to hybridize T(1) to S(3) and that k(r) is proportional to the inverse fourth power of the energy gap between these excitations. We show that fluorination in the para position leads to a much larger increase of the energy gap than fluorination at the ortho position. Theory is used to trace this back to the fact that fluorination at the para position increases the difference in electron density between the phenyl and triazolyl groups, which distorts the complex further from octahedral symmetry, and increases the energy separation between the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and the HOMO-1. This provides a new design criterion for phosphorescent iridium(III) complexes for organic optoelectronic applications. In contrast, the nonradiative rate is greatly enhanced by fluorination at the ortho position. This may be connected to a significant redistribution of spectral weight. We also show that the lowest energy excitation, 1A, has almost no oscillator strength; therefore, the second lowest excitation, 2E, is the dominant emissive state at room temperature. Nevertheless the mirror image rule between absorption and emission is obeyed, as 2E is responsible for both absorption and emission at all but very low (<10 K) temperatures.

Validation of quantitative ELISAS for measuring anti-Yersinia pestis F1 and V antibody concentrations in nonhuman primate sera.

This study systematically validated two quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) for determining Yersinia pestis anti-F1 or anti-V IgG concentration in cynomolgus macaque sera. The results demonstrated that these ELISAs are reliable, reproducible, and suitable for their intended use to measure both anti-F1 and anti-V IgG in monkey sera following vaccination with a heterologous recombinant fusion F1-V protein (rF1-V). Statistical analysis demonstrated assay precision, accuracy, specificity, linearity/dilutional linearity, and robustness for both assays. The quantitative ranges of standard curves were defined as 40-700 ng/mLfor both anti-F1 and anti-V IgG. Either serological assay could be used to determine potency of F1/V antigen-based vaccines in surrogate clinical studies or to define correlates of protective immunity against plague under the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) two-animal rule.