Methods of acoustic gas flux inversion-Investigation into the initial amplitude of bubble excitation.

Passive acoustic inversion techniques for measuring gas flux into the water column have the potential to be a powerful tool for the long-term monitoring and quantification of natural marine seeps and anthropogenic emissions. Prior inversion techniques have had limited precision due to lack of constraints on the initial amplitude of a bubble's excitation following its release into the water column ( R). R is determined by observing the acoustic signal of bubbles released from sediment in a controlled experiment and its use is demonstrated by quantifying the flux from a volcanic CO2 seep offshore Panarea (Italy), improving the precision by 78%.

Effect of Sucrose on Growth and Stress Status of Castanea sativa x C. crenata Shoots Cultured in Liquid Medium.

Current breeding programs aim to increase the number of ink-tolerant chestnut trees using vegetative propagation of selected genotypes. However, the commercial vegetative propagation of chestnut species is still a bottleneck for the forest industry, mainly due to problems in the rooting and acclimation of propagules. This study aimed to explore the potential benefits of decreasing sucrose supplementation during chestnut micropropagation. Explants were cultured with high light intensity and CO2-enriched air in temporary or continuous immersion bioreactors and with different sucrose supplementation to evaluate the impact of these treatments on growth, rooting and physiological status (monosaccharide content, soluble phenolics and antioxidant activity). The proliferation and rooting performance of shoots cultured by continuous immersion decreased sharply with sucrose concentrations lower than 1%, whereas shoots cultured by temporary immersion grew and rooted successfully with 0.5% sucrose. These results suggest this system is appropriate to culture chestnut with low sucrose concentration and to explore photoautotrophic propagation of this species.

Feasibility and acceptability of monitoring personal air pollution exposure with sensors for asthma self-management.

BACKGROUND: Exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) increases the risk of asthma exacerbations, and thus, monitoring personal exposure to PM2.5 may aid in disease self-management. Low-cost, portable air pollution sensors offer a convenient way to measure personal pollution exposure directly and may improve personalized monitoring compared with traditional methods that rely on stationary monitoring stations. We aimed to understand whether adults with asthma would be willing to use personal sensors to monitor their exposure to air pollution and to assess the feasibility of using sensors to measure real-time PM2.5 exposure. METHODS: We conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 adults with asthma to understand their willingness to use a personal pollution sensor and their privacy preferences with regard to sensor data. Student research assistants used HabitatMap AirBeam devices to take PM2.5 measurements at 1-s intervals while walking in Philadelphia neighborhoods in May-August 2018. AirBeam PM2.5 measurements were compared to concurrent measurements taken by three nearby regulatory monitors. RESULTS: All interview participants stated that they would use a personal air pollution sensor, though the consensus was that devices should be small (watch- or palm-sized) and light. Patients were generally unconcerned about privacy or sharing their GPS location, with only two stating they would not share their GPS location under any circumstances. PM2.5 measurements were taken using AirBeam sensors on 34 walks that extended through five Philadelphia neighborhoods. The range of sensor PM2.5 measurements was 0.6-97.6 µg/mL (mean 6.8 µg/mL), compared to 0-22.6 µg/mL (mean 9.0 µg/mL) measured by nearby regulatory monitors. Compared to stationary measurements, which were only available as 1-h integrated averages at discrete monitoring sites, sensor measurements permitted characterization of fine-scale fluctuations in PM2.5 levels over time and space. CONCLUSIONS: Patients were generally interested in using sensors to monitor their personal exposure to PM2.5 and willing to share personal sensor data with health care providers and researchers. Compared to traditional methods of personal exposure assessment, sensors captured personalized air quality information at higher spatiotemporal resolution. Improvements to currently available sensors, including more reliable Bluetooth connectivity, increased portability, and longer battery life would facilitate their use in a general patient population.

Consolidated Environmental and Social Data Facilitates Neighborhood-Level Health Studies in Philadelphia.

A wide range of datasets containing geographically distributed measures of the environment and social factors is currently available, and as low-cost sensors and other devices become increasingly used, the volume of these data will continue to grow. Because such factors influence many health outcomes, researchers with varied interests often repeat tasks related to gathering and preparing these data for studies. We created Sensor-based Analysis of Pollution in the Philadelphia Region with Information on Neighborhoods and the Environment (SAPPHIRINE), offered as a web application and R package, to integrate pollution, crime, social disadvantage, and traffic data relevant to investigators, citizen scientists, and policy makers in the Greater Philadelphia Area. SAPPHIRINE's capabilities include providing interactive maps and customizable data retrieval to aid in the visual identification of pollution and other factor hotspots, as well as hypothesis generation regarding relationships among these factors and health outcomes.

Incidence, risk factors, and clinical implications of post-operative delirium in lung transplant recipients.

BACKGROUND: Delirium significantly affects post-operative outcomes, but the incidence, risk factors, and long-term impact of delirium in lung transplant recipients have not been well studied. METHODS: We analyzed 155 lung transplant recipients enrolled in the Lung Transplant Outcomes Group (LTOG) cohort at a single center. We determined delirium incidence by structured chart review, identified risk factors for delirium, determined whether plasma concentrations of 2 cerebral injury markers (neuron-specific enolase [NSE] and glial fibrillary acidic protein [GFAP]) were associated with delirium, and determined the association of post-operative delirium with 1-year survival. RESULTS: Fifty-seven (36.8%) patients developed post-operative delirium. Independent risk factors for delirium included pre-transplant benzodiazepine prescription (relative risk [RR] 1.82; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.08 to 3.07; p = 0.025), total ischemic time (RR 1.10 per 30-minute increase; 95% CI 1.01 to 1.21; p = 0.027), duration of time with intra-operative mean arterial pressure <60 mm Hg (RR 1.07 per 15-minute increase; 95% CI 1.00 to 1.14; p = 0.041), and Grade 3 primary graft dysfunction (RR 2.13; 95% CI 1.27 to 3.58; p = 0.004). Ninety-one (58.7%) patients had plasma available at 24 hours. Plasma GFAP was inconsistently detected, whereas NSE was universally detectable, with higher NSE concentrations associated with delirium (risk difference 15.1% comparing 75th and 25th percentiles; 95% CI 2.5 to 27.7; p = 0.026). One-year mortality appeared higher among delirious patients, 12.3% compared with 7.1%, but the difference was not significant (p = 0.28). CONCLUSIONS: Post-operative delirium is common in lung transplant recipients, and several potentially modifiable risk factors deserve further study to determine their associated mechanisms and predictive values.