Development of Adsorptive Membranes for Selective Removal of Contaminants in Water.

The presence of arsenic and ammonia in ground and surface waters has resulted in severe adverse effects to human health and the environment. Removal technologies for these contaminants include adsorption and membrane processes. However, materials with high selectivity and pressure stability still need to be developed. In this work, adsorbents and adsorptive membranes were prepared using nanostructured graphitic carbon nitride decorated with molecularly imprinted acrylate polymers templated for arsenate and ammonia. The developed adsorbent removed arsenate at a capacity and selectivity similar to commercial ion-exchange resins. Ammonia was removed at higher capacity than commercial ion exchange resins, but the adsorbent showed lower selectivity. Additionally, the prepared membranes removed more arsenate and ammonia than non-imprinted controls, even in competition with abundant ions in water. Further optimization is required to improve pressure stability and selectivity.

Congenital Hypothyroidism.

Congenital hypothyroidism (CH) is a disorder of thyroid hormone deficiency which develops secondary to incomplete thyroid development or inadequate thyroid hormone production. State-mandated newborn screening throughout the United States has increased the detection rate of CH, allowing for early intervention. Although the overall mortality rate of CH is low, delayed or omitted treatment can lead to devastating neurocognitive outcomes. As such, CH is regarded as the leading cause of preventable intellectual disability in children. Early identification, facilitated by astute neonatal nursing and medical care, is contingent upon an active working knowledge of the disease process and awareness of the limitations of the newborn screen.

Acute Epstein-Barr related myocarditis: An unusual but life-threatening disease in an immunocompetent patient.

Myocarditis is an uncommon but potentially life-threatening disease. Clinical manifestations could range from subclinical disease to sudden death, due to fulminant heart failure and/or malignant ventricular arrhythmias. The most common cause of myocarditis is viral infection, including Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). Nevertheless, EBV rarely presents with cardiac involvement in immunocompetent hosts. We report a case of acute EBV-related myocarditis in a young female, complicated with malignant ventricular arrhythmias and cardiac arrest. After 20 days of hospitalization and treatment, the patient was fit for discharge on pharmacological therapy (tapering steroids, beta-blockers, amiodarone, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors, and diuretics). Clinical course is described, cardiac magnetic resonance images are shown. This case underlines how myocarditis is a disease that should not be underestimated: it could present with life-threatening complications such as malignant arrhythmias and/or severe systolic dysfunction. .

Preeclampsia Induced Liver Dysfunction Complicated by Disseminated Intravascular Coagulopathy and Placental Abruption: A Case Report and Review of the Literature.

A 33-year-old primigravida at 32-week gestation was admitted to labor and delivery complaining of severe right upper quadrant pain and worsening coagulopathy. We report the anesthetic and obstetrical management of a complex case of a parturient with a mixed picture of hemolysis, elevated liver enzymes and low platelets who was delivered under general anesthesia further complicated by Disseminated Intravascular Coagulopathy (DIC) and placental abruption.

Congenital Heart Disease Genetics Uncovers Context-Dependent Organization and Function of Nucleoporins at Cilia.

Human genomics is identifying candidate genes for congenital heart disease (CHD), but discovering the underlying mechanisms remains challenging. In a patient with CHD and heterotaxy (Htx), a disorder of left-right patterning, we previously identified a duplication in Nup188. However, a mechanism to explain how a component of the nuclear pore complex (NPC) could cause Htx/CHD was undefined. Here, we show that knockdown of Nup188 or its binding partner Nup93 leads to a loss of cilia during embryonic development while leaving NPC function largely intact. Many data, including the localization of endogenous Nup188/93 at cilia bases, support their direct role at cilia. Super-resolution imaging of Nup188 shows two barrel-like structures with dimensions and organization incompatible with an NPC-like ring, arguing against a proposed "ciliary pore complex." We suggest that the nanoscale organization and function of nucleoporins are context dependent in a way that is required for the structure of the heart.

Ultra-High Resolution 3D Imaging of Whole Cells.

Fluorescence nanoscopy, or super-resolution microscopy, has become an important tool in cell biological research. However, because of its usually inferior resolution in the depth direction (50-80 nm) and rapidly deteriorating resolution in thick samples, its practical biological application has been effectively limited to two dimensions and thin samples. Here, we present the development of whole-cell 4Pi single-molecule switching nanoscopy (W-4PiSMSN), an optical nanoscope that allows imaging of three-dimensional (3D) structures at 10- to 20-nm resolution throughout entire mammalian cells. We demonstrate the wide applicability of W-4PiSMSN across diverse research fields by imaging complex molecular architectures ranging from bacteriophages to nuclear pores, cilia, and synaptonemal complexes in large 3D cellular volumes.

Video-rate nanoscopy using sCMOS camera-specific single-molecule localization algorithms.

Newly developed scientific complementary metal-oxide semiconductor (sCMOS) cameras have the potential to dramatically accelerate data acquisition, enlarge the field of view and increase the effective quantum efficiency in single-molecule switching nanoscopy. However, sCMOS-intrinsic pixel-dependent readout noise substantially lowers the localization precision and introduces localization artifacts. We present algorithms that overcome these limitations and that provide unbiased, precise localization of single molecules at the theoretical limit. Using these in combination with a multi-emitter fitting algorithm, we demonstrate single-molecule localization super-resolution imaging at rates of up to 32 reconstructed images per second in fixed and living cells.

Total internal reflection STED microscopy.

Stimulated emission depletion (STED) microscopy achieves diffraction-unlimited resolution in far-field fluorescence microscopy well below 100 nm. As common for (single-lens) far-field microscopy techniques, the lateral resolution is better than the axial sectioning capabilities. Here we present the first implementation of total internal reflection (TIR) illumination into STED microscopy which limits fluorophore excitation to ~70 nm in the vicinity of the cover slip while simultaneously providing ~50 nm lateral resolution. We demonstrate the performance of this new microscope technique with fluorescent bead test samples as well as immuno-stained microtubules. Total internal reflection STED microscopy provides superior axial sectioning capabilities with the potential to reduce photo-bleaching and photo-damage in live cell imaging.