Assessing applicability of two gridded precipitation datasets for hydrological simulation in a poorly gauged river basin towards supporting sustainable water resources management.

Reliable and accurate precipitation estimates are important for hydrological studies and sustainable water resource management. However, networks of rain gauges are often sparsely and unevenly distributed in many large river basins in the world including the Red River basin (RRB). Thus this study aimed to comprehensively evaluate the applicability of two widely used gridded precipitation products, gauge-based APHRODITE and gauge satellite-based GSMaP-Gauge, over the RRB using both statistical and hydrological assessment approaches. The accuracy assessment of the gridded precipitation datasets was performed by comparing with the reference precipitation dataset derived from the local weather stations. The hydrological performance of both gridded products was evaluated through the Variable Infiltration Capacity (VIC) hydrological modelling scheme for simulation of daily streamflow at the hydrological stations in the RRB. The results demonstrated that both gridded products could generally capture the spatiotemporal variation of the reference precipitation over the RRB during the period of 2005-2014, although both underestimated the reference precipitation. Results of statistical analysis showed that the APHRODITE data outperformed the GSMaP-Gauge data in precipitation estimation. The performance of the VIC model driven by the gridded precipitation products in streamflow simulation was satisfactory, although simulations forced with APHRODITE data displayed the better performance. Generally, the APHRODITE product showed its encouraging potential for hydrological studies over the RRB.

Predicting Heavy Metal Concentrations in Shallow Aquifer Systems Based on Low-Cost Physiochemical Parameters Using Machine Learning Techniques.

Monitoring ex-situ water parameters, namely heavy metals, needs time and laboratory work for water sampling and analytical processes, which can retard the response to ongoing pollution events. Previous studies have successfully applied fast modeling techniques such as artificial intelligence algorithms to predict heavy metals. However, neither low-cost feature predictability nor explainability assessments have been considered in the modeling process. This study proposes a reliable and explainable framework to find an effective model and feature set to predict heavy metals in groundwater. The integrated assessment framework has four steps: model selection uncertainty, feature selection uncertainty, predictive uncertainty, and model interpretability. The results show that Random Forest is the most suitable model, and quick-measure parameters can be used as predictors for arsenic (As), iron (Fe), and manganese (Mn). Although the model performance is auspicious, it likely produces significant uncertainties. The findings also demonstrate that arsenic is related to nutrients and spatial distribution, while Fe and Mn are affected by spatial distribution and salinity. Some limitations and suggestions are also discussed to improve the prediction accuracy and interpretability.

Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome in Young Adults With Congenital Heart Disease.

Adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD) are at risk of developing metabolic syndrome (MetS) at a younger age. We sought to obtain the prevalence of MetS in ACHD from a large population-based database in the United States. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients with ACHD in Explorys (IBM Inc., Armonk, New York) database from 2008 to 2019. The ACHD cohort included patients aged 20 to 39 years, with moderate and severe congenital heart disease, as defined by ACHD anatomic and physiologic classification. Patients were diagnosed with MetS using the modified International Diabetes Federation's diagnostic criteria. Logistic regression analysis was performed to compare the risk of MetS in the ACHD cohort. MetS was diagnosed in 1,860 of 6,720 patients with ACHD (27.6%). Among 7,359,470 controls, MetS was seen in 742,010 (10.1%). The average age of MetS in ACHD was 31.5 and 32.7 years in controls (p <0.001). The risk of MetS was higher in ACHD versus controls (odds ratio [OR] 2.75 [2.61 to 2.89], p <0.001). The risk of MetS in ACHD was higher in men (OR 3.01 [2.78 to 3.26], p <0.001) and those aged <25 years (men OR 7.57 [6.31 to 9.07], women OR 4.66 [3.85 to 5.63]; p <0.001). The risk of MetS was higher in patients with severe versus moderate ACHD (OR 1.4 [1.56 to 1.74], p <0.001). In conclusion, MetS and its risk factors are more common in young ACHD than in the general population.

Study of aerosol optical properties at two urban areas in the north of Vietnam with the implication for biomass burning impacts.

The spatiotemporal distribution and characterization of aerosol optical properties in the north of Vietnam were investigated extensively using the long-term measurements obtained from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) (from 2010 to 2019) and two Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) stations (Nghia Do, Hanoi City, from 2010 to 2019 and Son La from 2012 to 2019) located in fast-developing urban areas. This study also analyzed the tendency of AOD over different wavelengths as well as the influences of meteorological parameters and boundary layer height (BLH) on AOD and Ångström exponent (AE). The annual mean AOD500 at Nghia Do and Son La stations were 0.81 and 0.78, respectively. Our results revealed the existence of particles emitted from anthropogenic activities in Hanoi and Son La with the dominance of fine particles (more than 90% of the AE440-870 were larger than 1). Besides, a high percentage of AE440-870 larger than or approximately 1.5 during the dry and transition months in Son La indicated the existence of biomass-burning aerosol particles due to forest fires and burning of agriculture residuals. The classification results for aerosol types showed the presence of both biomass burning and urban/industrial aerosol types at Nghia Do and Son La sites. Among the investigated meteorological parameters, surface solar radiation expressed a significant correlation with AE440-870 in all three seasons at the two sites due to the secondary formation of fine particles induced by the high solar radiation condition. The impacts of meteorological parameters and BLH on AOD were not observed simultaneously during three seasons at Nghia Do and Son La stations.

Immobilized Enzymes in Biosensor Applications.

Enzyme-based biosensing devices have been extensively developed over the last few decades, and have proven to be innovative techniques in the qualitative and quantitative analysis of a variety of target substrates over a wide range of applications. Distinct advantages that enzyme-based biosensors provide, such as high sensitivity and specificity, portability, cost-effectiveness, and the possibilities for miniaturization and point-of-care diagnostic testing make them more and more attractive for research focused on clinical analysis, food safety control, or disease monitoring purposes. Therefore, this review article investigates the operating principle of enzymatic biosensors utilizing electrochemical, optical, thermistor, and piezoelectric measurement techniques and their applications in the literature, as well as approaches in improving the use of enzymes for biosensors.

On-Chip Fluorescence Switching System for Constructing a Rewritable Random Access Data Storage Device.

We report the development of on-chip fluorescence switching system based on DNA strand displacement and DNA hybridization for the construction of a rewritable and randomly accessible data storage device. In this study, the feasibility and potential effectiveness of our proposed system was evaluated with a series of wet experiments involving 40 bits (5 bytes) of data encoding a 5-charactered text (KRIBB). Also, a flexible data rewriting function was achieved by converting fluorescence signals between "ON" and "OFF" through DNA strand displacement and hybridization events. In addition, the proposed system was successfully validated on a microfluidic chip which could further facilitate the encoding and decoding process of data. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the use of DNA hybridization and DNA strand displacement in the field of data storage devices. Taken together, our results demonstrated that DNA-based fluorescence switching could be applicable to construct a rewritable and randomly accessible data storage device through controllable DNA manipulations.

Long-Term Stability and Integrity of Plasmid-Based DNA Data Storage.

Validation of long-term DNA stability and integrity are essential for the use of DNA in data storage applications. Because of this, we evaluated the plasmid-based DNA data storage in a manner that preserves DNA stability and integrity. A document consisting of 2046 words was encoded with DNA sequences using Perl script, and the encoded DNA sequences were synthesized for information storage. The DNA comprised a total of 22 chemically synthesized DNA fragments with 400 nucleotides each, which were incorporated into a plasmid vector. A long-term DNA stability study demonstrated that 3-year stored plasmid containing text information showed DNA stability at controlled conditions of -20 °C. The plasmid DNA under accelerated aging conditions (AAC) up to 65 °C for 20 days, which corresponds to approximately 20 years of storage at -20 °C, also exhibited no significant differences in DNA stability compared to newly produced plasmid. Also, the 3-year old plasmid stored at -20 °C and the AAC-tested plasmid stored up to 65 °C for 20 days had functional integrity and nucleotide integrity comparable to control sample, thereby allowing for retrieval of the original error-free text data. Finally, the nucleotides were sequenced, and then decoded to retrieve the original data, thereby allowing us to read the text with 100% accuracy, and amplify the DNA with a simple and quick bacterial transformation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on examining the long-term stability and integrity of plasmid-based DNA data storage. Taken together, our results indicate that plasmid DNA data storage can be useful for long-term archival storage to recover the source text in a reproducible and accountable manner.

Rapid resolution of cardiac rhabdomyomas following everolimus therapy.

Cardiac rhabdomyoma is the most common primary cardiac tumour during childhood and is usually associated with tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC). These tumours are generally considered benign, and spontaneous regression occurs commonly. However, when the tumours cause significant symptoms, the current standard treatment is surgical resection. Everolimus is an mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) complex 1 inhibitor that has been successfully used to treat subependymal giant cell astrocytomas and renal angiomyolipomas associated with TSC. A few case reports have described the effectiveness of everolimus therapy in treating cardiac rhabdomyomas as well. We report a case of a newborn who had near complete resolution of multiple rhabdomyomas within a month of receiving everolimus therapy for non-cardiac masses. To the best of our knowledge, this is the fastest resolution of cardiac rhabdomyomas associated with everolimus therapy to date. Everolimus may be a promising alternative for high-risk surgical candidates with haemodynamically significant cardiac rhabdomyomas.

A novel and highly specific phage endolysin cell wall binding domain for detection of Bacillus cereus.

Rapid, specific and sensitive detection of pathogenic bacteria is crucial for public health and safety. Bacillus cereus is harmful as it causes foodborne illness and a number of systemic and local infections. We report a novel phage endolysin cell wall-binding domain (CBD) for B. cereus and the development of a highly specific and sensitive surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based B. cereus detection method using the CBD. The newly discovered CBD from endolysin of PBC1, a B. cereus-specific bacteriophage, provides high specificity and binding capacity to B. cereus. By using the CBD-modified SPR chips, B. cereus can be detected at the range of 10(5)-10(8) CFU/ml. More importantly, the detection limit can be improved to 10(2) CFU/ml by using a subtractive inhibition assay based on the pre-incubation of B. cereus and CBDs, removal of CBD-bound B. cereus, and SPR detection of the unbound CBDs. The present study suggests that the small and genetically engineered CBDs can be promising biological probes for B. cereus. We anticipate that the CBD-based SPR-sensing methods will be useful for the sensitive, selective, and rapid detection of B. cereus.

Surface plasmon resonance: a versatile technique for biosensor applications.

Surface plasmon resonance (SPR) is a label-free detection method which has emerged during the last two decades as a suitable and reliable platform in clinical analysis for biomolecular interactions. The technique makes it possible to measure interactions in real-time with high sensitivity and without the need of labels. This review article discusses a wide range of applications in optical-based sensors using either surface plasmon resonance (SPR) or surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRI). Here we summarize the principles, provide examples, and illustrate the utility of SPR and SPRI through example applications from the biomedical, proteomics, genomics and bioengineering fields. In addition, SPR signal amplification strategies and surface functionalization are covered in the review.