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To explore how airborne microbial patterns change with height above the Earth's surface, we flew NASA's C-20A aircraft on two consecutive days in June 2018 along identical flight paths over the US Sierra Nevada mountain range at four different altitudes ranging from 10,000 ft to 40,000 ft. Bioaerosols were analyzed by metagenomic DNA sequencing and traditional culturing methods to characterize the composition and diversity of atmospheric samples compared to experimental controls. The relative abundance of taxa changed significantly at each altitude sampled, and the diversity profile shifted across the two sampling days, revealing a regional atmospheric microbiome that is dynamically changing. The most proportionally abundant microbial genera were Mycobacterium and Achromobacter at 10,000 ft; Stenotrophomonas and Achromobacter at 20,000 ft; Delftia and Pseudoperonospora at 30,000 ft; and Alcaligenes and Penicillium at 40,000 ft. Culture-based detections also identified viable Bacillus zhangzhouensis, Bacillus pumilus, and Bacillus spp. in the upper troposphere. To estimate bioaerosol dispersal, we developed a human exposure likelihood model (7-day forecast) using general aerosol characteristics and measured meteorological conditions. selleck compound By coupling metagenomics to a predictive atmospheric model, we aim to set the stage for field campaigns that monitor global bioaerosol emissions and impacts.The high-throughput scalable production of cheap, efficient and durable electrocatalysts that work well at high current densities demanded by industry is a great challenge for the large-scale implementation of electrochemical technologies. Here we report the production of a two-dimensional molybdenum disulfide-based ink-type electrocatalyst by a scalable exfoliation technique followed by a thermal treatment. The catalyst delivers a high current density of 1000 mA cm-2 at an overpotential of 412 mV for the hydrogen evolution. Using the same method, we produce a cheap mineral-based catalyst possessing excellent performance for high-current-density hydrogen evolution. Noteworthy, production rate of this catalyst is one to two orders of magnitude higher than those previously reported, and price of the mineral is five orders of magnitude lower than commercial Pt electrocatalysts. These advantages indicate the huge potentials of this method and of mineral-based cheap and abundant natural resources as catalysts in the electrochemical industry.Bio-inspired synthetic calcium phosphate (CaP) nanoparticles (NPs), mimicking the mineral component of bone and teeth, are emergent materials for sustainable applications in agriculture. These sparingly soluble salts show self-inhibiting dissolution processes in undersaturated aqueous media, the control at the molecular and nanoscale levels of which is not fully elucidated. Understanding the mechanisms of particle dissolution is highly relevant to the efficient delivery of macronutrients to the plants and crucial for developing a valuable synthesis-by-design approach. It has also implications in bone (de)mineralization processes. Herein, we shed light on the role of size, morphology and crystallinity in the dissolution behaviour of CaP NPs and on their nitrate doping for potential use as (P,N)-nanofertilizers. Spherical fully amorphous NPs and apatite-amorphous nanoplatelets (NPLs) in a core-crown arrangement are studied by combining forefront Small-Angle and Wide-Angle X-ray Total Scattering (SAXS and WAXTS) analyses. Ca2+ ion release rates differ for spherical NPs and NPLs demonstrating that morphology plays an active role in directing the dissolution kinetics. Amorphous NPs manifest a rapid loss of nitrates governed by surface-chemistry. NPLs show much slower release, paralleling that of Ca2+ ions, that supports both detectable nitrate incorporation in the apatite structure and dissolution from the core basal faces.

Exposure-response studies and policy evaluations of household air pollution (HAP) are limited by current methods of exposure assessment which are expensive and burdensome to participants.

We collected 152 dried blood spot (DBS) specimens during the heating and non-heating seasons from 53 women who regularly used biomass-burning stoves for cooking and heating. Participants were enrolled in a longitudinal study in China. link2 Untargeted metabolic phenotyping of DBS were generated using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry to exemplify measurement precision and assessment for feasibility to detect exposure to HAP, evaluated by season (high pollution vs. low pollution) and measured personal exposure to fine particulate matter <2.5 μm diameters (PM

) and black carbon (BC) in the 48-h prior to collecting the DBS specimen.

Metabolites e.g., amino acids, acyl-carnitines, lyso-phosphorylcholines, sphinganine, and choline were detected in the DBS specimens. Our approach is cand therefore suitable for large-scale application.Microglia are the primary immune cells in the central nervous system, which plays a vital role in neuron development and neurodegenerative diseases. Microglial precursors in peripheral hematopoietic tissues colonize the central nervous system during early embryogenesis. However, how intrinsic and extrinsic signals integrate to regulate microglia's differentiation remains undefined. In this study, we identified the cerebral white matter hyperintensities susceptibility gene, programmed cell death protein 11 (PDCD11), as an essential factor regulating microglia differentiation. In zebrafish, pdcd11 deficiency prevents the differentiation of the precursors to mature brain microglia. Although, the inflammatory featured macrophage brain colonization is augmented. At 22 h post fertilization, the Pdcd11-positive cells on the yolk sac are distinct from macrophages and neutrophils. Mechanistically, PDCD11 exerts its physiological role by differentially regulating the functions of nuclear factor-kappa B family members, P65 and c-Rel, suppressing P65-mediated expression of inflammatory cytokines, such as tnfα, and enhancing the c-Rel-dependent appearance of tgfβ1. The present study provides novel insights in understanding microglia differentiation during zebrafish development.Designing electrodes with tailored architecture is an efficient mean to enhance the performance of metal-ion batteries by minimizing electronic and ionic transport limitations and increasing the fraction of active material in the electrode. However, the fabrication of architectured electrodes often involves multiple laborious steps that are not directly scalable to current manufacturing platforms. Here, we propose a processing route in which Cu-coated ZnO powders are directly shaped into architectured electrodes using a simple uniaxial pressing step. Uniaxial pressing leads to a percolating Cu phase with enhanced electrical conductivity between the active ZnO particles and improved mechanical stability, thus dispensing the use of carbon-based additives and polymeric binders in the electrode composition. The additive-free percolating copper network obtained upon pressing leads to highly loaded integrated anodes displaying volumetric charge capacity 6-10 fold higher than Cu-free ZnO films and that matches the electrochemical performance reported for advanced cathode structures. Achieving this high charge capacity using a readily available pressing tool makes this approach a promising route for the facile manufacturing of high-performance electrodes at large industrial scales.To assess prevalence of mild vision impairment (MVI; best corrected visual acuity (BCVA)  less then  6/12 to 6/18 in the better eye), moderate-to-severe vision impairment (MSVI; BCVA  less then  6/18 but ≥ 3/60) and blindness (BCVA  less then  3/60) in a local population in Russia, we conducted the population-based Ural Eye and Medical Study. Out of 7,328 eligible individuals aged 40 + years, 5,899 (80.5%) individuals participated. MVI was present in 184 (3.1%; 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.7, 3.6) individuals, MSVI in 182 (3.1%; 95% CI 2.7, 3.5) individuals, and 11 individuals (0.19%; 95% CI 0.008, 0.30) were blind. Causes for MSVI were cataract (n = 109; 59.9%), late stage of age-related macular degeneration (n = 14; 7.7%; geographic atrophy and neovascular AMD in 7 (3.8%) individuals) each), myopic maculopathy (n = 11; 6.0%), glaucoma (n = 9; 4.9%), non-glaucomatous optic nerve damage (n = 5; 2.7%), and diabetic retinopathy (n = 4; 2.2%). Causes for blindness were cataract (n = 3; 27.3%), myopic maculopathy (n = 2; 18.2%), retinal dystrophies (n = 2; 18.2%), glaucoma (n = 1; 9.1%), and corneal scars (n = 1; 9.1%). Higher prevalence of MSVI/blindness was associated with age (P  less then  0.001; odds ratio (OR)1.10; 95% CI 1.08, 1.12), male gender (P  less then  0.001; OR 2.32; 95% CI 1.47, 3.66), educational level (P  less then  0.001; OR 0.83; 95% CI 0.76,0.92), manual grip force (P  less then  0.001; OR 0.94; 95% CI 0.92, 0.96), diabetes prevalence (P = 0.006; OR 1.67; 95% CI 1.08, 2.56) and axial length (P  less then  0.001; OR 1.43; 95% CI 1.26,1.62). In this population from Bashkortostan/Russia, prevalence of MVI, MSVI and blindness was 3.1%, 3.1% and 0.19%, respectively. Cataract was the most frequent cause of reversible vision impairment, while AMD, myopic maculopathy and glaucoma were the most common reasons for irreversible vision impairment.Duck Tembusu virus (DTMUV), a mosquito-borne Flavivirus, has caused serious economic losses for the Chinese poultry industry. The genome is translated into a polyprotein that is cleaved to mature protein by host and viral proteases in the host cell, and this proteolytic process is important for the viral life cycle. However, the cleavage mechanism of DTMUV polyprotein is still unclear. In this study, we identified that several amino acids (P1-R, P1'-G, P2-R, P3-T, and P4-V) were vital for NS2A/2B cleavage. Meanwhile, both NS2A and NS2B were essential in cis for polyprotein NS2A/2B intramolecular cleavage. Subsequently, a DTMUV replicon and an infectious clone showed that the P1 site is essential to viral replication, while a mutation in P1' could boost viral RNA replication. Furthermore, a recombinant virus with P1 and P1' site mutations named rDTMUV-NS2A/2B-P1P1'(AA) was rescued from transfected BHK21 cells. The maximum viral titers and viral genome copies of rDTMUV-NS2A/2B-P1P1'(AA) were much lower than those of rDTMUV-WT both in the intracellular and extracellular samples of transfected and infected BHK21 cells. Taken together, the NS2A/2B cleavage sites processed by the NS2B3 protease are vital for DTMUV proliferation and virulence.Chromatin immunoprecipitation followed by sequencing (ChIP-seq) is a method used to profile protein-DNA interactions genome-wide. Restriction Enzyme-based Labeling of Chromatin in Situ (RELACS) is a recently developed ChIP-seq protocol that deploys a chromatin barcoding strategy to enable standardized and high-throughput generation of ChIP-seq data. The manual implementation of RELACS is constrained by human processivity in both data generation and data analysis. To overcome these limitations, we have developed AutoRELACS, an automated implementation of the RELACS protocol using the liquid handler Biomek i7 workstation. link3 We match the unprecedented processivity in data generation allowed by AutoRELACS with the automated computation pipelines offered by snakePipes. In doing so, we build a continuous workflow that streamlines epigenetic profiling, from sample collection to biological interpretation. Here, we show that AutoRELACS successfully automates chromatin barcode integration, and is able to generate high-quality ChIP-seq data comparable with the standards of the manual protocol, also for limited amounts of biological samples.