Effect of dietary betaine on endocrine profile in postpartum lactating Murrah buffaloes during hot-humid season

Extreme heat along with metabolic stress associated with the postpartum period negatively affects the endocrine status of animals. Betaine is a feed additive that promotes animal growth. Since betaine contains three methyl groups, it acts as a methyl donor in animal metabolism. Eighteen postpartum Murrah buffaloes were randomly divided into T1 Group (Control), T2 and T3 Group was supplemented with betaine 50 g/animal/day and 100 g/animal/day respectively from 5th day postpartum and was continued up to 4 months postpartum. On day 50 postpartum the mean value of plasma cortisol of T1 Group was maximum followed by T2 Group and T3 Group had minimum plasma cortisol mean value which differed (P<0.05) significantly between groups. The mean concentration of plasma T3 total, T4 total, progesterone and estrogen showed (P>0.05) non-significant difference between all the groups. However, betaine fed T2 and T3 Group had higher plasma T3, T4, progesterone and estrogen as compared to control, it might be due to the effect of betaine, which reduces metabolic stress and activate hypothalmo-pituitary and gonadal axis after parturition and lactation period during heat stress.

A Complete Picture of Cation Dynamics in Hybrid Perovskite Materials from Solid-State NMR Spectroscopy

The organic cations in hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites rotate rapidly inside the cuboctahedral cavities formed by the inorganic lattice, influencing optoelectronic properties. Here, we provide a complete quantitative picture of cation dynamics for formamidinium-based perovskites and mixed-cation compositions, which are the most widely used and promising absorber layers for perovskite solar cells today. We use ²H and ¹⁴N quadrupolar solid-state NMR relaxometry under magic-angle spinning to determine the activation energy (E_a) and correlation time (τ_c) at room temperature for rotation about each principal axis of a series of organic cations. Specifically, we investigate methylammonium (MA⁺), formamidinium (FA⁺), and guanidinium (GUA⁺) cations in current state-of-the-art single- and multi-cation perovskite compositions. We find that MA⁺, FA⁺, and GUA⁺ all have at least one component of rotation that occurs on the picosecond timescale at room temperature, with MA⁺ and GUA⁺ also exhibiting faster and slower components, respectively. The cation dynamics depend on the symmetry of the inorganic lattice but are found to be insensitive to the degree of cation substitution. In particular, the FA⁺ rotation is invariant across all compositions studied here, when sufficiently above the phase transition temperature. We further identify an unusual relaxation mechanism for the ²H of MA⁺ in mechanosynthesized FA_xMA_1-xPbI₃, which was found to result from physical diffusion to paramagnetic defects. This precise picture of cation dynamics will enable better understanding of the relationship between the organic cations and the optoelectronic properties of perovskites, guiding the design principles for more efficient perovskite solar cells in the future.

Primary synovial chondromatosis of the hip joint (PrSC of the hip): A retrospective cohort analysis and review of the literature

Introduction

Primary synovial osteochondromatosis (SOCM) or Synovial chondromatosis (SC) of the hip is a benign metaplastic condition of the synovium that is rare and may present with a spectrum of clinical features and radiological findings.

Patients and methods

A retrospective search using the keyword 'Synovial chondromatosis' (SC) of the hip was performed at a tertiary care orthopaedic referral centre in the UK and a hospital in India. The radiology images were collected from our Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) and Radiology Information System (RIS), over 15 years. The patient's data was collated with Electronic Patient Records (EPR), RIS, and correlated with histo-pathology laboratory records where available. The demographic details of the patients, their clinical symptoms, imaging details, and management outcomes were collected.

Results

We found 15 cases, with a mean age of 36.53 years (range: 14-50 years). There were 9 male and 6 female patients. The follow-up ranged from 1 year to 6 years. Predominantly unilateral presentation with insidious onset of symptoms was found. A spectrum of radiological Imaging was undertaken. Management strategies included supervised observation, arthroscopic or open synovectomy, and hip arthroplasty. No malignant transformation was found in the analysed cohort.

Conclusion

Primary 'Synovial chondromatosis' of the hip had a male preponderance in our cohort, presenting with a range of clinical features. Radiologically, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) was the commonest modality of cross-sectional imaging utilised and crucial for the diagnosis, evaluating underlying articular involvement including guiding appropriate patient management presenting with Primary 'Synovial chondromatosis' of the hip.

Non-destructive insights into photosynthetic and photoprotective mechanisms in Arabidopsis thaliana grown under two light regimes

Probing insights into understanding photosynthetic processes via non-invasive means has an added advantage when used in phenotyping or precision agriculture. We employed Raman spectroscopy and fluorescence-based methods to investigate both the changes in the photosynthetic processes and the underlying protective mechanisms on Arabidopsis thaliana wild-type (WT), and ros1, which is a mutant of a repressor of transcriptional gene silencing, both grown under low light (LL: 100 μmol m^-2s^-1) and high light (HL: 400 μmol m^-2s^-1) regimes. Raman imaging detected a lower carotenoid intensity after two weeks in those plants grown under HL, compared to those grown under the LL regime; we interpret this as the result of oxidative damage of β-carotene molecules. Further, the data revealed a significant depletion in carotenoids with enhanced phenolics around the midrib and tip of the WT leaves, but not in the ros1. On the contrary, small necrotic zones appeared after two weeks of HL in the ros1 mutant, pointing to the starting oxidative damage. The lower maximum quantum yield of the photochemistry (F_v/F_m) in the WT as well as in the ros1 mutant grown in HL (compared to those in the LL two weeks post-exposure), indicates the HL partially inactivated photosystems. Chlorophyll a fluorescence imaging further showed high non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) in the plants grown under the HL regime for both the WT and the ros1 mutant, but the spatial heterogeneity of NPQ images was much higher in the HL-grown ros1 mutant. Fluorescence screening methods revealed significantly high values of chlorophyll proxies in the WT as well as in the ros1 mutant two weeks after in the HL compared to those under LL. The data generally revealed an increased accumulation of phenolics under HL in both the WT and ros1 mutant plants, but the proxies of anthocyanin and flavonols were significantly lower in the ros1 mutant than in the WT. The comparatively low accumulation of anthocyanin in the ros1 mutant compared to the WT supports the Raman data. We conclude that integrated use of these techniques can be efficiently applied for a better understanding of insights into photosynthetic mechanisms.

Photoacoustic imaging to monitor outcomes during hyperbaric oxygen therapy: validation in a small cohort and case study in a bilateral chronic ischemic wound

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO2) is a common therapeutic modality that drives oxygen into hypoxic tissue to promote healing. Here, ten patients undergoing HBO2 underwent PA oximetry of the left radial artery and forearm pre- and post-HBO2; this cohort validated the use of PA imaging in HBO2. There was a significant increase in radial artery oxygenation after HBO2 (p = 0.002) in the validation cohort. We also include a case study: a non-diabetic male in his 50s (HB 010) presenting with bilateral ischemic and gangrenous wounds. HB 010 showed higher perfusion and oxygen saturation on the right foot than the left after HBO2 which correlated with independent surgical observations. Imaging assisted with limb salvage treatment. Hence, this work shows that PA imaging can measure changes in arterial oxygen saturation due to HBO2; it can also produce 3D maps of tissue oxygenation and evaluate response to therapy during HBO2.

Feasibility and impact of a one-stop thyroid clinic in a low- and middle-income country

BACKGROUND

The study was done to evaluate the feasibility, safety and outcomes of a one-stop thyroid clinic (OSTC) in a low- and middle-income country (LMIC) setting.

METHODS

This was a prospective non-randomised case control study consisting of patients with thyroid nodules evaluated and managed at a tertiary referral centre in an LMIC between February 2019 and January 2020. Patients were divided into two groups based on the kind of preoperative evaluation protocol: OSTC group (n = 118) - OSTC protocol, and control group (CG, n = 108) - routine protocol.

RESULTS

Baseline clinical characteristics of the two groups including median age (p = 0.13) and gender distribution (p = 0.76) were comparable. The majority of patients in both groups belonged to a low-income group (46.6% vs 47.3%; p = 0.91), followed by a middle-income group (35.6% vs 30.5%; p = 0.41). The median number of outpatient department visits (1 vs 3 days; p = < 0.001), waiting time for neck ultrasonography (1 vs 3 days; p = < 0.0001), fine needle aspiration cytology (1 vs 2 days; p = < 0.0001), and out of pocket expenditure (INR 3 965 vs 6 624; p = < 0.001) was significantly less in the OSTC group compared to the CG. Patients in the OSTC group reported better satisfaction levels (p = < 0.0001). Accuracy of diagnosis did not differ between the two groups (p = 0.14).

CONCLUSION

OSTC practice is feasible, provides comparative clinical outcomes and seems cost effective in an LMIC. This protocol can be adopted as a routine practice in any health system.

Interplay of Kinetic and Thermodynamic Reaction Control Explains Incorporation of Dimethylammonium Iodide into CsPbI3

CsPbI₃ is a promising material for optoelectronics owing to its thermal robustness and favorable bandgap. However, its fabrication is challenging because its photoactive phase is thermodynamically unstable at room temperature. Adding dimethylammonium (DMA) alleviates this instability and is currently understood to result in the formation of DMA _x Cs_1-x PbI₃ perovskite solid solutions. Here, we use NMR of the ¹³³Cs and ¹³C local structural probes to show that these solid solutions are not thermodynamically stable, and their synthesis under thermodynamic control leads to a segregated mixture of yellow one-dimensional DMAPbI₃ phase and δ-CsPbI₃. We show that mixed-cation DMA _x Cs_1-x PbI₃ perovskite phases only form when they are kinetically trapped by rapid antisolvent-induced crystallization. We explore the energetics of DMA incorporation into CsPbI₃ using first-principles calculations and molecular dynamics simulations and find that this process is energetically unfavorable. Our results provide a complete atomic-level picture of the mechanism of DMA-induced stabilization of the black perovskite phase of CsPbI₃ and shed new light on this deceptively simple material.

Dynamic Nuclear Polarization Enables NMR of Surface Passivating Agents on Hybrid Perovskite Thin Films

Surface and bulk molecular modulators are the key to improving the efficiency and stability of hybrid perovskite solar cells. However, due to their low concentration, heterogeneous environments, and low sample mass, it remains challenging to characterize their structure and dynamics at the atomic level, as required to establish structure–activity relationships. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has revealed a wealth of information on the atomic-level structure of hybrid perovskites, but the inherent insensitivity of NMR severely limits its utility to characterize thin-film samples. Dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) can enhance NMR sensitivity by orders of magnitude, but DNP methods for perovskite materials have so far been limited. Here, we determined the factors that limit the efficiency of DNP NMR for perovskite samples by systematically studying layered hybrid perovskite analogues. We find that the fast-relaxing dynamic cation is the major impediment to higher DNP efficiency, while microwave absorption and particle morphology play a secondary role. We then show that the former can be mitigated by deuteration, enabling ¹H DNP enhancement factors of up to 100, which can be harnessed to enhance signals from dopants or additives present in very low concentrations. Specifically, using this new DNP methodology at a high magnetic field and with small sample volumes, we have recorded the NMR spectrum of the 20 nm (6 μg) passivating layer on a single perovskite thin film, revealing a two-dimensional (2D) layered perovskite structure at the surface that resembles the n = 1 homologue but which has greater disorder than in bulk layered perovskites.

Stable and Bright Electroluminescent Devices utilizing Emissive 0D Perovskite Nanocrystals Incorporated in a 3D CsPbBr3 Matrix

The 0D cesium lead halide perovskite Cs₄ PbBr₆ has drawn remarkable interest due to its highly efficient robust green emission compared to its 3D CsPbBr₃ counterpart. However, seizing the advantages of the superior photoluminescence properties for practical light-emitting devices remains elusive. To date, Cs₄ PbBr₆ has been employed only as a higher-bandgap nonluminescent matrix to passivate or provide quantum/dielectric confinement to CsPbBr₃ in light-emitting devices and to enhance its photo-/thermal/environmental stability. To resolve this disparity, a novel solvent engineering method to incorporate highly luminescent 0D Cs₄ PbBr₆ nanocrystals (perovskite nanocrystals (PNCs)) into a 3D CsPbBr₃ film, forming the active emissive layer in single-layer perovskite light-emitting electrochemical cells (PeLECs) is designed. A dramatic increase of the maximum external quantum efficiency and luminance from 2.7% and 6050 cd m^-2 for a 3D-only PeLEC to 8.3% and 11 200 cd m^-2 for a 3D-0D PNC device with only 7% by weight of 0D PNCs is observed. The majority of this increase is driven by the efficient inherent emission of the 0D PNCs, while the concomitant morphology improvement also contributes to reduced leakage current, reduced hysteresis, and enhanced operational lifetime (half-life of 129 h), making this one of the best-performing LECs reported to date.

Enteric viruses replicate in salivary glands and infect through saliva

Enteric viruses like norovirus, rotavirus and astrovirus have long been accepted as spreading in the population through fecal-oral transmission: viruses are shed into feces from one host and enter the oral cavity of another, bypassing salivary glands (SGs) and reaching the intestines to replicate, be shed in feces and repeat the transmission cycle1. Yet there are viruses (for example, rabies) that infect the SGs2,3, making the oral cavity one site of replication and saliva one conduit of transmission. Here we report that enteric viruses productively and persistently infect SGs, reaching titres comparable to those in the intestines. We demonstrate that enteric viruses get released into the saliva, identifying a second route of viral transmission. This is particularly significant for infected infants, whose saliva directly transmits enteric viruses to their mothers' mammary glands through backflow during suckling. This sidesteps the conventional gut-mammary axis route4 and leads to a rapid surge in maternal milk secretory IgA antibodies5,6. Lastly, we show that SG-derived spheroids7 and cell lines8 can replicate and propagate enteric viruses, generating a scalable and manageable system of production. Collectively, our research uncovers a new transmission route for enteric viruses with implications for therapeutics, diagnostics and importantly sanitation measures to prevent spread through saliva.

Ocean mover's distance: using optimal transport for analysing oceanographic data

Remote sensing observations from satellites and global biogeochemical models have combined to revolutionize the study of ocean biogeochemical cycling, but comparing the two data streams to each other and across time remains challenging due to the strong spatial-temporal structuring of the ocean. Here, we show that the Wasserstein distance provides a powerful metric for harnessing these structured datasets for better marine ecosystem and climate predictions. The Wasserstein distance complements commonly used point-wise difference methods such as the root-mean-squared error, by quantifying differences in terms of spatial displacement in addition to magnitude. As a test case, we consider chlorophyll (a key indicator of phytoplankton biomass) in the northeast Pacific Ocean, obtained from model simulations, in situ measurements, and satellite observations. We focus on two main applications: (i) comparing model predictions with satellite observations, and (ii) temporal evolution of chlorophyll both seasonally and over longer time frames. The Wasserstein distance successfully isolates temporal and depth variability and quantifies shifts in biogeochemical province boundaries. It also exposes relevant temporal trends in satellite chlorophyll consistent with climate change predictions. Our study shows that optimal transport vectors underlying the Wasserstein distance provide a novel visualization tool for testing models and better understanding temporal dynamics in the ocean.

Photoacoustic imaging of posterior periodontal pocket using a commercial hockey-stick transducer

SIGNIFICANCE

Photoacoustic imaging has shown advantages over the periodontal probing method in measuring the periodontal probing depth, but the large size of conventional photoacoustic transducers prevents imaging of the more posterior teeth.

AIM

Our aim is to develop a photoacoustic imaging system to image the more posterior periodontal pocket.

APPROACH

We report a clinical "hockey-stick"-style transducer integrated with fibers for periodontal photoacoustic imaging. Cuttlefish ink labeled the periodontal pocket as the photoacoustic contrast agent.

RESULTS

We characterized the imaging system and then measured the pocket depth of 35 swine teeth. Three raters evaluated the performance of the hockey-stick transducer. The measurements between the Williams probing (gold standard) and the photoacoustic methods were blinded but highly correlated. We showed a bias of ∼0.3  mm for the imaging-based technique versus Williams probing. The minimum inter-reliability was over 0.60 for three different raters of varying experience, suggesting that this approach to measure the periodontal pocket is reproducible. Finally, we imaged three pre-molars of a human subject. We could access more upper and posterior teeth than conventional linear transducers.

CONCLUSIONS

The unique angle shape of the hockey-stick transducer allows it to image more posterior teeth than regular linear transducers. This study demonstrated the ability of a hockey-stick transducer to measure the periodontal pocket via photoacoustic imaging.

Multi-Length Scale Structure of 2D/3D Dion-Jacobson Hybrid Perovskites Based on an Aromatic Diammonium Spacer

Dion-Jacobson (DJ) iodoplumbates based on 1,4-phenylenedimethanammonium (PDMA) have recently emerged as promising light absorbers for perovskite solar cells. While PDMA is one of the simplest aromatic spacers potentially capable of forming a DJ structure based on (PDMA)A_n-1 Pb_n I_3n+1 composition, the crystallographic proof has not been reported so far. Single crystal structure of a DJ phase based on PDMA is presented and high-field solid-state NMR spectroscopy is used to characterize the structure of PDMA-based iodoplumbates prepared as thin films and bulk microcrystalline powders. It is shown that their atomic-level structure does not depend on the method of synthesis and that it is ordered and similar for all iodoplumbate homologues. Moreover, the presence of lower (n) homologues in thin films is identified through UV-Vis spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction measurements, complemented by cathodoluminescence mapping. A closer look using cathodoluminescence shows that the micron-scale microstructure corresponds to a mixture of different layered homologues that are well distributed throughout the film and the presence of layer edge states which dominate the emission. This work therefore determines the formation of DJ phases based on PDMA as the spacer cation and reveals their properties on a multi-length scale, which is relevant for their application in optoelectronics.