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McGeoch MA, Clarke DA, Mungi NA, Ordonez A. A nature-positive future with biological invasions: theory, decision support and research needs. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2024; 379:20230014. [PMID: 38583473 PMCID: PMC10999266 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2023.0014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/05/2023] [Accepted: 01/24/2024] [Indexed: 04/09/2024] Open
Abstract
In 2050, most areas of biodiversity significance will be heavily influenced by multiple drivers of environmental change. This includes overlap with the introduced ranges of many alien species that negatively impact biodiversity. With the decline in biodiversity and increase in all forms of global change, the need to envision the desired qualities of natural systems in the Anthropocene is growing, as is the need to actively maintain their natural values. Here, we draw on community ecology and invasion biology to (i) better understand trajectories of change in communities with a mix of native and alien populations, and (ii) to frame approaches to the stewardship of these mixed-species communities. We provide a set of premises and actions upon which a nature-positive future with biological invasions (NPF-BI) could be based, and a decision framework for dealing with uncertain species movements under climate change. A series of alternative management approaches become apparent when framed by scale-sensitive, spatially explicit, context relevant and risk-consequence considerations. Evidence of the properties of mixed-species communities together with predictive frameworks for the relative importance of the ecological processes at play provide actionable pathways to a NPF in which the reality of mixed-species communities are accommodated and managed. This article is part of the theme issue 'Ecological novelty and planetary stewardship: biodiversity dynamics in a transforming biosphere'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Melodie A. McGeoch
- Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future, School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton 3800, Victoria, Australia
| | - David A. Clarke
- Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future, School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton 3800, Victoria, Australia
| | - Ninad Avinash Mungi
- Section of Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus 8000, Denmark
- Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus 8000, Denmark
| | - Alejandro Ordonez
- Section of Ecoinformatics and Biodiversity, Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus 8000, Denmark
- Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO), Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus 8000, Denmark
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Rutherford G, Hussain R, Tait K. Pattern of multimorbidity in middle-aged and older-aged people with mild intellectual disability in Australia. J Appl Res Intellect Disabil 2024; 37:e13215. [PMID: 38413378 DOI: 10.1111/jar.13215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2023] [Revised: 11/15/2023] [Accepted: 12/12/2023] [Indexed: 02/29/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), also known as chronic diseases, now constitute a major proportion of ill-health across most adult and older populations including in people with intellectual disability. The current paper is a comparative analysis of prevalence of NCDs across mid-aged and older-aged people with mild intellectual disability. METHOD Comparative data comes from two cross-sectional surveys using similar methodology and timeframes. The analysis sample comprises mid-aged group (30-50 years, N = 291) and older-aged group (≥60 years, N = 391). RESULTS People with mild intellectual disability start developing NCDs in early to mid-adulthood and increases with age. The mean number of NCDs in mid-aged group was 0.86 (SD, 0.84) compared to 3.82 in older group (SD, 2.67). CONCLUSION There needs to be early identification and management of NCDs using relevant health promotion and preventative measures at optimal intervention points. The training of healthcare professionals needs improvement.
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Affiliation(s)
- Grace Rutherford
- School of Medicine & Psychology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Rafat Hussain
- School of Medicine & Psychology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
| | - Kathleen Tait
- Macquarie School of Education, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
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3
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Hernaiz-García M, Zanolli C, Martín-Francés L, Mazurier A, Benazzi S, Sarig R, Fu J, Kullmer O, Fiorenza L. Masticatory habits of the adult Neanderthal individual BD 1 from La Chaise-de-Vouthon (France). Am J Biol Anthropol 2024; 184:e24926. [PMID: 38420653 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24926] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2023] [Revised: 02/05/2024] [Accepted: 02/18/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES The analysis of dental wear provides a useful approach for dietary and cultural habit reconstructions of past human populations. The analysis of macrowear patterns can also be used to better understand the individual chewing behavior and to investigate the biomechanical responses during different biting scenarios. The aim of this study is to evaluate the diet and chewing performance of the adult Neanderthal Bourgeois-Delaunay 1 (BD 1) and to investigate the relationship between wear and cementum deposition under mechanical demands. MATERIALS AND METHODS The macrowear pattern of BD 1 was analyzed using the occlusal fingerprint analysis method. We propose a new method for the bilateral measurement of the cementum volume along both buccal and lingual sides of the molar root. RESULTS BD 1's anterior dentition is more affected by wear compared to the posterior one. The macrowear pattern suggest a normal chewing behavior and a mixed-diet coming from temperate environments. The teeth on the left side of the mandible display greater levels of wear, as well as the buccal side of the molar crowns. The cementum analysis shows higher buccal volume along the molar roots. DISCUSSION BD1 could have been preferably chewing on the left side of the mandible. The exploitation of various food resources suggested by the macrowear analysis is compatible with the environmental reconstructions. Finally, the greater wear on the buccal side of the molar occlusal surface and the greater volume of cementum in that side of the molar roots offers a preliminary understanding about the potential correlation between dental wear and cementum deposition.
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Affiliation(s)
- María Hernaiz-García
- Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
| | | | - Laura Martín-Francés
- Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
- Department of Paleobiology, CENIEH, Burgos, Spain
| | - Arnaud Mazurier
- CNRS, Institut de Chimie des Milieux et Matériaux de Poitiers-IC2MP, Université de Poitiers, Poitiers, France
| | - Stefano Benazzi
- Department of Cultural Heritage, University of Bologna, Ravenna, Italy
| | - Rachel Sarig
- Department of Oral Biology, The Goldschleger School of Dental Medicine, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Dan David Center for Human Evolution and Biohistory Research, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel
| | - Jing Fu
- Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Ottmar Kullmer
- Division of Palaeoanthropology, Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Department of Palaeobiology and Environment, Institute of Ecology, Evolution, and Diversity, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany
| | - Luca Fiorenza
- Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Department of Anatomy and Developmental Biology, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
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He S, Liu W, Wei L, Chen Q, Li Z. A phenomenological model of pulsatile blood pressure-affected degradation of polylactic acid (PLA) vascular stent. Med Biol Eng Comput 2024; 62:1347-1359. [PMID: 38183527 DOI: 10.1007/s11517-023-02998-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2023] [Accepted: 12/09/2023] [Indexed: 01/08/2024]
Abstract
The stent implantation may alter the post-operative patient's blood pressure, and bioresorbable vascular stents (BVS) as a candidate to treat vascular diseases, its degradation is affected by mechanical stress, thus, the altered pressure representing varying stress level will result in different degradation behaviors of the BVS. This paper first proposed a novel stress-regulated PLA degradation model that included swelling factor, and then the degradation evolutions of a PLA BVS within 180 days under normal and high blood pressures were simulated by finite element method, and more four degradation indexes were defined to study the effects of the two blood pressures on the degradation of the PLA BVS. The results showed that the high pressure weakly accelerated the degradation of the PLA BVS with respect to the normal pressure by examining the four indexes, e.g., the residual stent volumev r ( t ) decreased to 0.72 and 0.69, respectively for the normal and high pressures at day 180. The current finding provided a theoretical understanding of the PLA BVS degradation, and hinted that the PLA BVS may not need to be elaborately selected in clinical practices for treating hypertensive patients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shicheng He
- Biomechanics Laboratory, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, People's Republic of China
| | - Wanling Liu
- Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Artificial Functional Materials, College of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210023, People's Republic of China
| | - Lingling Wei
- School of Food and Biological Engineering, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, 230601, People's Republic of China
| | - Qiang Chen
- Biomechanics Laboratory, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, People's Republic of China.
| | - Zhiyong Li
- Biomechanics Laboratory, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, People's Republic of China.
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD4001, Australia.
- Faculty of Sports Science, Ningbo University, Ningbo, 315211, People's Republic of China.
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de Zubicaray GI, Arciuli J, Guenther FH, McMahon KL, Kearney E. Non-arbitrary mappings between size and sound of English words: Form typicality effects during lexical access and memory. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2024; 77:943-963. [PMID: 37332149 PMCID: PMC11032636 DOI: 10.1177/17470218231184940] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2023] [Revised: 05/04/2023] [Accepted: 06/09/2023] [Indexed: 06/20/2023]
Abstract
A century of research has provided evidence of limited size sound symbolism in English, that is, certain vowels are non-arbitrarily associated with words denoting small versus large referents (e.g., /i/ as in teensy and /ɑ/ as in tall). In the present study, we investigated more extensive statistical regularities between surface form properties of English words and ratings of their semantic size, that is, form typicality, and its impact on language and memory processing. Our findings provide the first evidence of significant word form typicality for semantic size. In five empirical studies using behavioural megastudy data sets of performance on written and auditory lexical decision, reading aloud, semantic decision, and recognition memory tasks, we show that form typicality for size is a stronger and more consistent predictor of lexical access during word comprehension and production than semantic size, in addition to playing a significant role in verbal memory. The empirical results demonstrate that statistical information about non-arbitrary form-size mappings is accessed automatically during language and verbal memory processing, unlike semantic size that is largely dependent on task contexts that explicitly require participants to access size knowledge. We discuss how a priori knowledge about non-arbitrary form-meaning associations in the lexicon might be incorporated in models of language processing that implement Bayesian statistical inference.
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Affiliation(s)
- Greig I de Zubicaray
- School of Psychology and Counselling, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Joanne Arciuli
- College of Nursing and Health Sciences, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Frank H Guenther
- Department of Speech, Language & Hearing Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Katie L McMahon
- School of Clinical Sciences, Centre for Biomedical Technologies, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Herston Imaging Research Facility, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, Herston, QLD, Australia
| | - Elaine Kearney
- School of Psychology and Counselling, Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
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Abiona O, Haywood P, Yu S, Hall J, Fiebig DG, van Gool K. Physician responses to insurance benefit restrictions: The case of ophthalmology. Health Econ 2024; 33:911-928. [PMID: 38251043 DOI: 10.1002/hec.4799] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2022] [Revised: 10/04/2023] [Accepted: 01/01/2024] [Indexed: 01/23/2024]
Abstract
This study examines the impact of social insurance benefit restrictions on physician behaviour, using ophthalmologists as a case study. We examine whether ophthalmologists use their market power to alter their fees and rebates across services to compensate for potential policy-induced income losses. The results show that ophthalmologists substantially reduced their fees and rebates for services directly targeted by the benefit restriction compared to other medical specialists' fees and rebates. There is also some evidence that they increased their fees for services that were not targeted. High-fee charging ophthalmologists exhibited larger fee and rebate responses while the low-fee charging group raise their rebates to match the reference price provided by the policy environment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olukorede Abiona
- Macquarie University Centre for the Health Economy (MUCHE), Macquarie University Business School (MQBS) and Australian Institute of Health Innovation (AIHI), Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation (CHERE), University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Phil Haywood
- Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation (CHERE), University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Serena Yu
- Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation (CHERE), University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Jane Hall
- Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation (CHERE), University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Denzil G Fiebig
- Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation (CHERE), University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- School of Economics, UNSW Business School, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Kees van Gool
- Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation (CHERE), University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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7
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Gonzalez de Vega R, Clases D, Cunningham BA, Ganio K, Neville SL, McDevitt CA, Doble PA. Spatial distribution of trace metals and associated transport proteins during bacterial infection. Anal Bioanal Chem 2024; 416:2783-2796. [PMID: 38057634 DOI: 10.1007/s00216-023-05068-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/28/2023] [Revised: 11/08/2023] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 12/08/2023]
Abstract
Innate immune systems alter the concentrations of trace elements in host niches in response to invading pathogens during infection. This work reports the interplay between d-block metal ions and their associated biomolecules using hyphenated elemental techniques to spatially quantify both elemental distributions and the abundance of specific transport proteins. Here, lung tissues were collected for analyses from naïve and Streptococcus pneumoniae-infected mice fed on a zinc-restricted or zinc-supplemented diet. Spatiotemporal distributions of manganese (55Mn), iron (56Fe), copper (63Cu), and zinc (66Zn) were determined by quantitative laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. The murine transport proteins ZIP8 and ZIP14, which are associated with zinc transport, were also imaged by incorporation of immunohistochemistry techniques into the analytical workflow. Collectively, this work demonstrates the potential of a single instrumental platform suitable for multiplex analyses of tissues and labelled antibodies to investigate complex elemental interactions at the host-pathogen interface. Further, these methods have the potential for broad application to investigations of biological pathways where concomitant measurement of elements and biomolecules is crucial to understand the basis of disease and aid in development of new therapeutic approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Raquel Gonzalez de Vega
- The Atomic Medicine Initiative, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, New South Wales, Australia
- TESLA-Analytical Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - David Clases
- The Atomic Medicine Initiative, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, New South Wales, Australia
- Nano Micro LAB, Institute of Chemistry, University of Graz, Graz, Austria
| | - Bliss A Cunningham
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Katherine Ganio
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Stephanie L Neville
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Christopher A McDevitt
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Philip A Doble
- The Atomic Medicine Initiative, University of Technology Sydney, Broadway, New South Wales, Australia.
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8
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Tang B, Livesey E, Colagiuri B. Choice over placebo administration enhances open-label placebo hypoalgesia. Pain 2024; 165:1101-1111. [PMID: 37963238 DOI: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000003108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2023] [Accepted: 09/15/2023] [Indexed: 11/16/2023]
Abstract
ABSTRACT Many studies indicate that deceptively administered placebos can improve pain outcomes. However, the deception involved presents an ethical barrier to translation because it violates informed consent and patient autonomy. Open-label placebos (OLPs), inert treatments that are openly administered as placebos, have been proposed as an ethically acceptable alternative. Early studies have suggested that OLP can improve pain outcomes, but important questions remain as to how to maximise OLP hypoalgesia to improve treatment outcomes in pain patients. This study investigated whether providing choice over when to administer an OLP treatment has the capacity to enhance OLP hypoalgesia using an electrocutaneous pain paradigm. One hundred thirty-two healthy volunteers were randomised to 3 types of treatment: OLP with choice, OLP without choice, and no treatment (natural history). The OLP groups were further randomised such that half were tested with a consistent pain intensity and the other half were tested with variable pain intensity to mimic day-to-day variability in pain intensity in health settings. The results indicated that treatment provided with choice exhibited greater OLP hypoalgesia than that provided without choice and that greater expectancy mediated this effect. Of interest, there was no evidence for OLP hypoalgesia without choice relative to natural history. Furthermore, variability in pain intensity did not affect OLP hypoalgesia. The current findings present novel evidence that choice over treatment administration may be a cheap and effective strategy for boosting the efficacy of OLPs in the clinical care of pain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Biya Tang
- School of Psychology, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
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9
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Young R, Huang T, Luo Z, Tan YS, Kaur A, Lau YH. Development of stapled NONO-associated peptides reveals unexpected cell permeability and nuclear localisation. J Pept Sci 2024; 30:e3562. [PMID: 38148630 DOI: 10.1002/psc.3562] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/17/2023] [Revised: 11/19/2023] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 12/28/2023]
Abstract
The non-POU domain-containing octamer-binding protein (NONO) is a nucleic acid-binding protein with diverse functions that has been identified as a potential cancer target in cell biology studies. Little is known about structural motifs that mediate binding to NONO apart from its ability to form homodimers, as well as heterodimers and oligomers with related homologues. We report a stapling approach to macrocyclise helical peptides derived from the insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP-3) that NONO interacts with, and also from the dimerisation domain of NONO itself. Using a range of chemistries including Pd-catalysed cross-coupling, cysteine arylation and cysteine alkylation, we successfully improved the helicity and observed modest peptide binding to the NONO dimer, although binding could not be saturated at micromolar concentrations. Unexpectedly, we observed cell permeability and preferential nuclear localisation of various dye-labelled peptides in live confocal microscopy, indicating the potential for developing peptide-based tools to study NONO in a cellular context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Reginald Young
- School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, Australia
| | - Tiancheng Huang
- School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, Australia
| | - Zijie Luo
- Medicinal Chemistry, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Yaw Sing Tan
- Bioinformatics Institute, Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), Matrix, Singapore
| | - Amandeep Kaur
- Medicinal Chemistry, Monash Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Innovations in Peptide and Protein Science, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Yu Heng Lau
- School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, Australia
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Innovations in Peptide and Protein Science, The University of Sydney, Camperdown, Australia
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10
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Johnson KK, Koshy P, Kopecky C, Devadason M, Biazik J, Zheng X, Jiang Y, Wang X, Liu Y, Holst J, Yang JL, Kilian KA, Sorrell CC. ROS-mediated anticancer effects of EGFR-targeted nanoceria. J Biomed Mater Res A 2024; 112:754-769. [PMID: 38084898 DOI: 10.1002/jbm.a.37656] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2023] [Revised: 11/07/2023] [Accepted: 12/01/2023] [Indexed: 03/20/2024]
Abstract
The therapeutic effectiveness of anticancer drugs, including nanomedicines, can be enhanced with active receptor-targeting strategies. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is an important cancer biomarker, constitutively expressed in sarcoma patients of different histological types. The present work reports materials and in vitro biomedical analyses of silanized (passive delivery) and/or EGF-functionalized (active delivery) ceria nanorods exhibiting highly defective catalytically active surfaces. The EGFR-targeting efficiency of nanoceria was confirmed by receptor-binding studies. Increased cytotoxicity and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production were observed for EGF-functionalized nanoceria owing to enhanced cellular uptake by HT-1080 fibrosarcoma cells. The uptake was confirmed by TEM and confocal microscopy. Silanized nanoceria demonstrated negligible/minimal cytotoxicity toward healthy MRC-5 cells at 24 and 48 h, whereas this was significant at 72 h owing to a nanoceria accumulation effect. In contrast, considerable cytotoxicity toward the cancer cells was exhibited at all three times points. The ROS generation and associated cytotoxicity were moderated by the equilibrium between catalysis by ceria, generation of cell debris, and blockage of active sites. EGFR-targeting is shown to enhance the uptake levels of nanoceria by cancer cells, subsequently enhancing the overall anticancer activity and therapeutic performance of ceria.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kochurani K Johnson
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Science, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Blood Cells and Blood Cancer Division, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Pramod Koshy
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Science, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Chantal Kopecky
- Australian Centre for NanoMedicine, School of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Michelle Devadason
- Translational Cancer Metabolism Laboratory, School of Medical Sciences and Prince of Wales Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Joanna Biazik
- Electron Microscope Unit, Mark Wainwright Analytical Centre, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Xiaoran Zheng
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Science, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Yue Jiang
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Science, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Xiaochun Wang
- Prince of Wales Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Yiling Liu
- Australian Centre for NanoMedicine, School of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Jeff Holst
- Translational Cancer Metabolism Laboratory, School of Medical Sciences and Prince of Wales Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Jia-Lin Yang
- Prince of Wales Clinical School, Faculty of Medicine and Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Kristopher A Kilian
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Science, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Australian Centre for NanoMedicine, School of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Charles C Sorrell
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Science, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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11
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Mello MG, Westerhausen MT, Lockwood TE, Singh P, Wanagat J, Bishop DP. Immunolabelling perturbs the endogenous and antibody-conjugated elemental concentrations during immuno-mass spectrometry imaging. Anal Bioanal Chem 2024; 416:2725-2735. [PMID: 37801117 PMCID: PMC10997740 DOI: 10.1007/s00216-023-04967-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2023] [Revised: 08/28/2023] [Accepted: 09/19/2023] [Indexed: 10/07/2023]
Abstract
Immuno-mass spectrometry imaging uses lanthanide-conjugated antibodies to spatially quantify biomolecules via laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The multi-element capabilities allow for highly multiplexed analyses that may include both conjugated antibodies and endogenous metals to reveal relationships between disease and chemical composition. Sample handling is known to perturb the composition of the endogenous elements, but there has been little investigation into the effects of immunolabelling and coverslipping. Here, we used cryofixed muscle sections to examine the impact of immunolabelling steps on the concentrations of a Gd-conjugated anti-dystrophin primary antibody, and the endogenous metals Cu and Zn. Primary antibody incubation resulted in a decrease in Zn, and an increase in Cu. Zn was removed from the cytoplasm where it was hypothesised to be more labile, whereas concentrated locations of Zn remained in the cell membrane in all samples that underwent the immunostaining process. Cu increased in concentration and was found mostly in the cell membrane. The concentration of the Gd-conjugated antibody when compared to the standard air-dried sample was not significantly different when coverslipped using an organic mounting medium, whereas use of an aqueous mounting medium significantly reduced the concentration of Gd. These results build on the knowledge of how certain sample handling techniques change elemental concentrations and distributions in tissue sections. Immunolabelling steps impact the concentration of endogenous elements, and separate histological sections are required for the quantitative analysis of endogenous elements and biomolecules. Additionally, coverslipping tissue sections for complementary immunohistochemical/immunofluorescent imaging may compromise the integrity of the elemental label, and organic mounting media are recommended over aqueous mounting media.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monique G Mello
- Hyphenated Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, P.O. Box 123, Broadway, NSW, 2007, Australia
| | - Mika T Westerhausen
- Hyphenated Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, P.O. Box 123, Broadway, NSW, 2007, Australia
| | - Thomas E Lockwood
- Hyphenated Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, P.O. Box 123, Broadway, NSW, 2007, Australia
| | - Prashina Singh
- Hyphenated Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, P.O. Box 123, Broadway, NSW, 2007, Australia
| | - Jonathan Wanagat
- Division of Geriatrics, Department of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA.
| | - David P Bishop
- Hyphenated Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, P.O. Box 123, Broadway, NSW, 2007, Australia.
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12
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Stringer EJ, Gruber B, Sarre SD, Wardle GM, Edwards SV, Dickman CR, Greenville AC, Duncan RP. Boom-bust population dynamics drive rapid genetic change. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2320590121. [PMID: 38621118 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2320590121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2023] [Accepted: 03/06/2024] [Indexed: 04/17/2024] Open
Abstract
Increasing environmental threats and more extreme environmental perturbations place species at risk of population declines, with associated loss of genetic diversity and evolutionary potential. While theory shows that rapid population declines can cause loss of genetic diversity, populations in some environments, like Australia's arid zone, are repeatedly subject to major population fluctuations yet persist and appear able to maintain genetic diversity. Here, we use repeated population sampling over 13 y and genotype-by-sequencing of 1903 individuals to investigate the genetic consequences of repeated population fluctuations in two small mammals in the Australian arid zone. The sandy inland mouse (Pseudomys hermannsburgensis) experiences marked boom-bust population dynamics in response to the highly variable desert environment. We show that heterozygosity levels declined, and population differentiation (FST) increased, during bust periods when populations became small and isolated, but that heterozygosity was rapidly restored during episodic population booms. In contrast, the lesser hairy-footed dunnart (Sminthopsis youngsoni), a desert marsupial that maintains relatively stable population sizes, showed no linear declines in heterozygosity. These results reveal two contrasting ways in which genetic diversity is maintained in highly variable environments. In one species, diversity is conserved through the maintenance of stable population sizes across time. In the other species, diversity is conserved through rapid genetic mixing during population booms that restores heterozygosity lost during population busts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily J Stringer
- Centre for Conservation Ecology and Genomics, Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Canberra ACT 2617, Australia
| | - Bernd Gruber
- Centre for Conservation Ecology and Genomics, Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Canberra ACT 2617, Australia
| | - Stephen D Sarre
- Centre for Conservation Ecology and Genomics, Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Canberra ACT 2617, Australia
| | - Glenda M Wardle
- Desert Ecology Research Group, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney NSW 2006, Australia
| | - Scott V Edwards
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138
| | - Christopher R Dickman
- Desert Ecology Research Group, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney NSW 2006, Australia
| | - Aaron C Greenville
- Desert Ecology Research Group, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney NSW 2006, Australia
| | - Richard P Duncan
- Centre for Conservation Ecology and Genomics, Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Canberra ACT 2617, Australia
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13
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Caley A, Marzinelli EM, Byrne M, Mayer-Pinto M. Artificial light at night and warming impact grazing rates and gonad index of the sea urchin Centrostephanus rodgersii. Proc Biol Sci 2024; 291:20240415. [PMID: 38628122 PMCID: PMC11021935 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2024.0415] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/20/2023] [Accepted: 03/15/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Artificial light at night (ALAN) is a growing threat to coastal habitats, and is likely to exacerbate the impacts of other stressors. Kelp forests are dominant habitats on temperate reefs but are declining due to ocean warming and overgrazing. We tested the independent and interactive effects of ALAN (dark versus ALAN) and warming (ambient versus warm) on grazing rates and gonad index of the sea urchin Centrostephanus rodgersii. Within these treatments, urchins were fed either 'fresh' kelp or 'treated' kelp. Treated kelp (Ecklonia radiata) was exposed to the same light and temperature combinations as urchins. We assessed photosynthetic yield, carbon and nitrogen content and C : N ratio of treated kelp to help identify potential drivers behind any effects on urchins. Grazing increased with warming and ALAN for urchins fed fresh kelp, and increased with warming for urchins fed treated kelp. Gonad index was higher in ALAN/ambient and dark/warm treatments compared to dark/ambient treatments for urchins fed fresh kelp. Kelp carbon content was higher in ALAN/ambient treatments than ALAN/warm treatments at one time point. This indicates ocean warming and ALAN may increase urchin grazing pressure on rocky reefs, an important finding for management strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amelia Caley
- Centre for Marine Science and Innovation; Evolution and Ecology Research Centre; School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia
| | - Ezequiel M. Marzinelli
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Maria Byrne
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Mariana Mayer-Pinto
- Centre for Marine Science and Innovation; Evolution and Ecology Research Centre; School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Science, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia
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14
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Liu S, Zhang R, Wang C, Mao J, Chao D, Zhang C, Zhang S, Guo Z. Zinc ion Batteries: Bridging the Gap from Academia to Industry for Grid-Scale Energy Storage. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2024; 63:e202400045. [PMID: 38385624 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202400045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/02/2024] [Revised: 01/24/2024] [Accepted: 02/16/2024] [Indexed: 02/23/2024]
Abstract
Zinc ion batteries (ZIBs) exhibit significant promise in the next generation of grid-scale energy storage systems owing to their safety, relatively high volumetric energy density, and low production cost. Despite substantial advancements in ZIBs, a comprehensive evaluation of critical parameters impacting their practical energy density (Epractical) and calendar life is lacking. Hence, we suggest using formulation-based study as a scientific tool to accurately calculate the cell-level energy density and predict the cycling life of ZIBs. By combining all key battery parameters, such as the capacity ratio of negative to positive electrode (N/P), into one formula, we assess their impact on Epractical. When all parameters are optimized, we urge to achieve the theoretical capacity for a high Epractical. Furthermore, we propose a formulation that correlates the N/P and Coulombic efficiency of ZIBs for predicting their calendar life. Finally, we offer a comprehensive overview of current advancements in ZIBs, covering cathode and anode, along with practical evaluations. This Minireview outlines specific goals, suggests future research directions, and sketches prospects for designing efficient and high-performing ZIBs. It aims at bridging the gap from academia to industry for grid-scale energy storage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sailin Liu
- School of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology, the, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia
| | - Ruizhi Zhang
- School of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology, the, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia
- Department of Chemical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH, United Kingdom
- The Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials, the, Australian Institute for Innovative Materials, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW 2500, Australia
| | - Cheng Wang
- School of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology, the, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia
| | - Jianfeng Mao
- School of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology, the, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia
| | - Dongliang Chao
- School of Chemistry and Materials, Fudan University, Yangpu District, Shanghai, 200433, China
| | - Chaofeng Zhang
- Institutes of Physical Science and Information Technology, Anhui University, Hefei, 230601, PR China
| | - Shilin Zhang
- School of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology, the, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia
| | - Zaiping Guo
- School of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology, the, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, 5000, Australia
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15
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Carroll JA, Pashley-Johnson F, Frisch H, Barner-Kowollik C. Photochemical Action Plots Reveal Red-shifted Wavelength-dependent Photoproduct Distributions. Chemistry 2024; 30:e202304174. [PMID: 38267371 DOI: 10.1002/chem.202304174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2023] [Revised: 01/15/2024] [Accepted: 01/24/2024] [Indexed: 01/26/2024]
Abstract
Photochemical action plots are a powerful tool for mapping photochemical reaction outcomes wavelength-by-wavelength. Typically, they map either the depletion of a reactant or the formation of a specific product as a function of wavelength. Herein, we exploit action plots to simultaneously map the formation of several photochemical products from a single chromophore. We demonstrate that the wavelength-resolved mapping of two reaction products formed during the irradiation of a chalcone species not only shows wavelength dependence - exhibiting the typical strong red-shift of the photochemical reactivity compared to the absorbance spectrum of the chromophore - but also a strong wavelength selectivity with remarkably different product distributions resulting from different irradiation wavelengths.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joshua A Carroll
- School of Chemistry and Physics, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia
- Centre for Materials Science, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia
| | - Fred Pashley-Johnson
- School of Chemistry and Physics, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia
- Centre for Materials Science, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia
- Department of Organic and Macromolecular Chemistry, Polymer Chemistry Research Group, Centre of Macromolecular Chemistry (CMaC), Faculty of Science, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 (S4-Bis), 9000, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Hendrik Frisch
- School of Chemistry and Physics, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia
- Centre for Materials Science, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia
| | - Christopher Barner-Kowollik
- School of Chemistry and Physics, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia
- Centre for Materials Science, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), 2 George Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000, Australia
- Insitute of Nanotechnology (INT), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Hermann-von-Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344, Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
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16
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Sasaki M, Kingsbury KM, Booth DJ, Nagelkerken I. Body size mediates trophic interaction strength of novel fish assemblages under climate change. J Anim Ecol 2024. [PMID: 38644583 DOI: 10.1111/1365-2656.14079] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/27/2023] [Accepted: 02/07/2024] [Indexed: 04/23/2024]
Abstract
Ecological similarity plays an important role in biotic interactions. Increased body size similarity of competing species, for example, increases the strength of their biotic interactions. Body sizes of many exothermic species are forecast to be altered under global warming, mediating shifts in existing trophic interactions among species, in particular for species with different thermal niches. Temperate rocky reefs along the southeast coast of Australia are located in a climate warming hotspot and now house a mixture of temperate native fish species and poleward range-extending tropical fishes (vagrants), creating novel species assemblages. Here, we studied the relationship between body size similarity and trophic overlap between individual temperate native and tropical vagrant fishes. Dietary niche overlap between vagrant and native fish species increased as their body sizes converged, based on both stomach content composition (short-term diet), stable isotope analyses (integrated long-term diet) and similarity in consumed prey sizes. We conclude that the warming-induced faster growth rates of tropical range-extending fish species at their cool water ranges will continue to converge their body size towards and strengthen their degree of trophic interactions and dietary overlap with co-occurring native temperate species under increasing ocean warming. The strengthening of these novel competitive interactions is likely to drive changes to temperate food web structures and reshuffle existing species community structures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minami Sasaki
- Southern Seas Ecology Laboratories, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Kelsey M Kingsbury
- Southern Seas Ecology Laboratories, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - David J Booth
- Fish Ecology Lab, Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Ivan Nagelkerken
- Southern Seas Ecology Laboratories, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
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17
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Abimbola S, van de Kamp J, Lariat J, Rathod L, Klipstein-Grobusch K, van der Graaf R, Bhakuni H. Unfair knowledge practices in global health: a realist synthesis. Health Policy Plan 2024:czae030. [PMID: 38642401 DOI: 10.1093/heapol/czae030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/29/2023] [Revised: 04/15/2024] [Accepted: 04/17/2024] [Indexed: 04/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Unfair knowledge practices easily beset our efforts to achieve health equity within and between countries. Enacted by people from a distance and from a position of power ('the centre') on behalf of and alongside people with less power ('the periphery'), these unfair practices have generated a complex literature of complaints across various axes of inequity. We identified a sample of this literature from 12 journals, and systematised it using the realist approach to explanation. We framed the outcome to be explained as 'manifestations of unfair knowledge practices'; their generative mechanisms as 'the reasoning of individuals or rationale of institutions'; and context that enable them as 'conditions that give knowledge practices their structure'. We identified four categories of unfair knowledge practices, each triggered by three mechanisms: 1. credibility deficit related to pose (mechanisms: 'the periphery's cultural knowledge, technical knowledge, and 'articulation' of knowledge do not matter); 2. credibility deficit related to gaze (mechanisms: 'the centre's learning needs, knowledge platforms, and scholarly standards must drive collective knowledge-making'); 3.interpretive marginalisation related to pose (mechanisms: 'the periphery's sensemaking of partnerships, problems, and social reality do not matter'); and 4. interpretive marginalisation related to gaze (mechanisms: 'the centre's learning needs, social sensitivities and status-preservation must drive collective sensemaking'). Together, six mutually overlapping, reinforcing and dependent categories of context influence all 12 mechanisms: mislabelling (the periphery as inferior); miseducation (on structural origins of disadvantage); under-representation (of the periphery on knowledge platforms); compounded spoils (enjoyed by the centre); under-governance (in making, changing, monitoring, enforcing, and applying rules for fair engagement); and colonial mentality (of/at the periphery). These context-mechanism-outcome links can inform efforts to redress unfair knowledge practices; investigations of unfair knowledge practices across disciplines and axes of inequity; and ethics guidelines for health system research and practice when working at a social or physical distance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Seye Abimbola
- School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia
- Julius Centre for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Judith van de Kamp
- Julius Centre for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Joni Lariat
- School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Lekha Rathod
- Luxembourg Operational Research Unit, Médecins Sans Frontières, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
| | - Kerstin Klipstein-Grobusch
- Julius Centre for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Rieke van der Graaf
- Julius Centre for Health Sciences and Primary Care, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Himani Bhakuni
- York Law School, University of York, York, United Kingdom
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18
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Ervin J, Fleitas Alfonzo L, Taouk Y, Maheen H, King T. Unpaid caregiving and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic-A systematic review of the quantitative literature. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0297097. [PMID: 38635604 PMCID: PMC11025839 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0297097] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2023] [Accepted: 12/19/2023] [Indexed: 04/20/2024] Open
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic imposed additional and specific challenges on the lives and wellbeing of informal unpaid carers. Addressing an important gap in the existing literature, this systematic review (prospectively registered with PROSPERO CRD42022376012) synthesises and evaluates the quantitative evidence examining the association between unpaid caregiving and mental health (compared to non-caring), during the pandemic. Five databases were searched (Medline, PsycInfo, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of Science) from Jan 1, 2020, to March 1, 2023. Population-based, peer-reviewed quantitative studies using any observational design were included, with screening, data extraction and quality assessment (amended NOS) independently conducted by two reviewers. Of the 3,073 records screened, 20 eligible studies (113,151 participants) were included. Overall quality of evidence was moderate. Narrative synthesis was complemented by Effect-direction and Albatross plots (given significant between-study heterogeneity precluded meta-analysis). Results indicate that the mental health of informal carers, already poorer pre-COVID compared to non-caregivers, was disproportionally impacted as a result of the pandemic and its associated public health containment measures. This review highlights the vulnerability of this group and should motivate political will and commensurate policies to ensure unpaid caregivers are better supported now, in the medium term, and crucially if, and when, another global public health emergency emerges.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jennifer Ervin
- Centre for Health Policy, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Ludmila Fleitas Alfonzo
- Centre for Health Policy, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Yamna Taouk
- Centre for Health Policy, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Humaira Maheen
- Centre for Health Policy, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Tania King
- Centre for Health Policy, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
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19
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Zhang R, Han Y, Wu Q, Lu M, Liu G, Guo Z, Zhang Y, Zeng J, Wu X, Zhang D, Wu L, Song N, Yuan P, Du A, Huang K, Chen J, Yao X. Electron Accumulation Induced by Electron Injection-Incomplete Discharge on NiFe LDH for Enhanced Oxygen Evolution Reaction. Small 2024:e2402397. [PMID: 38634268 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202402397] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/26/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024]
Abstract
Optimizing the local electronic structure of electrocatalysts can effectively lower the energy barrier of electrochemical reactions, thus enhancing the electrocatalytic activity. However, the intrinsic contribution of the electronic effect is still experimentally unclear. In this work, the electron injection-incomplete discharge approach to achieve the electron accumulation (EA) degree on the nickel-iron layered double hydroxide (NiFe LDH) is proposed, to reveal the intrinsic contribution of EA toward oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Such NiFe LDH with EA effect results in only 262 mV overpotential to reach 50 mA cm-2, which is 51 mV-lower compared with pristine NiFe LDH (313 mV), and reduced Tafel slope of 54.8 mV dec-1 than NiFe LDH (107.5 mV dec-1). Spectroscopy characterizations combined with theoretical calculations confirm that the EA near concomitant Vo can induce a narrower energy gap and lower thermodynamic barrier to enhance OER performance. This study clarifies the mechanism of the EA effect on OER activity, providing a direct electronic structure modulation guideline for effective electrocatalyst design.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rongrong Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China
| | - Yun Han
- Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre, School of Engineering and Built Environment, Griffith University, Nathan Campus, Nathan, QLD, 4111, Australia
| | - Qilong Wu
- IPRI, AIIM Facility, Innovation Campus, University of Wollongong, Squires Way, North Wollongong, NSW, 2500, Australia
| | - Min Lu
- State Key Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Frontiers Science Center for Rare Isotopes, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000, China
| | - Guangsheng Liu
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, 15282, USA
| | - Zhangtao Guo
- State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China
| | - Yaowen Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China
| | - Jianrong Zeng
- Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201204, P. R. China
| | - Xiaofeng Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China
| | - Dongdong Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China
| | - Liyun Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China
| | - Nan Song
- State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China
| | - Pei Yuan
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350002, P. R. China
| | - Aijun Du
- School of Chemistry and Physics and Centre for Materials Science, Queensland University of Technology Gardens Point Campus, Brisbane, 4001, Australia
| | - Keke Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China
| | - Jun Chen
- IPRI, AIIM Facility, Innovation Campus, University of Wollongong, Squires Way, North Wollongong, NSW, 2500, Australia
| | - Xiangdong Yao
- State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China
- School of Advanced Energy and IGCME, Shenzhen Campus, Sun Yat-Sen University (SYSU), Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518100, China
- Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Shantou, 515063, P. R. China
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20
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Jean-Richard-Dit-Bressel P, Gaetani K, Zeng L, Weidemann G, McNally GP. Translational research in punishment learning. Behav Neurosci 2024:2024-74442-001. [PMID: 38635180 DOI: 10.1037/bne0000587] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/19/2024]
Abstract
Punishment learning is learning of the causal relationship between responses and their adverse or undesirable consequences. Here, we review our translational approach for understanding whether, when, and how individuals differ in what they learn during punishment, and how these differences in learning may drive persistent poor or maladaptive decisions. We show that individual differences in punishment insensitivity can emerge from differences between individuals in what they learn about punishment (instrumental contingency knowledge), rather than differences in aversive valuation, reward valuation, general (impulsivity), or specific (habit) behavioral control. These differences in instrumental contingency knowledge are shared with and can be studied in other animals. Our approach has strong construct and predictive validity, providing a robust translational platform for studying how punishment learning and decision making may contribute to neuropsychiatric disorders. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Kelly Gaetani
- School of Psychology, University of New South Wales Sydney
| | - Lilith Zeng
- School of Psychology, University of New South Wales Sydney
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21
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Tkalčić H, Belonoshko AB, Muir JB, Mattesini M, Moresi L, Waszek L. Imaging the top of the Earth's inner core: a present-day flow model. Sci Rep 2024; 14:8999. [PMID: 38637675 PMCID: PMC11026418 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-59520-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/12/2023] [Accepted: 04/11/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024] Open
Abstract
Despite considerable progress in seismology, mineral physics, geodynamics, paleomagnetism, and mathematical geophysics, Earth's inner core structure and evolution remain enigmatic. One of the most significant issues is its thermal history and the current thermal state. Several hypotheses involving a thermally-convecting inner core have been proposed: a simple, high-viscosity, translational mode, or a classical, lower-viscosity, plume-style convection. Here, we use state-of-the-art seismic imaging to probe the outermost shell of the inner core for its isotropic compressional speed and compare it with recently developed attenuation maps. The pattern emerging in the resulting tomograms is interpreted with recent data on the viscosity of iron as the inner core surface manifestation of a thermally-driven flow, with a positive correlation among compressional speed and attenuation and temperature. Although the outer-core convection controls the heat flux across the inner core boundary, the internally driven inner-core convection is a plausible model that explains a range of observations for the inner core, including distinct anisotropy in the innermost inner core.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hrvoje Tkalčić
- Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia.
| | - Anatoly B Belonoshko
- School of Earth Sciences and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, China
| | - Jack B Muir
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3AN, UK
| | - Maurizio Mattesini
- Department of Earth's Physics and Astrophysics, Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
- Facultad de Ciencias Físicas, Instituto de Geociencias (UCM-CSIC), Madrid, Spain
| | - Louis Moresi
- Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia
| | - Lauren Waszek
- Physical Sciences, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4810, Australia
- Department of Physics, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, 88003, Australia
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22
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M Zahir FZ, Hay MA, Janetzki JT, Gable RW, Goerigk L, Boskovic C. Predicting valence tautomerism in diverse cobalt-dioxolene complexes: elucidation of the role of ligands and solvent. Chem Sci 2024; 15:5694-5710. [PMID: 38638213 PMCID: PMC11023039 DOI: 10.1039/d3sc04493a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/27/2023] [Accepted: 03/08/2024] [Indexed: 04/20/2024] Open
Abstract
The ability of molecular switches to reversibly interconvert between different forms promises potential applications at the scale of single molecules up to bulk materials. One type of molecular switch comprises cobalt-dioxolene compounds that exhibit thermally-induced valence tautomerism (VT) interconversions between low spin Co(iii)-catecholate (LS-CoIII-cat) and high spin Co(ii)-semiquinonate (HS-CoII-sq) forms. Two families of these compounds have been investigated for decades but have generally been considered separately: neutral [Co(diox)(sq)(N2L)] and cationic [Co(diox)(N4L)]+ complexes (diox = generic dioxolene, N2L/N4L = bidentate/tetradentate N-donor ancillary ligand). Computational identification of promising new candidate compounds prior to experimental exploration is beneficial for environmental and cost considerations but requires a thorough understanding of the underlying thermochemical parameters that influence the switching. Herein, we report a robust approach for the analysis of both cobalt-dioxolene families, which involved a quantitative density functional theory-based study benchmarked with reliable quasi-experimental references. The best-performing M06L-D4/def2-TZVPP level of theory has subsequently been verified by the synthesis and experimental investigation of three new complexes, two of which exhibit thermally-induced VT, while the third remains in the LS-CoIII-cat form across all temperatures, in agreement with prediction. Valence tautomerism in solution is markedly solvent-dependent, but the origin of this has not been definitively established. We have extended our computational approach to elucidate the correlation of VT transition temperature with solvent stabilisation energy and change in dipole moment. This new understanding may inform the development of VT compounds for applications in soft materials including films, gels, and polymers.
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Affiliation(s)
- F Zahra M Zahir
- School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne Victoria 3010 Australia
| | - Moya A Hay
- School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne Victoria 3010 Australia
| | - Jett T Janetzki
- School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne Victoria 3010 Australia
| | - Robert W Gable
- School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne Victoria 3010 Australia
| | - Lars Goerigk
- School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne Victoria 3010 Australia
| | - Colette Boskovic
- School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne Victoria 3010 Australia
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23
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Zhu HY, Chen HT, Lin CT. Understanding the effects of stress on the P300 response during naturalistic simulation of heights exposure. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0301052. [PMID: 38630669 PMCID: PMC11023450 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2022] [Accepted: 03/10/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Stress is a prevalent bodily response universally experienced and significantly affects a person's mental and cognitive state. The P300 response is a commonly observed brain behaviour that provides insight into a person's cognitive state. Previous works have documented the effects of stress on the P300 behaviour; however, only a few have explored the performance in a mobile and naturalistic experimental setup. Our study examined the effects of stress on the human brain's P300 behaviour through a height exposure experiment that incorporates complex visual, vestibular, and proprioceptive stimuli. A more complex sensory environment could produce translatable findings toward real-world behaviour and benefit emerging technologies such as brain-computer interfaces. Seventeen participants experienced our experiment that elicited the stress response through physical and virtual height exposure. We found two unique groups within our participants that exhibited contrasting behavioural performance and P300 target reaction response when exposed to stressors (from walking at heights). One group performed worse when exposed to heights and exhibited a significant decrease in parietal P300 peak amplitude and increased beta and gamma power. On the other hand, the group less affected by stress exhibited a change in their N170 peak amplitude and alpha/mu rhythm desynchronisation. The findings of our study suggest that a more individualised approach to assessing a person's behaviour performance under stress can aid in understanding P300 performance when experiencing stress.
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Affiliation(s)
- Howe Yuan Zhu
- Australian AI Institute, GrapheneX-UTS Human-centric AI Centre, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Hsiang-Ting Chen
- School of Computer Science, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
| | - Chin-Teng Lin
- Australian AI Institute, GrapheneX-UTS Human-centric AI Centre, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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24
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Falon SL, Jobson L, Liddell BJ. Does culture moderate the encoding and recognition of negative cues? Evidence from an eye-tracking study. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0295301. [PMID: 38630733 PMCID: PMC11023573 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0295301] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/09/2022] [Accepted: 11/20/2023] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Cross-cultural research has elucidated many important differences between people from Western European and East Asian cultural backgrounds regarding how each group encodes and consolidates the contents of complex visual stimuli. While Western European groups typically demonstrate a perceptual bias towards centralised information, East Asian groups favour a perceptual bias towards background information. However, this research has largely focused on the perception of neutral cues and thus questions remain regarding cultural group differences in both the perception and recognition of negative, emotionally significant cues. The present study therefore compared Western European (n = 42) and East Asian (n = 40) participants on a free-viewing task and a subsequent memory task utilising negative and neutral social cues. Attentional deployment to the centralised versus background components of negative and neutral social cues was indexed via eye-tracking, and memory was assessed with a cued-recognition task two days later. While both groups demonstrated an attentional bias towards the centralised components of the neutral cues, only the Western European group demonstrated this bias in the case of the negative cues. There were no significant differences observed between Western European and East Asian groups in terms of memory accuracy, although the Western European group was unexpectedly less sensitive to the centralised components of the negative cues. These findings suggest that culture modulates low-level attentional deployment to negative information, however not higher-level recognition after a temporal interval. This paper is, to our knowledge, the first to concurrently consider the effect of culture on both attentional outcomes and memory for both negative and neutral cues.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Laura Jobson
- School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Australia
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25
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Murphy E, Zhang C, Bates CM, Hawker CJ. Chromatographic Separation: A Versatile Strategy to Prepare Discrete and Well-Defined Polymer Libraries. Acc Chem Res 2024; 57:1202-1213. [PMID: 38530881 PMCID: PMC11025024 DOI: 10.1021/acs.accounts.4c00059] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2024] [Revised: 03/06/2024] [Accepted: 03/08/2024] [Indexed: 03/28/2024]
Abstract
ConspectusThe preparation of discrete and well-defined polymers is an emerging strategy for emulating the remarkable precision achieved by macromolecular synthesis in nature. Although modern controlled polymerization techniques have unlocked access to a cornucopia of materials spanning a broad range of monomers, molecular weights, and architectures, the word "controlled" is not to be confused with "perfect". Indeed, even the highest-fidelity polymerization techniques─yielding molar mass dispersities in the vicinity of Đ = 1.05─unavoidably create a considerable degree of structural and/or compositional dispersity due to the statistical nature of chain growth. Such dispersity impacts many of the properties that researchers seek to control in the design of soft materials.The development of strategies to minimize or entirely eliminate dispersity and access molecularly precise polymers therefore remains a key contemporary challenge. While significant advances have been made in the realm of iterative synthetic methods that construct oligomers with an exact molecular weight, head-to-tail connectivity, and even stereochemistry via small-molecule organic chemistry, as the word "iterative" suggests, these techniques involve manually propagating monomers one reaction at a time, often with intervening protection and deprotection steps. As a result, these strategies are time-consuming, difficult to scale, and remain limited to lower molecular weights. The focus of this Account is on an alternative strategy that is more accessible to the general scientific community because of its simplicity, versatility, and affordability: chromatography. Researchers unfamiliar with the intricacies of synthesis may recall being exposed to chromatography in an undergraduate chemistry lab. This operationally simple, yet remarkably powerful, technique is most commonly encountered in the purification of small molecules through their selective (differential) adsorption to a column packed with a low-cost stationary phase, usually silica. Because the requisite equipment is readily available and the actual separation takes little time (on the order of 1 h), chromatography is used extensively in small-molecule chemistry throughout industry and academia alike. It is, therefore, perhaps surprising that similar types of chromatography are not more widely leveraged in the field of polymer science as well.Here, we discuss recent advances in using chromatography to control the structure and properties of polymeric materials. Emphasis is placed on the utility of an adsorption-based mechanism that separates polymers based on polarity and composition at tractable (gram) scales for materials science, in contrast to size exclusion, which is extremely common but typically analyzes very small quantities of a sample (∼1 mg) and is limited to separating by molar mass. Key concepts that are highlighted include (1) the separation of low-molecular-weight homopolymers into discrete oligomers (Đ = 1.0) with precise chain lengths and (2) the efficient fractionation of block copolymers into high-quality and widely varied libraries for accelerating materials discovery. In summary, the authors hope to convey the exciting possibilities in polymer science afforded by chromatography as a scalable, versatile, and even automated technique that unlocks new avenues of exploration into well-defined materials for a diverse assortment of researchers with different training and expertise.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth
A. Murphy
- Materials
Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Department of Chemical
Engineering, andMaterials Department, University of California
Santa Barbara, Santa
Barbara, California 93106, United States
| | - Cheng Zhang
- Materials
Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Department of Chemical
Engineering, andMaterials Department, University of California
Santa Barbara, Santa
Barbara, California 93106, United States
- Australian
Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology and Centre for Advanced
Imaging University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Christopher M. Bates
- Materials
Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Department of Chemical
Engineering, andMaterials Department, University of California
Santa Barbara, Santa
Barbara, California 93106, United States
| | - Craig J. Hawker
- Materials
Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Department of Chemical
Engineering, andMaterials Department, University of California
Santa Barbara, Santa
Barbara, California 93106, United States
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26
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Wang Y, Cen X, Liao F, Wang Q, Luo W, Huang Y, Al-Mamun M, Dou Y, Wu C, Zhang L, Wang Y. In-situ confining selenium within bubble - like carbon nanoshells for ultra-stable Li-Se batteries. Chemistry 2024; 30:e202304114. [PMID: 38311596 DOI: 10.1002/chem.202304114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2023] [Revised: 01/27/2024] [Accepted: 01/29/2024] [Indexed: 02/06/2024]
Abstract
Lithium-selenium (Li-Se) batteries are promising energy storage devices. However, the long-term durability and high-rate performance of the Se cathode have been limited by significant volume expansion and the troublesome shuttle effect of polyselenides during repeated charging/discharging processes. To revolutionize these issues, we applied a top-down strategy through the in-situ trapping of amorphous Se within bubble-like carbon (BLC) frameworks, which can radically minimize the presence of surface-absorbed Se while enhancing Se loading capacity. This ingenious technique successfully encapsulates all Se species within carbon nanoshells, creating a distinct half-filled core-shell structure known as Se@void@BLC. This in-situ trapping approach ensures the efficient management of Se volume changes during repeated discharge and charge cycles. Moreover, an extraordinary Se loading capacity of up to 65.6 wt% is reached. Using the Se@void@BLC as cathode for Li-Se battery, we achieve a high initial Columbic efficiency of 84.2 %, a high reversible capacity of 585 mAh g-1, and an ultralow capacity decay of only 0.0037 % per cycle during 4000 cycles at 10 A g-1.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ying Wang
- School of Chemistry & Materials Science, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Green Synthetic Chemistry for Functional Materials, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, 221116, China
| | - Xinnuo Cen
- School of Chemistry & Materials Science, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Green Synthetic Chemistry for Functional Materials, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, 221116, China
| | - Fang Liao
- School of Chemistry & Materials Science, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Green Synthetic Chemistry for Functional Materials, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, 221116, China
| | - Qingqing Wang
- School of Chemistry & Materials Science, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Green Synthetic Chemistry for Functional Materials, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, 221116, China
| | - Wanshu Luo
- School of Chemistry & Materials Science, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Green Synthetic Chemistry for Functional Materials, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, 221116, China
| | - Yan Huang
- School of Chemistry & Materials Science, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Green Synthetic Chemistry for Functional Materials, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu, 221116, China
| | - Mohammad Al-Mamun
- Centre for Catalysis and Clean Energy, Gold, Coast Campus, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, 4222, Australia
| | - Yuhai Dou
- Institute of Energy Materials Science, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China
| | - Chao Wu
- Institute of Energy Materials Science, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200093, China
| | - Lei Zhang
- Centre for Catalysis and Clean Energy, Gold, Coast Campus, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, 4222, Australia
| | - Yun Wang
- Centre for Catalysis and Clean Energy, Gold, Coast Campus, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, 4222, Australia
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27
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Martin JH, Bernstein IR, Lyons JM, Brady AR, Mabotuwana NS, Stanger SJ, De Oliveira CS, Damyanova KB, Nixon B, Lord T. EPAS1 expression contributes to maintenance of the primordial follicle pool in the mouse ovary. Sci Rep 2024; 14:8770. [PMID: 38627575 PMCID: PMC11021563 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-59382-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/11/2023] [Accepted: 04/10/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Oxygen availability can have profound effects on cell fate decisions and survival, in part by regulating expression of hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs). In the ovary, HIF expression has been characterised in granulosa cells, however, any requirement in oocytes remains relatively undefined. Here we developed a Hif2a/Epas1 germline-specific knockout mouse line in which females were fertile, however produced 40% fewer pups than controls. No defects in follicle development were detected, and quality of MII oocytes was normal, as per assessments of viability, intracellular reactive oxygen species, and spindle parameters. However, a significant diminishment of the primordial follicle pool was evident in cKO females that was attributed to accelerated follicle loss from postnatal day 6 onwards, potentially via disruption of the autophagy pathway. These data demonstrate the importance of HIF signalling in oocytes, particularly at the primordial follicle stage, and lend to the importance of controlling oxygen tension in the development of in vitro growth and maturation approaches for assisted reproduction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacinta H Martin
- Priority Research Centre for Reproductive Science, Discipline of Biological Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia
- Hunter Medical Research Institute, Infertility and Reproduction Program, New Lambton Heights, NSW, 2305, Australia
| | - Ilana R Bernstein
- Priority Research Centre for Reproductive Science, Discipline of Biological Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia
| | - Jess M Lyons
- Priority Research Centre for Reproductive Science, Discipline of Biological Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia
| | - Ariel R Brady
- Priority Research Centre for Reproductive Science, Discipline of Biological Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia
| | - Nishani S Mabotuwana
- Priority Research Centre for Reproductive Science, Discipline of Biological Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia
| | - Simone J Stanger
- Priority Research Centre for Reproductive Science, Discipline of Biological Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia
| | - Camila Salum De Oliveira
- Priority Research Centre for Reproductive Science, Discipline of Biological Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia
| | - Katerina B Damyanova
- Priority Research Centre for Reproductive Science, Discipline of Biological Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia
| | - Brett Nixon
- Priority Research Centre for Reproductive Science, Discipline of Biological Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia
- Hunter Medical Research Institute, Infertility and Reproduction Program, New Lambton Heights, NSW, 2305, Australia
| | - Tessa Lord
- Priority Research Centre for Reproductive Science, Discipline of Biological Sciences, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, 2308, Australia.
- Hunter Medical Research Institute, Infertility and Reproduction Program, New Lambton Heights, NSW, 2305, Australia.
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28
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Zhang J, Wang Y, Xia Q, Li X, Liu B, Hu T, Tebyetekerwa M, Hu S, Knibbe R, Chou S. Confining Polymer Electrolyte in MOF for Safe and High-Performance All-Solid-State Sodium Metal Batteries. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2024; 63:e202318822. [PMID: 38372507 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202318822] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2023] [Revised: 02/18/2024] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 02/20/2024]
Abstract
Nanoconfined polymer molecules exhibit profound transformations in their properties and behaviors. Here, we present the synthesis of a polymer-in-MOF single ion conducting solid polymer electrolyte, where polymer segments are partially confined within nanopores ZIF-8 particles through Lewis acid-base interactions for solid-state sodium-metal batteries (SSMBs). The unique nanoconfinement effectively weakens Na ion coordination with the anions, facilitating the Na ion dissociation from salt. Simultaneously, the well-defined nanopores within ZIF-8 particles provide oriented and ordered migration channels for Na migration. As a result, this pioneering design allows the solid polymer electrolyte to achieve a Na ion transference number of 0.87, Na ion conductivity of 4.01×10-4 S cm-1, and an extended electrochemical voltage window up to 4.89 V vs. Na/Na+. The assembled SSMBs (with Na3V2(PO4)3 as the cathode) exhibit dendrite-free Na-metal deposition, promising rate capability, and stable cycling performance with 96 % capacity retention over 300 cycles. This innovative polymer-in-MOF design offers a compelling strategy for advancing high-performance and safe solid-state metal battery technologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jinfang Zhang
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, North University of China, 030051, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China
| | - Yuanyuan Wang
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, North University of China, 030051, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China
| | - Qingbing Xia
- School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, 4072, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of Queensland, 4072, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Xiaofeng Li
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, North University of China, 030051, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China
| | - Bin Liu
- School of Energy and Power Engineering, North University of China, 030051, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China
| | - Tuoping Hu
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, North University of China, 030051, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China
| | - Mike Tebyetekerwa
- School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, 4072, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Shengliang Hu
- School of Energy and Power Engineering, North University of China, 030051, Taiyuan, Shanxi, China
| | - Ruth Knibbe
- School of Mechanical and Mining Engineering, The University of Queensland, 4072, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Shulei Chou
- Institute for Carbon Neutralization, College of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Wenzhou Key Laboratory of Sodium-Ion Batteries, Wenzhou University Technology Innovation Institute for Carbon Neutralization, Wenzhou University, 325035, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China
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29
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Zhang E, Wong SY, Czechowski P, Terauds A, Ray AE, Benaud N, Chelliah DS, Wilkins D, Montgomery K, Ferrari BC. Effects of increasing soil moisture on Antarctic desert microbial ecosystems. Conserv Biol 2024:e14268. [PMID: 38622950 DOI: 10.1111/cobi.14268] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/29/2023] [Revised: 01/28/2024] [Accepted: 02/02/2024] [Indexed: 04/17/2024]
Abstract
Overgeneralization and a lack of baseline data for microorganisms in high-latitude environments have restricted the understanding of the microbial response to climate change, which is needed to establish Antarctic conservation frameworks. To bridge this gap, we examined over 17,000 sequence variants of bacteria and microeukarya across the hyperarid Vestfold Hills and Windmill Islands regions of eastern Antarctica. Using an extended gradient forest model, we quantified multispecies response to variations along 79 edaphic gradients to explore the effects of change and wind-driven dispersal on community dynamics under projected warming trends. We also analyzed a second set of soil community data from the Windmill Islands to test our predictions of major environmental tipping points. Soil moisture was the most robust predictor for shaping the regional soil microbiome; the highest rates of compositional turnover occurred at 10-12% soil moisture threshold for photoautotrophs, such as Cyanobacteria, Chlorophyta, and Ochrophyta. Dust profiles revealed a high dispersal propensity for Chlamydomonas, a microalga, and higher biomass was detected at trafficked research stations. This could signal the potential for algal blooms and increased nonendemic species dispersal as human activities increase in the region. Predicted increases in moisture availability on the Windmill Islands were accompanied by high photoautotroph abundances. Abundances of rare oligotrophic taxa, such as Eremiobacterota and Candidatus Dormibacterota, which play a crucial role in atmospheric chemosynthesis, declined over time. That photosynthetic taxa increased as soil moisture increased under a warming scenario suggests the potential for competition between primary production strategies and thus a more biotically driven ecosystem should the climate become milder. Better understanding of environmental triggers will aid conservation efforts, and it is crucial that long-term monitoring of our study sites be established for the protection of Antarctic desert ecosystems. Furthermore, the successful implementation of an improved gradient forest model presents an exciting opportunity to broaden its use on microbial systems globally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Eden Zhang
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Sin Yin Wong
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Paul Czechowski
- Helmholtz Institute for Metabolic, Obesity and Vascular Research, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Aleks Terauds
- Environmental Stewardship Program, Australian Antarctic Division, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia
| | - Angelique E Ray
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Nicole Benaud
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Devan S Chelliah
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Daniel Wilkins
- Environmental Stewardship Program, Australian Antarctic Division, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Kingston, Tasmania, Australia
| | - Kate Montgomery
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Belinda C Ferrari
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
- Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
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30
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Rui M, Chen R, Jing Y, Wu F, Chen ZH, Tissue D, Jiang H, Wang Y. Guard cell and subsidiary cell sizes are key determinants for stomatal kinetics and drought adaptation in cereal crops. New Phytol 2024. [PMID: 38622763 DOI: 10.1111/nph.19757] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2024] [Accepted: 03/21/2024] [Indexed: 04/17/2024]
Abstract
Climate change-induced drought is a major threat to agriculture. C4 crops have a higher water use efficiency (WUE) and better adaptability to drought than C3 crops due to their smaller stomatal morphology and faster response. However, our understanding of stomatal behaviours in both C3 and C4 Poaceae crops is limited by knowledge gaps in physical traits of guard cell (GC) and subsidiary cell (SC). We employed infrared gas exchange analysis and a stomatal assay to explore the relationship between GC/SC sizes and stomatal kinetics across diverse drought conditions in two C3 (wheat and barley) and three C4 (maize, sorghum and foxtail millet) upland Poaceae crops. Through statistical analyses, we proposed a GCSC-τ model to demonstrate how morphological differences affect stomatal kinetics in C4 Poaceae crops. Our findings reveal that morphological variations specifically correlate with stomatal kinetics in C4 Poaceae crops, but not in C3 ones. Subsequent modelling and experimental validation provide further evidence that GC/SC sizes significantly impact stomatal kinetics, which affects stomatal responses to different drought conditions and thereby WUE in C4 Poaceae crops. These findings emphasize the crucial advantage of GC/SC morphological characteristics and stomatal kinetics for the drought adaptability of C4 Poaceae crops, highlighting their potential as future climate-resilient crops.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mengmeng Rui
- Institute of Crop Science, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China
| | - Rongjia Chen
- Institute of Crop Science, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China
| | - Yi Jing
- BGI-Sanya, Sanya, 572025, China
| | - Feibo Wu
- Institute of Crop Science, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China
| | - Zhong-Hua Chen
- School of Science, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
| | - David Tissue
- Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, NSW, 2751, Australia
- Global Centre for Land-Based Innovation, Western Sydney University, Richmond, NSW, 2753, Australia
| | - Hangjin Jiang
- Center for Data Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China
| | - Yizhou Wang
- Institute of Crop Science, College of Agriculture and Biotechnology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China
- Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Crop Germplasm, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China
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31
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Sosdian SM, Gagan MK, Natawidjaja DH, Kimbrough AK, Suwargadi BW, Rifai H, Scott-Gagan H, Prayudi D, Suprihanto I, Hantoro WS. Coral geochemical response to uplift in the aftermath of the 2005 Nias-Simeulue earthquake. Sci Rep 2024; 14:8686. [PMID: 38622214 PMCID: PMC11018842 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-57833-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2023] [Accepted: 03/22/2024] [Indexed: 04/17/2024] Open
Abstract
On 28 March 2005, the Indonesian islands of Nias and Simeulue experienced a powerful Mw 8.6 earthquake and coseismic uplift and subsidence. In areas of coastal uplift (up to ~ 2.8 m), fringing reef coral communities were killed by exposure, while deeper corals that survived were subjected to habitats with altered runoff, sediment and nutrient regimes. Here we present time-series (2000-2009) of Mn/Ca, Y/Ca and Ba/Ca variability in massive Porites corals from Nias to assess the environmental impact of a wide range of vertical displacement (+ 2.5 m to - 0.4 m). High-resolution LA-ICP-MS measurements show that skeletal Mn/Ca increased at uplifted sites, regardless of reef type, indicating a post-earthquake increase in suspended sediment delivery. Transient and/or long-term increases in skeletal Y/Ca at all uplift sites support the idea of increased sediment delivery. Coral Mn/Ca and Ba/Ca in lagoonal environments highlight the additional influences of reef bathymetry, wind-driven sediment resuspension, and phytoplankton blooms on coral geochemistry. Together, the results show that the Nias reefs adapted to fundamentally altered hydrographic conditions. We show how centuries of repeated subsidence and uplift during great-earthquake cycles along the Sunda megathrust may have shaped the modern-day predominance of massive scleractinian corals on the West Sumatran reefs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sindia M Sosdian
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF10 3AT, UK.
- Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia.
| | - Michael K Gagan
- Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia
- School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia
- School of the Environment, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia
| | - Danny H Natawidjaja
- Research Center for Geological Disaster, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), Bandung, 40135, Indonesia
| | - Alena K Kimbrough
- Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia
- School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia
| | - Bambang W Suwargadi
- Research Center for Geotechnology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Bandung, 40135, Indonesia
| | - Hamdi Rifai
- Department of Physics, Universitas Negeri Padang, Padang, 25131, Indonesia
| | - Heather Scott-Gagan
- Research School of Earth Sciences, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia
| | - Dudi Prayudi
- Research Center for Geotechnology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Bandung, 40135, Indonesia
| | - Imam Suprihanto
- Research Center for Geotechnology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Bandung, 40135, Indonesia
| | - Wahyoe S Hantoro
- School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia
- School of the Environment, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD, 4072, Australia
- Research Center for Geotechnology, Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Bandung, 40135, Indonesia
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32
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Woodworth AM, Hardy K, Taberlay PC, Dickinson JL, Holloway AF. RUNX1 regulates promoter activity in the absence of cognate DNA binding motifs. J Cell Biochem 2024. [PMID: 38616697 DOI: 10.1002/jcb.30570] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2023] [Revised: 03/29/2024] [Accepted: 04/06/2024] [Indexed: 04/16/2024]
Abstract
Runt-related transcription factor 1 (RUNX1) plays an important role in normal haematopoietic cell development and function, and its function is frequently disrupted in leukaemia. RUNX1 is widely recognised as a sequence-specific DNA binding factor that recognises the motif 5'-TG(T/C)GGT-3' in promoter and enhancer regions of its target genes. Moreover, RUNX1 fusion proteins, such as RUNX1-ETO formed by the t(8;21) translocation, retain the ability to recognise and bind to this sequence to elicit atypical gene regulatory effects on bona fide RUNX1 targets. However, our analysis of publicly available RUNX1 chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing (ChIP-Seq) data has provided evidence challenging this dogma, revealing that this motif-specific model of RUNX1 recruitment and function is incomplete. Our analyses revealed that the majority of RUNX1 genomic localisation occurs outside of promoters, that 20% of RUNX1 binding sites lack consensus RUNX motifs, and that binding in the absence of a cognate binding site is more common in promoter regions compared to distal sites. Reporter assays demonstrate that RUNX1 can drive promoter activity in the absence of a recognised DNA binding motif, in contrast to RUNX1-ETO. RUNX1-ETO supresses activity when it is recruited to promoters containing a sequence specific motif, while interestingly, it binds but does not repress promoters devoid of a RUNX1 recognition site. These data suggest that RUNX1 regulation of target genes occurs through multiple mechanisms depending on genomic location, the type of regulatory element and mode of recruitment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alex M Woodworth
- Tasmanian School of Medicine, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
| | - Kristine Hardy
- Faculty of Education, Science, Technology and Mathematics, Discipline of Biomedical Science, University of Canberra, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Phillippa C Taberlay
- Tasmanian School of Medicine, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
| | - Joanne L Dickinson
- Menzies Institute for Medical Research, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
| | - Adele F Holloway
- Tasmanian School of Medicine, College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia
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33
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Bell SFE, Sweeney EL, Kong FYS, Whiley DM, Bradshaw CS, Tickner JA. Response to the ASHM 2023 statement on the use of doxy-PEP in Australia: considerations and recommendations. Med J Aust 2024; 220:356-360. [PMID: 38479425 DOI: 10.5694/mja2.52255] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2023] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 04/15/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- Sara F E Bell
- UQ Centre for Clinical Research, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD
| | - Emma L Sweeney
- UQ Centre for Clinical Research, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD
| | | | - David M Whiley
- UQ Centre for Clinical Research, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD
- Pathology Queensland, Brisbane, QLD
| | | | - Jacob A Tickner
- UQ Centre for Clinical Research, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD
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34
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Bretman A, Fricke C, Baur J, Berger D, Breedveld MC, Dierick D, Canal Domenech B, Drobniak SM, Ellers J, English S, Gasparini C, Iossa G, Lagisz M, Nakagawa S, Noble DWA, Pottier P, Ramm SA, Rowe M, Schultner E, Schou M, Simões P, Stockley P, Vasudeva R, Weaving H, Price TAR, Snook RR. Systematic approaches to assessing high-temperature limits to fertility in animals. J Evol Biol 2024; 37:471-485. [PMID: 38350467 DOI: 10.1093/jeb/voae021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2023] [Revised: 01/23/2024] [Accepted: 02/07/2024] [Indexed: 02/15/2024]
Abstract
Critical thermal limits (CTLs) gauge the physiological impact of temperature on survival or critical biological function, aiding predictions of species range shifts and climatic resilience. Two recent Drosophila species studies, using similar approaches to determine temperatures that induce sterility (thermal fertility limits [TFLs]), reveal that TFLs are often lower than CTLs and that TFLs better predict both current species distributions and extinction probability. Moreover, many studies show fertility is more sensitive at less extreme temperatures than survival (thermal sensitivity of fertility [TSF]). These results present a more pessimistic outlook on the consequences of climate change. However, unlike CTLs, TFL data are limited to Drosophila, and variability in TSF methods poses challenges in predicting species responses to increasing temperature. To address these data and methodological gaps, we propose 3 standardized approaches for assessing thermal impacts on fertility. We focus on adult obligate sexual terrestrial invertebrates but also provide modifications for other animal groups and life-history stages. We first outline a "gold-standard" protocol for determining TFLs, focussing on the effects of short-term heat shocks and simulating more frequent extreme heat events predicted by climate models. As this approach may be difficult to apply to some organisms, we then provide a standardized TSF protocol. Finally, we provide a framework to quantify fertility loss in response to extreme heat events in nature, given the limitations in laboratory approaches. Applying these standardized approaches across many taxa, similar to CTLs, will allow robust tests of the impact of fertility loss on species responses to increasing temperatures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amanda Bretman
- Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom
| | - Claudia Fricke
- Institute for Zoology, Halle-Wittenberg University, Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Julian Baur
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | - David Berger
- Department of Ecology and Genetics, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
| | | | - Diego Dierick
- La Selva Biological Station, Organization for Tropical Studies, San Pedro Montes de Oca, Costa Rica
| | - Berta Canal Domenech
- Institute for Evolution and Biodiversity, University of Muenster, Muenster, Germany
| | - Szymon M Drobniak
- Institute of Environmental Sciences, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland
- School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Jacintha Ellers
- Amsterdam Institute for Life and Environment, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Sinead English
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | | | - Graziella Iossa
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, United Kingdom
| | - Malgorzata Lagisz
- School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Shinichi Nakagawa
- School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Daniel W A Noble
- Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Patrice Pottier
- School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Steven A Ramm
- UMR 6553 Ecobio - Ecosystèmes, Biodiversité, Evolution, Université de Rennes, Rennes, France
| | - Melissah Rowe
- Department of Animal Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen, The Netherlands
| | - Eva Schultner
- Zoology/Evolutionary Biology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany
| | - Mads Schou
- Department of Biology, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark
| | - Pedro Simões
- cE3c-Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes & CHANGE-Global Change and Sustainability Institute, Lisboa, Portugal
- Departamento de Biologia Animal, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
| | - Paula Stockley
- Mammalian Behaviour & Evolution Group, Department of Evolution, Ecology and Behaviour, University of Liverpool, Neston, United Kingdom
| | | | - Hester Weaving
- School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom
| | - Tom A R Price
- Department of Evolution, Ecology and Behavior, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom
| | - Rhonda R Snook
- Department of Zoology, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
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35
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Lindblom JR, Zhang X, Lehane AM. A pH Fingerprint Assay to Identify Inhibitors of Multiple Validated and Potential Antimalarial Drug Targets. ACS Infect Dis 2024; 10:1185-1200. [PMID: 38499199 PMCID: PMC11019546 DOI: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.3c00588] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2023] [Revised: 01/22/2024] [Accepted: 02/09/2024] [Indexed: 03/20/2024]
Abstract
New drugs with novel modes of action are needed to safeguard malaria treatment. In recent years, millions of compounds have been tested for their ability to inhibit the growth of asexual blood-stage Plasmodium falciparum parasites, resulting in the identification of thousands of compounds with antiplasmodial activity. Determining the mechanisms of action of antiplasmodial compounds informs their further development, but remains challenging. A relatively high proportion of compounds identified as killing asexual blood-stage parasites show evidence of targeting the parasite's plasma membrane Na+-extruding, H+-importing pump, PfATP4. Inhibitors of PfATP4 give rise to characteristic changes in the parasite's internal [Na+] and pH. Here, we designed a "pH fingerprint" assay that robustly identifies PfATP4 inhibitors while simultaneously allowing the detection of (and discrimination between) inhibitors of the lactate:H+ transporter PfFNT, which is a validated antimalarial drug target, and the V-type H+ ATPase, which was suggested as a possible target of the clinical candidate ZY19489. In our pH fingerprint assays and subsequent secondary assays, ZY19489 did not show evidence for the inhibition of pH regulation by the V-type H+ ATPase, suggesting that it has a different mode of action in the parasite. The pH fingerprint assay also has the potential to identify protonophores, inhibitors of the acid-loading Cl- transporter(s) (for which the molecular identity(ies) remain elusive), and compounds that act through inhibition of either the glucose transporter PfHT or glycolysis. The pH fingerprint assay therefore provides an efficient starting point to match a proportion of antiplasmodial compounds with their mechanisms of action.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Adele M. Lehane
- Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital
Territory 2600, Australia
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36
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Kratz M, Manning R, Dods K, Baer B, Blache D. Nurse bees regulate the larval nutrition of developing workers (Apis mellifera) when feeding on various pollen types. J Econ Entomol 2024:toae045. [PMID: 38606526 DOI: 10.1093/jee/toae045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2023] [Revised: 01/28/2024] [Accepted: 02/28/2024] [Indexed: 04/13/2024]
Abstract
Nutrition has been identified as a key driver of colony health and productivity. Yet, in honey bees, relatively little is known about how the vast variety of natural pollen sources impact larval development. The impact of the nutritional quality of 4 naturally occurring pollen sources, of importance to the Western Australian beekeeping industry, was tested on honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) development. Bee packages consisting of 800 g of bees and a mated sister queen were assigned to 40 nucleus hives and randomly allocated to one of the 4 feed treatments (10 colonies each) of marri (Corymbia calophylla Lindl.), jarrah (Eucalyptus marginata Sm.), clover (Trifolium repens L.), and canola (Brassica napus L.) pollen. Emerging bees were collected once the first bees started hatching on the assigned feed sources. Newly emerging bees were weighed individually, and body composition was measured in batches according to the feed treatment groups. Food consumption was recorded for the duration of the experiment. Nurse bees successfully raised young adult workers from the larval stage until emergence when fed with one of 4 pollen patties with different nutritional qualities. There was no difference in the body composition or weight of emerging bees fed on the different pollen types. However, the body weight of bees increased over time, most likely related to colony size and structure. With the type of pollen patties having little impact on larval development, the availability of pollen may be more important than its composition, providing bees have access to all essential nutrients.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madlen Kratz
- School of Molecular Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Bayliss Building (M316), Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
- School of Agriculture and Environment (M087), University of Western Australia Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
- New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, 815 Tocal Road, Paterson, NSW 2421, Australia
| | - Robert Manning
- Formerly, Plant Biosecurity, Western Australian Department of Agriculture and Food, South Perth, WA 6151, Australia
- RMO Consultancy, 301 Forrest Road, Bibra lake, WA, Australia
| | - Kenneth Dods
- Formerly, ChemCentre, Resources and Chemistry Precinct, Bentley, WA, Australia
- SAGE Consultancy, Perth, WA, Australia
| | - Boris Baer
- Center for Integrative Bee Research (CIBER), Department of Entomology, The University of California, Riverside, CA 92506, USA
| | - Dominique Blache
- School of Agriculture and Environment (M087), University of Western Australia Institute of Agriculture, The University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA 6009, Australia
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37
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Alfano M, Abedin E, Reimann R, Ferreira M, Cheong M. Now you see me, now you don't: an exploration of religious exnomination in DALL-E. Ethics Inf Technol 2024; 26:27. [PMID: 38617999 PMCID: PMC11009767 DOI: 10.1007/s10676-024-09760-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/09/2024] [Indexed: 04/16/2024]
Abstract
Artificial intelligence (AI) systems are increasingly being used not only to classify and analyze but also to generate images and text. As recent work on the content produced by text and image Generative AIs has shown (e.g., Cheong et al., 2024, Acerbi & Stubbersfield, 2023), there is a risk that harms of representation and bias, already documented in prior AI and natural language processing (NLP) algorithms may also be present in generative models. These harms relate to protected categories such as gender, race, age, and religion. There are several kinds of harms of representation to consider in this context, including stereotyping, lack of recognition, denigration, under-representation, and many others (Crawford in Soundings 41:45-55, 2009; in: Barocas et al., SIGCIS Conference, 2017). Whereas the bulk of researchers' attention thus far has been given to stereotyping and denigration, in this study we examine 'exnomination', as conceived by Roland Barthes (1972), of religious groups. Our case study is DALL-E, a tool that generates images from natural language prompts. Using DALL-E mini, we generate images from generic prompts such as "religious person." We then examine whether the generated images are recognizably members of a nominated group. Thus, we assess whether the generated images normalize some religions while neglecting others. We hypothesize that Christianity will be recognizably represented more frequently than other religious groups. Our results partially support this hypothesis but introduce further complexities, which we then explore.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark Alfano
- Department of Philosophy, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW Australia
| | - Ehsan Abedin
- School of Computing and Information Systems, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC Australia
- College of Business, Government, and Law, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA Australia
| | - Ritsaart Reimann
- Department of Philosophy, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW Australia
| | - Marinus Ferreira
- Department of Philosophy, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW Australia
| | - Marc Cheong
- School of Computing and Information Systems, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC Australia
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38
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Filipe EC, Velayuthar S, Philp A, Nobis M, Latham SL, Parker AL, Murphy KJ, Wyllie K, Major GS, Contreras O, Mok ETY, Enriquez RF, McGowan S, Feher K, Quek LE, Hancock SE, Yam M, Tran E, Setargew YFI, Skhinas JN, Chitty JL, Phimmachanh M, Han JZR, Cadell AL, Papanicolaou M, Mahmodi H, Kiedik B, Junankar S, Ross SE, Lam N, Coulson R, Yang J, Zaratzian A, Da Silva AM, Tayao M, Chin IL, Cazet A, Kansara M, Segara D, Parker A, Hoy AJ, Harvey RP, Bogdanovic O, Timpson P, Croucher DR, Lim E, Swarbrick A, Holst J, Turner N, Choi YS, Kabakova IV, Philp A, Cox TR. Tumor Biomechanics Alters Metastatic Dissemination of Triple Negative Breast Cancer via Rewiring Fatty Acid Metabolism. Adv Sci (Weinh) 2024:e2307963. [PMID: 38602451 DOI: 10.1002/advs.202307963] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2023] [Revised: 03/11/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024]
Abstract
In recent decades, the role of tumor biomechanics on cancer cell behavior at the primary site has been increasingly appreciated. However, the effect of primary tumor biomechanics on the latter stages of the metastatic cascade, such as metastatic seeding of secondary sites and outgrowth remains underappreciated. This work sought to address this in the context of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), a cancer type known to aggressively disseminate at all stages of disease progression. Using mechanically tuneable model systems, mimicking the range of stiffness's typically found within breast tumors, it is found that, contrary to expectations, cancer cells exposed to softer microenvironments are more able to colonize secondary tissues. It is shown that heightened cell survival is driven by enhanced metabolism of fatty acids within TNBC cells exposed to softer microenvironments. It is demonstrated that uncoupling cellular mechanosensing through integrin β1 blocking antibody effectively causes stiff primed TNBC cells to behave like their soft counterparts, both in vitro and in vivo. This work is the first to show that softer tumor microenvironments may be contributing to changes in disease outcome by imprinting on TNBC cells a greater metabolic flexibility and conferring discrete cell survival advantages.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elysse C Filipe
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical Campus, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2010, Australia
| | - Sipiththa Velayuthar
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Ashleigh Philp
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical Campus, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2010, Australia
- Centenary Institute, Camperdown, NSW, 2050, Australia
| | - Max Nobis
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical Campus, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2010, Australia
| | - Sharissa L Latham
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical Campus, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2010, Australia
| | - Amelia L Parker
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical Campus, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2010, Australia
| | - Kendelle J Murphy
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical Campus, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2010, Australia
| | - Kaitlin Wyllie
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical Campus, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2010, Australia
| | - Gretel S Major
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Osvaldo Contreras
- School of Clinical Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical Campus, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2010, Australia
- Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Ellie T Y Mok
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical Campus, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2010, Australia
| | - Ronaldo F Enriquez
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Suzanne McGowan
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Kristen Feher
- South Australian immunoGENomics Cancer Institute (SAiGENCI), Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia
| | - Lake-Ee Quek
- School of Mathematics and Statistics, Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, 2050, Australia
| | - Sarah E Hancock
- Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
- School of Biomedical Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2033, Australia
| | - Michelle Yam
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Emmi Tran
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Yordanos F I Setargew
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Joanna N Skhinas
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Jessica L Chitty
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical Campus, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2010, Australia
| | - Monica Phimmachanh
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Jeremy Z R Han
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Antonia L Cadell
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Michael Papanicolaou
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
- School of Life Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2007, Australia
| | - Hadi Mahmodi
- School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2007, Australia
| | - Beata Kiedik
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Simon Junankar
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical Campus, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2010, Australia
| | - Samuel E Ross
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Natasha Lam
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Rhiannon Coulson
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Jessica Yang
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Anaiis Zaratzian
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Andrew M Da Silva
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Michael Tayao
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Ian L Chin
- School of Human Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia
| | - Aurélie Cazet
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical Campus, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2010, Australia
| | - Maya Kansara
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical Campus, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2010, Australia
| | | | - Andrew Parker
- School of Clinical Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical Campus, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2010, Australia
- Department of Pathology, St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, 2010, Australia
| | - Andrew J Hoy
- School of Medical Sciences, Charles Perkins Centre, Faculty of Medicine and Health, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2050, Australia
| | - Richard P Harvey
- School of Clinical Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical Campus, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2010, Australia
- Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
| | - Ozren Bogdanovic
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2033, Australia
| | - Paul Timpson
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical Campus, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2010, Australia
| | - David R Croucher
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical Campus, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2010, Australia
| | - Elgene Lim
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical Campus, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2010, Australia
| | - Alexander Swarbrick
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical Campus, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2010, Australia
| | - Jeff Holst
- School of Biomedical Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2033, Australia
| | - Nigel Turner
- Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
- School of Biomedical Sciences, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2033, Australia
| | - Yu Suk Choi
- School of Human Sciences, University of Western Australia, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia
| | - Irina V Kabakova
- School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2007, Australia
| | - Andrew Philp
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical Campus, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2010, Australia
- Biology of Ageing Laboratory and Centre for Healthy Ageing, Centenary Institute, Missenden Road, Camperdown, Sydney, NSW, 2050, Australia
- School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences, University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, NSW, 2007, Australia
| | - Thomas R Cox
- Cancer Ecosystems Program, Garvan Institute of Medical Research and The Kinghorn Cancer Centre, Darlinghurst, NSW, 2010, Australia
- School of Clinical Medicine, St Vincent's Clinical Campus, UNSW Medicine & Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, 2010, Australia
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McConnell D. Assessing Public Reason Approaches to Conscientious Objection in Healthcare. Camb Q Healthc Ethics 2024:1-11. [PMID: 38602073 DOI: 10.1017/s0963180124000112] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/12/2024]
Abstract
Sometimes healthcare professionals conscientiously refuse to treat patients despite the patient requesting legal, medically indicated treatments within the professionals' remit. Recently, there has been a proliferation of views using the concept of public reason to specify which conscientious refusals of treatment should be accommodated. Four such views are critically assessed, namely, those of Robert Card, Massimo Reichlin, David Scott, and Doug McConnell. This paper argues that McConnell's view has advantages over the other approaches because it combines the requirement that healthcare professionals publicly justify the grounds of their conscientious refusals of treatment with the requirement that those grounds align with minimally decent healthcare. This relatively restrictive approach accommodates conscientious refusals from minimally decent healthcare professionals while still protecting good healthcare, the independence of the healthcare professions, and the fiduciary relationships.
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Affiliation(s)
- Doug McConnell
- Philosophy Department, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
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40
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Mitchell AE, Morawska A, Casey E, Forbes E, Filus A, Fraser J, Rowell D, Johnston A, Birch S. Brief parenting intervention (Triple P) for families of children with eczema: a randomized controlled trial. J Pediatr Psychol 2024:jsae023. [PMID: 38598510 DOI: 10.1093/jpepsy/jsae023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2023] [Revised: 03/11/2024] [Accepted: 03/14/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024] Open
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To evaluate the efficacy and costs of a brief, group-delivered parenting intervention for families of children with eczema. METHODS A randomized controlled trial design was used. Families attending the Queensland Children's Hospital and from the community (n = 257) were assessed for eligibility (child 2-10 years, diagnosed with eczema, prescribed topical corticosteroids). Families who consented to participate (N = 59) were assessed at baseline for clinician-rated eczema severity, parent-reported eczema symptom severity, and electronically-monitored topical corticosteroid adherence (primary outcomes); and parenting behavior, parents' self-efficacy and task performance when managing eczema, eczema-related child behavior problems, and child and parent quality of life (secondary outcomes). Families were randomized (1:1, unblinded) to intervention (n = 31) or care-as-usual (n = 28). The intervention comprised two, 2-hr Healthy Living Triple P group sessions (face-to-face/online) and 28 intervention families attended one/both sessions. All families were offered standardized eczema education. Families were reassessed at 4-weeks post-intervention and 6-month follow-up, with clinician-raters blinded to condition. Costs of intervention delivery were estimated. RESULTS Multilevel modeling across assessment timepoints showed significant intervention effects for ineffective parenting (d = .60), self-efficacy (d = .74), task performance (d = .81), and confidence with managing eczema-related child behavior (d = .63), but not disease/symptom severity, treatment adherence or quality of life. Mean cost per participating family with parenting behavior (clinically) improved was $159. CONCLUSIONS Healthy Living Triple P is effective in reducing ineffective parenting practices and improving parents' self-efficacy and task performance when managing children's eczema and eczema-related behavior difficulties. There was no effect on disease/symptom severity, treatment adherence, or quality of life. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION ACTRN12618001332213.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amy E Mitchell
- School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia
- Parenting and Family Support Centre, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia
- Centre for Mental Health, Griffith University, Mt Gravatt, Australia
| | - Alina Morawska
- Parenting and Family Support Centre, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia
- Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Emily Casey
- Dermatology Service, Queensland Children's Hospital, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Elana Forbes
- Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, Australia
- Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Ania Filus
- Parenting and Family Support Centre, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Australia
| | - Jennifer Fraser
- Sydney Nursing School, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - David Rowell
- Centre for the Business and Economics of Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Aimee Johnston
- Centre for the Business and Economics of Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Stephen Birch
- Centre for the Business and Economics of Health, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
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41
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Vogel YB, Pham LN, Stam M, Ubbink RF, Coote ML, Houtepen AJ. Solvation Shifts the Band-Edge Position of Colloidal Quantum Dots by Nearly 1 eV. J Am Chem Soc 2024; 146:9928-9938. [PMID: 38530865 PMCID: PMC11009959 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.4c00402] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2024] [Revised: 02/23/2024] [Accepted: 02/27/2024] [Indexed: 03/28/2024]
Abstract
The optoelectronic properties of colloidal quantum dots (cQDs) depend critically on the absolute energy of the conduction and valence band edges. It is well known these band-edge energies are sensitive to the ligands on the cQD surface, but it is much less clear how they depend on other experimental conditions, like solvation. Here, we experimentally determine the band-edge positions of thin films of PbS and ZnO cQDs via spectroelectrochemical measurements. To achieve this, we first carefully evaluate and optimize the electrochemical injection of electrons and holes into PbS cQDs. This results in electrochemically fully reversible electron injection with >8 electrons per PbS cQDs, allowing the quantitative determination of the conduction band energy for PbS cQDs with various diameters and surface compositions. Surprisingly, we find that the band-edge energies shift by nearly 1 eV in the presence of different solvents, a result that also holds true for ZnO cQDs. We argue that complexation and partial charge transfer between solvent and surface ions are responsible for this large effect of the solvent on the band-edge energy. The trend in the energy shift matches the results of density functional theory (DFT) calculations in explicit solvents and scales with the energy of complexation between surface cations and solvents. As a first approximation, the solvent Lewis basicity can be used as a good descriptor to predict the shift of the conduction and valence band edges of solvated cQDs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yan B. Vogel
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, Delft University
of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629 HZ Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Le Nhan Pham
- Institute
for Nanoscale Science and Technology, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia 5042, Australia
| | - Maarten Stam
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, Delft University
of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629 HZ Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Reinout F. Ubbink
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, Delft University
of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629 HZ Delft, The Netherlands
| | - Michelle L. Coote
- Institute
for Nanoscale Science and Technology, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Bedford Park, South Australia 5042, Australia
| | - Arjan J. Houtepen
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, Delft University
of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629 HZ Delft, The Netherlands
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42
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Kelly P, Lei J, Bibiko HJ, Barker L. AMSD: The Australian Message Stick Database. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0299712. [PMID: 38598470 PMCID: PMC11006167 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299712] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2023] [Accepted: 02/14/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Message sticks are wooden objects once widely used in Indigenous Australia for facilitating important long-distance communications. Within this tradition an individual wishing to send a message would carve a stick and apply conventional symbols to its surface. The stick was entrusted to a messenger who carried the object into the territory of another community together with a memorised oral statement. Between the 1880s and the 1910s, settlers and international scholars took great interest in message sticks and this was reflected in efforts to document, collect and store them in museums worldwide. However, by this period, the practice was already undergoing profound changes, having been abandoned in many parts of the continent and transformed in others. While message sticks were still being used in a traditional way in Western Arnhem Land up until at least the late 1970s, today they feature in public interactions between Indigenous and non-Indigenous organisations, in art production and in oral narrations. Accordingly many questions concerning the history, pragmatics and global significance of message stick communication remain unanswered. To address this we have compiled the Australian Message Stick Database, a new resource hosted at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, and The Australian National University, Canberra. It contains images and data for over 1500 individual message sticks sourced from museums, and supplemented with information derived from published and unpublished manuscripts, private collections, and from field recordings involving contemporary Indigenous consultants. For the first time, knowledge about Australian message sticks can be evaluated as a single set allowing scholars and Traditional Owners to explore previously intractable questions about their histories, meanings and purposes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Piers Kelly
- Department of Archaeology, Classics and History, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia
- Centre for Australian Studies, Universität zu Köln, Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
| | - Junran Lei
- Centre for Digital Humanities Research, Australian National University, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
| | - Hans-Jörg Bibiko
- Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Saxony, Germany
| | - Lorina Barker
- School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia
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Treloar C, Lancaster K, Rhodes T, Lafferty L, Bryant J, Rance J. The 'missing' in the 'endgame' of hepatitis C elimination: A qualitative study in New South Wales, Australia. Drug Alcohol Rev 2024. [PMID: 38596845 DOI: 10.1111/dar.13845] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2024] [Revised: 03/04/2024] [Accepted: 03/19/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION After a promising start in Australia, elimination efforts for hepatitis C are not on track. Following the global campaign to 'find the missing' in hepatitis C response, this qualitative study explores stakeholder perspectives on the 'missing' in the 'endgame' of hepatitis elimination in the state of New South Wales, Australia. METHOD Twenty-eight key informants working in New South Wales, elsewhere in Australia and internationally in high income countries participated in a semi-structured qualitative interview. Analysis examined key informant accounts of the 'missing' in efforts to eliminate hepatitis C. RESULTS Participants' accounts framed the missing in relation to epidemiological knowledge, making-up four population categories 'missing' or 'missed' in hepatitis C response. In turn, accounts situated the missing in relation to where and how individuals were presumed to connect, or not, with existing health-care infrastructures. This gave rise to concerns about the capacity of health services to be made available for those at risk or in need, with systems said to create opportunities for people to 'miss out' on hepatitis C services. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS The 'missing' in the 'endgame' of hepatitis C elimination effort is not simply a function of who-populations missed-but of where and how, that is, situation and context. Our findings encourage a focus on how services, systems and contexts may create situations in which people become missed or are 'made missing' from care. We therefore advocate for a systemic, and not only population-based, approach in the final push towards hepatitis C's elimination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carla Treloar
- Centre for Social Research in Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Kari Lancaster
- Centre for Social Research in Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia
- Goldsmiths University of London, London, UK
| | - Tim Rhodes
- Centre for Social Research in Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Lise Lafferty
- Centre for Social Research in Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia
- Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Joanne Bryant
- Centre for Social Research in Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia
| | - Jake Rance
- Centre for Social Research in Health, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, Australia
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Schubert E. Liking music with and without sadness: Testing the direct effect hypothesis of pleasurable negative emotion. PLoS One 2024; 19:e0299115. [PMID: 38598421 PMCID: PMC11006140 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2023] [Accepted: 02/05/2024] [Indexed: 04/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Negative emotion evoked in listeners of music can produce intense pleasure, but we do not fully understand why. The present study addressed the question by asking participants (n = 50) to self-select a piece of sadness-evoking music that was loved. The key part of the study asked participants to imagine that the felt sadness could be removed. Overall participants reported performing the task successfully. They also indicated that the removal of the sadness reduced their liking of the music, and 82% of participants reported that the evoked sadness also adds to the enjoyment of the music. The study provided evidence for a "Direct effect hypothesis", which draws on the multicomponent model of emotion, where a component of the negative emotion is experienced as positive during music (and other aesthetic) experiences. Earlier evidence of a mediator, such as 'being moved', as the source of enjoyment was reinterpreted in light of the new findings. Instead, the present study applied a semantic overlap explanation, arguing that sadness primes emotions that share meaning with sadness, such as being-moved. The priming occurs if the overlap in meaning is sufficient. The degree of semantic overlap was defined empirically. The present study therefore suggests that mediator-based explanations need to be treated with caution both as a finding of the study, and because of analytic limitations in earlier research that are discussed in the paper.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emery Schubert
- Empirical Musicology Laboratory, School of the Arts and Media, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW, Australia
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45
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Nakandala U, Furtado A, Masouleh AK, Smith MW, Williams DC, Henry RJ. The genome of Citrus australasica reveals disease resistance and other species specific genes. BMC Plant Biol 2024; 24:260. [PMID: 38594608 PMCID: PMC11005238 DOI: 10.1186/s12870-024-04988-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2023] [Accepted: 04/04/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The finger lime (Citrus australasica), one of six Australian endemic citrus species shows a high natural phenotypic diversity and novel characteristics. The wide variation and unique horticultural features have made this lime an attractive candidate for domestication. Currently no haplotype resolved genome is available for this species. Here we present a high quality, haplotype-resolved reference genome for this species using PacBio HiFi and Hi-C sequencing. RESULTS Hifiasm assembly and SALSA scaffolding resulted in a collapsed genome size of 344.2 Mb and 321.1 Mb and 323.2 Mb size for the two haplotypes. The nine pseudochromosomes of the collapsed genome had an N50 of 35.2 Mb, 99.1% genome assembly completeness and 98.9% gene annotation completeness (BUSCO). A total of 41,304 genes were predicted in the nuclear genome. Comparison with C. australis revealed that 13,661 genes in pseudochromosomes were unique in C. australasica. These were mainly involved in plant-pathogen interactions, stress response, cellular metabolic and developmental processes, and signal transduction. The two genomes showed a syntenic arrangement at the chromosome level with large structural rearrangements in some chromosomes. Genetic variation among five C. australasica cultivars was analysed. Genes related to defense, synthesis of volatile compounds and red/yellow coloration were identified in the genome. A major expansion of genes encoding thylakoid curvature proteins was found in the C. australasica genome. CONCLUSIONS The genome of C. australasica present in this study is of high quality and contiguity. This genome helps deepen our understanding of citrus evolution and reveals disease resistance and quality related genes with potential to accelerate the genetic improvement of citrus.
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Affiliation(s)
- Upuli Nakandala
- Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture, University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Australia
| | - Agnelo Furtado
- Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture, University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Australia
| | - Ardashir Kharabian Masouleh
- Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Australia
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture, University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Australia
| | - Malcolm W Smith
- Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Bundaberg Research Station, Bundaberg, QLD, 4670, Australia
| | | | - Robert J Henry
- Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Australia.
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture, University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Australia.
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46
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Zhang M, Shen H, Hakobyan K, Jiang Z, Liang K, Xu J. Robust Hydrogel Actuators Functioning in Multi-Environments Enabled by Thermo-Responsive Polymer Nanoparticle Coatings on Hydrogel Surfaces. Small 2024:e2400534. [PMID: 38597736 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202400534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2024] [Revised: 03/15/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024]
Abstract
Hydrogel actuators with anisotropic structures exhibit reversible responsiveness upon the trigger of various external stimuli, rendering them promising for applications in many fields including artificial muscles and soft robotics. However, their effective operation across multiple environments remains a persistent challenge, even for widely studied thermo-responsive polymers like poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (PNIPAm). Current attempts to address this issue are hindered by complex synthetic procedures or specific substrates. This study introduces a straightforward methodology to grow a thin, dense PNIPAm nanoparticle layer on diverse hydrogel surfaces, creating a highly temperature-sensitive hydrogel actuator. This actuator demonstrates adaptability across various environments, including water, oil, and open air, owing to its distinct structure facilitating self-water circulation during actuation. The thin PNIPAm layer consists of interconnected PNIPAm nanoparticles synthesized via in situ interfacial precipitation polymerization, seamlessly bonded to the hydrogel substrate through an interfacial layer containing hybrid hydrogel/PNIPAm nanoparticles. This unique anisotropic structure ensures exceptional structural stability without interfacial delamination, even enduring harsh treatments such as freezing, ultrasonic irradiation, and prolonged water immersion. Remarkably, PNIPAm films on hydrogel surfaces which enable programmable 3D actuation can also be precisely patterned. This synthetic approach opens a novel pathway for fabricating advanced hydrogel actuators with broad-ranging applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mengnan Zhang
- Centre for Advanced Macromolecular Design and Australian Centre for NanoMedicine, School of Chemical Engineering, UNSW, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
| | - Haokun Shen
- Centre for Advanced Macromolecular Design and Australian Centre for NanoMedicine, School of Chemical Engineering, UNSW, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
| | - Karen Hakobyan
- Centre for Advanced Macromolecular Design and Australian Centre for NanoMedicine, School of Chemical Engineering, UNSW, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
| | - Zhen Jiang
- School of Mechanical, Materials and Mechatronic Engineering, University of Wollongong, Sydney, NSW, 2522, Australia
| | - Kang Liang
- School of Chemical Engineering and Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, UNSW, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
| | - Jiangtao Xu
- Centre for Advanced Macromolecular Design and Australian Centre for NanoMedicine, School of Chemical Engineering, UNSW, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia
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Wu L, Wu Q, Han Y, Zhang D, Zhang R, Song N, Wu X, Zeng J, Yuan P, Chen J, Du A, Huang K, Yao X. Strengthening the Synergy between Oxygen Vacancies in Electrocatalysts for Efficient Glycerol Electrooxidation. Adv Mater 2024:e2401857. [PMID: 38594018 DOI: 10.1002/adma.202401857] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2024] [Revised: 03/24/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024]
Abstract
Defect-engineered bimetallic oxides exhibit high potential for the electrolysis of small organic molecules. However, the ambiguity in the relationship between the defect density and electrocatalytic performance makes it challenging to control the final products of multi-step multi-electron reactions in such electrocatalytic systems. In this study, controllable kinetics reduction is used to maximize the oxygen vacancy density of a Cu─Co oxide nanosheet (CuCo2O4 NS), which is used to catalyze the glycerol electrooxidation reaction (GOR). The CuCo2O4-x NS with the highest oxygen-vacancy density (CuCo2O4-x-2) oxidizes C3 molecules to C1 molecules with selectivity of almost 100% and a Faradaic efficiency of ≈99%, showing the best oxidation performance among all the modified catalysts. Systems with multiple oxygen vacancies in close proximity to each other synergistically facilitate the cleavage of C─C bonds. Density functional theory calculations confirm the ability of closely spaced oxygen vacancies to facilitate charge transfer between the catalyst and several key glycolic-acid (GCA) intermediates of the GOR process, thereby facilitating the decomposition of C2 intermediates to C1 molecules. This study reveals qualitatively in tuning the density of oxygen vacancies for altering the reaction pathway of GOR by the synergistic effects of spatial proximity of high-density oxygen vacancies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liyun Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China
| | - Qilong Wu
- Intelligent Polymer Research Institute and ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, Australian Institute for Innovative Materials, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2500, Australia
| | - Yun Han
- School of Engineering and Built Environment, Queensland Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre, Griffith University, Nathan Campus, Queensland, 4111, Australia
| | - Dongdong Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China
| | - Rongrong Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China
| | - Nan Song
- State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China
| | - Xiaofeng Wu
- Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201204, P. R. China
| | - Jianrong Zeng
- Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201204, P. R. China
- Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, 201800, P. R. China
| | - Pei Yuan
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350002, P. R. China
| | - Jun Chen
- Intelligent Polymer Research Institute and ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, Australian Institute for Innovative Materials, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2500, Australia
| | - Aijun Du
- School of Chemistry and Physics and Centre for Materials Science, Queensland University of Technology, Gardens Point Campus, Brisbane, 4001, Australia
| | - KeKe Huang
- State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China
| | - Xiangdong Yao
- State Key Laboratory of Inorganic Synthesis and Preparative Chemistry, College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun, 130012, P. R. China
- School of Advanced Energy and IGCME, Sun Yat-Sen University (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518107, P. R. China
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Koshy D, Allardyce BJ, Dumée LF, Sutti A, Rajkhowa R, Agrawal R. Silk Industry Waste Protein-Derived Sericin Hybrid Nanoflowers for Antibiotics Remediation via Circular Economy. ACS Omega 2024; 9:15768-15780. [PMID: 38617643 PMCID: PMC11007843 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.3c03367] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2023] [Revised: 02/13/2024] [Accepted: 02/14/2024] [Indexed: 04/16/2024]
Abstract
Hybrid protein-copper nanoflowers have emerged as promising materials with diverse applications in biocatalysis, biosensing, and bioremediation. Sericin, a waste biopolymer from the textile industry, has shown potential for fabricating such nanoflowers. However, the influence of the molecular weight of sericin on nanoflower morphology and peroxidase-like activity remains unexplored. This work focused on the self-assembly of nanoflowers using high- and low-molecular-weight (HMW and LMW) silk sericin combined with copper(II) as an inorganic moiety. The peroxidase-like activity of the resulting nanoflowers was evaluated using 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) and hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). The findings revealed that high-molecular-weight sericin hybrid nanoflowers (HMW-ShNFs) exhibited significantly higher peroxidase-like activity than low-molecular-weight sericin hybrid nanoflowers (LMW-ShNFs). Furthermore, HMW-ShNFs demonstrated superior reusability and storage stability, thereby enhancing their potential for practical use. This study also explored the application of HMW-ShNF for ciprofloxacin degradation to address the environmental and health hazards posed by this antibiotic in water. The results indicated that HMW-ShNFs facilitated the degradation of ciprofloxacin, achieving a maximum degradation of 33.2 ± 1% at pH 8 and 35 °C after 72 h. Overall, the enhanced peroxidase-like activity and successful application in ciprofloxacin degradation underscore the potential of HMW-ShNFs for a sustainable and ecofriendly remediation process. These findings open avenues for the further exploration and utilization of hybrid nanoflowers in various environmental applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Divya
S. Koshy
- TERI-Deakin
Nanobiotechnology Centre, Sustainable Agriculture Division, The Energy
and Resources Institute, TERI Gram, Gwal
Pahari, Gurugram, Haryana 122001, India
- Institute
for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus, Pigdons
Road, Geelong, VIC 3216, Australia
| | - Benjamin J. Allardyce
- Institute
for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus, Pigdons
Road, Geelong, VIC 3216, Australia
| | - Ludovic F. Dumée
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, Khalifa University
of Science and Technology, Abu
Dhabi 127788, UAE
| | - Alessandra Sutti
- Institute
for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus, Pigdons
Road, Geelong, VIC 3216, Australia
| | - Rangam Rajkhowa
- Institute
for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong Waurn Ponds Campus, Pigdons
Road, Geelong, VIC 3216, Australia
| | - Ruchi Agrawal
- TERI-Deakin
Nanobiotechnology Centre, Sustainable Agriculture Division, The Energy
and Resources Institute, TERI Gram, Gwal
Pahari, Gurugram, Haryana 122001, India
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49
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Tan YH, Wang KCW, Chin IL, Sanderson RW, Li J, Kennedy BF, Noble PB, Choi YS. Stiffness Mediated-Mechanosensation of Airway Smooth Muscle Cells on Linear Stiffness Gradient Hydrogels. Adv Healthc Mater 2024:e2304254. [PMID: 38593989 DOI: 10.1002/adhm.202304254] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2023] [Revised: 03/28/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024]
Abstract
In obstructive airway diseases such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), the extracellular matrix (ECM) protein amount and composition of the airway smooth muscle (ASM) is often remodelled, likely altering tissue stiffness. The underlying mechanism of how human ASM cell (hASMC) mechanosenses the aberrant microenvironment is not well understood. Physiological stiffnesses of the ASM were measured by uniaxial compression tester using porcine ASM layers under 0, 5 and 10% longitudinal stretch above in situ length. Linear stiffness gradient hydrogels (230 kPa range) were fabricated and functionalized with ECM proteins, collagen I (ColI), fibronectin (Fn) and laminin (Ln), to recapitulate the above-measured range of stiffnesses. Overall, hASMC mechanosensation exhibited a clear correlation with the underlying hydrogel stiffness. Cell size, nuclear size and contractile marker alpha-smooth muscle actin (αSMA) expression showed a strong correlation to substrate stiffness. Mechanosensation, assessed by Lamin-A intensity and nuc/cyto YAP, exhibited stiffness-mediated behaviour only on ColI and Fn-coated hydrogels. Inhibition studies using blebbistatin or Y27632 attenuated most mechanotransduction-derived cell morphological responses, αSMA and Lamin-A expression and nuc/cyto YAP (blebbistatin only). This study highlights the interplay and complexities between stiffness and ECM protein type on hASMC mechanosensation, relevant to airway remodelling in obstructive airway diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yong Hwee Tan
- School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia
| | - Kimberley C W Wang
- School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia
- Telethon Kids Institute, The University of Western Australia, Nedlands, WA, 6009, Australia
| | - Ian L Chin
- School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia
| | - Rowan W Sanderson
- BRITElab, Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, QEII Medical Centre, Nedlands and Centre for Medical Research, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia
- Department of Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia
| | - Jiayue Li
- BRITElab, Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, QEII Medical Centre, Nedlands and Centre for Medical Research, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia
- Department of Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia
| | - Brendan F Kennedy
- BRITElab, Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research, QEII Medical Centre, Nedlands and Centre for Medical Research, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia
- Department of Electrical, Electronic & Computer Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia
- Institute of Physics, Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Informatics, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Grudziadzka 5, Torun, 87-100, Poland
| | - Peter B Noble
- School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia
| | - Yu Suk Choi
- School of Human Sciences, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA, 6009, Australia
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50
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Fang Y, Ma Z, Wei D, Yu Y, Liu L, Shi Y, Gao J, Tang LC, Huang G, Song P. Engineering Sulfur-Containing Polymeric Fire-Retardant Coatings for Fire-Safe Rigid Polyurethane Foam. Macromol Rapid Commun 2024:e2400068. [PMID: 38593218 DOI: 10.1002/marc.202400068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2024] [Revised: 03/31/2024] [Indexed: 04/11/2024]
Abstract
With the advantages of lightweight and low thermal conductivity properties, polymeric foams are widely employed as thermal insulation materials for energy-saving buildings but suffer from inherent flammability. Flame-retardant coatings hold great promise for improving the fire safety of these foams without deteriorating the mechanical-physical properties of the foam. In this work, four kinds of sulfur-based flame-retardant copolymers are synthesized via a facile radical copolymerization. The sulfur-containing monomers serve as flame-retardant agents including vinyl sulfonic acid sodium (SPS), ethylene sulfonic acid sodium (VS), and sodium p-styrene sulfonate (VSS). Additionally, 2-hydroxyethyl acrylate (HEA) and 4-hydroxybutyl acrylate are employed to enable a strong interface adhesion with polymeric foams through interfacial H-bonding. By using as-synthesized waterborne flame-retardant polymeric coating with a thickness of 600 µm, the coated polyurethane foam (PUF) can achieve a desired V-0 rating during the vertical burning test with a high limiting oxygen index (LOI) of >31.5 vol%. By comparing these sulfur-containing polymeric fire-retardant coatings, poly(VS-co-HEA) coated PUF demonstrates the best interface adhesion capability and flame-retardant performance, with the lowest peak heat release rate of 166 kW m-2 and the highest LOI of 36.4 vol%. This work provides new avenues for the design and performance optimization of advanced fire-retardant polymeric coatings.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yang Fang
- College of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, 311300, China
| | - Zhewen Ma
- Interdisciplinary Materials Research Center, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai, 201804, P. R. China
| | - Dewang Wei
- College of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, 311300, China
| | - Youming Yu
- College of Chemistry and Materials Engineering, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, 311300, China
| | - Lei Liu
- College of Environment and Safety Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266045, China
- Centre for Further Materials, University of Southern Queensland, Springfield Central, QLD, 4300, Australia
| | - Yongqian Shi
- College of Environment and Safety Engineering, Fuzhou University, 2 Xueyuan Road, Fuzhou, 350116, China
| | - Jiefeng Gao
- School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, 225002, China
| | - Long-Cheng Tang
- Key Laboratory of Organosilicon Chemistry and Material Technology of MoE, College of Material, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, 311121, China
| | - Guobo Huang
- School of Pharmaceutical and Chemical Engineering, Taizhou University, Taizhou, 318000, China
| | - Pingan Song
- School of Agriculture and Environmental Science, Centre for Future Materials, University of Southern Queensland, Springfield, QLD, 4300, Australia
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