Browse Articles

NAPTUNE: nucleic acids and protein biomarkers testing via ultra-sensitive nucleases escalation

Multi-slotted airfoil design for enhanced aerodynamic performance and economic efficiency

Abstract Recently, slotted airfoils have been introduced as a passive flow control approach. The slotted airfoil method resulted in stall delay and enhanced the lift coefficient. The single-slot airfoil is unable to delay stall if the flow is injected downstream of the separation point at the stall angle of attack. A multi-slot airfoil ensures air is injected along the airfoil suction side, delaying stalls over a large range of AOA. The current study focuses on enhancing wind turbine blades’ efficiency by utilizing a novel multi-slot NACA23012C airfoil design as a passive control approach. A numerical study of the optimal grid number was carried out, followed by validating the numerical model with previous experimental results in the literature. The numerical study is followed by a study of the effect of the number of airfoil slots: one, two, three, four, five, and six. The characteristics of the flow field were analyzed to explain the benefit of applying multi-slotted on the aerodynamic performance of an airfoil with a high AOA at Reynolds number 2.74 × 105. The findings showed a significant improvement in the lift coefficient values and the delayed stall AOA for multi-slot airfoils compared to the clean and single-slot airfoils. Increasing the slots number is effective up to four slots. The four-slot airfoil improved lift by 15.8%, and the two slots achieved a 22.31% CL/CD increase. Future work could optimize slot geometry, validate findings experimentally, and study dynamic and 3D effects.

No gender differences in attraction to young partners: A study of 4,500 blind dates

In mixed-gender couples, men are older than women on average. Scholars and laypeople presume that this arrangement reflects mirrored preferences such that men desire younger partners and women desire older partners. Nevertheless, relevant published data on in-person romantic evaluations—that is, studies where adults interact in person and report their initial attraction to each other—are nearly nonexistent. We examined the association of a partner’s age with romantic desire ( N = 9,084 dyadic reports) among N = 6,262 blind daters who used a matchmaking service in hopes of finding a long-term partner. Preregistered tests revealed that people were (slightly) attracted to younger partners on average—and this association did not differ by gender. Conclusions were identical if we examined a) age difference from one’s own age, and b) a dataset limited to women 40-and-under and mixed-gender dates. Furthermore, participant’s self-reported “upper-age limits” played no meaningful role: Participants had a modest preference for youth overall, but it did not matter whether the partner’s age fell below or above this personal maximum. We discuss the implications of the nonexistent initial-attraction gender difference for the age difference in mixed-gender couples.

Suppressing recurrence in Sonic Hedgehog subgroup medulloblastoma using the OLIG2 inhibitor CT-179

Impact of geriatric nutritional risk index and diabetes mellitus on prognosis in ischaemic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction

Managing protected areas takes a village

The autophagy component LC3 regulates lymphocyte adhesion via LFA1 transport in response to outside-in signaling

Repetitive stability study of remdesivir/cyclodextrin complex on the international space station

Abstract Stability assessment of drugs in space is particularly important for future missions. In space there are multiple factors, such as the variability of the conditions (radiation, microgravity, vacuum etc.) that could affect the reliability and reproducibility of the data. Therefore, we investigated the stability of an anti-Covid drug formulation, Remdesivir (RDV) sulfobutylether-beta-cyclodextrin (SBECD) complex, in two separate flight experiments on the International Space Station (ISS). While HPLC/MS studies revealed no degradation of the cyclodextrin excipient in any of the samples investigated in both missions, RDV purity analysis of the RDV/SBECD complex after the first mission revealed different stabilities and altered degradation in space and on Earth. This latter interesting finding was not supported by the second mission, where no differences in the drug stabilities were identified. This anomaly highlighted the importance of standardization together with increased control of the variable parameters during the entire space missions and the terrestrial control experiments.

Carbonate fluorapatite coatings on phillipsite represent a significant sink of phosphorus in abyssal plains of the western Pacific Ocean

As an essential micronutrient, phosphorus plays a key role in oceanic biogeochemistry, with its cycling intimately connected to the global carbon cycle and climate change. Authigenic carbonate fluorapatite (CFA) has been suggested to represent a significant phosphorus sink in the deep ocean, but its formation mechanisms in oceanic low-productivity settings remain poorly constrained. Applying X-ray absorption near edge structure, transmission electron microscopy, and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer analyses, we report a unique mineral assemblage where CFA crystals coat phillipsite in abyssal sediments of the East Mariana Basin and the Philippine Sea. This finding suggests that phillipsite provides an ideal microenvironment for CFA formation due to its ability to release calcium cations and its strong adsorption capacity for phosphate anions. The feasibility of such a mechanism was confirmed by long-term (10 mo) laboratory experiments. Furthermore, the CFA forming in the sediment of abyssal plains is found to be enriched in rare earth elements (REE). The previously unrecognized mechanism of CFA formation may therefore not only contribute to the cycling of phosphorus in oceanic low-productivity environments but may also represent a significant sink of REE.

Observation of the non-Hermitian skin effect and Fermi skin on a digital quantum computer

Transformer-based travel time estimation method for plateau and mountainous environments

Leveraging AlphaFold for innovation and sustainable health research in Africa

Effect of a home-based physical rehabilitation program via virtual reality on the functional outcomes of frail older adults: a quasi-experimental study

Abstract Given the rapid aging of the population in Egypt, efforts to slow down or prevent frailty. Virtual reality technology constitutes a promising rehabilitation strategy, but its effect on frailty in older adults remains inconclusive. A non-equivalent control pre, post, and follow-up test design was used with a sample of 70 prefrail or frail older adults. In 3 urbans affiliated to Dakahlia governorate, tools of data collection; Mini-Cog, Structured Interview Schedule, Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe of the Frailty Indicator (FI), Short Physical Performance Battery, and Falls Efficacy Scale. For each group, a significant improvement in frailty, physical performance, and falls from each measurement period to immediately after (p < 0.001), and within the 30-days study period while those in the control group were relatively stable over time and sometime worsen. The baseline characteristics and assessment results were similar between groups. We observed significant improvements in the intervention group in terms of frailty criteria, standing balance, gait speed, chair stand, and fear of fall. No improvements were observed in the control group, we anticipate a decrease in frailty index, and increase in standing balance, reinforcing the proven benefits of the exercise in this vulnerable population.

Differential transport pathways of saturated and unsaturated fatty acid esters in male mouse hepatocytes

Preoperative ANemiA among elderly undergoing Major Abdominal surgery (PANAMA) is associated with early postoperative morbidity and worse quality of life outcomes

Photoredox/Cr-catalyzed enantioselective radical-polar crossover transformation via C-H functionalization

Watershed: a more efficient sampling unit for mountain camera traps

Optical time-lapsed in situ mechanochemical studies on metal halide perovskite systems

Single inhaler with beclometasone, formoterol, and glycopyrronium versus triple therapies in adults with uncontrolled asthma: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Molecular basis for azetidine-2-carboxylic acid biosynthesis

Abstract Azetidine-2-carboxylic acid (AZE) is a long-known plant metabolite. Recently, AZE synthases have been identified in bacterial natural product pathways involving non-ribosomal peptide synthetases. AZE synthases catalyse the intramolecular 4-exo-tet cyclisation of S-adenosylmethionine (SAM), yielding a highly strained heterocycle. Here, we combine structural and biochemical analyses with quantum mechanical calculations and mutagenesis studies to reveal catalytic insights into AZE synthases. The cyclisation of SAM is facilitated by an exceptional substrate conformation and supported by desolvation effects as well as cation-π interactions. In addition, we uncover related SAM lyases in diverse bacterial phyla, suggesting a wider prevalence of AZE-containing metabolites than previously expected. To explore the potential of AZE as a proline mimic in combinatorial biosynthesis, we introduce an AZE synthase into the pyrrolizixenamide pathway and thereby engineer analogues of azabicyclenes. Taken together, our findings provide a molecular framework to understand and exploit SAM-dependent cyclisation reactions.