Comment on “Comparison of ozone measurement methods in biomass burning smoke: an evaluation under field and laboratory conditions” (Long et al. 2021)

Long et al (2021) conducted a detailed study of possible interferents in measurements of surface O3 by UV spectroscopy, which measures the UV transmission in ambient and O3 scrubbed air. While we appreciate the careful work done in this analysis, there were several omissions and, in one case, the type of scrubber used was mis-identified as manganese dioxide (MnO2), when in fact it was manganese chloride (MnCl2). This misidentification led to the erroneous conclusion that all UV-based O3 instruments employing solid-phase catalytic scrubbers exhibit significant positive artifacts, whereas previous research found this not to be the case when employing MnO2 scrubber types. While the Long study, and our results, confirm the substantial bias in instruments employing an MnCl2 scrubber, a replication of the earlier work with an MnO2 scrubber type and no humidity correction is needed.

Functional Neurophysiological Biomarkers of Early-Stage Alzheimer’s Disease: A Perspective of Network Hyperexcitability in Disease Progression

Network hyperexcitability (NH) has recently been suggested as a potential neurophysiological biomarker of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), as new, more accurate biomarkers of AD are sought. NH has generated interest as a potential biomarker of certain stages in the disease trajectory and even as a disease mechanism by which network dysfunction could be modulated. NH has been demonstrated in several animal models of AD pathology and multiple lines of evidence point to the existence of NH in patients with AD, strongly supporting the physiological and clinical relevance of this indication. Several hypotheses have been put forward to explain the prevalence of NH in animal models through neurophysiological, biochemical, and imaging techniques. However, some of these hypotheses have been built on animal models with limitations and caveats that may have derived NH through other mechanisms or mechanisms without translational validity to sporadic AD patients, potentially leading to an erroneous conclusion of the underlying cause of NH occurring in patients with AD. In this review, we discuss the substantiation for NH in animal models of AD pathology and in human patients, as well as some of the hypotheses considering recently developed animal models that challenge existing hypotheses and mechanisms of NH. In addition, we provide a preclinical perspective on how the development of animal models incorporating AD-specific NH could provide physiologically relevant translational experimental data that may potentially aid the discovery and development of novel therapies for AD.

Scientific Error and Error Handling

Error is a common part of scientific practice, which must be accounted for by scientonomy. A scientific error occurs when an agent accepts a theory that should not have been accepted given that agent’s employed method. One might suspect that the handling of scientific error seems to violate the theory rejection theorem according to which a theory becomes rejected only when other theories that are incompatible with the theory become accepted, because it appears as though a theory isn’t replaced by anything. Here, we analyze several instances of scientific error and show that error handling, when properly analyzed, is fully consistent with the theory rejection theorem. We show that instances of scientific error typically involve the rejection of an erroneous conclusion as well as one or more of the premises of the argument that leads to that erroneous conclusion. In most cases, first-order propositions of the original erroneously accepted theory are replaced by other first-order propositions incompatible with them. In some cases, however, first-order propositions are replaced by second-order propositions asserting the lack of sufficient reason for accepting these first-order propositions. In both cases, such a replacement is fully consistent with the theory rejection theorem.

Features of establishing the presence of blood in old stains by the method of thin-layer vertical chromatography

Due to the fact that the bloodstain pattern analysis takes the first place in the structure of the study of biological objects, the question of the study of blood patterns is relevant today. The main task (that will allow to solve the following, which puts the investigation before the experts), is to prove that these patterns, which are examined, contain blood, (regardless of their remoteness, attempts to destroy patterns of blood), find out its types or refute traces of blood. If the expert fails to prove the presence of blood, he must refuse to address the following issues. Otherwise, the expert may obtain results that will ultimately lead him to an erroneous conclusion. The article considers options for extraction of old blood stains in order to establish the presence of blood by the method of thin-layer vertical chromatography. This question is still relevant, as biological material can change under the influence of environmental factors and time and this can be an obstacle to establishing the fact of its presence on physical evidence, and also it can do harm to the quality of the study and the correctness of the conclusions, made as a result of the study. In order to select substances, that could provide rapid extraction of old blood stains, a study was performed using weak solutions of alkalis and acids and subsequent determination of the presence of blood by thin layer vertical chromatography. In immunological studies, there have been cases where blood crusts on non-hygroscopic surfaces under the influence of natural factors (such as high temperatures and direct sun rays) have not been extracted in saline and distilled water for several days. In addition, when using known blood samples in the reactions, the dependence of the saturation of the extracts on the age of the samples and the time of their extraction. These observations prompted researches in the sector of biological research and accounting of the Cherkasy NDEKTs of the Ministry of Internal Affairs on methods for extracting old blood stains, which would allow to detect blood in the shortest possible time by the method of thin-layer vertical chromatography.

The Enigmatic N-Terminal Domain of Proglucagon; A Historical Perspective

Enteroglucagon refers to the predominant peptide with glucagon-like immunoreactivity (GLI) that is released by the intestine into the circulation in response to nutrients. Development of a radioimmunoassay for glucagon revealed issues that were not apparent in applications of the insulin radioimmunoassay. The fact that some antisera raised against glucagon recognized glucagon-related peptides in extracts of both pancreas and gut whereas others recognized only components in the pancreas remained a mystery until it was realized that the “gut GLI cross-reactive” antisera were directed against an epitope in the N-terminal to central region of glucagon whereas the “pancreatic glucagon specific” antisera were directed against an epitope in the C-terminal region. Unlike the cross-reactive antisera, the glucagon specific antisera did not recognize components in which glucagon was extended from its C-terminus by additional amino acids. Initial attempts to purify enteroglucagon from porcine ileum led to the erroneous conclusion that enteroglucagon comprised 100 amino acids with an apparent molecular mass of 12,000 Da and was consequently given the name glicentin. Subsequent work established that the peptide constituted residues (1-69) of proglucagon (Mr 8128). In the 40 years since the structural characterization of glicentin, attempts to establish an unambiguous physiological function for enteroglucagon have not been successful. Unlike the oxyntomodulin domain at the C-terminus of enteroglucagon, the primary structure of the N-terminal domain (glicentin-related pancreatic peptide) has been poorly conserved among mammals. Consequently, most investigations of the bioactivity of porcine glicentin may have been carried out in inappropriate animal models. Enteroglucagon may simply represent an inactive peptide that ensures that the intestine does not release equimolar amounts of a hyperglycemic agent (glucagon) and a hypoglycemic agent (GLP-1) after ingestion of nutrients.

The catatonia syndrome: forgotten but not gone – a case report

AimsTo highlight the presentation and treatment of catatonia in a patient with Schizophrenia.BackgroundCatatonia is a syndrome of altered motor behaviour accompanying many general and neurological disorders. It frequently goes unrecognized, leading to the erroneous conclusion that it is rare. Signs and symptoms of catatonia are commonly relieved by the intravenous (IV) administration of a barbiturate or benzodiazepine. If the patient does not fully respond to the sedative drug, ECT becomes the default.ResultA 61-year Caucasian male with a diagnosis of Paranoid Schizophrenia had been stable for 17 years on Clozapine. He was monitored by his GP. He resided in supported accommodation for 19 years and he was rehoused in a new borough. He was unable to obtain new prescription for Clozapine from his new GP and suffered a psychotic relapse following a period with no Clozapine and admitted under section 2 of the MHA. Clozapine was not restarted due to concerns of prolonged QTc and ectopics. Aripiprazol 15 mg and promethazine were prescribed. He was transferred to a medical ward three weeks later presenting as rigid with abnormal posturing on his bed, febrile, tachycardic and mute. He was confused, withdrawn and not responding to questions. In the medical ward he was bedbound, had high spiking temperatures, raised CK, ongoing fever.He was agitated , restless and confused with dystonic movements of arms and legs and echolalia. He developed an oral thrush, fecal impaction and was catheterised, had mittens put on due to pulling his iv cannulas. Clonazepam 2 mg QDS was prescribed, antipsychotic stopped and rehydrated. After two weeks in hospital clozapine was reintroduced and titrated accordingly. After 8 weeks Lorazepam was introduced as 1 mg QDS and he discharged to psychiatry unit on Lorazepam 1.5 mg QDS after 82 days in medical ward. He continued to be rigid and psychotic. Treatment continued with lorazepam increased up to 16 mg daily and 8 session of ECT were prescribed. Following ECT his mental state improved significantly and there was no rigidity or abnormal movements.ConclusionCatatonia is better regarded as a movement and behavioral syndrome with particular attributes and diverse antecedents. First line of treatment is high dose of Lorazepam and second line ECT. Catatonia is a diagnosable and treatable entity.More education is needed to reinforce this message for physicians, especially in emergency departments and psychiatric facilities.

A research parasite's perspective on establishing a baseline to avoid errors in secondary analyses

To enhance reproducibility in scientific research, more and more datasets are becoming publicly available so that researchers can perform secondary analyses to investigate questions the original scientists had not posited. This increases the return on investment for the NIH and other funding bodies. These datasets, however, are not perfect, and a better understanding of the assumptions that shaped them is required. The 2020 Junior Research Parasite Award recognized our work that showed that the signal-to-noise ratio in a particular dataset had not been investigated, leading to an erroneous conclusion in the original research. In this commentary, I share the process that led to the identification of the problem and hopefully provide useful lessons for other research parasites.

PROBLEM ASPECTS OF TRADITIONAL APPROACHES TO DETERMINATION OF METHODS OF LEGAL REGULATION

The article refutes traditional ideas regarding the existence of the unified and inherent in each specific branch of law method of legal regulation. The following aspects are substantiated: (1) erroneous conclusion that the method of legal regulation is one of the obligatory criteria for distinguishing legal norms in the field of law; (2) that the existing definitions of the concept and content of these methods are controversial; (3) the need to clarify and the issue in question itself, namely whether it is about methods of legal regulation or methods of law, the identification of which is erroneous; (4) incompleteness of the proposed features and systems of these methods; (5) unjustified underestimation in the formation of the doctrine of methods of legal regulation of their conditionality not only by the subject, but also by the purpose and objectives of each of its types, and by what means each of them can be solved. The article proves the following: (1) since the law in the objective sense performs the function of the method, in the theory and practice of legal relations it would be more appropriate to use the concept of not "method of law", but "method of legal regulation"; (2) in the structure of any method, it is necessary to distinguish its content, which is a system of relevant requirements, rules, guidelines, recommendations, etc., and its form, which is the appropriate method of its application; (3) each type of legal regulation provides for the need to solve a huge number of tasks, and therefore uses a huge number of appropriate tools, which include its methods, each of which is marked by its own content and form, its inherent features and has its own structure, which facilitates the choice for its use of the appropriate course of action; (4) components of the system of methods of legal regulation are common law, branch, methods of separate legal institutes and methods of solving separate (atypical) tasks, which determines the relevance of their classification; and (5) methods of legal regulation can be properly characterized only in a system of comprehensive consideration of the following issues: (a) the concept, purpose and objectives of legal regulation; (b) its object and subject; (c) means of legal regulation and what tasks they aim to solve; (d) ways and features of the procedure for their application, fixation and procedural forms of use of obtaining results with their help; (d) subjects authorized to use them; and (e) ways of legal support for the proper use of appropriate means and results obtained with their help. Keywords: legal regulation, branches of law, subject, methods, means, content, form, system, methodology.

Paraphyly of the genus Boehmeria (Urticaceae): a response to Liang et al. ‘Relationships among Chinese Boehmeria species and the evolution of various clade’

Boehmeria, as currently circumscribed, comprises 52 species and has a pantropical distribution. Liang et al. propose a sectional classification of Boehmeria based on the phylogenetic analysis of SNP data for 20 species and an additional 10 subspecific taxa of these at the rank of variety or form. They restrict their sampling to species documented in China. We found many shortcomings in the sampling and analyses which we feel have resulted in a misleading phylogeny for the genus and the economically important fibre-plant, Boehmeria nivea. By sampling only Chinese species of this genus for their in-group and using a single distantly related outgroup, Liang et al. have failed to capture the diversity of the genus and so erroneously concluded that it forms a monophyletic group. Previous published research clearly demonstrates that Boehmeria is paraphyletic and polyphyletic, comprising at least four monophyletic groupings most closely related to several genera within the Boehmerieae. For these reasons, the sections that Liang et al. (Ind Crops Prod 148:112092, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2020.112092) propose for Boehmeria are not effective tools for its classification. The important fibre-plant, Boehmeria nivea, should therefore not be considered as part of the genus Boehmeria for the purposes of crop breeding, but as sister to Archiboehmeria. Breeding programmes for ramie should therefore focus on populations and germplasm of Archiboehmeria atrata. We conclude that poor taxon sampling, overlooking relevant molecular and taxonomic literature, internal conflict within their SNP data and the overinterpretation of low support values has resulted in the erroneous conclusion that Boehmeria represents a monophyletic or ‘natural’ genus.

Shock Damage Analysis in Serial Femtosecond Crystallography Data Collected at MHz X-ray Free-Electron Lasers

Serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) data were recorded at the European X-ray free-electron laser facility (EuXFEL) with protein microcrystals delivered via a microscopic liquid jet. An XFEL beam striking such a jet may launch supersonic shock waves up the jet, compromising the oncoming sample. To investigate this efficiently, we employed a novel XFEL pulse pattern to nominally expose the sample to between zero and four shock waves before being probed. Analyzing hit rate, indexing rate, and resolution for diffraction data recorded at MHz pulse rates, we found no evidence of damage. Notably, however, this conclusion could only be drawn after careful identification and assimilation of numerous interrelated experimental factors, which we describe in detail. Failure to do so would have led to an erroneous conclusion. Femtosecond photography of the sample-carrying jet revealed critically different jet behavior from that of all homogeneous liquid jets studied to date in this manner.