Green synthesis of MIL-100(Fe) metal-organic frameworks as a carrier for chloroquine delivery

The metal-organic framework MIL-100(Fe) was synthesized by the green process using the ultrasonic method and water. By using this approach, the energy consumption was reduced by 100 times compared to the hydrothermal method. The prepared MIL-100(Fe) was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and BET surface area measurements. The XRD pattern showed characteristic peaks of MIL-100 (Fe) with the main peaks at 6.3o, 10.3o, 11.1o, and 20.1o. The prepared MIL-100(Fe) was of particle size in a range of from 100 nm to 200 nm, and surface area of 950 m2/g with a pore volume of 0.52 cm3/g. The obtained MIL-100 (Fe) showed a high loading capacity for the chloroquine drug with a maximal capacity of 555 mg/g.

Assessing Mitochondrial Energetics of Skeletal Muscle in the Study of Muscle Mobility and Aging (SOMMA)

Mitochondria produce energy as ATP that essential for muscle contraction and movement. We hypothesize that age-related decreases in the capacity to generate ATP in muscle plays a major role in loss of mobility with aging. In SOMMA, we use high-resolution respirometry to measure the activity of electron transport system (ETS) in permeabilized muscle fibers from muscle biopsies. This allows us to assay ETS function in a highly controlled ex vivo experiment at the myocellular level, removed from other potentially limiting physiological factors including supplies of substrates and oxygen. We are also measuring the maximal capacity to generate ATP (ATPmax) in vivo by 31PMRS. ATPmax reflects the rate of phosphocreatine replenishment via oxidative phosphorylation. Analysis from the first 113 participants indicates that ATPmax correlates with Maximal OXPHOS (r=0.27, P=0.005), and Maximal ETS capacity (r=0.17, P=0.08). This suggests that these approaches provide complementary information on skeletal muscle energetics.

Spatial Domain Suppression of Co-Channel Interference: A Reflection Amplifiers Surface (RAS) Approach

This paper adopts a novel reflection amplifiers surface (RAS) to suppress the co-channel interference in the spatial domain. The RAS can reflect and amplify the electromagnetic wave with phase shifts by designing the reflection coefficients, which enables it more flexibly reconfigure the wireless propagation environment, and even suppress interference channel gain. In this paper, a transmitter and an interferer send the desired signal and interference to the receiver, respectively, and a RAS is placed to suppress the unknown interference. First, we design the reflection coefficients for optimizing the interference suppression ratio, and prove that when the number of reflection amplifiers is greater than the number of antennas at the interferer, the interference can be perfectly suppressed. Next, a capacity maximization problem is formulated to design the optimal reflection coefficients, and an iterative algorithm based on fractional programming and the convex-concave procedure is proposed to obtain the solution for this problem. Moreover, the closed-form expression of the maximal capacity is obtained in the strong interference power case. In addition, this paper shows the upper and lower boundaries of the maximal capacity and discusses what kind of the channel conditions achieve the upper and lower boundaries. Lastly, the above results are generalized to the multiple interferer scenario.

Spatial Domain Suppression of Co-Channel Interference: A Reflection Amplifiers Surface (RAS) Approach

This paper adopts a novel reflection amplifiers surface (RAS) to suppress the co-channel interference in the spatial domain. The RAS can reflect and amplify the electromagnetic wave with phase shifts by designing the reflection coefficients, which enables it more flexibly reconfigure the wireless propagation environment, and even suppress interference channel gain. In this paper, a transmitter and an interferer send the desired signal and interference to the receiver, respectively, and a RAS is placed to suppress the unknown interference. First, we design the reflection coefficients for optimizing the interference suppression ratio, and prove that when the number of reflection amplifiers is greater than the number of antennas at the interferer, the interference can be perfectly suppressed. Next, a capacity maximization problem is formulated to design the optimal reflection coefficients, and an iterative algorithm based on fractional programming and the convex-concave procedure is proposed to obtain the solution for this problem. Moreover, the closed-form expression of the maximal capacity is obtained in the strong interference power case. In addition, this paper shows the upper and lower boundaries of the maximal capacity and discusses what kind of the channel conditions achieve the upper and lower boundaries. Lastly, the above results are generalized to the multiple interferer scenario.

Heavy-tailed abundance distributions from stochastic Lotka-Volterra models

Microbial communities found in nature are composed of many rare species and few abundant ones, as reflected by their heavy-tailed abundance distributions. How a large number of species can coexist in those complex communities and why they are dominated by rare species is still not fully understood. We show how heavy-tailed distributions arise as an emergent property from large communities with many interacting species in population-level models. To do so we rely on stochastic logistic and generalized Lotka-Volterra models for which we introduce a global maximal capacity. This maximal capacity accounts for the fact that communities are limited by available resources and space. In a parallel ‘ad-hoc’ approach, we obtain heavy-tailed abundance distributions from non-interacting models through specific distributions of the parameters. We expect both mechanisms, interactions between many species and specific parameter distributions, to be relevant to explain the observed heavy tails.

SIR epidemiological model with ratio-dependent incidence: influence of preventive vaccination and treatment control strategies on disease dynamics

In this paper, we study an SIR epidemic model with ratio dependent incident rate function. We explore the impact of vaccination and treatment on the transmission dynamics of the disease. The treatment control strategies depend on the availability of maximal treatment capacity: treatment rate is constant when the number of infected individuals is greater than the maximal capacity of treatment and proportional to the number of infected individuals when the number of infected individuals is less than the maximal capacity of treatment. The existence and stability of the endemic equilibria are governed by the basic reproduction number and treatment control strategies. By carrying out rigorous mathematical analysis and numerical evaluations, it has been shown that (1) the sufficiently large value of the preventive vaccination rate can control the spread of disease, (2) a threshold level of the psychological (or inhibitory) effects in the incidence rate function is enough to decrease the infective population. Model system also undergoes a transcritical and a saddle-node bifurcation with respect to disease contact rate. In the presence of treatment strategies, system have multiple endemic equilibria and undergoes a backward bifurcation. The number of infected individuals decreases with respect to maximal treatment capacity and disease dies out from the system for large capacity of the treatment when constant treatment strategy is applied. Further, it is also found that the spread of disease can be suppressed by increasing treatment rate. Sensitivity analysis shows that the transmission and treatment rates are most sensitive parameters on the model system.

SWOT and AHP Analysis in Determining the Strategy of Product Marketing Excellence in Companies

The development of companies in the digital era especially product business in Indonesia is now increasingly prominent in complexity, competition, change, and uncertainty so that the company's marketing and sales systems have not reached a maximal capacity due to the lack of superior and appropriate strategy. The researcher considered several alternatives using SWOT analysis and the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method to overcome these problems. The results showed that using the SWOT-AHP Analysis, it was found that the Strength parameter got the highest score by 53% and Opportunity parameter by 21%. Through the SWOT sub-criteria, it was found that the Strenghts priority were S2 (Registered patent) with a score of 0.53, S1 (New product) with a score of 0.29, S3 (Mechanical technology) with a score of 0.28, respectively. While weaknesses priority were W2 (inoptimal product promotion) with a score of 0.63, W1 (product not widely known) with a score of 0.37. In addition, the Opportunities Priority were the order of O2 (market share's openness) with a score of 0.52, O3 (More efficient products) with a score of 0.29, and O1 (Switching products from manual to automatic) with a score 0.19. And finally, the Threats priority were T1 (raw material) with a score of 0.53, T2 (price competition) with a score of 0.26 and T3 (product fraud) with a score of 0.21. The top priority of leading marketing strategy are by increasing product quality by 39.3%, while the second priority is marketing cooperation by 21.4%, the third is the pricing strategy by 20.5% and the last is promotion by 14.8%.

Should critically ill patients with COVID-19 be managed in high-volume ICUs?

To the Editor: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in 38 394 169 cases and 1 089 047 deaths worldwide as of 15 October 2020, although to date, Australia has been relatively spared, with only 11 441 cases and 118deaths. Globally, health care systems and intensive care units (ICUs) have been under immense pressure and wide regional variation in mortality has been observed, both between and within countries. It has been suggested that a higher ICU case volume of COVID-19 may be associated with increased mortality, although this has not yet been systematically investigated. Intuitively, a negative volume–outcome association is plausible under pandemic conditions, as a stretched system running above maximal capacity may not be able to deliver its usual standard of care.

CO2 sorption from a mixture of N2/CO2 using an activated carbon and silica gel: equilibrium, breakthrough and mass transfer zone

<p>The temperature, feed rate, length of mass transfer zone, utilization factor and partial pressure are the parameters considered for fixed bed sorption of CO2 from N2/CO2 mixture. The breakthrough time relies strongly on the temperature and feed rate. The prolonged breakthrough and saturation times have been realized for AC. The response curves of AC are vastly steep signifying the maximal utilization of bed capacity at the breakpoint. In general, the length of MTZ increases with raised temperature and feed flow rate. The capacity utilization factor reduces with raised temperature and feed flow rate. A utilization factor of 0.919 was determined for AC. The maximal capacity for CO2 reduces significantly with an increased temperature. The maximal capacities of 32.99 gm CO2/Kg was determined at a temperature of 298 K for AC. The capacity improves considerably with CO2 partial pressure and AC exhibited higher adsorption capacity compared to SG. The capacity improves considerably with increased feed rates and maximal capacity of 39.14 g CO2/Kg adsorbent was determined for AC at the feed rate of 8.33 x10-3 m3/sec. Owing to higher sorption capacity and utilization factor, the AC may be used for economical separation of CO2 from N2/CO2 mixture</p>

Comparison of intravesical instillation of hyaluronic acid with intradetrusor botulinum toxin A injection or cystoscopic hydrodistention for ketamine-associated cystitis

Objective This study aimed to compare the therapeutic effect of intravesical instillation hyaluronic acid with intradetrusor botulinum toxin A (BTX-A) injection or cystoscopic hydrodistention for ketamine-associated cystitis. Methods Thirty-six patients were evenly randomly divided into the BTX-A group or the hydrodistention group. Patients received 200 U BTX-A detrusor injections in the BTX-A group and cystoscopic hydrodistention in the hydrodistention group. Intravesical instillation of hyaluronic acid was administrated in both groups for eight times. Patients with involuntary detrusor contraction were divided into the persistent involuntary detrusor contraction group and resolved involuntary detrusor contraction group after treatment in 6 months. The predictors of persistent involuntary detrusor contraction were analyzed. Results Twelve months after treatment, the daytime frequency, Interstitial Cystitis Symptom Index, maximal capacity, and maximal cystometric capacity in the BTX-A group were significantly better than those in the hydrodistention group. Patients with resolution of involuntary detrusor contraction had a significantly shorter duration of ketamine, lower amount of fibrosis in pathology, and higher maximal capacity than those with persistent involuntary detrusor contraction 6 months after therapy. Conclusion Intravesical instillation of hyaluronic acid with intradetrusor BTX-A injection appears to be a preferable option for long-term effectiveness compared with cystoscopic hydrodistention.