Constructing versatile materials with self-detoxification properties are highly desired for emergency destruction of chemical warfare agents (CWAs). Herein, we first reported in-situ fabrication of ZnIn2S4/UiO-66-NH2 nanocomposites (ZnInS/UiO) and their application in catalytic detoxification of two CWA simulants. For nerve agent simulant dimethyl 4-nitrophenyl phosphate (DMNP), the optimal ZnInS/UiO-23.9 displayed 5.9 times increase in hydrolysis rate having the turnover frequency (TOF) of 0.0586 s-1 under simulated solar light (SSL), which is superior to the reported UiO-based catalysts. Photo-assisted enhancement in DMNP detoxification was due to photothermal effect of ZnInS and close interfacial contact in ZnInS/UiO heterostructures, facilitating instantaneous heat transfer from ZnInS to UiO catalytic sites. As for mustard gas surrogate 2-chloroethyl ethyl sulfide (CEES), under SSL irradiation for 15 min, ZnInS/UiO-23.9 can eliminate 96.7% of CEES in droplet experiment, being 4.17 and 3.24 times of ZnInS and UiO accordingly. It was ascribed to spatial separation of photoinduced electron-hole pairs and photothermally-assisted charge transfer in ZnInS/UiO composites, improving catalytic activity for CEES detoxification. Besides, the detected products suggested that CEES conversion underwent reductive dechlorination, radical reactions and hydrolysis. This study can be extended to other multifunctional catalysts based on metal-organic frameworks and provides new opportunities for photoassisted enhanced detoxification of CWAs.

NMO spectrum disorders [NMOSD] is a relapsing autoimmune disorder with attacks of optic neuritis (ON) and transverse myelitis (TM). A large proportion of NMOSD patients have no or a partial recovery after relapse.

The neuro-immunological community now has a number of indicated agents for NMOSD therapy including eculizumab [Soliris®], inebilizumab (Uplizna®) and satralizumab (Enspryng®) with different mechanisms of action (MOA), rapidity of the onset of action (OOA) and issues of long-term safety. Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) may be another therapeutic option.

The advantages of eculizumab are preservation of immunosurveillance, immediate onset of action and persistent efficacy but frequent IV administration and cost are important drawbacks. Inebilizumab allows a slight decrease in relapse free subjects over time but decreases B and plasmablast cell disease-inducing pathogenic antibody production. However, inebilizumab may cause immunosuppression. Satralizumab is immunomodula NMO, control the complement (eculizumab), reconstitute the immune system (AHSCT), transition to immunomodulation (satralizumab) and reserve immunosuppression (inebilizumab) as 4th line. AHSCT might also be used as rescue therapy for severe breakthrough disease after NMO-DMTs.

A formal transition program has not been described for neurosurgical adolescent patients with an indwelling shunt device. Transitioning from pediatric neurosurgical care to adult care without transition guidance has caused abrupt transfer of care at this institution. The goal of this pilot transition program was to help patients and caregivers feel informed and prepared for transition.

The Got Transition®, Six Core Elements of Transition, were used to create this program. Both a policy and a registry to track and monitor patients were created. A validated questionnaire for transition readiness was measured. Education was provided based on the results of the questionnaire to prepare the adolescent for transfer of care. A smartphone application was used to promote health care independence. Transfer to adult neurosurgical care included hand-off between the pediatric and adult teams, child life and social work involvement, and scheduled follow up with an adult neurosurgical provider.

All patients 14 to 18years with indwelling shunts were enrolled in the pilot program. Eight patients completed a baseline transition readiness assessment, received education and anticipatory guidance, and downloaded the smartphone application. At the end of the six month pilot, three patients were successfully transferred to adult care.

The integration of a transition readiness questionnaire and smart phone application during this pilot program was feasible and continues to be used at this institution. Adolescent patients with shunts require gradual and carefully planned transition services.

The integration of a transition readiness questionnaire and smart phone application during this pilot program was feasible and continues to be used at this institution. Adolescent patients with shunts require gradual and carefully planned transition services.Chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD) is the major long-term cause of morbidity and mortality after lung transplantation. Both bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome and restrictive lung allograft syndrome, two main types of CLAD, lead to fibrosis in either the small airways or alveoli and pleura. Pathological pathways in CLAD and other types of fibrosis, for example idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, are assumed to overlap and therefore fibrosis biomarkers could aid in the early detection of CLAD. These biomarkers could help to differentiate between different phenotypes of CLAD and could, in comparison to biomarkers of inflammation, possibly distinguish an infectious event from CLAD when a decline in lung function is present. This review gives an overview of known CLAD specific biomarkers, describes new promising fibrosis biomarkers currently investigated in other types of fibrosis, and discusses the possible use of these fibrosis biomarkers for CLAD.Microalgae cultivation for food purposes could have high environmental impacts. The study performed life cycle assessment (LCA) of hypothetical model combining phototrophic and heterotrophic cultivations, exchanging produced gases (carbon dioxide from heterotrophic and oxygen from autotrophic) as a potential strategy to reduce the environmental impact of microalgae cultivation. The LCA indicated that the production of Galdieria sulphuraria in a combined cultivation system has environmental benefits compared with the separate phototrophic cultivation and an almost twice lower carbon footprint than phototrophic cultivation. The benefits are based on the lower volume of culture broth and consequently reduced energy demand as well as less demanding wastewater treatment of the heterotrophic cultivation. Such combination of cultivation activities could be recommended to the producers dealing with phototrophic cultivation as a sustainable strategy for the environmental impact reduction.The multistage bio-contact oxidation reactor (BCOR) is a widely used biological strategy to treat wastewater, however, little is known about the performance and microbial community information of BCOR during the treatment of low-COD and high-salinity oilfield produced water. In this study, the performance of a multistage BCOR in treating produced water was investigated. The result suggested the BCOR could efficiently remove COD, BOD5, NH4+-N, and oil pollutants. Besides, high-throughput sequencing analysis revealed that oil content was the main variable in shaping the community structure. The highest total relative abundance of potential pollutants degraders in first BCOR stage suggested significant role of this stage in pollutants removal. In addition, the correlation analysis disclosed the key functional genera during the degradation process, including Rhodobacter, Citreibacter, and Roseovarius. Moreover, network analysis revealed that the microbial taxa within same module had strong ecological linkages and specific functions.Rangeliosis is a condition transmitted by the tick Amblyomma aureolatum and caused by the protozoan parasite Rangelia vitalii in canids. In domestic dogs, the disease causes a severe hemolytic disease, while in wild canids the piroplasm is often detected without any clinical abnormality. This study aimed to detect and quantify the number of copies of the R. vitalii Hsp70 gene (indirect parasite burden) in several organs of domestic and South American wild canids (Cerdocyon thous and Lycalopex gymnocercus) to elucidate distinct clinical presentations of rangeliosis in these species. A total of seven domestic dogs that died due to rangeliosis and 38 wild foxes were initially included, with all dogs presenting histological and molecular features of rangeliosis, while eight C. thous were positive at the molecular analysis for R. vitalii. Fragments of 22 organs collected from domestic (n = 7) and wild foxes (n = 8) were employed for histological and molecular quantification using real-time polymerase chain reactioct as accidental hosts, presenting a severe and more pathogenic schizogony phase, resulting in characteristic clinical and pathological rangeliosis.The Mediterranean tick, Hyalomma marginatum, is the most important vector of Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever virus and several pathogens that cause animal and human diseases and economic losses to livestock production. Given the medical and veterinary importance of this tick species, we sequenced and characterized its mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) for the first time. We designed two new primer sets and combined long-range PCR with next generation sequencing to generate complete mitogenomes with deep coverage from 10 H. marginatum adults. The mitogenomes contained 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNAs (tRNAs), two ribosomal subunits, two control regions, and three tick-box motifs. The nucleotide composition of the H. marginatum mitogenomes were A+T biased (79.76%) and exhibited negative AT- and GC- skews across most PCGs. All PCGs were initiated by ATK codons and two truncated termination codons were seen in the COX2 and COX3 genes. All tRNAs exhibited typical cloverleaf structures, except for tRNACys and tRNASer1. A total of 62 polymorphic sites defined ten unique haplotypes. Phylogenetic analyses based on the 13 PCGs of 56 tick species revealed that four Hyalomma species (H. marginatum, H. asiaticum, H. rufipes, and H. truncatum) formed a monophyletic clade with strong support. The results of this study provide a comprehensive resource for further studies on the systematics, population genetics, molecular epidemiology, and evolution of ticks.Establishing and maintaining tick colonies in the laboratory is essential for studying their biology and pathogen transmission, or for the development of new tick control methods. Due to their requirement for very high humidity, these laboratory-bred colonies are frequently subject to fungal contamination. In the present study, we aimed to identify the fungal species that contaminated a laboratory-reared colony of Ixodes ricinus through microscopic observation and molecular identification. We identified three different taxa isolated from the ticks Aspergillus parasiticus, Penicillium steckii, and Scopulariopsis brevicaulis. These three species are usually regarded as environmental saprophytic molds but both direct and indirect evidence suggest that they could also be considered as entomopathogenic fungi. Although we do not have any direct evidence that the fungi isolated from I. ricinus in this study could cause lethal infections in ticks, we observed that once infected, heavy fungal growth coupled with very high mortality rates suggest that studying the entomopathogenic potential of these fungi could be relevant to biological tick control.