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Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety Jul 2024Strobilurins, among the most used fungicides worldwide, are considered non-toxic to mammals and birds, but there is growing evidence that these compounds are highly...
Strobilurins, among the most used fungicides worldwide, are considered non-toxic to mammals and birds, but there is growing evidence that these compounds are highly toxic to aquatic species. Dimoxystrobin has been included in the 3rd Watch List of the European Commission, and it has been classified as very toxic to aquatic life. However, previous studies focused on acute toxicity and only two reports are available on its impact on fish, and none on its effects during the early life stages. Here, we evaluated for the first time the effects induced on zebrafish embryos and larvae by two dimoxystrobin sublethal concentrations (6.56 and 13.13 μg/L) falling in the range of predicted environmental concentrations. We demonstrated that short-term exposure to dimoxystrobin may exert adverse effects on multiple targets, inducing severe morphological alterations. Moreover, we showed enhanced mRNA levels of genes related to the mitochondrial respiratory chain and ATP production. Impairment of the swim bladder inflation has also been recorded, which may be related to the observed swimming performance alterations.
Topics: Animals; Zebrafish; Fungicides, Industrial; Larva; Strobilurins; Mitochondria; Embryo, Nonmammalian; Water Pollutants, Chemical; Swimming; Air Sacs; Behavior, Animal
PubMed: 38805825
DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoenv.2024.116493 -
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) May 2024Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a dilation of the aorta artery larger than its normal diameter (>3 cm). Endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) is a minimally invasive...
Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a dilation of the aorta artery larger than its normal diameter (>3 cm). Endovascular aneurysm repair (EVAR) is a minimally invasive treatment option that involves the placement of a graft in the aneurysmal portion of the aorta artery. This treatment requires multiple follow-ups with medical imaging, which is expensive, time-consuming, and resource-demanding for healthcare systems. An alternative solution is the use of wireless implantable sensors (WIMSs) to monitor the growth of the aneurysm. A WIMS capable of monitoring aneurysm size longitudinally could serve as an alternative monitoring approach for post-EVAR patients. This study has developed and characterised a three-coil inductive read-out system to detect variations in the resonance frequency of the novel Z-shaped WIMS implanted within the AAA sac. Specifically, the spacing between the transmitter and the repeater inductors was optimised to maximise the detection of the sensor by the transmitter inductor. Moreover, an experimental evaluation was also performed for different orientations of the transmitter coil with reference to the WIMS. Finally, the FDA-approved material nitinol was used to develop the WIMS, the transmitter, and repeater inductors as a proof of concept for further studies. The findings of the characterisation from the air medium suggest that the read-out system can detect the WIMS up to 5 cm, regardless of the orientation of the Z-shape WIMS, with the detection range increasing as the orientation approaches 0°. This study provides sufficient evidence that the proposed WIMS and the read-out system can be used for AAA expansion over time.
Topics: Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal; Wireless Technology; Humans; Monitoring, Physiologic; Prostheses and Implants; Equipment Design
PubMed: 38794049
DOI: 10.3390/s24103195 -
The Science of the Total Environment Jul 2024Cypermethrin (CYP), a synthetic pyrethroid pesticide, has been detected in agriculture and aquaculture. However, there is limited knowledge about the transgenerational...
Cypermethrin (CYP), a synthetic pyrethroid pesticide, has been detected in agriculture and aquaculture. However, there is limited knowledge about the transgenerational impacts. This study aimed to investigate the developmental toxicity of CYP on F1 larvae offspring of adult zebrafish exposed to various CYP concentrations (5, 10, and 20 μg/L) for 28 days. The results indicated that CYP accumulated in parental zebrafish, and CYP was below the limit of quantification in offspring. Paternal exposure impacted the hatching rate and heart rate of the F1 generation. Furthermore, CYP significantly impacted the development of swim bladders in progeny and dysregulated the genes relevant to swim bladder development. The neutrophil migrated to the swim bladder. The mRNA levels of the inflammatory factors were also significantly elevated. According to network toxicology, PI3-AKT may be the signaling pathway for CYP-influenced bladder development. Subsequent molecular docking and Western blot analysis showed CYP affected the PI3-AKT signaling pathway. Notably, MK-2206, a specific Akt inhibitor, rescued the CYP-induced damage of swim bladder development in offspring. The present study highlights the potential risks of CYP on the development of offspring and lasting impact in aquatic environments.
Topics: Animals; Zebrafish; Pyrethrins; Water Pollutants, Chemical; Insecticides; Paternal Exposure; Male; Female; Air Sacs
PubMed: 38788937
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.173456 -
Small (Weinheim An Der Bergstrasse,... May 2024The Fenton reaction, induced by the HO formed during the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) process leads to significant dissolution of Fe, resulting in unsatisfactory...
In Situ Symbiosis of Cerium Oxide Nanophase for Enhancing the Oxygen Electrocatalysis Performance of Single-Atom Fe─N─C Catalyst with Prolonged Stability for Zinc-Air Batteries.
The Fenton reaction, induced by the HO formed during the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) process leads to significant dissolution of Fe, resulting in unsatisfactory stability of the iron-nitrogen-doped carbon catalysts (Fe-NC). In this study, a strategy is proposed to improve the ORR catalytic activity while eliminating the effect of HO by introducing CeO nanoparticles. Transmission electron microscopy and subsequent characterizations reveal that CeO nanoparticles are uniformly distributed on the carbon substrate, with atomically dispersed Fe single-atom catalysts (SACs) adjacent to them. CeO@Fe-NC achieves a half-wave potential of 0.89 V and a limiting current density of 6.2 mA cm, which significantly outperforms Fe-NC and commercial Pt/C. CeO@Fe-NC also shows a half-wave potential loss of only 1% after 10 000 CV cycles, which is better than that of Fe-NC (7%). Further, HO elimination experiments show that the introduction of CeO significantly accelerate the decomposition of HO. In situ Raman spectroscopy results suggest that CeO@Fe-NC significantly facilitates the formation of ORR intermediates compared with Fe-NC. The Zn-air batteries utilizing CeO@Fe-NC cathodes exhibit satisfactory peak power density and open-circuit voltage. Furthermore, theoretical calculations show that the introduction of CeO enhances the ORR activity of Fe-NC SAC. This study provides insights for optimizing SAC-based electrocatalysts with high activity and stability.
PubMed: 38778724
DOI: 10.1002/smll.202400357 -
Journal of Insect Physiology Jun 2024Insects exchange respiratory gases with their environment through their gas-filled tracheal system, a branched tracheal tree extending from segmental openings and...
Insects exchange respiratory gases with their environment through their gas-filled tracheal system, a branched tracheal tree extending from segmental openings and terminating at fine tissue penetrating tracheoles. It was shown that the tracheal volume increases hyperallometrically with insect body size (M), both interspecifically and across developmental stages. In this study, we used the sixfold M variation in adult Batocera rufomaculata(Cerambicidae; Coleoptera) examining the allometry of adult tracheal volume (V). We further explored the effect of sex and sexual maturity on tracheal gas conductance, testing the hypotheses that (i) larger body size and (ii) egg volume in gravid females would result in lower safety margins for tracheal oxygen transport due to structural restriction. We report a hyperallometric tracheal growth in both sexes of adult B. rufomaculata(mean mass exponent of 1.42 ± 0.09), similar in magnitude to previously reported values. Tracheal gas conductance was independent of M and reproductive state, but was significantly higher in females compared with males. We suggest that females may have pre-adapted a higher tracheal conductance required for the higher flight power output while gravid. Lack of compliant air sacs and rigid trachea may explain how gravid females retain their V. However, we show that V outgrows thoracic dimensions with increased B. rufomaculatasize. Hyperallometric growth of the giant cerambycid thoracic trachea could explain the previously reported hypometric scaling of flight muscles in B. rufomaculata, and the compromised long-distance flight performance of larger compared with smaller conspecifics.
Topics: Animals; Female; Male; Coleoptera; Trachea; Body Size
PubMed: 38777076
DOI: 10.1016/j.jinsphys.2024.104652 -
ACS Nano Jun 2024Transition metal single-atom catalysts (SACs) have been regarded as possible alternatives to platinum-based materials due to their satisfactory performance of the oxygen...
Transition metal single-atom catalysts (SACs) have been regarded as possible alternatives to platinum-based materials due to their satisfactory performance of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). By contrast, main-group metal elements are rarely studied due to their unfavorable surface and electronic states. Herein, a main-group Sn-based SAC with penta-coordinated and asymmetric first-shell ligands is reported as an efficient and robust ORR catalyst. The introduction of the vertical oxygen atom breaks the symmetric charge balance, modulating the binding strength to oxygen intermediates and decreasing the energy barrier for the ORR process. As expected, the prepared Sn SAC exhibits outstanding ORR activity with a high half-wave potential of 0.912 V (vs RHE) and an excellent mass activity of 13.1 A mg at 0.850 V (vs RHE), which surpasses that of commercial Pt/C and most reported transition-metal-based SACs. Additionally, the reported Sn SAC shows excellent ORR stability due to the strong interaction between Sn sites and the carbon support with oxygen atom as the bridge. The excellent ORR performance of Sn SAC was also proven by both liquid- and solid-state zinc-air battery (ZAB) measurements, indicating its great potential in practical applications.
PubMed: 38770934
DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.4c04112 -
Journal of Colloid and Interface Science Sep 2024The design and development of high-performance and long-life Pt-free catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is of great important with respect to metal-air...
The design and development of high-performance and long-life Pt-free catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is of great important with respect to metal-air batteries and fuel cells. Herein, a new low-cost covalent organic frameworks (COFs)-derived CoNC single-atoms catalyst (SAC) is fabricated and compared with the engineered nanoparticle (NP) counterpart for ORR activity. The ORR performance of the SAC catalyst (Co@NC) surpasses the NP counterpart (Co-NC) under the same operation condition. Co@NC also achieves improved long-term durability and better methanol tolerance compared with the Pt/C. The zinc-air battery assembled by the Co@NC cathode delivers a higher power density and energy density than that of commercial Pt/C catalyst. Molecular dynamics (MD) is performed to explain the spontaneous evolution from clusters to single-atom metal configuration and density functional theory (DFT) calculations find that Co@NC possesses lower d-band center, resulting in weaker interaction between the surface and the O-containing intermediates. Consequently, the reductive desorption of OH*, the rate-determine step, is further accelerated.
PubMed: 38759265
DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2024.05.005 -
Advanced Science (Weinheim,... May 2024Iron single-atom catalysts (SACs) have garnered increasing attention as highly efficient catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), yet their performance in...
Iron single-atom catalysts (SACs) have garnered increasing attention as highly efficient catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), yet their performance in practical devices remains suboptimal due to the low density of accessible active sites. Anchoring iron single atoms on 2D support is a promising way to increase the accessible active sites but remains difficult attributing to the high aggregation tendency of iron atoms on the 2D support. Herein, a vacuum vapor deposition strategy is presented to fabricate an iron SAC supported on ultrathin N-doped carbon nanosheets with densely active sites (FeSAs-UNCNS). Experimental analyses confirm that the FeSAs-UNCNS achieves densely accessible active sites (1.11 × 10 sites g) in the configuration of Fe─NO. Consequently, the half-wave potential of FeSAs-UNCNS in 0.1 m KOH reaches a remarkable value of 0.951 V versus RHE. Moreover, when employed as the cathode of various kinds of Zn-air batteries, FeSAs-UNCNS exhibits boosting performances by achieving a maximum power density of 306 mW cm and long cycle life (>180 h) at room temperature, surpassing both Pt/C and reported SACs. Further investigations reveal that FeSAs-UNCNS facilitates the mass and charge transfer during catalysis and the atomic configuration favors the desorption of *OH kinetically.
PubMed: 38751152
DOI: 10.1002/advs.202306594 -
The Journal of the Acoustical Society... May 2024Modern humans and chimpanzees share a common ancestor on the phylogenetic tree, yet chimpanzees do not spontaneously produce speech or speech sounds. The lab exercise... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study
Modern humans and chimpanzees share a common ancestor on the phylogenetic tree, yet chimpanzees do not spontaneously produce speech or speech sounds. The lab exercise presented in this paper was developed for undergraduate students in a course entitled "What's Special About Human Speech?" The exercise is based on acoustic analyses of the words "cup" and "papa" as spoken by Viki, a home-raised, speech-trained chimpanzee, as well as the words spoken by a human. The analyses allow students to relate differences in articulation and vocal abilities between Viki and humans to the known anatomical differences in their vocal systems. Anatomical and articulation differences between humans and Viki include (1) potential tongue movements, (2) presence or absence of laryngeal air sacs, (3) presence or absence of vocal membranes, and (4) exhalation vs inhalation during production.
Topics: Humans; Animals; Pan troglodytes; Speech Acoustics; Speech; Tongue; Vocalization, Animal; Species Specificity; Speech Production Measurement; Larynx; Phonetics
PubMed: 38738937
DOI: 10.1121/10.0026020 -
The Journal of Veterinary Medical... Jun 2024A 21-year-old captive female Humboldt penguin (Spheniscus humboldti) was in good health until the day before the animal died. However, the animal suddenly exhibited...
A 21-year-old captive female Humboldt penguin (Spheniscus humboldti) was in good health until the day before the animal died. However, the animal suddenly exhibited symptoms of vomiting and anorexia, and died in shortly thereafter. The autopsy revealed a blood clot in the abdominal air sac and 280 mL of dark red fluid in the body cavity. The ovary was twisted around a blood vessel. Based on the findings described, it was considered that the cause of death was hypovolemic shock due to massive intracoelomic hemorrhage by vascular collapse resulting from ovarian torsion. This is the first report of ovarian torsion in penguins.
Topics: Animals; Female; Shock, Hemorrhagic; Spheniscidae; Bird Diseases; Hemorrhage; Ovarian Torsion; Fatal Outcome; Animals, Zoo
PubMed: 38719569
DOI: 10.1292/jvms.23-0501