The paper investigates predictors of increased probability of Human Wildlife Conflict (HWC) fatalities from attacks on humans. The study uses data from 137 HWC victims in the six wildlife districts of Botswana. A logistic regression model is used to assess demographic, ecological/environmental and geographic predictors of increased probability of fatality. Findings reveal that older victims, winter season, Ngamiland Wildlife district, elephants and distant health facilities present an increased probability of human fatality from animal attacks. In conclusion, several predictors from different aspects contribute to increased probability of fatality in the event of attacks. Therefore, there is need for a holistic approach to reduce HWC fatalities. We recommend that seasonality of HWC attacks on humans should be considered when deploying resources to mitigate against. Further, there is need for the formulation and development of the HWC policy which will guide HWC related issues, holistically.

Vascular network labeling in transparent tissues provides more complete information on blood vessels. To achieve a fast and efficient method for vascular network labeling in transparent tissues, we compared various vascular labeling methods under different tissue clearing protocols. FITC-dextran labeling and CUBIC cleaning treatment were found to be the best options for vascular network labeling in cleared mouse tissues. Satisfactory labeling of vascular networks in various organs can be achieved by selecting FITC-dextran with different molecular weights and different administration methods.

Anomalous left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) is a rare congenital anomaly that usually manifests in childhood and has a high mortality rate in the first year of life if not corrected. We present the case of a middle-aged woman who presented with exertional dyspnea and severe ischemic mitral regurgitation; further imaging revealed it was secondary to ALCAPA. The patient was referred for valvular reconstruction and surgical revascularization with left coronary artery reimplantation in the aorta. The patient had an adequate postoperative result and symptomatic improvement during follow-up. Although ALCAPA is a rare cause of mitral regurgitation in adults, its pathophysiology is like that of ischemic origin from atherosclerotic coronary disease, and its treatment is therefore similar to obtain adequate clinical improvement.

A 2-year-old boy was diagnosed with ileocecal intussusception and underwent surgical treatment and appendectomy. Appendix histopathology revealed lymphoid cells with hyperchromatic nuclei, high mitotic activity, and starry sky appearance. The patient was diagnosed with Burkitt's lymphoma, which involves many organs, such as the appendix, liver, kidney, and bone marrow.

In this work, bases on the reproducing kernel theory and collocation method, we study the space Riesz fractional Navier-Stokes equations, and propose the numerical method to solve it. Firstly the new base space can be constructed by the spline and reproducing kernel space. The ε-approximate solution in binary spline space in the form of finite terms can be derived. Through using the collocation method, the approximate problem is solved. In addition, we provide analysis of the stability and convergence. In final, two numerical examples are provided to show the effectiveness of our method.

Deforestation, exploitation, and other drivers of biodiversity loss in Madagascar leave its highly endangered and predominantly endemic wildlife at risk of extinction. Decreasing biodiversity threatens to compromise ecosystem functions and vital services provided to people. New, economical, and diverse methods of biodiversity monitoring can help to establish reliable baseline and long-term records of species richness. Metabarcoding with invertebrate-derived DNA (iDNA) has emerged as a promising new biosurveillance tool. An unexpected wet forest fragment tucked in the cliffs of Madagascar’s southcentral plateau, the Ivohibory Protected Area (IPA), hosts a unique mosaic of species diversity, featuring both dry and wet forest species. Recently elevated to protected status, the IPA has been surveyed for flora and fauna with a range of inventory methods over the course of three years and six expeditions (2016, 2017, & 2019). We collected 1,451 leeches over 12 days from the IPA to supplement known species richness and to compare my results against current records. With iDNA, we followed a tissue pooling protocol for isolation and amplification of bloodmeal DNA with five sets of primers. We detected 20 species of which four are species of frogs previously undetected and three of which are previously unknown to exist in this region. iDNA surveys have the capacity to provide complementary data to traditional surveying methods like camera traps, line transects, and bioacoustic methods.

How changes in biodiversity affect disease, particularly in the face of large-scale land-use change, is a contentious topic in disease ecology that has implications for public health and conservation policy. The ‘dilution effect’ hypothesis argues that declines in biodiversity are associated with increased disease risk, but this can be challenging to demonstrate because many pathogens have complex life cycles such that changes to the species composition and abundance of hosts can influence the density and infection prevalence of vectors via multiple mechanisms. Key to addressing this debate is a quantification of interactions between hosts, vectors, and pathogens. In their recent study published in Molecular Ecology, Kocher et al. (2022) captured thousands of sandflies, some species of which are vectors for the Leishmania protozoan that causes Leishmaniasis, across a human footprint gradient in French Guiana (Fig. 1). By implementing DNA metabarcoding of vectors combined with an innovative modeling approach, they effectively quantified the nuanced relationships between changes in land-use, mammalian host diversity, vector abundance, and parasite prevalence. In support of the dilution effect hypothesis, Kocher et al. found that sites with higher mammal diversity were associated with lower relative abundance of reservoir hosts and higher Leishmania infection prevalence in sandflies. However, while infection prevalence was lower when mammal diversity was high, the density of sandfly vectors was higher, which resulted in a weak overall effect of mammal diversity on the density of infected vectors, the most important indicator of Leishmania transmission risk.

The present work focusses on the control of marijuana in the population. This real-world problem is shaped in the language of mathematics and hence a mathematical model for the control of marijuana is formulated. The total population of the people is divided into two classes, the marijuana users, and the non-users. The users are further divided in four sub-classes, each sub-class represents a stage/level of addiction to the drug. The reproduction number ( R 0 ) of marijuana usage is found from the proposed mathematical model. The sensitivity analysis reveals the importance of many parameters in the further spreading of marijuana is found out. Based on the sensitivity analysis, the parameters that plays a significant role in marijuana transmission were found. Furthermore, strategies were formulated to prevent the marijuana transmission in the population. Numerical simulations were also carried out to determine how the control strategies will perform.

Holocentric organisms, unlike typical monocentric organisms, have kinetochore activity distributed along almost the whole length of the chromosome. Because of this, chromosomal rearrangements through fission and fusion are more likely to become fixed in holocentric species, which may account for their extraordinary rates of chromosome evolution. Genome synteny has been reported to be conserved in animals with holocentric chromosomes despite high rates of chromosome rearrangements. Comparing genomes of Carex species and a genome of a distantly related Cyperaceae we have characterised conserved vs. rearranged genome regions across pairs of species that range in time since divergence between 2 and 50 million years. We have compared a C. scoparia genome with a linkage map of the same species to study rearrangements at a population level and suppression of recombination patterns. We found a surprisingly conserved genome synteny even between very distantly related species and extraordinarily high rates of chromosome evolution in genus Carex. Comparing the distribution of repetitive DNA and gene density between conserved and rearranged genomic regions, we found repetitive DNA to be related to holocentromeres and as well as rearranged regions of the genome. This evidence of extremely conserved synteny in sedges and the massive events of chromosome fission and fusion found across the evolution of genus Carex suggests the presence of common genomic hotspots of chromosome evolution related to repetitive DNA.

Multisensory integration (MSI) combines information from more than one sensory modality to elicit behaviors distinct from unisensory behaviors. MSI is best understood in animals with complex brains and specialized centers for parsing sensory information, but the dispersive larvae of sessile marine invertebrates utilize multimodal environmental sensory stimuli to base irreversible settlement decisions on, and most lack complex brains. Here, we examined the sensory determinants of settlement in actinula larvae of the hydrozoan Ectopleura crocea (Cnidaria), which possess a diffuse nerve net. A factorial settlement study revealed that photo-, chemo-, and mechano-sensory cues each influence the settlement response, which was complex and dependent on specific combinations of cues, therefore indicating MSI. Mechanosensory cues either inhibited or enhanced settlement rates depending on the presence or absence of chemical and light cues in the environment. Sensory gene expression over development peaked with developmental competence to settle, which in actinulae, requires cnidocyte discharge. Transcriptome analyses also highlighted several deep homological links between cnidarian and bilaterian mechano- chemo- and photo-sensory pathways. Fluorescent in situ hybridization studies of candidate transcripts suggested cellular partitioning of sensory function among the few cell types that comprise the actinula nervous system, where ubiquitous polymodal sensory neurons with putative chemo- and photo-sensitivity interface with mechanoreceptive cnidocytes. We propose that a simple multisensory processing circuit, involving polymodal chemo/photosensory neurons and mechanoreceptive cnidocytes, is sufficient to explain MSI in actinulae settlement. Our study demonstrates that MSI is not exclusive to complex brains, but likely predated and contextualized their evolution.

A document by Sameera Samarakoon. Click on the document to view its contents.

A document by Sameera Samarakoon. Click on the document to view its contents.

Aim The Neotropics, particularly South America, holds unparalleled high levels of species richness, when compared to other major biomes. Some neotropical areas are hotspots of a fragmentary known diversity of insects and are under manifest danger of biodiversity loss and climate change. Therefore, prompt estimates methods of its diversity are urgently required to complement slower traditional taxonomic approaches. Despite a variety of algorithms for delimiting species through single-locus DNA barcodes having been developed and applied for rapid estimates of species diversity in a wide array of taxa; however, tree-based and distance-based methods may lead to different group assignments, either overestimating or underestimating the number of putative species. Here, we investigate the performance of different DNA-based species delimitation approaches for a rapid biodiversity estimate of the diversity of Polypedilum (Chironomidae, Diptera) in South America. Location Worldwide Methods We analyze a mtDNA dataset comprising 1,492 specimens from 598 locations worldwide. Molecular operational taxonomic units (MOTUs) ranged from 267 to 520, based on the Barcode Index Number (BIN), Bayesian Poisson tree processes (bPTP), multi-rate Poisson tree processes (mPTP), single-rate Poisson tree processes (sPTP), and generalized mixed Yule coalescent (sGMYC) approaches. Results Our results highlight Polypedilum as a species-rich genus, yet incompletely documented, and found the sGMYC method to be the most adequate to estimate putative species in our dataset. Furthermore, based on these data, we describe the distribution of diversity and some biogeographical patterns of Polypedilum. Main Conclusions Findings imply the genus exhibited high levels of endemism and richness of species in the Neotropics, which confirmed our hypothesis that there are substantial differences in community structure between the Polypedilum fauna in South America and the neighboring regions.

The nigrostriatal system composed of the dorsal striatum and the substantia nigra (SN) is highly involved in the control of motor behavior. Various extremal and pathological conditions as well as social isolation may cause an impairment of locomotor function; however, corresponding alterations in the nigrostriatal dopaminergic pathway are far from full understanding. Here we analyzed the effect of 3-day hindlimb unloading (HU) and social isolation (SI) on the key players of dopamine transmission in the nigrostriatal system of CD1 mice. Three groups of mice were analyzed: group-housed (GH), SI, and HU. Our data showed a significant decrease in the expression of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) in the SN and dorsal striatum of HU mice, but only in comparison with SI group that suggested attenuation of dopamine synthesis in response to HU, while TH phosphorylation was reduced in comparison with both GH and SI animals. SI also led to a decrease in TH phosphorylation in the dorsal striatum that pointed on an impact of isolation too. Expression of dopamine receptors D1 in the dorsal striatum of HU mice was increased suggesting a compensatory response, but the activity of downstream signaling pathways involving PKA and CREB was inhibited. But in the dorsal striatum of SI mice, expression of DA receptors and activity of downstream signaling was not affected. Obtained data let us to conclude that combination of short-term HU and isolation impaired dopamine transmission in the nigrostriatal system.

Pneumopericardium is the presence of air in the pericardial sac. Pneumopericardium after pericardiocentesis has been rarely reported in the literature. In the present case, we report a patient who presented with tamponade physiology during COVID-19 and developed pneumopericardium after emergency pericardiocentesis. Immediate recognition and treatment are crucial and chest X-ray, thorax computerized tomography and transthoracic echocardiography are used for diagnosis.

In the past decade, recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) has gained increased attention as a prominent gene therapy technology to treat monogenetic disease. One of the challenges in rAAV production is the enrichment of full-rAAV particles containing the gene of interested (GOI) payload. Herein, we demonstrated that by adjusting the mobile phase properties of anion-exchange chromatography (AEX), Empty and Full separation of rAAV was improved in monolith based preparative AEX chromatography. When compared to the baseline method using NaCl, the presence of tetraethylammonium acetate (TEA-Ac) in the AEX mobile phase resulted in enhanced resolution (from 0.75 to 1.23) between Empty and Full peaks by salt linear gradient elution, as well as increased the percentage of full-rAAV particles from 20% to 36% and GOI genome recovery (from 59% to 62%). Furthermore, a dual wash + step elution AEX method was developed to harness TEA-Ac contribution on Empty and Full separation in the first wash (wash1) step while removing TEA-Ac in the second wash (wash2) step to ensure product safety. The resulting optimized AEX purification method could be easily adapted in scaled-up manufacturing and could also be applied to purification processes involving other AAV serotypes facing similar Empty and Full rAAV separation challenges.

Nicotine is the main compound in cigarettes which leads to smoking addiction. Nicotine acts on the limbic dopamine reward loop in the midbrain through binding to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, promoting the release of dopamine, resulting in a rewarding effect or satisfaction. This satisfaction is essential for continued and compulsive tobacco use, and therefore dopamine plays a crucial role in nicotine dependence (ND). Numerous studies have identified genetic polymorphisms of dopaminergic pathways which may influence nicotine susceptibility and the degree of addiction. Dopamine levels are greatly influenced by synthesis, storage, release, degradation, and reuptake related genes, including genes encoding tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), dopamine decarboxylase (DDC), dopamine transporter (DAT1/SLC6A3), dopamine receptor (DRD), dopamine 3-hydroxylase (DBH), catechol oxygen methyltransferase (COMT), and monoamine oxidase (MAO). In this paper, we review research progress on the effects of polymorphisms in the above genes on downstream smoking behavior and ND, to provide a theoretical basis for the elucidation of the genetic mechanism underlying ND and future personalized treatment for smoking cessation.

Immune-related genes (IRGs) affect the composition and abundance of tumor-infiltrating immune cells (TIICs) by encoding immune molecules. The utilization of IRGs and TIICs offers considerable potential for immunotherapy studies of breast cancer. In this study, the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between breast cancer patients and healthy individuals were assessed using the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). ImmPort and TISIDB databases, the Weighted Gene Co-Expression Network Analysis (WGCNA), univariate Cox regression and LASSO penalized Cox regression methods were used to calculate the composition and abundance of immune cell types. It was found that CD79A and GZMAcould independently predict the prognosis of breast cancer and were significantly associated with activated CD8 T cells, immature B cells, folic helper T cells and regulatory T cells, implying that these two genes are involved in the immune regulation and progression of breast cancer and could potentially be new targets for breast cancer immunotherapy.

Natural disasters have posed great challenges to the power system in recent years. This paper proposes an emergent trading framework that uses parking lots as resources to provide power support to critical loads in a blackout due to typhoon. Firstly, a distribution line fault model under typhoon is established to create possible fault scenarios with the typhoon trajectory data. Subsequently, an evolutionary Stackelberg game-based trading model is proposed to maximize all stakeholders' economic benefits while reducing the critical load loss for all chosen scenarios, leading to enhanced system resilience. At the same time, a benefit allocation mechanism and free-riding penalty are incorporated in the framework to motivate players' participation while limiting the negative effect of free-riders. Further, an iterative evolutionary-Stackelberg solution set-up is applied to obtain the equilibria of the proposed framework. Finally, a modified IEEE 69-bus system is used to illustrate and validate the proposed framework.

This study explores the revenue and operation cost structures of private kindergartens in China as profitability is key to their sustainable development. Altogether 233 private kindergartens were sampled and involved in the survey study, which provides a quantitative analysis of the researcher-designed Questionnaire on the Revenue and Cost of Private Kindergartens (QRCPK). And 23 of these participating kindergartens were involved in a semi-structured interview. Analyses of both survey and interview data jointly indicated that: (1) the majority of the revenue of private kindergartens depended on the tuition fees; (2) their labor cost and rent costs are massive high; (3) the low profitability has been proved by the high cost-revenue ratio; (4) the poor cost accounting and financial management strategies hindered the sustainable development of private kindergartens.

After the release of new Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill in 2020, surrogate mothers in India showed greater concerns over the rights to their bodies. Despite receiving economic compensation from the intending parents, surrogates have failed to convert their income into greater well-beingness. In understanding what Sen (1999) claimed as Capability Poverty, the research investigated the concept through a dynamic interaction analysis of Bourdieu (1984)’s Capital formation throughout the contracted pregnancy, contributing to the surrogacy literature a novel ground in depicting a more dynamic capital formation. The inconvertibility of economic capital for social, cultural, and emotional capital proved a continued suffering for surrogates, including both physical exploitations due to oppressive medical settings and psychological burdens from stigmatisation (re)produced from the traditional values and geographies of class. In debating over whether surrogates possess actual ability to exercise their agency over structure, it is essential that this research reminds once again their choices over work are not made in isolation from socioeconomic and cultural factors.

AbstractArtificial sweeteners are broadly used as safe food additives and in pharmaceutical formulations. As these compounds are relatively stable and poorly removed by water treatment facilities, their environmental concentrations increase. Therefore, concerns about their potential risks to non-targeted aquatic biota have been raised. Although no lethal effects are usually observed in standard toxicity testing, recent effect studies suggest a possible neurotoxic mode of action. We tested the effects of commonly used sugar substitutes (sucralose and acesulfame, up to 1 mg/L) in a nontarget species Daphnia magna, by assessing biochemical (acetylcholinesterase activity, AChE), physiological (heart rate, HR) and behavioural (time spent on swimming and feeding) endpoints. We found a dose-dependent increase in AChE activity and inhibitory effects on HR and behavioural endpoints, with lower EC50 values observed for acesulfame than sucralose, although all these values were within the reported AS levels in the wastewater. Moreover, a biphasic response was observed for acesulfame-exposed daphnids, with AChE inhibition at the lower concentrations (< 1 µg/L ) and stimulatory effects at the higher concentrations. Thus, the response propagated across the biological organization levels, with swimming inhibition associated with AChE stimulation. Whereas HR and swimming were positively related across the ASs and all concentrations tested, the relationship between AChE and HR was substance-specific, suggesting possible differences in the mode of action. The observed LOEC values for acesulfame were as low as 0.1 µg/L , these results suggest that artificial sweeteners may exert adverse effects on nontarget biota at environmentally relevant concentrations, which calls for a critical evaluation of current thresholds used in their risk assessment.KeywordsSucralose; Acesulfame K; Aquatic toxicity; Acetylcholinesterase; Heart rate; Behaviour; Daphnia magnaIntroductionArtificial non-nutritive sweeteners (AS) are widely used in food and beverages for human consumption, animal feed, and pharmaceutical and personal care products to replace sucrose and decrease caloric uptake \cite{Hough_1993}. ASs can be divided into two categories: the first generation, which mainly includes saccharin, cyclamate, and aspartame; and the second generation, which includes acesulfame, sucralose, neotame and neohesperidin dihydrochalcone \cite{Wang_2023}. The survey from Euromonitor International (https://www.euromonitor.com/sugar-and-sweeteners; 2017)  showed that aspartame was the most used AS (18.5 thousand metric tons), followed by saccharin (9.7 thousand metric tons), acesulfame (6.8 thousand metric tons), and sucralose (3.3 thousand metric tons). Moreover, over the past decades, the production and consumption of these synthetic organic compounds have been increasing steadily \cite{Daher_2022}. Due to their relatively high stability and persistence in nature, the release of these compounds in the environment is also increasing. As a result, ASs are now considered emerging contaminants \cite{Praveena_2019,Wang_2023}, even though from the human health aspect, ASs have been regarded as safe additives to foodstuff \cite{Kroger_2006} and pharmaceuticals \cite{Haroun_2018}. The most commonly detected in wastewater effluents are acesulfame, sucralose, cyclamate, aspartame, and saccharin, with some regional variations, reflecting human consumption and inadequate degradation by water treatment technologies \cite{Li2018,Tran2018}. Moreover, they are also among the popular anthropogenic trace contaminants \cite{Van2020}, with the highest concentrations in sewage, ground- and surface waters \cite{Lange2012}. The major part (>95%) of sucralose can pass through the human digestion system unchanged and reach domestic wastewater by excretion \cite{Buerge_2009}, and acesulfame can be excreted without chemical alterations \cite{Klug_2012,Castronovo2017}. Therefore, acesulfame and sucralose are the micropollutants introduced mainly by human intake via food and pharmaceutical products and with high persistence \cite{Lubick_2008} and broad occurrence in nature  \cite{Perkola2014,Lange2012,Buerge_2009}. In addition to the frequent reports on their occurrence in freshwaters, these ASs have also been detected in marine systems, including offshore areas \cite{Mead_2009,Whitall_2021}, which indicates a much larger scale of dispersion, a broader range of species under exposure, and, hence, greater ecological impact. Their environmental concentrations vary widely among regions, depending on local consumption, regional geography and seasonal changes \cite{Sang2014,Karstadt_2006}. In rivers and lakes, concentrations of these ASs are in the range of nano- to micrograms per litre  \cite{Lange2012}, with often higher levels of acesulfame than sucralose \cite{Scheurer_2009,Scheurer_2014}. In untreated and treated wastewater, acesulfame and sucralose generally have the highest concentrations, up to mg L−1 \cite{Arbel_ez_2015}.  In the environment, these ASs are quickly dispersed due to their high solubility and taken up by biota \cite{Ma2021,Saucedo-Vence2017,Stoddard2014,Tollefsen2012,Zygler2012,Lillicrap2011}. Concerns have been raised that exposure to ASs of nontarget organisms may result in adverse effects we presently know little about \cite{Tollefsen2012}. Sucralose, for example, with its molecular structure resembling sucrose, may perturb sugar receptors and responses involved in the olfactory, behaviour/feeding of grazers and photosynthetic pathways of primary producers \cite{Kessler_2009}. Also, due to ASs persistence, chronic exposure to even low doses can lead to delayed effects not readily detectable by standard (eco)toxicity assays \cite{Wiklund2012}. Moreover, in the environment, ASs can transform with the products having elevated toxicity as shown using oxidative transformation of acesulfame by permanganate \cite{Yin2017}. In line with that, the acute toxicity of the metabolites generated by exposing acesulfame and sucralose to UV light was enhanced by factors 575 and 17, respectively,  in the assays using  Vibrio fischeri \cite{Sang2014}. In standard toxicity tests, the effects of AS, including sucralose and acesulfame, are usually negligible \cite{Stolte2013,Kerberov__2021}. For example, in the OECD-guided tests ('Reproduction inhibition assay with limnic green algae Scenedesmus vacuolatus', 'Acute immobilisation assay with Daphnia magna', and 'Growth inhibition assay with duckweed Lemna minor'), none of these substances at the test concentrations of up to 1 g/L induced significant effects on the plant growth (microalgae and duckweed; up to 7-d exposure), and no acute mortality was observed in water fleas \cite{Soh_2011,Stolte2013}. Similarly, no significant adverse effects on survival and reproduction in daphnids and mysid shrimps exposed to sucralose at concentrations up to 1.8 and 0.09 g/L, respectively, were observed \cite{Huggett_2011}. An excellent set of laboratory-generated ecotoxicological data for acute and chronic toxicity of acesulfame in fish, invertebrates, plants, and sludge microorganisms suggests the lowest chronic no observed effect concentration (NOEC) of 22 mg/L based on mortality, weight, and length changes versus controls in zebrafish \cite{Belton2020}; thus, this value was used for calculating predicted no-effect concentration (PNEC) for acesulfame. All the effect studies mentioned above reported NOEC values of sweeteners being much higher than their actual environmental concentration, suggesting a very low environmental risk. In effect studies using non-standard endpoints, the adverse effects are detected more frequently and at much lower concentrations. For example, behavioural changes related to food intake and locomotion in different zooplankton species exposed to low sucralose concentrations, e.g., down to nanogram levels, were reported \cite{Hjorth_2010,Eriksson_Wiklund_2014,Wiklund2012}. In fish exposed to acesulfame, the observed responses included behavioural changes \cite{Dong2020}, oxidative stress \cite{Cruz_Rojas_2019}, and embryo development aberrations \cite{Li2016,Colín-García2022} at the exposure levels within NOEC. Moreover, the effects were observed at concentrations much below NOEC, e.g., in the gill, brain, and muscle of common carp exposed to acesulfame, the change in oxidative status was detectable at concentrations of 0.05 and 149 µg/L \cite{Cruz_Rojas_2019}. Also, dietary acesulfame exposure in mice has been linked to genotoxic effects manifested as DNA strand breaks and chromosomal aberrations \cite{Bandyopadhyay_2008,Mukherjee_1997}. Finally, profound adverse effects on the gut microbiome have been linked to AS consumption in humans \cite{Yu2023,Richardson2022,Del2022}, mice \cite{Zheng2022}, and rats \cite{Zhang2021}.  All these indications for specific mechanisms of action suggest potential exposure risks to these ASs and imply a high possibility of unknown effects. Thus, with respect to the general data shortage and contradicting evidence, more (eco)toxicity data based on a comprehensive selection of sensitive endpoints relevant to chronic exposure are needed to evaluate toxicity thresholds for these substances. The aim of this study was to investigate the toxicity of sucralose and acesulfame by assessing biochemical, physiological and behavioural responses in a model species Daphnia magna. Considering a plausible neurotoxic mode of action for sucralose \cite{Finn2000} and acesulfame \cite{Dong2020}, we employed a battery of endpoints related to the sensory physiology of these animals to perform food collection by motion, cardiac activity, and depending upon the stimuli received from the internal and external environments. Based on the basic understanding of the daphnid physiology, these endpoints included acetylcholinesterase activity (AChE; biochemical endpoint), heart rate (HR, physiological endpoint) and motion related to swimming and feeding (behavioural endpoints).  Material and Methods Test organismsDaphnia magna was used as a test organism. This key herbivore in aquatic food webs is a well-established model species in ecotoxicology and stress ecology, with well-established tests for immobilisation and reproduction.  In addition, D. magna has also been established as a model for quantifying cardiac arrhythmia in vivo and can be used for predicting cardiotoxicity \cite{M_Whiteoak_2017}, and various techniques are available to use behavioural endpoints \cite{Bownik2021} when assessing the neurotoxic effects of environmental chemicals in this species \cite{Maggio_2021}.  The test daphnids originated from a single clone (Clone V) cultured in Elendt M7 media at a constant temperature (approximately 20℃) with a 16:8 light: dark photoperiod and fed with Pseudokirchneriella subcapitata and Scenedesmus subspicatus (105 cells/L) three times a week. Algal concentration was determined by using 10AU™ Fluorometer (Turner Designs). For the exposure experiments, newly hatched individuals were randomly picked from the source culture and grown on the same feed and the same media as the stock cultures in 3-L beakers (3-L beakers, 50 individuals /L) until they were 48-h old (Instar 2; 1.3-1.4 mm).  By this age, D. magna has reached an appropriate size for handling, stabilised heart rate \cite{Spicer_2001} and behaviour tracking \cite{Parolini_2018}.    Endpoints The choice of endpoints was based on the expected neurobehavioral effects induced by sucralose \cite{Finn2000,Eriksson_Wiklund_2014} and acesulfame \cite{Dong2020}.  To target neurobehavioral responses, we used: (1) time spent swimming and feeding (behavioural endpoints for detecting movement disorders). The rationale is that in daphnids and other filter-feeders, the thoracic limb activity is the highest-level functional manifestation of integrated neurological functions and disruption of motor control functioning would inevitably decrease ventilation, food intake, growth and survival in these animals \cite{Bownik2021}.(2) heart rate (HR, cardiac function). In daphnids, the sinoatrial node is a collection of spontaneously active nerves in a body called the cardiac ganglion and comprises a globular heart with a myogenic heart beat  \cite{Spicer_2001} responding to many drugs that affect human heart rate and rhythm \cite{Campbell_2004,Dzialowski_2006} and displaying varying arrhythmias on exposure to pro-arrhythmic agents \cite{M_Whiteoak_2017}. Alterations in heart rate result from the disruption of nerve cells and/or signal transmission in the cardiac muscle. Both stimulation and inhibition in heart beating may have physiological repercussions, such as disrupted energy balance, reduced hemolymph circulation, and damage to cardiac muscle and other body tissues \cite{Santoso_2020}.  (3) the whole body acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity, a neurotoxicity biomarker commonly used in ecotoxicology. AChE is an essential enzyme controlling the nervous system, and its correlations with locomotion and feeding in crustaceans have been shown \cite{Xuereb2009,Jensen_1997}. Under neurotoxic exposure, neurotransmitters at synapses cannot be completely hydrolysed by AChE, resulting in abnormal behaviours \cite{Ren_2015}. Thus, AChE activity is a suitable biochemical endpoint to combine with behavioural responses when testing a substance with a putative neurogenic mode of action. Experimental setupThe exposure experiments with different endpoints were conducted on different occasions (Table 1). All the tests were performed under the temperature and illumination used for growing the stock culture. In addition to the test substances (sucralose and acesulfame), we used negative (Elendt M7 media) and positive (daphnia exposed to haloperidol) controls were used.  For haloperidol 0 to 3.2 mg/L test concentrations were used in behavioural assays to confirm the instrument performance and experimental settings. It is an antipsychotic drug with broad pharmaceutical actions (e.g., dopamine receptor blocker and AChE inhibitor), causing behavioural effects in various animal species, thus providing a rationale for its use as a positive control, i.e., substance inhibiting neuromotor activity. The selection of the test concentration range was based on the dose-dependent inhibitory effect of haloperidol on feeding in Daphnia with IC50 value of 1.6 mg/L \cite{Furuhagen2014}.  Thus, we expected haloperidol exposure at 1.6 mg/L to cause a measurable decline in locomotion, AChE activity and HR in all trials. In addition, we conducted a pilot experiment establishing a dose-response to haloperidol in the behavioural assay. Table 1. Summary of the experiments used to measure acetylcholinesterase (AChE) activity, heart rate (HR) and behavioural endpoints. The test concentrations were 0.1, 1, 10, 100 µg/L and 1 mg/L for each substance. The exposure duration 24 h. Test parameters Biochemical response Behavioral response (activity) Physiological response Endpoint AChE activity time spent swimming and feeding HR Replicates per treatment 3 3 10 Replicates per control 3 5 10 Individuals per replicate 10 1 1

The objective of the study was to evaluate the chemical characteristics of cold-pressed beech nut oil. The nuts collected from the forest consisted of 25.35% water, 13.19% oil, and 19.40% protein. Dominant fatty acid was linoleic (40.5%) followed by oleic (35.0%) and gondoic acid (7.7%). All four tocopherols were present in the oil with dominant γ- tocopherol 99.38 mg 100g-1 oil. Total sterol content was 2708.73 mg kg-1 oil with β-sitosterol accounting for 80.5% of all sterols. The oil’s main characteristics were the relatively high content of tocopherols and gondoic acid, dominant oleic-linoleic fatty acid profile, and higher levels of carotenoids.

In conventional thermal combustion fuel and air in inflammable proportions are contacted with an ignition source to ignite the mixture which will then continue to burn. Flammable mixtures of most fuels are normally burned at relatively high temperatures, which inherently results in the formation of substantial emissions of nitrogen oxides. In purely catalytic combustion systems, there is little or no nitrogen oxides formed in a system which burns the fuel at relatively low temperatures. The present study is focused primarily upon the combustion characteristics of small alkanes on noble metal surfaces in pre-mixed homogeneous-heterogeneous hybrid systems. The homogeneous-heterogeneous combustion characteristics small alkanes on noble metal surfaces are investigated to gain a greater understanding of the mechanisms of flame stabilization and to gain new insights into how to design pre-mixed combustors with improved stability and robustness. The essential factors for design considerations are determined with improved combustion characteristics. The primary mechanisms responsible for the loss of flame stability are discussed. The present study aims to explore how to effectively operate catalytically stabilized combustion. Particular emphasis is placed upon the catalytic combustion characteristics of small alkanes in the pre-mixed hybrid systems. The results indicate that the combustion effluent is characterized by high thermal energy and typically by low nitrogen oxides content. Precise tuning of the combustion process is needed to establish a balance between stable combustion and low emissions. Simply changing the combustor geometry to maintain near-stoichiometric ratios will not avoid nitrogen oxides formation. The catalytic reactor oxidizes substantially all of the ingested fuel and produces thermal energy. Adiabatic combustion systems, from a practical standpoint, have relatively low heat losses, thus substantially all of the heat released from the combustion zone of such systems appears in the effluent gases as thermal energy for producing power. Catalytic oxidation has the disadvantage that the physical reaction surface which must be supplied for complete oxidation of the fuel increases exponentially with decreasing inlet temperatures, which greatly increases the cost of the combustor and complicates the overall design. The operating temperature is determined by the theoretical adiabatic flame temperature of the fuel-air admixture passed to the combustor and thus is dependent on the initial temperature of the air as well as the amount of fuel contained therein. The temperature of the catalyst zone is controlled by adjusting the composition and initial temperature of the fuel-air admixture as well as the uniformity of the mixture.Keywords: Combustion; Metals; Designs; Fuels; Alkanes; Oxidation