Adsorption of PFCAs using polyethyleneimine modified Biochar: Role of chain length and effects of water matrices.

Perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) are emerging organic pollutants posing a threat to human health and the environment. This study investigates the efficacy of polyethyleneimine-modified biochar (BC-PEI) as an adsorbent for removing PFCAs from a mixed solute system, focusing on competitive adsorption among PFCAs with varying chain lengths. It includes perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), hexafluoropropylene-oxide-dimer-acid (GenX), and perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA).

Narrow Optical Linewidths in Stoichiometric Layered Rare-Earth Crystals.

Rare-earth emitters in solids are well suited for implementing efficient, long-lived quantum memory coupled to integrated photonics for scalable quantum technologies. They are typically introduced as dopants in a solid-state host, but this introduces disorder and limits the available density of emitters. Stoichiometric materials can offer high densities with narrow optical linewidths.

Prevalence of a microsporidian parasite in different social forms of the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, in its native range in Argentina.

We surveyed 559 colonies of the fire ant Solenopsis invicta in 15 sites in its native range in Argentina for the microsporidian parasite Kneallhazia solenopsae, a natural enemy of this ant. The microsporidium was detected in 20 out of 508 monogyne and nine out of 51 polygyne colonies corresponding to mean infection prevalences of 3.31% and 13.

Synthesis of Layered Gold Tellurides AuSbTe and AuTe and Their Semiconducting and Metallic Behavior.

Previous studies on natural samples of pampaloite (AuSbTe) revealed the crystal structure of a potentially cleavable and/or exfoliable material, while studies on natural and synthetic montbrayite (Sb-containing AuTe) claimed various chemical compositions for this low-symmetry compound. Few investigations of synthetic samples have been reported for both materials, leaving much of their chemical, thermal, and electronic characteristics unknown. Here, we investigate the stability, electronic properties, and synthesis of the gold antimony tellurides AuSbTe and AuSbTe (montbrayite).

Cytomegalovirus Colitis Masquerading as a Recurrent Colonic Polyp in a Patient With Neurofibromatosis Type 1.

Cytomegalovirus colitis most commonly affects immunocompromised patients, although it is a rare cause of gastrointestinal bleeding in immunocompetent patients. Older age, chronic disease, and critical illness are also important risk factors and may lead providers to consider the diagnosis in otherwise immunocompetent patients. Endoscopic presentation is variable and does not significantly influence outcomes.

Criteria for identifying and evaluating locations that could potentially host the Cosmic Explorer observatories.

Cosmic Explorer is a next-generation ground-based gravitational-wave observatory that is being designed in the 2020s and is envisioned to begin operations in the 2030s together with the Einstein Telescope in Europe. The Cosmic Explorer concept currently consists of two widely separated L-shaped observatories in the United States, one with 40 km-long arms and the other with 20 km-long arms. This order of magnitude increase in scale with respect to the LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA observatories will, together with technological improvements, deliver an order of magnitude greater astronomical reach, allowing access to gravitational waves from remnants of the first stars and opening a wide discovery aperture to the novel and unknown.

Thermal Characterization of Ferroelectric AlBN for Nonvolatile Memory.

Boron (B)-substituted wurtzite AlN (AlBN) is a recently discovered wurtzite ferroelectric material that offers several advantages over ferroelectric HfZrO and PbZrTiO. Such benefits include a relatively low growth temperature as well as a thermally stable, and thickness-stable ferroelectric polarization; these factors are promising for the development of ferroelectric nonvolatile random-access memory (FeRAM) that are CMOS-compatible, scalable, and reliable for storing data in harsh environments. However, wurtzite ferroelectric materials may undergo exacerbated self-heating upon polarization switching relative to other ferroelectric materials; the larger energy loss is anticipated due to the higher coercive field and remanent polarization.

Myiasis as a Vector for Bacteremia: A Unique Case of and Polymicrobial Bacteremia from Myiasis.

Detection of and / has been made possible by recent advancements in microbiologic diagnostics. We report the first described case of polymicrobial bacteremia secondary to these two unique pathogens, and only the third case of / bacteremia described in the United States. Myiasis has historically been thought of as an infestation.

Unconventional Spectral Gaps Induced by Charge Density Waves in the Weyl Semimetal (TaSe)I.

Coupling Weyl quasiparticles and charge density waves (CDWs) can lead to fascinating band renormalization and many-body effects beyond band folding and Peierls gaps. For the quasi-one-dimensional chiral compound (TaSe)I with an incommensurate CDW transition at = 263 K, photoemission mappings thus far are intriguing due to suppressed emission near the Fermi level. Models for this unconventional behavior include axion insulator phases, correlation pseudogaps, polaron subbands, bipolaron bound states, etc.

Metagenome-enabled models improve genomic predictive ability and identification of herbivory-limiting genes in sweetpotato.

Plant-insect interactions are often influenced by host- or insect-associated metagenomic community members. The relative abundance of insects and the microbes that modulate their interactions were obtained from sweetpotato () leaf-associated metagenomes using quantitative reduced representation sequencing and strain/species-level profiling with the Qmatey software. Positive correlations were found between whitefly () and its endosymbionts (, , and spp) and negative correlations with nitrogen-fixing bacteria that implicate nitric oxide in sweetpotato-whitefly interaction.

Predictors of cytomegalovirus reactivation after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation: Insights from a real-world experience.

Background: We aimed to investigate factors associated with cytomegalovirus (CMV) viremia and CMV disease and its impact on post-transplant outcomes including overall survival (OS) following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (Allo-SCT).

Methods: We conducted a single-center retrospective study including 452 Allo-SCT recipients (matched unrelated donor, MUD 61%; haploidentical, haplo 39%) from 2016 to 2021. Data were analyzed using SPSS v28.

Spin-resolved topology and partial axion angles in three-dimensional insulators.

Symmetry-protected topological crystalline insulators (TCIs) have primarily been characterized by their gapless boundary states. However, in time-reversal- ([Formula: see text]-) invariant (helical) 3D TCIs-termed higher-order TCIs (HOTIs)-the boundary signatures can manifest as a sample-dependent network of 1D hinge states. We here introduce nested spin-resolved Wilson loops and layer constructions as tools to characterize the intrinsic bulk topological properties of spinful 3D insulators.

Design Rules, Accurate Enthalpy Prediction, and Synthesis of Stoichiometric Eu Quantum Memory Candidates.

Stoichiometric Eu compounds have recently shown promise for building dense, optically addressable quantum memory as the cations' long nuclear spin coherence times and shielded 4f electron optical transitions provide reliable memory platforms. Implementing such a system, though, requires ultranarrow, inhomogeneous linewidth compounds. Finding this rare linewidth behavior within a wide range of potential chemical spaces remains difficult, and while exploratory synthesis is often guided by density functional theory (DFT) calculations, lanthanides' 4f electrons pose unique challenges for stability predictions.

Exfoliable Transition Metal Chalcogenide Semiconductor NbSeI.

As the field of exfoliated van der Waals electronics grows to include complex heterostructures, the variety of available in-plane symmetries and geometries becomes increasingly valuable. In this work, we present an efficient chemical vapor transport synthesis of NbSeI with the triclinic space group 1̅. This material contains Nb-Nb dimers and an in-plane crystallographic angle γ = 61.

Prevalence and Genetic Diversity of a Microsporidian Parasite in the Black Imported Fire Ant and Its Social Parasitic Ant (Formicidae: Myrmicinae: ) in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.

Microsporidia are natural pathogens of arthropods and have been used as biological control against insect pests. In the United States, efforts to control the invasive Red Imported Fire Ant, , and Black Imported Fire Ant, , have included the use of the microsporidium, . However, there is limited information about the genetic differences among the microsporidian variants found in and in .

Ultrafast X-Ray Scattering Reveals Composite Amplitude Collective Mode in the Weyl Charge Density Wave Material (TaSe_{4})_{2}I.

We report ultrafast x-ray scattering experiments of the quasi-1D charge density wave (CDW) material (TaSe_{4})_{2}I following ultrafast infrared photoexcitation. From the time-dependent diffraction signal at the CDW sidebands we identify a 0.11 THz amplitude mode derived primarily from a transverse acoustic mode of the high-symmetry structure.

A point-of-care biosensor for rapid detection and differentiation of COVID-19 virus (SARS-CoV-2) and influenza virus using subwavelength grating micro-ring resonator.

In the context of continued spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 and the emergence of new variants, the demand for rapid, accurate, and frequent detection is increasing. Moreover, the new predominant strain, Omicron variant, manifests more similar clinical features to those of other common respiratory infections. The concurrent detection of multiple potential pathogens helps distinguish SARS-CoV-2 infection from other diseases with overlapping symptoms, which is significant for providing tailored treatment to patients and containing the outbreak.

A blended curriculum to improve student community health officers' competencies in newborn infection prevention and control.

Background: Infections contribute significantly to neonatal mortality in Nigeria. Community health officers (CHOs) provide maternal, newborn and child health services at the primary health care level. However, newborn infection prevention and control (NB-IPC) is not included in their current training curriculum, which has little innovation in teaching methods.

Observation of a massive phason in a charge-density-wave insulator.

The lowest-lying fundamental excitation of an incommensurate charge-density-wave material is believed to be a massless phason-a collective modulation of the phase of the charge-density-wave order parameter. However, long-range Coulomb interactions should push the phason energy up to the plasma energy of the charge-density-wave condensate, resulting in a massive phason and fully gapped spectrum. Using time-domain terahertz emission spectroscopy, we investigate this issue in (TaSe)I, a quasi-one-dimensional charge-density-wave insulator.

Infections Among COVID-19 Patients: A Case Series and Literature Review.

Background: pneumonia (PCP) is a serious, emerging complication of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Methods: We performed a systematic review of published cases. We describe 6 new cases of PCP/COVID-19 coinfection.

Angstrom-scale imaging of magnetization in antiferromagnetic FeAs via 4D-STEM.

We demonstrate a combination of computational tools and experimental 4D-STEM methods to image the local magnetic moment in antiferromagnetic FeAs with 6 angstrom spatial resolution. Our techniques utilize magnetic diffraction peaks, common in antiferromagnetic materials, to create imaging modes that directly visualize the magnetic lattice. Using this approach, we show that center-of-mass analysis can determine the local magnetization component in the plane perpendicular to the path of the electron beam.

Quasi-One-Dimensional Transition-Metal Chalcogenide Semiconductor (NbSeI)I.

The discovery of new low-dimensional transition-metal chalcogenides is contributing to the already prosperous family of these materials. In this study, needle-shaped single crystals of a quasi-one-dimensional (1D) material, (NbSeI)I, were grown by chemical vapor transport, and the structure was solved by single-crystal X-ray diffraction (XRD). The structure has 1D (NbSeI) chains along the [101] direction, with two I ions per formula unit directly bonded to Nb.

Ultra-Wide Band Gap GaO-on-SiC MOSFETs.

Ultra-wide band gap semiconductor devices based on β-phase gallium oxide (GaO) offer the potential to achieve higher switching performance and efficiency and lower manufacturing cost than that of today's wide band gap power electronics. However, the most critical challenge to the commercialization of GaO electronics is overheating, which impacts the device performance and reliability. We fabricated a GaO/4H-SiC composite wafer using a fusion-bonding method.

Direct and indirect genetic effects of a social supergene.

Indirect genetic effects describe phenotypic variation that results from differences in the genotypic composition of social partners. Such effects represent heritable sources of environmental variation in eusocial organisms because individuals are typically reared by their siblings. In the fire ant Solenopsis invicta, a social supergene exhibits striking indirect genetic effects on worker regulation of colony queen number, such that the genotypic composition of workers at the supergene determines whether colonies contain a single or multiple queens.