Low cost CO2 sensing: A simple microcontroller approach with calibration and field use

Understanding the spatial variability of gaseous carbon flux at a landscape scale requires intensive monitoring campaigns necessitating significant and perhaps prohibitive financial investment. Commercially available CO₂ sensors may only partially fulfil the requirements of the researcher, thereby generating inadequate data. In this context we present the fully replicable designs for a low-cost, microcontroller-based gaseous CO₂ concentration data logger suitable for field deployment at scale. It demonstrates a post-calibration accuracy of 96-99% and large onboard data storage for data collected at user-defined intervals. The sensor can be powered via USB or batteries, assembled by novice users, and produced for approximately £155. Post-calibration it was used to measure CO₂ evasion from a peatland stream, environments known to be spatially and temporally variable CO₂ sources, although potential applications are much wider in scope. The proliferation of low-cost, open-source, and user-made sensors in physical sciences could allow researchers to answer questions previously unanswerable due to the limitations of existing proprietary equipment. We encourage other research teams to use and adapt this design for a range of purposes and research questions beyond carbon processing in peatlands.

Comment on: "A novel approach to peatlands as archives of total cumulative spatial pollution loads from atmospheric deposition of airborne elements complementary to EMEP data: Priority pollutants (Pb, Cd, Hg)" by Ewa Miszczak, Sebastian Stefaniak, Adam Michczyński, Eiliv Steinnes and Irena Twardowska

A recent paper by Miszczak et al. (2020) examines metal contamination of mires in Poland and Norway. The authors conclude that lead (Pb) records in ombrotrophic peatlands cannot be used to reconstruct the chronological history of anthropogenic activities due to post-depositional mobility of the metal. We contest this general conclusion which stands in contrast with a significant body of literature demonstrating that Pb is largely immobile in the vast majority of ombrotrophic peatlands. Our aim is to reaffirm the crucial contribution that peat records have made to our knowledge of atmospheric Pb contamination. In addition, we reiterate the necessity of following established protocols to produce reliable records of anthropogenic Pb contamination in environmental archives.

Inflammatory cues enhance TGFβ activation by distinct subsets of human intestinal dendritic cells via integrin αvβ8

Regulation of intestinal T-cell responses is crucial for immune homeostasis and prevention of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). A vital cytokine in regulating intestinal T cells is transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ), which is secreted by cells as a latent complex that requires activation to function. However, how TGFβ activation is regulated in the human intestine, and how such pathways are altered in IBD is completely unknown. Here we show that a key activator of TGFβ, integrin αvβ8, is highly expressed on human intestinal dendritic cells (DCs), specifically on the CD1c⁺ but not the CD141⁺ intestinal DC subset. Expression was significantly upregulated on intestinal DC from IBD patients, indicating that inflammatory signals may upregulate expression of this key TGFβ-activating molecule. Indeed, we found that the Toll-like receptor 4 ligand lipopolysaccharide upregulates integrin αvβ8 expression and TGFβ activation by human DC. We also show that DC expression of integrin αvβ8 enhanced induction of FOXP3 in CD4⁺ T cells, suggesting functional importance of integrin αvβ8 expression by human DC. These results show that microbial signals enhance the TGFβ-activating ability of human DC via regulation of integrin αvβ8 expression, and that intestinal inflammation may drive this pathway in patients with IBD.

Medical complications of anorexia nervosa

Anorexia nervosa is a psychiatric disorder with potential life-threatening medical sequelae. This article reviews the principal medical complications associated with anorexia nervosa, highlights associated diagnostic pitfalls and emphasizes the importance of a multidisciplinary approach to management.

The perils of Grandma's medication: colchicine toxicity causing pneumomediastinum

A 19 year old male presented with a deliberate overdose of colchicine (50mg). He had no other significant medical history. 36 hours following admission he developed widespread surgical emphysema. An urgent CT scan of his chest and abdomen demonstrated mediastinal gas of lung origin. He also developed bone marrow suppression and disseminated intravascular coagulopathy. He was treated supportively with intravenous fluids, high flow oxygen and intravenous antibiotics and made a full recovery. Colchicine toxicity is a rare, but important presentation with high levels of morbidity and mortality. Pneumomediastinum is a potentially important complication. It may be appropriate to monitor patients in the later stages of the condition through an ambulatory setting.

The launch of MCBEND 10

MCBEND 10 is the latest release of the general radiation transport Monte Carlo code from the ANSWERS Software Service of Serco Assurance. MCBEND is developed within a Nuclear Code Development (NCD) partnership between Serco Assurance and BNFL. The ANSWERS vision is 'to provide easy-to-use software that meets the current and emerging needs of the user community'. In the case of MCBEND, this vision focuses on the key areas of accuracy, understanding of uncertainties, efficiency and user-friendliness. MCBEND 10 is a major launch of the code with many new and enhanced features. New developments in MCBEND 10 include automatic splitting mesh generation, point energy adjoint for neutrons, calculation of uncertainty in the results due to material cross section uncertainties and a unified source facility. Enhanced features include improved temperature treatment, extended scoring of sensitivity to geometry perturbations, geometry improvements, extensions to formulae and improved user guide image. The user-friendliness of the MCBEND code has been further enhanced by recent developments to the visualisation tools, VISAGE and VISTA-RAY. Developments have been made to the three-dimensional visualisation tool, VISTA-RAY, to simplify the detailed checking of a model, with the option to use a mouse-pointer to select regions of interest for further detail and to visually highlight incorrectly defined areas. A further development to VISTA-RAY is the inclusion of the capability to overlay a representation of a user-designated set of results from a MCBEND analysis on the model. Improvements have also been made to the graphical user interface LaunchPad for submitting and controlling calculation submission, with a common user-image across all the systems. Recent enhancements to LaunchPad include a job-scheduler to simplify processing multiple tasks. A selection of the new developments in MCBEND 10, VISTA-RAY and LaunchPad will be described in this paper.

A smoking reduction and cessation program with registered nurses: findings and implications for community health nursing

A smoking reduction and cessation program was implemented with registered nurses in 3 Canadian provinces. Nurses (n = 117) participated in either an 8-week group or self-directed program using a resource specifically designed for nurses. Questionnaires were administered prior to and at the end of the 8-week interventions and at 6 and 12 months postintervention. Statistically significant changes at 8 weeks in nurses' smoking practices were found on the number of nurses continuing to smoke, mean number of cigarettes smoked, and movement in the stage of behavioral change. Attrition and variation in patterns of quitting over the 12-month study period made assessing participants' longer term outcomes difficult. This study highlights the complexity of assisting nurses to quit smoking and of implementing and evaluating a program based on accepted community health models of practice.

A systematic approach with lasting benefits: designing and implementing a wound assessment chart

Applying a systematic approach to wound assessment is known to have long-term advantages. This study describes how two infection control nurses designed and implemented a wound assessment chart, which was intended to produce permanent changes in practice.

Recovery to social and economic independence from prolonged postanoxic vegetative state

If a patient is still in a vegetative state 1 month after anoxia, the prognosis for recovery is poor. We studied a patient who began to recover 7 weeks after carbon monoxide intoxication. She eventually resumed an independent life as a socially functioning and gainfully employed person.

CSF beta-glucuronidase assay in the diagnosis of neoplastic meningitis

The clinical value of CSF beta-glucuronidase assay in the differential diagnosis of chronic meningitis had been investigated over the past 20 years. Significant (P < .001), often marked, elevation of the enzyme level was found in the first sample submitted in 29 of 30 cases of neoplastic meningitis, irrespective of treatment (mean, 324 units), and in 12 of 14 untreated cases with meningeal lymphoma (mean, 174 units). On the other hand, untreated patients with chronic meningitis of other etiologies had significantly lower of other etiologies had significantly lower levels of enzyme elevation, eg, leukemic meningitis (mean, 46 units), fungal meningitis (mean, 41 units), and tuberculous meningitis (mean, 79 units). In the few cases of chronic meningitis studied during appropriate therapy, a tendency toward a decrease in enzyme activity was noted, thus offering further diagnostic support. In our opinion, the finding of a marked elevation of beta-glucuronidase activity in a patient with chronic meningitis is presumptive evidence of neoplastic etiology.

Bilateral gaze paralysis with positive computerized tomography findings. A clinicoanatomic correlation

The subacute development of an almost isolated bilateral gaze paralysis in a patient with mycosis fungoides allowed a unique opportunity for in vivo clinicoanatomical correlation when enhanced computerized tomography (CT) scan revealed two extremely small lesions of the pontine tegmentum. The larger lesion involved the region occupied by the medial longitudinal fasciculus and the paramedian pontine reticular formation (PPRF) bilaterally, and was alone sufficient to account for the eye movement disorder.