| 1. |
- Cadieux-Dion, M, et al.
(författare)
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Variants in CHRNB2 and CHRNA4 Identified in Patients with Insular Epilepsy
- 2020
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Ingår i: The Canadian journal of neurological sciences. Le journal canadien des sciences neurologiques. - : Cambridge University Press (CUP). - 0317-1671 .- 2057-0155. ; 47:6, s. 800-809
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Purpose:Our purpose was to determine the role of CHRNA4 and CHRNB2 in insular epilepsy.Method:We identified two patients with drug-resistant predominantly sleep-related hypermotor seizures, one harboring a heterozygous missense variant (c.77C>T; p. Thr26Met) in the CHRNB2 gene and the other a heterozygous missense variant (c.1079G>A; p. Arg360Gln) in the CHRNA4 gene. The patients underwent electrophysiological and neuroimaging studies, and we performed functional characterization of the p. Thr26Met (c.77C>T) in the CHRNB2 gene.Results:We localized the epileptic foci to the left insula in the first case (now seizure-free following epilepsy surgery) and to both insulae in the second case. Based on tools predicting the possible impact of amino acid substitutions on the structure and function of proteins (sorting intolerant from tolerant and PolyPhen-2), variants identified in this report could be deleterious. Functional expression in human cell lines of α4β2 (wild-type), α4β2-Thr26Met (homozygote), and α4β2/β2-Thr26Met (heterozygote) nicotinic acetylcholine receptors revealed that the mutant subunit led to significantly higher whole-cell nicotinic currents. This feature was observed in both homo- and heterozygous conditions and was not accompanied by major alterations of the current reversal potential or the shape of the concentration-response relation.Conclusions:This study suggests that variants in CHRNB2 and CHRNA4, initially linked to autosomal dominant nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy, are also found in patients with predominantly sleep-related insular epilepsy. Although the reported variants should be considered of unknown clinical significance for the moment, identification of additional similar cases and further functional studies could eventually strengthen this association.
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| 2. |
- Gustavsson, David J.I., et al.
(författare)
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Long-term stability of partial nitritation-anammox for treatment of municipal wastewater in a moving bed biofilm reactor pilot system
- 2020
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Ingår i: Science of the Total Environment. - : Elsevier BV. - 0048-9697 .- 1879-1026. ; 714
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- © 2019 Nitrogen removal from the mainstream of municipal wastewater with partial nitritation-anammox (PNA) would be highly beneficial with regard to the uses of energy and organic carbon. However, the challenges of process instability, low nitrogen removal rates (NRR) and unwanted aerobic nitrite oxidation need to be solved to reach large-scale implementation. Here, we have operated pilot-scale moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBRs) for mainstream treatment, together with sidestream treatment of sludge liquor from anaerobic digestors, for over 900 days to investigate process stability, reactor performance and microbial community structure at realistic conditions. The MBBR biofilm contained stable and high relative abundances of anammox bacteria (10–32%) consisting of two major Brocadia sp. populations, and several populations of aerobic ammonia-oxidising bacteria (AOB) within Nitrosomonas sp. (0.2–3.1%), as assessed by 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing. In addition, nitrite-oxidising bacteria (NOB) consisting of Nitrospira sp. (0.4–0.8%) and Nitrotoga sp. (up to 0.4%) were present. Nitrogen was removed at a peak rate of 0.66 g N m−2 d−1 (0.13 kg N m−3 d−1) with a nitrate production over ammonium consumption of 15% by the NOB, at operation with continuous aeration at 15 °C. However, during most periods with continuous aeration, the NRR was lower (≈ 0.45 g N m−2 d−1), with larger relative nitrate production (≈40%), presumably due to problems to maintain stable residual ammonium concentrations during wet-weather mainstream flows. Changing reactor operation to intermittent aeration decreased the NRR but did not help in suppressing the NOB. The study shows that with MBBRs, stable mainstream PNA can be attained at realistic NRR, but with need for post-treatment of nitrate, since effective NOB suppression was hard to achieve.
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| 3. |
- Gustavsson, Martina, et al.
(författare)
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Moral Distress among Disaster Responders : What is it?
- 2020
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Ingår i: Prehospital and Disaster Medicine. - 1049-023X .- 1945-1938. ; 35:2, s. 212-219
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Introduction:Current research of moral distress is mainly derived from challenges within high-resource health care settings, and there is lack of clarity among the different definitions. Disaster responders are prone to a range of moral challenges during the work, which may give rise to moral distress. Further, organizations have considered increased drop-out rates and sick leaves among disaster responders as consequences of moral distress. Therefore, initiatives have been taken to address and understand the impacts of moral distress and its consequences for responders. Since there is unclarity among the different definitions, a first step is to understand the concept of moral distress and its interlinkages within the literature related to disaster responders.Hypothesis/Problem:To examine how disaster responders are affected by moral challenges, systematic knowledge is needed about the concepts related to moral distress. This paper aims to elucidate how the concept of moral distress in disaster response is defined and explained in the literature.Methods:The paper opted to systematically map the existing literature through the methods of a scoping review. The searches derived documents which were screened regarding specific inclusion criteria. The included 16 documents were analyzed and collated according to their definitions of moral distress or according to their descriptions of moral distress.Results:The paper provides clarity among the different concepts and definitions of moral distress within disaster response. Several concepts exist that describe the outcomes of morally challenging situations, centering on situations when individuals are prevented from acting in accordance with their moral values. Their specific differences suggest that to achieve greater clarity in future work, moral stress and moral distress should be distinguished.Conclusion:Based on the findings, a conceptual model of the development of moral distress was developed, which displays a manifestation of moral distress with the interplay between the responder and the context. The overview of the different concepts in this model can facilitate future research and be used to illuminate how the concepts are interrelated.
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| 4. |
- Kjaergaard, M., et al.
(författare)
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Superconducting Qubits: Current State of Play
- 2020
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Ingår i: Annual Review of Condensed Matter Physics. - : Annual Reviews. - 1947-5454 .- 1947-5462. ; 11, s. 369-395
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Superconducting qubits are leading candidates in the race to build a quantum computer capable of realizing computations beyond the reach of modern supercomputers. The superconducting qubit modality has been used to demonstrate prototype algorithms in the noisy intermediate-scale quantum (NISQ) technology era, in which non-error-corrected qubits are used to implement quantum simulations and quantum algorithms. With the recent demonstrations of multiple high-fidelity, two-qubit gates as well as operations on logical qubits in extensible superconducting qubit systems, this modality also holds promise for the longer-term goal of building larger-scale error-corrected quantum computers. In this brief review, we discuss several of the recent experimental advances in qubit hardware, gate implementations, readout capabilities, early NISQ algorithm implementations, and quantum error correction using superconducting qubits. Although continued work on many aspects of this technology is certainly necessary, the pace of both conceptual and technical progress in recent years has been impressive, and here we hope to convey the excitement stemming from this progress.
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| 5. |
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| 6. |
- Nyberg, Jenny, 1976, et al.
(författare)
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Late-adolescent risk factors for suicide and self-harm in middle-aged men: explorative prospective population-based study.
- 2020
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Ingår i: The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science. - : Royal College of Psychiatrists. - 1472-1465. ; 217:1, s. 370-376
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent reports show alarmingly high rates of suicide in middle-aged men, yet there are few long-term prospective studies that focus on suicidal behaviour in men in this age group.To prospectively explore associations of potential risk factors at age 18 with suicide and self-harm in middle-aged men.A population-based Swedish longitudinal cohort study of male conscripts with no history of self-harm at enlistment in 1968-1989 (n = 987 583). Conscription examinations included measures of cognitive performance, stress resilience, psychiatric diagnoses, body mass index (BMI), cardiovascular fitness and muscle strength. Suicides and self-harm at age 45-65 years were identified in the National Hospital Register and Swedish Cause of Death Register. Risks were calculated using Cox proportional hazards models.Low stress resilience (cause-specific hazard ratio CHR = 2.31, 95% CI 1.95-2.74), low cognitive ability (CHR = 2.01, 95% CI 1.71-2.37) as well as psychiatric disorders and low cardiovascular fitness in late adolescence were associated with increased risk for suicide in middle-aged men. Similar risk estimates were obtained for self-harm. In addition, high and low BMI as well as low muscle strength were associated with increased risk of self-harm. Associations also remained significant after exclusion of men with self-harm before age 45.This prospective study provides life-course perspective support that psychological and physical characteristics in late adolescence may have long-lasting consequences for suicidal behaviour in middle-aged men, a very large population at heightened risk of suicide.
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| 7. |
- Pérez, Julio, et al.
(författare)
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The role of the external mass transfer resistance in nitrite oxidizing bacteria repression in biofilm-based partial nitritation/anammox reactors
- 2020
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Ingår i: Water Research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0043-1354 .- 1879-2448. ; 186
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A model-based study was developed to analyse the behaviour of Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor (MBBR) and Integrated Fixed-Film Activated Sludge (IFAS) reactor configurations for the removal of nitrogen in the main water line of municipal wastewater treatment plants via partial nitritation/anammox (PN/AMX). The basic principles and underlying mechanisms linking operating conditions to process performance were investigated, with particular focus on nitrite oxidizing bacteria (NOB) repression and resulting volumetric conversion rates. The external mass transfer resistance is a major factor differentiating granular sludge PN/AMX processes from MBBR or IFAS systems. The external mass transfer resistance was found to promote the metabolic coupling between anammox (AMX) and ammonia oxidizing bacteria (AOB), crucial for NOB repression in the biofilm. Operation at low bulk DO prevents NOB proliferation in the flocs of IFAS systems as AMX activity limits nitrite availability (the so-called AMX nitrite sink). Importantly, the effectiveness of the AMX nitrite sink strongly depends on the AMX sensitivity to oxygen. Also, over a broad range of operational conditions, the seeding of AOB from the biofilm played a crucial role in maintaining their activity in the flocs. From a practical perspective, while low DO promotes NOB repression, lower nitrogen loads have to be applied to maintain the same effluent quality. Thus, a trade-off between NOB repression and volumetric conversion capacity needs to be defined. To this end, IFAS allow for higher volumetric rates, but the window of operating conditions with effective NOB repression is smaller than that for MBBR. Ultimately, this study identified the principles controlling NOB in MBBR and IFAS systems and the key differences with granular reactors, allowing for the interpretation of (seemingly contradictory) published experimental results.
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| 8. |
- Shahreza, S.k., et al.
(författare)
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Making decision on repointing of clay brick facades on the basis of moisture content and water absorption tests results – a review of assessment methods
- 2020
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Ingår i: Brick and Block Masonry - From Historical to Sustainable Masonry : Proceedings of the 17th International Brick/Block Masonry Conference (17thIB2MaC 2020), July 5-8, 2020, Kraków, Poland - Proceedings of the 17th International Brick/Block Masonry Conference (17thIB2MaC 2020), July 5-8, 2020, Kraków, Poland. - : CRC Press. - 9781003098508 ; , s. 617-623
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Use of clay brick masonry in façades is often motivated by its aesthetic values and durability. Yet, mortar joints exposed to climate agents erode over time, expected to cause elevated moisture content and water absorption. Thus, it is often recommended that 40- to 50-year-old facades should be repointed – a measure which is intrusive and costly. Decision is in many cases taken without a clear evidence that repointing will diminish water absorption and moisture content in the renovated walls. This paper presents the results of a state-of-the-art study on field and laboratory methods to measure moisture content and water absorption in clay brick masonry. For common buildings, use of low cost and time efficient measurement methods is feasible. However, prior to measurements, analysis of technical and climate data combined with a visual inspection might give a rational basis for decision on repointing or other alternative maintenance measures.
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| 9. |
- Wu, Yibo, 1996, et al.
(författare)
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Residual Neural Networks for Digital Predistortion
- 2020
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Ingår i: 2020 IEEE Global Communications Conference, GLOBECOM 2020 - Proceedings.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Tracking the nonlinear behavior of an RF power amplifier (PA) is challenging. To tackle this problem, we build a connection between residual learning and the PA nonlinearity, and propose a novel residual neural network structure, referred to as the residual real-valued time-delay neural network (R2TDNN). Instead of learning the whole behavior of the PA, the R2TDNN focuses on learning its nonlinear behavior by adding identity shortcut connections between the input and output layer. In particular, we apply the R2TDNN to digital predistortion and measure experimental results on a real PA. Compared with neural networks recently proposed by Liu et at. and Wang et at., the R2TDNN achieves the best linearization performance in terms of normalized mean square error and adjacent channel power ratio with less or similar computational complexity. Furthermore, the R2TDNN exhibits significantly faster training speed and lower training error.
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