Photodegradation of dissolved organic matter in ice beneath solar irradiation

he usefulness of the QV ring for brain imaging with 123I agents can be generalized to other commonly used SPECT imaging agents labelled with isotopes, such as 99mTc and likely 111In.Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) is a complex inflammatory disease highly impacting patient's quality of life, and associated with lower airway inflammation often evolving into asthma. Exhaled nitric oxide (FENO) is a non-invasive tool to assess Type 2 airway inflammation and its extended analysis allows to differentiate between alveolar concentration (CalvNO) and bronchial output (JawNO). It is also possible to assess the sino-nasal production of nitric oxide (nNO). We studied extended nitric oxide production in patients with CRSwNP with or without associated asthma. Consecutive adult patients with CRSwNP, with or without asthma, and 15 healthy controls were enrolled. Exclusion criteria were smoking, uncontrolled asthma, recent upper or lower airway infections and oral corticosteroid therapy in the 4 weeks preceding clinical evaluation. Patients' demographic and clinical data were collected; patients underwent pulmonary function tests and extended nitric oxide analysis including nasal nNO assessment. A total of 125 subjects were enrolled (15 healthy controls; 69 with CRSwNP and asthma, and 41 with CRSwNP only). FENO, JawNO and CalvNO values were higher, while nNO was lower, in all patients with CRSwNP compared to healthy controls; no difference was found in CalvNO between patients with concomitant asthma and non-asthmatic subjects; in asthmatic patients, FENO and JawNO were significantly higher, while nNO values was lower, compared to patients with CRSwNP only. These results suggest that CRSwNP could be the first manifestation of a more complex systemic inflammatory pathology driven by Type 2 inflammation. An 'inflammatory gradient' hypothesis could describe a pattern of inflammation in CRSwNP patients that starts distally in the alveoli. Finally, our study indirectly reinforces the concept that novel biological drugs could become valid therapeutic options for nasal polyposis.Nanostructure morphologies of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are gaining much interest owing to their catalytic, sensing, and energy storage capabilities. Here, we report the synthesis of highly dense MoO2/MoS2 core-shell nanoparticles, a new form of TMD nanostructure, via chemical vapor deposition using new growth geometry where a thin film of MoO3 was used as a source substrate for Mo as opposed to using MoO3 powder used in conventional studies. To grow the MoO2/MoS2 core-shell nanoparticles, we precisely control the carrier gas flow rate and sulfur vapor introduction time with respect to the melting of a MoO3 thin film used for Mo precursor. Scanning electron microscope image shows dense coverage of nanoparticles of 50-120 nm in size. The transmission electron microscopy image shows that the nanoparticles consist of crystalline MoO2 core covered with a few layer MoS2 shell. Raman and energy dispersive spectroscopy characterizations further confirm the chemical composition of the nanoparticle containing MoO2 and MoS2. We discuss the growth conditions under which the nanoparticles grow and elucidate its growth mechanism. We also discuss how a small but controllable changes in growth condition could lead to other highly dense growth of vertical/lateral MoO2/MoS2 plates in both source and growth substrates due to the unique growth geometry used in this study.This study reports a facile fabrication of black TiO2-x /NiFe2O4 (Ti3+ self-doped titania coupled with nickel ferrite), an efficient sonocatalyst for ibuprofen (IBP) mitigation. Compared with TiO2-x or NiFe2O4, TiO2-x /NiFe2O4 heterojunction displayed higher sonocatalytic activity, and their immobilization onto diatomaceous earth further enhanced mitigation efficiency due to the synergy between adsorption and sonocatalysis. Lithocholic acid in vitro About 96.7% of 10 mg l-1 IBP was removed in 100 min using 0.7 g l-1 catalyst at pH = 6, with the ultrasonic power of 144 W and frequency of 60 KHz. Quenching experiment results demonstrated the roles of reactive species. The intermediates during IBP sono-oxidation were determined by HPLC-MS method, and the acute toxicity was evaluated. Furthermore, the reaction mechanism was proposed. The sonocatalyst revealed excellent reusability, suggesting itself promising for wastewater treatment.Series of Ca1-xPrxCo2As2 (x = 0, 0.10, 0.25, 0.4, 0.6, 0.75, 0.85, 1) single crystals have been synthesized in order to clarify the variation of magnetic order from antiferromagnetic in CaCo2As2 to ferromagnetic in PrCo2As2. It is found that the lattice constant of c-axis are contracted with the introduction of Pr into Ca sites in CaCo2As2. Electronic transport measurements reveal the metallicity in this system. Systematic magnetic measurements and analysis show that substituting only 10% of Pr for Ca changes the magnetic ground state from A-type antiferromagnetic ordering of Co magnetic moment in CaCo2As2 to ferromagnetic ordering in Ca1-xPrxCo2As2 (0.1≤x≤1). Most importantly, the abrupt drop of low temperature magnetic susceptibility below TFiM with x≥0.25 and the observed magnetic pole reversal with x≥0.4 suggests an antiferromagnetic coupling between Co 3d and Pr 4f magnetic sublattice. Finally, a detailed magnetic phase diagram in this system has been obtained.The clinical demand for low image noise often limits the slice thickness used in many CT applications. However, a thick-slice image is more susceptible to longitudinal partial volume effects, which can blur key anatomic structures and pathologies of interest. In this work, we develop a prior-knowledge-aware iterative denoising (PKAID) framework that utilizes spatial data redundancy in the slice increment direction to generate low-noise, thin-slice images, and demonstrate its application in non-contrast head CT exams. The proposed technique takes advantage of the low-noise of thicker images and exploits the structural similarity between the thick- and thin-slice images to reduce noise in the thin-slice image. Phantom data and patient cases (n=3) of head CT were used to assess performance of this method. Images were reconstructed at clinically-utilized slice thickness (5 mm) and thinner slice thickness (2 mm). PKAID was used to reduce image noise in 2 mm images using the 5 mm images as low-noise prior. Noise amplitude, noise power spectra (NPS), modulation transfer function (MTF), and slice sensitivity profiles (SSP) of images before/after denoising were analyzed.