Background Intracellular delivery of antimicrobial agents by nanoparticles, such as mesoporous silica particles (MSPs), offers an interesting strategy to treat intracellular infections. In tuberculosis (TB), Mycobacterium tuberculosis avoids components of the immune system by residing primarily inside alveolar macrophages, which are the desired target for TB therapy. Methods and findings We have p

he aim of this study was to investigate the acute effect of hydration status on glycemic regulation in healthy adults and explore underlying mechanisms. In this randomized crossover trial, 16 healthy adults (8 men, 8 women) underwent an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) when hypohydrated and rehydrated after 4 days of pretrial standardization. One day before OGTT, participants were dehydrated fo

Background: Breathlessness, the subjective sensation of breathing discomfort, is common and appears in the daily life of people with cardiorespiratory diseases. Physicians often rely on patient's history based on symptom recall. The relation between recalled and experienced breathlessness is still poorly understood. This paper presents the protocol for a study primarily aimed at evaluating the rel

Aims. We seek to provide abundances of a large set of light and neutron-capture elements homogeneously analyzed that cover a wide range of metallicity to constrain globular cluster (GC) formation and evolution models. Methods. We analyzed a large sample of 885 GCs giants from the SDSS IV-Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) survey. We used the Cannon results to separate

Electric road systems (ERS) are designed to transfer power to electric vehicles (EV) while moving, not only for charging the on-board battery, but also for propelling the vehicle and supplying the auxiliary systems. The step from dynamic charging to static charging with a conductive ERS is not large since most of the equipment can be used without modification, yet it brings thermal challenges. Sta

This paper presents and assesses the cooling integration of medium size electrical machines with distributed hair-pin type of windings. By introducing a hollow or profiled conductor the generated heat can be removed right where it is created. The cooling duct in conductor that can be connected either to series or parallel cooling flows increases DC resistance up to 1.5 times when comparing commerc

Electric road systems (ERS) are technologies that allow to charge electric vehicles (EVs) while they are driving. This makes it possible to reduce the installed battery capacity and therefore the weight and cost of the vehicle. However, while the vehicle is charging from the ERS a protective earth connection cannot be ensured, which introduces new isolation challenges in the design of the electric

Recent climate warming has altered plant phenology at northern European latitudes, but conclusions regarding the spatial patterns of phenological change and relationships with climate are still challenging as quantitative estimates are strongly diverging. To generate consistent estimates of broad-scale spatially continuous spring plant phenology at northern European latitudes (> 50° N) from 2000

Background: There is a close association between non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and prevalent chronic kidney disease (CKD). Few longitudinal studies exist. No previous study has investigated to what extent CKD affects mortality in biopsy-proven NAFLD. Our aim was to investigate the long-term risk of developing CKD in biopsy-proven NAFLD and its effect on mortality. Methods: Patients wi

Studies investigating tool use in animals that are not known tool users in the wild are important in helping to understand how and under what circumstances this ability might arise. Tool use appears to be uncommon in great tits (Parus major), with only a single documented observation in which a wild great tit used conifer needles to extract larvae from crevices in trees. In a laboratory-based expe

While deforestation and forest degradation have gained attention in recent years not least at the UN climate negotiations, a third “de”, i.e., defaunation, has to a great extent been overlooked. Human-induced faunal loss does not only reduce tree species diversity, but also significantly erodes key ecosystem services and functions and further disadvantages local communities. In this article, we an

Lung transplantation is the only option for patients with end-stage lung disease, but there is a shortage of available lung donors. Furthermore, efficiency of lung transplantation has been limited due to primary graft dysfunction. Recent mouse models mimicking lung disease in humans have allowed for deepening our understanding of disease pathomechanisms. Moreover, new techniques such as decellular

We consider the effects of three different types of applied compressive stress on the structural, electronic and optical properties of rutile SnO2. We use standard density functional theory (DFT) to determine the structural parameters. The effective masses and the electronic band gap, as well as their stress derivatives, are computed within both DFT and many-body perturbation theory (MBPT). The st

This article summarizes the processes that are responsible for cosmogenic radionuclide variations in ice cores and the results that can be inferred from these records. The article starts with the production in the atmosphere caused by the influx of galactic cosmic ray particles and its modulation by the solar and geomagnetic fields. Subsequently, the geochemical behavior of cosmogenic radionuclide

Ba3Si6O12N2:Eu2+ and Ba3Si6O9N4:Eu2+ have strikingly similar atomistic structures, but the former is an efficient green phosphor at working temperature while the latter is a bluish-green phosphor whose luminescence decreases quite fast with temperature. Aiming at the understanding of such different behavior, we compute the quasiparticle electronic band structure of the two hosts, Ba3Si6O 12N2 and