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Chemical- and photo-activation of protein-protein thiol-ene coupling for protein profiling
No full textThe thiol-ene reaction between an alkene and a thiol can be exploited for selective labelling of cysteine residues in protein profiling applications. Here, we explore thiol-ene activation in systems from chemical models to complex cellular milieus, using UV, visible wavelength and redox initiators. Initial studies in chemical models required an oxygen-free environment for efficient coupling and showed very poor activation when using a redox initiator. When thiol-ene activation was performed in protein and cell lysate models, all three initiation methods were successful. Faster thiol-ene reaction was observed as the cysteine and alkene were brought into proximity by a binding event prior to activation, leading to quicker adduct formation in the protein model system than the chemical models. Furthermore, in the protein-protein coupling, none of the activators required an oxygen-free environment. Taken together, these observations demonstrate the broad potential for thiol-ene coupling to be used in protein profiling
Mechanisms of using NaCl-CaCl<sub>2</sub> molten solar salts in enhancing the integrated CO<sub>2</sub> capture and utilization via reverse water gas shift (ICCU-RWGS) process with CaO alone
No full textThis study explored the integration of NaCl-CaCl2 molten solar salts with CaO in the integrated CO2 capture and utilization via reverse water gas shift reaction (RWGS). It was demonstrated that the molten salt system significantly improves CO2 capture capacity and CO generation rate compared to CaO alone. The system achieved a CO2 conversion of 56.99 % at 650 ℃, with a notable average CO2 capture rate of 0.64 mmol g−1 min−1 and CO generation rate of 0.23 mmol g−1 min−1. The co-melting behavior of NaCl-CaCl2-CaO was found to be the main reason for enhancing CO2 capture through the TG-DSC test. XPS analyses confirmed that the eutectic melting of the salts disrupts the crystalline structure of CaO, leading to CO2 and metals bonding through adsorbed oxygen rather than lattice oxygen. Combined with the mechanistic insights provided by in-situ DRIFTS and in-situ Raman, it was confirmed that the easier desorption of adsorbed oxygen is the key factor behind the enhanced CO generation during the RWGS stage in the molten salt environment. These findings provide foundational insights for the future design of solar-driven CO2 capture and conversion molten salt systems.<br/
The impact of mobile health interventions on service users' health outcomes and the role of health professions: a systematic review of systematic reviews
No full textBackgroundMobile health (mHealth) tools have gained prominence in global healthcare in recent years, with demonstrated impacts on managing service users' health. While many systematic reviews have assessed the effectiveness of mHealth on health outcomes, the role of health professions in promoting mHealth adoption and leading to improved outcomes is less clear. This systematic review of systematic reviews (SR of SRs) critically appraises and synthesises evidence to examine both the impact of mHealth interventions on service users' outcomes and the role of health professions in facilitating their adoption.MethodsFive electronic databases—EMBASE, CINAHL Plus, Medline, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library—were searched for systematic reviews published between 1 January 2015 and 8 June 2024. Reviews focused on the impact of mHealth interventions on service users' outcomes and the role of health professions in promoting adoption were included. Screening, data extraction, and quality assessment were conducted by four independent reviewers.ResultsFourteen systematic reviews, covering 393 primary studies, were included. mHealth interventions showed positive impacts on clinical outcomes, such as reductions in blood pressure, HbA1c, and cholesterol. Behavioural improvements were also reported, including better medication adherence and physical activity. Psychological benefits, such as reduced anxiety and enhanced patient satisfaction, were noted. The involvement of health professions significantly enhanced mHealth outcomes. However, challenges such as sustainability, accessibility, and usability remain.DiscussionThis SR of SRs provides critical insights into the effectiveness of mHealth interventions on health outcomes and highlights the important role of health professions in promoting their adoption. While the findings are promising, concerns about training, sustainability, accessibility, and user acceptance need to be addressed to improve the broader adoption of mHealth interventions. Further research is recommended to address these challenges and enhance the long-term success of mHealth tools in healthcare.Trial registrationPROSPERO CRD 42023414435. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13643-024-02624-y<br/
Process evaluation of Project Daire: a food environment intervention that impacted food knowledge, wellbeing and dietary habits of primary school children
No full textBackgroundProject DAIRE was a randomised-controlled, factorial design trial which aimed to improve children’s health-related quality of life, wellbeing, food knowledge and dietary habits via two multi-component interventions: Nourish and Engage. Nourish was an intervention aiming to alter the school food environment, provide food-based experiences and expose pupils to locally produced foods. Engage was an age-appropriate cross-curricular food education intervention incorporating food, agriculture, nutrition science and related careers. The purpose of this study was to conduct a process evaluation to evaluate DAIRE implementation, mechanisms of impact (MOI) and context to elucidate trial results, and inform scalable implementation of the DAIRE approach for successful future rollout.MethodsThe Medical Research Council’s (MRC) framework for process evaluation was followed. Formal (questionnaires designed for process evaluation) and informal (researcher records and communications) methods were used to collect quantitative and qualitative data during the DAIRE trial in relation to process evaluation. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and qualitative data via thematic analysis to identify key themes.ResultsFifteen schools and 983 pupils (n = 495 6–7 year olds/Year 3 and n = 488 10–11 year olds/Year 7) were recruited for the 6-month DAIRE intervention; a 100% retention rate was observed at the school level and the interventions had a high level of pupil and teacher acceptability. Nourish schools delivered a higher mean dose of intervention elements (61.4%) than Engage (50%) schools but, overall, mixed implementation of both interventions occurred. DAIRE produced change through four key MOI: social learning, experimental learning, interactive engaging content and real-life connections. Lack of time was the main contextual barrier to implementation and lack of financial cost to schools indicated as a potential facilitator.ConclusionsThis process evaluation helped to identify important findings related to implementation, MOI and context. The most effective elements of the interventions which should be maintained include provision of interactive and engaging intervention elements at no financial cost to the school. Findings also identified suggestions for improvement including provision of increased teacher training, support and planning time, content reduction to facilitate easy integration, and implementation across the full academic year. A sustainable funding and resourcing mechanism is required for successful future roll-out across the UK and beyond.Trial registrationsThe original trial referenced in this process evaluation is registered as follows: National Institute of Health (NIH) U.S. National Library of Medicine Clinical Trials.gov (ID: NCT04277312; retrospectively registered 11th February 2020).<br/
Activity in Jupiter-family comets and asteroids: photometric analysis of survey and deep imaging
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A novel error metric for evaluating the error correction capability of approximate units
No full textThe use of Approximate Arithmetic Units (AAUs) in an error-tolerant application enhance circuit performance and reduce power consumption. Recently, a lot of technical work is reported on the Approximate High-Level Synthesis (AHLS) where these AAUs are used to create high-quality approximate system-level designs. To enhance the quality of approximate designs produced by AHLS, the existing studies primarily focus on search algorithms within AHLS, while neglecting the fact that the optimal approximate designs exhibit a higher frequency of effective error capability. Therefore, the objective of this contribution is to delve into the error correction capabilities of AAUs that have not received adequate attention and integrate them in AHLS. This effort provides new perspectives and methods to improve the quality of AHLS design exploration. To achieve this, we propose a novel metric for evaluating the error correction capabilities of AAUs, detailing its calculation method and properties. We apply this metric to two AHLS cases, and the experimental results show that the metric helps each case achieve more than a twofold improvement in exploration results and reduces the number of iterations by approximately three
