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The Revised Hammersmith Scale (RHS) is a 36-item ordinal scale developed using clinical expertise and sound psychometrics to investigate motor function in participants with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). In this study, we investigate median change in the RHS score up to two years in paediatric SMA 2 and 3 participants and contextualise it to the Hammersmith Functional Motor Scale-Expanded (HFMSE). These change scores were considered by SMA type, motor function, and baseline RHS score. We consider a new transitional group, spanning crawlers, standers, and walkers-with-assistance, and analyse that alongside non-sitters, sitters, and walkers. The transitional group exhibit the most definitive change score trend, with an average 1-year decline of 3 points. In the weakest patients, we are most able to detect positive change in the RHS in the under-5 age group, whereas in the stronger patients, we are most able to detect decline in the RHS in the 8-13 age group. The RHS has a reduced floor effect compared to the HFMSE, although we show that the RHS should be used in conjunction with the RULM for participants scoring less than 20 points on the RHS. The timed items in the RHS have high between-participant variability, so participants with the same RHS total can be differentiated by their timed test items.

Biocides used in unconventional oil and gas (UOG) practices, such as hydraulic fracturing, control microbial growth. Unwanted microbial growth can cause gas souring, pipeline clogging, and microbial-induced corrosion of equipment and transportation pipes. However, optimizing biocide use has not been a priority. Moreover, biocide efficacy has been questioned because microbial surveys show an active microbial community in hydraulic fracturing produced and flowback water. Hydraulic fracturing produced and flowback water increases risks to surface aquifers and rivers/lakes near the UOG operations compared with conventional oil and gas operations. While some biocides and biocide degradation products have been highlighted as chemicals of concern because of their toxicity to humans and the environment, the selective antimicrobial pressure they cause has not been considered seriously. This perspective article aims to promote research to determine if antimicrobial pressure in these systems is cause for concern. UOG practices could potentially create antimicrobial resistance hotspots under-appreciated in the literature, practice, and regulation arena, hotspots that should not be ignored. The article is distinctive in discussing antimicrobial resistance risks associated with UOG biocides from a biological risk, not a chemical toxicology, perspective. We outline potential risks and highlight important knowledge gaps that need to be addressed to properly incorporate antimicrobial resistance emergence and selection into UOG environmental and health risk assessments.

Biocides used in unconventional oil and gas (UOG) practices, such as hydraulic fracturing, control microbial growth. Unwanted microbial growth can cause gas souring, pipeline clogging, and microbial-induced corrosion of equipment and transportation pipes. However, optimizing biocide use has not been a priority. Moreover, biocide efficacy has been questioned because microbial surveys show an active microbial community in hydraulic fracturing produced and flowback water. Hydraulic fracturing produced and flowback water increases risks to surface aquifers and rivers/lakes near the UOG operations compared with conventional oil and gas operations. While some biocides and biocide degradation products have been highlighted as chemicals of concern because of their toxicity to humans and the environment, the selective antimicrobial pressure they cause has not been considered seriously. This perspective article aims to promote research to determine if antimicrobial pressure in these systems is cause for concern. UOG practices could potentially create antimicrobial resistance hotspots under-appreciated in the literature, practice, and regulation arena, hotspots that should not be ignored. The article is distinctive in discussing antimicrobial resistance risks associated with UOG biocides from a biological risk, not a chemical toxicology, perspective. We outline potential risks and highlight important knowledge gaps that need to be addressed to properly incorporate antimicrobial resistance emergence and selection into UOG environmental and health risk assessments.

This work focuses on the geochemistry and iron isotope systematics of pyrite from hydrothermal and coal-forming environments. Dissolution of pyrite, even under abiotic conditions, is difficult to study experimentally and previous studies have demonstrated that the rate of pyrite oxidation is dependent upon environmental conditions. Knowledge of dissolution mechanisms enables more accurate reaction rate measurements, and will improve the ability to predict the temporal changes in chemistry of ground and surface waters that come into contact with pyrite. The first aspect of the research presented here focuses on the need for standardization of sample preparation techniques to allow for experimental and interlaboratory comparison of pyrite dissolution experiments. A reproducible sample preparation technique for pyrite that yields clean, uniform grains within a narrow size range of interest was developed. It was shown that use of this method in pyrite dissolution experiments significantly reduces artifacts related to unconstrained surface area exposure to fluids. In the second portion of this work, iron isotopes were analyzed to quantify and source-track the dissolution of pyrite during abiotic pyrite dissolution experiments performed on hydrothermal and sedimentary pyrites. The hydrothermal pyrite δ⁵⁶Fe values fall within the range of previously measured values, but the coal/sedimentary values are higher than those previously measured for any Phanerozoic sedimentary pyrite. Leachates from oxidative dissolution of the pyrite at pH=3 tend, with minor exceptions, to yield δ⁵⁶Fe values equal to or below those of the coexisting bulk pyrite, by up to ~1‰. This is generally consistent with theoretical fractionation calculations. Iron isotopes could be a useful tool in distinguishing between waters that interact with coal-derived pyrite and pyrite formed under marine conditions. The third section focuses on extracting sedimentary pyrite and other minerals under typical near-su

A census of 53 adolescent females was conducted over a period of time beginning July 15, 2001 and ending March 5, 2002. Each subject was surveyed by using an interview with 66 items. The resources examined in this census were means of transportation and the social support structure before the female became an adolescent. The census found that 72 percent (N=53) of the adolescent females interviewed do not have a car, and 79 percent do not use public transportation. The census also found that 77 percent of the adolescent females interviewed do depend on their family/friends for transportation, and eighty-five percent do not walk to most of the places that they want to go. The census found that 100 percent (N=52) of the adolescent females interviewed stated that the most important person in their life when they were 10 years old was a family member. The census also found that the gender of the most important person of these adolescent females, when they were ten years old, was 79 percent female and 21 percent male.

A census of 53 adolescent females was conducted over a period of time beginning July 15, 2001 and ending March 5, 2002. Each subject was surveyed by using an interview with 66 items. The resources examined in this census were means of transportation and the social support structure before the female became an adolescent. The census found that 72 percent (N=53) of the adolescent females interviewed do not have a car, and 79 percent do not use public transportation. The census also found that 77 percent of the adolescent females interviewed do depend on their family/friends for transportation, and eighty-five percent do not walk to most of the places that they want to go. The census found that 100 percent (N=52) of the adolescent females interviewed stated that the most important person in their life when they were 10 years old was a family member. The census also found that the gender of the most important person of these adolescent females, when they were ten years old, was 79 percent female and 21 percent male.