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Melioidosis is endemic in many rural areas in Southeast Asia where facilities for culture and identification of Burkholderia pseudomallei are often limited. We performed a prospective observational study in patients presenting with fever to Mahosot Hospital, the primary referral hospital in Laos, to establish whether the detection of abscesses on ultrasound could support a presumptive diagnosis of melioidosis. All patients underwent ultrasound examination to detect abscesses in the liver, spleen, prostate, or, if indicated, subcutaneous tissue. We enrolled 153 patients, including 18 patients with melioidosis. Of these, 11 (61%) had an abscess at one or more sites, including five (28%) with splenic and/or liver abscesses. Absence of abscesses cannot rule out melioidosis, but the positive predictive value of abscesses for melioidosis was high at 93% (88-96%). Therefore, in endemic areas, the presence of abscesses in febrile patients should prompt empiric antibiotic therapy for melioidosis even in the absence of culture confirmation.

Correction to Kharbanda, Y., Urbańczyk, M., Laitinen, O., Kling, K., Pallaspuro, S., Komulainen, S., Liimatainen, H., Telkki, V. (2019) Comprehensive NMR Analysis of Pore Structures in Superabsorbing Cellulose Nanofiber Aerogels”. J. Phys. Chem. C,123(51), 30986−30995. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.9b08339 Rinnakkaistallennettu versio / Self-archived version

The composition and carbon nanostructure of soot are important parameters influencing health and climate effects, and the efficacy of soot mitigation technologies. We used laser-vaporization, electron-ionization aerosol mass spectrometry (or SP-AMS) to systematically investigate relationships between aerosol mass spectra, carbon nanostructure (HRTEM), and composition (thermal-optical carbon analysis) for soot with varying physicochemical properties. SP-AMS refractory black carbon concentrations (based on C≤5+ clusters) were correlated to elemental carbon (r = 0.98, p < 10−8) and equivalent black carbon (aethalometer) concentrations. The SP-AMS large carbon (C≥6+, midcarbons and fullerene carbons) fraction was inversely correlated to fringe length (r = −0.97, p = 0.028) and linearly correlated to the fraction of refractory organic carbon that partially pyrolize during heating (r = 0.89, p < 10−4). This refractory organic carbon material was incompletely detected with conventional aerosol mass spectrometry (flash vaporization at 600 °C). This suggests that (SP-AMS) refractory carbon cluster analysis provides insight to chemical bonding and nanostructures in refractory carbon materials, lowcarbons (C≤5+) indicate mature soot and large carbons indicate refractory organic carbon and amorphous nanostructures related to C5-components. These results have implications for assessments of soot particle mixing state and brown carbon absorption in the atmosphere and enable novel, on-line analysis of engineered carbon nanomaterials and soot characteristics relevant for climate and health.

OBJECTIVE: To estimate how many children and adolescent worldwide do not have access to surgical care. METHODS: We estimated the number of children and adolescents younger than 19 years worldwide without access to safe, affordable and timely surgical care, by using population data for 2017 from the United Nations and international data on surgical access in 2015. We categorized countries by World Bank country income group and obtained the proportion of the population with no access to surgical care from a study by the Lancet Commission on Global Surgery. FINDINGS: An estimated 1.7 billion (95% credible interval: 1.6-1.8) children and adolescents worldwide did not have access to surgical care in 2017. Lack of access occurred overwhelmingly in low- and middle-income countries where children and adolescents make up a disproportionately large fraction of the population. Moreover, 453 million children younger than 5 years did not have access to basic life-saving surgical care. According to Lancet Commission on Global Surgery criteria, less than 3% of the paediatric population in low-income countries and less than 8% in lower-middle-income countries had access to surgical care. CONCLUSION: There were substantial gaps in the availability of surgical services for children worldwide, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. Future research should focus on developing specific measures for assessing paediatric surgical access, delivery and outcomes and on clarifying how limited surgical access in the poorest parts of the world affects child health, especially mortality in children younger than 5 years.

The synergistic combination of different nanomaterials for improved performance in environmental applications such as the removal of aqueous micropollutants has attracted increasing interest in recent years. This study demonstrates a novel sequential adsorption–aggregation concept that harnesses tubular halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) and flexible cellulose nanofibrils (CNFs) for the removal of a small, anionic dye molecule, chrome azurol S, from water. Hollow HNTs were first allowed to interact with the aqueous dye solution, after which the dye-loaded colloidal nanotubes were aggregated and separated from the water phase with cationized CNFs. The combination of 25 mg CNFs with 1 g HNTs at pH 7 resulted in efficient removal of dye (80%) and turbidity (~100%) and the removal of dye was further promoted in more acidic conditions (within the pH range of 6–8.5) because of the attractive electrostatic interactions. Cationic CNFs not only enabled the separation of dye-loaded clay particles from the water phase through a rapid aggregation but also participated in dye removal through adsorption (~20%). In comparison with nano-sized HNTs, the dye removal performance of micro-sized and chemically similar kaolin was poor (43%). Given the good availability of both HNTs and CNFs and the low consumption of the more expensive component (i.e., CNFs) in the process, the concept is straightforward, readily applicable, environmentally benign, and potentially cost-effective.

Highly porous cellulose nanofiber (CNF) aerogels are promising, environmentally friendly, reusable, and low-cost materials for several advanced environmental, biomedical, and electronic applications. The aerogels have a complex and hierarchical 3D porous network structure with pore sizes ranging from nanometers to hundreds of micrometers. The morphology of the network has a critical role on the performance of aerogels, but it is difficult to characterize thoroughly with traditional techniques. Here, we introduce a combination of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy techniques for comprehensive characterization of pore sizes and connectivity in the CNF aerogels. Cyclohexane absorbed in the aerogels was used as a probe fluid. NMR cryoporometry enabled us to characterize the size distribution of nanometer scale pores in between the cellulose nanofibers in the solid matrix of the aerogels. Restricted diffusion of cyclohexane revealed the size distribution of the dominant micrometer scale pores as well as the tortuosity of the pore network. T2 relaxation filtered microscopic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method allowed us to determine the size distribution of the largest, submillimeter scale pores. The NMR techniques are nondestructive, and they provide information about the whole sample volume (not only surfaces). Furthermore, they show how absorbed liquids experience the complex 3D pore structure. Thorough characterization of porous structures is important for understanding the properties of the aerogels and optimizing them for various applications. The introduced comprehensive NMR analysis set is widely usable for a broad range of different kinds of aerogels used in different applications, such as catalysis, batteries, supercapacitors, hydrogen storage, etc., See correction Kharbanda, Y., Urbańczyk, M., Laitinen, O., Kling, K., Pallaspuro, S., Komulainen, S., Liimatainen, H., Telkki, V. (2020) Correction to “Comprehensive NMR Analysis of Pore Structures in Superabsorbing Cellulose Nanofiber Aerogels”. J. Phys. Chem. C, 124, 14, 8055-8055. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.0c02318 Rinnakkaistallennettu versio / Self-archived version

This dissertation examines the operation of public shaming and resistance in the context of the bride kidnapping phenomenon in Kyrgyzstan. The revived practice of bride kidnapping phenomenon in Kyrgyzstan causes debates in society. Although the discourse of bride kidnapping is represented in both the media and academia, the personal experiences of women go largely unnoticed. Women’s refusal to accept the position of a kidnapped bride is perceived as a disputable choice that is socially punished by the practice of public shaming. This study explores the gender construction of kidnapped women and the reasons behind their position in the framework of bride kidnapping as both a practice and a set of social norms. The narratives and experiences of women are central to this study. By emphasizing women’s voices, I explore the feeling of being publicly shamed deploying the concept of affect. While public shaming is a typical characteristic of the bride kidnapping phenomenon, women’s resistance in this particular context as well as within culture generally is a completely new a potentially transformative form of social interaction. This research aims to highlight the women’s personal experiences. Resisting the phenomenon of bride kidnapping allows women to create alternative views on their stance with regard to the operation of normative social power. Through the affective approach, I make visible women’s experiences in the context of bride kidnapping in cultural and social discourse.