In this study, a manganese oxide, Mn3O4 was used to remove chromium(III) and chromium(VI) from aqueous solutions. The Mn3O4 nanomaterial was synthesized through a precipitation method, and was characterized using XRD, which confirmed the material had a crystal structure similar to hausmannite. In addition, using Scherrer’s equation it was determined that the nanomaterial had an average grain size of 19.5 ± 1.10 nm. A study of the effects of pH on the binding of chromium(III) and chromium(VI) showed that the optimum binding pH was 4 and 3 respectively. Batch isotherm studies were performed to determine the binding capacity of chromium(III), which was determined to be 18.7 mg/g, 41.7 mg/g, and 54.4 mg/g respectively for 4°C, 21°C, and 45°C. Chromium(VI) on the other hand had lower binding capacities of 2.5 mg/g, 4.3 mg/g, and 5.8 mg/g for 4°C, 21°C, 45°C, respectively. Thermodynamic studies performed indicated the sorption process was for the most part controlled by physisorption. The ΔG for the sorption of chromium(III) and Chromium(VI) ranged from −0.9 to −13 kJ/mol, indicating a spontaneous reaction was occurring. The enthalpy indicated a endothermic reaction was occurring during the binding and show ΔH values of 70.6 and 19.1 kJ.mol for chromium(III) and Chromium(VI), respectively. In addition, ΔS for the reaction had positive values of 267 and 73 J/mol for chromium(III) and chromium(VI) which indicate a spontaneous reaction. In addition, the sorption process was found to follow pseudo second order kinetic and the activation energy studies indicated the binding process occurred through chemisorption.

Critical illness in COVID-19 is an extreme and clinically homogeneous disease phenotype that we have previously shown1 to be highly efficient for discovery of genetic associations2. Despite the advanced stage of illness at presentation, we have shown that host genetics in patients who are critically ill with COVID-19 can identify immunomodulatory therapies with strong beneficial effects in this group3. Here we analyse 24,202 cases of COVID-19 with critical illness comprising a combination of microarray genotype and whole-genome sequencing data from cases of critical illness in the international GenOMICC (11,440 cases) study, combined with other studies recruiting hospitalized patients with a strong focus on severe and critical disease: ISARIC4C (676 cases) and the SCOURGE consortium (5,934 cases). To put these results in the context of existing work, we conduct a meta-analysis of the new GenOMICC genome-wide association study (GWAS) results with previously published data. We find 49 genome-wide significant associations, of which 16 have not been reported previously. To investigate the therapeutic implications of these findings, we infer the structural consequences of protein-coding variants, and combine our GWAS results with gene expression data using a monocyte transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) model, as well as gene and protein expression using Mendelian randomization. We identify potentially druggable targets in multiple systems, including inflammatory signalling (JAK1), monocyte–macrophage activation and endothelial permeability (PDE4A), immunometabolism (SLC2A5 and AK5), and host factors required for viral entry and replication (TMPRSS2 and RAB2A).

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Turner's syndrome (TS) is associated with a wide spectrum of clinical features, such as short stature and gonadal dysgenesis. While it is a common chromosomal abnormality, the association of Turner's syndrome and hypopituitarism is an uncommon finding. We describe here a girl with concomitant pituitary insufficiency and gonadal dysgenesis. When she was 7 years old, her mother reported that she suffered from frontal headache, asthenia and delayed growth. Basal laboratory thyroid evaluation suggested hypothyroidism, with no evidence of autoimmune disease association. She began taking L-thyroxine. At age 11 years, short stature and complaints of frontal headache still persisted. She was still prepubertal and her bone age was delayed by 2.2 years. Her karyotype was compatible with 45,X/46,XX (100 cells analyzed by FISH) and a CT scan showed empty sella. At 12 years of age, an anterior pituitary stimulation test with insulin, gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) showed gonadotropin, thyrotropin (TSH) and growth hormone (GH) deficiency. Replacement therapy with GH was begun and she grew 12 cm during the first year of treatment. This report illustrates that, despite the high incidence of sinusitis, short stature and primary hypothyroidism in TS, we should consider the presence of hypopituitarism when the patient presents low levels of TSH with negative thyroid antibodies and inappropriately low levels of gonadotropins for patients with gonadal dysgenesis.

Clinical and Genetic Studies in Girls With Idiopathic Short Stature.Ten girls with idiopathic short stature (ISS) were clinically reviewed and cytogenetic analysis performed by GTG-banding. Two abnormal karyotypes were identified: mos 45,X/46,XX and mos 45,X/46,X, der(Xp)/46,X,r(X). In the latter, FISH analysis and microsatellite investigation, including intragenic SHOX CA repeat, confirmed the origin of the abnormal structural chromosomes and revealed haploinsufficiency for the SHOX gene. In the remaining 8 patients with a normal lymphocyte karyotype FISH analysis using an alpha centromeric X probe (DXZ1) in buccal smear cells (nuc ish) revealed two further cases of true X mosaicism (DXZ1x2/DXZ1x1). Clinical review of all four abnormal patients with the exception of patient with mos 45,X/46,XX revealed three or more clinical features commonly present in Turner syndrome (TS). Our results reinforce the importance of cytogenetic investigation in all patients with ISS. The SHOX molecular result sustains its correlation with most clinical signs of TS. In those cases where a normal karyotype was observed, cryptic mosaicism should be excluded. A precise etiologic diagnosis may be relevant for the indication of GH therapy in these girls. Investigação de Meninas Com Baixa Estatura IdiopáticaMartins et al. 685O CRESCIMENTO APRESENTA UM PADRÃO de herança multifatorial em que interagem fatores genéticos e ambientais. Várias mutações gênicas envolvendo secreção, liberação e resposta ao hormônio de crescimento, fatores de crescimento e seus receptores, secreção e liberação de outros hormônios têm sido descritas associadas à baixa estatura (1,2). Anomalias cromossômicas numéricas e estruturais, principalmente as que envolvem os cromossomos sexuais, estão freqüentemente associadas à baixa estatura. Entretanto, cerca de 3% das crianças que apresentam estatura 2 ou mais desvios padrão (DP) abaixo da média populacional para idade e sexo não têm um fator etiológico reconhecido e são classificadas como portadoras de baixa estatura idiopática (BEI) (1,2).O conhecimento de que perdas terminais dos braços curtos dos cromossomos sexuais X e Y apresentam baixa estatura como um sinal clínico constante levou vários pesquisadores a concentrarem nessa região a pesquisa de um ou mais genes envolvidos na etiopatogenia da baixa estatura (3-7). Em 1997, foi seqüenciado o gene SHOX (short stature homeobox containing gene), localizado na região pseudoautossômica dos braços curtos dos cromossomos X (Xp22.3) (figura 1) e Y (Yp11.3) (5,8). Mutações e deleções do gene SHOX vêm sendo descritas em 1 a 2,4% dos portadores de BEI (8-12) e com grande freqüência em uma forma de displasia óssea, discondrosteose de Leri Weill, em que se associam à baixa estatura, displasia óssea mesomélica e deformidade de Madelung (10,13-18).A deficiência completa do gene SHOX, em homozigose, é responsável por uma forma mais rara e mais grave de displasia óssea mesomélica, conhecida como Síndrome de Langer (19,20).Pesquisas recentes têm demonstrado que a haploinsu...