Most health care providers in developing countries know that oral rehydration salts (ORS) are a lifesaving and inexpensive treatment for child diarrhea, yet few prescribe it. This know-do gap has puzzled experts for decades. Using randomized experiments in India, we estimated the extent to which ORS underprescription is driven by perceptions that patients do not want ORS, provider’s financial incentives, and ORS stock-outs (out-of-stock events). Patients expressing a preference for ORS increased ORS prescribing by 27 percentage points. Eliminating stock-outs increased ORS provision by 7 percentage points. Removing financial incentives did not affect ORS prescribing on average but did increase ORS prescribing at pharmacies. We estimate that perceptions that patients do not want ORS explain 42% of underprescribing, whereas stock-outs and financial incentives explain only 6 and 5%, respectively.
化學Chemistry
Differentiating enantiomers by directional rotation of ions in a mass spectrometer
Here we report a technique to break the chiral symmetry and to differentiate enantiomers by inducing directional rotation of chiral gas-phase ions. Dual alternating current excitations were applied to manipulate the motions of trapped ions, including the rotation around the center of mass and macro movement around the center of the trap. Differences in collision cross section were induced, which could be measured by ion cloud profiling at high resolutions above 10,000. High-field ion mobility and tandem mass spectrometry analyses of the enantiomers were combined and implemented by using a miniature ion trap mass spectrometer.
地質學Geology
A deep reservoir for hydrogen drives intense degassing in the Bulqizë ophiolite
We report direct measurements of an elevated outgassing rate of 84% (by volume) of H2 from the deep underground Bulqizë chromite mine in Albania. A minimum of 200 tons of H2 is vented annually from the mine’s galleries, making it one of the largest recorded H2 flow rates to date. We cannot attribute the flux solely to the release of paleo-fluids trapped within the rocks or to present-day active and pervasive serpentinization of ultramafic rocks; rather, our results demonstrate the presence of a faulted reservoir deeply rooted in the Jurassic ophiolite massif. This discovery suggests that certain ophiolites may host economically useful accumulations of H2 gas.
物理Physics
Thermography of the superfluid transition in a strongly interacting Fermi gas
In this study, we establish thermography of a strongly interacting atomic Fermi gas, whose radio-frequency spectrum provides spatially resolved thermometry with subnanokelvin resolution. The superfluid phase transition was directly observed as the sudden change from thermal diffusion to second-sound propagation and is accompanied by a peak in the second-sound diffusivity. This method yields the full heat and density response of the strongly interacting Fermi gas and therefore all defining properties of Landau’s two-fluid hydrodynamics.
生態學Ecology
Escarpment evolution drives the diversification of the Madagascar flora
Madagascar exhibits high endemic biodiversity that has evolved with sustained and stable rates of speciation over the past several tens of millions of years. The topography of Madagascar is dominated by a mountainous continental rift escarpment, with the highest plant diversity and rarity found along the steep, eastern side of this geographic feature. Using a process-explicit model, we show that precipitation-driven erosion and landward retreat of this high-relief topography creates transient habitat organization through multiple mechanisms, including catchment expansion, isolation of highland remnants, and formation of topographic barriers. Habitat isolation and reconnection on a million-year timescale serves as an allopatric speciation pump creating the observed biodiversity.
生物學Biology
Plants distinguish different photoperiods to independently control seasonal flowering and growth