Here we report the simple and rapid synthesis of three-dimension Pt flower-like nanostructures (PtNFs) on a polypyrrole nanowires (PPyNWs) matrix. Both PtNFs and PPyNWs are prepared by an electrochemical approach without using any seed, template or surfactant. The morphology and chemical composition of the resulting PtNF/PPyNWs hybrids are characterized by scanning electron microscopy and by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, respectively. Taking methanol oxidation as a model catalysis reaction, the electrocatalytic performance of the as-prepared PtNF/PPyNWs system has been evaluated by cyclic voltammetry and chronoamperometry, evidencing that these 3D materials exhibit excellent electrocatalytic activity and high level of poisoning tolerance to the carbonaceous oxidative intermediates. Such electrocatalytic performances can be ascribed to the combined effect of the flower-like structure promoting the exposure of more sites and the polymer nanowires matrix endorsing high dispersion of PtNF on a high electrochemically active surface area, besides the removal of sub-products from electrocatalytic sites. Platinum nanoflowers on polymer nanowires exhibit catalytic properties ascribed to the effect of high surface area flower-like structures and polymer 3D structure. In the past several years many achievements have been made in the synthesis of Pt nanocatalysts, including size-controlled5 and shape-controlled Pt nanostructures.6 Such a growing interest towards the synthesis of nanosized Pt has been encouraged also by the need of promoting a highly efficient platinum use due to its expensive nature critically limiting its technological viability.Platinum electrocatalytic properties are well-known since long and have stimulated extensive research leading to several applications, mainly related to its use in chemical sensorsetc.) or more active facets.7 This is why, among various developed Pt nanoarchitectures, including nanoparticles,8 nanosheets,9 cauliflower-like10 and cubic11 particles, very recently nanoflowers have emerged as compelling materials due to their three-dimension structure, which provides favorable surface areas and active centers for electrocatalysis supplying enough adsorption sites for all involved molecules in a narrow space. Indeed, the synthesis of 3D Pt nanoflowers (PtNF) offers a valid chance to enhance the catalytic performance of Pt nanomaterials, as shown by the high research interest devoted to this field during the last years, leading to several successful catalytic applications of PtNF, especially in fuel cells fabrication.At the present, one of the explored strategies toward this direction consists in tailoring the shape and morphology of Pt-based nanostructures, especially approaching to more catalytically active sites ,21 graphene sheets,22 carbon paper23 revealed to be suitable candidate for such applications due to their unique properties as high surface area, electrical conductivity and high mechanical strength. Nonetheless, in most cases, their assembly results in carbon nano-films embedding the catalyst, having a few nanometer, not easily tunable thickness, and thus limiting the overall 3D spatial organization. In the case of CNTs, limitations in obtaining a 3D open structure are related also to their insolubility and strong tendency to aggregate in aqueous solutions.21 The development of novel catalyst supports for obtaining highly dispersed PtNF on a three-dimension highly open structure can thus represent a strategy for further enhancing Pt catalytic efficiency and constitute one of the major challenges in research today. Such requirement is particularly stringent in methanol oxidation based fuel cells where the removal of gaseous products could be also promoted by the use of anodes with open 3D internal structure.5Although in some cases the synthesis of PtNF has been successfully achieved directly on bare flat substrates such as glassy carbon,et al.24 fabricated a graphene 3D foam by using a nickel foam as template and subsequently depositing Pt flower-like nanoparticles by galvanic replacement reaction between Ni and Pt. The observed enhanced catalytic behavior is induced, according to authors, by the highly dispersed Pt nanoparticles with more exposed active sites, indicating the high utilization of Pt. With the aim of improving CNT functionalization with PtNF, obtaining a controllable deposition on easily dispersible CNT in solution, Yang et al.21 adopted the polymer wrapping technique using poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS) as modifying polymer. In the proposed mechanism, PSS plays a dual role: dispersing stable CNTs into solution in water, and providing functional groups that bind Pt nanoparticles. As-prepared composite systems showed a large electroactive specific surface area, and presented excellent electrocatalytic activity for oxygen reduction due to highly dispersed catalyst on the CNT support. A 3D structure integrating PtNF has been developed by Wang et al.25 who proposed the synthesis of PtNF on porous silicon by a two-step approach consisting in a physical modification of silicon surface to obtain a rough surface with high surface energy, achieved by inductively coupled plasma etching, and a chemical modification to create S–H groups acting as reducing agent, realized by HF pretreatment, involved in PtNF deposition onto porous silicon through chemical reduction. The high surface area structure thus obtained was responsible for the excellent electrocatalytic activity for methanol oxidation reaction.The assembly of nanocomposites integrating PtNF and 3D support materials has been recently proposed. Zhang 26,27 has been successfully proposed as an effective strategy for enhancing metal electrocatalytic activity due to the high catalyst dispersion promoted by polymer nanostructure, and to possible synergistic effect involving both catalyst and support polymer.28 Nonetheless, to the best of our knowledge, approaches described so far are restricted to Pt nanoparticles, with the only example on PtNF integrated with polyaniline nanofiber focused on not catalytic sensing applications.29In the panorama of support material for Pt catalyst, also the use of conducting polymers, especially with nanosized structure26 The developed PtNF/PPyNW system is assembled by a facile electrochemical approach without using any seed, template or surfactant, allowing the simple and rapid deposition of PPy nanowires and, subsequently, PtNF directly on the electrode surface with good adherence and high homogeneity. The use of a whole electrochemical approach results to be beneficial respect to chemical synthesis routes21,25 requiring organic ligand stabilizers which can be difficult to separate and can have a negative impact on the performance of the catalysts, and using multi-step, time consuming and complex procedures limiting applicability and large-scale production. In addition, the use of an electrochemically synthesized nanostructured conducting polymer as support material, contrarily to other developed 3D structure integrating PtNFs,24,25 offers the additional benefits of properly tuning its morphology by controlling some experimental parameters,27 also in relation to the desired  applications, by using a low-cost, commercially available technology.In the present work, for the first time, the synthesis of Pt flower-like nanostructures is performed on a conducting polymeric support consisting of a three-dimension polypyrrole nanowires (PPyNWs) matrix, obtaining a composite material with excellent catalytic performances, tested against methanol oxidation. The improved electrocatalytic behavior is ascribed to the combined effect of high surface area flower-like structures and polymer nanowire 3D structure possibly promoting their high dispersion while keeping small charge transfer resistance and fast reaction rate due to good PPy electron conductivity.−1) was used.All reagents were of analytical grade and were used as received from Sigma. Ultrapure water  controlled by computer. A one-compartment three electrodes cell was used, consisting of a glassy carbon (GC) disc (diameter 3 mm), a platinum wire and a saturated calomel electrode (SCE) as working, counter and reference electrode, respectively. All applied potential values are referred to SCE. Before use, the GC disc surface was polished successively with 1.0 μm-, 0.3 μm- and 0.05 μm alumina slurry, and then ultrasonically rinsed twice with copious amounts of water and ethanol.2HPO4 0.2 M solution (pH adjusted to 6.8 by adding NaOH) containing LiClO4 0.07 M by applying a constant potential of 0.85 V until a charge of 0.43 C cm−2 was circulated. PPyNWs were then cycled for 10 cycles from −0.25 V to 1.2 V in H2SO4 0.5 M, scan rate 50 mV s−1 with the aim to obtain similarly electroactive PPyNW samples, thus reducing possible inter-electrode variability.PPyNWs electropolymerization was performed from a solution of pyrrole 0.1 M in K2SO4 0.5 M containing H2PtCl6 10 mM (samples denoted as PtNF/PPyNW). For a comparison, Pt was deposited also under the same experimental conditions by pulsed potential by applying a two-step potential program  repeated 100 times (samples denoted as Ptclust/PPyNW).PtNFs deposition on PPyNWs was carried out by applying a constant potential of −0.25 V for 15 min and 60 min in H3 70%, 3 : 1 v/v). The solution was diluted with MilliQ water and thallium  was added before analysis. The isotopes monitored were 195Pt and 205Tl and external five points calibration curve with internal standard correction was used for quantification of platinum.Determination of Pt loading was carried out by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS)  after dissolution with aqua regia  between −0.25 V and 1.2 V at scan rate 50 mV s−1 and by applying a fixed potential of 0.7 V until stable current values are reached.Methanol electrooxidation was carried out in HThe morphological analysis was carried out by Scanning Electron Microscopy . Specifically, SEM images were acquired through an in-lens detector for secondary electrons in top view configuration, with an accelerating voltage of 5 kV.2. The base pressure in the instrument was 1 × 10−9 mbar. Data analysis was performed by CasaXPS software (version 2.3.16). Surface charging was corrected considering adventitious C 1s (BE = 285 eV).XPS measurements were performed using an Axis ULTRA DLD Spectrometer  with a monochromatic Al Kα source operating at 225 W . For each sample a widescan spectrum is acquired in the binding energy range 0–1200 eV with a pass energy of 160 and 1 eV step, while high-resolution regions were acquired with a pass energy of 20 and 0.1 eV step. In both cases, the area of analysis is about 700 × 300 μm2SO4 0.5 M between −0.25 V and 1.2 V, scan rate 50 mV s−1 for the evaluation and comparison of deposited platinum electroactivity. Electrochemical characterization of PtNF/PPyNWs was also performed in the same experimental conditions with different scan rates  and in the presence of different methanol concentrations .Obtained PtNF/PPyNWs systems were characterized electrochemically by CV in H62− ions diffusion.30 Furthermore, longer electrodeposition time such as 3600 s (s 3600 s  producesi.e. −0.25 V) applied for the same total interval time (i.e. ≈900 s) by short repeated step of 10 s, each followed by the application of 0.4 V for 100 s (Ptclust/PPyNW). Obtained SEM results are reported in 31,32 could be invoked for explaining the formation of PtNFs. A large amount of PtCl62− ions are quickly reduced to Pt atoms (Pt0) at the very early stage, leading to random formation of many tiny Pt nuclei well distributed on PPyNWs surface. Meanwhile, the newly formed Pt nuclei are preferred to grow on the firstly deposited ones instead of heterogeneous substrate. It is well known that growth rates vary in different crystallographic direction, with the fast growth plane determining the final morphology.31 It could be hypothesized that sulfuric acid anions HSO4− and SO42− play an important role in the growth process under the adopted experimental conditions as they could be preferentially adsorbed to a certain facets of Pt crystals.12,19,33,34 As a consequence of the “selective” interaction between sulfuric acid ions and the facet of Pt crystals, the surface energy of the plane could be lowered and the crystal growth perpendicular to this plane could be hindered, resulting in a flower-like Pt morphology. This formation mechanism of Pt crystals could be made possible by the application of a proper constant reduction potential and could be maintained also with the increase of deposition time leading, as reported above, to the size increase of resulting Pt crystals preserving flower-like nanostructure. An evidence supporting this assumption comes from the analysis of amperometric curves relevant to PtNFs deposition (result not shown) showing a rapid current decrease at the very initial stage followed by current increase up to a final plateau current value, which is the characteristic electrodeposition behavior ascribed to initial instantaneous nucleation with subsequent progressive growth.32With the aim to gain an insight into the formation mechanism of flower-like Pt arrays, a control experiment was performed consisting in Pt deposition on PPyNWs in the same environment but by applying a pulsed potential program with the same reduction potential , the consumed Pt ions cannot be timely compensated with the result that Pt deposition process is controlled by the diffusion process. In this case, Pt nuclei tend to grow according to the mechanism proposed above, leading to the formation of flower-like and nanosheet-like morphologies. On the other hand, in pulsed deposition, the application of anodic potential would decrease the thickness or even eliminate the Pt depletion layer, thus greatly facilitating Pt ion transport. In particular, when the duration of cathodic half-cycle (10 s) is relatively short in comparison with anodic one (100 s), the consumed Pt ions can be timely compensated during the anodic step with the result that the growth of Pt deposits is dominated by the reduction process and the formed Pt particles exhibit quasi-spherical morphology. In this case, concentration of sulfuric acid ions adsorbed to the newly formed platinum nuclei is low, determining Pt nuclei isotropic growth and leading to the formation of spherical particles without preferential growth on certain Pt crystal facets.31The overall picture is completed by considering the contribution of another mechanism influencing Pt electrodeposition and possibly determining the observed differences between deposition under constant and pulsed potential. It should be taken into account that during the electrodeposition process, the mass transfer of Pt ions through the diffusive layer and the reduction reaction on the modified electrode coexist: Pt ions are consumed due to reduction process while diffusion of Pt ions from the bulk solution compensates the depletion. It is well known that when Pt ion consumption rate is higher than the diffusion rate, a Pt ion depletion layer is formed, possibly affecting the growth of Pt nuclei.Finally, from the above discussed results, it can be inferred that the synthesis of PtNFs is allowed by two synergic contributions from the polymeric nanowire support and from the applied potential program, both of them playing an important role in determining the achieved structure of the catalyst.7/2 and 4f5/2, respectively. In detail, investigated system appears to be characterized by three chemically different Pt species, corresponding to metallic Pt(0) with BE of 71.5 and 74.8 eV, oxide Pt(ii) with BE of 72.4 and 75.5 eV, and oxide Pt(iv) with BE of 73.3 and 76.5 eV, respectively. The electrodeposited Pt species are predominantly in the metallic state. The presence of a small amount of oxidized Pt species (Pt(ii) and Pt(iv)) with the peak area of about 37% may be ascribed to the incomplete reduction of the Pt species.XPS was employed to analyze the chemical composition and status of the hybrid system PtNF/PPyNW. A Pt percentage surface concentration of 0.7% was estimated. 2SO4 solution were carried out on PtNF/PPyNW samples in order to investigate the electrochemical behavior and to understand the nature of Pt crystalline phases, by monitoring the hydrogen adsorption/desorption CV profiles.12 For a comparison, CV electrochemical characterization was performed also on Ptclust/PPyNWs. 2SO4 at a scan rate of 50 mV s−1. PtNF clearly shows two well-defined hydrogen adsorption peaks at about −0.16 V and −0.07 V, followed by a broad peak at higher potential value ascribed to Pt oxidation and a reduction peak at 0.45 V in the reverse scan. The observed hydrogen desorption peaks are in agreement with literature data12,19,32 and could be attributed to the surface adsorption characteristics of Pt (111) and Pt (110) facets, respectively, thus indicating that as-prepared PtNFs have polycrystalline nature. The comparison of CV profiles recorded on PtNF/PPyNW (solid curve) and Ptclust/PPyNW (dashed curve) suggests higher facets exposure on the surface of nanoflower-based systems. Nonetheless, significantly lower current values were recorded in all the investigated potential range on Pt clusters, with much lower hydrogen adsorption peaks between −0.25 V and 0.1 V. For a proper evaluation of electrochemical performances of two systems, the electrochemically active surface area (ECSA) was estimated by determining the area of hydrogen desorption after subtraction of double-layer region. The ECSA was evaluated according to QH (C) is the charge exchanged during the hydrogen desorption on the Pt surface and 210 × 10−6 (C cm−2) represents the charge required to oxidize a monolayer of hydrogen on a smooth polycrystalline Pt surface. LPt represents the Pt loading as determined by ICP-MS measurements. Obtained LPt and ECSA values for the two investigated systems are listed in CV studies in HThe developed PtNF/PPyNW systems exhibit catalytic activity, evaluated against methanol electrochemical oxidation. Obtained CV results are illustrated in 2.31 It is evident that PtNFs exhibit significantly enhanced current densities compared to that of Ptclust, along with an appreciable negative shift of both forward and reverse peak potential, which on Ptclust are centered at 0.76 V and 0.49, respectively. These results clearly indicate the higher electrocatalytic activity of PtNF/PPyNW system suggesting that the flower-like morphology of Pt catalysts not only provides higher surface area but also an improved exposition of active planes/sites thereby determining a significantly enhanced electron transfer rate.24 The superior catalytic performances of PtNF in comparison with Ptclust are further evidenced from the comparison between ECSA–normalized current values (jf/jb) is commonly used to characterize the tolerance to carbonaceous oxidative intermediates accumulation on the electrocatalyst surface. A high jf/jb ratio implies effective methanol oxidation to the end products during the anodic scan with subsequent low accumulation and/or effective removal of the poisoning species from the electrocatalyst surface.12 A higher jf/jb value is estimated for PtNF (1.46) in comparison with Ptclust (1.28), confirming better catalytic performances, also in terms of less accumulation of carbonaceous intermediates and higher tolerance towards CO poisoning.32 Furthermore, a role of PPyNW matrix on inhibition of the poisoning effect on Pt catalyst could be invoked35 due to the presence of adsorbed water or hydroxide on polymer surface, which could facilitate the oxidation of CO12 thus hindering the formation of strongly adsorbed poisons. In the case of Ptclust, such an effect could be minimized by the presence of highly agglomerated Pt clusters almost completely covering underlying polymeric structure, contrarily to PtNF/PPyNW system, where the open 3D structure of polymeric nanowire matrix results highly exposed to adsorption of water and hydroxide. Mass-normalized activity, which is another important parameter influencing electrocatalytic efficiency and Pt utilization,31 was also evaluated (n = 3) for PtNF and Ptclust, respectively). This results further confirms that the proposed system not only exhibits higher catalytic performances but it allows also a highly efficient platinum use, thus satisfying the need of reducing platinum consumption, which is a critical issue to be considered in the design of such catalytic systems.t values  due to tvaluated , obtaini30 which could adsorb on the Pt surface during long-term experiments, thereby determining the loss of activity. It is evident that PtNF/PPyNW (curve a) exhibits lower rate of current decay in comparison with Ptclust/PPyNW (curve b), with higher quasi-stationary current value , indicating a higher tolerance to the carbonaceous species generated during methanol oxidation, in agreement with CV results. Moreover, also better electrocatalytic activity towards the electroxidation of methanol is confirmed by the higher current density on PtNF during the whole testing time.To further assess catalytic activity of PtNF/PPyNW in methanol oxidation, chronoamperometry tests are carried out at 0.7 V. As given in jf/jb values10,12,14,22,24,25,36 and mass activity.12,31,36The above reported results confirm that the electrocatalytic properties of the PtNF/PPyNW system tested against methanol oxidation are due to the combined effect of Pt flower-like morphology and 3D open structure of PPy polymeric matrix providing, in comparison with Ptclust/PPyNW system, larger catalytic active surface area and faster electron transfer, inhibiting the undesired agglomeration of active sites and minimizing poisoning effect by intermediated species of methanol oxidation process. Moreover, the developed system exhibits enhanced or similar electrocatalytic performances in comparison with most of Pt nanoflower-based catalysts applied in methanol electroxidation, in terms of oxidation potential, 2SO4 containing 1 M CH3OH at different scan rates are reported in −1 evidencing that the electrocatalytic oxidation of methanol on PtNF/PPyNW modified electrodes is a diffusion-controlled process.30With the aim to further characterize the electrocatalytic activity of the developed PtNF/PPyNW system, methanol transport characteristic and electrocatalytic oxidation of different methanol concentrations have been evaluated. CVs recorded in 0.5 M H2SO4 recording a gradual decrease of anodic peak current density with potential cycling due to poisoning of the electrode surface, in agreement with amperometric data, with a survival of 25% compared to the first cycle after 300 scans.Finally, to test the long-term cycling stability of PtNF/PPyNW, the system has been continuously swept between −0.25 and 1.2 V for 300 cycles in a solution of 1.0 M methanol in 0.5 M HIn the present work, the synthesis of three-dimension Pt flower-like nanostructures (PtNF) is performed on a conducting polymeric support with a three-dimension structure, consisting of polypyrrole nanowires (PPyNWs) matrix, obtaining a composite material with excellent catalytic performances in methanol electroxidation. The developed PtNF/PPyNW system is assembled by a facile and rapid whole electrochemical approach, based on the use of an electrochemically synthesized nanostructured conducting polymer as support material, offering the additional benefits of possibly tuning its morphology by controlling some experimental parameters, using a low-cost and simple technology. The obtained PtNF/PPyNW system exhibited significantly enhanced ECSA and mass activity in methanol oxidation in comparison with an analogue composite system integrating Pt clusters and PPyNWs. The observed electrocatalytic behavior is ascribed to the combined effect of high surface area flower-like structures and polymer nanowire 3D structure promoting their high dispersion while keeping small charge transfer resistance and fast reaction rate due to good PPy electron conductivity. The proposed approach thus represents a novel strategy to design catalyst and supporting material for catalysts, which further opened up promising avenues for catalytic applications as fuel cells.There are no conflicts to declare.


In neurons, Ca2+ buffering is particularly important as it helps to shape Ca2+ signals and to regulate numerous Ca2+-dependent functions including neuronal excitability, synaptic transmission, gene expression, and neuronal toxicity. Over the past decade, identification of the mitochondrial Ca2+ uniporter (MCU) and other molecular components of mitochondrial Ca2+ transport has provided insight into the roles that mitochondrial Ca2+ regulation plays in neuronal function in health and disease. In this review, we discuss the many roles of mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake and release mechanisms in normal neuronal function and highlight new insights into the Ca2+-dependent mechanisms that drive mitochondrial dysfunction in neurologic diseases including epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. We also consider how targeting Ca2+ uptake and release mechanisms could facilitate the development of novel therapeutic strategies for neurological diseases.Mitochondria are essential for proper cellular function through their critical roles in ATP synthesis, reactive oxygen species production, calcium (Ca Mitochondria are colloquially referred to as the powerhouse of the cell because of their critical role in the production of ATP through oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) . The pro2−) produced through OXPHOS are converted to H2O2 by enzymes such as superoxide dismutase and subsequently broken down into harmless byproducts . The OMM is permeable to molecules smaller than 5 kDa, including Ca2+. This permeability is ascribed to voltage-dependent anion channels (VDACs) also known as mitochondrial porins that are highly expressed in the OMM   . Recent chondria . The mitf ∼2–2.5 . Earlier10–20 μM . Such a nditions  2 and CaHPO4  is the main pathway mediating Ca2+ efflux from mitochondria in neurons  as a pore-forming subunit of the greater uniporter complex , which are auxiliary subunits that regulate Ca2+-dependent gating of the channel; the mitochondrial Ca2+ uniporter regulator 1 (MCUR1), and an essential MCU regulator (EMRE), the protein critical for the assembly of MCU complex  and Glu243 (E) within the carboxylate rings at the mouth of the channel, which form a so-called DXXE motif that is critical for Caectivity . Notably+ uptake . Previouough MCU .in vivo remains a critical task in the field of mitochondrial biology. Although many in vitro studies  suggested that mitochondrial Ca2+ transport is critical to neuronal function, studies in MCU knockout (KO) mice revealed that MCU deletion had surprisingly limited effects in vivo . It is ubiquitously expressed throughout the body including the brain  the MCU complex forms a dimer with a second MCU complex and in this arrangement the MICU2 subunits interact directly. This also results in MICU1 moving away from the pore of the MCU complex, allowing for Ca2+ uptake  and H+/Ca2+ (mtHCX) exchangers mediate Ca2+ extrusion from mitochondria , a product of gene Slc8b1, represents an essential component of the mitochondrial Na+/Ca2+ exchanger , and possibly other organelles  What are the mechanisms of cellular trafficking of NCLX? 2) What are the functions of NCLX on the plasma membrane, ER and possibly other organelles? 3) Are there additional yet to be identified molecules that mediate Na+/Ca2+ exchange across the mitochondrial membranes?Despite the appreciation of NCLX as a mediator of Caganelles . There i for Na+  and the n by Na+ . In addiectively . These f2+ uptake into the mitochondria is critical for normal cellular function, the entry of excessive amount of Ca2+ into the mitochondria can result in Ca2+ overload and lead to activation of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (mPTP); this phenomenon has been associated with many different disease states, and thus the mPTP is considered a promising target for therapeutic intervention  on the outer membrane and adenine nucleotide translocators (ANT) on the inner mitochondrial membrane . Althougthe mPTP . Using bsynthase . Subsequsynthase . Followiexposure , and hadexposure . When c-exposure . The delexposure . In HAP1gkrekate . Deletiogkrekate . Howevergkrekate . In suppgkrekate . It is pgkrekate . Howevergkrekate . These f0F1 ATPase plays a critical role in its formation, but also suggest that certain subunits of the ATPase can be compensated for by other mechanisms. The combination of the results for and against the notion that F0F1 ATPase is the mPTP suggest that cell-type specific differences exist and that the mPTP can form via several mechanisms    and spaser (PiC) . Howeverer (PiC) . The key2+ signaling plays an especially important role in neurons because it regulates many aspects of neurotransmitter release and synaptic function  of synaptic vesicles.Cafunction   at neuro-muscular and central synapses  following the initial [Ca2+]i rise to the micromolar levels in response to intense stimulation   , are the2+ transport in synaptic transmission. Inhibiting MCU in the Drosophila mushroom body neurons caused impairment of synaptic function and olfactory memory  channels and Ca2+ signaling  and release of cytochrome c and other proapoptotic factors  is a debilitating neurodegenerative disorder and the most common form of dementia in the elderly. It is characterized by progressive impairment of memory and cognitive functions and may lead to a completely vegetative state and early death . AD curr2+ deregulation is thought to play critical roles during various phases of AD and can manifest in many forms, including chronic elevation of the cytosolic and mitochondrial Ca2+ concentrations, enhanced Ca2+ release from intracellular Ca2+ stores, spontaneous Ca2+ spikes, and enhanced activity of glutamate NMDA receptors  and the formation of neurofibrillary tangles from accumulated tau protein . Accordieceptors    and presenilin 2 (PS2). Mutated PS1 and PS2 modulate IP3R activity and increase Ca2+ release  . Interesligomers . ER Ca2+ release . PS1 mut release , which c with AD . The stontration . Injectitrations . In additoxicity . Glutamatoxicity . Howevertoxicity .2+ dysregulation in AD and other neurodegenerative disorders ultimately converge on mitochondrial Ca2+ overload, a crucial event that triggers mPTP opening, release of proapoptotic factors, ROS generation, and cell death  is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that is defined by the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) . Before thmicity . This unl toxins .2+-overload as a key target in the treatment of PD  function and reduces ER Ca2+ uptake  . Experim+ uptake . The redoverload   is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder that results in progressive loss of motor neurons throughout the brain and spinal cord, leading to death typically within 2.5–3 years after its initial diagnosis . Althougvalbumin . Consistproteins . Furtherlial ALS . Increastoxicity .2+-binding proteins, motor neurons have been shown to contain glutamate AMPA receptors that are more permeable to Ca2+, thereby adding to their susceptibility to excitotoxicity , it was determined that the neurons had enhanced Ca2+ release following stimulation and both mutations also led to upregulation of Ca2+ permeable AMPA and NMDA receptors , protected against kainic acid-induced excitotoxity in vitro, and this appeared to involve a reduction in MCU expression  . The mecthe cell . Many otthe cell . The impn in ALS , studies limited . One of  limited . The apppression . Althoug2+ buffering is essential for normal neuronal function and dysfunctional Ca2+ buffering and subsequent Ca2+ overload is common to many neurological diseases. Thanks to the recent identification of the components of the MCU complex, targeting the mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake and release machinery has become possible and has helped to refine the roles of these processes in neuronal function, as well as enable investigation of the effectiveness of targeting these proteins in disease prevention. Despite progress, many major questions remain unanswered in defining the roles of specific components of mitochondrial Ca2+ uptake and release systems in neurodegenerative disorders, epilepsy, stroke and other neurological conditions. Recent advancements in genetic targeting of all the major components of mitochondrial Ca2+ transport have provided important tools for addressing these questions. Thus, an important task for future research would be to systematically examine the impact of deletion or overexpression of MCU, MCUb, MICU3 and other components of mitochondrial Ca2+ transport in animal models of AD, PD, ALS, epilepsy, and other neurological conditions.Mitochondrial Ca2+ signaling and mitochondria Ca2+ transport play crucial roles in these cells in the context of many neurological diseases (2+ transport in neurological diseases by genetically targeting these molecules in neurons, glia, and immune cells.Even though this review focused primarily on neurons, it is important to point out that glial cells, such as astrocytes and microglia, also play crucial roles in epilepsy and neurodegenerative diseases as highlighted in many excellent reviews on this topic . Equallydiseases . Thus, ain vitro assays, its poor plasma membrane permeability and low stability in aqueous solutions limit its applicability for in vivo research (in vivo in mice subjected to hypoxic/ischemic brain injury (2+, and benzethonium, which inhibits this process (2+ overload is a common neurotoxic mechanism implicated AD, PD, ALS, and epilepsy (2+ uptake in human disease is that only a few drugs and small-molecule inhibitors of the uptake and release mechanisms are currently available. Thus, there is a critical need to screen for such agents, and to develop small-molecule inhibitors that could potentially be effective in treating neurologic diseases in which Ca2+ overload is a key problem.Another important line of future research would be development of potent and selective pharmacological tools that target MCU. Although a commonly used MCU inhibitor Ru360 is both potent and selective in research . A recenresearch . The latresearch . Notablyn injury . Currentn injury , but it n injury . Mitoxann injury . Interesn injury . Given i process . Since mepilepsy , it will


We applied a community-engaged research approach to assess the distribution of PM2.5 concentrations in the context of community concerns and urban features within and around the city of Santa Ana, CA. Approximately 183 h of one-minute average PM2.5 measurements, along with high-resolution geographic coordinate measurements, were collected by volunteer community participants using roughly two dozen low-cost AtmoTube Pro air pollution sensors paired with real-time GPS tracking devices. PM2.5 varied by region, time of day, and month. In general, concentrations were higher near the city’s industrial corridor, which is an area of concern to local community members. While the freeway systems were shown to correlate with some degree of elevated air pollution, two of four sampling days demonstrated little to no visible association with freeway traffic. Concentrations tended to be higher within socioeconomically disadvantaged communities compared to other areas. This pilot study demonstrates the utility of using low-cost air pollution sensors for the application of community-engaged study designs that leverage community knowledge, enable high-density air monitoring, and facilitate greater health-related awareness, education, and empowerment among communities. The mobile air-monitoring approach used in this study, and its application to characterize the ambient air quality within a defined geographic region, is in contrast to other community-engaged studies, which employ fixed-site monitoring and/or focus on personal exposure. The findings from this study underscore the existence of environmental health inequities that persist in urban areas today, which can help to inform policy decisions related to health equity, future urban planning, and community access to resources.PM Studi2.5) is particularly detrimental to health and was estimated to contribute to 4.6 million deaths globally in 2017 alone [2.5 can increase the risk of numerous adverse health effects, such as lung cancer, preterm birth, and cardiovascular disease [2.5 exposure [Particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of less than 2.5 μm  showed a systemically disproportionate burden of exposure among people of color, which was evident across nearly all major emission categories and was consistent across states, urban and rural areas, income levels, and exposure levels [2.5 on life expectancy are exacerbated in states with higher income inequality and greater African American populations [2.5 and NO2 exposure have increased in some areas, underscoring gaps that still remain in regard to equitably reducing air pollution levels [2.5 concentrations, they are also more vulnerable to numerous health conditions, including asthma and COVID-19.In the United States, a wide range of studies have similarly documented disproportionate exposure to air pollution and other environmental hazards among low-income communities and communities of color, both in California and nationally –25. Regae levels . Importaulations . What isn levels . ImportaOver the course of the coronavirus pandemic numerous studies have found ambient air pollution to be positively associated with the prevalence and spread of COVID-19 as well as increased COVID-19 case fatality rates –34. In oIn an effort to better characterize air pollution and other environmental hazards where government agency data are lacking, scientific researchers along with community leaders and residents increasingly collaborate in the development of community-engaged and participatory research methods for environmental and public health. Such research methods aim to involve community members, including minority groups, in every step of the research process, from developing research aims and collecting data to the dissemination of results ,41. Impo2 concentrations using stationary passive samplers [2.5 and radon in the homes of those living in the Rocky Mountain West tribal reservations [2.5 monitors so that they could characterize a typical “day in the life” in terms of air pollution across four neighborhoods [2.5 and NO2 exposures [In terms of community-engaged research and air pollution, data collection methods have used both passive samplers (no electricity needed) as well as active portable air monitors. One study conducted in Barcelona, Spain involved participants from primary schools who measured NOsamplers . Anotherrvations . One stuborhoods . In Londxposures . These l2.5 spatially when compared to regulatory monitoring stations [In measuring air pollution, recent technological innovation has led to the development and deployment of thousands of low-cost air pollution sensors around the world, which have enabled scientists to characterize air quality at a high spatial and temporal resolution –52. Suchstations . What isstations . Given tIn this pilot study we partnered with a non-profit founded by the Madison Park Neighborhood Association (MPNA), along with community volunteers, in order to measure local air quality throughout Santa Ana, California, using a validated low-cost air-monitoring device called the AtmoTube Pro. Our specific aims included: (1) characterizing air pollution near the industrial corridor in Santa Ana; (2) identifying potential air pollution hotspots and emissions sources using both mapping techniques and local community knowledge; and (3) characterizing and comparing air pollution within socially vulnerable areas versus those measured in less vulnerable communities within and outside of Santa Ana, so as to evaluate the potential of environmental inequities. We hypothesized that socioeconomically disadvantaged communities would contain the highest concentrations of air pollution.The mobile air-monitoring approach used in this study, and its application to characterize the ambient air quality within a defined geographic region through predesignated walking routes and grid-like site assignments, is in contrast to other community-engaged studies, which tend to employ fixed-site monitoring and/or focus on personal air monitoring that is not bound geographically . What is2.This pilot study was conducted as part of a community–academic partnership involving the University of California, Irvine, and a local California-based community organization called MPNA. MPNA has been serving community members of Southeast Santa Ana, California, for over 30 years. In 2012 MPNA founded a nonprofit called GREEN-MPNA, the prefix of which stands for Getting Residents Engaged in Empowering Neighborhoods. GREEN-MPNA and its programs emerged from specific needs identified by Madison Park residents, including support for youth and families regarding access to educational and leadership opportunities as well the need to improve health outcomes through health education and the establishment of a safe and clean environment. Led by residents of Southeast Santa Ana, GREEN-MPNA in recent years has been studying environmental justice and related health risks associated with air pollution facing local residents.GREEN-MPNA’s expansion into environmental justice issues began in 2017, when a group of residents received notices alerting them to the siting of a new metal plating facility across the railroad tracks from their apartments, which was also within 1000 feet of two elementary schools. With a grant from the California Air Resources Board, GREEN-MPNA convened the Comunidad Unida, Aire Limpio (CUAL) resident steering committee, made up of adult residents and high school youth, to learn about and investigate the environmental and public health risks near Madison Park. In 2018–2020 CUAL committee members participated in a two-year environmental justice training curriculum that included topics on community-based research, participatory mapping, developing an advocacy campaign, air pollution health risks, participating in public comment processes, and designing an air-monitoring project. During this period GREEN-MPNA and the CUAL committee identified the need for a community air-monitoring project to characterize the environmental and public health risks facing their community.In 2019–2020 the CUAL committee used participatory processes, including workshops and focus groups, to identify members’ priorities for such a project, which included the need to identify major local pollution sources, compare environmental and health risks in Madison Park to other parts of the city, and understand personal health risks from exposure to air pollution. These specific research questions led to the current community–academic partnership that gave rise to the current pilot study, as well as the specific research questions that this this study was designed to answer.The actual establishment of the community–academic partnership dates back to 2003, when MPNA began hosting community events that drew the attention, and ultimately the involvement, of UC Irvine faculty, which turned into ongoing collaborations involving clinical trials, educational outreach, etc. Thus, UC Irvine collaborators were a natural fit when it came to the current study. In terms of workflow, online meetings were first convened between academic and community partners in order to define community concerns and research questions as well as draft a study design that could be applied in the field so as to enable a formal data analysis. Upon presenting the finalized study plan to the wider community, residents were able to volunteer for field data collection and attend a subsequent training session. On each sampling day, trained volunteers received monitoring devices along with specific instructions regarding their assigned sampling locations. Following each monitoring day, all monitoring devices were transferred to academic partners for data exporting and compilation. All data analyses and statistics were carried out by expert research partners from UC Irvine.2.1.2 and includes 61 census tracts [Santa Ana is a densely populated city located in Southern California in the southwestern region of the United States. It is the administrative center of Orange County, which is the sixth most populated county in the U.S. With a total population of approximately 337,716 residents, Santa Ana spans an area of 70.6 kms tracts . In terms tracts . The majs tracts . As of 2s tracts . A schem2 neighboring area of dense industry that runs between South Standard Ave. and South Grand Ave., as well as between East 1st Street and East Warner Ave.As a major urbanized area bordered by three major freeways, including the interstate 5 and 405 freeways, state routes 22 and 55, as well as the John Wayne Airport, potential sources of ambient air pollution in Santa Ana include both roadway traffic and aviation. Santa Ana is also an industrial and commercial center with over 26,432 businesses, including many metal-related industries  . Thus, p2.2.® Travel Recorders  in order to measure outdoor PM2.5 concentrations and their corresponding measurement times and locations. Prior to field use, all AtmoTube devices were recalibrated to ensure quality measurements. During field use the devices, which were attached to a carabiner and neck strap, were either worn around the neck, affixed to a belt loop, or held in hand so as to remain unobstructed and exposed to the ambient air.From February to May 2021 a total of four air-monitoring field sampling days (one per month) were carried out across the general Santa Ana city area during three separate times of the day, which included morning (7–10 a.m.), midday (12–3 p.m.), and evening (4–7 p.m.). Sampling was conducted in the middle of the work week (Tuesday–Thursday) in order to capture peak traffic- and industry-related air pollution emissions and avoid potential holidays, which often occur on Mondays and Fridays. Air sampling was conducted by CUAL committee members and other trained community volunteers who were outfitted with AtmoTube Pro personal air pollution monitoring devices  as well as Global Positioning System (GPS) devices called QstarzIn total, 82 community volunteers participated in this pilot study, 70 (85%) of whom were adults (18 years of older), with the remaining 12 (15%) being youth that were of high school age (14 to 17 years). Depending on the day, the number of field participants involved in any single monitoring day ranged from 30–40 volunteers, some of whom participated across multiple sampling days. While participants involved in data collection mostly consisted of members of the previously described CUAL committee, others consisted of community volunteers who learned about the project either through word of mouth or through social media outreach . At the start of each field collection day a central check-in station was established at a local school campus, where community members met to receive and return their sampling devices in addition to field data collection sheets prior to and following, respectively, each sampling shift, as well as to receive specific instructions regarding their assigned sampling tasks.For participants involved in data collection, field training included a live expert-led video tutorial (via Zoom) explaining how to properly use the air pollution and GPS measurement devices as well as how to properly use the written field data collection sheets (used as a backup in the case of GPS failure and to log active measurement periods). The video session was followed by a live question and answer period. Participants who could not attend the video session were trained in-person individually prior to data collection.1 and PM2.5 as well as temperature and humidity [1 and PM2.5 concentrations when compared to Federal Equivalent Method (FEM) instruments (R2 = 0.79–94) [2.5 is a regulatory air pollutant that has been linked with numerous adverse health outcomes, measurements of PM2.5 are the focus of this pilot study. For added quality assurance in this study, six pairs of AtmoTube devices  were collocated next to one another for at least six hours each throughout the study period, with their 10 min average PM2.5 measurements being compared by way of Pearson correlation coefficients.While capable of measuring volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and multiple size fractions of particulate matter (PM), the AtmoTube Pro  is best suited to measure concentrations of PMhumidity ,61. Equihumidity . Measurehumidity . The Atm0.79–94) . Given t2.2.1.Sampling sites were based on community input and feasibility. Since a primary concern expressed by community members was potential air pollution originating from the industrial corridor, four air monitoring routes (A–D) were established that encircled various sections of the industrial corridor along with one route (E) that encompassed the freeway system. Referred to collectively as the “walking routes”, these routes were designed for walking or biking since many community volunteers did not have access to an automobile. These routes were intended to enable the detection of both general air pollution around the industrial corridor as well as potential air pollution hotspots. To this end, community members carried handheld AtmoTube devices while walking along each of the five prescribed air-monitoring routes. These five routes are depicted in 2.2.2.To characterize air pollution in a way that was less spatially biased than the walking routes, and therefore to enable a better regional comparison of air pollution between different regions within and outside of the city, we constructed a multitiered sampling grid across the study area that included the measurement of air pollution across 81 sites both inside and outside of the industrial corridor during all three sampling periods  and across all four monitoring days . At the center of the map was a roughly 0.8 × 0.8 km sampling grid that spanned an area of 4 by 6 km and included 35 sampling sites. We called this the Focus Area and assigned it the highest sampling density since it encompassed the Madison Park community and industrial corridor, which is the area that was of primary interest to GREEN-MPNA as it relates to air pollution and exposure.In a concentric square around the Focus Area was Outer Area #1, which consisted of a perimeter of 16 more sampling sites that were set 2 km beyond the Focus Area and spaced 2 km apart from one another. Finally, Outer Area #2 consisted of an additional 26 sampling sites spaced roughly 1.5–2.0 km apart from one another and which spanned the western and northern areas of Santa Ana (which were the most distant from the Focus Area), as well parts of the neighboring cities of Tustin and Irvine.Each site was measured for 7–10 min by an AtmoTube device. Participants who collected air pollution measurements carried time-activity sheets through which they recorded the exact times of their sampling at each assigned site. Participants were also asked to abstain from any air-polluting activities, such as cigarette smoking, while sampling and to record the timing of such activities if/when they occurred so as to allow for the proper interpretation of data (no smoking was reported). Regional sampling was carried out using a combination of walking, biking, and driving. Where observations were collected by car, participants were asked to turn off their car engine and exit their vehicle during the sampling period in order to prevent measurements from being influenced by their own vehicle emissions.To serve as baseline air pollution measurements, we identified sites that were more distant from the urban environment and therefore less influenced by anthropogenic air pollution sources . Specifically, we identified four sampling sites outside of Santa Ana, which included sites in Irvine Regional Park, Santiago Canyon, Newport Beach, and the Newport Bay, located within the same county . When examining the spatial distribution of air pollution within Santa Ana, we compared measurements collected within (or contiguous to) and outside of the industrial corridor as well as measurements collected immediately next to (<100 m) and not next to the freeways system. Additionally, we compared measurements averaged across sites located within (or contiguous to) so-called “environmental justice communities,” or EJ communities, and those collected within non-EJ communities. The city of Santa Ana defines an EJ community as an area of the city where residents have the highest risk of exposure to air, water, and soil pollution and are burdened by socioeconomic and health issues, such as higher rates of language barriers, poverty, and asthma . The mos2.3.In order to carry out statistical and spatial analyses for this pilot study, .csv files were first exported from both the AtmoTube devices and Qstarz GPS devices. In the case of the AtmoTube, air pollution measurements were recorded as 1 min averages accompanied by a 1 min time stamp. To determine which datapoints to retain for analysis each AtmoTube’s datasheet was reviewed alongside its corresponding handwritten field data collection log (indicating exact time ranges when devices were collecting data at each assigned location). All rows (1 min time stamps) that did not correspond to a time of “active monitoring,” as indicated by the times recorded in the field data logs, were assumed to be periods of inactive monitoring  and were therefore discarded. Of note, the discarding of such between-site measurements was only necessary for the outer sites where participants required a car to travel from site to site .During data cleaning, all rows of data were also assigned a unique code indicating which, if any, of the A-through-E walking routes they collected data along. In regard to such routes, where participants collected data by foot or bike and carried a GPS monitoring device, an important step for analysis was the matching of AtmoTube air-monitoring measurements with GPS location measurements. In contrast to the 1 min average AtmoTube measurements, however, the Qstarz GPS device recorded GPS measurements every 15 s. In order to match the measurements of a given AtmoTube with its corresponding GPS device’s measurements it was therefore necessary to first convert the 15 s GPS data into 1 min averages . Once the 1 min air pollution and GPS measurements were matched the data were then imported into ArcGIS software where the locations of each air pollution measurement could be projected spatially onto a map for visual representation. In regard to summary statistics, all calculations and analyses were performed using SAS software .3.2.5 measurements (~183 h) collected across four monthly sampling days, each of which included a morning, midday, and evening sampling period in the city of Santa Ana, CA. The average PM2.5 concentration measured across all sampling days and all measurements collected regionally and along walking routes (A–E) was 6.9 μg/m3, with a standard deviation of 6.1 μg/m3 and a maximum of 90 μg/m3. Average concentrations categorized by month are presented in The following presents results from 10,972 one-minute average PM3.1.2.5 concentrations across each of the four monthly sampling days and across each of the five walking routes. As shown in 2.5 concentrations when compared to all other routes within a given sampling day, respectively, while industrial corridor route B was most frequently ranked the highest in terms of maximum PM2.5 pollution (not shown in the graph). In terms of absolute concentrations, route A showed the highest average PM2.5 level (11.7 μg/m3), which took place during the February sampling day. Of note, this value is slightly below the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) primary annual fine particle standard of 12.0 μg/m3. Route D showed the highest one-minute maximum PM2.5 level (64.0 μg/m3), which took place during the March sampling day. Route E, which encompasses the freeway system, was ranked lowest  in terms of relative PM2.5 concentrations.2.5 measurements projected across the Focus Area in Santa Ana, demonstrating the utility of using high-resolution GPS tracking devices for field air monitoring and the detection of potential air pollution hotspots and/or heavy emission sources. In general, the majority of elevated PM2.5 concentration measurements (>12 μg/m3) occurred in March as well as May and corresponded with the industrial corridor area, as shown by the extensive red dots along Main Street and Standard Avenue in the western portion of the maps. Scattered exceedances also occurred near the freeways in May, whereas elevated freeway levels were not visible in March. In April, concentrations only exceeded 12 μg/m3 at a few scattered locations along the middle and northern industrial corridor. Otherwise, the distribution of air pollution in April tended to show higher levels near the southwestern quadrant of the map, near sites 6 and 13, corresponding to the southern end of the industrial corridor. GPS data for February are not depicted since such data were not available for this month. A presentation of each map broken down by morning, midday, and evening measurements for each monthly sampling day is presented in 2.5 concentrations near roadway intersections.3.2.2.5 concentrations were found to exceed 12 μg/m3 across four sites within the Focus Area compared to zero sites outside of the Focus Area. This graph only includes sites that were successfully measured during all three sampling times within a day so as to avoid time-of-day sampling bias. As shown, site 14 appears to be anomalously high relative to other sites. This site was located within the Focus Area of the study region, which is immediately adjacent to the industrial corridor. Although 2.5 concentration was elevated. Site 6 is also adjacent to the industrial corridor and was the only site where average and/or maximum PM2.5 concentrations were elevated across two separate monthly sampling days.2.5 > 12 μg/m3) fell within the Focus Area, while 17 (71%) fell within the Outer Area #1 boundary. More noteworthy is that 10 of these 24 sites (42%) fell along the industrial corridor, despite this area only accounting for 12% of the total sites sampled. In total, 13 of the 24 (54%) elevated sites showed average PM2.5 concentrations ≥ 12 ug/m3, which is the U.S. EPA’s primary annual fine particle standard.In general, 14 of the 24 (58%) high-pollution sites . The average PM2.5 concentration of samples collected near freeways was higher than those collected in nonfreeway zones during all three sampling periods, although nonfreeway areas exhibited more high-concentration outliers. When examining samples collected near the industrial corridor, the average concentration was substantially higher than the nonindustrial corridor average during the midday sampling period, but approximately equal during other sampling periods.2.5 between the Focus Area and Outer Area was similar in March and May, with an opposite pattern exhibited during the midday in April. In April, the pattern related to highway areas was also opposite, with nonfreeway areas showing higher average PM2.5 concentrations. For the industrial corridor comparison, results for other months conflicted with those of February, with non-industrial corridor areas showing higher concentrations during the midday for the March and April sampling days. In general, measurements collected in greenspace areas  were variable, in some cases higher than those of Outer Area samples while in other cases lower.Although February was presented as an example, the pattern of PM2.5 concentrations averaged across measurements collected within EJ communities and non-EJ communities for each of the four monthly sampling days. As shown, average concentrations were not considerably different between EJ and non-EJ communities, with each community designation reporting a relatively higher PM2.5 average for two of the four sampling days. For EJ communities, however, the boxplots consistently demonstrate a greater frequency of high-PM2.5 outliers relative to non-EJ communities.2.5 concentrations across each monthly sampling day and each sampling time period. As can be seen, average PM2.5 concentrations appeared to depend heavily on both sampling time and sampling day. Intraday variability ranged from approximately 4 to 9 μg/m3, which represented over a doubling in average PM2.5 in some cases. Similarly, intraday variability ranged from approximately 4 to 10 μg/m3. In the present study, the May sampling day had systematically higher PM2.5 concentrations.2.5 measurements, whereas one colocated pair showed only a moderate correlation (r = 0.42). Of note, the AtmoTube device also automatically measures and reports 1 min average PM10 and PM1 concentrations. However, the analysis of this data is not presented in this study since the concentrations of these two pollutants were very highly correlated with 1 min averaged PM2.5 concentrations  and therefore did not add value to our understanding of the spatial distribution of air pollution.In this study, limited colocation analyses performed across six paired AtmoTube devices demonstrated high Pearson correlation coefficients for five of the pairs (r = 0.71–0.91) when comparing 10 min averaged PM4.2.5 air pollution levels in the city of Santa Ana, CA, and in turn address concerns of residents about the potential for unhealthy and disproportionately distributed exposures related to industry, traffic, and other sources. The results demonstrated PM2.5 concentrations to vary by region, with levels within the Focus Area being generally higher than measurements collected within more affluent areas in Santa Ana and the neighboring city of Tustin. The Focus Area is also the region characterized by some of the highest poverty rates and proportion of minority residents in Santa Ana, as well as the area that is nearest the industrial corridor. In general, the majority of elevated PM2.5 sites fell within the Focus Area, with nearly half falling along the industrial corridor despite this area only accounting for a minority of the total sites sampled. These findings suggest greater air pollution within this region of the study area and the likely contribution of industrial sources to local air pollution.This pilot study employed a community-based participatory approach in order to understand PM2.5 measurements around the industrial corridor as part of an air pollution hotspot detection approach, while a grid-like design was pursued to enable a regional comparison of air pollution across the wider study region. Results from hotspot detection showed instances of exceptionally high PM2.5, while levels on average were relatively low, falling below the EPA’s annual ambient PM2.5 standard of 12 μg/m3.In developing a data collection protocol for community residents, walking routes were designed in order to enable community participants to collect PM2.5 concentration while route E (encompassing the freeways) was ranked relatively low when compared within a given sampling day. This suggests that the industrial corridor is likely to be a more important source of PM2.5 than freeway traffic.When considering individual walking routes, routes A and D  were most frequently ranked the highest in terms of average PM2.5 measurements collected along the walking routes with high-resolution GPS tracking data. Such results showed that the majority of elevated PM2.5 concentration measurements (>12 μg/m3) occurred along the industrial corridor, particularly along Main Street and Standard Avenue. The minor relative contribution of air pollution by the freeways was most evident when examining the March and April air pollution maps, in which low air pollution appears near the freeways compared to the higher levels along the industrial corridor. Nonetheless, PM2.5 concentrations of samples collected near freeways was on average higher than those collected in non-freeway zones , thus affirming that freeway proximity still influences air pollution concentrations. Of note, the fact that this study took place during the COVID-19 pandemic may have resulted in lower-than-normal traffic and thus traffic-related emissions.These findings were affirmed when pairing one-minute average PMHigh concentrations measured via the walking routes corresponded to some of the same site IDs  in which high air pollution was measured during regional sampling (as discussed below). Although not shown graphically, scrutiny of each map broken down by morning, midday, and evening measurements demonstrated modestly higher concentrations near roadway intersections, which is reasonable given the vehicle braking and acceleration that can produce particles .2.5 data was collected, sites 6 and 14 were found to be anomalously high relative to other sites. Although this study is not able to attribute air pollution to specific sources, it is worth noting that both of these sites fall within the industrial corridor boundary. What is more, a recent report using the same measurement devices (AtmoTube Pro) documented indoor PM2.5 concentrations within an industrial facility near these sites to be over 200 μg/m3, with average outdoor levels of up to 39 μg/m3 (avg. = 17 μg/m3) over a three-day period, thus underscoring the potential for nearby industrial sources to pollute the local ambient environment [When examining specific sites across which a full day of PMironment .2.5 concentrations averaged across different time periods and relevant urban features showed concentrations to generally be higher in the Focus Area of the study, which encompassed the industrial corridor and MPNA community region, compared to surrounding areas. Average measurements collected in greenspace areas were mixed, with PM2.5 concentrations in some cases being higher than those of other land area types. Higher air pollution in greenspace areas could conceivably be a result of smoke-generating recreational activities such as barbequing, or could be due to unrelated neighboring air pollution emissions from industry or traffic. Of note, due to physical properties which lead to its slow removal time, PM2.5 has a relatively homogeneous spatial distribution compared to other air pollutants . This could result in greenspace areas downwind of major sources having high PM due to regional contributions.Boxplots of PM2.5 measurements collected within EJ communities and non-EJ communities, average concentrations were not considerably different. However, EJ communities consistently demonstrated a greater frequency of high-PM2.5 outliers relative to non-EJ communities over the four sampling days. This suggests the increased presence of local air pollution sources and the need to better identify the causes of such emissions among EJ communities, particularly given the disproportionate socioeconomic disadvantages that such communities already face.When comparing PM2.5 concentrations, as perhaps did moderate wind, which picked up midway through the second sampling day. What is more, stable conditions and sunny/hot weather encountered during the May sampling day may have contributed to the elevated measurements, perhaps due to photo-related secondary PM2.5 formation.In regard to measurements collected near the industrial corridor, average concentrations were higher than the non-industrial corridor average in some cases, while the opposite pattern (or no significant difference) was observed in other cases. This may be explained in part by differences in industrial activity that occur during different times of the day  as well as differences in meteorology. For instance, mild rainy weather the night before the first two sampling days may have depressed PMOf note, atmospheric chemistry, meteorology, and long-range transport are all important factors that affect local air quality. Importantly, however, given the small geographic domain of our study area, we anticipate these factors to result in a systematic influence on air pollution as measured across all monitors within a given time period, having only a minimal impact on the relative distribution of air pollution from one site to the next (which is the primary focus of this study and of community concerns). Having said that, the influence of regional factors is something that we considered in this study and attempted to account for by collecting baseline measurements that are minimally affected by local emissions sources .2.5 concentration calculated across all four sampling days was not found to exceed 12 μg/m3, which is the U.S. EPA’s annual primary annual fine particle standard. However, the fact that multiple sites showed average PM2.5 concentrations that were above the EPA standard suggests the need for follow-up sampling in Sana Ana to determine if the site measurements in this study are reflective of annual average concentrations and therefore underscore the existence of a public health concern.Although there were insufficient data collected to enable an appropriate comparison with the EPA’s ambient air quality standards, it is nonetheless worth noting that the overall average PMAn important strength of this pilot study is its inclusion of community priorities in addition to its foundation built around community–academic partnerships –70. The 2.5 concentrations that was due to temporal as opposed to spatial differences. Furthermore, while one of the aims of this study was to distinguish potential sources of ambient air pollution, the absence of wind trajectory data and speciation-based source apportionment data means that our conclusions cannot be considered definitive, but rather should be considered a first step at understanding the relative contributions of these potential sources.This study had several limitations. First, despite a high number of sampling sites, a limitation of this study nonetheless was the inherent inability to characterize air pollution concentrations between sampling sites despite the variability that likely exists between such sites. Second, this study was limited to daytime measurements across four single monitoring days and therefore can neither characterize air pollution during nighttime hours nor during the full span of a given month or across different seasons. What is more, despite the simultaneous design of data collection during discrete sampling windows , samples within a given sampling window were not collected exactly simultaneously, with samples within the same period potentially being collected up to three hours apart from one another . This may have introduced variability in PMLimitations related to the low-cost sensors and community-based participatory methodology of this pilot study should also be discussed. This includes the difficulty of sustained participation by volunteers, in turn resulting in different numbers of people being available for field data collection for each monitoring data. This resulted in variable amounts of data and undersampling during certain monitoring days and time periods, which required us to restrict our analysis to only “full day” observations that amounted to fewer than anticipated sampling sites. Given that many volunteers were non-English-speaking Latinx residents and also low income, an additional challenge was verbal communication between certain residents and university researchers, as well as the inaccessibility of certain residents to automobiles for field sampling. These challenges were able to be overcome, however, thanks to community leaders and researchers who translated between languages, as well as by tailoring the study design to include walking routes.Another limitation is that the mobile nature of citizen-based measurements (as opposed to fixed monitoring stations) meant that high-air-pollution zones  could not be entirely distinguished from mobile sources . We attempted to overcome this through repeated measurements during the same day and over multiple days; however, this potential influence cannot entirely be ruled out given the limited data collected in this study. Additionally, while volunteers were trained in the use of measurement devices, at least three devices appeared to have been unknowingly shut off in the middle of field monitoring, which resulted in lost data. Lastly, in regard to data quality and the use of low-cost sensors, colocation analyses showed one of six paired devices to perform only modestly when comparing colocated measurements, suggesting that device reliability may present an issue for studies involving such sensors, despite calibration, and that colocation experimentation prior to field deployment may be warranted to identify faulty devices.5.2.5 exposures related to industry, traffic, and other sources. The results demonstrated PM2.5 concentrations to vary by region, with levels within the Focus Area being generally higher than measurements collected within more affluent outside areas. Similarly, measurements collected within EJ communities exhibited more high-PM2.5 outliers compared to non-EJ communities. When examining regional measurements, samples collected near freeway and industrial corridor sites tended to generally be higher than sites further from the freeways and industrial corridor, although this pattern was not consistent across all months and sampling periods. While PM2.5 concentrations exhibited regional variability, concentrations were on average below the EPA’s annual PM2.5 standard. Maximum concentrations recorded near the industrial corridor and within EJ communities nonetheless underscore the potential for air pollution concerns in certain regions, and therefore the need for follow-up monitoring. This pilot study demonstrates the utility of using low-cost air pollution sensors for the application of community-engaged study designs that leverage community knowledge, enable high-density air monitoring, and facilitate greater health-related awareness, education, and empowerment among communities. What is more, results from this study underscore the existence of environmental health inequities that persist in urban areas today. These findings help inform environmental-justice-related initiatives focused on community outreach, future urban planning, access to resources, and the formulation of community-driven recommendations for policy makers.This pilot study employed a community-based participatory approach in order to develop community-derived research questions regarding air pollution levels in the city of Santa Ana, CA, and in turn address concerns of residents about the potential for unhealthy and disproportionately distributed PMData available upon request.Supplementary Material


The packaged textile battery was fabricated by vacuuming a polymer envelope containing the battery, followed by heat sealing with a vacuum packaging machine. The interior and exterior regions of the textile battery are completely separated by the packaging sheath to preclude leakage and intrusion of substances. The resulting packaged textile battery exhibits stable capacity retention performance under varying temperature and humidity; mechanical deformations due to bending, twisting, rubbing, and pressing; and several mechanical, chemical, and their combined washing cycles. On the basis of these demonstrations, we expect that our vacuum−packaged textile battery will offer new possibilities for practical and convenient use of textronics.Batteries are used in all types of electronic devices from conventional to advanced devices. Currently, batteries are evolving in the direction of extremely personalized yarn− or textile−structured textronic systems. However, the absence of a protective layer on such batteries is a critical limitation to their practical use. In this study, we developed a wearable and washable MnO Batteries are used in all types of electronic devices, from conventional devices such as sensors, cameras, displays, and laptops to advanced devices such as smartphones, electric vehicles, and wearable devices ,2,3,4,5.2−Zn and hybrid−Zn−ion textile−structured batteries with active material deposition onto conductive fabrics, respectively. Y.H. Lee et al. have reported rechargeable textile batteries using electroless deposition of Ni onto a polyester fabric [Conventional battery systems are rigid, heavy, and bulky, so innovative structures and advanced materials must be introduced to realize textronic batteries, which are a new paradigm in energy supply systems ,13,14,15r fabric .However, in most of the previously reported textronic batteries, the battery electrodes and electrolyte are exposed to the external environment without a protective outer layer, which causes some critical problems. In practical and actual usage, textronic batteries must withstand varying environmental conditions, such as temperature, humidity, and body sweat, as well as various types of mechanical deformations generated by human body motions, including bending, twisting, rubbing, and pressing, without performance degradations. The external environmental factors can change the composition of the electrolyte, and the mechanical deformations may cause detachment of the electrolyte, leading to failure or malfunction of the textronic battery. Conversely, skin irritation and allergic dermatitis caused by leakage of the acidic or basic electrolyte have been reported previously . Further2−Zn textile battery that maintains its electrochemical capacity under various external environmental conditions with the aid of a vacuum−sealed packaging. The packaged textile battery was fabricated by vacuuming a polymer envelope containing the textile battery made of a commercial textile, followed by heat sealing with a vacuum packaging machine; the textile battery consisted of yarn−structured MnO2 and Zn electrodes. During the vacuum packaging process that lasts about 7.5 s, the air inside the envelope was removed, which resulted in a 43% decrease in thickness (from 2.1 to 1.2 mm); further, the interior and exterior regions of the packaged textile battery were completely separated by the packaging sheath to prevent leakage of the gel electrolyte and intrusion of any external substances. Consequently, the resulting packaged textile battery exhibited 96% and 103% of its initial capacity at a temperature of 60 °C and relative humidity (RH) of 90 RH%, respectively, while the nonpackaged textile battery showed a drastic decrease in capacity even under mild conditions of 20 °C and 20 RH%. Various types of applied mechanical deformations from human motions, such as bending, twisting, rubbing, and pressing, resulted in negligible changes to the capacity. Furthermore, we confirmed that several cycles of mechanical, chemical, and a combination of mechanical/chemical washing hardly affected the electrochemical performance. The proposed vacuum−packaged textile battery is thus expected to accelerate the practical use of yarn− or textile−based wearable batteries as well as open up new possibilities for convenient use regardless of varying external conditions.In the present study, we developed a wearable and washable MnO2 and Zn particles were purchased and used as the active materials of the textile battery . Polyvinyl alcohol , zinc chloride (ZnCl2), manganese (II) sulfate monohydrate (MnSO4), and lithium chloride (LiCl) were used for the gel electrode  and gel electrolyte. A polypropylene (PP) envelope of 125 μm thickness was used for vacuum packaging the textile battery .The CNT sheets were drawn from well−aligned multiwalled carbon nanotube (MWNT) forests grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), with a height of 750 μm . MnO2 yarn cathode and Zn yarn anode was fabricated by the biscrolling method, as previously reported in [2 yarn cathode, about 0.1 g of MnO2 particles was well dispersed in 5 mL of ethanol by ultrasonication for 30 min and dropped on the prepared CNT sheets. These CNT sheets with MnO2 particles were then connected to a custom−made twisting machine with a motor  and about 400 turns/m of twisting was inserted. After this 2D sheet to 1D yarn cathode fabricated process, MnO2 cathode yarn was condensed by ethanol evaporation. Similarly, to fabricate the Zn yarn anode, about 0.1 g of Zn particles was dispersed in 5 mL of ethanol and ultrasonicated for 30 min, following which it was drop cast on the CNT sheet and dried at room temperature for 10 min; the CNT sheet with the Zn particles was then connected to the custom−made twisting machine and about 400 turns/m of twisting was inserted. After yarn anode fabrication, Zn anode yarn was condensed by ethanol evaporation. The gel electrolyte for the wearable textile battery was prepared by mixing PVA (1 g), ZnCl2 (5.45 g), MnSO4 (1.25 g), and LiCl (2.54 g) in deionized water (20 mL) and stirring at 80 rpm under 90 °C until the mixed solution became transparent. The textile battery was then fabricated with a commercial textile and the prepared cathode and anode yarns battery electrodes. The yarn−structured MnO2 cathode and Zn anode were sewn into the commercial textile upside down repeatedly with about 50 mm spacing between the cathode and anode in parallel. The gel electrolyte was then applied on the two parallel sewn yarn batteries in the textile.The proposed battery with the MnOorted in . Three l2−Zn textile battery. Each side of the two PP films was heated and attached to each other to form a one−side−open PP envelope; the last unsealed side was then closed after the vacuuming step once the air in the pouch was removed in about 7.5 s after placing the textile battery inside to minimize the thickness of the packaged textile.Two PP envelope films of 125 μm thickness each were aligned so as to cover the top and bottom surfaces of the MnOScanning electron microscope (SEM) images of the battery yarn electrodes were obtained , along with optical images of the textile battery using an optical camera . In addition, the electrochemical performances of the nonpackaged and packaged textile batteries were evaluated using an electrochemical analyzer . The textile battery was packed using a vacuum sealer .totalW is the total weight of the yarn electrodes, CNTW is the weight of the bare CNT yarn, and the activeW is the weight of the active materials  loaded on bare CNT yarn.The mass loading weight percent (wt%) of the yarn electrodes was calculated using the following equation:I is the discharge current of the textile battery, Δt is the time until the discharge voltage reaches 0.5 V, and m is the total weight of packaged textile battery comprising the PP film, commercial textile, and MnO2−Zn yarn battery electrodes.The specific capacity (mAh/g) was calculated from the galvanostatic discharging curve using Equation (1):2−Zn textile battery are schematically illustrated in 2−Zn textile battery and PP thin film sheath for packaging  inside the yarn. The Zn yarn anode was also prepared using same fabrication process. The diameters of the MnO2 yarn cathode and Zn yarn anode after ethanol densification were about 197 and 183 μm, respectively. The mass loading wt% of MnO2 yarn cathode and Zn yarn anode were calculated as 69.2 and 60.0 wt%, respectively.The MnOeviously . For the2 cathode and Zn anode were investigated next using SEM images, as shown in 2 cathode and Zn anode were about 63.9 and 64.8 Ω/cm, respectively  and galvanostatic discharge curves with a two−electrode system in which the MnO2 and Zn yarn electrodes were used as the cathode and anode, respectively. According to H. Pan [2−Zn battery system is given byThe surface morphologies of the MnOectively . The mosectively . These eectively . About 1guration b, a full battery . The PVA battery ,19. The o H. Pan , the catThe full−cell redox reaction is thus given by2−Zn textile batteries measured at a scan rate of 10 mV/s exhibited clear oxidation and reduction peaks centered at 1.68 V and 1.35 V, respectively, showing good agreement with previously reported MnO2−Zn battery systems [2−Zn textile batteries were measured at a current density of 0.3 mA/g and compared in 2−Zn battery was characterized further for various discharge currents and repeated charge/discharge cycles. Specifically, about 89.8% of the initial capacity was maintained at a discharge current of 1.5 mA/g  can damage the battery electrodes or change the composition of the gel electrolyte, resulting in malfunctions. Conversely, skin inflammation may be caused by leakage of acid− or alkali−based electrolytes, which pose safety issues. Based on the successful development of the wearable and washable MnO2−Zn textile battery packaged by vacuum sealing, the dependence of the electrochemical capacity on the temperature and humidity is observed in an oven and a hand−made humidity chamber (2−Zn textile battery at a temperature of 20 °C and relative humidity of 20 RH% were measured for repeated charge/discharge cycles over 15 h. The packaged textile battery exhibited approximately 97.3% retention of its initial capacity after 15 h. However, the capacity of the unpackaged textile battery decreased drastically after 5 h, showing only 5.9% capacity retention. The advantage of vacuum sealing is thus revealed in the inset of  chamber b. As shoDuring practical and actual usage, textile batteries are exposed to various types of mechanical deformations caused by human movements a. In numConsidering the practical applications for textronics, washability is one of the most important and distinct characteristics. Laundering involves the mechanically and chemically complex actions of washing and rinsing to remove contaminants from textile products. During laundering, detergents containing surfactants chemically dissolve the greasy dirt in water and the applied external force mechanically removes contaminants from the textile. We simulated the laundering process of contaminated textile battery by mechanical washing with a rotating motion and chemical washing with a detergent solution a,b. As s2−Zn textile battery packaged by the vacuum sealing method was demonstrated in this study. The textile battery was composed of a biscrolled MnO2 yarn cathode and a Zn yarn anode, a commercial textile substrate, and an aqueous gel electrolyte. After packaging by vacuum sealing, the interior and exterior regions of the packaged textile battery were completely separated to preclude leakage and intrusion of substances within the packaging sheath. The resulting packaged textile battery exhibited 96% and 103% of its initial capacity at a high temperature of 60 °C and relative humidity of 90 RH%, respectively, while the nonpackaged textile battery underwent drastic capacity degradation even under mild conditions of 20 °C and 20 RH%. Stable capacity retention performances were also observed regardless of mechanical deformations, including bending, twisting, rubbing, and pressing. Furthermore, the electrochemical capacity was well maintained after several cycles of mechanical washing at 100 rpm, chemical washing by immersing the textile battery in a detergent solution for 10 min each time, and a combination of mechanical and chemical washing. On the basis of these demonstrations, vacuum packaging of the textile battery is shown to overcome the limitations of existing works, in which the battery electrodes and electrolyte are exposed to the external environment. We expect that our vacuum−packaged textile battery can accelerate the practical use of wearable batteries and open up new possibilities for convenient use of textronics.In summary, a wearable and washable MnO


The determination of the location of quantitative trait loci (QTL)  is essential for identifying new genes. Various statistical methods are being incorporated into different QTL mapping functions. However, statistical errors and limitations may often occur in a QTL mapping, implying the risk of false positive errors and/or failing to detect a true positive QTL effect. We simulated the power to detect four simulated QTL in tomato using cim and stepwiseqtl, widely adopted QTL mapping functions, and QTL.gCIMapping, a derivative of the composite interval mapping method. While there is general agreement that those three functions identified simulated QTL, missing or false positive QTL were observed, which were prevalent when more realistic data  were provided.2 populations in which QTL effects were simulated or calculated showed advantages of postQTL in QTL detection.To address this issue, we developed postQTL, a QTL mapping R workflow that incorporates (i) both cim and stepwiseqtl, (ii) widely used R packages developed for model selection, and (iii) automation to increase the accuracy, efficiency, and accessibility of QTL mapping. QTL mapping experiments on tomato FThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13104-022-06017-z. Quantitative trait loci (QTL) affect the phenotypic variation observed in quantitative characters. Quantitative traits (character) display a continuous distribution of phenotypes, and many agronomically important traits  belong to quantitative traits. Therefore, QTL mapping, the determination of the location of QTL, is one of the first steps to build a scientific basis for plant genetics and breeding.Various statistical methods have been used for QTL mapping  , intervaBroman and Speed  stated tRegularization methods  , least aGiven the above information, a comprehensive approach integrating the results from both mapping functions, cim (note that a version of the CIM method is implemented into the R/qtl) and stepwiseqtl, and regularization method(s) may be as good as a single function-driven QTL mapping, or an optimal strategy to improve the accuracy of true positive QTL identification. Here, we present postQTL, a QTL mapping R workflow that incorporates (i) both cim and stepwiseqtl, (ii) widely used R packages developed for model selection, and (iii) automation to increase the accuracy, efficiency, and accessibility of QTL mapping. postQTL is an R script that executes several R functions and R packages connected by the R language. This package has been developed to be straightforward for use in a typical R environment on Linux/PC hardware. We focus on the tomato, a model fruit crop with relatively large QTL mapping efforts.Solanum lycopersicum) [2 populations using the R/qtl function sim.cross: F2 individuals with 1000 (hereafter referred to as population #1) and 100 (hereafter referred to as population #2) to mimic mapping populations or breeding studies. Four simulated QTL were positioned at 5 cM on each of chromosomes 1, 5, 7, and 12, and simulated to have additive effect sizes of 1.0, 0.5, 0.2, and 0.2, respectively  with thersicum)  was usedM method ), and stCp value(s); note that postQTL outputs BIC and adjusted R2 using an R package ‘leaps’ as optional additional resources for users). Next, postQTL calculates the regression coefficient (β) for the representative marker(s) in the identified QTL using regularization methods LASSO and MCP (performed by regularize_qtl). LASSO and MCP were implemented using the R packages ‘glmnet’  and ‘pin 4.1.3; ), respecn 4.1.3;  and Linun 4.1.3;  via a te2 plants randomly selected from a segregating progeny in a population, which is known to show at least two QTL (genes) including the tomato BRACHYTIC locus [2 generation genotyped by the tomato Illumina Infinium array and a molecular marker for the tomato BRACHYTIC locus; Additional file 2, F2:3, and F2:4; Additional file All mapping methods  and postQTL were applied to continuous phenotypic data for the tomato seedling trait. 116 FIC locus  for heig2 individuals), cim exhibited the highest frequency of the identification of all four simulated QTL followed by stepwiseqtl , a lower accuracy of the identification of simulated QTL was observed for all three mapping functions  for both LASSO and MCP were observed from at least one of the markers representing the simulated QTL , which indicates this location can be used to investigate desirable alleles that might explain the phenotypic segregation in the tomato population used in this study.To validate that postQTL can be useful to identify potential QTL associated with the plant height trait, we performed genetic mapping analyses using postQTL and previously developed mapping functions, cim, QTL.gCIMapping, and stepwiseqtl. Three QTL signals with significant effects (LOD > 4) were detected from at least two filial generations by at least two analyses: a position near the mosome 1 , another2 and other advanced populations. However, postQTL should apply to any (plant) species as long as the QTL mapping functions, cim and stepwiseqtl, fit the species of user interest. In the mapping of low genetic effect QTL, missing such QTL is likely to be observed when researchers repeat the mapping analysis with independent imputations. To address this, postQTL has the default number of iterations for cim as 10.Despite the availability of multiple methods for QTL mapping, a need exists for a comprehensive approach integrating the results from multiple QTL mapping methods, which may be the optimal strategy to most accurately identify QTL. We developed postQTL, an R workflow that implements two widely adopted QTL mapping functions. We used postQTL primarily in a tomato community, as tested on FA critical element of any QTL mapping workflow is its ease of use. postQTL is suitable for both R environment novices and experienced R users. postQTL automates the entire QTL mapping process by requiring only one R workflow. Further, postQTL only requires commonly used R packages in the R program, not requiring additional processing steps outside of the workflow.Lastly, postQTL includes regularization methods which could be useful supplements to the researcher when the conclusions on QTL determination can be subject to considerable uncertainty.postQTL limits an exhaustive model search for markers residing in the identified QTL and for markers for each chromosome. Clearly, an exhaustive model search for all genetic markers incorporated into QTL mapping data should be optimized to maximize computational efficiency.Additional file 1. Input dataset.Additional file 2. PostQTL R script.Additional file 3. List of R packages required.Additional file 4. Genotypic data of 116 tomato individuals.Additional file 5. Phenotypic data of 116 tomato individuals.Additional file 6. QTL mapping of tomato height.