The coronavirus pandemic was declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2020, and a global genetic vaccination program has been rapidly implemented as a fundamental solution. However, many countries around the world have reported that so-called genetic vaccines, such as those using modified mRNA encoding the spike protein and lipid nanoparticles as the drug delivery system, have resulted in post-vaccination thrombosis and subsequent cardiovascular damage, as well as a wide variety of diseases involving all organs and systems, including the nervous system. In this article, based on these circumstances and the volume of evidence that has recently come to light, we call the attention of medical professionals to the various risks associated with blood transfusions using blood products derived from people who have suffered from long COVID and from genetic vaccine recipients, including those who have received mRNA vaccines, and we make proposals regarding specific tests, testing methods, and regulations to deal with these risks. We expect that this proposal will serve as a basis for discussion on how to address post-vaccination syndrome and its consequences following these genetic vaccination programs.

Exposure to vaccine lipid nanoparticles, mRNA, adenoviral DNA, and or Spike protein from one of the approved Covid-19 vaccines, or through secondary exposure, as through blood transfusion, is a potential source of harm. Blood reactions are an acknowledged side-effect of Covid-19 vaccination, not limited to hemolysis, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, chronic cold agglutinin disease, immune thrombocytopenia, haemophagocytosis, hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, and many other blood related conditions. The observation of adverse events has motivated investigation into the cardiovascular mechanisms of harm by Covid-19 vaccines, and the biodistribution of vaccine contents. Biodistribution may not be limited to the body of the vaccine recipient, as a growing body of evidence demonstrates the possibility of secondary exposure to vaccine particles. These can be via bodily fluids and include the following routes of exposure: blood transfusion, organ transplantation, breastfeeding, and possibly other means. As covid-19 vaccines are associated with an increased risk of stroke, the persistence of vaccine artifacts in the blood presents a possible threat to a recipient of a blood donation from a vaccinated donor who suffered from vaccine induced thrombosis or thrombocytopenia. (VITT) We assess the feasibility and significance of these risks through an overview of the case report literature of blood disorders in vaccinated individuals, pharmacovigilance reports from the US Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS) and a meta-analysis of the available literature on organ transplants from vaccinated organ donors. Our analysis establishes biological mechanistic plausibility, a coherent safety signal in pharmacovigilance databases for secondary vaccine contents exposure (for the cases of blood transfusion and breastfeeding) and also an elevated level of adverse events in organ transplants from VITT-deceased donors, echoing increases in organ transplantation related complications seen in national statistics for some countries. Secondary exposure to vaccine artifacts is a potential explanation for some of the cases put forth, and requires a deeper investigation.

Although most cases of COVID-19 are paucisymptomatic, severe disease is characterized by immune dysregulation, with a decreased type I interferon response, increased inflammatory indicators, surging IL-6, IL-10 and TNFα suggestive of cytokine storm, progressive lymphopenia, and abnormal blood clotting. Factors determining susceptibility to severe disease are poorly understood, although mortality correlates with increasing age and co-morbidities including diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Pyridoxal 5'-phosphate (PLP) tends to be insufficient in populations particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, including the elderly, the institutionalized, and people with diabetes and CVD, and PLP becomes further depleted during infection and inflammation. In turn, low PLP results in immune imbalance, as PLP is an essential cofactor in pathways regulating cytokine production, in particular type I interferons and IL-6, and in lymphocyte trafficking and endothelial integrity. Furthermore, normalizing PLP levels attenuates abnormalities in platelet aggregation and clot formation. Finally, PLP insufficiency induces excess secretion of renin and angiotensin, and hypertension. In inflammatory disease, pharmacological doses of PLP decrease circulating TNFα, IL-6 and D-dimer, and animal studies demonstrate that supplemental PLP shortens the duration and severity of viral pneumonia. Severe COVID-19 manifests as an imbalance in the immune response and the clotting system. Pharmacological PLP supplementation may therefore mitigate COVID-19 symptoms by alleviating both the immune suppression underlying viral spread and the pathological hypersecretion of inflammatory cytokines, as well as directly bolstering endothelial integrity and preventing hypercoagulability.

The one-dimensional MoS₂/carbon nanofibers (1D MoS₂/CNFs) are synthesized by electrospinning using exfoliated MoS₂ nanosheets and polyacrylonitrile as raw materials. The exfoliated MoS₂ nanosheets with size of about 150 nm are encapsulated in carbon nanofibers, and the free-standing MoS₂/CNFs can be easily cut into flexible tablet and directly used as binder-free anode for lithium storage. The resultant 1D MoS₂/CNFs exhibit a very high reversible capacity of 700 mAh g^-1 at 100 mA g^-1 after 50 cycles, high rate capacity (450 mAh g^-1 at 1000 mA g^-1 after 200 cycles) and good cycle stability.

When focusing on materials science in civil engineering, the current trend is to investigate the use of innovative solutions in order to enhance thermal and energy performances. This trend is amplified with the need for a sustainable development strategy for the construction sector. This paper assesses the integration of a Phase Change Material (PCM) in cement intended for building construction. The key characteristic of PCMs is their capacity to absorb energy and restore it. In building construction, this feature could be harnessed to save energy by incorporating PCMs in the materials used. In this study, passive integration of PCM in cement was tested and thermal properties of such an integration was assessed. The results provide insights into how PCMs affect cement as part of the concrete mixture, thus identifying the contribution of PCM-based cements in concrete mixtures.

By using the particle swarm optimization algorithm for crystal structure prediction, we reveal a newly orthorhombic Cmcm structure of HfB4, which is more energetically superior to the previously proposed YB4-, ReP4-, FeB4-, CrB4-, and MnB4-type structures in the considered pressure range. The phonon dispersion and elastic constants calculations confirm that the new phase is dynamically and mechanically stable. The calculated large shear modulus (240 GPa) and high hardness (45.7 GPa) imply that the predicted Cmcm-HfB4 is a potential superhard material. Meanwhile, the directional dependences of the Young's modulus, bulk modulus, and shear modulus for HfB4 are systematically investigated. Further analyses of the density of states and electronic localization function indicate that the strong B-B and B-Hf covalent bonds greatly contribute to its high hardness and stability.

Blood perfusion quantification is important vital parameters in different diagnostic procedure, using infrared thermography imaging; it is reliable to use this technique as non-contact, non-invasive blood flow measurement method. Therefore, we developed a measurement protocol for blood flow over the arm's anterior surface. By using the superficial brachial and radial veins to be monitored under the impact of cold-excitation of (2 °C to 5 °C), the blood perfusion signal was detected using thermal imager of long-wave infrared spectral range (LWIR, 7μm - 14 μm). The simulation of Penne's bioheat transfer equation was performed to be compared with results obtained from the infrared thermography. Furthermore, the proposed blood flow monitoring using external adjusting of the excitation temperature, by using (cold-compress, or cold air-stream) applied to the region under testing. The signal detected resembles to the hemodynamic pulse of the superficial veins, in the definition of systolic and diastolic phases of the cardiac cycle. Moreover, statistical analysis applied to the BFIRT signals from 24 subjects to estimate the skin's mean temperature after recovery from the thermal excitation.

Blood has certain significant physical properties, which the authors investigated. This paper provides values of surface tension and viscosity of blood at 37 °C, as well as relationship between them plotted on a cross-plot. By applying Hagen- Poiseuille equation and Jurin's law to the experimentally obtained data, the authors calculated with great accuracy viscosity and surface tension of blood. Evaluating both of the properties using described methods required from the authors to know the density of investigated liquid, which was found to be on average $\rho=1063,56 \frac{kg}{m^3}$. The authors took blood samples from 30 healthy subjects and determined aforementioned physical properties. There has been made a distinction in regard of a sex of the blood donor. Results indicate that both surface tension and viscosity are independent from sex of a subject, as well as indicate that there is no correlation between viscosity and surface tension of blood at 37\degree C. Average values of surface tension and viscosity were found to be $\sigma=5,241\pm 0,262 \cdot 10^{-2}\frac{J}{m^2}$ and $\eta=3,352\pm0,360 \cdot 10^{-3} Pa \cdot s$, respectively.

In the last decade, the drone market has grown rapidly for both civil and military purposes. Due to their versatility, drones demand is constantly increasing, with several industrial players joining the venture to transfer urban mobility to the air. This has exacerbated the problem of noise pollution, mainly due to the relatively lower altitude of these vehicles and to the proximity of their routes to extremely densely populated areas. In particular, both the aerodynamic and aeroacoustic optimization of the propulsive system and of its interaction with the airframe are key aspects of the design of aerial vehicles for the success or the failure of their mission. The industrial challenge involves finding the best performance in terms of loading, efficiency and weight, and, at the same time, the most silent configuration. For this reason, research has focused on an initial localization of the noise sources and, on further analysis, of the noise generation mechanism, focusing particularly on directivity and scattering. The aim of the present study is to review the noise source mechanisms and the state-of-the-art technologies available in literature for its suppression, focusing especially on the fluid-dynamic aspects of low Reynolds numbers of the propulsive system and on the interaction of the propulsive-system flow with the airframe.

A facilitative transport system exists on the blood brain barrier (BBB) that has been tacitly assumed to be a path for glutamate entry to brain. But glutamate is a non-essential amino acid whose brain content is much greater than plasma, and studies in vivo show that glutamate does not enter brain in material quantities except in those small regions with fenestrated capillaries (circumventricular organs). The situation became understandable when luminal (blood facing) and abluminal (brain facing) membranes were isolated and studied separately. Facilitative transport of glutamate and glutamine exist only on the luminal membranes whereas Na+-dependent transport systems for glutamate, glutamine and some other amino acids are present only on the abluminal membrane. The Na+-dependent cotransporters of the abluminal membrane are in a position to actively transport amino acids from the extracellular fluid (ECF) into the endothelial cells of the BBB. These powerful secondary active transporters couple the energy of the Na+-gradient to move glutamate and glutamine into the ECF whereupon glutamate can exit to blood on the luminal facilitative glutamate transporter. Glutamine may also exit brain on a separate facilitative transport system that exists on the luminal membranes or glutamine can be hydrolyzed to glutamate within the BBB thereby releasing ammonia that is freely diffusible. The γ-glutamyl participate cycle participates indirectly by producing oxoproline (pyroglutamate) that stimulates almost all secondary active transporters yet discovered in the abluminal membranes of the BBB.

The cause-effect relationship between iron deficiency anemia (IDA) and osteoporosis has not been established in the general population. Thus, the current longitudinal study determined the role of IDA as a risk factor for osteoporosis by analyzing a large nationwide population-based sample. In a sample of 1,000,000 randomly sampled individuals from the 1998-2012 Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database, patients with IDA (case group [n=35,751]) and individuals without IDA (control group [n=178,755]) were compared. Patients who were <20 years of age and who had pre-existing osteoporosis prior to the diagnosis of IDA were excluded. Each patient with IDA was age- and gender-matched to 5 individuals without IDA. The diagnoses of IDA and osteoporosis (coded using ICD-9CM) were further confirmed with blood test results and X-ray bone densitometry to ensure the accuracy of the diagnoses. Osteoporosis occurred more often among patients with IDA compared to individuals without IDA (2.27% vs. 1.32%, p<0.001). Cox proportional hazard analysis revealed that the risk for osteoporosis was significantly higher in the case than the control group (hazard ratio [HR]=1.74; 95% CI=1.61-1.88) and remained similar after adjustment for covariates (adjusted HR=1.81; 95% CI=1.67-1.97). Compared with individuals without IDA, the risk for osteoporosis was even higher for patients with IDA who received intravenous ferrum therapy (adjusted HR=2.21; 95% CI=1.85-2.63). In contrast, the risk for osteoporosis was reduced for patients with IDA who received a blood transfusion (adjusted HR=1.47; 95% CI=1.20-1.80). As a predictor, prior IDA is a significant and independent risk factor for development of osteoporosis. In contrast to blood transfusion treatment, the use of intravenous ferrum may further increase the risk for future osteoporosis.

Neuroscience has overwhelmingly and understandably focused on the synaptic modality of signal transmission. There is evidence, however, that from an evolutionary perspective, non-synaptic transmission (NST) preceded synaptic signaling. Moreover, in modern nervous systems, NST coexists and extensively interacts with synaptic transmission modifying neuronal dynamics. In fact, NST remains widespread in complex animals, especially within the interoceptive system where the dearth of insulating barriers such as myelin sheaths and the blood-brain barrier enhances the communication between neural and non-neural tissues mediated by NST. We suggest that this physiological arrangement makes a fundamental contribution to interoception¾the process of sensing visceral states¾which is an essential underpinning of the capacity to feel and the foundation of affective processing.

Clinically, knowing the number of red blood cells (RBCs) and white blood cells (WBCs) helps doctors to make the better decision on accurate diagnosis of numerous diseases. The manual cell counting is a very time-consuming and expensive process, and it depends on the experience of specialists. Therefore, a completely automatic method supporting cell counting is a viable solution for clinical laboratories. This paper proposes a novel blood cell counting procedure to address this challenge. The proposed method adopts SegNet - a deep learning semantic segmentation to simultaneously segment RBCs and WBCs. The global accuracy of the segmentation of WBCs, RBCs, and the background of peripheral blood smear images obtains 89% when segment WBCs and RBCs from the background of blood smear images. Moreover, an effective solution to separate grouped or overlapping cells and cell count is presented using Euclidean distance transform, local maxima, and connected component labeling. The counting result of the proposed procedure achieves an accuracy of 93.3% for red blood cell count using dataset 1 and 97.38% for white blood cell count using dataset 2.

Preterm infants are at significant risk to develop reduced bone mineralization based on inadequate supply of calcium and phosphorus (Ca-P). Biochemical parameters can be used to evaluate the nutritional intake. The direct effect of nutritional intake on changes in biochemical parameters has not been studied. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of Ca-P supplementation on biochemical markers as serum (s)/urinary (u) Ca and P; alkaline phosphatase (ALP); tubular reabsorption of P (TrP) and urinary ratios for Ca/creatinin and P/creatinin in Very-Low-Birth-Weight infants on postnatal day 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, and 14. This observational study compared two groups with High (n = 30) and Low (n = 40) intake of Ca-P. Birth weight: median (IRQ) 948 (772-1225) vs. 939 (776-1163) grams; Gestational age: 28.2 (26.5-29.6) vs. 27.8 (26.1-29.4) weeks. Daily median concentrations of biochemical parameter were not different between the groups but linear regression mixed model analyses showed that Ca intake increased the uCa and TrP (p = 0.04) and decreased ALP (p = 0.00). Phosphorus intake increased sP, uP and uP/creat ratio and ALP (p ≤ 0.02) and caused decrease in TrP (p = 0.00). Protein intake decreased sP (p = 0.000), while low gestational age and male gender increased renal excretion of P (p < 0.03). Standardized repeated measurements showed that biochemical parameters were affected by nutritional intake, gestational age and gender.

Objective: On March 11, 2020 the WHO declared that COVID-19 is pandemic. Among the risk factors for many infectious diseases, a role of the ABO blood group system is reported in the literature. We argue whether it is necessary to investigate the relationship between ABO blood groups and susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection and if we should consider some blood groups as potential risk factors for COVID-19. Results: Based on the scientific evidence reported in this letter, we believe that further studies are needed to investigate how the ABO polymorphism influences the host susceptibility, individual response and clinical risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Background: Globally, hot cooked refined rice is consumed in large quantities and is a major contributor to dietary glycaemic load. This study aimed to compare the glycaemic potency of hot and cold stored parboiled rice to widely available medium grain white rice. Method: Twenty-eight healthy volunteers participated in a three treatment experiment where postprandial blood glucose was measured over 120 minutes after consumption of 140g of rice. Three rice samples were freshly cooked medium-grain white rice, freshly cooked parboiled rice, and parboiled rice stored overnight at 4 ºC. All rice was served warm at 65 ºC. Chewing time was recorded. Results: The 24-hours cold-stored and reheated parboiled rice resulted in a 42% and 12% lower blood glucose concentration trajectory than freshly cooked medium-grain white rice and freshly cooked parboiled rice. Chewing time for 10g cold stored parboiled rice was 6 seconds (25%) longer and was considered more palatable, visually appealing and better tasting than freshly cooked medium grain (all P<0.05). Conclusions:. For regular consumers of rice reheating cooked rice after cold storage would lower the dietary glycaemic load and long term may reduce risk for type 2 and gestational diabetes. More trials are needed to identify the significance.

Flux-switching permanent magnet (FSPM) motors have gained increasing attention in the electric vehicles (EVs) applications due to the advantages of high power density, high efficiency. However, the heat sources of both permanent magnet (PM) and armature winding are located on the limited stator space in the FSPM motors, which may result in the PM overheated and irreversible demagnetization caused by temperature rise and it is often ignored in the conventional thermal analysis. In this paper, a new electrical-thermal two-way coupling design method is proposed to analyze the electromagnetic performances, where the change of PM material characteristics under different temperatures is taken into consideration. Firstly, the motor topology and design equations are introduced. Secondly, the demagnetization curves of PM materials under different temperatures are modeled due to PM materials are sensitive to the temperature. And based on the electrical-thermal two-way coupling method, the motor performances are evaluated in details, such as the load PM flux linkage and output torque. Then, the motor is optimized, and the electromagnetic performances between initial and improved motors are compared. Finally, a prototype motor is manufactured, and the results are validated by experimental measurements.

The early embryonic heart is a multi-layered tube consisting of (1) an outer myocardial tube; (2) an inner endocardial tube; and (3) an extracellular matrix layer interposed between myocardium and endocardium, called “cardiac jelly” (CJ). During the past decades, research on CJ has mainly focused on its molecular and cell biological aspects. This review focuses on the morphological and biomechanical aspects of CJ. Special attention is given to (1) the spatial distribution and fiber architecture of CJ; (2) the morphological dynamics of CJ during the cardiac cycle; and (3) the removal/remodeling of CJ during advanced heart looping stages, which leads to the formation of ventricular trabeculations and endocardial cushions. CJ acts as a hydraulic skeleton displaying striking structural and functional similarities with the mesoglea of jellyfish. CJ not only represents a filler substance, facilitating end-systolic occlusion of the embryonic heart lumen. Its elastic components antagonize the systolic deformations of the heart wall and thereby power the refilling phase of the ventricular tube. Non-uniform spatial distribution of CJ generates non-circular cross sections of the opened endocardial tube (initially elliptic, later deltoid), which seem to be advantageous for valveless pumping. Endocardial cushions arise from non-removed remnants of the original CJ.

The nature of the interaction between Th17 cells and the blood-brain barrier (BBB) is critical for the development of autoimmune inflammation in the central nervous system (CNS). TNF-a or IL-17 stimulation is known to enhance the adherence of Th17 cells to the brain endothelium. The brain endothelial cells (bEnd.3) express VCAM-1, the receptor responsible for inflammatory cell adhesion, which binds VLA-4 on migrating effector lymphocytes at the early stage of brain inflammation. The present study examines the effect of the pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-a and IL-17 on the adherence of Th17 cells to bEnd.3 The bEnd.3 cells were found to increase production of CCL2 and CXCL1 after stimulation by pro-inflammatory cytokines, while CCL2, CCL5, CCL20 and IL17 induced Th17 cell migration through a bEnd.3 monolayer. This interaction between Th17 cells and the brain endothelium appears to be mediated by VCAM-1 and some chemotactic cytokines. This observation may suggest potential therapeutic targets for the prevention of autoimmune neuroinflammation development in the CNS.

Mercury has a strong environmental impact since both its organic and inorganic forms are toxic and it represents a pollutant of global concern. Liquid Hg is highly volatile and it can be released during natural and anthropogenic processes in the hydrosphere, biosphere and atmosphere. In this study the distribution of Gaseous Elemental Mercury (GEM) and the total and leached mercury concentrations on paints, plasters, roof tiles, concretes, metals, dust and wood structures were determined in the main buildings and structures of the former Hg-mining area of Abbadia San Salvatore (Siena, Central Italy). The mining complex (divided into 7 units) covers a surface of about 65 ha and contains mining structures and managers and workers buildings. In this work, nine surveys of GEM measurements were carried out from July 2011 to August 2015 for the buildings and structures located in the units 2, 3 and 6. Moreover, detailed measurements were performed in February, April, July, September and December 2016 in the edifices and mining structures of Unit 6. GEM concentrations showed a strong variability in terms of space and time mostly depending on the distance from the building hosting driers, furnaces and condensers and ambient temperature, respectively. In the Unit 2 surveys carried out in the hotter period (from June to September) showed GEM concentrations up to 27,500 ng m⁻³, while in the Unit 6 they were on average much higher and occasionally they saturated the GEM measurement device (>50,000 ng m⁻³). Concentrations of total (in mg kg⁻¹) and leached (in μg L⁻¹) mercury measured in different building materials (up to 46,580 mg kg⁻¹ and 4,470 mg L⁻¹ for total and leached mercury, respectively) showed for the same type of material highly variable values in dependence on the edifice or mining structure from which they were collected. The results obtained in this study are of relevant interest for the operational cleanings to be carried out during the reclamation activities.

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) in fluids has gained attention because ctDNA seems to identify tumor-specific abnormalities, which could be used for diagnosis, follow-up of treatment, and prognosis: the so-called liquid biopsy. Liquid biopsy is a minimally invasive approach and presents the sum of ctDNA from primary and secondary tumor sites. It has been possible not only to quantify the amount of ctDNA but also to identify (epi)genetic changes. Specific mutations in genes have been identified in the plasma of patients with several types of cancer, which highlights ctDNA as a possible cancer biomarker. However, achieving detectable concentrations of ctDNA in body fluids is not an easy task. ctDNA fragments present a short half-life, and there are no cut-off values to discriminate high and low ctDNA concentrations. Here, we discuss the use of ctDNA as a cancer biomarker, the main methodologies, the inherent difficulties, and the clinical predictive value of ctDNA.

The aim of this study was to find a correlation between in vivo NIR scan patterns, oxidative status, and blood serum metabolites in rabbits fed diets protected or unprotected against oxidation. Rabbits does in groups of eight were fed for 9 weeks with diets containing linseed, rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids (LS), or linseed plus hazelnut skins, with antioxidant function (LS+HS), and palm oil, rich in saturated fatty acids (PO). The animals were examined at days 1, 31, and 63 using a smart SCÏO molecular sensor, a new miniaturized web-based wireless device, applied to the internal ear flap (NIR range 740-1070 nm). The hazelnut peels integrated diet protected the rabbits from the oxidative stress induced by the addition of unprotected polyunsaturated fats. NIR tomoscopy was variously correlated with serum parameters, lysozyme (R2=0.71), ROMs (0.47), cholesterol (0.49), triglycerides (0.40), and a multivariate Index of Oxidative Risk (0.67 [IOR]). The correlations suggested a close connection between the clustering of the diets according to the laboratory variables and the NIRS scan pattern clustering at the ending trial day, as shown by the highly significant odds ratios. Advantageous use of this simple, painless technique was evident in the planning phase, with no difference among the groups at the beginning of the study, but an effect size that evolved differently over time until the end of the study. In a practical validation of the SCÏO model in 92 commercial rabbit does, the average spread of the predicted IOR was 33% in lactating does (2.54±0.05) vs. dry does (1.91±0.07).

Thalassemia is genetic blood disease cause by absence or decrease of one or more of the globin chain synthesis. Beta thalassemia is characterized by one or more mutations in beta globin gene. Absence or reduced amount the of beta globin chains cause ineffective erythropoiesis which leads to anemia. Beta thalassemia has been further divided into three main forms: Thalassemia minor/silent carrier, major and intermedia. More severe form is thalassemia major in which patients depend upon blood transfusion for survival and high level of iron occur as a consequence of consistent blood transfusion. Over loaded iron invokes the synthesis of reactive oxygen species that are toxic in redundancy and triggering the impairment to vascular, endocrine and hepatic system. Thalassemia can be diagnosed and detected through various laboratory tests such as blood smear, prenatal testing (genetic testing of amniotic fluid), DNA analysis (genetic testing) and complete blood count. Treatment of thalassemia intermedia is symptomatic but it can also be managed by splenectomy and folic supplementation. While thalassemia major can be treated by transplantation of bone marrow, regular transfusion of blood and iron chelation treatment, stimulation of fetal hemoglobin production, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and gene therapy.

Background: Research continues to search for blood-based biomarkers sensitive to Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology during the initial stages when symptoms of cognitive decline are not yet apparent. A blood-based biomarker candidate is metalloprotein p53, the conformation of which was previously found to be altered in peripheral cells from individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD, presenting as an unfolded p53 (U-p53) conformational variant. Methods: Plasma samples from the well-characterized Australian Imaging, Biomarkers, and Lifestyle (AIBL) cohort were used to identify the clinically relevant AZ 284^® peptide, specifically present in samples from individuals with symptomatic AD. The AZ 284^® peptide, which is a marker of the U-p53 conformational variant (U-p53^AZ), was identified by immunoprecipitation (IP) with a novel U-p53 conformational variant-specific antibody followed by liquid chromatography (LC) tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) and protein sequencing. Using IP-LC surface-activated chemical ionization (SACI) MS/MS analysis, the prognostic and diagnostic performance of U-p53^AZ were examined in the longitudinal AIBL cohort, including 252 plasma samples derived from 214 elderly individuals. For the prognostic analyses, U-p53^AZ levels were assessed at 36, 72, and 90 months after baseline assessment. Results: The prognostic performance of U-p53^AZ to predict the progression to AD from preclinical or prodromal AD was high, with area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) values close to or above 0.90. Furthermore, U-p53^AZ predicted the progression to AD more than 6 years prior to symptom onset with positive and negative predictive values of about 90%. Additionally, the estimated prognostic performance of U-p53^AZ was superior to other main risk factors (i.e., age, sex, and either alone or in combination with amyloid status. Furthermore, U-p53^AZ had high diagnostic performance to differentiate cognitively normal individuals from those with AD (AUC values >0.88). Conclusion: These findings support the use of U-p53^AZ as a prognostic blood-based biomarker accurately predicting the progression to AD dementia during the preclinical and prodromal stages at least 6 years before receiving the clinical diagnosis of AD dementia.

This case report describes evidence of intratubular biomineralization in root canal filled with calcium enriched material after 8 years of clinical maintenance. The schematic findings of dentinal tubules were investigated with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). The root canal obturation material was closely adapted to root dentin surface, suggesting the possibility of chemical bonding between the two interfaces. SEM and EDS observation of dentinal tubules showed intratubular biomineralized crystal structures with Ca/P ratio in a range of 1.30–2.12, suggesting bioactive capacity of calcium enriched cement.

The solution of structural problems with nonlinear material behaviour in a model order reduction framework is investigated in this paper. In such a framework, greedy algorithms or adaptive strategies are interesting as they adjust the reduced order basis (ROB) to the problem of interest. However, these greedy strategies may lead to an excessive increase in the size of the reduced basis, i.e. the solution is no more represented in its optimal low-dimensional expansion. Here, an optimised strategy is proposed to maintain, at each step of the greedy algorithm, the lowest dimension of the PGD basis using a randomised SVD algorithm. Comparing to conventional approaches such as Gram-Schmidt orthonormalisation or deterministic SVD, it is shown to be very efficient both in terms of numerical cost and optimality of the reduced basis. Examples with different mesh densities are investigated to demonstrate the numerical efficiency of the presented method.

Probiotics make up a large and growing segment of the commercial market of dietary supplements and are touted as offering a variety of human health benefits. Some of the purported positive impacts of probiotics include, but are not limited to, stabilization of the gut microbiota, prevention of gastrointestinal disorders and modulation of the host immune system. Current research suggests that the immunomodulatory effects of probiotics are strain specific and vary in mode of action. Here, we examined the immunomodulatory properties of Bacillus subtilis strain DE111 in a healthy human population. In a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled four-week intervention, we examined peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) at basal levels pre- and post-treatment as well as in response to stimulation with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). We observed an anti-inflammatory effect of B. subtilis, manifested as a decrease in immune cell populations within the basal state along with an increase in anti-inflammatory immune cells in response to LPS stimulation. Overall gastrointestinal health, microbiota, and circulating and fecal markers of inflammation and gut barrier function were largely unaffected by DE111 treatment. These data suggest that the novel probiotic B. subtilis DE111 may have clinical applications in modulating immune homeostasis via anti-inflammatory mechanisms.

Gabapentin (GBP), a GABA analogue, is primarily used as an anticonvulsant to treat partial seizures and neuropathic pain. While a majority of the side effects are associated with the nervous system, emerging evidence suggests a high risk for heart diseases in the patients taking GBP. In the present study, we used a preclinical model of rats to investigate (1) the acute cardiovascular responses to GBP (bolus i.v. injection, 50 mg/kg) and (2) the effects of chronic GBP treatment (i.p. 100 mg/kg/day x 7 days) on cardiovascular function and the myocardial proteome. Under isoflurane-anesthesia, rat blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), and left ventricular (LV) hemodynamics were measured using Millar pressure transducers. The LV myocardium and brain cortex were analyzed by proteomics, bioinformatics, and western blot to explore the molecular mechanisms underlying GBP-induced cardiac dysfunction. In experiment (1), we found that i.v. GBP significantly decreased BP, HR, maximal LV pressure, and maximal and minimal dP/dt, whereas it increased IRP-AdP/dt, Tau, systolic, diastolic, and cycle durations (*p < 0.05 and **p < 0.01 vs baseline; n = 4/group). In experiment (2), we found that chronic GBP treatment resulted in hypotension, bradycardia, and LV systolic dysfunction, with no change in plasma norepinephrine. In the myocardium, we identified 109 differentially expressed proteins involved in calcium pathways, cholesterol metabolism, and galactose metabolism. Particularly, we found that calmodulin, a key protein of intracellular calcium signaling, was significantly upregulated by GBP in the heart but not in the brain. In summary, we found that acute and chronic GBP treatments suppressed cardiovascular function in rats, which is attributed to abnormal calcium signaling in cardiomyocytes. These data reveal a novel side effect of GBP independent of the nervous system, providing important translational evidence to suggest that GBP can evoke adverse cardiovascular events by depression of myocardial function.

Foam concrete is a construction material with controllable low strength and untraditional physical properties. Its highly crushable nature leaves it a niche as an engineered energy-absorbing material in many value-added applications; however, fundamental understanding of the material properties is crucial. As foam concrete is highly cellularized and ductile, conventional concrete testing methods such as compression test are insufficient to characterize the key material attributes of foam concrete, especially when the foam density is low. The resonant frequency test (ASTM C215) is specified for evaluating dynamic Young’s modulus of normal concrete. Inspired by the non-destructive feature of this test, we investigate the possibility of using the resonant frequency test to continuously monitor the modulus build-up of foam concrete with age. For the representativeness of the samples, three variables are considered in material design—bulk density ranging from 0.4 to 1.2 g/cm3, water to cementitious materials ratio of 0.42 and 0.47, and fly ash replacement of 10 and 30% by weight of cement. After examining the different vibration modes, the fundamental transverse frequency is determined most suitable for interpreting the foam modulus. The experimental results demonstrate good accuracy of using this approach for the measurement of different samples. It is also confirmed that, for a given foam concrete, the foam modulus can be predicted by knowing the foam density and solid modulus of its base cement paste, which provides an important insight for the further studies and real applications of foam concrete.

Most of the phase change materials (PCMs) have been limited to use as functional additions or sealed in containers, and extra auxiliary equipment or supporting matrix is needed. The emergence of 3D printing technique has dramatically advanced the developments of materials and simplified production processes. This study focuses on a novel strategy to model thermal energy storage crystalline gels with three-dimensional architecture directly from liquid resin without supporting materials through light-induced polymerization 3D printing technique. A mask-projection stereolithography printer was used to measure the 3D printing test, and the printable characters of crystalline thermal energy storage P(SA-DMAA) gels with different molar ratios were evaluated. For the P(SA-DMMA) gels with small fraction of SA, the 3D fabrication was realized with higher printing precision both on mili- and micro-meter scales. As a comparison of 3D printed samples, P(SA-DMAA) gels made by other two methods, post-UV curing treatment after 3D printing and UV curing using conventional mold, were prepared. The 3D printed P(SA-DMAA) gels shown high crystallinity. Post–UV curing treatment was beneficial to full curing of 3D printed gels, but did not lead to the further improvement of crystal structure to get higher crystallinity. The P(SA-DMAA) crystalline gel having the highest energy storage enthalpy that reached 69.6 J·g⁻¹ was developed. Its good thermoregulation property in the temperature range from 25 to 40 °C was proved. The P(SA-DMAA) gels are feasible for practical applications as one kind of 3D printing material with thermal energy storage and thermoregulation functionality.

Shiga toxin (Stx) produced by Escherichia coli is the main pathogenic factor of diarrhea-associated hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), which is characterized by obstruction of renal microvasculature by platelet-fibrin thrombi. It is well known that the oxidative imbalance generated by Stx induces platelet activation, contributing to thrombus formation. Moreover, activated platelets release soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) which in turn contributes to oxidative imbalance, triggering the release of reactive oxidative species (ROS) on various cellular types. The aim of this work was to determine if the interaction between the oxidative response and platelet-derived sCD40L participates in the pathogenic mechanism during HUS. Activated human glomerular endothelial cells (HGEC) by Stx2 induced platelets to adhere to them. Although platelet adhesion did not contribute to endothelial damage, high levels of sCD40L were released to the medium. The release of sCD40L by activated platelets was inhibited by antioxidant treatment. Furthermore, we found increased levels of sCD40L in plasma from HUS patients, which were also able to trigger the respiratory burst in monocytes, in a sCD40L-dependent manner. Thus, we concluded that platelet-derived sCD40L and the oxidative response are reciprocally stimulated during Stx2-associated HUS. This process may contribute to the evolution of glomerular occlusion and the microangiopathic lesions.

Enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) improves the somatic manifestations in mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS))．However, because intravenously administered enzymes cannot cross the blood brain barrier (BBB), ERT is ineffective against the progressive neurodegeneration and resultant severe central nervous system (CNS) symptoms observed in patients with neuronopathic MPS. Attempts to surmount this problem have been made with intrathecal and intracerebroventricular ERT intend to achieve CNS effects, but the burdens on patients are inimical to long-term multiple administrations. However, after pabinafusp alfa, a human iduronate-2-sulfatase fused with a BBB-crossing anti-transferrin receptor antibody, showed both central and peripheral efficacy in mice model, subsequent clinical trials in a total of 62 patients with MPS-II (Hunter syndrome) in Japan and Brazil substantiated this dual efficacy and provided an acceptable safety profile. To date, pabinafusp alfa is the only approved intravenous ERT effective against both the somatic and CNS symptoms of patients with MPS-II. This article summarizes the hitherto obtained preclinical and clinical evidence associated with this drug, and discusses the preclinical, translational and clinical challenges of evaluating, ameliorating and preventing the neurodegeneration in patients with MPS-II.

As the name implies, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a single-stranded RNA virus and a member of the corona virus family, primarily affecting the upper respiratory system and the lungs. Like many other respiratory viruses, SARS-CoV-2 can spread to other organ systems. Apart from causing diarrhea, another most common but debilitating complication caused by the SARS-CoV-2 is neurological symptoms and cognitive difficulties, which occur in up to two thirds of hospitalized covid patients and ranging from shortness of concentration, overall declined cognitive speed to executive or memory function impairment. Neuro-cognitive dysfunction and “brain fog” are frequently present in COVID-19 cases, which can last several months after the infection, leading to disruption of daily life. Cumulative evidence suggests that SARS-CoV-2 affects vasculature in the extra pulmonary systems directly or indirectly, leading to impairment of endothelial function and even multi-organ damage. The post COVID-19 long-lasting neurocognitive impairments have not been studied fully; and the underlying mechanism remains elusive. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of the effects of COVID-19 on vascular dysfunction and how vascular dysfunction leads to cognitive impairment in patients.

Without protective and/or therapeutic agents the SARS-CoV-2 infection known as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is quickly spreading worldwide. It has surprising transmissibility potential, since it could infect all ages, gender, and human sectors. It attacks respiratory, gastrointestinal, urinary, hepatic, and endovascular systems and can reach the peripheral nervous system (PNS) and central nervous system (CNS) through known and unknown mechanisms. The reports on the neurological manifestations and complications of the SARS-CoV-2 infection are increasing exponentially. Herein, we enumerate seven candidate routes, which the mature or immature SARS-CoV-2 components could use to reach the CNS and PNS, utilizing the within-body crosstalk between organs. The majority of SARS-CoV-2 infected patients suffer from some neurological manifestations (e.g., confusion, anosmia, and ageusia). It seems that although the mature virus did not reach the CNS or PNS of the majority of patients, its unassembled components and/or the accompanying immune-mediated responses may be responsible for the observed neurological symptoms. The viral particles and/or its components have been specifically documented in endothelial cells of lung, kidney, skin, and CNS. This means that the blood-endothelial-barrier may be considered as the main route for SARS-CoV-2 entry into the nervous system, with the barrier disruption being more logical than barrier permeability, as evidenced by postmortem analyses.

Porous ceramics can be realized by different methods and are used for manifold applications, like cross-flow-membranes or wall-flow-filters, porous burners, solar receivers, structural design elements or catalytic supports. Within this paper three different alternative process routes are presented, which can be used to manufacture porous ceramic components with different properties or even graded porosity. The first process route bases on additive manufacturing (AM) of macro porous ceramic components, the second on AM of a polymeric template, which is used to manufacture porous ceramic components via replica technique. Finally, the third process route bases on an AM technology, which allows the manufacturing of multi-material or multi-property ceramic components, like components with dense and porous volumes in one complex shaped component.

This paper describes a new approach that can be used to determine the mechanical properties of unknown materials and complex material systems. The approach uses inverse finite element modelling (FEM) accompanied with a designed algorithm to obtain the modulus of elasticity, yield stress and strain hardening material constants of an isotropic hardening material model, as well as the material constants of the Drucker-Prager material model (modulus of elasticity, cap yield stress and angle of friction). The algorithm automatically feeds the input material properties data to finite element software and automatically runs simulations to establish a convergence between the numerical loading-unloading curve and the target data obtained from continuous indentation tests using common indenter geometries. A further module was developed to optimise convergence using an inverse FEM analysis interfaced with a non-linear MATLAB algorithm. A sensitivity analysis determined that the dual Spherical and Berkovich (S&B) approach delivered better results than other dual indentation methods such as Berkovich and Vickers (B&V) and Vickers and Spherical (V&S). It was found that better convergence values can be achieved despite a large variation in the starting parameter values and / or material constitutive model and such behaviour reflects the uniqueness of the dual S&B indentation in predicting complex material systems. The study has shown that a robust optimization method based on a non-linear least-squares curve fitting function (LSQNONLIN) within MATLAB and ABAQUS can be used to accurately predict a unique set of elastic plastic material properties and Drucker-Prager material properties. This is of benefit to the scientific investigation of properties of new materials or obtaining the material properties at different location of a part which might be not be similar due to manufacturing processes (e.g. different heating and cooling rates at different locations).

Increasing salt intake has substantial negative impacts on health and well-being. This review article focusses on the effect of salinity intrusion (SI) on the water quality and community health of coastal Bangladesh and to find out the effectiveness of interventions for reducing the negative effects of salinity. Saline water is a noteworthy reason for hypertension or high blood pressure in the coastal areas. Health status of women especially the pregnant women are vulnerable because of drinking water sodium (DWS) prompting to pre-eclampsia, high blood pressure and hypertension as well as infant mortality. Several interventions such as rainwater harvesting and Pond sand filter (PSF) system as well as managed aquifer recharge (MAR) usage and the integration of mixed sources were reviewed on the content of drinking water sodium (DWS). Although rainwater has the positive impact of low or no sodium intake on human health, it still possesses negative impacts from not having vital minerals. Despite what might be expected, in MAR a steady increment in sodium concentration through the span of the dry season was observed. It is, subsequently, important to increase awareness about drinking water sodium (DWS) intake by providing and adopting correct technological interventions.

We report on the development of chemical vapour deposition (CVD) based graphene field effect transistor (GFET) immunosensors for the sensitive detection of Human Chorionic Gonadotropin (hCG), a glycoprotein risk biomarker of certain cancers. The GFET sensors were fabricated on Si/SiO₂ substrate using photolithography with evaporated chromium and sputtered gold contacts. GFET channels were functionalized with a linker molecule to immobile anti-hCG antibody on the surface of graphene. Binding reaction of the antibody with varying concentration levels of hCG antigen demonstrated the limit of detection of the GFET sensors to be below 1 pg/mL using four-probe electrical measurements. We also show annealing can significantly improve the carrier transport properties of GFETs and shift the Dirac point (Fermi level) with reduced p-doping in back-gated measurements. The developed GFET biosensors are generic and could find applications in a broad range of medical diagnostics in addition to cancer, such as neurodegenerative (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Lewy body) and cardiovascular disorders.

Good transportation systems are pre-requisites to economic development. Materials used for road construction are traditionally classified based of empirically developed archaic tests, often classifying naturally available materials as unsuitable for use in the load-bearing road pavement layers. Consequently, design standards usually require the use of imported materials at considerable costs, severely restricting road network development under scenarios of limited funding. New technologies and test methods based on sound engineering criteria, incorporating basic material sciences can substantially change this scenario. Nano-silane technologies can be utilised to improve naturally available materials to meet the engineering requirements of all layers in road structures. Material test and design methods have been developed and successfully tested in South Africa to build New-age Modified Emulsion (NME) stabilised layers in roads, meeting all engineering requirements. Accelerated Pavement Tests (APT) done on actual roads, proved the concept. This work is based on a scientific approach and identification of various factors that will impact on the successful application of applicable nanotechnology solutions. This paper aims to identify these fundamental factors that are a pre-requisite for the evaluation of nanotechnology solutions to ensure that new technologies are introduced into pavement engineering designs at a low risk to any implementing.

Aiming at the damage detection and continuous monitoring of high efficiency composite structure, the method of carbon nano sensor embeded in the 3-D braided composite material specimen was put forward and the method of damage location for 3-D braided composite material was described. In this paper, the mechanical and electrical characteristics of carbon nano-fiber were analyzed. Considering the massive data of the health monitoring of composite processing, to ensure that the system has good real-time performance, quaternary matrix Singular Value Decomposition algorithm is proposed to simplify data and improve the efficiency of the algorithm. The existence of injury is determined and the damage location is calculated by comparing with key features of healthy specimen. Experimental results prove the method is feasible and effective.

A distinctive feature of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein is its ability to efficiently fuse cells, thus producing syncytia found in COVID-19 patients. This commentary proposes how this ability enables spike to cause COVID-19 complications as well as side effects of COVID-19 vaccines, and suggests how these effects can be prevented..

Herein, we describe a highly efficient, non-complicated, and non-organic procedure to overcome the negative effect of chemotherapeutic drugs on the quality of the extracted DNA by applying several modulations in cell washing, suspension, and lysis of cells treated with these drugs. In this protocol, 500µl were extracted from patients who received systemic sessions of chemotherapy. The validity of this protocol for digestion with restriction endonucleases and both conventional and real-time polymerase chain reaction were tested. This protocol proved obvious purity (1.8±0.02 and 2.1±1.2, for A_260/280 and A_260/230, respectively) and adequate yields (10±2.24) µg/100 ml. The positive results of validation experiments proved the validity of the extracted DNA for downstream applications of molecular biology. In addition to the proven efficiency of this protocol to extract DNA from normal samples, its validity was also confirmed from patients who were exposed to chemotherapy. This entails a novel approach to extract a molecular biology grade DNA without having inhibitors against enzymes used in digestion, amplification, and subsequent sequencing even after the systemic sessions with several doses of chemotherapy.

The sensitivity of macroscopic mechanical and thermal properties of grey cast iron is computationally investigated for a variety of graphite microstructures over a wide temperature range. In order to represent common graphite microstructures according to DIN EN ISO 945-1, a synthetic approach is used to algorithmically generate simulation domains. The developed mechanical and thermal model is applied in a large simulation study. The study includes statistical volume elements of the graphite microstructures classes GG-15 and IA2 to IA5, with 10 v.-%, 11 v.-% and 12 v.-% graphite, respectively, for a temperature range from 20 °C to 750 °C. Homogenized macroscopic quantities such as the Young's moduli, Poisson's ratios, yield strengths and thermal conductivities are predicted for the different microstructure classes by applying simulation and data analysis tools of the research data infrastructure Kadi4Mat.

A frequent co-morbidity of cerebrovascular pathology and Alzheimer's disease pathology has been observed over past decades. Accordingly, much evidence has been reported which indicates that microvascular endothelial dysfunction, due to cerebrovascular risk factors (e.g., atherosclerosis, obesity, diabetes, smoking, hypertension, aging), precedes cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease and contributes to its pathogenesis. By incorporating appropriate drug(s) into biomimetic (lipid cubic phase) nanocarriers, one obtains a multitasking combination therapeutic which targets certain cell-surface scavenger receptors, mainly class B type I (i.e., SR-BI), and crosses the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Such targeting allows for various Alzheimer's-related cell types to be simultaneously searched out, in vivo, for localized drug treatment. This in vivo targeting advantage may be particularly important for repurposing an FDA-approved drug, especially one which has shown the added ability to restore some cognitive functions in certain animal models of Alzheimer's disease (e.g., the anticancer drug bexarotene); this (candidate repurposing) drug up to now, by itself (i.e, without nanocarrier), displayed poor CNS penetration in human subjects.

Artificial reefs have been deployed in multiple regions of the world for different purposes including habitat restoration and protection, biodiversity and fish stock enhancement, fisheries management and recreation. Artificial reefs can be a valuable tool for ecosystem protection and rehabilitation, helping mitigate the effects of anthropogenic impacts that we face today. However, knowledge on artificial reefs is unevenly distributed worldwide, with some regions having much more quality information available and published (e.g. European Mediterranean Sea area), while others, for instance the North-East Atlantic area, do not. Here, we provide a characterization of purposely built artificial reefs in North-East Atlantic area based on all available literature (i.e. research papers and reports), highlighting the needs and gaps that are vital for establishing future perspectives for artificial reef deployment and research. In the North-East Atlantic area, sixty-one purposely built artificial reefs have been deployed since 1970, mostly between the years 1990-2009, with Spain being the country with the highest number of artificial reefs. The most reported purpose for their deployment is fisheries productivity and habitat/species protection, although, most artificial reefs are multipurpose in order to maximise the benefits of a given financial investment. The majority of artificial reefs were submerged at < 50 m, mainly between 10-20 m of depth. The most used designs were cubic blocks and complex designs made by an array of combined shapes, which mostly consist of concrete (79%). From all the analysed data on artificial reefs, 67% of the cases reported surveys to assess biodiversity after the deployment. However, in 26% of those cases, data was not available. When data was available, only 31% of cases reported long-term biomonitoring surveys (3 years or more). Based upon these findings, we noticed a general lack of scientifically robust data, including records of species and abundance of both fish and invertebrates, as well as macroalgae. Preventing an adequate determination of the best balance between shape, construction material and bio-colonization. Critiques and suggestions are discussed in the light of current available data in order to perform more efficient research, evaluation and functioning of future artificial reefs.

Foam concrete is a highly cellularized cementitious material that undergoes extensive plastic deformation when loaded to failure. Under compression, the foam structure gets progressively crushed at a steady stress stage such that a substantial amount of energy is dissipated. Understanding foam concrete crushing behavior is of special importance for its engineering applications such as energy absorber, but the current studies are insufficient to define material properties for design of field applications. This study characterizes the crushing strength and foam modulus of samples with penetration test and resonant frequency test, respectively. A four-phase crushing behavior is observed. The yield strength and plateau strength are identified to characterize the foam crushing. Using the experimental inputs, the modulus-strength constitutive equations are then established. These findings are useful for expanding the knowledge of normal concrete to studies on foam concrete, as well as design of applications.Foam concrete is a highly cellularized cementitious material that undergoes extensive plastic deformation when loaded to failure. Under compression, the foam structure gets progressively crushed at a steady stress stage such that a substantial amount of energy is dissipated. Understanding foam concrete crushing behavior is of special importance for its engineering applications such as energy absorber, but the current studies are insufficient to define material properties for design of field applications. This study characterizes the crushing strength and foam modulus of samples with penetration test and resonant frequency test, respectively. A four-phase crushing behavior is observed. The yield strength and plateau strength are identified to characterize the foam crushing. Using the experimental inputs, the modulus-strength constitutive equations are then established. These findings are useful for expanding the knowledge of normal concrete to studies on foam concrete, as well as design of applications.

This paper presents a symmetrical topology for the design of solid-state transformer, made up of power switching converters, to replace conventional bulky transformers. The proposed circuitry not only reduces the overall size but also provides power flow control with the ability to be interfaced with renewable energy resources (RESs) to fulfill the future grid requirements at consumer end. Solid state transformer provides bidirectional power flow with variable voltage and frequency operation and has the ability to maintain unity power factor, and current total harmonic distortion (THD) for any type of load within defined limits of IEEE standard. Solid State Transformer offers much smaller size as compared to that of the conventional iron core transformer. MATLAB/Simulink platform is adopted to test the validity of the proposed circuit for different scenarios by providing the simulation results evaluated at 25 kHz switching frequency.

Material efficiency is a key element of new thinking to address the challenges of reducing impacts on the environment and of resource scarcity, whilst at the same time meeting service and functionality demands on materials. Directly related to material efficiency is the concept of the Circular Economy, which is based on the principle of optimising the utility embodied in materials and products through the life cycle. Whilst steel, as a result of high recycling rates, is one of the most ‘circular’ of all manufactured materials, significant opportunities for greater material efficiency exist, which are yet to be widely implemented. In the field of Life Cycle Management, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is commonly used to assess the environmental benefits of recovering and recycling materials through the manufacturing supply chain and at end-of-life. As well as containing information to calculate environmental impacts, LCA models also provide the flows of materials through the product life cycle and can also be used to quantify material efficiency and the circularity of a product system. Using an example taken from renewable energy generation, this paper explores the correlation between product circularity and the environmental case for strategies designed to improve material efficiency. An LCA-based methodology for accounting for the recovery and re-use of materials from the supply chain, and at end-of-life, is used as the basis for calculating the carbon footprint benefits of five material efficiency scenarios. Resulting carbon footprints were then compared with a number of proposed material circularity indicators. Two conclusions from this exercise were that i) LCA methodologies based around end-of-life approaches are well placed for quantifying the environmental benefits of material efficiency and circular economy strategies and ii) when applying indicators relating to the circularity of materials these should also be supported by LCA studies.

Sputtered reactive multilayers applied as a heat source in electronic joining processes are an emerging technology. It promises low-stress assembly of components while improving the thermal contact and thus thermal resistance. The use of nanostructures can significantly enhance the adhesion and reliability of joints between different materials. This work presents a phenomenological proof of the hypothesis. Reactive multilayers of nickel and aluminum directly deposited on nanostructured surfaces of silicon wafers and reference samples with flat surface are compared. The investigation of the self-propagating reaction shows a clear influence of the layer thickness, dependent on the multilayer thickness and nanostructure morphology. Rapid thermal annealing results in the formation of Al_1.1Ni_0.9 phase. The necessary annealing temperature is much higher than this applied for nanofoils, sputtered multilayer or particles. The nanostructured interface seems to hinder the full transformation of the present nickel. On the other hand, the surfaces modification improves adhesion of the formed alloy on silicon surfaces and can thus reduce the strength of joints based on reactive aluminum/nickel multilayer . The use of nanostructured surface modifications is thus a promising approach to realized reliable multi-material joints in complex systems.

Ixodes scapularis is the major vector of Lyme disease in the eastern United States. Each active life stage (larva, nymph, and adult) takes a blood meal either for developing and molting to the next stage (larvae and nymphs) or for oviposition (adult females). This protein-rich blood meal is the only food taken by Ixodes ticks and therefore blood digestion is very important for tick survival. Most studies on blood digestion in ticks have shown that the initial stages of digestion are carried out by cathepsin proteases within acidic digestive cells. However, most of these studies have focused on partially engorged ticks. In other hematophagous arthropods, the serine proteases play an important role in blood protein degradation. In this study, we determined transcript expression of four I. scapularis serine proteases with previously characterized roles in blood digestion. RNA interference was used for functional analysis and a trypsin-benzoyl-D, L-arginine 4-nitoanilide assay was used to measure active trypsin levels. An in vitro hemoglobinolytic assay was performed with or without serine protease inhibitor. Our data suggest that trypsin levels increase significantly after blood feeding and peaked in larvae, nymphs, and adults at 3, 1, and 1 day post host detachment, respectively. The knockdown of three previously identified serine proteases by RNAi negatively impacted blood intake, survival, fecundity, levels of active trypsin in the gut and resulted in lower hemoglobin degradation in vitro. A trypsin inhibitor, PMSF, blocked the action of trypsin in the gut extract resulting in 65% lower hemoglobin degradation. We provide evidence of the serine proteases as digestive enzymes in fully engorged, replete females. Our data also demonstrated that in addition to blood digestion, these serine proteases might have a role in blood feeding success in I. scapularis.

Here, we review findings and trends in sleep research in 2020-2021 demonstrating how COVID-19 and sleep disorders can induce the BBB leakage via neuroinflammation, which might contribute to the 'coronasomnia' phenomenon. The new studies suggest that the controlling of sleep hygiene and quality should be incorporated into the rehabilitation of COVID-19 patients. We also discuss perspective strategies for prevention of COVID-19-related BBB disorders. We demonstrate that sleep might be a novel biomarker of the BBB leakage and the analysis of sleep EEG patterns can be a breakthrough non-invasive technology for diagnosis of the COVID-19-caused BBB disruption.

Intranasal (i.n.) administration became an alternative strategy to bypass the blood-brain barrier and improve drug bioavailability in the brain. The main goal of this work was to preliminarily study the biodistribution of mixed amphiphilic mucoadhesive nanoparticles made of chitosan-g-poly(methyl methacrylate) and poly(vinyl alcohol)-g-poly(methyl methacrylate) and ionotropically crosslinked with sodium tripolyphosphate in the brain after intravenous (i.v.) and i.n. administration to Hsd:ICR mice. After i.v. administration, the highest nanoparticle accumulation was detected in the liver, among other peripheral organs. After i.n. administration of a 10-times smaller nanoparticle dose, the accumulation of the nanoparticles in off-target organs was much lower than after i.v. injection. In particular, the accumulation of the nanoparticles in the liver was 20 times lower than by i.v. When brains were analyzed separately, intravenously administered nanoparticles accumulated mainly in the “top” brain, reaching a maximum after 1h. Conversely, in i.n. administration, nanoparticles were detected in the “bottom” brain and the head (maximum reached after 2 h) owing to their retention in the nasal mucosa and could serve as a reservoir from which the drug is released and transported to the brain over time. Overall results indicate that i.n. nanoparticles reach similar brain bioavailability, though with a 10-fold smaller dose, and accumulate in off-target organs to a more limited extent and only after redistribution through the systemic circulation. At the same time, both administration routes seem to lead to differential accumulation in brain regions and thus, they could be beneficial in the treatment of different medical conditions.

A progressive FEA fatigue degradation model for composites was developed and implemented using a UMAT user material subroutine in Abaqus. Numerical results were compared to experimental strain field data from high frequency Digital Image Correlation (DIC) of split disk fatigue testing of pressure vessel cut outs with holes. The model correctly predicted the onset and evolution of damage in the matrix as well as the onset of fiber failure. The model use progressive failure analysis based on the maximum strain failure criterion, the cycle jump method and Miner sum damage accumulation rule. A parameter study on matrix properties was needed to capture the scatter in strain fields observed experimentally by DIC. S-N curve for the matrix material had to be lowered by 0% to 60% to capture the experimental scatter. The onset of local fiber failure had to be described by local S-N curves measured by DIC having 2.5 times greater strain than that of S-N curves found from standard coupon testing.

Background: The saga of repatriating cultural artefacts continues as western museums face increasing pressure from claimants. Western museums that have been involved in the display of historical artefacts, most of which were acquired during the colonial period, have come under huge criticism. A heated discussion of late has been the legitimacy of retaining artefacts in western museums. This study aimed at investigating the ongoing debate regarding the restitution of artefacts. Objective: To investigate the arguments for and against the repatriation of artefacts in relation to diplomatic exchange, preservation, legitimacy and usefulness. Methods: Records will be searched in electronic databases including the University of Manchester Library for Social Anthropology, Scorpus and Project MUSE. Search terms will include "return of artefacts", “return of historical objects”, “return of cultural objects”, “western museums”, “restitution of artefacts”, “repatriation of artefacts”, “restitution of historical objects”, repatriation of historical objects”, “restitution of cultural objects”, “repatriation of cultural objects”, "material culture", "return of antiquities”, restitution of antiquities” and “repatriation of antiquities”. Coding and analysis will be done in SWIFT-Review. The deductive and inductive approaches will be used in synthesising results. Both tabular and graphical methods will be used to present results. Ethics and Results: This study did not need any ethical approval. Results on study characteristics, quality and risk of bias assessments as well as the synthesis of arguments for and against the restitution of artefacts will be presented. The review results will be reported according to appropriate guidelines and disseminated through publication in a relevant journal and presented to stakeholders where necessary. Conclusions: This review will be based on current protocols for systematic review and qualitative evidence synthesis. The study will be the first review that seeks to pull together claims for and against the return of cultural artefacts. The conclusions that will be drawn and recommendations will provide the basis for further research into the debate and the way forward. This study will also help identify the existing gaps regarding the subject matter.

Thermophysical characterization of three paraffin waxes (RT27, RT21 and RT35HC) is carried out in this study using DSC, TGA and transient plane source technics. Then, a numerical study of their melting in a rectangular enclosure is examined. The enthalpy-porosity approach is used to formulate this problem in order to understand the heat transfer mechanism during the melting process. The analysis of the solid-liquid interface shape, the temperature field shows that the conduction is the dominant heat transfer mode in the beginning of the melting process. It is followed by a transition regime and the natural convection becomes the dominant heat transfer mode. The effects of the Rayleigh number and the aspect ratio of the enclosure on the melting phenomenon are studied and it is found that the intensity of the natural convection increases as the Rayleigh number is higher and the aspect ratio is smaller. In the second part of the numerical study, a comparison of the performance of paraffins waxes during the melting process is conducted. Results reveals that from a kinetically RT21 is the most performant but in term of heat storage capacity, it was inferred that RT35HC is the most efficient PCM.

We investigated the properties of architected materials made from UV-cured urethane elastomers and the use of such materials for insoles. The durability and reliability of various materials currently used in medical insoles were compared with those of architected materials with microlattice. The results show that architected materials made from UV-cured urethane elastomers have high impact resilience and grip, and the hardness can easily be changed by adjusting the column diameter of the unit cell. Compared with the foam materials used for medical insoles today, these architected materials also demonstrate superior UV resistance, suggesting that, after being washed in water, they can be air-dried outdoors.

Blood-brain-barrier is a major obstacle in treating brain-related disorders as it does not allow to deliver drugs in the brain. In order to facilitate delivery of drugs in brain, we developed a method for predicting blood-brain-barrier penetrating peptides. These blood-brain barriers penetrating peptides (B3PPs) can act as therapeutic as well as drug delivery agents. We trained, tested, and evaluated our models on blood-brain-barrier peptides obtained from the B3Pdb database. First, we compute a wide range of peptide features then we select relevant peptide features. Finally, we developed numerous machine learning-based models for predicting blood-brain-barrier peptides using selected features. Our model based on random forest performed best on the top 80 selected features and achieved a maximum 85.08% accuracy with 0.93 AUROC. We also developed a web server, B3pred that implements our best models. It has three major modules that allow users to; i) predict B3PPs, ii) scanning B3PPs in a protein sequence, and iii) designing B3PPs using analogs. Our web server and standalone software is freely available at https://webs.iiitd.edu.in/raghava/b3pred/.

Thermal interface material (TIM) that can exist as liquid at the service temperature enables efficient heat transfer across two adjacent surfaces in electronic applications. In this work, the thermal conductivities of different phase regions in the Ga-In system at various compositions and temperatures are measured for the first time. A modified comparative cut bar technique is used for the measurement of the thermal conductivities of In_xGa_1-x (x=0, 0.1, 0.214, 0.3, and 0.9) alloys at 40, 60, 80, and 100^oC that are the temperatures commonly encountered in consumer electronics. The thermal conductivity values for the liquid and semi-liquid (liquid+β) Ga-In alloys are higher than the TIM currently used in consumer electronics. These measured quantities, along with the available experimental data from the literature, served as input for the thermal conductivity parameter optimization using the CALPHAD (CALculation of PHase Diagram) method for the pure elements, solution phase, and two-phase region. A set of self-consistent parameters for the description of the thermal conductivity of the Ga-In system is obtained. There is good agreement between the measured and calculated thermal conductivity values for all the phases. Hence, it can be envisaged that liquid/semi-liquid Ga-In alloys can be considered as a potential TIM in consumer electronics due to its high thermal conductivity.

The Siret River crosses NE Romania from the north to the south and it discharges into the Danube, near the city of Galati. During the period, 17^th June - 10^th July 2010, significant amounts of precipitations in the mountainous basin of Siret were recorded. The floods comprised two periods with four bimodal cycles and they were counted among the strongest on the Romanian territory. The exceptional floods occurred in the rivers of Siret, Suceava, Moldova, Bistrita, Trotus and so on. The most important compound flood wave was determined by the precipitations which fell within the period, 29^th June to 1^st July 2010, when significant amounts of rain were recorded, sometimes, exceeding 80 mm. The high discharges on the Bistrita River – downstream from the Bicaz Reservoir – were controlled by complex hydro technical works. The maximum discharge for the year 2010 summer floods was recorded at Dragesti hydrometric station: 2,884 m³/s (historic discharge) compared to the preceding historic discharge of the year 2008 (2,850 m³/s). The effects of floods were strongest in the counties of Suceava, Neamt, and Bacau. The floods on the main course of the Siret River were analyzed in correlation with the tributaries within the mountainous sector.

Fabric material was coated with Viruferrin™ and tested for its inactivating properties against the pandemic severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and influenza A viruses. A statistically significant (p<0.0001) decrease in the number of infectious virus particles exposed to Viruferrin-treated fabric when compared with the cotton control for both SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A viruses was observed. For both SARS-CoV-2 and influenza A, Viruferrin-treated fabrics experienced a > 99% virus reduction without saliva after five minutes of contact when compared to the positive control at time point 0. Furthermore, the reusability of the Viruferrin treated fabric was demonstrated by stability for up to 10 washes. The level of anti-viral (SARS-CoV-2) activity remained constant from 5 to 10 washes and demonstrated a significant difference (p<0.0001) from the unwashed untreated material. Applications for this treated fabric are far-reaching, and as a biological face covering offers not only a unique 2-way protection but also is unlikely to cause onward touch transmission.

Hepcidin-25 was identified as the main iron regulator in the human body by binding to the sole iron-exporter ferroportin. Studies showed that the N-terminus of hepcidin is responsible for this interaction, the same N-terminus that encompasses a small copper(II)-binding site known as ATCUN (amino terminal Cu(II)- and Ni(II)- binding) motif. Interestingly, this copper-binding property is largely ignored in most papers dealing with hepcidin-25. In this context, detailed investigations of the formed complex of hepcidin-25 with copper could reveal insights into its biological role. The present work is mainly focused on the study of the metal-bound form of hepcidin-25, which could be considered the biologically active form. The first part is devoted to the reversed-phase chromatographic separation of copper-bound and copper-free hepcidin-25, which was achieved by applying basic mobile phases containing 0.1% ammonia. Further, mass spectrometry (tandem mass spectrometry MS/MS, high resolution mass spectrometry HRMS) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy were employed to characterize the copper-peptide. Lastly, a 3D model of hepcidin-25 with bound copper(II) is presented. The identification of metal complexes and potential isoforms and isomers, from which the latter usually are left undetected by mass spectrometry, led to the conclusion that complementary analytical methods are needed to characterize a peptide calibrant or reference material comprehensively. Quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (qNMR), inductively-coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), ion-mobility spectrometry (IMS) and chiral amino acid analysis (AAA) should be considered among others.

The spectral properties of a one-dimensional photonic crystal bounded by a resonant absorbing nanocomposite layer with the near-zero permittivity have been studied. The problem of calculating the transmittance, reflectance, and absorptance spectra of such structures at the normal and oblique incidence of light has been solved. It is shown that, depending on the permittivity sign near zero, the nanocomposite is characterized by either metallic or dielectric properties. For the first time, the possibility of simultaneous formation of the Tamm plasmon polariton at the photonic crystal/metallic nanocomposite interface and the localized state similar to the defect mode with the field intensity maximum inside the dielectric nanocomposite layer is demonstrated. Specific features of field localization at the Tamm plasmon polariton and defect mode frequencies are analyzed.

The tumor microenvironment is known to have increased levels of cytokines and metabolites, such as glutamate, due to their release from the surrounding cells. A normal cell around the tumor that responds to the inflammatory environment is likely to be subsequently altered. We will discuss how these abnormalities will support tumor survival via the actions of gap junctions (GJs) and hemichannels (HCs) which are composed of hexamer of connexin 43 (Cx43) protein. In particular, we will discuss how GJ intercellular communication (GJIC) in glioma cells, the primary brain tumor, is a regulatory factor and its attenuation leads to tumor invasion. In contrast, the astrocytes, which are normal cells around the glioma, are "hijacked" by tumor cells, either by receiving the transmission of malignant substances from the cancer cells via GJIC, or perhaps via astrocytic HC activity through the paracrine signaling which enable the delivery of these substances to the distal astrocytes. This astrocytic signaling would promote tumor expansion in the brain. In addition, brain metastasis from peripheral tissues has also been known to be facilitated by GJs formed between cerebral vascular endothelial cells and cancer cells. Astrocytes and microglia are generally thought to eliminate cancer cells at the blood brain barrier. In contrast, some reports suggest they facilitate tumor progression as tumor cells take advantage of the normal functions of astrocytes that support the survival of the neurons by exchanging nutrients and metabolites. In summary, GJIC is essential for the normal physiological function of growth and allowing the diffusion of physiological substances. Therefore, whether GJIC is cancer promoting or suppressing may be dependent by what permeates through GJs, when it is active, and to which cells. The nature of GJs, which has been ambiguous in brain tumor progression, will need to be re-visited and understood together with new findings on Cx proteins and HC activities.

In the last three decades, the robust scientific data emerged, demonstrating that the immune-inflammatory response is a fundamental component of the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD). Psychological stress and various inflammatory comorbidities contribute to such immune activation. Still, this is not uncommon that patients with depression do not have defined inflammatory comorbidities, and alternative mechanisms of immune activation need to take place. The gastrointestinal (GI) tract, along with gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT), constitutes the largest lymphatic organ in the human body and forms the biggest surface of contact with the external environment. It is also the most significant source of bacterial and food-derived antigenic material. There is a broad range of reciprocal interactions between the GI tract, intestinal microbiota, increased intestinal permeability, activation of immune-inflammatory response, and the CNS that has crucial implications in brain function and mental health. This intercommunication takes place within the microbiota-gut-immune-glia (MGIG) axis, and glial cells are the main orchestrator of this communication. A broad range of factors, including psychological stress, inflammation, dysbiosis and other, may compromise the permeability of this barrier. This leads to excessive bacterial translocation and the excessive influx of food-derived antigenic material that contributes to activation of the immune-inflammatory response and depressive psychopathology. This chapter summarizes the role of increased intestinal permeability in MDD and mechanisms of how the "leaky gut" may contribute to immune-inflammatory response in this disorder.

This paper investigates existing mathematical morphology based techniques applied for performing malaria parasites detection and identification in both Giemsa and Leishman stained blood smears images. Malaria is an epidemic health disease and a rapid, accurate diagnosis is necessary for proper intervention. Generally, pathologists visually examine blood stained slides for malaria diagnosis; this kind of visual inspection is subjective, errorprone and time consuming. In order to cope with such issues, computer-aided methods have been increasingly evolved for abnormal erythrocyte and/or parasites detection, segmentation and semi/fully automated classification. The aim of this paper is to present a review of recent mathematical morphology based methods for malaria parasite detection.

Carbonous nanomaterials are promising additives for composite coatings for heat-dissipation materials because of their excellent thermal conductivity. Here, copper/carbonous nanomaterial composite coatings were prepared using nanodiamond (ND) as the carbonous nanomaterial. The copper/ND composite coatings were electrically deposited onto copper substrates from a continuously stirred copper sulfate coating bath containing NDs. NDs were dispersed by ultrasonic treatment, and the initial bath pH was adjusted by adding sodium hydroxide solution or sulfuric acid solution before electrodeposition. The effects of various coating conditions—the initial ND concentration, initial bath pH, stirring speed, electrical current density, and the amount of electricity—on the ND content of the coatings were investigated. Furthermore, the surface of the NDs was modified by hydrothermal treatment to improve ND incorporation. A higher initial ND concentration and a higher stirring speed increased the ND content of the coatings, whereas a higher initial bath pH and a greater amount of electricity decreased it. The electrical current density showed a minimum ND content at approximately 5 A/dm². Hydrothermal treatment, which introduced carboxyl groups onto the ND surface, improved the ND content of the coatings. A copper/ND composite coating with a maximum of 3.85 mass% ND was obtained.

Background: The purpose was to develop a novel hypothetical method to increase the size of coronary arteries. Methods: In the long-term observation the coronary sizes were dilated in three unexpected scenarios. The coronary artery sizes were observed in patients with mitral stenosis (n=59) by angiogram prior to percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty or valve replacement surgery for severe mitral stenosis. The coronaries of patients with patent ductus arteriosus who underwent surgical closure in the past (n=12) were examined by echocardiogram. Patients with renal failure on long-term dialysis through peripheral arterio-venous fistula without left ventricular hypertrophy (n=17) were studied by echocardiography. Normal age, weight and sex matched coronary sizes served as controls in the study. All these observations were made over a period of 11.5 years. Results: The sizes of coronaries in patients with mitral stenosis, patients who underwent closure for patent ductus arteriosus, and in patients on hemodialysis through arteriovenous fistulas were higher than normal controls (p<0.05, for all). A hypothetical model to increase the coronary sizes could be developed based on the analysis of the differential equations of Poiseuille’s. The proposed method is creating a peripheral arterio-venous fistula, which could be closed later electively by a percutaneous method/surgery. The closure time needs to be determined by experimental studies. The other methods could be a continuous exercise program or usage of beta-blockers. Conclusion: A novel hypothetical method of peripheral arteriovenous fistula formation could potentially increase the size of the coronaries, and this could be closed later.

Placental growth factor (PlGF or PGF) is a member of the VEGF family, which is known to play a critical role in pathological angiogenesis, inflammation, and endothelial cell barrier function. However, the molecular mechanisms by which PlGF mediates its effects in non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (DR) remain elusive. In this study, we performed transcriptome-wide profiling of differential gene expression for human retinal endothelial cells (HRECs) treated with PlGF antibody. The effect of antibody treatment on the samples was validated using trans-endothelial electric resistance (TEER), and western blot. A total of 3760 genes (1750 upregulated and 2010 downregulated) were found to be differentially expressed between the control and PlGF antibody treatment group. These differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were used for gene ontology and enrichment analysis to identify gene function, signal pathway, and interaction networks. The gene ontology results revealed that catalytic activity (GO:0003824) of molecular function, cell (GO:0005623) of the cellular component, and cellular process (GO:0009987) were among the most enriched biological processes. Pathways such as TGF-β, VEGF-VEGFR2, p53, apoptosis, pentose phosphate pathway, and ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, were among the most enriched, and TGF-β1 was identified as a primary upstream regulator. These data provide new insights into the underlying molecular mechanisms of PlGF in mediating biological functions, in relation to DR.

Blood cell analysis is a crucial diagnostic process in medical practice. In particular, detecting white blood cells (WBCs) is essential for diagnosing of many diseases. The manual screening of blood films is a time-consuming and subjective process, which can lead to inconsistencies and errors. Therefore, automated detection of blood cells can improve the accuracy and efficiency of the screening process. In this study, an explainable Vision Transformer (ViT) model was proposed for the automatic detection of WBCs from blood films. The proposed model utilizes the self-attention mechanism to extract relevant features from the input images and leverages transfer learning by incorporating pre-trained model weights to improve its performance. The proposed model achieved a classification accuracy of 99.40% for five distinct types of WBCs and exhibited potential in reducing the time required for manual screening of blood films by pathologists. Upon examination of the misclassified test samples, it was observed that incorrect predictions were correlated with the presence or absence of granules in the cell samples. To validate this observation, the dataset was divided into two classes, namely Granulocytes and Agranulocytes, and a secondary training process was conducted. The resulting ViT model trained for binary classification achieved an accuracy of 99.70%, recall of 99.54%, precision of 99.32%, and F-1 score of 99.43% during the test phase. To ensure the reliability of the ViT model's multi-class classification of WBCs, the pixel areas that the model focuses on in its predictions are visualized through the Score-CAM algorithm.

Metal additive manufacturing (AM) has gained much attentions in recent years due to its advantages including geometric freedom and design complexity, appropriate to a wide range of potential industrial applications. However, conventional metal AM methods have high-cost barriers due to the initial cost of the capital equipment, support and maintenance, etc. This study presents a unique low-cost metal material extrusion (MME) technology. The filaments used have polylactic acid (PLA) as the matrix and metal powders (copper, bronze, stainless steel, high carbon iron, and aluminum) as reinforcements. Using the proposed fabrication technology, test specimens were built by extruding polymer/metal composite filaments, which were then sintered in an open-air furnace to produce solid metallic parts. In this research, the mechanical and thermal properties of the built parts are examined using tensile tests, thermogravimetric-, thermomechanical- and microstructural analysis.

A cloud of relativistic material particles is considered, for which the distortions of length and time caused by the presence of the Lorentz factor an order of magnitude greater than curvature of space-time by gravity. The gravitational mass of the cloud is found in the region where its size is insignificant. It is established that the coefficient of dependence of the cloud mass on the total rest mass of its particles includes a complete elliptic integral of the 2nd kind.

Very little is known about laboratory confirmed blood stream infections (LCBIs) in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in resource-limited settings. The aim of this cohort study was to determine the incidence, risk factors, and causative agents of LCBIs in a level-2 NICU in India. The diagnosis of LCBIs was established using the Centre for Disease Control, USA criteria. A predesigned questionnaire containing risk factors associated with LCBIs was filled-in. A total of 150 neonates (43% preterm) were included in the study. The overall incidence of LCBIs was 31%. The independent risk factors for LCBIs were: preterm neonates (relative risk (RR) 2.23), duration of NICU stay more than 14 days (RR 1.75), chorioamnionitis in the mother (RR 3.18), premature rupture of membrane in mothers (RR 2.32), neonate born through meconium-stained amniotic fluid (RR 2.32), malpresentation (RR 3.05), endotracheal intubation (RR 3.41), umbilical catheterization (RR 4.18), and ventilator-associated pneumonia (RR 3.17). The initiation of minimal enteral nutrition was protective from LCBIs (RR 0.22). The predominant causative organisms were gram-negative pathogens (58%). The results of the present study can be used to design antibiotic interventions to reduce LCBIs in resource-limited settings.

The present work shows a novel physical-mathematical model to estimate the average corrosion resistance index from the crystallographic texture in API 5L steels. The crystallographic texture of the studied steels was measured by means of the X-ray diffraction technique. The model, based on the symmetric spherical surface harmonics for a BCC structure, is capable of describing the anisotropy surface of anodic dissolution resistance of the crystal and establishing a straightforward relationship between crystallographic texture, surface roughness, and metal corrosion behavior. The predictions of the average corrosion resistance index made from the crystallographic texture were in good agreement with those obtained from potentiodynamic polarization curves for the investigated steels. This agreement validates the capacity of this model and opens the possibility of applying it as a novel criterion for the material selection and design stages in order to combat metal corrosion problems.

The neurovascular niche is crucial for constant blood supply and blood-brain barrier (BBB) function and is altered in a number of different neurological conditions, making this an intensely active field of research. Brain vasculature is unique for its tight association of endothelial cells with astrocytic endfeet processes. Separation of the vascular compartment by centrifugation-based methods confirmed enrichment of astrocytic endfeet processes, making it possible to study the entire vascular niche with such methods. Several centrifugation-based separation protocols are found in the literature; however, with some constraints which limit their applicability and the scope of the studies. Here, we describe and validate a protocol for physically separating the neurovascular niche from the parenchyma, which is optimized for smaller tissue quantities. Using endothelial, neuronal and astrocyte markers, we show that quantitative Western blot-based target detection can be performed of both the vascular and parenchymal fractions using as little as a single mouse brain hemisphere. Validation of our protocol in rodent stroke models by detecting changes in serum albumin signals and astrocyte activation, i.e. increased glial fibrillary acidic protein expression, between the ipsilateral and the lesion-free contralateral hemisphere demonstrates this protocol as a new way of detecting BBB breakdown and astrogliosis, respectively.

Abstract: The broad clinical use of synthetic vascular grafts for vascular diseases is limited by their thrombogenicity and low patency rate, especially for vessels with a diameter inferior to 6 mm. Alternatives such as tissue-engineered blood grafts (TEBGs) have gained increasing interest. Among the different manufacturing approaches, 3D bioprinting presents numerous advantages and enables the fabrication of multi-scale, multi-material, and multicellular tissues with heterogeneous and functional intrinsic structures. Extrusion-, inkjet- and light-based 3D printing techniques have been used for the fabrication of TEBG out of hydrogels, cells, and/or solid polymers. This review discusses the state-of-the-art research on the use of 3D printing for TEBG with a focus on the biomaterials and deposition methods.

Background: Little is known about potential confounding factors influencing the humoral response in individuals having received the BNT162b2 vaccine. Methods: Blood samples from 231 subjects were collected before and 14, 28 and 42 days following COVID-19 vaccination with BNT162b2. Anti-Spike Receptor-Binding-Domain protein (anti-Spike/RBD) immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies were measured at each time-point. Impact of age, sex, childbearing age status, hormonal therapy, blood group, body mass index and past-history of SARS-CoV-2 infection were assessed by multivariable analyses. Results and Conclusions: In naïve subjects, the level of anti-Spike/RBD antibodies gradually increased following administration of the first dose to reach the maximal response at day 28 and then plateauing at day 42. In vaccinated subjects with previous SARS-CoV-2 infection, the plateau was reached sooner (i.e. at day 14). In the naïve population, age had a significant negative impact on anti-Spike/RBD titers at day 14 and 28 while lower levels were observed for males at day 42, when corrected for other confounding factors. BMI as well as B and AB blood groups had a significant impact in various subgroups on the early response at day 14 but no longer after. No significant confounding factors were highlighted in the previously infected group.

Current lines of research into mood disorders indicate that immune mediators participating in the pathophysiology of chronic somatic disorders have potent influences on brain functions, even when these mediators are produced in peripheral tissues. Elevated levels of circulating immune molecules have been consistently associated with depressive symptoms in a number of clinical populations and experimental models, to the extent that major depressive disorder (MDD) is now seen, at least in part, as a disorder of immunity. This paradigm has brought to the fore the use of anti-inflammatory therapies as adjunctive to standard antidepressant therapy with the hope to improve treatment efficacy, particularly in those cohorts that do not respond well to standard medication. Such new practice requires the availability of biomarkers to tailor these new therapies to those most likely to benefit but also clear mechanisms of action describing the interaction between peripheral immunity and brain function. These mechanisms are generally studied in preclinical models that try to recapitulate the human disease through peripherally induced sickness behaviour as the model for immune-induced MDD. After an appraisal of the data in rodent models and their adherence to the data in clinical cohorts, we propose a modified model of periphery-brain interaction that goes beyond the currently established view of interaction between peripheral cytokines and microglia cells as the driver of depression. Instead, we suggest that brain barriers are primary actors in the communication between body and brain and, as a consequence, in the pathophysiology of the disease. This model suggests novel biomarkers, novel targets for therapies as well as a novel mechanism for resistance to standard treatments.

The use of naturally available materials not conforming to traditional specifications or standards, in the base and sub-base layers of road pavement structures, stabilised with New-age (Nano) Modified Emulsions (NME), have been tested, implemented and successfully verified through Accelerated Pavement Testing (APT) in South Africa. This was made possible through the development and use of a design procedure addressing fundamental principles and based on scientific concepts, which are universally applicable. The understanding of and incorporation of the chemical interaction between the mineralogy of the materials and a NME stabilising agent (compatibility between the chemistry of the reactive agents and material mineralogy) into the design approach is key to achieving the required engineering properties. Stabilised materials evaluation is done using tests indicative of the basic engineering properties (physics) of compressive strengths, tensile strengths and durability. This article describes the basic materials design approach developed to ensure that organofunctional nano-silane modified emulsions can successfully be used for pavement layer construction utilising naturally available materials, at a low risk. The enablement of the use of naturally available materials in all pavement layers can have a considerable impact on the unit cost and life-cycle costs of road transportation infrastructure. TRANSLATE with x English ArabicHebrewPolish BulgarianHindiPortuguese CatalanHmong DawRomanian Chinese SimplifiedHungarianRussian Chinese TraditionalIndonesianSlovak CzechItalianSlovenian DanishJapaneseSpanish DutchKlingonSwedish EnglishKoreanThai EstonianLatvianTurkish FinnishLithuanianUkrainian FrenchMalayUrdu GermanMalteseVietnamese GreekNorwegianWelsh Haitian CreolePersian TRANSLATE with COPY THE URL BELOW Back EMBED THE SNIPPET BELOW IN YOUR SITE Enable collaborative features and customize widget: Bing Webmaster Portal Back

Lead pollutants mainly from urban agricultural practices, Leaded paints, Leaded fuels spillages, Lead-contaminated air, soils, and water sources pause a health threat to urban children in Uganda. Prolonged Lead exposure affects iron metabolism, by competitively blocking iron absorption leading to anemia. Blood Lead (BL) inhibits key enzymes ferrochelatase and aminolevulinic acid dehydrogenase (ALAD) involved in hemoglobin (Hb) biosynthesis even at very low levels. Lead poisoning and malaria infection geographically overlap, and both produce similar hematological outcome especially in children. Malaria parasites cause anemia by destroying parasitized red blood cells, therefore, co-existence of BL and malaria parasites infection worsens the anemia status of the host. This study aimed at expounding the extent of heme synthesis inhibition by BL levels among a study group of malaria positive children by measuring levels of free erythrocyte protoporphyrin (FEP) in blood samples. Briefly venous blood samples from 198 children were analyzed for malaria parasite densities by the thick smear method, hemoglobin (Hb) concentrations determined by the standard cyan methemoglobin method, BLL were analyzed on an atomic absorption spectrophotometer and FEP levels were fluorometrically measured. The results showed means of BLL (9.3 µg/dL), Hb (7.5 g/dL), FEP/Hb (8.3 µg/g) and parasite density (PD) (3.21×10³ parasites / µL) among the study group. A majority of 151/198 (76.3%) of the children were moderately anemic while 8/198 (4%) were severely anemic. There was weak correlation between PD and Hb (R²= -0.15, P-value < 0.001), as compared to one between FEP/Hb and Hb (R²= -0.6, P-value=0.001). The study concludes that BL is a significant contributor to malaria anemia and should be considered in the management of anemia in malaria-endemic areas.

3D-printing with foam concrete, which is known for its distinct physical and mechanical properties, has not yet been purposefully investigated. The article at hand presents a methodological approach for the mixture design of 3D-printable foam concretes and a systematic investigation of the potential application of this type of material in digital construction. Three different foam concrete compositions with water-to-binder ratios between 0.33 and 0.36 and having densities of 1100 to 1580 kg/m³ in the fresh state were produced with a pre-foaming technique using a protein-based foaming agent. Based on the fresh-state tests, including 3D-printing as such, an optimum composition was identified and its compressive and flexural strengths were characterised. The printable foam concrete showed compressive strength above 10 MPa and low thermal conductivity, which make it suitable for 3D-printing applications, while fulfilling both load-carrying and insulating functions.

The slate aggregate has long been perceived as a substandard, low quality waste material with its physical and chemical properties not being competitive with those of the primary aggregates. It is assumed that the slate aggregate particles are not strong, that is not durable and will not compact. This research aims to address those claims and review the available literature on the performance of the slate aggregate. The review inaugurates by analysing the physical, chemical and mechanical properties of slate, before expanding into a literature review of laboratory testing’s on the effect of moisture content on density, compaction and layer thickness of slate aggregate.The paper reviews case studies of construction projects in North Wales, where the slate aggregate has been used for general fill and road building for many years. Some of the case studies include the A55 coastal road and duelling of the A5 in Anglesey (WRAP, 2004), where slate aggregate was successfully used as sub-base. The paper also investigates why many civil engineers are reluctant to use the slate aggregate and regard the material as sub-standard, flaky aggregate. The research paper reviews the potential usages and various products the slate aggregate is suitable for and satisfies the requested standards. The final topic reviewed is the cost of transporting slate aggregate compared with the cost of transport for primary aggregate and the introduction of the Primary Aggregates Tax (Parliament of the United Kingdom, 2011). The last topic includes a critical analyses of the claims that the slate aggregate a commercially viable construction material despite its remote location (Woodward et al, 2004). The transportation cost and the supply chain complexities must be evaluated prior to considering the long-term sustainability of the product (Radanliev et al^1-6, 2014, 2015, 2016).

Additive manufacturing has already been established as a highly versatile manufacturing technique with demonstrated potential to completely transform conventional manufacturing in the future. The objective of this paper is to review the latest progress and challenges associated with the fabrication of multi-material parts using additive manufacturing technologies. Various manufacturing processes and materials used to produce functional components were investigated and summarized. The latest applications of multi-material additive manufacturing (MMAM) in automotive, aerospace, biomedical and dentistry field were demonstrated. Investigation on the current challenges were also carried out to predict the future direction of MMAM processes. It is concluded that the further research and development needed in the design of multi-material interfaces, manufacturing processes and material compatibility of MMAM parts are necessary.

The shape memory alloys belong to the smart materials thanks to their thermomechanical proprieties' reply to thermal or to mechanical loading. These materials can change shape, stiffness, displacement, natural frequency, and many mechanical characteristics in response to stress or to heat such as conduction, convection or radiation. However, heating by convection or conduction are the most useful and studied methods unlike radiation. Therefore, this paper aims to study the radiation effect on the shape memory alloy behavior

The recycling, incineration, and final disposal rate of municipal solid waste (MSW) are calculated based on the total amount of waste input to each facility in many countries. These statistic data have serious limitation in setting the national goal and policy for effective waste management because it is not considering the amount of foreign objectives in the process of each life-cycle stage. This case study is to estimate the actual rates of recycling, incineration, and final disposal by material flow analysis (MFA) after the collection of MSW in Korea. The actual rates of recycling, incineration and final disposal for MSW in 2016 were 49.9%, 32.9% and 23.1% respectively, indicating that the recycling rate was lower by 10.1%, while the incineration and final disposal rates were raised by 7.6% and 8.4% respectively, compared with the statistics for current MSW. In addition, the changed actual rates of recycling, incineration treatment, and final landfill, and variation of waste treatment charge according to treated amounts per treatment method was analyzed. This results of this study will contribute to establish national level of plan on effective waste management.

Stroke remains a major cause of death and disability in the United States and around the world. Solid safety and efficacy profiles of novel stroke therapeutics have been generated in the laboratory, but most failed in clinical trials. Investigations into the pathology and treatment of the disease remain a key research endeavor in advancing scientific understanding and clinical applications. In particular, cell-based regenerative medicine, specifically stem cells transplantation, may hold promise as stroke therapy because grafted cells and their components may recapitulate the growth and function of the neurovascular unit, which arguably represents the alpha and omega of stroke brain pathology and recovery. Recent evidence has implicated mitochondria, organelles with a central role in energy metabolism and stress response, in stroke progression. Recognizing that stem cells offer a source of healthy mitochondria, potentially transferrable into ischemic cells, may provide a new therapeutic tool. To this end, deciphering cellular and molecular processes underlying dysfunctional mitochondria may reveal innovative strategies for stroke therapy. Here, we review recent studies capturing the intimate participation of mitochondrial impairment in stroke pathology, and showcase promising methods of healthy mitochondria transfer into ischemic cells, to critically evaluate the potential of mitochondria-based stem cell therapy for stroke.

The analysis of curated genomic, metagenomic, and proteomic data are of paramount importance in the fields of biology, medicine, education, and bioinformatics. Although this type of data is usually hosted in raw form in free international repositories, its access requires plenty of computing, storage, and processing capacities for the domestic user. The purpose of the study is to offer a comprehensive set of genomic and proteomic reference data, in an accessible and easy-to-use form to the scientific community. A representative type material set of genomes, proteomes and metagenomes were directly downloaded from the site: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/assembly/ and from Genome Taxonomy Database, associated with the major groups of Bacteria, Archaea, Virus, and Fungi. Sketched databases were subsequently created and stored on handy raw reduced representations, by using Mash software. Our dataset contains near to 100 GB of space disk reduced to 585.78 MB and represents 87,476 genomics/proteomic records from eight informative contexts, which have been prefiltered to make them accessible, usable, and user-friendly with computational resources. Potential uses of this dataset include but are not limited to, microbial species delimitation, estimation of genomic distances, genomic novelties, paired comparisons between proteomes, genomes, and metagenomes.

Antigen-based rapid diagnostic tests for Lymphatic filariasis do not come with quality control (QC) materials, and research and disease control programmes rely on stored positive plasma samples. This study was undertaken to evaluate the use of freeze-dried Wuchereria bancrofti antigen positive plasma samples to serve as QC materials for LF RDTs. 10 well characterized W. bancrofti positive samples were lyophilized and stored at 4°C, 28°C and 40°C. The samples were evaluated using the Filaria Test Strips before lyophilization and after one and three (3) months of storage. The sensitivity and stability of the lyophilized samples were evaluated. The results revealed a loss of sensitivity and stability with increasing temperature and duration of storage. The results are further discussed in terms of the use of Dried Blood Spot (DBS) in diagnostics studies on LF requiring quantitative assessments, and the need for thoughtful DBS preparation and storage.

A non-Newtonian fluid model is used to investigate the two-dimensional pulsatile blood flow through a tapered artery with a stenosis. The mixed convection effects of heat and mass transfer are also taken into account. By applying non-dimensionalization and radial coordinate transformation, we simplify the system in a tube. Under the finite difference scheme, numerical solutions are calculated for velocity, temperature concentration, resistance, impedance, wall shear stress and shearing stress at the stenosis throat. Finally, Quantitative analysis is carried out.

The aim of this study is to introduce a novel method which can separate sand or gravel dominated bed load transport in rivers with mixed-size bed material. In engineering practice, the Shields-Parker diagram could be used for such purposes, however, the method has certain applicability limits, due to the fact that it is based on uniform bed material and provides information rather on river-scale, instead of reach or local scale. When dealing with large rivers with complex hydrodynamics and morphodynamics the bed load transport modes can also indicate strong variation even locally, which requires a more suitable approach to estimate the locally unique behavior of the sediment transport. Here, we suggest that the decision criteria utilizes the shear Reynolds number (Re*). The method was verified against field and laboratory measurement data, both performed at non-uniform bed material compositions. The comparative assessment of the results show that the shear Reynolds number based method operates more reliably than the Shields-Parker diagram and it is expected to predict the sand or gravel transport domination with a < 5% uncertainty. The introduced results can greatly contribute to the improvement of numerical sediment transport modeling as well as to the field implementation of bed load transport measurements.

Background: Selection and application of suture materials, has gained more importance especially with the increasing number of patients seeking oral surgeries. Since lying in a bacterial-filled environment, sutures make the tissue prone to infection. Suture material plays an important role in the reduction of the risk of infection. This study aimed to assess the success rate of an antibacterial suture named Vicryl Plus in preventing bacterial growth in the surgical site of the mandibular third molar. Methods: 27 patients were included in this double-blinded randomized clinical trial study. Surgical Extraction of the mandibular wisdom tooth was done and the incision was managed by randomly using Vicryl Plus and Vicryl sutures. After 7 days, sutures were removed and assessed microbiologically. Predominant species of Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus were assessed as well as the total number of colonies on each suture. Results: There was a significant difference between two suture materials in colony number-length ratio of lactobacillus (p-value= 0.031) and total bacterial colonies (p-value=0.016); but not for S. mutans species (p-value=0.201). Conclusion: Antibacterial Vicryl suture can be a useful tool for the reduction in the rate of surgical site infection in high-risk cases and situations.

Despite the development of technologies, modern methods of disposal of end-of-life tires most often represent either the incineration in cement kilns or the destruction of tires in special landfills, showing a lack of sustainable recycling of this valuable material. The fundamental role of recycling is evident, and the development of high-efficiency processes represents a priority for the European market. Therefore, investigation of end-of-life rubber processing methods is of high importance for manufacturers and recyclers of rubber materials. In this paper, methods of processing of end-of-life tires are reviewed in order to obtain rubber crumb, which can later be used in the production of new industrial rubber goods and composite The processes of separation end-of-life tire into fractions by type of materials using mechanical processing methods along with mechanochemical and mechanical processes of processing the materials of used tires in order to obtain crumb rubber of various fractions and chemical reactivity are considered.

The application of instrumented indentation to assess material properties like Young’s modulus and micro-hardness has become a standard method. In recent developments, indentation experiments and simulations have been combined to inverse methods, from which further material parameters as yield strength, work hardening rate, and tensile strength can be determined. In this work, an inverse method is introduced by which material parameters for cyclic plasticity, i.e. kinematic hardening parameters, can be determined. To accomplish this, cyclic Vickers indentation experiments are combined with finite element simulations of the indentation with unknown material properties, which are then determined by inverse analysis. To validate the proposed method, these parameters are subsequently applied to predict the uniaxial stress-strain response of a material with success. The method has been validated successfully for a quenched and tempered martensitic steel and for technically pure copper, where an excellent agreement between measured and predicted cyclic stress-strain-curves has been achieved. Hence, the proposed inverse method based on cyclic nanoindentation, as a quasi-non-destructive method, could complement or even substitute the resource-intensive conventional fatigue testing in the future for some applications.

Background: Thousands of genetic variants have been associated with hematological traits, though target genes remain unknown at most loci. Also, limited analyses have been conducted in African ancestry and Hispanic/Latino populations; hematological trait associated variants more common in these populations have likely been missed. Methods: To derive gene expression prediction models, we used ancestry-stratified datasets from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA, including N=229 African American and N=381 Hispanic/Latino participants, monocytes) and the Depression Genes and Networks study (DGN, N = 922 European ancestry participants, whole blood). We then performed a transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) for platelet count, hemoglobin, hematocrit, and white blood cell count in African (N = 27,955) and Hispanic/Latino (N = 28,324) ancestry participants. Results: Our results revealed 24 suggestive signals (p < 1×10^(-4)) that were conditionally distinct from known GWAS identified variants and successfully replicated these signals in European ancestry subjects from UK Biobank. We found modestly improved correlation of predicted and measured gene expression in an independent African American cohort (the Genetic Epidemiology Network of Arteriopathy (GENOA) study (N=802), lymphoblastoid cell lines) using the larger DGN reference panel; however, some genes were well predicted using MESA but not DGN. Conclusions: These analyses demonstrate the importance of performing TWAS and other genetic analyses across diverse populations and of balancing sample size and ancestry background matching when selecting a TWAS reference panel.

The idea of using the lytic power of viruses against the malignant cells has been entertained for many decades. However, oncolytic viruses (OV) gained broad attention as an emerging anti-cancer therapy only recently with the successful implementation of the oncolytic herpesvirus to treat advanced melanoma. OVs offer an attractive therapeutic combination of tumor-specific cell lysis together with immune stimulation, yet the latter effect is less well studied. Nevertheless, OVs can be envisaged as potential in situ tumor vaccines. The therapeutic potential of OVs can be instigated further by using the molecular biological and biotechnological tools to modify the existing viruses for their optimal tumor selectivity and enhanced immune stimulation. Furthermore, OVs can be readily combined with other therapeutic agents to increase the efficacy of the existing therapeutic schemes. In this review, we discuss biotechnological advances in the development of therapeutic applications of OVs in Russia. Particular emphasis is made on the OV-mediated treatment of glioblastoma. In addition, we highlight the challenges of oncolytic virotherapy, and describe the strategies to optimize current approaches to improve clinical outcomes.

Background: The fulminant course of COVID-19, triggered by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) presents with a high mortality rate and still lacks a causative treatment. C-reactive protein (CRP) has been shown to increase dramatically during the disease progression and correlates with deleterious outcomes. Selective CRP apheresis can reduce circulating CRP levels fast and effective. Methods: Seven hospitalized patients with documented severe COVID-19 progression, elevated CRP plasma levels (> 100 mg/L) and signs of respiratory failure were treated with CRP apheresis. 2-12 CRP apheresis sessions were performed generally in 24 h time intervals and depending on CRP plasma levels. Results: CRP apheresis reduced CRP plasma levels by up to 84% within a few hours, without exhibiting side effects in any patient. Despite signs of severe lung infiltration in all patients, only one patient died. The other patients showed improvements within the chest x-ray after CRP apheresis and were able to recover regardless of intubation and/or ECMO (4 patients). All remaining six patients were discharged from the hospital in good clinical condition. All patients had comorbidities. Conclusions: This case series presents a mortality rate of only 14%, which is dramatically lower than expected from the presented CRP levels as well as comorbidities and ventilation require-ments. Our clinical observations regarding the here presented seven patients support the hypoth-esis that CRP is a candidate to be therapeutically targeted in the early stage of severe COVID-19.

We evaluated the association of blood pressure with blood levels of cadmium, lead, and cadmium and lead together (cadmium+lead) in a representative sample of adolescents from Korea by use of 2010-2016 data from the Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES). This cross-sectional study enrolled adolescents aged at 10-18 years-old who completed a health examination survey and had blood measurements of lead and cadmium. The association of adjusted mean differences in diastolic and systolic blood pressure with doubling of blood lead and cadmium were estimated by regression of blood pressure against log₂-transformed blood metals and their quartiles after covariate adjustment. Adjusted odds ratios for prehypertension were calculated for log₂-transformed blood levels of lead and cadmium and their quartiles. Our analysis of adolescents in Korea indicated that blood levels of lead and cadmium were not significantly associated with increased blood pressure or risk of pre-hypertension. However, the cadmium+lead level was associated with pre-hypertension. Previous studies showed that blood levels of lead and cadmium were associated with increased blood pressure and risk of hypertension in adult populations. We found no such effect in Korean adolescents, although the cadmium+lead level was associated with prehypertension. These differences may be because adolescents generally have lower levels of these blood metals or because adolescents only rarely have hypertension.

The unique porous crystal structure of zeolite offers various important utilizations, it is one of the considerations in selecting zeolite at this study as component of composite for restraining noise. It so happens, previous experiments show that banana stem has porous structure, fibrous, high flexibility and can be applied as material for many various products including as component of acoustic material. The combination of both is alleged that it has capability in absorbing noise. This paper presents an investigation on the composite that it was synthesized of Activated Zeolite and Banana Stem Fibre in various weight for determining its sound absorption coefficient alpha (a). Activating natural zeolite was conducted by using 6M HCl in order for enlarging zeolite pores. The sound absorption coefficient was measured in the frequency range between 125 Hz up to 6000 Hz. The results show that the different weight of banana stem fibre as component of the synthesized composite affects the value of alpha and shifts the frequency area.

Platelets have long been associated with sustaining the balance between hemostasis and thrombosis. Platelets, however, are also involved in a wide range of biological activities, including inflammation, immunology, wound healing, cancer biology, and angiogenesis. Platelets' diverse roles are mediated by the expression of various adhesive and immune receptors and the secretion of a diverse array of bioactive proteins, ions stored in granules, and several lipid mediators. Platelets also release pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory, and angiogenic factors and shed microparticles into the bloodstream. The challenge for therapeutic intervention in non-hemostatic disease is identifying the factors that primarily inhibit specific targets implicated in platelets' complicated contribution to inflammation or tumor growth while leaving their hemostatic function intact. In addition, blood platelets are involved in infection and innate and adaptive immunity by mediating complicated vascular homeostasis via specialized receptors and granule release, RNA transfer, and mitochondrial secretion. Anti-platelet drugs/bioactive compounds are developed based on their platelet anti-aggregatory properties; however, very little information is available on their effects on non-hemostatic function. Therefore, a better understanding of the impact of the anti-platelet bioactive on the platelets' diverse roles and mechanisms may help develop new strategies and prevent CVD and other diseases. In this review, a comprehensive overview of platelet multifunctional roles in CVD and other diseases and dietary factors' modulatory effects are described.

A high-performance Lead-free Piezoelectric Energy Harvester (LPEH) based on a Ba0.85Ca0.15Ti0.90Zr0.10O3 + CuO 0.3 wt% (BCTZC0.3) composite was fabricated by sintering at 1450℃. The BCTZC0.3 composite, which has an enhanced high-energy-conversion constant (〖d_33×g〗_33), shows improved piezoelectric power-generation performance when compared with conventional piezoelectric energy harvesters. The BCTZC0.3-based LPEH produces instantaneous maximum power of 8.2 mW and an energy density of 107.9 mW/cm3 in a weak magnetic field of 250 μT. This energy harvester can be used to charge a capacitor and operate a wireless sensor network (WSN) system to provide temperature sensing and radio-frequency (RF) transmission in a 250 μT magnetic field. The proposed LPEH is a promising green-energy device for potentially self-powering WSN systems when applied.

Marine invertebrates are model organisms in several areas of biological sciences, being a source of massive biological information. Although, the scientific relevance of marine invertebrates, the research with them can be limited for their tissue characteristics and troubles for the replication of physical and chemical properties of seawater. Thence, the main goal of this laboratory workflow is to provide a useful methodological approach to reduce the experimental limitations during the study of marine invertebrates. The present study describes experimental methodologies for the collection, transport, and maintenance of sessile tunicates. Also, an approach to observe and characterize, a diverse population of blood cells in marine invertebrates, by several cytological stains and electron microscopy. Lastly, suggestions and protocols to extract quality RNA from samples with high concentrations of salts, pigments, secondary metabolites, and polysaccharides. This methodological approach can be easily adapted to other marine invertebrates, moreover uses low-cost reagents and widely available laboratory equipment. Making possible the study of different types of marine animals in diverse locations.