Heat shock protein 27 (HSP27), induced by heat shock, environmental, and pathophysiological stressors, is a multi-dimensional protein that acts as a protein chaperone and an antioxidant. HSP27 plays a major role in the inhibition of apoptosis and actin cytoskeletal remodeling. HSP27 is upregulated in many cancers and is associated with poor prognosis, as well as treatment resistance whereby cells are protected from therapeutic agents that normally induce apoptosis. This review highlights the most recent findings and role of HSP27 in cancer, as well as strategies for using HSP27 inhibitors for therapeutic purposes.

Cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs), a group of small peptides capable of promoting the transport of molecular cargo across the plasma membrane, have become important tools in promoting the cellular uptake of exogenously delivered macromolecules. GV1001, a peptide derived from a reverse-transcriptase subunit of telomerase (hTERT) and developed as a vaccine against various cancers, reportedly has unexpected CPP properties. Unlike typical CPPs, such as the HIV-1 TAT peptide, GV1001 enabled the cytosolic delivery of macromolecules such as proteins, DNA and siRNA via extracellular heat shock protein 90 (eHSP90) and 70 (eHSP70) complexes. The eHSP-GV1001 interaction may have biological effects in addition to its cytosolic delivery function. GV1001 was originally designed as a MHC class II-binding cancer epitope, but its CPP properties may contribute to its strong anti-cancer immune response relative to other telomerase peptide-based vaccines. Cell signaling via eHSP-GV1001 binding may lead to unexpected biological effects, such as direct anticancer or antiviral effects. In this review, we focus on the CPP effects of GV1001 bound to eHSP90 and ehsp70.

The objectives of the study were to determine the spatial rate of CO₂ flux (Net Ecosystem Exchange) and soil moisture in a wetland ecosystem applying Sentinel-1 IW (Interferometric Wide) data of VH (Vertical Transmit/Horizontal Receive—cross polarization) and VV (Vertical Transmit/Vertical Receive—like polarization) polarization. In-situ measurements of carbon flux, soil moisture, and LAI (Leaf Area Index) were carried out over the Biebrza Wetland in north-eastern Poland. The impact of soil moisture and LAI on backscattering coefficient (σ°) calculated from Sentinel-1 data showed that LAI dominates the influence on σ° when soil moisture is low. The models for soil moisture have been derived for wetland vegetation habitat types applying VH polarization (R² = 0.70 to 0.76). The vegetation habitats: reeds, sedge-moss, sedges, grass-herbs, and grass were classified using combined one Landsat 8 OLI (Operational Land Imager) and three TerraSAR-X (TSX) ScanSAR VV data. The model for the assessment of Net Ecosystem Exchange (NEE) has been developed based on the assumption that soil moisture and biomass represented by LAI have an influence on it. The σ° VH and σ° VV describe soil moisture and LAI, and have been the input to the NEE model. The model, created for classified habitats, is as follows: NEE = f (σ° Sentinel-1 VH, σ° Sentinel-1 VV). Reasonably good predictions of NEE have been achieved for classified habitats (R² = 0.51 to 0.58). The developed model has been used for mapping spatial and temporal distribution of NEE over Biebrza wetland habitat types. Eventually, emissions of CO₂ to the atmosphere (NEE positive) has been noted when soil moisture (SM) and biomass were low. This study demonstrates the importance of the capability of Sentinel-1 microwave data to calculate soil moisture and estimate NEE with all-weather acquisition conditions, offering an important advantage for frequent wetlands monitoring.

The real systems are often complex, nonlinear, and noisy in various areas including mathematics, natural science, and social science. We present the symplectic entropy (SymEn) measure as well as an analysis method based on SymEn to estimate the nonlinearity of the complex system by analyzing the given time series. The SymEn estimation is a kind of entropy based on symplectic principal component analysis (SPCA) which represent organized but unpredictable behaviors of systems. The key to SPCA is to preserve the global submanifold geometrical properties of the systems through symplectic transform in the phase space, which is a kind of the measure-preserving transforms. The capability of preserving the global geometrical characteristics makes the SymEn a test statistic to detect the nonlinear characteristics in several typical chaotic time series and the stochastic characteristic in the Gaussian white noise. The results are in agreement with findings in the approximate entropy (ApEn), the sample entropy (SampEn) and the fuzzy entropy (FuzzyEn). Moreover, the SymEn method is also used to analyze the nonlinearities of the real signals (including the EEG signals for ASD and healthy subjects, and the sound and vibration signals for the mechanical systems). The results indicate that the SymEn estimation can be taken as a measure for describing the nonlinear characteristics in the data collected from the natural complex systems.

HspA1A, a molecular chaperone, translocates to the plasma membrane (PM) of stressed and cancer cells. This translocation results in HspA1A’s cell-surface presentation, which renders tumors radiation insensitive. To specifically inhibit the lipid-driven HspA1A’s PM translocation and devise new therapeutics it is imperative to characterize the unknown HspA1A’s lipid-binding regions and determine the relationship between the chaperone and lipid-binding functions. To elucidate this relationship, we determined the effect of phosphatidylserine (PS)-binding on the secondary structure and chaperone functions of HspA1A. Circular dichroism revealed that binding to PS resulted in minimal modification on HspA1A’s secondary structure. Measuring the release of inorganic phosphate revealed that PS-binding had no effect on HspA1A’s ATPase activity. In contrast, PS-binding showed subtle but consistent increases in HspA1A’s refolding activities. Furthermore, using a Lysine-71-Arginine mutation (K71A; a null-ATPase mutant) of HspA1A we show that although K71A binds to PS with affinities similar to the WT, the kinetics of the binding are significantly different, probably because of the mutant’s inability to achieve specific conformations. These observations suggest a two-step binding model that includes conformational changes and strongly support the notion that the chaperone and lipid-binding activities of HspA1A are dependent but the regions mediating these functions do not overlap. These findings provide the basis for future interventions to inhibit HspA1A’s PM-translocation in tumor cells, making them sensitive to radiation therapy.

Eimeria tenella rhoptry protein has the properties of a protective antigen. EtROP27 is a pathogenic related gene detected by transcriptome, but its expression pattern, immunogenicity and potency have been unknown. Therefore, a gene segment of EtROP27 was amplified and transplanted to pET28a prokaryotic vector for recombinant protein expression and purified to generate polyclonal antibody. Then, RT-PCR, Western blotting were performed to know the expression pattern of EtROP27. Subsequently, animal experiments were conducted to evaluate the immunoprotective effect of the recombinant protein using different immunizing doses (50, 100, 150 μg). The results showed that the expression of EtROP27 gradually increased with the prolongation of infection time, reaching the highest level after 96 hours and then decreased. And EtROP27 was a natural antigen of coccidia which can stimulate the body to produce high levels of IgY. As recombinant protein vaccines, the immune protection evaluation tests of EtROP27 showed that the average weight gain rate of the immune challenge groups were significantly higher than that of the infection control group. The average lesion scores were significantly lower than that of the control group. The oocyst excretion decreased by 81.25%, 86.21%, 80.01% and the anticoccidial index were 159.45, 171.47, 166.75. EtROP27 is a promising candidate antigen gene for development of coccidiosis vaccine.

Is HSP-27 an emerging marker of good prognosis in septic shock patients – a pilot study Objective To estimate the value of serum changes of C-reactive protein, procalcitonin, presepsin, heat shock protein 27 (HSP27) and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio in assessing the prognosis in patients with septic shock (SS) treated in intensive care unit. Methods The SS was diagnosed and treated in accordance with the guidelines of the Surviving Sepsis Campaign. 37 selected adult patients with SS were included. Serum concentrations of biomarkers were measured at admission and daily for 4 consecutive days (time points T0,T1, T2, T3 and T4 respectively). The mortality rate was determined 28 days after admission. Patients were divided into survivor and non-survivor groups according to their mortality. The differences between the levels of biomarkers at the T0 and T4 time points were analyzed. Results The mean value of the SOFA score on admission was 11.7 ± 2.7, and the APACHE II scale 29.9 ± 6.85. Nine patients died. Univariate logistic analysis revealed that changes between T0 and T4 time points of presepsin, procalcytonin, and HSP27 were associated with prognosis. A multivariate Cox analysis showed that an increase in HSP27 on T4 was the only independent predictor of good prognosis in SS patients. The area under the receiver operating characteristics curve for HSP27 was 0.785. Kaplan–Meier analysis showed that the mortality was lower (p=0.014) in patients who had an increase in HSP27 on T4 compared to those whose serum HSP27 did not increase on T4. Conclusions The increase of HSP27 level on the 4th day predicts favorable outcome in SS patients.

The new unique technology for granulation of metals and nonmetallic melts is presented in the paper. It was created on the newly developed controlled film flow disintegration with rapid cooling of the droplets and solidified granules in amorphous state. Three new phenomena discovered by us created the base for 3 different methods for granulation of metals and nonmetallic melts in a wide range of granules’ sizes. Electromagnetic resonance method allows producing granules of metals in the range of 1 mm and over. The soliton-like vibrational regime is available for production of any granulation material in the range 0.1-1 mm. Moreover, the shockwave regime is applicable for producing particles from 10 micrometers by size. All methods produce particles of the stated size with a narrow distribution by size: deviation from the average size no more than 50%. The other known methods do not produce granules with such high cooling rate, which can realize the amorphous state and cannot regulate size of particles in such bright but narrow range from 10 micrometers to 1-2 mm.

Heat Shock Proteins play a crucial role in maintaining cellular integrity during thermal stress conditions, acting as chaperones and participating in the regulation of cellular responses. The focus was to contribute valuable insights into the potential role of hypericin in modulating these heat shock proteins and its implications for anti-tumoral properties. This study employs computational methods, specifically molecular docking, to investigate the potential biological interactions between the chaperone proteins HSP90 and HSC70 and Hypericin, a natural compound recognized for its anti-tumor properties. Despite the limited existing studies in this domain, this research aims to uncover structural insights into the binding mechanisms between Hypericin and these heat shock proteins. In the docking assessments, hypericin demonstrated notable binding energy results, exhibiting a binding energy of -10.5 kcal/mol with Heat Shock Cognate 71 kDa protein and -11.2 kcal/mol with Heat Shock Protein HSP90-alpha.

Innovation is a crucial issue in healthcare services since it can affect job-related variables such as productivity, satisfaction and burnout. The aim of our study was to examine the impact of innovation support on quiet quitting, innovative behavior and innovation outputs among nurses. We conducted a cross-sectional study in Greece during April 2024. We employed a convenience sample of nurses. We used the following instruments: (a) the Innovation Support Inventory (ISI) to measure innovation support, (b) the Quiet Quitting Scale (QQS) to measure quiet quitting, (c) the Innovative Behavior Inventory (IBI) to measure innovative behavior, and (d) the Innovation Outputs (IO) scale to measure innovation outputs. Our multivariable analysis identified a negative relationship between innovation support and quiet quitting. Moreover, we found that managerial support and cultural support improved several aspects of innovative behavior, such as idea generation, idea search, idea communication, implementation starting activities, involving others, and overcoming obstacles. Additionally, managerial support improved innovation outputs. Our findings suggested the positive impact of innovation support on quiet quitting, innovative behavior and innovation outputs among nurses. Organizations and nurses’ managers should establish an innovative working environment to improve nurses’ passion, motives and productivity.

Climate change and the increasing frequency of high-temperature events are significant threats to global crop yields. To address this, a comprehensive understanding of how plants respond to heat shock (HS) is essential. Signaling pathways involving calcium (Ca2+), a versatile second messenger in plants, encode information through temporal and spatial variations in ion concentration. Ca2+ is detected by Ca2+-sensing effectors, including channels and binding proteins, which trigger specific cellular responses. At elevated temperatures, the cytosolic concentration of Ca2+ in plant cells increases rapidly, making Ca2+ signals the earliest response to HS. In this review, we discuss the crucial role of Ca2+ signaling in raising plant thermotolerance and we explore its multifaceted contributions to various aspects of the plant HS response.

Shrimps are under the influence of several environmental factors such as fluctuation of physical and chemical parameters of the water affected by variations in rainfall, temperature, salinity, and pH. These factors have also been identified as risk factors for shrimp disease outbreaks. Despite the high levels of production, shrimp producers suffered significant economic losses in years, mainly due to the presence of diseases that now plague the industry. In particular, viral diseases have had and will continue to have profound impact on industry growth. In response to stress such environmental or pathophysiological, cells are able to up regulating selectively the expression of a protein group known as Heat Shock Proteins (HSPs). In a recent search at the literature we observed a close relation between HSP70 with apoptotic proteins and others stress proteins such HSP60 and HSP90. Moreover, the response of shrimp to viral stress was examined, some of which are correlated to the reactions of HSP70. Thus, the aim of this review is to describe the current knowledge on the status of stress responses in shrimps, particularly HSP70 responses, triggered by viruses.

Google Trends data can be informative for infectious disease incidences, including Lyme disease. However, the use of Google Trends for predictive purposes is underutilized. In this study, we tested the ability of Google Trends search data to predict monthly state-level Lyme disease case counts in the United States. We requested Lyme disease data for the years 2010-2021. We downloaded Google Trends search data on terms for Lyme disease, symptoms of Lyme disease, and diseases with similar symptoms as Lyme disease. We built mixed negative binomial models based on a training dataset (2010-2016) and tested the models on a test dataset (2017-2021). A model was built for each search term and monthly lags of search terms were included as predictors. The highest performing models had high predictive ability, indicated by low Root Mean Squared Errors (RMSEs) and close association between observed and predicted case counts. The highest performing model was for the search term “Summer Flu”, which indicates low specificity of some of the terms. We outline challenges of using Google Trends data, including data availability and a mismatch between geographic units. We discuss opportunities for Google Trends data, including prediction of additional zoonotic diseases and incorporating environmental and companion animal data.

Adenosine to inosine (A-to-I) RNA editing is a highly conserved regulatory process carried out by adenosine-deaminases (ADARs) on dsRNAs. Although a considerable fraction of the transcriptome is edited, the function of most editing sites is unknown. Previous studies indicate changes in A-to-I RNA editing frequencies following exposure to several stress types. However, the overall effect of stress on the expression of ADAR targets is not fully understood. Here, we performed high-throughput RNA sequencing of wild-type and ADAR mutant C. elegans worms after heat-shock to analyze the effect of heat-shock stress on the expression pattern of genes. We found that ADAR regulation following heat-shock does not directly involve heat-shock related genes. Our analysis also revealed that lncRNAs and pseudogenes, which have a tendency for secondary RNA structures, are enriched among upregulated genes following heat-shock in ADAR mutant worms. The same group of genes is downregulated in ADAR mutant worms under permissive conditions, which is likely, considering that A-to-I editing protects endogenous dsRNA from RNA-interference (RNAi). Therefore, temperature increases may destabilize dsRNA structures and protect them from RNAi degradation, despite the lack of ADAR function. These findings shed new light on the dynamics of gene expression under heat-shock in relation to ADAR function.

The mosaic disease in maize is caused by Sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV), a member of the Potyviridae family. The best strategy to cope with viral infections is the use of disease-resistant maize lines. To better understand the resistance response to SCMV, we analyzed differentially expressed genes among a resistant line (CI-RL1), a susceptible line (B73), and the F1 progeny from a cross between both lines using RNA-Seq data. We also analyzed transcript expression pattern clustering to allocate previously reported resistance candidate genes. GO enrichment analysis of biological processes highlighted a strong regulation in ROS detoxification in both the susceptible and resistant lines. The enrichment of cellular components led to the identification of an integral component of the plasma membrane in the RL line. Transcript expression patterns provide evidence of the importance of host translation in virus response, showing the diverse and complex behavior of eIF4E homologs and the presence of eleven eEF1α factors in maize. In addition, we identified two genes putatively implied in long-distance movement: ZmPiezo and ZmPVIP1. Finally, we propose an ABC transporter to be associated with viral resistance.

Exosomes, natural nanovesicles that contain a cargo of biologically active molecules such as lipids, proteins, and nucleic acids, are released from cells to the extracellular environment. They then act as autocrine, paracrine, or endocrine mediators of communication between cells by delivering their cargo into recipient cells and causing downstream effects. Exosomes are greatly enriched in miRNAs, which are small non-coding RNAs that act as cytoplasmic posttranscriptional repression agents, modulating the translation of mRNAs into proteins, as well as nuclear transcriptional gene activators. Neuronal exosomal miRNAs have important physiologic functions in the Central Nervous System (CNS), including cell-to-cell communication, synaptic plasticity, and neurogenesis, as well as modulating stress and inflammatory responses. Stress-induced changes of exosomal functions include effects on neurogenesis and neuroinflammation, which can lead to the appearance of various neuropsychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, major depression, bipolar disorder, and Alzheimer's and Huntington’s's diseases. The current knowledge regarding the roles of exosomes in the pathophysiology of common mental disorders is discussed in this review.

Considering tumors from an evolucionary perspective, successive tumor cells undergo turnover in response to stressful conditions which pressures tumor cells to adapt to a new environment. Tumor cells uses parts of themselves to communicate and share biological information, known as extracellular vesicles (EV) secretion to promote their survival and “survive to each and every metabolic cost”. Tumor microenvironment (TME) is a miscellaneous of cells, factors, extracellular matrix proteins and EVs. EVs include smalls (<160nm, exosomes) and larger (100-1,000nm, microvesicles) lipid bilayer enclosed packages of biomolecules that are shed by tumors to TME. Tumor-derived extracellular vesicles transfer adaptative stress signaling to recipient cells, reprograming these cells. Heat Shock Proteins (HSP) are more prominent stress response regulators found in exosomes. HSP-loaded exosomes actively reprogram tumor and TME cells to acquire mechanisms that contribute to tumor progression and therapy resistance. The intercellular communication mediated by HSP-loaded EVs favors the escape of tumor cells from, endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, hypoxia, apoptosis and anti-cancer therapies. Extracellular HSPs activate and deactivate immune response, induce cell differentiation, changes vascular homeostasis, and help to augment the pre-metastatic niche formation. Here we will explore the EV mechanism of HSP transmission among TME cells and the relevance of these intercellular communications for resistance to therapies in cancer.

The informational synthesis of neural structures, processes, parameters and characteristics that allow a unified description and modeling as neural machines of natural and artificial neural systems is presented. The general informational parameters as the global quantitative measure of the neural systems computing potential as absolute and relative neural power were proposed. Neural information organizing and processing follows the way in which nature manages neural information by developing functions, functionalities and circuits related to different internal or peripheral components and also to the whole system through a non-deterministic memorization, fragmentation and aggregation of afferent and efferent information, deep neural information processing representing multiple alternations of fragmentation and aggregation stages. The relevant neural characteristics were integrated into a neural machine type model that incorporates unitary also peripheral or interface components as the central ones. The proposed approach allows overcoming the technical constraints in artificial computational implementations of neural information processes and also provides a more relevant description of natural ones.

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in developing novel materials based on natural biopolymers as a renewable alternative of petroleum-based plastics. The availability of proteins derived from agricultural by-products, along with their favourable properties, has fostered a renewed interest in protein-based materials, promoting research in innovative technologies. In this study we propose the use of rapeseed protein-rich meal as main ingredient for the preparation of novel sustainable materials combining excellent environmental properties such as biodegradability and renewable origin. Application as sustainable products in the present high-tech society needs modification of basic native properties of these natural compounds. The original route proposed in this paper consists in the preparation via compression moulding of flexible biomaterials stabilized by crosslinkers/chain extenders. Investigation of the effects of different denaturing and disulfide bond reducing agents, crosslinkers, and preparation conditions on the material mechanical behaviour demonstrated that the novel materials have appreciable strength and stiffness. The results show the potential of utilizing full meal from vegetable by-products to prepare protein-based materials with granted ecofriendly characteristics and mechanical properties adequate to specific structural applications.

Rett syndrome (RTT) is an X-linked neurodevelopment disorder associated with the single monogenic mutation in methyl-CpG binding protein 2 (MeCP2) in up to 95% of cases. The growing number of genome-wide association studies and incomplete concordance for autoimmune diseases in monozygotic twins concur to support the involvement of environmental factors, like infectious agents or chemicals, in the breakdown of tolerance leading to autoimmunity. In fact, the coexistence of a perturbation of the immune system in RTT patients has been previously hypothesized. We herein explored the hypothesis that an autoimmune component derived from environmental bacterial infection of non typeable Haemophilus influenzae may coexist in RTT. At this purpose we screened sera from RTT syndrome patients, non-RTT pervasive developmental disorders patients and healthy controls with the hyperglucosylated adhesin protein HMW1ct(Glc) used as a precise antigen in ELISA in order to identify specific antibodies to N-glucosylation sites. Results showed that HMW1ct(Glc) is able to significantly discriminate antibodies among RTT sera and controls. Competitive ELISA confirmed the specific interaction between antibodies characteristic of RTT syndrome and the N-glucosylation motifs of the bacterial adhesin protein HMW1ct(Glc).

The increasing demand for higher power in rocket launchers is driving the development of higher power nozzles, achieved essentially by increasing the expansion ratio. However, this can lead to flow separation and resulting unsteady, asymmetrical forces, called side loads, which can limit the life of both the nozzle itself and other engine components. If this problem can be overcome, engine performance can be significantly increased. Therefore, various separation control methods have been proposed, but none have been fully implemented to date due to the uncertainties associated with modeling and predicting the flow phenomena. A numerical study of high area ratio rocket engine is presented to analyze the aeroelastic performance of the structure under the condition of flow separation. The finite volume method, the 2nd order upwind scheme and the extended wall function are used to analyze the flow inside the rocket nozzle and the transition of the Free Shock Separation (FSS) to Restricted Shock Separation (RSS) separation pattern ) to be discussed in detail. Since the location of the flow separation point depends heavily on the flow.

This paper introduces a new adaptation of the enthalpic lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) tailored to simulate the intricate dynamics of conjugate heat transfer in non-homogeneous media, showcasing considerable potential for enhancing heat exchanger designs. This approach expands upon the conventional enthalpic LBM framework by seamlessly incorporating tailored source terms, enabling precise representation of local and transient variations in the medium’s thermophysical properties. The resulting LBM model comprehensively captures the energy conservation equation, with exceptions made only for flow compressibility and viscous dissipation, thereby significantly augmenting its versatility in analyzing heat exchanger configurations. Verification tests, comprising assessments of both transient and steady-state solutions, unequivocally validate the accuracy of the proposed model, further bolstering its reliability for analyzing heat exchange processes within intricate heat exchanger geometries. To demonstrate its efficacy, simulations of conjugate heat transfer processes involving fluid natural convection within structured cavities were performed, imposing both Dirichlet and Neumann boundary conditions to emulate scenarios encountered in practical heat exchanger operations. The findings yield compelling insights, particularly in the transient regime, revealing the beneficial impact of structured cavities on enhancing heat transfer processes. These insights inform potential design optimizations for heat exchangers. The results emphasize the potential of the modified enthalpic LBM approach to elucidate complex heat transfer phenomena in non-homogeneous media and structured geometries, offering valuable implications for heat exchanger engineering and optimization.

The design complexity of the new generation of civil aero-engines results in higher demands on engines’ components, higher component temperature, higher heat generation, and, finally, critical thermal management issues. This paper will propose a methodological approach to create physics-based models for heat loads developed by sources as well as a systematic sensitivity analysis to identify the effects of design parameters on the thermal behaviour of civil aero-engines. The ranges and levels of heat loads generated by heat sources (e.g., accessory gearbox, bearing, pumps, etc.) and heat absorption capacity of heat sinks (e.g., engine fuel, oil, and air) are discussed systematically. The practical research challenges for thermal management system design and development for the new and next generation of turbofan engines will then be addressed through a sensitivity analysis of the heat load values as well as the heat sinks flow rates. The potential solutions for thermal performance enhancements of propulsion systems will be proposed and discussed accordingly.

L-gulonolactone oxidase enzyme (GULO) catalyzes the last step of L-ascorbic acid (vitamin C) biosynthesis. This enzymatic activity is lost in primates. The full-length rat GULO has been previously produced in plants and demonstrated to be active. In this study, we compare activity of two variants of GULO produced in Escheriachia coli cells, full-length rat GULO (fGULO) and its C-terminal catalytic domain (cGULO). The expression and purification of the recombinant proteins were optimised and their biological activity was confirmed by two methods, the GULO activity assay in the protein extracts and the ‘in-gel’ staining for GULO activity. Both variants of recombinant GULO were biologically active in both assays. However, cGULO is more promising than fGULO for ascorbic acid production because it is more efficiently produced by bacteria.

PSD-95 (Dlg4) is an ionotropic glutamate receptor scaffolding protein essential in synapse stability and neurotransmission. PSD-95 levels are reduced during aging and in neurodegenerative diseases like Huntington’s disease (HD), and it is believed to contribute to synaptic dysfunction and behavioral deficits. However, the mechanism responsible for PSD-95 dysregulation under these conditions is unknown. The Heat Shock transcription Factor 1 (HSF1), canonically known for its role in protein homeostasis, is also depleted in both aging and HD. Synaptic protein levels, including PSD-95, are influenced by alterations in HSF1 levels and activity, but the direct regulatory relationship between PSD-95 and HSF1 has yet to be determined. Here, we showed that HSF1 chronic or acute depletion in cell lines and mice decreased PSD-95 expression. Furthermore, HSF1(+/-) mice had reduced PSD-95 synaptic puncta that paralleled a loss in thalamo-striatal excitatory synapses, an important circuit disrupted early in HD. We demonstrated that HSF1 binds to regulatory elements present in the PSD-95 gene and directly regulates PSD-95 expression. HSF1 DNA-binding on the PSD-95 gene was disrupted in an age-dependent manner in WT mice and worsened in HD cells and mice, leading to reduced PSD-95 levels. These results demonstrate a direct role of HSF1 in synaptic gene regulation that has important implications in synapse maintenance in basal and pathological conditions.

The electric vehicle (EV) industry is experiencing rapid growth, accompanied by continuous advancements in charging infrastructure to satisfy the rising need for fast and reliable charging. Particularly, the focus has shifted towards EV fast charging (EVFC) and its impact on the power grid. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis and survey of scholarly literature and projects conducted in this field over the past decade. The findings highlight the rising demand for EVFC and the need to address its potential adverse effects on the power grid. However, there is a noticeable lack of clear research guidance regarding charging time. To tackle these challenges and pave the way for future solutions, extensive research on DC fast charging, ultra-fast charging, and the integration of vehicle-to-grid (V2G) systems is required. This review paper thoroughly investigates the development of fast charging technology for electric vehicles (EVs), including its advantages and comparative analyses from various perspectives. Furthermore, it delves into the advancements in DC fast charging infrastructure, emphasizing charging standards and control modes. The study also investigates different categories of battery chargers for both on-board and off-board charging. Additionally, it explores the classification of DC-DC converters in the context of DC fast charging stations, discusses control strategies for EV systems, identifies existing challenges, and outlines future trends in EV fast charging.

The objective of this work is to analyze the improvement of heat transfer in trapezoidal fin heat exchangers using numerical simulation. Heat exchangers are essential components frequently used in contemporary electronic gadgets to effectively disperse heat produced by high-power components. Nevertheless, as electronic devices continue to advance and become more powerful, the heat transfer capacity of heat exchangers is facing more requirements, therefore requiring enhanced heat dissipation efficiency. Afterwards, various fin angles were adjusted, and the heat transmission efficiency was compared. Modifying the angles can significantly improve the effi-ciency of convective heat dissipation. Moreover, it has been found that employing an optimized trapezoidal fin structure can further enhance the efficiency of heat transfer. The results indicate that trapezoidal fin heat exchangers provide superior heat dissipation efficiency compared to conventional heat exchangers. This is important for enhancing the thermal dissipation capabili-ties of electrical gadgets, hence guaranteeing steady functionality and extending their longevity. Subsequent study might explore supplementary methods to boost heat transmission in different heat exchanger configurations in order to meet the growing requirements for heat dissipation.

The oscillating heat pipe (OHP) is a new member in the family of heat pipes, and it has great potential applications in energy conservation. However, the fluid flow and heat transfer in the OHP as well as the fundamental effects of inner diameter on them have not been fully understood, which are essential to the design and optimization of the OHP in real applications. Therefore, by combining the high-speed visualization method and infrared thermal imaging technique, the fluid flow and thermal performance in the OHPs with inner diameters of 1, 2 and 3 mm are presented and analyzed. The results indicate that three fluid flow motions, including small oscillation, bulk oscillation and circulation, coexist or, respectively, exist alone with the increasing heating load under different inner diameters, with three flow patterns occurring in the OHPs, viz. bubbly flow, slug flow and annular flow. These fluid flow motions are closely correlated with the heat and mass transfer performance in the OHPs, which can be reflected by the characteristics of infrared thermal images of condensers. The decrease in the inner diameter increases the frictional flow resistance and capillary instability while restricting the nucleate boiling in OHPs, which leads to a smaller proportion of bubbly flow, a larger proportion of short slug flow, a poorer thermal performance, and easier dry-out of working fluid. In addition, when compared with the 2 mm OHP, the increasing role of gravity induces the thermosyphon effect and weakens the 'bubble pumping' action, which results in a little smaller and bigger thermal resistances of 3 mm OHP under small and bulk oscillation of working fluid, respectively.

In this paper, a semi-empirical model of air waves induced by falling rock is described. The model is composed of a uniform motion phase (velocity close to 0 m·s^-1) and an acceleration movement phase. The uniform motion phase was determined based on experimentally and the acceleration movement phase was derived by theoretical analysis. A series of experiments were performed to verify the semi-empirical model and elucidated the law of the uniform motion phase. The acceleration movement phase accounted for a larger portion with a greater height of the falling rock. Experimental results of different falling heights of the goaf showed close agreement with theoretical analysis values. The semi-empirical model could accurately and conveniently estimate the velocity of air wave induced by falling rock. Thus, the semi-empirical model can provide a reference and basis for estimating the speed of air waves and designing protective measures in mines.

Proteomics research has become one of the most important topics in the fields of life science and natural science. At present, research on protein–protein interaction networks (PPINs) mainly focuses on detecting protein complexes or function modules. However, existing approaches are either ineffective or incomplete. In this paper, we investigate function module detection mechanisms in PPIN, including open databases, existing detection algorithms and recent solutions. After that, we describe the proposed solution based on simplified swarm optimization (SSO) algorithm and gene ontology knowledge. The proposed solution implements SSO algorithm for clustering proteins with similar function, and imports biological gene ontology knowledge for further identifying function complexes and improving detection accuracy. Furthermore, we use four different categories of species dataset for experiment: Fruitfly, Mouse, Scere, and Human. The testing and analysis result show that the proposed solution is feasible, efficient and could achieve a higher accuracy of prediction than existing approaches.

Bicyclic peptides have attracted the interest of pharmaceutical companies because of their remarkable properties putting them on a new path in medicine. Their conformational rigidity that improves proteolytic stability, leads to rapid penetration into tissues via any possible route of administration and elimination, occurring by renal metabolism, is of great importance for people with a history of liver diseases. In addition, each ring can function independently, making them extremely versatile molecules for further optimization. In this paper we compared the potentiometric and spectroscopic properties studied by UV-Vis, MCD, and EPR, of four synthetic analogues of the bi-cyclic peptide c(PKKHP-c(CFWKTC)-PKKH). In particular we correlated the structural and spectral properties of complexes with coordinating abilities toward Cu(II) ions of MCL (Ac-PKKHPc(CFWKTC)PKKH-NH2) that contains the unbinding cycle and N- and C-terminal linear parts, with two histidine residues, one per part; two monocyclic ligands containing one histidine residue, both in the N-terminal position i.e., MCL2 (Ac-PKKHPc(CFWKTC)PKKS-NH2) and in the C-terminal position i.e., MCL3 (Ac-PKKSPc(CFWKTC)PKKH-NH2), respectively, and the linear structure LNL (Ac-PKKHPSFWKTSPKKH-NH2).

Almond is worldwide consumed and renowned as a valuable healthy food. In spite of this, it is also a potent source of allergenic proteins able to trigger several mild to life-threatening immunoreactions. Food processing proved to alter biochemical characteristics of proteins, thus affecting the respective allergenicity. In this paper we investigated the effect of autoclaving, preceded or not by a hydration step, on the biochemical and immunological properties of almond proteins. Any variation in the stability and immunoreactivity of almond proteins extracted from the treated materials, were evaluated by total protein quantification, ELISA assay and protein profiling by electrophoresis-based separation (SDS-PAGE). The autoclaving alone was found to weakly affect almond proteins stability, despite what observed for the combination of hydration and autoclaving, which resulted in a loss of approximately 70% of total protein content compared to untreated sample, and in a final negligible immunoreactivity, as well. The final SDS-PAGE protein pattern recorded for almonds hydrated and autoclaved disclosed significant changes. In addition, the same samples were further submitted to in vitro simulated gastro-duodenal (GI) digestion to evaluate potential changes induced by these processing on allergens digestibility. Digestion products were identified by HPLC-HRMS/MS analysis followed by software-based data mining, and complementary information were provided by analyzing the proteolytic fragments lower that 6 kDa in size. The autoclave based treatment was found not to alter the allergens digestibility, whereas an increased susceptibility to proteolytic action of digestive enzymes was observed in almonds subjected to the combination of prehydration and autoclaving. Finally, the residual immunoreactivity of the GI resistant peptides was investigated in-silico by bioinformatic tools, confirming that by following both approaches, no epitopes survived the almond digestion, thus demonstrating the potential effectiveness of these treatments to reduce almond allergenicity.

The combination of immunoPET—where an antibody (Ab) is labeled with an isotope for PET imaging—and radioimmunotherapy (RIT), using the same antibody with a therapeutic isotope, offers significant advantages in cancer management. ImmunoPET allows non-invasive imaging of antigen expression, which aids in patient selection for a subsequent radioimmunotherapy. It also facilitates the assessment of tumor response to therapy, allowing for treatment adjustments if necessary. In addition, immunoPET provides critical pharmacokinetic data, including antibody biodistribution and clearance rates, which are essential for dosimetry calculations and treatment protocol optimization. There are still challenges to overcome. Identifying appropriate target antigens that are selectively expressed on cancer cells while minimally expressed on normal tissues remains a major hurdle to reduce off-target toxicity. In addition, it is critical to optimize the pharmacokinetics of radio-labeled antibodies to maximize tumor uptake and minimize normal tissue uptake, particularly in vital organs such as the liver and kidney. This approach offers the potential for targeted and personalized cancer therapy with reduced systemic toxicity by exploiting the specificity of monoclonal antibodies and the cytotoxic effects of radiation. However, further research is needed to address remaining challenges and to optimize these technologies for clinical use.

This study was first time designed to investigate the effect of oxidation on protein digestion and transport properties in boiled sea cucumber body wall (BSCBW) via simulated digestion combine with everted-rat-gut-sac models. Boiling heat treatments led to protein oxidation in SCBW, manifested by increases in free radical intensity, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances, carbonyl groups, disulfide bonds, dityrosine bonds, advanced glycation end products, protein hydrophobicity and aggregation, declines in free sulfhydryl group, and secondary structure transition from α-helix to β-sheet. Boiling for 2 h caused the anti-digestion collagen unfolding, provided the action site for protease, and improved the protein digestion and transport levels. On the contrary, excessive oxidative modification of 4 h-BSCBW resulted in decreased protein digestion and transport levels. From the perspective of texture, digestion and transport properties, boiling for 2 h can obtain sea cucumber products with better edible and digestible properties, which is considered to be a better processing condition.

Enhancing energy efficiency within the building sector is imperative to curbing energy losses, given that this sector alone contributes to over 34% of global energy consumption. Employing a building management system, along with its regular updates, presents a strategic avenue to decrease energy usage, enhance building energy efficiency, and more. Tailored control strategies, aligned with the unique characteristics and usage patterns of each building, are essential for achieving energy savings. This article presents an evaluation of HVAC system efficiency in office buildings, utilizing a data-driven approach coupled with simulations conducted in IDA ICE software. The research explores the control strategy of an office building equipped with a constant air volume HVAC system, featuring a regularly controlled air handling unit. The objective is to boost energy efficiency while striking a balance between occupant comfort and energy consumption. Findings indicate that by analyzing measured data and adjusting configurable parameters, building energy consumption can be significantly reduced. Close monitoring of indoor parameters by building operators and corresponding adjustments to the HVAC system can yield energy savings of up to 16%. Leveraging these insights, the paper suggests integrating data-driven and dynamic simulation methods into building management system models to optimize HVAC systems, enhance energy efficiency, and advance ambitious carbon neutrality objectives.

Introduction: Glomerulopathy is a term used to describe a broad spectrum of renal diseases, character-ized by dysfunction of glomerular filtration barrier, especially of podocytes. Several podocyte-associated proteins have been found and proved their usefulness as urine markers of podocyte dysfunction. Two of them are nephrin (NEP) and prodocalyxin (PDC). Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the association of podocyte damage, as it is demonstrated via the concentrations of urinary proteins, with clinical and histological data from patients with several types of glomerulonephritis. Methods: We measured urine levels of two podocyte-specific markers, NEP and PDC (corrected for urine creatinine levels), in patients with a wide range of glomerulopathies. Serum and urine parameters as well as histological parameters from renal biopsy were recorded. Results: In total, data from 37 patients with glomerulonephritis and 5 healthy controls were analyzed. PDC and NEP concentrations correlated between them and with serum creatinine levels (p=0.001 and p=0.013 respectively), and with histological lesions associated with chronicity index of renal cortex, such as severe interstitial fibrosis, severe tubular atrophy and hyalinosis (for PDC/NEP, all p3gr/24h with diffuse fusion of podocyte foot processes (p=0.016) was identified. Conclusions: Podocalyxin and nephrin concentrations in urine represent markers of podocyte dysfunction and in our study they were associated both with serum creatinine and histological chronicity indices.

The building envelope has the most significant contribution in the reduction of the building energy consumption. Application of new, alternative and improved materials and systems has an important impact on the buildings performances. This paper is focused on the thermal transmittance, as an indicator of the thermal conductance of the construction element. It includes comparisons of the U-values, calculated by software, with those measured in situ on three representative façade walls. The walls have been constructed with the new wall system Fragmat NZ-1, a new product in Macedonian buildings. This research provides basic information on the thermal transmittance of the system. The results of the analysis show that the in situ measuring is a useful tool in validation of the precision of analytically calculated values, since it was difficult to obtain precise results from the analytical calculations only, especially when the layers are with non-uniform thickness.

Properties of time domain parameters of the vibration signal have been extensively studied for the fault diagnosis of rolling element bearings (REB). Parameters like kurtosis and Envelope Harmonic-to-Noise Ratio are most widely applied in this field and some important progress has been made. However, since only one-sided information is contained in these parameters respectively, problems still exist in practice when the signals collected are of complicated structure and/or contaminated by strong background noises. A new parameter, named Shock pulse index (SPI), is proposed in this paper. It integrates the mutual advantage of both parameters above and can help effectively identify fault related impulse components under the interference of strong background noises, unrelated harmonic components and random impulses. The SPI optimizes the parameters of Maximum Correlated Kurtosis Deconvolution (MCKD), which is used to filter the signals under consideration. Finally, the interested transient information contained in the filtered signal can be highlighted through demodulation with Teager Energy Operator (TEO). Fault related impulse components can therefore be extracted accurately. Simulations and experiment analyses verify the effectiveness and correctness of the SPI.

The Double U-pipe ground heat exchanger, recognized for its straightforward process, cost-effectiveness, high heat exchange efficiency, and low thermal resistance, stands as the predominant ground heat exchanger type in today's shallow geothermal energy development and utilization. Recent years have seen significant research into the heat transfer influencing factors and heat exchange performance of Double U-pipe ground heat ex-changers via experimental testing methods. Yet, studies integrating numerical simulation with in-situ testing have been less frequent. Drawing on the cylindrical heat source model theory and the outcomes of regional in-situ thermal response tests, this paper develops a Double U-pipe ground heat transfer model by establishing physical, mathematical, and heat transfer geometric models. It assesses the impact of varying inlet temperatures, flow rates, and initial ground temperatures on heat exchange efficiency under heating conditions. The results validate the precision of the double U-pipe ground heat exchanger model based on in-situ testing. They show that enhancing the temperature differential between the inlet and initial temperatures, elevating the initial ground temperature, and moderately increasing the flow rate can boost the system's heat exchange efficiency.

Quite a number of cottonseed varieties are existed. The seeds of each variety produce a different amount of gossypol as a natural toxic compound. The increased interest in this natural product and its toxic effects were enhanced the demand for establishing simple silica-gel-based methods for its isolation, purification, and characterization. Historically, silica gel plays a significant role in isolation and purification of many different natural products. Silica gel is variants and can intro-duce a lab, simple tool for tracking a compound in certain plants during its purification process. In this study, gossypol was isolated and purified in the form of yellow crystals as gossypol acetic ac-id. Several methods and tools were used for its characterization including TLC, preparative TLC, silica gel column, UV/IR spectrophotometer and HPLC (Robust spherical silica gel). A compara-tive study between its amounts in both Egyptian and Chinese varieties were performed. Under the experimental condition, the Egyptian cottonseeds contain 8.705 gm/kg, while the Chinese contains 5.395 gm/kg. Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) had been flourished the science of the phytochemistry and still popular till nowadays and is recommended for fast, accurate, and inex-pensive evaluation and quantification of gossypol. It is recommended to isolate and purify gossy-pol as gossypol acetic acid using optimized combined methods used in this study. Using Silica gel different protocols will assist and facilitate the parallel comparison and save the compact column from any unexpected contaminants during the purification steps. During each step the silica gel itself could be simply removed by paper filtration.

Wind energy is a kind of renewable energy with great potential for development. This study mainly investigated the application of shock waves generated by high-pressure gases (wind energy) for generating energy. In this study, we designed a new supersonic shock wave generator that can be reused without disassembling and assembling bolts and developed a supersonic shock wave monitoring system. This system monitored the velocity of the generated shock waves, which was Mach 3-5, and the output pressure was more than 100 times higher than the input pressure of the shock wave generator tank.Then, we developed a power generation system driven by supersonic shock waves based on the characteristics of the new shock wave generator, which can generate high-pressure and high-speed blast waves and can be reused. The shock wave generator can repeatedly generate high-pressure waves to drive the Tesla turbine and then the magnetic energy generator for power generation. We established a complete control process for power generation driven by shock waves by controlling the valve stem. The system can detect the tank pressure, output pressure, gas flow, rotation speed, voltage, and current during the control process for the performance analysis of power generation.

Grill-specific footprints for common fuels/grill types in the USA are estimated from public information and data from a major grill manufacturer. These are a function of both 1) a fuel’s footprint and 2) a grill’s efficiency of cooking. In 2022, grill-specific footprints vary by 9:1. A typical gas grill is highest at 3.6 lb CO2e/grill session, nine times that of a wood-pellet grill, lowest at 0.4 lb. Charcoal briquettes, electricity and super-efficient gas grills come in-between. Pellets are lowest, because they are made from waste wood and their production burden is modest. Electricity has the highest fuel footprint, yet the second-lowest grill-specific footprint, thanks to its high efficiency. Briquettes come in fourth, because their production involves fossil gas, and they contain some fossil coal. Grill efficiency is key for gas (natural gas or propane): a typical gas grill has twice the footprint of a super-efficient one. In 2027, with bio substitution, the super-efficient gas grill would move ahead of pellets. Electricity and charcoal could improve but would still place fifth and sixth. The range of grill-specific footprints could fall to 4.5:1, within a much-lower range, the highest footprint in 2027 almost 60% lower than 2022’s highest.

Heat shock transcription factors (HSFs) participate in regulating many environmental stress responses and biological processes in plants. Maize (Zea mays L.) is a major cash crop that is grown worldwide. However, the growth and yield of maize are affected by several adverse environmental inputs. Therefore, investigating the factors that regulate maize growth and development and resistance to abiotic stress is an essential task for developing stress-resilient maize varieties. Thus, a comprehensive genome-wide identification analysis was performed to identify HSFs in the maize genome. The current study identified 25 ZmHSFs, randomly distributed throughout the maize genome. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that ZmHSFs are divided into three classes and 13 sub-classes. Gene structure and protein motif analysis supported the results obtained through the phylogenetic analysis. Domain analysis showed the DNA-binding domain to be the most conserved region of ZmHSFs. Segmental duplication is shown to be responsible for the expansion of ZmHSFs. Most of the ZmHSFs are localized inside the nucleus, and the ZmHSFs which belong to the same group show similar physio-chemical properties. The 3D structures revealed comparable conserved ZmHSFs protein structures. RNA-seq analysis revealed a major role of class A HSFs including, ZmHSFA-1a and ZmHSFA-2a in all the maize growth stages, i.e., seed, vegetative, and reproductive development. Furthermore, ZmHSFs displayed an obvious spatiotemporal expression. Under abiotic stress conditions (heat, drought, cold, UV, and salinity), members of class A and B ZmHSFs are induced. Gene ontology (GO) annotation analysis indicated a major role of ZmHSFs in resistance to environmental stress and regulation of primary metabolism. Further, the protein-protein interaction analysis showed that ZmHSFs interact with several molecular chaperons and major stress-responsive proteins. To summarize, this study provides novel insights for functional studies on the ZmHSFs in maize breeding programs.

As modern systems are becoming more complex their control strategy cannot longer relay only on measurement information that usually comes from probes but also from mathematical models. Those systems models can lead to unbearable computation times due to their own complexity, turning the control process non-viable, which leads to the implementation of surrogate models that enable to achieve estimates within acceptable time to take decisions. A control trained with Deep Reinforcement Learning algorithm, using a Physics-Informed Neural Network to obtain the temperature map on the following time step, replaces the need of running Direct Numerical Simulations. On this work we considered an 1D heat conduction problem, which temperature distribution feeds a control system to activate a heat source aiming to obtain a constant, previously defined, temperature value. With this approach, control training becomes much faster without the need of performing numerical simulations or laboratory measurements, as well the control is taken based on Neural Network enabling its implementation on simple processors to edge computing.

Abstract: Currently, antibodies are major therapeutic modalities in biopharmaceutical research and development. Because of required high dose for certain clinical applications, antibodies are formulated at high protein concentration for convenience of administration, shipping and storage. We will describe the inter-molecular interactions that can occur in such a crowded environment of high protein concentration. Two types of repulsive interactions, i.e., electrostatic and excluded volume effects, and three types of attractive interactions, i.e., hydrophobic, electrostatic and cross-linking, need to be considered in such a crowded environments. We then show consequences of such inter-molecular interactions, leading to high viscosity, opalescence and phase separation of antibody solutions. Co-solvents are used to control the stability, structure and molecular interactions and thereby to alleviate these solution problems. Among various co-solvents, arginine has been extensively used to suppress protein-protein interactions at high protein concentration. Arginine weakly but extensively interacts with aromatic/hydrophobic groups as well as charged groups on proteins, leading to effective suppression of viscosity, opalescence and phase separation of antibody solution.

Это исследование сосредоточено на разработке системы искусственного зрения для гибкого дельта-робота-манипулятора и ее интеграции с межмашинной связью для оптимизации взаимодействия устройств в реальном времени. Эта интеграция направлена ​​на увеличение скорости роботизированной системы и улучшение ее общей производительности. Предлагаемое сочетание системы искусственного зрения с межмашинной связью позволяет обнаруживать и распознавать цели с высокой точностью в режиме реального времени в ограниченном пространстве, предназначенном для позиционирования, дальнейшей локализации и выполнения производственных процессов, таких как сборка или сортировка деталей. . В данном исследовании RGB-изображения используются в качестве входных данных для алгоритма MASK-R-CNN, а результаты обрабатываются в соответствии с особенностями прототипа дельта-манипулятора робота. Данные, полученные от MASK-R-CNN, адаптированы для использования в системе управления дельта-роботом с учетом ее уникальных характеристик и требований к позиционированию. Технология M2M позволяет манипулятору робота быстро реагировать на изменения, например, на перемещение объектов или изменение их положения, что имеет решающее значение для задач сортировки и упаковки. Система была протестирована в условиях, близких к реальным, чтобы оценить ее производительность и надежность.

In this paper, we study the well-posedness and asymptotics of a one-dimensional thermoelastic laminated beam system either with or without structural damping, where the heat conduction is given by Fourier's law effective in the rotation angle displacements. We show that the system is well-posed by using Lumer-Philips theorem, and prove that the system is exponentially stable if and only if the wave speeds are equal, by using the perturbed energy method and Gearhart-Herbst-Prüss-Huang theorem. Furthermore, we show that the system with structural damping is polynomially stable provided that the wave speeds are not equal, by using the second-order energy method.

The quinoline derivative, N-(7-chloro-4-morpholinoquinolin-2-yl)benzamide, was synthesized in a conventional three-step procedure from 4,7-dichloroquinoline using N-oxidation reaction/C2-amidation reaction/C4 SNAr reaction sequence. The structure of the compound was fully characterized by FT-IR, 1H‐, 13C-NMR, DEPT-135°, and ESI-MS techniques. Its physicochemical parameters (Lipinski’s descriptors) were also calculated using the online SwissADME database. Such derivatives are relevant therapeutic agents exhibiting potent anticancer, antibacterial, antifungal, and antiparasitic properties.

BMAP-27 peptide known to exert cytotoxic effects against cancer cells by membrane integrity disruption. In the current investigation, we aimed to study the role of the BMAP-27 peptide in reducing colon cancer cell proliferation and inducing apoptosis. This study utilized both primary and metastatic colon cancer cell lines (SW480 and SW620). Proliferation was measured using CCK-8, and cellular damage was analyzed by lactate dehydrogenase assay. The study assessed apoptosis, cell cycle, and proliferation by measuring the expression of CASPASE3, BAX, BCL-2, TP53, CDK-6, PCNA, Wnt11, AXIN1, and CTNNB1. Additionally, in-silico studies were conducted to determine the binding affinities of BMAP-27 with APC and β-catenin proteins. BMAP-27 peptide reduced colon cancer cell proliferation, upregulated CASPASE3, BAX, TP53, AXIN1 expression, and downregulated BCL-2, CDK-6, PCNA, WNT11, CTNNB1 in both colon cancer cell lines, however, demonstrated higher activity in primary than metastatic colon cancer cells. The molecular dynamic simulation revealed substantial binding affinity of the peptide to adenomatous polyposis coli and β-catenin proteins.BMAP-27 peptide effectively inhibited the proliferation and enhanced apoptosis in the primary than in metastatic colon cancer cells. In-silico findings suggest that BMAP-27 exhibits a strong binding affinity with APC and β-catenin, highlighting its potential role as an anti-colon cancer agent.

: Cytokine storm is usually described as one of the main reasons behind COVID-associated mor-tality. Cytokines are essential protein molecules engaged in immune responses; they play a critical role in protection against infections. However, they also contribute to inflammatory reactions and tissue damage, becoming a double-edged sword in the context of COVID-19. Recent studies have suggested various cytokines and chemokines that play a crucial role in the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection. One such cytokine is Interleukin 27 (IL-27), which has been found to be elevated in the blood plasma of patients with COVID-19. Within this study, we will explore the role of IL-27 in immune responses and address our own findings concerning this cytokine in COVID-19. It affects a wide variety of immune cells; regardless of the pathological process it is involved in, IL-27 is critical for upholding the necessary balance between tissue damage and cytotoxicity against in-fectious agents and/or tumors. In COVID-19, it is involved in multiple processes, including antiviral cytotoxicity via CD8+ cells, IgG subclass switching, and even the activation of Tregs.

Abstract: Peptide pools composed of short amino acid sequences have proven to be versatile tools in various research areas and clinical applications. They are powerful tools for epitope mapping, immunotherapy, and vaccine development. Their importance lies in their ability to map complex protein structures, enabling a comprehensive understanding of immune responses and facilitating the identification of potential therapeutic agents. The application of peptide pools also extends to the field of personalized medicine, offering tailored solutions for diseases such as cancer and infectious diseases. Peptide pools are complex mixtures of immunostimulatory antigens primarily intended for T-cell stimulation. They are commercially available in many different compositions and variants. However, unlike other reagents that consist of only one or a few compounds, peptide pools are highly complex products with limited stability. This makes their quality control a major challenge. Quantitative peptide analysis usually requires sophisticated methods, in most cases isotope-labeled standards and reference materials. None of these are routinely available for these products. Synthesis and purification of all labeled peptides might be required. Usually, this approach would be prohibitively laborious and expensive. Therefore, an approach is needed to provide a practical and feasible method for quality control of peptide pools. With insufficient quality control, the use of such products could lead to incorrect experimental results, which would worsen the well-known reproducibility crisis in the biomedical sciences. Here we propose the use of ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) with two detectors, a standard UV detector (at 214 nm) for quantitative analysis and a high-resolution mass spectrometer (HRMS) for identity confirmation. To be cost-efficient and fast, quantification and identification are performed in one chromatographic run. An optimized protocol is shown, and different peak integration methods are compared and discussed. This work was performed using a peptide pool known as CEF, which consists of 32 peptides derived from cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and influenza virus, ranging from 8 to 12 amino acids in length.

Cells form a bipolar spindle during mitosis to ensure accurate chromosome segregation. Proper spindle architecture is established by a set of kinesin motors and microtubule-associated proteins. In most eukaryotes, kinesin-5 motors are essential for this process, and genetic or chemical inhibition of their activity leads to the emergence of monopolar spindles and cell death. However, these deficiencies can be rescued by simultaneous inactivation of kinesin-14 motors, as they counteract kinesin-5. We conducted detailed genetic analyses in fission yeast to understand the mechanisms driving spindle assembly in the absence of kinesin-5. Here we show that deletion of the nrp1 gene, which encodes a putative RNA-binding protein with unknown function, can rescue temperature sensitivity caused by cut7-22, a fission yeast kinesin-5 mutant. Interestingly, kinesin-14/Klp2 levels on the spindles in the cut7 mutants were significantly reduced by the nrp1 deletion, although the total levels of Klp2 and the stability of spindle microtubules remained unaffected. Moreover, RNA-binding motifs of Nrp1 are essential for its cytoplasmic localization and function. We have also found that a portion of Nrp1 is spatially and functionally sequestered by chaperone-based protein aggregates upon mild heat stress and limits cell division at high temperatures. We propose that Nrp1 might be involved in post-transcriptional regulation through its RNA-binding ability to promote the loading of Klp2 on the spindle microtubules.

Energy imports and the transition to renewable energy sources are of critical importance in the current geopolitical context, which necessitates concrete actions to tackle the energy crisis at the European Union level. The study aims to explore the impact of imported non-renewable energy resources on the EU-27 economy. It examines the correlations and causal relationships between GDP, GVA, R&amp;D investments, and energy imports from 2000 to 2021. Data normality was assessed using the Shapiro-Wilk test, while Pearson's test identified correlations between variables. Linear and multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine the effects of changes in independent variables on dependent variables. The study found a strong association between natural gas imports and GDP, with increases in GDP leading to a more than fourfold rise in imports. Furthermore, multiple regression analysis indicated that a 1% increase in R&amp;D investments results in a 2.21% decrease in fossil fuel imports in 91.7% of cases. This suggests that R&amp;D investments contribute to improved efficiency and the use of renewable energy sources.

Introduction: The viral respiratory disorder known as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is caused by the SARS-associated coronavirus. End of May 2021, there have been over 170 million reported cases and more than 3.53 million deaths worldwide. In the field of cardiovascular performance, the shock index (SI) is a simple and widely used formula that measures the physiological response prior to systemic hypotension. It is obtained by dividing the heart rate by the systolic blood pressure. Another parameter, the modified shock index (MSI), is defined as the ratio of heart rate to mean arterial pressure (MAP). Methods: In this retrospective study, we examined the data of COVID-19 patients who were admitted to the ICU between June 1st, 2020, and January 31st, 2021. The patient details were collected from the Medical Records Department (MRD) in a tertiary care center. A case-recorded proforma was used to record the patient information, which was then analyzed using SPSS software. Results: The mean age of the patients was 67 years, consisting of 64 males (68.9%) and 29 females (31.1%). The standard deviation was calculated as 13.557. Among the patients, the minimum age recorded was 28, while the maximum age was 97. Patients with known CAD (Coronary Artery Disease) had a higher mortality rate among comorbidities. The p-value for Shock Index and Mortality Status was 0.205 (with an alpha value greater than 0.05), indicating no significant association. However, the modified shock index (MSI) showed a significant association with mortality status. The Pearson chi-square value for MSI and Mortality Status was 4.19, with a p-value of 0.041 (with an alpha value less than 0.05). These results suggest that there is a higher risk of mortality for patients with a Modified Shock Index of less than 0.7 or greater than 1.3. The MSI Odds ratio was found to be 4.500, indicating that such patients have a 4.5 times higher risk of mortality compared to others. Conclusion: In conclusion, our study found that there is no significant association between the Shock Index (SI) and mortality, as the p-value was greater than 0.05. However, the Modified Shock Index (MSI) showed a significant association with mortality status, with a p-value less than 0.05. This suggests that patients with a Modified Shock Index less than 0.7 or greater than 1.3 are at a higher risk of mortality. It is important to consider these findings when assessing the prognosis and potential interventions for COVID-19 patients.

The aim of the study was to analyze the in ovo injection of chemically and biologically synthesized silver nano-particles (Ag NPs) using Brassica oleracea L. var capitate f. Rubra, (BOL) conjugation with L-Arginine (L-Arg) on the immune, muscle growth, survivability and hatchability of the broiler chickens. L-Arg (100 μg) conjugated with 1000 µg of Ag NPs synthesized by (BOL)-extract and L-Arg (100 μg) conjugated with 100 µg of Ag NPs chemically synthesized were injected into fertile eggs at 8d, 14d and 18d of incubation. Living embryo and hatched chicks were calculated. Survivability and hatchability were not affected by the injected dose of L-Arg (100 μg) with 1000 µg (BOL-Ag NPs) and L-Arg (100 μg) with 100 µg (C-Ag NPs) but it significantly improved when the eggs were injected on day 14 of incubation compared with those injected on days 8 or 18. Moreover, the protein expression of muscle development markers such as myogenin and myoD were significantly up-related in 14 d of incubation whereas the heat shock proteins (HSPs) such as HSP-60 and HSP-70 were significantly up-regulated in 18 d incubation. In addition, the in ovo injection on 18 d significantly increased the serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT) and serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT) as well the immunoglobulin (IgM) levels were increased in 14d incubation period in serum at the same concentration.

Researchers are exploring solutions to meet the growing demand for protein due to the expected increase in global population by 2050. Interest in alternative protein sources like insects has risen, driven by concerns about environmental impact and the need for sustainable food production. This study aimed to develop and evaluate the physicochemical properties of soy protein-based burger enriched with insect protein from Alphitobius diaperinus. Three formulations were developed: a control (B0), and burgers with 5% (B5) and 10% (B10) insect protein - Whole Buffalo Powder (WBP). Results showed that adding insect protein decreased the burger analogue's pH. There was observed a clear trend of increasing total lipids and SFA, and decreasing MUFA and PUFA, as the WBP concentration increases from 0% to 10%. No significant differences with increasing WBP concentration in the protein content of the burger analogue, as well as the cooking yield, were noted. The WBP addition had a notable effect on the color change, especially decrease in brightness (L*). It was shown that as the WBP concentration increased, there were no significant differences in the texture profile of the burger analogues. The formulation with 5% WBP concentration was the most acceptable in sensory analysis.

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a vital process for depositing thin films of various materials with precise control over thickness, composition, and properties. Understanding the heat and mass transfer mechanisms during CVD is essential for optimizing process parameters and ensuring high-quality film deposition. This review provides an overview of recent advancements in the heat and mass transfer modeling for chemical vapor deposition processes. It explores innovative modeling techniques, recent research findings, emerging applications, and challenges in the field. Additionally, it discusses future directions and potential areas for further advancement in CVD modeling.

To achieve low-cost and on-demand launches of micro satellites, the authors have been researching and developing a micro hybrid rocket since 2014. In 2018, a ballistic launch experiment was performed using the developed hybrid rocket, where it reached an altitude of about 6.2 km. The rocket engine had a 3D-printed solid fuel grain made of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) resin in combination with a nitrous-oxide oxidizer. The fuel grain port had a star-fractal swirl geometry in order to increase the surface area of the port, to promote the laminar-turbulent transition by increasing the friction resistance, and to give a swirling velocity component to the oxidizer flow. This overcame the hybrid rocket’s drawback of low fuel regression rate; i.e., it achieved a higher fuel-gas generation rate compared with a classical port geometry. In 2021, the hybrid rocket engine was scaled up and its total impulse was increased to over 50 kNs for reaching an altitude of 15 km. In addition to the engine, other components were also improved, such as through incorporation of lightweight structures, low-shock separation devices, a high-reliability telemetry device and data logger, while keeping costs low. The rocket was launched and reached an altitude of about 10.1 km, which broke the previous Japanese altitude record of 8.3 km for hybrid rockets. The presentation will report on the developed components from the viewpoint of system design and the results of the ballistic launch experiments.

The most important plastic resins used for wire coating are Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC), Nylon, Polysulfone and Low-high density polyethylene (LDPE / HDPE). In this article,the coating process is performed using elastic-viscous fluid as a coating material for wire coating in a pressure type coating die. The elastic-viscous fluid is electrically conducted in the presence of an applied magnetic field. The governing non-linear equations are modeled and then solved analytically by utilizing an Adomian decomposition method (ADM). The convergence of the series solution is established. The results are also verified by Optimal Homotopy Asymptotic Method (OHAM). The effect of different emerging parameters such as non-Newtonian parameters α and β, magnetic parameter M and the Brinkman number Br on solutions (velocity and temperature profiles) are discussed through several graphs. Additionally, the current result also compares with the published work already available in the literature.

Cement-free concrete has superior physical performance, such as strength and durability, compared to OPC concrete, however, it has the disadvantage of large shrinkage. Large shrinkage can cause cracks due to shrinkage stress in the long term. In this study, a shrinkage reducing agent (SRA) was used to reduce the shrinkage of cement-free mortar; its content was increased from 0.0 to 1.5 %. For an SRA content of 1.0 %, a calcium sulfoaluminate (CSA) expansive additive (EA) (2.5, 5.0, and 7.5%) was added. To calculate the shrinkage stress of cement-free mortar using the SRA and EA, the compressive strength, elastic modulus, and total and autogenous shrinkage were measured. The unit shrinkage stress of cement-free mortar was obtained by multiplying the elastic modulus by the length change and accumulated to obtain the shrinkage stress acting on the mortar according to the age. The shrinkage stress of cement-free mortar showed different tendencies as the age increased. At early ages, the shrinkage rate of the mortar occupied a large proportion of the shrinkage stress. In the long term, the shrinkage stress was significantly affected by the elastic modulus. As a result, SRA was found to be effective in reducing the shrinkage stress by decreasing both the elastic modulus and shrinkage. However, EA increased the shrinkage stress over the long term due to an increase in elastic modulus even though it compensated for early-ages shrinkage.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of heat stress on some biochemical parameters in the blood of dairy cows raised in Bulgaria. The study was conducted on a dairy farm with a capacity of 500 cows, Holstein breed, raised in free-group housing in individual resting boxes. The research was carried out over three seasons: spring, summer, and autumn, with a total of 90 blood samples collected from the cows raised on the farm - 30 blood samples for each season, including cows from the 30th to the 60th day of lactation. Temperature and humidity data were obtained from the nearest meteorological station to the farm. Based on this data, the minimum, average, and maximum values of the temperature-humidity index were calculated. The analysis of variance revealed that the month of the study significantly influenced the following blood parameters: glucose, urea, total protein, cortisol, prolactin, and Ca (P < 0.001). Analysis of the data expressed by LS mean values clearly shows that during the hot months, dairy cows experience a deficit of energy from carbohydrate sources, which they compensate for from other non-carbohydrate sources. Confirmation of this is seen in the blood glucose values, which during the summer are 1.50 mmol/l, approximately twice as low as the values measured during spring and autumn. Regarding urea concentration, a final product of protein metabolism, the values recorded during the summer are 5.3 mmol/l, 1.5 times higher compared to other study periods. As a result of the metabolic load on the liver, the values of hepatic enzymes (ASAT and ALAT) decrease during the summer months, respectively to 93.92 and 17.68 U/L. Cortisol levels in the blood during the summer were registered at 50.92 nmol/l, indicating that cows are under stress. Values for prolactin are of interest, with the highest values being recorded in spring - 1.09 mlU/I. During the summer and autumn studies, the values are 0.99 and 0.89 mlU/I, respectively. A similar trend of decreasing values from spring to autumn season is observed in total blood protein, namely 89.93; 81.99, and 74.36 g/l.

This article discusses the application of thermal quality control methods for plant tissues. The purpose of the work is to determine the optimal parameters of thermal impact on a spherical-shaped plant control object, ensuring the detection of surface and subsurface defects. The authors of the work proposed mathematical models of the temperature field for a spherical body with defects and a flat sample when exposed to the thermal influence of a pulsed source. As a result of the use of mathematical models, the thermophysical characteristics of plant tissues of varying degrees of disease damage were obtained, which made it possible to simulate the temperature field of the control object and obtain an image of classified tissues. The developed recommendations made it possible to select the optimal parameters of the thermal effect on the test object.

The pressure exerted on the heart and blood vessels because of blood flow is considered as an important parameter for the cardiovascular function. It determines sufficient blood perfusion as well as transportation of nutrition, oxygen and other essential factors to every organ. Pressure in the primary arteries located near the heart and the brain, known as central blood pressure (CBP), while in peripheral arteries, known as peripheral blood pressure (PBP). Normally, CBP and PBP are correlated; however, cardiovascular disorders interfere their regulation and affect the blood flow in vital organs and accessory organs, differently. Therefore, understanding each of them in normal and disease conditions is essential for managing various cardiovascular disorders and increasing their treatment outcomes. In this review, we have described the control systems (neural, hormonal, osmotic and cellular) of the blood pressure and its regulation in hypovolemic shock using centhaquine (Lyfaquin®) as a resuscitative agent.

Due to the incomplete of China's current social security system, health shocks are one of the main risks faced by rural families. Using data from the 2019 China Household Finance Survey, we examined the impact of borrowing on household welfare when rural households face health shocks. We found that household income and food expenditure both declined significantly when rural households faced health shocks; rural household borrowing was mainly used for the treatment of the diseases, and it had a crowding out effect on tourism and general health care expenditures, but not on education expenditures. We also found that the impact of borrowing on the western region was higher than that on the central and eastern regions from Looking at the impact of borrowing in different regions. Finally, we put forward some suggestions for promoting sustainable rural development from the perspective of medical security, such as accelerating the promotion of new rural medical insurance, helping rural low-income families improve health benefits, establishing diversified financing channels, improving rural financial platforms, and solving the financing difficulties of households to improve the ability of rural households to resist health shocks.

Due to environmental concerns, natural refrigerants and their use in refrigeration and air conditioning systems are receiving more attention from manufacturers, end users and the scientific community. The study of heat transfer and pressure drop is essential for accurate design and more energy efficient cycles using natural refrigerants. The aim of this work is to provide an overview of the latest outcomes related to heat transfer and pressure drop correlations for ammonia, propane, isobutane and propylene and to investigate the current state of the art in terms of operating conditions. Available data on the existing correlations of heat transfer coefficient and pressure drop for natural refrigerants have been collected through a systematic search. Whenever possible, validity intervals are given for each correlation and the error is quantified. It is the intention of the authors that this could be a valuable support for researchers and an aid to design, with particular reference to heat pumps. A procedure based on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement was adopted, and the Scopus database was used to query the relevant literature. A total of 135 publications qualified for inclusion in the survey; 34 articles report experimental investigations for not usual geometric conditions. Of the 101 selected papers related to usual geometric conditions, N = 50 deal only with HTC, N = 16 deal only with pressure drop and the remainder (N = 35) analyse both HTC and pressure drop. Among the 85 HTC papers (N = 53) deal with the evaporating condition, N = 30 with condensation and only N = 2 with the heat transfer correlations under both conditions. Most of the 101 articles concern propane and isobutane. The high temperatures are less widely investigated.

The p53 tumor suppressor protein shows antiviral activity. The replication of viruses is also antagonized by interferons (IFNs) – cytokines, which control immunity genes by the STAT transcription factors. The best studied interferons belong to type I (e.g. IFNα) and type II (IFNγ) groups. IFNα and IFNγ both induce activating phosphorylation of STAT1 on Tyr701. Previously, we noticed that p53 activates SOCS1, which is a negative regulator of STAT1 phosphorylation. Thus, we hypothesized that p53 by activating SOCS1 expression reduces phosphorylation of STAT1 and attenuates activation of genes stimulated either by IFNα or IFNγ. To test this hypothesis, we exposed p53-proficient and p53-deficient cells to strong p53 activators, and either to IFNα or IFNγ. Subsequently, we estimated the phosphorylation status of STAT1 and the expression of genes regulated by either of these cytokines. Strong activation of p53 reduced the phosphorylation of STAT1 on Tyr701, however surprisingly it did not lead to reduced expression of most tested interferon-stimulated genes. On contrary, p53 and IFNγ synergized in the activation of CASP1, IFIT1 and IFIT3 genes. We conclude that the interactions between p53 and interferon-activated pathways are more complicated than initially expected, but the apparent cooperation between p53 and IFNγ deserves further studies.

Despite being stored at 113 K and atmospheric pressure, LNG cold potential is not exploited to reduce green ships’ energy needs. An innovative system based on three Organic Ranking Cycles integrated into the regasification equipment is proposed to produce additional power and recover cooling energy from condensers. A first-law analysis identified ethylene and ethane as suitable working fluids for the first and the second ORC making available freshwater and ice. Propane, ammonia and propylene could be arbitrarily employed in the third ORC for air-conditioning. An environmental analysis that combines exergy efficiency, ecological indices and hazard aspects for marine environment and ship’s passengers, indicated propylene as safer and more environmentally friendly. The exergy analysis confirms more than 20% of the LNG potential can be recovered from every cycle to produce a net clean power of 76 kW, whereas 270 kW can be saved by recovering condensers' cooling power to satisfy some ship needs. Assuming the sailing mode, a limitation of 162 kg in LNG consumptions was determined, avoiding the emission of 1584 kg of CO2 per day. Marine thermal pollution is reduced by 3.5 times by recovering the working fluids' condensation heat for the LNG pre-heating.

This paper presents a new semi-explicit algorithm for parameters estimation in a time-fractional generalization of dual-phase-lag heat conduction model with the Caputo fractional derivatives. It is shown that this model can be derived from a general linear constitutive relation for the heat transfer by conduction when the heat conduction relaxation kernel contains the Mittag-Leffler function. The model can be used to describe heat conduction phenomena in a material with power-law memory. The proposed algorithm of parameters estimation is based on the time integral characteristics method. The explicit representations of the thermal diffusivity and the fractional analogues of the thermal relaxation time and the thermal retardation are obtained via a Laplace transform of the temperature field and utilized in the algorithm. An implicit relation is derived for the order of fractional differentiation. In the algorithm, this relation is resolved numerically. An example illustrates the proposed technique.

The emergence of the coronavirus 19 (COVID-19) has posed a major challenge to healthcare systems worldwide, especially as COVID-19 mutations complicate the development of vaccines and antiviral drugs. Therefore, the search for natural products with broad anti-COVID-19 capabilities is an important option for the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. Lectins, which are widely recognized as antiviral agents, could contribute to the development of anti-COVID-19 drugs. In this study, we evaluated the binding ability of a total of six lectins, including MVL from Microcystis viridis NIES-102, to the spike protein RBD of the original (wild) COVID-19 and it’s three mutants: alpha, delta, and omicron. As a result, two lectins, MVL from Microcystis viridis NIES-102 and jacalin from Artocarpus altilis, showed distinct binding ability to the RBDs of the four COVID-19 strains. The other lectins (DB1, ConA, PHA-M and CSL3) did not show any binding ability. Although the glycan specificities of the two lectins, MVL and Jacalin, were different, they showed the same affinity for the RBDs of the four COVID-19 strains, i.e., alpha &gt; delta &gt; original &gt; omicron. The verification of glycan-specific inhibition revealed that jacalin binds to RBDs by glycan-specific recognition, whereas MVL binds to RBDs by protein-protein interactions in addition to glycan-specific recognition.

Fluorinated cytokinins have emerged as promising alternatives to traditional cytokinins in plant tissue culture, offering enhanced stability and bioactivity. However, their metabolic fate and impact on endogenous cytokinin profiles remain largely unexplored. This study investigated the cytokinin metabolism of Phalaenopsis orchids under varying exogenous cytokinin treatments (BA, FmT, FmTR) and culture conditions (open vs. closed containers). The results reveal distinct metabolic profiles associated with each treatment, highlighting the complex interplay between exogenous and endogenous cytokinin levels. Additionally, we proposed an alternative inactivation pathway involving the conversion of FmTR and BA to pT and pTR. These findings provide valuable insights into the intricate relationship between cytokinin metabolism and plant growth under in vitro conditions, with implications for optimizing micropropagation protocols

To enhance the applicability of dual-phase high-entropy alloys (HEAs) like Fe32Cr33Ni29Al3Ti3, fabricated via selective laser melting (SLM), a focus on improving their mechanical properties is essential. As part of this effort, heat treatment was explored. This study compares the microstructure and mechanical properties of the as-printed sample with those cooled in water after undergoing heat treatment at temperatures ranging from 1000 to 1200 ℃ for 1 hour. Both pre- and post-treatment samples reveal a dual-phase microstructure comprising FCC and BCC phases. Although heat treatment led to a reduction in tensile and yield strength, it significantly increased ductility compared to the as-printed sample. This strength-ductility trade-off is related to changes in grain sizes with ultrafine grains enhancing strength and micron grains optimizing ductility, also the influence of the content of FCC/BCC phases and dislocation density. In particular, the sample heat-treated at 1000 °C for 1 hour and then water-cooled exhibited a better combination of strength and ductility, a yield strength of 790 MPa, and an elongation of 13%. This research offers innovative perspectives on crafting dual-phase HEA of Fe32Cr33Ni29Al3Ti3, allowing for tailorable microstructure and mechanical properties through a synergistic approach involving SLM and heat treatment.

Heat pumps are increasingly becoming a key solution in the quest for decarbonization, offering a significant advantage over traditional boilers due to their superior energy efficiency. Not only can heat pumps provide both heating and cooling, but they also achieve thermal efficiencies exceeding 500%, which can seem to defy conventional expectations. The outdoor unit of a heat pump consists of about twenty main components, one of which is a complex network of copper pipes and sheets welded to valves, connectors, and other fittings. This set involves over thirty welded joints, highlighting a significant opportunity for reducing manufacturing time through process optimization. Copper is a critical material extensively used in various applications due to its excellent thermal and electrical conductivity. However, these very properties make welding copper particularly challenging, especially when aiming to automate and streamline industrial processes. Traditionally, connecting copper pipes and fittings is done through brazing, yet, alternative methods such as LASER welding, electron beam welding, resistance welding, friction welding, and ultrasonic welding also exist. This study focuses on the ultrasonic welding of copper, aiming to identify the optimal parameters that maximize the mechanical strength of overlapping joints and ensure effective tube sealing. Experimental results showed that for copper sheets, the best outcomes were achieved with a welding time of 3 s and a pressure of 6 bar. For tube sealing, the optimal conditions were a welding time of 3 s and a pressure of 4 bar. For both scenarios, the same variables were used, retention time of 0.62 s, initial pressure of 2 bar, retention pressure of 2 bar and sonotrode rising pressure of 3 bar. The analysis reveals that ultrasonic welding of copper can achieve both robust mechanical strength and reliable sealing, making it a promising technique for industrial applications.

Recently, a rising use of wireless internet technologies has been demonstrated. The devices 18 which use these technologies emit in new spectral regions an electromagnetic radiation (EMFs) 19 which could interact with the male reproductive system. The aim of this study was to investigate in 20 vitro influence of electromagnetic fields at 27 GHz on sperm quality in Mytilus galloprovincialis. 21 Sperm samples, were collected from sexually mature males of M. galloprovincialis and placed in sea- 22 water. Once evaluated the number and quality of spermatozoa, sperm cells were exposed to elec- 23 tromagnetic fields radiated by a pyramidal horn antenna. The effect of exposure was evaluated after 24 10, 20, 30, 40 and 60 minutes with light microscope and using Eosin test. Ten replications were per- 25 formed for each time series, and statistical analysis was carried out byt-test. A significative decrease 26 in sperm motility was observed after 10 minutes of exposure and after 30 minutes most of sperms 27 were immobile and not vital. This study provides useful data on potential ecological impact of the 28 5G high-band on animal fertility, whose effect is currently under investigation.

Densely urbanized areas, with a low percentage of green vegetation, are highly exposed to Heat Waves (HW) which nowadays are increasing in terms of frequency and intensity also in the middle-latitude regions, due to ongoing Climate Change (CC). Their negative effects may combine with those of the UHI (Urban Heat Island), a local phenomenon where air temperatures in the compact built up cores of towns increase more than those in the surrounding rural areas, with significant impact on the quality of urban environment, on citizens health and energy consumption and transport, as it has occurred in the summer of 2003 on France and Italian central-northern areas. In this context this work aims at designing and developing a methodology based on aero-spatial remote sensing (EO) at medium-high resolution and most recent GIS techniques, for the extensive characterization of the urban fabric response to these climatic impacts related to the temperature within the general framework of supporting local and national strategies and policies of adaptation to CC. Due to its extension and variety of built-up typologies, the municipality of Rome was selected as test area for the methodology development and validation. First of all, we started by operating through photointerpretation of cartography at detailed scale (CTR 1: 5000) on a reference area consisting of a transect of about 5x20 km, extending from the downtown to the suburbs and including all the built-up classes of interest. The reference built-up vulnerability classes found inside the transect were then exploited as training areas to classify the entire territory of Rome municipality. To this end, the satellite EO HR (High Resolution) multispectral data, provided by the Landsat sensors were used within a on purpose developed "supervised" classification procedure, based on data mining and “object-classification” techniques. The classification results were then exploited for implementing a calibration method, based on a typical UHI temperature distribution, derived from MODIS satellite sensor LST (Land Surface Temperature) data of the summer 2003, to obtain an analytical expression of the vulnerability model, previously introduced on a semi-empirical basis.

The apicomplexan parasite, Sarcocystis neurona causes the degenerative neurological equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM) disease of horses. Due to its host range expansion, S. neurona is an emerging threat that requires close monitoring. In apicomplexans, protein kinases (PKs) have been implicated in a myriad of critical functions such as host cell invasion, cell cycle progression and host immune responses evasion. Here, we used various bioinformatics methods to define the kinome of S. neurona and phylogenetic relatedness of its PKs to other apicomplexans. Further, three-dimensional (3D) homology models for selected S. neurona putative PKs were constructed and evaluated for inhibitor docking. We identified 92 putative PKs clustering within the AGC, CAMK, CK1, CMGC, STE, TKL, aPK and OPK groups. Although containing the universally conserved PKA (AGC group), S. neurona kinome was devoid of PKB and PKC, but contained the six apicomplexan conserved CDPKs (CAMK group). The OPK group was represented by ROPKs 19A, 27, 30, 33, 35 and 37, but was devoid of the virulence-associated ROPKs 5, 6, 18 and 38. Two out of the three S. neurona CK1 enzymes had high sequence similarities to T. gondii TgCK1-α and TgCK1-β and the Plasmodium PfCK1. Docking of four inhibitors onto homology models of putative ROP27 and PKA indicated that inhibition of S. neurona PKs is feasible, but needs to be experimentally tested. The essentiality of apicomplexan PKs makes the elucidation of S. neurona kinome a key milestone for development of novel therapeutics for EPM.

Rice prolamins are categorized into three groups by molecular size (10, 13, or 16 kDa), while the 13 kDa prolamins are assigned to four subgroups (Pro13a-I, Pro13a-II, Pro13b-I, and Pro13b-II) based on cysteine residue content. Here, we generated four knockout strains of rice using CRISPR-Cas9, each of which demonstrated selectively reduced expression of specific subgroups of the 13 kDa prolamins. These four mutant rice lines also demonstrated compensatory expression of glutelins and non-targeted prolamins, which resulted in low grain weight, altered starch content and atypically-shaped starch granules and protein bodies. Transcriptome analysis identified 746 transcripts that were differentially expressed in the mutant rice lines during development. These transcripts played roles primarily in RNA processing, protein synthesis, stress response, and transport. After selective suppression/knockout of genes in the Pro13a-I subgroup, compensatory upregulation of genes in the Pro13a-II and Pro13b-I/II subgroups was observed. Compensatory expression of 9 ER stress and 17 transcription factor genes was also observed in mutant rice in which expression of 13 kDa prolamin genes was suppressed. Our results provide valuable insight into the regulatory mechanisms underlying rice seed development and the specific roles played by 13 kDa rice prolamins and their target genes.

The global food production system faces several challenges, including significant environmental impacts due to traditional agricultural practices. The rising demands of consumers for food products that are safe, healthy, and have animal welfare standards have led to an increased interest in alternative proteins and the development of the cellular agriculture field. Within this innovative field, precision fermentation emerges as a promising technological solution to produce proteins with reduced ecological footprints. This review provides a summary of the environmental impacts related to the current global food production, and explore how precision fermentation can contribute to address these issues. Additionally, we will report on the main animal-derived proteins produced by precision fermentation, with a particular focus on those used in the food and nutraceutical industries. The general principles of precision fermentation will be explained, including strain and bioprocess optimization. Examples of efficient recombinant protein production by bacteria and yeasts, such as milk proteins, egg-white proteins, structural and flavoring proteins, will also be addressed, along with case examples of companies producing these recombinant proteins in a commercial scale. Through these examples, we will explore how precision fermentation supports sustainable food production and holds the potential for significant innovations in the sector.

Placental protein 13 (PP13) exhibits a plasma concentration that increases gradually during normal gestation, a process disrupted in preeclampsia, characterized by elevated vascular resistance, re-duced utero-placental blood flow and intrauterine growth restriction. This study investigated PP13’s role in vascular tone regulation and its molecular mechanisms. Uterine and subcutaneous arteries isolated from both pregnant and non-pregnant women were precontracted with the thromboxane analogue U46619, and exposed to PP13 using pressurized myography. The molecular mechanisms were further investigated using specific inhibitors for ni-tric oxide synthase (L-NAME+LNNA at 10-4 M) and guanylate cyclase (ODQ at 10-5 M). Results showed PP13 induced vasodilation in uterine arteries but not in subcutaneous arteries. Ad-ditionally, PP13 counteract U46619-induced vasoconstriction, which is particularly pronounced in pregnancy. Further investigation revealed that PP13's mechanism of action is dependent on activa-tion of the Nitric oxide-cGMP pathway. This study provides novel insights into the vasomodulatory effects of PP13 on human uterine ar-teries, underscoring its potential role in regulating utero-placental blood flow. These findings suggest PP13 may be a promising candidate for improving utero-placental blood flow in condi-tions such as preeclampsia. Further research and clinical studies are warranted to validate PP13's efficacy and safety as a therapeutic agent for managing preeclampsia.

5G technology is evolving to satisfy several service requirements favoring high data-rate connections and lower latency times than current ones (< 1ms). 5G systems use different frequency bands of the radio wave spectrum, taking advantage of higher frequencies than previous mobile radio generations. In order to guarantee a capillary coverage of the territory for high reliability applications, it will be necessary to install a large number of repeaters because higher frequencies waves have a lower capacity to propagate in free space. Following the introduction of this new technology, there has been a growing concern about possible harmful effects on human health. The aim of this study is investigating possible short term effects induced by 5G-millimeter waves on embryonic development of Danio rerio. We have exposed fertilized eggs to 27 GHz frequency, 9.7 mW/cm2 incident power density, 23 dbm and have measured several endpoints every 24 hours. The exposure to electromagnetic fields at 27 GHz (5G) caused no significant impacts on mortality nor on morphology because the exposed larvae showed a normal detachment of the tail, presence of heart-beat and well-organised somites. A weak positivity on exposed larvae has been highlighted by immunohistochemical analysis.

Dengue virus is a global health problem most prevalent in tropical and subtropical regions. However, after the approval of two vaccines, Dengvaxia, TV003/TV005 of Takeda, for its prevention, problems were reported, like enhanced risks of infection or less efficiency of protection. Since then, more struggles have been in demand for the development of better vaccines. Here, we conducted a new design through an in-silico strategy. Initially, epitopes were chosen based on their antigenicity, immunogenicity, and binding affinity with MHC molecule, while excluded with allergenicity, toxicity and potential risk of antibody dependent enhancement. Subsequently, a core antigen was constructed with selected epitopes and linked with distinct adjuvant proteins to achieve three candidate vaccines, PSDV-1~3. PSDV-2 was chosen for further validation based on their advantage in physicochemical and structural properties. With a panel of simulations, this artificial protein showed tight binding with pattern recognition receptors, good stability, robust immune induction, and ultimately was confirmed as a high quality vaccine candidate. The plasmid for its recombinant expression was then designed accordingly. With our new design, one more choice was obtained for the effective protection from Dengue virus. Further experimental validations are still require to confirm it protection capacity and safety.

In this study, an alternative method to conventional production methods involving thin section copper permanent mould casting (rapid solidification), hot rolling and heat treatment processes to manufacture AISI DC 53 cold work tool steel, has been investigated. In this new method, solidification of the AISI DC 53 was done in the thin section copper mould instead of traditional ingot casting. After solidification, thin slabs obtained was homogenized to 1150 ^oC and hold at this temperature for one hour and then hot rolling was be applied. During hot rolling process, about % 30 reduction in thickness of slab was obtained. After hot rolling, heat treatment (austenitizing, quenching and tempering) have been applied to thin slab. The samples have been taken as cast, as rolled and as heat treated (austenitized and tempered) and the microstructural analysis, hardness tests, retained austenite quantity measurement by XRD method have been performed. The heat treatment and tests have been performed for a commercially available AISI DC 53 which is manufactured by thick section ingot casting and rolling. Hardness values of the AISI DC 53 steels produced by traditional route is in the range of 52-54 HRC after austenitization at 1025 ^oC for one hour and quenched in compressed air and tempered twice at 525 ^oC for 120 mins. On contrary the permanent mould cast AISI DC 53 after homogenization at 1150 ^oC and immediately hot rolling then air cooling and austenitized at 1025 ^oC for one hour then quenched by compressed air and tempered twice at 525 ^oC for 120 mins have hardness valeus in the range of 55-57 HRC. Experiments have revealed that the properties of new rapid solidified steel in permanent copper mould are better than the commercially available steel and have a more refined microstructure than commercially produces alternative. Therefore, the new proposed method can be used as an alternative manufacturing method for cold-work tool steels.

Proteins need to be located in appropriate spatiotemporal contexts to carry out their diverse biological functions. Mislocalized proteins may lead to a broad range of diseases, such as cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. Knowing where a target protein resides within a cell will give insights into tailored drug design for a disease. As the gold validation standard, the conventional wet lab uses fluorescent microscopy imaging, immunoelectron microscopy, and fluorescent biomarker tags for protein subcellular location identification. However, the booming era of proteomics and high-throughput sequencing generates tons of newly discovered proteins, making protein subcel-lular localization by wet-lab experiments a mission impossible. To tackle this concern, in the past decades, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML), especially deep learning methods, have made significant progress in this research area. In this article, we review the latest advances in AI-based method development in three typical types of approaches, including sequence-based, knowledge-based, and image-based methods. We also elaborately discuss existing challenges and future directions in AI-based method development in this research field.

African swine fever has damaged the foundation of China’s hog industry, caused a serious decline in hog production, highlighted the contradiction between supply and demand in the pork market, and led to major economic and social impacts. This study measured the industrial resilience of 31 Chinese provinces which faced the African swine fever shock and its spatial and temporal differentiation characteristics from 2018-2021 in terms of the two dimensions of resistance and recoverability. Using Geodetector, the study explored the key factors influencing the resilience of China’s hog industry. The results showed that 2018-2019 and 2020-2021 were the resistance and recovery periods of the hog industry under the African swine fever shock, respectively, with poor resilience characterizing the resistance period and improved resilience exemplifying the recovery period. At the early stage of the African swine fever outbreak, Tianjin, Shanxi, Guangxi and Yunnan had robust resistance in the hog industry, and the slaughter rate, economic level, mortality rate, carcass weight and culling rate showed the highest explanation for the resistance. At the most severe stage of the outbreak, the resistance of the hog industry in all provinces was generally poor, and the slaughter rate, per capita consumption and scale level showed the highest explanation for the resistance. In the period of rapid recovery of hog production, the recoverability of each province was very strong, and the industrial structure, culling rate, economic level and resource carrying capacity showed the highest explanation for the recoverability. In the reasonable adjustment period of hog production capacity, the recoverability based on the breeding sow inventory in 13 provinces, including Henan, Shandong and other large hog breeding provinces, was negative, and the scale level, slaughter rate, per capita consumption and resource carrying showed the highest explanation for the recoverability. It is recommended to take measures to enhance the resilience of the hog industry, strengthen the prevention and control of hog epidemics, improve the monitoring and early warning mechanism, and strive to enhance the ability of the hog industry to cope with major animal epidemics.

CoCrFeNiMn high-entropy alloy coatings were prepared on compacted graphite iron（CGI） through plasma cladding to strength the CGI substrate. The effects of heat treatment temperatures and times on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the CoCrFeNiMn coatings were investigated. After heat treatment, a single FCC phase was remained in the coating as compared to the deposited one, with smaller dendrites, larger dendritic spacing and more Cr-rich compounds precipitated between dendrites. The coatings’ microhardness was increased after heat treatment. After heat treated at 660°C for 90 minutes, the coating had the highest microhardness of 563±6.9 HV0.2, the lowest frictional coefficient of 0.71 and the smallest wear mass loss of 1.12 mg, and it had the best wear resistance.

The criteria of “Distinctness, Uniformity and Stability” as well as a high "overall quality index” are used to register the Italian modern varieties to the national register. Differently, local conservation varieties can be certified under different EU Directives having, as overall objective, the preservation of biodiversity and the containment of genetic erosion. In recent years, products derived from an-cient grains are perceived to be healthier and more sustainable by consumer, especially in Italy, with consequent higher market prices. Ancient tetraploid wheat varieties registered in the national reg-ister of conservation varieties are 28, 24 of which are Sicilian. They are supposed to have a wide genetic variability compared to modern ones, making them vulnerable of fraud because they are difficult to trace. It is therefore important to have tools able to discriminate the autochthonous Si-cilian varieties. This can be done by gluten proteins composition, which also gives information on the technological properties of derived products. Fifty-one accessions belonging to 22 ancient va-rieties of Sicilian tetraploid (mostly durum) wheat were analyzed. Although a wide intra-accession and intra-varietal variability was assessed, the gliadin pattern of bulks of seeds belonging to each variety was discriminatory. Moreover, differences in technological attitudes were found between landraces. This paves the way to use gluten protein patterns for traceability allowing local farmers and producers to valorize their products and assure consumers about the transparency of the entire supply chain.

Proteins possess complex three-dimensional structures, and these structures are stable only within specific ranges of temperature which mostly correspond to the temperature ranges of the host organisms. However, few exceptional proteins, called heat-stable proteins, are stable at temperatures that are substantially higher than those tolerated by the host organisms themselves. Most of the heat-stable proteins possess heat stability to perform their functions at high temperatures, but some of them are intrinsically heat-stable due to their structure. Heat-stable proteins are usually divided into three or four groups depending upon the intricacies of their structures and thermal behaviors. Their peculiar property, i.e. heat-stability, makes them very valuable in applications such as polymerase chain reaction, industrial processes requiring high temperature, and protein engineering. Heat-stability also makes it feasible to purify such proteins, from the rest of the heat-labile proteins, using a simple heat-treatment method. Moreover, heat treatment can be used as a combined cell-lysis and protein purification step which, as compared to conventional methods, can result in a higher yield of heat-stable proteins. Furthermore, some special heat-stable proteins, i.e. intrinsically disordered proteins (which include the proteins involved in important neurodegenerative diseases), need heat-treatment step, in some cases, as the only way for their successful purification and study. Hence, this paper provides a first-ever comprehensive review of all major aspects of heat-stable proteins, i.e., their structure, evolution, classification, significance, and heat-treatment mediated purification.

This work is an addition to the previously developed two-dimensional model of the shock-plasma interaction extending it into the third dimension. The model allows tracing the evolution of the state of the hypersonic flow and the shock front refracted at a thermal discontinuity. The advantages of using the spherical coordinate system for this type of the problems include more transparency in interpreting the solution and a shortened calculation procedure, because all the changes to the front become reduced to one distortion component only. Although the vorticity generation triggered at the interface is the consequence of the refraction and tied to the steep changes of the front, it is shown here that it is not because of an instant parameter jump at the interface due to refraction itself.

Refraction of an oblique shock wave on a tangential discontinuity dividing two gas flows with different properties is considered. It is shown that its partial reflection occurs excepting of geometrical diffraction of an oblique shock. Another oblique shock, expansion wave or weak discontinuity that coincides with Mach line, can act as a reflected disturbance. This study focuses on relationships which define the type of reflected discontinuity and its parameters. Domains of existence of various shock-wave structures with reflected disturbances of two types and boundaries between them are defined. The domains of parameters with one or two solutions exist for the characteristic refraction. Conditions of the regular refraction and the Mach refraction are formulated, and boundaries between those two refraction types are defined for various types of gases. Refraction phenomena in various engineering problems (hydrocarbon gaseous fuel and its combustion products, diatomic gas, fuel mixture of oxygen and hydrogen etc.) are discussed.

Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2NPs) are used in products that are applied to the human body, such as cosmetics and food, but their biocompatibility remains controversial. Pycnogenol (PYC), a natural extract of pine bark, exerts anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. In this study, we investigated whether PYC effectively alleviates pulmonary toxicity induced by airway exposure to TiO2NPs, and the beneficial effects of PYC were explained through the analysis of changes to the mechanism of cytotoxicity. TiO2NPs induced pulmonary inflammation and mucus production, increased the levels of malondialdehyde, and upregulated thioredoxin-interacting protein (TXNIP) and cleaved-caspase 3 (Cas3) in the lungs of mice. However, PYC treatment reduced the levels of all toxicity markers of TiO2NPs and restored glutathione levels. These antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of PYC were also demonstrated in TiO2NP-exposed human airway epithelial cells by increasing the mRNA levels of antioxidant enzymes and decreasing the expression of TXNIP, cleaved-Cas3, and inflammatory mediators. Taken together, our results showed that PYC attenuated TiO2NP-induced lung injury via TXNIP downregulation. Therefore, our results suggest the potential of PYC as an effective anti-inflammatory and antioxidant agent against TiO2NP-induced pulmonary toxicity.

Solifenacin (SFC) is a potent muscarinic antagonist that effectively reduces bladder muscle contraction, thereby alleviating symptoms such as frequency of micturition and urgency. Oxidation of SFC leads to the formation of impurities like Impurity K. Effective analysis and control of this impurity is crucial for ensuring compliance with regulatory standards and safeguarding patient health. To address these challenges, we propose a novel one-step synthesis of Impurity K from SFC. Impurity K was synthesized using cerium ammonium (IV) nitrate (CAN) in water/acetonitrile as the solvent. Additionally, we describe a new HPLC-MS method for the detection of Impurity K in solifenacin succinate tablets.

With the development of energy internet, integrated energy system can effectively reduce carbon emissions and improve the utilization of renewable energy. In this paper, a low-carbon optimal scheduling model of integrated energy system considering heat loss of heat network pipeline is proposed. Based on the study of concentrating solar power (CSP) plant and heat storage tank (HS), an optimal scheduling model is established, which takes system operation cost, environmental pollution and penalty cost of abandoning wind and solar energy as objectives. Through the analysis of example results, it is proved that the model proposed in this paper can achieve the goal of reliable, low-carbon and economic operation of the system. At the same time, it shows that CSP unit can reduce the operation cost of system and increase energy coupling and utilization.

Global warming and the associated increasing frequency of heatwaves are on the rise leading to numerous health complications. Diabetic patients are more vulnerable to heat exposure than healthy individuals, owing to their impaired sweating ability, however, little is known about how heat exposure may impact the function of skin cells, commonly keratinocytes. Our recent report provided the first proof-of-concept revealing that the metabolic composition of sweat EVs is associated with metabolic changes in healthy individuals and type 2 diabetes patients. Given this and the shared cellular proprieties of eccrine sweat glands with keratinocytes, we questioned whether the metabolic changes in sweat EVs may mirror the responses of keratinocytes upon heat exposure. To this, we exposed HaCat, which were maintained in low (mimicking healthy condition) and high glucose (mimicking diabetes condition) to acute (90 min), chronic (48 h), and repetitive heat exposure at 40 ⁰C. Through conducting a set of experiments including a targeted metabolomics approach, Greiss assay, western blotting analysis, and electron microscopy studies. The data demonstrate that heat exposure results in substantial changes of metabolite levels belonging to amino acids, pyrimidine metabolism, and glycolysis pathways in high glucose maintained HaCat cells when compared to those noted in low glucose condition. Exploring the molecular mechanisms through which heat exposure may impact the metabolic composition in keratinocytes, our discoveries highlight nitric oxide (NO) as a novel biomarker that the level is correlated with heat duration and frequency. Furthermore, data reveal that the HSP-70 protein levels and mitochondrial morphology are consequently altered. This study provides evidence of shared metabolic alterations in keratinocytes and sweat EVs collected from clinical study and proposes, for the first time, NO as a novel biomarker for monitoring changes in health and diabetes upon heat exposure.

Experimental studies of degradation of two ribonucleosides (guanosine and uridine) were carried out by making use of mechanochemistry. Mechanochemical experiments reveal the decomposition of guanosine and uridine promoted by nickel(II) and carbonate ions into guanine and uracil, respectively which were identified by HPLC and 1H NMR spectroscopy (this applied only to uracil). Additionally, DFT methodologies were used to probe the energetic viability of several degradation pathways, including in the presence of the same ions. Three mechanisms were analysed via ribose ring-opening: dry, single molecule water- and metal-assisted, which confirmed the mechanochemical degradation of ribonucleosides, with nucleobase preservation. These results can be applied to interpret the organic content of terrestrial and extra-terrestrial samples after mechanochemical treatment.

Chlamydia trachomatis (Ct) infections are the most common sexually-transmitted infection (STI). Despite effective antibiotics for Ct, undetected infections or delayed treatment can lead to infertility, ectopic pregnancies, and chronic pelvic pain. Besides humans, chlamydia poses similar health challenges in animals such as C. suis (Cs) in pigs. Based on the similarities between humans and pigs as well as their chlamydia species, we use pigs as a large biomedical animal model for chlamydia research. In this study, we use the pig model to develop a vaccine candidate against Ct. The vaccine candidate consists of TriAdj-adjuvanted chlamydial protease-like activity factor (CPAF) protein. We tested two weekly administration options – twice intranasal (IN) followed by twice intramuscular (IM), or twice IM followed by twice IN. We assessed the humoral immune response not only in serum by CPAF-specific IgG including antibody avidity determination but also in cervical and rectal swabs by CPAF-specific IgG and IgA ELISAs. The systemic T-cell response was analyzed upon in vitro CPAF-restimulation via IFN-γ and IL-17 ELISpots as well as intracellular cytokine staining flow cytometry. Our data demonstrate that while the IN/IM vaccination mainly led to non-significant systemic immune responses, the vaccine candidate is highly immunogenic if administered IM/IN. This vaccination strategy induced high serum anti-CPAF IgG levels with strong avidity as well as high IgA and IgG levels in vaginal and rectal swabs and in uterine horn flushes. In addition, this vaccination strategy prompted a pronounced cellular immune response: Besides inducing IL-17 production, the vaccine candidate induced a strong IFN-γ response by CD4 T cells. In the IM/IN vaccinated pigs, these cells also significantly downregulated their CCR7 expression – a sign for differentiation into peripheral tissue homing effector/ memory cells. Conclusively, this study demonstrates strong immunogenicity of the IM/IN administered TriAdj-adjuvanted Ct CPAF vaccine candidate. Future studies will test vaccine efficacy of this promising Ct vaccine candidate. In addition, this project demonstrates suitability of the Cs pre-exposed outbred pig model for Ct vaccine development. Thereby, we aim to open the bottleneck of large animal models to facilitate the progression of Ct vaccine candidates into clinical trials.

This study presents the comparison of heat transfer capacity and pressure drop characteristics between a basic fin-tube heat exchanger and a modified heat exchanger with the structural change of branch tubes and coiled turbulators. All experiments were carried out using an air-enthalpy type calorimeter based on the method described in ASHRAE standards, under heat exchanger experimental conditions. 14 different kinds of heat exchangers were used for the experiment. Cooling and heating capacities of the turbulator heat exchanger were excellent, compared to the basic one. As the insertion ratio of the coiled turbulator and the number of row increased, the heat transfer performance increased. However, the capacity per unit area was more effective in 4 rows than 6 rows, and the cooling performance of the 6 row turbulator heat exchanger (100% turbulator insert ratio) was down to about 6% than that of 4 row one. As the water flow rate and the turbulator insertion ratio increased, the pressure drop of the water side increased. This trend was more pronounced in 6 rows. In the cooling condition, the pressure drop on the air side was slightly increased due to the generation of condensed water, but was insignificant under the heating condition. The power consumption of the pump was more affected by the water flow rate than the coiled turbulator. The equivalent hydraulic diameter of a tube by the turbulator was reduced and then the heat transfer performance was improved. Thus, the tube diameter was smaller, the heat flux was better.

Abstract: Background: Vasoplegic shock syndrome(VSS) after an off-pump coronary artery bypass graft (OPCABG) is an extremely rare condition. Inotropic support is usually the first-line therapy though it can precipitate several complications or be ineffective. We report the first case of severe refractory VSS after OPCABG successfully treated with hydroxycobalamin. Methods: A 77-year-old gentleman underwent OPCABG for three vessels coronary artery disease. Preoperative LV ejection fraction was 28%, and the patient before surgery started sacubi-tril/valsartan titrated, then, to the highest dose. Surgery was uneventful and, by the end of the procedure, TEE showed improved biventricular contractility. Results: The patient was transferred to the ICU without inotropic support but he developed soon hypotension. TEE ruled out pericardial tamponade and confirmed fair contractility. Norepineph-rine was titrated to a medium-high dose, vasopressin was started and a Swan-Ganz catheter was placed. SVR was 480 dyn·s·cm−5. Despite aggressive pharmacologic treatment (including Methylprednisolone and Methylene blue), no improvements were noticed. 10 g of hydroxycobalamin were administered. One hour later hemodynamic status re-assessment showed SVR > 800 dyn·s·cm−5. Afterward, vasopressors were gradually reduced. Conclusions: Our case demonstrated the importance of adequate early treatment in VSS after OPCABG. For the first time, hydroxycobalamin was effectively used to restore homeostasis.

Objective: The main purpose of the study is to investigate the combined effects of polydeoxyribonucleotide (PDRN) and extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) sequences on the regenerative processes in atrophied animal muscles. Methods: Thirty male New Zealand rabbits, aged 12 weeks, were divided into five groups: normal saline, PDRN, ESWT, PDRN injection before ESWT, and PDRN injection after ESWT. Following 2 weeks of cast immobilization, the respective treatments were administered to the atrophied calf muscles. Radial ESWT was performed twice weekly. The evaluation included measurements of calf circumference, tibial nerve compound muscle action potential (CMAP), and gastrocnemius (GCM) muscle thickness after 2 weeks of treatment. Histological and immunohistochemical staining, as well as Western blot analysis, were conducted 2 weeks post-treatment. Staining intensity and extent were assessed using semi-quantitative scores. Results: Groups 4 and 5 demonstrated significantly greater calf muscle circumference, GCM muscle thickness, tibial nerve CMAP, and GCM muscle fiber cross-sectional area (types I, II, and total) than in the remaining three groups (p < 0.05), while they did not did not differ significantly in these parameters. Groups 2 and 3 showed the higher values for all the observations compared to group 1 (p < 0.05). Group 4 had the greatest ratio of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) to platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 (PECAM-1) in the gastrocnemius muscle fibers than in the other four groups (p < 0.05). Western blot analysis revealed significantly higher expression of angiogenesis cytokines in groups 4 and 5 than in the remaining (p < 0.05). Conclusion: The combination of ESWT and PDRN injection demonstrated superior regenerative efficacy for atrophied calf muscle tissue in rabbit models than these techniques alone or saline. Particularly, administering ESWT after PDRN injection yielded the most favorable outcomes in specific parameters.

The Julia-Kocienski olefination reaction has become over past 30 years since its discovery one of the key C-C connective methods that is used in the late-stage natural product synthesis. The reaction proceeds under mild reaction conditions, with wide substrate scope and functional group tolerance, and with high (E) selectivity. In this review, we discuss the reaction from a mechanistic point of view and disclose key features that play an important role in reaction selectivity. Finally, the mechanistic aspects of the newly developed modification of the Julia-Kocienski reaction, which allows the formation of both (E) and (Z) olefins, from the same reaction partners, are discussed.

Ecuador is an important center of biodiversity of the plant family Amaryllidaceae, specially the subfamily Amaryllidoideae, known as a source of important bioactive molecules. The aim of this study was to assess the chemical and biological potential of four different species of Amaryllidoideae collected in Ecuador: Urceolina formosa, Urceolina ruthiana, Clinanthus incarnatus, and Stenomesson aurantiacum. Sixteen alkaloids were identified in the bulb extract of these species by GC-MS, which the extract of S. aurantiacum exhibiting the greatest structural diversity. The potential of these three genera against Alzheimer’s disease was evaluated by measuring their AChE and BuChE inhibitory activity, revealing that C. incarnatus and U. formosa (from Sucumbíos province) showed the best results with IC50 values of 1.73 ± 0.25 and 30.56 ± 1.56 g·ml-1, respectively. Molecular dynamic assays were conducted to elucidate the possible interactions that occurs among 2-hydroxyanhydrolycorine and AChE enzyme, suggesting some similarity with those observed for galanthamine. This study enhances our understanding of the biodiversity of Amaryllidoideae species from Ecuador, highlighting their potential as a source of chemical compounds with pharmaceutical potential.

The photosystem I (PSI) of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii associates with 10 light-harvesting proteins (LHCI) to form the PSI-LHCI complex. Binding of LHCII to PSI may also occur and is controlled by a process called state transitions. Hereby, two LHCII trimers bind to the PSAL, PSAH and PSAO side of PSI to produce the PSI-LHCI-LHCII complex. In this work, we took advantage of chemical crosslinking of proteins in conjunction with mass spectrometry to identify protein-protein interactions between the light-harvesting proteins of PSI and PSII. We detected binding of LHCBM proteins to the LHCA1-PSAG side of PSI and identified protein-protein interactions of LHCSR3 with LHCA5 and LHCA3. Our data indicate that the binding of LHCII to PSI is more versatile as anticipated and reveal that LHCSR3 likely regulates excitation energy transfer to the PSI core via LHCA5/LHCA3.