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The differentiation of naive CD8+ T cells into effector cells is important for establishing immunity. However, the effect of heterogeneous naive CD8+ T cell populations is not fully understood. Here, we demonstrate that steady-state naive CD8+ T cells are composed of functionally heterogeneous subpopulations that differ in their ability to differentiate into type 17 cytotoxic effector cells (Tc17) in a context of murine inflammatory disease models, such as inflammatory bowel disease and graft-versus-host disease. The differential ability of Tc17 differentiation is not related to T-cell receptor (TCR) diversity and antigen specificity but is inversely correlated with self-reactivity acquired during development. Mechanistically, this phenomenon is linked to differential levels of intrinsic TCR sensitivity and basal Suppressor of Mothers Against Decapentaplegic 3 (SMAD3) expression, generating a wide spectrum of Tc17 differentiation potential within naive CD8+ T cell populations. These findings suggest that developmental self-reactivity can determine the fate of naive CD8+ T cells to generate functionally distinct effector populations and achieve immense diversity and complexity in antigen-specific T-cell immune responses. The heterogeneity in naive CD8+ T cells is essential for diverse immune responses. Here the authors show that variations in developmental self-reactivity of CD8+ T cells influence their differentiation into Tc17 cells in inflammatory conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Municipal solid waste (MSW) management is an essential municipal service. Proper waste treatment is an important part of the waste management. Thermocatalytic waste upcycling has recently gained great interest and attention as a method to extract value from waste, which potentially substitutes traditional waste treatment methods. This study aims at demonstrating the potential for thermocatalytic waste upcycling using spent disposable wipes as an MSW surrogate. Two different Ni/Al2O3 catalysts were prepared, treated under two different atmospheres (N2 and CO2). The catalyst treated in N2 (Ni/Al2O3-N2) exhibited a higher surface metallic Ni site than the catalyst treated in CO2 (Ni/Al2O3-CO2). The use of the Ni/Al2O3-N2 increased the yield of gas pyrolysate and decreased the yield of byproduct (e.g., wax), compared with no catalyst and the Ni/Al2O3-CO2. In particular, the Ni/Al2O3-N2 catalyst affected the generation of gaseous hydrogen (H2) by increasing the H2 yield by up to 102% in comparison with the other thermocatalytic systems. The highest H2 yield obtained with the Ni/Al2O3-N2 was attributed to the most surface metallic Ni sites. However, the Ni/Al2O3-N2 catalyst led to char having a lower higher heating value than the other catalysts due to its lowest carbon content. The results indicated that the reduction treatment environment for Ni/Al2O3 catalyst influences thermocatalytic conversion product yields of spent disposable wipes, including enhanced H2 production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the effects of muscle mass on mortality in patients with acute kidney injury requiring continuous renal replacement therapy. It was conducted in eight medical centers between 2006 and 2021. The data of 2200 patients over the age of 18 years with acute kidney injury who required continuous renal replacement therapy were retrospectively collected. Skeletal muscle areas, categorized into normal and low attenuation muscle areas, were obtained from computed tomography images at the level of the third lumbar vertebra. Cox proportional hazards models were used to investigate the association between mortality within 1, 3, and 30 days and skeletal muscle index. Sixty percent of patients were male, and the 30-day mortality rate was 52%. Increased skeletal muscle areas/body mass index was associated with decreased mortality risk. We also identified a 26% decreased risk of low attenuation muscle area/body mass index on mortality. We established that muscle mass had protective effects on the mortality of patients with acute kidney injury requiring continuous renal replacement therapy. This study showed that muscle mass is a significant determinant of mortality, even if the density is low. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endosulfan was widely used as an insecticide in the agricultural sector before its environmental persistence was fully understood. Although its fate and transport in the environment have been studied, the effects of historic endosulfan residues in soil and its bioaccumulation in crops are not well understood. This knowledge gap was addressed by investigating the dissipation and bioaccumulation of endosulfan in ginseng as a perennial crop in fresh and aged endosulfan-contaminated fields. In addition, the effect of granular biochar (GBC) treatment on the bioaccumulation factor (BAF) of endosulfan residue in ginseng was assessed. The 50% dissipation time (DT50) of the total endosulfan was over 770 days in both the fresh and aged soils under mulching conditions. This was at least twofold greater than the reported (6– > 200 days) in arable soil. Among the endosulfan congeners, the main contributor to the soil residue was endosulfan sulfate, as observed from 150 days after treatment. The BAF for the 2-year-old ginseng was similar in the fresh (1.682–2.055) and aged (1.372–2.570) soils, whereas the BAF for the 3-year-old ginseng in the aged soil (1.087–1.137) was lower than that in the fresh soil (1.771–2.387). The treatment with 0.3 wt% GBC extended the DT50 of endosulfan in soil; however, this could successfully suppress endosulfan uptake, and reduced the BAFs by 66.5–67.7% in the freshly contaminated soil and 32.3–41.4% in the aged soil. Thus, this adsorbent treatment could be an effective, financially viable, and sustainable option to protect human health by reducing plant uptake of endosulfan from contaminated soils. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The strength of the T cell receptor interaction with self-ligands affects antigen-specific immune responses. However, the precise function and underlying mechanisms are unclear. Here, we demonstrate that naive CD8+ T cells with relatively high self-reactivity are phenotypically heterogeneous owing to varied responses to type I interferon, resulting in three distinct subsets, CD5loLy6C–, CD5hiLy6C–, and CD5hiLy6C+ cells. CD5hiLy6C+ cells differ from CD5loLy6C– and CD5hiLy6C– cells in terms of gene expression profiles and functional properties. Moreover, CD5hiLy6C+ cells demonstrate more extensive antigen-specific expansion upon viral infection, with enhanced differentiation into terminal effector cells and reduced memory cell generation. Such features of CD5hiLy6C+ cells are imprinted in a steady-state and type I interferon dependence is observed even for monoclonal CD8+ T cell populations. These findings demonstrate that self-reactivity controls the functional diversity of naive CD8+ T cells by co-opting tonic type I interferon signaling. There is heterogeneity in the response to self-ligands within the naïve CD8+ T cell pool and the consequences of this are unclear. Here the authors show subsets of naïve CD8+ T cells which differ in expression of Ly6C and CD5 and response to viral infection through regulation by type I IFN signalling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non-oxidative methane coupling has promising economic potential, but the catalytic and radical reactions become complicated at high temperatures. Here, we investigate the mechanism of non-oxidative methane coupling on an iron single-atom catalyst using density functional theory, and evaluate the catalytic performance under various reaction conditions using microkinetic modelling and experiments. Under typical reaction conditions (1300 K and 1 bar), C–C coupling and subsequent dehydrogenation to produce ethylene shows comparable energetics between the gas-phase and catalytic pathways. However, the microkinetic analysis reveals that the iron single-atom catalyst converted methane to mainly CH3 and H2 at reaction temperatures above 1300 K, and acetylene production is dominant over ethylene production. The sensitivity analysis suggests that increasing the C2 hydrocarbon yield by optimising the reaction conditions is limited. The experimental results obtained at 1293 K are consistent with the theoretical estimation that acetylene is the main C2 product over the iron single-atom catalyst. The catalytic mechanism in non-oxidative methane coupling becomes complicated at high temperatures, making informed catalyst design challenging. Here, microkinetic modelling and experiments on a single-atom iron catalyst show how optimizing the reaction conditions can increase the C2 hydrocarbon yield. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methane and nitrous oxide are both potent greenhouse gasses, with global warming potentials approximately 25 and 298 times that of carbon dioxide. A matrix of soil microcosms was constructed with landfill cover soils collected from the King Highway Landfill in Kalamazoo, Michigan and exposed to geochemical parameters known to affect methane consumption by methanotrophs while also examining their impact on biogenic nitrous oxide production. It was found that relatively dry soils (5% moisture content) along with 15 mg NH (kg soil)−1 and 0.1 mg phenylacetylene∙(kg soil)−1 provided the greatest stimulation of methane oxidation while minimizing nitrous oxide production. Microarray analyses of pmoA showed that the methanotrophic community structure was dominated by Type II organisms, but Type I genera were more evident with the addition of ammonia. When phenylacetylene was added in conjunction with ammonia, the methanotrophic community structure was more similar to that observed in the presence of no amendments. PCR analyses showed the presence of amoA from both ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and archaea, and that the presence of key genes associated with these cells was reduced with the addition of phenylacetylene. Messenger RNA analyses found transcripts of pmoA, but not of mmoX, nirK, norB, or amoA from either ammonia-oxidizing bacteria or archaea. Pure culture analyses showed that methanotrophs could produce significant amounts of nitrous oxide, particularly when expressing the particulate methane monooxygenase (pMMO). Collectively, these data suggest that methanotrophs expressing pMMO played a role in nitrous oxide production in these microcosms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The incidence of adjacent segment problems after lumbar fusion has been found to vary, and risk factors for these problems have not been precisely verified, especially based on structural changes determined by magnetic resonance imaging. The purpose of this retrospective clinical study was to describe the incidence and clinical features of adjacent segment disease (ASD) after lumbar fusion and to determine its risk factors. We assessed the incidence of ASD in patients who underwent lumbar or lumbosacral fusions for degenerative conditions between August 1995 and March 2006 with at least a 1-year follow-up. Patients less than 35 years of age at the index spinal fusion, patients with uninstrumented fusion, and patients who had not achieved successful union were excluded. Of the 1069 patients who underwent fusions, 28 (2.62%) needed secondary operations because of ASD and were included in this study. In order to identify the risk factors, we matched a disease group and a control group. The disease group consisted of 26 of the 28 patients with ASD, excluding the 2 patients for whom we did not have initial MRI data. Each patient in the disease group was matched by age, sex, fusion level and follow-up period with a control patient. The assumed risk factors included disc and facet degeneration, instability, listhesis, rotational deformity, and disc wedging. The mean age of the 28 patients with ASD requiring surgical treatment was 58.4 years, which did not differ significantly from that of the population in which ASD did not develop (58.2 years, p = 0.894). Of the 21 patients who underwent floating fusion, only 1 developed distal ASD. Facet degeneration was a significant risk factor (p < 0.01) on logistic regression analysis. The incidence of distal ASD was much lower than that of proximal ASD. Pre-existing facet degeneration may be associated with a high risk of adjacent segment problems following lumbar fusion procedures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A newly designed pressure-scanning slit viscometer is developed to combine an optical device without refraction while measuring blood viscosity over a range of shear rates. The capillary tube in a previously designed capillary viscometer was replaced with a transparent slit, which is affordable to mount optical measurement of flowing blood cells. Using a pressure transducer, we measured the change of pressure in a collecting chamber with respect to the time, p(t), from which the viscosity and shear rate were mathematically calculated. For water, standard oil and whole blood, excellent agreement was found between the results from the pressure-scanning slit viscometer and those from a commercially available rotating viscometer. This new viscometer overcomes the drawbacks of the previously designed capillary viscometer in the measuring whole blood viscosity. First, the pressure-scanning slit viscometer can combine an optical instrument such as a microscope. Second, this design is low cost and simple (i.e., ease of operation, no moving parts, and disposable). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A computer model has been developed for describing the flowfields of molten steel (SUS 304) in the twin-roll strip casting process with solidification pattern. The governing equations were transformed to a curvilinear coordinate system and an outline of the computational approach was also given. It was found that the flowfields with recirculating flow are located in the vicinity of the middle of the rotating bank of molten steel. The small cavity zone with fixed operation parameters appears with the nozzle depth increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A computer model has been developed for describing the flowfield of molten metal in the twin roll strip casting process with turbulent flow. The formulation of the twin roll strip casting process was based on the turbulent Navier-Stokes equation in which allowance was made for the spatially distributed turbulent velocity field of molten metal. The equations were simplified to those for axisymmetrical flowfields and an outline of the computational approach was also given. The calculation of turbulent properties using the standard two equation k-ε turbulence model has been applied, and predicted results are presented. Also, it was found that turbulent flowfields with a recirculating zone are located in the vicinity of the middle of the rotating bank of molten metal. The size of the recirculating zone with fixed geometry configuration decreases with increasing inlet flow rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been paucity of data regarding the secular trend of adverse outcomes in peritoneal dialysis (PD) as compared with hemodialysis (HD) in Korea. 96,596 patients who started dialysis between 2004–2015 in Korea were identified using the National Health Insurance Service database. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) (95% confidence interval, CI) of PD over HD for mortality was 1.31 (1.27–1.36; P < 0.001) in the period of 2004–2007 and 1.21 (1.16–1.27; P < 0.001) in the period of 2008–2011. However, the hazard of PD over HD for mortality turned out to be insignificant in the period of 2012–2015. Similar trend was noted for nonfatal cardiovascular events (CVEs). In subgroup analysis, the hazard of PD over HD for mortality was evident, regardless of the status of age, diabetes, and comorbidity burden in 2004–2011. In 2012–2015, however, the hazard of PD over HD for mortality was insignificant when follow up was censored at one year, which became significant when follow up follow up was censored at three or five year. In conclusion, the mortality of PD over HD in Korea has been significantly improved, a finding that was paralleled by the improved nonfatal CVEs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a light detection and ranging (LIDAR) system using electromagnetically actuated two-axis scanning micromirror. The distance measurement with the LIDAR is based on the indirect time-of-flight method using the relative ratio of the accumulated charges in capacitors connected to photodiode pixels, which is determined by the time difference between the transmitted and reflected light pulse. The micromirror has double gimbaled structure for two-axis actuation and circular reflection plate with the diameter of 3 mm. The horizontal scan angle of 49.13° was obtained by the resonant actuation at 28 kHz, and the vertical scan of 29.23° was achieved by the sinusoidal forced actuation at 60 Hz. The distance to multiple targets could be measured at once by laser scanning using the micromirror, and the distance profile LIDAR image was constructed by the measurement results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although endophytic bacteria are known to colonize Panax ginseng, little is known about their diversity and roles. We addressed in the present study by comparing endophytic bacterial populations in P. ginseng plants of different ages (2-6 years) and in various tissue types (root, stem, leaf, and flower stalk). A total of 116 strains assigned to 42 species were identified by 16S rDNA sequencing. The predominant phylum was Firmicutes. Two-year-old ginseng plants and root tissues showed the greatest diversity of endophytic bacteria, with Bacillales being the predominant order. The antifungal activity of isolates against two pathogens, Cylindrocarpon destructans and/or Botrytis cinerea, was evaluated in dual-culture assays. In total, 28 strains showed antifungal activity with PgBE14 (Bacillus amyloliquefaciens), PgBE40 (B. megaterium), PgBE39, PgBE45 (Pseudomonas frederiksbergensis), and PgBE42 (Staphylococcus saprophyticus) inhibiting both pathogens. These results improve our understanding of the structure and diversity of endophytic bacterial communities of P. ginseng and identify strains with antifungal activity that have potential applications as biocontrol agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

B7-1 is thought to play a pathogenic role in minimal-change disease (MCD). Recently, however, doubts have arisen regarding the role of B7-1 expression in MCD. Therefore, we aimed to identify the presence and clinical significance of B7-1 expression in MCD patients. The study participants included 28 adult MCD patients for whom kidney specimens were available. The intensity of B7-1 expression was assessed by two independent specialists. We analysed the association between the intensity of B7-1 expression and clinicopathological variables. No B7-1 expression in the glomeruli was observed in any of the 28 patients. Unexpectedly, however, 75.0% of the patients exhibited tubular B7-1 expression, with 35.7% demonstrating weak positive expressions and 39.3% demonstrating strong positive expressions. The level of proteinuria significantly increased as the intensity of tubular B7-1 expression increased. We also found trends of increasing blood urea nitrogen and serum creatinine levels with increased intensity of tubular B7-1 expression. However, we could not observe definite differences in long- and short-term clinical outcomes depending on the intensity of tubular B7-1 expression. In conclusion, B7-1 was expressed in renal tubular cells but not in glomeruli in adult MCD patients. The intensity of tubular B7-1 expression paralleled proteinuria levels, but not clinical outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SnO2 has been studied intensely for applications to sensors, Li-ion batteries and solar cells. Despite this, comparatively little attention has been paid to the changes in morphology and crystal phase that occur on the metal oxide surface during chemical reactions. This paper reports anaerobic and aerobic ethanol and CO oxidation reactions over SnO2 nanoparticles (NPs), as well as the subsequent changes in the nature of the NPs. Uniform SnO2@C core-shells (10 nm) were formed by an aerobic ethanol oxidation reaction over SnO2 NPs. On the other hand, metallic Sn spheres were produced by an anaerobic ethanol oxidation reaction at 450 °C, which is significantly lower than that (1200 °C) used in industrial Sn production. Anaerobic and aerobic CO oxidation reactions were also examined. The novelty of the methods for the production of metallic Sn and SnO2@C core-shells including other anaerobic and aerobic reactions will contribute significantly to Sn and SnO2-based applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]