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Background: Mitochondria play vital roles in cellular function and homeostasis. Inhalation of aerosols generated by E-cigarettes (E-Cig) may affect mitochondrial physiology. Data on risks of E-Cigs and vaping devices on mitochondria physiology remain incomplete. Our objective was to investigate novel effects of E-Cig plasma mediators on mitochondrial physiology in human endothelial (EA.hy 926) and lung epithelial cells (A549). Hypothesis: Plasma from E-Cig users will induce alterations in mitochondrial physiology. Methods: A longitudinal cohort study was conducted on subjects who used E-cigarettes (n=21) and 10 non-smoking, non-vaping controls. Inclusion criteria were active E-Cig use without known lung disease and with normal lung function, between the ages of 18-30 years. E-Cig use was confirmed with in-person interviews and plasma cotinine levels. Active E-Cig use was defined as use of >0.5-1 mL e-liquid/day or 3.5-7 mL/week for >6 months. Plasma was isolated and stored at -70°C. The metabolic stress effects of E-Cig plasma (1%, 1h conditioning) mediators were assessed in vitro on endothelial cells (8x104/well) and epithelial cells (5x104/well) using the Seahorse XF Energy phenotype Test. The mitochondrial copy number in E-Cig user plasma was estimated by digital droplet PCR. Membrane potentials and reactive oxygen species (ROS) were quantified by Cytation5. Results: E-Cig plasma altered the metabolic stress phenotype of mitochondria of EA.hy 926 and A549 cells. Metabolic stress was evidenced by increased oxygen consumption and glycolytic rates in both cell types. The mitochondria membrane potential and ROS levels significantly increased in E-Cig plasma subjected cells. Mitochondrial gene copy number levels were significantly increased in E-Cig user plasma suggesting mitochondrial stress in vivo. Conclusions: Plasma of E-cig users enhances maximal metabolic stress on human endothelial and lung cells in vitro and shows evidence for mitochondrial stress in vivo. These results may have important implications regarding the effects of E-Cig use on mitochondrial function and eventual public health recommendations. T31IP1929 and R21 AG058174-01A1 This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2023 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

The concept of the digital twin as the representation of a physical object is currently under development and is delivering promising first results. At the same time, the goals and the definition of digital twins differ, sometimes significantly, depending on the area of application and use case. Therefore, the descriptions and concepts of digital twins in a specific application cannot simply be transferred to new fields of application. Meanwhile, battery cell manufacturing is a key of the energy and mobility transition that is still characterized by high costs as well as scrap rates and will benefit enormously from the use of digital twins. To provide a basis for the development of digital twins in battery cell manufacturing, this white paper presents a unified definition for the digital twin in battery cell manufacturing, based on existing work. For this purpose, three forms of the digital twin are described: the building twin, the machine twin, and the product twin. Each of these forms must be examined in detail so that components of the respective forms can be identified, exemplary use cases can be shown, and concrete goals as well as challenges can be defined. Based on the concepts described in this white paper, the digital twin will be used in battery cell production to track, optimize, and control products and processes in the future. In perspective, this can significantly improve energy, raw material, and cost efficiency.