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ObjectivesThe monoclonal anti-CD20 antibody rituximab is frequently applied in the treatment of lymphoma as well as autoimmune diseases and confers efficient depletion of recirculating B cells. Correspondingly, B cell-depleted patients barely mount de novo antibody responses during infections or vaccinations. Therefore, efficient immune responses of B cell-depleted patients largely depend on protective T cell responses.MethodsCD8+T cell expansion was studied in rituximab-treated rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and B cell-deficient mice on vaccination/infection with different vaccines/pathogens.ResultsRituximab-treated RA patients vaccinated with Influvac showed reduced expansion of influenza-specific CD8+T cells when compared with healthy controls. Moreover, B cell-deficient JHT mice infected with mouse-adapted Influenza or modified vaccinia virus Ankara showed less vigorous expansion of virus-specific CD8+T cells than wild type mice. Of note, JHT mice do not have an intrinsic impairment of CD8+T cell expansion, since infection with vaccinia virus induced similar T cell expansion in JHT and wild type mice. Direct type I interferon receptor signalling of B cells was necessary to induce several chemokines in B cells and to support T cell help by enhancing the expression of MHC-I.ConclusionsDepending on the stimulus, B cells can modulate CD8+T cell responses. Thus, B cell depletion causes a deficiency of de novo antibody responses and affects the efficacy of cellular response including cytotoxic T cells. The choice of the appropriate vaccine to vaccinate B cell-depleted patients has to be re-evaluated in order to efficiently induce protective CD8+T cell responses.

Experiments have been performed on an innovative stepped solar distillation-cum-active drying unit (SSD-ADU). The basin of the distillation unit is made in the stepped form and its underneath part works as a drying unit which is integrated with a solar flat plate collector. Thermal analysis of the SSD-ADU has been performed at water flow rates of 50 and 65 mL min−1 in the distillation unit for drying ginger. The developed unit has been found to perform better at lower water flow rate for which the drying of bitter gourd and potato slices has also been tested. The average values of internal and external heat transfer coefficients at lower flow rate for distillation unit are found to be 121.20 and 18.95 Wm−2 °C, respectively. The average values of convective heat transfer coefficients for the drying of ginger, bitter gourd and potato slices have been evaluated as 5.24, 4.67 and 5.46 Wm−2 °C, respectively. The energy efficiency, exergy efficiency and daily distillate output of the distillation system at lower flow rate have been observed 15%, 28% and 12% higher than at other given flow rate. Experimental uncertainty, efficiency of solar collector and cost analysis of SSD-ADU have also been evaluated.

The aim of the present experimental work is to develop a new approach to utilize the underneath space of stepped basin solar distillation unit for drying agro-commodities. Two major solar applications are integrated to utilize the undesired energy losses. A stepped basin solar distillation-cum-drying unit (SBSD-DU) integrated with a parabolic reflector is thermally and economically analyzed. The effects of flow rates on the performance of distillation and drying unit are also evaluated. The internal and external heat transfer coefficients for distillation unit were found in the range of 56.35–125.28 W/m2oC and 17.54–20.85 W/m2oC, respectively. The distillate output at lower flow rate (50 mL/min) has been observed nearly 15 % higher than at higher water flow rate (65 mL/min). Maximum condensate yield of 3 L/m2/day with maximum energy and availability efficiency of 22.75 % and 2.2 %, have been obtained. Around 80 % moisture on the wet basis has been observed to evaporate from the dried agro-commodities (ginger/bitter gourd/potato slices). The unit cost of the distilled water and dried commodity is calculated as $ 0.0245. The experimental uncertainty is evaluated in the range of 3.99–4.45 %.

This study on the novel design of a solar distillation-cum-drying unit describes the utilization of solar energy for its two major applications in a single unit. Experimentation has been performed ...

Background Hyperoxia is a well-known cause of cerebral white matter injury in preterm infants with male sex being an independent and critical risk factor for poor neurodevelopmental outcome. Sex is therefore being widely considered as one of the major decisive factors for prognosis and treatment of these infants. But unfortunately, we still lack a clear view of the molecular mechanisms that lead to such a profound difference. Hence, using mouse-derived primary oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs), we investigated the molecular factors and underlying mechanisms behind the differential response of male and female cells towards oxidative stress. Results We demonstrate that oxidative stress severely affects cellular functions related to energy metabolism, stress response, and maturation in the male-derived OPCs, whereas the female cells remain largely unaffected. CNPase protein level was found to decline following hyperoxia in male but not in female cells. This impairment of maturation was accompanied by the downregulation of nucleoporin and nuclear lamina proteins in the male cells. We identify Nup133 as a novel target protein affected by hyperoxia, whose inverse regulation may mediate this differential response in the male and female cells. Nup133 protein level declined following hyperoxia in male but not in female cells. We show that nuclear respiratory factor 1 (Nrf1) is a direct downstream target of Nup133 and that Nrf1 mRNA declines following hyperoxia in male but not in female cells. The female cells may be rendered resistant due to synergistic protection via the estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) which was upregulated following hyperoxia in female but not in male cells. Both Nup133 and ERα regulate mitochondrial function and oxidative stress response by transcriptional regulation of Nrf1. Conclusions These findings from a basic cell culture model establish prominent sex-based differences and suggest a novel mechanism involved in the differential response of OPCs towards oxidative stress. It conveys a strong message supporting the need to study how complex cellular processes are regulated differently in male and female brains during development and for a better understanding of how the brain copes up with different forms of stress after preterm birth.

Free-radical polymerization forms the core chemistry of a majority of commercial UV-curable coating system today. Rapid curing at ambient temperature using stable, single component coating systems form the key value proposition that such coating systems offer. However, owing to their limitations such as oxygen inhibition, volume shrinkage, toxicity profiles of reactive diluents (RD), and the limited chemistry available, efforts are being made to counter these challenges by innovating and exploring new systems that have the potential to replace the existing chemistries. Anionic polymerization is one such promising area that has the potential to introduce a wide variety of chemistries in the field of UV-curable coatings. A significant stride in this field has been the innovation of photo-labile bases in the UV industry and the diverse chemistries that these bases have brought to fore. The primary focus of the present study is use of a super photo-base generator (PBG) in catalyzing concomitant but independent reactions to develop organic-inorganic hybrid (OIH) coating networks by leveraging plural-cure chemistry. The super PBG has been used to initiate both Michael-addition (MA) reaction and sol-gel reaction concurrently, upon exposure to the UV source. Coatings have been formulated using uniquely designed acrylate functional oligomers (MA-acceptor), acetoacetate functional reactive diluents (MA-donors) and organo-silanes (sol-gel precursors), besides super PBG. The study highlights many technical and environmental benefits of these OIH coatings with potential for applications in advanced coatings and additive manufacturing.

The performance of the designed tilted wick solar water distillation-cum-drying unit has been tested at water flow rates of 50 and 65 ml/min in the distillation unit. Effect of water flow rates on ...

In the present paper, groundnut samples were dried under natural convection greenhouse drying (NCGHD), forced convection greenhouse drying (FCGHD), and indoor forced convection hot air drying (IFCHAD) modes in the climatic conditions of Rohtak, India (28°54′ N 76°34′E). Samples of groundnut were dried up-to-the-safe storage moisture level of 8–10%. Drying cost per kg of dried groundnut under NCGHD, FCGHD, and IFCHAD modes were found to be ₹ (Indian National Rupee) 25.18 (0.34 US$), ₹ 42.18 (0.57 US$), and ₹ 135.85 (1.84 US$), respectively for the same wire mesh sieve size. Cost under greenhouse drying modes decreases with the increase in wire mesh sieve size. Cost under NCGHD and FCGHD modes was 81.46%–69% less than the average drying cost per kg of dried groundnut under IFCHAD mode for the same sieve size. Critical parameters such as embodied energy, energy payback time (EPBT), CO2 mitigation, and carbon credit earn (CCE), which help study the cost analysis of a greenhouse dryer have also been evaluated. Cost of manufacturing a greenhouse decreases with a decrease in embodied energy. Maximum utilization of a greenhouse dryer can reduce CO2 emission. Carbon credit trading is used to control pollution. It provides an economic incentive to achieve a reduction in pollutants emission. EPBT was found to be about 1.66, 1.72, and 4.67 years for natural convection greenhouse dryer, forced convection greenhouse dryer, and hot air dryer, respectively.

In this communication, it is attempted to utilize the heat losses from the basin of a distillation unit for drying ginger in a drying chamber attached underneath the distillation unit. Experimentation has been made on single slope single basin solar distillation-cum-drying unit with parabolic reflector. Thermal performance of distillation and drying units is studied at varying water depths in the distillation unit. Based on the experimental data, heat transfer coefficients are evaluated by using linear regression analysis. Average convective heat transfer coefficients have been observed as 5.75 and 4.8 W/m2 oC for distillation and 3.64 and 2.9 W/m2 oC for ginger drying at a water depth of 4 cm and 6 cm. Evaporative and radiative heat transfer coefficients for distillation are observed to increase with the increase of solar radiation and ambient temperature. Average 2 l/m2 distillate and 2 kg/m2 dried ginger is obtained from the system at 4 cm water depth with an estimated cost of Rs. 2.55 per litre of distillate and per kg of dried ginger. Overall energy and exergy efficiency of solar distillation is found higher at lower water depth. Experimental error for solar distillation and ginger drying is also evaluated in terms of percent uncertainty.

Energy crisis and water born diseases caused by impure water are two major concerns of the present era. Various techniques have been used to make saline/brackish water potable. Filtration, precipitation, sterilization, chemical treatment, etc. are some processes that remove macro impurities from impure water. Distillation is thermal energy-based process that effectively removes contaminants from impure water. Reverse osmosis is a membrane-based technique widely used for the purification purposes. Electrodialysis, Ion-exchange, and Freezing are some other processes used to get soft/distilled water for various commercial and domestic uses. Most of the desalination techniques utilize energy from the nonrenewable energy sources. Solar distillation is one of the solutions of getting potable water using solar energy. Solar distillation unit coupled with thermal collectors, photovoltaic panels, and concentrators makes the system active and increases the distillate three to six times than conventional units. Multistage, multieffect active solar still is observed to give an average distillate output of 20 kg/m2/d. Economic analysis also shows that active solar still is a good replacement of nonrenewable energy based water purification techniques. In this article, different water desalination techniques with their economic analysis are briefly discussed. Detailed comprehensive review of researches carried out on active solar still system considering their designs, performance parameters, different hybrid combinations, along with challenges, opportunities, future scope of improvements have also been highlighted. © 2017 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 37: 444–464, 2018

Additional file 1. Supplemental Experimental Procedures

In this research paper, vermicelli samples of 3 mm, 2 mm, and 1.25 mm diameters have been dried inside an even span greenhouse (1.2 × 0.8 m2 effective floor area) under forced convection mode in the climatic conditions of Rohtak, India (28°54′ N 76°34′E). The vermicelli samples were dried until safe moisture content was achieved. The present setup based on sustainable development due to thermal energy taken from sun, which has always an edge, compared to conventional drying in which high-grade energy (electric) is converted into low-grade energy (heat). The overall average values of thermal efficiency, energy efficiency, and exergy efficiency of greenhouse dryer for drying vermicelli were evaluated as 11.15%, 34.83% and 2.03% respectively. Energy consumption and specific energy consumption of greenhouse dryer for drying vermicelli were found in the range of 0.279 to 0.539 kWh and 0.092 to 0.235 kJ/kg which was observed significantly lower than other drying methods. The drying kinetics of thin layer vermicelli has also been investigated. Lewis model was found to be most suitable to describe the thin layer drying behaviour of vermicelli drying under forced convection sustainable greenhouse drying mode. Practical applications. Traditionally, vermicelli is dried in open sun, but its colour and quality gets deteriorated due to exposure to ultraviolet rays, dust, animals, birds, rainfall etc. In industries, vermicelli is dried by electrical/hot air dryers, which consumes lot of energy and makes it costly. Therefore, a practical and advanced method of drying is essential to be developed. Greenhouse drying is an efficient, low cost and energy‐saving advanced technology, compared to the conventional hot air drying and open sun drying. This study proved to be feasible and efficient to work out an optimized drying condition for vermicelli drying under greenhouse, which could give a new path in vermicelli processing industry. The quality of dried vermicelli is good and can be stored for a long time.

In this communication, a new design of solar-energy-based water distillation cum drying unit with parabolic reflector has been designed, fabricated, and tested. Bitter gourd and potato slices are chosen as a drying commodity. Thermal performance of the developed system has been evaluated based on the experimental results and using linear regression analysis. Heat transfer coefficients (convective, evaporative, and radiative) for solar distillation system have been observed to be 2.48–4.09, 13.25–52.38, and 8.75–9.66 W/m2°C, respectively. Overall thermal efficiency and exergy efficiency for the distillation system has been found to be 18.77% and 1.2%, respectively. The convective heat transfer coefficient for potato slices are observed higher for initial hours and decreases as the day progresses. The average convective heat transfer coefficients for bitter gourd and potato slices have been observed as 2.18 and 5.04 W/m2°C, respectively. Experimental error in terms of percent uncertainty for bitter ...

Summary Epigenetic changes represent an attractive mechanism for understanding the phenotypic changes associated with human aging. Age-related changes in DNA methylation at the genome scale have been termed ‘epigenetic drift’, but the defining features of this phenomenon remain to be established. Human epidermis represents an excellent model for understanding age-related epigenetic changes because of its substantial cell-type homogeneity and its well-known age-related phenotype. We have now generated and analyzed the currently largest set of human epidermis methylomes (N = 108) using array-based profiling of 450 000 methylation marks in various age groups. Data analysis confirmed that age-related methylation differences are locally restricted and characterized by relatively small effect sizes. Nevertheless, methylation data could be used to predict the chronological age of sample donors with high accuracy. We also identified discontinuous methylation changes as a novel feature of the aging methylome. Finally, our analysis uncovered an age-related erosion of DNA methylation patterns that is characterized by a reduced dynamic range and increased heterogeneity of global methylation patterns. These changes in methylation variability were accompanied by a reduced connectivity of transcriptional networks. Our findings thus define the loss of epigenetic regulatory fidelity as a key feature of the aging epigenome.

Water is essential for all living creatures. It is abundantly available on earth surface but quantity of potable water is very less. Solar distillation is environmental friendly, economical and cheap water purification techniques. This technique is not commercialized yet because of its lower distillate output. In this communication weir-type cascade solar still with phase change material (PCM) are designed for increasing the productivity of still. Effect of three different phase change material (Bees wax, stearic acid and palmitic acid) of different melting point (61 oC, 55 oC and 54.3 oC respectively) have been studied on the performance of cascade weir type solar still. Maximum productivity of 2.35 litre/m2/day has been obtained with the use of palmitic acid as phase change material with the still. Mean values of convective, evaporative, radiative heat transfer coefficient with thermal efficiency of still has also been calculated and found to be 1.193, 13.13, 6.913 W/m2 oC and 24.58% respectively. The productivity of weir-type solar still with PCM is observed 33.69% higher than conventional still. Thermal efficiency of still with PCM is 35.46 % more than still without PCM.

The simplest and easily accessible type of solar distillation is passive solar still which utilizes freely and abundantly available sun energy for removal of salinity/impurity from saline/brackish water. The main drawback of passive solar still is its lower efficiency and distillation output. Different designs of passive solar stills are fabricated and tested by various researchers to meet water demand economically. Concave wick basin pyramidal-shaped solar still was observed to produce 4.0 l/m2/day average distillate with a cost of 0.065$/l. Double basin solar still showed an average of 85 % higher yield than single basin still. Stepped type, inclined, tubular, pyramidal, spherical, and hemispherical shapes were considered an efficient designs of passive solar still. Numbers of parameters such as water depth, solar radiation, ambient conditions, condensing cover material, its cooling and direction, internal and external reflectors, sun tracking system, wicks, thermal and energy storage materials were outlined which highly affect the performance of solar still. Water depth of 0.04 m and condensing cover inclination to latitude of the place were observed optimum operational parameters. A distillate output of 4.3 l/m2 was collected with cotton gauge top cover cooling to V-type solar still. Increase of 75 % in productivity and 56 % in daily efficiency was observed with internal reflector stepped solar still. An improvement of 380 % was observed in stepwise basin solar still integrated with sun tracking system. Despite large efforts carried out on passive solar distillation, there are some challenges like bulkiness, high initial cost, and optimization of spacing between condensing cover and water surface of inclined still, thermophysical properties of basin material, flow rate, insulation material and its thickness, which need to be improved to make this technique efficient in practical utilization. This review paper mainly presents the results of previous work carried out on the designs, operational and process parameters affecting distillation, cost analysis, further scope of improvement in preceding work along with their limitations. The decade reviews on solar stills based on different context authored by many researchers have also been summarized. Moreover, this review paper will help the researchers to understand the basics of solar still with the need, developments and challenges in passive solar distillation to improve its thermal performance.

The emergence of new influenza viruses like the pandemic H1N1 influenza A virus in 2009 (A(H1N1)pdm09) with unpredictable difficulties in vaccine coverage and established antiviral treatment protocols emphasizes the need of new murine models to prove the activity of novel antiviral compounds in vivo. The aim of the present study was to develop a small-scale mathematical model based on easily attainable experimental data to explain differences in influenza kinetics induced by different virus strains in mice. To develop a three-dimensional ordinary differential equation model of influenza dynamics, the following variables were included: (i) viral pathogenicity (P), (ii) antiviral immune defense (D), and (iii) inflammation due to pro-inflammatory response (I). Influenza virus-induced symptoms (clinical score S) in mice provided the basis for calculations of P and I. Both, mono- and biphasic course of mild to severe influenza induced by three clinical A(H1N1)pdm09 strains and one European swine H1N2 virus were comparatively and quantitatively studied by fitting the mathematical model to the experimental data. The model hypothesizes reasons for mild and severe influenza with mono- as well as biphasic course of disease. According to modeling results, the second peak of the biphasic course of infection is caused by inflammation. The parameters (i) maximum primary pathogenicity, (ii) viral infection rate, and (iii) rate of activation of the immune system represent most important parameters that quantitatively characterize the different pattern of virus-specific influenza kinetics.