Hereditary leiomyomatosis and renal cell cancer (HLRCC) syndrome is a rare genetic disorder that predisposes individuals to multiple cutaneous leiomyomas, renal cell carcinomas, and in women, uterine ...leiomyomas. Also known as Reed syndrome, it is caused by a germline heterozygous mutation of the fumarate hydratase tumor suppressor gene. HLRCC is associated with significant morbidity because of pain from cutaneous and uterine leiomyomas, the cutaneous pain often of unique character. Although genetic testing is currently considered the criterion standard to diagnose HLRCC, newer immunohistochemistry markers may provide rapid and cost effective alternatives to genetic testing. Because of the potentially aggressive nature of renal cell carcinomas that develop as early as in childhood, close annual cancer surveillance is desirable in individuals with HLRCC. In this review, we offer an update and an approach to the diagnosis, management, and renal cancer surveillance in HLRCC.
•An experimental thermoelectric dryer with tumble-type drum is reported.•A steady state model of a solid state heat pump dryer was proposed.•Experimental results confirmed the model accuracy within ...5%.•An energy factor of 6.51 lb dry cloth per kWh was experimentally obtained.
Electric clothes dryers consume about 6% of US residential electricity consumption. Using a solid-state technology without refrigerant, thermoelectric (TE) heat pump dryers have the potential to be more efficient than units based on electric resistance and less expensive than units based on vapor compression. This paper presents a steady state TE dryer model, and validates the model against results from an experimental prototype. The system model is composed of a TE heat pump element model coupled with a psychrometric dryer sub-model. Experimental results had energy factors (EFs) of up to 2.95 kg of dry cloth per kWh (6.51 lbc/kWh), with a dry time of 159 min. A faster dry time of 96 min was also achieved at an EF of 2.54 kgc/kWh (5.60 lbc/kWh). The model was able to replicate the experimental results within 5% of EF and 5% of dry time values. The results are used to identify important parameters that affect dryer performance, such as relative humidity of air leaving the drum.
This paper describes a new program SnpSift for filtering differential DNA sequence variants between two or more experimental genomes after genotoxic chemical exposure. Here, we illustrate how SnpSift ...can be used to identify candidate phenotype-relevant variants including single nucleotide polymorphisms, multiple nucleotide polymorphisms, insertions, and deletions (InDels) in mutant strains isolated from genome-wide chemical mutagenesis of Drosophila melanogaster. First, the genomes of two independently isolated mutant fly strains that are allelic for a novel recessive male-sterile locus generated by genotoxic chemical exposure were sequenced using the Illumina next-generation DNA sequencer to obtain 20- to 29-fold coverage of the euchromatic sequences. The sequencing reads were processed and variants were called using standard bioinformatic tools. Next, SnpEff was used to annotate all sequence variants and their potential mutational effects on associated genes. Then, SnpSift was used to filter and select differential variants that potentially disrupt a common gene in the two allelic mutant strains. The potential causative DNA lesions were partially validated by capillary sequencing of polymerase chain reaction-amplified DNA in the genetic interval as defined by meiotic mapping and deletions that remove defined regions of the chromosome. Of the five candidate genes located in the genetic interval, the Pka-like gene CG12069 was found to carry a separate pre-mature stop codon mutation in each of the two allelic mutants whereas the other four candidate genes within the interval have wild-type sequences. The Pka-like gene is therefore a strong candidate gene for the male-sterile locus. These results demonstrate that combining SnpEff and SnpSift can expedite the identification of candidate phenotype-causative mutations in chemically mutagenized Drosophila strains. This technique can also be used to characterize the variety of mutations generated by genotoxic chemicals.
A heat and mass transfer effectiveness definition relevant to clothes dryers is developed in this work. A correlation is presented for determining the effectiveness of heat and mass transfer in a ...horizontal-axis, tumble-type clothes dryer drum with axial airflow. The correlation is a function of four measurable quantities: air mass flow rate, cloth mass, air mass in the drum, and the fall time experienced by a cloth falling the full height (i.e. diameter) of the drum. The Buckingham Pi Theorem is applied to the problem in order to derive dimensionless terms upon which the effectiveness depends. Empirical data from several dryers are used to derive an empirical correlation as a function of the dimensionless variables. Three cloth types were investigated, and a separate empirical correlation is proposed for each. Together, the drum effectiveness concept and the correlation presented provide a new, more accurate, computationally efficient, and readily implemented framework for modeling and simulating clothes dryers. It is relevant to conventional gas and electric clothes drying appliances, vapor compression heat pump dryers, and thermoelectric heat pump clothes dryers. With appropriate empirical inputs, the framework is extensible to any thermal-evaporative cloth drying systems, including radial-flow horizontal axis tumble drying drums.
•An effectiveness term is defined for the clothes dryer drum performance.•A non-dimensional analysis is carried out for the cloth drying process.•A polynomial correlation for drum effectiveness is presented for use in dryer modeling.•The correlation is based on empirical measurements of seven dryer models and three cloth types.
Objective:
To determine the mechanism and clinical significance of depression-related differences in performance on the Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT).
Methods:
The influence of depression on ...two versions of a computerized SDMT (i.e. fixed versus variable code) was assessed. Both versions involve processing speed, but the fixed c-SDMT also encompasses incidental visual memory.
Results:
Depression was associated with a 19.06% slowing on the variable (p = 0.002) and an 8.10% slowing on the fixed (p = 0.219) c-SDMT.
Conclusion:
Depression-associated differences in performance on the SDMT appear linked more to a reduction in processing speed than a decline in incidental visual memory and exceed the 10% threshold considered clinically significant.
Objective:
The objective of the current study was to determine the frequency and severity of symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in journalists covering conflict.
Methods:
PTSD data ...(Impact of Event Scale–Revised) collected over an 18-year period from 684 conflict journalists were analyzed retrospectively for frequency and severity of reexperiencing, avoidance, and arousal symptoms. Conflicts covered were civil wars in the Balkans (n = 140 journalists), 9/11 attack in New York City (n = 46), Iraq war (n = 84), Mexico drug wars (n = 104), civil war in Syria (n = 59), Kenya election violence/Al-Shabab terror (n = 57), state-sanctioned media intimidation in Iran (n = 114), and the current migration crisis in Europe (n = 80).
Results:
The mean age of the sample was 38.59 (SD = 8.35) years, 461 (67%) journalists were men, and the mean duration of conflict work was 13.42 (SD = 7.74) years. The 5 most frequently endorsed symptoms were in the reexperiencing/intrusion category. Mean intrusion (1.31, SD = 0.97), avoidance (1.08, SD = 0.89), and arousal (1.07, SD = 0.96) scores for the entire sample were in the mild range. Being female and less educated independently predicted PTSD symptoms.
Conclusions:
PTSD phenomenology in a group of conflict journalists with well over a decade of frontline experience is dominated by reexperiencing symptoms. While symptom severity is for the most part mild, group means can obscure those individuals with significantly more severe difficulties.
The roles of retinoids in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) remain unclear and a better understanding may lead to therapies that prevent or limit NAFLD progression. We examined the actions of ...retinoic acid receptor (RAR) agonists- AM80 for RARα and AC261066 for RARβ2- in a murine model of NAFLD. We fed wild type C57Bl/6 mice a chow or a 45% high fat diet (HFD) for 12 weeks, followed by 4 additional weeks with the HFD+AM80; HFD+AC261066; or HFD. The HFD+AM80 group showed greater hyperglycemia and glucose intolerance compared to other groups. Histopathological evaluation of the livers showed the highest degree of steatosis, triglycerides levels, and inflammation, assessed by F4/80 staining, in the HFD+AM80-treated compared to the HFD, the HFD+AC261066, and chow-fed mice. Liver vitamin A (retinol (ROL)) and retinyl palmitate levels were markedly lower in all HFD groups compared to chow-fed controls. HFD+AC261066-treated mice showed higher levels of a key intracellular ROL transporter, retinol-binding protein-1 (RBP1) compared to the HFD and HFD+AM80 groups. In conclusion, these data demonstrate that the selective RARα agonist AM80 exacerbates HFD-induced NAFLD and hyperglycemia. These findings should inform future studies examining the therapeutic potential of RAR agonists in HFD-related disorders.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Existing methods of drying fabrics involve energy-intensive thermal evaporation of moisture from clothes. Drying fabrics using high-frequency vibrations of piezoelectric transducers can substantially ...reduce drying time and energy consumption. In this method, vibrational energy generates instability on the liquid-air interface and mechanically ejects water from a wet fabric. Here, for the first time, the physics of the ultrasonic fabric drying process in direct-contact mode is studied. The kinematic and thermal responses of water droplets and fabrics on piezoelectric crystal transducers and metal mesh–based transducers are studied. The results suggest that on piezoelectric crystal transducers, the response of a droplet subjected to ultrasonic excitation is dictated by the relative magnitude of the surface tension and the ultrasonic excitation forces. The drying process for a fabric on the studied transducers consists of two regimes—vibrational and thermal. When the water content is high, the vibrational forces can eject bulk water rapidly. But the more strongly bound water within the smaller fabric pores evaporates by the thermal energy generated as a result of the viscous losses. This study finds that a metal mesh–based transducer is more suitable for dewatering fabrics, as it facilitates the ejection of water from the fabric–transducer interface to the opposite side of the mesh. A demonstration unit developed consumes 10–20% of the water latent heat energy at water contents greater than 20%.
•Mechanism of ultrasonic fabric de-watering process is studied.•Kinetics and thermal characteristics of the process are analyzed.•Advantages of mesh transducers over other transducers are presented.•A demonstration unit ultrasonic dryer is built and its energy use is measured.
Refrigerant maldistribution is a common issue in microchannel heat exchangers. Refrigerant maldistribution can have significant negative effects on the heat transfer performance and increase the ...pressure drop, leading to increased superheat temperature at the outlet and increased compressor work, lowering system efficiency. A novel piezoelectric-driven magnetic actuator (PEDMA) was fabricated and inserted into the inlet header of the microchannel evaporator, with the goal of improving the non-uniformity of the flow distribution by regulating the flow in the header to the microchannels. Two prototype PEDMA designs were tested and showed significant impact on the refrigerant flow in the region of actuation. In the first design, the experimental data showed superheat reductions up to 9 °C when the individual channel temperatures were measured. The second design redistributed the refrigerant such that a 1% increase in capacity was calculated for the whole heat exchanger without significantly impacting the heating efficiency. The experimental results demonstrate the successful operation of the PEDMA devices and represent a new method of active flow distribution control which is based on a simple design with minimal additional energy consumption, and which can be inserted into microchannel heat exchanger headers to potentially relieve the refrigerant maldistribution.
•Maldistribution in microchannel evaporators degrades performance.•Active control of refrigerant maldistribution can increase lost performance.•Experimental evaluation of prototypes of active systems shows significant impact.•Maldistribution was controlled by magnetically coupled piezoelectric actuators.
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