The purpose of this study was to analyze the performance of two laboratory-scale reactors (5.0
L) treating organic fraction of municipal solid waste (OFMSW): source sorted OFMSW (SS_OFMSW) obtained ...from a university restaurant and mechanically selected municipal fraction (MS_OFMSW) obtained from a Municipal Treatment Plant placed in Cadiz-Spain. Discontinuous reactors operated at thermophilic (55
°C) and dry (20% total solid) conditions. Different decomposition patterns were observed: (1) the SS_OFMSW exhibited the classical waste decomposition pattern with a fast start up phase beginning within 0–5 days and 20–30 and a subsequent stabilization phase. The VS removal was 45% with a cumulative biogas of 120
L in approx. 60 days; (2) the MS_OFMSW showed a methanogenic pattern throughout the whole experimental period (60 days) and this gave higher levels of organic biodegradation (56%VSr) and biogas production (82
L). Both processes were completed and a high level of cumulative methane production was achieved in less than 60 days, proximally 25–30
L.
Summary
Background
The malignant mechanisms that control the development of cutaneous T‐cell lymphoma (CTCL) are beginning to be identified. Recent evidence suggests that disturbances in specific ...intracellular signalling pathways, such as RAS–mitogen‐activated protein kinase, T‐cell receptor (TCR)–phospholipase C gamma 1 (PLCG1)–nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) and Janus kinase (JAK)–signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT), may play an essential role in the pathogenesis of CTCL.
Objectives
To investigate the mechanisms controlling disease development and progression in mycosis fungoides (MF), the most common form of CTCL.
Methods
We collected 100 samples that were submitted for diagnosis of, or a second opinion regarding, MF between 2001 and 2018, 80% of which were in the early clinical stages of the disease. Formalin‐fixed paraffin‐embedded tissues were used for histological review and to measure the expression by immunohistochemistry of surrogate markers of activation of the TCR–PLCG1–NFAT, JAK–STAT and NF‐κB pathways. Folliculotropism and large‐cell transformation were also examined.
Results
NFAT and nuclear factor kappa B (NF‐κB) markers showed a comparable activation status in early and advanced stages, while STAT3 activation was more frequent in advanced stages and was associated with large‐cell transformation. Consistently with this observation, STAT3 activation occurred in parallel with MF progression in two initially MF‐negative cases. A significant association of NFAT with NF‐κB markers was also found, reflecting a common mechanism of activation in the two pathways. Genomic studies identified nine mutations in seven genes known to play a potential role in tumorigenesis in T‐cell leukaemia/lymphoma, including PLCG1, JAK3 and STAT3, which underlies the activation of these key cell‐survival pathways. A higher mutational allele frequency was detected in advanced stages.
Conclusions
Our results show that STAT3 is activated in advanced cases and is associated with large‐cell transformation, while the activation of NFAT and NF‐κB is maintained throughout the disease. These findings could have important diagnostic and therapeutic implications.
What's already known about this topic?
Mycosis fungoides is characterized by a clonal expansion of T cells in the skin.
The mechanisms controlling disease development and progression are not fully understood.
What does this study add?
An association of the nuclear factor of activated T cells and nuclear factor kappa B pathways was found, which could reflect a common mechanism of activation. These pathways were activated in early and advanced stages at the same level.
Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 activation was associated with large‐cell transformation and was more frequent in advanced stages.
A genomic analysis of cutaneous T‐cell lymphoma‐associated genes was performed. Nine mutations were detected.
What is the translational message?
These results could have important implications for the treatment of MF in the near future.
Linked Comment: Ødum. Br J Dermatol 2020; 182:16–17.
Abstract
High-spatial-resolution observations of CO isotopologue line emission in protoplanetary disks at mid-inclinations (≈30°–75°) allow us to characterize the gas structure in detail, including ...radial and vertical substructures, emission surface heights and their dependencies on source characteristics, and disk temperature profiles. By combining observations of a suite of CO isotopologues, we can map the two-dimensional (
r
,
z
) disk structure from the disk upper atmosphere, as traced by CO, to near the midplane, as probed by less abundant isotopologues. Here, we present high-angular-resolution (≲0.″1 to ≈0.″2; ≈15–30 au) observations of CO,
13
CO, and C
18
O in either or both
J
= 2–1 and
J
= 3–2 lines in the transition disks around DM Tau, Sz 91, LkCa 15, and HD 34282. We derived line emission surfaces in CO for all disks and in
13
CO for the DM Tau and LkCa 15 disks. With these observations, we do not resolve the vertical structure of C
18
O in any disk, which is instead consistent with C
18
O emission originating from the midplane. Both the
J
= 2–1 and
J
= 3–2 lines show similar heights. Using the derived emission surfaces, we computed radial and vertical gas temperature distributions for each disk, including empirical temperature models for the DM Tau and LkCa 15 disks. After combining our sample with literature sources, we find that
13
CO line emitting heights are also tentatively linked with source characteristics, e.g., stellar host mass, gas temperature, disk size, and show steeper trends than seen in CO emission surfaces.
•Semicontinuous temperature-phased anaerobic digestion has been studied.•Industrial OFMSW from non-selective collection of MBT plant has been digested.•Thermophilic–mesophilic temperatures and dry ...condition have been selected.•Different thermophilic–mesophilic combination of times were analyzed.•In each condition, the methane yield and the organic material removal were studied.
The optimization of anaerobic digestion of organic wastes is a challenge to maximize energy production through biogas production process. In this study, semicontinuous TPAD (Temperature Phased Anaerobic Digestion) process has been used for the treatment of the Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW) coming from a mechanical–biological-treatment (MBT) plant. TPAD combines the advantages of operating in different temperature ranges getting better efficiencies of organic matter removal and higher methane productivities than single-stage anaerobic digestion. In this study, the configuration used in the overall process was a thermophilic reactor (55–57°C) for the first phase followed by a mesophilic one (35–37°C) for the second phase. Two TPAD conditions have been tested in this paper: 4:10 and 3:6. The first digit means the SRT used in the first thermophilic phase while the second digit is related to the SRT used in the second mesophilic phase. Moreover, the performance of TPAD processes was compared with those from single-stage digesters operating at similar SRT (i.e., mesophilic and thermophilic reactors operating at 15days SRT and thermophilic reactor operating at 10days).
The results showed that achievement reached in TPAD 4:10 was better than the corresponding one in TPAD 3:6, obtaining higher productivity of methane (35–45%) and removal of organic matter (6–19%).
Moreover, the results indicate that TPAD processes reach higher efficiencies for organic matter removal (16%, 10% and 30% for DOC, CODsoluble and VS, respectively) and higher methane yields (26–60%) than single-stage systems operating at similar SRT.
Brain metastasis (BM) is one of the main complications of many cancers, and the most frequent malignancy of the central nervous system. Imaging studies of BMs are routinely used for diagnosis of ...disease, treatment planning and follow-up. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has great potential to provide automated tools to assist in the management of disease. However, AI methods require large datasets for training and validation, and to date there have been just one publicly available imaging dataset of 156 BMs. This paper publishes 637 high-resolution imaging studies of 75 patients harboring 260 BM lesions, and their respective clinical data. It also includes semi-automatic segmentations of 593 BMs, including pre- and post-treatment T1-weighted cases, and a set of morphological and radiomic features for the cases segmented. This data-sharing initiative is expected to enable research into and performance evaluation of automatic BM detection, lesion segmentation, disease status evaluation and treatment planning methods for BMs, as well as the development and validation of predictive and prognostic tools with clinical applicability.
Increased plant mortality in temperate seagrass populations has been recently observed after summer heatwaves, although the underlying causes of plant death are yet unknown. The potential energetic ...constrains resulting from anomalous thermal events could be the reason that triggered seagrass mortality, as demonstrated for benthic invertebrates. To test this hypothesis, the carbon balance of Posidonia oceanica and Cymodocea nodosa plants from contrasting thermal environments was investigated during a simulated heatwave, by analyzing their photosynthetic performance, carbon balance (ratio photosynthesis:respiration), carbohydrates content, growth and mortality. Both species were able to overcome and recover from the thermal stress produced by the six-week exposure to temperatures 4 °C above mean summer levels, albeit plants from cold waters were more sensitive to warming than plants from warm waters as reflected by their inability to maintain their P:R ratio unaltered. The strategies through which plants tend to preserve their energetic status varied depending on the biology of the species and the thermal origin of plants. These included respiratory homeostasis (P. oceanica warm-plants), carbon diversion from growth to respiration (C. nodosa cold-plants) or storage (P. oceanica warm-plants) and changes in biomass allocation (C. nodosa warm-plants). Findings suggest an important geographic heterogeneity in the overall response of Mediterranean seagrasses to warming with potential negative impacts on the functions and services offered by seagrass meadows including among others their capacity for carbon sequestration and carbon export to adjacent ecosystems.
Display omitted
•Mediterranean seagrasses resist the thermal effects during a simulated heatwave.•Sensitivity to warming was higher in plants from cold thermal environments.•The ability to tune the plant carbon balance determines the acclimation capacity.•To keep energy reserves plants divert carbon from growth to respiration or storage.•Plants also achieve respiratory homeostasis or modify biomass allocation.
This work focuses on the combination of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) and à la carte functionalized carbon nanodots (CNDs) for the development of DNA biosensors for selective and sensitive detection of ...pathogens. MoS2 flakes prepared through liquid-phase exfoliation, serves as platform for thiolated DNA probe immobilization, while thionine functionalized carbon nanodots (Thi-CNDs) are used as electrochemical indicator of the hybridization event. Spectroscopic and electrochemical studies confirmed the interaction of Thi-CNDs with DNA. As an illustration of the pathogen biosensor functioning, DNA sequences from InIA gen of Listeria monocytogenes bacteria and open reading frame sequence (ORF1ab) of SARS-CoV-2 virus were detected and quantified with a detection limit of 67.0 fM and 1.01 pM, respectively. Given the paradigmatic selectivity of the DNA hybridization, this approach allows pathogen detection in the presence of other pathogens, demonstrated by the detection of Listeria monocytogenes in presence of Escherichia coli. We note that this design is in principle amenable to any pathogen for which the DNA has been sequenced, including other viruses and bacteria. As example of the application of the method in real samples it has been used to directly detect Listeria monocytogenes in cultures without any DNA Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) amplification process.
•New à la carte functionalized carbon nanodots (CNDs) synthesis.•MoS2 and à la carte CNDs for the development of DNA biosensors for Listeria monocytogenes and SARS-CoV-2 detection.•Direct detection of Listeria monocytogenes in real samples without any DNA and PCR amplification process.
The growth in the use of Renewable Energies in Spain has been remarkable. Among these energies is solar thermal energy. However, there are barriers which impede citizens from deciding to install the ...technologies that use this type of energy in their homes. Over recent years, various measures have been adopted to enhance and promote the use of solar thermal energy. These measures have been developed at all administrative levels: central, regional and local. One of the most used measures has been the adoption of legislative regulations that force the use of this type of energy in construction. Another alternative route is promotion by means of incentives, in three aspects: tax incentives, non-refundable grants and favourable lines of finance. However, the measures applied have been found to be insufficient, and alternative stimuli are needed.
Summary
The major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I‐related chain A (MICA) is induced upon stress, and labels malfunctioning cells for their recognition by cytotoxic lymphocytes. Alterations ...in this recognition and also abnormal natural killer (NK) functions have been found in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). MICA can be shed from cells, subsequently acting as a soluble decoy receptor (sMICA). Our purpose was to study circulating sMICA levels in relationship with the activation of innate pathways in PBMC in a cohort of lupus patients. NK cells were characterized by flow cytometry. Gene expression of Toll‐like receptors (TLR), interferon (IFN)‐I sensitive genes and MICA were separately analyzed in monocytes, T cells and B cells. Serum sMICA was measured with enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In our cohort, NK cell counts dropped in relationship with disease activity. sMICA showed an inverse trend with NK cell counts, as well as a significant association with activity indices, but not with complement decrease. Levels of sMICA associated to proteinuria and active nephritis. A multivariate regression model revealed anti‐nuclear antibody (ANA) titres, the up‐regulation of TLR‐4 in T cells and lower vitamin D as predictors of sMICA enhancement. Interestingly, vitamin D showed an inverse association with proteinuria and a strong correlation with T cell MICA mRNA levels. According to our data, circulating sMICA identifies a subgroup of lupus patients with low vitamin D, innate activation of T cells and nephritis. We propose that lymphocyte shedding could account for the enhancement of sMICA and reflect an immune evasion mechanism driving disease activation in lupus.
In a cross‐sectional study we identified a specific subgroup of lupus patients with enhanced levels of circulating soluble MICA (sMICA) – which is thought to act as a decoy receptor for NK cells – higher disease activity scores and active nephritis. The patients might have impaired NK functions, as suggested by the inverse correlation between NK cell counts and sMICA and the lack of association with complement activation. A robust relationship between sMICA and decreased vitamin D suggests that the vitamin holds up the balance of MICA homeostatic functions, which could be lost in these patients during flares.
PDF
