Multiple organs cooperate to regulate appetite, metabolism, and glucose and fatty acid homeostasis. Here, we identified and characterized lymphatic vasculature dysfunction as a cause of adult-onset ...obesity. We found that functional inactivation of a single allele of the homeobox gene Prox1 led to adult-onset obesity due to abnormal lymph leakage from mispatterned and ruptured lymphatic vessels. Prox1 heterozygous mice are a new model for adult-onset obesity and lymphatic vascular disease.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
•Hydrology of the entire Ganga River basin is modeled using SWAT.•Water balance for Ganga River basin and its tributaries were investigated.•Trend of surface runoff in the Ganga River basin and its ...tributaries is investigated by using different trend analysis methods.•The streamflow from the snow fed areas has increased, however, the stream flow in the lower reaches and the non-perennial tributaries have declined significantly.•Substantial reduction in overall water resources availability with respect to Virgin Scenario.
Ganga River basin.
The availability of freshwater has been recognized as a global issue, and the reliable evaluation and quantification of it within the basin is necessary to bolster the sustainable management of water. For this purpose a basin-scale SWAT model of the Ganga River basin has been developed.
Model validation showed that simulated results were consistent with the observed data in reproducing the seasonal dynamics of surface water and suggest that the model is capable of reproducing the hydrological features of the basin including the snow melt. However, there are large variations in both temporal and spatial distribution of the hydrological components. Statistical methods have been used for detecting trends and critical changes in streamflow. It has been found that although the streamflow from the snow fed areas has increased, the stream flow in the lower reaches and the non-perennial tributaries have declined significantly. This decline can be attributed to both anthropogenic and exogenous changes. The study also establishes that there has been a substantial reduction in overall water resources availability with respect to Virgin. This information sets the yardstick to the restoration of the hydrological and environmental health of the basin and can lead to better management of water resources under scarcity.
The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) simplified the hydrological processes in large patches of paddy fields. Based on the original SWAT code, the main equations are modified and validated with ...the long-term field observations in freezing-thawing watershed. The original SWAT and SWAT with paddy module (SWAT-P) both perform well in the simulation of stream flow at the basin scale (NSE ≥ 0.7). SWAT-P performs better in the soil water simulation (RMSE = 24.22 mm, smaller than 104.63 mm of SWAT). The monthly diffuse nitrogen loadings simulated by SWAT-P are within a reasonable range and close to the monitored nitrate loads in 2011 and 2012. SWAT-P represents the ponding water depth dynamics during the rice growing period. The original SWAT overestimates the diffuse pollution loads in the freeze-thaw period. SWAT-P has better performance for water cycles and diffuse pollution load simulations in watersheds with large rice paddy fields.
•The original SWAT and SWAT-P both performed well in the simulation of stream flow at the basin scale.•The SWAT-P performed better in the soil water simulation at HRU scale.•The monthly diffuse TN simulated by the SWAT-P were within a reasonable range and close to monitored values.•SWAT-P still underestimated the diffuse N load compared to observed data, but better than original SWAT during the spring.
The dynamic properties of the airborne structures plays a crucial role in the stability of the vehicle during
flight. Modal and spectral behaviour of the structures are simulated and analysed. Ground ...tests are carried out with environmental conditions close to the flight conditions, with some assumptions. Subsequently, based on the flight telemetered data, the on-board mission algorithm and the auto-pilot filter coefficients are fine tuned. An attempt is made in this paper to design a novel architecture for analysing the modal and spectral random vibration signals on-board the flight vehicle and to identify the dominant frequencies. Based on the analysed results, the mission mode algorithm and the filter coefficients can be fine tuned on-board for better effectiveness in control and providing more stability. Three types of windows viz. Hann, Hamming and Blackman-Harris are configured with a generalised equation using FIR filter structure. The overlapping of the input signal data for better inclusiveness of the real-time data is implemented with BRAM. The domain conversion of the data from time domain to frequency domain is carried out with FFT using Radix-2 BF architecture. The FFT output data are processed for calculating the power spectral density. The dominant frequency is identified using the array search method and Goldschmidt algorithm is utilised for the averaging of the PSDs for better precision. The proposed architecture is synthesised, implemented and tested with both Synthetic and doppler signal of 300 Hz spot frequency padded with Gaussian white noise. The results are highly satisfactory in identifying the spot frequency and generating the PSD array.
Large-scale distributed watershed models are data-intensive, and preparing them consumes most of the research resources. We prepared high-resolution global databases of soil, landuse, actual ...evapotranspiration (AET), and historical and future weather databases that could serve as standard inputs in Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) models. The data include two global soil maps and their associated databases calculated with a large number of pedotransfer functions, two landuse maps and their correspondence with SWAT's database, historical and future daily temperature and precipitation data from five IPCC models with four scenarios; and finally, global monthly AET data. Weather data are 0.5° global grids text-formatted for direct use in SWAT models. The AET data is formatted for use in SWAT-CUP (SWAT Calibration Uncertainty Procedures) for calibration of SWAT models. The use of these global databases for SWAT models can speed up the model building by 75-80% and are extremely valuable in areas with limited or no physical data. Furthermore, they can facilitate the comparison of model results in different parts of the world.
A naturally available clay mineral, halloysite, is used as a templating agent for the preparation of porous carbon microparticles (PCMs); these PCMs have been investigated as a candidate for ...lithium-ion battery (LIB) anodes. The PCMs are obtained with furfuryl alcohol as the carbon precursor; we also propose a possible mechanism for their self-assembled structure. This structure exhibits a Brunauer-Emmett-Teller surface area of 329 m2 g-1, which is higher than that of halloysite (50 m2 g-1). Even after 300 cycles, the PCMs exhibited a stable reversible discharge capacity of 600 mA h g-1 when tested at 100 mA g-1. Furthermore, the presence of porous structure in PCM electrode provides surface controlled reaction, contributing pseudocapacitance (58.5%) to the total charge storage capacity.
Hydrogen embrittlement of steels continues to pose significant challenges to the integrity of operating equipment in the oil and gas industry. While significant research has been done to elicit the ...mechanisms of hydrogen embrittlement, there are still gaps in understanding the micromechanisms of failure. This paper highlights the recently proposed nano-void coalescence mechanism of hydrogen induced failure that was based on experimental work and associated computational modeling work that highlights the key role played by hydrogen-vacancy complexes as atomic level damage nucleation units. Finally, the paper discusses areas of future research to further enhance the understanding of hydrogen embrittlement.
The development of precise sensors to detect hazardous heavy metal ions (HMIs) in an aqueous medium has recently attracted much attention. Metal-Organic Frameworks (MOFs) with large specific surface ...areas, more active sites, and flexible chemical structures have received tremendous research interest in many applications. MOFs composites blended with various functional materials are well suited for the electrochemical sensing of HMIs, because of their synergetic properties, including abundant active sites, enhanced electrical conductivity, and increased chemical stability. While MOFs composites’ synthesis protocols, modification techniques, and potential applications have been addressed in the previous reports, there is an increasing awareness of electrochemical detection of HMIs using MOFs composites. This review explicitly summarizes the electrochemical sensing of HMIs using various MOFs-based composites, including MOFs-carbon, MOFs-polymer, MOFs-metal nanoparticles, and MOFs-other composites. In addition, the challenges and opportunities towards electrochemical sensing with the MOFs composite-based materials are discussed.
Although overweight and obesity in childhood are related to dyslipidemia, hyperinsulinemia, and hypertension, most studies have examined levels of these risk factors individually or have used ...internal cutpoints (eg, quintiles) to classify overweight and risk factors.
We used cutpoints derived from several national studies to examine the relation of overweight (Quetelet index, >95th percentile) to adverse risk factor levels and risk factor clustering.
The sample consisted of 9167 5- to 17-year-olds examined in seven cross-sectional studies conducted by the Bogalusa Heart Study between 1973 and 1994.
About 11% of examined schoolchildren were considered overweight. Although adverse lipid, insulin, and blood pressure levels did not vary substantially with the Quetelet index at levels <85th percentile, risk factor prevalences increased greatly at higher levels of the Quetelet index. Overweight schoolchildren were 2.4 times as likely as children with a Quetelet index <85th percentile to have an elevated level of total cholesterol. Odds ratios for other associations were 2.4 (diastolic blood pressure), 3.0 (low-density lipoprotein cholesterol), 3.4 (high-density lipoprotein cholesterol), 4.5 (systolic blood pressure), 7.1 (triglycerides), and 12.6 (fasting insulin). Several of these associations differed between whites and blacks, and by age. Of the 813 overweight schoolchildren, 475 (58%) were found to have at least one risk factor. Furthermore, the use of overweight as a screening tool could identify 50% of schoolchildren who had two or more risk factors.
Because overweight is associated with various risk factors even among young children, it is possible that the successful prevention and treatment of obesity in childhood could reduce the adult incidence of cardiovascular disease.
Lymphatic vasculature is an integral part of digestive, immune and circulatory systems. The homeobox transcription factor PROX1 is necessary for the development of lymphatic vessels, lymphatic valves ...(LVs) and lymphovenous valves (LVVs). We and others previously reported a feedback loop between PROX1 and vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) signaling. PROX1 promotes the expression of the VEGF-C receptor VEGFR3 in lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs). In turn, VEGF-C signaling maintains PROX1 expression in LECs. However, the mechanisms of PROX1/VEGF-C feedback loop remain poorly understood. Whether VEGF-C signaling is necessary for LV and LVV development is also unknown. Here, we report for the first time that VEGF-C signaling is necessary for valve morphogenesis. We have also discovered that the transcriptional co-activators YAP and TAZ are required to maintain PROX1 expression in LVs and LVVs in response to VEGF-C signaling. Deletion of
and
in the lymphatic vasculature of mouse embryos did not affect the formation of LVs or LVVs, but resulted in the degeneration of these structures. Our results have identified VEGF-C, YAP and TAZ as a crucial molecular pathway in valve development.
PDF
