The line parameters of the distribution network (DN) may change because of the atmospheric, structural, and operational conditions. The uncertainty of line parameters can compromise the accuracy of ...the automatic fault location methods. Besides, arc faults (AFs) may happen in the DN. These faults are difficult to locate in the faulty section because of the nonlinear, asymmetric, and random nature of AF current. In this article, we present a new time-domain fault location (TDFL) method to determine the location of the fault in smart power DN under the line parameters uncertainty. In the suggested method, line parameters' accurate values are determined using a mixed gradient descent particle swarm optimization algorithm. The suggested method's performance is investigated with the help of an IEEE 123-node test feeder in MATLAB (R2018b). The effects of parameter uncertainty, distributed generations operation conditions and modes, different types of AF, various fault distances, resistances, and the fault inception angles are studied. For further evaluation of the proposed method's robustness, two practical tests in the laboratory are carried out. The results confirm that the proposed TDFL method has high accuracy.
Silicon (Si) and Zn are beneficial for improving plant growth and human health. Fortifying rice (Oryza sativa L.) with Si and Zn can correct deficiencies of these elements in humans who consume rice. ...The present study evaluated the effects of different Si and Zn application forms as nanoparticles (NPs) foliar application and soil application (traditional fertilizers) on agronomic performance, grain yield (GY), Si and Zn accumulation, and protein content in rice tissue. The experiment was performed as a randomized complete block design with a factorial set of treatments that included three Si treatments (0, soil‐Si, nano‐Si) and three Zn treatments (0, soil‐Zn, nano‐Zn) with three replicates in two experimental farms (Mazandaran, Iran). The results indicated that Si and Zn applications by both NPs (300 g ha−1) and soil application (9 kg Zn ha−1 and 392 kg Si ha−1) ameliorated the yield components, yield, and nutrient accumulation in rice plant tissue. Application of nano‐Zn, nano‐Si, soil‐Zn, and soil‐Si significantly increased GY by 12.6, 9.5, 9.2, and 6.9%, respectively, above the control. Application of Si and Zn through NPs had greater effects than soil form for some experimental parameters, such as fortification of rice grains. Overall, our results suggest that Si and Zn applications as NPs could increase GY, reduce fertilizer costs and environmental pollution, and enrich rice grains with Si and Zn through improving agronomic and physiological traits, leading to higher GY and nutrients accumulation in grain.
Core Ideas
Application of Si and Zn increased the agronomic parameters and grain yield.
There was no significant interaction among Si and Zn on grain yield.
The nano‐Zn foliar spray had better effects than soil‐Zn application for grain Zn accumulation.
Background: Despite the increase in the desire to consume herbal medicines and the growing concern of people about their health, as well as the increase in the number of specialized herbal medicine ...manufacturing companies and pharmacies, these products still have a small market share in the domestic market. Therefore, this research seeks to identify and categorize the marketing problems of herbal medicines with a systemic approach from the perspectives of actors active in this chain (companies producing herbal medicines, pharmaceutical distribution companies, pharmacies and consumers) and provide practical solutions to improve these problems. Methods: The current research is exploratory in nature and qualitative in type. To better identify the marketing problems of herbal medicines, semi-structured interviews were used, and using purposive and snowball sampling methods, interviews were conducted with knowledgeable people in 14 manufacturing companies, 13 pharmaceutical distribution companies, 22 pharmacies and 40 consumers of herbal medicines in 2022. Quantitative content analysis was also used to analyze the text of the interviews. Results: The identified problems are in three short-term, medium-term and long-term time frames, and from another perspective, these problems are located at the three organizational, industrial and macro level. About half of the marketing problems of herbal medicines are located in the three houses of the matrix, i.e. in the houses of organization-mid-term (16 %), industry-short-term (15 %) and organization-short-term (14 %). Also, based on the normalized data, about half of the marketing problems of herbal medicines are related to the non-availability of these medicines (7.7 %), lack of scientific visits by doctors (6.8 %), lack of appropriate and sufficient advertising (6.2 %), returns due to expiration dates (5 %), lack of confidence in the effectiveness (4.8 %), low offers and discounts (4.4 %), high prices (4.1 %), difficulty in collecting claims (3.6 %), low variety of products (2.9 %) and long production time (2.8 %). Conclusion: The government managers of the country can address macro-level issues by controlling the inflation rate, accelerating the settlement time of insurance and government organizations with distribution companies, reducing the time of collecting claims, and raising public awareness regarding herbal medicines. In the industry sector, there is a need to establish national distribution companies for herbal medicines and enhance the research, supply, production, and distribution processes. It is also important to improve the collaboration between manufacturers and pharmacies, as well as facilitate communication with international scientific societies. At the organizational level, managers can boost productivity by enhancing the quality of products and packaging, conducting scientific visits, and publishing credible scientific articles to convince doctors and consumers about the benefits of herbal medicines
Adoptive cell therapy (ACT) using tumor antigen-independent killer cells has been widely used in clinical trials of cancer treatment. Circumventing the need for identification of a particular ...tumor-associated antigen on tumor cells, the approach has opened possibilities for the extension of ACT immunotherapy to patients with a wide variety of cancer types. Namely, Natural Killer (NK), Lymphokine-activated Killer (LAK) cells and Cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells are the most commonly used cell types in antigen-independent adoptive immunotherapy of cancer. They all originate from peripheral blood mononuclear cells and share several common features in their killing mechanisms. However, despite broad application in clinical settings, the boundaries between these cell types are not very clearly defined. The current study aims to review different aspects of these cell populations in terms of phenotypical characteristic and preparation media, to clarify how the boundaries are set.
•Improving the oil recovery in gas invaded zone by PFA as a CO2-philic thickener.•The PFA thickener improved gravity drainage mechanism due to a decrease in the IFTs.•The mass transfer was decreased ...due to heterogeneity compared to the bulk oil phase.•The CO2 diffusion coefficients were increased during PFA/CO2 injection.•16 % additional oil recovery was achieved during PFA/CO2 in the gas invaded zone.
The rate of mass transfer between the fractures and matrix in gas invaded zone can significantly influence on the oil recovery during the forcedgravitydrainageprocess.However, in this study, a new approach was suggested to improve the gravity drainage process in gas invaded zone. Poly(fluoroacrylate) (PFA), as a CO2-philic thickener, was injected into the gas invaded zone to illustrate the impact of interfacial mechanisms such as gas diffusion coefficient and interfacial tension (IFT) on oil recovery. Also, the cloud point pressures were measured to ensure that the PFA did not come out of the solution due to a phase change during IFT, gas diffusion coefficient, and gravity drainage experiments.Results showed that the CO2-PFA thickener (20000 ppm) could decrease the IFT from 56 to 24 dyne/cm compared to the pure CO2 scenario, improving the gravity drainage mechanism in the gas invaded zone. In addition, the CO2 diffusion coefficients were increased approximately more than two times during CO2-PFA injection in comparison with pure CO2 injection in both porous media and bulk oil phase scenarios at reservoir conditions. Also, an incremental oil recovery of 16 percent was achieved during PFA/CO2 compared to pure CO2 injection in the gas invaded zone. Therefore, gas gravity drainage is the most important mechanism once gas thickener or CO2 enters the fractures in the gas invaded zone.
Current advancements in the field of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy, particularly U.S. FDA approval of Kymriah and Yescarta, heralds a new era of cancer treatment. This rapid progress in ...technology has urged more countries and institutions to keep pace with the fast-growing and developing technology of producing CAR T cell-based therapies in the race to develop new cancer-targeting drugs. Hence, for stepping in line with global advances and to pave the way for subsequent preclinical and clinical studies, we have established a development protocol for a cancer-targeting CAR T cell; we have chosen CD19 CAR T cell as a well-defined model to set-up T cell expansion, activation, and viral transduction as the prerequisites for diverse CAR T cell therapies.
T cells from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were activated and expanded. CD19 CAR lentiviral particles were produced in the Lenti-X™ 293T Cell Line using PolyFect Transfection Reagent.
Activation protocol resulted in (65 ± 4%; P = 0.046) increase in the rate of activated T cells 24 hours after the initiation of the procedure. The expansion methodology resulted in a high purity of the T cell population (96 ± 3%) in the pool of PBMCs within 14 days of the procedure. Finally, 35 ± 6% of T cells were transduced with CD19 lentivirus with MOI of 3.
Collectively, the results of this study prove that we have successfully overcome the first hurdle on the road to reach CAR T cell technology which is the prerequisite for developing preclinical and clinical phases of CAR therapy in settings with basic resources.
Power distribution networks (PDNs) has played a crucial role in expediting transition towards cleaner and better distributed energy sources. Nowadays, more and more distributed generations (DGs) are ...used in PDNs which complicates the automatic fault location. This article presents an accurate impedance-based method to determine the fault location for smart PDN in the presence of DGs. In addition, phase domain equations of distributed line parameters are used to enhance the accuracy of fault location. Two types of networks are considered. The first type of network is assumed to be fully observable with <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\mu PMU </tex-math></inline-formula> and in the second type there are only a few <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\mu PMU\text{s} </tex-math></inline-formula> with data loggers on the rest nodes. Load impedances of all nodes are estimated using pre-fault recorded information by present <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\mu PMU\text{s} </tex-math></inline-formula> and data loggers. The proposed algorithm might suggest several points as possible fault locations for a PDN. To find out the actual location of fault same fault type is simulated for all suggested points. A matching value which is mathematically defined in the article, is calculated using recorded and simulated voltage to determine the actual fault point among all the suggested candidates. The accuracy of suggested method is analyzed against various conditions.
Perianal fistulas in Crohn's disease (CD) are the main challenges in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs). Some of the fistulas are refractory to any therapeutic strategy. The aim of this study was to ...evaluate the therapeutic effects of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) as a novel promising modality for the treatment of fistulizing CD.
This case series clinical interventional study was conducted from 2014 to 2017 at Shariati Hospital, an IBD referral center in Tehran, Iran. Refractory adult patients with CD who had draining perianal fistulas were enrolled in this study. All patients were examined by a colorectal surgeon and the fistula imaging studies were performed by pelvic magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). After autologous bone marrow (BM) aspiration and MSCs isolation, the cells were cultured and passaged under current good manufacturing practice (cGMP) conditions. Four intra-fistula injections of cells, each containing 40×10
MSCs suspended in fibrin glue, were administered by an expert surgeon every 4 weeks. Procedure safety, feasibility and closure of the perianal fistulas at week 24 were assessed. Clinical examination and MRI findings were considered as the primary end points.
In total, 5 patients (2 males and 3 females) were enrolled in this study. No adverse events were observed during the six-month follow-up in these patients. Both the Crohn's Disease Activity Index (CDAI) and Perianal Disease Activity Index (PDAI) scores decreased in all patients after cell injections and one patient achieved complete remission with closure of fistulas, discontinuation of fistula discharge, and closure of the external opening.
Local injection of MSCs combined with fibrin glue is potentially a safe and effective therapeutic approach for complex perianal fistulas in patients with CD.
Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder (NMOSD) is a relapsing neuro inflammatory disease of the central nervous system that typically presents with optic neuritis or myelitis and may cause severe ...disability. The diagnostic criteria have been updated and several immunosuppressive agents have been demonstrated to prevent acute exacerbations. As the disease rarely develops in a progressive course, management of acute attacks and proper prevention of exacerbations may change the long term out-come and prevent future disability. Consensus recommendations and guidelines will help the physicians to improve their practice and unify the treatment approaches in different communities.
In order to develop a national consensus and recommendations for the diagnosis and management of NMOSD in Iran, a group of neurologists with long term experience in management of NMOSD were gathered to develop this consensus based on available national and international data. The primary draft was prepared and discussed to suggest the most appropriate treatment for these patients. We propose strategies for early diagnosis and treatment for prevention of relapses and minimizing consequences of attacks as a primary therapeutic goal. Attacks are currently treated with intravenous corticosteroids and, in refractory cases, with plasma exchange. All participants agreed on preventive treatment with currently available immunosuppressive agents such as azothioprin, rituximab and mycofenolate mofetil based on previous positive data in NMOSD in order to reduce attack frequency. The current consensus reviews the previous data and provides the clinicians with practical recommendations and advices for the diagnosis and management of NMOSD based on scientific data and clinical experience.
•This paper provides the clinicians a consensus recommendation for the diagnosis and management of Neuromyelitis optica Spectrum Disorder (NMOSD).•We propose strategies for early diagnosis and treatment for prevention of relapses and minimizing consequences of attacks as a primary therapeutic goal.•Preventive treatment with immunosuppressive agents such as azathioprine, rituximab and mycophenolate mofetil is advised to reduce attack frequency.•These practical recommendations and advices for the diagnosis and management of NMOSD are based on scientific data and clinical experience.
High temperature stress (HTS) imposes secondary dormancy (SD) also known as thermo-dormancy in many seeds. Priming by soil moisture however, may improve germination though under HTS it may compromise ...seed longevity. Knowledge of how HTS and priming affect dormancy status/viability loss of a particular crop seed species is essential in agriculture. Accordingly, control non-primed and hydro-primed seeds from Dk-xpower and Traper rapeseed cultivars with low and high potential for SD induction, respectively, were compared for germination behavior, response to GA and some phytohormone effectors under HTS. HTS reduced germination in non-primed Dk-xpower and Traper seeds mainly through the induction of thermo-inhibition/death and thermo-dormancy, respectively. Under HTS, GA3 application reduced thermo-dormancy in favor of thermo-inhibition only in Traper but the GA inhibitor paclobutrazol intensified thermo-dormancy in both cultivars. The ABA inhibitor, fluridone also reduced thermo-dormancy in favor of thermo-inhibition only in Traper. Thus, under HTS, GA biosynthesis is determinant in seed thermo-dormancy/thermo-inhibition dynamics. Hydropriming improved germination under HTS through reduced thermo-inhibition/death (Dk-xpower) and thermo-dormancy (Traper). Here, GA3 application increased death and compromised germination mainly in Dk-xpower. Paclubutrazol application however, increased thermo-dormancy by compromising thermo-inhibition/death in Traper. Overall, hydro-priming weakened seed phytohormonal germination responses. Controlled deterioration resulted in decreased longevity of hydro-primed seeds but induced SD in non-primed Traper seeds. Thus, down-regulation of GA biosynthesis may control differential induction of SD in rapeseed seeds under HTS while hydro-priming stimulates seed germination possibly through overcoming limitations in GA biosynthesis. The agricultural importance of these findings at the ecosystem scale is discussed.
