This paper describes the Magnetic Electron Ion Spectrometer (MagEIS) instruments aboard the RBSP spacecraft from an instrumentation and engineering point of view. There are four magnetic ...spectrometers aboard each of the two spacecraft, one low-energy unit (20–240 keV), two medium-energy units (80–1200 keV), and a high-energy unit (800–4800 keV). The high unit also contains a proton telescope (55 keV–20 MeV).
The magnetic spectrometers focus electrons within a selected energy pass band upon a focal plane of several silicon detectors where pulse-height analysis is used to determine if the energy of the incident electron is appropriate for the electron momentum selected by the magnet. Thus each event is a two-parameter analysis, an approach leading to a greatly reduced background.
The physics of these instruments are described in detail followed by the engineering implementation. The data outputs are described, and examples of the calibration results and early flight data presented.
ATP is an extracellular signal for the immune system, particularly during an inflammatory response. It is sensed by the P2X₇ receptor, the expression of which is upregulated by pro-inflammatory ...cytokines. Activation of the P2X₇ receptor opens a cation-specific channel that alters the ionic environment of the cell, activating several pathways, including (i) the inflammasome, leading to production of IL-1β and IL-18; (ii) the stress-activated protein kinase pathway, resulting in apoptosis; (iii) the mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway, leading to generation of reactive oxygen and nitrogen intermediates; and (iv) phospholipase D, stimulating phagosome-lysosome fusion. The P2X₇ receptor can initiate host mechanisms to remove pathogens, most particularly those that parasitise macrophages. At the same time, the P2X₇ receptor may be subverted by pathogens to modulate host responses. Moreover, recent genetic studies have demonstrated significant associations between susceptibility or resistance to parasites and bacteria, and loss-of-function or gain-of-function polymorphisms in the P2X₇ receptor, underscoring its importance in infectious disease.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
For the first time, it was demonstrated that the catalytic properties of semiconductors can be activated using an external electric field only. More particularly, the TiO2 and Fe2O3 were found to ...produce noticeable amounts of carbon monoxide from carbon dioxide – water vapor gas mixture under the electric field with the strength in the 104 V/cm range. The reported process, i.e. the activation of semiconductors using the electric field is more efficient than the utilization of UV–vis radiation in terms of energy efficiency and amount of products formed.
Display omitted
•Catalytic properties of semiconductors was activated using the external electric field only.•Wet CO2 was converted into CO over TiO2 and Fe2O3 in the presence of field in the 104 V/cm range.•The activity of investigated semiconductors depended on both surface and electronical properties.
Oral infection of C57BL/6J mice with the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii leads to a lethal inflammatory ileitis.
Mice lacking the purinergic receptor P2X7R are acutely susceptible to toxoplasmic ...ileitis, losing significantly more weight than C57BL/6J mice and exhibiting much greater intestinal inflammatory pathology in response to infection with only 10 cysts of T. gondii. This susceptibility is not dependent on the ability of P2X7R-deficient mice to control the parasite, which they accomplish just as efficiently as C57BL/6J mice. Rather, susceptibility is associated with elevated ileal concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines, reactive nitrogen intermediates and altered regulation of elements of NFκB activation in P2X7R-deficient mice.
Our data support the thesis that P2X7R, a well-documented activator of pro-inflammatory cytokine production, also plays an important role in the regulation of intestinal inflammation.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The P2X7R is highly expressed on the macrophage cell surface, and activation of infected cells by extracellular ATP has been shown to kill intracellular bacteria and parasites. Furthermore, single ...nucleotide polymorphisms that decrease receptor function reduce the ability of human macrophages to kill Mycobacterium tuberculosis and are associated with extrapulmonary tuberculosis. In this study, we show that macrophages from people with the 1513C (rs3751143, NM_002562.4:c.1487A>C) loss-of-function P2X7R single nucleotide polymorphism are less effective in killing intracellular Toxoplasma gondii after exposure to ATP compared with macrophages from people with the 1513A wild-type allele. Supporting a P2X7R-specific effect on T. gondii, macrophages from P2X7R knockout mice (P2X7R-/-) are unable to kill T. gondii as effectively as macrophages from wild-type mice. We show that P2X7R-mediated T. gondii killing occurs in parallel with host cell apoptosis and is independent of NO production.
The interest in the potential therapeutic use of cannabis, especially cannabidiol (CBD), has increased significantly in recent years. On the Internet, users can find lots of articles devoted to its ...medical features such as reducing seizure activity in epilepsy. The aim of our work was to evaluate the information contained on the websites, including social media, in terms of the credibility and the reliability of current knowledge about the usage of products containing cannabidiol in epilepsy treatment. We used online available links found using the Newspointtool. The initial database included 38,367 texts, but after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 314 texts were taken into consideration. Analysis was performed using the DISCERN scale and the set of questions created by the authors. In the final assessment, we observed that most of the texts (58.9%) were characterized by a very poor level of reliability and the average DISCERN score was 26.97 points. Additionally, considering the form of the text, the highest average score (35.73) came from entries on blog portals, whereas the lowest average score (18.33) came from comments and online discussion forums. Moreover, most of the texts do not contain key information regarding the indications, safety, desired effects, and side effects of CBD therapy. The study highlights the need for healthcare professionals to guide patients towards reliable sources of information and cautions against the use of unverified online materials, especially as the only FDA-approved CBD medication, Epidiolex, differs significantly from over-the-counter CBD products.
Objective: Many commercially available arterial blood pressure measurement devices suffer from a range of weaknesses. For example, common weaknesses include being inaccurate, invasive, and ad hoc; ...many also require explicit user calibration or cut off blood flow to a limb. A novel algorithmic approach is presented to accurately estimate systolic and diastolic blood pressure in a way that does not require any explicit user calibration, is noninvasive, and does not cut off blood flow. Methods: The approach uses ultrasound images of the arterial wall and corresponding contact force data to obtain blood pressure estimates. To acquire data, an ultrasound probe was placed on the patient's carotid artery and the contact force was increased from 1.5 to 12 N. The artery was then algorithmically segmented from the recorded DICOM B-Mode data. The segmentation data and the contact force were used as input into the Levenberg-Marquardt optimization method to solve for the parameters, including blood pressure, of a simple finite element model of the carotid artery. Results: The algorithm was validated on 24 healthy volunteers. Algorithm arterial blood pressure predictions were compared to oscillometric blood pressure cuff readings. Regression and Bland-Altman analyses were performed on the data. Conclusion: Both systolic pressure and diastolic pressure can be estimated using this novel noninvasive ultrasound-based method (systolic accuracy/precision: -2.36 mmHg/10.21 mmHg; diastolic accuracy/precision: -0.32/8.23 mmHg). Significance: The method occupies a clinical middle ground between the arterial catheter and cuff-based techniques. It has the potential to give accurate results for patients with hypertension and atherosclerosis.
Social media is one of the most common sources of medical information. We aimed to evaluate the information contained on websites, including social media and descriptions of fundraisers, in terms of ...the reliability of knowledge about SMA and gene therapy with onasemnogen abeparvovec. We used a set of available online links found using the Newspointtool. Initially, 1525 texts were included in the study, and after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 112 texts were qualified for analysis using the DISCERN scale and the set of questions prepared by the authors. We observed that most of the texts had poor (48.65%) and medium (27.03%) reliability in the final reliability assessment. All the texts selected for the study were related to gene therapy, although few contained key information about it. In addition, the authors of the entries used various words and phrases that influenced the readers' perceptions of the text. Of the analyzed sources, 68.8% had an emotional component. Social media is a poor source of information about gene therapy for SMA in Poland. The analyzed texts do not provide a full and complete description of the SMA problem. However, it is important to remember that the Internet is a changing source of information and will hopefully contain more relevant entries in the future.
Monometallic copper and bimetallic palladium–copper catalysts supported on ZnO–Al
2
O
3
, CeO
2
–Al
2
O
3
and ZrO
2
–Al
2
O
3
were prepared by conventional impregnation method and tested in the ...methanol synthesis reaction in a gradient less reactor under elevated pressure (3.5 MPa) at 220°C. The physicochemical properties of prepared catalytic systems were studied using BET, TPR-H
2
, TPD-NH
3
, XRD, SEM-EDS and FT-IR techniques. The results of XRD and SEM-EDS measurements showed the formation of Pd–Cu alloy during the activation of bimetallic catalysts. It was found that the formed alloy was responsible for the improved activity and selectivity of catalysts in the studied reaction. Among investigated catalysts, the highest formation rate of methanol was observed with 2%Pd–20%Cu/ZnO–Al
2
O
3
system. Based on the results of FT-IR measurements it can be concluded that hydrogen molecules adsorb dissociatively on the metallic copper surface to form hydrogen atoms, increasing the hydrogen spillover effect on the metal-support interface. In contrast, CO
2
adsorb on the oxygen vacancies of the support to form carbonates, which can further undergo hydrogenation to methanol.
The open-cell cores of sandwich structures are locally bonded to the face layers by means of adhesive resin. The sandwich structures composed of different parent materials such as carbon fibre ...composites (laminated face layers) and metallic core (aluminium truss core) brings the need to closely analyse their adhesive connections which strength is dominated by the shear stress. The presented work considers sandwich beams subjected to the static tests in the 3-point bending with the purpose of estimation of shear properties of the truss core. The main concern is dedicated to the out-of plane shear modulus and ultimate shear stress of the aluminium truss core. The loading of the beam is provided by a static machine. For the all beams the force - deflection history is extracted by means of non-contact optical deflection measurement using PONTOS system. The mode of failure is identified for each beam with the corresponding applied force. A flexural rigidity of the sandwich beams is also discussed based on force - displacement plots.
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