Metal–organic frameworks (MOFs)-based electrode materials have drawn wide interest in energy storage applications. Herein, a nickel-based metal–organic framework (Ni-MOF) has been synthesized by ...simple hydrothermal reaction with different reaction times. The hydrothermal reaction time has an impact on the energy storage performance of the synthesized material. Structural characterization confirms the layered structure and purity of the synthesized Ni-MOF. Significantly, improved energy storage performance was found for the Ni-MOF prepared under reaction time 30 h as compared to other reaction times. It exhibits the highest specific capacity of 1498.6 F/g at a current density of 1 A/g along with good rate of capability. This investigation provides useful approach to improve the capacitive performance of MOF-based electrode materials.
Final-state kinematic imbalances are measured in mesonless production of νμ+A→μ-+p+X in the MINERvA tracker. Initial- and final-state nuclear effects are probed using the direction of the μ- - p ...transverse momentum imbalance and the initial-state momentum of the struck neutron. Differential cross sections are compared to predictions based on current approaches to medium modeling. These models underpredict the cross section at intermediate intranuclear momentum transfers that generally exceed the Fermi momenta. As neutrino interaction models need to correctly incorporate the effect of the nucleus in order to predict neutrino energy resolution in oscillation experiments, this result points to a region of phase space where additional cross section strength is needed in current models, and demonstrates a new technique that would be suitable for use in fine-grained liquid argon detectors where the effect of the nucleus may be even larger.
We study neutrino-induced charged-current (CC) π0 production on carbon nuclei using events with fully imaged final-state proton-π0 systems. Novel use of final-state correlations based on transverse ...kinematic imbalance enables the first measurements of the struck nucleon's Fermi motion, of the intranuclear momentum transfer (IMT) dynamics, and of the final-state hadronic momentum configuration in neutrino pion production. Event distributions are presented for (i) the momenta of neutrino-struck neutrons below the Fermi surface, (ii) the direction of missing transverse momentum characterizing the strength of IMT, and (iii) proton-pion momentum imbalance with respect to the lepton scattering plane. The observed Fermi motion and IMT strength are compared to the previous MINERνA measurement of neutrino CC quasielastic-like production. The measured shapes and absolute rates of these distributions, as well as the cross section asymmetries, show tensions with predictions from current neutrino generator models.
Summary
Background Certolizumab pegol is the third anti‐TNF‐α agent approved by the Food and Drug Administration of the United States.
Aim To provide a comprehensive up‐to‐date review of the ...efficacy and safety of certolizumab in Crohn’s disease (CD).
Methods Electronic databases, including PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane library and the Science Citation Index, were searched to retrieve relevant trials. In addition, meeting s and the reference lists of retrieved articles were reviewed for further relevant studies.
Results Three trials, enrolling a total of 1040 patients, are included in the meta‐analysis to evaluate the short‐term efficacy of certolizumab, which is effective for rapid induction and long‐term maintenance of clinical response or remission and can improve quality of life in patients with Crohn's disease. Certolizumab is also effective for patients who have lost response to infliximab. However, its efficacy in infliximab‐exposed patients is probably less than in infliximab‐naive patients. Re‐induction with certolizumab in patients who have flared on maintenance therapy can rescue a significant proportion of patients. There is no significant association between the efficacy of certolizumab and the baseline C‐reactive protein level. In comparison with placebo, certolizumab does not increase the risk of serious adverse events.
Conclusions Certolizumab is effective and safe in treating Crohn's disease. Further studies are still required to assess its full safety profile.
Plastic deformation in the vicinity of hardness indentations in two ductile metals, an aluminium–silicon carbide composite (Al–SiC) and a cast magnesium alloy (WE43), was characterized. Using in situ ...and ex situ X-ray computed tomography with digital volume correlation, the three-dimensional full-field displacements beneath the indentations were measured; these show strong agreement with simulated predictions using finite element models. It is demonstrated that plastic material properties, i.e. yield stress and hardening exponent, may be extracted via analysis of the deformation field.
Linusorbs (LO), cyclolinopeptides, are a group of cyclic hydrophobic peptides and considered a valuable by-product of flaxseed oil due to numerous health benefits. Currently applied acetone or ...methanol extraction could contaminate the feedstocks for further food-grade application. Using flaxseed cake as feedstock, this study established a practical method for preparing LO from pressed cake. Firstly, LO composition of 15 flaxseed cultivars was analyzed. Next, cold-pressed cake was milled and screened mechanically. The kernel and hull fractions were separated based on the disparity of their mechanical strength. Monitored by hyperspectral fluorescence, the LO-enriched kernel fraction separated from cold-pressed flaxseed cake was further used as feedstock for LO production. After ethanol extraction, partition, and precipitation, LOs were extracted from cold-pressed flaxseed cake with a purity of 91.4%. The proposed method could serve as feasible flaxseed cake valorization strategy and enable the preparation of other polar compounds such as flax lignan and mucilage.
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•Linusorb is prepared from flaxseed cake via dry-screening and ethanol pre-extraction.•Ethanol is proved effective as better substitute for acetone in pre-extraction•Impurities introduced by ethanol could be removed via aqueous precipitation
Background
The anti‐interleukin 13 (IL‐13) monoclonal antibody lebrikizumab improves lung function in patients with moderate‐to‐severe uncontrolled asthma, but its effects on airway inflammation and ...remodelling are unknown. CLAVIER was designed to assess lebrikizumab's effect on eosinophilic inflammation and remodelling.
Objective
To report safety and efficacy results from enrolled participants with available data from CLAVIER.
Methods
We performed bronchoscopy on patients with uncontrolled asthma before and after 12 weeks of randomized double‐blinded treatment with lebrikizumab (n = 31) or placebo (n = 33). The pre‐specified primary end‐point was relative change in airway subepithelial eosinophils per mm2 of basement membrane (cells/mm2). Pre‐specified secondary and exploratory outcomes included change in IL‐13‐associated biomarkers and measures of airway remodelling.
Results
There was a baseline imbalance in tissue eosinophils and high variability between treatment groups. There was no discernible change in adjusted mean subepithelial eosinophils/mm2 in response to lebrikizumab (95% CI, −82.5%, 97.5%). As previously observed, FEV1 increased after lebrikizumab treatment. Moreover, subepithelial collagen thickness decreased 21.5% after lebrikizumab treatment (95% CI, −32.9%, −10.2%), and fractional exhaled nitric oxide, CCL26 and SERPINB2 mRNA expression in bronchial tissues also reduced. Lebrikizumab was well tolerated, with a safety profile consistent with other lebrikizumab asthma studies.
Conclusions & Clinical Relevance
We did not observe reduced tissue eosinophil numbers in association with lebrikizumab treatment. However, in pre‐specified exploratory analyses, lebrikizumab treatment was associated with reduced degree of subepithelial fibrosis, a feature of airway remodelling, as well as improved lung function and reduced key pharmacodynamic biomarkers in bronchial tissues. These results reinforce the importance of IL‐13 in airway pathobiology and suggest that neutralization of IL‐13 may reduce asthmatic airway remodelling.
Clinical Trial Registration: NCT02099656.
This study aimed to examine the temporal (hourly within a day and daily over the long term) effects of monensin on CH4 emissions, ruminal fermentation, and in situ alfalfa degradation in dairy goats ...during dietary monensin supplementation by controlling the confounding effects of feed intake and ambient temperature. Six ruminally cannulated dairy goats were used, and they were housed in environmental chambers and fed a restricted amount of ration throughout the experiment. The experiment included a baseline period of 20 d followed by a treatment period of 55 d with 32 mg of monensin/d. During the whole experiment, CH4 production was measured every 5 d, whereas fermentation characteristics and in situ alfalfa degradation were analyzed every 10 d. The CH4-depressing effect of monensin was time dependent on the duration of treatment, highly effective at d 5 but thereafter decreased gradually until d 55 even though CH4-suppressing effect still remained significant. The decreasing effects of monensin on ruminal acetate proportion and acetate to propionate ratio also faded over days of treatment, and the acetate proportion returned up to the pre-supplementation level on d 50. Monensin supplementation elevated ruminal propionate proportion and decreased the effective ruminal degradability of alfalfa NDF, but both measurements tended to recover over time. The postprandial increase rate of hourly CH4 emissions was reduced, whereas that of propionate proportion was enhanced by monensin supplementation. However, the postprandial responses to monensin in CH4 emission rates, ruminal VFA profiles, and in situ degradation kinetics declined with both hours after feeding and days of treatment. Our results suggest that the CH4-suppressing effect of monensin supplementation in goats was attributed to reductions in both ruminal feed degradation and acetate to propionate ratio, but those reductions faded with time, hours after feeding, and days of treatment.
Deleterious impact loading to cartilage initiates post-traumatic osteoarthritis (OA). While cytokine and enzyme levels regulate disease progression, specific mechanical cues that elucidate cellular ...OA origins merit further investigation. We defined the dominant pericellular and cellular strain/stress transfer mechanisms following bulk-tissue injury associated with cell death.
Using an in vitro model, we investigated rate-dependent loading and spatial localization of cell viability in acute indentation and time-course studies. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) confirmed depth-wise changes in cartilage micro-/macro-mechanics and structure post-indentation. To understand the transfer of loading to cartilage domains, we computationally modeled full-field strain and stress measures in interstitial matrix, pericellular and cellular regions.
Chondrocyte viability decreased following rapid impact (80%/s) vs slow loading (0.1%/s) or unloaded controls. Viability was lost immediately during impact within regions near the indenter-tissue contact but did not change over 7 days of tissue culture. AFM studies revealed a loss of stiffness following 80%/s loading, and MRI studies confirmed an increased tensile and shear strain, but not relaxometry. Image-based patterns of chondrocyte viability closely matched computational estimates of amplified maximum principal and shear strain in interstitial matrix, pericellular and cellular regions.
Rapid indentation worsens chondrocyte death and degrades cartilage matrix stiffness in indentation regions. Cell death at high strain rates may be driven by elevated tensile strains, but not matrix stress. Strain amplification beyond critical thresholds in the pericellular matrix and cells may define a point of origin for early damage in post-traumatic OA.
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