RED WoLF Hybrid Energy Storage System: Algorithm Case Study and Green Competition Between Storage Heaters and Heat Pump

Green house gases reduction is critical in current climate emergency and was declared as major target by United Nations. This manuscript proposes the progressive adaptive recursive multi threshold control strategy for hybrid energy storage system that combines thermal storage reservoirs, heat pumps, storage heaters, photovoltaic array and a battery. The newest control strategy is tested in numerical experiment against primal dual simplex optimisation method as benchmark and previous iterations of RED WoLF threshold approaches. The proposed algorithm allows improvement in reduction of CO2 emissions by 9 % comparatively to RED WoLF double threshold approach and by 26 % comparatively to RED WoLF single threshold approach. Besides, the proposed technique is at least 100 times faster than linear optimisation, making the algorithm applicable to edge systems. The proposed method is later tested in numerical experiment on two measured datasets from Luxembourg school and office, equipped with batteries and ground source heat pumps. The system allows the reduction of CO2 emission and improvement of self-consumption, size reduction of the photovoltaic array installed at the facilities by at least by half as well as substituting battery storage by thermal storage, reducing the initial investment to the system. Intriguingly, despite 3.6 times difference in efficiency between heat pumps and storage heaters, the system equipped with latter have potential to achieve similar performance in carbon reduction, suggesting that energy storage have more prominent carbon reduction effect, than the power consumption, making cheaper systems with storage heaters a possible alternative to heat pumps

Metabolomics, microbiota, and in vivo and in vitro biomarkers in type 2 severe asthma: A perspective review

Precision medicine refers to the tailoring of therapeutic strategies to the individual characteristics of each patient; thus, it could be a new approach for the management of severe asthma that considers individual variability in genes, environmental exposure, and lifestyle. Precision medicine would also assist physicians in choosing the right treatment, the best timing of administration, consequently trying to maximize drug efficacy, and, possibly, reducing adverse events. Metabolomics is the systematic study of low molecular weight (bio)chemicals in a given biological system and offers a powerful approach to biomarker discovery and elucidating disease mechanisms. In this point of view, metabolomics could play a key role in targeting precision medicine

Arabidopsis thaliana response to extracellular dna: Self versus nonself exposure

The inhibitory effect of extracellular DNA (exDNA) on the growth of conspecific individuals was demonstrated in different kingdoms. In plants, the inhibition has been observed on root growth and seed germination, demonstrating its role in plant\u2013soil negative feedback. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the early response to exDNA and the inhibitory effect of conspecific exDNA. We here contribute with a whole-plant transcriptome profiling in the model species Arabidopsis thaliana exposed to extracellular self-(conspecific) and nonself-(heterologous) DNA. The results highlight that cells distinguish self-from nonself-DNA. Moreover, confocal microscopy analyses reveal that nonself-DNA enters root tissues and cells, while self-DNA remains outside. Specifically, exposure to self-DNA limits cell permeability, affecting chloroplast functioning and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, eventually causing cell cycle arrest, consistently with macroscopic observations of root apex necrosis, increased root hair density and leaf chlorosis. In contrast, nonself-DNA enters the cells triggering the activation of a hypersensitive response and evolving into systemic acquired resistance. Complex and different cascades of events emerge from exposure to extracellular selfor nonself-DNA and are discussed in the context of Damage-and Pathogen-Associated Molecular Patterns (DAMP and PAMP, respectively) responses

Dual stimulation by autoantigen and CpG fosters the proliferation of exhausted rheumatoid factor-specific CD21low B cells in hepatitis C virus-cured mixed cryoglobulinemia

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) causes mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC) by driving clonal expansion of B cells expressing B cell receptors (BCRs), often encoded by the VH1-69 variable gene, endowed with both rheumatoid factor (RF) and anti-HCV specificity. These cells display an atypical CD21low phenotype and functional exhaustion evidenced by unresponsiveness to BCR and Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) stimuli. Although antiviral therapy is effective on MC vasculitis, pathogenic B cell clones persist long thereafter and can cause virus-independent disease relapses. MethodsClonal B cells from patients with HCV-associated type 2 MC or healthy donors were stimulated with CpG or heath-aggregated IgG (as surrogate immune complexes) alone or in combination; proliferation and differentiation were then evaluated by flow cytometry. Phosphorylation of AKT and of the p65 NF-kB subunit were measured by flow cytometry. TLR9 was quantified by qPCR and by intracellular flow cytometry, and MyD88 isoforms were analyzed using RT-PCR. DiscussionWe found that dual triggering with autoantigen and CpG restored the capacity of exhausted VH1-69pos B cells to proliferate. The signaling mechanism for this BCR/TLR9 crosstalk remains elusive, since TLR9 mRNA and protein as well as MyD88 mRNA were normally expressed and CpG-induced phosphorylation of p65 NF-kB was intact in MC clonal B cells, whereas BCR-induced p65 NF-kB phosphorylation was impaired and PI3K/Akt signaling was intact. Our findings indicate that autoantigen and CpG of microbial or cellular origin may unite to foster persistence of pathogenic RF B cells in HCV-cured MC patients. BCR/TLR9 crosstalk might represent a more general mechanism enhancing systemic autoimmunity by the rescue of exhausted autoreactive CD21low B cells

Surgical site infection after caesarean section. Space for post-discharge surveillance improvements and reliable comparisons

Surgical site infections (SSI) after caesarean section (CS) represent a substantial health system concern. Surveying SSI has been associated with a reduction in SSI incidence. We report the findings of three (2008, 2011 and 2013) regional active SSI surveillances after CS in community hospital of the Latium region determining the incidence of SSI. Each CS was surveyed for SSI occurrence by trained staff up to 30 post-operative days, and association of SSI with relevant characteristics was assessed using binomial logistic regression. A total of 3,685 CS were included in the study. A complete 30 day post-operation follow-up was achieved in over 94% of procedures. Overall 145 SSI were observed (3.9% cumulative incidence) of which 131 (90.3%) were superficial and 14 (9.7%) complex (deep or organ/space) SSI; overall 129 SSI (of which 89.9% superficial) were diagnosed post-discharge. Only higher NNIS score was significantly associated with SSI occurrence in the regression analysis. Our work provides the first regional data on CS-associated SSI incidence, highlighting the need for a post-discharge surveillance which should assure 30 days post-operation to not miss data on complex SSI, as well as being less labour intensive

SARS-CoV-2 infection and replication in human gastric organoids

COVID-19 typically manifests as a respiratory illness, but several clinical reports have described gastrointestinal symptoms. This is particularly true in children in whom gastrointestinal symptoms are frequent and viral shedding outlasts viral clearance from the respiratory system. These observations raise the question of whether the virus can replicate within the stomach. Here we generate gastric organoids from fetal, pediatric, and adult biopsies as in vitro models of SARS-CoV-2 infection. To facilitate infection, we induce reverse polarity in the gastric organoids. We find that the pediatric and late fetal gastric organoids are susceptible to infection with SARS-CoV-2, while viral replication is significantly lower in undifferentiated organoids of early fetal and adult origin. We demonstrate that adult gastric organoids are more susceptible to infection following differentiation. We perform transcriptomic analysis to reveal a moderate innate antiviral response and a lack of differentially expressed genes belonging to the interferon family. Collectively, we show that the virus can efficiently infect the gastric epithelium, suggesting that the stomach might have an active role in fecal-oral SARS-CoV-2 transmission

Tamoxifen in treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma: a randomised controlled trial

Background Results from small randomised trials on tamoxifen in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are conflicting, We studied whether the addition of tamoxifen to best supportive care prolongs survival of patients with HCC. Methods Patients with any stage of HCC were eligible, irrespective of locoregional treatment. Randomisation was centralised, with a minimisation procedure accounting for centre, evidence of disease, and time from diagnosis. Patients were randomly allocated best supportive care alone or in addition to tamoxifen, Tamoxifen was given orally, 40 mg per day, from randomisation until death. Results 496 patients from 30 institutions were randomly allocated treatment from January, 1995, to January, 1997. Information was available for 477 patients. By Sept 15, 1997, 119 (50%) of 240 and 130 (55%) of 237 patients had died in the control and tamoxifen arms, respectively. Median survival was 16 months and 15 months (p=0.54), respectively, No differences were found within subgroups defined by prognostic variables. Relative hazard of death for patients receiving tamoxifen was 1.07 (95% CI 0.83-1.39). Interpretation Our findings show that tamoxifen is not effective in prolonging survival of patients with HCC

Severe asthma: One disease and multiple definitions

Introduction: There is, so far, no universal definition of severe asthma. This definition usually relies on: number of exacerbations, inhaled therapy, need for oral corticosteroids, and respiratory function. The use of such parameters varies in the different definitions used. Thus, according to the parameters chosen, each patient may result in having severe asthma or not. The aim of this study was to evaluate how the choice of a specific definition of severe asthma can change the allocation of patients. Methods: Data collected from the Severe Asthma Network Italy (SANI) registry were analyzed. All the patients included were then reclassified according to the definitions of U-BIOPRED, NICE, WHO, ATS/ERS, GINA, ENFUMOSA, and TENOR. Results: 540 patients, were extracted from the SANI database. We observed that 462 (86%) met the ATS/ERS criteria as well as the GINA criteria, 259 (48%) the U-Biopred, 222 (41%) the NICE, 125 (23%) the WHO, 313 (58%) the Enfumosa, and 251 (46%) the TENOR criteria. The mean eosinophil value were similar in the ATS/ERS, U-Biopred, and Enfumosa (528, 532 and 516 cells/mcl), higher in WHO and Tenor (567 and 570 cells/mcl) and much higher in the NICE classification (624 cells/mcl). Lung function tests resulted similarly in all groups, with WHO (67%) and ATS/ERS-GINA (73%), respectively, showing the lower and upper mean FEV1 values. Conclusions: The present observations clearly evidence the heterogeneity in the distribution of patients when different definitions of severe asthma are used. However, the recent definition of severe asthma, provided by the GINA document, is similar to that indicated in 2014 by ATS/ERS, allowing mirror reclassification of the patients examined. This lack of homogeneity could complicate the access to biological therapies. The definition provided by the GINA document, which reflects what suggested by ATS/ERS, could partially overcome the problem