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SPCDC: A user-friendly computational tool for the design and refinement of practical pulse combustion systems
This paper reports on the development and use of a user-friendly, PC-executable computer code that can assist engineers in designing pulse combustors for specific applications and in refining existing units. This code represents the culmination of over 10 years of research and development in the field of pulse combustion. The Sandia Pulse Combustor Design Code, or SPCDC, couples both the fuel-air injection and the energy release to the time-varying pressure wave. Because the injection and combustion processes both drive and are driven by the wave dynamics, this model couples the major processes that occur in a pulse combustor. SPCDC can supplement the time-proven method of actually building and testing a prototype unit, and significantly reduce the number of units that must be tested. It will help produce a superior pulse combustion system tailored to a specific application and should help widen the range of successful applications
Higher mast cell accumulation in human adipose tissues defines clinically favorable obesity sub-phenotypes.
The identification of human obesity sub-types may improve the clinical management of patients with obesity and uncover previously unrecognized obesity mechanisms. Here, we hypothesized that adipose tissue (AT) mast cells (MC) estimation could be a mark for human obesity sub-phenotyping beyond current clinical-based stratifications, both cross-sectionally and prospectively. We estimated MC accumulation using immunohistochemistry and gene expression in abdominal visceral AT (VAT) and subcutaneous (SAT) in a human cohort of 65 persons with obesity who underwent elective abdominal (mainly bariatric) surgery, and we validated key results in two clinically similar, independent cohorts (n= 33,n= 56). AT-MC were readily detectable by immunostaining for either c-kit or tryptase and by assessing the gene expression of KIT (KIT Proto-Oncogene, Receptor Tyrosine Kinase), TPSB2 (tryptase beta 2), and CMA1 (chymase 1). Participants were characterized as VAT-MC(low)if the expression of both CMA1 and TPSB2 was below the median. Higher expressers of MC genes (MChigh) were metabolically healthier (lower fasting glucose and glycated hemoglobin, with higher pancreatic beta cell reserve (HOMA-beta), and lower triglycerides and alkaline-phosphatase) than people with low expression (MClow). Prospectively, higher MC accumulation in VAT or SAT obtained during surgery predicted greater postoperative weight-loss response to bariatric surgery. Jointly, high AT-MC accumulation may be used to clinically define obesity sub-phenotypes, which are associated with a "healthier" cardiometabolic risk profile and a better weight-loss response to bariatric surgery