Functional immune characterization of HIV-associated non-small-cell lung cancer.

Dear Editor, In the combined anti-retroviral therapy (cART) era, non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is a highly incident cause of morbidity and mortality in people living with HIV (PLHIV)[1]. The immune-pathogenesis of NSCLC and HIV infection both rely on programmed-death 1 (PD-1) receptor-ligand interaction as a mechanism to induce T-cell exhaustion. To date, PLHIV have been excluded from clinical trials of immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICPI), on the presumption that anti-tumour immunity might be compromised by HIV infection. To verify this, we evaluated the clinico-pathologic significance of PD-ligands expression in a consecutive series of 221 archival NSCLC samples, 24 of which were HIV-associated (Table S1)

A proposed methodology for the calculation of direct consumption of fossil fuels and electricity for livestock breeding, and its application to Cyprus

On-farm energy consumption is becoming increasingly important in the context of rising energy costs and concerns over greenhouse gas emissions. For farmers throughout the world, energy inputs represent a major and rapidly increasing cost. In many countries such as Cyprus, however, there is lack of systematic research on energy use in agriculture, which hinders benchmarking end evaluation of approaches and investment decisions for energy improvement. This study established a methodology for the estimation of the direct consumption of fossil fuels and electricity for livestock breeding, excluding transport, for locations where full data sets are not available. This methodology was then used to estimate fossil fuel and electricity consumption for livestock breeding in Cyprus. For 2008, this energy was found to be equivalent to 40.3 GWh that corresponds to 8% of the energy used in agriculture. Differences between the energy consumption per animal in Cyprus and other countries was found to be mainly due to differences in climatic conditions and technologies used in the farm

A review of simple to scientific models for anaerobic digestion

To fully model the anaerobic digestion process, biological and physico-chemical background, the kinetics of bacterial growth, substrate degradation and product formation have to be taken into account. The presented approaches differ depending on the requirements and the developer of the model. Important parameters affecting the process such as temperature, which can cause great inaccuracy, are rarely included in the models. Simple calculators are also available that estimate the applicability of the process to a specific farm and provide information to a farmer or a decision maker. Six simple calculators are presented in this study: AD decision support software, Anaerobic Digestion Economic Assessment Tool, BEAT2, BioGC, FarmWare and GasTheo. The simpler calculators mainly use the relation that exists between volatile solids and biogas production. A tested case of 100 dairy cows and 50 sows was applied to the simple calculators to compare the results

An assessment of the biomass potential of Cyprus for energy production

Biodegradable waste in Cyprus predominately consists of the biodegradable fraction of municipal solid waste, sewage sludge, solid and liquid agricultural residues and solid and liquid wastes from food and drink industries. Biodegradable waste is a very important source of biomass. The potential amount of solid and liquid biomass of the specified waste streams was estimated to be 9.2 million tonnes, after collecting data on the waste generation coefficients. Both liquid and solid waste can be used for the production of biogas (BG), which can be combusted for the production of thermal and electrical energy. The potential biogas production was estimated on the basis of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) consumption and on the basis of digested mass. The potential biogas production was found to be 114 and 697 million m3 respectively. Further research is required for the improvement of waste generation coefficients. The results on energy production provide an indication of the importance of promotion of anaerobic digestion for the treatment of biodegradable waste to the energy balance of the country. Anaerobic digestion can provide decentralisation of energy production, and production of energy in areas that are in most cases remot

A review of simple to scientific models for anaerobic digestion

To fully model the anaerobic digestion process, biological and physico-chemical background, the kinetics of bacterial growth, substrate degradation and product formation have to be taken into account. The presented approaches differ depending on the requirements and the developer of the model. Important parameters affecting the process such as temperature, which can cause great inaccuracy, are rarely included in the models. Simple calculators are also available that estimate the applicability of the process to a specific farm and provide information to a farmer or a decision maker. Six simple calculators are presented in this study: AD decision support software, Anaerobic Digestion Economic Assessment Tool, BEAT2, BioGC, FarmWare and GasTheo. The simpler calculators mainly use the relation that exists between volatile solids and biogas production. A tested case of 100 dairy cows and 50 sows was applied to the simple calculators to compare the results

The contribution of direct energy use for livestock breeding to the greenhouse gases emissions of Cyprus

This paper presents a methodology for the estimation of the contribution of direct energy use to the greenhouse gases emissions of cattle, pig and poultry breeding in Cyprus. The energy consumption was estimated using the factors of 2034 MJ/cow, 2182 MJ/sow and 0.002797 MJ/bird. The greenhouse gases emissions for each animal species and energy source were estimated using emission factor of each greenhouse gas according to fuel type as proposed by the IPCC 2006 guidelines and for electricity according to national verified data from the Electricity Authority of Cyprus. Livestock breeding in Cyprus consumes electricity, diesel oil and LPG. The results obtained, show that the emissions from energy use in livestock breeding contribute 16% to the total agricultural energy emissions. Agricultural energy emissions contribute 0.7% to the total energy greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions. The three species of animal considered contribute 3% to their total livestock breeding emissions when compared with enteric fermentation and manure management, of which 2.6% is CO2. These results agree with the findings in available literature. The contribution of direct energy use in the greenhouse gases emissions of livestock breeding could be further examined with the influence of anaerobic digestion to the emission

PD-L1.

Programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) is the principal ligand of programmed death 1 (PD-1), a coinhibitory receptor that can be constitutively expressed or induced in myeloid, lymphoid, normal epithelial cells and in cancer. Under physiological conditions, the PD-1/PD-L1 interaction is essential in the development of immune tolerance preventing excessive immune cell activity that can lead to tissue destruction and autoimmunity. PD-L1 expression is an immune evasion mechanism exploited by various malignancies and is generally associated with poorer prognosis. PD-L1 expression is also suggested as a predictive biomarker of response to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapies; however, contradictory evidence exists as to its role across histotypes. Over the years, anti-PD-1/PD-L1 agents have gained momentum as novel anticancer therapeutics, by inducing durable tumour regression in numerous malignancies including metastatic lung cancer, melanoma and many others. In this review, we discuss the immunobiology of PD-L1, with a particular focus on its clinical significance in malignancy

Energy production from piggery waste using anaerobic digestion: Current status and potential in Cyprus

In this work the current status and the potential of biogas production and energy generation through the anaerobic digestion of piggery waste in Cyprus are presented. The onsite use of anaerobic digestion for treating piggery waste not only generates renewable energy, but it is also a sustainable waste management solution. The actual values of the biogas production (20,475m3/day) and the energy generation are compared with the theoretical values, which are in line with several units. The value 20m3/tonne of pig waste was found to predict more accurately the biogas, heat and electricity production compared to the value of 36m3/tonne of pig waste. Moreover, an empirical equation (R2=0.9939) is proposed for calculating the biogas production per day, according to the volume of pig waste treated per day BGP=14.64 (PWT)+535. The potential biogas production from the total pig population of Cyprus equals to 29,734,356m3/yr and the potential thermal and electrical energy are calculated to be 90.85GWhth/yr and 63.59GWhel/yr, respectively. Finally future alternatives on anaerobic digestion in Cyprus are presented such as co-digestion, centralized anaerobic digestion, hydrothermal pre-treatment, possible use of fuel cells and efficient utilization of pig slurry

PD-L1

Programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) is the principal ligand of programmed death 1 (PD-1), a coinhibitory receptor that can be constitutively expressed or induced in myeloid, lymphoid, normal epithelial cells and in cancer. Under physiological conditions, the PD-1/PD-L1 interaction is essential in the development of immune tolerance preventing excessive immune cell activity that can lead to tissue destruction and autoimmunity. PD-L1 expression is an immune evasion mechanism exploited by various malignancies and is generally associated with poorer prognosis. PD-L1 expression is also suggested as a predictive biomarker of response to anti-PD-1/PD-L1 therapies; however, contradictory evidence exists as to its role across histotypes. Over the years, anti-PD-1/PD-L1 agents have gained momentum as novel anticancer therapeutics, by inducing durable tumour regression in numerous malignancies including metastatic lung cancer, melanoma and many others. In this review, we discuss the immunobiology of PD-L1, with a particular focus on its clinical significance in malignancy