STATORS USE INFLUENCE ON THE PERFORMANCE OF A SAVONIUS WIND ROTOR USING COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS

This paper aims at verifying the influence of using five kinds of stators in the averaged moment and power coefficients of a Savonius wind rotor using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The analyzed stators have cylindrical shape with two and three openings, one and four deflector blades and walls shaped like a wings. The equations of continuity, Reynolds Averaged Navier-Stokes – RANS and the Eddy Viscosity Model k-ω SST, in its Low-Reynolds approaches, with hybrid near wall treatment; are numerically solved using the commercial software Star-CCM+, based on Finite Volume Method, resulting in the fields of pressure and velocity of the flow and the forces acting on the rotor buckets. The moment and power coefficients are achieved through integration of forces coming from the effects of pressure and viscosity of the wind on the buckets device. The influence of the stators use in the moment and power coefficients is checked by changing the geometry of the device for each simulations series, keeping the Reynolds number based on rotor diameter equal to 433,500. The obtained values for averaged moment and power coefficients indicate that for each type of stator used, there was maximum performance for a given tip speed ratio of rotor. Improvement in performance over the operation without stator was obtained only to the operations using stator with four deflector blades and to the stator with cylindrical shape with three openings. The improvement percentage in performance obtained for the best condition (use of four deflector blades at tip speed ratio equal to 1) is 12% compared to the performance of the rotor operating without stator

Glucocortiocoid Treatment of MCMV Infected Newborn Mice Attenuates CNS Inflammation and Limits Deficits in Cerebellar Development

Infection of the developing fetus with human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a major cause of central nervous system disease in infants and children; however, mechanism(s) of disease associated with this intrauterine infection remain poorly understood. Utilizing a mouse model of HCMV infection of the developing CNS, we have shown that peripheral inoculation of newborn mice with murine CMV (MCMV) results in CNS infection and developmental abnormalities that recapitulate key features of the human infection. In this model, animals exhibit decreased granule neuron precursor cell (GNPC) proliferation and altered morphogenesis of the cerebellar cortex. Deficits in cerebellar cortical development are symmetric and global even though infection of the CNS results in a non-necrotizing encephalitis characterized by widely scattered foci of virus-infected cells with mononuclear cell infiltrates. These findings suggested that inflammation induced by MCMV infection could underlie deficits in CNS development. We investigated the contribution of host inflammatory responses to abnormal cerebellar development by modulating inflammatory responses in infected mice with glucocorticoids. Treatment of infected animals with glucocorticoids decreased activation of CNS mononuclear cells and expression of inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IFN-β and IFNγ) in the CNS while minimally impacting CNS virus replication. Glucocorticoid treatment also limited morphogenic abnormalities and normalized the expression of developmentally regulated genes within the cerebellum. Importantly, GNPC proliferation deficits were normalized in MCMV infected mice following glucocorticoid treatment. Our findings argue that host inflammatory responses to MCMV infection contribute to deficits in CNS development in MCMV infected mice and suggest that similar mechanisms of disease could be responsible for the abnormal CNS development in human infants infected in-utero with HCMV

Dental caries in primary and permanent teeth in children's worldwide, 1995 to 2019: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Early childhood caries (ECC) is a type of dental caries in the teeth of infants and children that is represented as one of the most prevalent dental problems in this period. Various studies have reported different types of prevalence of dental caries in primary and permanent teeth in children worldwide. However, there has been no comprehensive study to summarize the results of these studies in general, so this study aimed to determine the prevalence of dental caries in primary and permanent teeth in children in different continents of the world during a systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: In this review study, articles were extracted by searching in the national and international databases of SID, MagIran, IranMedex, IranDoc, Cochrane, Embase, ScienceDirect, Scopus, PubMed, and Web of Science (ISI) between 1995 and December 2019. Random effects model was used for analysis and heterogeneity of studies was evaluated by using the I2 index. Data were analyzed by using the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis (Version 2) software. Findings: In this study, a total of 164 articles (81 articles on the prevalence of dental caries in primary teeth and 83 articles on the prevalence of dental caries in permanent teeth) were entered the meta-analysis. The prevalence of dental caries in primary teeth in children in the world with a sample size of 80,405 was 46.2% (95% CI: 41.6–50.8%), and the prevalence of dental caries in permanent teeth in children in the world with a sample size of 1,454,871 was 53.8% (95% CI: 50–57.5%). Regarding the heterogeneity on the basis of meta-regression analysis, there was a significant difference in the prevalence of dental caries in primary and permanent teeth in children in different continents of the world. With increasing the sample size and the year of study, dental caries in primary teeth increased and in permanent teeth decreased. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that the prevalence of primary and permanent dental caries in children in the world was found to be high. Therefore, appropriate strategies should be implemented to improve the aforementioned situation and to troubleshoot and monitor at all levels by providing feedback to hospitals

Prevalence of gastrointestinal helminths infections among school-aged children in Kurmi Local Government Area, Taraba State, Nigeria

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and helminthic load of Gastrointestinal Helminths Infections (GHIs) among school-aged children in Kurmi Local Government Area, Taraba State, Nigeria. A total of 600 stool samples from the children in six randomly selected communities were examined by direct smear method under microscope and formol-ether concentration technique. A structured questionnaire was prepared for this research work to assess the association of intestinal helminths infections with socio-noneconomic status of the children’s parents and other variables. The data collected was analyzed using x2 test. Out of 600 stool sampled examined, 252 (42, 0%) were infected with intestinal helminths. Hookworm (10.8%) showed highest occurrence followed by Ascaris lumbricoides (9.3%), Strongyloides stercoralis (6.5%), Schistosoma mansoni (5.6%), Trichuris trichiura (4.3%), Enterobius vermicularis (2.1%). Taenia spp. (1.8 %), and Hymenolepis nana (0.81%). Helmenthic Load revealed that 180(30.1%) of the subjects in all the communities had scanty (+) helminthic load, 51(8.5%) of the children had moderate (++) infections while 20(3.3%) had high (+++) infection. Out of the 42% infected cases, 226(37%) of the pupils were found to be infected with single helminthic infection, 20(3.38%) with double helminthic infection and 4(0.4%) with triple infections and 1(0.1%) quadruple infection. Such a relatively high prevalence rate of helminthic infection in the study area could be used as a base line for the concern bodies to lunch de-worming intervention campaigns.Keywords: Prevalence; helminthic load; gastrointestinal helminths infections; hookworm; Ascaris lumbricoides

Functional Characterization of Interferon Regulatory Factor 3a (IRF-3a), an Alternative Splice Isoform of IRF-3

Virus infection of numerous cell types results in the transcriptional induction of a subset of virus- and interferon (IFN)-stimulated genes. The beta IFN (IFN-β) gene is one of these rapidly induced genes; it serves as a fundamental component of the cellular defense response in eliciting potent antiviral, immunomodulatory, and antiproliferative effects. One of the transcription factors involved in the stringent regulation of IFN-β production following virus infection is interferon regulatory factor (IRF) 3 (IRF-3). We have characterized an alternatively spliced isoform of IRF-3 that we have called IRF-3a. IRF-3a can selectively and potently inhibit virus-induced activation of the IFN-β promoter. IRF-3a lacks half of the DNA binding domain found in IRF-3 and is unable to bind to the classical IRF binding elements, IFN-stimulated response elements. These studies suggest that IRF-3a may act as a modulator of IRF-3