An anti-cancer surveillance by the interplay between interferon-beta and retinoblastoma protein RB1

Interferon-beta (IFN-β), an extracellular cytokine that initiates signaling pathways for gene regulation, has been demonstrated to function as a tumor suppressor protein through lentiviral gene transduction. In this article, I review the relevant previous works and propose a cell cycle-based, tumor suppressor protein-mediated mechanism of anti-cancer surveillance. IFN-β induces a tumor cell cycle alteration that leads to S phase accumulation, senescence entry, and a loss of tumorigenicity in solid tumor cells. IFN-β does not show a significant cell cycle effect in their normal counterparts. Retinoblastoma protein RB1, another tumor suppressor protein, tightly controls the cell cycle and differentiation of normal cells, preventing them from being significantly impacted by the IFN-β effect. The interplay between IFN-β and RB1 acts as a mechanism of cell cycle-based, tumor suppressor protein-mediated anti-cancer surveillance that can selectively suppress solid tumor or proliferating transformed cells from the loss of control leading to cancer. This mechanism has important implications for the treatment of solid tumors

Improving Ammonia Emission Modeling and Inventories by Data Mining and Intelligent Interpretation of the National Air Emission Monitoring Study Database

Ammonia emission is one of the greatest environmental concerns in sustainable agriculture development. Several limitations and fundamental problems associated with the current agricultural ammonia emission modeling and emission inventories have been identified. They were associated with a significant disconnection between field monitoring data and knowledge about the data. Comprehensive field measurement datasets have not been fully exploited for scientific research and emission regulations. This situation can be considerably improved if the currently available data are better interpreted and the new knowledge is applied to update ammonia emission modeling techniques. The world\u27s largest agricultural air quality monitoring database with more than 2.4 billion data points has recently been created by the United States\u27 National Air Emission Monitoring Study. New approaches of data mining and intelligent interpretation of the database are planned to uncover new knowledge and to answer a series of questions that have been raised. The expected results of this new research idea include enhanced fundamental understanding of ammonia emissions from animal agriculture and improved accuracy and scope in regional and national ammonia emission inventories

Air Quality Measurements at a Laying Hen House: Particulate Matter Concentrations and Emissions

Particulate matter (PM) was measured in the ventilation exhaust air of a caged layer house using three tapered element oscillating microbalances (TEOMs). Diurnal patterns of PM concentration and emission were observed during 6 days in June 2002. The average daily mean (±95% c.i.) concentrations and emissions were 39±8.0, 518±74, and 1887±563 .g/m3 and 1.1±0.3, 16±3.4, and 63±15 g/d-AU for PM2.5, PM10, and total suspended particulates (TSP), respectively. Daytime (lights on) PM2.5, PM10, and TSP concentrations were 151, 108, and 136% higher (P\u3c0.05) than at night. Emissions peaked during the day when birds were most active and ventilation rates were the highest. Wide diurnal variations in PM concentration and ventilation were observed. PM emission was correlated to ventilation, ambient and exhaust temperatures, and relative humidity (P\u3c0.05)

Air Quality Monitoring and Data Acquisition for Livestock and Poultry Environment Studies

The development of analytical instruments and computer technologies in recent decades has facilitated significant changes in the methodologies used in scientific studies of agricultural air quality. A variety of instruments and sensors have been used for long-term and continuous measurements at commercial animal facilities and laboratories for determining baseline pollutant emissions and testing mitigation technologies. New measurement strategies were developed for real-time measurement and multi-location sampling. Optimization of this technology change necessitates an up-to-date system to acquire high-frequency data, control instruments and sampling locations, and monitor system operation. While various air quality research projects involve similar objectives and instrumentation to meet those objectives, they are usually conducted with monitoring plans that differ among sites and among projects. Special data acquisition and control (DAC) hardware and software have to be adapted for each monitoring plan. This paper summarizes various measurement and control devices used for comprehensive air quality studies of livestock and poultry environments. The paper further presents methods for real-time data transformation and processing. It introduces an air quality DAC system, which provided novel, flexible, and user-friendly features. The methodology and technology used in the new DAC system reduces system development and operational cost, increase reliability and work efficiency, and enhances data quality

Ammonia Emissions from a Commercial Poultry Manure Composting Facility

Composting is an effective waste management technology for converting animal wastes into valuable organic fertilizer. However, air emissions from composting, especially ammonia (NH3) emission, reduces the nitrogen fertilizer value of the compost and greatly impacts the environment. Ammonia emission from commercial composting facilities is not well understood and is limiting mitigation or recovery of NH3 emission from these facilities. The goal of this study was to determine the NH3 emission from a poultry manure compost facility and its temporal variations for development of mitigation strategies. A commercial composting facility was chosen for this study. Manure was supplied from four adjacent manure-belt layer barns. The composting building was tunnel ventilated by four 122-cm exhaust fans. Ammonia concentration at the building inlet and the fan exhausts was monitored quasi-continuously for one month in each of the four seasons using a MSA photoacoustic NH3 analyzer. Air temperature and humidity at the exhausts were monitored using a HOBO temperature and RH sensor and data logger. The exhaust fans were calibrated using FANS units to quantify the ventilation rate of the building. Ammonia emission rate was calculated according to the NH3 concentrations and building ventilation rate. The daily average NH3 concentrations at the exhaust of the compost house varied from 123 ppm in spring to 167 ppm in summer. The daily average NH3 emission rates of the compost facility varied from 231 kg/d in spring to 315 kg/d in summer. Strong diurnal variations exist in spring and summer seasons. Daytime NH3 emission is significantly higher than that of nighttime. The annual NH3 emission rate of the composting facility was estimated as 96,143 kg. The emission factors were calculated as 13±1.3 kg/ton · d and 0.32 ±0.14 g/d · hen. The results of this study will contribute to the development of NH3 emission mitigation technologies and management practices

Air Quality Monitoring and On-Site Computer System for Livestock and Poultry Environment Studies

This article reviews the development of agricultural air quality (AAQ) research on livestock and poultry environments, summarizes various measurement and control devices and the requirements of data acquisition and control (DAC) for comprehensive AAQ studies, and introduces a new system to meet DAC and other requirements. The first experimental AAQ study was reported in 1953. Remarkable progress has been achieved in this research field during the past decades. Studies on livestock and poultry environment expanded from indoor air quality to include pollutant emissions and the subsequent health, environmental, and ecological impacts beyond the farm boundaries. The pollutants of interest included gases, particulate matter (PM), odor, volatile organic compounds (VOC), endotoxins, and microorganisms. During this period the research projects, scales, and boundaries continued to expand significantly. Studies ranged from surveys and short-term measurements to national and international collaborative projects. While much research is still conducted in laboratories and experimental facilities, a growing number of investigations have been carried out in commercial livestock and poultry farms. The development of analytical instruments and computer technologies has facilitated significant changes in the methodologies used in this field. The quantity of data obtained in a single project during AAQ research has increased exponentially, from several gas concentration samples to 2.4 billion data points. The number of measurement variables has also increased from a few to more than 300 at a single monitoring site. A variety of instruments and sensors have been used for on-line, real-time, continuous, and year-round measurements to determine baseline pollutant emissions and test mitigation technologies. New measurement strategies have been developed for multi-point sampling. These advancements in AAQ research have necessitated up-to-date systems to not only acquire data and control sampling locations, but also monitor experimental operation, communicate with researchers, and process post-acquisition signals and post-measurement data. An on-site computer system (OSCS), consisting of DAC hardware, a personal computer, and on-site AAQ research software, is needed to meet these requirements. While various AAQ studies involved similar objectives, implementation of OSCS was often quite variable among projects. Individually developed OSCSs were usually project-specific, and their development was expensive and time-consuming. A new OSCS, with custom-developed software AirDAC, written in LabVIEW, was developed with novel and user-friendly features for wide ranging AAQ research projects. It reduced system development and operational cost, increased measurement reliability and work efficiency, and enhanced quality assurance and quality control in AAQ studies

Laboratory Evaluation of a Manure Additive for Mitigating Gas and Odor Releases from Layer Hen Manure

Manure additives are widely used to mitigate gas and odor emissions from manure or improve manure properties. However, the reported effectiveness of some manure additive products has been mixed and most of the studies on poultry manure have been on chemical additives. A laboratory study was conducted to evaluate an enzyme-based commercial manure additive for its potential reductions of ammonia (NH3), carbon dioxide (CO2), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), and odor releases from layer hen manure. Eight 122-cm tall and 38-cm diameter reactors, four treated with the additive and four control, were studied for 38 days with manure from commercial layer hen houses. The reactors were initially filled with 66-cm height manure followed by weekly additions of 5 cm each. Ventilation air was supplied to the reactor headspace to simulate winter ventilation rates in layer hen houses. Concentrations of NH3, CO2, and H2S in the reactor exhaust air were measured with gas analyzers for 10 minutes, six times daily. Odor intensity was assessed by a trained odor panel. Open-headspace tests were also conducted to corroborate the observations in the reactor study. Study results showed that the average 4-reactor group mean release rates ± standard deviations of NH3 were 17.5 ± 14.3 and 20.1 ± 12.6 µg s–1 from the control and treated groups, respectively. Those of CO2 were 1091 ± 149 µg s–1 from the control and 1143 ± 217 µg s–1 from the treated groups. Release of H2S from the reactors could not be detected. The odor intensities were 3.5 ± 0.3 and 3.4 ± 0.3 before and after the additive spray, respectively. Application of the additive onto the manure did not demonstrate an effect on the releases of NH3 (P = 0.41), CO2 (P \u3e 0.23), and odor (P \u3e 0.71)

Large Scale Application of Vibration Sensors for Fan Monitoring at Commercial Layer Hen Houses

Continuously monitoring the operation of each individual fan can significantly improve the measurement quality of aerial pollutant emissions from animal buildings that have a large number of fans. To monitor the fan operation by detecting the fan vibration is a relatively new technique. A low-cost electronic vibration sensor was developed and commercialized. However, its large scale application has not yet been evaluated. This paper presents long-term performance results of this vibration sensor at two large commercial layer houses. Vibration sensors were installed on 164 fans of 130 cm diameter to continuously monitor the fan on/off status for two years. The performance of the vibration sensors was compared with fan rotational speed (FRS) sensors. The vibration sensors exhibited quick response and high sensitivity to fan operations and therefore satisfied the general requirements of air quality research. The study proved that detecting fan vibration was an effective method to monitor the on/off status of a large number of single-speed fans. The vibration sensor itself was $2 more expensive than a magnetic proximity FRS sensor but the overall cost including installation and data acquisition hardware was$77 less expensive than the FRS sensor. A total of nine vibration sensors failed during the study and the failure rate was related to the batches of product. A few sensors also exhibited unsteady sensitivity. As a new product, the quality of the sensor should be improved to make it more reliable and acceptable