Insulin autoantibodies as determined by competitive radiobinding assay are positively correlated with impaired beta-cell function — The Ulm-Frankfurt population study

Out of a random population of 4208 non-diabetic pupils without a family history of Type I diabetes 44 (1.05%) individuals had islet cell antibody (ICA) levels greater or equal to 5 Juvenile Diabetes Foundation (JDF) units. 39 of these ICA-positives could be repeatedly tested for circulating insulin autoantibodies (CIAA) using a competitive radiobinding assay. The results were compared with the insulin responses in the intravenous glucose tolerance tests (IVGTT) and with HLA types. Six pupils were positive for CIAA. All of them had complement-fixing ICA, and 5 of them were HLA-DR4 positive. Three of the 6 showed a first-phase insulin response below the first percentile of normal controls. Our data indicate that in population-based studies CIAA can be considered as a high risk marker for impaired beta-cell function in non-diabetic ICA-positive individuals

No association between islet cell antibodies and coxsackie B, mumps, rubella and cytomegalovirus antibodies in non-diabetic individuals aged 7–19 years

Viral antibodies were tested in a cohort of 44 isletcell antibody-positive individuals age 7–19 years, and 44 of their islet cell antibody-negative age and sex-matched classmates selected from a population study of 4208 pupils who had been screened for islet cell antibodies. Anti-coxsackie B1-5 IgM responses were detected in 14 of 44 (32%) of the islet cell antibody-positive subjects and in 7 of 44 (16%) control subjects. This difference did not reach the level of statistical significance. None of the islet cell antibody-positive subjects had specific IgM antibodies to mumps, rubella, or cytomegalovirus. There was also no increase in the prevalence or the mean titres of anti-mumps-IgG or IgA and anti-cytomegalovirus-IgG in islet cell antibody-positive subjects compared to control subjects. These results do not suggest any association between islet cell antibodies, and possibly insulitis, with recent mumps, rubella or cytomegalo virus infection. Further studies are required to clarify the relationship between islet cell antibodies and coxsackie B virus infections

Embedded intelligent imaging on-board small satellites

Current commercial Earth Observation satellites have very restricted image processing capabilities on-board. They mostly operate according to a 'store-and forward' mechanism, where the images are stored on-board after being acquired from the sensors and are downlinked when contact with a ground station occurs. However, in order for disaster monitoring satellite missions to be effective, there is a need for automated and intelligent image processing onboard. In fact, the need for increasing the automation on-board is predicted as one of the main trends for future satellite missions. The main factors that hold back this concept are the limited power and computing resources on-board the spacecraft. This paper reviews existing image processing payloads of earth observing small satellites. An autonomous change detection system is proposed to demonstrate the feasibility of implementing an intelligent system on-board a small satellite. Performance results for the proposed intelligent imaging system are estimated, scaled and compared to existing hardware that are being used in the SSTL DMC satellite platform

Insights into nanofiltration of textile wastewaters for water reuse

Textile industry constitutes nowadays one the largest consumers of water, and consequently the wastewater reuse can be a profitable operation. In this study, the decontamination of pure dyes solutions (Remazol Turquoise Blue G, Remazol Yellow GR and Lanaset Blue 2R) and synthetic textile wastewaters was evaluated in a nanofiltration (NF) cross-flow cell, using polyamide NF membranes, NF90 and DK, with molecular weight cut-off between 200-400 Da and 150-300 Da, respectively. Permeate flux and the color reduction were evaluated for the different dye solutions under different temperature and pH conditions and, NaCl, wetting and dispersant concentrations. DK membrane showed the best results in terms of permeate flux for all the dye solutions tested. The highest permeate flux was achieved for higher temperatures under acidic to neutral pHs values, resulting in almost 100 % color removal for all situations