Air-flow geometry in air sparging of fine-grained sands

Laboratory visualization experiments in fine- to very fine-grained sands (grain diameter <0.21 mm) reveal a previously unrecognized air-flow geometry. This air-flow geometry is termed "chamber flow" and is characterized by: (1) a significant horizontal component, (2) pervasive air-flow coverage within a region demarcated by a distinct, irregular boundary, and (3) the presence of predominantly vertical inlet and outlet channels. The attributes of chamber flow differ significantly from channelized flow and pervasive/bubbly flow, which occur at larger grain sizes and have been described in the literature by several researchers. Previous research, which indicates a dramatic increase in contaminant removal time in sediments <0.2 mm, indirectly corroborates the phenomena observed in this study. The extent of sediment column affected by chamber flow of sparge air ranges from 4–54% on an area basis, and is approximately 28% on a volume basis. These values indicate that chamber air flow has the potential to affect a much larger percentage of the sediment column than either channelized or pervasive/bubbly flow. Because of the irregularity of air-flow chambers, in terms of both form and frequency, a detailed knowledge of stratigraphy is important to maximize air-sparging efficiency at sites where chamber flow is likely to occur. Des expériences de visualisation en laboratoire dans des sables à grains fins à très fins (diamètre des grains inférieur à 0,21 mm) ont mis en évidence une géométrie des écoulements d'air non reconnue auparavant. Cette géométrie des écoulements d'air est nommée «écoulement en cavité» et est caractérisée par (1) une composante horizontale significative, (2) un domaine d'expansion de l'écoulement d'air dans une région délimitée par une frontière distincte et irrégulière, et (3) la présence de chenaux essentiellement verticaux d'entrée et de sortie. Les caractères de l'écoulement en cavité diffèrent significativement de l'écoulement en chenaux et de l'écoulement expansif en bulle, qui se produisent pour des tailles de grains plus grandes et qui ont été décrits dans la littérature par plusieurs chercheurs. Une étude antérieure, qui indique un accroissement considérable du temps de déplacement d'un polluant dans des sédiments de granulométrie inférieure à 0,2 mm, confirme indirectement les phénomènes observés dans ce travail. La part de la colonne de sédiment affectée par l'écoulement en cavité de l'air poussé et injecté va de 4 à 54% par rapport à la surface, et est d'environ 28% en volume. Ces valeurs indiquent que l'écoulement d'air en cavité a la capacité d'affecter une part de la colonne de sédiment bien plus vaste que l'écoulement en chenaux ou en bulles expansives. À cause de l'irrégularité des cavités d'écoulement d'air, à la fois en termes de forme et de fréquence, une connaissance détaillée de la stratigraphie est importante afin que l'injection de l'air soit maximale à des sites où il est probable que l'écoulement en cavité se produise. La visualización de experimentos de laboratorio con arenas de tamaño de grano fino a muy fino (diámetro de grano inferior a 0,21 mm) revela la existencia de una geometría de flujo de aire que no se había identificado previamente. Esta geometría es denominada "flujo en cámara" y se caracteriza por: (1) una componente horizontal significativa, (2) la cobertura generalizada del flujo de aire dentro de una región delimitada por un contorno distinto e irregular, y (3) la presencia de canales predominantemente verticales en las zonas de entrada y salida. Los atributos del flujo en cámara difieren significativamente del flujo en canales y el flujo generalizado/de burbujas, los cuales tienen lugar con tamaños mayores de grano y han sido descritos en la literatura por diversos investigadores. Las investigaciones previas, que indican un aumento enorme en el tiempo de descontaminación necesario para sedimentos de tamaño inferior a 0,2 mm, corroboran de forma indirecta los fenómenos observados en este estudio. La zona afectada por flujo en cámara durante la inyección de aire en la columna de sedimentos varía entre el 4 y el 54% en área, lo cual equivale aproximadamente al 28% en volumen. Estos valores indican que el flujo en cámara de aire tiene el potencial de afectar a un porcentaje de la columna mucho mayor que los otros mecanismos de flujo. Debido a la irregularidad de las cámaras de flujo de aire, tanto en forma como en frecuencia, es importante adquirir un conocimiento detallado de la estratigrafía para maximizar la eficacia de la inyección de aire en lugares en los que es probable el desarrollo de flujo en cámara.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42337/1/10040-9-2-168_s100400000104.pd

Cellular and Cytokine Responses in the Granulomas of Asymptomatic Cattle naturally infected with Mycobacterium bovis in Ethiopia

Cells (CD3+ T cell and CD68+ macrophages), cytokines (IFN-γ+ and TNF-α+) and effector molecule (iNOS+) responses were evaluated in the lymph nodes and tissue of cattle naturally infected with Detailed post mortem and immunohistochemical examinations of lesions were performed on 16 cows positive for single intradermal cervical comparative tuberculin (SICCT) test which were identified from dairy farms located around the Addis Ababa City. The severity of the gross lesion was significantly higher (p=0.003) in culture positive (n=12) cows than in culture negative (n=4). Immunohistochemical techniques showed that in culture positive cows, the mean immunolabeling fraction of CD3+ T cells decreased as the stage of granuloma increased from stage I to stage IV (p<0.001). In contrast, the immunolabelling fraction of CD68+ macrophages, IFN-γ+, TNF-α+ and iNOS+ increased from stage I to stage IV (p< 0.001). In culture negative cows, early stages showed a significantly higher fraction of CD68+ macrophages (p=0.03) and iNOS+ (p=0.007) when compared to culture positive cows. Similarly, at advanced granuloma stages, culture negative cows demonstrated significantly higher mean proportions of CD3+ T cells (p< 0.001) compared to culture positive cows. Thus, this study demonstrates that following natural infection of cows with , as the stage of granuloma increases from stage I to stage IV, the immunolabelling fraction of CD3+ cells decreases while the immunolabeling fraction of CD68+ macrophages, IFN-γ+, TNF-α+ and iNOS+ increases. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2020 Tulu et al.

Telemedicine framework using case-based reasoning with evidences

Telemedicine is the medical practice of information exchanged from one location to another through electronic communications to improve the delivery of health care services. This research article describes a telemedicine framework with knowledge engineering using taxonomic reasoning of ontology modeling and semantic similarity. In addition to being a precious support in the procedure of medical decision-making, this framework can be used to strengthen significant collaborations and traceability that are important for the development of official deployment of telemedicine applications. Adequate mechanisms for information management with traceability of the reasoning process are also essential in the fields of epidemiology and public health. In this paper we enrich the case-based reasoning process by taking into account former evidence-based knowledge. We use the regular four steps approach and implement an additional (iii) step: (i) establish diagnosis, (ii) retrieve treatment, (iii) apply evidence, (iv) adaptation, (v) retain. Each step is performed using tools from knowledge engineering and information processing (natural language processing, ontology, indexation, algorithm, etc.). The case representation is done by the taxonomy component of a medical ontology model. The proposed approach is illustrated with an example from the oncology domain. Medical ontology allows a good and efficient modeling of the patient and his treatment. We are pointing up the role of evidences and specialist's opinions in effectiveness and safety of care

Relative contributions of chromatin and kinetochores to mitotic spindle assembly

It's the kinetochores, not the DNA, that initiate spindle assembly

Detection of Alpha-Rod Protein Repeats Using a Neural Network and Application to Huntingtin

A growing number of solved protein structures display an elongated structural domain, denoted here as alpha-rod, composed of stacked pairs of anti-parallel alpha-helices. Alpha-rods are flexible and expose a large surface, which makes them suitable for protein interaction. Although most likely originating by tandem duplication of a two-helix unit, their detection using sequence similarity between repeats is poor. Here, we show that alpha-rod repeats can be detected using a neural network. The network detects more repeats than are identified by domain databases using multiple profiles, with a low level of false positives (<10%). We identify alpha-rod repeats in approximately 0.4% of proteins in eukaryotic genomes. We then investigate the results for all human proteins, identifying alpha-rod repeats for the first time in six protein families, including proteins STAG1-3, SERAC1, and PSMD1-2 & 5. We also characterize a short version of these repeats in eight protein families of Archaeal, Bacterial, and Fungal species. Finally, we demonstrate the utility of these predictions in directing experimental work to demarcate three alpha-rods in huntingtin, a protein mutated in Huntington's disease. Using yeast two hybrid analysis and an immunoprecipitation technique, we show that the huntingtin fragments containing alpha-rods associate with each other. This is the first definition of domains in huntingtin and the first validation of predicted interactions between fragments of huntingtin, which sets up directions toward functional characterization of this protein. An implementation of the repeat detection algorithm is available as a Web server with a simple graphical output: http://www.ogic.ca/projects/ard. This can be further visualized using BiasViz, a graphic tool for representation of multiple sequence alignments

A systematic review of economic analyses of telehealth services using real time video communication

Background: Telehealth is the delivery of health care at a distance, using information and communication technology. The major rationales for its introduction have been to decrease costs, improve efficiency and increase access in health care delivery. This systematic review assesses the economic value of one type of telehealth delivery - synchronous or real time video communication - rather than examining a heterogeneous range of delivery modes as has been the case with previous reviews in this area. Methods A systematic search was undertaken for economic analyses of the clinical use of telehealth, ending in June 2009. Studies with patient outcome data and a non-telehealth comparator were included. Cost analyses, non-comparative studies and those where patient satisfaction was the only health outcome were excluded. Results 36 articles met the inclusion criteria. 22(61%) of the studies found telehealth to be less costly than the non-telehealth alternative, 11(31%) found greater costs and 3 (9%) gave the same or mixed results. 23 of the studies took the perspective of the health services, 12 were societal, and one was from the patient perspective. In three studies of telehealth to rural areas, the health services paid more for telehealth, but due to savings in patient travel, the societal perspective demonstrated cost savings. In regard to health outcomes, 12 (33%) of studies found improved health outcomes, 21 (58%) found outcomes were not significantly different, 2(6%) found that telehealth was less effective, and 1 (3%) found outcomes differed according to patient group. The organisational model of care was more important in determining the value of the service than the clinical discipline, the type of technology, or the date of the study. Conclusion Delivery of health services by real time video communication was cost-effective for home care and access to on-call hospital specialists, showed mixed results for rural service delivery, and was not cost-effective for local delivery of services between hospitals and primary care

In vivo efficacy of artemether-lumefantrine against uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Central Ethiopia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p><it>In vivo </it>efficacy assessments of the first-line treatments for <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>malaria are essential for ensuring effective case management. In Ethiopia, artemether-lumefantrine (AL) has been the first-line treatment for uncomplicated <it>P. falciparum </it>malaria since 2004.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Between October and November 2009, we conducted a 42-day, single arm, open label study of AL for <it>P. falciparum </it>in individuals >6 months of age at two sites in Oromia State, Ethiopia. Eligible patients who had documented <it>P. falciparum </it>mono-infection were enrolled and followed according to the standard 2009 World Health Organization <it>in vivo </it>drug efficacy monitoring protocol. The primary and secondary endpoints were PCR uncorrected and corrected cure rates, as measured by adequate clinical and parasitological response on days 28 and 42, respectively.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 4426 patients tested, 120 with confirmed falciparum malaria were enrolled and treated with AL. Follow-up was completed for 112 patients at day 28 and 104 patients at day 42. There was one late parasitological failure, which was classified as undetermined after genotyping. Uncorrected cure rates at both day 28 and 42 for the per protocol analysis were 99.1% (95% CI 95.1-100.0); corrected cure rates at both day 28 and 42 were 100.0%. Uncorrected cure rates at day 28 and 42 for the intention to treat analysis were 93.3% (95% CI 87.2-97.1) and 86.6% (95% CI 79.1-92.1), respectively, while the corrected cure rates at day 28 and 42 were 94.1% (95% CI 88.2-97.6) and 87.3% (95% CI 79.9-92.7), respectively. Using survival analysis, the unadjusted cure rate was 99.1% and 100.0% adjusted by genotyping for day 28 and 42, respectively. Eight <it>P. falciparum </it>patients (6.7%) presented with <it>Plasmodium vivax </it>infection during follow-up and were excluded from the per protocol analysis. Only one patient had persistent parasitaemia at day 3. No serious adverse events were reported, with cough and nausea/vomiting being the most common adverse events.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>AL remains a highly effective and well-tolerated treatment for uncomplicated falciparum malaria in the study setting after several years of universal access to AL. A high rate of parasitaemia with <it>P. vivax </it>possibly from relapse or new infection was observed.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p><a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01052584">NCT01052584</a></p