PU.1 regulates the commitment of adult hematopoietic progenitors and restricts granulopoiesis

Although the transcription factor PU.1 is essential for fetal lymphomyelopoiesis, we unexpectedly found that elimination of the gene in adult mice allowed disturbed hematopoiesis, dominated by granulocyte production. Impaired production of lymphocytes was evident in PU.1-deficient bone marrow (BM), but myelocytes and clonogenic granulocytic progenitors that are responsive to granulocyte colony-stimulating factor or interleukin-3 increased dramatically. No identifiable common lymphoid or myeloid progenitor populations were discernable by flow cytometry; however, clonogenic assays suggested an overall increased frequency of blast colony-forming cells and BM chimeras revealed existence of long-term self-renewing PU.1-deficient cells that required PU.1 for lymphoid, but not granulocyte, generation. PU.1 deletion in granulocyte-macrophage progenitors, but not in common myeloid progenitors, resulted in excess granulocyte production; this suggested specific roles of PU.1 at different stages of myeloid development. These findings emphasize the distinct nature of adult hematopoiesis and reveal that PU.1 regulates the specification of the multipotent lymphoid and myeloid compartments and restrains, rather than promotes, granulopoiesis

Modeling of transport processes in the cigarette principle combustion furnace

This paper presents numerical and experimental investigations of complex and interrelated physical and chemical phenomena that occur during combustion of baled soybean residue in the furnace with the cigarette type of combustion. The result of comprehensive research is reactive flow model of biomass combustion inside furnace. Model is described by set of PDE which define momentum, heat and mass transfer processes in porous and fluid system. The main aim of developed CFD model is numerical simulation of combustion process inside the cigarette furnace. It is also used to provide deeper insight in complex processes occurring during biomass combustion. Verification of proposed numerical model was performed through comprehensive experimental tests on the experimental-industrial plant of 1.5 MW boiler for heating the greenhouses in the Agricultural Corporation in Belgrade. The tests included measurement of flow rate and air and flue gas temperature input and output values on the furnace that are taken as the boundary conditions of the developed model. Comparison of the experimental results shows satisfactory agreement with numerical results (the maximum relative deviation of calculation and measurement temperatures are 10-45%), therefore the developed mathematical model could be used to analyse the effects of structural and parametric (fuel composition, power rate, air excess etc.) changes of the facility, from the standpoint of energy efficiency and ecology

A lipidomic based metabolic age score captures cardiometabolic risk independent of chronological age

Background Metabolic ageing biomarkers may capture the age-related shifts in metabolism, offering a precise representation of an individual’s overall metabolic health. Methods Utilising comprehensive lipidomic datasets from two large independent population cohorts in Australia (n = 14,833, including 6630 males, 8203 females), we employed different machine learning models, to predict age, and calculated metabolic age scores (mAge). Furthermore, we defined the difference between mAge and age, termed mAgeΔ, which allow us to identify individuals sharing similar age but differing in their metabolic health status. Findings Upon stratification of the population into quintiles by mAgeΔ, we observed that participants in the top quintile group (Q5) were more likely to have cardiovascular disease (OR = 2.13, 95% CI = 1.62–2.83), had a 2.01-fold increased risk of 12-year incident cardiovascular events (HR = 2.01, 95% CI = 1.45–2.57), and a 1.56-fold increased risk of 17-year all-cause mortality (HR = 1.56, 95% CI = 1.34–1.79), relative to the individuals in the bottom quintile group (Q1). Survival analysis further revealed that men in the Q5 group faced the challenge of reaching a median survival rate due to cardiovascular events more than six years earlier and reaching a median survival rate due to all-cause mortality more than four years earlier than men in the Q1 group. Interpretation Our findings demonstrate that the mAge score captures age-related metabolic changes, predicts health outcomes, and has the potential to identify individuals at increased risk of metabolic diseases

Imputation of plasma lipid species to facilitate integration of lipidomic datasets

Recent advancements in plasma lipidomic profiling methodology have significantly increased specificity and accuracy of lipid measurements. This evolution, driven by improved chromatographic and mass spectrometric resolution of newer platforms, has made it challenging to align datasets created at different times, or on different platforms. Here we present a framework for harmonising such plasma lipidomic datasets with different levels of granularity in their lipid measurements. Our method utilises elastic-net prediction models, constructed from high-resolution lipidomics reference datasets, to predict unmeasured lipid species in lower-resolution studies. The approach involves (1) constructing composite lipid measures in the reference dataset that map to less resolved lipids in the target dataset, (2) addressing discrepancies between aligned lipid species, (3) generating prediction models, (4) assessing their transferability into the targe dataset, and (5) evaluating their prediction accuracy. To demonstrate our approach, we used the AusDiab population-based cohort (747 lipid species) as the reference to impute unmeasured lipid species into the LIPID study (342 lipid species). Furthermore, we compared measured and imputed lipids in terms of parameter estimation and predictive performance, and validated imputations in an independent study. Our method for harmonising plasma lipidomic datasets will facilitate model validation and data integration efforts

Upgrade Evaluation of Traffic Signal Assets: High-resolution Performance Measurement Framework

Agencies that have large-scale traffic signal systems under their purview often have to face asset upgrade decisions. As one of the most advanced traffic control technologies, Adaptive Traffic Control Systems (ATCS) are among the options that must be taken into consideration. Having in mind the complexity of benefits and costs stemming from ATCS investments, there is a need for information-rich performance measures (PM) used in the evaluation and decision-making. However, individual PMs are often not suitable for evaluating the multidimensionality of ATCS operations, due the inherent variability of ATCS control parameters. To expand the range of PMs used in ATCS evaluation, this research develops a new PM, i.e., average arrivals on green ratio, and proposes a refinement of average delay PM to account for queue formation. The paper also presents an application framework for a multi-criteria analysis, assuming a combination of the proposed and existing PMs. In addition to presenting the analytical PM formulation, the evaluation methodology uses microsimulation for a case study comparison between actuated-coordinated and ATCS operations. The results include a comparison between previous and proposed PMs, based on the processed simulation data as well as field data. In conclusion, the proposed PMs have a high transferability potential, low data collection cost, and high data quality, thus being suitable for use in decision processes for signal asset investment. Finally, this research opens up further opportunities for advancing decision-support methods for traffic operations asset management.Peer reviewe

Development of the boiler for combustion of agricultural biomass by products

Republic of Serbia consumes about 15 million tons of equivalent oil per year. At the same time potential of the renewable energy sources is about 3.5 Mtoe per year. Main renewable source is biomass, with its potential of about 2.6 Mtoe per year, and 60% of the total biomass source is of agricultural origin. Mainly, that type of biomass is collected, transported and stored in form of bales. At the same time in one of the largest agricultural companies in Serbia there are over 2000 ha of soya plantations, and also 4000 t per year of baled soya straw available, none of which being used for energy purposes. Therefore, efforts have been made in the Laboratory for Thermal Engineering and Energy of the Vinca Institute to develop a technology for utilizing bales of various sizes and shapes for energy production. Satisfactory test results of the I MW experimental facility - low CO levels and stable thermal output - led to the building-up of a 1.5 MW soya straw bales-fired hot water boiler, with cigarette type of combustion, for the purposes of greenhouse and office heating in the PKB. Further more, achieving good results in exploitation of that hot water boiler, the next step is building up the first combined heat and power (electricity) production facility, which will use agricultural biomass as a fuel, in Serbia.5th Dubrovnik Conference on Sustainable Development of Energy, Water and Environment Systems, Sep 30-Oct 03, 2009, Dubrovnik, Croati

Euler-Euler granular flow model of liquid fuels combustion in a fluidized reactor

This paper deals with the numerical simulation of liquid fuel combustion in a fluidized reactor using two-fluid Eulerian-Eulerian fluidized bed modeling incorporating the kinetic theory of granular flow (KTGF) to gas and solid phase flow prediction. The comprehensive model of the complex processes in a fluidized combustion chamber incorporates, besides the prediction of gas and particular phase velocity fields, the energy equations for the gas and solid phase and the transport equations of conservation of chemical species with the source terms due to the conversion of chemical components. Numerical experiments showed that the coefficients in the model of inter-phase interaction drag force have a significant effect, and they have to be adjusted for each regime of fluidization. A series of numerical experiments was performed with combustion of liquid fuels in a fluidized bed (FB), with and without significant water content. The given estimations were related to the unsteady state, and the modeled period corresponds to the passing time of the flow through the reactor column. The numerical experiments were conducted to examine the impact of the water content in a liquid fuel on the global FB combustion kinetics