Soluble CD24 is an inflammatory biomarker in early and seronegative rheumatoid arthritis

AbstractIntroduction: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic autoimmune disease characterized by autoantibody production, joint inflammation and bone destruction. Nearly 1/3 of RA patients with the active disease also exhibit a normal range of ESR and CRP. Here we assessed the performance and clinical significance of soluble CD24 (sCD24) as a biomarker of disease activity in RA.Methods: A total of 269 RA patients, 59 primary Sjogren’s syndrome (SS) patients, 81 systematic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, 76 osteoarthritis (OA) patients and 97 healthy individuals (HC) were included in this study. Soluble CD24 in sera were detected by ELISA. Therefore, the concentration of sCD24 was analyzed in RA patients with different disease activity statuses.Results: The sCD24 was significantly increased in RA (2970 pg/mL), compared to other rheumatic diseases (380-520 pg/mL) and healthy individuals (320 pg/mL). Moreover, sCD24 was elevated in 66.67% of early RA and 61.11% of seronegative RA patients. In addition, sCD24 was significantly correlated with the disease duration and inflammatory indicators.Conclusion: The sCD24 could be an inflammatory biomarker in RA patients, especially in early and seronegative patients

Studying a new embarking and disembarking process for future hyperloop passengers

This paper presents an embarking and disembarking process for the hyperloop, a future high-speed transportation of passengers and goods in tubes. A concept of the (dis)embarking process has been designed and tested with two experiments. The first experiment was performed to compare the new concept to one that is more similar to the current embarking setup of trains on the aspects of efficiency and experience. Participants were asked to (dis)embark in the test settings that simulate the new concept and the conventional situation with luggage. As a result, new passenger flow saves 40% of the time for vehicles to stay on the platform. Follow-up questionnaires and interviews with the participants show that the proposed passenger flow gives a better experience in terms of efficiency, seamlessness and friendliness. The new solution increases the number of doors, which increases the manufacturing complexity and the chance of failure. Narrowing the door size minimizes this effect. Subsequently, a second experiment has been carried out to study the influence of door width on (dis)embarking efficiency and passenger experience following a similar method. It turns out that narrowing the door width does not noticeably influence the embarking time, but the disembarking time does increase. Interviews show that half of the participants sense a negative experience with narrower doors, while the other half do not notice a difference.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work publicCyber-Physical SystemsMechatronic Desig

A novel SLC26A4

Abstract Background Variants in the SLC26A4 gene are correlated with nonsyndromic hearing loss with an enlarged vestibular aqueduct (EVA). This study aimed to identify the genetic causes in a Chinese family with EVA, and the pathogenicity of the detected variants. Methods We collected blood samples and clinical data from a pair of deaf twin sisters with EVA and their family members. As controls, a group of 500 normal‐hearing people were enrolled in our study. Twenty‐one exons and flanking splice sites of the SLC26A4 gene were screened for pathogenic mutations by polymerase chain reaction and bidirectional Sanger sequencing. Minigene assays were used to verify whether the novel SLC26A4 intronic mutation influenced the normal splicing of mRNA. Results Hearing loss in the twins with EVA was diagnosed using auditory tests and imaging examinations. Two pathogenic mutations, c.919‐2A>G and c.1614+5G>A were detected in SLC26A4, the latter of which has not been reported in the literature. The minigene expression in vitro confirmed that c.1614+5G>A could cause aberrant splicing, resulting in skipping over exon 14. Conclusions On the SLC26A4 gene, c.1614+5G>A is a pathogenic mutation. This finding enriches the mutational spectrum of the SLC26A4 gene and provides a basis for the genetic diagnosis of EVA

Studying a new embarking and disembarking process for future hyperloop passengers

This paper presents an embarking and disembarking process for the hyperloop, a future high-speed transportation of passengers and goods in tubes. A concept of the (dis)embarking process has been designed and tested with two experiments. The first experiment was performed to compare the new concept to one that is more similar to the current embarking setup of trains on the aspects of efficiency and experience. Participants were asked to (dis)embark in the test settings that simulate the new concept and the conventional situation with luggage. As a result, new passenger flow saves 40% of the time for vehicles to stay on the platform. Follow-up questionnaires and interviews with the participants show that the proposed passenger flow gives a better experience in terms of efficiency, seamlessness and friendliness. The new solution increases the number of doors, which increases the manufacturing complexity and the chance of failure. Narrowing the door size minimizes this effect. Subsequently, a second experiment has been carried out to study the influence of door width on (dis)embarking efficiency and passenger experience following a similar method. It turns out that narrowing the door width does not noticeably influence the embarking time, but the disembarking time does increase. Interviews show that half of the participants sense a negative experience with narrower doors, while the other half do not notice a difference.</p

Soluble CD24 is an inflammatory biomarker in early and seronegative rheumatoid arthritis

Introduction: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic autoimmune disease characterized by autoantibody production, joint inflammation and bone destruction. Nearly 1/3 of RA patients with the active disease also exhibit a normal range of ESR and CRP. Here we assessed the performance and clinical significance of soluble CD24 (sCD24) as a biomarker of disease activity in RA. Methods: A total of 269 RA patients, 59 primary Sjogren’s syndrome (SS) patients, 81 systematic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, 76 osteoarthritis (OA) patients and 97 healthy individuals (HC) were included in this study. Soluble CD24 in sera were detected by ELISA. Therefore, the concentration of sCD24 was analyzed in RA patients with different disease activity statuses. Results: The sCD24 was significantly increased in RA (2970 pg/mL), compared to other rheumatic diseases (380-520 pg/mL) and healthy individuals (320 pg/mL). Moreover, sCD24 was elevated in 66.67% of early RA and 61.11% of seronegative RA patients. In addition, sCD24 was significantly correlated with the disease duration and inflammatory indicators. Conclusion: The sCD24 could be an inflammatory biomarker in RA patients, especially in early and seronegative patients.</p