Leucoreduction of blood components. an effective way to increase blood safety?

Over the past 30 years, it has been demonstrated that removal of white blood cells from blood components is effective in preventing some adverse reactions such as febrile non-haemolytic transfusion reactions, immunisation against human leucocyte antigens and human platelet antigens, and transmission of cytomegalovirus. In this review we discuss indications for leucoreduction and classify them into three categories: evidence-based indications for which the clinical efficacy is proven, indications based on the analysis of observational clinical studies with very consistent results and indications for which the clinical efficacy is partial or unproven

Human parvovirus B19 and blood product safety. A tale of twenty years of improvements

Parvovirus B19 (B19V), long known to be the causative agent of erythema infectiosum (fifth disease), is not a newly emerging agent. The aim of this review is to analyse the role played by this virus in compromising safety in transfusion medicine and the progressive measures to reduce the risks associated with the virus

The generalised relativistic Lindhard functions

We present here analytic expressions for the generalised Lindhard function, also referred to as Fermi Gas polarisation propagator, in a relativistic kinematic framework and in the presence of various resonances and vertices. Particular attention is payed to its real part, since it gives rise to substantial difficulties in the definition of the currents entering the dynamics.Comment: 48 pages, 2 figures, to be published in EPJ

Data segmentation based on the local intrinsic dimension

One of the founding paradigms of machine learning is that a small number of variables is often sufficient to describe high-dimensional data. The minimum number of variables required is called the intrinsic dimension (ID) of the data. Contrary to common intuition, there are cases where the ID varies within the same data set. This fact has been highlighted in technical discussions, but seldom exploited to analyze large data sets and obtain insight into their structure. Here we develop a robust approach to discriminate regions with different local IDs and segment the points accordingly. Our approach is computationally efficient and can be proficiently used even on large data sets. We find that many real-world data sets contain regions with widely heterogeneous dimensions. These regions host points differing in core properties: folded versus unfolded configurations in a protein molecular dynamics trajectory, active versus non-active regions in brain imaging data, and firms with different financial risk in company balance sheets. A simple topological feature, the local ID, is thus sufficient to achieve an unsupervised segmentation of high-dimensional data, complementary to the one given by clustering algorithms

Hybrid modeling of a biorefinery separation process to monitor short-term and long-term membrane fouling

Membrane filtration is commonly used in biorefineries to separate cells from fermentation broths containing the desired products. However, membrane fouling can cause short-term process disruption and long-term membrane degradation. The evolution of membrane resistance over time can be monitored to track fouling, but this calls for adequate sensors in the plant. This requirement might not be fulfilled even in modern biorefineries, especially when multiple, tightly interconnected membrane modules are used. Therefore, characterization of fouling in industrial facilities remains a challenge. In this study, we propose a hybrid modeling strategy to characterize both reversible and irreversible fouling in multi-module biorefinery membrane separation systems. We couple a linear data-driven model, to provide high-frequency estimates of trans-membrane pressures from the available measurements, with a simple nonlinear knowledge-driven model, to compute the resistances of the individual membrane modules. We test the proposed strategy using real data from the world's first industrial biorefinery manufacturing 1,4-bio-butanediol via fermentation of renewable raw materials. We show how monitoring of individual resistances, even when done by simple visual inspection, offers valuable insight on the reversible and irreversible fouling state of the membranes. We also discuss the advantage of the proposed approach, over monitoring trans-membrane pressures and permeate fluxes, from the standpoints of data variability, effect of process changes, interaction between module in multi-module systems, and fouling dynamics

TL1A/DR3 axis involvement in the inflammatory cytokine network during pulmonary sarcoidosis

BACKGROUND: TNF-like ligand 1A (TL1A), a recently recognized member of the TNF superfamily, and its death domain receptor 3 (DR3), firstly identified for their relevant role in T lymphocyte homeostasis, are now well-known mediators of several immune-inflammatory diseases, ranging from rheumatoid arthritis to inflammatory bowel diseases to psoriasis, whereas no data are available on their involvement in sarcoidosis, a multisystemic granulomatous disease where a deregulated T helper (Th)1/Th17 response takes place. METHODS: In this study, by flow cytometry, real-time PCR, confocal microscopy and immunohistochemistry analyses, TL1A and DR3 were investigated in the pulmonary cells and the peripheral blood of 43 patients affected by sarcoidosis in different phases of the disease (29 patients with active sarcoidosis, 14 with the inactive form) and in 8 control subjects. RESULTS: Our results demonstrated a significant higher expression, both at protein and mRNA levels, of TL1A and DR3 in pulmonary T cells and alveolar macrophages of patients with active sarcoidosis as compared to patients with the inactive form of the disease and to controls. In patients with sarcoidosis TL1A was strongly more expressed in the lung than the blood, i.e., at the site of the involved organ. Additionally, zymography assays showed that TL1A is able to increase the production of matrix metalloproteinase 9 by sarcoid alveolar macrophages characterized, in patients with the active form of the disease, by reduced mRNA levels of the tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP)-1. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that TL1A/DR3 interactions are part of the extended and complex immune-inflammatory network that characterizes sarcoidosis during its active phase and may contribute to the pathogenesis and to the progression of the disease

Optimization of the appearance quality in CO2 processed ready-to-eat carrots through image analysis

A high-pressure CO2 process applied to ready-to-eat food products guarantees an increase of both their microbial safety and shelf-life. However, the treatment often produces unwanted changes in the visual appearance of products depending on the adopted process conditions. Accordingly, the alteration of the visual appearance influences consumers’ perception and acceptability. This study aims at identifying the optimal treatment conditions in terms of visual appearance by using an artificial vision system. The developed methodology was applied to fresh-cut carrots (Daucus carota) as the test product. The results showed that carrots packaged in 100% CO2 and subsequently treated at 6 MPa and 40◦C for 15 min maintained an appearance similar to the fresh product for up to 7 days of storage at 4◦C. Mild appearance changes were identified at 7 and 14 days of storage in the processed products. Microbiological analysis performed on the optimal treatment condition showed the microbiological stability of the samples up to 14 days of storage at 4◦C. The artificial vision system, successfully applied to the CO2 pasteurization process, can easily be applied to any food process involving changes in the appearance of any food product

Convalescent plasma. New evidence for an old therapeutic tool?

Passive immunisation for the prevention and treatment of human infectious diseases can be traced back to the 20th century. The recent Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa has turned the spotlight onto the possible use of convalescent whole blood and convalescent plasma in the treatment of infectious diseases because they are the only therapeutic strategy available in some cases, given the unavailability of vaccines, drugs or other specific treatments. Convalescent blood products could be a valid option in the treatment/prophylaxis of several infectious diseases both in association with other drugs/preventive measures and as the only therapy when a specific treatment is not available. However, there are still some issues to consider in determining the advisability of implementing a large-scale convalescent plasma transfusion programm