Effects of multi-stage dehumidified-air drying on the polyphenol content of Hydrocotyle bonariensis

Traditional drying methods involve high temperatures that degrade heat-sensitive compounds. Dehumidified-air drying, an alternative to traditional drying methods, is suitable for heat-sensitive compounds; however, it consumes a large amount of energy and is comparatively expensive. In this study, a multi-chamber dehumidified-air dryer was designed to dry Hydrocotyle bonariensis, and the retention of the polyphenol content of Hydrocotyle bonariensis under various drying conditions was examined. Multi-chamber dehumidified-air drying involves two chambers; each chamber was operated at temperatures of 30, 40, and 50°C with air volumetric flow rates of 30 and 50 L/min. The results indicated that the highest retention of total phenolic content and total flavonoid content, 24.67 mg of GAE/g dry weight (DW) and 2.204 mg of catechin/g DW, respectively, was obtained at 50°C with a 50 L/min air flow rate in the first drying chamber. Multi-stage dehumidified-air dryers have the potential to dry heat-sensitive products with reduced energy consumption

Effect of Roof Design Configurations On Natural Ventilation with an Obstacle Inside the Building Model

Roof shape, roof angle, and internal obstacle are some of the factors that have a substantial impact on building's ventilation performance. However, previous roof ventilation studies have not considered the influence of internal obstacle which can affect the overall building’s ventilation performance. For this study, CFD was used to study the effect of roof design configurations on natural ventilation with an obstacle inside the building model. The numerical simulation was carried out by using steady RANS equation specifically the Standard k-ε with enhanced wall treatment. A total of 40 simulation cases were carried out. The study considered two roof shapes mainly the sawtooth roof and the saltbox roof with varying roof angle which were 10º, 20º, 30º, and 40º. Internal obstacles with various height were further added into the simulation cases. Next, grid sensitivity analysis was carried out using Grid Convergence Index (GCI) and Factor of two of observations (FAC2) analysis was carried out as model verification method to ensure a reliable simulation result. Based on the results, it is found that airflow characteristics such as wind speed, distribution of pressure coefficient, and flowrate of an isolated building are strongly dependent on the roof shape and roof angle. Next, the dimensionless flowrate (DFR) is measured to be highest with largest roof angle while lowest with smaller roof angle. Furthermore, the DFR of a building with internal obstacle is lower than that without an internal obstacle due to blockage of incoming air. Moreover, the results show that the sawtooth roof outperforms the saltbox roof in terms of measured parameter. Finally, the study concluded that an isolated building with higher roof angle and without an internal obstacle leads to the best dimensionless flowrate throughout the building.Roof shape, roof angle, and internal obstacle are some of the factors that have a substantial impact on building's ventilation performance. However, previous roof ventilation studies have not considered the influence of internal obstacle which can affect the overall building’s ventilation performance. For this study, CFD was used to study the effect of roof design configurations on natural ventilation with an obstacle inside the building model. The numerical simulation was carried out by using steady RANS equation specifically the Standard k-ε with enhanced wall treatment. A total of 40 simulation cases were carried out. The study considered two roof shapes mainly the sawtooth roof and the saltbox roof with varying roof angle which were 10º, 20º, 30º, and 40º. Internal obstacles with various height were further added into the simulation cases. Next, grid sensitivity analysis was carried out using Grid Convergence Index (GCI) and Factor of two of observations (FAC2) analysis was carried out as model verification method to ensure a reliable simulation result. Based on the results, it is found that airflow characteristics such as wind speed, distribution of pressure coefficient, and flowrate of an isolated building are strongly dependent on the roof shape and roof angle. Next, the dimensionless flowrate (DFR) is measured to be highest with largest roof angle while lowest with smaller roof angle. Furthermore, the DFR of a building with internal obstacle is lower than that without an internal obstacle due to blockage of incoming air. Moreover, the results show that the sawtooth roof outperforms the saltbox roof in terms of measured parameter. Finally, the study concluded that an isolated building with higher roof angle and without an internal obstacle leads to the best dimensionless flowrate throughout the building

Effect of Roof Design Configurations On Natural Ventilation with an Obstacle Inside the Building Model

Roof shape, roof angle, and internal obstacle are some of the factors that have a substantial impact on building's ventilation performance. However, previous roof ventilation studies have not considered the influence of internal obstacle which can affect the overall building’s ventilation performance. For this study, CFD was used to study the effect of roof design configurations on natural ventilation with an obstacle inside the building model. The numerical simulation was carried out by using steady RANS equation specifically the Standard k-ε with enhanced wall treatment. A total of 40 simulation cases were carried out. The study considered two roof shapes mainly the sawtooth roof and the saltbox roof with varying roof angle which were 10º, 20º, 30º, and 40º. Internal obstacles with various height were further added into the simulation cases. Next, grid sensitivity analysis was carried out using Grid Convergence Index (GCI) and Factor of two of observations (FAC2) analysis was carried out as model verification method to ensure a reliable simulation result. Based on the results, it is found that airflow characteristics such as wind speed, distribution of pressure coefficient, and flowrate of an isolated building are strongly dependent on the roof shape and roof angle. Next, the dimensionless flowrate (DFR) is measured to be highest with largest roof angle while lowest with smaller roof angle. Furthermore, the DFR of a building with internal obstacle is lower than that without an internal obstacle due to blockage of incoming air. Moreover, the results show that the sawtooth roof outperforms the saltbox roof in terms of measured parameter. Finally, the study concluded that an isolated building with higher roof angle and without an internal obstacle leads to the best dimensionless flowrate throughout the building.Roof shape, roof angle, and internal obstacle are some of the factors that have a substantial impact on building's ventilation performance. However, previous roof ventilation studies have not considered the influence of internal obstacle which can affect the overall building’s ventilation performance. For this study, CFD was used to study the effect of roof design configurations on natural ventilation with an obstacle inside the building model. The numerical simulation was carried out by using steady RANS equation specifically the Standard k-ε with enhanced wall treatment. A total of 40 simulation cases were carried out. The study considered two roof shapes mainly the sawtooth roof and the saltbox roof with varying roof angle which were 10º, 20º, 30º, and 40º. Internal obstacles with various height were further added into the simulation cases. Next, grid sensitivity analysis was carried out using Grid Convergence Index (GCI) and Factor of two of observations (FAC2) analysis was carried out as model verification method to ensure a reliable simulation result. Based on the results, it is found that airflow characteristics such as wind speed, distribution of pressure coefficient, and flowrate of an isolated building are strongly dependent on the roof shape and roof angle. Next, the dimensionless flowrate (DFR) is measured to be highest with largest roof angle while lowest with smaller roof angle. Furthermore, the DFR of a building with internal obstacle is lower than that without an internal obstacle due to blockage of incoming air. Moreover, the results show that the sawtooth roof outperforms the saltbox roof in terms of measured parameter. Finally, the study concluded that an isolated building with higher roof angle and without an internal obstacle leads to the best dimensionless flowrate throughout the building

Impact of eave and roof pitch on cross ventilation for an isolated building with sawtooth roof

An eave refers to an extension attached to the building roof to protect the interior space from direct solar radiation and improve the performance on cross ventilation. In this study, the impact of eave inclination angle and roof pitch of an isolated sawtooth roof building on cross ventilation were investigated. The eave configurations at either windward or leeward openings were included. 3D steady Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) equation in combination with the Shear-Stress Transport model (SST k-ω model) was used for the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. Grid sensitivity study was carried out and the performance of cross ventilation was evaluated based on the non-dimensional velocity magnitude, spatial distribution of pressure coefficient as well as the ventilation rate of the building. For the simulation model with 55° roof pitch, it is observed that a region with high velocity magnitude formed on top of the leeward eave due to the higher roof pitch and presence of the leeward eave. Results also indicated that the building model with 90° leeward eave and 55° roof pitch has the highest increment in ventilation rate which is 7.16%. On the other hand, the building model with 90° windward eave has the highest pressure coefficient because more blockage of airflow is caused by a steeper roof as the roof pitch of the building increases. Furthermore, the building model with 90° leeward eave shows a larger region with negative pressure at the leeward façade indicating higher airflow leaving the leeward opening. Therefore, the airflow behavior and characteristic are both dependent on the roof pitch and eave inclination angle for a naturally ventilated building

Green drying: continuous dehumidified-air dryer

Non-thermal drying, such as dehumidified-air drying has been introduced to overcome the drawbacks of conventional thermal and direct contact adsorption drying. However, existing approach of this method is not so user friendly as the dehumidified-air cannot be supplied continuously due to the depletion of desiccants. The desiccants also need a high temperature for the regeneration. Therefore, a continuous dehumidified-air dryer is focused in this study. The dehumidified-air was produced alternately by adsorbents, which located in two chambers. The adsorbents were then regenerated at ambient temperature by pressure-swing concepts. This continuous dehumidified-dryer was commissioned by drying A. paniculata, at the dehumidified-air 10 to 30 L/min and 30 to 50°C. The sample was dried at less than 10 hours, and about 75 % of andrographolide had been maintained. The Page model was well describing the drying behaviour, and the diffusivity coefficient was determined as 1.88 x 10-13 m2/s

Optimized protocol for the extraction of RNA and DNA from frozen whole blood sample stored in a single EDTA tube

Cryopreservation of whole blood is useful for DNA collection, and clinical and basic research. Blood samples in ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid disodium salt (EDTA) tubes stored at − 80 °C are suitable for DNA extraction, but not for high-quality RNA extraction. Herein, a new methodology for high-quality RNA extraction from human blood samples is described. Quickly thawing frozen whole blood on aluminum blocks at room temperature could minimize RNA degradation, and improve RNA yield and quality compared with thawing the samples in a 37 °C water bath. Furthermore, the use of the NucleoSpin RNA kit increased RNA yield by fivefold compared with the PAXgene Blood RNA Kit. Thawing blood samples on aluminum blocks significantly increased the DNA yield by ~ 20% compared with thawing in a 37 °C water bath or on ice. Moreover, by thawing on aluminum blocks and using the NucleoSpin RNA and QIAamp DNA Blood kits, the extraction of RNA and DNA of sufficient quality and quantity was achieved from frozen EDTA whole blood samples that were stored for up to 8.5 years. Thus, extracting RNA from frozen whole blood in EDTA tubes after long-term storage is feasible. These findings may help advance gene expression analysis, as well as biomarker research for various diseases

Interferon signaling and hypercytokinemia-related gene expression in the blood of antidepressant non-responders

Only 50% of patients with depression respond to the first antidepressant drug administered. Thus, biomarkers for prediction of antidepressant responses are needed, as predicting which patients will not respond to antidepressants can optimize selection of alternative therapies. We aimed to identify biomarkers that could predict antidepressant responsiveness using a novel data-driven approach based on statistical pattern recognition. We retrospectively divided patients with major depressive disorder into antidepressant responder and non-responder groups. Comprehensive gene expression analysis was performed using peripheral blood without narrowing the genes. We designed a classifier according to our own discrete Bayes decision rule that can handle categorical data. Nineteen genes showed differential expression in the antidepressant non-responder group (n = 15) compared to the antidepressant responder group (n = 15). In the training sample of 30 individuals, eight candidate genes had significantly altered expression according to quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. The expression of these genes was examined in an independent test sample of antidepressant responders (n = 22) and non-responders (n = 12). Using the discrete Bayes classifier with the HERC5, IFI6, and IFI44 genes identified in the training set yielded 85% discrimination accuracy for antidepressant responsiveness in the 34 test samples. Pathway analysis of the RNA sequencing data for antidepressant responsiveness identified that hypercytokinemia- and interferon-related genes were increased in non-responders. Disease and biofunction analysis identified changes in genes related to inflammatory and infectious diseases, including coronavirus disease. These results strongly suggest an association between antidepressant responsiveness and inflammation, which may be useful for future treatment strategies for depression

Correction: Exome Sequencing of Phenotypic Extremes Identifies CAV2 and TMC6 as Interacting Modifiers of Chronic Pseudomonas aeruginosa Infection in Cystic Fibrosis

Discovery of rare or low frequency variants in exome or genome data that are associated with complex traits often will require use of very large sample sizes to achieve adequate statistical power. For a fixed sample size, sequencing of individuals sampled from the tails of a phenotype distribution (i.e., extreme phenotypes design) maximizes power and this approach was recently validated empirically with the discovery of variants in DCTN4 that influence the natural history of P. aeruginosa airway infection in persons with cystic fibrosis (CF; MIM219700). The increasing availability of large exome/genome sequence datasets that serve as proxies for population-based controls affords the opportunity to test an alternative, potentially more powerful and generalizable strategy, in which the frequency of rare variants in a single extreme phenotypic group is compared to a control group (i.e., extreme phenotype vs. control population design). As proof-of-principle, we applied this approach to search for variants associated with risk for age-of-onset of chronic P. aeruginosa airway infection among individuals with CF and identified variants in CAV2 and TMC6 that were significantly associated with group status. These results were validated using a large, prospective, longitudinal CF cohort and confirmed a significant association of a variant in CAV2 with increased age-of-onset of P. aeruginosa airway infection (hazard ratio = 0.48, 95% CI=[0.32, 0.88]) and variants in TMC6 with diminished age-of-onset of P. aeruginosa airway infection (HR = 5.4, 95% CI=[2.2, 13.5]) A strong interaction between CAV2 and TMC6 variants was observed (HR=12.1, 95% CI=[3.8, 39]) for children with the deleterious TMC6 variant and without the CAV2 protective variant. Neither gene showed a significant association using an extreme phenotypes design, and conditions for which the power of an extreme phenotype vs. control population design was greater than that for the extreme phenotypes design were explored