Overweight Proxies Are Associated with Atopic Asthma: A Matched Case–Control Study

Background: Many studies have documented a link between overweight and asthma in children with contradictory results regarding the best way to measure overweight. Moreover, often, the dynamic development of atopy, overweight, and asthma is controlled for age dependency insufficiently. Objective: This study assesses and compares the associations of overweight measured as waist circumference, waist to height ratio (WHtR), neck circumference, and body mass index with the occurrence of asthma – best possibly controlling for age-dependencies of these parameters. Methods: From a sample of 2,511 children aged 6–17 years, we matched 157 children with asthma with 2 controls (n = 471) according to age and atopy status and performed conditional logistic regression analyses. We further investigated the role of known influencing factors of asthma occurrence. Results: In children with atopy, all overweight proxies were consistently positively associated with asthma. Statistical significance was reached for WHtR-SD score (OR 1.26, 95% CI 1.03–1.54, p = 0.025) and persisted when further covariates, such as birth weight or social status, were added to the model. Groups of atopic versus nonatopic participants do not differ in levels of interleukin-6 or high-sensitivity C-reactive protein. Conclusion: In our cohort, overweight seems to carry a risk for asthma only if accompanied with atopy. We call for more strict age matching in pediatric cohort studies and longitudinal studies for a better understanding for causal links of overweight, atopy, and asthma

Development of a first generation perfusion process and medium for continuous processing based on existing fed-batch platform media

Process intensification leveraging perfusion offers tremendous potential for yield improvement over fed-batch processes for the production of monoclonal antibodies. In the context of continuous processing, the goal is to achieve highly intensified perfusion processes that allow substantial footprint reduction and enable flexible adaptation in new facilities. However developing a perfusion process and medium without prior technology requires leveraging the existing fed-batch platform knowledge. Evolving a medium for perfusion relies on designing suitable mixtures of basal and feed media that serve as adequate starting points for development. Focus on optimization of the medium to decrease byproduct waste, reduce unnecessary cell growth and enhance specific productivity is critical. Doing so would allow a more robust and controlled process, and allow steady-state to be more attainable which will aid in maintaining consistent product quality for continuous processing. Moreover, reducing medium utilization hence the ability to operate under lower cell specific perfusion rate was important in order to have a more economical and nimble process. In order to overcome the conventional perfusion medium bottlenecks of equipment capacity, liquid handling, transfer and storage, a different strategy to managing large bulk volume had to be undertaken in order to make fit for an existing small pilot plant. The approach to establishing a first generation perfusion process starting from a fed-batch platform will be shared. Examples demonstrating continuous perfusion and volumetric productivity of \u3e 1 g/L-day under low CSPR will be discussed

Low-cost 3D printed 1 nm resolution smartphone sensor-based spectrometer: instrument design and application in ultraviolet spectroscopy.

We report on the development of a low-cost spectrometer, based on off-the-shelf optical components, a 3D printed housing, and a modified Raspberry Pi camera module. With a bandwidth and spectral resolution of ≈60  nm and 1 nm, respectively, this device was designed for ultraviolet (UV) remote sensing of atmospheric sulphur dioxide (SO2), ≈310  nm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of both a UV spectrometer and a nanometer resolution spectrometer based on smartphone sensor technology. The device performance was assessed and validated by measuring column amounts of SO2 within quartz cells with a differential optical absorption spectroscopy processing routine. This system could easily be reconfigured to cover other UV-visible-near-infrared spectral regions, as well as alternate spectral ranges and/or linewidths. Hence, our intention is also to highlight how this framework could be applied to build bespoke, low-cost, spectrometers for a range of scientific applications