A Novel MIMO Control for Interleaved Buck Converters in EV DC Fast Charging Applications

This brief proposes a new multiple input multiple output (MIMO) control for off-board electric vehicle (EV) dc fast chargers. The proposed feedback matrix design avoids multiple tuning of controllers in multiple and interconnected loops while improving the performance of interleaved dc buck converters over classical PI/PID controls. The innovative features of the presented strategy are the reference current monotonic tracking from any initial state of charge with an arbitrarily fast settling time and the fast compensation of both load variations and imbalances among the legs. Numerical results validate the performance improvements of the proposed discrete-time MIMO algorithm for interleaved buck converters over classical PI/PID controls. Full-scale hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) and scaled-down prototype experimental results prove the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposal

Dual-Active-Bridge Model and Control for Supporting Fast Synthetic Inertial Action

This article proposes a dual-active-bridge control to support the fast synthetic inertial action in DC microgrids. First of all, the selection of the isolated DC/DC converter to link an energy storage system with the DC bus in a microgrid is analyzed and the advantages of the dual-active-bridge converter controlled by a single-phase shift modulation justify its selection. An active front-end can be then adapted to connect the DC bus with an AC grid. Secondly, this paper presents the design of a discrete PI controller for supporting fast synthetic inertial action. In particular, a discrete dual-active-bridge model based on the transferred power between both converter bridges, which overcomes the approximations of the output current linearization model, is proposed. Moreover, the article introduces a novel equation set to directly and dynamically tune discrete PI parameters to fulfill the design frequency specifications based on the inversion formulae method. In this way, during the voltage/power transients on the DC bus, the controller actively responds and recovers those transients within a grid fundamental cycle. Since the developed set of control equations is very simple, it can be easily implemented by a discrete control algorithm, avoiding the use of offline trial and error procedures which may lead to system instability under large load variations. Finally, the proposed control system is evaluated and validated in PLECS simulations and hardware-in-the-loop tests

Citrullination: the loss of tolerance and development of autoimmunity in rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by synovial inflammation and pannus formation, which can lead to severe destruction of cartilage and bone. Several self proteins have been suggested to be disease-driving autoantigens. Moreover the presence of autoantibodies to citrullinated proteins in sera of patients with RA enhances the strength of this hypothesis. Proteins are encoded by a limited number of genes in our genome. Post-translational modifications such as phosphorylation, glycosylation and citrullination can increase the morphological and the functional diversity of the proteome

Dysregulation of NF–Y splicing drives metabolic rewiring and aggressiveness in colon cancer

NF-Y is an evolutionarily conserved transcription factor that binds specifically to the CCAAT elements of eukaryotic genes, most of which frequently deregulated in cancer. NF-YA, the regulatory subunit of the NF-Y complex, has two isoforms generated by alternative splicing, NF-YAl and NF-YAs, which differ in the transactivation domain. Transcriptomic data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) database highlighted a significant increase in the expression of NF-YAs at the expense of NF-YAl in colorectal cancer (CRC), compared to healthy tissues. Despite this, high NF-YAl levels predict lower patients’ survival and distinguish the mesenchymal molecular subtype CMS4, which is characterized by the worst prognosis. Through the analysis of 3D cellular models, we demonstrated that altered expression of genes related to extracellular matrix and epithelial-mesenchymal transition sustains enhanced migratory and invasive behavior of NF-YAl-transduced cells. Moreover, the integration of metabolomics, bioenergetics and transcriptional analyses demonstrated a direct role for NFYAl in metabolic flexibility of cancer cells that adjust their metabolism in response to environmental changes to potentiate migration. The zebrafish xenograft model confirmed the metastatic potential triggered by NF-YAl in CRC cells. Altogether, our data highlight the transcriptional role of NF-YAl in CRC aggressiveness and suggest splice-switching strategies to hinder NF-YAl-induced metastatic dissemination

M.A.B. Revestimientos vítreos con propiedades bactericidas y fungicidas

This report describes the mosaic M.A.B. (bactericide and fungicide) produced by Togama S.A. belonging to the group Fluidra S.A., which has been awarded with the Silver Alfa Award by the Spanish Society of Ceramics and Glass at the International Fair Cevisama 2012. This award recognizes the R & D efforts developed by Togama, SA, already started with participation in the Alpha Awards 2009 and 201

Escherichia coli Is Overtaking Group B Streptococcus in Early-Onset Neonatal Sepsis

The widespread use of intrapartum antibiotic prophylaxis (IAP) to prevent group B streptococcus (GBS) early-onset sepsis (EOS) is changing the epidemiology of EOS. Italian prospective area-based surveillance data (from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2020) were used, from which we identified 64 cases of culture-proven EOS (E. coli, n = 39; GBS, n = 25) among 159,898 live births (annual incidence rates of 0.24 and 0.16 per 1000, respectively). Approximately 10% of E. coli isolates were resistant to both gentamicin and ampicillin. Five neonates died; among them, four were born very pre-term (E. coli, n = 3; GBS, n = 1) and one was born full-term (E. coli, n = 1). After adjustment for gestational age, IAP-exposed neonates had ≥95% lower risk of death, as compared to IAP-unexposed neonates, both in the whole cohort (OR 0.04, 95% CI 0.00–0.70; p = 0.03) and in the E. coli EOS cohort (OR 0.05, 95% CI 0.00–0.88; p = 0.04). In multi-variable logistic regression analysis, IAP was inversely associated with severe disease (OR = 0.12, 95% CI 0.02–0.76; p = 0.03). E. coli is now the leading pathogen in neonatal EOS, and its incidence is close to that of GBS in full-term neonates. IAP reduces the risk of severe disease and death. Importantly, approximately 10% of E. coli isolates causing EOS were found to be resistant to typical first-line antibiotics

Consistency conditions and trace anomalies in six dimensions

Conformally invariant quantum field theories develop trace anomalies when defined on curved backgrounds. We study again the problem of identifying all possible trace anomalies in d=6 by studying the consistency conditions to derive their 10 independent solutions. It is known that only 4 of these solutions represent true anomalies, classified as one type A anomaly, given by the topological Euler density, and three type B anomalies, made up by three independent Weyl invariants. However, we also present the explicit expressions of the remaining 6 trivial anomalies, namely those that can be obtained by the Weyl variation of local functionals. The knowledge of the latter is in general necessary to disentangle the universal coefficients of the type A and B anomalies from calculations performed on concrete models.Comment: 16 pages, LaTe

Early palliative care versus usual haematological care in multiple myeloma: retrospective cohort study

Objectives Although early palliative care (EPC) is beneficial in acute myeloid leukaemia, little is known about EPC value in multiple myeloma (MM). We compared quality indicators for palliative and end of life (EOL) care in patients with MM receiving EPC with those of patients who received usual haematological care (UHC).Methods This observational, retrospective study was based on 290 consecutive patients with MM. The following indicators were abstracted: providing psychological support, assessing/managing pain, discussing goals of care, promoting advance care plan, accessing home care services; no anti MM treatment within 14 and 30 days and hospice length of stay >7 days before death; no cardiopulmonary resuscitation, no intubation, <2 hospitalisations and emergency department visits within 30 days before death. Comparisons were performed using unadjusted and confounder adjusted regression models.Results 55 patients received EPC and 231 UHC. Compared with UHC patients, EPC patients had a significantly higher number of quality indicators of care (mean 2.62 +/- 1.25 vs 1.12 +/- 0.95; p<0.0001)); a significant reduction of pain intensity over time (p<0.01) and a trend towards reduced aggressiveness at EOL, with the same survival (5.3 vs 5.46 years; p=0.74)).Conclusions Our data support the value of integrating EPC into MM routine practice and lay the groundwork for future prospective comparative studies

The Role of T Cell Immunity in Monoclonal Gammopathy and Multiple Myeloma: From Immunopathogenesis to Novel Therapeutic Approaches

Multiple Myeloma (MM) is a malignant growth of clonal plasma cells, typically arising from asymptomatic precursor conditions, namely monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and smoldering MM (SMM). Profound immunological dysfunctions and cyto-kine deregulation are known to characterize the evolution of the disease, allowing immune escape and proliferation of neoplastic plasma cells. In the past decades, several studies have shown that the immune system can recognize MGUS and MM clonal cells, suggesting that anti-myeloma T cell immunity could be harnessed for therapeutic purposes. In line with this notion, chimeric antigen receptor T cell (CAR-T) therapy is emerging as a novel treatment in MM, especially in the re-lapsed/refractory disease setting. In this review, we focus on the pivotal contribution of T cell im-pairment in the immunopathogenesis of plasma cell dyscrasias and, in particular, in the disease progression from MGUS to SMM and MM, highlighting the potentials of T cell-based immunother-apeutic approaches in these settings

Proteomic analysis of urine in medication-overuse headache patients: possible relation with renal damages

Medication-overuse headache (MOH) is a chronic disorder associated with overuse of analgesic drugs, triptans, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) or other acute headache compounds. Various epidemiologic investigations proved that different drug types could cause nephrotoxicity, particularly in chronic patients. The aim of the present work was to analyze, by a proteomic approach, the urinary protein profiles of MOH patients focusing on daily use of NSAIDs, mixtures and triptans that could reasonably be related to potential renal damage. We selected 43 MOH patients overusing triptans (n = 18), NSAIDs (n = 11), and mixtures (n = 14), for 2–30 years with a mean daily analgesic intake of 1.5 ± 0.9 doses, and a control group composed of 16 healthy volunteers. Urine proteins were analyzed by mono-dimensional gel electrophoresis and identified by mass spectrometry analysis. Comparing the proteomic profiles of patients and controls, we found a significantly different protein expression, especially in the NSAIDs group, in which seven proteins resulted over-secreted from kidney (OR = 49, 95% CI 2.53–948.67 vs. controls; OR = 11.6, 95% CI 0.92–147.57 vs. triptans and mixtures groups). Six of these proteins (uromodulin, α-1-microglobulin, zinc-α-2-glycoprotein, cystatin C, Ig-kappa-chain, and inter-α-trypsin heavy chain H4) were strongly correlated with various forms of kidney disorders. Otherwise, in mixtures and in triptans abusers, only three proteins were potentially associated to pathological conditions (OR = 4.2, 95% CI 0.33–53.12, vs. controls). In conclusion, this preliminary proteomic study allowed us to define the urinary protein pattern of MOH patients that is related to the abused drug. According with the obtained results, we believe that the risk of nephrotoxicity should be considered particularly in MOH patients who abuse of NSAIDs