Preterm infants have deficient monocyte and lymphocyte cytokine responses to Group B Streptococcus

Group B streptococcus GBS) is an important cause of early-and late-onset sepsis in the newborn. Preterm infants have markedly increased susceptibility and worse outcomes, but their immunological responses to GBS are poorly defined. We compared mononuclear cell and whole-blood cytokine responses to heat-killed GBS HKGBS) of preterm infants gestational age [GA], 26 to 33 weeks), term infants, and healthy adults. We investigated the kinetics and cell source of induced cytokines and quantified HKGBS phagocytosis. HKGBS-induced tumor necrosis factor TNF) and interleukin 6 (IL-6) secretion was significantly impaired in preterm infants compared to that in term infants and adults. These cytokines were predominantly monocytic in origin, and production was intrinsically linked to HKGBS phagocytosis. Very preterm infants GA, < 30 weeks) had fewer cytokine-producing monocytes, but nonopsonic phagocytosis ability was comparable to that for term infants and adults. Exogenous complement supplementation increased phagocytosis in all groups, as well as the proportion of preterm monocytes producing IL-6, but for very preterm infants, responses were still deficient. Similar defective preterm monocyte responses were observed in fresh whole cord blood stimulated with live GBS. Lymphocyte-associated cytokines were significantly deficient for both preterm and term infants compared to levels for adults. These findings indicate that a subset of preterm monocytes do not respond to GBS, a defect compounded by generalized weaker lymphocyte responses in newborns. Together these deficient responses may increase the susceptibility of preterm infants to GBS infection

Assessing the Risks of Dampness and Mould Growth in Renovated Properties

A large portion of the UK housing stock was built before the introduction of the 1989’s building regulations in which insulated cavity walls became mandatory. It is estimated that 65% of the UK housing stock have uninsulated walls and 49% have single glazed leaky windows making them inefficient in terms of energy performance. There have been great efforts during the recent years to improve the quality and energy performance of such buildings through retrofitting/refurbishment not only to improve the living standards of their occupants but also to achieve UK’s carbon emission targets for 2050. Refurbishing such buildings to improve their quality/energy performance may, at the same time, increase the risk of poor indoor air quality (IAQ), condensation, dampness, and mould growth in these buildings. Many refurbished housing stock in the UK are facing similar problems. Damp and mould issues affect between 30-50% of new or refurbished buildings. There is therefore a need for appropriate design strategies not only to improve the quality and thermal performances of such buildings but also to reduce the aforementioned risks through better design, construction detailing, methods, and management processes. This paper reports on the first phase of a joint university/industry Knowledge Transfer project to address the above issues in renovated student accommodations in North West England. Temperature, relative humidity, CO2, and meter readings are measured and recorded in three case study buildings. Results revealed a direct relationship between energy consumption, IAQ, and occupants’ behaviours in the buildings. CO2, Temperature, and RH levels were more acceptable in one of the case study buildings; however, its energy consumption was 7 times higher when compared with a similar building

Nanoplasmonic sensor for the detection of cardiac Troponin

poster abstractThe Isoform of troponin I is uniquely produce in the adult human myocardium and it overexpress at myocardial injury. Accordingly, Iso troponin 1 level in plasma and other biological fluids can serve as diagnostic and prognostic disease biomarkers. Our study focus on the design of a label free ultrasensitive nanoplasmonic sensor by utilizing unique localized surface Plasmon resonance (LSPR) property of highly sensitive gold nanoprisms. Herein our study reveals that chemically synthesized nanoprisms with 42 nm average edge lengths can be used in nanoplasmonic sensor fabrication for the troponin detection. The limit of detection has been found to be sub-picomolar concentrations in PBS buffer and we will explore this sensing mechanism to detect Troponin I of myocardial infarction patient’s samples

Improvement in Performance of ZnO Based DSC Prepared by Spraying Method

This paper reports the effect of TiCl4 on the performance of ZnO based DSC. ZnO was used due to its stability against photo-corrosion&nbsp; and&nbsp; photochemical&nbsp; properties&nbsp; similar&nbsp; to&nbsp; TiO2.&nbsp; Thin&nbsp; films&nbsp; of&nbsp; nanocrystalline&nbsp; ZnO&nbsp; were&nbsp; deposited&nbsp; on transparent conducting oxide glass using spray&nbsp; method. The ZnO&nbsp; films&nbsp; were treated using TiCl4. The cell&rsquo;s efficiency was found to be 2.5% with TiCl4 post-treatment and 1.9% without TiCl4 post-treatment

A Survey on Security and Privacy of 5G Technologies: Potential Solutions, Recent Advancements, and Future Directions

Security has become the primary concern in many telecommunications industries today as risks can have high consequences. Especially, as the core and enable technologies will be associated with 5G network, the confidential information will move at all layers in future wireless systems. Several incidents revealed that the hazard encountered by an infected wireless network, not only affects the security and privacy concerns, but also impedes the complex dynamics of the communications ecosystem. Consequently, the complexity and strength of security attacks have increased in the recent past making the detection or prevention of sabotage a global challenge. From the security and privacy perspectives, this paper presents a comprehensive detail on the core and enabling technologies, which are used to build the 5G security model; network softwarization security, PHY (Physical) layer security and 5G privacy concerns, among others. Additionally, the paper includes discussion on security monitoring and management of 5G networks. This paper also evaluates the related security measures and standards of core 5G technologies by resorting to different standardization bodies and provide a brief overview of 5G standardization security forces. Furthermore, the key projects of international significance, in line with the security concerns of 5G and beyond are also presented. Finally, a future directions and open challenges section has included to encourage future research.European CommissionNational Research Tomsk Polytechnic UniversityUpdate citation details during checkdate report - A

Enhanced Characterization of Drug Metabolism and the Influence of the Intestinal Microbiome: A Pharmacokinetic, Microbiome, and Untargeted Metabolomics Study.

Determining factors that contribute to interindividual and intra-individual variability in pharmacokinetics (PKs) and drug metabolism is essential for the optimal use of drugs in humans. Intestinal microbes are important contributors to variability; however, such gut microbe-drug interactions and the clinical significance of these interactions are still being elucidated. Traditional PKs can be complemented by untargeted mass spectrometry coupled with molecular networking to study the intricacies of drug metabolism. To show the utility of molecular networking on metabolism we investigated the impact of a 7-day course of cefprozil on cytochrome P450 (CYP) activity using a modified Cooperstown cocktail and assessed plasma, urine, and fecal data by targeted and untargeted metabolomics and molecular networking in healthy volunteers. This prospective study revealed that cefprozil decreased the activities of CYP1A2, CYP2C19, and CYP3A, decreased alpha diversity and increased interindividual microbiome variability. We further demonstrate a relationship between the loss of microbiome alpha diversity caused by cefprozil and increased drug and metabolite formation in fecal samples. Untargeted metabolomics/molecular networking revealed several omeprazole metabolites that we hypothesize may be metabolized by both CYP2C19 and bacteria from the gut microbiome. Our observations are consistent with the hypothesis that factors that perturb the gut microbiome, such as antibiotics, alter drug metabolism and ultimately drug efficacy and toxicity but that these effects are most strongly revealed on a per individual basis

Comparison of Delay Distributions of Responses in a Home Area Network using Wi-Fi with and without in-network Data Aggregation

Smart Grid is divided into seven sub domains by NIST. The customer domain refers to the end users of electricity. In addition to the traditional role of consumer, they will also participate in generation as well as storage of energy. They would respond to signals coming from the grid and reduce or increase consumption and/or generation accordingly. For this purpose the customer premise should be equipped with an information network, which is called a Home Area Network. Architecture of a Home Area Network needs to be optimised in terms of time and energy. In this research the behaviour of a HAN in terms of time is studied. Delays of responses from the devices for the requests made by the central controller were measured for two most popular architectures, with and without in-network data aggregation. When the probability mass functions were plotted, it was evident that the delays in the two cases do not differ by much

An XPS Study of the Ag-S interface of L-Cysteine Films on Silver Surface

L-cysteine has gained much attention as a versatile amino acid to create bioactive surfaces by assisting the bonding of proteins to metal surfaces. When L-cysteine interacts with metallic partners such as gold, silver and copper, the SH functional group is known to interact strongly with the metallic surface. The interaction of the L-cysteine with silver surfaces is particularly interesting because, L-cysteine adsorption on silver has been suggested to be stronger than on gold or copper surfaces and the interactions may strongly influence the formation of novel interface states of the L-cysteine-Ag interface. On the other hand, some studies report a weakening of silver-sulfur bond with increasing coverage. However, research has not been sufficiently addressed for experimental investigation to understand the interaction of L-cysteine with silver metallic surfaces. As the first step, we reported the results of experimental investigation of L-cysteine and silver interface electronic structure by thickness-dependent ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) with a clear spectral feature in between Fermi edge and highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of L-cysteine due to the formation of Ag-S bonding together with a weakening of the silver-sulfur bond with increasing of L-cysteine. In this study, the formation of Ag-S bond at the L-cysteine modified silver surface was systematically elucidated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) for three different coverages, namely monolayer, two-layered and multi-layered. A prominent shoulder at 2475.2 eV of the main peak at 2473.2 eV was observed for the S 1s XPS spectrum for monolayer film, while only a single peak was observed in the case of two- layered and multi-layered. The spectral feature at 2475.2 eV can be attributed to the interaction of L-cysteine with silver. In addition, the disappearance of the spectral feature for the two-layered film can be attributed to the weakening of silver-sulfur bond by over layer of L-cysteine