The value of supply security: The costs of power outages to Austrian households, firms and the public sector.” Energy Economics 36

This paper presents a model for assessing economic losses caused by electricity cuts as well as Willingness-to-Pay to avoid these power outages as an approximation to the value of supply security. The economic effects for simulated power cuts from 1 to 48 h, which take the affected provinces, the day of the week and the time of day into consideration, can be calculated using the assessment tool APOSTEL. The costs due to power cuts are computed separately for all sectors of the economy and for households. The average value of lost load for Austrian households and non-household consumers in the case of a power cut of 1 h on a summer workday morning was calculated to be 17.1 € per kWh of electricity not supplied

Extensively Hydrolyzed Hypoallergenic Infant Formula with Retained T Cell Reactivity

Background: Immunoglobulin E (IgE)-mediated cow’s milk allergy (CMA) can be life-threatening and affects up to 3% of children. Hypoallergenic infant formulas based on hydrolyzed cow’s milk protein are increasingly considered for therapy and prevention of cow’s milk allergy. The aim of this study was to investigate the allergenic activity and ability to induce T cell and cytokine responses of an infant formula based on extensively hydrolyzed cow’s milk protein (whey) (eHF, extensively hydrolyzed formula) supplemented with Galactooligosaccharides (GOS) and Limosilactobacillus fermentum CECT5716 (LF) to determine its suitability for treatment and prevention of CMA. Methods: eHF and standard protein formula based on intact cow’s milk proteins (iPF) with or without Galactooligosaccharide (GOS) and Limosilactobacillus fermentum CECT5716 (LF) were investigated with allergen-specific antibodies and tested for IgE reactivity and allergenic activity in basophil degranulation assays with sera from cow’s milk (CM)-allergic infants/children. Their ability to stimulate T cell proliferation and cytokine secretion in cultured peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from CM-allergic infants and children was studied with a FACS-based carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester (CFSE) dilution assay and xMAP Luminex fluorescent bead-based technology, respectively. Results: An eHF supplemented with GOS and LF exhibiting almost no IgE reactivity and allergenic activity was identified. This eHF induced significantly lower inflammatory cytokine secretion as compared to an intact protein-based infant formula but retained T cell reactivity. Conclusions: Due to strongly reduced allergenic activity and induction of inflammatory cytokine secretion but retained T cell reactivity, the identified eHF may be used for treatment and prevention of CMA by induction of specific T cell tolerance