930 research outputs found
Pyrolysis kinetics of hydrochars produced from brewer’s spent grains
The current market situation shows that large quantities of the brewer's spent grains (BSG)-the leftovers from the beer productions-are not fully utilized as cattle feed. The untapped BSG is a promising feedstock for cheap and environmentally friendly production of carbonaceous materials in thermochemical processes like hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) or pyrolysis. The use of a singular process results in the production of inappropriate material (HTC) or insufficient economic feasibility (pyrolysis), which hinders their application on a larger scale. The coupling of both processes can create synergies and allow the mentioned obstacles to be overcome. To investigate the possibility of coupling both processes, we analyzed the thermal degradation of raw BSG and BSG-derived hydrochars and assessed the solid material yield from the singular as well as the coupled processes. This publication reports the non-isothermal kinetic parameters of pyrolytic degradation of BSG and derived hydrochars produced in three different conditions (temperature-retention time). It also contains a summary of their pyrolytic char yield at four different temperatures. The obtained KAS (Kissinger-Akahira-Sunose) average activation energy was 285, 147, 170, and 188 kJ mol(-1) for BSG, HTC-180-4, HTC-220-2, and HTC-220-4, respectively. The pyrochar yield for all hydrochar cases was significantly higher than for BSG, and it increased with the severity of the HTC's conditions. The results reveal synergies resulting from coupling both processes, both in the yield and the reduction of the thermal load of the conversion process. According to these promising results, the coupling of both conversion processes can be beneficial. Nevertheless, drying and overall energy efficiency, as well as larger scale assessment, still need to be conducted to fully confirm the concept
Influence of hydrothermal pretreatment on the pyrolysis of spent grains
Hydrothermal carbonization process (HTC) is a thermochemical process which operates at elevated temperature and pressure, where liquid water is used as a reaction medium [1]. The biomass is converted into a lignite-like solid product called hydrochar [2]. The advantage of hydrothermal treatment is a possibility to convert high moist bio-waste streams without thermal drying. A two-step carbonization process (Figure 5) consisting of HTC and pyrolysis may improve the properties of final biochar (e.g., carbon content, surface area, and electrical conductivity). Hydrothermal conversion occurs using different mechanisms (e.g., hydrolysis and polymerization of intermediates) compared to pyrolysis, due to the liquid water environment, which also improves the heat transfer across the particles [1,3]. Hydrochar can be easily mechanically dewatered, due to higher hydrophobicity than the initial feedstock [2]. The mass of initial biomass is also reduced according to the HTC yield, which results in a lower mass flow of material for pyrolysis reactor and previous drying step. The two-step carbonization concept may spread the range of feedstocks used for biochar production and improve the overall energy efficiency as well as economic feasibility of pyrolysis, using wet biomass streams.
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SiblingRivalry: Online Autotuning Through Local Competitions
Modern high performance libraries, such as ATLAS and FFTW, and programming languages, such as PetaBricks, have shown that autotuning computer programs can lead to significant speedups. However, autotuning can be burdensome to the deployment of a program, since the tuning process can take a long time and should be re-run whenever the program, microarchitecture, execution environment, or tool chain changes. Failure to re-autotune programs often leads to widespread use of sub-optimal algorithms. With the growth of cloud computing, where computations can run in environments with unknown load and migrate between different (possibly unknown) microarchitectures, the need for online autotuning has become increasingly important.
We present SiblingRivalry, a new model for always-on online autotuning that allows parallel programs to continuously adapt and optimize themselves to their environment. In our system, requests are processed by dividing the available cores in half, and processing two identical requests in parallel on each half. Half of the cores are devoted to a known safe program configuration, while the other half are used for an experimental program configuration chosen by our self-adapting evolutionary algorithm. When the faster configuration completes, its results are returned, and the slower configuration is terminated. Over time, this constant experimentation allows programs to adapt to changing dynamic environments and often outperform the original algorithm that uses the entire system.United States. Dept. of Energy (DOE Award DE-SC0005288
Validation of selected medical centers involved in molecular diagnostics of cancer in the field of EGFR1 mutations determination
Rak płuca to jeden najczęściej występujących nowotworów złośliwych w Polsce i na świecie. Według
danych statystycznych rocznie jest przyczyną zgonów 1,3 miliona osób na całym świecie. W niedrobnokomórkowym
raku płuc (NDRP) u niektórych chorych (10–15% Ameryka Północna i Europa Zachodnia;
30–35% Japonia i Wschodnia część Azji) występują mutacje somatyczne w genie receptora nabłonkowego
czynnika wzrostu (EGFR) powodujące stałą aktywność tego receptora. Występowanie takich mutacji ściśle
wiąże się ze skutecznością działania niektórych inhibitorów kinazy tyrozynowej (TKI). Określenie statusu
genu EGFR jest kluczowe w doborze najbardziej odpowiedniego schematu leczenia chorych z NDRP.
Celem tej pracy jest wykazanie, czy ośrodki zaangażowane w diagnostykę molekularną chorób nowotworowych
posiadają odpowiedni potencjał, aby skutecznie przeprowadzić analizę statusu genu
EGFR1 w zakresie zmian w eksonach 19. i 21. Dodatkowym celem jest wypracowanie odpowiednich
standardów postępowania.
Wynikiem przeprowadzonego procesu walidacji są następujące zalecenia dla laboratoriów diagnostycznych:
1. Materiał do izolacji DNA powinien zawierać nie mniej niż 50% utkania nowotworowego; 2. Ujednolicenie
procedury izolacji DNA ze skrawków parafinowych wymaga stosowania gotowego zestawu
do izolacji DNA; 3. W przypadku braku jednoznacznego wyniku, powinno się wykorzystać dwie metody
oznaczania mutacji, zaleca się, aby jednego z wykonywanych oznaczeń dokonać przy wykorzystaniu
metody sekwencjonowania bezpośredniego; 4. Zaleca się rozszerzenie panelu analizowanych eksonów
do 18., 19., 20. i 21.; 5. Od momentu wypisania skierowania na badanie diagnostyczne do momentu
przekazania wyniku badania nie powinno upłynąć więcej niż 10 dni roboczych.
Onkol. Prak. Klin. 2011; 7, 3: 138–145Lung cancer is one of the most common cancers in Poland and abroad. According to statistics, it causes
the death of 1.3 million people per year worldwide. In a nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC), some
patients have somatic mutations in the gene for epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), resulting in
a constant activity of this receptor (10–15% patients of North American and Western European origin,
and 30–35% of patients from Japan and Eastern Asia). The occurrence of such mutations is closely
associated with efficacy of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI). Thus, determination of EGFR status is crucial
in selecting the most appropriate treatment of patients with NSCLC.
The aim of this paper is to show whether the laboratories involved in molecular diagnostics for cancer
have the potential to effectively determinate the mutation status (in exons 19 and 21) of the EGFR1 gene.
An additional objective is to develop appropriate standards for mutation testing in non-small cell lung
cancer. As the result of valiadtion process conducted in the study, the following recommendations for
diagnostic laboratories were approved: at least 50% of cancer cells should be present in a tissue for
DNA isolation; 2. The method of DNA isolation should be standardized, the most appropriate is usage
of DNA isolation kits; 3. In case of equivocal results two independent molecular methods should be employed,
one of them should be direct sequencing; 4. It is recommended to extend the panel of analyzed
exons to 18, 19, 20 and 21; 5 The turnaround time (TAT) should not take more than 10 working days
Onkol. Prak. Klin. 2011; 7, 3: 138–14
Prognostic Significance of Wnt-1, β-catenin and E-cadherin Expression in Advanced Colorectal Carcinoma
Wnt/β-catenin pathway plays an important role in initiation and progression of colorectal oncogenesis. The aim of this study was to determine expression and localization of E-cadherin, β-catenin and Wnt-1 proteins in colorectal tumors. Expression of β-catenin, E-cadherin and Wnt-1 was determined by immunohistochemistry on advanced colorectal cancers. Abnormal expression of E-cadherin, β-catenin, Wnt-1 was observed. Additionally, we revealed correlations between levels of studied proteins and histoclinical data. In multivariate analysis nuclear β-catenin, higher carcinoembryonic antigen serum level before treatment, female sex and tumor localized in colon or rectum were independent unfavorable prognostic factors. These findings support the hypothesis that Wnt/β-catenin pathway plays an important role in advanced colorectal carcinoma
Immune cells lacking Y chromosome show dysregulation of autosomal gene expression
Funder: Kjell och Märta Beijers Stiftelse (SE)Funder: Hjärnfonden; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003792Funder: Cancerfonden; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002794Funder: Vetenskapsrådet; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100004359Funder: Alzheimerfonden; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100008599Funder: Konung Gustaf V:s och Drottning Victorias Frimurarestiftelse (SE)Funder: Science for Life Laboratory (SE)Funder: Fundacja na rzecz Nauki Polskiej (PL)Funder: Uppsala UniversityAbstract: Epidemiological investigations show that mosaic loss of chromosome Y (LOY) in leukocytes is associated with earlier mortality and morbidity from many diseases in men. LOY is the most common acquired mutation and is associated with aberrant clonal expansion of cells, yet it remains unclear whether this mosaicism exerts a direct physiological effect. We studied DNA and RNA from leukocytes in sorted- and single-cells in vivo and in vitro. DNA analyses of sorted cells showed that men diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease was primarily affected with LOY in NK cells whereas prostate cancer patients more frequently displayed LOY in CD4 + T cells and granulocytes. Moreover, bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing in leukocytes allowed scoring of LOY from mRNA data and confirmed considerable variation in the rate of LOY across individuals and cell types. LOY-associated transcriptional effect (LATE) was observed in ~ 500 autosomal genes showing dysregulation in leukocytes with LOY. The fraction of LATE genes within specific cell types was substantially larger than the fraction of LATE genes shared between different subsets of leukocytes, suggesting that LOY might have pleiotropic effects. LATE genes are involved in immune functions but also encode proteins with roles in other diverse biological processes. Our findings highlight a surprisingly broad role for chromosome Y, challenging the view of it as a “genetic wasteland”, and support the hypothesis that altered immune function in leukocytes could be a mechanism linking LOY to increased risk for disease
Common, low-frequency, rare, and ultra-rare coding variants contribute to COVID-19 severity
The combined impact of common and rare exonic variants in COVID-19 host genetics is currently insufficiently understood. Here, common and rare variants from whole-exome sequencing data of about 4000 SARS-CoV-2-positive individuals were used to define an interpretable machine-learning model for predicting COVID-19 severity. First, variants were converted into separate sets of Boolean features, depending on the absence or the presence of variants in each gene. An ensemble of LASSO logistic regression models was used to identify the most informative Boolean features with respect to the genetic bases of severity. The Boolean features selected by these logistic models were combined into an Integrated PolyGenic Score that offers a synthetic and interpretable index for describing the contribution of host genetics in COVID-19 severity, as demonstrated through testing in several independent cohorts. Selected features belong to ultra-rare, rare, low-frequency, and common variants, including those in linkage disequilibrium with known GWAS loci. Noteworthily, around one quarter of the selected genes are sex-specific. Pathway analysis of the selected genes associated with COVID-19 severity reflected the multi-organ nature of the disease. The proposed model might provide useful information for developing diagnostics and therapeutics, while also being able to guide bedside disease management. © 2021, The Author(s)
Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV
Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio
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