A Pyrolysis Pilot Unit Integrated to a Circulating Fluidized Bed Boiler - Experiences from a Pilot Project

A novel integrated pyrolysis pilot plant has been built in Tampere, Finland by Metso, in co-operation with UPM, Fortum and VTT. A 7 tons of bio-oil per day (2 MWfuel input) fast pyrolysis unit has been integrated with Metso’s 4 MWth CFB pilot boiler. Test runs of bio-oil production have been carried out during 2009-2010. More than 80 tons of bio-oil has been produced and utilization tests have been started in district heating burner applications

A Strategy For Identifying Putative Causes Of Gene Expression Variation In Human Cancer

There is often a need to predict the impact of alterations in one variable on another variable. This is especially the case in cancer research, where much effort has been made to carry out large-scale gene expression screening by microarray techniques. However, the causes of this variability from one cancer to another and from one gene to another often remain unknown. In this study we present a systematic procedure for finding genes whose expression is altered by an intrinsic or extrinsic explanatory phenomenon. The procedure has three stages: preprocessing, data integration and statistical analysis. We tested and verified the utility of this approach in a study, where expression and copy number of 13,824 genes were determined in 14 breast cancer samples. The expression of 270 genes could be explained by the variability of gene copy number. These genes may represent an important set of primary, genetically "damaged" genes that drive cancer progression

On the Adaptive Partition Approach to the Detection of Multiple Change-Points

With an adaptive partition procedure, we can partition a “time course” into consecutive non-overlapped intervals such that the population means/proportions of the observations in two adjacent intervals are significantly different at a given level . However, the widely used recursive combination or partition procedures do not guarantee a global optimization. We propose a modified dynamic programming algorithm to achieve a global optimization. Our method can provide consistent estimation results. In a comprehensive simulation study, our method shows an improved performance when it is compared to the recursive combination/partition procedures. In practice, can be determined based on a cross-validation procedure. As an application, we consider the well-known Pima Indian Diabetes data. We explore the relationship among the diabetes risk and several important variables including the plasma glucose concentration, body mass index and age

Attenuated Semliki Forest virus for cancer treatment in dogs : safety assessment in two laboratory Beagles

Background: Dogs suffer from spontaneous tumors which may be amenable to therapies developed for human cancer patients, and dogs may serve as large-animal cancer models. A non-pathogenic Semliki Forest virus vector VA7-EGFP previously showed promise in targeting human tumor xenografts in mice, but the oncolytic capacity of the virus in canine cancer cells and the safety of the virus in higher mammals such as dogs, are not known. We therefore assessed the oncolytic potency of VA7-EGFP against canine cancer cells by infectivity and viability assays in two dog solid tumor cell lines. Furthermore we performed a 3-week safety study in two adult Beagles which received a single intravenous injection of similar to 2 x 10(5) plaque forming units of parental A7(74) strain. Results: VA7-EGFP was able to replicate in and kill both canine cancer cell lines tested. No adverse events were observed in either of the two virus-injected adult Beagles and no infective virus could be recovered from any of the biological samples collected over the course of the study. Neutralizing antibodies to Semliki Forest virus became detectable in the dogs at 5 days post infection and remained elevated until study termination. Conclusions: Based on these results, testing of the oncolytic potential of attenuated Semliki Forest virus in canine cancer patients appears feasible.Peer reviewe

Natural course of Fabry disease with the p Arg227Ter (pR227*) mutation in Finland: Fast study

BackgroundFabry disease is caused by a deficient or an absent alfa‐galactosidase A activity and is an X‐linked disorder that results in organ damage and a shortened life span, especially in males. The severity of the disease depends on the type of mutation, gender, skewed X‐chromosome inactivation, and other still unknown factors.MethodsIn this article, we describe the natural course of a common classic Fabry disease mutation, p.Arg227Ter or p.R227*, in Finland.ResultsFour males and ten females belonged to two extended families. The mean age was 46 years (SD 18.4). Six patients (43%) had cardiac hypertrophy, three patients (21%) had ischemic stroke, and none had severe kidney dysfunction. Three patients had atrial fibrillation; two patients who had atrial fibrillation also had pacemakers. All males over 30 years of age had at least one of the following manifestations: cardiac hypertrophy, stroke, or proteinuria. In females, the severity of Fabry disease varied from classic multiorgan disease to a condition that mimicked the attenuated cardiac variant. No one was totally asymptomatic without any signs of Fabry disease. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging was performed on nine of 14 patients was the most sensitive for detecting early cardiac manifestations. Five patients (55%) had late gadolinium enhancement‐positive segments.ConclusionCardiac involvement should be effectively detected in females before considering them asymptomatic mutation carriers.</div

A terminal assessment of stages theory : introducing a dynamic states approach to entrepreneurship

Stages of Growth models were the most frequent theoretical approach to understanding entrepreneurial business growth from 1962 to 2006; they built on the growth imperative and developmental models of that time. An analysis of the universe of such models (N=104) published in the management literature shows no consensus on basic constructs of the approach, nor is there any empirical confirmations of stages theory. However, by changing two propositions of the stages models, a new dynamic states approach is derived. The dynamic states approach has far greater explanatory power than its precursor, and is compatible with leading edge research in entrepreneurship

Impact of childhood experiences on the development of entrepreneurial intentions

Fostering entrepreneurship and an entrepreneurial culture has become a key policy priority for governments. To encourage entrepreneurship and an entrepreneurial culture, however, there is a need to understand the factors that influence and shape individuals' intentions to start a business. This study extends models of entrepreneurial intentions by investigating the influence of various childhood-experience factors on the perceived feasibility and desirability of starting a business. A structured questionnaire was completed by over 1,000 university students and analysed using regression analysis. Results indicated that perceptions of entrepreneurship were influenced not only by parental ownership of a business, but also by a difficult childhood and frequent relocation

Serum fatty acids and risk of developing islet autoimmunity : A nested case-control study within the TRIGR birth cohort

Background Circulating fatty acids have been linked to development of type 1 diabetes. Objectives To study the prospective associations of serum fatty acids with the risk of islet autoimmunity in high-risk children. Methods A nested case-control selection was carried out within the TRIGR cohort, which included infants with HLA (DQB1 or DQA1)-conferred disease susceptibility and a first-degree relative with type 1 diabetes, born between 2002 and 2007 in 15 countries and followed-up until 2017. The present study included 244 case children positive for at least two islet autoantibodies (ICA, IAA, GADA, and IA-2A) and two control children were matched for country and age. Proportions of 26 serum fatty acids at cord blood and at 6, 12, and 18 months of age were assessed using gas-chromatography. Results The average proportions of the following fatty acids were associated with an increased risk of islet autoimmunity, adjusted for sex, HLA risk, and maternal type 1 diabetes: pentadecanoic acid (15:0) (OR 3.41: 95% CI 1.70, 6.85), heptadecanoic acid (iso 17:0) (2.64: 1.62, 4.28) and (anteiso 17:0) (2.27: 1.39, 3.70), stearic acid (18:0) (23.8: 2.32, 244.6), and conjugated linoleic acid (18:2n-7) (2.60: 1.47, 4.59). Breastfeeding and not having maternal type 1 diabetes were positively associated with levels of the above-mentioned fatty acids. N-3 fatty acids were not consistently associated with islet autoimmunity. Conclusions We found direct associations of pentadecanoic acid, heptadecanoic acid, stearic acid, and conjugated linoleic acid with the risk of islet autoimmunity. Further studies are needed to understand the complex role of fatty acids in the development of type 1 diabetes.Peer reviewe

Empirical transmit field bias correction of T1w/T2w myelin maps

T1-weighted divided by T2-weighted (T1w/T2w) myelin maps were initially developed for neuroanatomical analyses such as identifying cortical areas, but they are increasingly used in statistical comparisons across individuals and groups with other variables of interest. Existing T1w/T2w myelin maps contain radiofrequency transmit field (B1+) biases, which may be correlated with these variables of interest, leading to potentially spurious results. Here we propose two empirical methods for correcting these transmit field biases using either explicit measures of the transmit field or alternatively a \u27pseudo-transmit\u27 approach that is highly correlated with the transmit field at 3T. We find that the resulting corrected T1w/T2w myelin maps are both better neuroanatomical measures (e.g., for use in cross-species comparisons), and more appropriate for statistical comparisons of relative T1w/T2w differences across individuals and groups (e.g., sex, age, or body-mass-index) within a consistently acquired study at 3T. We recommend that investigators who use the T1w/T2w approach for mapping cortical myelin use these B1+ transmit field corrected myelin maps going forward