Techno-Economic Analysis for Two-Stage Vapor Injected System for Heating Applications

The rise of energy consumption and environmental concerns necessitate research efforts on optimizing HVAC systems. Air source heat pump systems are widely used as space conditioning systems because of their low cost of installation and the possibility of achieving both heating and cooling from the same device. However, under extreme conditions especially in heating mode, conventional heat pumping systems face challenges when operating in cold climate at ambient temperatures that fall below 0°C (32°F). In this paper, a two-stage vapor injection heat pump system with R-32, R-290 and R-410A as the working fluids, was investigated by considering both single objective (heating COP and unit cost of heating (UCH), as the thermodynamic and thermo-economic criteria, respectively) and multi-objective (maximum heating COP and minimum UCH) optimizations at low ambient conditions. The system model was developed by using Engineering Equation Solver (EES) and the optimizations have been carried out with the available genetic algorithm (GA) method. From a multi-objective standpoint, the Pareto frontier decision-making process was used for the selection of final solution. The results revealed that R-32 and R-290 were the best selections for the investigated system based on exergo-economic and thermodynamic criteria, respectively. The system with R-32 and R-290 had a minimum UCH of 265 $/kWh and a maximum heating COP of and 3.94. Whereas, for the baseline system with R-410A, the heating COP, exergy efficiency and the UCH were estimated to be 3.75, 30.31$/kWh, respectively

Monkeypox: a systematic review of epidemiology, pathogenesis, manifestations, and outcomes

Introduction. Since May 2022, an unusually large number of new monkeypox infections-a previously rare viral zoonotic disease, mainly reported from central and western Africa has been reported globally, and the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a global health emergency in July 2022. We aimed to systematically review the monkeypox virus epidemiology, pathogenesis, transmission, presentations, and outcomes. Materials and methods. Our aim is to systematically review the epidemiology, pathogenesis, manifestations, and outcomes of Monkeypox disease. We searched the keywords in the online databases of PubMed, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science and investigated all English articles until December 2022. In order to ascertain the findings, this study adheres to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist. In order to optimize the quality, this review study benefits from the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) checklist. To minimize any probable bias risk, we utilized the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) risk assessment tool. Results. The most prevalent symptoms were rash and fever. The infection was accompanied by different complications such as, but not limited to, encephalitis (mainly in children), septicemia, bacterial cellulitis, retropharyngeal and parapharyngeal abscesses, etc. A wide range of hospitalization from 3.7% to 100% has been reported. The mortality rate ranged from 0% to 23%, which mainly occurred in infants and children. High mortality of the monkeypox rate was reported among pregnant women. The mortality rate of monkeypox is lower among women and those who received the smallpox vaccine compared to men and those who did not receive the vaccine. A wide range of the overall second-rate attack was reported, which is more pronounced in unvaccinated patients. Conclusion. In our systematic review of 35 studies on monkeypox, we cast light on the existing evidence on its epidemiology, pathogenesis, manifestation, and outcomes. Further studies are needed to elucidate the natural history of the disease in various patients’ population, as well as detailing the monkeypox attack rate

Assessment of Behavior of Rice Root Peroxidase in the Presence of Silver Nanoparticles

Background Silver Nanoparticles (AgNPs) can change proteins function and structure. The increased production and high surface reactivity of silver nanoparticles, has interested researchers to study the interactions of these particles with biomolecules. Objectives The present study aimed to show the effects of AgNPs on rice plant root peroxidase enzyme and the interaction quality between silver nanoparticles and the enzyme. Materials and Methods Extracted peroxidase enzyme of rice plant root was treated by AgNPs at concentrations of 0, 20, 40, 80, 100mg/L for 2, 7 and 24 hours. The experiment was done with 15 treatments for measuring the peroxidase enzyme activity using the spectrophotometry method at a wavelength of 470. Results Low concentrations of AgNPs and short incubation times can have the maximum positive impact on the peroxidase activity, and in the present study the highest activity was seen at a concentration of 40 mg/L and two hours of incubation time. Conclusions This study suggests that changes of enzyme activity can occur as a result of the effect of silver nanoparticles on enzyme conformation, increase of reactive environment pH, and amount of substrate and enzyme stability

Major Barriers to Application of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) Technologies in Sustainability of Livestock Units

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the major barriers to application of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) technologies in sustainability of livestock by ranchers of Meshkinshahr. A sample of 120 farmers was selected by using proportional random sampling method. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire. Validity of questionnaire was determined through Agricultural Jihad exports of Meshkinshahr County and some faculty members at University of Tehran, Department of Agricultural Management and Development. Cronbach’s alpha was used to estimate the reliability. The reliability was found to be acceptable. The results of Factor Analysis showed that infrastructure barriers, informational- educational barriers, institutional-support barriers, personal barriers, economical barriers were the five barriers to application of Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) technologies in livestock unites. These factors explained 67.23 percent of the total variance

Association between Blastocystis sp. infection and immunocompromised patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis

The significance of opportunistic infections in immunocompromised patients and the enigmatic pathogenicity of Blastocystis directed us to conduct the first global systematic review and meta-analysis on Blastocystis prevalence, odds ratios (ORs), and subtypes distribution in various immunocompromised patients (HIV/AIDS, cancer and hemodialysis patients, as well as transplant recipients). The systematic searching procedure was done in Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar databases for relevant published literature until November 11, 2020. Random-effects model was utilized to calculate the weighted estimates and 95 confidence intervals (95 CIs). The computed pooled prevalence of Blastocystis inferred from 118 papers (128 datasets) on immunocompromised patients was 10.3 (95 CI: 8.7-12.2), with 16.1 (95 CI: 11.3-22.2), 12.5 (95 CI: 8.5-18), 8.4 (95 CI: 6.6-10.6), and 6 (95 CI: 2.6-13.3) for hemodialysis patients, cancer patients, HIV/AIDS patients, and transplant recipients, respectively. Based on 50 case-control studies (54 datasets), the highest ORs were associated with cancer 2.81 (95% CI: 1.24-6.38, P = 0.013) and hemodialysis patients 2.78 (95% CI: 1.19-6.48, P = 0.018). The most frequent subtype being found in immunocompromised patients was ST3 41.7% (95% CI: 31.4-52.7%), followed by ST1 31.7% (95% CI: 23.2-41.8%) and ST2 23.1% (95% CI: 14.8-34.1%). Also, the weighted frequency of Blastocystis in various subgroups (publication year, WHO regions, geographical distribution, continents, and country income) was analyzed separately. In total, the results of the present meta-analysis highlighted that one's immunodeficiency status is probably associated with an increased Blastocystis infection, underpinning strict preventive measures to be taken

A novel nanobody-based immunocytokine of a mutant interleukin-2 as a potential cancer therapeutic

Abstract The immunotherapeutic application of interleukin-2 (IL-2) in cancer treatment is limited by its off-target effects on different cell populations and insufficient activation of anti-tumor effector cells at the site of the tumor upon tolerated doses. Targeting IL-2 to the tumor microenvironment by generating antibody-cytokine fusion proteins (immunocytokine) would be a promising approach to increase efficacy without associated toxicity. In this study, a novel nanobody-based immunocytokine is developed by the fusion of a mutant (m) IL-2 with a decreased affinity toward CD25 to an anti-vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-2 (VEGFR2) specific nanobody, denoted as VGRmIL2-IC. The antigen binding, cell proliferation, IFN-γ-secretion, and cytotoxicity of this new immunocytokine are evaluated and compared to mIL-2 alone. Furthermore, the pharmacokinetic properties are analyzed. Flow cytometry analysis shows that the VGRmIL2-IC molecule can selectively target VEGFR2-positive cells. The results reveal that the immunocytokine is comparable to mIL-2 alone in the stimulation of Primary Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells (PBMCs) and cytotoxicity in in vitro conditions. In vivo studies demonstrate improved pharmacokinetic properties of VGRmIL2-IC in comparison to the wild or mutant IL-2 proteins. The results presented here suggest VGRmIL2-IC could be considered a candidate for the treatment of VEGFR2-positive tumors