GreenPRO: A novel fertiliser-driven osmotic power generation process for fertigation

© 2018 This study introduces and describes GreenPRO, a novel concept involving fertiliser-driven osmotic energy generation via pressure retarded osmosis (PRO). The potential of GreenPRO was proposed for three objectives: (a) power generation, (b) water pressurisation for fertiliser-based irrigation, and (c) water treatment, as a holistic water-energy-food nexus process. Three pure agricultural fertilisers and two commercial blended fertiliser solutions were used as the draw solution and irrigation water as feed to test this concept for power generation. Theoretical thermodynamic simulation of the maximum extractable Gibbs energy, was first performed. After which, a series of bench-scale experiments were conducted to obtain realistic extractable energy data. The results showed that concentrated fertilisers potentially have 11 times higher energy than seawater. Even after accounting for the irreversibility losses due to constant pressure operation, the investigated pure fertilisers were found to have between 2.5 and 4.6 Wh/kg of energy. The outcomes from the flux and power density modelling were then validated with real experimental data. This study has successfully demonstrated that concentrated fertilisers can release a substantial amount of chemical potential energy when diluted for fertigation. This energy could be harnessed by transforming it into electric energy or pressure energy via PRO

Future directions for the management of pain in osteoarthritis.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the predominant form of arthritis worldwide, resulting in a high degree of functional impairment and reduced quality of life owing to chronic pain. To date, there are no treatments that are known to modify disease progression of OA in the long term. Current treatments are largely based on the modulation of pain, including NSAIDs, opiates and, more recently, centrally acting pharmacotherapies to avert pain. This review will focus on the rationale for new avenues in pain modulation, including inhibition with anti-NGF antibodies and centrally acting analgesics. The authors also consider the potential for structure modification in cartilage/bone using growth factors and stem cell therapies. The possible mismatch between structural change and pain perception will also be discussed, introducing recent techniques that may assist in improved patient phenotyping of pain subsets in OA. Such developments could help further stratify subgroups and treatments for people with OA in future

Enhancing Quantity and Quality Academic Papers through Collaborative Training Between Universitas Negeri Jakarta and Universitas Malaysia Sabah

Publikasi merupakan salah satu upaya untuk meningkatkan daya saing perguruan tinggi. Daya saing perguruan tinggi dapat dilihat dari jumlah publikasi ilmiah yang dihasilkan. Semakin produktif perguruan tinggi menghasilkan publikasi ilmiah, maka daya saingnya akan semakin tinggi. Kegiatan PKM ini merupakan salah satu tugas Tri Dharma dimana dosen dapat mengeksplor diri dan bersosialisasi dengan masyarakat. Kegiatan PKM bertujuan menambah pengetahuan dan pemahaman dosen tentang publikasi di jurnal internasional bereputasi. Kegiatan pelatihan ini dilaksanakan oleh Fakultas Ekonomi Universitas Negeri Jakarta (FEUNJ), dan Fakultas Bisnis, Ekonomi, dan Akuntansi Universiti Malaysia Sabah (FBEA UMS). Peserta kegiatan ini adalah dosen FEUNJ dan FBEA UMS. Hasil kegiatan ini menunjukkan peningkatan pengetahuan dan keterampilan para peserta pelatihan dalam menghasilkan artikel berkualitas internasional. Tulisanl ini dapat melengkapi literature yang sudah ada khususnya terkait dengan PKM kolaborasi internasional.. Kata kunci—Pelatihan penulisan artikel, Jurnal internasional bereputasi, Pengabdian kepdaa masyarakat Abstract Publication is one of the efforts to increase the competitiveness of higher education institutions. The competitiveness of tertiary institutions can be seen from the number of scientific publications produced. The more productive universities produce scientific publications, the higher their competitiveness. This community services activity is one of the Tri Dharma tasks where lecturers can explore themselves and socialize with the community. Community service activities aim to increase lecturers’ knowledge and understanding of publications in reputable international journals. This training activity was carried out by the Faculty of Economics, Universitas Negeri Jakarta (FEUNJ), and the Faculty of Business, Economics, and Accounting, Universiti Malaysia Sabah (FBEA UMS). The participants in this activity were lecturers at FEUNJ and FBEA UMS. The results of this activity show an increase in the knowledge and skills of the trainees in producing international-quality articles. This paper can complement the existing literature, especially related to international collaborative community services. Keywords—Training of article writing, International reputable journal, Community services activity

Relationship Between Caregivers’ Burden of Schizophrenia Patient with Their Quality of Life in Indonesia

This study aims to identify the relationship between caregiver burden of patients with schizophre�nia and caregiver quality of life (QOL). A cross sectional study involving 222 caregivers patients with schizophrenia was conveniently recruited from the psychiatric clinic of a mental health hospital in Malang Indonesia. Caregiver Burden Inventory Scale and Schizophrenia Caregiver QOL was used to assess the level of burden and QOL among the caregivers respectively. Descriptive statistics was used to deter�mine caregivers’ socio-demographic characteristic and the level of caregivers’ burden and QOL. Spear�man Rho correlation test was conducted to determine the relationship of caregiver burden and caregiver QOL. About 59.6% of schizophrenia caregivers experienced moderate to severe level of burden. The results showed that there was a significant, strong and negative relationship between the caregiver burden and QOL (r = - 0.434, p\ 0.001). Most of the participants reported emotional burden and moderate QOL especially psychological and physical QOL, well-being, relationships with friends, and material burden. The findings indicated the higher the caregiver burden, the lower the QOL experienced by family caregivers of individuals with schizophrenia. It is necessary to improve the mental health nursing services for schizophrenia caregivers by providing mental health counseling, and developing support groups for the

Lineage Divergence and Historical Gene Flow in the Chinese Horseshoe Bat (Rhinolophus sinicus)

PMCID: PMC3581519This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Sleep quality in middle-aged and elderly Chinese: distribution, associated factors and associations with cardio-metabolic risk factors

Background Poor sleep quality has been associated with increased risk of heart disease, diabetes and mortality. However, limited information exists on the distribution and determinants of sleep quality and its associations with cardio-metabolic risk factors in Chinese populations. We aimed to evaluate this in the current study. Methods A cross-sectional survey conducted in 2005 of 1,458 men and 1,831 women aged 50–70 years from urban and rural areas of Beijing and Shanghai. Using a questionnaire, sleep quality was measured in levels of well, common and poor. Comprehensive measures of socio-demographical and health factors and biomarkers of cardio-metabolic disease were recorded. These were evaluated in association with sleep quality using logistic regression models. Results Half of the population reported good sleep quality. After adjusting for potential confounders, women and Beijing residents had almost half the probability to report good sleep quality. Good physical and mental health (good levels of self-rated health (OR 2.48; 95%CI 2.08 to 2.96) and no depression (OR 4.05; 95%CI 3.12 to 5.26)) related to an increased chance of reporting good sleep quality, whereas short sleep duration (<7 hrs OR 0.10; 95%CI 0.07 to 0.14)) decreased it substantially. There were significant associations between levels of sleep quality and concentrations of plasma insulin, total and LDL cholesterol, and index of insulin resistance. Conclusion Levels of good sleep quality in middle-age and elderly Chinese were low. Gender, geographical location, self-rated health, depression and sleep quantity were major factors associated with sleep quality. Prospective studies are required to distil the factors that determine sleep quality and the effects that sleep patterns exert on cardio-metabolic health

Immune enhancement by novel vaccine adjuvants in autoimmune-prone NZB/W F1 mice: relative efficacy and safety

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Vaccines have profoundly impacted global health although concerns persist about their potential role in autoimmune or other adverse reactions. To address these concerns, vaccine components like immunogens and adjuvants require critical evaluation not only in healthy subjects but also in those genetically averse to vaccine constituents. Evaluation in autoimmune-prone animal models of adjuvants is therefore important in vaccine development. The objective here was to assess the effectiveness of experimental adjuvants: two phytol-derived immunostimulants PHIS-01 (phytanol) and PHIS-03 (phytanyl mannose), and a new commercial adjuvant from porcine small intestinal submucosa (SIS-H), relative to a standard adjuvant alum. Phytol derivatives are hydrophobic, oil-in water diterpenoids, while alum is hydrophilic, and SIS is essentially a biodegradable and collagenous protein cocktail derived from extracellular matrices.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We studied phthalate -specific and cross-reactive anti-DNA antibody responses, and parameters associated with the onset of autoimmune disorders. We determined antibody isotype and cytokine/chemokine milieu induced by the above experimental adjuvants relative to alum. Our results indicated that the phytol-derived adjuvant PHIS-01 exceeded alum in enhancing anti-phthalate antibody without much cross reactivity with ds-DNA. Relatively, SIS and PHIS-03 proved less robust, but they were also less inflammatory. Interestingly, these adjuvants facilitated isotype switching of anti-hapten, but not of anti-DNA response. The current study reaffirms our earlier reports on adjuvanticity of phytol compounds and SIS-H in non autoimmune-prone BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice. These adjuvants are as effective as alum also in autoimmune-prone NZB/WF1 mice, and they have little deleterious effects.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Although all adjuvants tested impacted cytokine/chemokine milieu in favor of Th1/Th2 balance, the phytol compounds fared better in reducing the onset of autoimmune syndromes. However, SIS is least inflammatory among the adjuvants evaluated.</p

Computational Fitness Landscape for All Gene-Order Permutations of an RNA Virus

How does the growth of a virus depend on the linear arrangement of genes in its genome? Answering this question may enhance our basic understanding of virus evolution and advance applications of viruses as live attenuated vaccines, gene-therapy vectors, or anti-tumor therapeutics. We used a mathematical model for vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), a prototype RNA virus that encodes five genes (N-P-M-G-L), to simulate the intracellular growth of all 120 possible gene-order variants. Simulated yields of virus infection varied by 6,000-fold and were found to be most sensitive to gene-order permutations that increased levels of the L gene transcript or reduced levels of the N gene transcript, the lowest and highest expressed genes of the wild-type virus, respectively. Effects of gene order on virus growth also depended upon the host-cell environment, reflecting different resources for protein synthesis and different cell susceptibilities to infection. Moreover, by computationally deleting intergenic attenuations, which define a key mechanism of transcriptional regulation in VSV, the variation in growth associated with the 120 gene-order variants was drastically narrowed from 6,000- to 20-fold, and many variants produced higher progeny yields than wild-type. These results suggest that regulation by intergenic attenuation preceded or co-evolved with the fixation of the wild type gene order in the evolution of VSV. In summary, our models have begun to reveal how gene functions, gene regulation, and genomic organization of viruses interact with their host environments to define processes of viral growth and evolution