IL-36α Exerts Pro-Inflammatory Effects in the Lungs of Mice

Interleukin (IL-) 36 cytokines (previously designated as novel IL-1 family member cytokines; IL-1F5– IL-1F10) constitute a novel cluster of cytokines structurally and functionally similar to members of the IL-1 cytokine cluster. The effects of IL-36 cytokines in inflammatory lung disorders remains poorly understood. The current study sought to investigate the effects of IL-36α (IL-1F6) and test the hypothesis that IL-36α acts as a pro-inflammatory cytokine in the lung in vivo. Intratracheal instillation of recombinant mouse IL-36α induced neutrophil influx in the lungs of wild-type C57BL/6 mice and IL-1αβ−/− mice in vivo. IL-36α induced neutrophil influx was also associated with increased mRNA expression of neutrophil-specific chemokines CXCL1 and CXCL2 in the lungs of C57BL/6 and IL-1αβ−/− mice in vivo. In addition, intratracheal instillation of IL-36α enhanced mRNA expression of its receptor IL-36R in the lungs of C57BL/6 as well as IL-1αβ−/− mice in vivo. Furthermore, in vitro incubation of CD11c+ cells with IL-36α resulted in the generation of neutrophil-specific chemokines CXCL1, CXCL2 as well as TNFα. IL-36α increased the expression of the co-stimulatory molecule CD40 and enhanced the ability of CD11c+ cells to induce CD4+ T cell proliferation in vitro. Furthermore, stimulation with IL-36α activated NF-κB in a mouse macrophage cell line. These results demonstrate that IL-36α acts as a pro-inflammatory cytokine in the lung without the contribution of IL-1α and IL-1β. The current study describes the pro-inflammatory effects of IL-36α in the lung, demonstrates the functional redundancy of IL-36α with other agonist cytokines in the IL-1 and IL-36 cytokine cluster, and suggests that therapeutic targeting of IL-36 cytokines could be beneficial in inflammatory lung diseases

Intelligent Financial Fraud Detection Practices: An Investigation

Financial fraud is an issue with far reaching consequences in the finance industry, government, corporate sectors, and for ordinary consumers. Increasing dependence on new technologies such as cloud and mobile computing in recent years has compounded the problem. Traditional methods of detection involve extensive use of auditing, where a trained individual manually observes reports or transactions in an attempt to discover fraudulent behaviour. This method is not only time consuming, expensive and inaccurate, but in the age of big data it is also impractical. Not surprisingly, financial institutions have turned to automated processes using statistical and computational methods. This paper presents a comprehensive investigation on financial fraud detection practices using such data mining methods, with a particular focus on computational intelligence-based techniques. Classification of the practices based on key aspects such as detection algorithm used, fraud type investigated, and success rate have been covered. Issues and challenges associated with the current practices and potential future direction of research have also been identified.Comment: Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Security and Privacy in Communication Networks (SecureComm 2014

Lessons from Innovative Institutions in the Marketing of Fish and Fishery Products in India §

Abstract This study has been conducted with the objective of understanding the process of innovative marketing models in the fisheries sector and to draw lessons from the success stories to upscale and replicate in a similar socio-politico-economic scenario in other parts of the country. It has been conducted to provide a better understanding of fish marketing by self-help groups (SHGs), producer associations, fisheries development corporations, fisherman cooperatives and private institutions in the southern states of India, namely Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh with the hypothesis that the institutional arrangements in the marketing of fish and fishery products reduce the transaction cost and improve the market access and its efficiency. The study has reported the primary activities of those institutions in the efficient fish marketing, such as inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing and sales promotion and support activities like infrastructural facilities, technological backstopping, price information and procurement. Through these advantages, the fishermen have been found to achieve economies of scale, technological innovations, capacity development, linkage among activities, degree of vertical integration, timing of market entry, product differentiation, market access, credit access, etc. The study has suggested replication of such successful innovative institutions in marketing the fish and fishery products through appropriate policies and programmes. It has also suggested to promote institutions like SHGs, producer / fishermen associations, cooperatives, etc. and allow the entry of private agencies with appropriate regulatory mechanism to improve the efficiency of fish marketing in the country

A multi-spectroscopic study for the characterization and definition of production techniques of German ceramic sherds

The aim of this archaeometric study is to recover information regarding technological processes and raw materials used for the production of ceramic sherds coming from five central and Eastern German sites, between Lower Saxony and Saxony states. The ceramic fragments have been investigated by a multi-spectroscopic approach: Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), micro-Raman spectroscopy and X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) were employed to characterize both ceramic bodies and glazes. Moreover the innovative application of Laser Induced Fluorescence (LIF) on ceramic findings has been proposed and evaluated. Chemical and mineralogical composition, as well as microstructure, of ceramic mixture and glaze are correlated to native material composition and firing temperature, which have become a fundamental features in archaeometric research and play a key role in understanding the provenance of the pottery and its production techniques.The multi-spectroscopic approach applied in this work has enabled the ability to characterize the ceramic sherds and to investigate through non-destructive techniques both ceramic glaze and matrix giving information regarding the raw materials and pigments/colourants used, and regarding firing temperature and technology. The present study carried on using complementary methods suggests different raw material sources and temperature kilns. These data are in agreement with the location of ceramic sites and with data in literature. Furthermore, the interesting results suggest that non-destructive techniques, such as LIF and Raman spectroscopy, are promising methods for ceramic and glaze characterization. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

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Isolation and Screening of Heavy Metal Resistant Microorganisms From Industrial Soil

Two industrial soils around west Godavari districts were analyzed for the concentration of nine heavy metals such as zinc, nickel, copper, manganese, cadmium, chromium, lead, iron and arsenic using atomic absorption spectrophotometer and simultaneously isolated nine morphologically distinct bacterial cultures from the same soil to check for the metal tolerance against copper, zinc and lead. The analyzed data revealed that iron and manganese metals were found to be the most abundant metals in these industrial soils and also noticed that the industrial soil 2 contained high amount of Cu, Zn and Pd. Control sample contained very low concentrations of the above mentioned heavy metals. That is therefore nine bacterial cultures (DPMC1-5 and TSC1-4) were checked for their metal resistance to Cu, Zn and Pb in nutrient broth at various metal concentrations. In in vitro application there was a drastically metal reduction observed in soils inoculated with nine bacterial strains. It can be concluded that this work will be the reference for the bioremediation of heavy metal polluted soils. As the industrialization in Bhimavaram creating the environmental pollution and hence treatment of industrial waste with metal resistant microorganisms called bioremediation is highly essential to clear the metal pollution instead of releasing industrial effluents into nearby water bodies or fields or choosing a costly chemical treatments