Combinatorial Performance Mapping of Near-NMC111 Li-ion Cathodes

A combinatorial library of twenty-three, phase pure, near-NMC111 (LiNi0·33Mn0·33Co0·33O2) compositions were synthesised and their electrochemical performance, was mapped (in lithium ion half-cells). Each of the 23 compositions was made in series, using a two-step process of 1) a rapid initial continuous hydrothermal precipitation, followed by 2) solid state lithiation. The 23 lithiated NMC samples were then subjected to analytical methods including electron microscopy (selected samples), Powder X-ray Diffraction and electrochemical tests in half cell Li-ion configurations versus Li metal. A sample with a Ni:Mn:Co (NMC) ratio of 39:28:33, revealed a specific capacity of 150 mA h g−1 at a C/20 rate, which was 63 and 43% greater capacity than NMC111 and NMC433 samples produced in this work, respectively. The sample with NMC ratio 47:25:28, showed the best capacity retention characteristics, retaining 70% of its C/20 capacity at 1C, after 40 cycles. Further analysis of all the samples by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, allowed compositional mapping of diffusion coefficients. Overall, the mapping data revealed a gradual change of properties across compositional space, which has validated our combinatorial approach and allowed identification of the optimum performing near-NMC111 cathode materials

DETERMINANTS OF ENERGY CONSUMPTION: A REVIEW OF THE PHILIPPINE ENERGY SECTOR

Energy is considered a vital component of economic growth and human development. When its availability is disrupted, several economic sectors could not function fully to its extent. Energy consumption is influenced by several variables that affect it directly or indirectly. This study was conducted to evaluate the impact of GDP, industrialization, urbanization, trade openness, financial development, and FDI on the energy consumption of the Philippines; and to present the trend of each variable from 1971 to 2014. Data on energy consumption, GDP, industrialization, urbanization, trade openness, financial development, and FDI of the Philippines from 1971 to 2014 were sourced from the World Development Indicators published by the World Bank. The Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression analysis was used to analyze and identify those factors that significantly affect the energy consumption of the Philippines. Results indicated that GDP, industrialization, urbanization, and financial development significantly affect the energy consumption of the Philippines. These determinants have p-values that are lower than the 5% significance level. Thus, this study provides the policy and decision-makers with ample information for decisive decision-making in the Philippine energy sector.  Article visualizations

Super Typhoon Bopha and the Mayo River Debris-Flow Disaster, Mindanao, Philippines, December 2012

Category 5 (C5) Super Typhoon Bopha, the world’s worst storm of 2012, formed abnormally close to the West Pacific Equator, and Bopha’s Mindanao landfall has the record equatorial proximity for C5 storms. Bopha generated a debris flow that buried 500 ha of New Bataan municipality and killed 566 people. New Bataan, established in 1968, had never experienced super typhoons and debris flows. We describe the respective histories of New Bataan and Super Typhoon Bopha; debris flows; and how population growth and unwise settlement practices contribute to Philippine “natural” disasters. The historical record of Mindanao tropical cyclones yields clues regarding how climate change may be exacerbating near-equatorial vulnerability to typhoons. Existing models of future typhoon behavior do not apply well to Mindanao because they evaluate only the tropical cyclones that occur during the main June–October typhoon season, and most Mindanao tropical cyclones occur in the off season. The models also ignore tropical depressions, the most frequent—and commonly lethal—Mindanao cyclones. Including these in annual tallies of Mindanao cyclones up to early 2018 reveals a pronounced and accelerating increase since 1990. Mindanao is susceptible to other natural hazards, including other consequences of climate change and volcanic activity

Whole-body MRI versus an [F-18]FDG-PET/CT-based reference standard for early response assessment and restaging of paediatric Hodgkin's lymphoma:a prospective multicentre study

Objectives To compare WB-MRI with an [F-18]FDG-PET/CT-based reference for early response assessment and restaging in children with Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL). Methods Fifty-one children (ages 10-17) with HL were included in this prospective, multicentre study. All participants underwent WB-MRI and [F-18]FDG-PET/CT at early response assessment. Thirteen of the 51 patients also underwent both WB-MRI and [F-18]FDG-PET/CT at restaging. Two radiologists independently evaluated all WB-MR images in two separate readings: without and with DWI. The [F-18]FDG-PET/CT examinations were evaluated by a nuclear medicine physician. An expert panel assessed all discrepancies between WB-MRI and [F-18]FDG-PET/CT to derive the [F-18]FDG-PET/CT-based reference standard. Inter-observer agreement for WB-MRI was calculated using kappa statistics. Concordance, PPV, NPV, sensitivity and specificity for a correct assessment of the response between WB-MRI and the reference standard were calculated for both nodal and extra-nodal disease presence and total response evaluation. Results Inter-observer agreement of WB-MRI including DWI between both readers was moderate (kappa 0.46-0.60). For early response assessment, WB-MRI DWI agreed with the reference standard in 33/51 patients (65%, 95% CI 51-77%) versus 15/51 (29%, 95% CI 19-43%) for WB-MRI without DWI. For restaging, WB-MRI including DWI agreed with the reference standard in 9/13 patients (69%, 95% CI 42-87%) versus 5/13 patients (38%, 95% CI 18-64%) for WB-MRI without DWI. Conclusions The addition of DWI to the WB-MRI protocol in early response assessment and restaging of paediatric HL improved agreement with the [F-18]FDG-PET/CT-based reference standard. However, WB-MRI remained discordant in 30% of the patients compared to standard imaging for assessing residual disease presence

Whole-body MRI versus an FDG-PET/CT-based reference standard for staging of paediatric Hodgkin lymphoma:a prospective multicentre study

Objectives To assess the concordance of whole-body MRI (WB-MRI) and an FDG-PET/CT-based reference standard for the initial staging in children with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) Methods Children with newly diagnosed HL were included in this prospective, multicentre, international study and underwent WB-MRI and FDG-PET/CT at staging. Two radiologists and a nuclear medicine physician independently evaluated all images. Discrepancies between WB-MRI and FDG-PET/CT were assessed by an expert panel. All FDG-PET/CT errors were corrected to derive the FDG-PET/CT-based reference standard. The expert panel corrected all reader errors in the WB-MRI DWI dataset to form the intrinsic MRI data. Inter-observer agreement for WB-MRI DWI was calculated using overall agreement, specific agreements and kappa statistics. Concordance for correct classification of all disease sites and disease stage between WB-MRI (without DWI, with DWI and intrinsic WB-MRI DWI) and the reference standard was calculated as primary outcome. Secondary outcomes included positive predictive value, negative predictive value and kappa statistics. Clustering within patients was accounted for using a mixed-effect logistic regression model with random intercepts and a multilevel kappa analysis. Results Sixty-eight children were included. Inter-observer agreement between WB-MRI DWI readers was good for disease stage (kappa= 0.74). WB-MRI DWI agreed with the FDG-PET/CT-based reference standard for determining disease stage in 96% of the patients versus 88% for WB-MRI without DWI. Agreement between WB-MRI DWI and the reference standard was excellent for both nodal (98%) and extra-nodal (100%) staging. Conclusions WB-MRI DWI showed excellent agreement with the FDG-PET/CT-based reference standard. The addition of DWI to the WB-MRI protocol improved the staging agreement

HIV-1 Infection of DC: Evidence for the Acquisition of Virus Particles from Infected T Cells by Antigen Uptake Mechanism

Dendritic cells (DC) play a pivotal role in transmission and dissemination of HIV-1. Earlier studies reported that DC present at the site of infection trap virus particles via DC-SIGN and transfer the virus to the interacting naïve T cells. This prompted us to ask the question whether DC could acquire virus from infected T cells during DC-T cell interaction. To address this, we investigated the likely transfer of virus from HIV-1 infected T cells to DC and the underlying mechanisms involved. Results indicate that DC acquire virus from infected T cells via antigen uptake mechanism and this results in infection of DC with expression of proteins directed by viral DNA. Further studies with HIV-1 lacking the Env protein also resulted in infection of DC. The use of antibodies against DC-SIGN and DC-SIGN-R ruled out a role for receptor in the infection of DC. Additional data show that DC infection is directly correlated with the ability of DC to take up antigen from infected T cells. Overall, these studies provide evidence to suggest that HIV-1, besides infecting immune cells, also utilizes immunological mechanism(s) to acquire and disseminate virus

Epitope Mapping of HIV-Specific CD8+ T cells in a Cohort Dominated by Clade A1 Infection

CD8+ T cell responses are often detected at large magnitudes in HIV-infected subjects, and eliciting these responses is the central aim of many HIV-1 vaccine strategies. Population differences in CD8+ T cell epitope specificity will need to be understood if vaccines are to be effective in multiple geographic regions.In a large Kenyan cohort, we compared responsive CD8+ T cell HIV-1 Env overlapping peptides (OLPs) to Best Defined Epitopes (BDEs), many of which have been defined in clade B infection. While the majority of BDEs (69%) were recognized in this population, nearly half of responsive OLPs (47%) did not contain described epitopes. Recognition frequencies of BDEs were inversely correlated to epitopic sequence differences between clade A1 and BDE (P = 0.019), and positively selected residues were more frequent in "new" OLPs (without BDEs). We assessed the impact of HLA and TAP binding on epitope recognition frequencies, focusing on predicted and actual epitopes in the HLA B7 supertype.Although many previously described CD8 epitopes were recognized, several novel CD8 epitopes were defined in this population, implying that epitope mapping efforts have not been completely exhausted. Expansion of these studies will be critical to understand population differences in CD8 epitope recognition

Systemic Immune Activation in HIV Infection Is Associated with Decreased MDC Responsiveness to TLR Ligand and Inability to Activate Naive CD4 T-Cells

HIV infection is characterized by ineffective anti-viral T-cell responses and impaired dendritic cell (DC) functions, including response to Toll-Like Receptor (TLR) ligands. Because TLR responsiveness may affect a host's response to virus, we examined TLR ligand induced Myeloid and Plasmacytoid DC (MDC and PDC) activation of naïve T-cells in HIV+ subjects.Freshly purified MDC and PDC obtained from HIV+ subjects and healthy controls were cultured in the presence and absence of TLR ligands (poly I∶C or R-848). We evaluated indices of maturation/activation (CD83, CD86, and HLA-DR expression), cytokine secretion (IFN-alpha and IL-6), and ability to activate allogeneic naïve CD4 T-cells to secrete IFN-gamma and IL-2.MDC from HIV+ subjects had increased spontaneous IL-6 production and increased CD83 and CD86 expression when compared to MDC of controls. MDC IL-6 expression was associated with plasma HIV level. At the same time, poly I∶C induced HLA-DR up-regulation on MDC was reduced in HIV+ persons when compared to controls. The latter finding was associated with impaired ability of MDC from HIV+ subjects to activate allogeneic naïve CD4 T-cells. PDC from HIV+ persons had increased spontaneous and TLR ligand induced IL-6 expression, and increased HLA-DR expression at baseline. The latter was associated with an intact ability of HIV PDC to activate allogeneic naïve CD4 T-cells.These results have implications for the ability of the HIV+ host to form innate and adaptive responses to HIV and other pathogens