Strategies for Integrating Straight Rebar in 3DCP Columns and Shear Walls

3D Concrete Printing (3DCP) is one of the most used digital fabrication processes with concrete as it allows the shaping of concrete into freeform geometries that optimize material use without the need for formworks. Despite the recent advancements of the technology, incorporating reinforcement remains one of its main shortcomings that obstruct it from being used in structural applications. The presented work proposes a diagonal grid of intersecting straight rebars as a reinforcement strategy for 3DCP. By acting as a guide for reinforcement in two directions, the resulting diagrid lattice offers structural efficiency and takes advantage of the geometric freedom of the fabrication process to integrate open channels during printing. Those can serve either as formwork for casting structural concrete or as channels for post-tensioning. The building components use less amount of concrete overall together with linear, inexpensive rebars. This design strategy was tested in a series of columns and a wall element and could be further extended to slabs. From a structural standpoint, the materialized prototypes should be tested and evaluated against existing structural systems for reinforced concrete

T Cell Repertoire During Ontogeny and Characteristics in Inflammatory Disorders in Adults and Childhood

Since the first day of life, a newborn has to deal with various pathogens from the environment. While passive immune protection is provided by diaplacental maternal antibodies, the development of cellular immunity is ongoing. A mature immune system should be able not only to defend against pathogens, but should also be able to differentiate between self- and non-self-antigens. Dysregulation in the development of cellular immunity can lead to severe disorders like immunodeficiency, autoimmunity and chronic inflammation. In this review, we explain the role of T cell immunity in antigen detection and summarize the characteristics of a mature TCR repertoire as well as the current state of knowledge about the development of the TCR repertoire in ontogenesis. In addition, methods of assessments are outlined, with a focus on the advantages and disadvantages of advanced methods such as next generation sequencing. Subsequently, we provide an overview of various disorders occuring in early childhood like immunodeficiencies, autoimmunity, allergic diseases and chronic infections and outline known changes in the TCR repertoire. Finally, we summarize the latest findings and discuss current research gaps as well as potential future developments

Ο ορθόδοξος Κλήρος μέσα από τα εν Ελλάδι ιεροδικαστικά έγγραφα: Μία σκιαγράφηση της δράσης του στην οθωμανική επικράτεια, 17ος αι. - 1763.

Σκοπό της παρούσας εργασίας αποτελεί η μελέτη του ορθόδοξου Κλήρου όπως αυτός αναδεικνύεται μέσα από τα ιεροδικαστικά έγγραφα, δηλαδή τις καταχωρίσεις των οθωμανικών δικαστηρίων ή αλλιώς ιεροδικείων. Χρονικό της εύρος αποτελεί η περίοδος μεταξύ του 17ου αι., οπότε εκκινούν οι πρώτες σωζόμενες ιεροδικαστικές καταχωρίσεις, και του έτους 1763, κατά το οποίο λαμβάνουν χώρα σημαντικές αλλαγές στη διοίκηση του Οικουμενικού Πατριαρχείου Κωνσταντινουπόλεως. Γεωγραφικά, η εργασία επικεντρώνεται στο νησί της Κρήτης και στις πόλεις της Θεσσαλονίκης και της Βέροιας. Η συγγραφή βασίστηκε στις μεταφράσεις των πρωτότυπων οθωμανικών καταχωρίσεων υπό την επιμέλεια του Ι. Βασδραβέλλη για τη Θεσσαλονίκη και τη Βέροια. Για την Κρήτη χρησιμοποιήθηκαν οι μεταφράσεις του Ν. Σταυρινίδη και της Ε. Ζαχαριάδου (επιμέλεια). Η εργασία έχει οργανωθεί σε δύο μέρη: στο πρώτο μέρος, το οποίο πλαισιώνει βιβλιογραφικά το πρωτογενές υλικό, μελετώνται η έννοια της δικαιοσύνης, η νομοθεσία, τα δικαιοδοτικά όργανα καθώς και τα συντρέχοντα δικαιϊκά συστήματα της Οθωμανικής Αυτοκρατορίας. Γίνεται, επιπλέον, αναφορά στους διαφορετικούς όρους της κατάκτησης των υπό εξέταση περιοχών, καθώς και στις πιθανές τοπικές διαφοροποιήσεις που συνεπάγονται οι όροι αυτοί. Το δεύτερο μέρος, έχει δομηθεί επί τη βάσει τριών θεματικών κύκλων, οι οποίοι προέκυψαν από την αποδελτίωση και επεξεργασία των πηγών. Συγκεκριμένα, ο πρώτος θεματικός άξονας περιλαμβάνει ζητήματα που σχετίζονται με τους ναούς και τις μονές της οθωμανικής επικράτειας. Στον δεύτερο παρουσιάζονται οι ιδιωτικές υποθέσεις του Κλήρου και στον τελευταίο οι σχέσεις του Κλήρου με την οθωμανική διοίκηση. Η προσφυγή των ορθοδόξων κληρικών στα κατά τόπους οθωμανικά ιεροδικεία, ακόμα και προς επίλυση υποθέσεων αμιγώς ενδοεκκλησιαστικών, συνδέεται με την αποτελεσματικότητα του θεσμού, ο οποίος ήταν σε θέση να εξασφαλίσει την εκτελεστότητα των αποφάσεών του, εν αντιθέσει με τα δικαστήρια των εκκλησιαστικών και κοινοτικών αρχών. Η μελέτη των εγγράφων καταδεικνύει το πολυεπίπεδο της δράσης των ορθοδόξων κληρικών στην οθωμανική κοινωνία. Ο Κλήρος δραστηριοποιείται σε διάφορα, εκτός του εκκλησιαστικού, πεδία και διατηρεί ζωηρό «διάλογο» με την υπόλοιπη κοινωνία, ορθόδοξη και μουσουλμανική. Τα μέλη του, καθ’ ολοκληρίαν ενταγμένα στο οθωμανικό σύστημα, εμφανίζονται στις ιεροδικαστικές καταχωρίσεις ως κάτοχοι προσωπικών περιουσιών, φορολογούμενοι, κληροδότες, διάδικοι σε δικαστικές αντιπαραθέσεις καθώς και ως υποκείμενα πλήθους οικονομικών συναλλαγών όπως αγοραπωλησιών κινητής και ακίνητης περιουσίας και διακίνησης αγροτικών προϊόντων παραγωγής τους. Οι σχέσεις των κληρικών με το κράτος μπορούν, σε γενικές γραμμές, να περιγραφούν ως σχέσεις μεταξύ κυριάρχου και φορολογουμένου υπηκόου. Από την περιγραφή αυτή, ωστόσο, θα ήταν δυνατόν να υποστηριχθεί ότι εκφεύγουν τα μέλη του ανώτατου Κλήρου, τα οποία, για ποικίλους λόγους, εντάσσονται στην κατηγορία της οθωμανικής ελίτ.The purpose of this dissertation is the study of the Greek Orthodox Clergy as it is presented through the documents of the kadi courts. Its time span is the period between the 17th century when we have the first surviving records of kadi courts and 1763 when significant changes in the administration of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople took place. Geographically, the dissertation focuses on Crete, Thessaloniki and Veroia. The writing was based on the translations of the original ottoman records with the editing of I. Vasdravelles for Thessaloniki and Veroia. As for Crete, the translations of N. Stavrinides and E. Zachariadou (editing) were used. The dissertation has been organised in two parts: in the first part, which surrounds the primary material bibliographically, we study the notion of justice, the legislature, and the jurisdictional bodies as well as the concurrent law systems of the Ottoman Empire. There is also a reference to the different terms of the subjugation of the areas at issue as well as the possible local differentiations that these terms entail. The second part has been formed based on three thematic cycles that resulted from the cataloguing and processing of the sources. More specifically, the first thematic unit concerns issues related to the temples and the monasteries in the ottoman district. In the second unit we have the private issues of the Clergy and in the last one the relationship between the Clergy and the ottoman administration. The orthodox clergymen sought justice at the local ottoman kadi courts even for cases purely inter-ecclesiastical because of the effectiveness of the institution which was capable of ensuring the executability of its adjudications in contrast to the courts of the ecclesiastical and communal authorities. The study of the documents showcases the multifaceted activity of the orthodox clergymen in the ottoman society. The Clergy operates in various fields, apart from the ecclesiastical one, and maintains constant intercommunication with the rest of the society, both orthodox and muslim. Its members, fully integrated in the ottoman system, appear in the records of the kadi courts as owners of fortune, tax payers, testators, plaintiffs in judicial disputes as well as subjects of numerous financial transactions such as dealings of property or chattel and dealings of their own agricultural goods. The relations between the clergymen and the state can generally be described as relations between a dominant and a taxpaying subject. Although, it could be suggested that the members of the supreme Clergy are excluded from this description and for various reasons they are considered part of the ottoman elite

Validation study of a new chemiluminescent singleplex IgE assay in a set of Italian allergic rhinitis patients

Background: The measurement of specific IgE to allergenic extracts and molecules in patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) is crucial for a precise diagnosis and further immunotherapy. Companies providing in vitro diagnostic methods in allergology continuously strive for the optimization and modernization of such methods. A new generation of automated allergy tests based on chemiluminescence detection and paramagnetic microparticles is now available, with possible advantages in sample volume, cost-effectiveness and avoidance of sample-related interference. Objectives: To test whether sIgE antibody levels obtained with a new singleplex chemiluminescent method have a good agreement with the corresponding results obtained with a "gold standard" test. Methods: We tested sera from 368 AR patients. Specific IgE sera levels (kU/L) to a comprehensive panel of 15 allergen extracts and 6 molecules were tested with ImmunoCAP® (Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc, Phadia AB, Uppsala, Sweden) and NOVEOS™ (HYCOR® Biomedical, Garden Grove, CA, USA). We evaluated the qualitative and quantitative performance of the new NOVEOS system in matching the outcome of ImmunoCAP to each of the examined allergens. Results: In relation to ImmunoCAP, the overall diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of sIgE tests with NOVEOS were 90.8% (95% CI = 88.6-92.7) and 96.2% (95% CI = 93.9-97.8), respectively. These values were higher when only molecules were considered (sensitivity = 98.7% [95% CI = 96.4%-99.7%]; specificity = 94.2% [95% CI = 88.4%-97.6%]) and lower when only extracts were considered (sensitivity = 87.6% [95% CI = 84.7%-90.2%]; specificity = 97% [95% CI = 94.4%-98.6%]). Spearman's correlation between the data set of both methods for a ≥ 0.1 kU/L cut-off was 0.84 (p < .001). Conclusions: The new singleplex NOVEOS system presented good results for qualitative and quantitative comparisons when testing specific serum IgE antibodies against a range of 21 allergens. This novel immunoassay system using only 4 µl of sample per test appears to be robust and reliable and can, therefore, be used as an aid in allergy diagnosis

Personal life and working conditions of trainees and young specialists in clinical microbiology and infectious diseases in Europe: a questionnaire survey

The purpose of this investigation was to assess the balance between the personal and professional lives of trainees and young European specialists in clinical microbiology (CM) and infectious diseases (ID), and determine differences according to gender, country of training, workplace and specialty. The Steering Committee of the Trainee Association of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) devised a questionnaire survey consisting, beyond the demographic questions, of nine yes/no questions, 11 Likert scale self-evaluations and one open-response item on parenthood, working conditions, quality of life, alcohol consumption and burnout. This anonymous survey in English was held between April and July 2015 among European CM/ID trainees and young specialists (<3 years after training completion). Responses from 416 participants with a mean age of 32 years [standard deviation (SD) 5 years] were analysed. Females and physicians from Northern/Western Europe (NWE) benefit more from paternity/maternity leaves even during training than their counterparts. Among all respondents, only half of breastfeeding mothers enjoyed the benefit of working hours flexibility. Only two-thirds of respondents found their working environment stimulating. In comparison to colleagues from other parts of Europe, trainees and young specialists from Southern/Eastern Europe (SEE) had less frequent regular meetings with mentors/supervisors and head of departments where trainees’ issues are discussed. Also, physicians from SEE were more frequently victims of workplace mobbing/bullying in comparison to those from other regions. Finally, multivariate analysis showed that female gender, SEE region and ID specialty were associated with burnout feelings. Female gender and country of work from SEE largely determine satisfactory working conditions, the possibility of parenthood leaves, amount of leisure time, mobbing experiences and burnout feelings among European CM/ID trainees and young specialists

Glycosylation signature of plasma IgA of critically ill COVID-19 patients

Thromboembolic complications are common in severe COVID-19 and are thought to result from excessive neutrophil-extracellular-trap (NET)-driven immunothrombosis. Glycosylation plays a vital role in the efficiency of immunoglobulin A (IgA) effector functions, with significant implications for NET formation in infectious diseases. This study represents the first comprehensive analysis of plasma IgA glycosylation during severe SARS-CoV-2 or Influenza A infection, revealing lower sialylation and higher galactosylation of IgA1 O-glycans in acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), regardless of the underlying cause of the disease. Importantly, N-glycans displayed an infection-specific pattern, with N47 of IgA2 showing diminished sialylation and bisection, and N340/N327 of IgA1/2 demonstrating lower fucosylation and antennarity along with higher non-complex glycans in COVID-19 compared to Influenza. Notably, COVID-19 IgA possessed strong ability to induce NET formation and its glycosylation patterns correlated with extracellular DNA levels in plasma of critically ill COVID-19 patients. Our data underscores the necessity of further research on the role of IgA glycosylation in the modulation of pathogen-specific immune responses in COVID-19 and other infectious diseases