Global MHD modeling of resonant ULF waves: Simulations with and without a plasmasphere

We investigate the plasmaspheric influence on the resonant mode coupling of magnetospheric ultralow frequency (ULF) waves using the Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry (LFM) global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model. We present results from two different versions of the model, both driven by the same solar wind conditions: one version that contains a plasmasphere (the LFM coupled to the Rice Convection Model, where the Gallagher plasmasphere model is also included) and another that does not (the stand-alone LFM). We find that the inclusion of a cold, dense plasmasphere has a significant impact on the nature of the simulated ULF waves. For example, the inclusion of a plasmasphere leads to a deeper (more earthward) penetration of the compressional (azimuthal) electric field fluctuations, due to a shift in the location of the wave turning points. Consequently, the locations where the compressional electric field oscillations resonantly couple their energy into local toroidal mode field line resonances also shift earthward. We also find, in both simulations, that higher-frequency compressional (azimuthal) electric field oscillations penetrate deeper than lower frequency oscillations. In addition, the compressional wave mode structure in the simulations is consistent with a radial standing wave oscillation pattern, characteristic of a resonant waveguide. The incorporation of a plasmasphere into the LFM global MHD model represents an advance in the state of the art in regard to ULF wave modeling with such simulations. We offer a brief discussion of the implications for radiation belt modeling techniques that use the electric and magnetic field outputs from global MHD simulations to drive particle dynamics

Effects of electrojet turbulence on a magnetosphere-ionosphere simulation of a geomagnetic storm

Ionospheric conductance plays an important role in regulating the response of the magnetosphere‐ionosphere system to solar wind driving. Typically, models of magnetosphere‐ionosphere coupling include changes to ionospheric conductance driven by extreme ultraviolet ionization and electron precipitation. This paper shows that effects driven by the Farley‐Buneman instability can also create significant enhancements in the ionospheric conductance, with substantial impacts on geospace. We have implemented a method of including electrojet turbulence (ET) effects into the ionospheric conductance model utilized within geospace simulations. Our particular implementation is tested with simulations of the Lyon‐Fedder‐Mobarry global magnetosphere model coupled with the Rice Convection Model of the inner magnetosphere. We examine the impact of including ET‐modified conductances in a case study of the geomagnetic storm of 17 March 2013. Simulations with ET show a 13% reduction in the cross polar cap potential at the beginning of the storm and up to 20% increases in the Pedersen and Hall conductance. These simulation results show better agreement with Defense Meteorological Satellite Program observations, including capturing features of subauroral polarization streams. The field‐aligned current (FAC) patterns show little differences during the peak of storm and agree well with Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (AMPERE) reconstructions. Typically, the simulated FAC densities are stronger and at slightly higher latitudes than shown by AMPERE. The inner magnetospheric pressures derived from Tsyganenko‐Sitnov empirical magnetic field model show that the inclusion of the ET effects increases the peak pressure and brings the results into better agreement with the empirical model.This material is based upon work supported by NASA grants NNX14AI13G, NNX13AF92G, and NNX16AB80G. The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation. This work used the XSEDE and TACC computational facilities, supported by National Science Foundation grant ACI-1053575. We would like to acknowledge high-performance computing support from Yellowstone (ark:/85065/d7wd3xhc) provided by NCAR's Computational and Information Systems Laboratory, sponsored by the National Science Foundation. We thank the AMPERE team and the AMPERE Science Center for providing the Iridium derived data products. All model output, simulation codes, and analysis routines are being preserved on the NCAR High-Performance Storage System and will be made available upon written request to the lead author of this publication. (NNX14AI13G - NASA; NNX13AF92G - NASA; NNX16AB80G - NASA; National Science Foundation; ACI-1053575 - National Science Foundation

Helicobacter pylori Dampens HLA-II Expression on Macrophages via the Up-Regulation of miRNAs Targeting CIITA

Macrophages have a major role in infectious and inflammatory diseases, and the available data suggest that Helicobacter pylori persistence can be explained in part by the failure of the bacterium to be killed by professional phagocytes. Macrophages are cells ready to kill the engulfed pathogen, through oxygen-dependent and -independent mechanisms; however, their killing potential can be further augmented by the intervention of T helper (Th) cells upon the specific recognition of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-II\u2013peptide complexes on the surface of the phagocytic cells. As it pertains to H. pylori, the bacterium is engulfed by macrophages, but it interferes with the phagosome maturation process leading to phagosomes with an altered degradative capacity, and to megasomes, wherein H. pylori resists killing. We recently showed that macrophages infected with H. pylori strongly reduce the expression of HLA-II molecules on the plasma membrane and this compromises the bacterial antigen presentation to Th lymphocytes. In this work, we demonstrate that H. pylori hampers HLA-II expression in macrophages, activated or non-activated by IFN-\u3b3, by down-regulating the expression of the class II major histocompatibility complex transactivator (CIITA), the \u201cmaster control factor\u201d for the expression of HLA class II genes. We provided evidence that this effect relies on the up-regulation of let-7f-5p, let-7i-5p, miR-146b-5p, and -185-5p targeting CIITA. MiRNA expression analysis performed on biopsies from H. pylori-infected patients confirmed the up-regulation of let-7i-5p, miR-146b-5p, and -185-5p in gastritis, in pre-invasive lesions, and in gastric cancer. Taken together, our results suggest that specific miRNAs may be directly involved in the H. pylori infection persistence and may contribute to confer the risk of developing gastric neoplasia in infected patients

Improved Triamcinolone acetonide-eluting contact lenses based on cyclodextrins and high hydrostatic pressure assisted complexation

© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).Contact lenses (CLs) constitute an advantageous platform for the topical release of corticosteroids due to their prolonged contact with the eye. However, the lipophilic nature of corticosteroids hampers CLs' ability to release therapeutic amounts. Two approaches to improve loading and release of triamcinolone acetonide (TA) from poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate)-based hydrogels were investigated: adding 2-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin (HP-β-CD) to the monomers solution before polymerization (HEMA/i-CD) and an hydrogels' post-treatment with HP-β-CD (HEMA/p-CD). The effect of HP-β-CD and sterilization by high hydrostatic pressure (HHP) on the hydrogel properties (water content, oxygen and ion permeability, roughness, transmittance, and stiffness) was evaluated. The HEMA/i-CD hydrogels had stronger affinity for TA, sustaining its release for one day. HHP sterilization promoted the formation of cyclodextrin-TA complexes within the hydrogels, improving their drug-loading capacity »60 %. Cytotoxicity and irritability tests confirmed the safety of the therapeutic CLs. TA released from the hydrogels permeated through ocular tissues ex vivo and showed anti-inflammatory activity. Finally, a previously validated mathematical model was used to estimate the ability of the TA-loaded CLs to deliver therapeutic drug concentrations to the posterior part of the eye. Overall, HP-β-CD-containing CLs are promising candidates for the topical ocular application of TA as an alternative delivery system to intraocular injections.Work supported by Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) through [doi: 10.54499/UIDB/00100/2020] and [doi: 10.54499/UIDP/00100/2020] (CQE), [doi: 10.54499/UIDB/04585/2020] (CiiEM) and [doi:10.54499/PTDC/CTM-CTM/2353/2021] (SOL project), University of Aveiro and FCT/MCT through [UIDB/50006/2020 and UIDP/50006/2020] (LAQV-REQUIMTE) co-funded by the FEDER within PT2020 Partnership Agreement, and MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 Spain [PID 2020-113881RB-I00], Xunta de Galicia [ED431C 2020/17], and FEDER. The authors acknowledge SICASAL - Indústria e Comércio de Carnes, S.A. for the kind supply of porcine fresh eyes and to Dr. Nuno Taveira from the University of Lisbon for providing THP-1 human monocytes cell line. ASHLAND kindly provided Cavasol® W7 HP PHARMA (HP-β-CD). The Graphical Abstract was created by using pictures from Servier Medical Art., by Servier, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Coupling Through E-region Turbulence: Anomalous Conductivities and Frictional Heating

Global magnetospheric MHD codes using ionospheric conductances based on laminar models systematically overestimate the cross-polar cap potential during storm time by up to a factor of two. At these times, strong DC electric fields penetrate to the E region and drive plasma instabilities that create turbulence. This plasma density turbulence induces non-linear currents, while associated electrostatic field fluctuations result in strong anomalous electron heating. These two effects will increase the global ionospheric conductance. Based on the theory of non-linear currents developed in the companion paper, this paper derives the correction factors describing turbulent conductivities and calculates turbulent frictional heating rates. Estimates show that during strong geomagnetic storms the inclusion of anomalous conductivity can double the total Pedersen conductance. This may help explain the overestimation of the cross-polar cap potentials by existing MHD codes. The turbulent conductivities and frictional heating presented in this paper should be included in global magnetospheric codes developed for predictive modeling of space weather.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, 2nd of two companion paper

Systemic T Cells Immunosuppression of Glioma Stem Cell-Derived Exosomes Is Mediated by Monocytic Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells

A major contributing factor to glioma development and progression is its ability to evade the immune system. Nano-meter sized vesicles, exosomes, secreted by glioma-stem cells (GSC) can act as mediators of intercellular communication to promote tumor immune escape. Here, we investigated the immunomodulatory properties of GCS-derived exosomes on different peripheral immune cell populations. Healthy donor peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) stimulated with anti-CD3, anti-CD28 and IL-2, were treated with GSC-derived exosomes. Phenotypic characterization, cell proliferation, Th1/Th2 cytokine secretion and intracellular cytokine production were analysed by distinguishing among effector T cells, regulatory T cells and monocytes. In unfractionated PBMCs, GSC-derived exosomes inhibited T cell activation (CD25 and CD69 expression), proliferation and Th1 cytokine production, and did not affect cell viability or regulatory T-cell suppression ability. Furthermore, exosomes were able to enhance proliferation of purified CD4+ T cells. In PBMCs culture, glioma-derived exosomes directly promoted IL-10 and arginase-1 production and downregulation of HLA-DR by unstimulated CD14+ monocytic cells, that displayed an immunophenotype resembling that of monocytic myeloid-derived suppressor cells (Mo-MDSCs). Importantly, the removal of CD14+ monocytic cell fraction from PBMCs restored T-cell proliferation. The same results were observed with exosomes purified from plasma of glioblastoma patients. Our results indicate that glioma-derived exosomes suppress T-cell immune response by acting on monocyte maturation rather than on direct interaction with T cells. Selective targeting of Mo-MDSC to treat glioma should be considered with regard to how immune cells allow the acquirement of effector functions and therefore counteracting tumor progression

The Role of Mesoscale Plasma Sheet Dynamics in Ring Current Formation

During geomagnetically active periods ions are transported from the magnetotail into the inner magnetosphere and accelerated to energies of tens to hundreds of keV. These energetic ions, of mixed composition with the most important species being H+ and O+, become the dominant source of plasma pressure in the inner magnetosphere. Ion transport and acceleration can occur at different spatial and temporal scales ranging from global quasi-steady convection to localized impulsive injection events and may depend on the ion gyroradius. In this study we ascertain the relative importance of mesoscale flow structures and the effects of ion non-adiabaticity on the produced ring current. For this we use: global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations to generate self-consistent electromagnetic fields under typical driving conditions which exhibit bursty bulk flows (BBFs); and injected test particles, initialized to match the plasma moments of the MHD simulation, and subsequently evolved according to the kinetic equations of motion. We show that the BBFs produced by our simulation reproduce thermodynamic and magnetic statistics from in situ measurements and are numerically robust. Mining the simulation data we create a data set, over a billion points, connecting particle transport to characteristics of the MHD flow. From this we show that mesoscale bubbles, localized depleted entropy regions, and particle gradient drifts are critical for ion transport. Finally we show, using identical particle ensembles with varying mass, that O+ non-adiabaticity creates qualitative differences in energization and spatial distribution while H+ non-adiabaticity has non-negligible implications for loss timescales

Supercritical CO2 drying of food matrices

[EN] This work explore the use of supercritical CO2 drying as alternative technique for the obtainment of pasteurized and high quality dried product. Several tests were conducted on animal, vegetable and fruit matrixes in order to investigate the effectiveness of SC-CO2 drying process at different process conditions. Design of experiment was performed to find the optimal process conditions for vegetable and fruit matrices, using the final water activity of the products as key indicator for the drying efficiency. The inactivation of naturally present microorganisms and inoculated pathogens demonstrated the capability of SC-CO2 drying process to assure a safe product. Moreover, retention of nutrients was compared with conventional drying methods. Results suggest that supercritical drying is a promising alternative technology for food drying.The research leading to these results received funding from the European Community’s Horizon 2020, Call H2020-SFS-2014-2 “Future Food” project and from the Progetto Strategico di Dipartimento SID of the Department of Industrial Engineering (University of Padua). M.T. and G.P. thank Regione Veneto that supported their fellowship through the grant FSE.Zambon, A.; Vizzotto, TM.; Morbiato, G.; Toffoletto, M.; Poloniato, G.; Dall’acqua, S.; De Bernard, M.... (2018). Supercritical CO2 drying of food matrices. En IDS 2018. 21st International Drying Symposium Proceedings. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 17-23. https://doi.org/10.4995/IDS2018.2018.7753OCS172

Life cycle assessment of Polychlorinated Biphenyl contaminated soil remediation processes

Goal and scope. A life-cycle assessment (LCA) was performed to evaluate the environmental impacts of the remediation of industrial soils contaminated by polychlorobiphenyl (PCB). Two new bioremediation treatment options were compared with the usual incineration process. In this attributional LCA, only secondary impacts were considered. The contaminated soil used for the experiments contained 200 mg of PCB per kg. Methods. Three off-site treatments scenarios were studied: 1) bioremediation with mechanical aeration, 2) bioremediation with electric aeration and 3) incineration with natural gas. Bioremediation processes were designed from lab-scale, scale-up and pilot experiments. The incineration technique was inspired by a French plant. A semi-quantitative uncertainty analysis was performed on the data. Environmental impacts were evaluated with the CML 2001 method using the Simapro software program. Results and discussion. In most compared categories, the bioremediation processes are favorable. Of the bioremediation options, the lowest environmental footprint was observed for electric aeration. The uncertainty analysis supported the results that compared incineration and bioremediation but decreased the difference between the options of aeration. The distance of transportation was one of the most sensitive parameters, especially for bioremediation. At equal distances between the polluted sites and the treatment plant, bioremediation had fewer impacts than incineration in eight out of thirteen categories. Conclusions. The use of natural gas for the incineration process generated the most impacts. Irrespective of the aeration option, bioremediation was better than incineration. Recommendations. The time of treatment should be taken into account. More precise and detailed data are required for the incineration scenario. More parameters of biological treatments should be measured. LCA results should be completed using ecological and health risk assessment and an acceptability evaluation