Numerical simulations of winter cold damage to citrus fruits using the WRF model

To numerically assess winter cold damages of citrus fruits, a cold duration of sub-zero temperature was simulated using a high resolution configuration (500&thinsp;m horizontal grid spacing) of the WRF numerical weather prediction system. Japanese citrus is often cultivated on slopes made of a small hill and a valley. Hence, a high resolution spatial configuration is needed to simulate cold durations at complex micro-topographies. In this study, detailed cold duration maps for sub-zero temperatures were produced to assess the spatial difference of cold duration, as an example of a winter cold surge attack in west Japan in 2011. Our findings suggest that the recorded temperature (by automatic observation of the Japan Meteorological Agency), which was observed at a flat coastal plain, may underestimate cold damage risk for citrus fruit on narrow slopes, valleys and hilly areas.</p

A novel Rac1-GSPT1 signaling pathway controls astrogliosis following central nervous system injury

Astrogliosis (i.e. glial scar), which is comprised primarily of proliferated astrocytes at the lesion site and migrated astrocytes from neighboring regions, is one of the key reactions in determining outcomes after CNS injury. In an effort to identify potential molecules/pathways that regulate astrogliosis, we sought to determine whether Rac/Rac-mediated signaling in astrocytes represents a novel candidate for therapeutic intervention following CNS injury. For these studies, we generated mice with Rac1 deletion under the control of the GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein) promoter (GFAP-Cre;Rac1(flox/flox)). GFAP-Cre;Rac1(flox/flox) (Rac1-KO) mice exhibited better recovery after spinal cord injury and exhibited reduced astrogliosis at the lesion site relative to control. Reduced astrogliosis was also observed in Rac1-KO mice following microbeam irradiation-induced injury. Moreover, knockdown (KD) or KO of Rac1 in astrocytes (LN229 cells, primary astrocytes, or primary astrocytes from Rac1-KO mice) led to delayed cell cycle progression and reduced cell migration. Rac1-KD or Rac1-KO astrocytes additionally had decreased levels of GSPT1 (G(1) to S phase transition 1) expression and reduced responses of IL-1β and GSPT1 to LPS treatment, indicating that IL-1β and GSPT1 are downstream molecules of Rac1 associated with inflammatory condition. Furthermore, GSPT1-KD astrocytes had cell cycle delay, with no effect on cell migration. The cell cycle delay induced by Rac1-KD was rescued by overexpression of GSPT1. Based on these results, we propose that Rac1-GSPT1 represents a novel signaling axis in astrocytes that accelerates proliferation in response to inflammation, which is one important factor in the development of astrogliosis/glial scar following CNS injury

ENLACE: A Combination of Layer-Based Architecture and Wireless Communication for Emotion Monitoring in Healthcare

Owing to the increase in the number of people with disabilities, as a result of either accidents or old age, there has been an increase in research studies in the area of ubiquitous computing and the Internet of Things. They are aimed at monitoring health, in an efficient and easily accessible way, as a means of managing and improving the quality of life of this section of the public. It also involves adopting a Health Homes policy based on the Internet of Things and applied in smart home environments. This is aimed at providing connectivity between the patients and their surroundings and includes mechanisms for helping the diagnosis and prevention of accidents and/or diseases. Monitoring gives rise to an opportunity to exploit the way computational systems can help to determine the real-time emotional state of patients. This is necessary because there are some limitations to traditional methods of health monitoring, for example, establishing the behavior of the user’s routine and issuing alerts and warnings to family members and/or medical staff about any abnormal event or signs of the onset of depression. This article discusses how a layer-based architecture can be used to detect emotional factors to assist in healthcare and the prevention of accidents within the context of Smart Home Health. The results show that this process-based architecture allows a load distribution with a better service that takes into account the complexity of each algorithm and the processing power of each layer of the architecture to provide a prompt response when there is a need for some intervention in the emotional state of the user

Ribozyme-mediated inactivation of mutant K-ras oncogene in a colon cancer cell line

Mutation of c-K-ras oncogene is an important step in progression of colon cancer. We used a hammerhead ribozyme (KrasRz) against mutated K-ras gene transcripts (codon 12, GTT) to inactivate mutant K-ras function in the colon cancer cell line SW480, harbouring a mutant K-ras gene. The β-actin promoter-driven KrasRz sequence (pHβ/KrasRz) was introduced into these cells (SW480/KrasRz), and we evaluated its effects on growth of the colon cancer. The gene expression of angiogenesis-related molecules (vascular endothelial growth factor and thrombospondin) was also estimated in SW480/KrasRz. KrasRz specifically and efficiently cleaved the mutant K-ras mRNA but not wild-type mRNA in vitro. SW480/KrasRz showed decreased growth rate under tissue culture conditions (P< 0.01, Dunnett’s test). The xenotransplantability of SW480/KrasRz (XeSW480/KrasRz) was significantly decreased in nude mice (P< 0.05, Fisher’s exact test). Tumour volume of the xenografts XeSW480/KrasRz was significantly smaller than that of XeSW480/DisKrasRz (P< 0.01, Dunnett’s test). Gene expression of VEGF was suppressed in SW480/KrasRz, while TSP1 gene expression was enhanced. The SW480/KrasRz cells showed apoptosis-related features including nuclear condensation and DNA fragmentation. These results suggested that the hammerhead ribozyme-mediated inactivation of the mutated K-ras mRNA induced growth suppression, apoptosis and alteration of angiogenic factor expression. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaig

Implementation of earlier antibiotic administration in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock in Japan: a descriptive analysis of a prospective observational study.

BACKGROUND: Time to antibiotic administration is a key element in sepsis care; however, it is difficult to implement sepsis care bundles. Additionally, sepsis is different from other emergent conditions including acute coronary syndrome, stroke, or trauma. We aimed to describe the association between time to antibiotic administration and outcomes in patients with severe sepsis and septic shock in Japan. METHODS: This prospective observational study enrolled 1184 adult patients diagnosed with severe sepsis based on the Sepsis-2 criteria and admitted to 59 intensive care units (ICUs) in Japan between January 1, 2016, and March 31, 2017, as the sepsis cohort of the Focused Outcomes Research in Emergency Care in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome, Sepsis and Trauma (FORECAST) study. We compared the characteristics and in-hospital mortality of patients administered with antibiotics at varying durations after sepsis recognition, i.e., 0-60, 61-120, 121-180, 181-240, 241-360, and 361-1440 min, and estimated the impact of antibiotic timing on risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality using the generalized estimating equation model (GEE) with an exchangeable, within-group correlation matrix, with "hospital" as the grouping variable. RESULTS: Data from 1124 patients in 54 hospitals were used for analyses. Of these, 30.5% and 73.9% received antibiotics within 1 h and 3 h, respectively. Overall, the median time to antibiotic administration was 102 min [interquartile range (IQR), 55-189]. Compared with patients diagnosed in the emergency department [90 min (IQR, 48-164 min)], time to antibiotic administration was shortest in patients diagnosed in ICUs [60 min (39-180 min)] and longest in patients transferred from wards [120 min (62-226)]. Overall crude mortality was 23.4%, where patients in the 0-60 min group had the highest mortality (28.0%) and a risk-adjusted mortality rate [28.7% (95% CI 23.3-34.1%)], whereas those in the 61-120 min group had the lowest mortality (20.2%) and risk-adjusted mortality rates [21.6% (95% CI 16.5-26.6%)]. Differences in mortality were noted only between the 0-60 min and 61-120 min groups. CONCLUSIONS: We could not find any association between earlier antibiotic administration and reduction in in-hospital mortality in patients with severe sepsis

STUDIE ON METALLÜBERGANG BEI DER SYNCHRONISIERTEN KONTROLLE DER DRAHTZUFÜHRUNG UND BEI STROM WELLENFORM

Za zavarivanje tankih limova s vrlo niskim unosom topline i minimalnim štrcanjem koristi se inačica MAG zavarivanje kratkim spojevima pri kojem se mijenja smjer gibanja elektrodne žice. Ako se takav stabilan prijenos može ostvariti u području globularnoga, tj. prijelaznog luka u zaštiti plina CO2, postiže se dodatna produktivnost. Za dane uvjete u ovom radu je opisan razvoj međuspremnika žice tzv. Buffer Position Control uređaja koji upravlja dodavanjem žice između motora koji gura i drugoga koji vuče žicu te može kompenzirati konstantnu brzinu dodavanja, uz primjenu tzv. Pulsed Dip Transfer Process, tj. kombinacije prijenosa metala impulsima i kratkim spojevima, čime se tijekom trajanja električnog luka stabilizira prijenos metalnih kapi za ravnu statičku značajku (CV-constant voltage). Primjenom takvoga valnog oblika struje poboljšava se prijenos topline u osnovni materijal. Dodatno su analizirana načela upravljanja procesom i utjecaj zavarivanja velikim brzinama na vrlo tankim limovima uz pojavu minimalnog štrcanja.A gas metal arc welding process that changes the wire feed direction according to the arc phenomena has been proposed and applied to a fi eld of the ultra-sheet plate joining on MAG welding process, due to the ultra-low spatter generation and the low heat input into the base metal in a current range of the short-circuit transfer mode. When such the welding process can realize the stable metal transfer in a current range of the globular transfer mode under the carbon dioxide shielding gas supplying, it can contribute the improvement of the further productivity. Under the circumstances, the authors have developed the Buffer Position Control which controls the interference reduction of the wire feed direction between the push feeder and the pull feeder and can compensate the constant mean wire feed rate, and the Pulsed Dip Transfer Process which forms the pulsatile output of the welding current during arc duration to stabilize the metal transfer by the constant voltage characteristic and improve the heat input to the base metal. In this paper, the principle of these controls and the effect of high speed welding with ultra-low spatter generation of the sheet metal joining will be presented.Beim Schweißen von dünnen Blechen mit einem sehr niedrigen Wärmeeintrag und mit minimalen Spritzen wird MAG Schweißen benutzt bei dem sich die Richtung der Drahtelektrode ändert. Falls sich so ein stabiler Metallübergang erreicht, im Bereich der globularen bzw. Übergehenden Lichtbogen beim CO2 Gas, kann man eine erweiterte Produktivität haben. Für die Konditionen in dieser Arbeit wurde die Entwicklung von dem Zwischendrahtbuffer beschrieben, der so genannter Buffer Position Control die die Drahtzufuhr reguliert zwischen dem Motor der den Draht schiebt und einen anderen Motor der den Draht zieht, und diese Bufferposition kann die konstante Drahtzufuhrgeschwindigkeit kompensieren und einen Pulsed Dip Transfer Process erreichen, bzw. eine Kombination des Metallübergangs mit Impulsen und Kurzlichtbogen wobei die statische Charakteristik des Lichtbogen gerade ist (CV-constant voltage). Mit der Anwendung so einer Strom Wellenform verbessert sich der Wärmeübergang in das Grundmaterial. Zusätzlich wurden die Prinzipen der Prozesskontrolle und der Einfl uss beim Schweißen mit hoher Geschwindigkeit an sehr dünnen Blechen mit minimalen Spritzen gezeigt