Integrative Review of Decentralized and Local Water Management Concepts as Part of Smart Cities (LoWaSmart)

An evidence-based assessment of decentralized and local water management concepts and how they relate to smart city concepts is presented. Decentralized water management is based on the principle of integrated water cycle management and water-sensitive urban design. A “smart city” is generally defined as a city seeking to address public issues via information and communication technology (ICT)-based solutions on the basis of a multi-stakeholder, municipally based partnership. Using evidence-based review principles it is shown that when ICT is applied to water management in cities, it enables the collection of data for better understanding of how a city functions and to improve it to the benefits of its inhabitants and the environment.CIENS / KL

Antibody charge heterogeneity formation in a mammalian cell culture fed-batch process

The charge heterogeneity of a monoclonal antibody (mAb) is as a sum factor of several post translational modifications and most of them are of high importance regarding product quality and efficacy. For this reason monitoring and controlling of this sum factor can be beneficial. The work presented here builds the basis for on-line monitoring and will help to achieve Quality by Control (Sommeregger et al., 2017). The aim of this work was to develop a method that allows fast and accurate determination of the charge profile of monoclonal antibodies directly from cell culture supernatants. We were able to circumvent a pre-purification step by adapting a cation exchange method (CEX) using a highly linear pH gradient (Lingg et al, 2013). The established method was then used to gain information about the formation of charge variants during a fed-batch process of an industrial relevant mAb produced by a Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell line. Please click Additional Files below to see the full abstract

Der Tag, an dem ich Engels begegnete

oai:elpub.bib.uni-wuppertal.de:duepublico_mods_00000710Ein Projekt kreativen Schreibens zum 200. Geburtstag von Friedrich Engels. – Texte, Theorien, Methoden

Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator Promotes Paracellular Transmigration of Neutrophils Via Mac-1, But Independently of Urokinase-Type Plasminogen Activator Receptor

Background: Urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) has recently been implicated in the pathogenesis of ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) injury. The underlying mechanisms remain largely unclear. Methods and Results: Using in vivo microscopy on the mouse cremaster muscle, I/R-elicited firm adherence and transmigration of neutrophils were found to be significantly diminished in uPA-deficient mice and in mice treated with the uPA inhibitor WX-340, but not in uPA receptor (uPAR)–deficient mice. Interestingly, postischemic leukocyte responses were significantly reduced on blockade of the integrin CD11b/Mac-1, which also serves as uPAR receptor. Using a cell transfer technique, postischemic adherence and transmigration of wild-type leukocytes were significantly decreased in uPA-deficient animals, whereas uPA-deficient leukocytes exhibited a selectively reduced transmigration in wild-type animals. On I/R or stimulation with recombinant uPA, >90% of firmly adherent leukocytes colocalized with CD31-immunoreactive endothelial junctions as detected by in vivo fluorescence microscopy. In a model of hepatic I/R, treatment with WX-340 significantly attenuated postischemic neutrophil infiltration and tissue injury. Conclusions: Our data suggest that endothelial uPA promotes intravascular adherence, whereas leukocyte uPA facilitates the subsequent paracellular transmigration of neutrophils during I/R. This process is regulated via CD11b/Mac-1, and does not require uPAR. Pharmacological blockade of uPA interferes with these events and effectively attenuates postischemic tissue injury

Auswirkung von entspelzt und im Spelz gesätem Dinkel

Im ökologischen Landbau steht seit kurzer Zeit auch bei Dinkel entspelztes Saatgut zur Verfügung. Um den Einfluss von entspelztem Saatgut festzustellen, wurden über drei Ernten Feldversuche in Bayern an drei Standorten durchgeführt. Drei Sorten wurden vom vorgelagerten Bereich entspelzt und mit der gleichen Saatgutpartie mit Saat im Spelz verglichen. Als zusätzliche Variante wurde eine dieser Sorten an der LfL mit einem Getreideschäler möglichst schonend entspelzt. Die Saatstärke betrug 350 keimfähige Körner/m² und 200 kg/ha. Bei sehr schonender Entspelzung konnten vergleichbare Vesenerträge wie bei der Saat im Spelz erzielt werden. Allerdings wurden jedoch Mindererträge bei der LfL entspelzten Variante und bei einer der drei Sorten festgestellt. Ursache ist vermutlich eine nicht ausreichend schonende Entspelzung. Zu beachten ist generell die schwächere Anfangsentwicklung bei entspelztem Saatgut, da die Verunkrautungsgefahr höher ist. Andererseits fiel das Backvolumen bei entspelztem Saatgut nach einem RMT-Backtest höher aus. Für eine gute Leistung des Saatguts kommt es demnach auf die Qualität der Entspelzung an

Rapid growth and childhood obesity are strongly associated with lysoPC(14:0)

BACKGROUND: Despite the growing interest in the early-origins-of-later-disease hypothesis, little is known about the metabolic underpinnings linking infant weight gain and childhood obesity. OBJECTIVE: To discover biomarkers reflective of weight change in the first 6 months and overweight/obesity at age 6 years via a targeted metabolomics approach. DESIGN: This analysis comprised 726 infants from a European multicenter randomized trial (Childhood Obesity Programme, CHOP) for whom plasma blood samples at age 6 months and anthropometric data up to the age of 6 years were available. 'Rapid growth' was defined as a positive difference in weight within the first 6 months of life standardized to WHO growth standards. Weight change was regressed on each of 168 metabolites (acylcarnitines, lysophosphatidylcholines, sphingomyelins, and amino acids). Metabolites significant after Bonferroni's correction were tested as predictors of later overweight/obesity. RESULTS: Among the overall 19 significant metabolites, 4 were associated with rapid growth and 15 were associated with a less-than-ideal weight change. After adjusting for feeding group, only the lysophosphatidylcholine LPCaC14:0 remained significantly associated with rapid weight gain (\u3b2 = 0.18). Only LPCaC14:0 at age 6 months was predictive of overweight/obesity at age 6 years (OR 1.33; 95% CI 1.04-1.69). CONCLUSION: LPCa14:0 is strongly related to rapid growth in infancy and childhood overweight/obesity. This suggests that LPCaC14:0 levels may represent a metabolically programmed effect of infant weight gain on the later obesity risk. However, these results require confirmation by independent cohorts

Reduced Equalization Needs of 100 GHz Bandwidth Plasmonic Modulators

As bit rates of optical interconnects increase, a large amount of complicated signal conditioning is needed to compensate for the insufficient bandwidth of current modulators. In this paper, we evaluate the reduced equalization requirements of high-bandwidth plasmonic modulators in short-reach transmission experiments. It is shown that transmission of 100 Gbit/s nonreturn-to-zero (NRZ) and 112 Gbit/s pulse-amplitude modulation4 over 1 km and 2 km distance is possible without any receiver equalization. At higher bit-rates, such as 120 Gbit/s NRZ, data transmission is demonstrated over 500 m with reduced receiver equalization requirements. Transmission up to 200 Gbit/s over 1 km is also shown with more complex receiver equalization. The reduced complexity of the receiver digital signal processing is attributed to a flat frequency response of at least 108 GHz of the plasmonic modulators. All single wavelength transmissions have been performed at 1540 nm in standard single mode fiber