Downstream and soaring interfaces and vortices in 2-D stratified wakes and their impact on transport of contaminants

The flow of continuously stratified fluids past obstacles was studied analytically, numerically, and experimentally. The obstacles discussed here include a flat strip, aligned with the flow, inclined or transverse to the flow and a horizontal cylinder. In the flow pattern, transient and attached (lee) internal waves, downstream wakes with submerged interfaces and vortices, soaring singular interfaces, soaring vortices and vortex systems are distinguished. New components of laminar flow past a horizontally towed strip are presented. Fine transverse streaky structures on the strip in the downstream wake were visualized. Soaring isolated interfaces, which are internal boundary layers forming inside the downstream attached wave field past bluff bodies were observed. With increasing of the body velocity a vortex pair was formed directly at the leading edge of this interface

Differentially activated B cells develop regulatory phenotype and show varying immunosuppressive features: a comparative study

Regulatory B lymphocytes (Bregs) are B cells with well-pronounced immunosuppressive properties, allowing them to suppress the activity of effector cells. A broad repertoire of immunosuppressive mechanisms makes Bregs an attractive tool for adoptive cell therapy for diseases associated with excessive activation of immune reactions. Such therapy implies Breg extraction from the patient’s peripheral blood, ex vivo activation and expansion, and further infusion into the patient. At the same time, the utility of Bregs for therapeutic approaches is limited by their small numbers and extremely low survival rate, which is typical for all primary B cell cultures. Therefore, extracting CD19+ cells from the patient’s peripheral blood and specifically activating them ex vivo to make B cells acquire a suppressive phenotype seems to be far more productive. It will allow a much larger number of B cells to be obtained initially, which may significantly increase the likelihood of successful immunosuppression after adoptive Breg transfer. This comparative study focuses on finding ways to efficiently manipulate B cells in vitro to differentiate them into Bregs. We used CD40L, CpG, IL4, IL21, PMA, and ionomycin in various combinations to generate immunosuppressive phenotype in B cells and performed functional assays to test their regulatory capacity. This work shows that treatment of primary B cells using CD40L + CpG + IL21 mix was most effective in terms of induction of functionally active regulatory B lymphocytes with high immunosuppressive capacity ex vivo

Association between Alcohol Consumption and Body Composition in Russian Adults and Patients Treated for Alcohol-Related Disorders: The Know Your Heart Cross-Sectional Study

There is conflicting evidence about the association between alcohol consumption and body composition (BC). We aimed to investigate this association in Russian adults. The study population included 2357 residents of Arkhangelsk aged 35–69 years, and 272 in-patients treated for alcohol problems (narcological patients) who participated in the Know Your Heart (KYH) cross-sectional study in 2015–2017. The participants were divided into five subgroups based on their alcohol use characteristics: non-drinkers, non-problem drinkers, hazardous drinkers, harmful drinkers, and narcological patients. Considering men, hazardous drinkers had a larger waist circumference (WC), waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and percentage of body fat mass (%FM) compared to non-problem drinkers. In harmful drinking men, these differences were the opposite: a lower body mass index (BMI), hip circumference (HC), and %FM. Men among narcological patients had the lowest mean BMI, WC, HC, WHR, and %FM compared to other subgroups of men. As for women, non-drinkers had a lower BMI, WC, HC, and %FM compared to non-problem drinkers. Women among narcological patients had the lowest mean BMI and HC but an increased WHR compared to other subgroups of women. In conclusion, alcohol consumption levels had an inverted J-shaped association with adiposity-related BC parameters: they were elevated in hazardous drinkers but were reduced in harmful drinkers, and were even lower in patients with alcohol-related diagnoses

Adsorbents for Mercury Vapour Recovery in Demercuration Technology

Various adsorbents, including iodides and sulphides of some metals and modified carbon materials, were synthesized and their ability to recover mercury was studied. Our results showed that copper sulphide [dynamic capacity (DC) of 36 mg/g for mercury vapour], the active form of manganese dioxide (DC of 28 mg/g) and modified carbon adsorbents were promising demercuration agents. The DC of the best demercuration agents (MNCS–O–Cl–I) can be as much as 125 mg/g

Chemistry for Sustainable Development 20 (2012) 7781 Modified Carbon Sorbents for Extraction of Sodium and Calcium Admixtures from the Solutions of Lithium Chloride

Abstract Methods of obtaining carbon sorbents modified with the compounds of antimony (V) were developed for the extraction of sodium and calcium admixtures from the solution of lithium chloride. The sorption capacity of the obtained modified carbon materials under static and dyn amic conditions was estimated. It was shown that the most efficient sorbent NUMS-K-1 was obtained by the saturation with SbCl 5 followed by its hydrolysis. With antimony content in the carbon sorbent up to 8 %, total dynamic capacity with respect to sodium is 2.2, with respect to calcium 4 mg/g. In the course of dynamic experiments, it was established that the residual concentration of sodium at the outlet of the sorption column reaches 0.25, calcium 2 mg/L. The obtained results meet the requirements to the purity of lithium products. The promising character of the use of carbon sorbents modified with antimony (V) compounds in the processes of lithium chloride purification from sodium and calcium admixtures was demonstrated