Sex difference and intra-operative tidal volume: Insights from the LAS VEGAS study

BACKGROUND: One key element of lung-protective ventilation is the use of a low tidal volume (VT). A sex difference in use of low tidal volume ventilation (LTVV) has been described in critically ill ICU patients.OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine whether a sex difference in use of LTVV also exists in operating room patients, and if present what factors drive this difference.DESIGN, PATIENTS AND SETTING: This is a posthoc analysis of LAS VEGAS, a 1-week worldwide observational study in adults requiring intra-operative ventilation during general anaesthesia for surgery in 146 hospitals in 29 countries.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Women and men were compared with respect to use of LTVV, defined as VT of 8 ml kg-1 or less predicted bodyweight (PBW). A VT was deemed 'default' if the set VT was a round number. A mediation analysis assessed which factors may explain the sex difference in use of LTVV during intra-operative ventilation.RESULTS: This analysis includes 9864 patients, of whom 5425 (55%) were women. A default VT was often set, both in women and men; mode VT was 500 ml. Median [IQR] VT was higher in women than in men (8.6 [7.7 to 9.6] vs. 7.6 [6.8 to 8.4] ml kg-1 PBW, P < 0.001). Compared with men, women were twice as likely not to receive LTVV [68.8 vs. 36.0%; relative risk ratio 2.1 (95% CI 1.9 to 2.1), P < 0.001]. In the mediation analysis, patients' height and actual body weight (ABW) explained 81 and 18% of the sex difference in use of LTVV, respectively; it was not explained by the use of a default VT.CONCLUSION: In this worldwide cohort of patients receiving intra-operative ventilation during general anaesthesia for surgery, women received a higher VT than men during intra-operative ventilation. The risk for a female not to receive LTVV during surgery was double that of males. Height and ABW were the two mediators of the sex difference in use of LTVV.TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study was registered at Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01601223

Minimal information for studies of extracellular vesicles (MISEV2023): From basic to advanced approaches

Extracellular vesicles (EVs), through their complex cargo, can reflect the state of their cell of origin and change the functions and phenotypes of other cells. These features indicate strong biomarker and therapeutic potential and have generated broad interest, as evidenced by the steady year-on-year increase in the numbers of scientific publications about EVs. Important advances have been made in EV metrology and in understanding and applying EV biology. However, hurdles remain to realising the potential of EVs in domains ranging from basic biology to clinical applications due to challenges in EV nomenclature, separation from non-vesicular extracellular particles, characterisation and functional studies. To address the challenges and opportunities in this rapidly evolving field, the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) updates its 'Minimal Information for Studies of Extracellular Vesicles', which was first published in 2014 and then in 2018 as MISEV2014 and MISEV2018, respectively. The goal of the current document, MISEV2023, is to provide researchers with an updated snapshot of available approaches and their advantages and limitations for production, separation and characterisation of EVs from multiple sources, including cell culture, body fluids and solid tissues. In addition to presenting the latest state of the art in basic principles of EV research, this document also covers advanced techniques and approaches that are currently expanding the boundaries of the field. MISEV2023 also includes new sections on EV release and uptake and a brief discussion of in vivo approaches to study EVs. Compiling feedback from ISEV expert task forces and more than 1000 researchers, this document conveys the current state of EV research to facilitate robust scientific discoveries and move the field forward even more rapidly

Research and Design of a Routing Protocol in Large-Scale Wireless Sensor Networks

无线传感器网络，作为全球未来十大技术之一，集成了传感器技术、嵌入式计算技术、分布式信息处理和自组织网技术，可实时感知、采集、处理、传输网络分布区域内的各种信息数据，在军事国防、生物医疗、环境监测、抢险救灾、防恐反恐、危险区域远程控制等领域具有十分广阔的应用前景。 本文研究分析了无线传感器网络的已有路由协议，并针对大规模的无线传感器网络设计了一种树状路由协议，它根据节点地址信息来形成路由，从而简化了复杂繁冗的路由表查找和维护，节省了不必要的开销，提高了路由效率，实现了快速有效的数据传输。 为支持此路由协议本文提出了一种自适应动态地址分配算——ADAR（AdaptiveDynamicAddre...As one of the ten high technologies in the future, wireless sensor network, which is the integration of micro-sensors, embedded computing, modern network and Ad Hoc technologies, can apperceive, collect, process and transmit various information data within the region. It can be used in military defense, biomedical, environmental monitoring, disaster relief, counter-terrorism, remote control of haz...学位：工学硕士院系专业：信息科学与技术学院通信工程系_通信与信息系统学号：2332007115216

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

Chemical and Biochemical Biorefineries in Kraft Pulp Mills – Process Integration and Economics for Three Concepts

Some of the advantages of integrating biorefinery concepts with kraft pulp mills are that the utility system can be shared and that mass and energy streams can be exported from the pulp mill to the biorefinery or vice versa. These measures may result in lower investments and operating costs for the biorefinery compared with stand-alone operations. However, the implementation of biorefinery concepts can interact and occasionally interfere with pulp production.In this thesis, assessment results for the integration of three chemical and biochemical biorefinery concepts are presented. The studied concepts include (1) “near-neutral” hemicellulose extraction and upgrading of the hemicellulose-containing stream to ethanol, (2) conversion of a kraft pulp mill to a dissolving pulp mill, and (3) high-solids ethanol production next to a kraft pulp mill. The results of this work show that efficient heat integration within and between the pulp mill and the biorefinery can result in a substantial decrease in utility demand and thereby energy costs. However, changes in composition/flowrates of some material streams at the pulp mill that arise from implementing the biorefinery concept appear to play a crucial role in the technical and economic feasibility of these concepts. For the first biorefinery concept, efficient heat integration can make the processes self-sufficient in terms of steam; however, exporting chemicals from the pulp mill to the biorefinery can destabilize the sodium and sulfur balance in the pulp mill. In the second biorefinery concept, the modified cooking conditions at the pulp mill result in a lower pulp yield. Although the wood input could, in principle, be increased to compensate for the lower yield, the limited capacity of the equipment may result in a pulp production reduction by up to 40% in the worst-case scenario. For the third biorefinery concept, the potential advantages of operating at high-gravity conditions in terms of energy use are almost negligible in practice because very efficient heat integration is possible for both high-solids loading and a more conventional solids loading. Therefore, these advantages cannot compensate for the likely lower ethanol yield in the high-gravity process. The results of this work demonstrate the importance of extending the focus from only the biorefinery reactor to include the entire biorefinery and pulp mill (including the energy system and the available equipment capacity) when evaluating the feasibility of biorefineries. The results are also a reminder of the importance of conducting system studies during the initial development of new processes and in parallel with experimental work

Attitudes of a group of Mexican teenagers towards inclusive language

Language and culture are deeply intertwined. Language reflects and influences the attitudes, perceptions and behaviors of its users. Therefore, the use of non-sexist language can contribute to achieving gender equality in society. This study focuses on the perceptions of a group of Mexican teenagers towards inclusive language. In particular, their acceptance degree towards various gender morphemes are studied and compared to the generic use of the masculine gender. The results of the survey show a clear preference for the alternatives that are easy to pronounce, so called, normative gender morphemes, including the generic use of the masculine compared to new, non-normative gender morphemes that are inclusive but difficult to pronounce. Women prefer the splitting strategy (“desdoblamiento”) to a larger degree than men do. Men have a more conservative posture and prefer the generic use of the masculine and reject non-normative gender morphemes. The differences among informants of different socioeconomic levels are smaller. Still, it seems that informants of a higher socioeconomic level have a more conservative attitude towards inclusive language than informants of a lower socioeconomic level

Using formative assessment to teach about gender in the technology programme

Efter att eleverna har avslutat kursen Teknik 1 på teknikprogrammet förväntas de kunna beskriva hur föreställningar inom teknikområdet påverkar uppfattningar om genus samt hur genus påverkar teknik och teknikutveckling. Det finns en stor brist på både forskning och undervisningsmaterial om genus och teknik. Av den forskning som finns framkommer att lärare saknar kompetens och intresse i ämnet.  Syftet med det här utvecklingsarbetet är att utforska hur formativ bedömning kan användas i en lektionsserie om genus och teknik. Mer specifikt handlar det om att skapa en bedömningsmatris som kan användas för att kommunicera bedömningskriterierna till eleverna, ge återkoppling samt för att bedöma elevernas inlämningsuppgifter. Bedömningsmatrisen används även av eleverna vid en kamratrespons-övning. Empirin i studien består av elevernas uppgifter, skriftlig återkoppling på uppgifterna, logganteckningar, en filminspelning och klassrumsobservationer. Materialet har analyserats med hjälp av flera olika forskningsmetoder, bland andra, innehållsanalys av texterna samt frekvenstabell och diagram gällande kunskapsutveckling. Resultaten pekar på en positiv kunskapsutveckling hos eleverna efter undervisningen. Ett bidrag från den här studien är att den visar tydligt progressionen av elevernas kunskaper vid tre olika tillfällen: (1) diagnos, (2) efter kamratrespons-övningen och (3) efter lärarens feedback. Cirka hälften av eleverna förbättrade sina texter efter kamratresponsen och nästan lika stor andel gjorde det efter lärarens feedback. Utvecklingsarbetet bekräftar resultaten från tidigare studier, som visar att den formativa bedömningen har gynnsamma effekter på elevers lärande, men är mycket resurskrävande ur lärarsynpunkt

Attitudes of a group of Mexican teenagers towards inclusive language

Language and culture are deeply intertwined. Language reflects and influences the attitudes, perceptions and behaviors of its users. Therefore, the use of non-sexist language can contribute to achieving gender equality in society. This study focuses on the perceptions of a group of Mexican teenagers towards inclusive language. In particular, their acceptance degree towards various gender morphemes are studied and compared to the generic use of the masculine gender. The results of the survey show a clear preference for the alternatives that are easy to pronounce, so called, normative gender morphemes, including the generic use of the masculine compared to new, non-normative gender morphemes that are inclusive but difficult to pronounce. Women prefer the splitting strategy (“desdoblamiento”) to a larger degree than men do. Men have a more conservative posture and prefer the generic use of the masculine and reject non-normative gender morphemes. The differences among informants of different socioeconomic levels are smaller. Still, it seems that informants of a higher socioeconomic level have a more conservative attitude towards inclusive language than informants of a lower socioeconomic level

Chemical and Biochemical Biorefineries in Kraft Pulp Mills – Process Integration and Economics for Three Concepts

Some of the advantages of integrating biorefinery concepts with kraft pulp mills are that the utility system can be shared and that mass and energy streams can be exported from the pulp mill to the biorefinery or vice versa. These measures may result in lower investments and operating costs for the biorefinery compared with stand-alone operations. However, the implementation of biorefinery concepts can interact and occasionally interfere with pulp production.In this thesis, assessment results for the integration of three chemical and biochemical biorefinery concepts are presented. The studied concepts include (1) “near-neutral” hemicellulose extraction and upgrading of the hemicellulose-containing stream to ethanol, (2) conversion of a kraft pulp mill to a dissolving pulp mill, and (3) high-solids ethanol production next to a kraft pulp mill. The results of this work show that efficient heat integration within and between the pulp mill and the biorefinery can result in a substantial decrease in utility demand and thereby energy costs. However, changes in composition/flowrates of some material streams at the pulp mill that arise from implementing the biorefinery concept appear to play a crucial role in the technical and economic feasibility of these concepts. For the first biorefinery concept, efficient heat integration can make the processes self-sufficient in terms of steam; however, exporting chemicals from the pulp mill to the biorefinery can destabilize the sodium and sulfur balance in the pulp mill. In the second biorefinery concept, the modified cooking conditions at the pulp mill result in a lower pulp yield. Although the wood input could, in principle, be increased to compensate for the lower yield, the limited capacity of the equipment may result in a pulp production reduction by up to 40% in the worst-case scenario. For the third biorefinery concept, the potential advantages of operating at high-gravity conditions in terms of energy use are almost negligible in practice because very efficient heat integration is possible for both high-solids loading and a more conventional solids loading. Therefore, these advantages cannot compensate for the likely lower ethanol yield in the high-gravity process. The results of this work demonstrate the importance of extending the focus from only the biorefinery reactor to include the entire biorefinery and pulp mill (including the energy system and the available equipment capacity) when evaluating the feasibility of biorefineries. The results are also a reminder of the importance of conducting system studies during the initial development of new processes and in parallel with experimental work