The mechanisms and factors that induce trained immunity in arthropods and mollusks

Besides dividing the organism’s immune system into adaptive and innate immunity, it has long been thought that only adaptive immunity can establish immune memory. However, many studies have shown that innate immunity can also build immunological memory through epigenetic reprogramming and modifications to resist pathogens’ reinfection, known as trained immunity. This paper reviews the role of mitochondrial metabolism and epigenetic modifications and describes the molecular foundation in the trained immunity of arthropods and mollusks. Mitochondrial metabolism and epigenetic modifications complement each other and play a key role in trained immunity

Functional Evaluation of Genetic and Environmental Regulators of P450 mRNA Levels

Variations in the activities of Cytochrome P450s are one of the major factors responsible for inter-individual differences in drug clearance rates, which may cause serious toxicity or inefficacy of therapeutic drugs. Various mRNA level is one of the key factors for different activity of the major P450 genes. Although both genetic and environmental regulators of P450 gene expression have been widely investigated, few studies have evaluated the functional importance of cis- and trans-regulatory factors and environmental factors in the modulation of inter-individual expression variations of the P450 genes. In this study, we measured the mRNA levels of seven major P450 genes (CYP1A1, CYP1A2, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, CYP2D6, CYP3A4 and CYP3A5) in 96 liver biopsy samples from Chinese population. Both trans-acting (mRNA levels and non-synonymous SNPs of putative regulator genes) and cis-acting (gene copy number and functional SNPs) factors were investigated to identify the determinants of the expression variations of these seven P450 genes. We found that expression variations of most P450 genes, regulator genes and housekeeping genes were positively correlated at the mRNA level. After partial correlation analysis using ACTB and GAPDH expression to eliminate the effect of global regulators, a UPGMA (Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean) tree was constructed to reveal the effects of specific regulation networks potentially masked by global regulators. Combined with the functional analysis of regulators, our results suggested that expression variation at the mRNA level was mediated by several factors in a gene-specific manner. Cis-acting genetic variants might play key roles in the expression variation of CYP2D6 and CYP3A5, environmental inducers might play key roles in CYP1A1 and CYP1A2 variation and global regulators might play key roles in CYP2C9 variation. In addition, the functions of regulators that play less important roles in controlling expression variation for each P450 gene were determined

The World Federation of Democratic Youth and Bruno Bernini's encounter with Mao's China

This paper examines the role played by adult-led youth groups in providing avenues for early encounters between Italian and Chinese Communists in the '50s. In particular, it focuses on the links built up within international organisations linked to the Soviet-sponsored peace movement at a time when direct exchange between the Italian and Chinese Communist parties had yet to start. Relying on a large variety of primary and secondary sources, some of which have never been used before, I provide evidence of how participation in Soviet-led international organisations made early political contacts and interactions possible. The focus is on Bruno Bernini, whose personal experience in China is examined within the context of the World Federation of Democratic Youth's policies and initiatives in the early and mid-'50s

Numerical Investigation of Non-Newtonian Flow and Heat Transfer Characteristics in Rectangular Tubes with Protrusions

Flow characteristics and heat transfer performances in rectangular tubes with protrusions are numerically investigated in this paper. The thermal heat transfer enhancement of composite structures and flow resistance reduction of non-Newtonian fluid are taken advantage of to obtain a better thermal performance. Protrusion channels coupled with different CMC concentration solutions are studied, and the results are compared with that of smooth channels with water flow. The comprehensive influence of turbulence effects, structural effects, and secondary flow effects on the CMC’s flow in protrusion tubes is extensively investigated. The results indicate that the variation of flow resistance parameters of shear-thinning power-law fluid often shows a nonmonotonic trend, which is different from that of water. It can be concluded that protrusion structure can effectively enhance the heat transfer of CMC solution with low pressure penalty in specific cases. Moreover, for a specific protrusion structure and a fixed flow velocity, there exists an optimal solution concentration showing the best thermal performance

Numerical Study on Flow and Heat Transfer Performance of Rectangular Heat Sink with Compound Heat Transfer Enhancement Structures

Modern gas turbine blade is operating at high temperature which requires abundant cooling. Considering both heat transfer rate and pumping power for internal passages, developing efficient cooling passages is of great importance. Ribbed channel has been proved as effective heat transfer enhancement technology for considerable heat transfer characteristics; however, the pressure loss is impressive. Dimple and protrusion are frequently considered as new heat transfer augmentation tools for their low friction loss in recent years. Numerical simulations are adopted to investigate the thermal performance of rectangular channel with compound heat transfer enhancement structures with ribs, dimples, and protrusions. Among all configurations, the nondimensional dimple/protrusion depths are 0.2. The results present the flow structures of all channel configurations. The Nu/Nu 0 distributions of channel section are discussed for each case. The pressure penalty f / f 0 and the thermal performance TP are also considered as important parameters for heat transfer enhancement. It can be concluded that the optimal structure of the compound heat transfer enhancement structure is rib + protrusion ( D = 6 mm) + dimple ( D = 15 mm)

Numerical Calculations on Flow and Heat Transfer in Smooth and Ribbed Two-Pass Square Channels under Rotational Effects

U-shaped channel, which is also called two-pass channel, commonly exists in gas turbine internal coolant passages. Ribbed walls are frequently adopted in internal passage to enhance the heat transfer. Considering the rotational condition of gas turbine blade on operation, the effect of rotation is also investigated for the coolant channel which is close to real operation condition. Thus, the objective of this study is to discuss the effect of rotation on fluid flow and heat transfer performance of U-shaped channel with ribbed walls under high rotational numbers. Investigated Reynolds number is Re =12500 and the rotation numbers are Rob=0.4 and 0.6. In the results, the spatially heat transfer coefficient distributions are exhibited to discuss the effect of rotation and roughened walls. It is found that ribbed walls enhance the heat transfer rate significantly. Under the rotational condition, the Nu in the first pass with outward flow is increased while that in the second pass is decreased. Finally, average Nu ratio, friction ratio, and thermal performance are all presented to discuss the thermal characteristics