Picolinic Acid in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C Infection: A Preliminary Report

Macrophage activation seems to be a feature of chronic liver diseases. Picolinic acid (PA) as a macrophage secondary signal causes the activation of interferon-gamma- (IFN-γ-) prime macrophage and triggers cytokine-driven inflammatory reactions. The rationale for seeking increased PA formation in chronic viral hepatitis is based on the involvement of activated macrophages in chronic viral hepatitis-associated inflammation. The aim of this study was to determine serum PA levels in patients with chronic hepatitis C infection, taking into account the presence of diabetes. We assessed PA and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) as a marker of inflammation in 51 patients with chronic hepatitis C infection (CHC), both with and without diabetes and 40 controls. Compared with the controls, the patients with CHC showed a significant increase in plasma concentrations of PA and hsCRP (P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, resp.). The values of PA and hsCRP were more elevated in patients with diabetes than without diabetes (both P < 0.01). The positive relationships were between PA and hsCRP levels (P < 0.05) and the presence of diabetes (P < 0.001). We documented that significant elevation in serum PA levels is associated with diabetes prevalence and increased inflammatory response reflected in hsCRP levels in CHC patients

Combustion of coal water slurry-technology enabling the achievement of a reduced technical minimum of the boiler

The idea of combustion of suspended fuels was developed in the 1980s. The largest producer and user of slurry fuels (Coal Water Slurry, CWS) is China [3]. Despite of several decades of CWS research history, investigations are still carried out to improve the parameters of disperse fuels and to improve the combustion of these fuels. The close relationship between the properties of slurry fuels and number of parameters (mainly the type and properties of the coal feedstock) generates the necessity of CWS receipts and determines for what purposes the fuel may be destined. In the case of the use of coal sludge, the resulting slurry allows for the combustion / "disposal" of coal slurry in pulverized boilers. In the case of using better quality fine coal fractions in CWS production, a slurry will be created allowing for achieving the crucial technological goal such as operation of power units with a reduced technical minimum

CO2 gasification process performance for energetic valorization of microalgae

In this study, CO2 gasification process of a marine biomass (Nannochloropsis gaditana microalgae char) has been evaluated. The experiments have been carried out according to a central composite design (CCD), by using a high-pressure thermogravimetric analyzer (HP-TGA). The effect of temperature, total pressure and gasifying agent volume concentration on the CO2 gasification process was studied. Within the CCD studied range, the process performance, expressed as reactivity and gasification rate at 50% conversion, was positively influenced by the increase of temperature and pressure, while CO2 concentration effect was negligible. Empirical models describing the gasification performance as a function of temperature and pressure are presented and discussed. The proposed models allow a more realistic approach of the microalgae gasification process, in comparison with other models where the catalytic effect is often neglected. This study reveals useful process aspects for the development and implementation of microalgae CO2 gasification at industrial scale.En este estudio se ha evaluado el proceso de gasificación de CO 2 de una biomasa marina (microalgae char Nannochloropsis gaditana ). Los experimentos se han llevado a cabo según un diseño compuesto central (CCD), utilizando un analizador termogravimétrico de alta presión (HP-TGA). Se estudió el efecto de la temperatura, la presión total y la concentración de volumen de agente gasificante en el proceso de gasificación de CO 2 . Dentro del rango estudiado por CCD, el desempeño del proceso, expresado como reactividad y tasa de gasificación al 50% de conversión, fue influenciado positivamente por el aumento de temperatura y presión, mientras que el CO 2el efecto de concentración fue insignificante. Se presentan y discuten modelos empíricos que describen el rendimiento de la gasificación en función de la temperatura y la presión. Los modelos propuestos permiten un enfoque más realista del proceso de gasificación de microalgas, en comparación con otros modelos en los que a menudo se descuida el efecto catalítico. Este estudio revela aspectos útiles del proceso para el desarrollo e implementación de la gasificación de CO 2 de microalgas a escala industrial

Applying a science‐based systems perspective to dispel misconceptions about climate effects of forest bioenergy

The scientific literature contains contrasting findings about the climate effects of forest bioenergy, partly due to the wide diversity of bioenergy systems and associated contexts, but also due to differences in assessment methods. The climate effects of bioenergy must be accurately assessed to inform policy-making, but the complexity of bioenergy systems and associated land, industry and energy systems raises challenges for assessment. We examine misconceptions about climate effects of forest bioenergy and discuss important considerations in assessing these effects and devising measures to incentivize sustainable bioenergy as a component of climate policy. The temporal and spatial system boundary and the reference (counterfactual) scenarios are key methodology choices that strongly influence results. Focussing on carbon balances of individual forest stands and comparing emissions at the point of combustion neglect system-level interactions that influence the climate effects of forest bioenergy. We highlight the need for a systems approach, in assessing options and developing policy for forest bioenergy that: (1) considers the whole life cycle of bioenergy systems, including effects of the associated forest management and harvesting on landscape carbon balances; (2) identifies how forest bioenergy can best be deployed to support energy system transformation required to achieve climate goals; and (3) incentivizes those forest bioenergy systems that augment the mitigation value of the forest sector as a whole. Emphasis on short-term emissions reduction targets can lead to decisions that make medium- to long-term climate goals more difficult to achieve. The most important climate change mitigation measure is the transformation of energy, industry and transport systems so that fossil carbon remains underground. Narrow perspectives obscure the significant role that bioenergy can play by displacing fossil fuels now, and supporting energy system transition. Greater transparency and consistency is needed in greenhouse gas reporting and accounting related to bioenergy

Integration of the environmental management aspect in the optimization of the design and planning of energy systems

The increasing concerns regarding the environmental pollution derived from anthropogenic activities, such as the use of fossil fuels for power generation, has driven many interested parties to seek different alternatives, e.g. use of renewable energy sources, use of “cleaner” fuels and use of more effective technologies, in order to minimize and control the quantity of emissions that are produced during the life cycle of conventional energy sources. In addition to these alternatives, the use of an integrated procedure in which the environmental aspect will be taken into account during the design and planning of energy systems could provide a basis on which emissions reduction will be dealt with a life cycle approach. The work presented in this paper focuses on the examination of the possibilities of integrating the environmental aspects in the preliminary phase of the conventional design and planning of energy systems in conjunction with other parameters, such as financial cost, availability, capacity, location, etc. The integration of the environmental parameter to the design is carried out within a context where Eco-design concepts are applied. Due to the multi-parameter nature of the design procedure, the tools that are used are Life Cycle Analysis and Multi-criteria Analysis. The proposed optimization model examines and identifies optimum available options of the use of different energy sources and technologies for the production of electricity and/or heat by minimizing both the financial cost and the environmental impacts, with regard to a multiple objective optimization subject to a set of specific constraints. Implementation of the proposed model in the form of a case study for the island of Rhodes in Greece revealed that an optimized solution both cost and environmental-wise, would be an almost balanced participation of renewables and non-renewable energy sources in the energy mix

E-learning application in medicine

Tytułem niniejszej pracy dyplomowej jest „Aplikacja e-learningowa w medycynie”. Pod-stawowym celem pracy magisterskiej było przedstawienie etapów tworzenia aplikacji, będącej elektroniczną biblioteką około dwóch tysięcy mikroskopowych obrazów patomorfologicz-nych, przekazanych przez Katedrę Patomorfologii Wydziału Lekarskiego Collegium Medicum Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego. Tego typu obrazy mikroskopowe mogą osiągać rozmiary ponad jednego Gigabajta. Aplikacja ta ma na celu umożliwienie studentom kierunków medycznych przeglądanie obrazów przy pomocy przeglądarki internetowej na komputerze lub smartfonie. Daje ona użytkownikowi możliwość wyszukiwania konkretnej pozycji zawartej w zbiorze obrazów, powiększania i oddalania wybranego obszaru, tworzenia oraz odczytywania wła-snych adnotacji. Administrator aplikacji ma możliwość usuwania oraz przesyłania nowych obrazów i stałego poszerzania zbioru. W pierwszej części pracy magisterskiej zostały opisane wykorzystane materiały, wraz z krótkim przedstawieniem roli oglądania obrazów mikrosko-powych w patomorfologii. W pracy zostały również opisane narzędzia pozwalające na odczy-tywanie, przetwarzanie i przechowywanie danych obrazu. Są to między innymi biblioteka OpenSlide, Vips, technologia IIIF, serwery Cantaolupe oraz IIPImage. Do realizacji aplikacji zostało wykorzystane narzędzie CaMicroscope. Jest ono przeglądarką służącą do wyświetlania obrazów. Uruchamiana jest ona jako usługi działające w kontenerach Dockera. Część wyni-kowa pracy zawiera opis narzędzia wykorzystanego do realizacji celu, wraz z opisem instrukcji pozwalających uruchomić aplikację na serwerze. Dodatkowo, w pracy zostały zawarte opisy narzędzi zawartych w aplikacji. Dzięki aplikacji studenci medycznych kierunków oraz inne osoby zainteresowane patomorfologią będą mogły uzyskać dostęp do szerokiej bazy danych, co ułatwi zdobywanie wiedzy bez konieczności wychodzenia z domu.The title of this diploma thesis is "E-learning application in medicine". The main goal of the master's thesis was to present the stages of creating an application, which is an electronic libra-ry of about two thousand microscopic pathomorphological images, provided by the Depart-ment of Pathomorphology, Faculty of Medicine, Jagiellonian University Collegium Medicum. Such microscopic images can reach the size of over one Gigabyte. The Application is designed to allow students of medical fields to image viewing using a web browser on a computer or smartphone. It gives the user the ability to search for a specific item contained in an image set, zoom in and out of a selected area, create and read their own annotations. Application admini-strator has the ability to delete and upload new images and constantly expand the collection. In the first part of the thesis, the materials used were described, along with a brief presenta-tion of the role of viewing microscopic images in pathomorphology. The tools used are among others the OpenSlide library, Vips, IIIF technology, Cantaloupe servers and IIPImage. To implement the application tool has been used CaMicroscope. It is a viewer for displaying ima-ges. It runs as services running in Docker containers. The resulting part of the diploma thesis contains a description of the tool used to achieve the goal, along with a description of the in-structions allowing to run the application on the server. Additionally, the thesis includes de-scriptions of the tools included in the application. To sum up, with this application medical students and other scientists interested in patomorphology will be able to gain access to a wi-de database, which will facilitate the acquisition of knowledge without leaving home

Haemoglobin scavenger receptor: function in relation to disease

Highly efficient systems remove the toxic and proinflammatory haemoglobin from the circulation and local sites of tissue damage. Macrophages are major haemoglobin-clearing cells; CD163 was recently recognized as the specific haemoglobin scavenger receptor (HbSR). It is tightly involved in both physiological as well as pathophysiological processes, such as cytoprotection and inflammation. Haemoglobin functions as a double-edged sword. In moderate quantities and bound to haptoglobin, it forms a ligand for haemoglobin scavenger receptor CD163/HbSR, but when unleashed in large amounts, it can become toxic by mediating oxidative stress and inflammation. CD163/HbSR plays a crucial role in the control of inflammatory processes, probably in part through its effects on both ferritin induction and subsequent induction of antiinflammatory pathways through interleukin-10 and haem oxygenase. Besides the observation that the haemoglobin scavenger receptor provides a promising target for new treatment possibilities, it offers a novel view on the aetiology of diverse physiological as well as pathophysiological processes. In addition, monocyte CD163/HbSR and soluble CD163/HbSR are potential diagnostic tools in a variety of disease states, such as inflammation, atherosclerosis, transplant rejection, and carcinoma

Application for visualization and support PC motherboards assembly

Niniejsza praca opisuje etapy tworzenia aplikacji w środowisku Unity, służącej wizualizacji elementów budowy komputera klasy PC. Aplikacja ta ma na celu umożliwienie użytkownikowi oglądania zarówno każdego z tych elementów składowych z osobna, jak i procesu ich montażu na płycie głównej z możliwością dostosowania perspektywy i tempa według własnych preferencji. Trójwymiarowe modele wszystkich komponentów powstały w programie AutoCad, którego ogólny mechanizm działania również został opisany w pracy. Dodatkowo zawiera ona opisy tworzenia brył i animacji oraz dokumentację użytkową.This thesis describes the stages of creating an application in the Unity environment, which is used to visualize PC components. This application is aimed at enabling the user to view these components individually or to view their motherboard mounting process with the ability to adjust the perspective and pace according to user preferences. Three-dimensional models of all components were created in AutoCad, whose overall mechanism was also described in the thesis. In addition, it contains also descriptions of lumps and animations creating and user documentation

Torrefacted biomass – a new fuel for the power industry

W artykule przedstawiono ideę procesu toryfikacji biomasy oraz omówiono wybrane właściwości fizykochemiczne stałych produktów toryfikacji biomasy surowej, wytworzonych w warunkach laboratoryjnych, a także biowęgli wytworzonych z wierzby energetycznej, trocin z drzew iglastych i łupin pestki palmy olejowca gwinejskiego – z wykorzystaniem instalacji przemysłowej. Omówiono także wyniki analizy porównawczej możliwości zastosowania biomasy toryfikowanej jako paliwa dla celów energetycznych, wykonanej na podstawie wybranych właściwości fizykochemicznych oraz oceny tendencji analizowanych paliw do tworzenia osadów zanieczyszczających elementy kotła. Zastępowanie biomasy surowej biomasą toryfikowaną może pozwolić na zwiększenie jej udziału masowego w całkowitym strumieniu paliwa kierowanego do kotła, a tym samym na zwiększenie wolumenu produkcji energii zaliczanej do energii z OZE w jednostkach współspalających.The paper presents the idea of biomass torrefaction process and discusses selected physicochemical properties of solid products of raw biomass torrefaction, which were produced in laboratory conditions, as well as biocoals produced from energy willow, sawdust from coniferous trees and Palm Kernel Shell (PKS) – with use of an industrial system. The paper also discusses the results of a comparative analysis concerning the possibilities of using torrefacted biomass as a fuel for producing energy; the analysis was conducted on the basis of selected physicochemical properties and an assessment of the tendency of the analysed fuels to form residues contaminating boiler elements. Substituting raw biomass with torrefacted biomass may allow for increasing its mass share in the total stream of fuel directed to the boiler, and thus for increasing production volume of energy qualified as energy from RES in co-combustion units