NF-κB dependent and independent mechanisms of quartz-induced proinflammatory activation of lung epithelial cells

In the initiation and progression of pulmonary inflammation, macrophages have classically been considered as a crucial cell type. However, evidence for the role of epithelial type II cells in pulmonary inflammation has been accumulating. In the current study, a combined in vivo and in vitro approach has been employed to investigate the mechanisms of quartz-induced proinflammatory activation of lung epithelial cells. In vivo, enhanced expression of the inflammation- and oxidative stress-related genes HO-1 and iNOS was found on the mRNA level in rat lungs after instillation with DQ12 respirable quartz. Activation of the classical NF-κB pathway in macrophages and type II pneumocytes was indicated by enhanced immunostaining of phospho-IκBα in these specific lung cell types. In vitro, the direct, particle-mediated effect on proinflammatory signalling in a rat lung epithelial (RLE) cell line was compared to the indirect, macrophage product-mediated effect. Treatment with quartz particles induced HO-1 and COX-2 mRNA expression in RLE cells in an NF-κB independent manner. Supernatant from quartz-treated macrophages rapidly activated the NF-κB signalling pathway in RLE cells and markedly induced iNOS mRNA expression up to 2000-fold compared to non-treated control cells. Neutralisation of TNFα and IL-1β in macrophage supernatant did not reduce its ability to elicit NF-κB activation of RLE cells. In addition the effect was not modified by depletion or supplementation of intracellular glutathione

4th International Symposium on Ambient Intelligence (ISAmI 2013)

Ambient Intelligence (AmI) is a recent paradigm emerging from Artificial Intelligence (AI), where computers are used as proactive tools assisting people with their day-to-day activities, making everyone’s life more comfortable. Another main concern of AmI originates from the human computer interaction domain and focuses on offering ways to interact with systems in a more natural way by means user friendly interfaces. This field is evolving quickly as can be witnessed by the emerging natural language and gesture based types of interaction. The inclusion of computational power and communication technologies in everyday objects is growing and their embedding into our environments should be as invisible as possible. In order for AmI to be successful, human interaction with computing power and embedded systems in the surroundings should be smooth and happen without people actually noticing it. The only awareness people should have arises from AmI: more safety, comfort and wellbeing, emerging in a natural and inherent way. ISAmI is the International Symposium on Ambient Intelligence and aiming to bring together researchers from various disciplines that constitute the scientific field of Ambient Intelligence to present and discuss the latest results, new ideas, projects and lessons learned, namely in terms of software and applications, and aims to bring together researchers from various disciplines that are interested in all aspects of this area

Comparative evaluation of the effects of short-term inhalation exposure to diesel engine exhaust on rat lung and brain

Combustion-derived nanoparticles, such as diesel engine exhaust particles, have been implicated in the adverse health effects of particulate air pollution. Recent studies suggest that inhaled nanoparticles may also reach and/or affect the brain. The aim of our study was to comparatively evaluate the effects of short-term diesel engine exhaust (DEE) inhalation exposure on rat brain and lung. After 4 or 18 h recovery from a 2 h nose-only exposure to DEE (1.9 mg/m(3)), the mRNA expressions of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and cytochrome P450 1A1 (CYP1A1) were investigated in lung as well as in pituitary gland, hypothalamus, olfactory bulb, olfactory tubercles, cerebral cortex, and cerebellum. HO-1 protein expression in brain was investigated by immunohistochemistry and ELISA. In the lung, 4 h post-exposure, CYP1A1 and iNOS mRNA levels were increased, while 18 h post-exposure HO-1 was increased. In the pituitary at 4 h post-exposure, both CYP1A1 and HO-1 were increased; HO-1 was also elevated in the olfactory tuberculum at this time point. At 18 h post-exposure, increased expression of HO-1 and COX-2 was observed in cerebral cortex and cerebellum, respectively. Induction of HO-1 protein was not observed after DEE exposure. Bronchoalveolar lavage analysis of inflammatory cell influx, TNF-α, and IL-6 indicated that the mRNA expression changes occurred in the absence of lung inflammation. Our study shows that a single, short-term inhalation exposure to DEE triggers region-specific gene expression changes in rat brain to an extent comparable to those observed in the lung

Quantitative and Qualitative Rating and Ranking Studies for Consolidation of an Application Portfolio for Large Scale Pilots

The ReAAL project intends to deploy a critical mass of Ambient Assisted Living applications and services for ca. 7000 users in seven EU countries, based upon the universAAL platform, previously developed with EC support, with the in-tent of kick-starting the market for interoperable AAL services, applications and devices. ReAAL will facilitate the emergence of an AAL ecosystem by showing the platform usefulness, and spreading the related technical knowledge through an associated community of interest. Here, ReAAL will establish a multi-dimension evaluation methodology to measure the impact of the deployment of the AAL ecosystem in terms of the social, economic and health indicators. Whether health, safety, comfort, social integration or support of mobility - assistance might be needed in any possible aspect of daily life. From an investment point of view, the AAL market should allow individuals in danger of losing in-dependence to pick the set of applications and services of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) over time in conjunction with actual needs, as they arise. Open platforms are supposed to be the enabler for such gradual system evolution and support products and services to become more affordable, future-proof, adaptable, and accessible. The ReAAL project investigates these assumptions via a number of pilots, each with a different focus. If the platform's usefulness can be shown and the related technical knowledge is spread to an associated community of interest, a self-organizing AAL ecosystem will emerge, from which diverse stakeholders will benefit: application and technology vendors, service providers, public authorities and policy makers, sponsors, and the consumer masses, foremost those people who wish to be able to avoid dependency on nursing homes, preferring to continue to live independently in their own homes

Quantitative and Qualitative Rating and Ranking Studies for Consolidation of an Application Portfolio for Large Scale Pilots

The ReAAL project intends to deploy a critical mass of Ambient Assisted Living applications and services for ca. 7000 users in seven EU countries, based upon the universAAL platform, previously developed with EC support, with the in-tent of kick-starting the market for interoperable AAL services, applications and devices. ReAAL will facilitate the emergence of an AAL ecosystem by showing the platform usefulness, and spreading the related technical knowledge through an associated community of interest. Here, ReAAL will establish a multi-dimension evaluation methodology to measure the impact of the deployment of the AAL ecosystem in terms of the social, economic and health indicators. Whether health, safety, comfort, social integration or support of mobility - assistance might be needed in any possible aspect of daily life. From an investment point of view, the AAL market should allow individuals in danger of losing in-dependence to pick the set of applications and services of Ambient Assisted Living (AAL) over time in conjunction with actual needs, as they arise. Open platforms are supposed to be the enabler for such gradual system evolution and support products and services to become more affordable, future-proof, adaptable, and accessible. The ReAAL project investigates these assumptions via a number of pilots, each with a different focus. If the platform's usefulness can be shown and the related technical knowledge is spread to an associated community of interest, a self-organizing AAL ecosystem will emerge, from which diverse stakeholders will benefit: application and technology vendors, service providers, public authorities and policy makers, sponsors, and the consumer masses, foremost those people who wish to be able to avoid dependency on nursing homes, preferring to continue to live independently in their own homes

Empathizing in design thinking processes for multi-stakeholder innovation

Initiating open innovation for wicked problems is rather difficult because of the number of people/stakeholders that areinvolved and the interconnectedness with other problems. This development presents interesting challenges andopportunities for the development of products, systems, and related services. Design thinking has been widely recognisedas an open problem-solving process with a more human-centred approach to wicked problems than traditional designchallenges. To get a better understanding of these problems, collective action strategies are often required to involvemulti-stakeholders with often conflicting beliefs and values. The empathising activities in the design thinking process aretherefore required for better understanding of the stakeholders as well as the end users.Through analysing interviews with designers and reflecting with practitioners who apply design thinking to supportopen innovation projects, this paper evaluates how VanBerlo, a design and innovation agency in the Netherlands,supports the creation of professional empathy in the early stages of multi-stakeholder innovation. This paper examineshow different empathies were (not) created in real-life design thinking cases by VanBerlo. The obtained insights will beused to enhance the empathy concept and provide hands-on experiences to practitioners when initiating multi-stakeholderinnovation