Neutrophils Enable Local and Non-Invasive Liposome Delivery to Inflamed Skeletal Muscle and Ischemic Heart

Uncontrolled inflammation is a major pathological factor underlying a range of diseases including autoimmune conditions, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Improving localized delivery of immunosuppressive drugs to inflamed tissue in a non-invasive manner offers significant promise to reduce severe side effects caused by systemic administration. Here, a neutrophil-mediated delivery system able to transport drug-loaded nanocarriers to inflamed tissue by exploiting the inherent ability of neutrophils to migrate to inflammatory tissue is reported. This hybrid system (neutrophils loaded with liposomes ex vivo) efficiently migrates in vitro following an inflammatory chemokine gradient. Furthermore, the triggered release of loaded liposomes and reuptake by target macrophages is studied. The migratory behavior of liposome-loaded neutrophils is confirmed in vivo by demonstrating the delivery of drug-loaded liposomes to an inflamed skeletal muscle in mice. A single low-dose injection of the hybrid system locally reduces inflammatory cytokine levels. Biodistribution of liposome-loaded neutrophils in a human-disease-relevant myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury mouse model after i.v. injection confirms the ability of injected neutrophils to carry loaded liposomes to inflammation sites. This strategy shows the potential of nanocarrier-loaded neutrophils as a universal platform to deliver anti-inflammatory drugs to promote tissue regeneration in inflammatory diseases.     

Active cooling and low carbon comfort

Within the debate about fostering more sustainable built environments one of the key battlegrounds surrounds thermal comfort, and in particular the use of air conditioning. In the search for less energy-intensive alternatives, a renewed interest has emerged around the design vocabulary of ‘passive cooling’. The paper argues that the terminology of passive/active needs inverting for such approaches to gain wider support as a viable alternative to mechanical cooling.

It is argued that non-air-conditioned buildings actively engage with their environments and that the current notion of passive cooling leaves us blind to the ways occupants, buildings and the material culture of interior spaces are all entangled in relations that enable thermal comfort to be actively achieved and maintained. To present this argument for re-categorising low-carbon architecture design as active cooling, the paper draws on the concept of entanglement.     

Elimination of COD, microorganisms and pharmaceuticals from sewage by trickling through sandy soil below leaking sewers

To simulate the filtration and/or degradation of trickling sewage from leaky sewers through the non-water-saturated underground, sewage was trickled through sand of 0.4-2mm from the Rhine valley in glass columns of 125 cm length. For the same sewage the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal was almost independent of low or high trickling rates. The COD removal efficiency varied, however, from 67% to 79%, for sewage from rain and dry weather periods, respectively. The water content of the moist sand increased from initially 80 ml kg(-1) with increasing sewage trickling rates to 108 ml kg(-1) sand. It remained at 108 ml kg(-1) at higher trickling rates higher than 600 ml d(-1). Analyses of effluent of five consecutive 25-cm soil columns revealed that about 50% of the initial COD were filtrated off on top of the sand or degraded in the uppermost 25 cm at varying trickling rates. Another 6-12% of the COD were removed in the following 25-50 cm of sand, whereas almost no further COD removal was seen in the subsequent two or three 25-cm columns. The COD elimination during trickling of sewage through the segmented column (interrupted random flow) was slightly better than that in the non-segmented column. Total and faecal coliform bacteria decreased faster with increasing trickling depth than that of total aerobic or anaerobic bacteria. After a filter/degradation stretch of 125 cm elimination of all bacteria reached 96.2-99.9%. The sewage contained low concentrations of at least 10 different pharmaceuticals or X-ray media. During trickling of sewage through sand, elimination of these compounds by adsorption onto sand and/or biodegradation varied from a complete removal, e.g. Ibuprofen or Naproxen, to almost no removal for several X-ray contrast media. Some of the medicals were removed as effectively as during conventional sewage treatment.     

Focusing on business projects as an area for future research: An exploratory discussion of four different perspectives

An important development in project management in recent years has been the emergence of a new class of projects, in areas such as organisational change and IT, integrated business solutions, and long-term public service delivery. Often referred to as ‘business projects’, this new class of projects (and programmes) reflects a growing conceptual shift away from the traditional engineering view of projects, towards a more business-oriented view, in which the primary concern is no longer the capital asset, system or facility etc, but increasingly the challenge of implementing business strategy, improving organisational effectiveness, and managing the realisation of stakeholder benefits. Drawing on recent research from the UK Government-funded Rethinking Project Management Network, this paper argues that future research in this area needs to look beyond the mainstream literature on project management, to other relevant disciplines such as strategic management, operations management, and the management of change. Against this background, the authors present four conceptual perspectives from the management literature, which can be usefully applied to business projects. They represent exploratory contributions from four participants in the Network – a special collaboration between researchers – whose ideas and perspectives were either discussed at the Network meetings, or are the subject of research elsewhere. Collectively, the four contributions represent an exploratory discussion of different theoretical perspectives, in order to inform and stimulate other researchers and practitioners working in the field.     

Electricity System Reliability Issues During Energy System Transformation

Energy system transformation in the electric energy industry encompasses a broad range of changes in how primary energy is produced, transported, converted, priced, and delivered to consumers. Minnesota Power (ALLETE) is responding to these changes by implementing strategies like our EnergyForward resource strategy. EnergyForward describes the transition to a diverse and balanced generation portfolio that meets customers' desires for clean, safe, flexible, and affordable electricity.     

The expansion of Google Scholar versus Web of Science: a longitudinal study

Web of Science (WoS) and Google Scholar (GS) are prominent citation services with distinct indexing mechanisms. Comprehensive knowledge about the growth patterns of these two citation services is lacking. We analyzed the development of citation counts in WoS and GS for two classic articles and 56 articles from diverse research fields, making a distinction between retroactive growth (i.e., the relative difference between citation counts up to mid-2005 measured in mid-2005 and citation counts up to mid-2005 measured in April 2013) and actual growth (i.e., the relative difference between citation counts up to mid-2005 measured in April 2013 and citation counts up to April 2013 measured in April 2013). One of the classic articles was used for a citation-by-citation analysis. Results showed that GS has substantially grown in a retroactive manner (median of 170 % across articles), especially for articles that initially had low citations counts in GS as compared to WoS. Retroactive growth of WoS was small, with a median of 2 % across articles. Actual growth percentages were moderately higher for GS than for WoS (medians of 54 vs. 41 %). The citation-by-citation analysis showed that the percentage of citations being unique in WoS was lower for more recent citations (6.8 % for citations from 1995 and later vs. 41 % for citations from before 1995), whereas the opposite was noted for GS (57 vs. 33 %). It is concluded that, since its inception, GS has shown substantial expansion, and that the majority of recent works indexed in WoS are now also retrievable via GS. A discussion is provided on quantity versus quality of citations, threats for WoS, weaknesses of GS, and implications for literature research and research evaluation.     

Fullerene Single Crystals: Structure and Electronic Properties

Abstract

This work covers an advanced investigation of the single crystal growth process for fullerenic materials and the contribution of Raman and IR spectroscopy to the understanding of the fcc high temperature rotor phase and the low temperature sc ratchet phase of pristine C₆₀. In addition substantial research contributions to the understanding of alkali metal doped fullerenes are presented.

Alkali metal doped crystals are studied with particular attention to the line broadening in the superconducting A ₃C₆₀ phase and to the phases with stoichiometry A₁C₆₀. For the former electron-phonon coupling constants could be determined for all fivefold degenerated gerade modes and a total coupling strenght of λ = 0.90 was found. For the latter the different experimental conditions for obtaining the phase separated intermediate state or alternatively the orthorhombic polymeric state are analysed. Vibrational spectra for the polymeric state obtained from phototransformation and from mono alkali metal doping are found to be characteristically different, mainly with respect to the intensity of the Raman or IR response. Finally, research results obtained from the single crystals by various other techniques like thermal expansion or low frequency elastic deformation are summarized.     

Psychological constructs in driving automation: a consensus model and critical comment on construct proliferation

As automation in vehicles becomes more prevalent, the call for understanding the behaviour of the driver while driving an automated vehicle becomes more salient. Although a variety of driver behaviour models exist, and various psychological constructs have been said to be influenced by automation, an empirically testable psychological model of automated driving has yet to be developed. Building upon Stanton and Young's model of driving automation, this article presents an updated model of interrelated psychological constructs. The proposed model was created based upon a systematic literature search of driving automation papers and a subsequent quantification of the number of reported links between a selected set of psychological constructs. A secondary aim of this article is to reach consensus in the use of psychological constructs regarding driving automation. Henceforth special attention is paid to resolving the issue of construct proliferation.