Characterization of the Basal and mTOR-Dependent Acute Pulmonary and Systemic Immune Response in a Murine Model of Combined Burn and Inhalation Injury

Severe burn injury leads to a cascade of local and systemic immune responses that trigger an extreme state of immune dysfunction, leaving the patient highly susceptible to acute and chronic infection. When combined with inhalation injury, burn patients have higher mortality and a greater chance of developing secondary respiratory complications including infection. No animal model of combined burn and inhalation injury (B+I) exists that accurately mirrors the human clinical picture, nor are there any effective immunotherapies or predictive models of the risk of immune dysfunction. Our earlier work showed that the mechanistic/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway is activated early after burn injury, and its chemical blockade at injury reduced subsequent chronic bacterial susceptibility. It is unclear if mTOR plays a role in the exacerbated immune dysfunction seen after B+I injury. We aimed to: (1) characterize a novel murine model of B+I injury, and (2) investigate the role of mTOR in the immune response after B+I injury. Pulmonary and systemic immune responses to B+I were characterized in the absence or presence of mTOR inhibition at the time of injury. Data describe a murine model of B+I with inhalation-specific immune phenotypes and implicate mTOR in the acute immune dysfunction observed.     

Managing diet quality for Cheddar cheese manufacturing milk. 1. The influence of protein and energy supplements.

The effects of supplementing cows' diets with protein and energy on milk composition and the composition and yield of Cheddar cheese were investigated. This research addresses the problems of seasonal reduction in the capacity of cheese curds to expel moisture as observed in parts of south-eastern Australia. Milk was collected from cows offered a basal diet of silage and hay supplemented with different sources and levels of dietary protein and energy. The protein supplements were sunflower, canola, cottonseed meal and lupin, and the energy supplements were maize grain, oats, wheat and barely. This milk was used to manufacture Cheddar cheese on a pilot scale. Cheese moisture content was dependent on the source and level of dietary protein and energy. Milk from cows offered the lupin protein supplements and wheat energy supplements consistently produced cheese with a lower moisture content and moisture in fat-free matter. Milk from these supplemented diets had increased casein concentrations and higher proportions of alpha S2-casein than milk from the poor quality control diet. Cheese yield was directly related to the total casein concentration of milk, but was not influenced by differences in casein composition. Supplementing the cows' diets increased the inorganic P, Mg and Ca concentrations in milk. A low inorganic P concentration in milk from cows offered the control diet was caused by a low intake of dietary P. These findings showed that changes in the mineral and casein composition of milk, associated with diet, could influence the composition of Cheddar cheese.     

Molybdenum Dioxide in Carbon Nanoreactors as a Catalytic Nanosponge for the Efficient Desulfurization of Liquid Fuels

The principle of a “catalytic nanosponge” that combines the catalysis of organosulfur oxidation and sequestration of the products from reaction mixtures is demonstrated. Group VI metal oxide nanoparticles (CrO_x, MoO_x, WO_x) are embedded within hollow graphitized carbon nanofibers (GNFs), which act as nanoscale reaction vessels for oxidation reactions used in the decontamination of fuel. When immersed in a model liquid alkane fuel contaminated with organosulfur compounds (benzothiophene, dibenzothiophene, dimethyldibenzothiophene), it is found that MoO₂@GNF nanoreactors, comprising 30 nm molybdenum dioxide nanoparticles grown within the channel of GNFs, show superior abilities toward oxidative desulfurization (ODS), affording over 98% sulfur removal at only 5.9 mol% catalyst loading. The role of the carbon nanoreactor in MoO₂@GNF is to enhance the activity and stability of catalytic centers over at least 5 cycles. Surprisingly, the nanotube cavity can selectively absorb and remove the ODS products (sulfoxides and sulfones) from several model fuel systems. This effect is related to an adsorptive desulfurization (ADS) mechanism, which in combination with ODS within the same material, yields a “catalytic nanosponge” MoO₂@GNF. This innovative ODS and ADS synergistic functionality negates the need for a solvent extraction step in fuel desulfurization and produces ultralow sulfur fuel.     

Carbon‐Based Anodes for Lithium Sulfur Full Cells with High Cycle Stability

The lithium sulfur battery system has been studied since the late 1970s and has seen renewed interest in recent years. However, even after three decades of intensive research, prolonged cycling can only be achieved when a large excess of electrolyte and lithium is used. Here, for the first time, a balanced and stable lithium sulfur full cell is demonstrated with silicon–carbon as well as all‐carbon anodes. More than 1000 cycles, a specific capacity up to 1470 mAh g^?1 _sulfur (720 mAh g^?1 _cathode), and a high coulombic efficiency of over 99% even with a low amount of electrolyte are achieved. The alternative anodes do not suffer from electrolyte depletion, which is found to be the main cause of cell failure when using metallic lithium anodes.     

Nonlinear fuzzy rule-based approach for estimating video trafficrate

The authors investigate a fuzzy logic-based video rate control technique which aims to regulate compressed video to a constant transmission rate, without incurring objectionable quality degradation. Conventional fuzzy rule-based control (FRC) does not adequately control the output video quality. Video information is therefore added into the FRC design by incorporating feed-forward scaling factors, derived from scene change features. The performance of this coder has been compared with other approaches measuring buffer occupancy, the number of coded bits per frame and peak signal-to-noise ratio     

Self‐Assembly of Atomically Thin Chiral Copper Heterostructures Templated by Black Phosphorus

The fabrication of 2D systems for electronic devices is not straightforward, with top‐down low‐yield methods often employed leading to irregular nanostructures and lower quality devices. Here, a simple and reproducible method to trigger self‐assembly of arrays of high aspect‐ratio chiral copper heterostructures templated by the structural anisotropy in black phosphorus (BP) nanosheets is presented. Using quantitative atomic resolution aberration‐corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy imaging, in situ heating transmission electron microscopy and electron energy‐loss spectroscopy arrays of heterostructures forming at speeds exceeding 100 nm s^?1 and displaying long‐range order over micrometers are observed. The controlled instigation of the self‐assembly of the Cu heterostructures embedded in BP is achieved using conventional electron beam lithography combined with site specific placement of Cu nanoparticles. Density functional theory calculations are used to investigate the atomic structure and suggest a metallic nature of the Cu heterostructures grown in BP. The findings of this new hybrid material with unique dimensionality, chirality, and metallic nature and its triggered self‐assembly open new and exciting opportunities for next generation, self‐assembling devices.     

Continuous monitor of dangerous levels of microwave power

High mortality rates have been observed when animals arc exposed for up to 100 min in r.f. radiation having frequencies greater than 10 MHz and power densities of the order of 100 mW/cm2. A safety level of 10 mW/cm2 for frequencies above 10 MHz and exposures of the order of 5 min has therefore been generally adopted. A continuously monitoring small-size instrument for dangerous maximum and average levels of microwave power is required, particularly if it can be carried in the pocket of a person in a similar manner as the well known X ray photographic monitor.