ABC Transporters in T Cell-Mediated Physiological and Pathological Immune Responses

ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters represent a heterogeneous group of ATP-dependent transport proteins, which facilitate the import and/or export of various substrates, including lipids, sugars, amino acids and peptides, ions, and drugs. ABC transporters are involved in a variety of physiological processes in different human tissues. More recent studies have demonstrated that ABC transporters also regulate the development and function of different T cell populations, such as thymocytes, Natural Killer T cells, CD8⁺ T cells, and CD4⁺ T helper cells, including regulatory T cells. Here, we review the current knowledge on ABC transporters in these T cell populations by summarizing how ABC transporters regulate the function of the individual cell types and how this affects the immunity to viruses and tumors, and the course of autoimmune diseases. Furthermore, we provide a perspective on how a better understanding of the function of ABC transporters in T cells might provide promising novel avenues for the therapy of autoimmunity and to improve immunity to infection and cancer.     

Ultrasonic Sealing of Flexible Packaging Films – Principle and Characteristics of an Alternative Sealing Method

The closure process for packaging is a key process. It ensures the protective function of packaging and assures the packaged goods a long life. In this context, efficient and reliable sealing processes are essential for the production of sustainable packages. In this paper, several characteristics of the ultrasonic sealing process will be discussed and accompanied by experimental results. The introduction provides an insight into the ultrasonic sealing process, its heating mechanisms and the process steps. A comparison is made with conduction sealing. Furthermore, basic principles of heating and energy dissipation are related to the influences of the sealing parameters on the seam strength. The experimental studies were carried out on typical packaging films, such as polyamide‐polyethylene laminates. The seam strength in ultrasonic sealing is compared with that in conductive sealing. A lower seam strength was found for ultrasonic sealing in all the tested films. Furthermore, the sealing behaviour of the packaging films contaminated with different kinds of foods was analysed for both sealing methods. Although the ultrasonic sealing method has marginal advantages for bulk materials such as wheat flour, conduction sealing was shown to be better for other products. A comparison of the energy consumption during the ultrasonic and conduction sealing verified the advantages of ultrasonic sealing. In particular for thick packaging films, the amount of energy required for bonding is significantly lower than for conduction sealing. In summary, this paper provides a survey of the characteristics of the ultrasonic sealing method in packaging applications – its advantages and limitations. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Interconnector capacity allocation in offshore grids with variable wind generation

Different capacity allocation regimes have a strong impact on the economics of offshore wind farms and on interconnectors in offshore grids. Integrating offshore generation in offshore grids is currently a subject of discussion for different regions, e.g. the North Sea. A novel question is how the interconnector capacity should be allocated for wind generation and for international power trading. The main difficulty arises from the stochastic nature of wind generation: in a case with radial connections to the national coast, the wind park owner has the possibility of aggregating the offshore wind park with onshore installations to reduce balancing demand. This is not necessarily the case if the interconnector capacity is sold through implicit or explicit auctions. Different design options are discussed and quantified for a number of examples based on Danish, Dutch, German and Norwegian power markets. It is concluded that treating offshore generation as a single price zone within the interconnector reduces the wind operator's ability to pool it with other generation. Furthermore, a single offshore price zone between two markets will always receive the lower spot market price of the neighbouring zones, although its generation flows only to the high‐price market. Granting the high‐price market income for wind generation as the opposite design option reduces congestion rents. Otherwise, compensation measures through support schemes or different balancing responsibilities may be discussed. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Influence of the chemical structure on the thermal degradation of the glucosinolates in broccoli sprouts

Glucosinolates are secondary plant metabolites occurring in Brassica vegetables. Food processing significantly reduces glucosinolate content, among other things due to thermal degradation. As there is only little information about thermal glucosinolate breakdown, the influence of the chemical structure as well as the influence of different pH to thermal degradation of individual glucosinolates was studied by analysing desulphoglucosinolates with HPLC-DAD. Thermal degradation was forced by heating broccoli sprouts at 130 °C in dry medium, whereas the influence of the pH was studied by cooking at 100 °C in aqueous medium. Within each group of glucosinolates differences in thermal degradation were revealed. Within the sulphur containing aliphatic glucosinolates the oxidative state of the sulphur atom as well as the side chain length influenced the reactivity. Among the indole glucosinolates great differences in stability were observed. A hydroxyl function in the side chain generally seems to destabilise glucosinolates. Glucosinolates were most stable towards thermal treatment in neutral and slightly acidic medium, whereas they degraded more rapidly in basic medium.     

Evaluation of white rot decay in phenol-formaldehyde resin treated European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) LVL by drilling resistance measurements

Improving the properties of laminated veneer lumber (LVL) through wood modification expands its usage as building material, especially for outdoor applications. The outdoor performance of LVL products needs to be tested against different biotic agents, and methods are needed for testing and evaluating their effect on the structural integrity of LVL. In this study, drilling resistance (DR) measurements were used to quantify the effect of fungal decay in phenol-formaldehyde (PF) resin treated European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) LVL caused by white rot fungi. Material specific peculiarities and their effect on the evaluation method were studied such as the effect of drill bit blunting, moisture content (MC), drilling direction and PF resin content on the DR of PF-modified LVL. The drilling direction in relation to veneer and glue layers had a significant effect on DR and feeding resistance (FR). The PF resin treatment increased the DR. Feeding resistance was found more sensitive to the blunting of the drill bit than DR. The effect of MC on DR and FR was found to be insignificant. The effect of PF resin content on the prediction of mass loss (ML) by DR became prominent only for ML by white rot decay below 10 %. Correlations between DR, ML due to fungal decay and weight percent gain were established and described with a two-factor regression model. The drill bit feed rate of 0.5 m min^?1 and the rotational frequency of 3500 min^?1 as well as the transversal drilling in relation to the veneer (glue) layers were recommended for the assessment of beech LVL treated with PF resin. The DR measurements showed high potential as a fast standard evaluation method for decay and strength loss of LVL products.

     

Fluorescence quenching and luminescence sensitization in complexes of Tb3+ and Eu3+ with humic substances

Intrinsic fluorescence quenching of humic substances (HS) and the sensitization of Ln3+ luminescence (Ln3+ = Tb3+, Eu3+) in HS complexes were investigated. Both measurements yielded complementary information on the complexation of metals by HS. Large differences between fulvic acids (FA) and humic acids (HA) were found. From time-resolved luminescence measurements it is concluded that a combination of energy transfer and energy back transfer between HS and Ln3+ is responsible for the observed luminescence decay characteristics. In the case of Eu3+, an additional participation of charge-transfer states is suggested. A new concept for the evaluation of the sensitized luminescence decays of Ln3+ was adapted.     

Numerische Simulation von Rammarbeiten im Erdwiderstandsbereich von Baugrubenwänden

Numerical simulation of pile driving in the area of soil resistance of pit walls. In‐situ measurements at deep excavations during the construction show that the installation of buoyancy piles for the pit floor leads to large deformations of the pit walls. Today these additional loads caused by the construction of adjacent piles cannot be predicted and often lead to astonishment. The aim of this article is to present a first numerical model to predict the additional loads for the ground and the pit walls in the near field of driven piles. Regarding additional deformations of a pit wall at the Potsdamer Platz due to vibratory pile driving of buoyancy piles the importance of the numerical investigation is described. Nevertheless in the future considerable efforts are necessary to receive recommendations for the construction of pit walls.