Obesity and Dyslipidemia Synergistically Exacerbate Psoriatic Skin Inflammation

Patients with psoriasis are frequently complicated with metabolic syndrome; however, it is not fully understood how obesity and dyslipidemia contribute to the pathogenesis of psoriasis. To investigate the mechanisms by which obesity and dyslipidemia exacerbate psoriasis using murine models and neonatal human epidermal keratinocytes (NHEKs), we used wild-type and Apoe-deficient dyslipidemic mice, and administered a high-fat diet for 10 weeks to induce obesity. Imiquimod was applied to the ear for 5 days to induce psoriatic dermatitis. To examine the innate immune responses of NHEKs, we cultured and stimulated NHEKs using IL-17A, TNF-α, palmitic acid, and leptin. We found that obesity and dyslipidemia synergistically aggravated psoriatic dermatitis associated with increased gene expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Treatment of NHEKs with palmitic acid and leptin amplified pro-inflammatory responses in combination with TNF-α and IL-17A. Additionally, pretreatment with palmitic acid and leptin enhanced IL-17A-mediated c-Jun N-terminal kinase phosphorylation. These results revealed that obesity and dyslipidemia synergistically exacerbate psoriatic skin inflammation, and that metabolic-disorder-associated inflammatory factors, palmitic acid, and leptin augment the activation of epidermal keratinocytes. Our results emphasize that management of concomitant metabolic disorders is essential for preventing disease exacerbation in patients with psoriasis.     

Ambient pressure synthesis of La2LiHO3 as a solid electrolyte for a hydrogen electrochemical cell

The capability of La₂LiHO₃ as a H⁻ conductive solid electrolyte has recently been demonstrated, which has suggested the possibility of developing electrochemical devices based on H⁻ conduction. However, the performance of La₂LiHO₃ as a solid electrolyte has not yet been fully clarified. In this study, we prepared La₂LiHO₃ sintered pellets by a conventional solid-state reaction with LiH flux under ambient pressure and characterized the crystal structure and thermal stability (to moisture, ambient air, and oxygen) by neutron and X-ray diffraction measurements. The produced sintered pellets exhibited an activation energy of 69.2 kJ/mol, which is consistent with the value of the sample synthesized by the high-pressure method. The gas-sealing properties of the sintered La₂LiHO₃ pellets as the H⁻ conductive solid electrolyte were confirmed by measuring the electromotive force using a hydrogen concentration cell.     

Synthesis of Small Lipid Nanoparticles Using an Inkjet Mixing System Aiming to Reduce Drug Loss

An inkjet mixing system was investigated to synthesize lipid nanoparticles (LNP) by mixing lipid ethanol and aqueous saline solutions. The system was employed to help minimize drug loss. The quick mixing of the droplets enabled the synthesis of small LNP while reducing the excess amount of saline solution that would contain drugs. The system also features minimal usage of reagents. A high relative velocity of the droplets and moderate values of the impact parameter were necessary for successful mixing. Faster droplets should collide with the upper or horizontal level of slower droplets to promote mixing. A horizontal spin of the coalesced droplets was favored rather than a vertical spin.     

Experimental investigation on the performance parameters of a helical coil dehumidifier test rig

ABSTRACT

Water scarcity is a major problem faced in different parts of the world due to various reasons. Highly humid places closer to sea offers discomfort to the people and the moisture transport inside the building causes hazards to the interior and exterior over a period of time. However, both the water scarcity and high humidity problem can be addressed with the development of a novel system. Present work focuses on the dehumidification process where highly humid air moves over the copper coils wound helically, with cold water running through it. Vapor compression refrigeration cycle maintains the temperature of the cold water. The dehumidification is enhanced with the condensation of moisture and then dehumidified air enters the room. The fresh water collected is used as drinking water. Thermal parameters like temperature and humidity are measured and the overall dehumidification efficiency is assessed. Water condensation rate is found to be optimum for the air velocity 2 m/s with a dehumidification coil temperature of 2°C. These values are 22% and 31% higher than the water temperatures of 5°C and 10°C. The average water harvesting from the current system is 1.90 kg/hr. or 2.57 liters per hour (l/hr.).     

Modeling response granularity with mixture models: A case of severity ratings in child maltreatment

Behaviormetrika - Heaping, where responses are concentrated in round numbers, such as 5 or 10, is one of the response behaviors observed in surveys. The heaping phenomenon in subjective quantities...     

Restacking-inhibited nitrogen-incorporated mesoporous reduced graphene oxides for high energy supercapacitors

Graphene is considered a promising active electrode material due to a large surface area, high electronic conductivity, and chemical and mechanical stabilities for supercapacitor (SC) applications. However, the current bottleneck is the fabrication of restacking-inhibited graphene on an electrode level which otherwise loses the capability to achieve the aforementioned properties. Herein, we demonstrate the synthesis of restacking-inhibited nitrogen (N)-incorporated mesoporous graphene for high energy SCs. The melamine-formaldehyde acts as a restacking inhibitor by forming a bonding with reduced graphene oxide (RGO) through a condensation reaction and as an N precursor to be decomposed to create open pores and N sources upon heat treatment. The d-spacing increases up to 0.352 nm and the surface area is as high as 698 m² g^?1 with high mesoporosity, confirming restacking inhibition by N incorporation decomposed by melamine-formaldehyde. The restacking-inhibited RGO-based SC cells in organic electrolyte show the specific capacitance of 25.8 F g^?1, the energy density of 21.8 kW kg^?1 and 85% of capacitance retention for 5000 cycles, which are better than those of pristine RGO-based cells. These improved SC performances are attributed to the fast ion transport through a mesoporous channel in crumpled structure and the doping effect of N incorporation. This work provides a simple yet effective chemical approach to fabricate restacking-inhibited RGO electrodes for improved SC performances.     

Attractive performance of a Gifford–McMahon cryocooler by co-axial layout of regenerator materials

A novel filling method of regenerator materials, which we name a co-axial layout, is experimentally investigated. The 2nd stage regenerator of a Gifford–McMahon cryocooler was packed with 50% by volume of the co-axial layout (low temperature side) that consisted of 20% Gd₂O₂S and 30% HoCu₂ spheres. The warm temperature side was packed with 50% lead spheres as a single layer. The experimental results show that the cooling power of co-axial layout is almost the same as that of a three-layer layout, 20% Gd₂O₂S, 30% HoCu₂ and 50% lead, at temperatures between the ultimate low temperature (3.0 K) and 6 K. Moreover, at the temperatures above 10 K, the co-axial layout has 1.7–2.0 times the cooling power of the three-layer layout. Thus the co-axial layout produces a major improvement in cooling power. In this paper, the performance of five types of material assortments is discussed.     

Friction and wear properties of MoAlB against Al2O3 and 100Cr6 steel counterparts

The present work investigates, for the first time, the dry sliding friction and wear behaviour of fully dense, predominantly single-phase MoAlB ceramics against alumina (Al₂O₃) and 100Cr6 steel counterparts. Against Al₂O₃, the friction coefficient (μ) increased with increasing load and the wear was highly dependent on the load applied. A transition from mild wear under 1 N and 4 N to severe wear at 10 N occurred. Scanning electron microscopy revealed that abrasion is the dominant wear mechanism. Against steel, μ decreased with increasing load and the wear rates were low, under all applied loads. The morphologies of the worn surfaces against steel were characterized by the appearance of a rippled layers. Atomic force microscopy and Raman spectroscopy were used to propose a possible formation mechanism of such patterns. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed the rippled surfaces to be composed of Fe₂O₃ and a mixture of MoO_x.     

Microkinetic model for WGS over ionic platinum substituted ceria under r-WGS conditions

Water Gas Shift reaction (WGS) is limited by the thermodynamic equilibrium constraint at higher temperatures. This is predominantly observed in the reactant feed consisting of reverse WGS (r-WGS) conditions. In order to understand the intrinsic kinetics of the WGS and to propose a robust rate expression having wider validity, we have developed a plausible microkinetic model for dual site carboxyl mechanism. Using the reaction route analysis (RR) analysis, a robust analytical expression has been developed for the intrinsic rate using the concept of step reversibility. The validity of the kinetic parameters and the rate expression developed has been tested against the experimental data obtained for WGS over r-WGS conditions. From the results obtained, it was found that the formation of carboxyl intermediate is the rate determining step of the system. The CO conversion profile obtained from the simulations predicted the experimentally observed trend to reasonable accuracy even at higher temperatures thus validating the kinetic parameters. In addition to the above, the kinetic parameters also predicted the theoretical equilibrium CO conversion at higher temperatures, thus demonstrating the robustness of the rate expression and kinetic parameters proposed in this study.