Group II innate lymphoid cells and microvascular dysfunction from pulmonary titanium dioxide nanoparticle exposure

Background

The cardiovascular effects of pulmonary exposure to engineered nanomaterials (ENM) are poorly understood, and the reproductive consequences are even less understood. Inflammation remains the most frequently explored mechanism of ENM toxicity. However, the key mediators and steps between lung exposure and uterine health remain to be fully defined. The purpose of this study was to determine the uterine inflammatory and vascular effects of pulmonary exposure to titanium dioxide nanoparticles (nano-TiO₂). We hypothesized that pulmonary nano-TiO₂ exposure initiates a Th2 inflammatory response mediated by Group II innate lymphoid cells (ILC2), which may be associated with an impairment in uterine microvascular reactivity.

Methods

Female, virgin, Sprague-Dawley rats (8–12 weeks) were exposed to 100 μg of nano-TiO₂ via intratracheal instillation 24 h prior to microvascular assessments. Serial blood samples were obtained at 0, 1, 2 and 4 h post-exposure for multiplex cytokine analysis. ILC2 numbers in the lungs were determined. ILC2s were isolated and phosphorylated nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-?B) levels were measured. Pressure myography was used to assess vascular reactivity of isolated radial arterioles.

Results

Pulmonary nano-TiO₂ exposure was associated with an increase in IL-1ß, 4, 5 and 13 and TNF- α 4 h post-exposure, indicative of an innate Th2 inflammatory response. ILC2 numbers were significantly increased in lungs from exposed animals (1.66?±?0.19%) compared to controls (0.19?±?0.22%). Phosphorylation of the transactivation domain (Ser-468) of NF-κB in isolated ILC2 and IL-33 in lung epithelial cells were significantly increased (126.8?±?4.3% and 137?±?11% of controls respectively) by nano-TiO₂ exposure. Lastly, radial endothelium-dependent arteriolar reactivity was significantly impaired (27?±?12%), while endothelium-independent dilation (7?±?14%) and α-adrenergic sensitivity (8?±?2%) were not altered compared to control levels. Treatment with an anti- IL-33 antibody (1 mg/kg) 30 min prior to nano-TiO₂ exposure resulted in a significant improvement in endothelium-dependent dilation and a decreased level of IL-33 in both plasma and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid.

Conclusions

These results provide evidence that the uterine microvascular dysfunction that follows pulmonary ENM exposure may be initiated via activation of lung-resident ILC2 and subsequent systemic Th2-dependent inflammation.

     

Computer control of a powered two degree freedom reciprocating gait orthosis

The design of a motion control system for a powered reciprocating gait orthosis is considered. Models for the orthosis are obtained using least squares identification. The control system design is based on pole-placement techniques and a restricted Youla parametrization of the controller. Experimental results are included.     

Increased dietary oxalate does not increase urinary calcium oxalate saturation in hypercalciuric rats

BACKGROUND: Human calcium oxalate (CaOx) nephrolithiasis may occur if urine is supersaturated with respect to the solid-phase CaOx. In these patients, dietary oxalate is often restricted to reduce its absorption and subsequent excretion in an effort to lower supersaturation and to decrease stone formation. However, dietary oxalate also binds intestinal calcium which lowers calcium absorption and excretion. The effect of increasing dietary oxalate on urinary CaOx supersaturation is difficult to predict. METHODS: To determine the effect of dietary oxalate intake on urinary supersaturation with respect to CaOx and brushite (CaHPO4), we fed 36th and 37th generation genetic hypercalciuric rats a normal Ca diet (1.2% Ca) alone or with sodium oxalate added at 0.5%, 1.0%, or 2.0% for a total of 18 weeks. We measured urinary ion excretion and calculated supersaturation with respect to the CaOx and CaHPO4 solid phases and determined the type of stones formed. RESULTS: Increasing dietary oxalate from 0% to 2.0% significantly increased urinary oxalate and decreased urinary calcium excretion, the latter presumably due to increased dietary oxalate-binding intestinal calcium. Increasing dietary oxalate from 0% to 2.0% decreased CaOx supersaturation due to the decrease in urinary calcium offsetting the increase in urinary oxalate and the decreased CaHPO4 supersaturation. Each rat in each group formed stones. Scanning electron microscopy revealed discrete stones and not nephrocalcinosis. X-ray and electron diffraction and x-ray microanalysis revealed that the stones were composed of calcium and phosphate; there were no CaOx stones. CONCLUSION: Thus, increasing dietary oxalate led to a decrease in CaOx and CaHPO4 supersaturation and did not alter the universal stone formation found in these rats, nor the type of stones formed. These results suggest the necessity for human studies aimed at determining the role, if any, of limiting oxalate intake to prevent recurrence of CaOx nephrolithiasis.     

Inhomogeneous flow model of natural convection,entropy generation,and heatlines visualization in wavy I-shaped enclosure with rectangular heater

The present investigation is on examination of the natural convection and entropy generation considering the heatlines visualization of nanofluid I-shaped enclosure with two corrugated walls considering inner rectangular heater of three different heights. The influence of Brownian motion along with thermophoresis had been implemented using Inhomogeneous two-phase model of nanofluid. The governing equations were solved numerically using COMSOL software. Influence of Rayleigh number $$, Buoyancy ratio number $$, Lewis number $$, heater length $$. The results indicate that the influence of Lewis number on heat transfer bettering is stronger at high Rayleigh number $$ while its impact is negligible at a lower value of Rayleigh number (conduction mode). In addition, the total entropy generation gets its highest value at Lewis number $$. Bejan number, fluid flow strength and heat rate increase as the rectangular heater height increases. Also, higher heat transfer augmentation is taken when the heater height is $$ while increasing the heater height to $$ leads to more total entropy generation. The impact of heater height on total entropy generation is highly affected by Rayleigh number as increasing the heater height from $$ into $$, total entropy generation increases by $$ at $$ while it increases by $$ at $$.     

Behavioural alterations induced by chronic exposure to 10 nm silicon dioxide nanoparticles

Silicon dioxide nanoparticles (SiO₂ NPs) are widely invested in medicine, industry, agriculture, consuming products, optical imaging agents, cosmetics, and drug delivery. However, the toxicity of these NPs on human health and the ecosystem have not been extensively studied and little information is available about their behavioural toxicities. The current study aimed to find out the behavioural alterations that might be induced by chronic exposure to 10 nm SiO₂ NPs. BALB/C mice were subjected to 36 injections of SiO₂ NPs (2 mg/kg Bw) and subjected to 11 neurobehavioural tests: elevated plus‐maze test, elevated zero‐maze test, multiradial maze test, open field test, hole‐board test, light‐dark box test, forced swimming test, tail‐suspension test, Morris water‐maze test, Y‐maze test and multiple T‐maze test. Treated mice demonstrated anxiety‐like effect, depression tendency, behavioural despair stress, exploration and locomotors activity reduction with error induction in both reference and working memories. The findings may suggest that silica NPs are anxiogenic and could aggravate depression affecting memory, learning, overall activity and exploratory behaviour. Moreover, the findings may indicate that these nanomaterials (NMs) may induce potential oxidative stress in the body leading to neurobehavioural alterations with possible changes in the vital organ including the central nervous system.     

Antidiarrheal Effect of Food Fermented by Various Strains of Lactobacillus

Various Lactobacillus species possess antidiarrheal properties due to their probiotic effects and could be utilized in the form of fermented foods for the treatment of diarrheal disease. Diarrhea is the condition of having 3 or more loose or watery bowel movements per day. This disease is a global problem causing several million deaths each year, and the major victims are children. So its prevention and control is crucial. For the treatment of diarrheal disease, antibiotics and oral rehydration solutions are used, but these therapies are not always effective to reduce the duration and frequency of diarrhea and of increase consistency. Recent studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of the natural mode (fermented food) of disease management because of its easy availability, low cost, and efficacy against diarrhea.     

Insight into the binding of copper(II) by non-toxic biodegradable material (Oryza sativa): effect of modification and interfering ions

The present studies are focused on the use of non-toxic biodegradable straw from Oryza sativa in its simple and modified forms for the binding of copper(II) ions. A relatively new “green” method was adopted for modification with urea under microwaves. The studies have been performed by using the aqueous solution of Cu(II) ions with and without the presence of Cd(II) and Pb(II) as interfering ions. FTIR analysis showed the presence of oxygen- and nitrogen-containing functional groups in simple and modified materials. The emergence of new bands and shifts in the peaks confirmed the modification. The kinetics of the process was studied using the commonly employed mathematical models. Although Elovich model seemed to fit yet coefficient of determination did not reinforce it. Pseudo-second-order model was found to explain the kinetics of the binding of metal ions by simple and modified straw. The equilibrium was studied using the non-linear approach. Based on root mean square error values, it was found that Langmuir model was the most suitable model, followed by Temkin model. Surface areas were compared for single and multi-metal systems. The effect of pH was also studied. Under the studied set of conditions, the modification of straw caused a decrease in the equilibrium time of contact and increase in the biosorption capacities. The presence of other ions decreased the capacities drastically due the competition to bind with the materials.     

Process Discovery and Refinement of an Enterprise Management System

The need for the analysis of modern businesses is rapidly increasing as the supporting enterprise systems generate more and more data. This data can be extremely valuable for executing organizations because the data allows constant monitoring, analyzing, and improving the underlying processes, which leads to the reduction of cost and the improvement of the quality. Process mining is a useful technique for analyzing enterprise systems by using an event log that contains behaviours. This research focuses on the process discovery and refinement using real-life event log data collected from a large multinational organization that deals with coatings and paints. By investigating and analyzing their order handling processes, this study aims at learning a model that gives insight inspection of the processes and performance analysis. Furthermore, the animation is also performed for the better inspection, diagnostics, and compliance-related questions to specify the system. The configuration of the system and the conformance checking for further enhancement is also addressed in this research. To achieve the objectives, this research uses process mining techniques, i.e. process discovery in the form of formal Petri nets models with the help of process maps, and process refinement through conformance checking and enhancement. Initially, the identified executed process is reconstructed by using the process discovery techniques. Following the reconstruction, we perform a deep analysis for the underlying process to ensure the process improvement and redesigning. Finally, some recommendations are made to improve the enterprise management system processes.     

The data warehouse virtualization framework for operational business intelligence

In order to explore the most current information and react faster to changing business conditions, organizations consider real‐time data warehousing a powerful technique to achieve operational business intelligence (BI). We propose in this paper a novel real‐time data warehouse (RTDW) framework based on the virtualization concept. Our approach introduces a conceptual modelling technique, known as ring modelling, for real‐time data management and multidimensional analysis. This technique produces a flexible semi‐structured data model that accommodates unknown business process data and relationships as they evolve, handles schema changes and aggregate‐management efficiently, and scales well with the large size of increasing data volumes. With the help of a telecommunication business example, We evaluated our proposed approach in an extensive experimental study where we compared our approach Ring Model with existing structured multidimensional conceptual models (MCMs), i.e. relational OLAP and multidimensional OLAP, and with semi‐structured MCM, i.e. XML Cubes, in terms of scalability, data storage estimations, data updates loading time, and query response times. Our performance results show that encouraging speedups are achieved.