Nicholshopper3238

The Vacuum-UV/UV process, an incipient catalyst/chemical-free advanced oxidation process (AOP), is potentially a cost-effective solution for the removal of harmful micropollutants from water. Utilizing a novel mechanistic numerical model, this work aimed to establish a thorough understanding of the degradation mechanisms in the VUV/UV process operating under continuous flow conditions, when compared with the widely applied H2O2/UV AOP. Of particular interest was the examination of the impact of flow characteristics (hydrodynamics) on the degradation efficacy of a target micropollutant during the VUV/UV and H2O2/UV AOPs. While hydroxyl radical (OH) oxidation was the dominant degradation pathway in both processes, the degradation efficacy of the VUV/UV process showed much stronger correlation with the extent of mixing in the photoreactor. Under a uniform flow regime, the degradation efficiency of the target pollutant achieved by the H2O2/UV process with 2- and 5 ppm H2O2 was greater than that provided by the VUV/UV process. Nonetheless, introduction of mixing and circulation zones to the VUV/UV reactor resulted in superior performance compared with the H2O2/UV AOP. Based on the electrical energy-per-order (EEO) analysis, incorporation of circulation zones resulted in a reduction of up to 50% in the overall energy cost of the VUV/UV AOP, while the corresponding reduction for the 5-ppm H2O2/UV system was less than 5%. Furthermore, the extent of OH scavenging of natural organic matter (NOM) on energy efficiency of the VUV/UV and H2O2/UV AOPs under continuous flow conditions was assessed using the EEO analysis.Molasses wastewater is a high strength effluent of food industry such as distilleries, sugar and yeast production plants etc. It is characterized by a dark brown color and exhibits a high content in substances of recalcitrant nature such as melanoidins. In this study, electrocoagulation (EC) was studied as a post treatment step for biologically treated molasses wastewater with high nitrogen content obtained from a baker's yeast industry. Iron and copper electrodes were used in various forms; the influence and interaction of current density, molasses wastewater dilution, and reaction time, on COD, color, ammonium and nitrate removal rates and operating cost were studied and optimized through Box Behnken's response surface analysis. Reaction time varied from 0.5 to 4 h, current density varied from 5 to 40 mA/cm(2) and dilution from 0 to 90% (v/v expressed as water concentration). pH, conductivity and temperature measurements were also carried out during each experiment. From preliminary experiments, it was concuality were produced by EC, with COD, NH4-N and NO3-N concentrations of 180, 52 and 2 mg/l respectively. Response surface analysis revealed that optimized conditions could be established under moderate molasses wastewater dilution, (e.g. 45%), at 3.5 h treatment time and 33 mA/cm(2) current density.To alleviate poverty and enhance conservation in resource dependent communities, managers must identify existing livelihood strategies and the associated factors that impede household access to livelihood assets. Researchers increasingly advocate reallocating management power from exclusionary central institutions to a decentralized system of management based on local and inclusive participation. However, it is yet to be shown if decentralizing conservation leads to diversified livelihoods within a protected area. The purpose of this study was to identify and assess factors affecting household livelihood diversification within Nepal's Kanchenjunga Conservation Area Project, the first protected area in Asia to decentralize conservation. We randomly surveyed 25% of Kanchenjunga households to assess household socioeconomic and demographic characteristics and access to livelihood assets. We used a cluster analysis with the ten most common income generating activities (both on- and off-farm) to group the strategies households use to diversify livelihoods, and a multinomial logistic regression to identify predictors of livelihood diversification. We found four distinct groups of household livelihood strategies with a range of diversification that directly corresponded to household income. The predictors of livelihood diversification were more related to pre-existing socioeconomic and demographic factors (e.g., more landholdings and livestock, fewer dependents, receiving remittances) than activities sponsored by decentralizing conservation (e.g., microcredit, training, education, interaction with project staff). Taken together, our findings indicate that without direct policies to target marginalized groups, decentralized conservation in Kanchenjunga will continue to exclude marginalized groups, limiting a household's ability to diversify their livelihood and perpetuating their dependence on natural resources.Neuron loss is one fundamental features of neurodegenerative diseases. Stimulating endogenous neurogenesis, especially neuronal differentiation, might potentially provide therapeutic effects to these diseases. In this study, tanshinone II A (TIIA), a multiple target neuroprotectant, was demonstrated to promote dose-dependent neuronal differentiation in three cell models of immortalized C17.2 neuronal stem cells, rat embryonic cortical neural stem cells (NSCs) and rat PC12 pheochromocytoma cells. In particular, TIIA exerted promising effects on NSCs even at the dose of 3 nM. In PC12 cells, TIIA activated mitogen-activated protein kinase 42/44 (MAPK42/44) and its downstream transcription factor, cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB). In addition, TIIA up-regulated the expressions of brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and nerve growth factor (NGF). The MEK inhibitor and the antagonist to the receptors of NGF and BDNF could partially attenuate the differentiation effects, indicating that MAPK42/44 mediated BDNF and NGF signals were involved in TIIA's differentiation effects. Caveolin-1 (CAV-1), the major functional protein of membrane caveolae, plays critical roles in the endocytosis of exogenous materials. CAV1, which was activated by TIIA, might help TIIA transport across cell membrane to initiate its differentiation effects. It was proven by the evidences that suppressing the function of caveolin inhibited the differentiation effects of TIIA. Therefore, we concluded that TIIA promoted neuronal differentiation partially through MAPK42/44 mediated BDNF and NGF signals in a caveolae-dependent manner.Inverse consistency is an important feature for non-rigid image transformation in medical imaging analysis. In this paper, a simple and efficient inverse consistent image transformation estimation algorithm is proposed to preserve correspondence of landmarks and accelerate convergence. The proposed algorithm estimates both the forward and backward transformations simultaneously in the way that they are inverse to each other based on the correspondence of landmarks. Instead of computing the inverse functions and the inverse consistent transformations, respectively, we combine them together, which can improve computation efficiency significantly. Moreover, radial basis functions (RBFs) based transformation is adopted in our algorithm, which can handle deformation with local or global support. Our algorithm maps one landmark to its corresponding position exactly using the forward and backward transformations. Moreover, our algorithm is employed to estimate the forward and backward transformations in robust point matching, as well to demonstrate the application of our algorithm in image registration. The experiment results of uniform grids and test images indicate the improvement of the proposed algorithm in the aspect of inverse consistency of transformations and the reduction of the computation time of the forward and the backward transformations. The performance of our algorithm applying to robust point matching is evaluated using both brain slices and lung slices. Our experiments show that by combing robust point matching with our algorithm, the registration accuracy can be improved and the smoothness of transformations can be preserved.

Assessing the treated region with locoregional therapy (LT) provides valuable information for predicting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) recurrence. The commonly used of assessment method is inefficient because it only compares two-dimensional CT images manually. In our previous work, we automatically aligned the two CT volumes to evaluate the therapeutic efficiency using registration algorithms. The non-rigid registration is applied to capture local deformation, however, it usually destroys internal structure. Taking these into consideration, this paper proposes a novel non-rigid registration approach for evaluating LT of HCC to maintain the image integrity.

In our registration algorithm, a global affine transformation combined with localized cubic B-spline is used to estimate the significant non-rigid motions of two livers. The proposed method extends a classical non-rigid registration based on mutual information (MI) that uses an anatomical structure term to constrain the local deformation. The energy f the smoothness of structures by constraining the anatomical features. The results clearly indicate that our method can retain the local deformation of the image. In addition, it assures the anatomical structure stability.

Our proposed approach can guarantee the continuity, the accuracy and the smoothness of structures by constraining the anatomical features. The results clearly indicate that our method can retain the local deformation of the image. In addition, it assures the anatomical structure stability.Lentiviral vectors (LVV) are important tools for the treatment of immune system disorders. Integration of therapeutic genetic material into the haematopoietic stem cell compartment using LVV can mediate long-term correction of haematopoietic lineages, thereby correcting disease phenotypes. Twenty years of vector development have successfully brought LVV to the clinic, with follow up studies of clinical trials treating primary immunodeficiencies now being reported. Results have demonstrated clear improvements in the quality of life for patients with a number of conditions in the absence of the severe adverse events observed in earlier retroviral gene therapy trials. Growing interest in gene modified adoptive T cell transfer as an alternative strategy has driven further technology innovation, including characterisation of novel viral envelopes. We will also discuss the progression of gene editing technology to preclinical investigations in models of immune deficiency.

Current literature suggests that in the long-term, fusion of the lumbar spine in chronic low back pain (CLBP) does not result in an outcome clearly better than structured conservative treatment modes.

This study aimed to assess the long-term outcome of lumbar fusion in CLBP, and also to assess methodological problems in long-term randomized controlled trials (RCTs).

A prospective randomized study was carried out.

A total of 294 patients (144 women and 150 men) with CLBP of at least 2 years' duration were randomized to lumbar fusion or non-specific physiotherapy. The mean follow-up time was 12.8 years (range 9-22). The follow up rate was 85%; exclusion of deceased patients resulted in a follow-up rate of 92%.

Global Assessment (GA) of back pain, Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), visual analogue scale (VAS) for back and leg pain, Zung depression scale were determined. Work status, pain medication, and pain frequency were also documented.

Standardized outcome questionnaires were obtained before treatment and at long-term follow-up.