Single household domestic water heater design and control utilising PV energy: The untapped energy storage solution

Photovoltaic (PV) panels and electric domestic water heater with storage (DWH) are widely used in households in many countries. However, DWH should be explored as an energy storage mechanism before batteries when households have excess PV energy. Through a residential case study in Queensland, Australia, this paper presents a new optimized design and control solution to reduce water heating costs by utilizing existing DWH energy storage capacity and increasing PV self-consumption for water heating. The solution is produced by evaluating the case study energy profile and numerically maximizing the use of PV for DWH. A conditional probability matrix for different solar insolation and hot water usage days is developed to test the solution. Compared to other tariffs, this solution shows cost reduction from 20.8% to 63.3% This new solution could encourage solar households move to a more economical and carbon neutral water heating method.

Intracellular effects of atmospheric-pressure plasmas on melanoma cancer cells

Gas discharge plasmas formed at atmospheric pressure and near room temperature have recently been shown as a promising tool for cancer treatment. The mechanism of the plasma action is attributed to generation of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, electric fields, charges, and photons. The relative importance of different modes of action of atmospheric-pressure plasmas depends on the process parameters and specific treatment objects. Hence, an in-depth understanding of biological mechanisms that underpin plasma-induced death in cancer cells is required to optimise plasma processing conditions. Here, the intracellular factors involved in the observed anti-cancer activity in melanoma Mel007 cells are studied, focusing on the effect of the plasma treatment dose on the expression of tumour suppressor protein TP73. Over-expression of TP73 causes cell growth arrest and/or apoptosis, and hence can potentially be targeted to enhance killing efficacy and selectivity of the plasma treatment. It is shown that the plasma treatment induces dose-dependent up-regulation of TP73 gene expression, resulting in significantly elevated levels of TP73 RNA and protein in plasma-treated melanoma cells. Silencing of TP73 expression by means of RNA interference inhibited the anticancer effects of the plasma, similar to the effect of caspase inhibitor z-VAD or ROS scavenger N-acetyl cysteine. These results confirm the role of TP73 protein in dose-dependent regulation of anticancer activity of atmospheric-pressure plasmas.

Proinflammatory cytokines regulate cementogenic differentiation of periodontal ligament cells by Wnt/Ca2+ signaling pathway

Periodontal inflammation can inhibit cell differentiation of periodontal ligament cells (PDLCs), resulting in decreased bone/cementum regeneration ability. The Wnt signaling pathway, including canonical Wnt/β-catenin signaling and noncanonical Wnt/Ca2+ signaling, plays essential roles in cell proliferation and differentiation during tooth development. However, little is still known whether noncanonical Wnt/Ca2+ signaling cascade could regulate cementogenic/osteogenic differentiation capability of PDLCs within an inflammatory environment. Therefore, in this study, human PDLCs (hPDLCs) and their cementogenic differentiation potential were investigated in the presence of cytokines. The data demonstrated that both cytokines interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) inhibited cell proliferation, relative alkaline phosphatase activity, bone/cementum-related gene/protein expression, and canonical Wnt pathway-related gene/protein expression in hPDLCs. Interestingly, both cytokines upregulated the noncanonical Wnt/Ca2+ signaling-related gene and protein expression in hPDLCs. When the Wnt/Ca2+ pathway was blocked by Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II inhibitor KN93, even in the presence of IL-6 and TNF-α, cementogenesis could be stimulated in hPDLCs. Our data indicate that the Wnt/Ca2+ pathway plays an inhibitory role on PDLC cementogenic differentiation in inflammatory microenvironments. Therefore, targeting the Wnt/Ca2+ pathway may provide a novel therapeutic approach to improve periodontal regeneration for periodontal diseases.

Circulating tumor cells: Isolation, expansion, characterization and translation to clinic

Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are the seeds for cancer metastases development, which is responsible for >90% of cancer-related deaths. Accurate quantification of CTCs in human fluids could be an invaluable tool for understanding cancer prognosis, delivering personalized medicine to prevent metastasis and finding cancer therapy effectiveness. Although CTCs were first discovered more than 200 years ago, until now it has been a nightmare for clinical practitioners to capture and diagnose CTCs in clinical settings. Our society needs rapid, sensitive, and reliable assays to identify the CTCs from blood in order to help save millions of lives. Due to the phenotypic EMT transition, CTCs are undetected for more than one-third of metastatic breast cancer patients in clinics. To tackle the above challenges, the first volume in “Circulating Tumor Cells (CTCs): Detection Methods, Health Impact and Emerging Clinical Challenges discusses recent developments of different technologies, which have the capability to target and elucidate the phenotype heterogenity of CTCS. It contains seven chapters written by world leaders in this area, covering basic science to possible device design which can have beneficial applications in society. This book is unique in its design and content, providing an in-depth analysis to elucidate biological mechanisms of cancer disease progression, CTC detection challenges, possible health effects and the latest research on evolving technologies which have the capability to tackle the above challenges. It describes the broad range of coverage on understanding CTCs biology from early predictors of the metastatic spread of cancer, new promising technology for CTC separation and detection in clinical environment and monitoring therapy efficacy via finding the heterogeneous nature of CTCs. (Imprint: Nova Biomedical)

Combined effect of double antireflection coating and reversible molecular doping on performance of few-layer graphene/n-silicon Schottky barrier solar cells

Few-layer graphene films were grown by chemical vapor deposition and transferred onto n-type crystalline silicon wafers to fabricate graphene/n-silicon Schottky barrier solar cells. In order to increase the power conversion efficiency of such cells the graphene films were doped with nitric acid vapor and an antireflection treatment was implemented to reduce the sunlight reflection on the top of the device. The doping process increased the work function of the graphene film and had a beneficial effect on its conductivity. The deposition of a double antireflection coating led to an external quantum efficiency up to 90% across the visible and near infrared region, the highest ever reported for this type of devices. The combined effect of graphene doping and antireflection treatment allowed to reach a power conversion efficiency of 8.5% exceeding the pristine (undoped and uncoated) device performance by a factor of 4. The optical properties of the antireflection coating were found to be not affected by the exposure to nitric acid vapor and to remain stable over time.

CXCL10, CXCL11, HLA-A and IL-1β are induced in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from women withChlamydia trachomatisrelated infertility

Chlamydia trachomatis infections can result in the development of serious sequelae such as pelvic inflammatory disease and tubal infertility. In this study, peripheral blood mononuclear cells from women who were undergoing or had recently undergone IVF treatment were cultured ex vivo with C. trachomatis to identify the immune responses associated with women who had serological evidence of a history of Chlamydia infection. Cytokines secreted into the supernatant from the cultures were measured using ELISA, and the level of IL-1β was found to be significantly higher in Chlamydia positive women than Chlamydia negative women. qRT-PCR analysis of the expression of 88 immune-related genes showed trends towards an upregulation of CXCL10, CXCL11 and HLA-A in Chlamydia positive women compared with Chlamydia negative women. These findings support that some women launch a more marked proinflammatory response upon infection with C. trachomatis and this may be associated with why C. trachomatis induces infertility in some infected women.

In vivo assessment of inflammatory cells in contact lens wearers

Dissatisfaction with, and discontinuation from, contact lens wear is a source of major frustration and inconvenience to users, and a problem that is thought to cost the contact lens industry hundreds of millions of dollars each year. By directly and non-invasively monitoring inflammatory cells in the tissues at the front of the eye in symptomatic and asymptomatic lens wearers, the candidate has been able to demonstrate an inflammatory basis for contact lens discomfort. This finding may pave the way towards the development of strategies to make contact lenses more safe and afford greater levels of comfort.

Antigen-specific CD4 cells assist CD8 T-effector cells in eliminating keratinocytes

Keratinocytes expressing tumor or viral antigens can be eliminated by antigen-primed CD8 cytotoxic T cells. CD4 T-helper cells help induction of CD8 cytotoxic T cells from naive precursors and generation of CD8 T-cell memory. In this study, we show, unexpectedly, that CD4 cells are also required to assist primed CD8 effector T cells in rejection of skin expressing human growth hormone, a neo-self-antigen, in keratinocytes. The requirement for CD4 cells can be substituted by CD40 costimulation. Rejection of skin expressing ovalbumin (OVA), a non-self-antigen, by primed CD8 cytotoxic T cells can in contrast occur without help from antigen-specific CD4 T cells. However, rejection of OVA expressing keratinocytes is helped by antigen-specific CD4 T cells if only low numbers of primed or naive OVA-specific CD8 T cells are available. Effective immunotherapy directed at antigens expressed in squamous cancer may therefore be facilitated by induction of tumor antigen-specific CD4 helper T cells, as well as cytotoxic CD8 T cells.

A combination of local inflammation and central memory T cells potentiates immunotherapy in the skin

Adoptive T cell therapy uses the specificity of the adaptive immune system to target cancer and virally infected cells. Yet the mechanism and means by which to enhance T cell function are incompletely described, especially in the skin. In this study, we use a murine model of immunotherapy to optimize cell-mediated immunity in the skin. We show that in vitro - derived central but not effector memory-like T cells bring about rapid regression of skin-expressing cognate Ag as a transgene in keratinocytes. Local inflammation induced by the TLR7 receptor agonist imiquimod subtly yet reproducibly decreases time to skin graft rejection elicited by central but not effector memory T cells in an immunodeficient mouse model. Local CCL4, a chemokine liberated by TLR7 agonism, similarly enhances central memory T cell function. In this model, IL-2 facilitates the development in vivo of effector function from central memory but not effector memory T cells. In a model of T cell tolerogenesis, we further show that adoptively transferred central but not effector memory T cells can give rise to successful cutaneous immunity, which is dependent on a local inflammatory cue in the target tissue at the time of adoptive T cell transfer. Thus, adoptive T cell therapy efficacy can be enhanced if CD8+ T cells with a central memory T cell phenotype are transferred, and IL-2 is present with contemporaneous local inflammation. Copyright © 2012 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc.

Distinct subpopulations of gamma delta T cells are present in normal and tumor-bearing human liver

Gamma delta T cells are thought to mediate immune responses at epithelial surfaces. We have quantified and characterized hepatic and peripheral blood gamma delta T cells from 11 normal and 13 unresolved tumor-bearing human liver specimens. gamma delta T cells are enriched in normal liver (6.6% of T cells) relative to matched blood (0.9%; P = 0.008). The majority express CD4(-)CD8(-) phenotypes and many express CD56 and/or CD161. In vitro, hepatic gamma delta T cells can be induced to kill tumor cell lines and release interferon-gamma, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, interleukin-2 and interleukin-4. Analysis of V gamma and V delta chain usage indicated that V delta 3(+) cells are expanded in normal livers (21.2% of gamma delta T cells) compared to blood (0.5%; P = 0.001). Tumor-bearing livers had significant expansions and depletions of gamma delta T cell subsets but normal cytolytic activity. This study identifies novel populations of liver T cells that may play a role in immunity against tumors.

NKT cells from normal and tumor-bearing human livers are phenotypically and functionally distinct from murine NKT cells

A major group of murine NK T (NKT) cells express an invariant Vα14Jα18 TCR α-chain specific for glycolipid Ags presented by CD1d. Murine Vα14Jα18+ account for 30–50% of hepatic T cells and have potent antitumor activities. We have enumerated and characterized their human counterparts, Vα24Vβ11+ NKT cells, freshly isolated from histologically normal and tumor-bearing livers. In contrast to mice, human NKT cells are found in small numbers in healthy liver (0.5% of CD3+ cells) and blood (0.02%). In contrast to those in blood, most hepatic Vα24+ NKT cells express the Vβ11 chain. They include CD4+, CD8+, and CD4−CD8− cells, and many express the NK cell markers CD56, CD161, and/or CD69. Importantly, human hepatic Vα24+ T cells are potent producers of IFN-γ and TNF-α, but not IL-2 or IL-4, when stimulated pharmacologically or with the NKT cell ligand, α-galactosylceramide. Vα24+Vβ11+ cell numbers are reduced in tumor-bearing compared with healthy liver (0.1 vs 0.5%; p < 0.04). However, hepatic cells from cancer patients and healthy donors release similar amounts of IFN-γ in response to α-galactosylceramide. These data indicate that hepatic NKT cell repertoires are phenotypically and functionally distinct in humans and mice. Depletions of hepatic NKT cell subpopulations may underlie the susceptibility to metastatic liver disease.

Steady-state dendritic cells expressing cognate antigen terminate memory CD8+ T-cell responses

Antigen stimulation of naive T cells in conjunction with strong costimulatory signals elicits the generation of effector and memory populations. Such terminal differentiation transforms naive T cells capable of differentiating along several terminal pathways in response to pertinent environmental cues into cells that have lost developmental plasticity and exhibit heightened responsiveness. Because these cells exhibit little or no need for the strong costimulatory signals required for full activation of naive T cells, it is generally considered memory and effector T cells are released from the capacity to be inactivated. Here, we show that steadystate dendritic cells constitutively presenting an endogenously expressed antigen inactivate fully differentiated memory and effector CD8+ T cells in vivo through deletion and inactivation. These findings indicate that fully differentiated effector and memory T cells exhibit a previously unappreciated level of plasticity and provide insight into how memory and effector T-cell populations may be regulated. © 2008 by The American Society of Hematology.

Targeting antigen to diverse APCs inactivates memory CD8+ T cells without eliciting tissue-destructive effector function

Memory T cells develop early during the preclinical stages of autoimmune diseases and have traditionally been considered resistant to tolerance induction. As such, they may represent a potent barrier to the successful immunotherapy of established autoimmune diseases. It was recently shown that memory CD8+ T cell responses are terminated when Ag is genetically targeted to steady-state dendritic cells. However, under these conditions, inactivation of memory CD8+ T cells is slow, allowing transiently expanded memory CD8+ T cells to exert tissue-destructive effector function. In this study, we compared different Ag-targeting strategies and show, using an MHC class II promoter to drive Ag expression in a diverse range of APCs, that CD8+ memory T cells can be rapidly inactivated by MHC class II+ hematopoietic APCs through a mechanism that involves a rapid and sustained downregulation of TCR, in which the effector response of CD8+ memory cells is rapidly truncated and Ag-expressing target tissue destruction is prevented. Our data provide the first demonstration that genetically targeting Ag to a broad range of MHC class II+ APC types is a highly efficient way to terminate memory CD8+ T cell responses to prevent tissue-destructive effector function and potentially established autoimmune diseases. Copyright © 2010 by The American Association of Immunologists, Inc.

Chemotherapy and zoledronate sensitize solid tumour cells to Vγ9Vδ2 T cell cytotoxicity

Combinations of cellular immune-based therapies with chemotherapy and other antitumour agents may be of significant clinical benefit in the treatment of many forms of cancer. Gamma delta (γδ) T cells are of particular interest for use in such combined therapies due to their potent antitumour cytotoxicity and relative ease of generation in vitro. Here, we demonstrate high levels of cytotoxicity against solid tumour-derived cell lines with combination treatment utilizing Vγ9Vδ2 T cells, chemotherapeutic agents and the bisphosphonate, zoledronate. Pre-treatment with low concentrations of chemotherapeutic agents or zoledronate sensitized tumour cells to rapid killing by Vγ9Vδ2 T cells with levels of cytotoxicity approaching 90%. In addition, zoledronate enhanced the chemotherapy-induced sensitization of tumour cells to Vγ9Vδ2 T cell cytotoxicity resulting in almost 100% lysis of tumour targets in some cases. Vγ9Vδ2 T cell cytotoxicity was mediated by perforin following TCR-dependent and isoprenoid-mediated recognition of tumour cells. Production of IFN-γ by Vγ9Vδ2 T cells was also induced after exposure to sensitized targets. We conclude that administration of Vγ9Vδ2 T cells at suitable intervals after chemotherapy and zoledronate may substantially increase antitumour activities in a range of malignancies.