1,772 research outputs found
Elution of 20 mM of each of KD-glutamate and KL-glutamate on a Dowex cation exchange resin in its Na<sup>+</sup> form.
No full text<p>Elution of 20 mM of each of KD-glutamate and KL-glutamate on a Dowex cation exchange resin in its Na<sup>+</sup> form.</p
Usefulness of quantifying serum KL-6 levels in the follow-up of uveitic patients with sarcoidosis
No full textBackground: KL-6 is a human glycoprotein secreted by type II alveolar cells in the lung, and its serum levels increase in pneumonia of various causes. We previously reported that serum KL-6 levels in uveitis patients with sarcoidosis were significantly higher than those of other uveitis patients and healthy controls. Additionally, the combined measurement of serum KL-6 and angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) was useful for screening uveitic patients to diagnose sarcoidosis. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the clinical usefulness of quantifying serum KL-6 levels for following-up the patients with sarcoidosis. Methods: Sera were obtained from 36 uveitic patients diagnosed with sarcoidosis and the same number of healthy volunteers. To examine the influence of systemic medication, we also collected blood samples from four more sarcoidosis patients, who were systemically treated with corticosteroid or angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor, an anti-hypertensive drug. The serum concentration of KL-6 was measured by a human KL-6 electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA). Results: The mean KL-6 concentrations of sarcoidosis patients and healthy controls were 449.3 +/- 66.3 (mean +/- SE) and 192.1 +/- 11.3, respectively. The average levels of serum KL-6 were significantly elevated in sarcoidosis patients compared with healthy control subjects (P < 0.001), and there were significant correlations between serum KL-6 and ACE levels in the patients with sarcoidosis (r=0.70 and P < 0.0001). Moreover, serum KL-6 concentrations were less affected by systemic corticosteroid, and unaffected by ACE inhibitory drugs in contrast to ACE levels. Conclusions: Measurement of serum KL-6 in the uveitic patients may be useful to follow-up the diagnosed sarcoidosis, as well as for diagnosing sarcoidosis, because the serum KL-6 level was well correlated with the ACE level, and less affected by systemic medication than ACE levels
Serial KL-6 measurements in COVID-19 patients
No full textSARS-CoV2-induced direct cytopathic effects against type II pneumocytes are suspected to play a role in mediating and perpetuating lung damage. The aim of this study was to evaluate serum KL-6 behavior in COVID-19 patients to investigate its potential role in predicting clinical course. Sixty patients (median age IQR, 65 (52–69), 43 males), hospitalized for COVID-19 at Siena COVID Unit University Hospital, were prospectively enrolled. Twenty-six patients were selected (median age IQR, 63 (55–71), 16 males); all of them underwent follow-up evaluations, including clinical, radiological, functional, and serum KL-6 assessments, after 6 (t1) and 9 (t2) months from hospital discharge. At t0, KL-6 concentrations were significantly higher than those at t1 (760 (311–1218) vs. 309 (210–408) p = 0.0208) and t2 (760 (311–1218) vs 324 (279–458), p = 0.0365). At t0, KL-6 concentrations were increased in patients with fibrotic lung alterations than in non-fibrotic group (755 (370–1023) vs. 305 (225–608), p = 0.0225). Area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC) analysis showed that basal KL-6 levels showed good accuracy in discriminating patients with fibrotic sequelae radiologically documented (AUC 85%, p = 0.0404). KL-6 concentrations in patients with fibrotic involvement were significantly reduced at t1 (755 (370–1023) vs. 290 (197–521), p = 0.0366) and t2 (755 (370–1023) vs. 318 (173–435), p = 0.0490). Serum concentrations of KL-6 in hospitalized COVID-19 patients may contribute to identify severe patients requiring mechanical ventilation and to predict those who will develop pulmonary fibrotic sequelae in the follow-up. © 2021, The Author(s)
A smooth Lyapunov function from a class-KL estimate involving two positive semidefinite functions
No full textWe consider differential inclusions where a positive semidefinite function of the solutions satisfies a class-KL estimate in terms of time and a second positive semidefinite function of the initial condition. We show that a smooth converse Lyapunov function, i.e., one whose derivative along solutions can be used to establish the class-KL estimate, exists if and only if the class-KL estimate is robust, i.e., it holds for a larger, perturbed differential inclusion. It remains an open question whether all class-KL estimates are robust. One sufficient condition for robustness is that the original differential inclusion is locally Lipschitz. Another sufficient condition is that the two positive semidefinite functions agree and a backward completability condition holds. These special cases unify and generalize many results on converse Lyapunov theorems for differential equations and differential inclusions that have appeared in the literature. Corresponding author. y Research supported i..
KL Process Design Group: unleashing natural sugars for tomorrow's strategic energy plan
No full textPresented at the Can forests meet our energy needs? The future of forest biomass in Colorado conference, February 21, 2008, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado.James Schultze is a process engineer with KL Process Design Group in Rapid City, South Dakota. He has been working on KL's biomass project since 2006 and has been involved in the research, construction and operation of the newly constructed biomass plant in Upton, WY. His industry experience started with Shell Oil Company in Houston, TX as a production engineer in Shell's Midcontinent Division. Jim is a chemical engineering graduate of the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City, SD
Aircraft component health analysis for predictive maintenance: using a dilated convolutional autoencoder and KL divergence
No full textThe detection of anomalous behaviour is fundamental to component health analysis techniques. However, detecting anomalies is a difficult and time consuming task if their form, location, and frequency are unknown. This research introduces an innovative unsupervised predictive maintenance pipeline that requires minimal domain knowledge and time to create competitive and insightful health monitoring models. First, a Dilated Convolutional Autoencoder learns to recreate healthy sensor data. Then, a Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence based health analysis transforms discrepancies between the reconstruction and the sensor data into a single performance metric per sensor per flight. A novel evaluation method based on the KL divergence metric allows for quantitative evaluation and hyperparameter tuning of the autoencoder. Results provide new insights and show competitive performance on analysing the fuel level measuring system. Additionally, in a generalisability study on the braking system of a different aircraft type the proposed method outperforms the currently employed health monitoring model in precision and F1 score. The main advantages of the proposed method are; the ability to rapidly create unbiased health indicators on a sensor level, the capability to generalise to other components, and a framework to quantitatively evaluate the model’s performance when no truth labels are available.Mechanical Engineering | Vehicle Engineering | Cognitive Robotic
BIMA ARRAY 3 MM SPECTRAL LINE SURVEY OF ORION-KL
No full textAuthor Institution: University of Illinois, Dept. of Astronomy, 1002 W. Green St, Urbana, IL 61801; National Radio Astronomy Observatory, Charlottesville, VA 22903; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Space and Earth Data Computing Division, Code 930, Greenbelt, MD 20771; National Research Council Resident Research AssociateWith the Berkeley-Illinois-Maryland-Association (BIMA) Array we have carried out a 3 mm (80-115.9 GHz) spectral line survey of Orion-KL. Orion-KL is composed of several distinct regions separated by only a few arcseconds, most notably the ``Hot Core'', where N bearing species are most prevalent, and the ``Compact Ridge'', where O bearing species are most prevalent. For our observations the average synthesized beam was 14''x8''. We detected over 700 spectral features from the ``Hot Core'' and over 600 spectral features from the ``Compact Ridge''. We will present the abundances and spatial distribution of the detected species
A proposal for a more sustainable catering service for KL Cityhopper Fairline
No full textReducing the impact of flying is a concern in the aviation industry, especially on the short haul flights. KL Cityhopper (KLC) noticed they create food waste onboard of their European flights because they have a one-fits-all catering solution. They are aware that all back-up food and beverage options brought into the air cause extra weight and extra CO2 emission. They want their catering to have the option to be personalized to the needs of their passenger. This graduation project explores a new more sustainable way of providing a catering service to the passenger for the KLC Fairline. The internal and external analyses have been done to explore the current aviation catering and the behaviour of passengers; all gave valuable insights. The internal analysis showed that the catering on short haul is not possible to customize in advance. It is a free product provided during the flight and the passengers are not completely informed about what can be expected. While the longer flights have communications and choices in advance for the different types of catering onboard. Next to that, there is limited insights to the actual use of the service onboard. The competitors show in advance what can be expected of the free or paid services, using onboard magazines or websites with short movies. Resulting in insights about specific use per location.The passengers of KLC are demographically quite different, better to describe them by their needs during the journey. These diverse needs in the passenger travel journey are further explored by interviews, with the focus on the time they spend waiting at the airport.The future economy catering service of the KLC Fairline should be a brand store at the major airports, so KL can make use of this store too. The passengers can pick-up their own food and beverages and take it with them on the plane. The service will provide more options to fit better with the diverse food and beverage needs of passengers. The brand store is more sustainable solution because it will remove all catering trolleys from the planes on the short haul, it reduces weight and CO2 emission. The food waste will decrease significantly since the store has a system to keep track of the actual use of the service, further optimization of the service use is possible. The passengers informed of what is possible with the catering using information online, in e-mails and the KL-app.A roadmap for the KL catering service is made that includes the short, medium and long-haul flights. The steps for KLC from the current situation to the vision service are described, including how the current A La Carte product on the long haul can be extended to the medium haul.Integrated Product Desig
Differential response of skeletal muscles to mTORC1 signaling during atrophy and hypertrophy
No full textBACKGROUND: Skeletal muscle mass is determined by the balance between protein synthesis and degradation. Mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1 (mTORC1) is a master regulator of protein translation and has been implicated in the control of muscle mass. Inactivation of mTORC1 by skeletal muscle-specific deletion of its obligatory component raptor results in smaller muscles and a lethal dystrophy. Moreover, raptor-deficient muscles are less oxidative through changes in the expression PGC-1alpha, a critical determinant of mitochondrial biogenesis. These results suggest that activation of mTORC1 might be beneficial to skeletal muscle by providing resistance to muscle atrophy and increasing oxidative function. Here, we tested this hypothesis by deletion of the mTORC1 inhibitor tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) in muscle fibers. METHOD: Skeletal muscles of mice with an acute or a permanent deletion of raptor or TSC1 were examined using histological, biochemical and molecular biological methods. Response of the muscles to changes in mechanical load and nerve input was investigated by challenging the mice by denervation or ablation of synergistic muscles. RESULTS: Genetic deletion or knockdown of raptor, causing inactivation of mTORC1, was sufficient to prevent muscle growth and enhance muscle atrophy. Conversely, short-term activation of mTORC1 by knockdown of TSC induced muscle fiber hypertrophy and atrophy-resistance upon denervation, in both fast tibialis anterior (TA) and slow soleus muscles. Surprisingly, however, sustained activation of mTORC1 by genetic deletion of Tsc1 caused muscle atrophy in all but soleus muscles. In contrast, oxidative capacity was increased in all muscles examined. Consistently, TSC1-deficient soleus muscle was atrophy-resistant whereas TA underwent normal atrophy upon denervation. Moreover, upon overloading, plantaris muscle did not display enhanced hypertrophy compared to controls. Biochemical analysis indicated that the atrophy respo of muscles was based on the suppressed phosphorylation of PKB/Akt via feedback inhibition by mTORC1 and subsequent increased expression of the E3 ubiquitin ligases MuRF1 and atrogin-1/MAFbx. In contrast, expression of both E3 ligases was not increased in soleus muscle suggesting the presence of compensatory mechanisms in this muscle. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that the mTORC1- and the PKB/Akt-FoxO pathways are tightly interconnected and differentially regulated depending on the muscle type. These results indicate that long-term activation of the mTORC1 signaling axis is not a therapeutic option to promote muscle growth because of its strong feedback induction of the E3 ubiquitin ligases involved in protein degradation
Songs in the camp : KL Plaszow and the possibility of an audio memorial
No full textArtykuł stanowi próbę wskazania najbardziej wyrazistych strategii obserwacji funkcji dźwięków i muzyki w kacetach oraz kuratorskiego „myślenia muzyką” w ekspozycjach lagrowo-holokaustowych. Katalog tych różnorodnych ujęć pomaga zrozumieć tło i kontekst czasowy działań zespołu kuratorskiego krakowskiego muzeum na terenie KL Plaszow, a także zrekonstruować rozwijanie się projektu Pomnika Dźwiękowego KL Plaszow planowanego dla tego miejsca, oraz wskazuje na inspirujące dźwiękowe realizacje narracji historycznych umieszczonych na otwartych terenach naznaczonych trudną lub traumatyzującą historią. Objaśnienia te partnerują tekstowi kuratorskiemu Michała Libery, autora koncepcji wielopoziomowego, stereometrycznego upamiętnienia dźwiękowego, które komponowane, nagrywane i tworzone jest dla terenu byłego nazistowskiego obozu w Krakowie. Niematerialny wymiar muzyki pozwala na nieinwazyjne łączenie upamiętniającego gestu i współczesnego życia miejsca; niesemiotyczny charakter narracji dźwiękowej daje ponadto nadzieję na budowę porozumienia w różnych, czasem skonfliktowanych społecznościach – dziedziczących uprzedzenia z czasów wojny, tych powojennych i tych współczesnych.
akustyczne, sound studiesThis article attempts to identify the most distinctive strategies for observing the function of sounds and music in concentration camps and curatorial "thinking with music" in camp-Holocaust expositions. A catalog of these diverse approaches helps to understand the background and temporal context of the activities of the Krakow museum’s curatorial team at the KL Plaszow site, as well as to reconstruct the development of the KL Plaszow Sound Monument project planned for the site. It also points out inspiring sound realizations of historical narratives placed in open areas marked by a difficult or traumatizing history. These explanations partner with the curatorial text by Michał Libera, author of the concept of a multi-level, stereometric sound commemoration that is composed, recorded and created for the site of the former Nazi camp in Krakow. The non-material dimension of the music allows for a non-invasive blending of the commemorative gesture and the contemporary life of the site; the non-semiotic nature of the sound narrative, moreover, offers hope for building understanding in different, sometimes conflicted communities – those inheriting wartime prejudices, post-war ones and those of today
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