Considerations regarding test methods against dust and water ingress protection for Ex equipment

The explosion danger in all industries where explosive atmospheres generated by the mixture of combustible dusts or flammable gases with air may form, must be treated as a major hazard, as the explosions that may occur can seriously affect both health and safety people, as well as the environment. It is therefore necessary to assess the explosion risk and to establish appropriate measures to reduce it to acceptable levels in accordance with the requirements of the European Directives. An essential element in the assessment of the explosion risk for electrical and non-electrical equipment intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres is the way in which an appropriate normal degree of protection is provided through the equipment housing (protection against touching of dangerous parts inside the equipment housing and protection against the ingress of dust and water inside it). The aim of the paper is to highlight compliance with the requirements of the ATEX Directive, given that this protection is a basic requirement for explosion protection and to present the important elements to be considered for the assessment of the normal degree of protection and the development of harmonized test methods with the requirements of European standards.

Improvement of the traction current asymmetry control system

The article presents approaches that allow modernizing the system for monitoring the asymmetry of the traction current. The existing systems of technical diagnostics and monitoring of the technical condition of automation and telemetry control devices, which have found wide application on the railways of JSC Russian Railways, do not allow monitoring the condition of adjacent railway transport infrastructure systems that affect the performance of railway automation and telemetry control devices. Besides, information about the condition of the object being diagnosed is sent to the monitoring center, while the operational and repair personnel do not have the necessary information and start working only after receiving information about the malfunction from the dispatcher of the monitoring center. The mobile device, proposed in the article, allows reducing the time necessary for obtaining information about the unserviceable condition of the railroad line. The article presents the analysis of gadgets planned for use in a mobile device, and the concept of the interface of the mobile application for technicians. It is noted that the hardware intended for use in a mobile device must provide protection against unauthorized access to the application, as well as have a high degree of protection against penetration. Besides, the article identifies the areas for further improvement of the traction current asymmetry control system.

Cycling for a Sustainable Touristic Mobility: A Preliminary Study in an Urban Area of Italy

This study wants to give a contribution for the investigation of sustainable mobility with positive consequences on public health implementing policies starting from cyclists’ perceptions. Data were collected by interviewing cyclists along three bike lanes of an urban area of southern Italy through a face-to-face survey. The survey was conducted in Autumn 2019, interviewing a sample of 129 cyclists. In order to identify the critical aspects of the bike paths, both an importance-performance analysis (IPA) and a gap-IPA were performed. The average values of the cyclists’ perceptions of each aspect have been considered as performance values. The importance values have been obtained by performing a principal component analysis (PCA), which was helpful also for better defining the service quality phenomenon. From the PCA, six latent constructs can be identified as: “Physical Nuisance”; “Non-physical Nuisance”; “Physical Comfort”; “Non-physical Comfort”; “Protection”; and “Ambience”. The results of Gap-IPA confirmed that the criticalities of the bike paths relate to the degree of protection in relation to accidents, and to the degree of nuisance caused by pollution and opposing pedestrians along the path. Based on the conducted analyses, sustainable tourism implementing policies should be oriented in solving the emerged criticalities of the existing bike paths. The results of Gap-IPA are very intuitive and can certainly be helpful for identifying the most convenient strategies.

Azadirachtin Attenuates Lipopolysaccharide-Induced ROS Production, DNA Damage, and Apoptosis by Regulating JNK/Akt and AMPK/mTOR-Dependent Pathways in Rin-5F Pancreatic Beta Cells

Pancreatic inflammation and the resulting cellular responses have been implicated in pancreatitis, diabetes, and pancreatic cancer. Inflammatory responses due to the bacterial endotoxin, lipopolysaccharide (LPS), have been demonstrated to alter cellular metabolism, autophagy, apoptosis, and cell proliferation in different cell populations, and hence increases the risks for organ toxicity including cancer. The exact molecular mechanism is however not clear. In the present study, we investigated the role and mechanism of an antioxidant, azadirachtin (AZD), a limonoid extracted from the neem tree (Azadirachta indica), against LPS-induced oxidative stress in the pancreatic β-cell line, Rin-5F. We demonstrated that cells treated with LPS (1 µg/mL for 24 h) showed increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, DNA damage, cell cycle arrest, and apoptosis. Our results also showed that LPS induced alterations in the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathways, suppressing autophagy and augmenting apoptosis. Treatment with Azadirachtin (25 µM for 24 h), on the other hand, rendered some degree of protection to the pancreatic cells from apoptosis by inducing the autophagy signals required for cell survival. These results may have significance in elucidating the mechanisms of pancreatic β-cell survival and death by balancing the molecular communication between autophagy and apoptosis under inflammatory and pathological conditions.

Asthma and COVID-19: an update

As the world faces the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, concerns have been raised that asthma patients could be at increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and disease severity. However, it appears that asthma is not an independent risk factor for both. Furthermore, asthma is not over-represented in hospitalised patients with severe pneumonia due to SARS-CoV-2 infection and there was no increased risk of asthma exacerbations triggered by SARS-CoV-2. There is accumulating evidence that asthma phenotypes and comorbidities are important factors in evaluating the risk for SARS-CoV-2 infection and disease severity, as findings suggest that Th2-high inflammation may reduce the risk of SARS-Cov-2 infection and disease severity in contrast to increased risk in patients with Th2-low asthma. The use of inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) is safe in asthma patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Furthermore, it has been proposed that ICS may confer some degree of protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection and the development of severe disease by reducing the expression of angiotensin converting enzyme-2 and transmembrane protease serine in the lung. In contrast, chronic or recurrent use of systemic corticosteroids before SARS-CoV-2 infection is a major risk factor of poor outcomes and worst survival in asthma patients. Conversely, biological therapy for severe allergic and eosinophilic asthma does not increase the risk of being infected with SARS-CoV-2 or having worse COVID-19 severity. In the present review we will summarise the current literature regarding asthma and COVID-19.

Species complex of mosquitos captured by mechanical traps and an equine host

Field studies were conducted to evaluate the efficacy of commercially available mosquito traps to capture suspected West Nile Virus (WNV) vectors and compare the relative abundance, and species composition of mosquitoes captured by traps. Traps included the Mosquito Magnet (MM) Pro, MM-Liberty, MM-X, the CDC-1012, and the Home and Garden (HGM) prototype trap. In the first study, conducted at the University of Florida Horse Teaching Unit (HTU), Gainesville, FL, from May 17 to September 30, 2002, the CDC-1012 caught significantly more mosquitoes than the other traps. The HGM trap did not catch any mosquitoes and was replaced with a horse on July 17. Percentages of WNV vector species captured in traps and vacuumed from the horse, respectively, were Culex nigripalpus Theobald 85-91% and 27%, and Mansonia titillans (Walker) 2-5% and 40%. In the second study, performed for 5 days in April 2003, the MM-Pro, MM-X, and CDC-1012 traps caught significantly more mosquitoes than did the MM-Liberty trap. All traps captured primarily Cx. salinarius Coquillett, Cx. erraticus (Dyar and Knab), and Anopheles crucians Wiedemann. The horse attracted a greater percentage of Ma. titillans and less Cx. erraticus than did the mechanical traps. The mechanical traps may offer horses some degree of protection from suspected WNV species, however, a large number of Ma. titillans were recovered from the horse but the traps captured very few.

Effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against delta variant (B.1.617.2): A meta-analysis

ObjectivesThe highly transmissible COVID-19 delta variant (DV) has contributed to the surge in cases and has now been exacerbated the worldwide public health crisis. Several COVID-19 vaccines play a significant role in a high degree of protection against DV. The primary purpose of this meta-analysis is to estimate the pooled effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines against DV in terms of risk ratio (RR) among fully vaccinated, compared to unvaccinated populations.MethodsWe carried out a systematic review with meta-analysis of original studies focused on COVID-19 vaccines effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines against B.1.617.2 clinical perspective among fully COVID-19 vaccinated populations, compared to placebo (unvaccinated populations), published before September 30, 2021. Eleven studies containing data of 17.2 million participants were identified and included in our study. Pooled estimates of COVID-19 vaccines effectiveness (i.e., risk ratio, RR) against delta variant with 95% confidence intervals were assessed using random-effect models. Publication bias was assessed using Egger's regression test and funnel plot to investigate potential sources of heterogeneity and identify any differences in study design.ResultsA total population of 17.2 million (17,200,341 peoples) were screened for the COVID-19 vaccines' effectiveness against delta variant. We found 61.13% of study population were fully vaccinated with 2-dose of COVID-19 vaccines. Weighted pooled incidence of COVID-19 infection was more than double (20.07%) among unvaccinated populations, compared to the fully vaccinated population (8.16%). Overall, the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccine against DV was 85% (RR = 0.15, 95% CI: 0.07-0.31). The effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines varied slidably by study designs, 87% (RR = 0.13, 95% CI: 0.06-0.30) and 84% (RR = 0.16, 95% CI:0.02, 1.64) for cohort and case-control studies, respectively. ConclusionEffectiveness COVID-19 vaccines were noted to offer higher protection against delta variant among populations who received two vaccine doses compared with unvaccinated populations. This finding would help efforts to maximise vaccine coverage (i.e., at least 60 to 70% of the population) with two doses among vulnerable populations to have herd immunity to breat the chain of transmission and gain greater overall population protection more rapidly.

Protease-Resistant Peptides for Targeting and Intracellular Delivery of Therapeutics

Peptides show high promise in the targeting and intracellular delivery of next-generation bio- and nano-therapeutics. However, the proteolytic susceptibility of peptides is one of the major limitations of their activity in biological environments. Numerous strategies have been devised to chemically enhance the resistance of peptides to proteolysis, ranging from N- and C-termini protection to cyclization, and including backbone modification, incorporation of amino acids with non-canonical side chains and conjugation. Since conjugation of nanocarriers or other cargoes to peptides for targeting and cell penetration may already provide some degree of shielding, the question arises about the relevance of using protease-resistant sequences for these applications. Aiming to answer this question, here we provide a critical review on protease-resistant targeting peptides and cell-penetrating peptides (CPPs). Two main approaches have been used on these classes of peptides: enantio/retro-enantio isomerization and cyclization. On one hand, enantio/retro-enantio isomerization has been shown to provide a clear enhancement in peptide efficiency with respect to parent L-amino acid peptides, especially when applied to peptides for drug delivery to the brain. On the other hand, cyclization also clearly increases peptide transport capacity, although contribution from enhanced protease resistance or affinity is often not dissected. Overall, we conclude that although conjugation often offers some degree of protection to proteolysis in targeting peptides and CPPs, modification of peptide sequences to further enhance protease resistance can greatly increase homing and transport efficiency.

On the safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines, certainties and uncertainties

Introduction: The COVID-19 vaccines in use (inactivaded virus, encapsulated m-RNA, non-replicating adenovirus-vectored DNA) were clinically tested in randomized placebocontrolled phase-3 studies. Objective: To address certainties and uncertainties about safety and effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines that were approved for use in various countries. Method: The evidence provided by clinical studies on the efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines was critically appraised. Results: COVID-19 vaccines proved to be efficacious and safe in clinical trials. Adverse events were mostly those of minor severity commonly noted with other vaccines such as injection site pain, mild flu-like symptoms, headache and asthenia. Although being very rare, anaphylaxis-like reactions were noted with mRNA vaccines. Uncertainties regarding vaccine effectiveness refer mainly to the (long-term) duration of immunity provided by vaccination, the degree of protection conferred to elderly people, and how effective vaccines are against emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. There are few uncertainties about vaccine safety including the absence of clinical trial data in pregnant women (and the impact on the unborn child), children and adolescents. Conclusions: Notwithstanding the knowledge gaps about effectiveness and safety of COVID-19 vaccines (to be further addressed by observational studies), there is overwhelming evidence that public health benefits of vaccination by far outweigh any foreseeable risk.

Text-based Steganography using Huffman Compression and AES Encryption Algorithm

In every system of security, to keep important data confidential, we need a high degree of protection. Steganography can be defined as a way of sending confidential texts through a secure medium of communications as well as protecting the information during the process of transmission. Steganography is a technology that is used to protect users' security and privacy. Communication is majorly achieved using a network through SMS, e-mail, and so on. The presented work suggested a technology of text hiding for protecting secret texts with Unicode characters. The similarities of glyphs provided invisibility and increased the hiding capacity. In conclusion, the proposed method succeeded in securing confidential data and achieving high payload capacity by using the Huffman compression algorithm, which was implemented on an unlimited text length. In addition, this approach has the ability to hide a single bit in every digit or letter in the cover file. Also, the approach meets the cognitive transparency and does not make the modifications apparent on the original data. The method suggested in this work increases the security level through coding a secret message before embedding it within the cover text, with the use of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm.