Study of Various Configurations of Hybrid PV/T System

In this study, an attempt has been made to evaluate the theoretical performance and evaluation of a hybrid PV/thermal (PV/T) collector based on dual heat extraction operation a function of climatic and design parameters. On the first hand, the different configurations of hybrid collectors are considered for the present study which are defined as unglazed PV/T air heaters, with and without tedlar, PVT hybrid water collector, in the second hand two configurations with dual extraction operation (water and air as heat removal fluid) are presented which are defined as dual PV/T model with tedlar, dual hybrid PV/T without tedlar. Analytical expressions for the temperatures of solar cells, back surface of the module, outlet air, and outlet water of those configurations have been derived. Numerical computations have been carried out for composite climate and the results for different configurations have been compared. Our results clearly show the direct impact of various parameters, in particular the solar radiation, ambient temperature, mass flow rate on the variation of outlet and solar cell of the collector.

Software Tools for Systematic Literature Review in Medicine: A Review and Feature Analysis (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Systematic reviews (SRs) are central to evaluating therapies but have high costs in terms of both time and money. Many software tools exist to assist with SRs, but most tools do not support the full process, and transparency and replicability of SR depends on performing and presenting evidence according to established best practices. OBJECTIVE In order to provide a basis for comparing and selecting between software tools that support SR, we performed a feature-by-feature comparison of SR tools. METHODS We searched for SR tools by reviewing any such tool listed the Systematic Review Toolbox, previous reviews of SR tools, and qualitative Google searching. We included all SR tools that were currently functional, and require no coding and excluded reference managers, desktop applications, and statistical software. The list of features to assess was populated by combining all features assessed in four previous reviews of SR tools; we also added five features (Manual Addition, Screening Automation, Dual Extraction, Living review, Public outputs) that were independently noted as best practices or enhancements of transparency/replicability. Then, two reviewers assigned binary “present/absent” assessments to all SR tools with respect to all features, and a third reviewer adjudicated all disagreements. RESULTS Of 49 SR tools found, 27 were excluded, leaving 22 for assessment. Twenty-eight features were assessed across 6 classes, and the inter-observer agreement was 86.46%. DistillerSR, EPPI-Reviewer Web, and Nested Knowledge support the most features (24/28, 86%), followed by Covidence, SRDB.PRO, SysRev (20/28, 71%). Six tools support fewer than half of all features assessed: SyRF, Data Abstraction Assistant, SWIFT-review, SR-Accelerator, RobotReviewer, and COVID-NMA. Notably, only 9 of 22 tools (41%) support direct search, only four (18%) offer dual extraction, and only 9 (41%) offer living/updatable reviews. CONCLUSIONS DistillerSR, EPPI-Reviewer Web, and Nested Knowledge each offer a high density of SR-focused web-based tools. By transparent comparison and discussion regarding SR tool functionality, the medical community can both choose among existing software offerings and note the areas of growth needed, most notably in the support of living reviews.

Integrated Metabolomics and Transcriptomics Using an Optimised Dual Extraction Process to Study Human Brain Cancer Cells and Tissues

The integration of untargeted metabolomics and transcriptomics from the same population of cells or tissue enhances the confidence in the identified metabolic pathways and understanding of the enzyme–metabolite relationship. Here, we optimised a simultaneous extraction method of metabolites/lipids and RNA from ependymoma cells (BXD-1425). Relative to established RNA (mirVana kit) or metabolite (sequential solvent addition and shaking) single extraction methods, four dual-extraction techniques were evaluated and compared (methanol:water:chloroform ratios): cryomill/mirVana (1:1:2); cryomill-wash/Econospin (5:1:2); rotation/phenol-chloroform (9:10:1); Sequential/mirVana (1:1:3). All methods extracted the same metabolites, yet rotation/phenol-chloroform did not extract lipids. Cryomill/mirVana and sequential/mirVana recovered the highest amounts of RNA, at 70 and 68% of that recovered with mirVana kit alone. sequential/mirVana, involving RNA extraction from the interphase of our established sequential solvent addition and shaking metabolomics-lipidomics extraction method, was the most efficient approach overall. Sequential/mirVana was applied to study a) the biological effect caused by acute serum starvation in BXD-1425 cells and b) primary ependymoma tumour tissue. We found (a) 64 differentially abundant metabolites and 28 differentially expressed metabolic genes, discovering four gene-metabolite interactions, and (b) all metabolites and 62% lipids were above the limit of detection, and RNA yield was sufficient for transcriptomics, in just 10 mg of tissue.

Alteration in the cerebrospinal fluid lipidome in Parkinson´s disease: A pilot study

Lipid metabolism is clearly associated to Parkinson´s disease (PD). Although lipid homeostasis has been widely studied in multiple animal and cellular models as well as in blood derived from PD individuals, the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) lipidomic profile in PD remains largely unexplored. In this study, we have characterized the CSF lipidomic imbalance between neurologically intact controls (n=10) and PD subjects (n=20). The combination of dual extraction with ultra-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization quadrupole-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (UPLC-ESI-qToF-MS/MS) allowed to monitor 257 lipid species across all samples. Complementary multivariate and univariate data analysis pointed out that glycerolipids (mono-, di-, and triacylglycerides), saturated and mono/polyunsaturated fatty acids, primary fatty amides, glycerophospholipids (phosphatidylcholines, phosphatidylethanolamines), sphingolipids (ceramides, sphingomyelins), N-acylethanolamines and sterol lipids (cholesteryl esters, steroids) were significantly increased in the CSF of PD compared to control group. These results, despite the limitation of being obtained in a small population, demonstrate and extensive CSF lipid remodelling in PD, shedding new light on the deployment of CSF lipidomics as a promising tool to identify potential lipid markers as well as discriminatory lipid species between PD and other atypical parkinsonisms.

A systematic review of the quality of reporting of interventions in the surgical treatment of Crohn’s anal fistula: an assessment using the TIDiER and Blencowe frameworks

Background Crohn’s anal fistula is a challenging condition, and may require multiple surgical procedures. To replicate successful procedures, these must be adequately reported in the literature. The aim of this study was to review the quality of reporting of components of surgical interventions for Crohn’s anal fistula. Methods A systematic review was conducted. It was registered with PROSPERO (CRD:42019135157). The Medline and EMBASE databases were searched for studies reporting interventions intended to close fistula in patients with Crohn’s disease, published between 1999 and August 2019. Abstracts and full texts were screened for inclusion by two reviewers. Dual extraction of data was performed to compare reporting to the TIDiER and Blencowe frameworks for reporting of interventions. Results Initial searches identified 207 unique studies; 38 full texts were screened for inclusion and 33 were included. The most common study design was retrospective cohort (17/33), and the most frequently reported interventions were anal fistula plug (n = 8) and fibrin glue (n = 6). No studies showed coverage of all domains of TIDieR. Reporting was poor among domains related to who provided an intervention, where it was provided, and how it was tailored. Reporting of domains in the Blencowe framework was poor; the majority of studies did not report the component steps of procedures or efforts to standardise them. Conclusions This study demonstrates that reporting on technical aspects of interventions for Crohn’s anal fistula is poor. Surgeons should aim to improve reporting to allow accurate reproduction of techniques both in clinical practice and in clinical trials.

Technological scheme of the combined geothermal-hydrocarbon system for the production and storage of energy resources

The complex researches of schemes of extraction and storage of hydrocarbons and geothermal energy are executed in the work. In particular, according to the location, logistics and nature of the processes of generation, transportation, evacuation, injection and local utilization of hydrocarbon and geothermal energy sources, the scheme is divided into subspecies of consumer regional order of electricity, hydrocarbon and chemical energy and hydrogen. It is shown that the tasks of extraction of natural or synthesized hydrocarbons, geothermal energy and subsequent transformation into the required form of commodity resource can be unified with the organization of circuit-combined technologies. At the same time, the developed technological scheme implements the concept of storage of the required amount of energy resources on the one hand and regulation of production capacity for consumption – on the other. The reduction of current energy costs for the implementation and operation of systems with updated functional systems for a total of 20–45%. It is proved that the selection of the scheme of unified extraction and storage energy systems in accordance with the projected order of energy and energy resources, due to the capabilities of productive reservoirs, leads to minimization of capital costs for their construction on a modular basis. Research of application of combined technologies of dual extraction-storage of heat carriers-hydrocarbons is a perspective direction of researches.

Assessment and comparison of two different methods to extract nucleic acids from individual honey bees

The honey bee is an excellent model system to study behavior ecology, behavioral genetics, and sociogenomics. Nucleic acid based analyses enable a broad scope of research in functional genomics, disease diagnostics, mutant screening, and genetic breeding. Multiple levels of analysis lead to a more comprehensive understanding of the causes of phenotypic variation by integrating genomic variation, transcriptomic profiles, and epigenomic information. One limitation, however, is the sample preparation procedures to obtain high quality DNA and RNA simultaneously, particularly from small amounts of material, such as tissues of individual bees. We demonstrate that it is feasible to perform dual extractions of DNA and RNA from a single individual bee and compare the quality and quantity of the extracted nucleic acids using two different types of methods (column based versus ethanol precipitation). We obtained a higher yield of both DNA and RNA with one of the extraction methods over the other, although the quality of the DNA and RNA was not significantly different between methods. We describe here the first validated method for dual extraction of DNA and RNA specifically from individual honey bees.

Addendum: An Optimised Dual Extraction Method for the Simultaneous and Accurate Analysis of Polar Metabolites and Lipids Carried out on Single Biological Samples. Metabolites 2020, 10, 338

The authors wish to make the following comment to the paper [...]

An Optimized Dual Extraction Method for the Simultaneous and Accurate Analysis of Polar Metabolites and Lipids Carried out on Single Biological Samples

The functional understanding of metabolic changes requires both a significant investigation into metabolic pathways, as enabled by global metabolomics and lipidomics approaches, and the comprehensive and accurate exploration of specific key pathways. To answer this pivotal challenge, we propose an optimized approach, which combines an efficient sample preparation, aiming to reduce the variability, with a biphasic extraction method, where both the aqueous and organic phases of the same sample are used for mass spectrometry analyses. We demonstrated that this double extraction protocol allows working with one single sample without decreasing the metabolome and lipidome coverage. It enables the targeted analysis of 40 polar metabolites and 82 lipids, together with the absolute quantification of 32 polar metabolites, providing comprehensive coverage and quantitative measurement of the metabolites involved in central carbon energy pathways. With this method, we evidenced modulations of several lipids, amino acids, and energy metabolites in HepaRG cells exposed to fenofibrate, a model hepatic toxicant, and metabolic modulator. This new protocol is particularly relevant for experiments involving limited amounts of biological material and for functional metabolic explorations and is thus of particular interest for studies aiming to decipher the effects and modes of action of metabolic disrupting compounds.