How much heat can we grow in our cities? Modelling UK urban biofuel production potential

Biofuel provides a globally significant opportunity to reduce fossil fuel dependence; however, its sustainability can only be meaningfully explored for individual cases. It depends on multiple considerations including: life cycle greenhouse gas emissions, air quality impacts, food versus fuel trade‐offs, biodiversity impacts of land use change and socio‐economic impacts of energy transitions. One solution that may address many of these issues is local production of biofuel on non‐agricultural land. Urban areas drive global change, for example, they are responsible for 70% of global energy use, but are largely ignored in their resource production potential; however, underused urban greenspaces could be utilized for biofuel production near the point of consumption. This could avoid food versus fuel land conflicts in agricultural land and long‐distance transport costs, provide ecosystem service benefits to urban dwellers and increase the sustainability and resilience of cities and towns. Here, we use a Geographic Information System to identify urban greenspaces suitable for biofuel production, using exclusion criteria, in 10 UK cities. We then model production potential of three different biofuels: Miscanthus grass, short rotation coppice (SRC) willow and SRC poplar, within the greenspaces identified and extrapolate up to a UK‐scale. We demonstrate that approximately 10% of urban greenspace (3% of built‐up land) is potentially suitable for biofuel production. We estimate the potential of this to meet energy demand through heat generation, electricity and combined heat and power (CHP) operations. Our findings show that, if fully utilized, urban biofuel production could meet nearly a fifth of demand for biomass in CHP systems in the United Kingdom's climate compatible energy scenarios by 2030, with potentially similar implications for other comparable countries and regions.     

Development of a 3D Tissue‐Engineered Skeletal Muscle and Bone Co‐culture System

In vitro 3D tissue‐engineered (TE) structures have been shown to better represent in vivo tissue morphology and biochemical pathways than monolayer culture, and are less ethically questionable than animal models. However, to create systems with even greater relevance, multiple integrated tissue systems should be recreated in vitro. In the present study, the effects and conditions most suitable for the co‐culture of TE skeletal muscle and bone are investigated. High‐glucose Dulbecco's modified Eagle medium (HG‐DMEM) supplemented with 20% fetal bovine serum followed by HG‐DMEM with 2% horse serum is found to enable proliferation of both C2C12 muscle precursor cells and TE85 human osteosarcoma cells, fusion of C2C12s into myotubes, as well as an upregulation of RUNX2/CBFa1 in TE85s. Myotube formation is also evident within indirect contact monolayer cultures. Finally, in 3D co‐cultures, TE85 collagen/hydroxyapatite constructs have significantly greater expression of RUNX2/CBFa1 and osteocalcin/BGLAP in the presence of collagen‐based C2C12 skeletal muscle constructs; however, fusion within these constructs appears reduced. This work demonstrates the first report of the simultaneous co‐culture and differentiation of 3D TE skeletal muscle and bone, and represents a significant step toward a full in vitro 3D musculoskeletal junction model.     

General descriptions of the dermis structure of a juvenile whale shark Rhincodon typus from the Gulf of California

The aim of this study is to provide preliminary observations on the microanatomy of Rhincodon typus skin using histology and electron microscopy analyses. Skin biopsies were obtained from a deceased juvenile male shark (548 cm total length) stranded in La Paz, Mexico, during February 2018. The results of this study evidenced the basic structure of the dermal denticles in the epidermis of the trunk of the shark, as well as the composition of the connective tissue in the hypodermis. Histological images of the hypodermis showed a high concentration of collagen fibres, formed by a large number of fine and wavy fibres of compact shape and little intercellular substance.     

Pattern classification of kinematic and kinetic running data to distinguish gender,shod/barefoot and injury groups with feature ranking

The identification of differences between groups is often important in biomechanics. This paper presents group classification tasks using kinetic and kinematic data from a prospective running injury study. Groups composed of gender, of shod/barefoot running and of runners who developed patellofemoral pain syndrome (PFPS) during the study, and asymptotic runners were classified.

The features computed from the biomechanical data were deliberately chosen to be generic. Therefore, they were suited for different biomechanical measurements and classification tasks without adaptation to the input signals. Feature ranking was applied to reveal the relevance of each feature to the classification task.

Data from 80 runners were analysed for gender and shod/barefoot classification, while 12 runners were investigated in the injury classification task. Gender groups could be differentiated with 84.7%, shod/barefoot running with 98.3%, and PFPS with 100% classification rate. For the latter group, one single variable could be identified that alone allowed discrimination.     

Patients' & Healthcare Professionals' Values Regarding True- & False-Positive Diagnosis when Colorectal Cancer Screening by CT Colonography: Discrete Choice Experiment

Purpose

To establish the relative weighting given by patients and healthcare professionals to gains in diagnostic sensitivity versus loss of specificity when using CT colonography (CTC) for colorectal cancer screening.

Materials and Methods

Following ethical approval and informed consent, 75 patients and 50 healthcare professionals undertook a discrete choice experiment in which they chose between “standard” CTC and “enhanced” CTC that raised diagnostic sensitivity 10% for either cancer or polyps in exchange for varying levels of specificity. We established the relative increase in false-positive diagnoses participants traded for an increase in true-positive diagnoses.

Results

Data from 122 participants were analysed. There were 30 (25%) non-traders for the cancer scenario and 20 (16%) for the polyp scenario. For cancer, the 10% gain in sensitivity was traded up to a median 45% (IQR 25 to >85) drop in specificity, equating to 2250 (IQR 1250 to >4250) additional false-positives per additional true-positive cancer, at 0.2% prevalence. For polyps, the figure was 15% (IQR 7.5 to 55), equating to 6 (IQR 3 to 22) additional false-positives per additional true-positive polyp, at 25% prevalence. Tipping points were significantly higher for patients than professionals for both cancer (85 vs 25, p<0.001) and polyps (55 vs 15, p<0.001). Patients were willing to pay significantly more for increased sensitivity for cancer (p = 0.021).

Conclusion

When screening for colorectal cancer, patients and professionals believe gains in true-positive diagnoses are worth much more than the negative consequences of a corresponding rise in false-positives. Evaluation of screening tests should account for this.     

Ubiquilin-1 and protein quality control in Alzheimer disease

Single nucleotide polymorphisms in the ubiquilin-1 gene may confer risk for late-onset Alzheimer disease (AD). We have shown previously that ubiquilin-1 functions as a molecular chaperone for the amyloid precursor protein (APP) and that protein levels of ubiquilin-1 are decreased in the brains of AD patients. We have recently found that ubiquilin-1 regulates APP trafficking and subsequent secretase processing by stimulating non-degradative ubiquitination of a single lysine residue in the cytosolic domain of APP. Thus, ubiquilin-1 plays a central role in regulating APP biosynthesis, trafficking and ultimately toxicity. As ubiquilin-1 and other ubiquilin family members have now been implicated in the pathogenesis of numerous neurodegenerative diseases, these findings provide mechanistic insights into the central role of ubiquilin proteins in maintaining neuronal proteostasis.     

Synthesising 30 Years of Mathematical Modelling of Echinococcus Transmission

Background

Echinococcosis is a complex zoonosis that has domestic and sylvatic lifecycles, and a range of different intermediate and definitive host species. The complexities of its transmission and the sparse evidence on the effectiveness of control strategies in diverse settings provide significant challenges for the design of effective public health policy against this disease. Mathematical modelling is a useful tool for simulating control packages under locally specific transmission conditions to inform optimal timing and frequency of phased interventions for cost-effective control of echinococcosis. The aims of this review of 30 years of Echinococcus modelling were to discern the epidemiological mechanisms underpinning models of Echinococcus granulosus and E. multilocularis transmission and to establish the need to include a human transmission component in such models.

Methodology/Principal Findings

A search was conducted of all relevant articles published up until July 2012, identified from the PubMED, Web of Knowledge and Medline databases and review of bibliographies of selected papers. Papers eligible for inclusion were those describing the design of a new model, or modification of an existing mathematical model of E. granulosus or E. multilocularis transmission. A total of 13 eligible papers were identified, five of which described mathematical models of E. granulosus and eight that described E. multilocularis transmission. These models varied primarily on the basis of six key mechanisms that all have the capacity to modulate model dynamics, qualitatively affecting projections. These are: 1) the inclusion of a ‘latent’ class and/or time delay from host exposure to infectiousness; 2) an age structure for animal hosts; 3) the presence of density-dependent constraints; 4) accounting for seasonality; 5) stochastic parameters; and 6) inclusion of spatial and risk structures.

Conclusions/Significance

This review discusses the conditions under which these mechanisms may be important for inclusion in models of Echinococcus transmission and proposes recommendations for the design of dynamic human models of transmission. Accounting for the dynamic behaviour of the Echinococcus parasites in humans will be key to predicting changes in the disease burden over time and to simulate control strategies that optimise public health impact.