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Background We have previously reported pulmonary arterial remodelling in smokers and patients with early COPD, which can be attributed to endothelial to mesenchymal transition (EndMT). In this study, we aimed to evaluate if EndMT is an active mechanism in smokers and COPD. Methods Immunohistochemical staining for the EndMT biomarkers CD31, N-cadherin, vimentin and S100A4 was done on lung resection tissue from 49 subjects. These comprised 15 nonsmoker controls (NC), six normal lung function smokers (NLFS), nine patients with small airway disease (SAD), nine current smokers with mild-moderate COPD (COPD-CS) and 10 ex-smokers with COPD (COPD-ES). Pulmonary arteries were analysed using Image ProPlus software v7.0. Results We noted reduced junctional CD31+ endothelial cells (p

Abstract Background Although asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are two distinct chronic airway inflammatory diseases, they often co-exist in a patient and the condition is referred to as asthma-COPD overlap (ACO). Lack of evidence regarding the inflammatory cells in ACO airways has led to their poor prognosis and treatment. The objective of this endobronchial biopsy (EBB) study was to enumerate inflammatory cellular changes in the airway wall of ACO compared with asthma, COPD current smokers (CS) and ex-smokers (ES), normal lung function smokers (NLFS), and non-smoker controls (HC). Methods EBB tissues from 74 patients were immunohistochemically stained for macrophages, mast cells, eosinophils, neutrophils, CD8+ T-cells and CD4+ T-cells. The microscopic images of stained tissues were evaluated in the epithelium, reticular basement membrane (RBM) cells/mm RBM length, and lamina propria (LP) cells/mm2 up to a depth of 120 µM using the image analysis software Image-Pro Plus 7.0. The observer was blinded to the images and disease diagnosis. Statistical analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism v9. Results The tissue macrophages in ACO were substantially higher in the epithelium and RBM than in HC (P

Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is an irreversible lung fibrotic disorder of unknown cause. It has been reported that bacterial and viral co-infections exacerbate disease pathogenesis. These pathogens use adhesion molecules such as platelet activating factor receptor (PAFR) and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM–1) to gain cellular entry, causing infections. Methods: Immunohistochemical staining was carried out for lung resections from IPF patients (n = 11) and normal controls (n = 12). The quantification of PAFR and ICAM–1 expression is presented as a percentage in the small airway epithelium. Also, type 2 pneumocytes and alveolar macrophages were counted as cells per mm2 of the parenchymal area and presented as a percentage. All image analysis was done using Image Pro Plus 7.0 software. Results: PAFR expression significantly increased in the small airway epithelium (p < 0.0001), type 2 pneumocytes (p < 0.0001) and alveolar macrophages (p < 0.0001) compared to normal controls. Similar trend was observed for ICAM–1 expression in the small airway epithelium (p < 0.0001), type 2 pneumocytes (p < 0.0001) and alveolar macrophages (p < 0.0001) compared to normal controls. Furthermore, the proportion of positively expressed type 2 pneumocytes and alveolar macrophages was higher in IPF than in normal control. Conclusions: This is the first study to show PAFR and ICAM–1 expression in small airway epithelium, type 2 pneumocytes and alveolar macrophages in IPF. These findings could help intervene microbial impact and facilitate management of disease pathogenesis.

Background: We have previously reported that endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) is an active process in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) contributing to arterial remodelling. Here, we aim to quantify drivers of EndMT in IPF patients compared to normal controls (NCs). Methods: Lung resections from thirteen IPF patients and eleven NCs were immunohistochemically stained for EndMT drivers, including TGF-β1, pSmad-2/3, Smad-7, and β-catenin. Intima, media, and adventitia were analysed for expression of each EndMT driver in pulmonary arteries. Computer- and microscope-assisted Image ProPlus7.0 image analysis software was used for quantifications. Results: Significant TGF-β1, pSmad-2/3, Smad-7, and β-catenin expression was apparent across all arterial sizes in IPF (p < 0.05). Intimal TGF-β1, pSmad-2/3, Smad-7, and β-catenin were augmented in the arterial range of 100–1000 μm (p < 0.001) compared to NC. Intimal TGF-β1 and β-catenin percentage expression showed a strong correlation with the percentage expression of intimal vimentin (r′ = 0.54, p = 0.05 and r′ = 0.61, p = 0.02, respectively) and intimal N-cadherin (r′ = 0.62, p = 0.03 and r′ = 0.70, p = 0.001, respectively). Intimal TGF-β1 and β-catenin expression were significantly correlated with increased intimal thickness as well (r′ = 0.52, p = 0.04; r′ = 0.052, p = 0.04, respectively). Moreover, intimal TGF-β1 expression was also significantly associated with increased intimal elastin deposition (r′ = 0.79, p = 0.002). Furthermore, total TGF-β1 expression significantly impacted the percentage of DLCO (r′ = −0.61, p = 0.03). Conclusions: This is the first study to illustrate the involvement of active TGF-β/Smad-2/3-dependent and β-catenin-dependent Wnt signalling pathways in driving EndMT and resultant pulmonary arterial remodelling in patients with IPF. EndMT is a potential therapeutic target for vascular remodelling and fibrosis in general in patients with IPF.

Linear plasma kinetic theory for a non-thermal, magnetized, homogeneous, and collisionless plasma is incorporated to study Alfvén cyclotron instability (ACI) driven by the ion/proton perpendicular temperature anisotropy (T ⊥ p / T ∥ p > 1) (⊥ , ∥ symbols designate directions perpendicular and parallel to ambient magnetic field, respectively), and the wave propagation is considered in the direction of the ambient magnetic field ( k → ∥ B → 0 ) with left hand circular polarization. We consider that electron–proton plasma with kappa distributed electrons and protons is taken to be Vasyliunas–Cairns distributed. We, further, validated our model distributions for the electrons and ions against the observations of solar wind at various heliocentric distances. The transverse dielectric response function of ACI is calculated and numerically solved to study its dispersion and growth characteristics under the influence of pertinent parameters, i.e., non-thermal parameters of protons and electrons αp, κp, and κe, proton and electron temperature anisotropy ratios τ p , e = T ⊥ p , e / T ∥ p , e , and plasma beta of protons ( β ∥ p (V C) and β ∥ p (M) ). A concept of the non-thermality dependent effective temperature model is invoked, which updates plasma beta and makes it a non-thermality dependent quantity. The dispersion and growth rates of ACI are found appreciably and significantly augmented in the case of non-thermal protons as compared to Maxwellian protons previously presented by [Gary et al., J. Geophys. Res. 117, A08201 (2012); 122, 464–474 (2017)]. The increase in the magnitude of proton parameters enhances the growth rate of the instability, whereas the increment in electron parameters inhibits the growth rate. This study is advantageous to understand the plasma dynamics of natural environments, such as magnetosphere and solar wind, where the excessive non-thermal populations are present that cannot be modeled by the Maxwellian distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The renewed interest in nonlinear wave–wave coupling phenomena is motivated by the observations of radiation belt storm probes (RBSP) in the Earth's magnetosphere. The recent studies on this subject are mainly limited to the qualitative explanations of RBSP satellites observations. In magnetized plasmas like solar wind, Earth's magnetosphere and many astrophysical environments electrons and ions spiraling along magnetic field lines during cyclotron motion can interfere with the turbulent wave–wave coupling phenomena. This work quantitatively shows that cyclotron resonance plays a complementary role in understanding the turbulent wave–wave coupling in magnetized plasma. It is considered that electrons are in cyclotron resonance with very-low-frequency (VLF) waves, which are coupled with Langmuir oscillations and ultra-low-frequency (ULF) waves. Several illustrative examples are presented. It is found that the resonant electron pitch angles and energy seriously affect the coupling of VLF, ULF, and Langmuir waves. Our findings are important for understanding turbulence in magnetotail region of Earth's magnetosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The overtaking collisional phenomenon of slow shear Alfvén solitons are studied in a low beta (β = kinetic pressure/magnetic pressure) collisionless, magnetized plasma consisting of electron and ion fluids. By employing a reductive perturbation technique, the Korteweg–de Vries (KdV) equation is deduced for investigating the nonlinear slow shear Alfvén wave. Before embarking on the study of the overtaking collisions, the stability analysis of the KdV equation is studied using the bifurcation theory. Also, a nonlinear periodic solution of the KdV equation is derived for the first time in the Weierstrass elliptic function formula. Moreover, the condition for converting the Weierstrass elliptic function expression to soliton is discussed. Furthermore, it is found that only density dip (rarefactive) solitons are formed in the super-Alfvénic regime. The next step includes the use of the Hirota bilinear method, which results in two and three shear Alfvén soliton solutions and their subsequent phase shifts. The influence of the plasma parameters on the amplitude as well as width of the slow shear Alfvén wave solitons are examined analytically and numerically. We also find out the profiles of overtaking interaction of slow shear Alfvén dip solitons having different amplitudes and speeds numerically. This study is important for understanding the phenomena of nonlinear slow shear Alfvén wave structures both in space and in laboratory plasmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was conducted for the phytase production using solid-state fermentation (SSF) by Aspergillus niger. Optimization of various medium components was carried out for better production of phytase. Maximum enzyme activity (265.12±5.51 IU/g) was obtained, when the fungus was grown in the optimized culture medium containing glucose (1%), NH4NO3 (0.5%), FeSO4.7H2O (0.1%), KCl (0.1%), and MgSO4.7H2O(0.1%) at 35 °C after 5 days of incubation time with pH 6. Then phytase was supplemented as poultry feed additive and given to broiler chickens during a feeding trial of 5 weeks. For this purpose, the birds of the control group (T0) were fed on a basal diet without external phytase, whereas, the birds of the experimental group (T3) were given basal feed + 3000 IU phytase per Kg diet. The results exhibited that there was an improvement in the body weight gain (BWG) of chicks i.e. 1903 g - 2090 g for the control group (T0) and experimental group (T3), respectively. The current study thus indicated the affectivity of phytase as a supplement in the broilers diet for better growth performance and recommended its use as an efficient additive in poultry feed formulatio [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research work was conducted to improve the phytase production by genetic alteration of Aspergillus niger with induced mutagenesis using solid state fermentation. Strain improvement was carried out in the presence of ultra violet (UV) irradiation and ethylmethane sulphonate (EMS) [0.5% v/v] treatments for various time intervals. We reported an improved strain of Aspergillus niger designated as UV-3 mutant producing a zone of hydrolysis of about 40 mm, in comparison to wild strain (26 mm). The highest enzyme activity was found to be 547.64 IU/g for UV-3 mutant followed by EMS-4 mutant (492.23 IU/g) compared to wild strain which showed 406.45 IU/g of enzyme activity. There was 1.35- fold increase in phytase production after mutation studies of Aspergillus niger. Phytase was applied as poultry feed additive and given to broiler chickens for 5 weeks. The results exhibited that there was increase in body weight gain (BWG) of chicks for experimental group (2028 g) in comparison to control group (1903 g). Thus, physical and chemical mutagenesis was proved as an effective technique for the improvement of strain and ultimately for enhanced and economical phytase production for different industrial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dispersion properties and Landau damping rate of ion‐acoustic waves (IAWs) with the hybrid Cairns‐Tsallis distributed (CTD) electrons and Maxwellian ions are investigated using the plasma kinetic model based on Vlasov‐Poisson's equations. For both super‐extensive (q < 1) and sub‐extensive (q > 1) plasmas, the dielectric response function, real frequency, and Landau damping rate of IAWs are derived. By taking the effect of θi, e (ion‐to‐electron temperature ratio) into account, it is found that with the increase of ion temperature, the real frequency and wave dispersion effects increase as well (for both super‐extensive and sub‐extensive cases). Exploring the properties of the Landau damping rate of IAWs with the simultaneous presence of non‐thermal parameter α and non‐extensive parameter q, a comparison of numerical and analytical results is presented. It is found that in different ranges of θe, i (electron‐to‐ion temperature ratio), on decreasing the values of the non‐extensive parameter and increasing values of the non‐thermal parameter, the weak damping rate is observed (vice versa) in super‐extensive or super‐thermal plasma, although the trend of the damping rate in sub‐thermal plasma is similar (as in the case of super‐thermal plasma) but is less weak. It is further revealed that the damping rate of IAWs in thermal plasmas (Maxwellian) is stronger than the damping rate of IAWs in the case of non‐thermal plasmas (CTD). The current study is applicable to provide deep insight and further allow the exploration of electrostatic plasma modes in different space and laboratory plasma environments where the hybrid CTD plasma exists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Propagation of nonlinear ion acoustic waves in a relativistic electron-ion plasma is studied using the covariant formulation. Ions are assumed cold and a polytropic equation of state of the form p = CnΓ is assumed for electrons with Γ = 1 (isothermal case). The continuity, momentum and energy equations for electrons and ions are transformed to a special frame of reference via Lorentz-transformation. In the said frame of reference, all physical quantities are time independent. The well-known Sagdeev potential (or pseudopotential) technique is used to investigate the effect of changes in polytropic index Γ, electron temperature Te0 and phase speed of wave Vp on the wave amplitude. It is found that ion acoustic waves can propagate in the relativistic plasma only if the following condition (γV - eϕ=mic²)² > 1 is satisfied (where γV = 1= √1 - Vp/c² p is defined, ϕ is the electrostatic potential, mi is the ion mass and c is the speed of light). Maximum value of the amplitude (ɸ0 m) attained by the wave before collapsing, is also derived. It is also found that an increase in temperature Te0 (or Vp) increases the maximum possible wave amplitude of the nonlinear wave whereas, increasing Vp results in decreasing ɸm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]