Development of Distillation Sensors for Spirit Beverages Production Monitoring Based on Impedance Spectroscopy Measurement and Partial Least-Squares Regression.

During spirit beverages production, the distillate is divided into three parts: the head, the heart, and the tail. Acetaldehyde and ethanol are two key markers which allow the correct separation of distillate. Being toxic, the elimination of the head part, which contains a high concentration of acetaldehyde, is crucial to guarantee the consumer's health and security. Plus, the tail should be separated from the heart based on ethanol concentration. Nowadays, online or in-line sensors for acetaldehyde monitoring during distillation do not exist, and the online sensors for alcohol monitoring, based on density measurement, remain expensive for producers. In this work, we demonstrate the development of distillation monitoring sensors based on electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements, combined with PLS-R (partial least-squares regression) modeling. Four types of sensors are proposed and tested with wine-based distillates. Using PLS-R, the best correlations were found for one electrode, named "SpotsSym". With an R 2 up to 89.9% for acetaldehyde concentration prediction and an R 2 up to 86.8% for ethanol, the obtained results indicate the promising potential of the proposed approach. To our knowledge, this is the first report of sensors capable of simultaneously measuring ethanol and acetaldehyde concentrations. Furthermore, these sensors offer the advantages of being low cost and nondestructive. Based on these results, the development of an in-line distillation monitoring system is possible in the near future, providing a promising tool for spirit beverages producers.

Review of Technologies and Materials Used in High-Voltage Film Capacitors.

High-voltage capacitors are key components for circuit breakers and monitoring and protection devices, and are important elements used to improve the efficiency and reliability of the grid. Different technologies are used in high-voltage capacitor manufacturing process, and at all stages of this process polymeric films must be used, along with an encapsulating material, which can be either liquid, solid or gaseous. These materials play major roles in the lifespan and reliability of components. In this paper, we present a review of the different technologies used to manufacture high-voltage capacitors, as well as the different materials used in fabricating high-voltage film capacitors, with a view to establishing a bibliographic database that will allow a comparison of the different technologies.

Soluble, dimeric HLA DR4-peptide chimeras: an approach for detection and immunoregulation of human type-1 diabetes.

Still there are no effective methods to predict or cure type 1 diabetes (T1D) in humans. Soluble, dimeric MHC class II-peptide (DEF) chimeras have potential for both early diagnosis and immunospecific therapy. DEF chimeras prevent and reverse diabetes in mice by stimulating antigen-specific type 1 T regulatory cell (Tr1)-like cells. We also showed that diabetes could be predicted by changes in the phenotype of autoreactive CD4 T cells in peripheral blood. Herein, we demonstrated that human DEF (HLA-DR*0401/Fcgamma1) chimeras expressing peptides of beta-cell antigens stimulate Tr1-like cells in blood of patients with T1D, non-diabetic relatives, and controls. Furthermore, the specific and stable binding of DEF chimeras to cognate TCR and CD4 coreceptor allowed quantification and phenotyping of autoreactive CD4 T cells in non-stimulated blood by FACS. Our results indicate that (1) autoreactive CD4 T cells to GAD65 autoantigen are commonly present in humans expressing diabetes-susceptible HLA-DR*0401 molecules; (2) these autoreactive T cells undergo avidity maturation upon encountering the self antigen early in life; (3) the disease is associated with an imbalance between autoreactive CD4+CD25+ and CD4+CD69+ T cells specific for GAD65. Based on this, we propose a model to explain the kinetics of autoreactive CD4 T cells in blood during the natural history of T1D.

Immunokinetics of autoreactive CD4 T cells in blood: a reporter for the "hit-and-run" autoimmune attack on pancreas and diabetes progression.

Little is known about the fate of autoreactive CD4 T cells in blood. Using a mouse model for spontaneous autoimmune diabetes we demonstrated that the status of the autoimmune process in pancreas could be pictured through the frequency and phenotype of autoreactive CD4 T cells in the blood. Early during the prediabetic stage, the frequency of these cells in blood decreased as a consequence of their recruitment in the pancreas. This was followed by an imbalance between CD4(+)CD25(+) and CD4(+)CD69(+) T cells in the pancreas that was mirrored in the phenotype of autoreactive T cells in the blood. Waves of activated CD4(+)CD69(+) T cells in blood preceded the disease onset suggesting that the autoimmune attack on pancreas is a discontinuous "hit-and-run" rather than a continuous process. Tracking autoreactive CD4 T cells in blood may help in identifying prediabetic humans and monitoring the disease progression during therapeutic interventions.