The emergence of Clostridium thermocellum as a high utility candidate for consolidated bioprocessing applications

PubMed Central

Akinosho, Hannah; Yee, Kelsey; Close, Dan; Ragauskas, Arthur

2014-01-01

First isolated in 1926, Clostridium thermocellum has recently received increased attention as a high utility candidate for use in consolidated bioprocessing (CBP) applications. These applications, which seek to process lignocellulosic biomass directly into useful products such as ethanol, are gaining traction as economically feasible routes toward the production of fuel and other high value chemical compounds as the shortcomings of fossil fuels become evident. This review evaluates C. thermocellum's role in this transitory process by highlighting recent discoveries relating to its genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic responses to varying biomass sources, with a special emphasis placed on providing an overview of its unique, multivariate enzyme cellulosome complex and the role that this structure performs during biomass degradation. Both naturally evolved and genetically engineered strains are examined in light of their unique attributes and responses to various biomass treatment conditions, and the genetic tools that have been employed for their creation are presented. Several future routes for potential industrial usage are presented, and it is concluded that, although there have been many advances to significantly improve C. thermocellum's amenability to industrial use, several hurdles still remain to be overcome as this unique organism enjoys increased attention within the scientific community. PMID:25207268

The emergence of Clostridium thermocellum as a high utility candidate for consolidated bioprocessing applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ragauskas, Arthur; Akinosho, Hannah; Yee, Kelsey; Close, Dan

2014-08-01

First isolated in 1926, Clostridium thermocellum has recently received increased attention as a high utility candidate for use in consolidated bioprocessing applications. These applications, which seek to process lignocellulosic biomass directly into useful products such as ethanol, are gaining traction as economically feasible routes towards the production of fuel and other high value chemical compounds as the shortcomings of fossil fuels become evident. This review evaluates C. thermocellum’s role in this transitory process by highlighting recent discoveries relating to its genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic responses to varying biomass sources, with a special emphasis placed on providing an overview of its unique, multivariate enzyme cellulosome complex and the role that this structure performs during biomass degradation. Both naturally evolved and genetically engineered strains are examined in light of their unique attributes and responses to various biomass treatment conditions, and the genetic tools that have been employed for their creation are presented. Several future routes for potential industrial usage are presented, and it is concluded that, although there have been many advances to significantly improve C. thermocellum’s amenability to industrial use, several hurdles still remain to be overcome as this unique organism enjoys increased attention within the scientific community.

Traffic incident management in hazardous materials spills in incident clearance.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2009-01-01

Hazardous materials spills provide unique challenges to traffic incident clearance. When hazardous materials are present, not only do response personnel have to deal with typical traffic incident issues, they also must deal with potential chemical ha...

On the non-uniqueness of the hydro-geomorphic responses in a zero-order catchment with respect to soil moisture

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Jongho; Dwelle, M. Chase; Kampf, Stephanie K.; Fatichi, Simone; Ivanov, Valeriy Y.

2016-06-01

This study advances mechanistic interpretation of predictability challenges in hydro-geomorphology related to the role of soil moisture spatial variability. Using model formulations describing the physics of overland flow, variably saturated subsurface flow, and erosion and sediment transport, this study explores (1) why a basin with the same mean soil moisture can exhibit distinctly different spatial moisture distributions, (2) whether these varying distributions lead to non-unique hydro-geomorphic responses, and (3) what controls non-uniqueness in relation to the response type. Two sets of numerical experiments are carried out with two physically-based models, HYDRUS and tRIBS+VEGGIE+FEaST, and their outputs are analyzed with respect to pre-storm moisture state. The results demonstrate that distinct spatial moisture distributions for the same mean wetness arise because near-surface soil moisture dynamics exhibit different degrees of coupling with deeper-soil moisture and the process of subsurface drainage. The consequences of such variations are different depending on the type of hydrological response. Specifically, if the predominant runoff response is of infiltration excess type, the degree of non-uniqueness is related to the spatial distribution of near-surface moisture. If runoff is governed by subsurface stormflow, the extent of deep moisture contributing area and its "readiness to drain" determine the response characteristics. Because the processes of erosion and sediment transport superimpose additional controls over factors governing runoff generation and overland flow, non-uniqueness of the geomorphic response can be highly dampened or enhanced. The explanation is sediment composed by multi-size particles can alternate states of mobilization or surface shielding and the transient behavior is inherently intertwined with the availability of mobile particles. We conclude that complex nonlinear dynamics of hydro-geomorphic processes are inherent expressions of physical interactions. As complete knowledge of watershed properties, states, or forcings will always present the ultimate, if ever resolvable, challenge, deterministic predictability will remain handicapped. Coupling of uncertainty quantification methods and space-time physics-based approaches will need to evolve to facilitate mechanistic interpretations and informed practical applications.

Unique Variants in OPN1LW Cause Both Syndromic and Nonsyndromic X-Linked High Myopia Mapped to MYP1.

PubMed

Li, Jiali; Gao, Bei; Guan, Liping; Xiao, Xueshan; Zhang, Jianguo; Li, Shiqiang; Jiang, Hui; Jia, Xiaoyun; Yang, Jianhua; Guo, Xiangming; Yin, Ye; Wang, Jun; Zhang, Qingjiong

2015-06-01

MYP1 is a locus for X-linked syndromic and nonsyndromic high myopia. Recently, unique haplotypes in OPN1LW were found to be responsible for X-linked syndromic high myopia mapped to MYP1. The current study is to test if such variants in OPN1LW are also responsible for X-linked nonsyndromic high myopia mapped to MYP1. The proband of the family previously mapped to MYP1 was initially analyzed using whole-exome sequencing and whole-genome sequencing. Additional probands with early-onset high myopia were analyzed using whole-exome sequencing. Variants in OPN1LW were selected and confirmed by Sanger sequencing. Long-range and second PCR were used to determine the haplotype and the first gene of the red-green gene array. Candidate variants were further validated in family members and controls. The unique LVAVA haplotype in OPN1LW was detected in the family with X-linked nonsyndromic high myopia mapped to MYP1. In addition, this haplotype and a novel frameshift mutation (c.617_620dup, p.Phe208Argfs*51) in OPN1LW were detected in two other families with X-linked high myopia. The unique haplotype cosegregated with high myopia in the two families, with a maximum LOD score of 3.34 and 2.31 at θ = 0. OPN1LW with the variants in these families was the first gene in the red-green gene array and was not present in 247 male controls. Reevaluation of the clinical data in both families with the unique haplotype suggested nonsyndromic high myopia. Our study confirms the findings that unique variants in OPN1LW are responsible for both syndromic and nonsyndromic X-linked high myopia mapped to MYP1.

MHC variation sculpts individualized microbial communities that control susceptibility to enteric infection

PubMed Central

Kubinak, Jason L.; Stephens, W. Zac; Soto, Ray; Petersen, Charisse; Chiaro, Tyson; Gogokhia, Lasha; Bell, Rickesha; Ajami, Nadim J.; Petrosino, Joseph F.; Morrison, Linda; Potts, Wayne K.; Jensen, Peter E.; O'Connell, Ryan M.; Round, June L.

2015-01-01

The presentation of protein antigens on the cell surface by major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules coordinates vertebrate adaptive immune responses, thereby mediating susceptibility to a variety of autoimmune and infectious diseases. The composition of symbiotic microbial communities (the microbiota) is influenced by host immunity and can have a profound impact on host physiology. Here we use an MHC congenic mouse model to test the hypothesis that genetic variation at MHC genes among individuals mediates susceptibility to disease by controlling microbiota composition. We find that MHC genotype significantly influences antibody responses against commensals in the gut, and that these responses are correlated with the establishment of unique microbial communities. Transplantation experiments in germfree mice indicate that MHC-mediated differences in microbiota composition are sufficient to explain susceptibility to enteric infection. Our findings indicate that MHC polymorphisms contribute to defining an individual's unique microbial fingerprint that influences health. PMID:26494419

Acute Phase Response and Metabolic Syndrome Biomarkers of Libby Asbestos Exposure

EPA Science Inventory

Identification of biomarkers assists in the disease diagnosis and environmental health risk assessment. Exposure to Libby amphibole (LA) has been associated with increased cardiovascular mortality. We hypothesized that rats exposed to LA would present a unique serum proteomic pro...

Social Support Versus Social Evaluation: Unique Effects on Vascular and Myocardial Response Patterns

PubMed Central

Christian, Lisa M.; Stoney, Catherine M.

2010-01-01

Objectives This study examined the effects of companion presence and evaluation on cardiovascular reactivity to an acute stressor. Methods Eighty-two women completed a speech task in one of four conditions: with an evaluative companion present, with a nonevaluative companion present, alone while being evaluated by a companion with a video camera, or alone while the companion waited outside. Results A significant interaction between companion condition and evaluative condition on systolic blood pressure was found; women who were evaluated while alone demonstrated significantly greater reactivity than did women who were in the nonevaluative alone condition. Furthermore, both potential for evaluation and the presence of a companion had important influences on hemodynamic parameters underlying the blood pressure response. Specifically, those in evaluative conditions showed greater myocardial responding than those in nonevaluative conditions and those in alone conditions showed greater vascular responding than did those with companions present. Taken together, those in the evaluative alone condition demonstrated systolic blood pressure responses reflecting both myocardial and vascular contributions. Conclusions Social support and social evaluation have unique effects on vascular and myocardial responding. The implications for future research include focus on the stress-buffering model of social support and the value of including impedance cardiography measures in investigations of cardiovascular functioning. PMID:17079702

Anesthetic management during cardiopulmonary bypass: a systematic review.

PubMed

Barry, Aaron E; Chaney, Mark A; London, Martin J

2015-04-01

Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) required for cardiac surgery presents unique challenges to the cardiac anesthesiologist responsible for providing the 3 most basic facets of any anesthetic: amnesia, analgesia, and muscle relaxation. Unique pathophysiologic changes during CPB result in pharmacokinetic alterations that impact the serum and tissue concentrations of IV and volatile anesthetics. Similarly, CPB causes pharmacodynamic alterations that impact anesthetic efficacy. The clinical significance of these alterations represents a "moving target" as practice evolves and the technology of CPB circuitry advances. In addition, perfusionists choose, modify, and maintain the CPB circuitry and membrane oxygenator. Thus, their significance may not be fully appreciated by the anesthesiologist. These issues have a profound impact on the anesthetic state of the patient. The delivery and maintenance of anesthesia during CPB present unique challenges. The perfusionist may be directly responsible for the delivery of anesthetic during CPB, a situation unique to the cardiac suite. In addition, monitors of anesthetic depth-assessment of clinical signs, hemodynamic indicators, the bispectral index monitor, end-tidal anesthetic concentration, or twitch monitoring-are often absent, unreliable, or directly impacted by the unique pathophysiology associated with CPB. The magnitude of these challenges is reflected in the higher incidence of intraoperative awareness during cardiac surgery. Further complicating matters are the lack of specific clinical guidelines and varying international policies regarding medical device specifications that add further layers of complexity and introduce practice variability both within institutions and among nations. We performed a systematic survey of the literature to identify where anesthetic practice during CPB is evidence based (or not), identify gaps in the literature to guide future investigations, and explore the implications of evolving surgical practice, perfusion techniques, and national policies that impact amnesia, analgesia, and muscle relaxation during CPB.

Temporal Dynamics of Host Molecular Responses Differentiate Symptomatic and Asymptomatic Influenza A Infection

PubMed Central

Huang, Yongsheng; Zaas, Aimee K.; Rao, Arvind; Dobigeon, Nicolas; Woolf, Peter J.; Veldman, Timothy; Øien, N. Christine; McClain, Micah T.; Varkey, Jay B.; Nicholson, Bradley; Carin, Lawrence; Kingsmore, Stephen; Woods, Christopher W.; Ginsburg, Geoffrey S.; Hero, Alfred O.

2011-01-01

Exposure to influenza viruses is necessary, but not sufficient, for healthy human hosts to develop symptomatic illness. The host response is an important determinant of disease progression. In order to delineate host molecular responses that differentiate symptomatic and asymptomatic Influenza A infection, we inoculated 17 healthy adults with live influenza (H3N2/Wisconsin) and examined changes in host peripheral blood gene expression at 16 timepoints over 132 hours. Here we present distinct transcriptional dynamics of host responses unique to asymptomatic and symptomatic infections. We show that symptomatic hosts invoke, simultaneously, multiple pattern recognition receptors-mediated antiviral and inflammatory responses that may relate to virus-induced oxidative stress. In contrast, asymptomatic subjects tightly regulate these responses and exhibit elevated expression of genes that function in antioxidant responses and cell-mediated responses. We reveal an ab initio molecular signature that strongly correlates to symptomatic clinical disease and biomarkers whose expression patterns best discriminate early from late phases of infection. Our results establish a temporal pattern of host molecular responses that differentiates symptomatic from asymptomatic infections and reveals an asymptomatic host-unique non-passive response signature, suggesting novel putative molecular targets for both prognostic assessment and ameliorative therapeutic intervention in seasonal and pandemic influenza. PMID:21901105

Acute Phase Response, Inflammation and Metabolic Syndrome Biomarkers of Libby Asbestos Exposure

EPA Science Inventory

Background: Identification of biomarkers assists in the diagnosis of disease and the assessment of health risks from environmental exposures. Objective: We hypothesized that rats exposed to Libby amphibole (LA) would present with a unique serum proteomic profile which could help ...

Dealing with non-unique and non-monotonic response in particle sizing instruments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rosenberg, Phil

2017-04-01

A number of instruments used as de-facto standards for measuring particle size distributions are actually incapable of uniquely determining the size of an individual particle. This is due to non-unique or non-monotonic response functions. Optical particle counters have non monotonic response due to oscillations in the Mie response curves, especially for large aerosol and small cloud droplets. Scanning mobility particle sizers respond identically to two particles where the ratio of particle size to particle charge is approximately the same. Images of two differently sized cloud or precipitation particles taken by an optical array probe can have similar dimensions or shadowed area depending upon where they are in the imaging plane. A number of methods exist to deal with these issues, including assuming that positive and negative errors cancel, smoothing response curves, integrating regions in measurement space before conversion to size space and matrix inversion. Matrix inversion (also called kernel inversion) has the advantage that it determines the size distribution which best matches the observations, given specific information about the instrument (a matrix which specifies the probability that a particle of a given size will be measured in a given instrument size bin). In this way it maximises use of the information in the measurements. However this technique can be confused by poor counting statistics which can cause erroneous results and negative concentrations. Also an effective method for propagating uncertainties is yet to be published or routinely implemented. Her we present a new alternative which overcomes these issues. We use Bayesian methods to determine the probability that a given size distribution is correct given a set of instrument data and then we use Markov Chain Monte Carlo methods to sample this many dimensional probability distribution function to determine the expectation and (co)variances - hence providing a best guess and an uncertainty for the size distribution which includes contributions from the non-unique response curve, counting statistics and can propagate calibration uncertainties.

Mishap risk control for advanced aerospace/composite materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Olson, John M.

1994-01-01

Although advanced aerospace materials and advanced composites provide outstanding performance, they also present several unique post-mishap environmental, safety, and health concerns. The purpose of this paper is to provide information on some of the unique hazards and concerns associated with these materials when damaged by fire, explosion, or high-energy impact. Additionally, recommended procedures and precautions are addressed as they pertain to all phases of a composite aircraft mishap response, including fire-fighting, investigation, recovery, clean-up, and guidelines are general in nature and not application-specific. The goal of this project is to provide factual and realistic information which can be used to develop consistent and effective procedures and policies to minimize the potential environmental, safety, and health impacts of a composite aircraft mishap response effort.

Monitoring Students with ADHD within the RTI Framework

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haraway, Dana L.

2012-01-01

Students with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD) can present unique behavioral and academic challenges within the school environment. The Response to Intervention (RTI) and Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) movements have sought to formalize intervention systems to address the needs of all children. An integral…

Multisensory Associative Guided Instruction Components-Spelling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hamilton, Harley

2016-01-01

This article describes a multisensory presentation and response system for enhancing the spelling ability of dyslexic children. The unique aspect of MAGICSpell is its system of finger-letter associations and simplified keyboard configuration. Sixteen 10- and 11-year-old dyslexic students practiced the finger-letter associations via various typing…

Profiling of Intracellular Metabolites: An Approach to Understanding the Characteristic Physiology of Mycobacterium leprae

PubMed Central

Miyamoto, Yuji; Mukai, Tetsu; Matsuoka, Masanori; Kai, Masanori; Maeda, Yumi; Makino, Masahiko

2016-01-01

Mycobacterium leprae is the causative agent of leprosy and also known to possess unique features such as inability to proliferate in vitro. Among the cellular components of M. leprae, various glycolipids present on the cell envelope are well characterized and some of them are identified to be pathogenic factors responsible for intracellular survival in host cells, while other intracellular metabolites, assumed to be associated with basic physiological feature, remain largely unknown. In the present study, to elucidate the comprehensive profile of intracellular metabolites, we performed the capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CE-MS) analysis on M. leprae and compared to that of M. bovis BCG. Interestingly, comparison of these two profiles showed that, in M. leprae, amino acids and their derivatives are significantly accumulated, but most of intermediates related to central carbon metabolism markedly decreased, implying that M. leprae possess unique metabolic features. The present study is the first report demonstrating the unique profiles of M. leprae metabolites and these insights might contribute to understanding undefined metabolism of M. leprae as well as pathogenic characteristics related to the manifestation of the disease. PMID:27479467

Profiling of Intracellular Metabolites: An Approach to Understanding the Characteristic Physiology of Mycobacterium leprae.

PubMed

Miyamoto, Yuji; Mukai, Tetsu; Matsuoka, Masanori; Kai, Masanori; Maeda, Yumi; Makino, Masahiko

2016-08-01

Mycobacterium leprae is the causative agent of leprosy and also known to possess unique features such as inability to proliferate in vitro. Among the cellular components of M. leprae, various glycolipids present on the cell envelope are well characterized and some of them are identified to be pathogenic factors responsible for intracellular survival in host cells, while other intracellular metabolites, assumed to be associated with basic physiological feature, remain largely unknown. In the present study, to elucidate the comprehensive profile of intracellular metabolites, we performed the capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (CE-MS) analysis on M. leprae and compared to that of M. bovis BCG. Interestingly, comparison of these two profiles showed that, in M. leprae, amino acids and their derivatives are significantly accumulated, but most of intermediates related to central carbon metabolism markedly decreased, implying that M. leprae possess unique metabolic features. The present study is the first report demonstrating the unique profiles of M. leprae metabolites and these insights might contribute to understanding undefined metabolism of M. leprae as well as pathogenic characteristics related to the manifestation of the disease.

Disabled Children and Child Protection: Learning from Literature through a Non-Tragedy Lens

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Flynn, Susan; McGregor, Caroline

2017-01-01

Disabled children experience unique vulnerabilities in the context of child protection and welfare services. Current research alludes to strong concerns about social inequality, professional responses, judgement, knowledge and awareness limitations, and practical constraints. This article presents a focused commentary on the literature pertaining…

Arousal from sleep: The uniqueness of an individual's response and the problem of noise control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Levere, T. E.

1979-01-01

The dynamic nature of sleep is reviewed. Research is then presented concerning two fundamental issues: (1) does an individual react differently to auditory sounds when asleep as compared to when the individual is awake and (2) does sleep disruption necessarily involve behavioral awakening?

Visualizing the Solute Vaporization Interference in Flame Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dockery, Christopher R.; Blew, Michael J.; Goode, Scott R.

2008-01-01

Every day, tens of thousands of chemists use analytical atomic spectroscopy in their work, often without knowledge of possible interferences. We present a unique approach to study these interferences by using modern response surface methods to visualize an interference in which aluminum depresses the calcium atomic absorption signal. Calcium…

Student Media Production to Meet Challenges in Climate Change Science Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rooney-Varga, Juliette N.; Brisk, Angelica Allende; Adams, Elizabeth; Shuldman, Elizabeth; Rath, Kenneth

2014-01-01

While the need for effective climate change education is growing, this area of geoscience also poses unique educational challenges. These challenges include the politicization of climate change, the psychological and affective responses it elicits, and common misconceptions, which can all create barriers to learning. Here, we present an…

Supporting Diverse Young Adolescents: Cooperative Grouping in Inclusive Middle-Level Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Miller, Nicole C.; McKissick, Bethany R.; Ivy, Jessica T.; Moser, Kelly

2017-01-01

The middle level classroom presents unique challenges to educators who strive to provide opportunities that acknowledge learner diversity in terms of social, cognitive, physical, and emotional development. This is confounded even further within inclusive middle-school classrooms where the responsibility to differentiate instruction is even more…

Methods of Oil Detection in Response to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

EPA Science Inventory

Detecting oil in the northern Gulf of Mexico following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill presented unique challenges due to the spatial and temporal extent of the spill and the subsequent dilution of oil in the environment. Over time, physical, chemical, and biological processes a...

Empirically Based Play Interventions for Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reddy, Linda A., Ed.; Files-Hall, Tara M., Ed.; Schaefer, Charles E., Ed.

2005-01-01

"Empirically Based Play Interventions for Children" is a compilation of innovative, well-designed play interventions, presented for the first time in one text. Play therapy is the oldest and most popular form of child therapy in clinical practice and is widely considered by practitioners to be uniquely responsive to children's developmental needs.…

The macromolecular aromatic domain in suberized tissue: a changing paradigm

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bernards, M. A.; Lewis, N. G.

1998-01-01

As a structural feature of specialized cell walls, suberization remains an enigma, despite its obvious importance both during normal growth and development and as a stress response in plants. While it is clear that suberized tissues contain both polyaromatic and polyaliphatic domains, and that each of these has its own unique characteristics, whether there is a contiguous macromolecule that can be called suberin is an open question. From a structural perspective, the aromatic domain is unique and distinct from lignin, and is apparently comprised primarily of (poly)hydroxycinnamates, such as amides (e.g., feruloyltyramine). The aliphatic domain is also unique, being quite distinct from cutin in terms of both its chemical composition and cellular location. In the present paper, histochemical, structural and biochemical data, particularly, regarding the polyaromatic domain of suberized tissues, are critically reviewed. A revised description of the polyaromatic domain of suberized tissues, based on the consensus that is emerging from the current data, is presented and especially includes a spatially distinct (poly)hydroxycinnamoyl-containing macromolecule.

Lattice Truss Structural Response Using Energy Methods

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kenner, Winfred Scottson

1996-01-01

A deterministic methodology is presented for developing closed-form deflection equations for two-dimensional and three-dimensional lattice structures. Four types of lattice structures are studied: beams, plates, shells and soft lattices. Castigliano's second theorem, which entails the total strain energy of a structure, is utilized to generate highly accurate results. Derived deflection equations provide new insight into the bending and shear behavior of the four types of lattices, in contrast to classic solutions of similar structures. Lattice derivations utilizing kinetic energy are also presented, and used to examine the free vibration response of simple lattice structures. Derivations utilizing finite element theory for unique lattice behavior are also presented and validated using the finite element analysis code EAL.

Conditional clustering of temporal expression profiles

PubMed Central

Wang, Ling; Montano, Monty; Rarick, Matt; Sebastiani, Paola

2008-01-01

Background Many microarray experiments produce temporal profiles in different biological conditions but common cluster techniques are not able to analyze the data conditional on the biological conditions. Results This article presents a novel technique to cluster data from time course microarray experiments performed across several experimental conditions. Our algorithm uses polynomial models to describe the gene expression patterns over time, a full Bayesian approach with proper conjugate priors to make the algorithm invariant to linear transformations, and an iterative procedure to identify genes that have a common temporal expression profile across two or more experimental conditions, and genes that have a unique temporal profile in a specific condition. Conclusion We use simulated data to evaluate the effectiveness of this new algorithm in finding the correct number of clusters and in identifying genes with common and unique profiles. We also use the algorithm to characterize the response of human T cells to stimulations of antigen-receptor signaling gene expression temporal profiles measured in six different biological conditions and we identify common and unique genes. These studies suggest that the methodology proposed here is useful in identifying and distinguishing uniquely stimulated genes from commonly stimulated genes in response to variable stimuli. Software for using this clustering method is available from the project home page. PMID:18334028

Innate and adaptive immune responses in male and female reproductive tracts in homeostasis and following HIV infection

PubMed Central

Nguyen, Philip V; Kafka, Jessica K; Ferreira, Victor H; Roth, Kristy; Kaushic, Charu

2014-01-01

The male and female reproductive tracts are complex microenvironments that have diverse functional demands. The immune system in the reproductive tract has the demanding task of providing a protective environment for a fetal allograft while simultaneously conferring protection against potential pathogens. As such, it has evolved a unique set of adaptations, primarily under the influence of sex hormones, which make it distinct from other mucosal sites. Here, we discuss the various components of the immune system that are present in both the male and female reproductive tracts, including innate soluble factors and cells and humoral and cell-mediated adaptive immunity under homeostatic conditions. We review the evidence showing unique phenotypic and functional characteristics of immune cells and responses in the male and female reproductive tracts that exhibit compartmentalization from systemic immunity and discuss how these features are influenced by sex hormones. We also examine the interactions among the reproductive tract, sex hormones and immune responses following HIV-1 infection. An improved understanding of the unique characteristics of the male and female reproductive tracts will provide insights into improving clinical treatments of the immunological causes of infertility and the design of prophylactic interventions for the prevention of sexually transmitted infections. PMID:24976268

"Having the heart to be evaluated": The differential effects of fears of positive and negative evaluation on emotional and cardiovascular responses to social threat.

PubMed

Weeks, Justin W; Zoccola, Peggy M

2015-12-01

Accumulating evidence supports fear of evaluation in general as important in social anxiety, including fear of positive evaluation (FPE) and fear of negative evaluation (FNE). The present study examined state responses to an impromptu speech task with a sample of 81 undergraduates. This study is the first to compare and contrast physiological responses associated with FPE and FNE, and to examine both FPE- and FNE-related changes in state anxiety/affect in response to perceived social evaluation during a speech. FPE uniquely predicted (relative to FNE/depression) increases in mean heart rate during the speech; in contrast, neither FNE nor depression related to changes in heart rate. Both FPE and FNE related uniquely to increases in negative affect and state anxiety during the speech. Furthermore, pre-speech state anxiety mediated the relationship between trait FPE and diminished positive affect during the speech. Implications for the theoretical conceptualization and treatment of social anxiety are discussed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Shared and unique responses of plants to multiple individual stresses and stress combinations: physiological and molecular mechanisms

PubMed Central

Pandey, Prachi; Ramegowda, Venkategowda; Senthil-Kumar, Muthappa

2015-01-01

In field conditions, plants are often simultaneously exposed to multiple biotic and abiotic stresses resulting in substantial yield loss. Plants have evolved various physiological and molecular adaptations to protect themselves under stress combinations. Emerging evidences suggest that plant responses to a combination of stresses are unique from individual stress responses. In addition, plants exhibit shared responses which are common to individual stresses and stress combination. In this review, we provide an update on the current understanding of both unique and shared responses. Specific focus of this review is on heat–drought stress as a major abiotic stress combination and, drought–pathogen and heat–pathogen as examples of abiotic–biotic stress combinations. We also comprehend the current understanding of molecular mechanisms of cross talk in relation to shared and unique molecular responses for plant survival under stress combinations. Thus, the knowledge of shared responses of plants from individual stress studies and stress combinations can be utilized to develop varieties with broad spectrum stress tolerance. PMID:26442037

What helps and what hinders the process of surviving the suicide of somebody close?

PubMed

Grad, Onja T; Clark, Sheila; Dyregrov, Kari; Andriessen, Karl

2004-01-01

This paper presents similar findings about the lack of support and understanding for people bereaved through suicide from four different countries and reports on each country's unique response to this challenge. This paper reports on presentations made at the conference workshop of the International Association for Suicide Prevention meeting in Chennai in 2001, and on participants' suggestions of how best to help the bereaved.

Peyer’s patches: Organizing B cell responses at the intestinal frontier

PubMed Central

Reboldi, Andrea; Cyster, Jason G

2015-01-01

Summary Secondary lymphoid tissues share the important function of bringing together antigens and rare antigen-specific lymphocytes to foster induction of adaptive immune responses. Peyer’s patches (PPs) are unique compared to other secondary lymphoid tissues in their continual exposure to an enormous diversity of microbiome- and food-derived antigens and in the types of pathogens they encounter. Antigens are delivered to PPs by specialized microfold (M) epithelial cells and they may be captured and presented by resident dendritic cells (DCs). In accord with their state of chronic microbial antigen exposure, PPs exhibit continual germinal center (GC) activity. These GCs contribute to the generation of B cells and plasma cells producing somatically mutated gut antigen-specific IgA antibodies, but have also been suggested to support antigen-nonspecific diversification of the B cell repertoire. Here we review current understanding of how PPs foster B cell encounters with antigen, how they favor isotype switching to the secretory IgA isotype, and how their GC responses may uniquely contribute to mucosal immunity. PMID:27088918

Autoimmune Granulomatous Inflammation of Lacrimal Glands and Axonal Neuritis Following Treatment With Ipilimumab and Radiation Therapy.

PubMed

Ileana Dumbrava, Ecaterina; Smith, Veronica; Alfattal, Rasha; El-Naggar, Adel K; Penas-Prado, Marta; Tsimberidou, Apostolia M

2018-05-21

Immune checkpoint inhibitors such as anti-CTLA-4 (cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4), anti PD-1 (programmed cell death protein 1) and PD-L1 (programmed cell death protein-ligand 1) monoclonal antibodies are emerging as standard oncology treatments in various tumor types. The indications will expand as immunotherapies are being investigated in various tumors with promising results. Currently, there is inadequate identification of predictive biomarkers of response or toxicity. Unique response patterns include pseudoprogression and delayed response. The use of immune checkpoint inhibitors exhibit an unique toxicity profile, the immune-related adverse events (irAEs). The most notable immune reactions are noted in skin (rash), gastrointestinal track (colitis, hepatitis, pancreatitis), lung (pneumonitis), heart (myocarditis), and endocrine system (thyroiditis, hypophysitis). We present a patient with metastatic adenoid cystic carcinoma of the left submandibular gland with granulomatous inflammation of the lacrimal glands and axonal neuritis of the cervical and paraspinal nerves following treatment with ipilimumab and radiation therapy.

Three dimensional Origami-based metamaterial

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamrava, Soroush; Mousanezhad, Davood; Ebrahimi, Hamid; Ghosh, Ranajay; Vaziri, Ashkan; High Performance Materials; Structures Labratory Team

We present a novel cellular metamaterial constructed from Origami building blocks based on Miura-ori fold. The proposed cellular metamaterial exhibits unusual properties some of which stemming from the inherent properties of its Origami building blocks, and others manifesting due to its unique geometrical construction and architecture. These properties include foldability with two fully-folded configurations, auxeticity (i.e., negative Poisson's ratio), bistability, and self-locking of Origami building blocks to construct load-bearing cellular metamaterials. The kinematics and force response of the cellular metamaterial during folding were studied to investigate the underlying mechanisms resulting in its unique properties using analytical modeling and experiments.

Climate change and the distribution and conservation of the world's highest elevation woodlands in the South American Altiplano

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cuyckens, G. A. E.; Christie, D. A.; Domic, A. I.; Malizia, L. R.; Renison, D.

2016-02-01

Climate change is becoming an increasing threat to biodiversity. Consequently, methods for delineation, establishment and management of protected areas must consider the species' future distribution in response to future climate conditions. Biodiversity in high altitude semiarid regions may be particularly threatened by future climate change. In this study we assess the main environmental variables that best explain present day presence of the world's highest elevation woodlands in the South American Altiplano, and model how climate change may affect the future distribution of this unique ecosystem under different climate change scenarios. These woodlands are dominated by Polylepis tarapacana (Rosaceae), a species that forms unique biological communities with important conservation value. Our results indicate that five environmental variables are responsible for 91% and 90.3% of the present and future P. tarapacana distribution models respectively, and suggest that at the end of the 21st century, there will be a significant reduction (56%) in the potential habitat for this species due to more arid conditions. Since it is predicted that P. tarapacana's potential distribution will be severely reduced in the future, we propose a new network of national protected areas across this species distribution range in order to insure the future conservation of this unique ecosystem. Based on an extensive literature review we identify research topics and recommendations for on-ground conservation and management of P. tarapacana woodlands.

Antigen presentation by small intestinal epithelial cells uniquely enhances IFN-γ secretion from CD4{sup +} intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hatano, Ryo; Yamada, Kiyoshi; Iwamoto, Taku

2013-06-14

Highlights: •Small intestinal epithelial cells (sIECs). •sIECs are able to induce antigen specific proliferation of CD4{sup +} IELs. •sIECs induce markedly enhanced IFN-γ secretion by CD4{sup +} IELs. •Induction of enhanced IFN-γ secretion by sIECs is uniquely observed in CD4{sup +} IELs. -- Abstract: Small intestinal epithelial cells (sIECs) express major histocompatibility complex class II molecules even in a normal condition, and are known to function as antigen presenting cells (APCs) at least in vitro. These findings raised the possibility that sIECs play an important role in inducing immune responses against luminal antigens, especially those of intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs)more » and lamina propria lymphocytes (LPLs). We herein showed that antigenic stimulation with sIECs induced markedly greater secretion of interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) by CD4{sup +} IELs, but not interleukin (IL)-4, IL-10 and IL-17 although the proliferative response was prominently lower than that with T cell-depleted splenic APCs. In contrast, no enhanced IFN-γ secretion by CD4{sup +} LPLs and primed splenic CD4{sup +} T cells was observed when stimulated with sIECs. Taken together, these results suggest that sIECs uniquely activate CD4{sup +} IELs and induce remarkable IFN-γ secretion upon antigenic stimulation in vivo.« less

A cross-cultural investigation into the relationships among parental support for basic psychological needs, sense of uniqueness, and happiness.

PubMed

Simşek, Omer Faruk; Demir, Melikşah

2014-01-01

A significant number of empirical studies have reported that parental support for basic psychological needs is a robust correlate of adolescent happiness. Yet, less is known about the mechanisms responsible for this link. The present study proposed a model suggesting that personal sense of uniqueness explains why satisfaction of basic psychological needs in parent-child relationships is related to happiness. This mediational model was tested among late adolescents in Turkey and the United States. Analyses relying on structural equation modeling and bootstrapping supported the model in both cultures. Implications of the findings for theory and cross-cultural research are discussed. Directions for future research that could improve our understanding of the dynamic interplay between basic needs, sense of uniqueness and well-being are provided.

Annotated Selected Bibliography & Index for Teaching African-American Learners: Culturally Responsive Pedagogy Project.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hilliard, Asa G.

This annotated bibliography and index presents nearly 2,000 references that are substantially unique to African or African American teaching and learning. Designed to support teacher education, the bibliography features references that were chosen if they were culturally relevant, recognized the African or African American experience, and drew…

Global Public Water Education: The World Water Monitoring Day Experience

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Araya, Yoseph Negusse; Moyer, Edward H.

2006-01-01

Public awareness of the impending world water crisis is an important prerequisite to create a responsible citizenship capable of participating to improve world water management. In this context, the case of a unique global water education outreach exercise, World Water Monitoring Day of October 18, is presented. Started in 2002 in the United…

Social Work Education: Achieving Transformative Learning through a Cultural Competence Model for Transformative Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Blunt, Kesha

2007-01-01

Migration across national borders has resulted in demographic changes in the United States, causing the country to become more multi-ethnic. This presents considerable challenges for graduate level educators who need to be responsive to the unique academic needs of diverse populations by considering students' previous experiences, values, and…

Creating Learning Momentum through Overt Teaching Interactions during Real Acute Care Episodes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Piquette, Dominique; Moulton, Carol-Anne; LeBlanc, Vicki R.

2015-01-01

Clinical supervisors fulfill a dual responsibility towards patient care and learning during clinical activities. Assuming such roles in today's clinical environments may be challenging. Acute care environments present unique learning opportunities for medical trainees, as well as specific challenges. The goal of this paper was to better understand…

Beyond the Web Tutorial: Development and Implementation of an Online, Self-Directed Academic Integrity Course at Oakland University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Greer, Katie; Swanberg, Stephanie; Hristova, Mariela; Switzer, Anne T.; Daniel, Dominique; Perdue, Sherry Wynn

2012-01-01

Intentional and unintentional plagiarism cases occur frequently and present unique pedagogical challenges for librarians, who often are deemed responsible for ensuring that undergraduates gain a solid understanding of academic integrity issues via information literacy instruction. This article describes the process by which faculty from the…

Procedures for Decomposing a Redox Reaction into Half-Reaction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fishtik, Ilie; Berka, Ladislav H.

2005-01-01

A simple algorithm for a complete enumeration of the possible ways a redox reaction (RR) might be uniquely decomposed into half-reactions (HRs) using the response reactions (RERs) formalism is presented. A complete enumeration of the possible ways a RR may be decomposed into HRs is equivalent to a complete enumeration of stoichiometrically…

Guiding Principles for Providing High-Quality Education in Juvenile Justice Secure Care Settings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

US Department of Education, 2014

2014-01-01

Providing high-quality education in juvenile justice secure care settings presents unique challenges for the administrators, teachers, and staff who are responsible for the education, rehabilitation, and welfare of youths committed to their care. The United States departments of Education (ED) and Justice (DOJ) recognize that while these…

Experiential Learning: High School Student Response to Learning Oceanography at Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fiedler, J. W.; Tamsitt, V. M.; Crosby, S. C.; Ludka, B. C.

2016-12-01

The GOTO-SEE (Graduate students Onboard Teaching Oceanography - Scripps Educational Experience) cruises were conducted with two days of ship time off of Point Loma, CA, on the R/V Robert Gordon Sproul in July 2016. The cruises, funded through UC Ship Funds program, provided a unique training opportunity for graduate students to design, coordinate and conduct ship-based field experiments as well as teaching and mentoring students. The cruises allowed for instruction at sea for high school students in the UCSD Academic Connections program in two small classes: a two-week long Global Environmental Leadership and Sustainability Program and a 3-week long class entitled Wind, Waves and Currents: Physics of the Ocean World. Students in both classes assisted with the collection of data, including two repeat cross-shore vertical CTD sections with nutrient sampling, and the deployment and recovery of a 10-day moored vertical thermistor array. Additional activities included plankton net tows, sediment sampling, depth soundings, and simple experiments regarding light absorption in the ocean. The students later plotted the data collected as a class assignment and presented a scientific poster to their peers. Here, we present the lessons learned from the cruises as well as student responses to the unique in-the-field experience, and how those responses differed by curriculum.

On the magnetic polarizability tensor of US coinage

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davidson, John L.; Abdel-Rehim, Omar A.; Hu, Peipei; Marsh, Liam A.; O'Toole, Michael D.; Peyton, Anthony J.

2018-03-01

The magnetic dipole polarizability tensor of a metallic object gives unique information about the size, shape and electromagnetic properties of the object. In this paper, we present a novel method of coin characterization based on the spectroscopic response of the absolute tensor. The experimental measurements are validated using a combination of tests with a small set of bespoke coin surrogates and simulated data. The method is applied to an uncirculated set of US coins. Measured and simulated spectroscopic tensor responses of the coins show significant differences between different coin denominations. The presented results are encouraging as they strongly demonstrate the ability to characterize coins using an absolute tensor approach.

Biological Warfare Improved Response Program (BW-IRP) CDC/DoD Smallpox Workshop

DTIC Science & Technology

2005-01-01

national surveillance effort. Awareness of unique symptoms will need to be raised by training clinicians. For example, adults presenting with chicken pox ...no case definitions but rather visual recognition cards. Presently, the chicken pox definition has been modified to create a smallpox definition. The...the last 2 weeks • Pharmaceuticals prescribed or issued for chicken pox • A number of suspected cases of chicken pox • Reports of rashes, especially a

Polymer blend particles with defined compositions for targeting antigen to both class I and II antigen presentation pathways

PubMed Central

Tran, Kenny K.; Zhan, Xi; Shen, Hong

2013-01-01

Defense against many persistent and difficult-to-treat diseases requires a combination of humoral, CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses, which necessitates targeting antigens to both class I and II antigen presentation pathways. In this study, we developed polymer blend particles by mixing two functionally unique polymers, poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) and a pH-responsive polymer, poly(dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate-co-propylacrylic acid-co-butyl methacrylate) (DMAEMA-co-PAA-co-BMA). We showed polymer blend particles enabled the delivery of antigens into both class I and II antigen presentation pathways in vitro. Increasing the ratio of the pH-responsive polymer in blend particles increased the degree of class I antigen presentation, while maintaining high levels of class II antigen presentation. In a mouse model, we demonstrated that a significantly higher and sustained level of CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses, and comparable antibody responses, were elicited with polymer blend particles than PLGA particles and a conventional vaccine, Alum. The polymer blend particles offer a potential vaccine delivery platform to generate a combination of humoral and cell-mediated immune responses that insure robust and long-lasting immunity against many infectious diseases and cancers. PMID:24124123

Goal-driven modulation of stimulus-driven attentional capture in multiple-cue displays.

PubMed

Richard, Christian M; Wright, Richard D; Ward, Lawrence M

2003-08-01

Six location-cuing experiments were conducted to examine the goal-driven control of attentional capture in multiple-cue displays. In most of the experiments, the cue display consisted of the simultaneous presentation of a red direct cue that was highly predictive of the target location (the unique cue) and three gray direct cues (the standard cues) that were not predictive of the location. The results indicated that although target responses were faster at all cued locations relative to uncued locations, they were significantly faster at the unique-cue location than at the standard-cue locations. Other results suggest that the faster responses produced by direct cues may be associated with two different components: an attention-related component that can be modulated by goal-driven factors and a nonattentional component that occurs in parallel at multiple direct-cue locations and is minimally affected by the same goal-driven factors.

Regulatory B cell: New member of immunosuppressive cell club.

PubMed

Ding, Tingting; Yan, Fan; Cao, Shui; Ren, Xiubao

2015-09-01

Historically, the pivotal role of B cells or B lymphocytes in immunity has been attributed to the production of antibodies. They were also demonstrated to present antigens to T cells and to secrete cytokines, thereby acting as positive regulators in immune responses. A series of studies on autoimmune diseases, however, led researchers to find a unique subset of B cells, later described as "regulatory B cells" (Bregs), that has the ability to suppress immune responses. Bregs occur not only in autoimmune diseases, but also in inflammation and transplantation. Furthermore, recently published literatures suggested that Bregs contributed to the growth and metastasis of certain cancers. In this review, we will discuss these unique subsets of B cells in different kinds of disorders, with particular emphasis on the mechanisms of their immunoregulatory role that were collected from mice and humans. Copyright © 2015 American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Practice recommendations for pain assessment by self-report with African American older adults.

PubMed

Booker, Staja Star; Pasero, Chris; Herr, Keela A

2015-01-01

Despite decades of education and clinical practice guidelines underscoring disparities in pain management, pain continues to be inadequately managed in older African American adults as a result of patient, provider, and systems factors. Critical factors influencing pain assessment in older African American adults has not been extensively examined, contributing to a lack of data to inform health care providers' knowledge on culturally-responsive pain assessment in older African Americans. Assessing pain in older African Americans is unique because differences in language, cultural beliefs, and practices moderate how they report and express pain. This paper presents an overview of patient-provider factors that affect pain assessment in older African Americans with a focus on this population's unique cultural beliefs and practices. Recommendations for best practices for performance of a culturally-responsive pain assessment with older African Americans are provided. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Lactic acid alleviates stress: good for female genital tract homeostasis, bad for protection against malignancy.

PubMed

Witkin, Steven S

2018-05-01

Women are unique from all other mammals in that lactic acid is present at high levels in the vagina during their reproductive years. This dominance may have evolved in response to the unique human lifestyle and a need to optimally protect pregnant women and their fetuses from endogenous and exogenous insults. Lactic acid in the female genital tract inactivates potentially pathogenic bacteria and viruses, maximizes survival of vaginal epithelial cells, and inhibits inflammation that may be damaging to the developing fetus and maintenance of the pregnancy. In an analogous manner, lactic acid production facilitates survival of malignantly transformed cells, inhibits activation of immune cells, and prevents the release of pro-inflammatory mediators in response to tumor-specific antigens. Thus, the same stress-reducing properties of lactic acid that promote lower genital tract health facilitate malignant transformation and progression.

12-Chemokine Gene Signature Identifies Lymph Node-like Structures in Melanoma: Potential for Patient Selection for Immunotherapy?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Messina, Jane L.; Fenstermacher, David A.; Eschrich, Steven; Qu, Xiaotao; Berglund, Anders E.; Lloyd, Mark C.; Schell, Michael J.; Sondak, Vernon K.; Weber, Jeffrey S.; Mulé, James J.

2012-10-01

We have interrogated a 12-chemokine gene expression signature (GES) on genomic arrays of 14,492 distinct solid tumors and show broad distribution across different histologies. We hypothesized that this 12-chemokine GES might accurately predict a unique intratumoral immune reaction in stage IV (non-locoregional) melanoma metastases. The 12-chemokine GES predicted the presence of unique, lymph node-like structures, containing CD20+ B cell follicles with prominent areas of CD3+ T cells (both CD4+ and CD8+ subsets). CD86+, but not FoxP3+, cells were present within these unique structures as well. The direct correlation between the 12-chemokine GES score and the presence of unique, lymph nodal structures was also associated with better overall survival of the subset of melanoma patients. The use of this novel 12-chemokine GES may reveal basic information on in situ mechanisms of the anti-tumor immune response, potentially leading to improvements in the identification and selection of melanoma patients most suitable for immunotherapy.

Vaginal foreign body presenting as bleeding with defecation in a child.

PubMed

Abdessamad, Hasan M; Greenfield, Marjorie

2009-04-01

Symptoms secondary to a vaginal foreign body are responsible for approximately 4% of pediatric gynecologic outpatient visits.(1) The classic symptom is vaginal bleeding, but vaginal discharge, foul odor, irritation, abdominal pain, and hematuria have been described. We are reporting a case of a microscopic vaginal foreign body presenting as hematochezia in a preadolescent girl. This case is unique in that the patient presented with bleeding with defecation, without vaginal bleeding. Vaginal foreign bodies can present with diverse symptomatology. Physicians should consider the diagnosis of vaginal foreign body when presented with a young female patient with unexplained hematochezia.

Ethics and the Early Childhood Teacher Educator: A Proposed Addendum to the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Freeman, Nancy; Feeney, Stephanie; Moravcik, Eva

2003-01-01

Proposes an addendum to the National Association for the Education of Young Children's Code of Ethical Conduct concerning the unique ethical challenges facing teacher educators. Presents a conception of professional responsibility in six areas: children and families, adult students, programs hosting practicum students and programs' staffs and…

System Learning in an Urban School District: A Case Study of Intra-District Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Redding, Christopher; Cannata, Marisa; Miller, Jason

2017-01-01

This paper presents evidence from a unique reform model that allowed teachers and other educators in a large urban district to collaborate with one another in the development of an innovation meant to improve student ownership and responsibility. In this longitudinal case study, we describe school stakeholders' learning about the design, the…

System Learning in an Urban School District: A Case Study of Intra-District Learning

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Redding, Christopher; Cannata, Marisa; Miller, Jason M.

2018-01-01

This paper presents evidence from a unique reform model that allowed teachers and other educators in a large urban district to collaborate with one another in the development of an innovation meant to improve student ownership and responsibility. In this longitudinal case study, we describe school stakeholders' learning about the design, the…

Women, work and health: issues and implications for worksite health promotion.

PubMed

Collins, B S; Hollander, R B; Koffman, D M; Reeve, R; Seidler, S

1997-01-01

This paper identifies issues related to worksite health promotion programs for women by examining ways that work factors, health behaviors, family roles and responsibilities, and women's health are linked. Work conditions may affect women uniquely, as in the case of chemical exposure affecting reproductive health; disproportionately, such as the interaction between work and family roles; or differently from men, as in women's experience of stress in the workplace. The focus is on the differences and uniqueness of working women's health. Drawing on a public health perspective, implications for consideration by worksite health promotion programs specialist, human resource managers, and researchers are presented.

Origami-based cellular metamaterial with auxetic, bistable, and self-locking properties

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kamrava, Soroush; Mousanezhad, Davood; Ebrahimi, Hamid; Ghosh, Ranajay; Vaziri, Ashkan

2017-04-01

We present a novel cellular metamaterial constructed from Origami building blocks based on Miura-ori fold. The proposed cellular metamaterial exhibits unusual properties some of which stemming from the inherent properties of its Origami building blocks, and others manifesting due to its unique geometrical construction and architecture. These properties include foldability with two fully-folded configurations, auxeticity (i.e., negative Poisson’s ratio), bistability, and self-locking of Origami building blocks to construct load-bearing cellular metamaterials. The kinematics and force response of the cellular metamaterial during folding were studied to investigate the underlying mechanisms resulting in its unique properties using analytical modeling and experiments.

Origami-based cellular metamaterial with auxetic, bistable, and self-locking properties

PubMed Central

Kamrava, Soroush; Mousanezhad, Davood; Ebrahimi, Hamid; Ghosh, Ranajay; Vaziri, Ashkan

2017-01-01

We present a novel cellular metamaterial constructed from Origami building blocks based on Miura-ori fold. The proposed cellular metamaterial exhibits unusual properties some of which stemming from the inherent properties of its Origami building blocks, and others manifesting due to its unique geometrical construction and architecture. These properties include foldability with two fully-folded configurations, auxeticity (i.e., negative Poisson’s ratio), bistability, and self-locking of Origami building blocks to construct load-bearing cellular metamaterials. The kinematics and force response of the cellular metamaterial during folding were studied to investigate the underlying mechanisms resulting in its unique properties using analytical modeling and experiments. PMID:28387345

Space station operations management

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cannon, Kathleen V.

1989-01-01

Space Station Freedom operations management concepts must be responsive to the unique challenges presented by the permanently manned international laboratory. Space Station Freedom will be assembled over a three year period where the operational environment will change as significant capability plateaus are reached. First Element Launch, Man-Tended Capability, and Permanent Manned Capability, represent milestones in operational capability that is increasing toward mature operations capability. Operations management concepts are being developed to accomodate the varying operational capabilities during assembly, as well as the mature operational environment. This paper describes operations management concepts designed to accomodate the uniqueness of Space Station Freedoom, utilizing tools and processes that seek to control operations costs.

Genomic identification of potential targets unique to Candida albicans for the discovery of antifungal agents.

PubMed

Tripathi, Himanshu; Luqman, Suaib; Meena, Abha; Khan, Feroz

2014-01-01

Despite of modern antifungal therapy, the mortality rates of invasive infection with human fungal pathogen Candida albicans are up to 40%. Studies suggest that drug resistance in the three most common species of human fungal pathogens viz., C. albicans, Aspergillus fumigatus (causing mortality rate up to 90%) and Cryptococcus neoformans (causing mortality rate up to 70%) is due to mutations in the target enzymes or high expression of drug transporter genes. Drug resistance in human fungal pathogens has led to an imperative need for the identification of new targets unique to fungal pathogens. In the present study, we have used a comparative genomics approach to find out potential target proteins unique to C. albicans, an opportunistic fungus responsible for severe infection in immune-compromised human. Interestingly, many target proteins of existing antifungal agents showed orthologs in human cells. To identify unique proteins, we have compared proteome of C. albicans [SC5314] i.e., 14,633 total proteins retrieved from the RefSeq database of NCBI, USA with proteome of human and non-pathogenic yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Results showed that 4,568 proteins were identified unique to C. albicans as compared to those of human and later when these unique proteins were compared with S. cerevisiae proteome, finally 2,161 proteins were identified as unique proteins and after removing repeats total 1,618 unique proteins (42 functionally known, 1,566 hypothetical and 10 unknown) were selected as potential antifungal drug targets unique to C. albicans.

Child abuse and neglect profiles and their psychosocial consequences in a large sample of incarcerated males.

PubMed

Debowska, Agata; Boduszek, Daniel

2017-03-01

Research examining child abuse and neglect (CAN) profiles among adult offender populations is lacking. Therefore, the primary aim of the present study was to address this limitation by using latent class analysis (LCA) to identify meaningful classes of individuals who have experienced physical abuse, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, as well as neglect. Another aim was to estimate the association between CAN class membership and external criteria (psychopathy factors, self-esteem, attitudes towards male sexual violence in dating relationships, child sexual abuse myth acceptance, violent offending, and age). Data were collected among a large systematically selected sample of adult male inmates (N=1261). Based on LCA, three unique classes of CAN were distinguished, including a 'low abuse' group (43.4% of the sample), a 'high physical and emotional abuse' group (51.3%), and a 'poly-victimized' group (5.3%). The analysis revealed that the CAN classes were differentially associated with affective responsiveness, cognitive responsiveness, personal self-esteem, prison self-esteem, attitudes towards male sexual violence in dating relationships, and violent offending. Findings highlight the unique nature of CAN constellations among criminal justice involved participants. The significance of the present results is discussed in relation to past and future research. Potential contributions to treatment strategies are also presented. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ultraviolet Radiation: Cellular Antioxidant Response and the Role of Ocular Aldehyde Dehydrogenase Enzymes

PubMed Central

Marchitti, Satori A.; Chen, Ying; Thompson, David C.; Vasiliou, Vasilis

2011-01-01

Solar ultraviolet radiation (UVR) exposes the human eye to near constant oxidative stress. Evidence suggests that UVR is the most important environmental insult leading to the development of a variety of ophthalmoheliosis disorders. UVR-induced reactive oxygen species are highly reactive with DNA, proteins and cellular membranes, resulting in cellular and tissue damage. Antioxidant defense systems present in ocular tissues function to combat reactive oxygen species and protect the eye from oxidative damage. Important enzymatic antioxidants are the superoxide dismutases, catalase, glutathione peroxidases, glutathione reductase and members of the aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH) superfamily. Glutathione, ascorbic and uric acids, α-tocopherol, NADPH and ferritin serve as small molecule, nonenzymatic antioxidants. Ocular tissues have high levels of these antioxidants which are essential for the maintenance of redox homeostasis in the eye and protection against oxidative damage. ALDH1A1 and ALDH3A1, present abundantly in the cornea and lens, have been shown to have unique roles in the defense against UVR and the downstream effects of oxidative stress. This review presents the properties and functions of ocular antioxidants that play critical roles in the cellular response to UVR exposure, including a focused discussion of the unique roles that the ALDH1A1 and ALDH3A1 enzymes have as multi-functional ocular antioxidants. PMID:21670692

Plant Microbe Interactions in Post Genomic Era: Perspectives and Applications

PubMed Central

Imam, Jahangir; Singh, Puneet K.; Shukla, Pratyoosh

2016-01-01

Deciphering plant–microbe interactions is a promising aspect to understand the benefits and the pathogenic effect of microbes and crop improvement. The advancement in sequencing technologies and various ‘omics’ tool has impressively accelerated the research in biological sciences in this area. The recent and ongoing developments provide a unique approach to describing these intricate interactions and test hypotheses. In the present review, we discuss the role of plant-pathogen interaction in crop improvement. The plant innate immunity has always been an important aspect of research and leads to some interesting information like the adaptation of unique immune mechanisms of plants against pathogens. The development of new techniques in the post - genomic era has greatly enhanced our understanding of the regulation of plant defense mechanisms against pathogens. The present review also provides an overview of beneficial plant–microbe interactions with special reference to Agrobacterium tumefaciens-plant interactions where plant derived signal molecules and plant immune responses are important in pathogenicity and transformation efficiency. The construction of various Genome-scale metabolic models of microorganisms and plants presented a better understanding of all metabolic interactions activated during the interactions. This review also lists the emerging repertoire of phytopathogens and its impact on plant disease resistance. Outline of different aspects of plant-pathogen interactions is presented in this review to bridge the gap between plant microbial ecology and their immune responses. PMID:27725809

Method for Constructing Composite Response Surfaces by Combining Neural Networks with other Interpolation or Estimation Techniques

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rai, Man Mohan (Inventor); Madavan, Nateri K. (Inventor)

2003-01-01

A method and system for design optimization that incorporates the advantages of both traditional response surface methodology (RSM) and neural networks is disclosed. The present invention employs a unique strategy called parameter-based partitioning of the given design space. In the design procedure, a sequence of composite response surfaces based on both neural networks and polynomial fits is used to traverse the design space to identify an optimal solution. The composite response surface has both the power of neural networks and the economy of low-order polynomials (in terms of the number of simulations needed and the network training requirements). The present invention handles design problems with many more parameters than would be possible using neural networks alone and permits a designer to rapidly perform a variety of trade-off studies before arriving at the final design.

Hyperpolarizing and age-dependent depolarizing responses of cultured locus coeruleus neurons to noradrenaline.

PubMed

Finlayson, P G; Marshall, K C

1984-08-01

The electrical activity and responses to noradrenaline (NA) of locus coeruleus (LC) neurons have been studied in organotypic cultures using intracellular recording. Most LC neurons were predominantly quiescent, though occasional bursts of activity were observed; a few cells were tonically active at rates of 0.5-5/s. In most cells tested, iontophoretic application of NA evoked responses which were initially hyperpolarizing, sometimes followed by a depolarizing phase and frequently followed by a period of increased excitatory synaptic activity. The enhanced synaptic activity appeared to be an indirect effect since it was blocked by bath application of tetrodotoxin (TTX). In the presence of TTX, responses to NA of all but one cell were simple hyperpolarizations or biphasic (hyperpolarization/depolarization) responses. The presence of the depolarizing component appeared to be age-dependent, since it was frequently observed in cultures grown in vitro for less than 26 days, while neurons in older cultures exhibited only hyperpolarizing responses. If such age-dependent depolarizing responses are present in vivo, they would represent a unique example of a transmitter response which is present only during a transient developmental phase.

Inherent X-Linked Genetic Variability and Cellular Mosaicism Unique to Females Contribute to Sex-Related Differences in the Innate Immune Response.

PubMed

Spolarics, Zoltan; Peña, Geber; Qin, Yong; Donnelly, Robert J; Livingston, David H

2017-01-01

Females have a longer lifespan and better general health than males. Considerable number of studies also demonstrated that, after trauma and sepsis, females present better outcomes as compared to males indicating sex-related differences in the innate immune response. The current notion is that differences in the immuno-modulatory effects of sex hormones are the underlying causative mechanism. However, the field remains controversial and the exclusive role of sex hormones has been challenged. Here, we propose that polymorphic X-linked immune competent genes, which are abundant in the population are important players in sex-based immuno-modulation and play a key role in causing sex-related outcome differences following trauma or sepsis. We describe the differences in X chromosome (ChrX) regulation between males and females and its consequences in the context of common X-linked polymorphisms at the individual as well as population level. We also discuss the potential pathophysiological and immune-modulatory aspects of ChrX cellular mosaicism, which is unique to females and how this may contribute to sex-biased immune-modulation. The potential confounding effects of ChrX skewing of cell progenitors at the bone marrow is also presented together with aspects of acute trauma-induced de novo ChrX skewing at the periphery. In support of the hypothesis, novel observations indicating ChrX skewing in a female trauma cohort as well as case studies depicting the temporal relationship between trauma-induced cellular skewing and the clinical course are also described. Finally, we list and discuss a selected set of polymorphic X-linked genes, which are frequent in the population and have key regulatory or metabolic functions in the innate immune response and, therefore, are primary candidates for mediating sex-biased immune responses. We conclude that sex-related differences in a variety of disease processes including the innate inflammatory response to injury and infection may be related to the abundance of X-linked polymorphic immune-competent genes, differences in ChrX regulation, and inheritance patterns between the sexes and the presence of X-linked cellular mosaicism, which is unique to females.

Neonatal Fc receptor for IgG (FcRn) regulates cross-presentation of IgG immune complexes by CD8−CD11b+ dendritic cells

PubMed Central

Baker, Kristi; Qiao, Shuo-Wang; Kuo, Timothy T.; Aveson, Victoria G.; Platzer, Barbara; Andersen, Jan-Terje; Sandlie, Inger; Chen, Zhangguo; de Haar, Colin; Lencer, Wayne I.; Fiebiger, Edda; Blumberg, Richard S.

2011-01-01

Cross-presentation of IgG-containing immune complexes (ICs) is an important means by which dendritic cells (DCs) activate CD8+ T cells, yet it proceeds by an incompletely understood mechanism. We show that monocyte-derived CD8−CD11b+ DCs require the neonatal Fc receptor for IgG (FcRn) to conduct cross-presentation of IgG ICs. Consequently, in the absence of FcRn, Fcγ receptor (FcγR)-mediated antigen uptake fails to initiate cross-presentation. FcRn is shown to regulate the intracellular sorting of IgG ICs to the proper destination for such cross-presentation to occur. We demonstrate that FcRn traps antigen and protects it from degradation within an acidic loading compartment in association with the rapid recruitment of key components of the phagosome-to-cytosol cross-presentation machinery. This unique mechanism thus enables cross-presentation to evolve from an atypically acidic loading compartment. FcRn-driven cross-presentation is further shown to control cross-priming of CD8+ T-cell responses in vivo such that during chronic inflammation, FcRn deficiency results in inadequate induction of CD8+ T cells. These studies thus demonstrate that cross-presentation in CD8−CD11b+ DCs requires a two-step mechanism that involves FcγR-mediated internalization and FcRn-directed intracellular sorting of IgG ICs. Given the centrality of FcRn in controlling cross-presentation, these studies lay the foundation for a unique means to therapeutically manipulate CD8+ T-cell responses. PMID:21628593

Large area ultraviolet photodetector on surface modified Si:GaN layers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anitha, R.; R., Ramesh; Loganathan, R.; Vavilapalli, Durga Sankar; Baskar, K.; Singh, Shubra

2018-03-01

Unique features of semiconductor based heterostructured photoelectric devices have drawn considerable attention in the recent past. In the present work, large area UV photodetector has been fabricated utilizing interesting Zinc oxide microstructures on etched Si:GaN layers. The surface of Si:GaN layer grown by metal organic chemical vapor deposition method on sapphire has been modified by chemical etching to control the microstructure. The photodetector exhibits response to Ultraviolet light only. Optimum etching of Si:GaN was required to exhibit higher responsivity (0.96 A/W) and detectivity (∼4.87 × 109 Jones), the two important parameters for a photodetector. Present method offers a tunable functionality of photodetector through modification of top layer microstructure. A comparison with state of art materials has also been presented.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Harder, Samantha J.; Isabelle, Martin; DeVorkin, L

Purpose: This study presents the novel application of Raman spectroscopy (RS) to identify biochemical signatures of radiation response in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) xenografts, irradiated in vivo. Methods: Human NSCLC cells (H460) were subcutaneously injected into the flanks of 12 mice. Tumours were treated with single fraction radiation doses (0, 5 or 15 Gy) and harvested at 3 days post irradiation. A Renishaw inVia Raman microscope coupled to a 785 nm laser was used to collect Raman spectral maps for each tumour. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining for CAIX was used to visualize hypoxia, and co-registration between IHC fluorescence andmore » Raman images was carried out. Results: Principal component analysis revealed radiation induced spectral signatures linked to changes in protein, nucleic acid, lipid and carbohydrates. In particular, a marked increase in glycogen for irradiated tumours was observed. Spatial mapping revealed intra-tumoural heterogeneity in the distribution of glycogen within the tumour, suggesting tumour response to radiation is not globally uniform. Furthermore, co-registration of Raman glycogen maps with CAIX IHC staining showed a correlation between glycogen rich and hypoxic regions of the tissue. Conclusions: We identify glycogen as a unique radiation induced response in NSCLC tumour xenografts, which may reflect inherent metabolic changes associated with radiation response in tissue. This study provides unique insight into the biochemical response of tumours, irradiated in vivo, and demonstrates the potential of RS for detecting radiobiological responses in tumours.« less

Lipid composition and sensitivity of Prototheca wickerhamii to membrane-active antimicrobial agents.

PubMed Central

Sud, I J; Feingold, D S

1979-01-01

The lipid composition of Prototheca wickerhamii ATCC 16529 is presented and discussed in relation to the unique susceptibility of the organism to drugs of three membrane-active antimicrobial classes: the polyenes, the polymyxins, and the imidazoles. The presence of ergosterol in the neutral lipid fraction of the membrane is likely responsible for the exquisite susceptibility to amphotericin B. The presence of a large quantity of free fatty acids in the membrane appears responsible for imidazole susceptibility. The membrane determinants of polymyxin B susceptibility are less well defined. PMID:518077

HvWRKY10, HvWRKY19, and HvWRKY28 positively regulate Mla-triggered immunity and basal defense to barley powdery mildew

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

WRKY proteins represent a large family of transcription factors (TFs), involved in plant development and defense responses. So far, fifty-five unique barley TFs have been annotated that contain the WRKY domain; twenty-six of these are present on the Barley1 GeneChip. We analyzed time-course expres...

A Response to David Kirk: Personal/Professional Views from US Authors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hastie, Peter; van der Mars, Hans

2014-01-01

This paper represents the views of two scholars in the USA with respect to the scholar lecture presented by David Kirk at the 2012 BERA -- Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy (PESP) Special Interest Group meeting. We discuss how two unique features of the American universities have an impact on both the corporate nature of our work and our…

Resident Physicians' Clinical Training and Error Rate: The Roles of Autonomy, Consultation, and Familiarity with the Literature

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naveh, Eitan; Katz-Navon, Tal; Stern, Zvi

2015-01-01

Resident physicians' clinical training poses unique challenges for the delivery of safe patient care. Residents face special risks of involvement in medical errors since they have tremendous responsibility for patient care, yet they are novice practitioners in the process of learning and mastering their profession. The present study explores…

Abortive segmental perineal hemangioma.

PubMed

Tlougan, Brook E; Gonzalez, Mercedes E; Orlow, Seth J

2011-10-15

A six-week-old girl presented with a segmental, focally atrophic, vascular patch in the diaper area, present since birth. It had undergone minimal proliferation, but had ulcerated. Evaluation to rule out LUMBAR (Lower body hemangioma/Lipoma or other cutaneous anomalies, Urogenital anomalies, Myelopathy, Bony deformities, Anorectal/Arterial anomalies, and Renal anomalies) syndrome, which included ultrasound and Doppler examination of the abdomen, spine, and pelvis, was negative. We report a unique case of an ulcerated, segmental abortive hemangioma of the anogenital area with excellent clinical response to topical timolol gel.

MicroRNAs in Testicular Cancer Diagnosis and Prognosis.

PubMed

Ling, Hui; Krassnig, Lisa; Bullock, Marc D; Pichler, Martin

2016-02-01

Testicular cancer processes a unique and clear miRNA expression signature. This differentiates testicular cancer from most other cancer types, which are usually more ambiguous when assigning miRNA patterns. As such, testicular cancer may represent a unique cancer type in which miRNAs find their use as biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and prognosis, with a potential to surpass the current available markers usually with low sensitivity. In this review, we present literature findings on miRNAs associated with testicular cancer, and discuss their potential diagnostic and prognostic values, as well as their potential as indicators of drug response in patients with testicular cancer. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Issues concerning the updating of finite-element models from experimental data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dunn, Shane A.

1994-01-01

Some issues concerning the updating of dynamic finite-element models by incorporation of experimental data are examined here. It is demonstrated how the number of unknowns can be greatly reduced if the physical nature of the model is maintained. The issue of uniqueness is also examined and it is shown that a number of previous workers have been mistaken in their attempts to define both sufficient and necessary measurement requirements for the updating problem to be solved uniquely. The relative merits of modal and frequency response function (frf) data are discussed and it is shown that for measurements at fewer degrees of freedom than are present in the model, frf data will be unlikely to converge easily to a solution. It is then examined how such problems may become more tractable by using new experimental techniques which would allow measurements at all degrees of freedom present in the mathematical model.

Cells Respond to Distinct Nanoparticle Properties with Multiple Strategies As Revealed by Single-Cell RNA-Seq

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mitchell, Hugh D.; Markillie, Lye Meng; Chrisler, William B.

The impact of distinct nanoparticle (NP) properties on cellular response and ultimately human health is unclear. This gap is partially due to experimental difficulties in achieving uniform NP loads in the studied cells, creating heterogeneous populations with some cells “overloaded” while other cells are loaded with few or no NPs. Yet gene expression studies have been conducted in the population as a whole, identifying generic responses, while missing unique responses due to signal averaging across many cells, each carrying different loads. Here we applied single-cell RNA-Seq to alveolar epithelial cells carrying defined loads of aminated or carboxylated quantum dots (QDs),more » showing higher or lower toxicity, respectively. Interestingly, cells carrying lower loads responded with multiple strategies, mostly with upregulated processes, which were nonetheless coherent and unique to each QD type. In contrast, cells carrying higher loads responded more uniformly, with mostly downregulated processes that were shared across QD types. Strategies unique to aminated QDs showed strong upregulation of stress responses, coupled in some cases with regulation of cell cycle, protein synthesis and organelle activities. In contrast, strategies unique to carboxylated QDs showed upregulation of DNA repair and RNA activities, and decreased regulation of cell division, coupled in some cases with upregulation of stress responses and ATP related functions. Together, our studies suggest scenarios where higher NP loads lock cells into uniform responses, mostly shutdown of cellular processes, whereas lower loads allow for unique responses to each NP type that are more diversified, proactive defenses or repairs of the NP insults.« less

Presentation of lipid antigens to T cells.

PubMed

Mori, Lucia; De Libero, Gennaro

2008-04-15

T cells specific for lipid antigens participate in regulation of the immune response during infections, tumor immunosurveillance, allergy and autoimmune diseases. T cells recognize lipid antigens as complexes formed with CD1 antigen-presenting molecules, thus resembling recognition of MHC-peptide complexes. The biophysical properties of lipids impose unique mechanisms for their delivery, internalization into antigen-presenting cells, membrane trafficking, processing, and loading of CD1 molecules. Each of these steps is controlled at molecular and celular levels and determines lipid immunogenicity. Lipid antigens may derive from microbes and from the cellular metabolism, thus allowing the immune system to survey a large repertoire of immunogenic molecules. Recognition of lipid antigens facilitates the detection of infectious agents and the initiation of responses involved in immunoregulation and autoimmunity. This review focuses on the presentation mechanisms and specific recognition of self and bacterial lipid antigens and discusses the important open issues.

Need for Uniqueness Determines Reactions to Web-Based Personalized Advertising.

PubMed

Stiglbauer, Barbara; Kovacs, Carrie

2018-01-01

The presented empirical study among a sample of n = 256 participants addressed the relationship between consumers' need for uniqueness and their reactions to web-based personalized advertising. Drawing on regulatory focus theory, we argue that the consumers' need for uniqueness dimensions creative choice and similarity avoidance may relate to promotion and prevention regulatory orientations, respectively. Accordingly, we hypothesized that creative choice and similarity avoidance would differentially predict self-reported approach and avoidance behavior toward personalized advertising. These direct relationships were further expected to be mediated by subjective evaluations of personalized advertising (i.e., perceived value and irritation). In line with these hypotheses, we found that creative choice predicted approach behavior through increased web-based personalized advertising value, whereas similarity avoidance predicted avoidance behavior through increased irritation. Creative choice also predicted decreased irritation, which in turn was related to decreased approach behavior. In sum, the results suggest that the consumers' need for uniqueness dimensions should not be investigated as a composite, as they seem to reflect different regulatory orientations and are therefore likely to evoke different affective, cognitive, and behavioral responses.

Therapeutic use of Aldara in chronic myeloid leukemia.

PubMed

Marleau, Annette M; Lipton, Jeffrey H; Riordan, Neil H; Ichim, Thomas E

2007-01-25

The potent clinical responses seen in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) after administration of donor-specific lymphocytes, as well as the correlation between the presence of antigen specific T cells and prolonged remission in these patients, suggests a role for the immunological control of CML. Here we propose Aldara, a clinically used formulation of imiquimod, as an agent for augmenting immune responses to CML antigens. Our proposition is based upon 3 tenets: 1) Endogenous dendritic cells (DC) of CML patients, which are known to be derived from the malignant clone, express and present various leukemic antigens; 2) CML-antigen reactive T cell clones exist in the patient but in many situations are ineffectively stimulated to cause significant hematological responses; and 3) Antigen presentation by mature, activated DC, which endogenously express CML-antigens may endow the pre-existing ineffective T cell responses with ability to control CML progression. The practical use of Aldara as a localized activator of DC in the context of present day leukemic therapeutics, as well as various properties of this unique immune modulator will be discussed.

Distinctive and common neural underpinnings of major depression, social anxiety, and their comorbidity

PubMed Central

Chen, Michael C.; Waugh, Christian E.; Joormann, Jutta; Gotlib, Ian H.

2015-01-01

Assessing neural commonalities and differences among depression, anxiety and their comorbidity is critical in developing a more integrative clinical neuroscience and in evaluating currently debated categorical vs dimensional approaches to psychiatric classification. Therefore, in this study, we sought to identify patterns of anomalous neural responding to criticism and praise that are specific to and common among major depressive disorder (MDD), social anxiety disorder (SAD) and comorbid MDD-SAD. Adult females who met formal diagnostic criteria for MDD, SAD or MDD-SAD and psychiatrically healthy participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging as they listened to statements directing praise or criticism at them or at another person. MDD groups showed reduced responding to praise across a distributed cortical network, an effect potentially mediated by thalamic nuclei undergirding arousal-mediated attention. SAD groups showed heightened anterior insula and decreased default-mode network response to criticism. The MDD-SAD group uniquely showed reduced responding to praise in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Finally, all groups with psychopathology showed heightened response to criticism in a region of the superior frontal gyrus implicated in attentional gating. The present results suggest novel neural models of anhedonia in MDD, vigilance-withdrawal behaviors in SAD, and poorer outcome in MDD-SAD. Importantly, in identifying unique and common neural substrates of MDD and SAD, these results support a formulation in which common neural components represent general risk factors for psychopathology that, due to factors that are present at illness onset, lead to distinct forms of psychopathology with unique neural signatures. PMID:25038225

An efficient approach to ARMA modeling of biological systems with multiple inputs and delays

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Perrott, M. H.; Cohen, R. J.

1996-01-01

This paper presents a new approach to AutoRegressive Moving Average (ARMA or ARX) modeling which automatically seeks the best model order to represent investigated linear, time invariant systems using their input/output data. The algorithm seeks the ARMA parameterization which accounts for variability in the output of the system due to input activity and contains the fewest number of parameters required to do so. The unique characteristics of the proposed system identification algorithm are its simplicity and efficiency in handling systems with delays and multiple inputs. We present results of applying the algorithm to simulated data and experimental biological data In addition, a technique for assessing the error associated with the impulse responses calculated from estimated ARMA parameterizations is presented. The mapping from ARMA coefficients to impulse response estimates is nonlinear, which complicates any effort to construct confidence bounds for the obtained impulse responses. Here a method for obtaining a linearization of this mapping is derived, which leads to a simple procedure to approximate the confidence bounds.

Post irradiation effects (PIE) in integrated circuits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shaw, D. C.; Lowry, L.; Barnes, C.; Zakharia, M.; Agarwal, S.; Rax, B.

1991-01-01

Post-irradiation effects (PIE) ranging from normal recovery to catastrophic failure have been observed in integrated circuits during the PIE period. Data presented show failure due to rebound after a 10 krad(Si) dose. In particular, five device types are investigated with varying PIE response. Special attention has been given to the HI1-507A analog multiplexer because its PIE response is extreme. X-ray diffraction has been uniquely employed to measure physical stress in the HI1-507A metallization. An attempt has been made to show a relationship between stress relaxation and radiation effects. All data presented support the current MIL-STD Method 1019.4 but demonstrate the importance of performing PIE measurements, even when mission doses are as low as 10 krad(Si).

Analysis of Long-Term Temperature Variations in the Human Body.

PubMed

Dakappa, Pradeepa Hoskeri; Mahabala, Chakrapani

2015-01-01

Body temperature is a continuous physiological variable. In normal healthy adults, oral temperature is estimated to vary between 36.1°C and 37.2°C. Fever is a complex host response to many external and internal agents and is a potential contributor to many clinical conditions. Despite being one of the foremost vital signs, temperature and its analysis and variations during many pathological conditions has yet to be examined in detail using mathematical techniques. Classical fever patterns based on recordings obtained every 8-12 h have been developed. However, such patterns do not provide meaningful information in diagnosing diseases. Because fever is a host response, it is likely that there could be a unique response to specific etiologies. Continuous long-term temperature monitoring and pattern analysis using specific analytical methods developed in engineering and physics could aid in revealing unique fever responses of hosts and in different clinical conditions. Furthermore, such analysis can potentially be used as a novel diagnostic tool and to study the effect of pharmaceutical agents and other therapeutic protocols. Thus, the goal of our article is to present a comprehensive review of the recent relevant literature and analyze the current state of research regarding temperature variations in the human body.

Promoting University Faculty and Staff Awareness of Students with Learning Disabilities: An Overview of the Productive Learning u Strategies (PLuS) Project

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murray, Christopher; Wren, Carol T.; Stevens, Edward B.; Keys, Christopher

2009-01-01

This article presents a model demonstration project that was designed to promote disability awareness, understanding, and responsiveness among University faculty and staff at a large private University. One of the unique features of the Productive Learning u Strategies (PLuS) project is that the effort targeted all faculty and staff through a…

Past and future effects of atmospheric deposition on the forest ecosystem at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest: simulations with the dynamic model ForSAFE

Treesearch

Salim Belyazid; Scott Bailey; Harald Sverdrup

2010-01-01

The Hubbard Brook Ecosystem Study presents a unique opportunity for studying long-term ecosystem responses to changes in anthropogenic factors. Following industrialisation and the intensification of agriculture, the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBEF) has been subject to increased loads of atmospheric deposition, particularly sulfur and nitrogen. The deposition of...

Self-rolling and light-trapping in flexible quantum well–embedded nanomembranes for wide-angle infrared photodetectors

PubMed Central

Wang, Han; Zhen, Honglou; Li, Shilong; Jing, Youliang; Huang, Gaoshan; Mei, Yongfeng; Lu, Wei

2016-01-01

Three-dimensional (3D) design and manufacturing enable flexible nanomembranes to deliver unique properties and applications in flexible electronics, photovoltaics, and photonics. We demonstrate that a quantum well (QW)–embedded nanomembrane in a rolled-up geometry facilitates a 3D QW infrared photodetector (QWIP) device with enhanced responsivity and detectivity. Circular geometry of nanomembrane rolls provides the light coupling route; thus, there are no external light coupling structures, which are normally necessary for QWIPs. This 3D QWIP device under tube-based light-trapping mode presents broadband enhancement of coupling efficiency and omnidirectional detection under a wide incident angle (±70°), offering a unique solution to high-performance focal plane array. The winding number of these rolled-up QWIPs provides well-tunable blackbody photocurrents and responsivity. 3D self-assembly of functional nanomembranes offers a new path for high conversion efficiency between light and electricity in photodetectors, solar cells, and light-emitting diodes. PMID:27536723

The Nervous Flyer: Nerves, Flying and the First World War.

PubMed

Shaw Cobden, Lynsey

2018-02-02

This is not an article about 'shell-shock'. It explores the military medical response to nervous disorders in the Royal Flying Corps. The First World War exposed the propensity of pilots to the nervous and psychological rigours of aerial warfare, but their unique experiences have been overlooked in favour of 'trauma' in infantrymen. This represents a critical lacuna in the historiography of military medicine, for flying personnel were studied apart from 'shell-shocked' soldiers. This article will show that flyers were believed to be medically different, and what set them apart from men in the trenches was their unique employment. The war necessitated, and provided the conditions for, the study of the medical problems of flying, including the significant nervous strains. Medical officers quickly established that flying not only affected bodily functions, but also 'wore down' the nerves that regulated psychological responses. This article will therefore present the medical view. It will study the research of air-minded medical officers and the conclusions reached on the nervous disorders of flying personnel.

Protein synthesis in geostimulated root caps

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Feldman, L. J.

1982-01-01

A study is presented of the processes occurring in the root cap of corn which are requisite for the formation of root cap inhibitor and which can be triggered or modulated by both light and gravity. The results of this study indicate the importance of protein synthesis for light-induced gravitropic bending in roots. Root caps in which protein synthesis is prevented are unable to induce downward bending. This suggests that light acts by stimulating proteins which are necessary for the translation of the gravitropic stimulus into a growth response (downward bending). The turnover of protein with time was also examined in order to determine whether light acts by stimulating the synthesis of unique proteins required for downward growth. It is found that auxin in combination with light allows for the translation of the gravitropic stimulus into a growth response at least in part through the modification of protein synthesis. It is concluded that unique proteins are stimulated by light and are involved in promoting the downward growth in roots which are responding to gravity.

Patterns in response to chronic terrorism threats: A construct of emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses among Israeli citizens.

PubMed

Cohen-Louck, Keren; Saka, Yael

2017-10-01

Israeli citizens are exposed to unpredictable and chronic terrorism threats that significantly jeopardize their personal sense of safety. The purpose of the present study is to present how Israeli discourse is structured with regard to emotional, cognitive, and behavioral responses to chronic terrorism threats and to understand the range of responses as well as map the risk and protective factors of this existential threat. Semistructured in-depth interviews were conducted with 40 Israeli adults (22 women and 18 men). Qualitative analysis revealed three patterns of responses to ongoing terrorism: emotional, cognitive, and behavioral. Emotional responses include fear, worry, sense of empathy, and detachment. Cognitive responses include situational assessment and pursuit of solutions, the use of traumatic imagining, beliefs in fate and luck, and optimism. Behavioral responses include looking for information, alertness, and habituation. The findings also revealed another response, which combines cognitive and behavioral responses. Some of the responses are innovative and unique to the threat of terrorism. Mapping the responses revealed mental health risk factors, as well as protective factors that can help structure personal and national resilience. These findings have implications on the treatment and prevention of personal and social pathologies, and how to effectively cope with terrorism threats. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Game Design and Analysis for Price-Based Demand Response: An Aggregate Game Approach.

PubMed

Ye, Maojiao; Hu, Guoqiang

2016-02-18

In this paper, an aggregate game is adopted for the modeling and analysis of energy consumption control in smart grid. Since the electricity users' cost functions depend on the aggregate energy consumption, which is unknown to the end users, an average consensus protocol is employed to estimate it. By neighboring communication among the users about their estimations on the aggregate energy consumption, Nash seeking strategies are developed. Convergence properties are explored for the proposed Nash seeking strategies. For energy consumption game that may have multiple isolated Nash equilibria, a local convergence result is derived. The convergence is established by utilizing singular perturbation analysis and Lyapunov stability analysis. Energy consumption control for a network of heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems is investigated. Based on the uniqueness of the Nash equilibrium, it is shown that the players' actions converge to a neighborhood of the unique Nash equilibrium nonlocally. More specially, if the unique Nash equilibrium is an inner Nash equilibrium, an exponential convergence result is obtained. Energy consumption game with stubborn players is studied. In this case, the actions of the rational players can be driven to a neighborhood of their best response strategies by using the proposed method. Numerical examples are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed methods.

Low-Power, Chip-Scale, Carbon Dioxide Gas Sensors for Spacesuit Monitoring

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rani, Asha; Shi, Chen; Thomson, Brian; Debnath, Ratan; Wen, Boamei; Motayed, Abhishek; Chullen, Cinda

2018-01-01

N5 Sensors, Inc. through a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract award has been developing ultra-small, low-power carbon dioxide (CO2) gas sensors, suited for monitoring CO2 levels inside NASA spacesuits. Due to the unique environmental conditions within the spacesuits, such as high humidity, large temperature swings, and operating pressure swings, measurement of key gases relevant to astronaut's safety and health such as(CO2), is quite challenging. Conventional non-dispersive infrared absorption based CO2 sensors present challenges inside the spacesuits due to size, weight, and power constraints, along with the ability to sense CO2 in a high humidity environment. Unique chip-scale, nanoengineered chemiresistive gas-sensing architecture has been developed for this application, which can be operated in a typical space-suite environmental conditions. Unique design combining the selective adsorption properties of the nanophotocatalytic clusters of metal-oxides and metals, provides selective detection of CO2 in high relative humidity conditions. All electronic design provides a compact and low-power solution, which can be implemented for multipoint detection of CO2 inside the spacesuits. This paper will describe the sensor architecture, development of new photocatalytic material for better sensor response, and advanced structure for better sensitivity and shorter response times.

Responsibility for quality improvement and patient safety: hospital board and medical staff leadership challenges.

PubMed

Goeschel, Christine A; Wachter, Robert M; Pronovost, Peter J

2010-07-01

Concern about the quality and safety of health care persists, 10 years after the 1999 Institute of Medicine report To Err is Human. Despite growing awareness of quality and safety risks, and significant efforts to improve, progress is difficult to measure. Hospital leaders, including boards and medical staffs, are accountable to improve care, yet they often address this duty independently. Shared responsibility for quality and patient safety improvement presents unique challenges and unprecedented opportunities for boards and medical staffs. To capitalize on the pressure to improve, both groups may benefit from a better understanding of their synergistic potential. Boards should be educated about the quality of care provided in their institutions and about the challenges of valid measurement and accurate reporting. Boards strengthen their quality oversight capacity by recruiting physicians for vacant board seats. Medical staff members strengthen their role as hospital leaders when they understand the unique duties of the governing board. A quality improvement strategy rooted in synergistic efforts by the board and the medical staff may offer the greatest potential for safer care. Such a mutually advantageous approach requires a clear appreciation of roles and responsibilities and respect for differences. In this article, we review these responsibilities, describe opportunities for boards and medical staffs to collaborate as leaders, and offer recommendations for how boards and medical staff members can address the challenges of shared responsibility for quality of care.

Understanding identifiability as a crucial step in uncertainty assessment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jakeman, A. J.; Guillaume, J. H. A.; Hill, M. C.; Seo, L.

2016-12-01

The topic of identifiability analysis offers concepts and approaches to identify why unique model parameter values cannot be identified, and can suggest possible responses that either increase uniqueness or help to understand the effect of non-uniqueness on predictions. Identifiability analysis typically involves evaluation of the model equations and the parameter estimation process. Non-identifiability can have a number of undesirable effects. In terms of model parameters these effects include: parameters not being estimated uniquely even with ideal data; wildly different values being returned for different initialisations of a parameter optimisation algorithm; and parameters not being physically meaningful in a model attempting to represent a process. This presentation illustrates some of the drastic consequences of ignoring model identifiability analysis. It argues for a more cogent framework and use of identifiability analysis as a way of understanding model limitations and systematically learning about sources of uncertainty and their importance. The presentation specifically distinguishes between five sources of parameter non-uniqueness (and hence uncertainty) within the modelling process, pragmatically capturing key distinctions within existing identifiability literature. It enumerates many of the various approaches discussed in the literature. Admittedly, improving identifiability is often non-trivial. It requires thorough understanding of the cause of non-identifiability, and the time, knowledge and resources to collect or select new data, modify model structures or objective functions, or improve conditioning. But ignoring these problems is not a viable solution. Even simple approaches such as fixing parameter values or naively using a different model structure may have significant impacts on results which are too often overlooked because identifiability analysis is neglected.

What do public health officials expect from modelers during a response to an epidemic or outbreak?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Washington, Michael

Since 2009, the CDC has participated in emergency responses ranging from small domestic outbreaks involving a few hundred people, to international public health emergencies affecting millions of individuals from around the world. Each response required unique skills from the CDC'S Modeling Task Force to address public health officials' questions and to help them make informed decisions. This presentation will discuss the roll of the Modeling Task Forces in the CDC's Incident Management structure and some of the models used to assist officials in making decisions about the potential size of the public health crisis, how effective interventions could be, and what resources are required.

Agonal sequences in a filmed suicidal hanging: analysis of respiratory and movement responses to asphyxia by hanging.

PubMed

Sauvageau, Anny; Racette, Stéphanie

2007-07-01

The forensic literature on the pathophysiology of human hanging is still limited. Therefore, forensic pathologists often feel uncomfortable when confronted with related questions. Here presented is the filmed suicidal hanging of a 37-year-old man. This recording allows a unique analysis of agonal movement sequences: loss of consciousness (13 sec), convulsions (15 sec), decortication rigidity (21 sec), decerebration rigidity (46 sec), second decortication rigidity (1 min 11 sec), loss of muscle tone, (1 min 38 sec) and last isolated muscle movement (4 min 10 sec). As for respiratory responses, very deep respiratory attempts started at 20 sec. Respiratory movements progressively decreased and completely stopped at 2 min. Despite the fact that extending the presented data on all cases of hanging asphyxia would be a mistake, this case gives a very interesting insight into movement and respiratory response to asphyxia by hanging.

Immune heterogeneity in neuroinflammation: dendritic cells in the brain.

PubMed

Colton, Carol A

2013-03-01

Dendritic cells (DC) are critical to an integrated immune response and serve as the key link between the innate and adaptive arms of the immune system. Under steady state conditions, brain DC's act as sentinels, continually sampling their local environment. They share this function with macrophages derived from the same basic hemopoietic (bone marrow-derived) precursor and with parenchymal microglia that arise from a unique non-hemopoietic origin. While multiple cells may serve as antigen presenting cells (APCs), dendritic cells present both foreign and self-proteins to naïve T cells that, in turn, carry out effector functions that serve to protect or destroy. The resulting activation of the adaptive response is a critical step to resolution of injury or infection and is key to survival. In this review we will explore the critical roles that DCs play in the brain's response to neuroinflammatory disease with emphasis on how the brain's microenvironment impacts these actions.

Relational victimization, friendship, and adolescents' hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis responses to an in vivo social stressor.

PubMed

Calhoun, Casey D; Helms, Sarah W; Heilbron, Nicole; Rudolph, Karen D; Hastings, Paul D; Prinstein, Mitchell J

2014-08-01

Adolescents' peer experiences may have significant associations with biological stress-response systems, adding to or reducing allostatic load. This study examined relational victimization as a unique contributor to reactive hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis responses as well as friendship quality and behavior as factors that may promote HPA recovery following a stressor. A total of 62 adolescents (ages 12-16; 73% female) presenting with a wide range of life stressors and adjustment difficulties completed survey measures of peer victimization and friendship quality. Cortisol samples were collected before and after a lab-based interpersonally themed social stressor task to provide measures of HPA baseline, reactivity, and recovery. Following the stressor task, adolescents discussed their performance with a close friend; observational coding yielded measures of friends' responsiveness. Adolescents also reported positive and negative friendship qualities. Results suggested that higher levels of adolescents' relational victimization were associated with blunted cortisol reactivity, even after controlling for physical forms of victimization and other known predictors of HPA functioning (i.e., life stress or depressive symptoms). Friendship qualities (i.e., low negative qualities) and specific friendship behaviors (i.e., high levels of responsiveness) contributed to greater HPA regulation; however, consistent with theories of rumination, high friend responsiveness in the context of high levels of positive friendship quality contributed to less cortisol recovery. Findings extend prior work on the importance of relational victimization and dyadic peer relations as unique and salient correlates of adaptation in adolescence.

Relational victimization, friendship, and adolescents’ hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis responses to an in vivo social stressor

PubMed Central

CALHOUN, CASEY D.; HELMS, SARAH W.; HEILBRON, NICOLE; RUDOLPH, KAREN D.; HASTINGS, PAUL D.; PRINSTEIN, MITCHELL J.

2014-01-01

Adolescents’ peer experiences may have significant associations with biological stress-response systems, adding to or reducing allostatic load. This study examined relational victimization as a unique contributor to reactive hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal (HPA) axis responses as well as friendship quality and behavior as factors that may promote HPA recovery following a stressor. A total of 62 adolescents (ages 12–16; 73% female) presenting with a wide range of life stressors and adjustment difficulties completed survey measures of peer victimization and friendship quality. Cortisol samples were collected before and after a lab-based interpersonally themed social stressor task to provide measures of HPA baseline, reactivity, and recovery. Following the stressor task, adolescents discussed their performance with a close friend; observational coding yielded measures of friends’ responsiveness. Adolescents also reported positive and negative friendship qualities. Results suggested that higher levels of adolescents’ relational victimization were associated with blunted cortisol reactivity, even after controlling for physical forms of victimization and other known predictors of HPA functioning (i.e., life stress or depressive symptoms). Friendship qualities (i.e., low negative qualities) and specific friendship behaviors (i.e., high levels of responsiveness) contributed to greater HPA regulation; however, consistent with theories of rumination, high friend responsiveness in the context of high levels of positive friendship quality contributed to less cortisol recovery. Findings extend prior work on the importance of relational victimization and dyadic peer relations as unique and salient correlates of adaptation in adolescence. PMID:25047287

Prominent alterations of wild barley leaf transcriptome in response to individual and combined drought acclimation and heat shock conditions.

PubMed

Ashoub, Ahmed; Müller, Niels; Jiménez-Gómez, José M; Brüggemann, Wolfgang

2018-05-01

Under field conditions, drought and heat stress typically happen simultaneously and their negative impact on the agricultural production is expected to increase worldwide under the climate change scenario. In this study, we performed RNA-sequencing analysis on leaves of wild barley (Hordeum spontaneum) originated from the northern coastal region of Egypt following individual drought acclimation (DA) and heat shock (HS) treatments and their combination (CS, combined stresses) to distinguish the unique and shared differentially expressed genes (DEG). Results indicated that the number of unique genes that were differentially expressed following HS treatment exceeded the number of those expressed following DA. In addition, the number of genes that were uniquely differentially expressed in response to CS treatment exceeded the number of those of shared responses to individual DA and HS treatments. These results indicate a better adaptation of the Mediterranean wild barley to drought conditions when compared with heat stress. It also manifests that the wild barley response to CS tends to be unique rather than common. Annotation of DEG showed that metabolic processes were the most influenced biological function in response to the applied stresses. © 2017 Scandinavian Plant Physiology Society.

Cells respond to distinct nanoparticle properties with multiple strategies as revealed by single-cell RNA-Seq

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Mitchell, Hugh D.; Markillie, Lye Meng; Chrisler, William B.

The impact of distinct nanoparticle (NP) properties on cellular response and ultimately human health is unclear. This gap is partially due to experimental difficulties in achieving uniform NP loads in the studied cells, creating heterogeneous populations with some cells “overloaded” while other cells are loaded with few or no NPs. Yet gene expression studies have been conducted in the population as a whole, identifying generic responses, while missing unique responses due to signal averaging across many cells, each carrying different loads. In this paper, we applied single-cell RNA-Seq to alveolar epithelial cells carrying defined loads of aminated or carboxylated quantummore » dots (QDs), showing higher or lower toxicity, respectively. Interestingly, cells carrying lower loads responded with multiple strategies, mostly with up-regulated processes, which were nonetheless coherent and unique to each QD type. In contrast, cells carrying higher loads responded more uniformly, with mostly down-regulated processes that were shared across QD types. Strategies unique to aminated QDs showed strong up-regulation of stress responses, coupled in some cases with regulation of cell cycle, protein synthesis, and organelle activities. In contrast, strategies unique to carboxylated QDs showed up-regulation of DNA repair and RNA activities and decreased regulation of cell division, coupled in some cases with up-regulation of stress responses and ATP-related functions. Finally, together, our studies suggest scenarios where higher NP loads lock cells into uniform responses, mostly shutdown of cellular processes, whereas lower loads allow for unique responses to each NP type that are more diversified proactive defenses or repairs of the NP insults.« less

Cells respond to distinct nanoparticle properties with multiple strategies as revealed by single-cell RNA-Seq

DOE PAGES

Mitchell, Hugh D.; Markillie, Lye Meng; Chrisler, William B.; ...

2016-10-27

The impact of distinct nanoparticle (NP) properties on cellular response and ultimately human health is unclear. This gap is partially due to experimental difficulties in achieving uniform NP loads in the studied cells, creating heterogeneous populations with some cells “overloaded” while other cells are loaded with few or no NPs. Yet gene expression studies have been conducted in the population as a whole, identifying generic responses, while missing unique responses due to signal averaging across many cells, each carrying different loads. In this paper, we applied single-cell RNA-Seq to alveolar epithelial cells carrying defined loads of aminated or carboxylated quantummore » dots (QDs), showing higher or lower toxicity, respectively. Interestingly, cells carrying lower loads responded with multiple strategies, mostly with up-regulated processes, which were nonetheless coherent and unique to each QD type. In contrast, cells carrying higher loads responded more uniformly, with mostly down-regulated processes that were shared across QD types. Strategies unique to aminated QDs showed strong up-regulation of stress responses, coupled in some cases with regulation of cell cycle, protein synthesis, and organelle activities. In contrast, strategies unique to carboxylated QDs showed up-regulation of DNA repair and RNA activities and decreased regulation of cell division, coupled in some cases with up-regulation of stress responses and ATP-related functions. Finally, together, our studies suggest scenarios where higher NP loads lock cells into uniform responses, mostly shutdown of cellular processes, whereas lower loads allow for unique responses to each NP type that are more diversified proactive defenses or repairs of the NP insults.« less

A Unique Fungal Two-Component System Regulates Stress Responses, Drug Sensitivity, Sexual Development, and Virulence of Cryptococcus neoformans

PubMed Central

Bahn, Yong-Sun; Kojima, Kaihei; Cox, Gary M.

2006-01-01

The stress-activated mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway is widely used by eukaryotic organisms as a central conduit via which cellular responses to the environment effect growth and differentiation. The basidiomycetous human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans uniquely uses the stress-activated Pbs2-Hog1 MAPK system to govern a plethora of cellular events, including stress responses, drug sensitivity, sexual reproduction, and virulence. Here, we characterized a fungal “two-component” system that controls these fundamental cellular functions via the Pbs2-Hog1 MAPK cascade. A typical response regulator, Ssk1, modulated all Hog1-dependent phenotypes by controlling Hog1 phosphorylation, indicating that Ssk1 is the major upstream signaling component of the Pbs2-Hog1 pathway. A second response regulator, Skn7, governs sensitivity to Na+ ions and the antifungal agent fludioxonil, negatively controls melanin production, and functions independently of Hog1 regulation. To control these response regulators, C. neoformans uses multiple sensor kinases, including two-component–like (Tco) 1 and Tco2. Tco1 and Tco2 play shared and distinct roles in stress responses and drug sensitivity through the Hog1 MAPK system. Furthermore, each sensor kinase mediates unique cellular functions for virulence and morphological differentiation. Our findings highlight unique adaptations of this global two-component MAPK signaling cascade in a ubiquitous human fungal pathogen. PMID:16672377

The formation and application of an overseas mental health crisis intervention team, Part I: Formation.

PubMed

Young, S A; Holden, M S

1991-09-01

The creation of an overseas mental health crisis intervention team is described. The authors discuss the unique aspects of an overseas low intensity conflict environment and the importance of immediate mental health responses to disaster situations in such theaters. Key elements in the formation of the team are the use of local resources, command endorsement, and an emphasis on education of commanders and team members. Examples are cited of other military response team deployments. The authors present their experience in Panama as a model for other providers in similar environments.

Third-order nonlinear electro-optic measurements in the smectic-? phase

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nowicka, Kamila; Bielejewska, Natalia

2018-02-01

The chiral smectic subphase with three-layer structure, ?, is now of great interest from the point of view of device technologies such as multistate or symmetric switching. We report that the unique nonlinear electro-optic response can serve as precise mark of the phase transition into three-layer structure. The problem is illustrated with the first and third harmonic electro-optic spectra. Furthermore, the characteristic response of the helical liquid crystal phases correlated with particular collective modes using the Debye-type relaxation method for the well-known prototype liquid crystal material (MHPOBC) are presented.

Whole person-evoked fMRI activity patterns in human fusiform gyrus are accurately modeled by a linear combination of face- and body-evoked activity patterns

PubMed Central

Kaiser, Daniel; Strnad, Lukas; Seidl, Katharina N.; Kastner, Sabine

2013-01-01

Visual cues from the face and the body provide information about another's identity, emotional state, and intentions. Previous neuroimaging studies that investigated neural responses to (bodiless) faces and (headless) bodies have reported overlapping face- and body-selective brain regions in right fusiform gyrus (FG). In daily life, however, faces and bodies are typically perceived together and are effortlessly integrated into the percept of a whole person, raising the possibility that neural responses to whole persons are qualitatively different than responses to isolated faces and bodies. The present study used fMRI to examine how FG activity in response to a whole person relates to activity in response to the same face and body but presented in isolation. Using multivoxel pattern analysis, we modeled person-evoked response patterns in right FG through a linear combination of face- and body-evoked response patterns. We found that these synthetic patterns were able to accurately approximate the response patterns to whole persons, with face and body patterns each adding unique information to the response patterns evoked by whole person stimuli. These results suggest that whole person responses in FG primarily arise from the coactivation of independent face- and body-selective neural populations. PMID:24108794

ED leadership competency matrix: an administrative management tool.

PubMed

Propp, Douglas A; Glickman, Seth; Uehara, Dennis T

2003-10-01

A successful ED relies on its leaders to master and demonstrate core competencies to be effective in the many arenas in which they interact and are responsible. A unique matrix model for the assessment of an ED leadership's key administrative skill sets is presented. The model incorporates capabilities related to the individual's cognitive aptitude, experience, acquired technical skills, behavioral characteristics, as well as the ability to manage relationships effectively. Based on the personnel inventory using the matrix, focused evaluation, development, and recruitment of ED key leaders occurs. This dynamic tool has provided a unique perspective for the evaluation and enhancement of overall ED leadership performance. It is hoped that incorporation of such a model will similarly improve the accomplishments of EDs at other institutions.

A swinging seesaw as a novel model mechanism for time-dependent hormesis under dose-dependent stimulatory and inhibitory effects: A case study on the toxicity of antibacterial chemicals to Aliivibrio fischeri.

PubMed

Sun, Haoyu; Calabrese, Edward J; Zheng, Min; Wang, Dali; Pan, Yongzheng; Lin, Zhifen; Liu, Ying

2018-08-01

Hormesis occurs frequently in broadly ranging biological areas (e.g. plant biology, microbiology, biogerontology), toxicology, pharmacology and medicine. While numerous mechanisms (e.g. receptor and pathway mediated pathway responses) account for stimulatory and inhibitory features of hormetic dose responses, the vast majority emphasizes the inclusion of many doses but only one timepoint or use of a single optimized dose that is assessed over a broad range of timepoints. In this paper, a toxicity study was designed using a large number of properly spaced doses with responses determined over a large number of timepoints, which could help us reveal the underlying mechanism of hormesis. We present the results of a dose-time-response study on hormesis using five antibacterial chemicals on the bioluminescence of Aliivibrio fischeri, measuring expression of protein mRNA based on quorum sensing, simulating bioluminescent reaction and analyzing toxic actions of test chemicals. The findings show dose-time-dependent responses conforming to the hormetic dose-response model, while revealing unique response dynamics between agent induced stimulatory and inhibitory effects within bacterial growth phase dynamics. These dynamic dose-time features reveal a type of biological seesaw model that integrates stimulatory and inhibitory responses within unique growth phase, dose and time features, which has faultlessly explained the time-dependent hormetic phenomenon induced by five antibacterial chemicals (characterized by low-dose stimulation and high-dose inhibition). This study offers advances in understanding cellular dynamics, the biological integration of diverse and opposing responses and their role in evolutionary adaptive strategies to chemicals, which can provide new insight into the mechanistic investigation of hormesis. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Motivational indicators of protective behaviour in response to urban water shortage threat

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mankad, Aditi; Greenhill, Murni; Tucker, David; Tapsuwan, Sorada

2013-05-01

The present study examined the role of protection motivation variables in predicting rainwater tank adoption among urban householders. A regression analysis found that subjective knowledge, threat appraisal, response efficacy, response costs, subjective norms and social norms significantly predicted adaptive behavioural intentions (F(6, 399) = 50.769, p < .001, Cohen's f2 = .763). The model accounted for 43% of the variance in intentions to install a rainwater tank as a protective measure against future water shortages. Results further indicated that several variables uniquely contributed to the prediction of rainwater tank adoption (listed in order of relative contribution: response efficacy, threat appraisal, response costs, subjective knowledge and subjective norms). This suggests that people who perceive there is a real water shortage threat, and believe that rainwater tanks are effective in relieving the threat and require minimal or manageable effort to obtain, are more likely to install a tank on their property as a protective measure. Implications of these results are discussed from a research and policy perspective. Recommendations for future motivational research in the area of urban decentralised system acceptance and adoption are presented.

Increased sensitivity of thyroid hormone-mediated signaling despite prolonged fasting.

PubMed

Martinez, Bridget; Scheibner, Michael; Soñanez-Organis, José G; Jaques, John T; Crocker, Daniel E; Ortiz, Rudy M

2017-10-01

Thyroid hormones (TH) can increase cellular metabolism. Food deprivation in mammals is typically associated with reduced thyroid gland responsiveness, in an effort to suppress cellular metabolism and abate starvation. However, in prolonged-fasted, elephant seal pups, cellular TH-mediated proteins are up-regulated and TH levels are maintained with fasting duration. The function and contribution of the thyroid gland to this apparent paradox is unknown and physiologically perplexing. Here we show that the thyroid gland remains responsive during prolonged food deprivation, and that its function and production of TH increase with fasting duration in elephant seals. We discovered that our modeled plasma TH data in response to exogenous thyroid stimulating hormone predicted cellular signaling, which was corroborated independently by the enzyme expression data. The data suggest that the regulation and function of the thyroid gland in the northern elephant seal is atypical for a fasted animal, and can be better described as, "adaptive fasting". Furthermore, the modeling data help substantiate the in vivo responses measured, providing unique insight on hormone clearance, production rates, and thyroid gland responsiveness. Because these unique endocrine responses occur simultaneously with a nearly strict reliance on the oxidation of lipid, these findings provide an intriguing model to better understand the TH-mediated reliance on lipid metabolism that is not otherwise present in morbidly obese humans. When coupled with cellular, tissue-specific responses, these data provide a more integrated assessment of thyroidal status that can be extrapolated for many fasting/food deprived mammals. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

An overview of some concepts, potentials, issues, and realities of assisted migration for climate change adaptation in forests

Treesearch

Louis R. Iverson; Matthew P. Peters; Stephen Matthews; Anantha Prasad

2013-01-01

The climate has always been changing, but the rapid rate of climate change, as projected by the IPCC (2007) will likely place unique stresses on plant communities. In addition, anthropogenic barriers (e.g., fragmented land use) present a significant modern constraint that will limit the ability of species migration in responses to a changing climate. As such, managers...

We Can Do Better: Sharing Responsibility to Better Meet the Needs of Dual-Status Youth. WisKids Count Policy Brief, Spring 2014

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bergman, Emily

2014-01-01

While only a minority of children who have been abused or neglected engage in delinquent behavior, they are at a significantly higher risk. When youth do become involved in both the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, they present unique needs that require collaboration between the numerous systems and people involved in their lives. The…

A signal processing framework for simultaneous detection of multiple environmental contaminants

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chakraborty, Subhadeep; Manahan, Michael P.; Mench, Matthew M.

2013-11-01

The possibility of large-scale attacks using chemical warfare agents (CWAs) has exposed the critical need for fundamental research enabling the reliable, unambiguous and early detection of trace CWAs and toxic industrial chemicals. This paper presents a unique approach for the identification and classification of simultaneously present multiple environmental contaminants by perturbing an electrochemical (EC) sensor with an oscillating potential for the extraction of statistically rich information from the current response. The dynamic response, being a function of the degree and mechanism of contamination, is then processed with a symbolic dynamic filter for the extraction of representative patterns, which are then classified using a trained neural network. The approach presented in this paper promises to extend the sensing power and sensitivity of these EC sensors by augmenting and complementing sensor technology with state-of-the-art embedded real-time signal processing capabilities.

Effective Immunotherapy in Bone Marrow Metastatic Melanoma Presenting with Disseminated Intravascular Coagulopathy.

PubMed

Gbadamosi, Bolanle; Ezekwudo, Daniel; Nayak, Bhadresh; Yu, Zhou; Gjorgova-Gjeorgjievski, Sandra; Xie, Ming; Robert, Colvin; Jaiyesimi, Ishmael; Huben, Marianne

2018-01-01

Malignant melanoma is responsible for the majority of skin cancer deaths and is increasing in prevalence. Bone marrow (BM) involvement by melanoma is rare in the absence of widespread visceral disease. Here, we report the case of a 30-year-old female who presented to the hospital with back pain, low-grade fever, and easy bruising. She was found to be bicytopenic and in disseminated intravascular coagulopathy (DIC). Surprisingly, BM biopsy showed extensive involvement by metastatic malignant melanoma in the absence of visceral or brain metastasis. The unique presentation of this case and the challenge of management of a potentially treatable cancer in a critically ill patient are discussed, alongside a review of published cases of metastatic melanoma in the BM and an exploration of currently available treatment options. The excellent response of our patient to combined immune checkpoint inhibitors has yet to be paralleled in the available literature.

Soda pans of the Pannonian steppe harbor unique bacterial communities adapted to multiple extreme conditions.

PubMed

Szabó, Attila; Korponai, Kristóf; Kerepesi, Csaba; Somogyi, Boglárka; Vörös, Lajos; Bartha, Dániel; Márialigeti, Károly; Felföldi, Tamás

2017-05-01

Soda pans of the Pannonian steppe are unique environments regarding their physical and chemical characteristics: shallowness, high turbidity, intermittent character, alkaline pH, polyhumic organic carbon concentration, hypertrophic condition, moderately high salinity, sodium and carbonate ion dominance. The pans are highly productive environments with picophytoplankton predominance. Little is known about the planktonic bacterial communities inhabiting these aquatic habitats; therefore, amplicon sequencing and shotgun metagenomics were applied to reveal their composition and functional properties. Results showed a taxonomically complex bacterial community which was distinct from other soda lakes regarding its composition, e.g. the dominance of class Alphaproteobacteria was observed within phylum Proteobacteria. The shotgun metagenomic analysis revealed several functional gene components related to the harsh and at the same time hypertrophic environmental conditions, e.g. proteins involved in stress response, transport and hydrolase systems targeting phytoplankton-derived organic matter. This is the first detailed report on the indigenous planktonic bacterial communities coping with the multiple extreme conditions present in the unique soda pans of the Pannonian steppe.

Osmoadaptation and osmoregulation in archaea: update 2004.

PubMed

Roberts, Mary F

2004-09-01

The response of archaea to changes in external NaCl is reviewed and compared to what is known about osmoadaptation and osmoregulation in bacteria and eukaryotes. Cells placed in altered external NaCl exhibit short term and long term responses. The earliest events are likely to be water movement through aquaporin-like channels (efflux if external NaCl has been increased, influx into the cell if the external NaCl has been decreased) and ion movement (e.g., K+ moving in the direction opposite to water flow) through channels sensitive to osmotic pressure. A brief discussion of recent structures of homologues of these membrane proteins is presented. Accumulation of organic solutes, either by uptake from the medium or de novo synthesis, is triggered after these initial changes. Archaea have some unique organic solutes (osmolytes) that are not used by other organisms. These as well as other more common solutes have a role in stabilizing macromolecules from denaturation. Many osmolytes are distinguished by their stability in the cell and their lack of strong interactions with cellular components. A cell may respond by accumulating one or more temporary osmolytes, then over time readjust the intracellular solute distribution to what is optimal for cell growth under the new conditions. Coupled with the movement and accumulation of solutes is the induction of stress proteins (e.g., chaperonins) and, in some cases, transcriptional regulation of key enzymes. The response to NaCl stress of Methanococcus thermolithotrophicus is presented as an example of how one particular archaeon responds and adapts to altered osmotic pressure. The detailed response of many other archaea to osmotic stress will be needed in order to identify features (aside from some of the organic osmolytes) unique to the organisms in this kingdom.

You Don’t See What I See: Individual Differences in the Perception of Meaning from Visual Stimuli

PubMed Central

Partos, Timea R.; Cropper, Simon J.; Rawlings, David

2016-01-01

Everyone has their own unique version of the visual world and there has been growing interest in understanding the way that personality shapes one’s perception. Here, we investigated meaningful visual experiences in relation to the personality dimension of schizotypy. In a novel approach to this issue, a non-clinical sample of subjects (total n = 197) were presented with calibrated images of scenes, cartoons and faces of varying visibility embedded in noise; the spatial properties of the images were constructed to mimic the natural statistics of the environment. In two experiments, subjects were required to indicate what they saw in a large number of unique images, both with and without actual meaningful structure. The first experiment employed an open-ended response paradigm and used a variety of different images in noise; the second experiment only presented a series of faces embedded in noise, and required a forced-choice response from the subjects. The results in all conditions indicated that a high positive schizotypy score was associated with an increased tendency to perceive complex meaning in images comprised purely of random visual noise. Individuals high in positive schizotypy seemed to be employing a looser criterion (response bias) to determine what constituted a ‘meaningful’ image, while also being significantly less sensitive at the task than those low in positive schizotypy. Our results suggest that differences in perceptual performance for individuals high in positive schizotypy are not related to increased suggestibility or susceptibility to instruction, as had previously been suggested. Instead, the observed reductions in sensitivity along with increased response bias toward seeing something that is not there, indirectly implicated subtle neurophysiological differences associated with the personality dimension of schizotypy, that are theoretically pertinent to the continuum of schizophrenia and hallucination-proneness. PMID:26954696

Distinctive and common neural underpinnings of major depression, social anxiety, and their comorbidity.

PubMed

Hamilton, J Paul; Chen, Michael C; Waugh, Christian E; Joormann, Jutta; Gotlib, Ian H

2015-04-01

Assessing neural commonalities and differences among depression, anxiety and their comorbidity is critical in developing a more integrative clinical neuroscience and in evaluating currently debated categorical vs dimensional approaches to psychiatric classification. Therefore, in this study, we sought to identify patterns of anomalous neural responding to criticism and praise that are specific to and common among major depressive disorder (MDD), social anxiety disorder (SAD) and comorbid MDD-SAD. Adult females who met formal diagnostic criteria for MDD, SAD or MDD-SAD and psychiatrically healthy participants underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging as they listened to statements directing praise or criticism at them or at another person. MDD groups showed reduced responding to praise across a distributed cortical network, an effect potentially mediated by thalamic nuclei undergirding arousal-mediated attention. SAD groups showed heightened anterior insula and decreased default-mode network response to criticism. The MDD-SAD group uniquely showed reduced responding to praise in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. Finally, all groups with psychopathology showed heightened response to criticism in a region of the superior frontal gyrus implicated in attentional gating. The present results suggest novel neural models of anhedonia in MDD, vigilance-withdrawal behaviors in SAD, and poorer outcome in MDD-SAD. Importantly, in identifying unique and common neural substrates of MDD and SAD, these results support a formulation in which common neural components represent general risk factors for psychopathology that, due to factors that are present at illness onset, lead to distinct forms of psychopathology with unique neural signatures. © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Clinical Study of Bacillus coagulans Unique IS-2 (ATCC PTA-11748) in the Treatment of Patients with Bacterial Vaginosis.

PubMed

Ratna Sudha, M; Yelikar, Kanan A; Deshpande, Sonali

2012-09-01

Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most prevalent vaginal infection worldwide and is characterized by reduction of native lactobacilli. Antimicrobial therapy used to cure the disease is often found to be ineffective. We postulate that Bacillus coagulans Unique IS-2 (Unique Biotech Limited, India) might provide an appendage to antimicrobial treatment and improve curing rate. In the present study 40 Indian women diagnosed with BV by the presence of symptoms including white discharge, pH greater than 4.7, burning micturation, itching, soreness and redness at vulva. The subjects were divided in 2 groups probiotic (n = 20) and control (n = 20) based on age (control group, 33 ± 3 years and probiotic group, 32.5 ± 3 years), history of previous vaginosis (control group, 75% or 15/20 and probiotic group, 75% or 15/20) and severity of current vaginosis infection (burning micturation and itching, 35% in each group). Probiotic group subjects were assigned to receive a dose of antibiotic therapy [Ofloxacin-Ornidazole with strength of 200-500 mg per capsule/day for 5 days along with vaginal peccaries (co-kimaxazol) for 3 days] simultaneously with two probiotic capsules (10(9) CFUs of Bacillus coagulans Unique IS-2 per capsule). The control group received only antibiotic therapy. At the end of the treatment the 80% of probiotic group subjects showed significant positive response as revealed by reduction of vaginosis symptoms compared to the control group which exhibited reduction in 45% subjects only. Thus, the results of present study indicate that strain Bacillus coagulans Unique IS-2 can provide benefits to women being treated with antibiotics to cure an infectious condition.

The Atypical Response Regulator Protein ChxR Has Structural Characteristics and Dimer Interface Interactions That Are Unique within the OmpR/PhoB Subfamily

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hickey, John M.; Lovell, Scott; Battaile, Kevin P.

2013-05-29

Typically as a result of phosphorylation, OmpR/PhoB response regulators form homodimers through a receiver domain as an integral step in transcriptional activation. Phosphorylation stabilizes the ionic and hydrophobic interactions between monomers. Recent studies have shown that some response regulators retain functional activity in the absence of phosphorylation and are termed atypical response regulators. The two currently available receiver domain structures of atypical response regulators are very similar to their phospho-accepting homologs, and their propensity to form homodimers is generally retained. An atypical response regulator, ChxR, from Chlamydia trachomatis, was previously reported to form homodimers; however, the residues critical to thismore » interaction have not been elucidated. We hypothesize that the intra- and intermolecular interactions involved in forming a transcriptionally competent ChxR are distinct from the canonical phosphorylation (activation) paradigm in the OmpR/PhoB response regulator subfamily. To test this hypothesis, structural and functional studies were performed on the receiver domain of ChxR. Two crystal structures of the receiver domain were solved with the recently developed method using triiodo compound I3C. These structures revealed many characteristics unique to OmpR/PhoB subfamily members: typical or atypical. Included was the absence of two {alpha}-helices present in all other OmpR/PhoB response regulators. Functional studies on various dimer interface residues demonstrated that ChxR forms relatively stable homodimers through hydrophobic interactions, and disruption of these can be accomplished with the introduction of a charged residue within the dimer interface. A gel shift study with monomeric ChxR supports that dimerization through the receiver domain is critical for interaction with DNA.« less

Second-order schedules: discrimination of components1

PubMed Central

Squires, Nancy; Norborg, James; Fantino, Edmund

1975-01-01

Pigeons were exposed to a series of second-order schedules in which the completion of a fixed number of fixed-interval components produced food. In Experiment 1, brief (2 sec) stimulus presentations occurred as each fixed-interval component was completed. During the brief-stimulus presentation terminating the last fixed-interval component, a response was required on a second key, the brief-stimulus key, to produce food. Responses on the brief-stimulus key before the last brief-stimulus presentation had no scheduled consequences, but served as a measure of the extent to which the final component was discriminated from preceding components. Whether there were one, two, four, or eight fixed-interval components, responses on the brief-stimulus key occurred during virtually every brief-stimulus presentation. In Experiment 2, an attempt was made to punish unnecessary responses on the brief-stimulus key, i.e., responses on the brief-stimulus key that occurred before the last component. None of the pigeons learned to withhold these responses, even though they produced a 15-sec timeout and loss of primary reinforcement. In Experiment 3, different key colors were associated with each component of a second-order schedule (a chain schedule). In contrast to Experiment 1, brief-stimulus key responses were confined to the last component. It was concluded that pigeons do not discriminate well between components of second-order schedules unless a unique exteroceptive cue is provided for each component. The relative discriminability of the components may account for the observed differences in initial-component response rates between comparable brief-stimulus, tandem, and chain schedules. PMID:16811868

Secure ADS-B authentication system and method

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Viggiano, Marc J (Inventor); Valovage, Edward M (Inventor); Samuelson, Kenneth B (Inventor); Hall, Dana L (Inventor)

2010-01-01

A secure system for authenticating the identity of ADS-B systems, including: an authenticator, including a unique id generator and a transmitter transmitting the unique id to one or more ADS-B transmitters; one or more ADS-B transmitters, including a receiver receiving the unique id, one or more secure processing stages merging the unique id with the ADS-B transmitter's identification, data and secret key and generating a secure code identification and a transmitter transmitting a response containing the secure code and ADSB transmitter's data to the authenticator; the authenticator including means for independently determining each ADS-B transmitter's secret key, a receiver receiving each ADS-B transmitter's response, one or more secure processing stages merging the unique id, ADS-B transmitter's identification and data and generating a secure code, and comparison processing comparing the authenticator-generated secure code and the ADS-B transmitter-generated secure code and providing an authentication signal based on the comparison result.

Intraoperative anaphylaxis to sugammadex and a protocol for intradermal skin testing.

PubMed

Sadleir, P H M; Russell, T; Clarke, R C; Maycock, E; Platt, P R

2014-01-01

Sugammadex is a selective binding agent for aminosteroid neuromuscular blockers whose use is increasing in anaesthetic practice. We present three cases of severe anaphylaxis coincident with sugammadex administration. Subsequent intradermal testing confirmed sugammadex as the triggering agent, with all patients having positive skin responses to a 1:100 dilution of the standard 100 mg/ml solution and two out of three having a positive response to a 1:1000 dilution. As all patients were administered sugammadex to reverse neuromuscular blockade with rocuronium, we considered that sugammadex-rocuronium complexes were a potential unique allergen. In the two patients who were additionally tested with a rocuronium-sugammadex (3.6:1 molecular ratio) mixture, the wheal-and-flare response was significantly attenuated.

Layerwise mechanics and finite element for the dynamic analysis of piezoelectric composite plates

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Saravanos, Dimitris A.; Heyliger, Paul R.; Hopkins, Dale A.

1996-01-01

Laminate and structural mechanics for the analysis of laminated composite plate structures with piezoelectric actuators and sensors are presented. The theories implement layerwise representations of displacements and electric potential, and can model both the global and local electromechanical response of smart composite laminates. Finite-element formulations are developed for the quasi-static and dynamic analysis of smart composite structures containing piezoelectric layers. Comparisons with an exact solution illustrate the accuracy, robustness and capability of the developed mechanics to capture the global and local response of thin and/or thick laminated piezoelectric plates. Additional correlations and numerical applications demonstrate the unique capabilities of the mechanics in analyzing the static and free-vibration response of composite plates with distributed piezoelectric actuators and sensors.

The specificity of learned parallelism in dual-memory retrieval.

PubMed

Strobach, Tilo; Schubert, Torsten; Pashler, Harold; Rickard, Timothy

2014-05-01

Retrieval of two responses from one visually presented cue occurs sequentially at the outset of dual-retrieval practice. Exclusively for subjects who adopt a mode of grouping (i.e., synchronizing) their response execution, however, reaction times after dual-retrieval practice indicate a shift to learned retrieval parallelism (e.g., Nino & Rickard, in Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 29, 373-388, 2003). In the present study, we investigated how this learned parallelism is achieved and why it appears to occur only for subjects who group their responses. Two main accounts were considered: a task-level versus a cue-level account. The task-level account assumes that learned retrieval parallelism occurs at the level of the task as a whole and is not limited to practiced cues. Grouping response execution may thus promote a general shift to parallel retrieval following practice. The cue-level account states that learned retrieval parallelism is specific to practiced cues. This type of parallelism may result from cue-specific response chunking that occurs uniquely as a consequence of grouped response execution. The results of two experiments favored the second account and were best interpreted in terms of a structural bottleneck model.

Attention is captured by distractors that uniquely correspond to controlled objects: an analysis of movement trajectories.

PubMed

Miles, James D; Proctor, Robert W

2015-04-01

When reaching for a particular target, movements tend to deviate toward distractors. Previously, we have shown that cursor movements deviate to a greater degree toward distractors when the distractor color corresponds to that of the cursor and the target color does not, even when this relationship is task-irrelevant (Miles & Proctor, 2011). In the present study, we investigated whether this correspondence effect is due to attention capture or to the activation of responses based on the task response rules associated with the colors of the distractor and target (viz. a flanker effect). Participants moved a central rectangular cursor to an upper left or upper right location, depending on the cursor color. The colors of the target (correct response side) and distractor (incorrect response side) were independent from one another and were either corresponding or noncorresponding with respect to the cursor color. In Experiment 1, reaction times were delayed when the distractor color corresponded to that of the cursor, but only when the target color did not correspond to the cursor color. No color correspondence effect was found for movement trajectories or movement times. However, in Experiment 2, when responses were time-pressured, initial movements toward the distractor were much more common when the distractor color exclusively corresponded to the cursor color. On the basis of these results, we argue that attention capture best explains the increased tendency to move a controlled object to a distractor that uniquely shares its features.

Are Elevations in ADHD Symptoms Associated with Physiological Reactivity and Emotion Dysregulation in Children?

PubMed

McQuade, Julia D; Breaux, Rosanna P

2017-08-01

The present study examined whether children with elevated attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms display a unique pattern of emotion dysregulation as indexed by both parent report and physiological reactivity during experiences of failure. A sample of 61 children (9 to 13 years; M = 11.62, SD = 1.29; 48 % male) with and without clinical elevations in ADHD symptoms participated. Parent and teacher report of ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms and parent report of internalizing problems were collected. Parents also provided ratings of children's emotional negativity/lability and emotion regulation. Children's physiological reactivity, based on changes in respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) and skin conductance level (SCL), were assessed while they completed a manipulated social rejection task and impossible puzzle task. Regression analyses indicated that ADHD symptoms were associated with higher parent-rated emotional negativity/lability and with blunted RSA withdrawal in response to social rejection; these effects were not accounted for by co-occurring ODD symptoms or internalizing problems. ODD symptoms also were uniquely associated with parent ratings of poor emotion regulation. Internalizing problems were uniquely associated with emotional negativity/lability, poor emotion regulation, and increased SCL activity in response to social rejection. Results suggest that there may be a pattern of emotion dysregulation that is specific to ADHD symptomatology. The importance of contextual factors when examining physiological reactivity to stress in youth with ADHD is discussed.

Proteomic screening of variola virus reveals a unique NF-kappaB inhibitor that is highly conserved among pathogenic orthopoxviruses.

PubMed

Mohamed, Mohamed R; Rahman, Masmudur M; Lanchbury, Jerry S; Shattuck, Donna; Neff, Chris; Dufford, Max; van Buuren, Nick; Fagan, Katharine; Barry, Michele; Smith, Scott; Damon, Inger; McFadden, Grant

2009-06-02

Identification of the binary interactions between viral and host proteins has become a valuable tool for investigating viral tropism and pathogenesis. Here, we present the first systematic protein interaction screening of the unique variola virus proteome by using yeast 2-hybrid screening against a variety of human cDNA libraries. Several protein-protein interactions were identified, including an interaction between variola G1R, an ankryin/F-box containing protein, and human nuclear factor kappa-B1 (NF-kappaB1)/p105. This represents the first direct interaction between a pathogen-encoded protein and NF-kappaB1/p105. Orthologs of G1R are present in a variety of pathogenic orthopoxviruses, but not in vaccinia virus, and expression of any one of these viral proteins blocks NF-kappaB signaling in human cells. Thus, proteomic screening of variola virus has the potential to uncover modulators of the human innate antiviral responses.

Static optical sorting in a laser interference field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jákl, Petr; Čižmár, Tomáš; Šerý, Mojmír; Zemánek, Pavel

2008-04-01

We present a unique technique for optical sorting of heterogeneous suspensions of microparticles, which does not require the flow of the immersion medium. The method employs the size-dependent response of suspended dielectric particles to the optical field of three intersecting beams that form a fringelike interference pattern. We experimentally demonstrate sorting of a polydisperse suspension of polystyrene beads of diameters 1, 2, and 5.2μm and living yeast cells.

The role of multiple negative social relationships in inflammatory cytokine responses to a laboratory stressor

PubMed Central

Song, Sunmi; Graham-Engeland, Jennifer E.; Corwin, Elizabeth J.; Ceballos, Rachel M.; Taylor, Shelley E.; Seeman, Teresa

2015-01-01

The present study examined the unique impact of perceived negativity in multiple social relationships on endocrine and inflammatory responses to a laboratory stressor. Via hierarchical cluster analysis, those who reported negative social exchanges across relationships with a romantic partner, family, and their closest friend had higher mean IL-6 across time and a greater increase in TNF-α from 15 min to 75 min post stress. Those who reported negative social exchanges across relationships with roommates, family, and their closest friend showed greater IL-6 responses to stress. Differences in mean IL-6 were accounted for by either depressed mood or hostility, whereas differences in the cytokine stress responses remained significant after controlling for those factors. Overall, this research provides preliminary evidence to suggest that having multiple negative relationships may exacerbate acute inflammatory responses to a laboratory stressor independent of hostility and depressed mood. PMID:26056615

The role of multiple negative social relationships in inflammatory cytokine responses to a laboratory stressor.

PubMed

Song, Sunmi; Graham-Engeland, Jennifer E; Corwin, Elizabeth J; Ceballos, Rachel M; Taylor, Shelley E; Seeman, Teresa; Klein, Laura Cousino

2015-01-01

The present study examined the unique impact of perceived negativity in multiple social relationships on endocrine and inflammatory responses to a laboratory stressor. Via hierarchical cluster analysis, those who reported negative social exchanges across relationships with a romantic partner, family, and their closest friend had higher mean IL-6 across time and a greater increase in TNF-α from 15 min to 75 min post stress. Those who reported negative social exchanges across relationships with roommates, family, and their closest friend showed greater IL-6 responses to stress. Differences in mean IL-6 were accounted for by either depressed mood or hostility, whereas differences in the cytokine stress responses remained significant after controlling for those factors. Overall, this research provides preliminary evidence to suggest that having multiple negative relationships may exacerbate acute inflammatory responses to a laboratory stressor independent of hostility and depressed mood.

Rapid automatized naming (RAN) in children with ADHD: An ex-Gaussian analysis.

PubMed

Ryan, Matthew; Jacobson, Lisa A; Hague, Cole; Bellows, Alison; Denckla, Martha B; Mahone, E Mark

2017-07-01

Children with ADHD demonstrate increased frequent "lapses" in performance on tasks in which the stimulus presentation rate is externally controlled, leading to increased variability in response times. It is less clear whether these lapses are also evident during performance on self-paced tasks, e.g., rapid automatized naming (RAN), or whether RAN inter-item pause time variability uniquely predicts reading performance. A total of 80 children aged 9 to 14 years-45 children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 35 typically developing (TD) children-completed RAN and reading fluency measures. RAN responses were digitally recorded for analyses. Inter-stimulus pause time distributions (excluding between-row pauses) were analyzed using traditional (mean, standard deviation [SD], coefficient of variation [CV]) and ex-Gaussian (mu, sigma, tau) methods. Children with ADHD were found to be significantly slower than TD children (p < .05) on RAN letter naming mean response time as well as on oral and silent reading fluency. RAN response time distributions were also significantly more variable (SD, tau) in children with ADHD. Hierarchical regression revealed that the exponential component (tau) of the letter-naming response time distribution uniquely predicted reading fluency in children with ADHD (p < .001, ΔR 2  = .16), even after controlling for IQ, basic reading, ADHD symptom severity and age. The findings suggest that children with ADHD (without word-level reading difficulties) manifest slowed performance on tasks of reading fluency; however, this "slowing" may be due in part to lapses from ongoing performance that can be assessed directly using ex-Gaussian methods that capture excessively long response times.

Versatile light-emitting-diode-based spectral response measurement system for photovoltaic device characterization.

PubMed

Hamadani, Behrang H; Roller, John; Dougherty, Brian; Yoon, Howard W

2012-07-01

An absolute differential spectral response measurement system for solar cells is presented. The system couples an array of light emitting diodes with an optical waveguide to provide large area illumination. Two unique yet complementary measurement methods were developed and tested with the same measurement apparatus. Good agreement was observed between the two methods based on testing of a variety of solar cells. The first method is a lock-in technique that can be performed over a broad pulse frequency range. The second method is based on synchronous multifrequency optical excitation and electrical detection. An innovative scheme for providing light bias during each measurement method is discussed.

Hydraulophones: Acoustic musical instruments and expressive user interfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Janzen, Ryan E.

Fluid flow creates an expansive range of acoustic possibilities, particularly in the case of water, which has unique turbulence and vortex shedding properties as compared with the air of ordinary wind instruments. Sound from water flow is explained with reference to a new class of musical instruments, hydraulophones, in which oscillation originates directly from matter in its liquid state. Several hydraulophones which were realized in practical form are described. A unique user-interface consisting of a row of water jets is presented, in terms of its expressiveness, tactility, responsiveness to derivatives and integrals of displacement, and in terms of the direct physical interaction between a user and the physical process of sound production. Signal processing algorithms are introduced, which extract further information from turbulent water flow, for industrial applications as well as musical applications.

Recombinatorial biases and convergent recombination determine interindividual TCRβ sharing in murine thymocytes.

PubMed

Li, Hanjie; Ye, Congting; Ji, Guoli; Wu, Xiaohui; Xiang, Zhe; Li, Yuanyue; Cao, Yonghao; Liu, Xiaolong; Douek, Daniel C; Price, David A; Han, Jiahuai

2012-09-01

Overlap of TCR repertoires among individuals provides the molecular basis for public T cell responses. By deep-sequencing the TCRβ repertoires of CD4+CD8+ thymocytes from three individual mice, we observed that a substantial degree of TCRβ overlap, comprising ∼10-15% of all unique amino acid sequences and ∼5-10% of all unique nucleotide sequences across any two individuals, is already present at this early stage of T cell development. The majority of TCRβ sharing between individual thymocyte repertoires could be attributed to the process of convergent recombination, with additional contributions likely arising from recombinatorial biases; the role of selection during intrathymic development was negligible. These results indicate that the process of TCR gene recombination is the major determinant of clonotype sharing between individuals.

Analyzing the Mechanical Behavior of Polymer and Composite Materials by Means of Unique Method of Deformation Calorimetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bessonova, N. P.; Chvalun, S. N.

2018-06-01

Results are presented from long-term investigations of a wide range of polymer systems, varying from elastomers and thermoplastic elastomers to plastics and fibers. The thermophysical properties of both initial and modifying additive-containing polysiloxanes, block copolymers, and poleolefins that differ in chemical nature, structure, and composition are analyzed. It is shown that deformation calorimetry allows the simultaneous registration of mechanical (from 5 × 10-3 kg) and thermal effects (at a sensitivity of 2 × 10‒7 J/s), and the determination of changes in enthalpy, internal energy, and intra- and intermolecular contributions to the formation of the tensile stress response. In other words, it provides a unique opportunity to analyze the deformation mechanism of investigated systems and its dependence on the changing parameters.

The Nervous Flyer: Nerves, Flying and the First World War1

PubMed Central

Shaw Cobden, Lynsey

2018-01-01

This is not an article about ‘shell-shock’. It explores the military medical response to nervous disorders in the Royal Flying Corps. The First World War exposed the propensity of pilots to the nervous and psychological rigours of aerial warfare, but their unique experiences have been overlooked in favour of ‘trauma’ in infantrymen. This represents a critical lacuna in the historiography of military medicine, for flying personnel were studied apart from ‘shell-shocked’ soldiers. This article will show that flyers were believed to be medically different, and what set them apart from men in the trenches was their unique employment. The war necessitated, and provided the conditions for, the study of the medical problems of flying, including the significant nervous strains. Medical officers quickly established that flying not only affected bodily functions, but also ‘wore down’ the nerves that regulated psychological responses. This article will therefore present the medical view. It will study the research of air-minded medical officers and the conclusions reached on the nervous disorders of flying personnel. PMID:29528049

Challenges in conducting psychiatry studies in India

PubMed Central

Kharawala, Saifuddin; Dalal, Jeroze

2011-01-01

A large number of psychiatry studies are conducted in India. Psychiatry studies are complex and present unique challenges in the Indian setting. Ethical issues pertaining to the risk of worsening of illness, use of placebo and validity of informed consents are commonly faced. Site selection can be difficult due to the relative paucity of ICH-GCP (International Conference on Harmonisation - Good Clinical Practice) trained psychiatry investigators in India. Recruitment can be challenging due to issues such as strict eligibility criteria, (lack of) availability of caregiver, illness-related considerations, etc. Assessment of the consent capacity of patients is not simple, while structured assessments are not commonly employed. As the illness fluctuates, the consent capacity may change, thus requiring continued assessment of consent capacity. Study patients run the risk of worsening of illness and suicide due to exposure to inactive treatments; this risk is counterbalanced by use of appropriate study designs, as well as the indirect psychotherapeutic support received. Psychiatry studies are associated with a high placebo response. This necessitates conduct of placebo-controlled studies despite the attendant difficulties. Also, the high placebo response is often the cause of failed trials. Rating scales are essential for assessment of drug response. Some rating instruments as well as some rater training procedures may not be suitable for the Indian setting. Technological advancements may increase the procedural complexity but improve the quality of ratings. Psychiatry studies present monitors and auditors with unique scenarios too. Utilization of psychiatry specific training and expertise is recommended to ensure successful conduct of these studies in India. PMID:21584176

Phenotypic and Transcriptomic Responses of Campylobacter jejuni Suspended in an Artificial Freshwater Medium

PubMed Central

Trigui, Hana; Lee, Kristen; Thibodeau, Alexandre; Lévesque, Simon; Mendis, Nilmini; Fravalo, Philippe; Letellier, Ann; Faucher, Sébastien P.

2017-01-01

Campylobacter jejuni is the leading cause of campylobacteriosis in the developed world. Although most cases are caused by consumption of contaminated meat, a significant proportion is linked to ingestion of contaminated water. The differences between C. jejuni strains originating from food products and those isolated from water are poorly understood. Working under the hypothesis that water-borne C. jejuni strains are better equipped at surviving the nutrient-poor aquatic environment than food-borne strains, the present study aims to characterize these differences using outbreak strains 81116 and 81-176. Strain 81116 caused a campylobacteriosis outbreak linked to consumption of water, while strain 81-176 was linked to consumption of raw milk. CFU counts and viability assays showed that 81116 survives better than 81-176 at 4°C in a defined freshwater medium (Fraquil). Moreover, 81116 was significantly more resistant to oxidative stress and bile salt than strain 81-176 in Fraquil. To better understand the genetic response of 81116 to water, a transcriptomic profiling study was undertaken using microarrays. Compared to rich broth, strain 81116 represses genes involved in amino acid uptake and metabolism, as well as genes involved in costly biosynthetic processes such as replication, translation, flagellum synthesis and virulence in response to Fraquil. In accordance with the observed increase in stress resistance in Fraquil, 81116 induces genes involved in resistance to oxidative stress and bile salt. Interestingly, genes responsible for cell wall synthesis were also induced upon Fraquil exposure. Finally, twelve unique genes were expressed in Fraquil; however, analysis of their distribution in animal and water isolates showed that they are not uniquely and ubiquitously present in water isolates, and thus, unlikely to play a major role in adaptation to water. Our results show that some C. jejuni strains are more resilient than others, thereby challenging current water management practices. The response of 81116 to Fraquil serves as a starting point to understand the adaptation of C. jejuni to water and its subsequent transmission. PMID:28979243

Pre-Surgery Psychological Factors Predict Pain, Nausea and Fatigue One Week Following Breast Cancer Surgery

PubMed Central

Montgomery, Guy H.; Schnur, Julie B.; Erblich, Joel; Diefenbach, Michael A.; Bovbjerg, Dana H.

2010-01-01

Prior to scheduled surgery, breast cancer surgical patients frequently experience high levels of distress and expect a variety of post-surgery symptoms. Previous literature has supported the view that pre-surgery distress and response expectancies are predictive of post-surgery outcomes. However, the contributions of distress and response expectancies to post-surgical side effect outcomes have rarely been examined together within the same study. Furthermore, studies on the effects of response expectancies in the surgical setting have typically focused on the immediate post-surgical setting rather than the longer term. The purpose of the present study was to test the contribution of pre-surgery distress and response expectancies to common post-surgery side effects (pain, nausea, fatigue). Female patients (n=101) undergoing breast cancer surgery were recruited to a prospective study. Results indicated that pre-surgery distress uniquely contributed to patients’ post-surgery pain severity (P<0.05) and fatigue (P<0.003) one week following surgery. Response expectancies uniquely contributed to pain severity (P<0.001), nausea (P<0.012) and fatigue (P<0.010) one week following surgery. Sobel tests indicated that response expectancies partially mediated the effects of distress on pain severity (P<0.03) and fatigue (P<0.03). Response expectancies also mediated the effects of age on pain severity, nausea and fatigue. Results highlight the contribution of pre-surgery psychological factors to post-surgery side effects, the importance of including both emotional and cognitive factors within studies as predictors of post-surgery side effects, and suggest pre-surgical clinical targets for improving patients’ postoperative experiences of side effects. PMID:20538186

Phenotype and function of nasal dendritic cells

PubMed Central

Lee, Haekyung; Ruane, Darren; Law, Kenneth; Ho, Yan; Garg, Aakash; Rahman, Adeeb; Esterházy, Daria; Cheong, Cheolho; Goljo, Erden; Sikora, Andrew G.; Mucida, Daniel; Chen, Benjamin; Govindraj, Satish; Breton, Gaëlle; Mehandru, Saurabh

2015-01-01

Intranasal vaccination generates immunity across local, regional and distant sites. However, nasal dendritic cells (DC), pivotal for the induction of intranasal vaccine- induced immune responses, have not been studied in detail. Here, using a variety of parameters, we define nasal DCs in mice and humans. Distinct subsets of “classical” DCs, dependent on the transcription factor zbtb46 were identified in the murine nose. The murine nasal DCs were FLT3 ligand-responsive and displayed unique phenotypic and functional characteristics including the ability to present antigen, induce an allogeneic T cell response and migrate in response to LPS or live bacterial pathogens. Importantly, in a cohort of human volunteers, BDCA-1+ DCs were observed to be the dominant nasal DC population at steady state. During chronic inflammation, the frequency of both BDCA-1+ and BDCA-3hi DCs was reduced in the nasal tissue, associating the loss of these immune sentinels with chronic nasal inflammation. The present study is the first detailed description of the phenotypic, ontogenetic and functional properties of nasal DCs and will inform the design of preventative immunization strategies as well as therapeutic modalities against chronic rhinosinusitis. PMID:25669151

Responses of high-elevation herbaceous plant assemblages to low glacial CO₂ concentrations revealed by fossil marmot (Marmota) teeth.

PubMed

McLean, Bryan S; Ward, Joy K; Polito, Michael J; Emslie, Steven D

2014-08-01

Atmospheric CO2 cycles of the Quaternary likely imposed major constraints on the physiology and growth of C3 plants worldwide. However, the measured record of this remains both geographically and taxonomically sparse. We present the first reconstruction of physiological responses in a late Quaternary high-elevation herbaceous plant community from the Southern Rocky Mountains, USA. We used a novel proxy-fossilized tooth enamel of yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventris)-which we developed using detailed isotopic analysis of modern individuals. Calculated C isotopic discrimination (Δ) of alpine plants was nearly 2 ‰ lower prior to the Last Glacial Maximum than at present, a response almost identical to that of nonherbaceous taxa from lower elevations. However, initial shifts in Δ aligned most closely with the onset of the late Pleistocene bipolar temperature "seesaw" rather than CO2 increase, indicating unique limitations on glacial-age high-elevation plants may have existed due to both low temperatures and low CO2. Further development of system-specific faunal proxies can help to clarify this and other plant- and ecosystem-level responses to past environmental change.

The dual function of the splenic marginal zone: essential for initiation of anti-TI-2 responses but also vital in the general first-line defense against blood-borne antigens

PubMed Central

ZANDVOORT, A; TIMENS, W

2002-01-01

The splenic marginal zone (S-MZ) is especially well equipped for rapid humoral responses and is unique in its ability to initiate an immune response to encapsulated bacteria (T-cell independent type 2 (TI-2) antigens). Because of the rapid spreading through the blood, infections with blood-borne bacteria form a major health risk. To cope with blood-borne antigens, a system is needed that can respond rapidly to a great diversity of organisms. Because of a number of unique features, S-MZ B cells can respond rapid and efficient to all sorts of blood-borne antigens. These unique features include a low blood flow microenvironment, low threshold for activation, high expression of complement receptor 2 (CR2, CD21) and multireactivity. Because of the unique high expression of CD21 in a low flow compartment, S-MZ B cells can bind and respond to TI-2 antigens even with relatively low-avid B cell receptors. Although TI-2 antigens are in general poorly opsonized by classic opsonins, a particular characteristic of these antigens is their ability to bind very rapidly to complement fragment C3d without the necessity of previous immunoglobulin binding. TI-2 primed S-MZ B cells, already by first passage through the germinal centre, will meet antigen-C3d complexes bound to follicular dendritic cells, allowing unique immediate isotype switching. This explains that the primary humoral response to TI-2 antigens is unique in its characterization by a rapid increase in IgM concurrent with IgG antibody levels. PMID:12296846

Wireless physiological monitoring and ocular tracking: 3D calibration in a fully-immersive virtual health care environment.

PubMed

Zhang, Lelin; Chi, Yu Mike; Edelstein, Eve; Schulze, Jurgen; Gramann, Klaus; Velasquez, Alvaro; Cauwenberghs, Gert; Macagno, Eduardo

2010-01-01

Wireless physiological/neurological monitoring in virtual reality (VR) offers a unique opportunity for unobtrusively quantifying human responses to precisely controlled and readily modulated VR representations of health care environments. Here we present such a wireless, light-weight head-mounted system for measuring electrooculogram (EOG) and electroencephalogram (EEG) activity in human subjects interacting with and navigating in the Calit2 StarCAVE, a five-sided immersive 3-D visualization VR environment. The system can be easily expanded to include other measurements, such as cardiac activity and galvanic skin responses. We demonstrate the capacity of the system to track focus of gaze in 3-D and report a novel calibration procedure for estimating eye movements from responses to the presentation of a set of dynamic visual cues in the StarCAVE. We discuss cyber and clinical applications that include a 3-D cursor for visual navigation in VR interactive environments, and the monitoring of neurological and ocular dysfunction in vision/attention disorders.

'Taking charge of your health': discourses of responsibility in English-Canadian women's magazines.

PubMed

Roy, Stephannie C

2008-04-01

This article presents an examination of the ways in which responsibility for health is constructed in popular English-Canadian women's magazines. Women's magazines are a unique media form, acting as guidebooks for women on matters relating to feminine gender roles and are important to examine as part of the corpus of societal discourses which frame our understandings of what it means to be healthy and how good health is achieved. Using discourse analysis several techniques were found which reinforce women's individual responsibility to create and maintain good health for themselves and their families. The magazines instruct women/readers directly about their health-related responsibilities and outline the negative consequences of inaction or incorrect action. The magazines also use the traditional discursive technique of women's personal accounts as both cautionary tales and inspirational stories to encourage readers to actively pursue healthy behaviours. Reflecting and reinforcing the discourse of healthism, women's magazines consistently present health as an important individual responsibility and a moral imperative which creates an entrepreneurial subject position for women. The article concludes by discussing the implications for women's magazine audiences within the ongoing feminist debate about this cultural industry.

The Modulation of Adaptive Immune Responses by Bacterial Zwitterionic Polysaccharides

PubMed Central

Stephen, Tom Li; Groneck, Laura; Kalka-Moll, Wiltrud Maria

2010-01-01

The detection of pathogen-derived molecules as foreign particles by adaptive immune cells triggers T and B lymphocytes to mount protective cellular and humoral responses, respectively. Recent immunological advances elucidated that proteins and some lipids are the principle biological molecules that induce protective T cell responses during microbial infections. Polysaccharides are important components of microbial pathogens and many vaccines. However, research concerning the activation of the adaptive immune system by polysaccharides gained interest only recently. Traditionally, polysaccharides were considered to be T cell-independent antigens that did not directly activate T cells or induce protective immune responses. Here, we review several recent advances in “carbohydrate immunobiology”. A group of bacterial polysaccharides that are known as “zwitterionic polysaccharides (ZPSs)” were recently identified as potent immune modulators. The immunomodulatory effect of ZPSs required antigen processing and presentation by antigen presenting cells, the activation of CD4 T cells and subpopulations of CD8 T cells and the modulation of host cytokine responses. In this review, we also discuss the potential use of these unique immunomodulatory ZPSs in new vaccination strategies against chronic inflammatory conditions, autoimmunity, infectious diseases, allergies and asthmatic conditions. PMID:21234388

Aerodynamic instability: A case history

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eisenmann, R. C.

1985-01-01

The identification, diagnosis, and final correction of complex machinery malfunctions typically require the correlation of many parameters such as mechanical construction, process influence, maintenance history, and vibration response characteristics. The progression is reviewed of field testing, diagnosis, and final correction of a specific machinery instability problem. The case history presented addresses a unique low frequency instability problem on a high pressure barrel compressor. The malfunction was eventually diagnosed as a fluidic mechanism that manifested as an aerodynamic disturbance to the rotor assembly.

Community control of health services. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Health Center's community management system.

PubMed

Tichy, N M; Taylor, J I

1976-01-01

This article presents the case of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Health Center's unique community management system in which neighborhood workers have been developed to assume managerial responsibilities and are directing the Center. The Martin Luther King Center experience is instructive because the Center was able to achieve significant community control by focusing primarily on the internal dimension of control, namely, management, without experiencing destructive conflicts and the deterioration of health services.

Nitric oxide in the stress axis.

PubMed

López-Figueroa, M O; Day, H E; Akil, H; Watson, S J

1998-10-01

In recent years nitric oxide (NO) has emerged as a unique biological messenger. NO is a highly diffusible gas, synthesized from L-arginine by the enzyme nitric oxide synthase (NOS). Three unique subtypes of NOS have been described, each with a specific distribution profile in the brain and periphery. NOS subtype I is present, among other areas, in the hippocampus, hypothalamus, pituitary and adrenal gland. Together these structures form the limbic-hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (LHPA) or stress axis, activation of which is one of the defining features of a stress response. Evidence suggests that NO may modulate the release of the stress hormones ACTH and corticosterone, and NOS activity and transcription is increased in the LHPA axis following various stressful stimuli. Furthermore, following activation of the stress axis, glucocorticoids are thought to down-regulate the transcription and activity of NOS via a feedback mechanism. Taken together, current data indicate a role for NO in the regulation of the LHPA axis, although at present this role is not well defined. It has been suggested that NO may act as a cellular communicator in plasticity and development, to facilitate the activation or the release of other neurotransmitters, to mediate immune responses, and/or as a vasodilator in the regulation of blood flow. In the following review we summarize some of the latest insights into the function of NO, with special attention to its relationship with the LHPA axis.

Glycomaterials for probing host–pathogen interactions and the immune response

PubMed Central

Huang, Mia L; Fisher, Christopher J

2016-01-01

The initial engagement of host cells by pathogens is often mediated by glycan structures presented on the cell surface. Various components of the glycocalyx can be targeted by pathogens for adhesion to facilitate infection. Glycans also play integral roles in the modulation of the host immune response to infection. Therefore, understanding the parameters that define glycan interactions with both pathogens and the various components of the host immune system can aid in the development of strategies to prevent, interrupt, or manage infection. Glycomaterials provide a unique and powerful tool with which to interrogate the compositional and functional complexity of the glycocalyx. The objective of this review is to highlight some key contributions from this area of research in deciphering the mechanisms of pathogenesis and the associated host response. PMID:27190259

The auditory brain-stem response to complex sounds: a potential biomarker for guiding treatment of psychosis.

PubMed

Tarasenko, Melissa A; Swerdlow, Neal R; Makeig, Scott; Braff, David L; Light, Gregory A

2014-01-01

Cognitive deficits limit psychosocial functioning in schizophrenia. For many patients, cognitive remediation approaches have yielded encouraging results. Nevertheless, therapeutic response is variable, and outcome studies consistently identify individuals who respond minimally to these interventions. Biomarkers that can assist in identifying patients likely to benefit from particular forms of cognitive remediation are needed. Here, we describe an event-related potential (ERP) biomarker - the auditory brain-stem response (ABR) to complex sounds (cABR) - that appears to be particularly well-suited for predicting response to at least one form of cognitive remediation that targets auditory information processing. Uniquely, the cABR quantifies the fidelity of sound encoded at the level of the brainstem and midbrain. This ERP biomarker has revealed auditory processing abnormalities in various neurodevelopmental disorders, correlates with functioning across several cognitive domains, and appears to be responsive to targeted auditory training. We present preliminary cABR data from 18 schizophrenia patients and propose further investigation of this biomarker for predicting and tracking response to cognitive interventions.

Architecture of a minimal signaling pathway explains the T-cell response to a 1 million-fold variation in antigen affinity and dose

PubMed Central

Lever, Melissa; Lim, Hong-Sheng; Kruger, Philipp; Nguyen, John; Trendel, Nicola; Abu-Shah, Enas; Maini, Philip Kumar; van der Merwe, Philip Anton

2016-01-01

T cells must respond differently to antigens of varying affinity presented at different doses. Previous attempts to map peptide MHC (pMHC) affinity onto T-cell responses have produced inconsistent patterns of responses, preventing formulations of canonical models of T-cell signaling. Here, a systematic analysis of T-cell responses to 1 million-fold variations in both pMHC affinity and dose produced bell-shaped dose–response curves and different optimal pMHC affinities at different pMHC doses. Using sequential model rejection/identification algorithms, we identified a unique, minimal model of cellular signaling incorporating kinetic proofreading with limited signaling coupled to an incoherent feed-forward loop (KPL-IFF) that reproduces these observations. We show that the KPL-IFF model correctly predicts the T-cell response to antigen copresentation. Our work offers a general approach for studying cellular signaling that does not require full details of biochemical pathways. PMID:27702900

Architecture of a minimal signaling pathway explains the T-cell response to a 1 million-fold variation in antigen affinity and dose.

PubMed

Lever, Melissa; Lim, Hong-Sheng; Kruger, Philipp; Nguyen, John; Trendel, Nicola; Abu-Shah, Enas; Maini, Philip Kumar; van der Merwe, Philip Anton; Dushek, Omer

2016-10-25

T cells must respond differently to antigens of varying affinity presented at different doses. Previous attempts to map peptide MHC (pMHC) affinity onto T-cell responses have produced inconsistent patterns of responses, preventing formulations of canonical models of T-cell signaling. Here, a systematic analysis of T-cell responses to 1 million-fold variations in both pMHC affinity and dose produced bell-shaped dose-response curves and different optimal pMHC affinities at different pMHC doses. Using sequential model rejection/identification algorithms, we identified a unique, minimal model of cellular signaling incorporating kinetic proofreading with limited signaling coupled to an incoherent feed-forward loop (KPL-IFF) that reproduces these observations. We show that the KPL-IFF model correctly predicts the T-cell response to antigen copresentation. Our work offers a general approach for studying cellular signaling that does not require full details of biochemical pathways.

Ambient response of a unique performance-based design building with dynamic response modification features

USGS Publications Warehouse

Çelebi, Mehmet; Huang, Moh; Shakal, Antony; Hooper, John; Klemencic, Ron

2012-01-01

A 64-story, performance-based design building with reinforced concrete core shear-walls and unique dynamic response modification features (tuned liquid sloshing dampers and buckling-restrained braces) has been instrumented with a monitoring array of 72 channels of accelerometers. Ambient vibration data recorded are analyzed to identify modes and associated frequencies and damping. The low-amplitude dynamic characteristics are considerably different than those computed from design analyses, but serve as a baseline against which to compare with future strong shaking responses. Such studies help to improve our understanding of the effectiveness of the added features to the building and help improve designs in the future.

Heavy Ion Microbeam- and Broadbeam-Induced Current Transients in SiGe HBTs

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pellish, Jonathan A.; Reed, R. A.; McMorrow, D.; Vizkelethy, G.; Ferlet-Cavrois, V.; Baggio, J.; Duhamel, O.; Moen, K. A.; Phillips, S. D.; Diestelhorst, R. M.;

Analysis of blind identification methods for estimation of kinetic parameters in dynamic medical imaging

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riabkov, Dmitri

Compartment modeling of dynamic medical image data implies that the concentration of the tracer over time in a particular region of the organ of interest is well-modeled as a convolution of the tissue response with the tracer concentration in the blood stream. The tissue response is different for different tissues while the blood input is assumed to be the same for different tissues. The kinetic parameters characterizing the tissue responses can be estimated by blind identification methods. These algorithms use the simultaneous measurements of concentration in separate regions of the organ; if the regions have different responses, the measurement of the blood input function may not be required. In this work it is shown that the blind identification problem has a unique solution for two-compartment model tissue response. For two-compartment model tissue responses in dynamic cardiac MRI imaging conditions with gadolinium-DTPA contrast agent, three blind identification algorithms are analyzed here to assess their utility: Eigenvector-based Algorithm for Multichannel Blind Deconvolution (EVAM), Cross Relations (CR), and Iterative Quadratic Maximum Likelihood (IQML). Comparisons of accuracy with conventional (not blind) identification techniques where the blood input is known are made as well. The statistical accuracies of estimation for the three methods are evaluated and compared for multiple parameter sets. The results show that the IQML method gives more accurate estimates than the other two blind identification methods. A proof is presented here that three-compartment model blind identification is not unique in the case of only two regions. It is shown that it is likely unique for the case of more than two regions, but this has not been proved analytically. For the three-compartment model the tissue responses in dynamic FDG PET imaging conditions are analyzed with the blind identification algorithms EVAM and Separable variables Least Squares (SLS). A method of identification that assumes that FDG blood input in the brain can be modeled as a function of time and several parameters (IFM) is analyzed also. Nonuniform sampling SLS (NSLS) is developed due to the rapid change of the FDG concentration in the blood during the early postinjection stage. Comparisons of accuracy of EVAM, SLS, NSLS and IFM identification techniques are made.

Herbal preparation (HemoHIM) enhanced functional maturation of bone marrow-derived dendritic cells mediated toll-like receptor 4.

PubMed

Lee, Sung-Ju; Kim, Jong-Jin; Kang, Kyung-Yun; Hwang, Yun-Ho; Jeong, Gil-Yeon; Jo, Sung-kee; Jung, Uhee; Park, Hae-Ran; Yee, Sung-Tae

2016-02-19

HemoHIM, which is an herbal preparation of three edible herbs (Angelicam gigas Nakai, Cnidium offinale Makino, and Peaonia japonica Miyabe), is known to have various biological and immunological activities, but the modulatory effects of this preparation on dendritic cells (DCs)-mediated immune responses have not been examined previously. DCs are a unique group of white blood cells that initiate primary immune responses by capturing, processing, and presenting antigens to T cells. In the present study, we investigated the effect of HemoHIM on the functional and phenotypic maturation of murine bone marrow-derived dendritic cells (BMDCs) both in vitro and in vivo. The expression of co-stimulatory molecules (CD40, CD80, CD86, MHC I, and MHC II) and the production of cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-12p70, and TNF-α) were increased by HemoHIM in BMDCs. Furthermore, the antigen-uptake ability of BMDCs was decreased by HemoHIM, and the antigen-presenting ability of HemoHIM-treated mature BMDCs increased TLR4-dependent CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell responses. Our findings demonstrated that HemoHIM induces TLR4-mediated BMDCs functional and phenotypic maturation through in vivo and in vitro. And our study showed the antigen-presenting ability that HemoHIM-treated mature BMDCs increase CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell responses by in vitro. These results suggest that HemoHIM has the potential to mediate DC immune responses.

Chilling and Drought Stresses in Crop Plants: Implications, Cross Talk, and Potential Management Opportunities

PubMed Central

Hussain, Hafiz A.; Hussain, Saddam; Khaliq, Abdul; Ashraf, Umair; Anjum, Shakeel A.; Men, Shengnan; Wang, Longchang

2018-01-01

Plants face a combination of different abiotic stresses under field conditions which are lethal to plant growth and production. Simultaneous occurrence of chilling and drought stresses in plants due to the drastic and rapid global climate changes, can alter the morphological, physiological and molecular responses. Both these stresses adversely affect the plant growth and yields due to physical damages, physiological and biochemical disruptions, and molecular changes. In general, the co-occurrence of chilling and drought combination is even worse for crop production rather than an individual stress condition. Plants attain various common and different physiological and molecular protective approaches for tolerance under chilling and drought stresses. Nevertheless, plant responses to a combination of chilling and drought stresses are unique from those to individual stress. In the present review, we summarized the recent evidence on plant responses to chilling and drought stresses on shared as well as unique basis and tried to find a common thread potentially underlying these responses. We addressed the possible cross talk between plant responses to these stresses and discussed the potential management strategies for regulating the mechanisms of plant tolerance to drought and/or chilling stresses. To date, various novel approaches have been tested in minimizing the negative effects of combine stresses. Despite of the main improvements there is still a big room for improvement in combination of drought and chilling tolerance. Thus, future researches particularly using biotechnological and molecular approaches should be carried out to develop genetically engineered plants with enhanced tolerance against these stress factors. PMID:29692787

Servo control booster system for minimizing following error

DOEpatents

Wise, William L.

1985-01-01

A closed-loop feedback-controlled servo system is disclosed which reduces command-to-response error to the system's position feedback resolution least increment, .DELTA.S.sub.R, on a continuous real-time basis for all operating speeds. The servo system employs a second position feedback control loop on a by exception basis, when the command-to-response error .gtoreq..DELTA.S.sub.R, to produce precise position correction signals. When the command-to-response error is less than .DELTA.S.sub.R, control automatically reverts to conventional control means as the second position feedback control loop is disconnected, becoming transparent to conventional servo control means. By operating the second unique position feedback control loop used herein at the appropriate clocking rate, command-to-response error may be reduced to the position feedback resolution least increment. The present system may be utilized in combination with a tachometer loop for increased stability.

Responsibility after the apparent end: 'following-up' in clinical ethics consultation.

PubMed

Finder, Stuart G; Bliton, Mark J

2011-09-01

Clinical ethics literature typically presents ethics consultations as having clear beginnings and clear ends. Experience in actual clinical ethics practice, however, reflects a different characterization, particularly when the moral experiences of ethics consultants are included in the discussion. In response, this article emphasizes listening and learning about moral experience as core activities associated with clinical ethics consultation. This focus reveals that responsibility in actual clinical ethics practice is generated within the moral scope of an ethics consultant's activities as she or he encounters the unique and specific features that emerge from interactions with a specific patient, or family, or practitioner within a given situation and over time. A long-form narrative about an ethics consultant's interactions is interwoven with a more didactic discussion to highlight the theme of responsibility and to probe questions that arise regarding follow-up within the practice of clinical ethics consultation. © 2011 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Characterization of hydrogen responsive nanoporous palladium films synthesized via a spontaneous galvanic displacement reaction.

PubMed

Patton, J F; Lavrik, N V; Joy, D C; Hunter, S R; Datskos, P G; Smith, D B; Sepaniak, M J

2012-11-23

A model is presented regarding the mechanistic properties associated with the interaction of hydrogen with nanoporous palladium (np-Pd) films prepared using a spontaneous galvanic displacement reaction (SGDR), which involves PdCl(2) reduction by atomic Ag. Characterization of these films shows both chemical and morphological factors, which influence the performance characteristics of np-Pd microcantilever (MC) nanomechanical sensing devices. Raman spectroscopy, uniquely complemented with MC response profiles, is used to explore the chemical influence of palladium oxide (PdO). These combined techniques support a reaction mechanism that provides for rapid response to H(2) and recovery in the presence of O(2). Post-SGDR processing via reduction of PdCl(2)(s) in a H(2) environment results in a segregated nanoparticle three-dimensional matrix dispersed in a silver layer. The porous nature of the reduced material is shown by high resolution scanning electron microscopy. Extended grain boundaries, typical of these materials, result in a greater surface area conducive to fast sorption/desorption of hydrogen, encouraged by the presence of PdO. X-ray diffraction and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy are employed to study changes in morphology and chemistry occurring in these nanoporous films under different processing conditions. The unique nature of chemical/morphological effects, as demonstrated by the above characterization methods, provides evidence in support of observed nanomechanical response/recovery profiles offering insight for catalysis, H(2) storage and improved sensing applications.

Pathogen-mimicking vaccine delivery system designed with a bioactive polymer (inulin acetate) for robust humoral and cellular immune responses.

PubMed

Kumar, Sunny; Kesharwani, Siddharth S; Kuppast, Bhimanna; Bakkari, Mohammed Ali; Tummala, Hemachand

2017-09-10

New and improved vaccines are needed against challenging diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, Ebola, influenza, AIDS, and cancer. The majority of existing vaccine adjuvants lack the ability to significantly stimulate the cellular immune response, which is required to prevent the aforementioned diseases. This study designed a novel particulate based pathogen-mimicking vaccine delivery system (PMVDS) to target antigen-presenting-cells (APCs) such as dendritic cells. The uniqueness of PMVDS is that the polymer used to prepare the delivery system, Inulin Acetate (InAc), activates the innate immune system. InAc was synthesized from the plant polysaccharide, inulin. PMVDS provided improved and persistent antigen delivery to APCs as an efficient vaccine delivery system, and simultaneously, activated Toll-Like Receptor-4 (TLR-4) on APCs to release chemokine's/cytokines as an immune-adjuvant. Through this dual mechanism, PMVDS robustly stimulated both the humoral (>32 times of IgG1 levels vs alum) and the cell-mediated immune responses against the encapsulated antigen (ovalbumin) in mice. More importantly, PMVDS stimulated both cytotoxic T cells and natural killer cells of cell-mediated immunity to provide tumor (B16-ova-Melanoma) protection in around 40% of vaccinated mice and significantly delayed tumor progression in rest of the mice. PMVDS is a unique bio-active vaccine delivery technology with broader applications for vaccines against cancer and several intracellular pathogens, where both humoral and cellular immune responses are desired. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Utah State University's T2 ODV mobility analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davidson, Morgan E.; Bahl, Vikas; Wood, Carl G.

2000-07-01

In response to ultra-high maneuverability vehicle requirements, Utah State University (USU) has developed an autonomous vehicle with unique mobility and maneuverability capabilities. This paper describes a study of the mobility of the USU T2 Omni-Directional Vehicle (ODV). The T2 vehicle is a mid-scale (625 kg), second-generation ODV mobile robot with six independently driven and steered wheel assemblies. The six wheel, independent steering system is capable of unlimited steering rotation, presenting a unique solution to enhanced vehicle mobility requirements. This mobility study focuses on energy consumption in three basic experiments, comparing two modes of steering: Ackerman and ODV. The experiments are all performed on the same vehicle without any physical changes to the vehicle itself, providing a direct comparison these two steering methodologies. A computer simulation of the T2 mechanical and control system dynamics is described.

Dendritic cells: key to fetal tolerance?

PubMed

Blois, Sandra M; Kammerer, Ulrike; Alba Soto, Catalina; Tometten, Mareike C; Shaikly, Valerie; Barrientos, Gabriela; Jurd, Richard; Rukavina, Daniel; Thomson, Angus W; Klapp, Burghard F; Fernández, Nelson; Arck, Petra C

2007-10-01

Pregnancy is a unique event in which a fetus, despite being genetically and immunologically different from the mother (a hemi-allograft), develops in the uterus. Successful pregnancy implies avoidance of rejection by the maternal immune system. Fetal and maternal immune cells come into direct contact at the decidua, which is a highly specialized mucous membrane that plays a key role in fetal tolerance. Uterine dendritic cells (DC) within the decidua have been implicated in pregnancy maintenance. DC serve as antigen-presenting cells with the unique ability to induce primary immune responses. Just as lymphocytes comprise different subsets, DC subsets have been identified that differentially control lymphocyte function. DC may also act to induce immunologic tolerance and regulation of T cell-mediated immunity. Current understanding of DC immunobiology within the context of mammalian fetal-maternal tolerance is reviewed and discussed herein.

Setting Occupational Exposure Limits for Chemical Allergens—Understanding the Challenges

PubMed Central

Dotson, G. S.; Maier, A.; Siegel, P. D.; Anderson, S. E.; Green, B. J.; Stefaniak, A. B.; Codispoti, C. D.; Kimber, I.

2015-01-01

Chemical allergens represent a significant health burden in the workplace. Exposures to such chemicals can cause the onset of a diverse group of adverse health effects triggered by immune-mediated responses. Common responses associated with workplace exposures to low molecular weight (LMW) chemical allergens range from allergic contact dermatitis to life-threatening cases of asthma. Establishing occupational exposure limits (OELs) for chemical allergens presents numerous difficulties for occupational hygiene professionals. Few OELs have been developed for LMW allergens because of the unique biological mechanisms that govern the immune-mediated responses. The purpose of this article is to explore the primary challenges confronting the establishment of OELs for LMW allergens. Specific topics include: (1) understanding the biology of LMW chemical allergies as it applies to setting OELs; (2) selecting the appropriate immune-mediated response (i.e., sensitization versus elicitation); (3) characterizing the dose (concentration)-response relationship of immune-mediated responses; (4) determining the impact of temporal exposure patterns (i.e., cumulative versus acute exposures); and (5) understanding the role of individual susceptibility and exposure route. Additional information is presented on the importance of using alternative exposure recommendations and risk management practices, including medical surveillance, to aid in protecting workers from exposures to LMW allergens when OELs cannot be established. PMID:26583909

Co-stimulatory function in primary germinal center responses: CD40 and B7 are required on distinct antigen-presenting cells.

PubMed

Watanabe, Masashi; Fujihara, Chiharu; Radtke, Andrea J; Chiang, Y Jeffrey; Bhatia, Sumeena; Germain, Ronald N; Hodes, Richard J

2017-09-04

T cell-dependent germinal center (GC) responses require coordinated interactions of T cells with two antigen-presenting cell (APC) populations, B cells and dendritic cells (DCs), in the presence of B7- and CD40-dependent co-stimulatory pathways. Contrary to the prevailing paradigm, we found unique cellular requirements for B7 and CD40 expression in primary GC responses to vaccine immunization with protein antigen and adjuvant: B7 was required on DCs but was not required on B cells, whereas CD40 was required on B cells but not on DCs in the generation of antigen-specific follicular helper T cells, antigen-specific GC B cells, and high-affinity class-switched antibody production. There was, in fact, no requirement for coexpression of B7 and CD40 on the same cell in these responses. Our findings support a substantially revised model for co-stimulatory function in the primary GC response, with crucial and distinct contributions of B7- and CD40-dependent pathways expressed by different APC populations and with important implications for understanding how to optimize vaccine responses or limit autoimmunity. This is a work of the U.S. Government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States. Foreign copyrights may apply.

Disparate Proteome Responses of Pathogenic and Non-pathogenic Aspergilli to Human Serum Measured by Activity-Based Protein Profiling (ABPP)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wiedner, Susan D.; Ansong, Charles; Webb-Robertson, Bobbie-Jo M.

2013-07-01

Aspergillus fumigatus is the primary pathogen causing the devastating pulmonary disease Invasive Aspergillosis in immunocompromised individuals. Genomic analysis shows high synteny between A. fumigatus and closely related rarely pathogenic Neosartorya fischeri and Aspergillus clavatus genomes. To investigate the presence of unique or highly inducible protein reactivity in the pathogen, we applied activity-based protein profiling to compare protein reactivity of all three fungi over time in minimal media growth and in response to human serum. We found 350 probe-reactive proteins exclusive to A. fumigatus, including known virulence associated proteins, and 13 proteins associated with stress response exclusive to A. fumigatus culturemore » in serum. Though the fungi are highly orthologous, A. fumigatus has significantly more activity across varied biological process. Only 50% of expected orthologs of measured A. fumigatus reactive proteins were observed in N. fischeri and A. clavatus. Human serum induced processes uniquely or significantly represented in A. fumigatus include actin organization and assembly, transport, and fatty acid, cell membrane, and cell wall synthesis. Additionally, signaling proteins regulating vegetative growth, conidiation, and cell wall integrity, required for appropriate cellular response to external stimuli, had higher reactivity over time in A. fumigatus and N. fisheri, but not in A. clavatus. Together, we show that measured proteins and physiological processes identified solely or significantly over-represented in A. fumigatus reveal a unique adaptive response to human protein not found in closely related, but rarely aspergilli. These unique protein reactivity responses may reveal how A. fumigatus initiates pulmonary invasion leading to Invasive Aspergillosis.« less

Simulation-based analysis of performance parameters of microstrip antennas with criss-cross metamaterial-based artificial substrate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Inamdar, Kirti; Kosta, Y. P.; Patnaik, S.

2014-10-01

In this paper, we present the design of a metamaterial-based microstrip patch antenna, optimized for bandwidth and multiple frequency operations. A criss-cross structure has been proposed, this shape has been inspired from the famous Jerusalem cross. The theory and design formulas to calculate various parameters of the proposed antenna have been presented. Design starts with the analysis of the proposed unit cell structure, and validating the response using software- HFSS Version 13, to obtain negative response of ε and μ- metamaterial. Following this, a metamaterial-based-microstrip-patch-antenna is designed. A detailed comparative study is conducted exploring the response of the designed patch made of metamaterial and that of the conventional patch. Finally, antenna parameters such as gain, bandwidth, radiation pattern, and multiple frequency responses are investigated and optimised for the same and present in table and response graphs. It is also observed that the physical dimension of the metamaterial-based patch antenna is smaller compared to its conventional counterpart operating at the same fundamental frequency. The challenging part was to develop metamaterial based on some signature structures and techniques that would offer advantage in terms of BW and multiple frequency operation, which is demonstrated in this paper. The unique shape proposed in this paper gives improvement in bandwidth without reducing the gain of the antenna.

Neural correlates of nature stimuli: an FMRI study.

PubMed

Pati, Debajyoti; O'Boyle, Michael; Amor, Cherif; Hou, Jiancheng; Valipoor, Shabboo; Fang, Dan

2014-01-01

Examine whether there are unique patterns of brain activation associated with exposure to photographic sky compositions (representing nature stimuli) as compared with other positive, negative, and neutral images. The positive impact of nature images on health outcomes traditionally has been measured using behavioral and physiological indicators. However, there is a lack of understanding of the underlying neural mechanism that explains this positive influence. A combination of behavioral responses and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology was used to address research questions. Ten participants belonging to five age groups were subjected to short (25 seconds) exposures of 32 images while their brain activation was monitored via the BOLD response. In a separate run, participants were subjected to extended exposures (12 minutes) of a sky composition and an image of a traditional ceiling. The results show that the activation patterns produced by sky compositions and positive images were quite similar as compared to negative or neutral images. However, sky compositions also produced some unique areas of activation, including those associated with spatial cognition, the expanse of space, circadian rhythm, and perceived motion. In the extended exposure condition, sky compositions tended to activate regions associated with dreaming, while traditional ceiling images activated regions that are related to face processing and potentially visual hallucinations. Nature stimuli, with a combination of vegetation and sky, may produce unique beneficial effects not present in general positive stimuli. Evidence-based design, hospital, healing environments, outcomes, patient-centered care.

A system identification technique based on the random decrement signatures. Part 1: Theory and simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bedewi, Nabih E.; Yang, Jackson C. S.

1987-01-01

Identification of the system parameters of a randomly excited structure may be treated using a variety of statistical techniques. Of all these techniques, the Random Decrement is unique in that it provides the homogeneous component of the system response. Using this quality, a system identification technique was developed based on a least-squares fit of the signatures to estimate the mass, damping, and stiffness matrices of a linear randomly excited system. The mathematics of the technique is presented in addition to the results of computer simulations conducted to demonstrate the prediction of the response of the system and the random forcing function initially introduced to excite the system.

The social worker as moral citizen: ethics in action.

PubMed

Manning, S S

1997-05-01

Social workers today face some of the most complex ethical dilemmas in the history of the profession. This article presents a framework of moral citizenship to guide ethical social work practice. The framework includes the action philosophies of philosopher Hannah Arendt and Lutheran theologian Paul Tillich integrated with concepts of professional responsibility and the unique contributions of social work pioneer Charlotte Towle. Social conscience and social consciousness, including awareness, thinking, feeling, and action, are major components of the framework.

Clinical implications of The Red Book.

PubMed

Culliford, Penny

2012-09-01

This presentation stresses the uniqueness of both the therapist's and patient's personal experience in clinical work and relates this to the significance of The Red Book as Jung's personal odyssey and for me personally as an analyst. I consider The Red Book's enduring relevance alongside recent psychological theories, neuroscience and early mystical writings, and conclude with a clinical vignette of a patient's response to a piece of choral music and subsequent use of active imagination. © 2012, The Society of Analytical Psychology.

The toxins of Cyanobacteria.

PubMed

Patocka, J

2001-01-01

Cyanobacteria, formerly called "blue-green algae", are simple, primitive photosynthetic microorganism wide occurrence in fresh, brackish and salt waters. Forty different genera of Cyanobacteria are known and many of them are producers of potent toxins responsible for a wide array of human illnesses, aquatic mammal and bird morbidity and mortality, and extensive fish kills. These cyanotoxins act as neurotoxins or hepatotoxins and are structurally and functionally diverse, and many are derived from unique biosynthetic pathways. All known cyanotoxins and their chemical and toxicological characteristics are presented in this article.

Management of chemical dependence in pregnancy.

PubMed

Christensen, Carl

2008-06-01

Although the percentage of pregnant patients who use illicit drugs is relatively low, the effects can be devastating on both mother and fetus-loss of custody, growth restriction, placental abruption, and death. The practicing obstetrician may be unfamiliar with the various presentations of chemical dependency in pregnancy, including intoxication and withdrawal, and difficulty in making the diagnosis. The obstetrician is in the unique situation of being responsible for the safety of both mother and fetus, which may involve engaging the unwilling patient in treatment.

Another weapon too far: the anti-personnel laser.

PubMed

Gillow, J T

1995-06-01

The last decade has seen the development of military lasers designed to blind. Medical professionals dedicated to the prevention and treatment of visual disability, and particularly ophthalmologists under the terms of their newly acquired Royal Charter, have a responsibility to: document this new technology; explain its medical effects; and influence the threshold at which these weapons might be used. Proposals to prohibit anti-eye laser warfare at The United Nations Convention Conference in September 1995 present a unique opportunity to stigmatize blinding as a method of warfare.

Thrills, chills, frissons, and skin orgasms: toward an integrative model of transcendent psychophysiological experiences in music

PubMed Central

Harrison, Luke; Loui, Psyche

2014-01-01

Music has a unique power to elicit moments of intense emotional and psychophysiological response. These moments – termed “chills,” “thrills”, “frissons,” etc. – are subjects of introspection and philosophical debate, as well as scientific study in music perception and cognition. The present article integrates the existing multidisciplinary literature in an attempt to define a comprehensive, testable, and ecologically valid model of transcendent psychophysiological moments in music. PMID:25101043

Ontogeny and function of murine epidermal Langerhans cells.

PubMed

Kaplan, Daniel H

2017-09-19

Langerhans cells (LCs) are epidermis-resident antigen-presenting cells that share a common ontogeny with macrophages but function as dendritic cells (DCs). Their development, recruitment and retention in the epidermis is orchestrated by interactions with keratinocytes through multiple mechanisms. LC and dermal DC subsets often show functional redundancy, but LCs are required for specific types of adaptive immune responses when antigen is concentrated in the epidermis. This Review will focus on those developmental and functional properties that are unique to LCs.

Initial flight qualification and operational maintenance of X-29A flight software

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Earls, Michael R.; Sitz, Joel R.

1989-01-01

A discussion is presented of some significant aspects of the initial flight qualification and operational maintenance of the flight control system softward for the X-29A technology demonstrator. Flight qualification and maintenance of complex, embedded flight control system software poses unique problems. The X-29A technology demonstrator aircraft has a digital flight control system which incorporates functions generally considered too complex for analog systems. Organizational responsibilities, software assurance issues, tools, and facilities are discussed.

Tracking of Nuclear Production using Indigenous Species: Final LDRD Report

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Alam, Todd Michael; Alam, Mary Kathleen; McIntyre, Sarah K.

Our LDRD research project sought to develop an analytical method for detection of chemicals used in nuclear materials processing. Our approach is distinctly different than current research involving hardware-based sensors. By utilizing the response of indigenous species of plants and/or animals surrounding (or within) a nuclear processing facility, we propose tracking 'suspicious molecules' relevant to nuclear materials processing. As proof of concept, we have examined TBP, tributylphosphate, used in uranium enrichment as well as plutonium extraction from spent nuclear fuels. We will compare TBP to the TPP (triphenylphosphate) analog to determine the uniqueness of the metabonomic response. We show thatmore » there is a unique metabonomic response within our animal model to TBP. The TBP signature can further be delineated from that of TPP. We have also developed unique methods of instrumental transfer for metabonomic data sets.« less

Nurturing Environments for Boys and Men of Color with Trauma Exposure.

PubMed

Graham, Phillip W; Yaros, Anna; Lowe, Ashley; McDaniel, Mark S

2017-06-01

Boys and men of color are exposed to traumatic experiences at significantly higher rates than are other demographic groups. To understand and address the mental and behavioral health effects of trauma, including violent incidents, on this population, we review the literature showing the context for, outcomes of, and potential responses to trauma exposure. We present the existing research about the unique challenges and associated negative outcomes for boys and men of color, as well as identify the gaps in the literature. We present the potential nurturing responses by systems such as schools, law enforcement, and communities to trauma-exposed boys and men of color, and we describe evidence-based programs and practices that directly address trauma. Finally, we argue that, rather than using a deficit model, a model of optimal development can be used to understand how to support and protect boys and men of color through nurturing environments.

Response properties of the pharyngeal branch of the glossopharyngeal nerve for umami taste in mice and rats.

PubMed

Kitagawa, Junichi; Takahashi, Yoshihiro; Matsumoto, Shigeji; Shingai, Tomio

2007-04-24

Many studies have reported the mechanism underlying umami taste. However, there are no investigations of responses to umami stimuli taste originating from chemoreceptors in the pharyngeal region. The pharyngeal branch of the glossopharyngeal nerve (GPN-ph) innervating the pharynx has unique responses to taste stimulation that differs from responses of the chorda tympani nerve and lingual branch of the glossopharyngeal nerve. Water evokes robust response, but NaCl solutions at physiological concentrations do not elicit responses. The present study was designed to examine umami taste (chemosensory) responses in the GPN-ph. Response characteristics to umami taste were compared between mice and rats. In mice, stimulation with compounds eliciting umami taste (0.1M monosodium L-glutamate (MSG), 0.01M inosine monophosphate (IMP) and the mixture of 0.1M MSG+0.01M IMP) evoked higher responses than application of distilled water (DW). However, synergistic response of a mixture of 0.1M MSG+0.01M IMP was not observed. In rats, there is no significant difference between the responses to umami taste (0.1M MSG, 0.01M IMP and the mixture of 0.1M MSG+0.01M IMP) and DW. Monopotassium glutamate (MPG) was used in rats to examine the contribution of the sodium component of MSG on the response. Stimulation with 0.1M MPG evoked a higher response when compared with responses to DW. The present results suggest that umami taste compounds are effective stimuli of the chemoreceptors in the pharynx of both mice and rats.

Chiral plasmonics

PubMed Central

Hentschel, Mario; Schäferling, Martin; Duan, Xiaoyang; Giessen, Harald; Liu, Na

2017-01-01

We present a comprehensive overview of chirality and its optical manifestation in plasmonic nanosystems and nanostructures. We discuss top-down fabricated structures that range from solid metallic nanostructures to groupings of metallic nanoparticles arranged in three dimensions. We also present the large variety of bottom-up synthesized structures. Using DNA, peptides, or other scaffolds, complex nanoparticle arrangements of up to hundreds of individual nanoparticles have been realized. Beyond this static picture, we also give an overview of recent demonstrations of active chiral plasmonic systems, where the chiral optical response can be controlled by an external stimulus. We discuss the prospect of using the unique properties of complex chiral plasmonic systems for enantiomeric sensing schemes. PMID:28560336

Recommendations and Ongoing Efforts within the NASA Data Quality Working Group

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moroni, D. F.; Ramapriyan, H.; Bagwell, R.; Downs, R. R.

2015-12-01

Since its inception in March 2014, the NASA Data Quality Working Group (DQWG) has procured a set of 12 high level recommendations which had been sifted from and aggregated from a prioritized subset of nearly 100 unique recommendations spanning four unique data quality management phases and distributed between two actionable categories. The four data quality management phases as identified by the DQWG are: 1. Capturing (i.e., deriving, collecting and organizing the information), 2. Describing (i.e., documenting and procuring the information for public consumption), 3. Facilitating Discovery (i.e., publishing and providing access to the information), and 4. Enabling Use (i.e., enhancing the utility of the information). Mapping each of our recommendations to one or more of the above management phases is intended to enable improved assessment of cost, feasibility, and relevancy to the entities responsible for implementing such recommendations. The DQWG further defined two distinct actionable categories: 1) Data Systems and 2) Science. The purpose of these actionable categories is to define specifically who is responsible for the implementation and adherence toward these recommendations; we refer to the responsible entities as the "actionees". Here we will summarize each of the high level recommendations along with their corresponding management phases and actionees. We will present what has recently been identified as our set of "low-hanging fruit" recommendations, which are intended for near-term implementation. Finally, we will present the status and motivation for continuing and future planned activities, which include but are not limited to: engaging inter-agency and international communities, more direct feedback from Earth observation missions, and mapping of "low-hanging fruit" recommendations to existing solutions.

Differential RNA regulation by staphylococcal enterotoxins A and B in murine macrophages

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chapes, S. K.; Beharka, A. A.; Hart, M. E.; Smeltzer, M. S.; Iandolo, J. J.; Spooner, B. S. (Principal Investigator)

1994-01-01

Staphylococcal enterotoxin A (SEA) is significantly better than enterotoxin B (SEB) in activating tumor necrosis factor (TNF) secretion by B6MP102 cells. Both toxins bound to B6MP102 cells; however, SEB competed less effectively with SEA than SEA competed with SEB. This suggested that receptors unique to SEA were present on B6MP102 cells. Signal transduction occurred in response to both toxins. Within 30 s after addition, SEA and SEB significantly increased the F-actin concentration in B6MP102 cells. However, only SEA induced increased TNF mRNA levels. B6MP102 cells incubated with interferon-gamma and SEB secreted TNF. However, enhanced mRNA expression was delayed and the concentration of TNF secreted was less than that of B6MP102 cells stimulated with SEA. Although these data suggest that receptors unique to SEA are present on B6MP102 cells, they also indicate that staphylococcal enterotoxins differentially regulate TNF at the RNA level, perhaps because of differences in binding to the plasma membrane.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sattison, M.B.

The Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) over the three years has created 75 plant-specific Accident Sequence Precursor (ASP) models using the SAPHIRE suite of PRA codes. Along with the new models, the INEL has also developed a new module for SAPHIRE which is tailored specifically to the unique needs of ASP evaluations. These models and software will be the next generation of risk tools for the evaluation of accident precursors by both the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission`s (NRC`s) Office of Nuclear Reactor Regulation (NRR) and the Office for Analysis and Evaluation of Operational Data (AEOD). This paper presents an overviewmore » of the models and software. Key characteristics include: (1) classification of the plant models according to plant response with a unique set of event trees for each plant class, (2) plant-specific fault trees using supercomponents, (3) generation and retention of all system and sequence cutsets, (4) full flexibility in modifying logic, regenerating cutsets, and requantifying results, and (5) user interface for streamlined evaluation of ASP events. Future plans for the ASP models is also presented.« less

Unique pathway of expression of an opal suppressor phosphoserine tRNA.

PubMed Central

Lee, B J; de la Peña, P; Tobian, J A; Zasloff, M; Hatfield, D

1987-01-01

An opal suppressor phosphoserine tRNA gene is present in single copy in the genomes of higher vertebrates. We have shown that the product of this gene functions as a suppressor in an in vitro assay, and we have proposed that it may donate a modified amino acid directly to protein in response to specific UGA codons. In this report, we show through in vitro and in vivo studies that the human and Xenopus opal suppressor phosphoserine tRNAs are synthesized by a pathway that is, to the best of our knowledge, unlike that of any known eukaryotic tRNA. The primary transcript of this gene does not contain a 5'-leader sequence; and, therefore, transcription of this suppressor is initiated at the first nucleotide within the coding sequence. The 5'-terminal triphosphate, present on the primary transcript, remains intact through 3'-terminal maturation and through subsequent transport of the tRNA to the cytoplasm. The unique biosynthetic pathway of this opal suppressor may underlie its distinctive role in eukaryotic cells. Images PMID:3114749

Cortisol and Anti-social Behavior in Early Adolescence: The Role of Gender in an Economically Disadvantaged Sample

PubMed Central

Kobak, Roger; Zajac, Kristyn; Levine, Seymour

2014-01-01

This study examines the relation between adolescents’ anti-social behaviors and adrenocortical activity during a laboratory visit in a sample of economically disadvantaged families (N = 116, ages 12 – 14, 51% female). Pre-task cortisol levels indexed adolescents’ pre-challenge response to the lab visit, while adolescents’ response to a conflict discussion with their caregivers was indexed with residualized change in pre- to post- conflict cortisol levels. A trait measure of anti-social behavior (derived from parent, teacher, and self-reports) was associated with lower pre-task cortisol levels but greater cortisol response to the conflict discussion. Gender moderated anti-social adolescents’ cortisol response to the conflict discussion with girls who reported more covert risky problem behaviors showing an increased cortisol response. The findings suggest that, while anti-social adolescents had lower pre-task cortisol levels, conflict discussions with caregivers present a unique challenge to anti-social girls compared with anti-social boys. PMID:19338699

Further validation of the MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF Response Bias Scale: findings from disability and criminal forensic settings.

PubMed

Wygant, Dustin B; Sellbom, Martin; Gervais, Roger O; Ben-Porath, Yossef S; Stafford, Kathleen P; Freeman, David B; Heilbronner, Robert L

2010-12-01

The present study extends the validation of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) Response Bias Scale (RBS; R. O. Gervais, Y. S. Ben-Porath, D. B. Wygant, & P. Green, 2007) in separate forensic samples composed of disability claimants and criminal defendants. Using cognitive symptom validity tests as response bias indicators, the RBS exhibited large effect sizes (Cohen's ds = 1.24 and 1.48) in detecting cognitive response bias in the disability and criminal forensic samples, respectively. The scale also added incremental prediction to the traditional MMPI-2 and the MMPI-2-RF overreporting validity scales in the disability sample and exhibited excellent specificity with acceptable sensitivity at cutoffs ranging from 90T to 120T. The results of this study indicate that the RBS can add uniquely to the existing MMPI-2 and MMPI-2-RF validity scales in detecting symptom exaggeration associated with cognitive response bias.

Wavelength interrogation of fiber Bragg grating sensors based on crossed optical Gaussian filters.

PubMed

Cheng, Rui; Xia, Li; Zhou, Jiaao; Liu, Deming

2015-04-15

Conventional intensity-modulated measurements require to be operated in linear range of filter or interferometric response to ensure a linear detection. Here, we present a wavelength interrogation system for fiber Bragg grating sensors where the linear transition is achieved with crossed Gaussian transmissions. This unique filtering characteristic makes the responses of the two branch detections follow Gaussian functions with the same parameters except for a delay. The substraction of these two delayed Gaussian responses (in dB) ultimately leads to a linear behavior, which is exploited for the sensor wavelength determination. Beside its flexibility and inherently power insensitivity, the proposal also shows a potential of a much wider operational range. Interrogation of a strain-tuned grating was accomplished, with a wide sensitivity tuning range from 2.56 to 8.7 dB/nm achieved.

Karrikins Identified in Biochars Indicate Post-Fire Chemical Cues Can Influence Community Diversity and Plant Development

PubMed Central

Kochanek, Jitka; Flematti, Gavin R.

2016-01-01

Background Karrikins are smoke-derived compounds that provide strong chemical cues to stimulate seed germination and seedling growth. The recent discovery in Arabidopsis that the karrikin perception system may be present throughout angiosperms implies a fundamental plant function. Here, we identify the most potent karrikin, karrikinolide (KAR1), in biochars and determine its role in species unique plant responses. Methods Biochars were prepared by three distinct commercial-scale pyrolysis technologies using systematically selected source material and their chemical properties, including karrikinolide, were quantified. Dose-response assays determined the effects of biochar on seed germination for two model species that require karrikinolide to break dormancy (Solanum orbiculatum, Brassica tourneforttii) and on seedling growth using two species that display plasticity to karrikins, biochar and phytotoxins (Lactuca sativa, Lycopersicon esculentum). Multivariate analysis examined relationships between biochar properties and the plant phenotype. Findings and Conclusions Results showed that karrikin abundant biochars stimulated dormant seed germination and seedling growth via mechanisms analogous to post-fire chemical cues. The individual species response was associated with its sensitivity to karrikinolide and inhibitory compounds within the biochars. These findings are critical for understanding why biochar influences community composition and plant physiology uniquely for different species and reaffirms that future pyrolysis technologies promise by-products that concomitantly sequester carbon and enhance plant growth for ecological and broader plant related applications. PMID:27536995

Karrikins Identified in Biochars Indicate Post-Fire Chemical Cues Can Influence Community Diversity and Plant Development.

PubMed

Kochanek, Jitka; Long, Rowena L; Lisle, Allan T; Flematti, Gavin R

2016-01-01

Karrikins are smoke-derived compounds that provide strong chemical cues to stimulate seed germination and seedling growth. The recent discovery in Arabidopsis that the karrikin perception system may be present throughout angiosperms implies a fundamental plant function. Here, we identify the most potent karrikin, karrikinolide (KAR1), in biochars and determine its role in species unique plant responses. Biochars were prepared by three distinct commercial-scale pyrolysis technologies using systematically selected source material and their chemical properties, including karrikinolide, were quantified. Dose-response assays determined the effects of biochar on seed germination for two model species that require karrikinolide to break dormancy (Solanum orbiculatum, Brassica tourneforttii) and on seedling growth using two species that display plasticity to karrikins, biochar and phytotoxins (Lactuca sativa, Lycopersicon esculentum). Multivariate analysis examined relationships between biochar properties and the plant phenotype. Results showed that karrikin abundant biochars stimulated dormant seed germination and seedling growth via mechanisms analogous to post-fire chemical cues. The individual species response was associated with its sensitivity to karrikinolide and inhibitory compounds within the biochars. These findings are critical for understanding why biochar influences community composition and plant physiology uniquely for different species and reaffirms that future pyrolysis technologies promise by-products that concomitantly sequester carbon and enhance plant growth for ecological and broader plant related applications.

Crystal structure of Toll-like receptor adaptor MAL/TIRAP reveals the molecular basis for signal transduction and disease protection

PubMed Central

Valkov, Eugene; Stamp, Anna; DiMaio, Frank; Baker, David; Verstak, Brett; Roversi, Pietro; Kellie, Stuart; Sweet, Matthew J.; Mansell, Ashley; Gay, Nicholas J.; Martin, Jennifer L.; Kobe, Bostjan

2011-01-01

Initiation of the innate immune response requires agonist recognition by pathogen-recognition receptors such as the Toll-like receptors (TLRs). Toll/interleukin-1 receptor (TIR) domain-containing adaptors are critical in orchestrating the signal transduction pathways after TLR and interleukin-1 receptor activation. Myeloid differentiation primary response gene 88 (MyD88) adaptor-like (MAL)/TIR domain-containing adaptor protein (TIRAP) is involved in bridging MyD88 to TLR2 and TLR4 in response to bacterial infection. Genetic studies have associated a number of unique single-nucleotide polymorphisms in MAL with protection against invasive microbial infection, but a molecular understanding has been hampered by a lack of structural information. The present study describes the crystal structure of MAL TIR domain. Significant structural differences exist in the overall fold of MAL compared with other TIR domain structures: A sequence motif comprising a β-strand in other TIR domains instead corresponds to a long loop, placing the functionally important “BB loop” proline motif in a unique surface position in MAL. The structure suggests possible dimerization and MyD88-interacting interfaces, and we confirm the key interface residues by coimmunoprecipitation using site-directed mutants. Jointly, our results provide a molecular and structural basis for the role of MAL in TLR signaling and disease protection. PMID:21873236

Dynamical Effects in Metal-Organic Frameworks: The Microporous Materials as Shock Absorbers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banlusan, Kiettipong; Strachan, Alejandro

2017-06-01

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of nano-porous crystalline solids consisting of inorganic units coordinated to organic linkers. The unique molecular structures and outstanding properties with ultra-high porosity and tunable chemical functionality by various choices of metal clusters and organic ligands make this class of materials attractive for many applications. The complex and quite unique responses of these materials to mechanical loading including void collapse make them attractive for applications in energy absorption and storage. We will present using large-scale molecular dynamics simulations to investigate shock propagation in zeolitic imidazolate framework ZIF-8 and MOF-5. We find that for shock strengths above a threshold a two-wave structure develops with a leading elastic precursor followed by a second wave of structural collapse to relax the stress. Structural transition of MOFs in response to shock waves corresponds to the transition between two Hugoniot curves, and results in abrupt change in temperature. The pore-collapse wave propagates at slower velocity than the leading wave and weakens it, resulting in shock attenuation. Increasing piston speed results in faster propagation of pore-collapse wave, but the leading elastic wave remains unchanged below the overdriven regime. We discuss how the molecular structure of the MOFs and shock propagation direction affect the response of the materials and their ability to weaken shocks. Office of Naval Research, MURI 2012 02341 01.

TCRmodel: high resolution modeling of T cell receptors from sequence.

PubMed

Gowthaman, Ragul; Pierce, Brian G

2018-05-22

T cell receptors (TCRs), along with antibodies, are responsible for specific antigen recognition in the adaptive immune response, and millions of unique TCRs are estimated to be present in each individual. Understanding the structural basis of TCR targeting has implications in vaccine design, autoimmunity, as well as T cell therapies for cancer. Given advances in deep sequencing leading to immune repertoire-level TCR sequence data, fast and accurate modeling methods are needed to elucidate shared and unique 3D structural features of these molecules which lead to their antigen targeting and cross-reactivity. We developed a new algorithm in the program Rosetta to model TCRs from sequence, and implemented this functionality in a web server, TCRmodel. This web server provides an easy to use interface, and models are generated quickly that users can investigate in the browser and download. Benchmarking of this method using a set of nonredundant recently released TCR crystal structures shows that models are accurate and compare favorably to models from another available modeling method. This server enables the community to obtain insights into TCRs of interest, and can be combined with methods to model and design TCR recognition of antigens. The TCRmodel server is available at: http://tcrmodel.ibbr.umd.edu/.

A cellulosic responsive "living" membrane.

PubMed

Qin, Guokui; Panilaitis, Bruce J; Kaplan, Zhongyuan Sun David L

2014-01-16

Bacterial cellulose has been demonstrated to be a remarkably versatile biomaterial and widely used in biomedical applications due to its unique physical properties. Here we reported for the first time a "living membrane" system based on recombinant Escherichia coli bacterial strains entrapped in cellulosic membranes produced by Gluconacetobacter xylinus. Biologically driven detection and identification of a range of target molecules presents unique challenges, and requires that detection methods are developed to be rapid, specific and sensitive. The compatibility of G. xylinus and recombinant E. coli strains was first investigated for co-cultivation, and the relationship between the number of entrapped E. coli and the level of inducible signal achieved was further explored by fluorescent signal observation in confocal microscopy. Finally to amplify the response to inducers for maximum fluorescent signal, a positive-feedback genetic amplifier was designed within recombinant E. coli strain entrapped in the living cellulosic membrane system, allowing for the detection mechanism to be extremely sensitive and resulting in a significant fluorescent signal from a single receptor binding event. The living membrane system proposed here will create devices of greater complexity in function for applications in biological and chemical detection. Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Specificity and detail in autobiographical memory: Same or different constructs?

PubMed

Kyung, Yoonhee; Yanes-Lukin, Paula; Roberts, John E

2016-01-01

Research on autobiographical memory has focused on whether memories are coded as specific (i.e., describe a single event that happened at a particular time and place). Although some theory and research suggests that the amount of detail in autobiographical memories reflects a similar underlying construct as memory specificity, past research has not investigated whether these variables converge. Therefore, the present study compared the proportion of specific memories and the amount of detail embedded in memory responses to cue words. Results demonstrated that memory detail and proportion of specific memories were not correlated with each other and showed different patterns of association with other conceptually relevant variables. When responses to neutral cue words were examined in multiple linear and logistic regression analyses, the proportion of specific memories uniquely predicted less depressive symptoms, low emotional avoidance, lower emotion reactivity, better executive control and lower rumination, whereas the amount of memory detail uniquely predicted the presence of depression diagnosis, as well as greater depressive symptoms, subjective stress, emotion reactivity and rumination. Findings suggest that the ability to retrieve specific memories and the tendency to retrieve detailed personal memories reflect different constructs that have different implications in the development of emotional distress.

CHD2 variants are a risk factor for photosensitivity in epilepsy

PubMed Central

Myers, Candace T.; Leu, Costin; de Kovel, Carolien G. F.; Afrikanova, Tatiana; Cordero-Maldonado, Maria Lorena; Martins, Teresa G.; Jacmin, Maxime; Drury, Suzanne; Krishna Chinthapalli, V.; Muhle, Hiltrud; Pendziwiat, Manuela; Sander, Thomas; Ruppert, Ann-Kathrin; Møller, Rikke S.; Thiele, Holger; Krause, Roland; Schubert, Julian; Lehesjoki, Anna-Elina; Nürnberg, Peter; Lerche, Holger; Palotie, Aarno; Coppola, Antonietta; Striano, Salvatore; Gaudio, Luigi Del; Boustred, Christopher; Schneider, Amy L.; Lench, Nicholas; Jocic-Jakubi, Bosanka; Covanis, Athanasios; Capovilla, Giuseppe; Veggiotti, Pierangelo; Piccioli, Marta; Parisi, Pasquale; Cantonetti, Laura; Sadleir, Lynette G.; Mullen, Saul A.; Berkovic, Samuel F.; Stephani, Ulrich; Helbig, Ingo; Crawford, Alexander D.; Esguerra, Camila V.; Kasteleijn-Nolst Trenité, Dorothee G. A.

2015-01-01

Photosensitivity is a heritable abnormal cortical response to flickering light, manifesting as particular electroencephalographic changes, with or without seizures. Photosensitivity is prominent in a very rare epileptic encephalopathy due to de novo CHD2 mutations, but is also seen in epileptic encephalopathies due to other gene mutations. We determined whether CHD2 variation underlies photosensitivity in common epilepsies, specific photosensitive epilepsies and individuals with photosensitivity without seizures. We studied 580 individuals with epilepsy and either photosensitive seizures or abnormal photoparoxysmal response on electroencephalography, or both, and 55 individuals with photoparoxysmal response but no seizures. We compared CHD2 sequence data to publicly available data from 34 427 individuals, not enriched for epilepsy. We investigated the role of unique variants seen only once in the entire data set. We sought CHD2 variants in 238 exomes from familial genetic generalized epilepsies, and in other public exome data sets. We identified 11 unique variants in the 580 individuals with photosensitive epilepsies and 128 unique variants in the 34 427 controls: unique CHD2 variation is over-represented in cases overall (P = 2·17 × 10−5). Among epilepsy syndromes, there was over-representation of unique CHD2 variants (3/36 cases) in the archetypal photosensitive epilepsy syndrome, eyelid myoclonia with absences (P = 3·50 × 10−4). CHD2 variation was not over-represented in photoparoxysmal response without seizures. Zebrafish larvae with chd2 knockdown were tested for photosensitivity. Chd2 knockdown markedly enhanced mild innate zebrafish larval photosensitivity. CHD2 mutation is the first identified cause of the archetypal generalized photosensitive epilepsy syndrome, eyelid myoclonia with absences. Unique CHD2 variants are also associated with photosensitivity in common epilepsies. CHD2 does not encode an ion channel, opening new avenues for research into human cortical excitability. PMID:25783594

Coexistence of translocation(1,19) and the Philadelphia chromosome in a child's first presentation of chronic myeloid leukemia in blast crisis treated with dasatinib.

PubMed

Eckardt, Mark A; Chang, Vivian Y; Rao, Nagesh P; Federman, Noah

2011-11-01

Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) constitutes less than 5% of childhood leukemias. The authors describe a rare case of a 14-year-old boy who presented with CML in blast crisis. Unique to this patient was the evidence of both breakpoint cluster region-c-abl oncogene 1 (BCR-ABL1) fusions as well as an additional unbalanced t(1;19) translocation. This combination has not previously been reported in the same patient. Initial treatment with dasatinib achieved a complete cytogenetic response within 2 months of therapy. This case highlights the heterogeneous presentation of CML in children and rationale for use of dasatinib as a first-line agent for patients with blast crisis.

The Dawning of the Ethics of Environmental Robots.

PubMed

van Wynsberghe, Aimee; Donhauser, Justin

2017-10-23

Environmental scientists and engineers have been exploring research and monitoring applications of robotics, as well as exploring ways of integrating robotics into ecosystems to aid in responses to accelerating environmental, climatic, and biodiversity changes. These emerging applications of robots and other autonomous technologies present novel ethical and practical challenges. Yet, the critical applications of robots for environmental research, engineering, protection and remediation have received next to no attention in the ethics of robotics literature to date. This paper seeks to fill that void, and promote the study of environmental robotics. It provides key resources for further critical examination of the issues environmental robots present by explaining and differentiating the sorts of environmental robotics that exist to date and identifying unique conceptual, ethical, and practical issues they present.

Psychological Distress and Emotional Expression on Facebook.

PubMed

Bazarova, Natalya N; Choi, Yoon Hyung; Whitlock, Janis; Cosley, Dan; Sosik, Victoria

2017-03-01

Social network sites (SNS) are a novel social environment for college students with psychological distress to connect with their peers, but the nature and effects of these interactions are not well understood. This study reports findings from a Facebook study among 238 college students reporting nonspecific psychological distress using the K-6 scale. Behavioral data included Facebook status updates containing affect words written by participants within the past 60 days and the number of responses (comments and likes) each update received. The updates were also coded for depression symptoms. Self-report data included participants' self-presentational concerns, the affective valence of each post, effects of responses on mood, and satisfaction with the responses to and outcome of each status update. Higher psychological distress was associated with displaying depression language on Facebook, with higher self-presentational concerns, and with less satisfaction with audiences' responses and less overall satisfaction with the outcome of the interaction. These results offer a unique glimpse into the social world of college students with psychological distress through their everyday use of Facebook, and how the interplay of this novel environment and students' mental health impacts their social behaviors and interaction meaning-making on Facebook.

Unique signatures of long noncoding RNA expression in response to virus infection and altered innate immune signaling.

PubMed

Peng, Xinxia; Gralinski, Lisa; Armour, Christopher D; Ferris, Martin T; Thomas, Matthew J; Proll, Sean; Bradel-Tretheway, Birgit G; Korth, Marcus J; Castle, John C; Biery, Matthew C; Bouzek, Heather K; Haynor, David R; Frieman, Matthew B; Heise, Mark; Raymond, Christopher K; Baric, Ralph S; Katze, Michael G

2010-10-26

Studies of the host response to virus infection typically focus on protein-coding genes. However, non-protein-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are transcribed in mammalian cells, and the roles of many of these ncRNAs remain enigmas. Using next-generation sequencing, we performed a whole-transcriptome analysis of the host response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infection across four founder mouse strains of the Collaborative Cross. We observed differential expression of approximately 500 annotated, long ncRNAs and 1,000 nonannotated genomic regions during infection. Moreover, studies of a subset of these ncRNAs and genomic regions showed the following. (i) Most were similarly regulated in response to influenza virus infection. (ii) They had distinctive kinetic expression profiles in type I interferon receptor and STAT1 knockout mice during SARS-CoV infection, including unique signatures of ncRNA expression associated with lethal infection. (iii) Over 40% were similarly regulated in vitro in response to both influenza virus infection and interferon treatment. These findings represent the first discovery of the widespread differential expression of long ncRNAs in response to virus infection and suggest that ncRNAs are involved in regulating the host response, including innate immunity. At the same time, virus infection models provide a unique platform for studying the biology and regulation of ncRNAs.

Unique Signatures of Long Noncoding RNA Expression in Response to Virus Infection and Altered Innate Immune Signaling

PubMed Central

Peng, Xinxia; Gralinski, Lisa; Armour, Christopher D.; Ferris, Martin T.; Thomas, Matthew J.; Proll, Sean; Bradel-Tretheway, Birgit G.; Korth, Marcus J.; Castle, John C.; Biery, Matthew C.; Bouzek, Heather K.; Haynor, David R.; Frieman, Matthew B.; Heise, Mark; Raymond, Christopher K.; Baric, Ralph S.; Katze, Michael G.

2010-01-01

Studies of the host response to virus infection typically focus on protein-coding genes. However, non-protein-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are transcribed in mammalian cells, and the roles of many of these ncRNAs remain enigmas. Using next-generation sequencing, we performed a whole-transcriptome analysis of the host response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) infection across four founder mouse strains of the Collaborative Cross. We observed differential expression of approximately 500 annotated, long ncRNAs and 1,000 nonannotated genomic regions during infection. Moreover, studies of a subset of these ncRNAs and genomic regions showed the following. (i) Most were similarly regulated in response to influenza virus infection. (ii) They had distinctive kinetic expression profiles in type I interferon receptor and STAT1 knockout mice during SARS-CoV infection, including unique signatures of ncRNA expression associated with lethal infection. (iii) Over 40% were similarly regulated in vitro in response to both influenza virus infection and interferon treatment. These findings represent the first discovery of the widespread differential expression of long ncRNAs in response to virus infection and suggest that ncRNAs are involved in regulating the host response, including innate immunity. At the same time, virus infection models provide a unique platform for studying the biology and regulation of ncRNAs. PMID:20978541

Unique Physiological and Transcriptional Shifts under Combinations of Salinity, Drought, and Heat.

PubMed

Shaar-Moshe, Lidor; Blumwald, Eduardo; Peleg, Zvi

2017-05-01

Climate-change-driven stresses such as extreme temperatures, water deficit, and ion imbalance are projected to exacerbate and jeopardize global food security. Under field conditions, these stresses usually occur simultaneously and cause damages that exceed single stresses. Here, we investigated the transcriptional patterns and morpho-physiological acclimations of Brachypodium dystachion to single salinity, drought, and heat stresses, as well as their double and triple stress combinations. Hierarchical clustering analysis of morpho-physiological acclimations showed that several traits exhibited a gradually aggravating effect as plants were exposed to combined stresses. On the other hand, other morphological traits were dominated by salinity, while some physiological traits were shaped by heat stress. Response patterns of differentially expressed genes, under single and combined stresses (i.e. common stress genes), were maintained only among 37% of the genes, indicating a limited expression consistency among partially overlapping stresses. A comparison between common stress genes and genes that were uniquely expressed only under combined stresses (i.e. combination unique genes) revealed a significant shift from increased intensity to antagonistic responses, respectively. The different transcriptional signatures imply an alteration in the mode of action under combined stresses and limited ability to predict plant responses as different stresses are combined. Coexpression analysis coupled with enrichment analysis revealed that each gene subset was enriched with different biological processes. Common stress genes were enriched with known stress response pathways, while combination unique-genes were enriched with unique processes and genes with unknown functions that hold the potential to improve stress tolerance and enhance cereal productivity under suboptimal field conditions. © 2017 American Society of Plant Biologists. All Rights Reserved.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sattison, M.B.; Schroeder, J.A.; Russell, K.D.

The Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) over the past year has created 75 plant-specific Accident Sequence Precursor (ASP) models using the SAPHIRE suite of PRA codes. Along with the new models, the INEL has also developed a new module for SAPHIRE which is tailored specifically to the unique needs of ASP evaluations. These models and software will be the next generation of risk tools for the evaluation of accident precursors by both NRR and AEOD. This paper presents an overview of the models and software. Key characteristics include: (1) classification of the plant models according to plant response with amore » unique set of event trees for each plant class, (2) plant-specific fault trees using supercomponents, (3) generation and retention of all system and sequence cutsets, (4) full flexibility in modifying logic, regenerating cutsets, and requantifying results, and (5) user interface for streamlined evaluation of ASP events.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sattison, M.B.; Schroeder, J.A.; Russell, K.D.

The Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL) over the past year has created 75 plant-specific Accident Sequence Precursor (ASP) models using the SAPHIRE suite of PRA codes. Along with the new models, the INEL has also developed a new module for SAPHIRE which is tailored specifically to the unique needs of conditional core damage probability (CCDP) evaluations. These models and software will be the next generation of risk tools for the evaluation of accident precursors by both NRR and AEOD. This paper presents an overview of the models and software. Key characteristics include: (1) classification of the plant models according tomore » plant response with a unique set of event trees for each plant class, (2) plant-specific fault trees using supercomponents, (3) generation and retention of all system and sequence cutsets, (4) full flexibility in modifying logic, regenerating cutsets, and requantifying results, and (5) user interface for streamlined evaluation of ASP events.« less

The unique predisposition to criminal violations in frontotemporal dementia.

PubMed

Mendez, Mario F

2010-01-01

Brain disorders can lead to criminal violations. Patients with frontotemporal dementia (FTD) are particularly prone to sociopathic behavior while retaining knowledge of their acts and of moral and conventional rules. This report describes four FTD patients who committed criminal violations in the presence of clear consciousness and sufficiently intact cognition. They understood the nature of their acts and the potential consequences, but did not feel sufficiently concerned to be deterred. FTD involves a unique pathologic combination affecting the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, with altered moral feelings, right anterior temporal loss of emotional empathy, and orbitofrontal changes with disinhibited, compulsive behavior. These case histories and the literature indicate that those with right temporal FTD retain the capacity to tell right from wrong but have the slow and insidious loss of the capacity for moral rationality. Patients with early FTD present a challenge to the criminal justice system to consider alterations in moral cognition before ascribing criminal responsibility.

No one likes a copycat: a cross-cultural investigation of children's response to plagiarism.

PubMed

Yang, F; Shaw, A; Garduno, E; Olson, K R

2014-05-01

Copying other people's ideas is evaluated negatively by American children and adults. The current study investigated the influence of culture on children's evaluations of plagiarism by comparing children from three countries--the United States, Mexico, and China--that differ in terms of their emphasis on the protection of intellectual property and ideas. Children (3- to 6-year-olds) were presented with videos involving two characters drawing pictures and were asked to evaluate the character who drew unique work or the character who copied someone else's drawing. The study showed that 5- and 6-year-olds from all three cultures evaluated copiers negatively compared with unique drawers. These results suggest that children from cultures that place different values on the protection of ideas nevertheless develop similar concerns with plagiarism by 5-year-olds. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Monitoring and guidance of HIFU beams with dual-mode ultrasound arrays.

PubMed

Ballard, John R; Casper, Andrew J; Ebbini, Emad S

2009-01-01

We present experimental results illustrating the unique advantages of dual-mode array (DMUA) systems in monitoring and guidance of high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) lesion formation. DMUAs offer a unique paradigm in image-guided surgery; one in which images obtained using the same therapeutic transducer provide feedback for: 1) refocusing the array in the presence of strongly scattering objects, e.g. the ribs, 2) temperature change at the intended location of the HIFU focus, and 3) changes in the echogenicity of the tissue in response to therapeutic HIFU. These forms of feedback have been demonstrated in vitro in preparation for the design and implementation of a real-time system for imaging and therapy with DMUAs. The results clearly demonstrate that DMUA image feedback is spatially accurate and provide sufficient spatial and contrast resolution for identification of high contrast objects like the ribs and significant blood vessels in the path of the HIFU beam.

General Matrix Inversion Technique for the Calibration of Electric Field Sensor Arrays on Aircraft Platforms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mach, D. M.; Koshak, W. J.

2007-01-01

A matrix calibration procedure has been developed that uniquely relates the electric fields measured at the aircraft with the external vector electric field and net aircraft charge. The calibration method can be generalized to any reasonable combination of electric field measurements and aircraft. A calibration matrix is determined for each aircraft that represents the individual instrument responses to the external electric field. The aircraft geometry and configuration of field mills (FMs) uniquely define the matrix. The matrix can then be inverted to determine the external electric field and net aircraft charge from the FM outputs. A distinct advantage of the method is that if one or more FMs need to be eliminated or deemphasized [e.g., due to a malfunction), it is a simple matter to reinvert the matrix without the malfunctioning FMs. To demonstrate the calibration technique, data are presented from several aircraft programs (ER-2, DC-8, Altus, and Citation).

Optical Response of Warm Dense Matter Using Real-Time Electron Dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Baczewski, Andrew; Shulenburger, Luke; Desjarlais, Michael; Magyar, Rudolph

2014-03-01

The extreme temperatures and solid-like densities in warm dense matter present a unique challenge for theory, wherein neither conventional models from condensed matter nor plasma physics capture all of the relevant phenomenology. While Kubo-Greenwood DFT calculations have proven capable of reproducing optical properties of WDM, they require a significant number of virtual orbitals to reach convergence due to their perturbative nature. Real-time TDDFT presents a complementary framework with a number of computationally favorable properties, including reduced cost complexity and better scalability, and has been used to reproduce the optical response of finite and ordered extended systems. We will describe the use of Ehrenfest-TDDFT to evolve coupled electron-nuclear dynamics in WDM systems, and the subsequent evaluation of optical response functions from the real-time electron dynamics. The advantages and disadvantages of this approach will be discussed relative to the current state-of-the-art. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.

Public health preparedness of health providers: meeting the needs of diverse, rural communities.

PubMed

Hsu, Chiehwen Ed; Mas, Francisco Soto; Jacobson, Holly E; Harris, Ann Marie; Hunt, Victoria I; Nkhoma, Ella T

2006-11-01

Meeting the needs of public health emergency and response presents a unique challenge for health practitioners with primary responsibilities for rural communities that are often very diverse. The present study assessed the language capabilities, confidence and training needs of Texas rural physicians in responding to public health emergencies. In the first half of year 2004, a cross-sectional, semistructured survey questionnaire was administered in northern, rural Texas. The study population consisted of 841 practicing or retired physicians in the targeted area. One-hundred-sixty-six physicians (30%) responded to the survey. The responses were geographically referenced in maps. Respondents reported seeing patients with diverse cultural backgrounds. They communicated in 16 different languages other than English in clinical practice or at home, with 40% speaking Spanish at work. Most were not confident in the diagnosis or treatment of public health emergency cases. Geographic information systems were found useful in identifying those jurisdictions with expressed training and cultural needs. Additional efforts should be extended to involve African-American/Hispanic physicians in preparedness plans for providing culturally and linguistically appropriate care in emergencies.

Nanoparticle-Based Manipulation of Antigen-Presenting Cells for Cancer Immunotherapy.

PubMed

Fang, Ronnie H; Kroll, Ashley V; Zhang, Liangfang

2015-11-04

Immunotherapeutic approaches for treating cancer overall have been receiving a considerable amount of interest due to the recent approval of several clinical formulations. Among the different modalities, anticancer vaccination acts by training the body to endogenously generate a response against tumor cells. However, despite the large amount of work that has gone into the development of such vaccines, the near absence of clinically approved formulations highlights the many challenges facing those working in the field. The generation of potent endogenous anticancer responses poses unique challenges due to the similarity between cancer cells and normal, healthy cells. As researchers continue to tackle the limited efficacy of vaccine formulations, fresh and novel approaches are being sought after to address many of the underlying problems. Here the application of nanoparticle technology towards the development of anticancer vaccines is discussed. Specifically, there is a focus on the benefits of using such strategies to manipulate antigen presenting cells (APCs), which are essential to the vaccination process, and how nanoparticle-based platforms can be rationally engineered to elicit appropriate downstream immune responses. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Gene Expression Profiling of Bronchoalveolar Lavage Cells During Aspergillus Colonization of the Lung Allograft.

PubMed

Weigt, S Samuel; Wang, Xiaoyan; Palchevskiy, Vyacheslav; Patel, Naman; Derhovanessian, Ariss; Shino, Michael Y; Sayah, David M; Lynch, Joseph P; Saggar, Rajan; Ross, David J; Kubak, Bernie M; Ardehali, Abbas; Palmer, Scott; Husain, Shahid; Belperio, John A

2018-06-01

Aspergillus colonization after lung transplant is associated with an increased risk of chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD). We hypothesized that gene expression during Aspergillus colonization could provide clues to CLAD pathogenesis. We examined transcriptional profiles in 3- or 6-month surveillance bronchoalveolar lavage fluid cell pellets from recipients with Aspergillus fumigatus colonization (n = 12) and without colonization (n = 10). Among the Aspergillus colonized, we also explored profiles in those who developed CLAD (n = 6) or remained CLAD-free (n = 6). Transcription profiles were assayed with the HG-U133 Plus 2.0 microarray (Affymetrix). Differential gene expression was based on an absolute fold difference of 2.0 or greater and unadjusted P value less than 0.05. We used NIH Database for Annotation, Visualization and Integrated Discovery for functional analyses, with false discovery rates less than 5% considered significant. Aspergillus colonization was associated with differential expression of 489 probe sets, representing 404 unique genes. "Defense response" genes and genes in the "cytokine-cytokine receptor" Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway were notably enriched in this list. Among Aspergillus colonized patients, CLAD development was associated with differential expression of 69 probe sets, representing 64 unique genes. This list was enriched for genes involved in "immune response" and "response to wounding", among others. Notably, both chitinase 3-like-1 and chitotriosidase were associated with progression to CLAD. Aspergillus colonization is associated with gene expression profiles related to defense responses including cytokine signaling. Epithelial wounding, as well as the innate immune response to chitin that is present in the fungal cell wall, may be key in the link between Aspergillus colonization and CLAD.

Spaceflight Transcriptomes: Unique Responses to a Novel Environment

PubMed Central

Paul, Anna-Lisa; Zupanska, Agata K.; Ostrow, Dejerianne T.; Zhang, Yanping; Sun, Yijun; Li, Jian-Liang; Shanker, Savita; Farmerie, William G.; Amalfitano, Claire E.

2012-01-01

Abstract The spaceflight environment presents unique challenges to terrestrial biology, including but not limited to the direct effects of gravity. As we near the end of the Space Shuttle era, there remain fundamental questions about the response and adaptation of plants to orbital spaceflight conditions. We address a key baseline question of whether gene expression changes are induced by the orbital environment, and then we ask whether undifferentiated cells, cells presumably lacking the typical gravity response mechanisms, perceive spaceflight. Arabidopsis seedlings and undifferentiated cultured Arabidopsis cells were launched in April, 2010, as part of the BRIC-16 flight experiment on STS-131. Biologically replicated DNA microarray and averaged RNA digital transcript profiling revealed several hundred genes in seedlings and cell cultures that were significantly affected by launch and spaceflight. The response was moderate in seedlings; only a few genes were induced by more than 7-fold, and the overall intrinsic expression level for most differentially expressed genes was low. In contrast, cell cultures displayed a more dramatic response, with dozens of genes showing this level of differential expression, a list comprised primarily of heat shock–related and stress-related genes. This baseline transcriptome profiling of seedlings and cultured cells confirms the fundamental hypothesis that survival of the spaceflight environment requires adaptive changes that are both governed and displayed by alterations in gene expression. The comparison of intact plants with cultures of undifferentiated cells confirms a second hypothesis: undifferentiated cells can detect spaceflight in the absence of specialized tissue or organized developmental structures known to detect gravity. Key Words: Tissue culture—Microgravity—Low Earth orbit—Space Shuttle—Microarray. Astrobiology 12, 40–56. PMID:22221117

Relational responsibilities in responsive evaluation.

PubMed

Visse, Merel; Abma, Tineke A; Widdershoven, Guy A M

2012-02-01

This article explores how we can enhance our understanding of the moral responsibilities in daily, plural practices of responsive evaluation. It introduces an interpretive framework for understanding the moral aspects of evaluation practice. The framework supports responsive evaluators to better understand and handle their moral responsibilities. A case is introduced to illustrate our argument. Responsive evaluation contributes to the design and implementation of policy by working with stakeholders and coordinating the evaluation process as a relationally responsible practice. Responsive evaluation entails a democratic process in which the evaluator fosters and enters a partnership with stakeholders. The responsibilities of an evaluator generally involve issues such as 'confidentiality', 'accountability' and 'privacy'. The responsive evaluator has specific responsibilities, for example to include stakeholders and vulnerable groups and to foster an ongoing dialogue. In addition, responsive evaluation involves a relational responsibility, which becomes present in daily situations in which stakeholders express expectations and voice demands. In our everyday work as evaluators, it is difficult to respond to all these demands at the same time. In addition, this article demonstrates that novice evaluators experience challenges concerning over- and underidenfitication with stakeholders. Guidelines and quality criteria on how to act are helpful, but need interpretation and application to the unique situation at hand. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fast-response cup anemometer features cosine response

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frenzen, P.

1968-01-01

Six-cup, low-inertia anemometer combines high resolution and fast response with a unique ability to sense only the horizontal component of the winds fluctuating rapidly in three dimensions. Cup assemblies are fabricated of expanded polystyrene plastic.

Probability and surprisal in auditory comprehension of morphologically complex words.

PubMed

Balling, Laura Winther; Baayen, R Harald

2012-10-01

Two auditory lexical decision experiments document for morphologically complex words two points at which the probability of a target word given the evidence shifts dramatically. The first point is reached when morphologically unrelated competitors are no longer compatible with the evidence. Adapting terminology from Marslen-Wilson (1984), we refer to this as the word's initial uniqueness point (UP1). The second point is the complex uniqueness point (CUP) introduced by Balling and Baayen (2008), at which morphologically related competitors become incompatible with the input. Later initial as well as complex uniqueness points predict longer response latencies. We argue that the effects of these uniqueness points arise due to the large surprisal (Levy, 2008) carried by the phonemes at these uniqueness points, and provide independent evidence that how cumulative surprisal builds up in the course of the word co-determines response latencies. The presence of effects of surprisal, both at the initial uniqueness point of complex words, and cumulatively throughout the word, challenges the Shortlist B model of Norris and McQueen (2008), and suggests that a Bayesian approach to auditory comprehension requires complementation from information theory in order to do justice to the cognitive cost of updating probability distributions over lexical candidates. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Hemorrhage and culture: management in the developing world and cultural implications for nursing care.

PubMed

Penney, D S

1991-01-01

In the industrialized world, technological resources and skilled personnel characterize the response to a hemorrhagic crisis. Such an efficient use of supplied technology stands in stark contrast to the responses toward a similar crisis when encountered in a developing country. In fact, attempting to manage a hemorrhage in a developing country may pose entanglements with economic, political, cultural, environmental, and medical obstacles. The uniqueness of this task and its challenges to the health professional are presented to provide nurses in advanced societies with a basic understanding of principles involved in managing hemorrhage in less-than-ideal circumstances. In addition, cultural care considerations are briefly described as they relate to the nursing role in the developing world.

Decomposed Photo Response Non-Uniformity for Digital Forensic Analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Yue; Li, Chang-Tsun

The last few years have seen the applications of Photo Response Non-Uniformity noise (PRNU) - a unique stochastic fingerprint of image sensors, to various types of digital forensic investigations such as source device identification and integrity verification. In this work we proposed a new way of extracting PRNU noise pattern, called Decomposed PRNU (DPRNU), by exploiting the difference between the physical andartificial color components of the photos taken by digital cameras that use a Color Filter Array for interpolating artificial components from physical ones. Experimental results presented in this work have shown the superiority of the proposed DPRNU to the commonly used version. We also proposed a new performance metrics, Corrected Positive Rate (CPR) to evaluate the performance of the common PRNU and the proposed DPRNU.

Alzheimer's Disease Assessment: A Review and Illustrations Focusing on Item Response Theory Techniques.

PubMed

Balsis, Steve; Choudhury, Tabina K; Geraci, Lisa; Benge, Jared F; Patrick, Christopher J

2018-04-01

Alzheimer's disease (AD) affects neurological, cognitive, and behavioral processes. Thus, to accurately assess this disease, researchers and clinicians need to combine and incorporate data across these domains. This presents not only distinct methodological and statistical challenges but also unique opportunities for the development and advancement of psychometric techniques. In this article, we describe relatively recent research using item response theory (IRT) that has been used to make progress in assessing the disease across its various symptomatic and pathological manifestations. We focus on applications of IRT to improve scoring, test development (including cross-validation and adaptation), and linking and calibration. We conclude by describing potential future multidimensional applications of IRT techniques that may improve the precision with which AD is measured.

A preview of a modular surface light scattering instrument with autotracking optics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Meyer, William V.; Tin, Padetha; Mann, J. Adin, Jr.; Cheung, H. Michael; Rogers, Richard B.; Lading, Lars

1994-01-01

NASA's Advanced Technology Development (ATD) program is sponsoring the development of a new generation of surface light scattering hardware. This instrument is designed to non-invasively measure the surface response function of liquids over a wide range of operating conditions while automatically compensating for a sloshing surface. The surface response function can be used to compute surface tension, properties of monolayers present, viscosity, surface tension gradient and surface temperature. The instrument uses optical and electronic building blocks developed for the laser light scattering program at NASA Lewis along with several unique surface light scattering components. The emphasis of this paper is the compensation for bulk surface motion (slosh). Some data processing background information is also included.

The Environment-Power System Analysis Tool development program. [for spacecraft power supplies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jongeward, Gary A.; Kuharski, Robert A.; Kennedy, Eric M.; Wilcox, Katherine G.; Stevens, N. John; Putnam, Rand M.; Roche, James C.

1989-01-01

The Environment Power System Analysis Tool (EPSAT) is being developed to provide engineers with the ability to assess the effects of a broad range of environmental interactions on space power systems. A unique user-interface-data-dictionary code architecture oversees a collection of existing and future environmental modeling codes (e.g., neutral density) and physical interaction models (e.g., sheath ionization). The user-interface presents the engineer with tables, graphs, and plots which, under supervision of the data dictionary, are automatically updated in response to parameter change. EPSAT thus provides the engineer with a comprehensive and responsive environmental assessment tool and the scientist with a framework into which new environmental or physical models can be easily incorporated.

Emergency Response and Management Activities

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This quarterly report, highlighting accomplishments over the past several months, showcases EPA’s unique emergency response capabilities through the use of cutting-edge technologies and innovative cleanup strategies.

The Auditory Brain-Stem Response to Complex Sounds: A Potential Biomarker for Guiding Treatment of Psychosis

PubMed Central

Tarasenko, Melissa A.; Swerdlow, Neal R.; Makeig, Scott; Braff, David L.; Light, Gregory A.

2014-01-01

Cognitive deficits limit psychosocial functioning in schizophrenia. For many patients, cognitive remediation approaches have yielded encouraging results. Nevertheless, therapeutic response is variable, and outcome studies consistently identify individuals who respond minimally to these interventions. Biomarkers that can assist in identifying patients likely to benefit from particular forms of cognitive remediation are needed. Here, we describe an event-related potential (ERP) biomarker – the auditory brain-stem response (ABR) to complex sounds (cABR) – that appears to be particularly well-suited for predicting response to at least one form of cognitive remediation that targets auditory information processing. Uniquely, the cABR quantifies the fidelity of sound encoded at the level of the brainstem and midbrain. This ERP biomarker has revealed auditory processing abnormalities in various neurodevelopmental disorders, correlates with functioning across several cognitive domains, and appears to be responsive to targeted auditory training. We present preliminary cABR data from 18 schizophrenia patients and propose further investigation of this biomarker for predicting and tracking response to cognitive interventions. PMID:25352811

Androgens trigger different growth responses in genetically identical human hair follicles in organ culture that reflect their epigenetic diversity in life.

PubMed

Miranda, Benjamin H; Charlesworth, Matthew R; Tobin, Desmond J; Sharpe, David T; Randall, Valerie A

2018-02-01

Male sex hormones-androgens-regulate male physique development. Without androgen signaling, genetic males appear female. During puberty, increasing androgens harness the hair follicle's unique regenerative ability to replace many tiny vellus hairs with larger, darker terminal hairs ( e.g., beard). Follicle response is epigenetically varied: some remain unaffected ( e.g., eyelashes) or are inhibited, causing balding. How sex steroid hormones alter such developmental processes is unclear, despite high incidences of hormone-driven cancer, hirsutism, and alopecia. Unfortunately, existing development models are not androgen sensitive. Here, we use hair follicles to establish an androgen-responsive human organ culture model. We show that women's intermediate facial follicles respond to men's higher androgen levels by synthesizing more hair over several days, unlike donor-matched, androgen-insensitive, terminal follicles. We demonstrate that androgen receptors-androgen-activated gene transcription regulators-are required and are present in vivo within these follicles. This is the first human organ that involves multiple cell types that responds appropriately to hormones in prolonged culture, in a way which mirrors its natural behavior. Thus, intermediate hair follicles offer a hormone-switchable human model with exceptional, unique availability of genetically identical, but epigenetically hormone-insensitive, terminal follicles. This should enable advances in understanding sex steroid hormone signaling, gene regulation, and developmental and regenerative systems and facilitate better therapies for hormone-dependent disorders.-Miranda, B. H., Charlesworth, M. R., Tobin, D. J., Sharpe, D. T., Randall, V. A. Androgens trigger different growth responses in genetically identical human hair follicles in organ culture that reflect their epigenetic diversity in life.

Maternal Diet, Metabolic State, and Inflammatory Response Exert Unique and Long-Lasting Influences on Offspring Behavior in Non-Human Primates

PubMed Central

Thompson, Jacqueline R.; Gustafsson, Hanna C.; DeCapo, Madison; Takahashi, Diana L.; Bagley, Jennifer L.; Dean, Tyler A.; Kievit, Paul; Fair, Damien A.; Sullivan, Elinor L.

2018-01-01

Nutritional status influences brain health and gestational exposure to metabolic disorders (e.g. obesity and diabetes) increases the risk of neuropsychiatric disorders. The aim of the present study was to further investigate the role of maternal Western-style diet (WSD), metabolic state, and inflammatory factors in the programming of Japanese macaque offspring behavior. Utilizing structural equation modeling, we investigated the relationships between maternal diet, prepregnancy adiposity, third trimester insulin response, and plasma cytokine levels on 11-month-old offspring behavior. Maternal WSD was associated with greater reactive and ritualized anxiety in offspring. Maternal adiposity and third trimester macrophage-derived chemokine (MDC) exerted opposing effects on offspring high-energy outbursts. Elevated levels of this behavior were associated with low maternal MDC and increased prepregnancy adiposity. This is the first study to show that maternal MDC levels influence offspring behavior. We found no evidence suggesting maternal peripheral inflammatory response mediated the effect of maternal diet and metabolic state on aberrant offspring behavior. Additionally, the extent of maternal metabolic impairment differentially influenced chemokine response. Elevated prepregnancy adiposity suppressed third trimester chemokines, while obesity-induced insulin resistance augmented peripheral chemokine levels. WSD also directly increased maternal interleukin-12. This is the first non-human primate study to delineate the effects of maternal diet and metabolic state on gestational inflammatory environment and subsequent offspring behavior. Our findings give insight to the complex mechanisms by which diet, metabolic state, and inflammation during pregnancy exert unique influences on offspring behavioral regulation. PMID:29740395

BIOFRAG – a new database for analyzing BIOdiversity responses to forest FRAGmentation

PubMed Central

Pfeifer, Marion; Lefebvre, Veronique; Gardner, Toby A; Arroyo-Rodriguez, Victor; Baeten, Lander; Banks-Leite, Cristina; Barlow, Jos; Betts, Matthew G; Brunet, Joerg; Cerezo, Alexis; Cisneros, Laura M; Collard, Stuart; D'Cruze, Neil; da Silva Motta, Catarina; Duguay, Stephanie; Eggermont, Hilde; Eigenbrod, Felix; Hadley, Adam S; Hanson, Thor R; Hawes, Joseph E; Heartsill Scalley, Tamara; Klingbeil, Brian T; Kolb, Annette; Kormann, Urs; Kumar, Sunil; Lachat, Thibault; Lakeman Fraser, Poppy; Lantschner, Victoria; Laurance, William F; Leal, Inara R; Lens, Luc; Marsh, Charles J; Medina-Rangel, Guido F; Melles, Stephanie; Mezger, Dirk; Oldekop, Johan A; Overal, William L; Owen, Charlotte; Peres, Carlos A; Phalan, Ben; Pidgeon, Anna M; Pilia, Oriana; Possingham, Hugh P; Possingham, Max L; Raheem, Dinarzarde C; Ribeiro, Danilo B; Ribeiro Neto, Jose D; Douglas Robinson, W; Robinson, Richard; Rytwinski, Trina; Scherber, Christoph; Slade, Eleanor M; Somarriba, Eduardo; Stouffer, Philip C; Struebig, Matthew J; Tylianakis, Jason M; Tscharntke, Teja; Tyre, Andrew J; Urbina Cardona, Jose N; Vasconcelos, Heraldo L; Wearn, Oliver; Wells, Konstans; Willig, Michael R; Wood, Eric; Young, Richard P; Bradley, Andrew V; Ewers, Robert M

2014-01-01

Habitat fragmentation studies have produced complex results that are challenging to synthesize. Inconsistencies among studies may result from variation in the choice of landscape metrics and response variables, which is often compounded by a lack of key statistical or methodological information. Collating primary datasets on biodiversity responses to fragmentation in a consistent and flexible database permits simple data retrieval for subsequent analyses. We present a relational database that links such field data to taxonomic nomenclature, spatial and temporal plot attributes, and environmental characteristics. Field assessments include measurements of the response(s) (e.g., presence, abundance, ground cover) of one or more species linked to plots in fragments within a partially forested landscape. The database currently holds 9830 unique species recorded in plots of 58 unique landscapes in six of eight realms: mammals 315, birds 1286, herptiles 460, insects 4521, spiders 204, other arthropods 85, gastropods 70, annelids 8, platyhelminthes 4, Onychophora 2, vascular plants 2112, nonvascular plants and lichens 320, and fungi 449. Three landscapes were sampled as long-term time series (>10 years). Seven hundred and eleven species are found in two or more landscapes. Consolidating the substantial amount of primary data available on biodiversity responses to fragmentation in the context of land-use change and natural disturbances is an essential part of understanding the effects of increasing anthropogenic pressures on land. The consistent format of this database facilitates testing of generalizations concerning biologic responses to fragmentation across diverse systems and taxa. It also allows the re-examination of existing datasets with alternative landscape metrics and robust statistical methods, for example, helping to address pseudo-replication problems. The database can thus help researchers in producing broad syntheses of the effects of land use. The database is dynamic and inclusive, and contributions from individual and large-scale data-collection efforts are welcome. PMID:24967073

Rapid Response Team activation for pediatric patients on the acute pain service.

PubMed

Teets, Maxwell; Tumin, Dmitry; Walia, Hina; Stevens, Jenna; Wrona, Sharon; Martin, David; Bhalla, Tarun; Tobias, Joseph D

2017-11-01

Untreated pain or overly aggressive pain management may lead to adverse physiologic consequences and activation of the hospital's Rapid Response Team. This study is a quality improvement initiative that attempts to identify patient demographics and patterns associated with Rapid Response Team consultations for patients on the acute pain service. A retrospective review of all patients on the acute pain service from February 2011 until June 2015 was cross-referenced with inpatients requiring consultation from the Rapid Response Team. Two independent practitioners reviewed electronic medical records to determine which events were likely associated with pain management interventions. Over a 4-year period, 4872 patients were admitted to the acute pain service of whom 135 unique patients required Rapid Response Team consults. There were 159 unique Rapid Response Team activations among 6538 unique acute pain service consults. A subset of 27 pain management-related Rapid Response Team consultations was identified. The largest percentage of patients on the acute pain service were adolescents aged 12-17 (36%). Compared to this age group, the odds of Rapid Response Team activation were higher among infants <1 year old (odds ratio = 2.85; 95% confidence interval: 1.59, 5.10; P < .001) and adults over 18 years (odds ratio = 1.68; 95% confidence interval: 1.01, 2.80; P = .046). Identifying demographics and etiologies of acute pain service patients requiring Rapid Response Team consultations may help to identify patients at risk for clinical decompensation. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

A succession of theories: purging redundancy from disturbance theory.

PubMed

Pulsford, Stephanie A; Lindenmayer, David B; Driscoll, Don A

2016-02-01

The topics of succession and post-disturbance ecosystem recovery have a long and convoluted history. There is extensive redundancy within this body of theory, which has resulted in confusion, and the links among theories have not been adequately drawn. This review aims to distil the unique ideas from the array of theory related to ecosystem change in response to disturbance. This will help to reduce redundancy, and improve communication and understanding between researchers. We first outline the broad range of concepts that have developed over the past century to describe community change in response to disturbance. The body of work spans overlapping succession concepts presented by Clements in 1916, Egler in 1954, and Connell and Slatyer in 1977. Other theories describing community change include state and transition models, biological legacy theory, and the application of functional traits to predict responses to disturbance. Second, we identify areas of overlap of these theories, in addition to highlighting the conceptual and taxonomic limitations of each. In aligning each of these theories with one another, the limited scope and relative inflexibility of some theories becomes apparent, and redundancy becomes explicit. We identify a set of unique concepts to describe the range of mechanisms driving ecosystem responses to disturbance. We present a schematic model of our proposed synthesis which brings together the range of unique mechanisms that were identified in our review. The model describes five main mechanisms of transition away from a post-disturbance community: (i) pulse events with rapid state shifts; (ii) stochastic community drift; (iii) facilitation; (iv) competition; and (v) the influence of the initial composition of a post-disturbance community. In addition, stabilising processes such as biological legacies, inhibition or continuing disturbance may prevent a transition between community types. Integrating these six mechanisms with the functional trait approach is likely to improve the predictive capacity of disturbance theory. Finally, we complement our discussion of theory with a case study which emphasises that many post-disturbance theories apply simultaneously to the same ecosystem. Using the well-studied mountain ash (Eucalyptus regnans) forests of south-eastern Australia, we illustrate phenomena that align with six of the theories described in our model of rationalised disturbance theory. We encourage further work to improve our schematic model, increase coverage of disturbance-related theory, and to show how the model may link to, or integrate with, other domains of ecological theory. © 2014 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

The outer epidermis of Avena and maize coleoptiles is not a unique target for auxin in elongation growth

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cleland, R. E.

1991-01-01

A controversy exists as to whether or not the outer epidermis in coleoptiles is a unique target for auxin in elongation growth. The following evidence indicates that the outer epidermis is not the only auxin-responsive cell layer in either Avena sativa L. or Zea mays L. coleoptiles. Coleoptile sections from which the epidermis has been removed by peeling elongate in response to auxin. The magnitude of the response is similar to that of intact sections provided the incubation solution contains both auxin and sucrose. The amount of elongation is independent of the amount of epidermis removed. Sections of oat coleoptiles from which the epidermis has been removed from one side are nearly straight after 22 h in auxin and sucrose, despite extensive growth of the sections. These data indicate that the outer epidermis is not a unique target for auxin in elongation growth, at least in Avena and maize coleoptiles.

Genetic and caregiving-based contributions to infant attachment: unique associations with distress reactivity and attachment security.

PubMed

Raby, K Lee; Cicchetti, Dante; Carlson, Elizabeth A; Cutuli, J J; Englund, Michelle M; Egeland, Byron

2012-09-01

In the longitudinal study reported here, we examined genetic and caregiving-based contributions to individual differences in infant attachment classifications. For 154 mother-infant pairs, we rated mothers' responsiveness to their 6-month-old infants during naturalistic interactions and classified infants' attachment organization at 12 and 18 months using the Strange Situation procedure. These infants were later genotyped with respect to the serotonin-transporter-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR). Maternal responsiveness uniquely predicted infants' attachment security. Infants' 5-HTTLPR variation uniquely predicted their subtype of attachment security at 12 months and their subtype of attachment insecurity at 12 and 18 months. The short allele for 5-HTTLPR was associated with attachment classifications characterized by higher emotional distress. These findings suggest that 5-HTTLPR variation contributes to infants' emotional reactivity and that the degree to which caregivers are responsive influences how effectively infants use their caregivers for emotion regulation. Theoretical implications for the study of genetic and caregiving influences are discussed.

Hansen’s Disease with HIV: A Case of Immune Reconstitution Disease

PubMed Central

Chow, Dominic; Okinaka, Leila; Souza, Scott; Shikuma, Cecilia; Tice, Alan

2009-01-01

Immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) is an acute symptomatic expression of a latent infection during the recovery of the immune system usually as a response to antiretroviral therapy (ART). Opportunistic infections can trigger IRIS. Hansen’s disease is an infection caused by Mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae). There have been a limited number of case reports reporting the presentation of the co-infection of HIV and M. leprae. We report an unique case of IRIS in a patient co-infected with HIV and M. leprae presenting as an exacerbation of his Hansen’s Disease where the patient’s skin lesions progressed from borderline tuberculoid to lepromatous leprosy following ART administration. PMID:19385373

Photoacoustic absorption spectroscopy of single optically trapped aerosol droplets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Covert, Paul A.; Cremer, Johannes W.; Signorell, Ruth

2017-08-01

Photoacoustics have been widely used for the study of aerosol optical properties. To date, these studies have been performed on particle ensembles, with minimal ability to control for particle size. Here, we present our singleparticle photoacoustic spectrometer. The sensitivity and stability of the instrument is discussed, along with results from two experiments that illustrate the unique capabilities of this instrument. In the first experiment, we present a measurement of the particle size-dependence of the photoacoustic response. Our results confirm previous models of aerosol photoacoustics that had yet to be experimentally tested. The second set of results reveals a size-dependence of photochemical processes within aerosols that results from the nanofocusing of light within individual droplets.

Hierarchical layered double hydroxides with Ag nanoparticle modification for ethanol sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qin, Yuxiang; Wang, Liping; Wang, Xiaofei

2018-07-01

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have recently been revealed to be promising in gas sensor applications due to their compositional flexibility and unique 2D-interlayer channel for gas diffusion and adsorption. This work demonstrates highly porous hierarchical LDHs containing Mg2+ and Al3+ (MgAl-LDHs) for ethanol sensing at room temperature. These MgAl-LDHs, with unique flower-like hierarchical structure and mesoporous interlayer, were synthesized hydrothermally using sodium dodecyl sulfate as soft template as well as intercalating agent. Further modification by discrete Ag nanoparticles (NPs) was achieved via an environmentally friendly glucose-reduction method to improve the gas-sensing response of the LDH-based sensor. It is found that the hierarchical MgAl-LDHs show potential in sensing ethanol gas with rapid dynamic characteristics at room temperature; their response magnitude towards ethanol can be enhanced significantly by Ag NP modification. The gas-response value of the Ag-modified MgAl-LDH sensor is about twice that of pristine MgAl-LDH sensors, towards 5–200 ppm ethanol at room temperature. Meanwhile, rapid response-recovery characteristics are achieved, with response and recovery times shorter than 10 and 50 s, respectively. The satisfactory sensing performance and remarkable response enhancement by Ag NP modification are demonstrated in terms of the unique microstructure of the hierarchical MgAl-LDHs and a constructed conductive effect model of Ag functionalized LDHs.

Hierarchical layered double hydroxides with Ag nanoparticle modification for ethanol sensing.

PubMed

Qin, Yuxiang; Wang, Liping; Wang, Xiaofei

2018-07-06

Layered double hydroxides (LDHs) have recently been revealed to be promising in gas sensor applications due to their compositional flexibility and unique 2D-interlayer channel for gas diffusion and adsorption. This work demonstrates highly porous hierarchical LDHs containing Mg 2+ and Al 3+ (MgAl-LDHs) for ethanol sensing at room temperature. These MgAl-LDHs, with unique flower-like hierarchical structure and mesoporous interlayer, were synthesized hydrothermally using sodium dodecyl sulfate as soft template as well as intercalating agent. Further modification by discrete Ag nanoparticles (NPs) was achieved via an environmentally friendly glucose-reduction method to improve the gas-sensing response of the LDH-based sensor. It is found that the hierarchical MgAl-LDHs show potential in sensing ethanol gas with rapid dynamic characteristics at room temperature; their response magnitude towards ethanol can be enhanced significantly by Ag NP modification. The gas-response value of the Ag-modified MgAl-LDH sensor is about twice that of pristine MgAl-LDH sensors, towards 5-200 ppm ethanol at room temperature. Meanwhile, rapid response-recovery characteristics are achieved, with response and recovery times shorter than 10 and 50 s, respectively. The satisfactory sensing performance and remarkable response enhancement by Ag NP modification are demonstrated in terms of the unique microstructure of the hierarchical MgAl-LDHs and a constructed conductive effect model of Ag functionalized LDHs.

An Examination of Stress and Coping among Adults Diagnosed with Severe Mental Illness

PubMed Central

Robilotta, Stephanie; Cueto, Ecena; Yanos, Philip T.

2011-01-01

The present study explored the types of major life and chronic stressors that people with severe mental illness experience, and the coping strategies that are used in response to them. Twenty-eight adults with severe mental illness completed qualitative interviews focused on stress and coping in the prior six months. Participants reported experiencing disruptive major life events including the sudden death of a loved one, loss of housing, and criminal victimization, as well as chronic stressors such as psychiatric symptoms and substance abuse issues, substandard living conditions, legal problems, and health concerns. Results suggested that persons with severe mental illness frequently use problem-centered coping strategies in response to most types of stressors, including major life events, although this occurred after the initial application of avoidant coping strategies. Future research should explore whether or not the identified stressors and the coping strategies used in response to them are unique to this population. PMID:21149987

Erythropoietin in sickle cell disease: relation of erythropoietin levels to crisis and other complications.

PubMed

Haddy, T B

1982-01-01

Erythropoietin responsible for the hormonal regulation of red blood cell production. Its formation is largely controlled by the kidneys. A number of assay methods for erythropoietin are available. Asymptomatic patients with sickle cell disease have elevated erythropoietin levels, as expected with chronic hemolysis. When complicated by chronic renal failure, erythropoietin levels do not rise appropriately. Chronic infection has not been studied, but the erythropoietin response in acute infection does not seem to conform to a pattern. Aplastic crises are characterized by very high levels of erythropoietin, suggesting bone marrow suppression, but events that trigger the crises remain obscure. In vaso-occlusive crises, there is also some suggestion of mild and transient lack of bone marrow response. Patients with sickle cell disease, with their chronic high erythropoietin anemia and susceptibility to altered states, are uniquely suited for investigating the physiology of erythropoietin, especially under the constraints of present assay methods.

Moving HAIRS: Towards adaptive, homeostatic materials

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aizenberg, Joanna

Dynamic structures that respond reversibly to changes in their environment are central to self-regulating thermal and lighting systems, targeted drug delivery, sensors, and self-propelled locomotion. Since an adaptive change requires energy input, an ideal strategy would be to design materials that harvest energy directly from the environment and use it to drive an appropriate response. This lecture will present the design of a novel class of reconfigurable materials that use surfaces bearing arrays of nanostructures put in motion by environment-responsive gels. Their unique hybrid architecture, and chemical and mechanical properties can be optimized to confer a wide range of adaptive behaviors. Using both experimental and modeling approaches, we are developing these hydrogel-actuated integrated responsive systems (HAIRS) as new materials with reversible optical and wetting properties, as a multifunctional platform for controlling cell differentiation and function, and as a first homeostatic system with autonomous self-regulation.

Physical approaches to biomaterial design

PubMed Central

Mitragotri, Samir; Lahann, Joerg

2009-01-01

The development of biomaterials for drug delivery, tissue engineering and medical diagnostics has traditionally been based on new chemistries. However, there is growing recognition that the physical as well as the chemical properties of materials can regulate biological responses. Here, we review this transition with regard to selected physical properties including size, shape, mechanical properties, surface texture and compartmentalization. In each case, we present examples demonstrating the significance of these properties in biology. We also discuss synthesis methods and biological applications for designer biomaterials, which offer unique physical properties. PMID:19096389

Forensic Evaluation of Deaf Individuals: Challenges and Strategies.

PubMed

Pollard, Robert Q; Berlinski, Brian T

2017-01-01

Forensic evaluation of deaf individuals presents unique challenges due to many examinees' fund of information deficits, potential for language deprivation, and examiners' frequent lack of creativity regarding communication methods. This article describes challenges most frequently encountered in competency to stand trial and criminal responsibility evaluations and offers strategies for overcoming them. The value of employing multiple communication methods, especially the use of illustrations, is emphasized. Suggestions also are offered regarding preparing evaluation reports and effectively communicating "key deaf fundamentals" to legal personnel. Encouragement is offered for qualified, sign-fluent professionals to engage in forensic work.

Mycobacterium chimaera Infections Associated With Contaminated Heater-Cooler Devices for Cardiac Surgery: Outbreak Management.

PubMed

Marra, Alexandre R; Diekema, Daniel J; Edmond, Michael B

2017-08-15

The global outbreak of Mycobacterium chimaera infections associated with heater-cooler devices (HCDs) presents several important, unique challenges for the infection prevention community. The primary focus of this article is to assist hospitals in establishing a rapid response for identification, notification, and evaluation of exposed patients, and management of HCDs with regard to placement and containment, environmental culturing, and disinfection. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Another weapon too far: the anti-personnel laser.

PubMed Central

Gillow, J T

1995-01-01

The last decade has seen the development of military lasers designed to blind. Medical professionals dedicated to the prevention and treatment of visual disability, and particularly ophthalmologists under the terms of their newly acquired Royal Charter, have a responsibility to: document this new technology; explain its medical effects; and influence the threshold at which these weapons might be used. Proposals to prohibit anti-eye laser warfare at The United Nations Convention Conference in September 1995 present a unique opportunity to stigmatize blinding as a method of warfare. PMID:7629769

Morphology and Photometry of Isolated Seyfert Galaxies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cracco, V.; Ciroi, S.; di Mille, F.; Omizzolo, A.; Funes, J. G.; Rafanelli, P.

2008-10-01

An unresolved and intriguing problem about active galactic nuclei is the mechanism responsible for nuclear triggering and fueling. Until now there is not a unique solution that can completely explain this phenomenon. We present preliminary results about morphological and photometric analysis of a sample of 35 nearby (z<0.035) and isolated Seyfert galaxies, observed through broad-band BVR filters at the 1.8-m Vatican Telescope and the 2.2-m ESO-La Silla Telescope. We analyzed photometric and morphological parameters and, using GALFIT software, we obtained two-dimensional decomposition of the luminosity profiles.

Ebola Virus Disease: A Review of Its Past and Present.

PubMed

Murray, Michael J

2015-09-01

Ebola virus, the virus responsible for Ebola virus disease, has spawned several epidemics during the past 38 years. In 2014, an Ebola epidemic spread from Africa to other continents, becoming a pandemic. The virus's relatively unique structure, its infectivity and lethality, the difficulty in stopping its spread, and the lack of an effective treatment captured the world's attention. This article provides a brief review of the known history of Ebola virus disease, its etiology, epidemiology, and pathophysiology and a review of the limited information on managing patients with Ebola virus disease.

Tracking Student Progress Through an On-Line Astro101 Module

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howard, W. H., II; Hufnagel, B.

2004-05-01

We present an on-line module that helps introductory-level, non-science undergraduates extract information about neutron star binary star systems from X-ray light curves. The students interface directly with the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC) data through CollegeHera. Hera is a new service offered by HEASARC that enables complete interactive analysis of archived data products (see the separate Lochner & Pence paper this meeting). One of the innovative features of this module is that it records detailed student progress and automatically reports this to the professor. As the student moves through the module, student answers to multiple choice and free response questions are recorded in a personal file on the server. This is an authenticated process. The student must fill out a registration form that includes their name, course, email, professor, and professor's email. This creates a session cookie for the student that stores the unique ID given to the user by the server. In turn, the unique ID is linked to the one file that records the student's responses. When the module is completed, a brief confirmation email is sent to the student, excluding the student's unique answers to discourage sharing with other students. Simultaneously, the professor entered during the registration receives an email with the student responses and their time of entry. PERL is used for all server-side programming, and form validation functions were written in JavaScript. A laptop with internet access will be available at the poster for participants to explore the module. Learning goals and other education information for the module are at a related paper in this meeting, Hufnagel, Lochner & Howard. This module required extensive cooperation with the Hera team, and was based on a module developed by James Lochner. Irina Nelson, formerly of the Office of University Programs at GSFC, conceived the overall project. Support for this work was provided by the Southeast Regional Clearinghouse (SERCH) and the Maryland Space Grant Consortium.

Soy isoflavones and immunity.

PubMed

Sakai, Tohru; Kogiso, Mari

2008-08-01

The amount of soy products consumed in Japan is much greater than that in Western countries. Recent evidence indicates that soy isoflavones play a beneficial role in obesity, cancer, osteoporosis, and cardiovascular disease. The soybean isoflavone genistein is present at high levels in soy products. Genistein is structurally similar to 17beta-estradiol (E2), and genistein has been suggested to be act as E2 or an antagonist against E2. Genistein suppresses antigen-specific immune response in vivo and lymphocyte proliferation response in vitro. However, genistein enhances the cytotoxic response mediated by NK and cytotoxic T cells and the cytokine production from T cells. Thus, the effect of genistein on immunity is immune cell-dependent. Due to its unique effect on immune function, genistein has been used for the treatment of the diseases in animal models and it has been found that genistein inhibits allergic inflammatory responses. In this review, we summarize current studies related to the effect of isoflavone genistein on the immune system.

Cortisol Response to Psychosocial Stress in Chinese Early Puberty Girls: Possible Role of Depressive Symptoms.

PubMed

Sun, Ying; Deng, Fang; Liu, Yang; Tao, Fang-Biao

2015-01-01

Objective. The present study aimed at investigating unique patterns of salivary cortisol reactivity and recovery in response to a social stressor among girls with early puberty and exploring possible role of depressive symptom in this association. Design. Case-control study. Patients. Fifty-six girls with early puberty and age- and body mass index- (BMI-) matched normal puberty controls (n = 56) were selected. Measurements. Salivary cortisol was measured in response to the Groningen Social Stress Test for Children. Results. Girls with early puberty had higher cortisol concentration at the end of the GSST (C3), cortisol concentration 20 min after the end of the GSST (C4), and AUC increment (AUCi) compared to non-early puberty girls. Depressive symptoms correlated with blunted HPA reactivity among girls with early puberty. Conclusion. This study demonstrated the disturbance effect of objectively examined early pubertal timing on HPA axis responses. It also suggested that stress reactivity might be blunted for individuals with depressive symptoms.

Stress Transmission in Granular Packings: Localization and Cooperative Response

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ramola, Kabir

We develop a framework for stress transmission in two dimensional granular media that respects vector force balance at the microscopic level. For a packing of grains interacting via pairwise contact forces, we introduce local gauge degrees of freedom that determine the response of the system to external perturbations. This allows us to construct unique force-balanced solutions that determine the change in contact forces as a response to external stress. By mapping this response to diffusion in the underlying contact network, we show that this naturally leads to spatial localization of forces. We present numerical evidence for stress localization using exact diagonalization studies of network Laplacians associated with soft disk packings. We use this formalism to characterize the deviation from elastic behaviour as the amount of disorder in the underlying network is varied. We discuss generalizations to systems with large friction between grains and other networks that display topological disorder. This work has been supported by NSF-DMR 1409093 and the W. M. Keck Foundation.

Contemporary glacier retreat triggers a rapid landslide response, Great Aletsch Glacier, Switzerland

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kos, Andrew; Amann, Florian; Strozzi, Tazio; Delaloye, Reynald; Ruette, Jonas; Springman, Sarah

2016-12-01

The destabilization and catastrophic failure of landslides triggered by retreating glaciers is an expected outcome of global climate change and poses a significant threat to inhabitants of glaciated mountain valleys around the globe. Of particular importance are the formation of landslide-dammed lakes, outburst floods, and related sediment entrainment. Based on field observations and remote sensing of a deep-seated landslide, located at the present-day terminus of the Great Aletsch Glacier, we show that the spatiotemporal response of the landslide to glacier retreat is rapid, occurring within a decade. Our observations uniquely capture the critical period of increase in slope deformations, onset of failure, and show that measured displacements at the crown and toe regions of the landslide demonstrate a feedback mechanism between glacier ice reduction and response of the entire landslide body. These observations shed new light on the geomorphological processes of landslide response in paraglacial environments, which were previously understood to occur over significantly longer time periods.

Servo control booster system for minimizing following error

DOEpatents

Wise, W.L.

1979-07-26

A closed-loop feedback-controlled servo system is disclosed which reduces command-to-response error to the system's position feedback resolution least increment, ..delta..S/sub R/, on a continuous real-time basis, for all operational times of consequence and for all operating speeds. The servo system employs a second position feedback control loop on a by exception basis, when the command-to-response error greater than or equal to ..delta..S/sub R/, to produce precise position correction signals. When the command-to-response error is less than ..delta..S/sub R/, control automatically reverts to conventional control means as the second position feedback control loop is disconnected, becoming transparent to conventional servo control means. By operating the second unique position feedback control loop used herein at the appropriate clocking rate, command-to-response error may be reduced to the position feedback resolution least increment. The present system may be utilized in combination with a tachometer loop for increased stability.

Dissociable effects of inter-stimulus interval and presentation duration on rapid face categorization.

PubMed

Retter, Talia L; Jiang, Fang; Webster, Michael A; Rossion, Bruno

2018-04-01

Fast periodic visual stimulation combined with electroencephalography (FPVS-EEG) has unique sensitivity and objectivity in measuring rapid visual categorization processes. It constrains image processing time by presenting stimuli rapidly through brief stimulus presentation durations and short inter-stimulus intervals. However, the selective impact of these temporal parameters on visual categorization is largely unknown. Here, we presented natural images of objects at a rate of 10 or 20 per second (10 or 20 Hz), with faces appearing once per second (1 Hz), leading to two distinct frequency-tagged EEG responses. Twelve observers were tested with three squarewave image presentation conditions: 1) with an ISI, a traditional 50% duty cycle at 10 Hz (50-ms stimulus duration separated by a 50-ms ISI); 2) removing the ISI and matching the rate, a 100% duty cycle at 10 Hz (100-ms duration with 0-ms ISI); 3) removing the ISI and matching the stimulus presentation duration, a 100% duty cycle at 20 Hz (50-ms duration with 0-ms ISI). The face categorization response was significantly decreased in the 20 Hz 100% condition. The conditions at 10 Hz showed similar face-categorization responses, peaking maximally over the right occipito-temporal (ROT) cortex. However, the onset of the 10 Hz 100% response was delayed by about 20 ms over the ROT region relative to the 10 Hz 50% condition, likely due to immediate forward-masking by preceding images. Taken together, these results help to interpret how the FPVS-EEG paradigm sets temporal constraints on visual image categorization. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The effects of environmental context on recognition memory and claims of remembering.

PubMed

Hockley, William E

2008-11-01

Recognition memory for words was tested in same or different contexts using the remember/know response procedure. Context was manipulated by presenting words in different screen colors and locations and by presenting words against real-world photographs. Overall hit and false-alarm rates were higher for tests presented in an old context compared to a new context. This concordant effect was seen in both remember responses and estimates of familiarity. Similar results were found for rearranged pairings of old study contexts and targets, for study contexts that were unique or were repeated with different words, and for new picture contexts that were physically similar to old contexts. Similar results were also found when subjects focused attention on the study words, but a different pattern of results was obtained when subjects explicitly associated the study words with their picture context. The results show that subjective feelings of recollection play a role in the effects of environmental context but are likely based more on a sense of familiarity that is evoked by the context than on explicit associations between targets and their study context.

Unique Sensor Plane Maps Invisible Toxins for First Responders

ScienceCinema

Kroutil, Robert; Thomas, Mark; Aten, Keith

2018-05-30

A unique airborne emergency response tool, ASPECT is a Los Alamos/U.S. Environmental Protection Agency project that can put chemical and radiological mapping tools in the air over an accident scene. The name ASPECT is an acronym for Airborne Spectral Photometric Environmental Collection Technology.

Estimates of Monthly Ground-Water Recharge to the Yakima River Basin Aquifer System, Washington, 1960-2001, for Current Land-Use and Land-Cover Conditions

USGS Publications Warehouse

Vaccaro, J.J.; Olsen, T.D.

2007-01-01

Unique ID grid with a unique value per Hydrologic Response Unit (HRU) per basin in reference to the estimated ground-water recharge for current conditions in the Yakima Basin Aquifer System, (USGS report SIR 2007-5007). Total 78,144 unique values. This grid made it easy to provide estimates of monthly ground-water recharge for water years 1960-2001in an electronic format for water managers, planners, and hydrologists, that could be related back to a spatially referenced grid by the unique ID.

Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells Require Direct Infection To Sustain the Pulmonary Influenza A Virus-Specific CD8 T Cell Response

PubMed Central

Hemann, Emily A.; Sjaastad, Louisa E.; Langlois, Ryan A.

2015-01-01

ABSTRACT Following influenza A virus (IAV) infection, development of a robust IAV-specific CD8 T cell response is required for clearance of primary infection and enhances memory protection. Following IAV infection, plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) or CD8α+ DC regulate pulmonary effector CD8 T cell responses within the lung. Without this DC-T cell interaction, insufficient effector CD8 T cells are maintained in the lungs, leading to enhanced morbidity and mortality. Previous studies have demonstrated that pDC are capable of classical presentation or cross-presentation of IAV antigens and could potentially regulate IAV-specific CD8 T cell responses through either mechanism. Our results demonstrate that pDC from the lungs of donor mice infected with an IAV that is not able to replicate in hematopoietic cells (142t-IAV), unlike donor pDC isolated from the lungs of control infected mice, are not able to rescue the host IAV-specific CD8 T cell response from apoptosis. This indicates that pDC must utilize the direct presentation pathway for this rescue. This inability of pDC from 142t-IAV donors to rescue the IAV-specific CD8 T cell response is not due to differences in the overall ability of 142t-IAV to replicate within the lungs or generate defective viral genomes or to differences in levels of costimulatory molecules required for this interaction. We further demonstrate that bypassing the antigen presentation pathway by coating the 142t-IAV pDC with IAV peptide epitopes restores their ability to rescue the IAV-specific CD8 T cell response. IMPORTANCE IAV continues to be a global health burden, infecting 5 to 20% of the global population annually. Continued investigation into the mechanisms that mediate protective immune responses against IAV is important to improving current vaccination and antiviral strategies antagonistic toward IAV. Our findings presented herein demonstrate a key requirement for pDC promotion of effector CD8 T cell survival: that rather than utilizing cross-presentation, pDC must be infected and utilize the endogenous pathway for presentation of antigens to CD8 T cells during in vivo IAV infections. This suggests that targeting presentation via the endogenous pathway in pDC could be important for the development of unique antiviral cellular therapies. PMID:26719269

Effect of time delay on flying qualities: An update

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, R. E.; Sarrafian, S. K.

1986-01-01

Flying qualities problems of modern, full-authority electronic flight control systems are most often related to the introduction of additional time delay in aircraft response to a pilot input. These delays can have a significant effect on the flying qualities of the aircraft. Time delay effects are reexamined in light of recent flight test experience with aircraft incorporating new technology. Data from the X-29A forward-swept-wing demonstrator, a related preliminary in-flight experiment, and other flight observations are presented. These data suggest that the present MIL-F-8785C allowable-control system time delay specifications are inadequate or, at least, incomplete. Allowable time delay appears to be a function of the shape of the aircraft response following the initial delay. The cockpit feel system is discussed as a dynamic element in the flight control system. Data presented indicate that the time delay associated with a significant low-frequency feel system does not result in the predicted degradation in aircraft flying qualities. The impact of the feel system is discussed from two viewpoints: as a filter in the control system which can alter the initial response shape and, therefore, the allowable time delay, and as a unique dynamic element whose delay contribution can potentially be discounted by special pilot loop closures.

Positive Aspects of Fathering and Mothering, and Children's Attachment in Kindergarten

PubMed Central

George, Melissa R.W.; Cummings, E. Mark; Davies, Patrick T.

2010-01-01

Past research suggests that maternal and paternal parenting processes differentially contribute to children's adjustment. However, the contribution of paternal warmth and responsiveness, to childhood attachment security is less understood, especially beyond the preschool years. The current study examined relations between parenting and attachment among 236 families with children in kindergarten. Parental warmth was virtually unrelated to attachment security and avoidance with mothers and fathers, while paternal and maternal responsiveness to children's emotional distress were uniquely predictive of father- and mother-child attachments, respectively. Although less responsive parenting was related to insecure attachment for both mothers and fathers, the parenting mechanisms associated with insecure attachment differed. Low paternal responsiveness was linked with continuous and categorical assessments of insecure-avoidant attachment, while low maternal responsiveness was associated with insecure-ambivalent attachment. Further research is needed to delineate why these patterns differ for fathers and mothers in order to understand fathers' unique effects on childhood attachment. PMID:20657740

Response of the rare biosphere to environmental stressors in a highly diverse ecosystem (Zodletone spring, OK, USA).

PubMed

Coveley, Suzanne; Elshahed, Mostafa S; Youssef, Noha H

2015-01-01

Within highly diverse ecosystems, the majority of bacterial taxa are present in low abundance as members of the rare biosphere. The rationale for the occurrence and maintenance of the rare biosphere, and the putative ecological role(s) and dynamics of its members within a specific ecosystem is currently debated. We hypothesized that in highly diverse ecosystems, a fraction of the rare biosphere acts as a backup system that readily responds to environmental disturbances. We tested this hypothesis by subjecting sediments from Zodletone spring, a sulfide- and sulfur-rich spring in Southwestern OK, to incremental levels of salinity (1, 2, 3, 4, and 10% NaCl), or temperature (28°, 30°, 32°, and 70 °C), and traced the trajectories of rare members of the community in response to these manipulations using 16S rRNA gene analysis. Our results indicate that multiple rare bacterial taxa are promoted from rare to abundant members of the community following such manipulations and that, in general, the magnitude of such recruitment is directly proportional to the severity of the applied manipulation. Rare members that are phylogenetically distinct from abundant taxa in the original sample (unique rare biosphere) played a more important role in the microbial community response to environmental disturbances, compared to rare members that are phylogenetically similar to abundant taxa in the original sample (non-unique rare biosphere). The results emphasize the dynamic nature of the rare biosphere, and highlight its complexity and non-monolithic nature.

Comparison of Infant and Adult P300 from Auditory Stimuli.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McIsaac, Heather; Polich, John

1992-01-01

Recorded electroencephalographic activity of infants and adults who heard 1 unique tone in a series of 10 tones. The amplitude of event-related brain potentials in response to the unique tone was smaller, and its latency longer, for infants than for adults. Evoked potentials remained stable across trials. (BC)

Field-assisted synthesis of SERS-active silver nanoparticles using conducting polymers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Ping; Jeon, Sea-Ho; Mack, Nathan H.; Doorn, Stephen K.; Williams, Darrick J.; Han, Xijiang; Wang, Hsing-Lin

2010-08-01

A gradient of novel silver nanostructures with widely varying sizes and morphologies is fabricated on a single conducting polyaniline-graphite (P-G) membrane with the assistance of an external electric field. It is believed that the formation of such a silver gradient is a synergetic consequence of the generation of a silver ion concentration gradient along with an electrokinetic flow of silver ions in the field-assisted model, which greatly influences the nucleation and growth mechanism of Ag particles on the P-G membrane. The produced silver dendrites, flowers and microspheres, with sharp edges, intersections and bifurcations, all present strong surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) responses toward an organic target molecule, mercaptobenzoic acid (MBA). This facile field-assisted synthesis of Ag nanoparticles via chemical reduction presents an alternative approach to nanomaterial fabrication, which can yield a wide range of unique structures with enhanced optical properties that were previously inaccessible by other synthetic routes.A gradient of novel silver nanostructures with widely varying sizes and morphologies is fabricated on a single conducting polyaniline-graphite (P-G) membrane with the assistance of an external electric field. It is believed that the formation of such a silver gradient is a synergetic consequence of the generation of a silver ion concentration gradient along with an electrokinetic flow of silver ions in the field-assisted model, which greatly influences the nucleation and growth mechanism of Ag particles on the P-G membrane. The produced silver dendrites, flowers and microspheres, with sharp edges, intersections and bifurcations, all present strong surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) responses toward an organic target molecule, mercaptobenzoic acid (MBA). This facile field-assisted synthesis of Ag nanoparticles via chemical reduction presents an alternative approach to nanomaterial fabrication, which can yield a wide range of unique structures with enhanced optical properties that were previously inaccessible by other synthetic routes. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: EDAX, XRD, and SEM images. See DOI: 10.1039/c0nr00106f

Imagery for Disaster Response and Recovery

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bethel, G. R.

2011-12-01

Exposing the remotely sensed imagery for disaster response and recovery can provide the basis for an unbiased understanding of current conditions. Having created consolidated remotely sensed and geospatial data sources documents for US and Foreign disasters over the past six years, availability and usability are continuing to evolve. By documenting all existing sources of imagery and value added products, the disaster response and recovery community can develop actionable information. The past two years have provided unique situations to use imagery including a major humanitarian disaster and response effort in Haiti, a major environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, a killer tornado in Joplin Missouri and long-term flooding in the Midwest. Each disaster presents different challenges and requires different spatial resolutions, spectral properties and/or multi-temporal collections. The community of data providers continues to expand with organized actives such as the International Charter for Space and Major Disasters and acquisitions by the private sector for the public good rather than for profit. However, data licensing, the lack of cross-calibration and inconsistent georeferencing hinder optimal use. Recent pre-event imagery is a critial component to any disaster response.

Development of the International Space Station Fine Water Mist Portable Fire Extinguisher

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rodriquez, Branelle; Young, GIna

2013-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is developing a Fine Water Mist (FWM) Portable Fire Extinguisher (PFE) for use on the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS presently uses two different types of fire extinguishers: a water foam extinguisher in the Russian Segments, and a carbon dioxide extinguisher in the United States Orbital Segments, which include Columbus and Kibo pressurized elements. Currently, there are operational and compatibility concerns with the emergency breathing equipment and the carbon dioxide extinguisher. ISS emergency response breathing equipment does not filter carbon dioxide; therefore, crew members are required to have an oxygen supply present during a fire event since the carbon dioxide PFE creates an unsafe breathing environment. The ISS program recommended a nontoxic fire extinguisher to mitigate this operational risk. The FWM PFE can extinguish a fire without creating a hazardous breathing environment for crewmembers. This paper will discuss the unique functional and performance requirements that have been levied on the FWM PFE, identify unique microgravity design considerations for liquid and gas systems, and discuss the NASA ISS specific fire standards that were developed to establish an acceptable portable fire extinguisher s performance.

Metaplastic carcinoma of the breast with mesenchymal differentiation (carcinosarcoma). A unique presentation of an aggressive malignancy and literature review.

PubMed

Salemis, Nikolaos S

2018-01-01

Metaplastic carcinoma of the breast with mesenchymal differentiation (MCMD), previously known as carcinosarcoma, is a very rare and aggressive tumor that has been recently classified as a subtype of metaplastic breast carcinoma. It accounts for 0.08%-0.2% of all breast cancers, with only a few cases reported in the literature. Histologically, MCMD is characterized by a biphasic pattern of malignant epithelial and sarcomatous components without evidence of a transition zone between the two elements. We herein describe a unique case of metaplastic carcinoma of the breast with chondrosarcomatous differentiation in a postmenopausal woman who presented with a large, rapidly growing, ulcerated, bleeding mass and signs of impending sepsis. Metaplastic breast carcinomas (MBC) are rare and aggressive tumors. They are characterized by larger size, lower rates of axillary node involvement, higher rates of triple negativity and distal metastases, earlier local recurrence and poorer survival compared with classic invasive breast cancer. Because of the rarity of MBC, the optimal treatment has not been well defined. Surgery is the main curative treatment modality since MBC has shown a suboptimal response to standard chemotherapy. Patients with MBC may be appropriate candidates for novel targeted therapies.

Metabolomic profiling in perinatal asphyxia: a promising new field.

PubMed

Denihan, Niamh M; Boylan, Geraldine B; Murray, Deirdre M

2015-01-01

Metabolomics, the latest "omic" technology, is defined as the comprehensive study of all low molecular weight biochemicals, "metabolites" present in an organism. As a systems biology approach, metabolomics has huge potential to progress our understanding of perinatal asphyxia and neonatal hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy, by uniquely detecting rapid biochemical pathway alterations in response to the hypoxic environment. The study of metabolomic biomarkers in the immediate neonatal period is not a trivial task and requires a number of specific considerations, unique to this disease and population. Recruiting a clearly defined cohort requires standardised multicentre recruitment with broad inclusion criteria and the participation of a range of multidisciplinary staff. Minimally invasive biospecimen collection is a priority for biomarker discovery. Umbilical cord blood presents an ideal medium as large volumes can be easily extracted and stored and the sample is not confounded by postnatal disease progression. Pristine biobanking and phenotyping are essential to ensure the validity of metabolomic findings. This paper provides an overview of the current state of the art in the field of metabolomics in perinatal asphyxia and neonatal hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy. We detail the considerations required to ensure high quality sampling and analysis, to support scientific progression in this important field.

Metabolomic Profiling in Perinatal Asphyxia: A Promising New Field

PubMed Central

Denihan, Niamh M.; Boylan, Geraldine B.; Murray, Deirdre M.

2015-01-01

Metabolomics, the latest “omic” technology, is defined as the comprehensive study of all low molecular weight biochemicals, “metabolites” present in an organism. As a systems biology approach, metabolomics has huge potential to progress our understanding of perinatal asphyxia and neonatal hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy, by uniquely detecting rapid biochemical pathway alterations in response to the hypoxic environment. The study of metabolomic biomarkers in the immediate neonatal period is not a trivial task and requires a number of specific considerations, unique to this disease and population. Recruiting a clearly defined cohort requires standardised multicentre recruitment with broad inclusion criteria and the participation of a range of multidisciplinary staff. Minimally invasive biospecimen collection is a priority for biomarker discovery. Umbilical cord blood presents an ideal medium as large volumes can be easily extracted and stored and the sample is not confounded by postnatal disease progression. Pristine biobanking and phenotyping are essential to ensure the validity of metabolomic findings. This paper provides an overview of the current state of the art in the field of metabolomics in perinatal asphyxia and neonatal hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy. We detail the considerations required to ensure high quality sampling and analysis, to support scientific progression in this important field. PMID:25802843

Family Influences on Mania-Relevant Cognitions and Beliefs: A Cognitive Model of Mania and Reward

PubMed Central

Chen, Stephen H.; Johnson, Sheri L.

2012-01-01

Objective The present study proposed and tested a cognitive model of mania and reward. Method Undergraduates (N = 284; 68.4% female; mean age = 20.99 years, standard deviation ± 3.37) completed measures of family goal setting and achievement values, personal reward-related beliefs, cognitive symptoms of mania, and risk for mania. Results Correlational analyses and structural equation modeling supported two distinct, but related facets of mania-relevant cognition: stably present reward-related beliefs and state-dependent cognitive symptoms in response to success and positive emotion. Results also indicated that family emphasis on achievement and highly ambitious extrinsic goals were associated with these mania-relevant cognitions. Finally, controlling for other factors, cognitive symptoms in response to success and positive emotion were uniquely associated with lifetime propensity towards mania symptoms. Conclusions Results support the merit of distinguishing between facets of mania-relevant cognition and the importance of the family in shaping both aspects of cognition. PMID:22623269

Performance of a Facility for Measuring Scintillator Non-Proportionality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Choong, Woon-Seng; Hull, Giulia; Moses, William W.; Vetter, Kai M.; Payne, Stephen A.; Cherepy, Nerine J.; Valentine, John D.

2008-06-01

We have constructed a second-generation Compton coincidence instrument, known as the Scintillator Light Yield Non-proportionality Characterization Instrument (SLYNCI), to characterize the electron response of scintillating materials. While the SLYNCI design includes more and higher efficiency HPGe detectors than the original apparatus (five 25%-30% detectors versus one 10% detector), the most novel feature is that no collimator is placed in front of the HPGe detectors. Because of these improvements, the SLYNCI data collection rate is over 30 times higher than the original instrument. In this paper, we present a validation study of this instrument, reporting on the hardware implementation, calibration, and performance. We discuss the analysis method and present measurements of the electron response of two different NaI:Tl samples. We also discuss the systematic errors of the measurement, especially those that are unique to SLYNCI. We find that the apparatus is very stable, but that careful attention must be paid to the energy calibration of the HPGe detectors.

Computer Assisted Assessment of Face-to-Face Interactions in Health Care Settings

PubMed Central

Ayers, James L.; Haight, Stewart A.

1981-01-01

In this paper, the development of an objective procedure for the empirical assessment of dyadic face-to-face interactions is presented. This procedure, called the Interpersonal Tracking Task (ITT) permits two persons who have just finished video taping their conversation to watch themselves immediately after and, while viewing themselves, answer a sequence of questions systematically presented on a second monitor by a microcomputer. Immediately after viewing their tape, each participant can receive feedback in the form of descriptive statistics summarizing their responses to specific questions and a series of colored bar graphs by which they can view change in their responses over the course of their interaction. The unique role of a computer in this assessment is discussed together with specific components of the software. Preliminary research with the ITT in health care settings has suggested steps for its further development as a research instrument and learning tool whereby individuals might more closely examine their dealings with each other. ImagesFigure 1

DAMIC at SNOLAB

DOE PAGES

Chavarria, Alvaro E.; Tiffenberg, Javier; Aguilar-Arevalo, Alexis; ...

2015-03-24

We introduce the fully-depleted charge-coupled device (CCD) as a particle detector. We demonstrate its low energy threshold operation, capable of detecting ionizing energy depositions in a single pixel down to 50 eV ee. We present results of energy calibrations from 0.3 keV ee to 60 ke Vee, showing that the CCD is a fully active detector with uniform energy response throughout the silicon target, good resolution (Fano ~0.16), and remarkable linear response to electron energy depositions. We show the capability of the CCD to localize the depth of particle interactions within the silicon target. We discuss the mode of operationmore » and unique imaging capabilities of the CCD, and how they may be exploited to characterize and suppress backgrounds. We present the first results from the deployment of 250 μm thick CCDs in SNOLAB, a prototype for the upcoming DAMIC100. DAMIC100 will have a target mass of 0.1 kg and should be able to directly test the CDMS-Si signal within a year of operation.« less

Family influences on mania-relevant cognitions and beliefs: a cognitive model of mania and reward.

PubMed

Chen, Stephen H; Johnson, Sheri L

2012-07-01

The present study proposed and tested a cognitive model of mania and reward. Undergraduates (N = 284; 68.4% female; mean age = 20.99 years, standard deviation ± 3.37) completed measures of family goal setting and achievement values, personal reward-related beliefs, cognitive symptoms of mania, and risk for mania. Correlational analyses and structural equation modeling supported two distinct, but related facets of mania-relevant cognition: stably present reward-related beliefs and state-dependent cognitive symptoms in response to success and positive emotion. Results also indicated that family emphasis on achievement and highly ambitious extrinsic goals were associated with these mania-relevant cognitions. Finally, controlling for other factors, cognitive symptoms in response to success and positive emotion were uniquely associated with lifetime propensity towards mania symptoms. Results support the merit of distinguishing between facets of mania-relevant cognition and the importance of the family in shaping both aspects of cognition. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Camouflage, communication and thermoregulation: lessons from colour changing organisms.

PubMed

Stuart-Fox, Devi; Moussalli, Adnan

2009-02-27

Organisms capable of rapid physiological colour change have become model taxa in the study of camouflage because they are able to respond dynamically to the changes in their visual environment. Here, we briefly review the ways in which studies of colour changing organisms have contributed to our understanding of camouflage and highlight some unique opportunities they present. First, from a proximate perspective, comparison of visual cues triggering camouflage responses and the visual perception mechanisms involved can provide insight into general visual processing rules. Second, colour changing animals can potentially tailor their camouflage response not only to different backgrounds but also to multiple predators with different visual capabilities. We present new data showing that such facultative crypsis may be widespread in at least one group, the dwarf chameleons. From an ultimate perspective, we argue that colour changing organisms are ideally suited to experimental and comparative studies of evolutionary interactions between the three primary functions of animal colour patterns: camouflage; communication; and thermoregulation.

Camouflage, communication and thermoregulation: lessons from colour changing organisms

PubMed Central

Stuart-Fox, Devi; Moussalli, Adnan

2008-01-01

Organisms capable of rapid physiological colour change have become model taxa in the study of camouflage because they are able to respond dynamically to the changes in their visual environment. Here, we briefly review the ways in which studies of colour changing organisms have contributed to our understanding of camouflage and highlight some unique opportunities they present. First, from a proximate perspective, comparison of visual cues triggering camouflage responses and the visual perception mechanisms involved can provide insight into general visual processing rules. Second, colour changing animals can potentially tailor their camouflage response not only to different backgrounds but also to multiple predators with different visual capabilities. We present new data showing that such facultative crypsis may be widespread in at least one group, the dwarf chameleons. From an ultimate perspective, we argue that colour changing organisms are ideally suited to experimental and comparative studies of evolutionary interactions between the three primary functions of animal colour patterns: camouflage; communication; and thermoregulation. PMID:19000973

Weaknesses in executive functioning predict the initiating of adolescents' alcohol use.

PubMed

Peeters, Margot; Janssen, Tim; Monshouwer, Karin; Boendermaker, Wouter; Pronk, Thomas; Wiers, Reinout; Vollebergh, Wilma

2015-12-01

Recently, it has been suggested that impairments in executive functioning might be risk factors for the onset of alcohol use rather than a result of heavy alcohol use. In the present study, we examined whether two aspects of executive functioning, working memory and response inhibition, predicted the first alcoholic drink and first binge drinking episode in young adolescents using discrete survival analyses. Adolescents were selected from several Dutch secondary schools including both mainstream and special education (externalizing behavioral problems). Participants were 534 adolescents between 12 and 14 years at baseline. Executive functioning and alcohol use were assessed four times over a period of two years. Working memory uniquely predicted the onset of first drink (p=.01) and first binge drinking episode (p=.04) while response inhibition only uniquely predicted the initiating of the first drink (p=.01). These results suggest that the association of executive functioning and alcohol consumption found in former studies cannot simply be interpreted as an effect of alcohol consumption, as weaknesses in executive functioning, found in alcohol naïve adolescents, predict the initiating of (binge) drinking. Though, prolonged and heavy alcohol use might further weaken already existing deficiencies. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

The Glaciozyma antarctica genome reveals an array of systems that provide sustained responses towards temperature variations in a persistently cold habitat

PubMed Central

Hashim, Noor Haza Fazlin; Bharudin, Izwan; Abu Bakar, Mohd Faizal; Huang, Kie Kyon; Alias, Halimah; Lee, Bernard K. B.; Mat Isa, Mohd Noor; Mat-Sharani, Shuhaila; Sulaiman, Suhaila; Tay, Lih Jinq; Zolkefli, Radziah; Muhammad Noor, Yusuf; Law, Douglas Sie Nguong; Abdul Rahman, Siti Hamidah; Md-Illias, Rosli; Abu Bakar, Farah Diba; Najimudin, Nazalan; Abdul Murad, Abdul Munir; Mahadi, Nor Muhammad

2018-01-01

Extremely low temperatures present various challenges to life that include ice formation and effects on metabolic capacity. Psyhcrophilic microorganisms typically have an array of mechanisms to enable survival in cold temperatures. In this study, we sequenced and analysed the genome of a psychrophilic yeast isolated in the Antarctic region, Glaciozyma antarctica. The genome annotation identified 7857 protein coding sequences. From the genome sequence analysis we were able to identify genes that encoded for proteins known to be associated with cold survival, in addition to annotating genes that are unique to G. antarctica. For genes that are known to be involved in cold adaptation such as anti-freeze proteins (AFPs), our gene expression analysis revealed that they were differentially transcribed over time and in response to different temperatures. This indicated the presence of an array of adaptation systems that can respond to a changing but persistent cold environment. We were also able to validate the activity of all the AFPs annotated where the recombinant AFPs demonstrated anti-freeze capacity. This work is an important foundation for further collective exploration into psychrophilic microbiology where among other potential, the genes unique to this species may represent a pool of novel mechanisms for cold survival. PMID:29385175

Immunological Demyelination Triggers Macrophage/Microglial Cells Activation without Inducing Astrogliosis

PubMed Central

Sears-Kraxberger, Ilse; Keirstead, Hans S.

2013-01-01

The glial scar formed by reactive astrocytes and axon growth inhibitors associated with myelin play important roles in the failure of axonal regeneration following central nervous system (CNS) injury. Our laboratory has previously demonstrated that immunological demyelination of the CNS facilitates regeneration of severed axons following spinal cord injury. In the present study, we evaluate whether immunological demyelination is accompanied with astrogliosis. We compared the astrogliosis and macrophage/microglial cell responses 7 days after either immunological demyelination or a stab injury to the dorsal funiculus. Both lesions induced a strong activated macrophage/microglial cells response which was significantly higher within regions of immunological demyelination. However, immunological demyelination regions were not accompanied by astrogliosis compared to stab injury that induced astrogliosis which extended several millimeters above and below the lesions, evidenced by astroglial hypertrophy, formation of a glial scar, and upregulation of intermediate filaments glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). Moreover, a stab or a hemisection lesion directly within immunological demyelination regions did not induced astrogliosis within the immunological demyelination region. These results suggest that immunological demyelination creates a unique environment in which astrocytes do not form a glial scar and provides a unique model to understand the putative interaction between astrocytes and activated macrophage/microglial cells. PMID:24319469

Does test-enhanced learning transfer for triple associates?

PubMed

Pan, Steven C; Wong, Carol M; Potter, Zachary E; Mejia, Jonathan; Rickard, Timothy C

2016-01-01

Test-enhanced learning and transfer for triple-associate word stimuli was assessed in three experiments. In each experiment, training and final-test trials involved the presentation of two words per triple associate (triplet), with the third word having to be retrieved. In agreement with the prior literature on different stimuli, training through testing with feedback yielded markedly better final-test performance than did restudy. However, in contrast to the positive transfer reported for paired associate stimuli, minimal or no positive transfer was observed, relative to a restudy control, from a trained cue combination (e.g., A, B, ?) to other cue combinations from the same triplet that required a different response (e.g., B, C, ?). That result also held when two unique cue combinations per triplet were tested during training, and for triplets with low and high average associative strengths. Supplementary analyses provided insight into the overall transfer effect: An incorrect response during training appears to yield positive transfer relative to restudy, whereas a correct response appears to yield no, or even negative, transfer. Cross-experiment analyses indicated that test-enhanced learning is not diminished when two or three cue combinations are presented during training. Thus, even though learning through testing is highly specific, testing on all possible stimulus-response combinations remains the most efficient strategy for the learning of triple associates.

Some Insults are Easier to Detect: The Embodied Insult Detection Effect

PubMed Central

Wellsby, Michele; Siakaluk, Paul D.; Pexman, Penny M.; Owen, William J.

2010-01-01

In the present research we examined the effects of bodily experience on processing of insults in a series of semantic categorization tasks we call insult detection tasks (i.e., participants decided whether presented stimuli were insults or not). Two types of insults were used: more embodied insults (e.g., asswipe, ugly), and less embodied insults (e.g., cheapskate, twit), as well as non-insults. In Experiments 1 and 2 the non-insults did not form a single, coherent category (e.g., airbase, polka), whereas in Experiment 3 all the non-insults were compliments (e.g., eyeful, honest). Regardless of type of non-insult used, we observed facilitatory embodied insult effects such that more embodied insults were responded to faster and recalled more often than less embodied insults. In Experiment 4 we used a larger set of insults as stimuli, which allowed hierarchical multiple regression analyses. These analyses revealed that bodily experience ratings accounted for a significant amount of unique response latency, response error, and recall variability for responses to insults, even with several other predictor variables (e.g., frequency, offensiveness, imageability) included in the analyses: responses were faster and more accurate, and there was greater recall for relatively more embodied insults. These results demonstrate that conceptual knowledge of insults is grounded in knowledge gained through bodily experience. PMID:21738511

An Update on Host-Pathogen Interplay and Modulation of Immune Responses during Orientia tsutsugamushi Infection.

PubMed

Díaz, Fabián E; Abarca, Katia; Kalergis, Alexis M

2018-04-01

The obligate intracellular bacterium Orientia tsutsugamushi is the causative agent of scrub typhus in humans, a serious mite-borne disease present in a widespread area of endemicity, which affects an estimated 1 million people every year. This disease may exhibit a broad range of presentations, ranging from asymptomatic to fatal conditions, with the latter being due to disseminated endothelial infection and organ injury. Unique characteristics of the biology and host-pathogen interactions of O. tsutsugamushi , including the high antigenic diversity among strains and the highly variable, short-lived memory responses developed by the host, underlie difficulties faced in the pursuit of an effective vaccine, which is an imperative need. Other factors that have hindered scientific progress relative to the infectious mechanisms of and the immune response triggered by this bacterium in vertebrate hosts include the limited number of mechanistic studies performed on animal models and the lack of genetic tools currently available for this pathogen. However, recent advances in animal model development are promising to improve our understanding of host-pathogen interactions. Here, we comprehensively discuss the recent advances in and future perspectives on host-pathogen interactions and the modulation of immune responses related to this reemerging disease, highlighting the role of animal models. Copyright © 2018 American Society for Microbiology.

Patterns of sexual arousal in homosexual, bisexual, and heterosexual men.

PubMed

Cerny, Jerome A; Janssen, Erick

2011-08-01

The purpose of this study was to determine if self-identified bisexual, heterosexual, and homosexual men show differential genital and subjective arousal patterns to video presentations of bisexual, heterosexual, male homosexual, and lesbian sexual interactions. It was predicted that, relative to heterosexual and homosexual stimuli, bisexual men would show the highest levels of sexual arousal to bisexual erotic material, while this stimulus would induce relatively low levels of response in heterosexual and homosexual men. A sample of 59 men (19 homosexual, 13 bisexual, and 27 heterosexual) were presented with a series of 4-min sexual videos while their genital and subjective sexual responses were measured continuously. Bisexual men did not differ significantly in their responses to male homosexual stimuli (depicting men engaging in sex) from homosexual men, and they did not differ significantly in their responses to heterosexual (depicting two women, without same-sex contact, engaged in sex with a man) and lesbian (depicting women engaging in sex) stimuli from heterosexual men. However, bisexual men displayed significantly higher levels of both genital and subjective sexual arousal to a bisexual stimulus (depicting a man engaged in sex with both a man and a woman) than either homosexual or heterosexual men. The findings of this study indicate that bisexuality in men is associated with a unique and specific pattern of sexual arousal.

A micromechanical constitutive model for the dynamic response of brittle materials "Dynamic response of marble"

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haberman, Keith

2001-07-01

A micromechanically based constitutive model for the dynamic inelastic behavior of brittle materials, specifically "Dionysus-Pentelicon marble" with distributed microcracking is presented. Dionysus-Pentelicon marble was used in the construction of the Parthenon, in Athens, Greece. The constitutive model is a key component in the ability to simulate this historic explosion and the preceding bombardment form cannon fire that occurred at the Parthenon in 1678. Experiments were performed by Rosakis (1999) that characterized the static and dynamic response of this unique material. A micromechanical constitutive model that was previously successfully used to model the dynamic response of granular brittle materials is presented. The constitutive model was fitted to the experimental data for marble and reproduced the experimentally observed basic uniaxial dynamic behavior quite well. This micromechanical constitutive model was then implemented into the three dimensional nonlinear lagrangain finite element code Dyna3d(1998). Implementing this methodology into the three dimensional nonlinear dynamic finite element code allowed the model to be exercised on several preliminary impact experiments. During future simulations, the model is to be used in conjunction with other numerical techniques to simulate projectile impact and blast loading on the Dionysus-Pentelicon marble and on the structure of the Parthenon.

A methodology for enhancing implementation science proposals: comparison of face-to-face versus virtual workshops.

PubMed

Marriott, Brigid R; Rodriguez, Allison L; Landes, Sara J; Lewis, Cara C; Comtois, Katherine A

2016-05-06

With the current funding climate and need for advancements in implementation science, there is a growing demand for grantsmanship workshops to increase the quality and rigor of proposals. A group-based implementation science-focused grantsmanship workshop, the Implementation Development Workshop (IDW), is one methodology to address this need. This manuscript provides an overview of the IDW structure, format, and findings regarding its utility. The IDW methodology allows researchers to vet projects in the proposal stage in a structured format with a facilitator and two types of expert participants: presenters and attendees. The presenter uses a one-page handout and verbal presentation to present their proposal and questions. The facilitator elicits feedback from attendees using a format designed to maximize the number of unique points made. After each IDW, participants completed an anonymous survey assessing perceptions of the IDW. Presenters completed a funding survey measuring grant submission and funding success. Qualitative interviews were conducted with a subset of participants who participated in both delivery formats. Mixed method analyses were performed to evaluate the effectiveness and acceptability of the IDW and compare the delivery formats. Of those who participated in an IDW (N = 72), 40 participated in face-to-face only, 16 in virtual only, and 16 in both formats. Thirty-eight (face-to-face n = 12, 35 % response rate; virtual n = 26, 66.7 % response rate) responded to the surveys and seven (15.3 % response rate), who had attended both formats, completed an interview. Of 36 total presenters, 17 (face-to-face n = 12, 42.9 % response rate; virtual n = 5, 62.9 % response rate) responded to the funding survey. Mixed method analyses indicated that the IDW was effective for collaboration and growth, effective for enhancing success in obtaining grants, and acceptable. A third (35.3 %) of presenters ultimately received funding for their proposal, and more than 80 % of those who presented indicated they would present again in the future. The IDW structure and facilitation process were found to be acceptable, with both formats rated as equally strong. The IDW presents an acceptable and successful methodology for increasing competitiveness of implementation science grant proposals.

NECAP 4.1: NASA's Energy Cost Analysis Program thermal response factor routine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Weise, M. R.

1982-08-01

A thermal response factor is described and calculation sequences and flowcharts for RESFAC2 are provided. RESFAC is used by NASA's (NECAP) to calculate hourly heat transfer coefficients (thermal response factors) for each unique delayed surface. NECAP uses these response factors to compute each spaces' hourly heat gain/loss.

Immunogenicity of Mycobacterium leprae unique antigens in leprosy endemic populations in Asia and Africa.

PubMed

Bobosha, Kidist; Van Der Ploeg-Van Schip, Jolien J; Zewdie, Martha; Sapkota, Bishwa Raj; Hagge, Deanna A; Franken, Kees L M C; Inbiale, Wondmagegn; Aseffa, Abraham; Ottenhoff, Tom H M; Geluk, Annemieke

2011-12-01

Ongoing transmission of leprosy is evident from the stable disease incidence in high burden areas. Tools for early detection of Mycobacterium leprae (M. leprae) infection, particularly in sub-clinically infected individuals, are urgently required to reduce transmission. Following the sequencing of the M. leprae genome, many M. leprae-unique candidate proteins have been identified, several of which have been tested for induction of M. leprae specific T cell responses in different leprosy endemic areas. In this study, 21 M. leprae-unique proteins and 10 peptide pools covering the complete sequence of five M. leprae-unique proteins (ML0576, ML1989, ML1990, ML2283, and ML2567) were evaluated in 160 individuals in Nepal and Ethiopia. These included: tuberculoid and borderline tuberculoid (TT/BT), borderline borderline and borderline lepromatous (BB/BL) leprosy patients; healthy household contacts (HHC); tuberculosis (TB) patients and endemic controls (EC). Immunogenicity of the proteins was determined by IFN-gamma secretion via stimulation of PBMC in 6 days lymphocyte stimulation tests (LST) or in whole blood assays (WBA). In LST, BB/BL patients (40%) responded to ML0573 and ML1601 whereas ML1604 was most immunogenic in TT/BT (35%) and HHC (36%). Additionally, significant numbers of EC displayed IFN-gamma production in response to ML0573 (54%), ML1601 (50%) and ML1604 (54%). TB patients on the other hand, hardly responded to any of the proteins except for ML1989. Comparison of IFN-gamma responses to ML0121, ML0141 and ML0188 for TT/BT patients showed specific increase in diluted 6 days WBA compared to the undiluted 24 hours WBA, whereas EC showed a reduced response in the diluted WBA, which may indicate detection of disease-specific responses in the 6 days WBA. In summary, identification of multiple M. leprae proteins inducing M. leprae-specific T cell responses in groups at high risk of developing leprosy may contribute to improve early detection for M. leprae infection.

The ties that bind: Ingroup ties are linked with diminished inflammatory immune responses and fewer mental health symptoms through less rumination.

PubMed

Ysseldyk, Renate; McQuaid, Robyn J; McInnis, Opal A; Anisman, Hymie; Matheson, Kimberly

2018-01-01

The present research explored whether components of social identity, namely ingroup ties, affect, and centrality, were differentially linked to mental health and inflammatory immune responses, and whether rumination mediated those relations. Study 1 (N = 138) indicated that stronger ingroup ties were associated with fewer mental health (depressive and post-traumatic stress) symptoms; those relations were mediated by the tendency for individuals with strong ties to rely less on ruminative coping to deal with a stressful life event. Study 2 (N = 54) demonstrated that ingroup ties were negatively associated with depressive symptoms, dispositional rumination, as well as stress-linked inflammatory elements at the physiological level. Consistent associations for centrality and ingroup affect were absent, suggesting that ingroup ties may have unique health benefits.

Relating Human Genetic Variation to Variation in Drug Responses

PubMed Central

Madian, Ashraf G.; Wheeler, Heather E.; Jones, Richard Baker; Dolan, M. Eileen

2012-01-01

Although sequencing a single human genome was a monumental effort a decade ago, more than one thousand genomes have now been sequenced. The task ahead lies in transforming this information into personalized treatment strategies that are tailored to the unique genetics of each individual. One important aspect of personalized medicine is patient-to-patient variation in drug response. Pharmacogenomics addresses this issue by seeking to identify genetic contributors to human variation in drug efficacy and toxicity. Here, we present a summary of the current status of this field, which has evolved from studies of single candidate genes to comprehensive genome-wide analyses. Additionally, we discuss the major challenges in translating this knowledge into a systems-level understanding of drug physiology with the ultimate goal of developing more effective personalized clinical treatment strategies. PMID:22840197

Special Considerations for Mass Violence Events in Senior Living Facilities: A Case Report on the Pinelake Health and Rehab Center Shooting.

PubMed

Martin, Cody; Powell, David

2017-02-01

The 2009 Pinelake Health and Rehab Center shooting in Carthage, North Carolina, presents a unique case study for examining the specific considerations for mass violence events in senior living facilities. A variety of factors, including reduced sensory perception, reduced mobility, and cognitive decline, may increase the vulnerability of the populations of senior living facilities during mass violence events. Management of response aspects such as evacuation, relocation, and reunification also require special consideration in the context of mass violence at senior living facilities. Better awareness of these vulnerabilities and response considerations can assist facility administrators and emergency managers when preparing for potential mass violence events at senior living facilities. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2017;11:150-152).

Evolution of Monitoring and Evaluation of AIDS Response in Ukraine: Laying the Groundwork for Evidence-Based Health Care.

PubMed

Dumchev, Kostyantyn; Varetska, Olga; Kuzin, Ihor

2017-07-01

Once facing the most severe HIV epidemic in Eastern Europe, Ukraine has built an elaborate Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) system to track the response to AIDS. This system was developed using recommendations and input from multiple international expert organizations and donors and, at the current stage, serves as a best practice model in many areas. The present paper aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the evolution of the M&E system in Ukraine since its inception. Notable achievements and challenges are described and illustrated by epidemiological data and the recommendations for future development are discussed. Unique experiences and advances in M&E in Ukraine may be useful to other countries facing similar epidemiological, structural or methodological issues.

Application of a brain-computer interface for person authentication using EEG responses to photo stimuli.

PubMed

Mu, Zhendong; Yin, Jinhai; Hu, Jianfeng

2018-01-01

In this paper, a person authentication system that can effectively identify individuals by generating unique electroencephalogram signal features in response to self-face and non-self-face photos is presented. In order to achieve a good stability performance, the sequence of self-face photo including first-occurrence position and non-first-occurrence position are taken into account in the serial occurrence of visual stimuli. In addition, a Fisher linear classification method and event-related potential technique for feature analysis is adapted to yield remarkably better outcomes than that by most of the existing methods in the field. The results have shown that the EEG-based person authentications via brain-computer interface can be considered as a suitable approach for biometric authentication system.

Thermoelastic Formulation of Stiffened, Unsymmetric Composite Panels for Finite Element Analysis of High Speed Aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Collier, Craig S.

2004-01-01

An emerging technology need for capturing 3-D panel thermoelastic response with 2-D planar finite element models (FEMs) is aided with an equivalent plate stiffness and thermal coefficient formulation. The formulation is general and applies to all panel concepts. Included with the formulation is the ability to provide membrane-bending coupling of unsymmetric sections and calculation of all thermal expansion and bending responses from in-plane and through-the-thickness temperature gradients. Thermal residual strains for both the laminates and plies are included. The general formulation is defined and then applied to a hat-shaped, corrugated stiffened panel. Additional formulations are presented where required to include all of the hat's unique characteristics. Each formulation is validated independently with 3-D FEA.

Nonlinear, anisotropic, and giant photoconductivity in intrinsic and doped graphene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Ashutosh; Ghosh, Saikat; Agarwal, Amit

2018-01-01

We present a framework to calculate the anisotropic and nonlinear photoconductivity for two band systems with application to graphene. In contrast to the usual perturbative (second order in the optical field strength) techniques, we calculate photoconductivity to all orders in the optical field strength. In particular, for graphene, we find the photoresponse to be giant (at large optical field strengths) and anisotropic. The anisotropic photoresponse in graphene is correlated with polarization of the incident field, with the response being similar to that of a half-wave plate. We predict that the anisotropy in the simultaneous measurement of longitudinal (σx x) and transverse (σy x) photoconductivity, with four probes, offers a unique experimental signature of the photovoltaic response, distinguishing it from the thermal-Seebeck and bolometric effects in photoresponse.

Fast-responding liquid crystal light-valve technology for color-sequential display applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Janssen, Peter J.; Konovalov, Victor A.; Muravski, Anatoli A.; Yakovenko, Sergei Y.

1996-04-01

A color sequential projection system has some distinct advantages over conventional systems which make it uniquely suitable for consumer TV as well as high performance professional applications such as computer monitors and electronic cinema. A fast responding light-valve is, clearly, essential for a good performing system. Response speed of transmissive LC lightvalves has been marginal thus far for good color rendition. Recently, Sevchenko Institute has made some very fast reflective LC cells which were evaluated at Philips Labs. These devices showed sub millisecond-large signal-response times, even at room temperature, and produced good color in a projector emulation testbed. In our presentation we describe our highly efficient color sequential projector and demonstrate its operation on video tape. Next we discuss light-valve requirements and reflective light-valve test results.

Multiscale Poly-(ϵ-caprolactone) Scaffold Mimicking Nonlinearity in Tendon Tissue Mechanics

PubMed Central

Banik, Brittany L.; Lewis, Gregory S.; Brown, Justin L.

2016-01-01

Regenerative medicine plays a critical role in the future of medicine. However, challenges remain to balance stem cells, biomaterial scaffolds, and biochemical factors to create successful and effective scaffold designs. This project analyzes scaffold architecture with respect to mechanical capability and preliminary mesenchymal stem cell response for tendon regeneration. An electrospun fiber scaffold with tailorable properties based on a “Chinese-fingertrap” design is presented. The unique criss-crossed fiber structures demonstrate non-linear mechanical response similar to that observed in native tendon. Mechanical testing revealed that optimizing the fiber orientation resulted in the characteristic “S”-shaped curve, demonstrating a toe region and linear elastic region. This project has promising research potential across various disciplines: vascular engineering, nerve regeneration, and ligament and tendon tissue engineering. PMID:27141530

More than a feeling: Emotional cues impact the access and experience of autobiographical memories.

PubMed

Sheldon, Signy; Donahue, Julia

2017-07-01

Remembering is impacted by several factors of retrieval, including the emotional content of a memory cue. Here we tested how musical retrieval cues that differed on two dimensions of emotion-valence (positive and negative) and arousal (high and low)-impacted the following aspects of autobiographical memory recall: the response time to access a past personal event, the experience of remembering (ratings of memory vividness), the emotional content of a cued memory (ratings of event arousal and valence), and the type of event recalled (ratings of event energy, socialness, and uniqueness). We further explored how cue presentation affected autobiographical memory retrieval by administering cues of similar arousal and valence levels in a blocked fashion to one half of the tested participants, and randomly to the other half. We report three main findings. First, memories were accessed most quickly in response to musical cues that were highly arousing and positive in emotion. Second, we observed a relation between a cue and the elicited memory's emotional valence but not arousal; however, both the cue valence and arousal related to the nature of the recalled event. Specifically, high cue arousal led to lower memory vividness and uniqueness ratings, but cues with both high arousal and positive valence were associated with memories rated as more social and energetic. Finally, cue presentation impacted both how quickly and specifically memories were accessed and how cue valence affected the memory vividness ratings. The implications of these findings for views of how emotion directs the access to memories and the experience of remembering are discussed.

Psychosocial Pain Management Moderation: The Limit, Activate, and Enhance Model.

PubMed

Day, Melissa A; Ehde, Dawn M; Jensen, Mark P

2015-10-01

There is a growing emphasis in the pain literature on understanding the following second-order research questions: Why do psychosocial pain treatments work? For whom do various treatments work? This critical review summarizes research that addresses the latter question and proposes a moderation model to help guide future research. A theoretical moderation framework for matching individuals to specific psychosocial pain interventions has been lacking. However, several such frameworks have been proposed in the broad psychotherapy and implementation science literature. Drawing on these theories and adapting them specifically for psychosocial pain treatment, here we propose a Limit, Activate, and Enhance model of pain treatment moderation. This model is unique in that it includes algorithms not only for matching treatments on the basis of patient weaknesses but also for directing patients to interventions that build on their strengths. Critically, this model provides a basis for specific a priori hypothesis generation, and a selection of the possible hypotheses drawn from the model are proposed and discussed. Future research considerations are presented that could refine and expand the model based on theoretically driven empirical evidence. The Limit, Activate, and Enhance model presented here is a theoretically derived framework that provides an a priori basis for hypothesis generation regarding psychosocial pain treatment moderators. The model will advance moderation research via its unique focus on matching patients to specific treatments that (1) limit maladaptive responses, (2) activate adaptive responses, and (3) enhance treatment outcomes based on patient strengths and resources. Copyright © 2015 American Pain Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Unique roles of glucagon and glucagon-like peptides: Parallels in understanding the functions of adipokinetic hormones in stress responses in insects.

PubMed

Bednářová, Andrea; Kodrík, Dalibor; Krishnan, Natraj

2013-01-01

Glucagon is conventionally regarded as a hormone, counter regulatory in function to insulin and plays a critical anti-hypoglycemic role by maintaining glucose homeostasis in both animals and humans. Glucagon performs this function by increasing hepatic glucose output to the blood by stimulating glycogenolysis and gluconeogenesis in response to starvation. Additionally it plays a homeostatic role by decreasing glycogenesis and glycolysis in tandem to try and maintain optimal glucose levels. To perform this action, it also increases energy expenditure which is contrary to what one would expect and has actions which are unique and not entirely in agreement with its role in protection from hypoglycemia. Interestingly, glucagon-like peptides (GLP-1 and GLP-2) from the major fragment of proglucagon (in non-mammalian vertebrates, as well as in mammals) may also modulate response to stress in addition to their other physiological actions. These unique modes of action occur in response to psychological, metabolic and other stress situations and mirror the role of adipokinetic hormones (AKHs) in insects which perform a similar function. The findings on the anti-stress roles of glucagon and glucagon-like peptides in mammalian and non-mammalian vertebrates may throw light on the multiple stress responsive mechanisms which operate in a concerted manner under regulation by AKH in insects thus functioning as a stress responsive hormone while also maintaining organismal homeostasis. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Functional genomics of the muscle response to restraint and transport in chickens.

PubMed

Hazard, D; Fernandez, X; Pinguet, J; Chambon, C; Letisse, F; Portais, J-C; Wadih-Moussa, Z; Rémignon, H; Molette, C

2011-09-01

In the present study, we used global approaches (proteomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics) to assess the molecular basis of the muscle response to stress in chickens. A restraint test, combined with transport for 2 h (RT test) was chosen as the potentially stressful situation. Chickens (6 wk old) were either nontreated (control chickens) or submitted to the RT test (treated chickens). The RT test induced a 6-fold increase in corticosterone concentrations, suggesting hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis activation. The RT test decreased the relative abundance of several hexose phosphates [glucose-1-P (G1P), glucose-6-P (G6P), fructose-6-P (F6P), and mannose-6-P (M6P)] in thigh muscle. In addition, 55 transcripts, among which 39 corresponded to unique annotated genes, were significantly up- (12 genes) or downregulated (27 genes) by treatment. Similarly, 45 proteic spots, among which 29 corresponded to unique annotated proteins, were overexpressed (11 proteins), underexpressed (14 proteins), or only expressed in treated chickens. Integrative analysis of differentially expressed genes and proteins showed that most transcripts and proteins belong to 2 networks whose genes were mainly related with cytoskeleton structure or carbohydrate metabolism. Whereas the decrease in energetic metabolites suggested an activation of glycogenolysis and glycolysis in response to the RT test, the reduced expression of genes and proteins involved in these pathways suggested the opposite. We hypothesized that the prolonged RT test resulted in a repression of glycogenolysis and glycolysis in thigh muscle of chickens. The down-expression of genes and proteins involved in the formation of fiber stress after the RT test suggests a reinforcement of myofibrils in response to stress.

Osmoadaptation and osmoregulation in archaea.

PubMed

Roberts, M F

2000-09-01

The response of archaea to changes in external NaCl is reviewed and compared to what is known about osmoadaptation and osmoregulation in bacteria and eukaryotes. Cells placed in altered external NaCl exhibit short term and long term responses. The earliest events are likely to be water movement through aquaporin-like channels (efflux if external NaCl has been increased, influx into the cell if the external NaCl has been decreased) and ion movement (e.g., K+ moving in the direction opposite to water flow) through channels sensitive to osmotic pressure. Accumulation of organic solutes, either by uptake from the medium or de novo synthesis, is triggered after these initial changes. Archaea have some unique organic solutes (osmolytes) that are not used by other organisms. These as well as other more common solutes have a role in stabilizing macromolecules from denaturation. Many osmolytes are distinguished by their stability in the cell and their lack of strong interactions with cellular components. A cell may respond by accumulating one or more temporary osmolytes, then over time readjust the intracellular solute distribution to what is optimal for cell growth under the new conditions. Coupled with the movement and accumulation of solutes is the induction of stress proteins (e.g., chaperonins) and, in some cases, transcriptional regulation of key enzymes. The response to NaCl stress of Methanococcus thermolithotrophicus is presented as an example of how one particular archaeon responds and adapts to altered osmotic pressure. Clearly, the detailed response of other archaea to osmotic stress will be needed in order to identify features (aside from some of the organic osmolytes) unique to the organisms in this kingdom.

Estimating the Nominal Response Model under Nonnormal Conditions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Preston, Kathleen Suzanne Johnson; Reise, Steven Paul

2014-01-01

The nominal response model (NRM), a much understudied polytomous item response theory (IRT) model, provides researchers the unique opportunity to evaluate within-item category distinctions. Polytomous IRT models, such as the NRM, are frequently applied to psychological assessments representing constructs that are unlikely to be normally…

High-throughput tool to discriminate effects of NMs (Cu-NPs, Cu-nanowires, CuNO3, and Cu salt aged): transcriptomics in Enchytraeus crypticus.

PubMed

Gomes, Susana I L; Roca, Carlos P; Pegoraro, Natália; Trindade, Tito; Scott-Fordsmand, Janeck J; Amorim, Mónica J B

2018-05-01

The current testing of nanomaterials (NMs) via standard toxicity tests does not cover many of the NMs specificities. One of the recommendations lays on understanding the mechanisms of action, as these can help predicting long-term effects and safe-by-design production. In the present study, we used the high-throughput gene expression tool, developed for Enchytraeus crypticus (4 × 44k Agilent microarray), to study the effects of exposure to several copper (Cu) forms. The Cu treatments included two NMs (spherical and wires) and two copper-salt treatments (CuNO 3 spiked and Cu salt field historical contamination). To relate gene expression with higher effect level, testing was done with reproduction effect concentrations (EC 20 , EC 50 ), using 3 and 7 days as exposure periods. Results showed that time plays a major role in the transcriptomic response, most of it occurring after 3 days. Analysis of gene expression profiles showed that Cu-salt-aged and Cu-nanowires (Nwires) differed from CuNO 3 and Cu-nanoparticles (NPs). Functional analysis revealed specific mechanisms: Cu-NPs uniquely affected senescence and cuticle pattern formation, which can result from the contact of the NPs with the worms' tegument. Cu-Nwires affected reproduction via male gamete generation and hermaphrodite genitalia development. CuNO 3 affected neurotransmission and locomotory behavior, both of which can be related with avoidance response. Cu salt-aged uniquely affected phagocytosis and reproductive system development (via different mechanisms than Cu-Nwires). For the first time for Cu (nano)materials, the adverse outcome pathways (AOPs) drafted here provide an overview for common and unique effects per material and linkage with apical effects.

Antagonistic, overlapping and distinct responses to biotic stress in rice (Oryza sativa) and interactions with abiotic stress

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Every year, substantial crop loss occurs globally, as a result of bacterial, fungal, parasite and viral infections in rice. Here, we present an in-depth investigation of the transcriptomic response to infection with the destructive bacterial pathogen Xanthomonas oryzae pv. oryzae(Xoo) in both resistant and susceptible varieties of Oryza sativa. A comparative analysis to fungal, parasite and viral infection in rice is also presented. Results Within 24 h of Xoo inoculation, significant reduction of cell wall components and induction of several signalling components, membrane bound receptor kinases and specific WRKY and NAC transcription factors was prominent, providing a framework for how the presence of this pathogen was signalled and response mounted. Extensive comparative analyses of various other pathogen responses, including in response to infection with another bacterium (Xoc), resistant and susceptible parasite infection, fungal, and viral infections, led to a proposed model for the rice biotic stress response. In this way, a conserved induction of calcium signalling functions, and specific WRKY and NAC transcription factors, was identified in response to all biotic stresses. Comparison of these responses to abiotic stress (cold, drought, salt, heat), enabled the identification of unique genes responsive only to bacterial infection, 240 genes responsive to both abiotic and biotic stress, and 135 genes responsive to biotic, but not abiotic stresses. Functional significance of a number of these genes, using genetic inactivation or over-expression, has revealed significant stress-associated phenotypes. While only a few antagonistic responses were observed between biotic and abiotic stresses, e.g. for a number of endochitinases and kinase encoding genes, some of these may be crucial in explaining greater pathogen infection and damage under abiotic stresses. Conclusions The analyses presented here provides a global view of the responses to multiple stresses, further validates known resistance-associated genes, and highlights new potential target genes, some lineage specific to rice, that play important roles in response to stress, providing a roadmap to develop varieties of rice that are more resistant to multiple biotic and abiotic stresses, as encountered in nature. PMID:23398910

Structural testing and analysis of a braided, inflatable fabric torus structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Young, Andrew C.; Davids, William G.; Whitney, Daniel J.; Clapp, Joshua D.; Goupee, Andrew J.

2017-10-01

Inflatable structural members have military, disaster relief, aerospace and other important applications as they possess low mass, can be stored in a relatively small volume and have significant load-carrying capacity once pressurized. Of particular interest to the present research is the Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) structure under development by NASA. In order to make predictions about the structural response of the HIAD system, it is necessary to understand the response of individual inflatable tori composing the HIAD structure. These inflatable members present unique challenges to structural testing and modeling due to their internal inflation pressure and relative compliance. Structural testing was performed on a braided, inflatable, toroidal structural member with axial reinforcing cords. The internal inflation pressure, magnitude of enforced displacement and loading methodology were varied. In-plane and out-of-plane experimental results were compared to model predictions using a three dimensional, corotational, flexibility-based fiber-beam finite element model including geometric and material nonlinearities, as well as the effects of inflation pressure. It was found that in order to approximate the load-deformation response observed in experimentation it is necessary to carefully control the test and model boundary conditions and loading scheme.

Self-powered highly enhanced broad wavelength (UV to visible) photoresponse of ZnO@ZnO1-xSx@ZnS core-shell heterostructures.

PubMed

Sarkar, Sanjit; Das Mahapatra, Ayon; Basak, Durga

2018-08-01

In the present scenario of energy crisis, it is inevitable to focus on the low powered or self-powered devices. Multi-spectral photoresponse is an additional advantage to the above feature. We have developed an efficient self-powered photodetector with broad wavelength detection range based on heterostructures of two wide band-gap materials ZnO and ZnS. More than two orders higher responsivity and 'ON/OFF' ratio has been observed in case of heterostructure sample as compared to pristine ZnO. On the basis of the controlled experimental results, it has been established that the interfacial surface engineering, can be useful to improve the visible response and a significant photovoltaic performance under visible light illumination can be achieved. Unlike the other recent reports on self-powered UV-visible photodetector, we have achieved two order higher visible response without compromising the UV photoresponse. Unprecedented broad wavelength photodetection in self-powered mode in the present study highlights the uniqueness and advantage of an interface in a core-shell heterostructure for photodetection applications. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Individual response differences in spider phobia: comparing phobic and non-phobic women of different reactivity levels.

PubMed

Knopf, Kerstin; Pössel, Patrick

2009-01-01

In contrast to previous stress research, studies concerning phobic disorders have never systematically investigated individual response differences between phobic participants integrating numerous different response measures. The aim of this article is to clarify the existence of significant individual response differences in psychophysiological responses (e.g., heart rate, skin conductance responses (SCR), corrugator, cortisol), subjective ratings (e.g., valence, arousal), and avoidance behavior in 46 spider phobic and 44 non-phobic women when exposed to 20 phobic and 20 neutral pictures. Previous studies that did not attend to individual response differences showed that, during phobic stimulation, phobic individuals have increased psychophysiological responses (heart rate, SCR, and corrugator responses), more negative valence rating, and more subjective arousal than non-phobic individuals. These results were confirmed by our data. With regard to individual response uniqueness, 1/3-2/3 of spider-phobic women with low responsiveness in heart rate, cortisol, and avoidance behavior were indistinguishable from non-phobic women during phobic stimulation. With SCR, corrugator EMG, and subjective ratings, no individual response uniqueness was found. Based on the findings, exposure therapy might be improved by tailoring interventions to individuals with a therapeutic focus on those psychophysiological measures that show the highest individual responsivity.

Generating a Reduced Gravity Environment on Earth

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dungan, Larry K.; Cunningham, Tom; Poncia, Dina

2010-01-01

Since the 1950s several reduced gravity simulators have been designed and utilized in preparing humans for spaceflight and in reduced gravity system development. The Active Response Gravity Offload System (ARGOS) is the newest and most realistic gravity offload simulator. ARGOS provides three degrees of motion within the test area and is scalable for full building deployment. The inertia of the overhead system is eliminated by an active motor and control system. This presentation will discuss what ARGOS is, how it functions, and the unique challenges of interfacing to the human. Test data and video for human and robotic systems will be presented. A major variable in the human machine interaction is the interface of ARGOS to the human. These challenges along with design solutions will be discussed.

Using Response Cards in Teacher Education--A Case Example in Taiwan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wang, Hui-Ting

2016-01-01

Using response cards is one strategy to increase active student response. This approach may also satisfy a unique cultural learning need in some cultures like Taiwan where students are hesitant to speak in class. This paper provides a case example of using personal writing boards (PWBs) as an alternative response option to improve student…

Tako-Tsubo cardiomyopathy presenting with cardiogenic shock successfully treated with milrinone: a case report.

PubMed

Doyen, Denis; Dellamonica, Jean; Moceri, Pamela; Moschietto, Sébastien; Hyvernat, Hervé; Ferrari, Emile; Bernardin, Gilles

2014-01-01

We report the case of a middle age patient presenting with Tako-Tsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC) complicated by cardiogenic shock that was successfully handled with milrinone. A 64-year old man presented with cardiogenic shock after benzodiazepine and alcohol intoxication. A slight elevation of troponin and typical left ventricular ballooning without coronary lesions suggested TTC. Within a few hours milrinone infusion normalized the cardiac index. TTC is responsible for severe transient left ventricular dysfunction occurring after physical or psychological stress. The major pathophysiological mechanism involved is disproportionate catecholamine secretion, which may stun the myocardium. We considered if treatment of this unique physiopathology with catecholamines could be dangerous in these patients and if alternative inotropes such as milrinone should be preferred. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Diffuse Large Cell Lymphoma Presenting as a Sacral Mass and Lupus Anticoagulant

PubMed Central

Ediriwickrema, Lilangi S.; Zaheer, Wajih

2011-01-01

A 67-year-old gentleman presented to Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH) for assessment of a supratherapeutic INR and sacral lesion. Hematologic workup revealed elevated ESR, PT, INR, PTT, and CRP, mixing studies that failed to correct, and a positive Russell Viper Venom Test (RVVT), which confirmed the presence of lupus anticoagulant (LA), a subtype of antiphospholipid syndrome (APA). Pathology of the patient’s sacral lesion revealed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. This case provides insight into the association between APA and lymphoid neoplasm. The patient’s unique presentation is in marked contrast to other reports of APA and lymphoid malignancy, which are typically associated with elevated PTT, normal PT, minimal extranodal disease, and potential thrombotic complications. Further, treatment with Rituximab-CHOP chemotherapy led to excellent clinical response with tumor remission and normalization of PT and PTT. PMID:22180680

Diffuse large cell lymphoma presenting as a sacral mass and lupus anticoagulant.

PubMed

Ediriwickrema, Lilangi S; Zaheer, Wajih

2011-12-01

A 67-year-old gentleman presented to Yale-New Haven Hospital (YNHH) for assessment of a supratherapeutic INR and sacral lesion. Hematologic workup revealed elevated ESR, PT, INR, PTT, and CRP, mixing studies that failed to correct, and a positive Russell Viper Venom Test (RVVT), which confirmed the presence of lupus anticoagulant (LA), a subtype of antiphospholipid syndrome (APA). Pathology of the patient's sacral lesion revealed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. This case provides insight into the association between APA and lymphoid neoplasm. The patient's unique presentation is in marked contrast to other reports of APA and lymphoid malignancy, which are typically associated with elevated PTT, normal PT, minimal extranodal disease, and potential thrombotic complications. Further, treatment with Rituximab-CHOP chemotherapy led to excellent clinical response with tumor remission and normalization of PT and PTT.

Salience of unique hues and implications for color theory

PubMed Central

Wool, Lauren E.; Komban, Stanley J.; Kremkow, Jens; Jansen, Michael; Li, Xiaobing; Alonso, Jose-Manuel; Zaidi, Qasim

2015-01-01

The unique hues—blue, green, yellow, red—form the fundamental dimensions of opponent-color theories, are considered universal across languages, and provide useful mental representations for structuring color percepts. However, there is no neural evidence for them from neurophysiology or low-level psychophysics. Tapping a higher prelinguistic perceptual level, we tested whether unique hues are particularly salient in search tasks. We found no advantage for unique hues over their nonunique complementary colors. However, yellowish targets were detected faster, more accurately, and with fewer saccades than their complementary bluish targets (including unique blue), while reddish-greenish pairs were not significantly different in salience. Similarly, local field potentials in primate V1 exhibited larger amplitudes and shorter latencies for yellowish versus bluish stimuli, whereas this effect was weaker for reddish versus greenish stimuli. Consequently, color salience is affected more by early neural response asymmetries than by any possible mental or neural representation of unique hues. PMID:25761328

The American Climate Prospectus: a risk-centered analysis of the economic impacts of climate change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jina, A.; Houser, T.; Hsiang, S. M.; Kopp, R. E., III; Delgado, M.; Larsen, K.; Mohan, S.; Rasmussen, D.; Rising, J.; Wilson, P. S.; Muir-Wood, R.

2014-12-01

The American Climate Prospectus (ACP), the analysis underlying the Risky Business project, quantitatively assessed the climate risks posed to the United States' economy in six sectors - crop yields, energy demand, coastal property, crime, labor productivity, and mortality [1]. The ACP is unique in its characterization of the full probability distribution of economic impacts of climate change throughout the 21st century, making it an extremely useful basis for risk assessments. Three key innovations allow for this characterization. First, climate projections from CMIP5 models are scaled to a temperature probability distribution derived from a coarser climate model (MAGICC). This allows a more accurate representation of the whole distribution of future climates (in particular the tails) than a simple ensemble average. These are downscaled both temporally and spatially. Second, a set of local sea level rise and tropical cyclone projections are used in conjunction with the most detailed dataset of coastal property in the US in order to capture the risks of rising seas and storm surge. Third, we base many of our sectors on empirically-derived responses to temperature and precipitation. Each of these dose-response functions is resampled many times to populate a statistical distribution. Combining these with uncertainty in emissions scenario, climate model, and weather, we create the full probability distribution of climate impacts from county up to national levels, as well as model the effects upon the economy as a whole. Results are presented as likelihood ranges, as well as changes to return intervals of extreme events. The ACP analysis allows us to compare between sectors to understand the magnitude of required policy responses, and also to identify risks through time. Many sectors displaying large impacts at the end of the century, like those of mortality, have smaller changes in the near-term, due to non-linearities in the response functions. Other sectors, like coastal damages, have monotonically increasing costs throughout the 21st century. Taken together, the results from the ACP presents a unique and novel view of the short-, medium-, and long-term economic risks of climate change in the US. References: [1] T. Houser et al (2014), American Climate Prospectus, www.climateprospectus.org.

A viscoelastic analysis of the P56 mouse brain under large-deformation dynamic indentation.

PubMed

MacManus, David B; Pierrat, Baptiste; Murphy, Jeremiah G; Gilchrist, Michael D

2017-01-15

The brain is a complex organ made up of many different functional and structural regions consisting of different types of cells such as neurons and glia, as well as complex anatomical geometries. It is hypothesized that the different regions of the brain exhibit significantly different mechanical properties which may be attributed to the diversity of cells within individual brain regions. The regional viscoelastic properties of P56 mouse brain tissue, up to 70μm displacement, are presented and discussed in the context of traumatic brain injury, particularly how the different regions of the brain respond to mechanical loads. Force-relaxation data obtained from micro-indentation measurements were fit to both linear and quasi-linear viscoelastic models to determine the time and frequency domain viscoelastic response of the pons, cortex, medulla oblongata, cerebellum, and thalamus. The damping ratio of each region was also determined. Each region was found to have a unique mechanical response to the applied displacement, with the pons and thalamus exhibiting the largest and smallest force-response, respectively. All brain regions appear to have an optimal frequency for the dissipation of energies which lies between 1 and 10Hz. We present the first mechanical characterization of the viscoelastic response for different regions of mouse brain. Force-relaxation tests are performed under large strain dynamic micro-indentation, and viscoelastic models are used subsequently, providing time-dependent mechanical properties of brain tissue under loading conditions comparable to what is experienced in TBI. The unique mechanical properties of different brain regions are highlighted, with substantial variations in the viscoelastic properties and damping ratio of each region. Cortex and pons were the stiffest regions, while the thalamus and medulla were most compliant. The cerebellum and thalamus had highest damping ratio values and those of the medulla were lowest. The reported material parameters can be implemented into finite element computer models of the mouse to investigate the effects of trauma on individual brain regions. Copyright © 2016 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Peptide vaccine immunotherapy biomarkers and response patterns in pediatric gliomas

PubMed Central

Müller, Sören; Agnihotri, Sameer; Shoger, Karsen E.; Myers, Max I.; Chaparala, Srilakshmi; Villanueva, Clarence R.; Chattopadhyay, Ansuman; Butterfield, Lisa H.; Okada, Hideho; Pollack, Ian F.

2018-01-01

Low-grade gliomas (LGGs) are the most common brain tumor affecting children. We recently reported an early phase clinical trial of a peptide-based vaccine, which elicited consistent antigen-specific T cell responses in pediatric LGG patients. Additionally, we observed radiologic responses of stable disease (SD), partial response (PR), and near-complete/complete response (CR) following therapy. To identify biomarkers of clinical response in peripheral blood, we performed RNA sequencing on PBMC samples collected at multiple time points. Patients who showed CR demonstrated elevated levels of T cell activation markers, accompanied by a cytotoxic T cell response shortly after treatment initiation. At week 34, patients with CR demonstrated both IFN signaling and Poly-IC:LC adjuvant response patterns. Patients with PR demonstrated a unique, late monocyte response signature. Interestingly, HLA-V expression, before or during therapy, and an early monocytic hematopoietic response were strongly associated with SD. Finally, low IDO1 and PD-L1 expression before treatment and early elevated levels of T cell activation markers were associated with prolonged progression-free survival. Overall, our data support the presence of unique peripheral immune patterns in LGG patients associated with different radiographic responses to our peptide vaccine immunotherapy. Future clinical trials, including our ongoing phase II LGG vaccine immunotherapy, should monitor these response patterns. PMID:29618666

Gas Turbine Engine with Air/Fuel Heat Exchanger

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Krautheim, Michael Stephen (Inventor); Chouinard, Donald G. (Inventor); Donovan, Eric Sean (Inventor); Karam, Michael Abraham (Inventor); Vetters, Daniel Kent (Inventor)

2017-01-01

One embodiment of the present invention is a unique aircraft propulsion gas turbine engine. Another embodiment is a unique gas turbine engine. Another embodiment is a unique gas turbine engine. Other embodiments include apparatuses, systems, devices, hardware, methods, and combinations for gas turbine engines with heat exchange systems. Further embodiments, forms, features, aspects, benefits, and advantages of the present application will become apparent from the description and figures provided herewith.

Medial prefrontal cortex and the emergence of self-conscious emotion in adolescence

PubMed Central

Somerville, Leah H.; Jones, Rebecca M.; Ruberry, Erika J.; Dyke, Jonathan P.; Glover, Gary; Casey, BJ

2013-01-01

In the present study, we examined the relationship between developmental modulation of socioaffective brain systems and adolescents’ preoccupation with social evaluation. Child, adolescent, and adult participants viewed cues indicating that a camera was alternately off, warming up, or projecting their image to a peer during the acquisition of behavioral-, autonomic-, and neural-response (functional MRI) data. Believing that a peer was actively watching them was sufficient to induce self-conscious emotion that was stronger in adolescents than in children and adults. Autonomic arousal was uniquely heightened in adolescents. These behavioral patterns were paralleled by emergent engagement of the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and striatum-MPFC connectivity during adolescence, which are thought to promote adolescent-motivated social behavior. These findings demonstrate that adolescents’ self-consciousness is related to age-dependent sensitivity of brain systems critical to socioaffective processes. Further, unique interactions between the MPFC and striatum may provide a mechanism by which social-evaluation contexts influence adolescent behavior. PMID:23804962

The use of social media for campus safety.

PubMed

Haupt, Brittany; Kapucu, Naim; Morgan, Jeffrey

As public safety communication evolved, each disaster or emergency presented unique challenges for emergency managers and others response to disasters. Yet, a foundational focus is the timely dissemination of accurate information to keep communities informed and able to prepare, mitigate, respond, and recover. For the campus community, the increase in bomb threats, active shooter incidents, and geographic-based natural disasters call for the discovery of reliable and cost-effective solutions for emergency information management. Social media is becoming a critical asset in this endeavor. This article examines the evolution of public safety communication, the unique setting of the campus community, and social media's role in campus disaster resilience. In addition, an exploratory study was done to better understand the perception of social media use for public safety within the campus community. The findings provide practical recommendations for campus emergency management professions; however, future research is needed to provide specific, actionable ways to achieve these goals as well as understand how diverse universities utilize a variety of platforms.

Micrometer-scale fabrication of complex three dimensional lattice + basis structures in silicon

DOE PAGES

Burckel, D. Bruce; Resnick, Paul J.; Finnegan, Patrick S.; ...

2015-01-01

A complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) compatible version of membrane projection lithography (MPL) for fabrication of micrometer-scale three-dimensional structures is presented. The approach uses all inorganic materials and standard CMOS processing equipment. In a single layer, MPL is capable of creating all 5 2D-Bravais lattices. Furthermore, standard semiconductor processing steps can be used in a layer-by-layer approach to create fully three dimensional structures with any of the 14 3D-Bravais lattices. The unit cell basis is determined by the projection of the membrane pattern, with many degrees of freedom for defining functional inclusions. Here we demonstrate several unique structural motifs, andmore » characterize 2D arrays of unit cells with split ring resonators in a silicon matrix. The structures exhibit strong polarization dependent resonances and, for properly oriented split ring resonators (SRRs), coupling to the magnetic field of a normally incident transverse electromagnetic wave, a response unique to 3D inclusions.« less

Ethnocultural resistance to multicultural training: students and faculty.

PubMed

Jackson, L C

1999-02-01

Teaching diversity courses in mental health programs presents a unique set of issues for the faculty. These courses generate various forms of emotional reactions in students that could take the form of anger, silence, avoidance, and passivity. The purpose of this article is to specifically focus on the experience of students of color who find themselves in these courses and the various ways they respond. This learning process is often impeded by resistance because of the personal experiences of all students, but students of color experience a unique set of resistances in each stage of this process, either because of their own experience or because of a lack of experience with racism, racial and biracial identity development, cultural and bicultural identity, or acculturation issues. Resistance in the classroom interferes with the reciprocal communication between instructors and students and interferes with learning and the development of trust between instructors and students of color. Suggestions are made to help faculty to understand these resistances and to develop appropriate responses for working through the process.

General Matrix Inversion for the Calibration of Electric Field Sensor Arrays on Aircraft Platforms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mach, D. M.; Koshak, W. J.

2006-01-01

We have developed a matrix calibration procedure that uniquely relates the electric fields measured at the aircraft with the external vector electric field and net aircraft charge. Our calibration method is being used with all of our aircraft/electric field sensing combinations and can be generalized to any reasonable combination of electric field measurements and aircraft. We determine a calibration matrix that represents the individual instrument responses to the external electric field. The aircraft geometry and configuration of field mills (FMs) uniquely define the matrix. The matrix can then be inverted to determine the external electric field and net aircraft charge from the FM outputs. A distinct advantage of the method is that if one or more FMs need to be eliminated or de-emphasized (for example, due to a malfunction), it is a simple matter to reinvert the matrix without the malfunctioning FMs. To demonstrate our calibration technique, we present data from several of our aircraft programs (ER-2, DC-8, Altus, Citation).

The Response Dynamics of Recognition Memory: Sensitivity and Bias

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Koop, Gregory J.; Criss, Amy H.

2016-01-01

Advances in theories of memory are hampered by insufficient metrics for measuring memory. The goal of this paper is to further the development of model-independent, sensitive empirical measures of the recognition decision process. We evaluate whether metrics from continuous mouse tracking, or response dynamics, uniquely identify response bias and…

21 CFR 830.120 - Responsibilities of an FDA-accredited issuing agency.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 21 Food and Drugs 8 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Responsibilities of an FDA-accredited issuing... HUMAN SERVICES (CONTINUED) MEDICAL DEVICES UNIQUE DEVICE IDENTIFICATION FDA Accreditation of an Issuing Agency § 830.120 Responsibilities of an FDA-accredited issuing agency. To maintain its accreditation, an...

Altered growth response to exogenous auxin and gibberellic acid by gravistimulation in pulvini of Avena sativa

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brock, T. G.; Kaufman, P. B.

1988-01-01

Pulvini of excised segments from oats (Avena sativa L. cv Victory) were treated unilaterally with indoleacetic acid (IAA) or gibberellic acid (GA3) with or without gravistimulation to assess the effect of gravistimulation on hormone action. Optimum pulvinus elongation growth (millimeters) and segment curvature (degrees) over 24 hours were produced by 100 micromolar IAA in vertical segments. The curvature response to IAA at levels greater than 100 micromolar, applied to the lower sides of gravistimulated (90 degrees) pulvini, was significantly less than the response to identical levels in vertical segments. Furthermore, the bending response of pulvini to 100 micromolar IAA did not vary significantly over a range of presentation angles between 0 and 90 degrees. In contrast, the response to IAA at levels less than 10 micromolar, with gravistimulation, was approximately the sum of the responses to gravistimulation alone and to IAA without gravistimulation. This was observed over a range of presentation angles. Also, GA3 (0.3-30 micromolar) applied to the lower sides of horizontal segments significantly enhanced pulvinus growth and segment curvature, although exogenous GA3 over a range of concentrations had no effect on pulvinus elongation growth or segment curvature in vertical segments. The response to GA3 (10 micromolar) plus IAA (1.0 or 100 micromolar) was additive for either vertical or horizontal segments. These results indicate that gravistimulation produces changes in pulvinus responsiveness to both IAA and GA3 and that the changes are unique for each growth regulator. It is suggested that the changes in responsiveness may result from processes at the cellular level other than changes in hormonal sensitivity.

Plastic optical fibre sensor for Madeira wine monitoring

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Novo, C.; Bilro, L.; Alberto, N.; Antunes, P.; Nogueira, R.; Pinto, J. L.

2014-08-01

Madeira wine is a fortified wine produced in Madeira Island, Portugal. Its characteristics are strongly influenced by the winemaking method used which includes a typical and unique step called estufagem. This process consists on heating the wine up to 55 ºC for at least 3 months. In this paper, the characterization of the sensor for the pilot scale facility of estufagem installed in Madeira University is presented, being the device an optimization of a previous version. The response of the sensor was tested towards colour and refractive index, showing a good performance. Madeira wine with different estufagem times was also analysed.

Interpersonal stress and depression in women.

PubMed

Hammen, Constance

2003-03-01

The article presents a review and discussion of several aspects of the interpersonal context in which depression occurs that are unique to women. Women commonly experience depression in response to interpersonal life events, and also they contribute to the occurrence of stressful events and life contexts. Four key topics are reviewed: childrearing and parenting; romantic and marital relationships; generation of stressful life events; enduring social dysfunction even when not depressed. It is argued that depressed women are often locked into maladaptive interpersonal environments that contribute to the recurrence or chronicity of depression. Implications for treatment, conceptualization, and future research are noted.

Modular, high power, variable R dynamic electrical load simulator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Joncas, K. P.

1974-01-01

The design of a previously developed basic variable R load simulator was entended to increase its power dissipation and transient handling capabilities. The delivered units satisfy all design requirements, and provides for a high power, modular simulation capability uniquely suited to the simulation of complex load responses. In addition to presenting conclusions and recommendations and pertinent background information, the report covers program accomplishments; describes the simulator basic circuits, transfer characteristic, protective features, assembly, and specifications; indicates the results of simulator evaluation, including burn-in and acceptance testing; provides acceptance test data; and summarizes the monthly progress reports.

An image-based skeletal model for the ICRP reference adult male—specific absorbed fractions for neutron-generated recoil protons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jokisch, D. W.; Rajon, D. A.; Bahadori, A. A.; Bolch, W. E.

2011-11-01

Recoiling hydrogen nuclei are a principle mechanism for energy deposition from incident neutrons. For neutrons incident on the human skeleton, the small sizes of two contrasting media (trabecular bone and marrow) present unique problems due to a lack of charged-particle (protons) equilibrium. Specific absorbed fractions have been computed for protons originating in the human skeletal tissues for use in computing neutron dose response functions. The proton specific absorbed fractions were computed using a pathlength-based range-energy calculation in trabecular skeletal samples of a 40 year old male cadaver.

Linguistic Analysis of the Human Heartbeat Using Frequency and Rank Order Statistics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Albert C.-C.; Hseu, Shu-Shya; Yien, Huey-Wen; Goldberger, Ary L.; Peng, C.-K.

2003-03-01

Complex physiologic signals may carry unique dynamical signatures that are related to their underlying mechanisms. We present a method based on rank order statistics of symbolic sequences to investigate the profile of different types of physiologic dynamics. We apply this method to heart rate fluctuations, the output of a central physiologic control system. The method robustly discriminates patterns generated from healthy and pathologic states, as well as aging. Furthermore, we observe increased randomness in the heartbeat time series with physiologic aging and pathologic states and also uncover nonrandom patterns in the ventricular response to atrial fibrillation.

Dynamic response due to behind helmet blunt trauma measured with a human head surrogate.

PubMed

Freitas, Christopher J; Mathis, James T; Scott, Nikki; Bigger, Rory P; Mackiewicz, James

2014-01-01

A Human Head Surrogate has been developed for use in behind helmet blunt trauma experiments. This human head surrogate fills the void between Post-Mortem Human Subject testing (with biofidelity but handling restrictions) and commercial ballistic head forms (with no biofidelity but ease of use). This unique human head surrogate is based on refreshed human craniums and surrogate materials representing human head soft tissues such as the skin, dura, and brain. A methodology for refreshing the craniums is developed and verified through material testing. A test methodology utilizing these unique human head surrogates is also developed and then demonstrated in a series of experiments in which non-perforating ballistic impact of combat helmets is performed with and without supplemental ceramic appliques for protecting against larger caliber threats. Sensors embedded in the human head surrogates allow for direct measurement of intracranial pressure, cranial strain, and head and helmet acceleration. Over seventy (70) fully instrumented experiments have been executed using this unique surrogate. Examples of the data collected are presented. Based on these series of tests, the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) Human Head Surrogate has demonstrated great potential for providing insights in to injury mechanics resulting from non-perforating ballistic impact on combat helmets, and directly supports behind helmet blunt trauma studies.

Dynamic Response Due to Behind Helmet Blunt Trauma Measured with a Human Head Surrogate

PubMed Central

Freitas, Christopher J.; Mathis, James T.; Scott, Nikki; Bigger, Rory P.; MacKiewicz, James

2014-01-01

A Human Head Surrogate has been developed for use in behind helmet blunt trauma experiments. This human head surrogate fills the void between Post-Mortem Human Subject testing (with biofidelity but handling restrictions) and commercial ballistic head forms (with no biofidelity but ease of use). This unique human head surrogate is based on refreshed human craniums and surrogate materials representing human head soft tissues such as the skin, dura, and brain. A methodology for refreshing the craniums is developed and verified through material testing. A test methodology utilizing these unique human head surrogates is also developed and then demonstrated in a series of experiments in which non-perforating ballistic impact of combat helmets is performed with and without supplemental ceramic appliques for protecting against larger caliber threats. Sensors embedded in the human head surrogates allow for direct measurement of intracranial pressure, cranial strain, and head and helmet acceleration. Over seventy (70) fully instrumented experiments have been executed using this unique surrogate. Examples of the data collected are presented. Based on these series of tests, the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) Human Head Surrogate has demonstrated great potential for providing insights in to injury mechanics resulting from non-perforating ballistic impact on combat helmets, and directly supports behind helmet blunt trauma studies. PMID:24688303

A Cognitive Dimensional Approach to Understanding Shared and Unique Contributions to Reading, Math, and Attention Skills.

PubMed

Child, Amanda E; Cirino, Paul T; Fletcher, Jack M; Willcutt, Erik G; Fuchs, Lynn S

2018-05-01

Disorders of reading, math, and attention frequently co-occur in children. However, it is not yet clear which cognitive factors contribute to comorbidities among multiple disorders and which uniquely relate to one, especially because they have rarely been studied as a triad. Thus, the present study considers how reading, math, and attention relate to phonological awareness, numerosity, working memory, and processing speed, all implicated as either unique or shared correlates of these disorders. In response to findings that the attributes of all three disorders exist on a continuum rather than representing qualitatively different groups, this study employed a dimensional approach. Furthermore, we used both timed and untimed academic variables in addition to attention and activity level variables. The results supported the role of working memory and phonological awareness in the overlap among reading, math, and attention, with a limited role of processing speed. Numerosity was related to the comorbidity between math and attention. The results from timed variables and activity level were similar to those from untimed and attention variables, although activity level was less strongly related to cognitive and academic/attention variables. These findings have implications for understanding cognitive deficits that contribute to comorbid reading disability, math disability, and/or attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

The impact of eicosanoids on the crosstalk between innate and adaptive immunity: the key roles of dendritic cells.

PubMed

Harizi, H; Gualde, N

2005-06-01

The innate immune response is essentially the first line of defense against an invading pathogen. Through specialized receptors, known as pattern recognition receptors, especially Toll-like receptors, specialized cells of myeloid origin, including macrophages and dendritic cells (DCs) are able to phagocytose microorganisms and induce an innate inflammatory response. Although B and T lymphocytes recognize tissue antigens with high specificity, they are unable to initiate immune responses. The decision to activate an appropriate immune response is made by unique DC, the most professional antigen-presenting cells (APCs) which control the responses of several types of lymphocytes and play central role in the transition between innate and adaptive immunity. Increased secretion of inflammatory endogenous mediators such as cytokines and arachidonic acid-derived lipid mediators, also termed eicosanoids, can activate APC, particularly DC, which in turn induce an adaptive immune response. There is an increasing evidence that eicosanoids play an important role in connecting innate and adaptive immunity by acting on cells of both systems. Prostanoids, a major class of eicosanoids, have a great impact on inflammatory and immune responses. PGE(2) is one of the best known and most well-characterized prostanoids in terms of immunomodulation. Although cytokines are known as key regulators of immunity, eicosanoids, including PGE(2), PGD(2), LTB(4), and LTC(4), may also affect cells of immune system by modulating cytokine release, cell differentiation, survival, migration, antigen presentation, and apoptosis. By acting on various aspects of immune and inflammatory reactions, these lipid mediators emerge as key regulators of the crosstalk between innate and adaptive immunity.

Scleroderma Autoantigens Are Uniquely Fragmented by Metal-catalyzed Oxidation Reactions: Implications for Pathogenesis

PubMed Central

Casciola-Rosen, Livia; Wigley, Fredrick; Rosen, Antony

1997-01-01

The observation that revelation of immunocryptic epitopes in self antigens may initiate the autoimmune response has prompted the search for processes which induce novel fragmentation of autoantigens as potential initiators of autoimmunity. The reversible ischemia reperfusion which characterizes scleroderma has focused attention on reactive oxygen species as molecules which might induce autoantigen fragmentation. We demonstrate that several of the autoantigens targeted in diffuse scleroderma are uniquely susceptible to cleavage by reactive oxygen species, in a metal-dependent manner. Multiple features of the fragmentation reaction and its inhibition indicate that these autoantigens possess metal-binding sites, which focus metal-catalyzed oxidation reactions (and consequent fragmentation) to specific regions of the antigens. These data suggest that the autoantibody response in scleroderma is the immune marker of unique protein fragmentation, induced by ischemia reperfusion in the presence of appropriate metals, and focus attention on abnormal metal status as a potential pathogenic principle in this disease. PMID:8996243

System and method for representing and manipulating three-dimensional objects on massively parallel architectures

DOEpatents

Karasick, Michael S.; Strip, David R.

1996-01-01

A parallel computing system is described that comprises a plurality of uniquely labeled, parallel processors, each processor capable of modelling a three-dimensional object that includes a plurality of vertices, faces and edges. The system comprises a front-end processor for issuing a modelling command to the parallel processors, relating to a three-dimensional object. Each parallel processor, in response to the command and through the use of its own unique label, creates a directed-edge (d-edge) data structure that uniquely relates an edge of the three-dimensional object to one face of the object. Each d-edge data structure at least includes vertex descriptions of the edge and a description of the one face. As a result, each processor, in response to the modelling command, operates upon a small component of the model and generates results, in parallel with all other processors, without the need for processor-to-processor intercommunication.

Aging, Genetic Variations, and Ethnopharmacology: Building Cultural Competence Through Awareness of Drug Responses in Ethnic Minority Elders.

PubMed

Woods, Diana Lynn; Mentes, Janet C; Cadogan, Mary; Phillips, Linda R

2017-01-01

Unique drug responses that may result in adverse events are among the ethnocultural differences described by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. These differences, often attributed to a lack of adherence on the part of the older adult, may be linked to genetic variations that influence drug responses in different ethnic groups. The paucity of research coupled with a lack of knowledge among health care providers compound the problem, contributing to further disparities, especially in this era of personalized medicine and pharmacogenomics. This article examines how age-related changes and genetic differences influence variations in drug responses among older adults in unique ethnocultural groups. The article starts with an overview of age-related changes and ethnopharmacology, moves to describing genetic differences that affect drug responses, with a focus on medications commonly prescribed for older adults, and ends with application of these issues to culturally congruent health care. © The Author(s) 2015.

Researching Researchers: Meeting Changing Researcher Needs in a Special Collections Environment

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baseby, Francesca

2017-01-01

In the competitive Higher Education environment, it is no longer sufficient for special collections to rely on the "uniqueness" of a collection as its unique selling point--it must be supported by a service and strategic plan that is both proactive in anticipating the demands of future researchers and responsive to current researchers'…

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles as smart and safe devices for regulating blood biomolecule levels

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zhao, Yan

2011-01-01

Stimuli-responsive end-capped MSN materials are promising drug carriers that securely deliver a large payload of drug molecules without degradation or premature release. A general review of the recent progress in this field is presented, including a summary of a series of hard and soft caps for drug encapsulation and a variety of internal and external stimuli for controlled release of different therapeutics, a discussion of the biocompatibility of MSN both in vitro and in vivo, and a description of the sophisticated stimuli-responsive systems with novel capping agents and controlled release mechanism. The unique internal and external surfaces of MSN weremore » utilized for the development of a glucose-responsive double delivery system end-capped with insulin. This unique system consists of functionalized MSNs capable of releasing insulin when the concentration of sugar in blood exceeds healthy levels. The insulin-free nanoparticles are then up taken by pancreatic cells, and release inside of them another biomolecule that stimulates the production of more insulin. The in vivo application of this system for the treatment of diabetes requires further understanding on the biological behaviors of these nanoparticles in blood vessels. The research presented in this dissertation demonstrated the size and surface effects on the interaction of MSNs with red blood cell membranes, and discovered how the surface of the nanoparticles can be modified to improve their compatibility with red blood cells and avoid their dangerous side effects. In order to optimize the properties of MSN for applying them as efficient intracellular drug carriers it is necessary to understand the factors that can regulate their internalization into and exocytosis out of the cells. The correlation between the particle morphology and aggregation of MSNs to the effectiveness of cellular uptake is discussed and compared with different cell lines. The differences in the degree of exocytosis of MSNs between healthy and cancer cells is reported and found to be responsible for the asymmetric transfer of the particles between both cell types. The fundamental studies on the hemocompatibility, endo- and exocytosis of MSN along with its ability to sequentially release multiple therapeutics in response to different stimuli, allow us to propose MSN as an intravascular vehicle with a great potential for various biomedical applications.« less

Probing the lithium-response pathway in hiPSCs implicates the phosphoregulatory set-point for a cytoskeletal modulator in bipolar pathogenesis

PubMed Central

Tobe, Brian T. D.; Crain, Andrew M.; Winquist, Alicia M.; Calabrese, Barbara; Makihara, Hiroko; Zhao, Wen-ning; Lalonde, Jasmin; Nakamura, Haruko; Konopaske, Glenn; Sidor, Michelle; Pernia, Cameron D.; Yamashita, Naoya; Wada, Moyuka; Inoue, Yuuka; Nakamura, Fumio; Sheridan, Steven D.; Logan, Ryan W.; Brandel, Michael; Wu, Dongmei; Hunsberger, Joshua; Dorsett, Laurel; Duerr, Cordulla; Basa, Ranor C. B.; McCarthy, Michael J.; Udeshi, Namrata D.; Mertins, Philipp; Carr, Steven A.; Rouleau, Guy A.; Mastrangelo, Lina; Li, Jianxue; Gutierrez, Gustavo J.; Brill, Laurence M.; Venizelos, Nikolaos; Chen, Guang; Nye, Jeffrey S.; Manji, Husseini; Price, Jeffrey H.; McClung, Colleen A.; Akiskal, Hagop S.; Chuang, De-Maw M.; Coyle, Joseph T.; Liu, Yang; Teng, Yang D.; Ohshima, Toshio; Mikoshiba, Katsuhiko; Sidman, Richard L.; Halpain, Shelley; Haggarty, Stephen J.; Goshima, Yoshio; Snyder, Evan Y.

2017-01-01

The molecular pathogenesis of bipolar disorder (BPD) is poorly understood. Using human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to unravel such mechanisms in polygenic diseases is generally challenging. However, hiPSCs from BPD patients responsive to lithium offered unique opportunities to discern lithium's target and hence gain molecular insight into BPD. By profiling the proteomics of BDP–hiPSC-derived neurons, we found that lithium alters the phosphorylation state of collapsin response mediator protein-2 (CRMP2). Active nonphosphorylated CRMP2, which binds cytoskeleton, is present throughout the neuron; inactive phosphorylated CRMP2, which dissociates from cytoskeleton, exits dendritic spines. CRMP2 elimination yields aberrant dendritogenesis with diminished spine density and lost lithium responsiveness (LiR). The “set-point” for the ratio of pCRMP2:CRMP2 is elevated uniquely in hiPSC-derived neurons from LiR BPD patients, but not with other psychiatric (including lithium-nonresponsive BPD) and neurological disorders. Lithium (and other pathway modulators) lowers pCRMP2, increasing spine area and density. Human BPD brains show similarly elevated ratios and diminished spine densities; lithium therapy normalizes the ratios and spines. Consistent with such “spine-opathies,” human LiR BPD neurons with abnormal ratios evince abnormally steep slopes for calcium flux; lithium normalizes both. Behaviorally, transgenic mice that reproduce lithium's postulated site-of-action in dephosphorylating CRMP2 emulate LiR in BPD. These data suggest that the “lithium response pathway” in BPD governs CRMP2's phosphorylation, which regulates cytoskeletal organization, particularly in spines, modulating neural networks. Aberrations in the posttranslational regulation of this developmentally critical molecule may underlie LiR BPD pathogenesis. Instructively, examining the proteomic profile in hiPSCs of a functional agent—even one whose mechanism-of-action is unknown—might reveal otherwise inscrutable intracellular pathogenic pathways. PMID:28500272

Probing the lithium-response pathway in hiPSCs implicates the phosphoregulatory set-point for a cytoskeletal modulator in bipolar pathogenesis.

PubMed

Tobe, Brian T D; Crain, Andrew M; Winquist, Alicia M; Calabrese, Barbara; Makihara, Hiroko; Zhao, Wen-Ning; Lalonde, Jasmin; Nakamura, Haruko; Konopaske, Glenn; Sidor, Michelle; Pernia, Cameron D; Yamashita, Naoya; Wada, Moyuka; Inoue, Yuuka; Nakamura, Fumio; Sheridan, Steven D; Logan, Ryan W; Brandel, Michael; Wu, Dongmei; Hunsberger, Joshua; Dorsett, Laurel; Duerr, Cordulla; Basa, Ranor C B; McCarthy, Michael J; Udeshi, Namrata D; Mertins, Philipp; Carr, Steven A; Rouleau, Guy A; Mastrangelo, Lina; Li, Jianxue; Gutierrez, Gustavo J; Brill, Laurence M; Venizelos, Nikolaos; Chen, Guang; Nye, Jeffrey S; Manji, Husseini; Price, Jeffrey H; McClung, Colleen A; Akiskal, Hagop S; Alda, Martin; Chuang, De-Maw M; Coyle, Joseph T; Liu, Yang; Teng, Yang D; Ohshima, Toshio; Mikoshiba, Katsuhiko; Sidman, Richard L; Halpain, Shelley; Haggarty, Stephen J; Goshima, Yoshio; Snyder, Evan Y

2017-05-30

The molecular pathogenesis of bipolar disorder (BPD) is poorly understood. Using human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) to unravel such mechanisms in polygenic diseases is generally challenging. However, hiPSCs from BPD patients responsive to lithium offered unique opportunities to discern lithium's target and hence gain molecular insight into BPD. By profiling the proteomics of BDP-hiPSC-derived neurons, we found that lithium alters the phosphorylation state of collapsin response mediator protein-2 (CRMP2). Active nonphosphorylated CRMP2, which binds cytoskeleton, is present throughout the neuron; inactive phosphorylated CRMP2, which dissociates from cytoskeleton, exits dendritic spines. CRMP2 elimination yields aberrant dendritogenesis with diminished spine density and lost lithium responsiveness (LiR). The "set-point" for the ratio of pCRMP2:CRMP2 is elevated uniquely in hiPSC-derived neurons from LiR BPD patients, but not with other psychiatric (including lithium-nonresponsive BPD) and neurological disorders. Lithium (and other pathway modulators) lowers pCRMP2, increasing spine area and density. Human BPD brains show similarly elevated ratios and diminished spine densities; lithium therapy normalizes the ratios and spines. Consistent with such "spine-opathies," human LiR BPD neurons with abnormal ratios evince abnormally steep slopes for calcium flux; lithium normalizes both. Behaviorally, transgenic mice that reproduce lithium's postulated site-of-action in dephosphorylating CRMP2 emulate LiR in BPD. These data suggest that the "lithium response pathway" in BPD governs CRMP2's phosphorylation, which regulates cytoskeletal organization, particularly in spines, modulating neural networks. Aberrations in the posttranslational regulation of this developmentally critical molecule may underlie LiR BPD pathogenesis. Instructively, examining the proteomic profile in hiPSCs of a functional agent-even one whose mechanism-of-action is unknown-might reveal otherwise inscrutable intracellular pathogenic pathways.

Response of the rare biosphere to environmental stressors in a highly diverse ecosystem (Zodletone spring, OK, USA)

PubMed Central

Coveley, Suzanne; Elshahed, Mostafa S.

2015-01-01

Within highly diverse ecosystems, the majority of bacterial taxa are present in low abundance as members of the rare biosphere. The rationale for the occurrence and maintenance of the rare biosphere, and the putative ecological role(s) and dynamics of its members within a specific ecosystem is currently debated. We hypothesized that in highly diverse ecosystems, a fraction of the rare biosphere acts as a backup system that readily responds to environmental disturbances. We tested this hypothesis by subjecting sediments from Zodletone spring, a sulfide- and sulfur-rich spring in Southwestern OK, to incremental levels of salinity (1, 2, 3, 4, and 10% NaCl), or temperature (28°, 30°, 32°, and 70 °C), and traced the trajectories of rare members of the community in response to these manipulations using 16S rRNA gene analysis. Our results indicate that multiple rare bacterial taxa are promoted from rare to abundant members of the community following such manipulations and that, in general, the magnitude of such recruitment is directly proportional to the severity of the applied manipulation. Rare members that are phylogenetically distinct from abundant taxa in the original sample (unique rare biosphere) played a more important role in the microbial community response to environmental disturbances, compared to rare members that are phylogenetically similar to abundant taxa in the original sample (non-unique rare biosphere). The results emphasize the dynamic nature of the rare biosphere, and highlight its complexity and non-monolithic nature. PMID:26312178

Plasmacytoid Dendritic Cells Require Direct Infection To Sustain the Pulmonary Influenza A Virus-Specific CD8 T Cell Response.

PubMed

Hemann, Emily A; Sjaastad, Louisa E; Langlois, Ryan A; Legge, Kevin L

2015-12-30

Following influenza A virus (IAV) infection, development of a robust IAV-specific CD8 T cell response is required for clearance of primary infection and enhances memory protection. Following IAV infection, plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDC) or CD8α(+) DC regulate pulmonary effector CD8 T cell responses within the lung. Without this DC-T cell interaction, insufficient effector CD8 T cells are maintained in the lungs, leading to enhanced morbidity and mortality. Previous studies have demonstrated that pDC are capable of classical presentation or cross-presentation of IAV antigens and could potentially regulate IAV-specific CD8 T cell responses through either mechanism. Our results demonstrate that pDC from the lungs of donor mice infected with an IAV that is not able to replicate in hematopoietic cells (142t-IAV), unlike donor pDC isolated from the lungs of control infected mice, are not able to rescue the host IAV-specific CD8 T cell response from apoptosis. This indicates that pDC must utilize the direct presentation pathway for this rescue. This inability of pDC from 142t-IAV donors to rescue the IAV-specific CD8 T cell response is not due to differences in the overall ability of 142t-IAV to replicate within the lungs or generate defective viral genomes or to differences in levels of costimulatory molecules required for this interaction. We further demonstrate that bypassing the antigen presentation pathway by coating the 142t-IAV pDC with IAV peptide epitopes restores their ability to rescue the IAV-specific CD8 T cell response. IAV continues to be a global health burden, infecting 5 to 20% of the global population annually. Continued investigation into the mechanisms that mediate protective immune responses against IAV is important to improving current vaccination and antiviral strategies antagonistic toward IAV. Our findings presented herein demonstrate a key requirement for pDC promotion of effector CD8 T cell survival: that rather than utilizing cross-presentation, pDC must be infected and utilize the endogenous pathway for presentation of antigens to CD8 T cells during in vivo IAV infections. This suggests that targeting presentation via the endogenous pathway in pDC could be important for the development of unique antiviral cellular therapies. Copyright © 2016, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

The development of interior noise and vibration criteria

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Leatherwood, J. D.; Clevenson, S. A.; Stephens, D. G.

1990-01-01

A generalized model was developed for estimating passenger discomfort response to combined noise and vibration. This model accounts for broadband noise and vibration spectra and multiple axes of vibration as well as the interactive effects of combined noise and vibration. The model has the unique capability of transforming individual components of noise/vibration environment into subjective comfort units and then combining these comfort units to produce a total index of passenger discomfort and useful sub-indices that typify passenger comfort within the environment. An overview of the model development is presented including the methodology employed, major elements of the model, model applications, and a brief description of a commercially available portable ride comfort meter based directly upon the model algorithms. Also discussed are potential criteria formats that account for the interactive effects of noise and vibration on human discomfort response.

The ties that bind: Ingroup ties are linked with diminished inflammatory immune responses and fewer mental health symptoms through less rumination

PubMed Central

McQuaid, Robyn J.; McInnis, Opal A.; Anisman, Hymie; Matheson, Kimberly

2018-01-01

The present research explored whether components of social identity, namely ingroup ties, affect, and centrality, were differentially linked to mental health and inflammatory immune responses, and whether rumination mediated those relations. Study 1 (N = 138) indicated that stronger ingroup ties were associated with fewer mental health (depressive and post-traumatic stress) symptoms; those relations were mediated by the tendency for individuals with strong ties to rely less on ruminative coping to deal with a stressful life event. Study 2 (N = 54) demonstrated that ingroup ties were negatively associated with depressive symptoms, dispositional rumination, as well as stress-linked inflammatory elements at the physiological level. Consistent associations for centrality and ingroup affect were absent, suggesting that ingroup ties may have unique health benefits. PMID:29684053

The epileptogenic spectrum of opiate agonists.

PubMed

Snead, O C; Bearden, L J

1982-11-01

The present authors gave mu, delta, kappa, epsilon and sigma opiate receptor agonists intracerebroventricularly to rats both singly and in combination while monitoring the electroencephalogram from cortical and depth electrodes. Dose-response curves were plotted with naloxone against the changes produced by each agonist, and the effect of a number of anticonvulsant drugs on agonist-induced seizures was ascertained. Each opiate agonist produced a different seizure pattern with a different naloxone dose-response curve and anticonvulsant profile. The order of convulsive potency was epsilon greater than delta greater than mu greater than sigma much greater than kappa. Petit mal-like seizure activity was unique to the delta agonist, leucine-enkephalin, while only the mu agonist, morphine produced generalized convulsive seizures. These experiments raise the possibility that opiate systems in the brain may be involved in the pathogenesis of a wide spectrum of seizure disorders.

Temperature distortion generator for turboshaft engine testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klann, G. A.; Barth, R. L.; Biesiadny, T. J.

1984-01-01

The procedures and unique hardware used to conduct an experimental investigation into the response of a small-turboshaft-engine compression system to various hot gas ingestion patterns are presented. The temperature distortion generator described herein uses gaseous hydrogen to create both steady-state and time-variant, or transient, temperature distortion at the engine inlet. The range of transient temperature ramps produced by the distortion generator during the engine tests was from less than 111 deg K/sec (200 deg R/sec) to above 611 deg K/sec (1100 deg R/sec); instantaneous temperatures to 422 deg K (760 deg R) above ambient were generated. The distortion generator was used to document the maximum inlet temperatures and temperature rise rates that the compression system could tolerate before the onset of stall for various circumferential distortions as well as the compressor system response during stall.

Surface loading of a viscoelastic earth-I. General theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tromp, Jeroen; Mitrovica, Jerry X.

1999-06-01

We present a new normal-mode formalism for computing the response of an aspherical, self-gravitating, linear viscoelastic earth model to an arbitrary surface load. The formalism makes use of recent advances in the theory of the Earth's free oscillations, and is based upon an eigenfunction expansion methodology, rather than the tradi-tional Love-number approach to surface-loading problems. We introduce a surface-load representation theorem analogous to Betti's reciprocity relation in seismology. Taking advantage of this theorem and the biorthogonality of the viscoelastic modes, we determine the complete response to a surface load in the form of a Green's function. We also demonstrate that each viscoelastic mode has its own unique energy partitioning, which can be used to characterize it. In subsequent papers, we apply the theory to spherically symmetric and aspherical earth models.

UARS in-flight jitter study for EOS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Molnar, John; Garnek, Mike

1993-01-01

Response data collected from gyroscopes on board the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) provided a unique opportunity to analyze actual flight pointing jitter data. Flight modal frequencies and damping values are derived from the measured data using an Eigensystem Realization Algorithm (ERA). Flight frequencies at various solar array positions are compared to analytical predictions obtained with a Finite Element Model. The solar array modal frequencies change with position due to the modes acting about different spacecraft inertial axes. Higher order modes were difficult to identify due to the limited instrumentation. Future flight jitter studies on other spacecraft would be significantly aided by additional instrumentation. Spacecraft jitter due to continuous disturbance sources such as the 1.6 meter scanning microwave antenna, the solar array drive, and reaction wheels is presented. The solar array drive disturbance dominates the spacecraft response during normal operation.

Using Family-Based Exposure With Response Prevention to Treat Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Young Children: A Case Study.

PubMed

Herren, Jenny; Freeman, Jennifer; Garcia, Abbe

2016-11-01

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) using exposure with response prevention (ERP) is the treatment of choice for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD); however, developmental modifications should be considered when treating young children. This article presents a case study illustrating family-based CBT using ERP with a 7-year-old boy. The delivery of ERP for this case was guided by 3 main principles: (a) family involvement with a focus on reducing family accommodation, (b) understanding the functional relation between the client's obsessions and compulsions, and (c) creating conditions to facilitate habituation during exposure. Outcomes for this case indicate significant improvement in functioning and OCD symptoms. Results highlight the importance of family involvement and the applicability of using a function-based habituation framework when delivering ERP to this unique population. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Towards a phronetic space for responsible research (and innovation).

PubMed

Bardone, Emanuele; Lind, Marianne

2016-12-01

The term Responsible Research and Innovation has recently gained currency, as it has been designated to be a key-term in the European research framework Horizon 2020. At the level of European research policy, Responsible Research and Innovation can be viewed as an attempt to reach a broader vision of research and innovation as a public good. The current academic debate may be fairly enriched by considering the role that phronesis may have for RRI. Specifically, in this paper we argue that the current debate might be fruitfully enriched by making a categorial shift. Such a categorial shift involves moving away from the temptation to interpret responsible research and innovation in a technocratic way towards a more pluralistic vision that is rooted in the idea of phronesis. In the present context phronesis points the attention to the cultivation and nurturement of the researcher's formation as a type of engagement with the actual practice of researching, a practice in which researchers (and other parties concerned) are called to apply judgment and exercise discretion in specific and often unique situations without the re-assuring viewpoint of the technician.

The influence of SV40 immortalization of human fibroblasts on p53-dependent radiation responses

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kohli, M.; Jorgensen, T. J.

1999-01-01

The simian virus 40 large tumor antigen (SV40 Tag) has been ascribed many functions critical to viral propagation, including binding to the mammalian tumor suppressor p53. Recent studies have demonstrated that SV40-transformed murine cells have functional p53. The status of p53 in SV40-immortalized human cells, however, has not been characterized. We have found that in response to ionizing radiation, p53-dependent p21 transactivation activity is present, albeit reduced, in SV40-immortalized cells and that this activity can be further reduced with either dominant negative p53 expression or higher SV40 Tag expression. Furthermore, overexpression of p53 in SV40-immortalized ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) cells restores p53-dependent p21 induction to typical A-T levels. All SV40-immortalized cell lines exhibited an absence of G1 arrest. Moreover, all SV40-immortalized cell lines exhibited increased apoptosis relative to primary cells in response to ionizing radiation, suggesting that SV40 immortalization results in a unique phenotype with regard to DNA damage responses. Copyright 1999 Academic Press.

Long-term Iron and Phosphorus Co-limitation Fundamentally Restructures Protein Biochemistry of High CO2-adapted Trichodesmium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hutchins, D. A.; Walworth, N. G.; Fu, F.; Webb, E. A.; Saito, M. A.; Moran, D. M.; McIlvin, M.; Lee, M. D.

2016-02-01

Because the globally-distributed diazotrophic cyanobacterium Trichodesmium is a critical new-nitrogen source to nutrient-deplete marine ecosystems, it is crucial to understand its evolutionary responses to global-change factors as they interact with other important environmental controls such as iron and phosphorus limitation. We grew Trichodesmium under multiple iron and phosphorus (co)-limitation scenarios for 1 year following 7 years of adaptation to both present (380-ppm) and future (750-ppm) CO2 concentrations, and discovered a complex metabolic response specific to Fe/P co-limitation, which includes increased growth rates, whole-cell biochemical restructuring, and cell biomass reduction. The interaction of increasing CO2 with this nutrient co-limited state induced an additional set of comprehensive metabolic shifts away from those seen under present day CO2, characterized by upregulation of a new complement of proteins involved in broad cellular functions, core metabolism, and growth. This restructuring reveals a unique co-limited phenotype under Fe/P "balancing" co-limitation, which fundamentally alters traditional interpretations of interactive nutrient limitations and their subsequent controls on key global biogeochemical processes in both the present and future ocean.

Optimization and analysis of large chemical kinetic mechanisms using the solution mapping method - Combustion of methane

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frenklach, Michael; Wang, Hai; Rabinowitz, Martin J.

1992-01-01

A method of systematic optimization, solution mapping, as applied to a large-scale dynamic model is presented. The basis of the technique is parameterization of model responses in terms of model parameters by simple algebraic expressions. These expressions are obtained by computer experiments arranged in a factorial design. The developed parameterized responses are then used in a joint multiparameter multidata-set optimization. A brief review of the mathematical background of the technique is given. The concept of active parameters is discussed. The technique is applied to determine an optimum set of parameters for a methane combustion mechanism. Five independent responses - comprising ignition delay times, pre-ignition methyl radical concentration profiles, and laminar premixed flame velocities - were optimized with respect to thirteen reaction rate parameters. The numerical predictions of the optimized model are compared to those computed with several recent literature mechanisms. The utility of the solution mapping technique in situations where the optimum is not unique is also demonstrated.

Note: High-speed Z tip scanner with screw cantilever holding mechanism for atomic-resolution atomic force microscopy in liquid

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Reza Akrami, Seyed Mohammad; Miyata, Kazuki; Asakawa, Hitoshi

High-speed atomic force microscopy has attracted much attention due to its unique capability of visualizing nanoscale dynamic processes at a solid/liquid interface. However, its usability and resolution have yet to be improved. As one of the solutions for this issue, here we present a design of a high-speed Z-tip scanner with screw holding mechanism. We perform detailed comparison between designs with different actuator size and screw arrangement by finite element analysis. Based on the design giving the best performance, we have developed a Z tip scanner and measured its performance. The measured frequency response of the scanner shows a flatmore » response up to ∼10 kHz. This high frequency response allows us to achieve wideband tip-sample distance regulation. We demonstrate the applicability of the scanner to high-speed atomic-resolution imaging by visualizing atomic-scale calcite crystal dissolution process in water at 2 s/frame.« less

Differential priming effects of color-opponent subliminal stimulation on visual magnetic responses.

PubMed

Hoshiyama, Minoru; Kakigi, Ryusuke; Takeshima, Yasuyuki; Miki, Kensaku; Watanabe, Shoko

2006-10-01

We investigated the effects of subliminal stimulation on visible stimulation to demonstrate the priority of facial discrimination processing, using a unique, indiscernible, color-opponent subliminal (COS) stimulation. We recorded event-related magnetic cortical fields (ERF) by magnetoencephalography (MEG) after the presentation of a face or flower stimulus with COS conditioning using a face, flower, random pattern, and blank. The COS stimulation enhanced the response to visible stimulation when the figure in the COS stimulation was identical to the target visible stimulus, but more so for the face than for the flower stimulus. The ERF component modulated by the COS stimulation was estimated to be located in the ventral temporal cortex. We speculated that the enhancement was caused by an interaction of the responses after subthreshold stimulation by the COS stimulation and the suprathreshold stimulation after target stimulation, such as in the processing for categorization or discrimination. We also speculated that the face was processed with priority at the level of the ventral temporal cortex during visual processing outside of consciousness.

Recognition memory is modulated by visual similarity.

PubMed

Yago, Elena; Ishai, Alumit

2006-06-01

We used event-related fMRI to test whether recognition memory depends on visual similarity between familiar prototypes and novel exemplars. Subjects memorized portraits, landscapes, and abstract compositions by six painters with a unique style, and later performed a memory recognition task. The prototypes were presented with new exemplars that were either visually similar or dissimilar. Behaviorally, novel, dissimilar items were detected faster and more accurately. We found activation in a distributed cortical network that included face- and object-selective regions in the visual cortex, where familiar prototypes evoked stronger responses than new exemplars; attention-related regions in parietal cortex, where responses elicited by new exemplars were reduced with decreased similarity to the prototypes; and the hippocampus and memory-related regions in parietal and prefrontal cortices, where stronger responses were evoked by the dissimilar exemplars. Our findings suggest that recognition memory is mediated by classification of novel exemplars as a match or a mismatch, based on their visual similarity to familiar prototypes.

Design and Application of Hybrid Magnetic Field-Eddy Current Probe

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wincheski, Buzz; Wallace, Terryl; Newman, Andy; Leser, Paul; Simpson, John

2013-01-01

The incorporation of magnetic field sensors into eddy current probes can result in novel probe designs with unique performance characteristics. One such example is a recently developed electromagnetic probe consisting of a two-channel magnetoresistive sensor with an embedded single-strand eddy current inducer. Magnetic flux leakage maps of ferrous materials are generated from the DC sensor response while high-resolution eddy current imaging is simultaneously performed at frequencies up to 5 megahertz. In this work the design and optimization of this probe will be presented, along with an application toward analysis of sensory materials with embedded ferromagnetic shape-memory alloy (FSMA) particles. The sensory material is designed to produce a paramagnetic to ferromagnetic transition in the FSMA particles under strain. Mapping of the stray magnetic field and eddy current response of the sample with the hybrid probe can thereby image locations in the structure which have experienced an overstrain condition. Numerical modeling of the probe response is performed with good agreement with experimental results.

Fuselage Versus Subcomponent Panel Response Correlation Based on ABAQUS Explicit Progressive Damage Analysis Tools

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gould, Kevin E.; Satyanarayana, Arunkumar; Bogert, Philip B.

2016-01-01

Analysis performed in this study substantiates the need for high fidelity vehicle level progressive damage analyses (PDA) structural models for use in the verification and validation of proposed sub-scale structural models and to support required full-scale vehicle level testing. PDA results are presented that capture and correlate the responses of sub-scale 3-stringer and 7-stringer panel models and an idealized 8-ft diameter fuselage model, which provides a vehicle level environment for the 7-stringer sub-scale panel model. Two unique skin-stringer attachment assumptions are considered and correlated in the models analyzed: the TIE constraint interface versus the cohesive element (COH3D8) interface. Evaluating different interfaces allows for assessing a range of predicted damage modes, including delamination and crack propagation responses. Damage models considered in this study are the ABAQUS built-in Hashin procedure and the COmplete STress Reduction (COSTR) damage procedure implemented through a VUMAT user subroutine using the ABAQUS/Explicit code.

Impact damage resistance of composite fuselage structure, part 1

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dost, E. F.; Avery, W. B.; Ilcewicz, L. B.; Grande, D. H.; Coxon, B. R.

1992-01-01

The impact damage resistance of laminated composite transport aircraft fuselage structures was studied experimentally. A statistically based designed experiment was used to examine numerous material, laminate, structural, and extrinsic (e.g., impactor type) variables. The relative importance and quantitative measure of the effect of each variable and variable interactions on responses including impactor dynamic response, visibility, and internal damage state were determined. The study utilized 32 three-stiffener panels, each with a unique combination of material type, material forms, and structural geometry. Two manufacturing techniques, tow placement and tape lamination, were used to build panels representative of potential fuselage crown, keel, and lower side-panel designs. Various combinations of impactor variables representing various foreign-object-impact threats to the aircraft were examined. Impacts performed at different structural locations within each panel (e.g., skin midbay, stiffener attaching flange, etc.) were considered separate parallel experiments. The relationship between input variables, measured damage states, and structural response to this damage are presented including recommendations for materials and impact test methods for fuselage structure.

Identification of human cell responses to benzene and benzene metabolites.

PubMed

Gillis, Bruce; Gavin, Igor M; Arbieva, Zarema; King, Stephen T; Jayaraman, Sundararajan; Prabhakar, Bellur S

2007-09-01

Benzene is a common air pollutant and confirmed carcinogen, especially in reference to the hematopoietic system. In the present study we analyzed cytokine/chemokine production by, and gene expression induction in, human peripheral blood mononuclear cells upon their exposure to the benzene metabolites catechol, hydroquinone, 1,2,4-benzenetriol, and p-benzoquinone. Protein profiling showed that benzene metabolites can stimulate the production of chemokines, the proinflammatory cytokines TNF-alpha and IL-6, and the Th2 cytokines IL-4 and IL-5. Activated cells showed concurrent suppression of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 expression. We also identified changes in global gene expression patterns in response to benzene metabolite challenges by using high-density oligonucleotide microarrays. Treatment with 1,2,4-benzenetriol resulted in the suppression of genes related to the regulation of protein expression and a concomitant activation of genes that encode heat shock proteins and cytochrome P450 family members. Protein and gene expression profiling identified unique human cellular responses upon exposure to benzene and benzene metabolites.

29 CFR 4.4 - Obtaining a wage determination.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... the e98 and to provide a response while the requester is online, if the analysis determines that an... determination for the request, an online response will be provided indicating that the request has been referred to an analyst. Again, the online response will assign a unique serial number to the e98. After an...

Dynamic Response of an Optomechanical System to a Stationary Random Excitation in the Time Domain

DOE PAGES

Palmer, Jeremy A.; Paez, Thomas L.

2011-01-01

Modern electro-optical instruments are typically designed with assemblies of optomechanical members that support optics such that alignment is maintained in service environments that include random vibration loads. This paper presents a nonlinear numerical analysis that calculates statistics for the peak lateral response of optics in an optomechanical sub-assembly subject to random excitation of the housing. The work is unique in that the prior art does not address peak response probability distribution for stationary random vibration in the time domain for a common lens-retainer-housing system with Coulomb damping. Analytical results are validated by using displacement response data from random vibration testingmore » of representative prototype sub-assemblies. A comparison of predictions to experimental results yields reasonable agreement. The Type I Asymptotic form provides the cumulative distribution function for peak response probabilities. Probabilities are calculated for actual lens centration tolerances. The probability that peak response will not exceed the centration tolerance is greater than 80% for prototype configurations where the tolerance is high (on the order of 30 micrometers). Conversely, the probability is low for those where the tolerance is less than 20 micrometers. The analysis suggests a design paradigm based on the influence of lateral stiffness on the magnitude of the response.« less

ESAT-6 Targeting to DEC205+ Antigen Presenting Cells Induces Specific-T Cell Responses against ESAT-6 and Reduces Pulmonary Infection with Virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

PubMed

Silva-Sánchez, Aarón; Meza-Pérez, Selene; Flores-Langarica, Adriana; Donis-Maturano, Luis; Estrada-García, Iris; Calderón-Amador, Juana; Hernández-Pando, Rogelio; Idoyaga, Juliana; Steinman, Ralph M; Flores-Romo, Leopoldo

2015-01-01

Airways infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is contained mostly by T cell responses, however, Mtb has developed evasion mechanisms which affect antigen presenting cell (APC) maturation/recruitment delaying the onset of Ag-specific T cell responses. Hypothetically, bypassing the natural infection routes by delivering antigens directly to APCs may overcome the pathogen's naturally evolved evasion mechanisms, thus facilitating the induction of protective immune responses. We generated a murine monoclonal fusion antibody (α-DEC-ESAT) to deliver Early Secretory Antigen Target (ESAT)-6 directly to DEC205+ APCs and to assess its in vivo effects on protection associated responses (IFN-γ production, in vivo CTL killing, and pulmonary mycobacterial load). Treatment with α-DEC-ESAT alone induced ESAT-6-specific IFN-γ producing CD4+ T cells and prime-boost immunization prior to Mtb infection resulted in early influx (d14 post-infection) and increased IFN-γ+ production by specific T cells in the lungs, compared to scarce IFN-γ production in control mice. In vivo CTL killing was quantified in relevant tissues upon transferring target cells loaded with mycobacterial antigens. During infection, α-DEC-ESAT-treated mice showed increased target cell killing in the lungs, where histology revealed cellular infiltrate and considerably reduced bacterial burden. Targeting the mycobacterial antigen ESAT-6 to DEC205+ APCs before infection expands specific T cell clones responsible for early T cell responses (IFN-γ production and CTL activity) and substantially reduces lung bacterial burden. Delivering mycobacterial antigens directly to APCs provides a unique approach to study in vivo the role of APCs and specific T cell responses to assess their potential anti-mycobacterial functions.

ESAT-6 Targeting to DEC205+ Antigen Presenting Cells Induces Specific-T Cell Responses against ESAT-6 and Reduces Pulmonary Infection with Virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis

PubMed Central

Silva-Sánchez, Aarón; Meza-Pérez, Selene; Flores-Langarica, Adriana; Donis-Maturano, Luis; Estrada-García, Iris; Calderón-Amador, Juana; Hernández-Pando, Rogelio; Idoyaga, Juliana; Flores-Romo, Leopoldo

2015-01-01

Airways infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is contained mostly by T cell responses, however, Mtb has developed evasion mechanisms which affect antigen presenting cell (APC) maturation/recruitment delaying the onset of Ag-specific T cell responses. Hypothetically, bypassing the natural infection routes by delivering antigens directly to APCs may overcome the pathogen’s naturally evolved evasion mechanisms, thus facilitating the induction of protective immune responses. We generated a murine monoclonal fusion antibody (α-DEC-ESAT) to deliver Early Secretory Antigen Target (ESAT)-6 directly to DEC205+ APCs and to assess its in vivo effects on protection associated responses (IFN-γ production, in vivo CTL killing, and pulmonary mycobacterial load). Treatment with α-DEC-ESAT alone induced ESAT-6-specific IFN-γ producing CD4+ T cells and prime-boost immunization prior to Mtb infection resulted in early influx (d14 post-infection) and increased IFN-γ+ production by specific T cells in the lungs, compared to scarce IFN-γ production in control mice. In vivo CTL killing was quantified in relevant tissues upon transferring target cells loaded with mycobacterial antigens. During infection, α-DEC-ESAT-treated mice showed increased target cell killing in the lungs, where histology revealed cellular infiltrate and considerably reduced bacterial burden. Targeting the mycobacterial antigen ESAT-6 to DEC205+ APCs before infection expands specific T cell clones responsible for early T cell responses (IFN-γ production and CTL activity) and substantially reduces lung bacterial burden. Delivering mycobacterial antigens directly to APCs provides a unique approach to study in vivo the role of APCs and specific T cell responses to assess their potential anti-mycobacterial functions. PMID:25915045

Single-crystal charge transfer interfaces for efficient photonic devices (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alves, Helena; Pinto, Rui M.; Maçôas, Ermelinda M. S.; Baleizão, Carlos; Santos, Isabel C.

2016-09-01

Organic semiconductors have unique optical, mechanical and electronic properties that can be combined with customized chemical functionality. In the crystalline form, determinant features for electronic applications such as molecular purity, the charge mobility or the exciton diffusion length, reveal a superior performance when compared with materials in a more disordered form. Combining crystals of two different conjugated materials as even enable a new 2D electronic system. However, the use of organic single crystals in devices is still limited to a few applications, such as field-effect transistors. In 2013, we presented the first system composed of single-crystal charge transfer interfaces presenting photoconductivity behaviour. The system composed of rubrene and TCNQ has a responsivity reaching 1 A/W, corresponding to an external quantum efficiency of nearly 100%. A similar approach, with a hybrid structure of a PCBM film and rubrene single crystal also presents high responsivity and the possibility to extract excitons generated in acceptor materials. This strategy led to an extended action towards the near IR. By adequate material design and structural organisation of perylediimides, we demonstrate that is possible to improve exciton diffusion efficiency. More recently, we have successfully used the concept of charge transfer interfaces in phototransistors. These results open the possibility of using organic single-crystal interfaces in photonic applications.

Association between prepulse inhibition of the startle response and latent inhibition of two-way avoidance acquisition: A study with heterogeneous NIH-HS rats.

PubMed

Sánchez-González, Ana; Esnal, Aitor; Río-Álamos, Cristóbal; Oliveras, Ignasi; Cañete, Toni; Blázquez, Gloria; Tobeña, Adolf; Fernández-Teruel, Alberto

2016-03-01

This study presents the first evaluation of the associations between responses in two paradigms related to schizophrenia in the genetically heterogeneous NIH-HS rat stock. NIH-HS rats are a stock of genetically heterogeneous animals that have been derived from eight different inbred strains. A rotational breeding schedule has been followed for more than eighty generations, leading to a high level of genetic recombination that makes the NIH-HS rats a unique tool for studying the genetic basis of (biological, behavioral, disease-related) complex traits. Previous work has dealt with the characterization of coping styles, cognitive and anxiety/fear-related profiles of NIH-HS rats. In the present study we have completed their characterization in two behavioral models, prepulse inhibition (PPI) and latent inhibition (LI) of the two-way active avoidance response, that appear to be related to schizophrenia or to schizophrenia-relevant symptoms. We have found that these rats display PPI for each of the four prepulse intensities tested, allowing their stratification in high, medium and low PPI subgroups. When testing these three subgroups for LI of two-way active avoidance acquisition it has been observed that the LowPPI and MediumPPI subgroups present impaired LI, which, along with the fact that the HighPPI group presents significant LI, allows us to hypothesize that responses in these two paradigms are somehow related and that selection of NIH-HS rats for Low vs HighPPI could make a promising animal model for the study of clusters of schizophrenia-relevant symptoms and their underlying neurobiological mechanisms. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Hypothalamic Response to the Chemo-Signal Androstadienone in Gender Dysphoric Children and Adolescents

PubMed Central

Burke, Sarah M.; Cohen-Kettenis, Peggy T.; Veltman, Dick J.; Klink, Daniel T.; Bakker, Julie

2014-01-01

The odorous steroid androstadienone, a putative male chemo-signal, was previously reported to evoke sex differences in hypothalamic activation in adult heterosexual men and women. In order to investigate whether puberty modulated this sex difference in response to androstadienone, we measured the hypothalamic responsiveness to this chemo-signal in 39 pre-pubertal and 41 adolescent boys and girls by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging. We then investigated whether 36 pre-pubertal children and 38 adolescents diagnosed with gender dysphoria (GD; DSM-5) exhibited sex-atypical (in accordance with their experienced gender), rather than sex-typical (in accordance with their natal sex) hypothalamic activations during olfactory stimulation with androstadienone. We found that the sex difference in responsiveness to androstadienone was already present in pre-pubertal control children and thus likely developed during early perinatal development instead of during sexual maturation. Adolescent girls and boys with GD both responded remarkably like their experienced gender, thus sex-atypical. In contrast, pre-pubertal girls with GD showed neither a typically male nor female hypothalamic activation pattern and pre-pubertal boys with GD had hypothalamic activations in response to androstadienone that were similar to control boys, thus sex-typical. We present here a unique data set of boys and girls diagnosed with GD at two different developmental stages, showing that these children possess certain sex-atypical functional brain characteristics and may have undergone atypical sexual differentiation of the brain. PMID:24904525

Specific detection of the cleavage activity of mycobacterial enzymes using a quantum dot based DNA nanosensor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jepsen, Morten Leth; Harmsen, Charlotte; Godbole, Adwait Anand; Nagaraja, Valakunja; Knudsen, Birgitta R.; Ho, Yi-Ping

2015-12-01

We present a quantum dot based DNA nanosensor specifically targeting the cleavage step in the reaction cycle of the essential DNA-modifying enzyme, mycobacterial topoisomerase I. The design takes advantages of the unique photophysical properties of quantum dots to generate visible fluorescence recovery upon specific cleavage by mycobacterial topoisomerase I. This report, for the first time, demonstrates the possibility to quantify the cleavage activity of the mycobacterial enzyme without the pre-processing sample purification or post-processing signal amplification. The cleavage induced signal response has also proven reliable in biological matrices, such as whole cell extracts prepared from Escherichia coli and human Caco-2 cells. It is expected that the assay may contribute to the clinical diagnostics of bacterial diseases, as well as the evaluation of treatment outcomes.We present a quantum dot based DNA nanosensor specifically targeting the cleavage step in the reaction cycle of the essential DNA-modifying enzyme, mycobacterial topoisomerase I. The design takes advantages of the unique photophysical properties of quantum dots to generate visible fluorescence recovery upon specific cleavage by mycobacterial topoisomerase I. This report, for the first time, demonstrates the possibility to quantify the cleavage activity of the mycobacterial enzyme without the pre-processing sample purification or post-processing signal amplification. The cleavage induced signal response has also proven reliable in biological matrices, such as whole cell extracts prepared from Escherichia coli and human Caco-2 cells. It is expected that the assay may contribute to the clinical diagnostics of bacterial diseases, as well as the evaluation of treatment outcomes. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Characterization of the QD-based DNA Nanosensor. See DOI: 10.1039/c5nr06326d

Significance of a Recurring Function in Energy Transfer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mishra, Subodha

2017-05-01

The appearance of a unique function in the energy transfer from one system to the other in different physical situations such as electrical, mechanical, optical, and quantum mechanical processes is established in this work. Though the laws governing the energy transformation and its transfer from system to system are well known, here we notice a unity in diversity; a unique function appears in various cases of energy transfer whether it is a classical or a quantum mechanical process. We consider four examples, well known in elementary physics, from the fields of electricity, mechanics, optics, and quantum mechanics. We find that this unique function is in fact the transfer function corresponding to all these physical situations, and the interesting and intriguing finding is that the inverse Laplace transform of this transfer function, which is the impulse-response function of the systems when multiplied by a factor of -½, is the solution of a linear differential equation for an "instantly forced critically damped harmonic oscillator." It is important to note that though the physical phenomena considered are quite distinct, the underlying process in the language of impulse-response of the system in the time domain is a unique one. To the best of our knowledge we have not seen anywhere the above analysis of determining the unique function or its description as a transfer function in literature.

HIV-1 adaptation to antigen processing results in population-level immune evasion and affects subtype diversification.

PubMed

Tenzer, Stefan; Crawford, Hayley; Pymm, Phillip; Gifford, Robert; Sreenu, Vattipally B; Weimershaus, Mirjana; de Oliveira, Tulio; Burgevin, Anne; Gerstoft, Jan; Akkad, Nadja; Lunn, Daniel; Fugger, Lars; Bell, John; Schild, Hansjörg; van Endert, Peter; Iversen, Astrid K N

2014-04-24

The recent HIV-1 vaccine failures highlight the need to better understand virus-host interactions. One key question is why CD8(+) T cell responses to two HIV-Gag regions are uniquely associated with delayed disease progression only in patients expressing a few rare HLA class I variants when these regions encode epitopes presented by ~30 more common HLA variants. By combining epitope processing and computational analyses of the two HIV subtypes responsible for ~60% of worldwide infections, we identified a hitherto unrecognized adaptation to the antigen-processing machinery through substitutions at subtype-specific motifs. Multiple HLA variants presenting epitopes situated next to a given subtype-specific motif drive selection at this subtype-specific position, and epitope abundances correlate inversely with the HLA frequency distribution in affected populations. This adaptation reflects the sum of intrapatient adaptations, is predictable, facilitates viral subtype diversification, and increases global HIV diversity. Because low epitope abundance is associated with infrequent and weak T cell responses, this most likely results in both population-level immune evasion and inadequate responses in most people vaccinated with natural HIV-1 sequence constructs. Our results suggest that artificial sequence modifications at subtype-specific positions in vitro could refocus and reverse the poor immunogenicity of HIV proteins. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Neuron’s eye view: Inferring features of complex stimuli from neural responses

PubMed Central

Chen, Xin; Beck, Jeffrey M.

2017-01-01

Experiments that study neural encoding of stimuli at the level of individual neurons typically choose a small set of features present in the world—contrast and luminance for vision, pitch and intensity for sound—and assemble a stimulus set that systematically varies along these dimensions. Subsequent analysis of neural responses to these stimuli typically focuses on regression models, with experimenter-controlled features as predictors and spike counts or firing rates as responses. Unfortunately, this approach requires knowledge in advance about the relevant features coded by a given population of neurons. For domains as complex as social interaction or natural movement, however, the relevant feature space is poorly understood, and an arbitrary a priori choice of features may give rise to confirmation bias. Here, we present a Bayesian model for exploratory data analysis that is capable of automatically identifying the features present in unstructured stimuli based solely on neuronal responses. Our approach is unique within the class of latent state space models of neural activity in that it assumes that firing rates of neurons are sensitive to multiple discrete time-varying features tied to the stimulus, each of which has Markov (or semi-Markov) dynamics. That is, we are modeling neural activity as driven by multiple simultaneous stimulus features rather than intrinsic neural dynamics. We derive a fast variational Bayesian inference algorithm and show that it correctly recovers hidden features in synthetic data, as well as ground-truth stimulus features in a prototypical neural dataset. To demonstrate the utility of the algorithm, we also apply it to cluster neural responses and demonstrate successful recovery of features corresponding to monkeys and faces in the image set. PMID:28827790

A de novo whole gene deletion of XIAP detected by exome sequencing analysis in very early onset inflammatory bowel disease: a case report.

PubMed

Kelsen, Judith R; Dawany, Noor; Martinez, Alejandro; Martinez, Alejuandro; Grochowski, Christopher M; Maurer, Kelly; Rappaport, Eric; Piccoli, David A; Baldassano, Robert N; Mamula, Petar; Sullivan, Kathleen E; Devoto, Marcella

2015-11-18

Children with very early-onset inflammatory bowel disease (VEO-IBD), those diagnosed at less than 5 years of age, are a unique population. A subset of these patients present with a distinct phenotype and more severe disease than older children and adults. Host genetics is thought to play a more prominent role in this young population, and monogenic defects in genes related to primary immunodeficiencies are responsible for the disease in a small subset of patients with VEO-IBD. We report a child who presented at 3 weeks of life with very early-onset inflammatory bowel disease (VEO-IBD). He had a complicated disease course and remained unresponsive to medical and surgical therapy. The refractory nature of his disease, together with his young age of presentation, prompted utilization of whole exome sequencing (WES) to detect an underlying monogenic primary immunodeficiency and potentially target therapy to the identified defect. Copy number variation analysis (CNV) was performed using the eXome-Hidden Markov Model. Whole exome sequencing revealed 1,380 nonsense and missense variants in the patient. Plausible candidate variants were not detected following analysis of filtered variants, therefore, we performed CNV analysis of the WES data, which led us to identify a de novo whole gene deletion in XIAP. This is the first reported whole gene deletion in XIAP, the causal gene responsible for XLP2 (X-linked lymphoproliferative Disease 2). XLP2 is a syndrome resulting in VEO-IBD and can increase susceptibility to hemophagocytic lymphohistocytosis (HLH). This identification allowed the patient to be referred for bone marrow transplantation, potentially curative for his disease and critical to prevent the catastrophic sequela of HLH. This illustrates the unique etiology of VEO-IBD, and the subsequent effects on therapeutic options. This cohort requires careful and thorough evaluation for monogenic defects and primary immunodeficiencies.

Bulk and export production fluxes from sediment traps in the Gulf of Aqaba, north Red Sea

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Torfstein, A.; Kienast, S.; Shaked, Y.

2016-12-01

Real time observations of the dynamics between dust input, primary production, and export production in deep oligotrophic waters are extremely rare. This is especially true in the context of the direct response and lag time between nutrient supply (e.g., dust), the oceanic biogeochemical response and the signal transfer from the water to sedimentary record. Here, we present the first direct measurments of bulk and export production fluxes in the deep oligotrophic Gulf of Aqaba (GOA), northern Red Sea, located between the hyper-arid Sahara and Arabia Deserts. This study is based on a coupled sediment trap array that provides daily- and monthly- resolution since January 2014. This coupled configuration allows for a unique collection of marine particulates, whereby the annual and seasonal patterns can be evaluated in the context of discrete (daily-timescale) events such as abrupt dust storms, floods and biological blooms. The marine organic C and N fluxes range annually between 0.02-0.25 and 0.001-0.1 g d-1 m-2, respectively. Both show a sharp decay with depth, corresponding to the "Martin curve" (Martin et al., 1987, Deep-Sea Research, 34, 267-285). Importantly, the daily-resolution sampling provides insights to the seasonal increase in export production during the winter and early spring. Rather than a smooth seasonal cycle, this increase is driven by only very few short events, lasting no more than a few days, during which export production increases by an order of magnitude above the baseline. Yet, the nature of these export production "spikes" is non-unique because they reflect different "trigger" events such as dust storms or water column mixing. Accordingly, we present a quantitative evaluation of the observations in the context of coeval dust flux records and the physical and chemical configuration of the GOA over the time of sampling period, and present and quantitative mass balance of particle fluxes in this deep yet land-locked marine setting.

Engineering Students' Views of Corporate Social Responsibility: A Case Study from Petroleum Engineering.

PubMed

Smith, Jessica M; McClelland, Carrie J; Smith, Nicole M

2017-12-01

The mining and energy industries present unique challenges to engineers, who must navigate sometimes competing responsibilities and codes of conduct, such as personal senses of right and wrong, professional ethics codes, and their employers' corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies. Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is the current dominant framework used by industry to conceptualize firms' responsibilities to their stakeholders, yet has it plays a relatively minor role in engineering ethics education. In this article, we report on an interdisciplinary pedagogical intervention in a petroleum engineering seminar that sought to better prepare engineering undergraduate students to critically appraise the strengths and limitations of CSR as an approach to reconciling the interests of industry and communities. We find that as a result of the curricular interventions, engineering students were able to expand their knowledge of the social, rather than simply environmental and economic dimensions of CSR. They remained hesitant, however, in identifying the links between those social aspects of CSR and their actual engineering work. The study suggests that CSR may be a fruitful arena from which to illustrate the profoundly sociotechnical dimensions of the engineering challenges relevant to students' future careers.

Understanding Spanish-Language Response in a National Health Communication Survey: Implications for Health Communication Research.

PubMed

Ramírez, A Susana; Willis, Gordon; Rutten, Lila Finney

2017-05-01

Spanish-speaking Latinos account for 13% of the U.S. population yet are chronically under-represented in national surveys; additionally, the response quality suffers from low literacy rates and translation challenges. These are the same issues that health communicators face when understanding how best to communicate important health information to Latinos. The Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) offers a unique opportunity to understand the health communication landscape and information needs of the U.S. We describe the challenges in recruiting Spanish-speaking HINTS respondents and strategies used to improve rates and quality of responses among Spanish-speaking Latinos. Cognitive interviewing techniques helped to better understand how Spanish-speaking Latinos were interpreting the survey questions, and the extent to which these interpretations matched English-speaking respondents' interpretations. Some Spanish-speaking respondents had difficulty with the questions because of a lack of access to health care. Additionally, Spanish-speaking respondents had a particularly hard time answering questions that were presented in a grid format. We describe the cognitive interview process, and consider the impact of format changes on Spanish-speaking people's responses and response quality. We discuss challenges that remain in understanding health information needs of non-English-speakers.

Understanding Spanish-language Response in a National Health Communication Survey: Implications for Health Communication Research

PubMed Central

Ramírez, A Susana; Willis, Gordon; Rutten, Lila Finney

2017-01-01

Spanish-speaking Latinos account for 13% of the US population yet are chronically under-represented in national surveys; additionally, response quality suffers from low literacy rates and translation challenges. These are the same issues that health communicators face when understanding how best to communicate important health information to Latinos. The Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) offers a unique opportunity to understand the health communication landscape and information needs of the U.S. population. We describe the challenges in recruiting Spanish-speaking HINTS respondents and strategies used to improve rates and quality of responses among Spanish-speaking Latinos. Cognitive interviewing techniques helped to better understand how Spanish-speaking Latinos were interpreting the survey questions, and the extent to which these interpretations matched English-speaking respondents’ interpretations. Some Spanish-speaking respondents had difficulty with the questions because of a lack of access to health care. Additionally, Spanish-speaking respondents had a particularly hard time answering questions that were presented in a grid format. We describe the cognitive interview process, and consider the impact of format changes on Spanish-speaking people’s responses and response quality. We discuss challenges that remain in understanding health information needs of non-English-speakers. PMID:28414618

Teasing apart a three-way symbiosis: transcriptome analyses of Curvularia protuberata in response to viral infection and heat stress.

PubMed

Morsy, Mustafa R; Oswald, Jennifer; He, Ji; Tang, Yuhong; Roossinck, Marilyn J

2010-10-15

The fungus Curvularia protuberata carries a dsRNA virus, Curvularia thermal tolerance virus, and develops a three-way symbiotic relationship with plants to enable their survival in extreme soil temperatures. To learn about the genome of C. protuberata and possible mechanisms of heat tolerance a collection of expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were developed from two subtracted cDNA libraries from mycelial cultures grown under control and heat stress conditions. We analyzed 4207 ESTs that were assembled into 1926 unique transcripts. Of the unique transcripts, 1347 (70%) had sequence similarity with GenBank entries using BLASTX while the rest represented unknown proteins with no matches in the databases. The majority of ESTs with known similarities were homologues to fungal genes. The EST collection presents a rich source of heat stress and viral induced genes of a fungal endophyte that is involved in a symbiotic relationship with plants. Expression profile analyses of some candidate genes suggest possible involvement of osmoprotectants such as trehalose, glycine betaine, and taurine in the heat stress response. The fungal pigment melanin, and heat shock proteins also may be involved in the thermotolerance of C. protuberata in culture. The results assist in understanding the molecular basis of thermotolerance of the three-way symbiosis. Further studies will confirm or refute the involvement of these pathways in stress tolerance. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The nuclear import factor importin α4 can protect against oxidative stress.

PubMed

Young, Julia C; Ly-Huynh, Jennifer D; Lescesen, Helen; Miyamoto, Yoichi; Browne, Cate; Yoneda, Yoshihiro; Koopman, Peter; Loveland, Kate L; Jans, David A

2013-10-01

The importin (IMP) superfamily of nuclear transport proteins is essential to key developmental pathways, including in the murine testis where expression of the 6 distinct IMPα proteins is highly dynamic. Present predominantly from the spermatocyte stage onwards, IMPα4 is unique in showing a striking nuclear localization, a property we previously found to be linked to maintenance of pluripotency in embryonic stem cells and to the cellular stress response in cultured cells. Here we examine the role of IMPα4 in vivo for the first time using a novel transgenic mouse model in which we overexpress an IMPα4-EGFP fusion protein from the protamine 1 promoter to recapitulate endogenous testicular germ cell IMPα4 expression in spermatids. IMPα4 overexpression did not affect overall fertility, testis morphology/weight or spermatogenic progression under normal conditions, but conferred significantly (>30%) increased resistance to oxidative stress specifically in the spermatid subpopulation expressing the transgene. Consistent with a cell-specific role for IMPα4 in protecting against oxidative stress, haploid germ cells from IMPα4 null mice were significantly (c. 30%) less resistant to oxidative stress than wild type controls. These results from two unique and complementary mouse models demonstrate a novel protective role for IMPα4 in stress responses specifically within haploid male germline cells, with implications for male fertility and genetic integrity. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Differential gene expression in incompatible interaction between Lilium regale Wilson and Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lilii revealed by combined SSH and microarray analysis].

PubMed

Rao, J; Liu, D; Zhang, N; He, H; Ge, F; Chen, C

2014-01-01

Fusarium wilt, caused by a soilborne pathogen Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lilii, is the major disease of lily (Lilium L.). In order to isolate the genes differentially expressed in a resistant reaction to F. oxysporum in L. regale Wilson, a cDNA library was constructed with L. regale root during F. oxysporum infection using the suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH), and a total of 585 unique expressed sequence tags (ESTs) were obtained. Furthermore, the gene expression profiles in the incompatible interaction between L. regale and F. oxysporum were revealed by oligonucleotide microarray analysis of 585 unique ESTs comparison to the compatible interaction between a susceptible Lilium Oriental Hybrid 'Siberia' and F. oxysporum. The result of expression profile analysis indicated that the genes encoding pathogenesis-related proteins (PRs), antioxidative stress enzymes, secondary metabolism enzymes, transcription factors, signal transduction proteins as well as a large number of unknown genes were involved in early defense response of L. regale to F. oxysporum infection. Moreover, the following quantitative reverse transcription PCR (QRT-PCR) analysis confirmed reliability of the oligonucleotide microarray data. In the present study, isolation of differentially expressed genes in L. regale during response to F. oxysporum helped to uncover the molecular mechanism associated with the resistance of L. regale against F. oxysporum.

A cell wall-degrading esterase of Xanthomonas oryzae requires a unique substrate recognition module for pathogenesis on rice.

PubMed

Aparna, Gudlur; Chatterjee, Avradip; Sonti, Ramesh V; Sankaranarayanan, Rajan

2009-06-01

Xanthomonas oryzae pv oryzae (Xoo) causes bacterial blight, a serious disease of rice (Oryza sativa). LipA is a secretory virulence factor of Xoo, implicated in degradation of rice cell walls and the concomitant elicitation of innate immune responses, such as callose deposition and programmed cell death. Here, we present the high-resolution structural characterization of LipA that reveals an all-helical ligand binding module as a distinct functional attachment to the canonical hydrolase catalytic domain. We demonstrate that the enzyme binds to a glycoside ligand through a rigid pocket comprising distinct carbohydrate-specific and acyl chain recognition sites where the catalytic triad is situated 15 A from the anchored carbohydrate. Point mutations disrupting the carbohydrate anchor site or blocking the pocket, even at a considerable distance from the enzyme active site, can abrogate in planta LipA function, exemplified by loss of both virulence and the ability to elicit host defense responses. A high conservation of the module across genus Xanthomonas emphasizes the significance of this unique plant cell wall-degrading function for this important group of plant pathogenic bacteria. A comparison with the related structural families illustrates how a typical lipase is recruited to act on plant cell walls to promote virulence, thus providing a remarkable example of the emergence of novel functions around existing scaffolds for increased proficiency of pathogenesis during pathogen-plant coevolution.

Where Academia Meets Management: A Model for the Effective Development of Quality Learning Materials Using New Technologies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kenny, John

This article explores the perennial tension between the demands of management for quality projects that can be used to attract new markets and students and the traditional scholarly approach to learning. Universities are unique environments compared to industry settings. They are unique in that the responsibility for the quality of the teaching…

Medical Operations Centers: Duplication or a Needed Innovation?

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-12-01

II. THE CURRENT MEDICAL SYSTEM A. MEDICAL SYSTEM COMPONENTS The definition or identification of which agencies, organizations, and businesses ... businesses —each with its unique contribution to medical care and each with its unique role in preparedness and emergency response. Perhaps the Oklahoma City...look at some hospital statistics will illuminate the financial woes experienced by all medical providers attempting to collect

The genome sequence of Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis: functional annotation and extended analysis of gene models.

PubMed

Real, Fernando; Vidal, Ramon Oliveira; Carazzolle, Marcelo Falsarella; Mondego, Jorge Maurício Costa; Costa, Gustavo Gilson Lacerda; Herai, Roberto Hirochi; Würtele, Martin; de Carvalho, Lucas Miguel; Carmona e Ferreira, Renata; Mortara, Renato Arruda; Barbiéri, Clara Lucia; Mieczkowski, Piotr; da Silveira, José Franco; Briones, Marcelo Ribeiro da Silva; Pereira, Gonçalo Amarante Guimarães; Bahia, Diana

2013-12-01

We present the sequencing and annotation of the Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis genome, an etiological agent of human cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Amazon region of Brazil. L. (L.) amazonensis shares features with Leishmania (L.) mexicana but also exhibits unique characteristics regarding geographical distribution and clinical manifestations of cutaneous lesions (e.g. borderline disseminated cutaneous leishmaniasis). Predicted genes were scored for orthologous gene families and conserved domains in comparison with other human pathogenic Leishmania spp. Carboxypeptidase, aminotransferase, and 3'-nucleotidase genes and ATPase, thioredoxin, and chaperone-related domains were represented more abundantly in L. (L.) amazonensis and L. (L.) mexicana species. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that these two species share groups of amastin surface proteins unique to the genus that could be related to specific features of disease outcomes and host cell interactions. Additionally, we describe a hypothetical hybrid interactome of potentially secreted L. (L.) amazonensis proteins and host proteins under the assumption that parasite factors mimic their mammalian counterparts. The model predicts an interaction between an L. (L.) amazonensis heat-shock protein and mammalian Toll-like receptor 9, which is implicated in important immune responses such as cytokine and nitric oxide production. The analysis presented here represents valuable information for future studies of leishmaniasis pathogenicity and treatment.

The Genome Sequence of Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis: Functional Annotation and Extended Analysis of Gene Models

PubMed Central

Real, Fernando; Vidal, Ramon Oliveira; Carazzolle, Marcelo Falsarella; Mondego, Jorge Maurício Costa; Costa, Gustavo Gilson Lacerda; Herai, Roberto Hirochi; Würtele, Martin; de Carvalho, Lucas Miguel; e Ferreira, Renata Carmona; Mortara, Renato Arruda; Barbiéri, Clara Lucia; Mieczkowski, Piotr; da Silveira, José Franco; Briones, Marcelo Ribeiro da Silva; Pereira, Gonçalo Amarante Guimarães; Bahia, Diana

2013-01-01

We present the sequencing and annotation of the Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis genome, an etiological agent of human cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Amazon region of Brazil. L. (L.) amazonensis shares features with Leishmania (L.) mexicana but also exhibits unique characteristics regarding geographical distribution and clinical manifestations of cutaneous lesions (e.g. borderline disseminated cutaneous leishmaniasis). Predicted genes were scored for orthologous gene families and conserved domains in comparison with other human pathogenic Leishmania spp. Carboxypeptidase, aminotransferase, and 3′-nucleotidase genes and ATPase, thioredoxin, and chaperone-related domains were represented more abundantly in L. (L.) amazonensis and L. (L.) mexicana species. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that these two species share groups of amastin surface proteins unique to the genus that could be related to specific features of disease outcomes and host cell interactions. Additionally, we describe a hypothetical hybrid interactome of potentially secreted L. (L.) amazonensis proteins and host proteins under the assumption that parasite factors mimic their mammalian counterparts. The model predicts an interaction between an L. (L.) amazonensis heat-shock protein and mammalian Toll-like receptor 9, which is implicated in important immune responses such as cytokine and nitric oxide production. The analysis presented here represents valuable information for future studies of leishmaniasis pathogenicity and treatment. PMID:23857904

Early spinal cord and brainstem involvement in infantile Leigh syndrome possibly caused by a novel variant.

PubMed

Tenney, Jeffrey R; Prada, Carlos E; Hopkin, Robert J; Hallinan, Barbara E

2013-12-01

Leigh syndrome, due to a dysfunction of mitochondrial energy metabolism, is a genetically heterogeneous and progressive neurologic disorder that usually occurs in infancy and childhood. Its clinical presentation and neuroimaging findings can be variable, especially early in the course of the disease. This report presents a patient with infantile Leigh syndrome who had atypical radiologic findings on serial neuroimaging studies with early and severe involvement of the cervical spinal cord and brainstem and injury to the thalami and basal ganglia occurring only late in the clinical course. Postmortem microscopic examination supported this timing of injury within the central nervous system. In addition, mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid sequencing showed a novel homoplasmic variant that could be responsible for this unique lethal form of Leigh syndrome.

A unique memory process modulated by emotion underpins successful odor recognition and episodic retrieval in humans

PubMed Central

Saive, Anne-Lise; Royet, Jean-Pierre; Ravel, Nadine; Thévenet, Marc; Garcia, Samuel; Plailly, Jane

2014-01-01

We behaviorally explore the link between olfaction, emotion and memory by testing the hypothesis that the emotion carried by odors facilitates the memory of specific unique events. To investigate this idea, we used a novel behavioral approach inspired by a paradigm developed by our team to study episodic memory in a controlled and as ecological as possible way in humans. The participants freely explored three unique and rich laboratory episodes; each episode consisted of three unfamiliar odors (What) positioned at three specific locations (Where) within a visual context (Which context). During the retrieval test, which occurred 24–72 h after the encoding, odors were used to trigger the retrieval of the complex episodes. The participants were proficient in recognizing the target odors among distractors and retrieving the visuospatial context in which they were encountered. The episodic nature of the task generated high and stable memory performances, which were accompanied by faster responses and slower and deeper breathing. Successful odor recognition and episodic memory were not related to differences in odor investigation at encoding. However, memory performances were influenced by the emotional content of the odors, regardless of odor valence, with both pleasant and unpleasant odors generating higher recognition and episodic retrieval than neutral odors. Finally, the present study also suggested that when the binding between the odors and the spatio-contextual features of the episode was successful, the odor recognition and the episodic retrieval collapsed into a unique memory process that began as soon as the participants smelled the odors. PMID:24936176

Nonlinear analysis for high-temperature multilayered fiber composite structures. M.S. Thesis; [turbine blades

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hopkins, D. A.

1984-01-01

A unique upward-integrated top-down-structured approach is presented for nonlinear analysis of high-temperature multilayered fiber composite structures. Based on this approach, a special purpose computer code was developed (nonlinear COBSTRAN) which is specifically tailored for the nonlinear analysis of tungsten-fiber-reinforced superalloy (TFRS) composite turbine blade/vane components of gas turbine engines. Special features of this computational capability include accounting of; micro- and macro-heterogeneity, nonlinear (stess-temperature-time dependent) and anisotropic material behavior, and fiber degradation. A demonstration problem is presented to mainfest the utility of the upward-integrated top-down-structured approach, in general, and to illustrate the present capability represented by the nonlinear COBSTRAN code. Preliminary results indicate that nonlinear COBSTRAN provides the means for relating the local nonlinear and anisotropic material behavior of the composite constituents to the global response of the turbine blade/vane structure.

IRF7 in the Australian black flying fox, Pteropus alecto: evidence for a unique expression pattern and functional conservation.

PubMed

Zhou, Peng; Cowled, Chris; Mansell, Ashley; Monaghan, Paul; Green, Diane; Wu, Lijun; Shi, Zhengli; Wang, Lin-Fa; Baker, Michelle L

2014-01-01

As the only flying mammal, bats harbor a number of emerging and re-emerging viruses, many of which cause severe diseases in humans and other mammals yet result in no clinical symptoms in bats. As the master regulator of the interferon (IFN)-dependent immune response, IFN regulatory factor 7 (IRF7) plays a central role in innate antiviral immunity. To explore the role of bat IRF7 in the regulation of the IFN response, we performed sequence and functional analysis of IRF7 from the pteropid bat, Pteropus alecto. Our results demonstrate that bat IRF7 retains the ability to bind to MyD88 and activate the IFN response despite unique changes in the MyD88 binding domain. We also demonstrate that bat IRF7 has a unique expression pattern across both immune and non-immune related tissues and is inducible by double-strand RNA. The broad tissue distribution of IRF7 may provide bats with an enhanced ability to rapidly activate the IFN response in a wider range of tissues compared to other mammals. The importance of IRF7 in antiviral activity against the bat reovirus, Pulau virus was confirmed by siRNA knockdown of IRF7 in bat cells resulting in enhanced viral replication. Our results highlight the importance of IRF7 in innate antiviral immunity in bats.

IRF7 in the Australian Black Flying Fox, Pteropus alecto: Evidence for a Unique Expression Pattern and Functional Conservation

PubMed Central

Zhou, Peng; Cowled, Chris; Mansell, Ashley; Monaghan, Paul; Green, Diane; Wu, Lijun; Shi, Zhengli; Wang, Lin-Fa; Baker, Michelle L.

2014-01-01

As the only flying mammal, bats harbor a number of emerging and re-emerging viruses, many of which cause severe diseases in humans and other mammals yet result in no clinical symptoms in bats. As the master regulator of the interferon (IFN)-dependent immune response, IFN regulatory factor 7 (IRF7) plays a central role in innate antiviral immunity. To explore the role of bat IRF7 in the regulation of the IFN response, we performed sequence and functional analysis of IRF7 from the pteropid bat, Pteropus alecto. Our results demonstrate that bat IRF7 retains the ability to bind to MyD88 and activate the IFN response despite unique changes in the MyD88 binding domain. We also demonstrate that bat IRF7 has a unique expression pattern across both immune and non-immune related tissues and is inducible by double-strand RNA. The broad tissue distribution of IRF7 may provide bats with an enhanced ability to rapidly activate the IFN response in a wider range of tissues compared to other mammals. The importance of IRF7 in antiviral activity against the bat reovirus, Pulau virus was confirmed by siRNA knockdown of IRF7 in bat cells resulting in enhanced viral replication. Our results highlight the importance of IRF7 in innate antiviral immunity in bats. PMID:25100081

Transcriptome sequencing of rhizome tissue of Sinopodophyllum hexandrum at two temperatures.

PubMed

Kumari, Anita; Singh, Heikham Russiachand; Jha, Ashwani; Swarnkar, Mohit Kumar; Shankar, Ravi; Kumar, Sanjay

2014-10-07

Sinopodophyllum hexandrum is an endangered medicinal herb, which is commonly present in elevations ranging between 2,400-4,500 m and is sensitive to temperature. Medicinal property of the species is attributed to the presence of podophyllotoxin in the rhizome tissue. The present work analyzed transcriptome of rhizome tissue of S. hexandrum exposed to 15°C and 25°C to understand the temperature mediated molecular responses including those associated with podophyllotoxin biosynthesis. Deep sequencing of transcriptome with an average coverage of 88.34X yielded 60,089 assembled transcript sequences representing 20,387 unique genes having homology to known genes. Fragments per kilobase of exon per million fragments mapped (FPKM) based expression analysis revealed genes related to growth and development were over-expressed at 15°C, whereas genes involved in stress response were over-expressed at 25°C. There was a decreasing trend of podophyllotoxin accumulation at 25°C; data was well supported by the expression of corresponding genes of the pathway. FPKM data was validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction data using a total of thirty four genes and a positive correlation between the two platforms of gene expression was obtained. Also, detailed analyses yielded cytochrome P450s, methyltransferases and glycosyltransferases which could be the potential candidate hitherto unidentified genes of podophyllotoxin biosynthesis pathway. The present work revealed temperature responsive transcriptome of S. hexandrum on Illumina platform. Data suggested expression of genes for growth and development and podophyllotoxin biosynthesis at 15°C, and prevalence of those associated with stress response at 25°C.

The role of monogenic disease in children with very early onset inflammatory bowel disease.

PubMed

Kelsen, Judith R; Baldassano, Robert N

2017-10-01

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a multifactorial disease caused by dysregulated immune responses to commensal or pathogenic intestinal microbes, resulting in chronic intestinal inflammation. Patients diagnosed with IBD occurring before the age of 5 are a unique population, known as very early onset (VEO)-IBD and can be phenotypically and genetically distinct from older-onset IBD. We aim to review the clinical presentation of children with VEO-IBD and recent discoveries that point to genomic drivers of disease that may impact our therapeutic decisions. VEO-IBD is increasing in incidence and is associated with more severe disease, aggressive progression and poor response to most conventional therapies. This article will review the advances in sequencing technology that have led to identification of novel gene variants associated with disease and potentially new targeted therapeutic options. Children with VEO-IBD may present with a different phenotype and more severe disease than older children and adults. Identification of the causal gene or pathways, these children may allow for true precision medicine with targeted therapy and improved disease course.

Observational insights into chlorophyll distributions of subtropical South Indian Ocean eddies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dufois, François; Hardman-Mountford, Nick J.; Fernandes, Michelle; Wojtasiewicz, Bozena; Shenoy, Damodar; Slawinski, Dirk; Gauns, Mangesh; Greenwood, Jim; Toresen, Reidar

2017-04-01

The South Indian Ocean subtropical gyre has been described as a unique environment where anticyclonic ocean eddies highlight enhanced surface chlorophyll in winter. The processes responsible for this chlorophyll increase in anticyclones have remained elusive, primarily because previous studies investigating this unusual behavior were mostly based on satellite data, which only views the ocean surface. Here we present in situ data from an oceanographic voyage focusing on the mesoscale variability of biogeochemical variables across the subtropical gyre. During this voyage an autonomous biogeochemical profiling float transected an anticyclonic eddy, recording its physical and biological state over a period of 6 weeks. We show that several processes might be responsible for the eddy/chlorophyll relationship, including horizontal advection of productive waters and deeper convective mixing in anticyclonic eddies. While a deep chlorophyll maximum is present in the subtropical Indian Ocean outside anticyclonic eddies, mixing reaches deeper in anticyclonic eddy cores, resulting in increased surface chlorophyll due to the stirring of the deep chlorophyll maximum and possibly resulting in new production from nitrate injection below the deep chlorophyll maximum.

Female orgasm(s): one, two, several.

PubMed

Jannini, Emmanuele A; Rubio-Casillas, Alberto; Whipple, Beverly; Buisson, Odile; Komisaruk, Barry R; Brody, Stuart

2012-04-01

There is general agreement that it is possible to have an orgasm thru the direct simulation of the external clitoris. In contrast, the possibility of achieving climax during penetration has been controversial. Six scientists with different experimental evidence debate the existence of the vaginally activated orgasm (VAO). To give reader of The Journal of Sexual Medicine sufficient data to form her/his own opinion on an important topic of female sexuality. Expert #1, the Controversy's section Editor, together with Expert #2, reviewed data from the literature demonstrating the anatomical possibility for the VAO. Expert #3 presents validating women's reports of pleasurable sexual responses and adaptive significance of the VAO. Echographic dynamic evidence induced Expert # 4 to describe one single orgasm, obtained from stimulation of either the external or internal clitoris, during penetration. Expert #5 reviewed his elegant experiments showing the uniquely different sensory responses to clitoral, vaginal, and cervical stimulation. Finally, the last Expert presented findings on the psychological scenario behind VAO. The assumption that women may experience only the clitoral, external orgasm is not based on the best available scientific evidence. © 2012 International Society for Sexual Medicine.

Heart Rate Complexity in Response to Upright Tilt in Persons with Down Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Agiovlasitis, Stamatis; Baynard, Tracy; Pitetti, Kenneth H.; Fernhall, Bo

2011-01-01

People with Down syndrome (DS) show altered autonomic response to sympatho-excitation. Cardiac autonomic modulation may be examined with heart rate (HR) complexity which is associated uniquely with cardiovascular risk. This study examined whether the response of HR complexity to passive upright tilt differs between persons with and without DS and…

Elementary Teachers' Perceptions of and Experiences with Culturally Responsive Pedagogy and Diverse Students' Achievement

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martisko, Leah Marie

2012-01-01

The purpose of this heuristic case study was to develop a thick, rich description of the culturally responsive pedagogical practices of teachers and to describe what instruction looks like when students are engaged in learning that addresses their unique cultural needs. For the purposes of this study, culturally responsive pedagogy was defined as…

Friendship Conflict, Conflict Responses, and Instability: Unique Links to Anxious and Angry Forms of Rejection Sensitivity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Croft, Carissa D.; Zimmer-Gembeck, Melanie J.

2014-01-01

Rejection sensitivity (RS) instigates conflict and prompts maladaptive conflict responses within romantic relationships. We tested whether RS had similar effects within friendships (N = 262, X[subscript age] = 11.7) by investigating whether (a) RS was associated with more frequent conflict, (b) two RS forms prompted different conflict responses,…

Exploring Unique Roles for Psychologists

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ahmed, Mohiuddin; Boisvert, Charles M.

2005-01-01

This paper presents comments on "Psychological Treatments" by D. H. Barlow. Barlow highlighted unique roles that psychologists can play in mental health service delivery by providing psychological treatments--treatments that psychologists would be uniquely qualified to design and deliver. In support of Barlow's position, the authors draw from…

Colony-specific calcification and mortality under ocean acidification in the branching coral Montipora digitata.

PubMed

Kavousi, Javid; Tanaka, Yasuaki; Nishida, Kozue; Suzuki, Atsushi; Nojiri, Yukihiro; Nakamura, Takashi

2016-08-01

Ocean acidification (OA) threatens calcifying marine organisms including reef-building corals. In this study, we examined the OA responses of individual colonies of the branching scleractinian coral Montipora digitata. We exposed nubbins of unique colonies (n = 15) to ambient or elevated pCO2 under natural light and temperature regimes for 110 days. Although elevated pCO2 exposure on average reduced calcification, individual colonies showed unique responses ranging from declines in positive calcification to negative calcification (decalcification) to no change. Similarly, mortality was greater on average in elevated pCO2, but also showed colony-specific patterns. High variation in colony responses suggests the possibility that ongoing OA may lead to natural selection of OA-tolerant colonies within a coral population. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Optimal Shift Duration and Sequence: Recommended Approach for Short-Term Emergency Response Activations for Public Health and Emergency Management

PubMed Central

Burgess, Paula A.

2007-01-01

Since September 11, 2001, and the consequent restructuring of the US preparedness and response activities, public health workers are increasingly called on to activate a temporary round-the-clock staffing schedule. These workers may have to make key decisions that could significantly impact the health and safety of the public. The unique physiological demands of rotational shift work and night shift work have the potential to negatively impact decisionmaking ability. A responsible, evidence-based approach to scheduling applies the principles of circadian physiology, as well as unique individual physiologies and preferences. Optimal scheduling would use a clockwise (morning-afternoon-night) rotational schedule: limiting night shifts to blocks of 3, limiting shift duration to 8 hours, and allowing 3 days of recuperation after night shifts. PMID:17413074

Using Java to generate globally unique identifiers for DICOM objects.

PubMed

Kamauu, Aaron W C; Duvall, Scott L; Avrin, David E

2009-03-01

Digital imaging and communication in medicine (DICOM) specifies that all DICOM objects have globally unique identifiers (UIDs). Creating these UIDs can be a difficult task due to the variety of techniques in use and the requirement to ensure global uniqueness. We present a simple technique of combining a root organization identifier, assigned descriptive identifiers, and JAVA generated unique identifiers to construct DICOM compliant UIDs.

Extension Procedures for Confirmatory Factor Analysis

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nagy, Gabriel; Brunner, Martin; Lüdtke, Oliver; Greiff, Samuel

2017-01-01

We present factor extension procedures for confirmatory factor analysis that provide estimates of the relations of common and unique factors with external variables that do not undergo factor analysis. We present identification strategies that build upon restrictions of the pattern of correlations between unique factors and external variables. The…

Defining strategies for promoting product through 'drink responsibly' messages in magazine ads for beer, spirits and alcopops.

PubMed

Smith, Katherine Clegg; Cukier, Samantha; Jernigan, David H

2014-09-01

Neither federal regulations nor industry voluntary codes require 'responsibility' statements in alcohol advertising. Stand alone 'public service' responsibility campaigns have been found to convey pro-drinking themes. We analyzed responsibility statements placed in conventional alcohol advertising to consider how responsible drinking is presented, and potential communicative goals for responsibility messages. We conducted a descriptive textual analysis of 'drink responsibly' messages appearing in all advertisements pertaining to beer, spirits and alcopop products placed in U.S. national, newsstand magazines from 2008 to 2010 (N=1795). We coded advertisements for presence, prominence and content of responsibility messages. Using a qualitative approach, we created a taxonomy of product promotional elements within the responsibility messages. Analysis revealed that 87% of the advertisements included a responsibility message (N=1555); responsibility messages were less prominent than any included tagline (product slogan). Messages never defined responsible drinking or promoted abstinence. No link was made between warnings and activities conveyed in the advertisements. There were 197 unique responsibility messages, 88% of which (N=174) were promotional of the advertised product. Responsibility promotional content was categorized into 5 strategies: Product name, Consumption information, Product qualities, Product promise, Qualities of the drinker. Responsibility messages were overwhelmingly used to promote product rather than convey relevant public health information. Based on this analysis, existing responsibility messages are largely ineffective at conveying relevant public health information, and should be supplemented by or replaced with prominently placed, externally developed, cognitively tested warnings that do not reinforce marketing messages. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Three Human Cell Types Respond to Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes and Titanium Dioxide Nanobelts with Cell-Specific Transcriptomic and Proteomic Expression Patterns.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tilton, Susan C.; Karin, Norman J.; Tolic, Ana

2014-08-01

The growing use of engineered nanoparticles (NPs) in commercial and medical applications raises the urgent need for tools that can predict NP toxicity. Global transcriptome and proteome analyses were conducted on three human cell types, exposed to two high aspect ratio NP types, to identify patterns of expression that might indicate high versus low NP toxicity. Three cell types representing the most common routes of human exposure to NPs, including macrophage-like (THP-1), small airway epithelial and intestinal (Caco-2/HT29-MTX) cells, were exposed to TiO2 nanobelts (TiO2-NB; high toxicity) and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT; low toxicity) at low (10 µg/mL) and highmore » (100 µg/mL) concentrations for 1 and 24 h. Unique patterns of gene and protein expressions were identified for each cell type, with no differentially expressed (p < 0.05, 1.5-fold change) genes or proteins overlapping across all three cell types. While unique to each cell type, the early response was primarily independent of NP type, showing similar expression patterns in response to both TiO2-NB and MWCNT. The early response might, therefore, indicate a general response to insult. In contrast, the 24 h response was unique to each NP type. The most significantly (p < 0.05) enriched biological processes in THP-1 cells indicated TiO2-NB regulation of pathways associated with inflammation, apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, DNA replication stress and genomic instability, while MWCNT-regulated pathways indicated increased cell proliferation, DNA repair and anti-apoptosis. These two distinct sets of biological pathways might, therefore, underlie cellular responses to high and low NP toxicity, respectively.« less

Amorphous photonic crystals with only short-range order.

PubMed

Shi, Lei; Zhang, Yafeng; Dong, Biqin; Zhan, Tianrong; Liu, Xiaohan; Zi, Jian

2013-10-04

Distinct from conventional photonic crystals with both short- and long-range order, amorphous photonic crystals that possess only short-range order show interesting optical responses owing to their unique structural features. Amorphous photonic crystals exhibit unique light scattering and transport, which lead to a variety of interesting phenomena such as isotropic photonic bandgaps or pseudogaps, noniridescent structural colors, and light localization. Recent experimental and theoretical advances in the study of amorphous photonic crystals are summarized, focusing on their unique optical properties, artificial fabrication, bionspiration, and potential applications. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Volumetric Stress-Strain Analysis of Optohydrodynamically Suspended Biological Cells

PubMed Central

Liang, Yu; Saha, Asit K.

2011-01-01

Ongoing investigations are exploring the biomechanical properties of isolated and suspended biological cells in pursuit of understanding single-cell mechanobiology. An optical tweezer with minimal applied laser power has positioned biologic cells at the geometric center of a microfluidic cross-junction, creating a novel optohydrodynamic trap. The resulting fluid flow environment facilitates unique multiaxial loading of single cells with site-specific normal and shear stresses resulting in a physical albeit extensional state. A recent two-dimensional analysis has explored the cytoskeletal strain response due to these fluid-induced stresses [Wilson and Kohles, 2010, “Two-Dimensional Modeling of Nanomechanical Stresses-Strains in Healthy and Diseased Single-Cells During Microfluidic Manipulation,” J Nanotechnol Eng Med, 1(2), p. 021005]. Results described a microfluidic environment having controlled nanometer and piconewton resolution. In this present study, computational fluid dynamics combined with multiphysics modeling has further characterized the applied fluid stress environment and the solid cellular strain response in three dimensions to accompany experimental cell stimulation. A volumetric stress-strain analysis was applied to representative living cell biomechanical data. The presented normal and shear stress surface maps will guide future microfluidic experiments as well as provide a framework for characterizing cytoskeletal structure influencing the stress to strain response. PMID:21186894

Elucidating mechanisms of toxic action of dissolved organic chemicals in oil sands process-affected water (OSPW).

PubMed

Morandi, Garrett D; Wiseman, Steve B; Guan, Miao; Zhang, Xiaowei W; Martin, Jonathan W; Giesy, John P

2017-11-01

Oil sands process-affected water (OSPW) is generated during extraction of bitumen in the surface-mining oil sands industry in Alberta, Canada, and is acutely and chronically toxic to aquatic organisms. It is known that dissolved organic compounds in OSPW are responsible for most toxic effects, but knowledge of the specific mechanism(s) of toxicity, is limited. Using bioassay-based effects-directed analysis, the dissolved organic fraction of OSPW has previously been fractionated, ultimately producing refined samples of dissolved organic chemicals in OSPW, each with distinct chemical profiles. Using the Escherichia coli K-12 strain MG1655 gene reporter live cell array, the present study investigated relationships between toxic potencies of each fraction, expression of genes and characterization of chemicals in each of five acutely toxic and one non-toxic extract of OSPW derived by use of effects-directed analysis. Effects on expressions of genes related to response to oxidative stress, protein stress and DNA damage were indicative of exposure to acutely toxic extracts of OSPW. Additionally, six genes were uniquely responsive to acutely toxic extracts of OSPW. Evidence presented supports a role for sulphur- and nitrogen-containing chemical classes in the toxicity of extracts of OSPW. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Global transcriptomic responses of Escherichia coli K-12 to volatile organic compounds.

PubMed

Yung, Pui Yi; Grasso, Letizia Lo; Mohidin, Abeed Fatima; Acerbi, Enzo; Hinks, Jamie; Seviour, Thomas; Marsili, Enrico; Lauro, Federico M

2016-01-28

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are commonly used as solvents in various industrial settings. Many of them present a challenge to receiving environments, due to their toxicity and low bioavailability for degradation. Microorganisms are capable of sensing and responding to their surroundings and this makes them ideal detectors for toxic compounds. This study investigates the global transcriptomic responses of Escherichia coli K-12 to selected VOCs at sub-toxic levels. Cells grown in the presence of VOCs were harvested during exponential growth, followed by whole transcriptome shotgun sequencing (RNAseq). The analysis of the data revealed both shared and unique genetic responses compared to cells without exposure to VOCs. Results suggest that various functional gene categories, for example, those relating to Fe/S cluster biogenesis, oxidative stress responses and transport proteins, are responsive to selected VOCs in E. coli. The differential expression (DE) of genes was validated using GFP-promoter fusion assays. A variety of genes were differentially expressed even at non-inhibitory concentrations and when the cells are at their balanced-growth. Some of these genes belong to generic stress response and others could be specific to VOCs. Such candidate genes and their regulatory elements could be used as the basis for designing biosensors for selected VOCs.

Global transcriptomic responses of Escherichia coli K-12 to volatile organic compounds

PubMed Central

Yung, Pui Yi; Grasso, Letizia Lo; Mohidin, Abeed Fatima; Acerbi, Enzo; Hinks, Jamie; Seviour, Thomas; Marsili, Enrico; Lauro, Federico M.

2016-01-01

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are commonly used as solvents in various industrial settings. Many of them present a challenge to receiving environments, due to their toxicity and low bioavailability for degradation. Microorganisms are capable of sensing and responding to their surroundings and this makes them ideal detectors for toxic compounds. This study investigates the global transcriptomic responses of Escherichia coli K-12 to selected VOCs at sub-toxic levels. Cells grown in the presence of VOCs were harvested during exponential growth, followed by whole transcriptome shotgun sequencing (RNAseq). The analysis of the data revealed both shared and unique genetic responses compared to cells without exposure to VOCs. Results suggest that various functional gene categories, for example, those relating to Fe/S cluster biogenesis, oxidative stress responses and transport proteins, are responsive to selected VOCs in E. coli. The differential expression (DE) of genes was validated using GFP-promoter fusion assays. A variety of genes were differentially expressed even at non-inhibitory concentrations and when the cells are at their balanced-growth. Some of these genes belong to generic stress response and others could be specific to VOCs. Such candidate genes and their regulatory elements could be used as the basis for designing biosensors for selected VOCs. PMID:26818886

A T-cell response to a liver-stage Plasmodium antigen is not boosted by repeated sporozoite immunizations

PubMed Central

Murphy, Sean C.; Kas, Arnold; Stone, Brad C.; Bevan, Michael J.

2013-01-01

Development of an antimalarial subunit vaccine inducing protective cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL)-mediated immunity could pave the way for malaria eradication. Experimental immunization with sporozoites induces this type of protective response, but the extremely large number of proteins expressed by Plasmodium parasites has so far prohibited the identification of sufficient discrete T-cell antigens to develop subunit vaccines that produce sterile immunity. Here, using mice singly immunized with Plasmodium yoelii sporozoites and high-throughput screening, we identified a unique CTL response against the parasite ribosomal L3 protein. Unlike CTL responses to the circumsporozoite protein (CSP), the population of L3-specific CTLs was not expanded by multiple sporozoite immunizations. CSP is abundant in the sporozoite itself, whereas L3 expression does not increase until the liver stage. The response induced by a single immunization with sporozoites reduces the parasite load in the liver so greatly during subsequent immunizations that L3-specific responses are only generated during the primary exposure. Functional L3-specific CTLs can, however, be expanded by heterologous prime-boost regimens. Thus, although repeat sporozoite immunization expands responses to preformed antigens like CSP that are present in the sporozoite itself, this immunization strategy may not expand CTLs targeting parasite proteins that are synthesized later. Heterologous strategies may be needed to increase CTL responses across the entire spectrum of Plasmodium liver-stage proteins. PMID:23530242

Identification of novel drought-responsive microRNAs and trans-acting siRNAs from Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench by high-throughput sequencing analysis

PubMed Central

Katiyar, Amit; Smita, Shuchi; Muthusamy, Senthilkumar K.; Chinnusamy, Viswanathan; Pandey, Dev M.; Bansal, Kailash C.

2015-01-01

Small non-coding RNAs (sRNAs) namely microRNAs (miRNAs) and trans-acting small interfering RNAs (tasi-RNAs) play a crucial role in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression and thus the control plant development and stress responses. In order to identify drought-responsive miRNAs and tasi-RNAs in sorghum, we constructed small RNA libraries from a drought tolerant (M35-1) and susceptible (C43) sorghum genotypes grown under control and drought stress conditions, and sequenced by Illumina Genome Analyzer IIx. Ninety seven conserved and 526 novel miRNAs representing 472 unique miRNA families were identified from sorghum. Ninety-six unique miRNAs were found to be regulated by drought stress, of which 32 were up- and 49 were down-regulated (fold change ≥ 2 or ≤ −2) at least in one genotype, while the remaining 15 miRNAs showed contrasting drought-regulated expression pattern between genotypes. A maximum of 17 and 18 miRNAs was differentially regulated under drought stress condition in the sensitive and tolerant genotypes, respectively. These results suggest that genotype dependent stress responsive regulation of miRNAs may contribute, at least in part, to the differential drought tolerance of sorghum genotypes. We also identified two miR390-directed TAS3 gene homologs and the auxin response factors as tasi-RNA targets. We predicted more than 1300 unique target genes for the novel and conserved miRNAs. These target genes were predicted to be involved in different cellular, metabolic, response to stimulus, biological regulation, and developmental processes. Genome-wide identification of stress-responsive miRNAs, tasi-RNAs and their targets identified in this study will be useful in unraveling the molecular mechanisms underlying drought stress responses and genetic improvement of biomass production and stress tolerance in sorghum. PMID:26236318

Nonlinear coherent optical image processing using logarithmic transmittance of bacteriorhodopsin films

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Downie, John D.

1995-08-01

The transmission properties of some bacteriorhodopsin-film spatial light modulators are uniquely suited to allow nonlinear optical image-processing operations to be applied to images with multiplicative noise characteristics. A logarithmic amplitude-transmission characteristic of the film permits the conversion of multiplicative noise to additive noise, which may then be linearly filtered out in the Fourier plane of the transformed image. I present experimental results demonstrating the principle and the capability for several different image and noise situations, including deterministic noise and speckle. The bacteriorhodopsin film studied here displays the logarithmic transmission response for write intensities spanning a dynamic range greater than 2 orders of magnitude.

Survey of cell biology experiments in reduced gravity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Taylor, G. R.

1977-01-01

The effects of spaceflight on terrestrial cell systems are discussed. With some important exceptions, static cell systems carried aboard U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. space flights have failed to reveal space related anomalies. Some sophisticated devices which were developed for viewing directly, or continuously recording, the growth of cells, tissue cultures and eggs in flight, are described and the results summarized. The unique presence of high energy, multicharged (HZE) particles and full-range ultraviolet irradiation in space prompted evaluation of the response of single cells to these factors. Summary results and general conclusions are presented. Potential areas of research in future space flights are identified.

Use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Monitor Iron Overload

PubMed Central

Wood, John C.

2014-01-01

SYNOPSIS Treatment of iron overload requires robust estimates of total body iron burden and its response to iron chelation therapy. Compliance with chelation therapy varies considerably among patients and individual reporting is notoriously unreliable. Even with perfect compliance, intersubject variability in chelator effectiveness is extremely high, necessitating reliable iron estimates to guide dose titration. In addition, each chelator has a unique profile with respect to clearing iron stores from different organs. This chapter will present the tools available to clinicians monitoring their patients, focusing on non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging methods because they have become the de-facto standard of care. PMID:25064711

Nonlinear Coherent Optical Image Processing Using Logarithmic Transmittance of Bacteriorhodopsin Films

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Downie, John D.

1995-01-01

The transmission properties of some bacteriorhodopsin-film spatial light modulators are uniquely suited to allow nonlinear optical image-processing operations to be applied to images with multiplicative noise characteristics. A logarithmic amplitude-transmission characteristic of the film permits the conversion of multiplicative noise to additive noise, which may then be linearly filtered out in the Fourier plane of the transformed image. I present experimental results demonstrating the principle and the capability for several different image and noise situations, including deterministic noise and speckle. The bacteriorhodopsin film studied here displays the logarithmic transmission response for write intensities spanning a dynamic range greater than 2 orders of magnitude.

A system identification technique based on the random decrement signatures. Part 2: Experimental results

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bedewi, Nabih E.; Yang, Jackson C. S.

1987-01-01

Identification of the system parameters of a randomly excited structure may be treated using a variety of statistical techniques. Of all these techniques, the Random Decrement is unique in that it provides the homogeneous component of the system response. Using this quality, a system identification technique was developed based on a least-squares fit of the signatures to estimate the mass, damping, and stiffness matrices of a linear randomly excited system. The results of an experiment conducted on an offshore platform scale model to verify the validity of the technique and to demonstrate its application in damage detection are presented.

A Review of Large Solid Rocket Motor Free Field Acoustics, Part I

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pilkey, Debbie; Kenny, Robert Jeremy

2011-01-01

At the ATK facility in Utah, large full scale solid rocket motors are tested. The largest is a five segment version of the Reusable Solid Rocket Motor, which is for use on future launch vehicles. Since 2006, Acoustic measurements have been taken on large solid rocket motors at ATK. Both the four segment RSRM and the five segment RSRMV have been instrumented. Measurements are used to update acoustic prediction models and to correlate against vibration responses of the motor. Presentation focuses on two major sections: Part I) Unique challenges associated with measuring rocket acoustics Part II) Acoustic measurements summary over past five years

Development of a cross-polarization scattering system for the measurement of internal magnetic fluctuations in the DIII-D tokamak

DOE PAGES

Rhodes, Terry L.; Peebles, William A.; Crocker, Neal A.; ...

2014-08-05

The design and performance of a new cross-polarization scattering (CPS) system for the localized measurement of internal magnetic fluctuations is presented. CPS is a process whereby magnetic fluctuations scatter incident electromagnetic radiation into a perpendicular polarization which is subsequently detected. A new CPS design that incorporates a unique scattering geometry was laboratory tested, optimized, and installed on the DIII-D tokamak. Plasma tests of signal-to-noise, polarization purity, and frequency response indicate proper functioning of the system. Lastly, CPS data show interesting features related to internal MHD perturbations known as sawteeth that are not observed on density fluctuations.

Performance comparison of denoising filters for source camera identification

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cortiana, A.; Conotter, V.; Boato, G.; De Natale, F. G. B.

2011-02-01

Source identification for digital content is one of the main branches of digital image forensics. It relies on the extraction of the photo-response non-uniformity (PRNU) noise as a unique intrinsic fingerprint that efficiently characterizes the digital device which generated the content. Such noise is estimated as the difference between the content and its de-noised version obtained via denoising filter processing. This paper proposes a performance comparison of different denoising filters for source identification purposes. In particular, results achieved with a sophisticated 3D filter are presented and discussed with respect to state-of-the-art denoising filters previously employed in such a context.

Fully-Coupled Fluid/Structure Vibration Analysis Using MSC/NASTRAN

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fernholz, Christian M.; Robinson, Jay H.

1996-01-01

MSC/NASTRAN's performance in the solution of fully-coupled fluid/structure problems is evaluated. NASTRAN is used to perform normal modes (SOL 103) and forced-response analyses (SOL 108, 111) on cylindrical and cubic fluid/structure models. Bulk data file cards unique to the specification of a fluid element are discussed and analytic partially-coupled solutions are derived for each type of problem. These solutions are used to evaluate NASTRAN's solutions for accuracy. Appendices to this work include NASTRAN data presented in fringe plot form, FORTRAN source code listings written in support of this work, and NASTRAN data file usage requirements for each analysis.

Biofilms and Oxidizing Biocides; Evaluation of Disinfection and Removal Effects by Using Established Microbial Systems.

PubMed

Tachikawa, Mariko

2017-01-01

The formation of bacterial biofilms and their disinfection and removal have been important subjects in the maintenance of water quality in areas such as public spas, swimming pools, food processing lines, industrial water systems, and in the hygienic control of medical devices, hospital procedures, etc. Presented here is an outline of biofilm formation, as well as studies on the disinfection and removal of biofilms by oxidizing biocides using established biofilms. These studies using established biofilms may increase the understanding of the variable response of biofilms to planktonic bacteria, and the unique aspects of oxidizing biocides in the disinfection and removal of biofilms.

Do smoke-free car laws work? Evidence from a quasi-experiment.

PubMed

Nguyen, Hai V

2013-01-01

In response to increased risks of second-hand smoke exposure for children travelling in cars and its resulting deleterious health impacts, several jurisdictions passed legislation that bans smoking in private vehicles when children are present. In this study, I exploit a unique quasi-experiment from Canada and employ the difference-in-differences and triple-differences techniques to empirically evaluate this legislation. I find that the legislation reduces exposure to second-hand smoke inside cars for children. Further, there appears no marked increase in smoking at home after the implementation of the legislation. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A man with nevoid hyperkeratosis of the areola.

PubMed

English, J C; Coots, N V

1996-05-01

Nevoid hyperkeratosis of the nipple and areola is a unique clinical entity and a diagnosis of exclusion. The patient presenting with nipple/areolar hyperkeratosis must be examined carefully for other underlying cutaneous diseases such as epidermal nevi, ichthyosis, acanthosis nigricans, Darier's disease, cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, and other chronic skin dermatitides that may be responsible for the changes. If no other clinical findings are evident, the diagnosis can be made. Although the disorder is more common in women of childbearing age, men may show nevoid changes after estrogen therapy or idiopathically. The use of topical 12 percent lactic acid lotion (Lac-Hydrin) resolves the skin changes over a six-month period.

Growth hormone investigation in patients with mental dysfunction.

PubMed

Pozsonyi, J; Friesen, H

1971-01-09

Seventy-three children with disorders of physical growth and mental development were stimulated by insulin hypoglycemia and arginine infusion and their human growth hormone (HGH) responses were determined. Only four patients exhibited absent or impaired pituitary hormone secretion and one of them presented a unique syndrome of panhypopituitarism associated with intrauterine growth retardation, long eyelashes and eyebrows, sparse hair and degeneration of the retina. Statistical analysis indicated no significant HGH peak concentrations in groups of either tall males or stunted females who possessed various sex chromosome abnormalities, nor did these groups differ in a variety of clinical parameters including age, physical growth, birth weight and intelligence.

Growth Hormone Investigation in Patients with Mental Dysfunction

PubMed Central

Pozsonyi, J.; Friesen, H.

1971-01-01

Seventy-three children with disorders of physical growth and mental development were stimulated by insulin hypoglycemia and arginine infusion and their human growth hormone (HGH) responses were determined. Only four patients exhibited absent or impaired pituitary hormone secretion and one of them presented a unique syndrome of panhypopituitarism associated with intrauterine growth retardation, long eyelashes and eyebrows, sparse hair and degeneration of the retina. Statistical analysis indicated no significant HGH peak concentrations in groups of either tall males or stunted females who possessed various sex chromosome abnormalities, nor did these groups differ in a variety of clinical parameters including age, physical growth, birth weight and intelligence. PMID:4250364

Working to Educate Global Citizens and Create Neighborly Communities Locally and Globally: Penn's Partnerships in West Philadelphia as a Democratic Experiment in Progress

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harkavy, Ira; Hartley, Matthew; Hodges, Rita Axelroth; Weeks, Joann

2016-01-01

In the rapidly accelerating global era in which we now live, human beings must solve a vast array of unprecedently complex problems. Given their proclaimed dedication to critical intelligence, and their unique constellation of formidable resources to develop it, institutions of higher education have a unique responsibility to help solve these…

Unique proline-benzoquinone pigment from the colored nectar of "bird's Coca cola tree" functions in bird attractions.

PubMed

Luo, Shi-Hong; Liu, Yan; Hua, Juan; Niu, Xue-Mei; Jing, Shu-Xi; Zhao, Xu; Schneider, Bernd; Gershenzon, Jonathan; Li, Sheng-Hong

2012-08-17

The major pigment responsible for the dark brown nectar of the "bird's Coca cola tree", Leucosceptrum canum (Labiatae), was isolated and identified as a unique symmetric proline-quinone conjugate, 2,5-di-(N-(-)-prolyl)-para-benzoquinone (DPBQ). Behavioral experiments with both isolated and synthetic authentic samples indicated that DPBQ functions mainly as a color attractant to bird pollinators.

A Conserved HIV-1-Derived Peptide Presented by HLA-E Renders Infected T-cells Highly Susceptible to Attack by NKG2A/CD94-Bearing Natural Killer Cells.

PubMed

Davis, Zachary B; Cogswell, Andrew; Scott, Hamish; Mertsching, Amanda; Boucau, Julie; Wambua, Daniel; Le Gall, Sylvie; Planelles, Vicente; Campbell, Kerry S; Barker, Edward

2016-02-01

Major histocompatibility class I (MHC-I)-specific inhibitory receptors on natural killer (NK) cells (iNKRs) tolerize mature NK cell responses toward normal cells. NK cells generate cytolytic responses to virus-infected or malignant target cells with altered or decreased MHC-I surface expression due to the loss of tolerizing ligands. The NKG2A/CD94 iNKR suppresses NK cell responses through recognition of the non-classical MHC-I, HLA-E. We used HIV-infected primary T-cells as targets in an in vitro cytolytic assay with autologous NK cells from healthy donors. In these experiments, primary NKG2A/CD94(+) NK cells surprisingly generated the most efficient responses toward HIV-infected T-cells, despite high HLA-E expression on the infected targets. Since certain MHC-I-presented peptides can alter recognition by iNKRs, we hypothesized that HIV-1-derived peptides presented by HLA-E on infected cells may block engagement with NKG2A/CD94, thereby engendering susceptibility to NKG2A/CD94(+) NK cells. We demonstrate that HLA-E is capable of presenting a highly conserved peptide from HIV-1 capsid (AISPRTLNA) that is not recognized by NKG2A/CD94. We further confirmed that HLA-C expressed on HIV-infected cells restricts attack by KIR2DL(+) CD56(dim) NK cells, in contrast to the efficient responses by CD56(bright) NK cells, which express predominantly NKG2A/CD94 and lack KIR2DLs. These findings are important since the use of NK cells was recently proposed to treat latently HIV-1-infected patients in combination with latency reversing agents. Our results provide a mechanistic basis to guide these future clinical studies, suggesting that ex vivo-expanded NKG2A/CD94(+) KIR2DL(-) NK cells may be uniquely beneficial.

The Role of FcRn in Antigen Presentation

PubMed Central

Baker, Kristi; Rath, Timo; Pyzik, Michal; Blumberg, Richard S.

2014-01-01

Immunoglobulins are unique molecules capable of simultaneously recognizing a diverse array of antigens and themselves being recognized by a broad array of receptors. The abundance specifically of the IgG subclass and the variety of signaling receptors to which it binds render this an important immunomodulatory molecule. In addition to the classical Fcγ receptors that bind IgG at the cell surface, the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn) is a lifelong resident of the endolysosomal system of most hematopoietic cells where it determines the intracellular fate of both IgG and IgG-containing immune complexes (IgG IC). Cross-linking of FcRn by multivalent IgG IC within antigen presenting cells such as dendritic cells initiates specific mechanisms that result in trafficking of the antigen-bearing IgG IC into compartments from which the antigen can successfully be processed into peptide epitopes compatible with loading onto both major histocompatibility complex class I and II molecules. In turn, this enables the synchronous activation of both CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses against the cognate antigen, thereby bridging the gap between the humoral and cellular branches of the adaptive immune response. Critically, FcRn-driven T cell priming is efficient at very low doses of antigen due to the exquisite sensitivity of the IgG-mediated antigen delivery system through which it operates. FcRn-mediated antigen presentation has important consequences in tissue compartments replete with IgG and serves not only to determine homeostatic immune activation at a variety of sites but also to induce inflammatory responses upon exposure to antigens perceived as foreign. Therapeutically targeting the pathway by which FcRn enables T cell activation in response to IgG IC is thus a highly attractive prospect not only for the treatment of diseases that are driven by immune complexes but also for manipulating local immune responses against defined antigens such as those present during infections and cancer. PMID:25221553

A Conserved HIV-1-Derived Peptide Presented by HLA-E Renders Infected T-cells Highly Susceptible to Attack by NKG2A/CD94-Bearing Natural Killer Cells

PubMed Central

Davis, Zachary B.; Cogswell, Andrew; Scott, Hamish; Mertsching, Amanda; Boucau, Julie; Wambua, Daniel; Le Gall, Sylvie; Planelles, Vicente; Campbell, Kerry S.; Barker, Edward

2016-01-01

Major histocompatibility class I (MHC-I)-specific inhibitory receptors on natural killer (NK) cells (iNKRs) tolerize mature NK cell responses toward normal cells. NK cells generate cytolytic responses to virus-infected or malignant target cells with altered or decreased MHC-I surface expression due to the loss of tolerizing ligands. The NKG2A/CD94 iNKR suppresses NK cell responses through recognition of the non-classical MHC-I, HLA-E. We used HIV-infected primary T-cells as targets in an in vitro cytolytic assay with autologous NK cells from healthy donors. In these experiments, primary NKG2A/CD94+ NK cells surprisingly generated the most efficient responses toward HIV-infected T-cells, despite high HLA-E expression on the infected targets. Since certain MHC-I-presented peptides can alter recognition by iNKRs, we hypothesized that HIV-1-derived peptides presented by HLA-E on infected cells may block engagement with NKG2A/CD94, thereby engendering susceptibility to NKG2A/CD94+ NK cells. We demonstrate that HLA-E is capable of presenting a highly conserved peptide from HIV-1 capsid (AISPRTLNA) that is not recognized by NKG2A/CD94. We further confirmed that HLA-C expressed on HIV-infected cells restricts attack by KIR2DL+ CD56dim NK cells, in contrast to the efficient responses by CD56bright NK cells, which express predominantly NKG2A/CD94 and lack KIR2DLs. These findings are important since the use of NK cells was recently proposed to treat latently HIV-1-infected patients in combination with latency reversing agents. Our results provide a mechanistic basis to guide these future clinical studies, suggesting that ex vivo-expanded NKG2A/CD94+ KIR2DL- NK cells may be uniquely beneficial. PMID:26828202

Stimuli-responsive chitosan-based nanocarriers for cancer therapy

PubMed Central

Fathi, Marziyeh; Sahandi Zangabad, Parham; Majidi, Sima; Barar, Jaleh; Erfan-Niya, Hamid

2017-01-01

Introduction: Stimuli-responsive nanocarriers offer unique advantages over the traditional drug delivery systems (DDSs) in terms of targeted drug delivery and on-demand release of cargo drug molecules. Of these, chitosan (CS)-based DDSs offer several advantages such as high compatibility with biological settings. Methods: In this study, we surveyed the literature in terms of the stimuli-responsive nanocarriers and discussed the most recent advancements in terms of CS-based nanosystems and their applications in cancer therapy and diagnosis. Results: These advanced DDSs are able to release the entrapped drugs in response to a specific endogenous stimulus (e.g., pH, glutathione concentration or certain enzymes) or exogenous stimulus (e.g., temperature, light, ultrasound, and magnetic field) at the desired time and target site. Dual-responsive nanocarriers by the combination of different stimuli have also been developed as efficient and improved DDSs. Among the stimuli-responsive nanocarriers, CS-based DDSs offer several advantages, including biocompatibility and biodegradability, antibacterial activity, ease of modification and functionalization, and non-immunogenicity. They are as one of the most ideal smart multifunction DDSs. Conclusion: The CS-based stimuli-responsive multifunctional nanosystems (NSs) offer unique potential for the targeted delivery of anticancer agents and provide great potential for on-demand and controlled-release of anticancer agents in response to diverse external/internal stimuli. PMID:29435435

Stimuli-responsive chitosan-based nanocarriers for cancer therapy.

PubMed

Fathi, Marziyeh; Sahandi Zangabad, Parham; Majidi, Sima; Barar, Jaleh; Erfan-Niya, Hamid; Omidi, Yadollah

2017-01-01

Introduction: Stimuli-responsive nanocarriers offer unique advantages over the traditional drug delivery systems (DDSs) in terms of targeted drug delivery and on-demand release of cargo drug molecules. Of these, chitosan (CS)-based DDSs offer several advantages such as high compatibility with biological settings. Methods: In this study, we surveyed the literature in terms of the stimuli-responsive nanocarriers and discussed the most recent advancements in terms of CS-based nanosystems and their applications in cancer therapy and diagnosis. Results: These advanced DDSs are able to release the entrapped drugs in response to a specific endogenous stimulus (e.g., pH, glutathione concentration or certain enzymes) or exogenous stimulus (e.g., temperature, light, ultrasound, and magnetic field) at the desired time and target site. Dual-responsive nanocarriers by the combination of different stimuli have also been developed as efficient and improved DDSs. Among the stimuli-responsive nanocarriers, CS-based DDSs offer several advantages, including biocompatibility and biodegradability, antibacterial activity, ease of modification and functionalization, and non-immunogenicity. They are as one of the most ideal smart multifunction DDSs. Conclusion: The CS-based stimuli-responsive multifunctional nanosystems (NSs) offer unique potential for the targeted delivery of anticancer agents and provide great potential for on-demand and controlled-release of anticancer agents in response to diverse external/internal stimuli.

Essential Role of Lymph Nodes in Contact Hypersensitivity Revealed in Lymphotoxin-α–Deficient Mice

PubMed Central

Rennert, Paul D.; Hochman, Paula S.; Flavell, Richard A.; Chaplin, David D.; Jayaraman, Sundararajan; Browning, Jeffrey L.; Fu, Yang-Xin

2001-01-01

Lymph nodes (LNs) are important sentinal organs, populated by circulating lymphocytes and antigen-bearing cells exiting the tissue beds. Although cellular and humoral immune responses are induced in LNs by antigenic challenge, it is not known if LNs are essential for acquired immunity. We examined immune responses in mice that lack LNs due to genetic deletion of lymphotoxin ligands or in utero blockade of membrane lymphotoxin. We report that LNs are absolutely required for generating contact hypersensitivity, a T cell–dependent cellular immune response induced by epicutaneous hapten. We show that the homing of epidermal Langerhans cells in response to hapten application is specifically directed to LNs, providing a cellular basis for this unique LN function. In contrast, the spleen cannot mediate contact hypersensitivity because antigen-bearing epidermal Langerhans cells do not access splenic white pulp. Finally, we formally demonstrate that LNs provide a unique environment essential for generating this acquired immune response by reversing the LN defect in lymphotoxin-α−/− mice, thereby restoring the capacity for contact hypersensitivity. PMID:11390430

Mechanisms of alveolar fibrosis after acute lung injury.

PubMed

Marinelli, W A; Henke, C A; Harmon, K R; Hertz, M I; Bitterman, P B

1990-12-01

In patients who die after severe acute lung injury, a dramatic fibroproliferative response occurs within the alveolar air space, interstitium, and microvessels. Profound shunt physiology, dead space ventilation, and pulmonary hypertension are the physiologic consequences of this fibroproliferative response. The anatomic pattern of the response is unique within each alveolar compartment. For example, the air space is obliterated by granulation tissue, with replicating mesenchymal cells, their connective tissue products, and an expanding network of intra-alveolar capillaries. In contrast, the vascular fibroproliferative response is dominated by mesenchymal cell replication and connective tissue deposition within the walls of microvessels. Despite the unique anatomic features of these fibroproliferative processes, the regulatory signals involved are likely to be similar. Although our current understanding of the signals regulating the fibroproliferative response to acute lung injury is limited, inferences can be made from in vitro studies of mesenchymal cell behavior and several better understood fibroproliferative processes, including wound healing and chronic fibrotic lung diseases. As clinicians, our future ability to enhance effective lung repair will likely utilize therapeutic strategies specifically targeted to the signals that regulate the fibroproliferative process within the alveolar microenvironment.

CATALASE FROM A FUNGAL MICROBIAL PESTICIDE INDUCES A UNIQUE IGE RESPONSE.

EPA Science Inventory

BALB/c mice exposed by involuntary aspiration to Metarhizium anisopliae extract (MACA), a microbial pesticide, have shown responses characteristic of human allergic lung disease/asthma. IgE-binding proteins have been identified in MACA by Western blot analysis, 2-dimensio...

A unique role of endogenous visual-spatial attention in rapid processing of multiple targets

PubMed Central

Guzman, Emmanuel; Grabowecky, Marcia; Palafox, German; Suzuki, Satoru

2012-01-01

Visual spatial attention can be exogenously captured by a salient stimulus or can be endogenously allocated by voluntary effort. Whether these two attention modes serve distinctive functions is debated, but for processing of single targets the literature suggests superiority of exogenous attention (it is faster acting and serves more functions). We report that endogenous attention uniquely contributes to processing of multiple targets. For speeded visual discrimination, response times are faster for multiple redundant targets than for single targets due to probability summation and/or signal integration. This redundancy gain was unaffected when attention was exogenously diverted from the targets, but was completely eliminated when attention was endogenously diverted. This was not due to weaker manipulation of exogenous attention because our exogenous and endogenous cues similarly affected overall response times. Thus, whereas exogenous attention is superior for processing single targets, endogenous attention plays a unique role in allocating resources crucial for rapid concurrent processing of multiple targets. PMID:21517209

System and method for representing and manipulating three-dimensional objects on massively parallel architectures

DOEpatents

Karasick, M.S.; Strip, D.R.

1996-01-30

A parallel computing system is described that comprises a plurality of uniquely labeled, parallel processors, each processor capable of modeling a three-dimensional object that includes a plurality of vertices, faces and edges. The system comprises a front-end processor for issuing a modeling command to the parallel processors, relating to a three-dimensional object. Each parallel processor, in response to the command and through the use of its own unique label, creates a directed-edge (d-edge) data structure that uniquely relates an edge of the three-dimensional object to one face of the object. Each d-edge data structure at least includes vertex descriptions of the edge and a description of the one face. As a result, each processor, in response to the modeling command, operates upon a small component of the model and generates results, in parallel with all other processors, without the need for processor-to-processor intercommunication. 8 figs.

Pandemic influenza preparedness and response in Israel: a unique model of civilian-defense collaboration.

PubMed

Kohn, Sivan; Barnett, Daniel J; Leventhal, Alex; Reznikovich, Shmuel; Oren, Meir; Laor, Danny; Grotto, Itamar; Balicer, Ran D

2010-07-01

In April 2009, the World Health Organization announced the emergence of a novel influenza A(H1N1-09) virus and in June 2009 declared the outbreak a pandemic. The value of military structures in responding to pandemic influenza has become widely acknowledged in recent years. In 2005, the Israeli Government appointed the Ministry of Defense to be in charge of national preparedness and response for a severe pandemic influenza scenario. The Israeli case offers a unique example of civilian-defense partnership where the interface between the governmental, military and civilian spheres has formed a distinctive structure. The Israeli pandemic preparedness protocols represent an example of a collaboration in which aspects of an inherently medical problem can be managed by the defense sector. Although distinctive concepts of the model are not applicable to all countries, it offers a unique forum for governments and international agencies to evaluate this interface within the context of pandemic influenza.

Parental educational practices in relation to children's anxiety disorder-related behavior.

PubMed

Mellon, Robert C; Moutavelis, Adrianos G

2011-08-01

Schoolchildren reported their parents' use of aversive control and positive reinforcement contingencies in their educational interventions, as well as parental non-responsiveness to their requests for educational assistance. They also reported their own levels of six dimensions of anxiety disorder-related phenomena. Both parental use of aversive control and non-responsiveness were directly related to overall levels of child anxiety disorder-related behavior; these correlations were more robust than those observed in previous investigations of more diffuse dimensions of parenting style and trait anxiety. Panic disorder/agoraphobia and Generalized anxiety disorder were the dimensions most strongly correlated with both parental aversive control and non-responsiveness, while Compulsive behavior was uniquely uncorrelated with parental non-responsiveness and uniquely correlated with parental use of positive reinforcement contingencies. Differences in the magnitudes of correlations between anxiety disorder-related dimensions and parental educational practices are interpreted in terms of the probable differential effectiveness of their constituent behaviors in terminating parent-mediated negative reinforcers. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Disgust, but not anger provocation, enhances levator labii superioris activity during exposure to moral transgressions.

PubMed

Whitton, Alexis E; Henry, Julie D; Rendell, Peter G; Grisham, Jessica R

2014-02-01

Physical disgust is elicited by, and amplifies responses to, moral transgressions, suggesting that moral disgust may be a biologically expanded form of physical disgust. However, there is limited research comparing the effects of physical disgust to that of other emotions like anger, making it difficult to determine if the link between disgust and morality is unique. The current research evaluated the specificity of the relationship between disgust and morality by comparing links with anger, using state, physiological and trait measures of emotionality. Participants (N=90) were randomly allocated to have disgust, anger or no emotion induced. Responses to images depicting moral, negative non-moral, and neutral themes were then recorded using facial electromyography. Inducing disgust, but not anger, increased psychophysiological responses to moral themes. Trait disgust, but not trait anger, correlated with levator labii responses to moral themes. These findings provide strong evidence of a unique link between physical disgust and morality. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Skin-transmitted pathogens and the heebie jeebies: evidence for a subclass of disgust stimuli that evoke a qualitatively unique emotional response.

PubMed

Blake, Khandis R; Yih, Jennifer; Zhao, Kun; Sung, Billy; Harmon-Jones, Cindy

2017-09-01

Skin-transmitted pathogens have threatened humans since ancient times. We investigated whether skin-transmitted pathogens were a subclass of disgust stimuli that evoked an emotional response that was related to, but distinct from, disgust and fear. We labelled this response "the heebie jeebies". In Study 1, coding of 76 participants' experiences of disgust, fear, and the heebie jeebies showed that the heebie jeebies was elicited by unique stimuli which produced skin-crawling sensations and an urge to protect the skin. In Experiment 2,350 participants' responses to skin-transmitted pathogen, fear-inducing, and disgust-inducing vignettes showed that the vignettes elicited sensations and urges which loaded onto heebie jeebies, fear, and disgust factors, respectively. Experiment 3 largely replicated findings from Experiment 2 using video stimuli (178 participants). Results are consistent with the notion that skin-transmitted pathogens are a subclass of disgust stimuli which motivate behaviours that are functionally consistent with disgust yet qualitatively distinct.

Antigen-B Cell Receptor Complexes Associate with Intracellular major histocompatibility complex (MHC) Class II Molecules*

PubMed Central

Barroso, Margarida; Tucker, Heidi; Drake, Lisa; Nichol, Kathleen; Drake, James R.

2015-01-01

Antigen processing and MHC class II-restricted antigen presentation by antigen-presenting cells such as dendritic cells and B cells allows the activation of naïve CD4+ T cells and cognate interactions between B cells and effector CD4+ T cells, respectively. B cells are unique among class II-restricted antigen-presenting cells in that they have a clonally restricted antigen-specific receptor, the B cell receptor (BCR), which allows the cell to recognize and respond to trace amounts of foreign antigen present in a sea of self-antigens. Moreover, engagement of peptide-class II complexes formed via BCR-mediated processing of cognate antigen has been shown to result in a unique pattern of B cell activation. Using a combined biochemical and imaging/FRET approach, we establish that internalized antigen-BCR complexes associate with intracellular class II molecules. We demonstrate that the M1-paired MHC class II conformer, shown previously to be critical for CD4 T cell activation, is incorporated selectively into these complexes and loaded selectively with peptide derived from BCR-internalized cognate antigen. These results demonstrate that, in B cells, internalized antigen-BCR complexes associate with intracellular MHC class II molecules, potentially defining a site of class II peptide acquisition, and reveal a selective role for the M1-paired class II conformer in the presentation of cognate antigen. These findings provide key insights into the molecular mechanisms used by B cells to control the source of peptides charged onto class II molecules, allowing the immune system to mount an antibody response focused on BCR-reactive cognate antigen. PMID:26400081

Gold nanoparticles coated polystyrene/reduced graphite oxide microspheres with improved dispersibility and electrical conductivity for dopamine detection.

PubMed

Qian, Tao; Yu, Chenfei; Wu, Shishan; Shen, Jian

2013-12-01

Gold nanoparticles coated polystyrene/reduced graphite oxide (AuNPs@PS/RGO) microspheres have been successfully prepared via a facile process, and the decorative gold nanoparticles could prevent the aggregation of RGO by electrostatic repulsive interaction, and lead to high dispersibility of the composite. The prepared composite has a highly increased conductivity of 129Sm(-1) due to the unique electrical properties of citrate reduced gold nanoparticles. Being employed as an electrochemical sensor for detection of dopamine, the modified electrode exhibits remarkable sensitivity (3.44μA/μM) and lower detection limit (5nM), with linear response in a range of 0.05-20μM. Moreover, valid response to dopamine obtained in present work also indicates the prospective performances of AuNPs@PS/RGO microspheres to other biological molecules, such as nucleic acids, proteins and enzymes. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Health Care Providers' Spirit at Work Within a Restructured Workplace.

PubMed

Wagner, Joan I J; Brooks, Denise; Urban, Ann-Marie

2018-01-01

Spirit at work (SAW) research emerged as a response to care provider determination to maintain a healthy and productive health care work environment, despite restructuring. The aim of this descriptive mixed-methods research is to present the care provider's perceptions of SAW. SAW is a holistic measure of care provider workplace outcomes, defined as the unique experience of individuals who are passionate about and energized by their work. A mixed group of licensed and unlicensed care providers in a continuing care workplace were surveyed. Eighteen Likert-type scale survey questions were further informed by two open-ended questions. Results indicated that unlicensed continuing care providers' perceptions of SAW are lower than licensed care providers. Responses suggest that open discussion between managers and team members, combined with structured workplace interventions, will lead to enhanced SAW and improved patient care. Further research on SAW within the continuing care workplace is required.

Cooperativity in Monomeric Enzymes with Single Ligand-Binding Sites

PubMed Central

Porter, Carol M.

2011-01-01

Cooperativity is widespread in biology. It empowers a variety of regulatory mechanisms and impacts both the kinetic and thermodynamic properties of macromolecular systems. Traditionally, cooperativity is viewed as requiring the participation of multiple, spatially distinct binding sites that communicate via ligand-induced structural rearrangements; however, cooperativity requires neither multiple ligand binding events nor multimeric assemblies. An underappreciated manifestation of cooperativity has been observed in the non-Michaelis-Menten kinetic response of certain monomeric enzymes that possess only a single ligand-binding site. In this review, we present an overview of kinetic cooperativity in monomeric enzymes. We discuss the primary mechanisms postulated to give rise to monomeric cooperativity and highlight modern experimental methods that could offer new insights into the nature of this phenomenon. We conclude with an updated list of single subunit enzymes that are suspected of displaying cooperativity, and a discussion of the biological significance of this unique kinetic response. PMID:22137502

Fractal serpentine-shaped design for stretchable wireless strain sensors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dong, Wentao; Cheng, Xiao; Wang, Xiaoming; Zhang, Hailiang

2018-07-01

Stretchable sensors have been widely applied to biological fields due to their unique capacity to integrate with soft materials and curvilinear surfaces. The article presents the fractal serpentine-shaped design for stretchable wireless strain sensor which is operating around 1.6 GHz. The wireless passive LC sensor is formed by a fractal serpentine-shaped inductor coil and a concentric coplanar capacitor. The inductance of the fractal serpentine-shaped coil varies with the deformation of the wireless sensor, and the resonance frequency also varies with the applied strain of the wireless sensor embedded in soft substrate. The 40% stretchability of wireless sensor is verified by finite element analysis (FEA). Strain response of the stretchable wireless sensor has been characterized by experiments and demonstrates high strain responsivity about 6.74 MHz/1%. The stretchable wireless sensor has the potential to be used in biological and wearable applications.

Public Comments on the proposed 10 CFR Part 51 rule for renewal of nuclear power plant operating licenses and supporting documents: Review of concerns and NRC staff response. Appendices

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

NONE

1996-05-01

This volume contains several appendices. Appendix A contains the list of individuals and organizations providing comments at various stages of the rulemaking process. The names of commenters at the public meetings are listed in the order that they spoke at the meeting; those who submitted written comments are listed by docket number. Appendix B contains the summaries of comments made. Each comment summary is identified by a unique comment number. Appendix C presents the concerns and NRC staff responses. Each concern embodies one or more comments on similar or related issues. The associated comment numbers are referenced for each concern.more » The concerns are organized by topic areas. A three-letter identifier for the topic, followed by a number, is assigned to each concern.« less

Thin film oxygen partial pressure sensor

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wortman, J. J.; Harrison, J. W.; Honbarrier, H. L.; Yen, J.

1972-01-01

The development is described of a laboratory model oxygen partial pressure sensor using a sputtered zinc oxide thin film. The film is operated at about 400 C through the use of a miniature silicon bar. Because of the unique resistance versus temperature relation of the silicon bar, control of the operational temperature is achieved by controlling the resistance. A circuit for accomplishing this is described. The response of sputtered zinc oxide films of various thicknesses to oxygen, nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide, and water vapor caused a change in the film resistance. Over a large range, film conductance varied approximately as the square root of the oxygen partial pressure. The presence of water vapor in the gas stream caused a shift in the film conductance at a given oxygen partial pressure. A theoretical model is presented to explain the characteristic features of the zinc oxide response to oxygen.

Role of dendritic cells in the regulation of maternal immune responses to the fetus during mammalian gestation.

PubMed

Kammerer, Ulrike; Kruse, Andrea; Barrientos, Gabriela; Arck, Petra C; Blois, Sandra M

2008-01-01

Successful mammalian pregnancy relies on the action of sophisticated regulatory mechanisms that allow the fetus (a semi-allograft) to grow and develop in the uterus in spite of being recognized by maternal immune cells. Among several immunocompetent cells present at the maternal fetal interface, dendritic cells (DC) seem to be of particular relevance for pregnancy maintenance given their unique ability to induce both antigen-specific immunity and tolerance. Thus, these cells would be potentially suitable candidates for the regulation of local immune responses within the uterus necessary to meet the difficult task of protecting the mother from infection without compromising fetal survival. Current evidence on decidual DC phenotype and function, and their role in the regulation of the maternal immune system during mouse and human pregnancy are discussed and reviewed herein; highlighting novel DC functions that seem to be of great importance for a successful pregnancy outcome.

Social cognition and its relation to psychosocial adjustment in children with nonverbal learning disabilities.

PubMed

Galway, Tanya M; Metsala, Jamie L

2011-01-01

The current study examined social cognitive skills in children with nonverbal learning disabilities (NLD) compared to normally achieving (NA) children. The relation between social cognitive skills and psychosocial adjustment was also investigated. There were no group differences on children's ability to represent orally presented social vignettes. Children with NLD were less able to recognize self-generated competent/assertive responses as the best solutions to a problem, expected fewer positive and more negative outcomes for examiner-provided competent responses, and showed a trend toward more frequently judging a story character as being mean. A social problem solving factor predicted unique variance in psychosocial adjustment beyond variance accounted for by nonverbal intelligence and nonverbal social cue interpretation. Results are discussed within a framework for which social cognitive deficits more broadly defined than encoding and interpreting nonverbal social cues contribute to the psychosocial adjustment problems of children with NLD.

A case of suicide by self-injection of adrenaline.

PubMed

Palmiere, Cristian; Bévalot, Fabien; Malicier, Daniel; Grouzmann, Eric; Fracasso, Tony; Fanton, Laurent

2015-09-01

Adrenaline (epinephrine) auto-injectors provide life-saving pre-hospital treatment for individuals experiencing anaphylaxis in a community setting. Errors in handling adrenaline auto-injectors, particularly by children and healthcare professionals, have been reported. Reports of adrenaline overdoses are limited in the medical literature. In most of these cases, accidental adrenaline administration results from medical error. Exogenous administration of catecholamine is responsible for cardiovascular and metabolic responses, which may cause supraventricular tachycardia, ventricular dysrhythmias and myocardial ischemia. The authors present a unique autopsy case involving a 34 year-old woman who intentionally self-injected adrenaline using an adrenaline auto-injector as part of a suicide plan. Catecholamines and metanephrines were measured in peripheral and cardiac blood as well as urine and vitreous humor. Based on the results of all postmortem investigations, the cause of death was determined to be cardiac dysrhythmia and cardiac arrest following adrenaline self-injection.

Homo sapiens exhibit a distinct pattern of CNV genes regulation: an important role of miRNAs and SNPs in expression plasticity.

PubMed

Dweep, Harsh; Kubikova, Nada; Gretz, Norbert; Voskarides, Konstantinos; Felekkis, Kyriacos

2015-07-16

Gene expression regulation is a complex and highly organized process involving a variety of genomic factors. It is widely accepted that differences in gene expression can contribute to the phenotypic variability between species, and that their interpretation can aid in the understanding of the physiologic variability. CNVs and miRNAs are two major players in the regulation of expression plasticity and may be responsible for the unique phenotypic characteristics observed in different lineages. We have previously demonstrated that a close interaction between these two genomic elements may have contributed to the regulation of gene expression during evolution. This work presents the molecular interactions between CNV and non CNV genes with miRNAs and other genomic elements in eight different species. A comprehensive analysis of these interactions indicates a unique nature of human CNV genes regulation as compared to other species. By using genes with short 3' UTR that abolish the "canonical" miRNA-dependent regulation, as a model, we demonstrate a distinct and tight regulation of human genes that might explain some of the unique features of human physiology. In addition, comparison of gene expression regulation between species indicated that there is a significant difference between humans and mice possibly questioning the effectiveness of the latest as experimental models of human diseases.

A smart magnetic nanoplatform for synergistic anticancer therapy: manoeuvring mussel-inspired functional magnetic nanoparticles for pH responsive anticancer drug delivery and hyperthermia.

PubMed

Sasikala, Arathyram Ramachandra Kurup; GhavamiNejad, Amin; Unnithan, Afeesh Rajan; Thomas, Reju George; Moon, Myeongju; Jeong, Yong Yeon; Park, Chan Hee; Kim, Cheol Sang

2015-11-21

We report the versatile design of a smart nanoplatform for thermo-chemotherapy treatment of cancer. For the first time in the literature, our design takes advantage of the outstanding properties of mussel-inspired multiple catecholic groups - presenting a unique copolymer poly(2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate-co-dopamine methacrylamide) p(HEMA-co-DMA) to surface functionalize the superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles as well as to conjugate borate containing anticancer drug bortezomib (BTZ) in a pH-dependent manner for the synergistic anticancer treatment. The unique multiple anchoring groups can be used to substantially improve the affinity of the ligands to the surfaces of the nanoparticles to form ultrastable iron oxide nanoparticles with control over their hydrodynamic diameter and interfacial chemistry. Thus the BTZ-incorporated-bio-inspired-smart magnetic nanoplatform will act as a hyperthermic agent that delivers heat when an alternating magnetic field is applied while the BTZ-bound catechol moieties act as chemotherapeutic agents in a cancer environment by providing pH-dependent drug release for the synergistic thermo-chemotherapy application. The anticancer efficacy of these bio-inspired multifunctional smart magnetic nanoparticles was tested both in vitro and in vivo and found that these unique magnetic nanoplatforms can be established to endow for the next generation of nanomedicine for efficient and safe cancer therapy.

Homo sapiens exhibit a distinct pattern of CNV genes regulation: an important role of miRNAs and SNPs in expression plasticity

PubMed Central

Dweep, Harsh; Kubikova, Nada; Gretz, Norbert; Voskarides, Konstantinos; Felekkis, Kyriacos

2015-01-01

Gene expression regulation is a complex and highly organized process involving a variety of genomic factors. It is widely accepted that differences in gene expression can contribute to the phenotypic variability between species, and that their interpretation can aid in the understanding of the physiologic variability. CNVs and miRNAs are two major players in the regulation of expression plasticity and may be responsible for the unique phenotypic characteristics observed in different lineages. We have previously demonstrated that a close interaction between these two genomic elements may have contributed to the regulation of gene expression during evolution. This work presents the molecular interactions between CNV and non CNV genes with miRNAs and other genomic elements in eight different species. A comprehensive analysis of these interactions indicates a unique nature of human CNV genes regulation as compared to other species. By using genes with short 3′ UTR that abolish the “canonical” miRNA-dependent regulation, as a model, we demonstrate a distinct and tight regulation of human genes that might explain some of the unique features of human physiology. In addition, comparison of gene expression regulation between species indicated that there is a significant difference between humans and mice possibly questioning the effectiveness of the latest as experimental models of human diseases. PMID:26178010

Constructing Dense Graphs with Unique Hamiltonian Cycles

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lynch, Mark A. M.

2012-01-01

It is not difficult to construct dense graphs containing Hamiltonian cycles, but it is difficult to generate dense graphs that are guaranteed to contain a unique Hamiltonian cycle. This article presents an algorithm for generating arbitrarily large simple graphs containing "unique" Hamiltonian cycles. These graphs can be turned into dense graphs…

Significant and unique changes in phosphorylation levels of four phosphoproteins in two apple rootstock genotypes under drought stress.

PubMed

Ren, Jing; Mao, Juan; Zuo, Cunwu; Calderón-Urrea, Alejandro; Dawuda, Mohammed Mujitaba; Zhao, Xin; Li, Xinwen; Chen, Baihong

2017-12-01

Drought stress is a major problem around the world and there is still little molecular mechanism about how fruit crops deal with moderate drought stress. Here, the physiological and phosphoproteomic responses of drought-sensitive genotype (M26) and drought-tolerant genotype (MBB) under moderate drought stress were investigated. Our results of the physiology analysis indicated that the MBB genotype could produce more osmosis-regulating substances. Furthermore, phosphoproteins from leaves of both genotypes under moderate drought stress were analyzed using the isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantification technology. A total of 595 unique phosphopeptides, 682 phosphorylated sites, and 446 phosphoproteins were quantitatively analyzed in the two genotypes. Five and thirty-five phosphoproteins with the phosphorylation levels significantly changed (PLSC) were identified in M26 and MBB, respectively. Among these, four PLSC phosphoproteins were common to both genotypes, perhaps indicating a partial overlap of the mechanisms to moderate drought stress. Gene ontology analyses revealed that the PLSC phosphoproteins represent a unique combination of metabolism, transcription, translation, and protein processing, suggesting that the response in apple to moderate drought stress encompasses a new and unique homeostasis of major cellular processes. The basic trend was an increase in protein and organic molecules abundance related to drought. These increases were higher in MBB than in M26. Our study is the first to address the phosphoproteome of apple rootstocks in response to moderate drought stress, and provide insights into the molecular regulation mechanisms of apple rootstock under moderate drought stress.

Diel trends in stomatal response to ozone and water deficit: a unique relationship of midday values to growth and allometry in Pima cotton?

Treesearch

D. A. Grantz; R. Paudel; H.-B. Vu; A. Shrestha; Nancy Grulke; L. J. De Kok

2015-01-01

Plant responses to ozone (O3) and water deficit (WD) are commonly observed, although less is known about their interaction. Stomatal conductance (gs) is both an impact of these stressors and a protective response to them. Stomatal closure reduces inward flux of O3 and outward flux...

Breast Cancer Diagnosis Using Ultrasound and Diffusive Light

DTIC Science & Technology

2004-08-01

been widely used in clinical studies. The fundamental problem remains the intense light scattering in tissue, which makes the lesion localization...Our 3 unique approach may have significant clinical applications on 1) breast cancer diagnosis; and 2) assessing treatment response and estimating...the response of cancers to presurgical chemotherapy are not completely understood [20]. Although recent trials reported clinical response rates >70

De novo assembly and characterization of Muscovy duck liver transcriptome and analysis of differentially regulated genes in response to heat stress.

PubMed

Zeng, Tao; Zhang, Liping; Li, Jinjun; Wang, Deqian; Tian, Yong; Lu, Lizhi

2015-05-01

High temperature is a major abiotic stress limiting animal growth and productivity worldwide. The Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata), sometimes called the Barbary drake, is a type of duck with a fairly unusual domestication history. In Southeast Asia, duck meat is one of the top meats consumed, and as such, the production of the meat is an important topic of research. The transcriptomic and genomic data presently available are insufficient to understanding the molecular mechanism underlying the heat tolerance of Muscovy ducks. Thus, transcriptome and expression profiling data for this species are required as important resource for identifying genes and developing molecular marker. In this study, de novo transcriptome assembly and gene expression analysis using Illumina sequencing technology were performed. More than 225 million clean reads were generated and assembled into 36,903 unique transcripts with an average length of 1,135 bp. A total of 21,221 (57.50 %) unigenes were annotated. Gene Ontology (GO) analysis of the annotated unigenes revealed that the majority of sequenced genes were associated with transcription, signal transduction, and apoptosis. We also performed gene expression profiling analysis upon heat treatment in Muscovy ducks and identified 470 heat-response unique transcripts. GO term enrichment showed that protein folding and chaperone binding were significant enrichment, whereas KEGG pathway analyses showed that Ras and MAPKs were activated after heat stress in Muscovy ducks. Our research enriched sequences information of Muscovy duck, provided novel insights into responses to heat stress in these ducks, and serve as candidate genes or markers that can be used to guide future efforts to breed heat-tolerant duck strains.

Communication Breakdown: How Conflict Can Promote Responsible Leadership in Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Higham, Rupert

2016-01-01

This study of an outdoor-based leadership course for teenagers shows how open-ended, difficult group tasks can enable participants to develop "dispositions for learning," which promote "responsible leadership." The latter is defined as responding ethically and uniquely to encounters with difference. Uses of educational…

Role of magnetic and diamagnetic interactions in molecular optics and scattering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forbes, Kayn A.

2018-05-01

This paper aims to explicitly clarify the role and interpretation of diamagnetic interactions between molecules and light in quantum electrodynamics. In contrast to their electric and magnetic counterparts, the diamagnetic couplings between light and matter have received relatively little interest in the field of molecular optics. This intriguing disregard of an interaction term is puzzling. The diamagnetic couplings possess unique physical properties that warrant their inclusion in any multiphoton process, and the lack of gauge invariance for paramagnetic and diamagnetic susceptibilities necessitates their inclusion. Their role and importance within nonrelativistic molecular quantum electrodynamics in the Coulomb gauge is illuminated, and it is highlighted how for any multiphoton process their inclusion should be implicit. As an indicative example of the theory presented, the diamagnetic contributions to both forward and nonforward Rayleigh scattering are derived and put into context alongside the electric and magnetic molecular responses. The work represents clarification of diamagnetic couplings in molecular quantum electrodynamics, which subsequently should proffer the study of diamagnetic interactions in molecular optics due to their unique physical attributes and necessary inclusion in multiphoton processes.

Perceptions of school nurses on the challenges of service provision to ESL students.

PubMed

Whitman, Marilyn V; Davis, Jullet A; Terry, Allison J

2010-04-01

The number of English-as-as second-language (ESL) students in public schools across the country is rising creating unique challenges for school health services with the introduction of new cultures and languages. This study describes the perceptions of school nurses in Alabama schools regarding the challenges they face when communicating with ESL students and their parents. The population consists of school nurses in Alabama public schools. The obtained sample of 1,429 responses is presented and discussed. Urban school nurses were more likely to have access to an interpreter, yet they were more likely to rely on an ESL student to act as a translator when speaking to his/her parents. Kindergarten through elementary school nurses were more likely to witness an increase in ESL students and encounter difficulty communicating with these students and their parents. School nurses have a unique opportunity to engage parents of ESL students in the health of their child, thus it is vital that they be provided with cultural facts and encouraged to use interpreter services to lessen language barriers.

An insight into the sialome of the bed bug, Cimex lectularius

PubMed Central

Francischetti, Ivo M.B.; Calvo, Eric; Andersen, John F.; Pham, Van M.; Favreau, Amanda J.; Barbian, Kent D.; Romero, Alvaro; Valenzuela, Jesus G.; Ribeiro., José M.C.

2010-01-01

The evolution of insects to a blood diet leads to the development of a saliva that antagonizes their hosts' hemostasis and inflammation. Hemostasis and inflammation are redundant processes, and thus a complex salivary potion comprised of dozens or near one hundred different polypeptides is commonly found by transcriptome or proteome analysis of these organisms. Several insect orders or families evolved independently to hematophagy creating unique salivary potions in the form of novel pharmacological use of endogenous substances, and in the form of unique proteins not matching other known proteins, these probably arriving by fast evolution of salivary proteins as they evade their hosts' immune response. In this work we present a preliminary description of the sialome (from the Greek Sialo = saliva) of the common bed bug Cimex lectularius, the first such work from a member of the Cimicidae family. This manuscript is a guide for the supplemental database files http://exon.niaid.nih.gov/transcriptome/C_lectularius/S1/Cimex-S1.zip and http://exon.niaid.nih.gov/transcriptome/C_lectularius/S2/Cimex-S2.xls PMID:20441151

Determining conserved metabolic biomarkers from a million database queries.

PubMed

Kurczy, Michael E; Ivanisevic, Julijana; Johnson, Caroline H; Uritboonthai, Winnie; Hoang, Linh; Fang, Mingliang; Hicks, Matthew; Aldebot, Anthony; Rinehart, Duane; Mellander, Lisa J; Tautenhahn, Ralf; Patti, Gary J; Spilker, Mary E; Benton, H Paul; Siuzdak, Gary

2015-12-01

Metabolite databases provide a unique window into metabolome research allowing the most commonly searched biomarkers to be catalogued. Omic scale metabolite profiling, or metabolomics, is finding increased utility in biomarker discovery largely driven by improvements in analytical technologies and the concurrent developments in bioinformatics. However, the successful translation of biomarkers into clinical or biologically relevant indicators is limited. With the aim of improving the discovery of translatable metabolite biomarkers, we present search analytics for over one million METLIN metabolite database queries. The most common metabolites found in METLIN were cross-correlated against XCMS Online, the widely used cloud-based data processing and pathway analysis platform. Analysis of the METLIN and XCMS common metabolite data has two primary implications: these metabolites, might indicate a conserved metabolic response to stressors and, this data may be used to gauge the relative uniqueness of potential biomarkers. METLIN can be accessed by logging on to: https://metlin.scripps.edu siuzdak@scripps.edu Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Insight into the Sialome of the Bed Bug, Cimex lectularius.

PubMed

Francischetti, Ivo M B; Calvo, Eric; Andersen, John F; Pham, Van M; Favreau, Amanda J; Barbian, Kent D; Romero, Alvaro; Valenzuela, Jesus G; Ribeiro, José M C

2010-08-06

The evolution of insects to a blood diet leads to the development of a saliva that antagonizes their hosts' hemostasis and inflammation. Hemostasis and inflammation are redundant processes, and thus a complex salivary potion composed of dozens or near 100 different polypeptides is commonly found by transcriptome or proteome analysis of these organisms. Several insect orders or families evolved independently to hematophagy, creating unique salivary potions in the form of novel pharmacological use of endogenous substances and in the form of unique proteins not matching other known proteins, these probably arriving by fast evolution of salivary proteins as they evade their hosts' immune response. In this work we present a preliminary description of the sialome (from the Greek Sialo = saliva) of the common bed bug Cimex lectularius, the first such work from a member of the Cimicidae family. This manuscript is a guide for the supplemental database files http://exon.niaid.nih.gov/transcriptome/C_lectularius/S1/Cimex-S1.zip and http://exon.niaid.nih.gov/transcriptome/C_lectularius/S2/Cimex-S2.xls.

Unique Features of Fish Immune Repertoires: Particularities of Adaptive Immunity Within the Largest Group of Vertebrates

PubMed Central

Sunyer, Oriol J.

2016-01-01

Fishes (i.e., teleost fishes) are the largest group of vertebrates. Although their immune system is based on the fundamental receptors, pathways, and cell types found in all groups of vertebrates, fishes show a diversity of particular features that challenge some classical concepts of immunology. In this chapter, we discuss the particularities of fish immune repertoires from a comparative perspective. We examine how allelic exclusion can be achieved when multiple Ig loci are present, how isotypic diversity and functional specificity impact clonal complexity, how loss of the MHC class II molecules affects the cooperation between T and B cells, and how deep sequencing technologies bring new insights about somatic hypermutation in the absence of germinal centers. The unique coexistence of two distinct B-cell lineages respectively specialized in systemic and mucosal responses is also discussed. Finally, we try to show that the diverse adaptations of immune repertoires in teleosts can help in understanding how somatic adaptive mechanisms of immunity evolved in parallel in different lineages across vertebrates. PMID:26537384

Congenital combined pituitary hormone deficiency attributable to a novel PROP1 mutation (467insT).

PubMed

Nose, Osamu; Tatsumi, Keita; Nakano, Yukiko; Amino, Nobuyuki

2006-04-01

Combined pituitary hormone deficiency (CPHD) is an anterior pituitary disorder, commonly resulting in growth retardation. PROP1 gene mutations appear to be frequently responsible for CPHD, particularly in Middle and Eastern Europe and the Americas, but few cases have been reported in Japan. Two sisters (aged 8.4 and 4.3 years at presentation) exhibited proportional short stature from about 2 years of age. Genetic analysis determined the nature and location of mutations. Pituitary size by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) indicated only slight hypoplasia, while hormone analysis revealed deficiencies in secretion of growth hormone (GH), thyroid stimulating hormone, prolactin and gonadotropins; adrenocortinotropin secretion appeared adequate. Genetic analysis revealed a novel familial inherited PROP1 mutation. A unique insertion mutation was found in codon 156 (467insT) located in the transcription-activating region of the PROP1 gene. The resulting PROP1 protein (191 amino acids) would lack the transcription activation domain and consequently be non-functional. Gene analysis suggested that the siblings had inherited a unique autosomal recessive PROP1 gene mutation resulting in severe GH deficiency and subsequent growth retardation.

Significant Deregulated Pathways in Diabetes Type II Complications Identified through Expression Based Network Biology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ukil, Sanchaita; Sinha, Meenakshee; Varshney, Lavneesh; Agrawal, Shipra

Type 2 Diabetes is a complex multifactorial disease, which alters several signaling cascades giving rise to serious complications. It is one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. The present research work describes an integrated functional network biology approach to identify pathways that get transcriptionally altered and lead to complex complications thereby amplifying the phenotypic effect of the impaired disease state. We have identified two sub-network modules, which could be activated under abnormal circumstances in diabetes. Present work describes key proteins such as P85A and SRC serving as important nodes to mediate alternate signaling routes during diseased condition. P85A has been shown to be an important link between stress responsive MAPK and CVD markers involved in fibrosis. MAPK8 has been shown to interact with P85A and further activate CTGF through VEGF signaling. We have traced a novel and unique route correlating inflammation and fibrosis by considering P85A as a key mediator of signals. The next sub-network module shows SRC as a junction for various signaling processes, which results in interaction between NF-kB and beta catenin to cause cell death. The powerful interaction between these important genes in response to transcriptionally altered lipid metabolism and impaired inflammatory response via SRC causes apoptosis of cells. The crosstalk between inflammation, lipid homeostasis and stress, and their serious effects downstream have been explained in the present analyses.

Immunoproteomic analysis of antibody in lymphocyte supernatant in patients with typhoid fever in Bangladesh.

PubMed

Charles, Richelle C; Liang, Li; Khanam, Farhana; Sayeed, M Abu; Hung, Chris; Leung, Daniel T; Baker, Stephen; Ludwig, Albrecht; Harris, Jason B; Larocque, Regina C; Calderwood, Stephen B; Qadri, Firdausi; Felgner, Philip L; Ryan, Edward T

2014-03-01

We have previously shown that an assay based on detection of anti-Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi antibodies in supernatant of lymphocytes harvested from patients presenting with typhoid fever (antibody in lymphocyte supernatant [ALS] assay) can identify 100% of patients with blood culture-confirmed typhoid fever in Bangladesh. In order to define immunodominant proteins within the S. Typhi membrane preparation used as antigen in these prior studies and to identify potential biomarkers unique to S. Typhi bacteremic patients, we probed microarrays containing 2,724 S. Typhi proteins with ALS collected at the time of clinical presentation from 10 Bangladeshis with acute typhoid fever. We identified 62 immunoreactive antigens when evaluating both the IgG and IgA responses. Immune responses to 10 of these antigens discriminated between individuals with acute typhoid infection and healthy control individuals from areas where typhoid infection is endemic, as well as Bangladeshi patients presenting with fever who were subsequently confirmed to have a nontyphoid illness. Using an ALS enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) format and purified antigen, we then confirmed that immune responses against the antigen with the highest immunoreactivity (hemolysin E [HlyE]) correctly identified individuals with acute typhoid or paratyphoid fever in Dhaka, Bangladesh. These observations suggest that purified antigens could be used with ALS and corresponding acute-phase activated B lymphocytes in diagnostic platforms to identify acutely infected patients, even in areas where enteric fever is endemic.

Numerical Modelling of the Compressive and Tensile Response of Glass and Ceramic under High Pressure Dynamic Loading

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Clegg, Richard A.; Hayhurst, Colin J.

1999-06-01

Ceramic materials, including glass, are commonly used as ballistic protection materials. The response of a ceramic to impact, perforation and penetration is complex and difficult and/or expensive to instrument for obtaining detailed physical data. This paper demonstrates how a hydrocode, such as AUTODYN, can be used to aid in the understanding of the response of brittle materials to high pressure impact loading and thus promote an efficient and cost effective design process. Hydrocode simulations cannot be made without appropriate characterisation of the material. Because of the complexitiy of the response of ceramic materials this often requires a number of complex material tests. Here we present a methodology for using the results of flyer plate tests, in conjunction with numerical simulations, to derive input to the Johnson-Holmquist material model for ceramics. Most of the research effort in relation to the development of hydrocode material models for ceramics has concentrated on the material behaviour under compression and shear. While the penetration process is dominated by these aspects of the material response, the final damaged state of the material can be significantly influenced by the tensile behaviour. Modelling of the final damage state is important since this is often the only physical information which is available. In this paper we present a unique implementation, in a hydrocode, for improved modelling of brittle materials in the tensile regime. Tensile failure initiation is based on any combination of principal stress or strain while the post-failure tensile response of the material is controlled through a Rankine plasticity damaging failure surface. The tensile failure surface can be combined with any of the traditional plasticity and/or compressive damage models. Finally, the models and data are applied in both traditional grid based Lagrangian and Eulerian solution techniques and the relativley new SPH (Smooth Particle Hydrodynamics) meshless technique. Simulations of long rod impacts onto ceramic faced armour and hypervelocity impacts on glass solar array space structures are presented and compared with experiments.

Strong Broadband Terahertz Optical Activity through Control of the Blaschke Phase with Chiral Metasurfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cole, Michael A.; Chen, Wen-chen; Liu, Mingkai; Kruk, Sergey S.; Padilla, Willie J.; Shadrivov, Ilya V.; Powell, David A.

2017-07-01

We demonstrate terahertz chiral metamaterials that achieve resonant transmission and strong optical activity. This response is realized in a metasurface coupled to its Babinet complement, with additional twist. Uniquely, the optical activity achieved in this type of metamaterial is weakly dispersive around the resonant transmission maxima, but it can be highly dispersive around the transmission minima. It has recently been shown that this unique optical activity response is closely related to zeros in the transmission spectra of circular polarizations through the Kramers-Kronig relations and strong resonant features in the optical activity spectrum corresponding to the Blaschke phase terms. Here we demonstrate how modifying the meta-atom geometry greatly affects the location and magnitude of these Blaschke phase terms. We study three different meta-atoms, which are variations on the simple cross structure. Their responses are measured using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy and analyzed via numerical simulations.

Leveraging the Novel Climates of Arboreta to Understand Tree Responses to Climate Change

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ettinger, A.; Wolkovich, E. M.; Joly, S.

2016-12-01

Rising global temperatures are expected to cause large-scale changes to forests, including altered mortality and recruitment rates, and dramatic changes in species composition, but exactly how tree growth will be affected by climate change is uncertain. Studies to date suggest that temperate and boreal tree responses to warming range from growing faster, slower, or at unchanged rates. Here we present an approach and preliminary findings that will improve predictions of tree responses to climate change by studying how tree traits, including phenology (e.g. the timing of leaf-out), wood density, leaf mass area, and height, relate to climate sensitivity (i.e. growth responses to annual changes in climate, Figure 1). We demonstrate how arboreta can be used to understand tree responses to climate change using 500 individuals across 65 tree species growing at the Arnold Arboretum, Boston, Massachusetts. Arboretum provide a unique opportunities for understanding temperate tree responses to climate change: they provide large collections of woody species growing together that enable traits to be studied across diverse species in a phylogenetic context. Furthermore, many species in arboreta are nonnative and have been exposed to "novel" climates that may resemble future conditions in their native distributions. We use a phylogenetic approach to understand how annual growth and climate sensitivity relate to focal traits, and asses what these findings may tell us about tree responses to climate change.

Cloning and characterization of the ONAC106 gene from Oryza sativa cultivar Kuku Belang

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Basri, Khairunnisa; Sukiran, Noor Liyana; Zainal, Zamri

2016-11-01

Plants possess different mechanisms in stress response, where induction of stress-responsive genes provides tolerance to unfavorable conditions. Stress-responsive genes are characterized for functional and regulatory genes that help in overcoming stress by molecular, biochemical and morphological adaptations. NAC transcription factors are one of the regulatory proteins that involved in stress signaling pathway. A putative NAC transcription factor, ONAC016 was identified from drought transcriptomic data. Our data suggested that ONAC106 was induced by drought, but its function in abiotic stress is still unclear. In silico analysis of ONAC106 showed that this gene encodes 334 amino acids, and its protein consists of NAM (No Apical Meristem) domain. The orthologue of ONAC106 was present in several Poaceae family members, suggesting that ONAC106 is unique to monocot plants only. We found that ONAC106 was induced by salt and cold stresses, indicating that this gene involves in abiotic stress response. In addition, we also found that ONAC106 might function in defense response to pathogen invasion. The ABRE (Abscisic Acid Regulatory Element) cis-element was identified in the promoter region of ONAC106, suggesting that it may involve in the abscisic acid (ABA)-dependent signaling pathway. Based on this preliminary result, we hypothesize that ONAC106 may play a role in abiotic stress response by regulating ABA-responsive genes.

Afro-American Folklore: A Unique American Experience. Selected Proceedings of the Annual Conference on Minority Studies (3rd, April, 1975), Volume 4.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carter, George E., Ed.; Parker, James R., Ed.

The articles in this document emphasize the positive, unique aspects of Afro-American folklore. Etta Moten Barnett concentrates on the changes in African music in response to the new geographical and cultural influences in America. Frank Suggs, Jr. describes a strategy for introducing black folklore and black music into the elementary school in an…

Sexuality Education for Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders: Critical Issues and Decision Making Guidelines

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Travers, Jason; Tincani, Matt

2010-01-01

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) present unique needs regarding sexuality education. While the topic of sexuality has received increased attention in the fields of intellectual and developmental disabilities generally, less consideration has focused on the unique needs of individuals with ASD specifically. This paper presents one…

Molecularly organic/inorganic hybrid hollow mesoporous organosilica nanocapsules with tumor-specific biodegradability and enhanced chemotherapeutic functionality.

PubMed

Huang, Ping; Chen, Yu; Lin, Han; Yu, Luodan; Zhang, Linlin; Wang, Liying; Zhu, Yufang; Shi, Jianlin

2017-05-01

Based on the intrinsic features of high stability and unique multifunctionality, inorganic nanoparticles have shown remarkable potentials in combating cancer, but their biodegradability and biocompatibility are still under debate. As a paradigm, this work successfully demonstrates that framework organic-inorganic hybridization can endow the inorganic mesoporous silica nanocarriers with unique tumor-sensitive biodegradability and high biocompatibility. Based on a "chemical homology" mechanism, molecularly organic-inorganic hybridized hollow mesoporous organosilica nanocapsules (HMONs) with high dispersity and sub-50 nm particle dimension were constructed in mass production. A physiologically active disulfide bond (SS) was directly incorporated into the silica framework, which could break up upon contacting the reducing microenvironment of tumor tissue and biodegrade accordingly. Such a tumor-specific biodegradability is also responsible for the tumor-responsive drug releasing by the fast biodegradation and disintegration of the framework. The ultrasmall particle size of HMONs guarantees their high accumulation into tumor tissue, thus causing the high chemotherapeutic outcome. This research provides a paradigm that framework organic-inorganic hybridization can endow the inorganic nanocarrier with unique biological effects suitable for biomedical application, benefiting the development of novel nanosystems with the unique bio-functionality and performance. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Immunoprofiles of human Sertoli cells infected with Zika virus reveals unique insights into host-pathogen crosstalk.

PubMed

Strange, Daniel P; Green, Richard; Siemann, David N; Gale, Michael; Verma, Saguna

2018-06-07

Confirmed reports of Zika virus (ZIKV) in seminal fluid months after clearance of viremia suggests that ZIKV can establish persistent infection in the seminiferous tubules, an immune privileged site of the testis. The seminiferous tubule epithelium is mainly composed of Sertoli cells that function to nourish and protect developing germ cells. We recently demonstrated that primary human Sertoli cells (hSeC) were highly susceptible to ZIKV as compared to dengue virus without causing cell death and thus may act as a reservoir for ZIKV in the testes. However, the cellular and immune responses of hSeC to infection with ZIKV or any other virus are not yet characterized. Using genome-wide RNA-seq to compare immunoprofiles of hSeC, we show that the most prominent response to ZIKV at early stage of infection was suppression of cell growth and proliferation functional pathways. Peak virus replication was associated with induction of multiple antiviral defense pathways. Unique ZIKV-associated signatures included dysregulation of germ cell-Sertoli cell junction signaling. This study demonstrates that hSeC are capable of signaling through canonical pro-inflammatory pathways and provides insights into unique cell-type-specific response induced by ZIKV in association with viral persistence in the testes.

Replication of Beta- and Gammaretroviruses Is Restricted in I/LnJ Mice via the Same Genetic Mechanism▿

PubMed Central

Case, Laure K.; Petell, Lydia; Yurkovetskiy, Leonid; Purdy, Alexandra; Savage, Katherine J.; Golovkina, Tatyana V.

2008-01-01

Mice of the I/LnJ inbred strain are unique in their ability to mount a robust and sustained humoral immune response capable of neutralizing infection with a betaretrovirus, mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV). Virus-neutralizing antibodies (Abs) coat MMTV virions secreted by infected cells, preventing virus spread and hence the formation of mammary tumors. To investigate whether I/LnJ mice resist infection with other retroviruses besides MMTV, the animals were infected with murine leukemia virus (MuLV), a gammaretrovirus. MuLV-infected I/LnJ mice produced virus-neutralizing Abs that block virus transmission and virally induced disease. Generation of virus-neutralizing Abs required gamma interferon but was independent of interleukin-12. This unique mechanism of retrovirus resistance is governed by a single recessive gene, virus infectivity controller 1 (vic1), mapped to chromosome 17. In addition to controlling the antivirus humoral immune response, vic1 is also required for an antiviral cytotoxic response. Both types of responses were maintained in mice of the susceptible genetic background but congenic for the I/LnJ vic1 locus. Although the vic1-mediated resistance to MuLV resembles the mechanism of retroviral recovery controlled by the resistance to Friend virus 3 (rfv3) gene, the rfv3 gene has been mapped to chromosome 15 and confers resistance to MuLV but not to MMTV. Thus, we have identified a unique virus resistance mechanism that controls immunity against two distinct retroviruses. PMID:18057254

Experimental and quantum-chemical studies on the three-particle fragmentation of neutral triatomic hydrogen

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Galster, Ulrich; Baumgartner, Frank; Mueller, Ulrich

2005-12-15

Dissociation of well-defined H{sub 3} Rydberg states into three ground state hydrogen atoms reveals characteristic correlation patterns in the center-of-mass motion of the three fragments. We present an extensive experimental dataset of momentum correlation maps for all lower Rydberg states of H{sub 3} and D{sub 3}. In particular the states with principal quantum number n=2 feature simple correlation patterns with regular occurence of mutual affinities. Energetically higher-lying states typically show more complex patterns which are unique for each state. Quantum-chemical calculations on adiabatic potential energy surfaces of H{sub 3} Rydberg states are presented to illuminate the likely origin of thesemore » differences. We discuss the likely dissociation mechanisms and paths which are responsible for the observed continuum correlation.« less

Growth hormone deficiency and diabetes insipidus as a complication of endoscopic third ventriculostomy.

PubMed

Tafuri, Kimberly S; Wilson, Thomas A

2012-12-01

Endoscopic third ventriculostomy (ETV) has become the procedure of choice for the treatment of obstructive hydrocephalus in children and adults. Endocrinological complications of ETV in children are rare. Diabetes insipidus (DI) is the most common and accounts for only 0.5% of complications from ETV. The majority of documented cases are transient. To date, there are no documented cases of multiple pituitary hormone deficiencies. We present here a 6-year-old girl with growth hormone deficiency and permanent DI which developed as a complication of ETV. This patient is unique in both demonstrating multiple pituitary hormone deficiencies and the classical triphasic response of DI after ETV. We postulate that these complications were caused by compression of the pituitary stalk and hypothalamic injury during the procedure. We compare our case presentation to experimental studies conducted in rats.

The new MSFC Solar vector magnetograph. Center director's discretionary fund

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hagyard, M. J.; West, E. A.; Cumings, N. P.

1984-01-01

The unique MSFC solar vector magnetograph allows measurements of all three components of the Sun's photospheric magnetic field over a wide field-of-view with spatial resolution determined by a 2.7 x 2.7 arc second pixel size. This system underwent extensive modifications to improve its sensitivity and temporal response. The modifications included replacing an SEC vidicon detector with a solid-state CCD camera; replacing the original digital logic circuitry with an electronic controller and a computer to provide complete, programmable control over the entire operation of the magnetograph; and installing a new polarimeter which consists of a single electro-optical modulator coupled with interchangeable waveplates mounted on a rotating assembly. The system is described and results of calibrations and tests are presented. Initial observations of solar magnetic fields with the new magnetograph are presented.

Modulations of the executive control network by stimulus onset asynchrony in a Stroop task

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background Manipulating task difficulty is a useful way of elucidating the functional recruitment of the brain’s executive control network. In a Stroop task, pre-exposing the irrelevant word using varying stimulus onset asynchronies (‘negative’ SOAs) modulates the amount of behavioural interference and facilitation, suggesting disparate mechanisms of cognitive processing in each SOA. The current study employed a Stroop task with three SOAs (−400, -200, 0 ms), using functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate for the first time the neural effects of SOA manipulation. Of specific interest were 1) how SOA affects the neural representation of interference and facilitation; 2) response priming effects in negative SOAs; and 3) attentional effects of blocked SOA presentation. Results The results revealed three regions of the executive control network that were sensitive to SOA during Stroop interference; the 0 ms SOA elicited the greatest activation of these areas but experienced relatively smaller behavioural interference, suggesting that the enhanced recruitment led to more efficient conflict processing. Response priming effects were localized to the right inferior frontal gyrus, which is consistent with the idea that this region performed response inhibition in incongruent conditions to overcome the incorrectly-primed response, as well as more general action updating and response preparation. Finally, the right superior parietal lobe was sensitive to blocked SOA presentation and was most active for the 0 ms SOA, suggesting that this region is involved in attentional control. Conclusions SOA exerted both trial-specific and block-wide effects on executive processing, providing a unique paradigm for functional investigations of the cognitive control network. PMID:23902451