Nano-engineered materials to probe and affect natural killer cell function

The nanoscale biological structures and dynamics that occur within cells have slowly been recognized as important features that determine cellular function. In the field of Immunology the receptors which determine a cell's response have recently been observed to organize on the nanoscale, forming clusters which vary in size, shape, and density. While these supramolecular structures have been observed, their function is still unknown, and current methods used to discern their function could be improved. Here, biomaterials with spatially controlled nanoscale features have been produced and developed with this goal in mind. Engineered nanomaterials have advantages over many biological techniques, especially in nanoscale manipulation and reduced experimental complexity. In this thesis two new nanoscale biomaterial approaches are developed, focusing on controlling the nanoscale spatial presentation of ligands to Natural Killer (NK) cells. The first is the fabrication of a supramolecular reagent which clusters Monoclonal Antibodies (mAbs) using a Nanoscale Graphene Oxide (NGO) framework. These clusters are on the same scale and density as receptor nanoclusters and exhibit properties that better mimic natural receptor ligation---such as interconnected ligands and local ligand density. Nanoscale Graphene Oxide-Monoclonal Antibody (NGO-mAb) species were found to augment degranulation and cytokine secretion of primary (human) NK (pNK) cells in comparison to equivalent concentrations of unclustered mAbs. Secondly, gold nanoparticle arrays, a nanotechnology used to create mimetic cell surfaces with nanometer control of ligand spacing, were imaged with Stochastic Optical Reconstruction Microscopy (STORM), a single molecule localization technique, to characterize their biological functionalization. This characterization step is necessary to confirm the nanoscale patterning, but remains difficult, and new methods for its accurate measurement are needed. Results obtained indicate that in spite of measured underoccupation, regions could be discerned as having spatial properties and patterning that would be expected of a functionalized array by three independent analytical methods.Open Acces

Safety and Reliability - Safe Societies in a Changing World

The contributions cover a wide range of methodologies and application areas for safety and reliability that contribute to safe societies in a changing world. These methodologies and applications include: - foundations of risk and reliability assessment and management - mathematical methods in reliability and safety - risk assessment - risk management - system reliability - uncertainty analysis - digitalization and big data - prognostics and system health management - occupational safety - accident and incident modeling - maintenance modeling and applications - simulation for safety and reliability analysis - dynamic risk and barrier management - organizational factors and safety culture - human factors and human reliability - resilience engineering - structural reliability - natural hazards - security - economic analysis in risk managemen

Visual Impairment and Blindness

Blindness and vision impairment affect at least 2.2 billion people worldwide with most individuals having a preventable vision impairment. The majority of people with vision impairment are older than 50 years, however, vision loss can affect people of all ages. Reduced eyesight can have major and long-lasting effects on all aspects of life, including daily personal activities, interacting with the community, school and work opportunities, and the ability to access public services. This book provides an overview of the effects of blindness and visual impairment in the context of the most common causes of blindness in older adults as well as children, including retinal disorders, cataracts, glaucoma, and macular or corneal degeneration

Senate journal 1996.

Titles and imprints vary; Some volumes include miscellaneous state documents and reports; Rules of the Senat

Dichotomic role of NAADP/two-pore channel 2/Ca2+ signaling in regulating neural differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells

Poster Presentation - Stem Cells and Pluripotency: abstract no. 1866The mobilization of intracellular Ca2+stores is involved in diverse cellular functions, including cell proliferation and differentiation. At least three endogenous Ca2+mobilizing messengers have been identified, including inositol trisphosphate (IP3), cyclic adenosine diphosphoribose (cADPR), and nicotinic adenine acid dinucleotide phosphate (NAADP). Similar to IP3, NAADP can mobilize calcium release in a wide variety of cell types and species, from plants to animals. Moreover, it has been previously shown that NAADP but not IP3-mediated Ca2+increases can potently induce neuronal differentiation in PC12 cells. Recently, two pore channels (TPCs) have been identified as a novel family of NAADP-gated calcium release channels in endolysosome. Therefore, it is of great interest to examine the role of TPC2 in the neural differentiation of mouse ES cells. We found that the expression of TPC2 is markedly decreased during the initial ES cell entry into neural progenitors, and the levels of TPC2 gradually rebound during the late stages of neurogenesis. Correspondingly, perturbing the NAADP signaling by TPC2 knockdown accelerates mouse ES cell differentiation into neural progenitors but inhibits these neural progenitors from committing to the final neural lineage. Interestingly, TPC2 knockdown has no effect on the differentiation of astrocytes and oligodendrocytes of mouse ES cells. Overexpression of TPC2, on the other hand, inhibits mouse ES cell from entering the neural lineage. Taken together, our data indicate that the NAADP/TPC2-mediated Ca2+signaling pathway plays a temporal and dichotomic role in modulating the neural lineage entry of ES cells; in that NAADP signaling antagonizes ES cell entry to early neural progenitors, but promotes late neural differentiation.postprin

Globalizare si turism: studiu de caz Romania

The globalization process is seen from an Eastern point of view under Western theories. A particular option is offered under bio structure and entropy theories. A detailed analyze of Romanian tourism before ’90 s tries to save statistics and information classified during communists. Among the ways of extending globalization, the economical transition in former socialist countries is pointed out with an example on Romanian tourism. A large space is allowed to evaluate the future of global economy and trends for Romanian tourism to joint it

Globalization and Tourism: Study case Romania

The globalization process is seen from an Eastern point of view under Western theories. A particular option is offered under bio structure and entropy theories. A detailed analyze of Romanian tourism before ’90 s tries to save statistics and information classified during communists. Among the ways of extending globalization, the economical transition in former socialist countries is pointed out with an example on Romanian tourism. A large space is allowed to evaluate the future of global economy and trends for Romanian tourism to joint it

XVI Agricultural Science Congress 2023: Transformation of Agri-Food Systems for Achieving Sustainable Development Goals

The XVI Agricultural Science Congress being jointly organized by the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS) and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) during 10-13 October 2023, at hotel Le Meridien, Kochi, is a mega event echoing the theme “Transformation of Agri-Food Systems for achieving Sustainable Development Goals”. ICAR-Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute takes great pride in hosting the XVI ASC, which will be the perfect point of convergence of academicians, researchers, students, farmers, fishers, traders, entrepreneurs, and other stakeholders involved in agri-production systems that ensure food and nutritional security for a burgeoning population. With impeding challenges like growing urbanization, increasing unemployment, growing population, increasing food demands, degradation of natural resources through human interference, climate change impacts and natural calamities, the challenges ahead for India to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set out by the United Nations are many. The XVI ASC will provide an interface for dissemination of useful information across all sectors of stakeholders invested in developing India’s agri-food systems, not only to meet the SDGs, but also to ensure a stable structure on par with agri-food systems around the world. It is an honour to present this Book of Abstracts which is a compilation of a total of 668 abstracts that convey the results of R&D programs being done in India. The abstracts have been categorized under 10 major Themes – 1. Ensuring Food & Nutritional Security: Production, Consumption and Value addition; 2. Climate Action for Sustainable Agri-Food Systems; 3. Frontier Science and emerging Genetic Technologies: Genome, Breeding, Gene Editing; 4. Livestock-based Transformation of Food Systems; 5. Horticulture-based Transformation of Food Systems; 6. Aquaculture & Fisheries-based Transformation of Food Systems; 7. Nature-based Solutions for Sustainable AgriFood Systems; 8. Next Generation Technologies: Digital Agriculture, Precision Farming and AI-based Systems; 9. Policies and Institutions for Transforming Agri-Food Systems; 10. International Partnership for Research, Education and Development. This Book of Abstracts sets the stage for the mega event itself, which will see a flow of knowledge emanating from a zeal to transform and push India’s Agri-Food Systems to perform par excellence and achieve not only the SDGs of the UN but also to rise as a world leader in the sector. I thank and congratulate all the participants who have submitted abstracts for this mega event, and I also applaud the team that has strived hard to publish this Book of Abstracts ahead of the event. I wish all the delegates and participants a very vibrant and memorable time at the XVI ASC