A 640 X 512-Pixel Portable Long-Wavelength Infrared Camera

A portable long-wavelength infrared electronic camera having a cutoff wavelength of 9 microns has been built around an image sensor in the form of a 640X512-pixel array of AlxGa(1-x)As/GaAs quantum-well infrared photodetectors (QWIPs). This camera is an intermediate product of a continuing program to develop high-resolution, high-sensitivity infrared cameras

Microbial and Haemagglutinins from the Serum of Estuarine Crab Portunus sanguinolentus

A naturally occurring haemagglutinin (HA), with activity against bacteria and yeast cells were detected in the serum of Portunus sanguinolentus using mammalian erythrocytes (RBC), various bacteria and yeast as indicator cells. The serum gave highest HA titer with buffalo RBC, tripsinized yeast, Vibrio fluvialis and Vibrio alginolyticus. An analysis of the biological properties of the HA showed it to be specifically dependent on the presence of Ca2+ for its activity. Further studies demonstrated that the HA- inhibition assays performed with carbohydrates revealed that the serum HA was specific for non-reducing terminal glucose with 1-2 glucosidic linkages. Thus this agglutinin appears to be unique among all the known crustacean agglutinins

Folate Receptor Beta Designates Immunosuppressive Tumor-Associated Myeloid Cells That Can Be Reprogrammed with Folate-Targeted Drugs

Although immunotherapies of tumors have demonstrated promise for altering the progression of malignancies, immunotherapies have been limited by an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME) that prevents infiltrating immune cells from performing their anticancer functions. Prominent among immunosuppressive cells are myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) and tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) that inhibit T cells via release of immunosuppressive cytokines and engagement of checkpoint receptors. Here, we explore the properties of MDSCs and TAMs from freshly isolated mouse and human tumors and find that an immunosuppressive subset of these cells can be distinguished from the nonimmunosuppressive population by its upregulation of folate receptor beta (FRβ) within the TME and its restriction to the TME. This FRβ+ subpopulation could be selectively targeted with folate-linked drugs. Delivery of a folate-targeted TLR7 agonist to these cells (i) reduced their immunosuppressive function, (ii) increased CD8+ T-cell infiltration, (iii) enhanced M1/M2 macrophage ratios, (iv) inhibited tumor growth, (v) blocked tumor metastasis, and (vi) improved overall survival without demonstrable toxicity. These data reveal a broadly applicable strategy across tumor types for reprogramming MDSCs and TAMs into antitumorigenic immune cells using a drug that would otherwise be too toxic to administer systemically. The data also establish FRβ as the first marker that distinguishes immunosuppressive from nonimmunosuppressive subsets of MDSCs and TAMs. Because all solid tumors accumulate MDSCs and TAMs, a general strategy to both identify and reprogram these cells should be broadly applied in the characterization and treatment of multiple tumors

CXCR4 Expression in Prostate Cancer Progenitor Cells

Tumor progenitor cells represent a population of drug-resistant cells that can survive conventional chemotherapy and lead to tumor relapse. However, little is known of the role of tumor progenitors in prostate cancer metastasis. The studies reported herein show that the CXCR4/CXCL12 axis, a key regulator of tumor dissemination, plays a role in the maintenance of prostate cancer stem-like cells. The CXCL4/CXCR12 pathway is activated in the CD44+/CD133+ prostate progenitor population and affects differentiation potential, cell adhesion, clonal growth and tumorigenicity. Furthermore, prostate tumor xenograft studies in mice showed that a combination of the CXCR4 receptor antagonist AMD3100, which targets prostate cancer stem-like cells, and the conventional chemotherapeutic drug Taxotere, which targets the bulk tumor, is significantly more effective in eradicating tumors as compared to monotherapy

Novel use of the cell-linked list algorithm to reduce computational time in meshfree based numerical models for plant cell drying

Dried plant food products are very popular in the consumer market today, having numerous advantages such as increased shelf life, ease of storage and transportation due to less weight and volume. During drying, complex changes of different physical properties of the food material occur due to heat and mass transfer phenomena. In order to model these drying mechanisms of plant cells, numerical models based on meshfree methods have been used recently, which have the capability of uniquely modelling large deformations as a result of moisture reduction of cells and tissues. This paper presents a numerical treatment, which can reduce the computation time of such state of the art meshfree particle based plant cell models by about 20%, without compromising the accuracy of the computations. The proposed treatment focuses on the highest time consuming component: Nearest Neighbour Particle Searching (NNPS) algorithm used in the Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) based cell fluid element of the meshfree model. For this purpose, the Cell-Linked List Algorithm (CLLA) was used instead of the all-pair searching approach used in meshfree based state of the art plant cell models. Simulations were conducted for cell deformations at different drying states and a good agreement was observed against published experimental and numerical results, both qualitatively and quantitatively. The findings of this study will be useful for efficient simulation of plant cells and tissue in micro, macro and multiscale studies.</p