College and university dining service administrators\u27 intention to adopt sustainable practices: An application of the theory of planned behavior

The purpose of this study was to identify sustainable practices existing in college and university dining services (CUDS) and to explore the influence of attitude, subjective norm (social pressures), perceived behavior control and personal norm on college and university dining service administrators\u27 (CUDSAs) intention to implement sustainable practices in their operations using the theory of planned behavior model. Data were collected with a web-based questionnaire sent to 535 CUDSAs in the United States listed in the National Association of College & University Food Services (NACUFS) directory. Thirteen e-mails were returned as undeliverable. A total of 138 CUDSAs responded, resulting in a 26.4% response rate. Sustainable practices perceived to occur most frequently in CUDS were recycling fat, oil and grease; recycling cardboard; using recycled paper products and recycling aluminum. The least common practices were serving locally grown food and composting. Structural equation modeling was used to test hypotheses. Findings revealed that subjective norm had the most positive influence on CUDSAs\u27 intention to adopt sustainable practices, followed by attitude toward sustainable practices and personal norm. There was no significant relationship between perceived behavioral control and behavioral intention, suggesting that implementing sustainable practices was largely under volitional control. Including the personal norm construct in the TPB model reduced unexplained variance in the model by 33.48%, suggesting that personal norm had an effect on CUDSAs\u27 behavioral intention

Gene source screening as a metabolic engineering tool for flavonoid production

Flavonoids are plant secondary metabolites with advantageous health benefits and great potential in the food industry. Current production techniques are facing limitations due to climate changes, small plantation sizes and long growth cycles. Metabolic engineering food-grade microorganisms can provide an alternative solution. However, the current production yield is limited by low enzymatic activities. Proper gene selection can be a solution to this problem. Gene source analysis for 4-coumarate:coenzyme A ligase (4CL) and chalcone synthase (CHS) was performed based on evolution and protein structures. The analysis identified several potential enzyme gene sources, which were expressed in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The flavonoid production was quantified by HPLC with the aim to find gene sources producing the highest amount of flavonoids. Two new enzyme gene sources, 4CL from Medicago truncatula and CHS from Vitis vinifera had been found to provide the highest naringenin production yield. The amount of naringenin produced was 28-fold higher as compared to the reference strain expressing Arabidopsis thaliana. The results demonstrated that gene screening and the combination of enzymes from the correct gene source could greatly improve flavonoid production. For the future, this could help commercialize flavonoid production, which would result in natural food preservatives and additives

An overview for the effects of lactitol, gelucire 44/14 and copovidone on lysozyme biological activity

Lysozyme, a model protein, was used to study the effects of excipients (lactitol, copovidone and gelucire 44/14) on the protein biological activity. Three different concentrations (0.1, 0.5 and 10 %w/v) of the excipients were used with a relatively high (10%w/v) lysozyme concentration. Analytical methods such as UV spectroscopy and fluorescence technique were used to study the effect of excipients on protein biological stability and integrity. The data obtained from analysis showed that gelucire 44/14 had a disadvantage effect on lysozyme stability as a single excipient. However, by combining gelucire 44/14 with lactitol, the protein activity was preserved. Also, the combination of lactitol and copovidone preserved the integrity and activity of 6% lysozyme to a great extent. Different excipients stabilised proteins to different degree. As conclusion, there is no excipient that works well for even one type of proteins. The most suitable excipient for each particular protein is found by extensive research studying the activity and stability of the protein in the presence of excipients. High efficacy and accuracy analytic methods should be used in order to give reliable information on protein stability and integrity. Keywords: lysozyme, lactitol, copovidone, gelucire 44/14, stability, biological activity

Chromosome X-encoded Cancer/Testis antigens are less frequently expressed in non-seminomatous germ cell tumors than in seminomas

Cancer/Testis (CT) antigens are normally only expressed in germ cells and yet are aberrantly activated in a wide variety of human cancers. Most chromosome X-encoded CT antigens (CT-X) show restricted expression in pre-meiotic germ cells in adult testis, except for the expression of SPANX in post-meiotic germ cells. In the present study, the expression of eight CT-X antigens (MAGE-A, NY-ESO-1, GAGE, MAGE-C1/CT7, MAGE-C2/CT10, CT45, SAGE1, and SPANX) in non-seminomatous germ cell tumors was evaluated immunohistochemically, including 24 embryonal carcinomas, 20 yolk sac tumors, 9 teratomas, and 3 choriocarcinomas, and the results were compared to our previous study of 77 classic seminomas and 2 spermatocytic seminomas. SPANX was not detected in any germ cell tumors tested. Spermatocytic seminoma showed strong expression of all CT-X antigens tested (except SPANX), reflecting their origin from adult CT-Xpositive pre-meiotic germ cells. Classic seminomas, originating from prenatal gonocytes, showed widely variable frequency of CT-X antigen expression, ranging from > 80% (CT7, CT10, CT45, and GAGE), 63% (MAGE-A), 18% (NY-ESO-1) to only 4% (SAGE1). In comparison, non-seminomatous germ cell tumors expressed CT-X antigens much less frequently and usually only in small subsets of tumor cells. Intratubular germ cell neoplasia (ITGCN) were mostly CT-X-negative, even in CT-X positive classic seminomas. These findings indicate that CT-X antigens are not expressed in the fetal precursor cells for germ cell tumors, and their expression likely reflects germ cell differentiation of the neoplastic cells (in seminomas) or aberrant gene activation as cancer antigens (in non-seminomatous tumors)

Scratch Stats : a site for visualizing and understanding scratch usage data

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 65-66).This thesis introduces ScratchStats, an extension to the Scratch website where users can view and understand Scratch usage data through a series of interactive visualizations. Scratch is a visual programming language that makes it easy to create interactive stories, games, and artwork. Accompanying the Scratch application is the Scratch Online Community, a website that allows users to upload and share their creations. The visualizations created in this thesis describe community, personal, and network statistics. ScratchStats aims to provide answers to questions about Scratch usage, promote reflection and introspective learning, and aid in teaching data literacy.by Rita Chen.M.Eng

Convergent antibody responses to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in convalescent and vaccinated individuals

Unrelated individuals can produce genetically similar clones of antibodies, known as public clonotypes, which have been seen in responses to different infectious diseases, as well as healthy individuals. Here we identify 37 public clonotypes in memory B cells from convalescent survivors of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection or in plasmablasts from an individual after vaccination with mRNA-encoded spike protein. We identify 29 public clonotypes, including clones recognizing the receptor-binding domain (RBD) in the spike protein S1 subunit (including a neutralizing, angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 [ACE2]-blocking clone that protects in vivo) and others recognizing non-RBD epitopes that bind the S2 domain. Germline-revertant forms of some public clonotypes bind efficiently to spike protein, suggesting these common germline-encoded antibodies are preconfigured for avid recognition. Identification of large numbers of public clonotypes provides insight into the molecular basis of efficacy of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and sheds light on the immune pressures driving the selection of common viral escape mutants

Assessment of Cross-protective Responses to Emerging Variant Viruses

Viruses pose a great threat to human health. Outbreaks and pandemics due to different viruses occur in all areas of the world. Two viruses, which emerged globally in the 1980s and in 2020, that are still causing ongoing pandemics in 2021 are dengue virus (DENV) and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), respectively. These viruses circulate widely and currently infect hundreds of millions of people. Immunity from a previous infection may confer protection against subsequent infection of a related virus. Thus, understanding the degree of cross-protection can help define correlates of protection that are necessary to determine which people are at greatest risk of infection. DENV is a mosquito-transmitted flavivirus that causes the most common arthropod-borne viral disease in the world. Infection with DENV causes a range of disease manifestations, with the most severe being hemorrhage, vascular leakage leading to organ impairment and circulatory collapse or shock, and consequently death. Historical observations have classified DENV into four serotypes due to lack of cross-immunity and protection between each group. Instead, immunity from one DENV serotype infection can enhance disease upon secondary infection with a different serotype. Therefore, establishing how immunity against one DENV impacts infection of similar and divergent DENV strains is essential to mitigate disease. As more variant DENV strains have been isolated in humans and inducing immunity in this small but expanding population over the last several years, it remains to be determined how this level of viral variation will impact global DENV immunity. In 2007, the most divergent DENV to date was isolated from a Dengue patient in Malaysia. Sequencing results determined it had a level of genetic divergence encroaching on serotype level status, and in 2015, this virus, DKE-121, was unveiled as a novel DENV-5 serotype. Immediately, questions arose of whether immunity from other DENV serotypes or tetravalent vaccines would remain protective or become enhancing in relation to DKE-121 infection. Herein, I examined the relationship of DKE-121 to its closest circulating DENV serotype, DENV-4, for cross-neutralization and cross-protection. My experiments show that DENV-4 immune sera can neutralize DENV-4 and DKE-121 similarly, whereas DKE-121 immune sera preferentially neutralized DKE-121 compared to DENV-4. This directionality in neutralization suggests that DENV-4 and DKE-121 are antigenically related, yet distinct. In passive transfer experiments, neither DENV-4 nor DKE-121 immune sera prevented infection of DKE-121 or DENV-4, respectively, suggesting that humoral immunity alone does not confer protection against the related virus. However, tetravalent vaccination in humans induced antibody responses that neutralized highly variant DKE-121 and DENV-4 vaccination was protective upon DKE-121 challenge in non-human primates. Thus, these findings highlight the complexity of DENV genetic variation and challenge the canonical classification of distinct serotypes. In 2021, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, another situation arose with urgent questions of how pre-existing immunity against one virus protects against newly emerging variant viruses. As therapeutics and vaccines were rapidly developed and widely distributed in hopes of ending the COVID-19 pandemic, SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOC) emerged. These VOC contain mutations within the viral spike protein receptor binding domain (RBD), which SARS-CoV-2 uses to enter host cells. Since many vaccines and antibodies were developed using historical spike and/or RBD sequences to interfere with this interaction, it was unknown whether these VOC mutations would enable virus escape. Herein, I assessed therapeutic monoclonal antibodies and vaccine or infection-elicited polyclonal antibodies for cross-neutralization and cross-protection against the SARS-CoV-2 variant viruses. To understand whether monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) targeting historical spike protein would neutralize SARS-CoV-2 VOC, I tested a panel of mAbs against multiple viruses including those with spike protein point mutations corresponding to emerging variants. Most mAbs retained neutralizing potency to these variants compared to historical SARS-CoV-2. However, some mAbs showed reduced or completely abrogated neutralizing activity to viruses containing mutations at position 484 of the spike protein. Remarkably, serum polyclonal antibodies induced against historical spike from vaccination or natural infection showed reduced potency against E484K mutation-containing SARS-CoV-2 variants. This was true for mouse, hamster, and non-human primate sera from adenoviral vectored (ChAd-SARS-CoV-2-S) vaccinated animals in addition to human sera from Pfizer BNT162b2 mRNA vaccinated or previously SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals. Thus, SARS-CoV-2 variants containing a mutation at position 484 (e.g., B.1.351 (Beta) and B.1.1.28 (or P.1, Gamma) lineages, are of particular concern for antibody-mediated protection. As some therapeutic mAbs were given Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) or under development in advanced clinical trial stages, it was essential to understand whether they retain in vivo efficacy against emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. These mAbs included monotherapy from Lilly under EUA (at the time) and combination mAb therapy from AstraZeneca, AbbVie, and Vir Biotechnology under development and from Regeneron and Lilly under EUA. When tested for neutralization, most mAbs retained potency against VOC including those from the B.1.351 and B.1.1.28 lineages. However, mAbs that had contact residues at position 484 (those from Lilly and AbbVie) showed reduced potency or complete loss of neutralizing activity against B.1.351 and B.1.1.28. When tested for therapeutic efficacy in K18-hACE2 mice, monotherapy and combination therapy with the Lilly mAbs failed to confer protection. The other combination therapy (from Regeneron) approved for EUA use, in addition to two others (AstraZeneca and Vir Biotechnology) were highly protective. While one mAb completely lost neutralizing activity in AbbVie’s cocktail against Beta and Gamma, the other retained activity and conferred protection against weight loss in mice. Thus, neutralizing sensitivity correlated with in vivo therapeutic efficacy, which has utility in screening mAbs against any emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants. Herein, I describe two viruses that have emerged globally within the last few decades or year and how pre-existing immunity may influence subsequent infection. For DENV, these interactions are complex and can be protective or enhancing between different viruses within this family. As more divergent DENV strains are found, the canonical serotype definitions become blurred, with unclear impacts on infection and immunization outcome. For SARS-CoV-2, many therapeutics and vaccines were generated using 2019 virus spike sequences and may be susceptible to escape from emerging variants. However, combination use of multiple therapeutic mAbs targeting different areas on the spike protein may help prevent additional viral escape. In addition, rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines has provided a framework, which can be quickly adapted to create boosters against the variants. Hence, the studies I describe here expand our understanding of the cross-protective immunity that exists against DENV and SARS-CoV-2 and with this knowledge, we are better equipped to end these pandemics and hopefully prevent future ones

1:1 AV Tachycardia: What is the Mechanism?

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73730/1/j.1540-8159.2009.02516.x.pd