13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectra of fungal melanins

3 pages, 1 figures, 2 tables, 14 references.The 13C resonance spectra of fungal melanins from Aspergillus niger, Eurotium echinolatum, and Stachybotrys chartarum are reported. The spectra were taken in 5% W/W solution of the substances in 0.1 N NaOD in D2O using the Fourier-transform-technique. The spectra and possible assignments of the bands are discussed. The similarities of these spectra to those of soil humic acids are unexpectedly small.Peer reviewe

Designing a Locally Manufacturable Wheelchair for Nepal

Persons with disabilities in developing countries often lack the basic equipment needed to assist them in their daily lives. International Nepal Fellowship (INF) is a Christian medical organization located in Nepal that provides medical care and assistance to people with disabilities and other conditions. Currently, INF imports expensive wheelchairs that undergo a prolonged border process before being received. INF has reached out to the Collaboratory to design a wheelchair that can withstand the challenges of Nepal’s terrain and can be manufactured from local materials. The Nepal Wheelchair team accepted this challenge and set out to design a wheelchair that can fulfill their needs. The team began by researching wheelchair models for inspiration and eventually settled on two preliminary designs. In January 2020, the team traveled to Pokhara, Nepal to gain feedback from the staff at INF and select a final design based on their comments. During this trip, the team acquired and brought back locally available materials and parts available in Nepal in order to construct a prototype. This year, prototyping has been completed for the following elements: the central frame, wheel lock, footrest, wheel mounting assemblies and armrest fixtures. As a result of knowledge gained during prototyping, some design changes to the wheelchair have been made. Moving forward, the team will test the overall prototype for durability and prepare a manufacturing manual for INF.https://mosaic.messiah.edu/engr2021/1010/thumbnail.jp

Panama Bridge Project

The Panama Bridge project has partnered with Rio Missions Panama to design a bridge for the village of La Gigi, Panama. The mountain community of La Gigi experiences heavy rainfall during the rainy seasons. A stream runs along the community, restricting their access to schools, employment options, and other communities. While passable during dry seasons, the stream floods and becomes impassable after heavy rains. The residents are effectively cut off from their livelihoods, church, health services, and other communities during this time. To accommodate this need, the Panama Bridge Team has spent the last two academic years designing a 90 foot aluminum truss bridge. The design includes a unique construction strategy to deal with challenging site constraints.https://mosaic.messiah.edu/engr2021/1011/thumbnail.jp

Epitope enhancement of a CD4 HIV epitope toward the development of the next generation HIV vaccine

Virus-specific CD4+ T cell help and CD8+ cytotoxic T cell responses are critical for maintenance of effective immunity in chronic viral infections. The importance of CD4+ T cells has been documented in HIV infection. To investigate whether a stronger CD4+ T cell response can be induced by modifications to enhance the T1 epitope, the first CD4+ T cell epitope discovered in HIV-1-gp120, we developed a T1-specific CD4+ T cell line from a healthy volunteer immunized with a canarypox vector expressing gp120 and boosted with recombinant gp120. This T1-specific CD4+ T cell line was restricted to DR13, which is common in U.S. Caucasians and African-Americans and very frequent in Africans. Peptides with certain amino acid substitutions in key positions induced enhanced specific CD4+ T cell proliferative responses at lower peptide concentration than the original epitope. This relatively conserved CD4 epitope improved by the epitope enhancement strategy could be a component of a more effective second generation vaccine construct for HIV infection