Spectroscopic Analysis in the Virtual Observatory Environment with SPLAT-VO

SPLAT-VO is a powerful graphical tool for displaying, comparing, modifying and analyzing astronomical spectra, as well as searching and retrieving spectra from services around the world using Virtual Observatory (VO) protocols and services. The development of SPLAT-VO started in 1999, as part of the Starlink StarJava initiative, sometime before that of the VO, so initial support for the VO was necessarily added once VO standards and services became available. Further developments were supported by the Joint Astronomy Centre, Hawaii until 2009. Since end of 2011 development of SPLAT-VO has been continued by the German Astrophysical Virtual Observatory, and the Astronomical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. From this time several new features have been added, including support for the latest VO protocols, along with new visualization and spectra storing capabilities. This paper presents the history of SPLAT-VO, it's capabilities, recent additions and future plans, as well as a discussion on the motivations and lessons learned up to now.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Computin

Élisée Reclus e a Geografia dos Novos Mundos

O presente número da revista Terra Brasilis traz, nesta edição especial, uma compilação de textos em homenagem ao geógrafo anarquista francês Élisée Reclus (1830-1905) e recorda dos 5 anos da realização do Colóquio Internacional “Élisée Reclus e a Geografia do Novo Mundo”, evento que registrou o enorme crescimento do interesse da comunidade acadêmica brasileira e internacional na vida e o pensamento do geógrafo anarquista francês. O evento, ocorrido de 6 a 10 de dezembro de 2011, na Universid..

PrankWeb: a web server for ligand binding site prediction and visualization.

PrankWeb is an online resource providing an interface to P2Rank, a state-of-the-art method for ligand binding site prediction. P2Rank is a template-free machine learning method based on the prediction of local chemical neighborhood ligandability centered on points placed on a solvent-accessible protein surface. Points with a high ligandability score are then clustered to form the resulting ligand binding sites. In addition, PrankWeb provides a web interface enabling users to easily carry out the prediction and visually inspect the predicted binding sites via an integrated sequence-structure view. Moreover, PrankWeb can determine sequence conservation for the input molecule and use this in both the prediction and result visualization steps. Alongside its online visualization options, PrankWeb also offers the possibility of exporting the results as a PyMOL script for offline visualization. The web frontend communicates with the server side via a REST API. In high-throughput scenarios, therefore, users can utilize the server API directly, bypassing the need for a web-based frontend or installation of the P2Rank application. PrankWeb is available at http://prankweb.cz/, while the web application source code and the P2Rank method can be accessed at https://github.com/jendelel/PrankWebApp and https://github.com/rdk/p2rank, respectively

IVOA Recommendation: Observation Data Model Core Components and its Implementation in the Table Access Protocol Version 1.0

This document defines the core components of the Observation data model that are necessary to perform data discovery when querying data centers for observations of interest. It exposes use-cases to be carried out, explains the model and provides guidelines for its implementation as a data access service based on the Table Access Protocol (TAP). It aims at providing a simple model easy to understand and to implement by data providers that wish to publish their data into the Virtual Observatory. This interface integrates data modeling and data access aspects in a single service and is named ObsTAP. It will be referenced as such in the IVOA registries. There will be a separate document to cover the full Observation data model. In this document, the Observation Data Model Core Components (ObsCoreDM) defines the core components of queryable metadata required for global discovery of observational data. It is meant to allow a single query to be posed to TAP services at multiple sites to perform global data discovery without having to understand the details of the services present at each site. It defines a minimal set of basic metadata and thus allows for a reasonable cost of implementation by data providers. The combination of the ObsCoreDM with TAP is referred to as an ObsTAP service. As with most of the VO Data Models, ObsCoreDM makes use of STC, Utypes, Units and UCDs. The ObsCoreDM can be serialized as a VOTable. ObsCoreDM can make reference to more complete data models such as ObsProvDM (the Observation Provenance Data Model, to come), Characterisation DM, Spectrum DM or Simple Spectral Line Data Model (SSLDM).Comment: About the IVOA: http://www.ivoa.net; editors: Doug Tody, Alberto Micol, Daniel Durand, Mireille Louy

High-Performance, Lightweight, and Flexible Thermoplastic Polyurethane Nanocomposites with Zn2+-Substituted CoFe2O4 Nanoparticles and Reduced Graphene Oxide as Shielding Materials against Electromagnetic Pollution

The development of flexible, lightweight, and thin high-performance electromagnetic interference shielding materials is urgently needed for the protection of humans, the environment, and electronic devices against electromagnetic radiation. To achieve this, the spinel ferrite nanoparticles CoFe2O4 (CZ1), Co0.67Zn0.33Fe2O4 (CZ2), and Co0.33Zn0.67Fe2O4 (CZ3) were prepared by the sonochemical synthesis method. Further, these prepared spinel ferrite nanoparticles and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) were embedded in a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) matrix. The maximum electromagnetic interference (EMI) total shielding effectiveness (SET) values in the frequency range 8.2-12.4 GHz of these nanocomposites with a thickness of only 0.8 mm were 48.3, 61.8, and 67.8 dB for CZ1-rGO-TPU, CZ2-rGO-TPU, and CZ3-rGO-TPU, respectively. The high-performance electromagnetic interference shielding characteristics of the CZ3-rGO-TPU nanocomposite stem from dipole and interfacial polarization, conduction loss, multiple scattering, eddy current effect, natural resonance, high attenuation constant, and impedance matching. The optimized CZ3-rGO-TPU nanocomposite can be a potential candidate as a lightweight, flexible, thin, and high-performance electromagnetic interference shielding material

Talin is required for integrin-mediated platelet function in hemostasis and thrombosis

Integrins are critical for hemostasis and thrombosis because they mediate both platelet adhesion and aggregation. Talin is an integrin-binding cytoplasmic adaptor that is a central organizer of focal adhesions, and loss of talin phenocopies integrin deletion in Drosophila. Here, we have examined the role of talin in mammalian integrin function in vivo by selectively disrupting the talin1 gene in mouse platelet precursor megakaryocytes. Talin null megakaryocytes produced circulating platelets that exhibited normal morphology yet manifested profoundly impaired hemostatic function. Specifically, platelet-specific deletion of talin1 led to spontaneous hemorrhage and pathological bleeding. Ex vivo and in vitro studies revealed that loss of talin1 resulted in dramatically impaired integrin αIIbβ3-mediated platelet aggregation and β1 integrin–mediated platelet adhesion. Furthermore, loss of talin1 strongly inhibited the activation of platelet β1 and β3 integrins in response to platelet agonists. These data establish that platelet talin plays a crucial role in hemostasis and provide the first proof that talin is required for the activation and function of mammalian α2β1 and αIIbβ3 integrins in vivo

Longitudinal Cytokine Profiling Identifies GRO-α and EGF as Potential Biomarkers of Disease Progression in Essential Thrombocythemia.

Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are characterized by deregulation of mature blood cell production and increased risk of myelofibrosis (MF) and leukemic transformation. Numerous driver mutations have been identified but substantial disease heterogeneity remains unexplained, implying the involvement of additional as yet unidentified factors. The inflammatory microenvironment has recently attracted attention as a crucial factor in MPN biology, in particular whether inflammatory cytokines and chemokines contribute to disease establishment or progression. Here we present a large-scale study of serum cytokine profiles in more than 400 MPN patients and identify an essential thrombocythemia (ET)-specific inflammatory cytokine signature consisting of Eotaxin, GRO-α, and EGF. Levels of 2 of these markers (GRO-α and EGF) in ET patients were associated with disease transformation in initial sample collection (GRO-α) or longitudinal sampling (EGF). In ET patients with extensive genomic profiling data (n = 183) cytokine levels added significant prognostic value for predicting transformation from ET to MF. Furthermore, CD56+CD14+ pro-inflammatory monocytes were identified as a novel source of increased GRO-α levels. These data implicate the immune cell microenvironment as a significant player in ET disease evolution and illustrate the utility of cytokines as potential biomarkers for reaching beyond genomic classification for disease stratification and monitoring.The serum cytokine studies were supported by a research grant from the Rosetrees Trust. NFØ was supported by grants from the Danish Lundbeck Foundation and Danish Cancer Society, J.G. was supported by fellowships from Bloodwise and the Kay Kendall Leukaemia Fund; and M.S.S. is the recipient of a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Industrial Collaborative Awards in Science and Engineering PhD Studentship. Work in the R.C.S. laboratory was supported by grants from the Stiftung Blutspendezentrum SRK beider Basel, the Swiss National Science Foundation (31003A-147016/1 and 31003A_166613), and the Swiss Cancer League (KLS-2950-02-2012 and KFS-3655-02-2015). A.K. was supported by the Else Kröner-Fresenius Foundation. Work in the A.R.G. laboratory is supported by the Wellcome Trust, Bloodwise, Cancer Research UK, the Kay Kendall Leukaemia Fund, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of America. Work in the D.G.K. laboratory is supported by a Bloodwise Bennett Fellowship (15008), a European Hematology Association Non-Clinical Advanced Research Fellowship, and an ERC Starting Grant (ERC-2016-STG–715371). D.G.K. and A.R.G. are supported by a core support grant from the Wellcome Trust and Medical Research Council to the Wellcome MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, the National Institute for Health Research Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, and the CRUK Cambridge Cancer Centre

Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation in Patients With Primary Immune Regulatory Disorders (PIRD): A Primary Immune Deficiency Treatment Consortium (PIDTC) Survey.

Primary Immune Regulatory Disorders (PIRD) are an expanding group of diseases caused by gene defects in several different immune pathways, such as regulatory T cell function. Patients with PIRD develop clinical manifestations associated with diminished and exaggerated immune responses. Management of these patients is complicated; oftentimes immunosuppressive therapies are insufficient, and patients may require hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) for treatment. Analysis of HCT data in PIRD patients have previously focused on a single gene defect. This study surveyed transplanted patients with a phenotypic clinical picture consistent with PIRD treated in 33 Primary Immune Deficiency Treatment Consortium centers and European centers. Our data showed that PIRD patients often had immunodeficient and autoimmune features affecting multiple organ systems. Transplantation resulted in resolution of disease manifestations in more than half of the patients with an overall 5-years survival of 67%. This study, the first to encompass disorders across the PIRD spectrum, highlights the need for further research in PIRD management