A cell-engineered system to assess tumor cell sensitivity to CD8+ T cell-mediated cytotoxicity

In vitro assays that evaluate CD8+ T cell-mediated cytotoxicity are important to aid in the development of novel therapeutic approaches to enhance anti-tumor immune responses. Here, we describe a novel cytotoxicity co-culture assay that circumvents the problem of highly variable allogeneic responses and obviates the constraints of HLA-restriction between effector and target cells. We show that this assay can be easily applied to a panel of tumor cell lines to provide additional insights into intrinsic drivers of sensitivity/resistance to T cell-mediated killing, and to evaluate the impact of targeted therapies on both tumor and T cell compartments.Maike de la Roche is supported by a Sir Henry Dale Fellowship jointly funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society (WT107609) and Cancer Research UK (A22257)

Management of agriculture science

Non-Peer Reviewe

Los medios y el proceso de paz: elementos para un balance necesario

Una reflexión sobre el papel de los medios en el cubrimiento del proceso de negociación con las FARC durante el gobierno de Andrés Pastrana, su responsabilidad social en el tratamiento del conflicto armado con la insurgencia y los procesos de negociación y de búsqueda de la reconciliación nacional, elementos vitales para el futuro de Colombia

Effect of Shifting Frequency on Liveweight Gain of Grazing Steers

Two trials lasting approximately two months each were carried out with different groups of holstein steers each initially weighing ~150 kg. Three shifting frequency treatments with no replications were imposed: three day, once daily and twice daily. Pasture allowances (kg DM animal-1 day-1) varied throughout the trials but remained equal among treatments. No significant differences in liveweight gain were observed among treatments. Higher shifting frequency treatments showed a tendency to have higher liveweight gains when gains were ~650 gm animal-1 day-1 or lower. It is recommended that future studies monitor the effect of shifting frequencies on pasture growth. Under the conditions of this study satisfactory estimates of kikuyugrass (Pennisetum clandestinum) were not provided by use of a capacitance meter or plant height

Resistencia a la corrosión en caliente de recubrimientos de Circonia estabilizada con Itria y Ceria densa/Circonia estabilizada con Itria depositados por aspersión térmica por plasma atmosférico

Hot Corrosion Resistance of Dense Ceria-Yttria Stabilized Zirconia/Yttria Stabilized Zirconia Bilayer Coatings Deposited by Atmospheric Plasma Spray. In this work, the hot corrosion (HC) resistance in thermal barrier coatings (TBC) of dense Ceria-Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (D-CYSZ)/ Yttria Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) deposited using atmospheric plasma spray technique on Inconel 625 substrates was evaluated, varying the layer thickness of CYSZ (0, 50, 100 and 150 um) maintaining a total coating system thickness of 300 um. Initially, HC tests were carried out on 7YSZ commercial powders (Metco 204 NS-G) in order to find proper conditions for HC on the deposited coatings. It was found that the mixture of 32 wt.% Na2SO4 + 68 wt.% V2O5, 1 wt.% salt concentration and 900°C are the most aggressive conditions for HC of YSZ. Microstructural characterization of the bilayer systems D-CYSZ/YSZ was carried out. D-CYSZ layer presented a DVC type microstructure (Dense Vertically Cracked) with a crack density of 4.32, 3.87 and 3.19 cracks/mm for the layer thicknesses of 50, 100 and 150 um respectively. YSZ layers presented a porosity of 16% with large, medium and small globular porosity, as well as inter- and intra-splat cracks. Thermal shock resistance test of the bilayer systems was carried out, showing delamination of the D-CYSZ layer after 359 cycles. However, all the bilayer systems tested exceeded the 600 cycles without presenting delamination of the system at the BC/TC interface above 20%, preserving the thermal protection of the substrate after these cycles. Finally, HC test showed that although the dense layers presented vertical cracks, they gave the projection against molten salt attack, since the YSZ system (without D-CYSZ) presented severe changes in its microstructure under the HC test parameters found in the work (HCstandard). In addition, under most aggressive conditions (varying concentration and cycles) D-CYSZ layer acted as a barrier and protect the subsequent layers, since YSZ system showed delamination and higher cohesive weakness than the systems with D-CYSZ layer.Resistencia a la Corrosión en Caliente de Recubrimientos de Circonia estabilizada con Itria y Ceria densa/Circonia estabilizada con Itria Depositados por Aspersión Térmica por Plasma Atmosférico. En este trabajo, se evaluó la resistencia a la corrosión en caliente (HC) en recubrimientos barrera térmica (TBC) de circonia estabilizada con ceria e itria densa (D-CYSZ)/circonia estabilizada con itria (YSZ) depositadas con la técnica de aspersión térmica por plasma atmosférico (APS) sobre sustratos de Inconel 625, variando el espesor de capa de D-CYSZ (0, 50, 100 y 150 um) manteniendo un espesor total del sistema de 300 um. Inicialmente, se realizó pruebas HC en polvos comerciales de 7YSZ (Metco 204 NS-G) con el fin de hallar las condiciones para las pruebas en los recubrimientos. Se encontró que la mezcla 0.32 wt.% Na2SO4 + 0.68 wt.% V2O5, 1 wt.% de concentración de sal y 900°C son las condiciones más agresivas para pruebas HC en YSZ. Se realizó la caracterización microestructural de los sistemas bicapa D-CYSZ/YSZ. La capa de D-CYSZ presentó una microestructura tipo DVC (Dense Vertically Cracked) con densidad de grietas de 4.32, 3.87 y 3.19 grietas/mm para las capas de 50, 100 y 150 um respectivamente. Las capas de YSZ presentaron la microestructura típica de un sistema TBC, con una porosidad del 16% con poros globulares de gran, mediano y pequeño tamaño, así como grietas inter e intra splat. Se evaluó la resistencia termo-mecánica de los sistemas bicapa, donde presentaron desprendimiento de la capa de D-CYSZ a partir del ciclo 359. Sin embargo, todos los sistemas TBC evaluados superaron los 600 ciclos sin presentar delaminación del recubrimiento en la intercara BC/TC por encima del 20%, preservando la protección del sustrato después de esos ciclos. Finalmente, las pruebas HC mostraton que aunque las capas densas presentaron grietas verticales, estas dieron protección ante el ataque por sales, ya que el sistema YSZ presentó cambios severos en su microestructura bajo las condiciones HC halladas en el trabajo (HC-standard). Además, en condiciones más agresivas (variando la concentración y en ciclos) el sistema YSZ presentó delaminación y mayor debilidad cohesiva que los sistemas con capa D-CYSZ.Empresas Publicas de MedellínDesarrollo e implementación de procesos de reparación y protección de componentes críticos sometidos a daño superficial en centrales de generación térmica e hidráulica mediante tecnologías de aspersión térmica y soldadura.Doctorad

La concepción del derecho a la vida en la Sharía: un enfoque desde las tesis colectivistas

Tesis de maestríaLos derechos humanos, propuestos desde Occidente, no se consideran compatibles con su orientación oriental. El significado que la ley islámica les concede podría relacionarse con una tradición colectiva. Se establece dicha conexión mediante elementos jurídicos, culturales, filosóficos y religiosos. Se examinan nociones esenciales sobre los derechos humanos universales, el colectivismo, el individualismo, y el carácter relativo del derecho a la vida.1. Introducción 2. Nociones sobre los derechos humanos 3. Derechos humanos: universalidad y globalización 4. Los derechos humanos: piedra de discordia entre Oriente y Occidente 5. Individualismo y colectivismo 6. El individualismo y el colectivismo en la formación 7. Significados divergentes de los derechos humanos 8. Concepciones del derecho a la vida 9. El carácter relativo del derecho a la vida 10. La Sharía y la pena de muerte 11. ConclusionesMaestríaMagíster en Derechos Humano

Planets in a different light

With over 4000 discoveries to date, the field of exoplanets is rapidly expanding. The large numbers of detections allow for population level statistical analyses. As a part of that, the characterisation of planets in their current form is vital to understanding the formation and evolution of exoplanets. Different occurrence rates for planets close to and far from their host stars indicate there may be different formation mechanisms at play. The study of planets at large separations from their host stars is therefore important. Direct imaging is particularly suited to study these planets when compared to other methods. Expanding it to the mid-infrared will allow for the characterisation of cooler and therefore older and smaller planets, but this has not yet been achieved. With the mid-infrared imaging and spectroscopy instrument VISIR and its upgrade NEAR data is obtained of three types of systems: six very young systems with planets that are still expected to be in their formation stage, the young, but fully formed HR 8799 system, and finally four mature systems in the solar neighbourhood. All but one are already known or expected to have planetary mass companions. None of these are detected, but the most stringent mid-infrared flux limits to date are obtained for all of them and for additional companions beyond 1'' in any of the systems. The conversion to mass limits rules out accreting planets with circumplanetary disks beyond 1'' around most of the very young stars, which indicates that planet formation at large radii is rare. The mass limits for companions around the sun-like epsilon Indi A show that it is at the older end of the age range, as a younger planet would have been detected. The achieved sensitivity in the observations also shows that detection of planetary mass companions is within the range of present day instrumentation and that at least four planets are detectable with VISIR and at least sixteen with NEAR in less than 10 hours. There is also a lack of super Earths on very short orbits. Many of these planets undergo high XUV irradiation, causing their atmospheres to puff up and erode. This is an important stage in the planets evolution. The expanded atmosphere also makes them easier to measure in transit and good targets for transmission spectroscopy, as it increases the signal size. The super Earth GJ 1214 b and the hot Jupiter WASP-15 b are such planets. An improved constraint is set on the evaporating helium atmosphere of GJ 1214 b through measurement of the excess transit depth at 10,830A in archival X-SHOOTER data. This also shows that X-SHOOTER has the required stability for these kinds of measurements on more suitable targets. For the hot Jupiter WASP-15 b Gaussian Process modeling is employed to remove correlated noise from the data and construct a transmission spectrum of the atmosphere, although further observations are required to rule out atmospheric models

Molecule mapping of HR8799b using OSIRIS on Keck: Strong detection of water and carbon monoxide, but no methane

Context. In 2015, Barman et al. (ApJ, 804, 61) presented detections of absorption from water, carbon monoxide, and methane in the atmosphere of the directly imaged exoplanet HR8799b using integral field spectroscopy (IFS) with OSIRIS on the Keck II telescope. We recently devised a new method to analyse IFU data, called molecule mapping, searching for high-frequency signatures of particular molecules in an IFU data cube. Aims. The aim of this paper is to use the molecule mapping technique to search for the previously detected spectral signatures in HR8799b using the same data, allowing a comparison of molecule mapping with previous methods. Methods. The medium-resolution H- and K-band pipeline-reduced archival data were retrieved from the Keck archive facility. Telluric and stellar lines were removed from each spectrum in the data cube, after which the residuals were cross-correlated with model spectra of carbon monoxide, water, and methane. Results. Both carbon monoxide and water are clearly detected at high signal-to-noise, however, methane is not retrieved. Conclusions. Molecule mapping works very well on the OSIRIS data of exoplanet HR8799b. However, it is not evident why methane is detected in the original analysis, but not with the molecule mapping technique. Possible causes could be the presence of telluric residuals, different spectral filtering techniques, or the use of different methane models. We do note that in the original analysis methane was only detected in the K-band, while the H-band methane signal could be expected to be comparably strong. More sensitive observations with the JWST will be capable of confirming or disproving the presence of methane in this planet at high confidence.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures and 2 tables, accepted by A&