7,257 research outputs found
Therapeutic antibodies: current state and future trends--is a paradigm change coming soon?
Antibody-based therapeutics currently enjoy unprecedented success, growth in research and revenues, and recognition of their potential. It appears that the promise of the "magic bullet" has largely been realized. There are currently 22 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) approved by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for clinical use and hundreds are in clinical trials for treatment of various diseases including cancers, immune disorders, and infections. The revenues from the top five therapeutic antibodies (Rituxan, Remicade, Herceptin, Humira, and Avastin) nearly doubled from 11.7 billion in 2006. During the last several years major pharmaceutical companies raced to acquire antibody companies, with a recent example of MedImmune being purchased for $15.6 billion by AstraZeneca. These therapeutic and business successes reflect the major advances in antibody engineering which have resulted in the generation of safe, specific, high-affinity, and non-immunogenic antibodies during the last three decades. Currently, second and third generations of antibodies are under development, mostly to improve already existing antibody specificities. However, although the refinement of already known methodologies is certainly of great importance for potential clinical use, there are no conceptually new developments in the last decade comparable, for example, to the development of antibody libraries, phage display, domain antibodies (dAbs), and antibody humanization to name a few. A fundamental question is then whether there will be another change in the paradigm of research as happened 1-2 decades ago or the current trend of gradual improvement of already developed methodologies and therapeutic antibodies will continue. Although any prediction could prove incorrect, it appears that conceptually new methodologies are needed to overcome the fundamental problems of drug (antibody) resistance due to genetic or/and epigenetic alterations in cancer and chronic infections, as well as problems related to access to targets and complexity of biological systems. If new methodologies are not developed, it is likely that gradual saturation will occur in the pipeline of conceptually new antibody therapeutics. In this scenario we will witness an increase in combination of targets and antibodies, and further attempts to personalize targeted treatments by using appropriate biomarkers as well as to develop novel scaffolds with properties that are superior to those of the antibodies now in clinical use
Convex fuzzy games and participation monotonic allocation schemes
90D12;03E72cooperative games
Hypercubes and compromise values for cooperative fuzzy games
90D12;03E72cooperative games
2MASSJ22560844+5954299: the newly discovered cataclysmic star with the deepest eclipse
Context: The SW Sex stars are assumed to represent a distinguished stage in
CV evolution, making it especially important to study them. Aims: We discovered
a new cataclysmic star and carried out prolonged and precise photometric
observations, as well as medium-resolution spectral observations. Modelling
these data allowed us to determine the psysical parameters and to establish its
peculiarities. Results: The newly discovered vataclysmic variable
2MASSJ22560844+5954299 shows the deepest eclipse amongst the known nova-like
stars. It was reproduced by totally covering a very luminous accretion disk by
a red secondary component. The temperature distribution of the disk is flatter
than that of steady-state disk. The target is unusual with the combination of a
low mass ratio q~1.0 (considerably below the limit q=1.2 of stable mass
transfer of CVs) and an M-star secondary. The intensity of the observed three
emission lines, H_alpha, He 5875, and He 6678, sharply increases around phase
0.0, accompanied by a Doppler jump to the shorter wavelength. The absence of
eclipses of the emission lines and their single-peaked profiles means that they
originate mainly in a vertically extended hot-spot halo. The emission H_alpha
line reveals S-wave wavelength shifts with semi-amplitude of around 210 km/s
and phase lag of 0.03. Conclusions: The non-steady-state emission of the
luminous accretion disk of 2MASSJ22560844+5954299 was attributed to the low
viscosity of the disk matter caused by its unusually high temperature. The star
shows all spectral properties of an SW Sex variable apart from the 0.5 central
absorption.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. 12 pages, 11
figures, 6 table
Nonlinear Terms of MHD Equations for Homogeneous Magnetized Shear Flow
We have derived the full set of MHD equations for incompressible shear flow
of a magnetized fluid and considered their solution in the wave-vector space.
The linearized equations give the famous amplification of slow magnetosonic
waves and describe the magnetorotational instability. The nonlinear terms in
our analysis are responsible for the creation of turbulence and self-sustained
spectral density of the MHD (Alfven and pseudo-Alfven) waves. Perspectives for
numerical simulations of weak turbulence and calculation of the effective
viscosity of accretion disks are shortly discussed in k-space.Comment: 13 pages, no figures; AIP Conference Proceedings 1356, Proceedings of
the School and Workshop on Space Plasma Physics (1--12 September 2010, Kiten,
Bulgaria), American Institute of Physics, Melville, NY, 201
Unusual persistence of superconductivity against high magnetic fields in the strongly-correlated iron-chalcogenide film FeTe:O
We report an unusual persistence of superconductivity against high magnetic
fields in the iron chalcogenide film FeTe:O below ~ 2.5 K. Instead of
saturating like a mean-field behavior with a single order parameter, the
measured low-temperature upper critical field increases progressively,
suggesting a large supply of superconducting states accessible via magnetic
field or low-energy thermal fluctuations. We demonstrate that superconducting
states of finite momenta can be realized within the conventional theory,
despite its questionable applicability. Our findings reveal a fundamental
characteristic of superconductivity and electronic structure in the
strongly-correlated iron-based superconductors.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
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