Deficiency of immunity to poliovirus type 3: a lurking danger?

Background: Europe was certified to be polio-free in 2002 by the WHO. However, wild polioviruses remain endemic in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Nigeria, occasionally causing polio outbreaks, as in Tajikistan in 2010. Therefore, effective surveillance measures and vaccination campaigns remain important. To determine the poliovirus immune status of a German study population, we retrospectively evaluated the seroprevalence of neutralizing antibodies (NA) to the poliovirus types 1, 2 and 3 (PV1, 2, 3) in serum samples collected from 1,632 patients admitted the University Hospital of Frankfurt am Main, Germany, in 2001, 2005 and 2010. Methods: Testing was done by using a standardized microneutralization assay. Results: Level of immunity to PV1 ranged between 84.2% (95%CI: 80.3-87.5), 90.4% (88.3-92.3) and 87.5% (85.4-88.8) in 2001, 2005 and 2010. For PV2, we found 90.8% (87.5-90.6), 91.3% (89.3-93.1) and 89.8% (88.7-90.9), in the same period. Seroprevalence to PV3 was 76.6% (72.2-80.6), 69.8% (66.6-72.8) and 72.9% (67.8-77.5) in 2001 and 2005 and 2010, respectively. In 2005 and 2010 significant lower levels of immunity to PV3 in comparison to PV1 and 2 were observed. Since 2001, immunity to PV3 is gradually, but not significantly decreasing. Conclusion: Immunity to PV3 is insufficient in our cohort. Due to increasing globalization and worldwide tourism, the danger of polio-outbreaks is not averted - even not in developed countries, such as Germany. Therefore, vaccination remains necessary

Fermentative Processes Requiring Low Solubility Feed Gases: an Investigation into Gas-Dependent Microorganisms

Two bioprocesses were separately investigated based on their common interest of using gaseous substrates that have low solubility. The first process involved the development of a mixed culture using two organisms capable of utilizing glycerol and carbon monoxide separately to increase biobutanol production, while the second process involved an investigation of different production media used in aerobic xanthan production of Xanthomonas campestris with pressurization effects. It was determined that Clostridium pasteurianum should be used with an organism like Clostridium carboxidivorans or Eubacterium limosum in order for butyrate uptake at 3 g/L to occur with a minimum 0.1 g/L butyrate production. Likewise, a good-performing medium for xanthan production was chosen and increasing pressure saw increases to oxygen mass transfer coefficients for better yields up to 13 g/L biomass and 250 mPa·s of viscosity. Future work should be applied in connecting the results of the second process to that of the first

Ingested bovine amniotic fluid enhances morphine antinociception in rats

Ingestion by rats of rat placenta or amniotic fluid enhances opioid-mediated, or partly opioid-mediated, antinociception produced by morphine injection, vaginal or cervical stimulation, late pregnancy, and foot shock. This phenomenon is believed to be produced by a placental\ud opioid-enhancing factor (POEF). Ingestion by rats of human or dolphin placenta has also been shown to enhance opioid antinociception, suggesting that POEF may be common to many mammalian species. We tested bovine amniotic fluid (BAF) for its capacity to enhance morphine antinociception in female Long-Evans rats, as determined by percentage change from baseline tail-flick latency in response to radiant heat, and we report that 0.50 mL BAF effectively enhanced morphine antinociception but did not by itself produce antinociception. The efficacy of POEF across species suggests that POEF may have been functionally (and structurally) conserved during evolution. Furthermore, the availability of POEF at parturition, as well as its ability to enhance pregnancy-mediated antinociception without\ud disrupting maternal behavior, offers a tenable explanation for the long-debated ultimate causality of placentophagia

Ingested placenta blocks the effect of morphine on gut transit in Long–Evans rats

Opioids produce antinociception, and ingested placenta or amniotic fluid modifies that antinociception. More specifically, ingested placenta enhances the antinociception produced by selective activation of central n-opioid or y-opioid receptors but attenuates that produced by activation of central A-opioid receptors. Opioids also slow gut transit by acting on central or peripheral A-opioid receptors. Therefore, we hypothesized that ingested placenta would reverse the slowing of gut transit that is produced by morphine, a preferential A-opioid-receptor agonist. Rats were injected with morphine either centrally or systemically and fed placenta, after which gastrointestinal transit was evaluated. We report here that ingested placenta reversed the slowing of gut transit produced by centrally administered morphine but did not affect the slowing of gut transit produced by systemically administered morphine. These results suggest another likely consequence of placentophagia at parturition in mammals—reversal of opioid-mediated, pregnancy-based disruption of gastrointestinal function—as well as an important consideration in opioid-based treatments for pain in humans—enhancement of desirable effects with attenuation of adverse effects

Absolute velocity measurements in sunspot umbrae

In sunspot umbrae, convection is largely suppressed by the strong magnetic field. Previous measurements reported on negligible convective flows in umbral cores. Based on this, numerous studies have taken the umbra as zero reference to calculate Doppler velocities of the ambient active region. To clarify the amount of convective motion in the darkest part of umbrae, we directly measured Doppler velocities with an unprecedented accuracy and precision. We performed spectroscopic observations of sunspot umbrae with the Laser Absolute Reference Spectrograph (LARS) at the German Vacuum Tower Telescope. A laser frequency comb enabled the calibration of the high-resolution spectrograph and absolute wavelength positions. A thorough spectral calibration, including the measurement of the reference wavelength, yielded Doppler shifts of the spectral line Ti i 5713.9 {\AA} with an uncertainty of around 5 m s-1. The measured Doppler shifts are a composition of umbral convection and magneto-acoustic waves. For the analysis of convective shifts, we temporally average each sequence to reduce the superimposed wave signal. Compared to convective blueshifts of up to -350 m s-1 in the quiet Sun, sunspot umbrae yield a strongly reduced convective blueshifts around -30 m s-1. {W}e find that the velocity in a sunspot umbra correlates significantly with the magnetic field strength, but also with the umbral temperature defining the depth of the titanium line. The vertical upward motion decreases with increasing field strength. Extrapolating the linear approximation to zero magnetic field reproduces the measured quiet Sun blueshift. Simply taking the sunspot umbra as a zero velocity reference for the calculation of photospheric Dopplergrams can imply a systematic velocity error.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, Appendix with 5 figure

MEPS Workload Balance and Capacity Rationalization

Prepared for: U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command (USMEPCOM) 2834 Green Bay Road North Chicago, IL 60064-3091The U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command (USMEPCOM) is charged with screening all applicants for enlistment into the U.S. Armed Forces according to the qualification standards of each of the four services. These applicants are screened and processed at one of 65 Military Entrance Processing Stations (MEPS) distributed throughout the United States, to include Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico. Archived data exists that describes the daily work each site has experienced in the broad categories such of medical, testing, and processing. The workload between stations can vary widely, as certain sites serve areas with denser populations of applicants. The workload at each station also tends to vary according to time of year, as well as time of month. This workload variability at and between MEPS presents unique challenges for deciding on optimal capacity levels. We develop a short list of candidate locations that exhibit particularly high congestion relative to other MEPS and regions. Namely, 7th Battalion in California and 10th Battalion in Florida each contain several MEPS that rank highly with respect to relative congestion. Another regional area with substantial relative congestion includes MEPS from 4th and 12 Battalions. Finally, individual MEPS such an Minneapolis and Columbus exhibit consistent high relative congestion in the medical technician workflow, while Denver and Montgomery exhibit high congestion in the human resources workflow.U.S. Military Entrance Procession Command (2USMEPCOM) 834 Green Bay Road, North Chicago, IL 60064-3091Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

The photospheric solar oxygen project: III. Investigation of the centre-to-limb variation of the 630nm [OI]-NiI blend

The solar photospheric abundance of oxygen is still a matter of debate. For about ten years some determinations have favoured a low oxygen abundance which is at variance with the value inferred by helioseismology. Among the oxygen abundance indicators, the forbidden line at 630nm has often been considered the most reliable even though it is blended with a NiI line. In Papers I and Paper II of this series we reported a discrepancy in the oxygen abundance derived from the 630nm and the subordinate [OI] line at 636nm in dwarf stars, including the Sun. Here we analyse several, in part new, solar observations of the the centre-to-limb variation of the spectral region including the blend at 630nm in order to separate the individual contributions of oxygen and nickel. We analyse intensity spectra observed at different limb angles in comparison with line formation computations performed on a CO5BOLD 3D hydrodynamical simulation of the solar atmosphere. The oxygen abundances obtained from the forbidden line at different limb angles are inconsistent if the commonly adopted nickel abundance of 6.25 is assumed in our local thermodynamic equilibrium computations. With a slightly lower nickel abundance, A(Ni)~6.1, we obtain consistent fits indicating an oxygen abundance of A(O)=8.73+/-0.05. At this value the discrepancy with the subordinate oxygen line remains. The derived value of the oxygen abundance supports the notion of a rather low oxygen abundance in the solar hotosphere. However, it is disconcerting that the forbidden oxygen lines at 630 and 636nm give noticeably different results, and that the nickel abundance derived here from the 630nm blend is lower than expected from other nickel lines.Comment: to appear in A&

Self-organization of hydrophobic soil and granular surfaces

Soil can become extremely water repellent following forest fires or oil spillages, thus preventing penetration of water and increasing runoff and soil erosion. Here the authors show that evaporation of a droplet from the surface of a hydrophobic granular material can be an active process, lifting, self-coating, and selectively concentrating small solid grains. Droplet evaporation leads to the formation of temporary liquid marbles and, as droplet volume reduces, particles of different wettabilities compete for water-air interfacial surface area. This can result in a sorting effect with self-organization of a mixed hydrophobic-hydrophilic aggregate into a hydrophobic shell surrounding a hydrophilic core

Evolutionary Algorithms with Self-adjusting Asymmetric Mutation

Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs) and other randomized search heuristics are often considered as unbiased algorithms that are invariant with respect to different transformations of the underlying search space. However, if a certain amount of domain knowledge is available the use of biased search operators in EAs becomes viable. We consider a simple (1+1) EA for binary search spaces and analyze an asymmetric mutation operator that can treat zero- and one-bits differently. This operator extends previous work by Jansen and Sudholt (ECJ 18(1), 2010) by allowing the operator asymmetry to vary according to the success rate of the algorithm. Using a self-adjusting scheme that learns an appropriate degree of asymmetry, we show improved runtime results on the class of functions OneMax$_a$ describing the number of matching bits with a fixed target $a\in\{0,1\}^n$.Comment: 16 pages. An extended abstract of this paper will be published in the proceedings of PPSN 202

The (1+(λ,λ))(1+(\lambda,\lambda)) Genetic Algorithm for Permutations

The $(1+(\lambda,\lambda))$ genetic algorithm is a bright example of an evolutionary algorithm which was developed based on the insights from theoretical findings. This algorithm uses crossover, and it was shown to asymptotically outperform all mutation-based evolutionary algorithms even on simple problems like OneMax. Subsequently it was studied on a number of other problems, but all of these were pseudo-Boolean. We aim at improving this situation by proposing an adaptation of the $(1+(\lambda,\lambda))$ genetic algorithm to permutation-based problems. Such an adaptation is required, because permutations are noticeably different from bit strings in some key aspects, such as the number of possible mutations and their mutual dependence. We also present the first runtime analysis of this algorithm on a permutation-based problem called Ham whose properties resemble those of OneMax. On this problem, where the simple mutation-based algorithms have the running time of $\Theta(n^2 \log n)$ for problem size $n$, the $(1+(\lambda,\lambda))$ genetic algorithm finds the optimum in $O(n^2)$ fitness queries. We augment this analysis with experiments, which show that this algorithm is also fast in practice.Comment: This contribution is a slightly extended version of the paper accepted to the GECCO 2020 workshop on permutation-based problem