Oral and nasal vaccination: current prospects, challenges, and impact of nanotechnology-based delivery systems

Currently, mucosal vaccine administration has stood out as an easier and non-invasive application method. It can also be used to induce local and systemic immune responses. In the COVID-19 pandemic context, nasal and oral vaccines have been developed based on different technological platforms. This review addressed relevant aspects of mucosal vaccine administration, with emphasis on oral and nasal vaccinations, in addition to the importance of using nanotechnology-based delivery systems to enable these strategies

Particle-wall collision statistics in the open circular billiard

In the open circular billiard particles are placed initially with a uniform distribution in their positions inside a planar circular vesicle. They all have velocities of the same magnitude, whose initial directions are also uniformly distributed. No particle-particle interactions are included, only specular elastic collisions of the particles with the wall of the vesicle. The particles may escape through an aperture with an angle $2\delta$. The collisions of the particles with the wall are characterized by the angular position and the angle of incidence. We study the evolution of the system considering the probability distributions of these variables at successive times $n$ the particle reaches the border of the vesicle. These distributions are calculated analytically and measured in numerical simulations. For finite apertures $\delta<\pi/2$, a particular set of initial conditions exists for which the particles are in periodic orbits and never escape the vesicle. This set is of zero measure, but the selection of angular momenta close to these orbits is observed after some collisions, and thus the distributions of probability have a structure formed by peaks. We calculate the marginal distributions up to $n=4$, but for $\delta>\pi/2$ a solution is found for arbitrary $n$. The escape probability as a function of $n^{-1}$ decays with an exponent 4 for $\delta>\pi/2$ and evidences for a power law decay are found for lower apertures as well.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures. Typos corrected and two new figures added, figure captions changed and additional discussions added. Version accepted for publication in Physica

ESTUDO MOLECULAR DE VÍRUS ASSOCIADOS À DIARREIA EM CRIANÇAS QUILOMBOLAS DO NORTE DO ESTADO DO ESPÍRITO SANTO.

A diarreia é um importante problema de saúde pública e suas consequências são agravadas pela falta de atendimento médico, diagnóstico e tratamento de suporte, expondo sobremaneira as crianças à morte. Este trabalho objetivou realizar uma vigilância entre 2007 e 2010 com detecção seguida de análise filogenética molecular de agentes virais encontrados nas fezes de crianças com (sintomáticas) e sem diarreia (assintomáticas), menores de 12 anos, e a susceptibilidade à infecção por norovírus conforme antígeno de grupo sanguíneo (HBGA). Foi obtido um total de 574 amostras de fezes e pesquisados: (i) rotavírus (RV) por eletroforese em gel de poliacrilamida e ensaioimunoenzimático; (ii) norovírus (NoV), por RT-PCR da região B do genoma viral e genogrupos e genótipos determinados por PCR e sequenciamento, respectivamente, para regiões C e D; (iii) adenovírus (HAdV), por PCR e nested-PCR para gene do hexon, espécie e genótipo analisados com enzima de restrição SalI e sequenciamento e; (iv) astrovírus (AstV), por PCR em tempo real para ORF2. Os fenótipos HBGA foram determinados por gel-centrifugação e os genes FUT2 e FUT3 analisados por PCR e sequenciamento a partir de sangue e saliva, respectivamente, obtidos de crianças infectadas por NoV e de adultos. Nenhuma amostra foi positiva para RV ou AstV enquanto NoV foram detectados em 9,2% (12/131) das crianças sintomáticas e em 1,5% (4/266) das assintomáticas, 50% do total em &#8804;12 meses, embora estas representassem 10% das amostras obtidas. Genogrupos GI e GII corresponderam a 12,5% e 87,5%, respectivamente, com os seguintes genótipos: GII.4 (25%), GII.12 (25%), GII.6 (12,5%) e GI.1 (6,3%), GI.3 (12,5%) e GI.4 (6,3%). As crianças infectadas com NoV pertenceram aos seguintes fenótipos de HBGA: A (n=6), O (n=6) e B (n=2); 13 deles classificados como secretores (Se) e um, não secretor (se). Foram encontradas mutações Se 40,171,216,357,428,739,960 para o gene FUT2 e mutações Le59, 202, 314 para FUT3. A única criança com fenótipo se, foi infectada por NoV GI, enquanto as Se, foram infectadas por GI e GII. A frequência total de HAdV foi de 27,8% (59/212), com 30,1% (40/133) e 24,1% (19/79) em sintomáticas e assintomáticas, respectivamente. As 33 amostras das crianças sintomáticas pertenceram às seguintes espécies: 3 (9.1%) A, 6 (18,2%) B, 18 (54,5%) C, 2 (6,1%) D, 4 (12,1%) F. HAdV-F e HAdV-A constituiram 20% do total e infectaram somente crianças &#8804;5 anos. HAdV-F ocorreu igualmente entre as sintomáticas e assintomáticas. HAdV-E e G não foram detectadas. Em conclusão, este estudo mostrou: (i) taxas de infecção por NoV em crianças quilombolas sintomáticas e assintomáticas consistentes com outros estudos, no entanto, as &#8804;12 meses foram sete vezes mais afetadas do que aquelas 1-5 anos; (ii) NoV GII.12 foi tão frequente quanto GII.4 e os genótipos GI.1 e GI.4 foram descritos pela primeira vez no Brasil; (iii) perfil de HBGA revelou população idêntica à dos outros continentes, incluindo a única mutação até então, exclusiva de negros africanos e nenhum padrão de susceptibilidade ou resistência associada ao HBGA foi inferida para os NoV e; (iv) HAdV-F e HAdV-A foram responsáveis por 1/5 do total dos tipos HAdV e HAdV-F41 foi excretado igualmente entre sintomáticos e assintomáticos. Este é o primeiro estudo no Brasil sobre RV, NoV, HAdV e AstV em crianças quilombolas através de caracterização molecular das estirpes, o que permitiu detectar a alta frequência de HAdV e ampla diversidade genética entre NoV e HAdV e aparente ausência de circulação de RV e AstV nas crianças das comunidades quilombolas. PALAVRA-CHAVE: Crianças Quilombolas, filogenia molecular, gastrenterite viral, HAdV (Adenovirus humano), HBGA (Antígenos de grupo histo-sanguíneo), NoV (Norovirus)

Preprint arXiv: 2204.03454 Submitted on 7 Apr 2022

We propose a variational quantum algorithm to study the real time dynamics of quantum systems as a ground-state problem. The method is based on the original proposal of Feynman and Kitaev to encode time into a register of auxiliary qubits. We prepare the Feynman-Kitaev Hamiltonian acting on the composed system as a qubit operator and find an approximate ground state using the Variational Quantum Eigensolver. We apply the algorithm to the study of the dynamics of a transverse field Ising chain with an increasing number of spins and time steps, proving a favorable scaling in terms of the number of two qubit gates. Through numerical experiments, we investigate its robustness against noise, showing that the method can be use to evaluate dynamical properties of quantum systems and detect the presence of dynamical quantum phase transitions by measuring Loschmidt echoes

Vibration Tests and Structural Identification of the Bell Tower of Palermo Cathedral

Background: The recent seismic events in Italy have underlined once more the need for seismic prevention for historic constructions of architectural interest and in general, the building heritage. During the above-mentioned earthquakes, different masonry monumental buildings have been lost due to the intrinsic vulnerability and ageing that reduced the structural member strength. This has made the community understand more that prevention is a necessary choice for the protection of monuments. Objective: The paper aims at demonstrating a strategy of investigation providing the possibility of health judgment, identifying a computational model for the assessment of structural capacity under service and exceptional loading like/due to high-intensity earthquakes. Considering its cost, the proposed approach is applicable only for monumental buildings. In detail, activity regarding the Bell Tower of the Palermo Cathedral is described. This investigation is framed in a huge campaign aimed at assessing the health of monuments in Palermo and their capacity to resist expected seismic actions. Methods: The process of the dynamic identification of the Bell Tower of Palermo Cathedral is discussed starting from the measurement of the response by high sensitivity seismometers and the analysis of the response signals. Then, the formulation of a Finite Element (FE) model of the tower is proposed after the identification of the main modal shapes. Once the Finite Element (FE) model was assessed, it was possible to evaluate the Bell Tower safety level in service and faced with exceptional loads. Results: The structural signals recorded along the height of the tower were analyzed to recognize the variation of the frequency content varying the external environmental loads. The signals were processed to obtain the experimental modal shapes. An FE model was defined whose mechanical parameters were successfully calibrated to give the experimental modal shapes. Conclusion: The analysis of the response signals made it possible to identify the actual behavior of the structure and its compatibility with the service loads. Further, an effective structural model of the Bell Tower of Palermo Cathedral was possible for assessing its capacity level

Extending the notion of boundaryless careers in the creative economy: evidences from Italian TV drama series industry

The aim of this paper is to extend our knowledge on the boundaryless career theory by providing a quantitative study on how the diversity of career patterns accumulated by project workers affects the project team performance. More specifically, we analyze the dimension of diversity by investigating the different products on which project workers worked in the past. In order to address this issue, we focus on the creative context of Italian TV drama series production teams by investigating the career patterns of 1,736 actors who worked in this industry from 1996 to 2010. To quantify the diversity of career patterns, optimal matching analysis \u2013OMA- is used

Le conoscenze in Física all'inizio dei corsi universitari in Italia

The article reports the results of an investigation on Italian university students concerning physics knowledge related to common sense schemes at the beginning of the university courses. The results of the diagnosis were communicated both to the students and to the teachers of the courses. The communication enabled the teachers, in the didactical practice, to pinpoint and discuss with the students the discrepancies between the scientific newtonian scheme and common sense scheme. A posttest, given at the end of the course, gives the indication that this practice is effective in inducing a change in the students ideas, notwithstanding the fact that no complete understanding of the scientific viewpoint is teached by the majority of students