Origin of broad polydispersion in functionalized dendrimers and its effects on cancer cell binding affinity

Nanoparticles with multiple ligands have been proposed for use in nanomedicine. The multiple targeting ligands on each nanoparticle can bind to several locations on a cell surface facilitating both drug targeting and uptake. Experiments show that the distribution of conjugated ligands is unexpectedly broad, and the desorption rate appears to depends exponentially upon the mean number of attached ligands. These two findings are explained with a model in which ligands conjugate to the nanoparticle with a positive cooperativity of $\approx 4kT$, and that nanoparticles bound to a surface by multiple bonds are permanently affixed. This drives new analysis of the data, which confirms that there is only one time constant for desorption, that of a nanoparticle bound to the surface by a single bond.Comment: 4 pages, with 6 figure

Improving the clinical value and utility of CGM systems: issues and recommendations : a joint statement of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes and the American Diabetes Association Diabetes Technology Working Group

The first systems for continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) became available over 15 years ago. Many then believed CGM would revolutionise the use of intensive insulin therapy in diabetes; however, progress towards that vision has been gradual. Although increasing, the proportion of individuals using CGM rather than conventional systems for self-monitoring of blood glucose on a daily basis is still low in most parts of the world. Barriers to uptake include cost, measurement reliability (particularly with earlier-generation systems), human factors issues, lack of a standardised format for displaying results and uncertainty on how best to use CGM data to make therapeutic decisions. This scientific statement makes recommendations for systemic improvements in clinical use and regulatory (pre- and postmarketing) handling of CGM devices. The aim is to improve safety and efficacy in order to support the advancement of the technology in achieving its potential to improve quality of life and health outcomes for more people with diabetes

Improving the clinical value and utility of CGM systems: issues and recommendations: a joint statement of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes and the American Diabetes Association Diabetes Technology Working Group

The first systems for continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) became available over 15 years ago. Many then believed CGM would revolutionize the use of intensive insulin therapy in diabetes; however, progress toward that vision has been gradual. Although increasing, the proportion of individuals using CGM rather than conventional systems for self-monitoring of blood glucose on a daily basis is still low in most parts of the world. Barriers to uptake include cost, measurement reliability (particularly with earlier-generation systems), human factors issues, lack of a standardized format for displaying results, and uncertainty on how best to use CGM data to make therapeutic decisions. This Scientific Statement makes recommendations for systemic improvements in clinical use and regulatory (pre- and postmarketing) handling of CGM devices. The aim is to improve safety and efficacy in order to support the advancement of the technology in achieving its potential to improve quality of life and health outcomes for more people with diabetes

Hadron properties from QCD bound-state equations: A status report

Employing an approach based on the Green functions of Landau-gauge QCD, some selected results from a calculation of meson and baryon properties are presented. A rainbow-ladder truncation to the quark Dyson-Schwinger equation is used to arrive at a unified description of mesons and baryons by solving Bethe-Salpeter and covariant Faddeev equations, respectively.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures; Plenary talk given at the 5-th Int. Conf. on Quarks and Nuclear Physics, Beijing, September 21-26,200

Coverage, efficacy or dosing interval: which factor predominantly influences the impact of routine childhood vaccination for the prevention of varicella? A model-based study for Italy

Background: Varicella is a highly infectious disease with a significant public health and economic burden, which can be prevented with childhood routine varicella vaccination. Vaccination strategies differ by country. Some factors are known to play an important role (number of doses, coverage, dosing interval, efficacy and catch-up programmes), however, their relative impact on the reduction of varicella in the population remains unclear. This paper aims to help policy makers prioritise the critical factors to achieve the most successful vaccination programme with the available budget. Methods: Scenarios assessed the impact of different vaccination strategies on reduction of varicella disease in the population. A dynamic transmission model was used and adapted to fit Italian demographics and population mixing patterns. Inputs included coverage, number of doses, dosing intervals, first-dose efficacy and availability of catch-up programmes, based on strategies currently used or likely to be used in different countries. The time horizon was 30 years. Results: Both one- and two-dose routine varicella vaccination strategies prevented a comparable number of varicella cases with complications, but two-doses provided broader protection due to prevention of a higher number of milder varicella cases. A catch-up programme in susceptible adolescents aged 10-14 years old reduced varicella cases by 27-43 % in older children, which are often more severe than in younger children. Coverage, for all strategies, sustained at high levels achieved the largest reduction in varicella. In general, a 20 % increase in coverage resulted in a further 27-31 % reduction in varicella cases. When high coverage is reached, the impact of dosing interval and first-dose vaccine efficacy had a relatively lower impact on disease prevention in the population. Compared to the long (11 years) dosing interval, the short (5 months) and medium (5 years) interval schedules reduced varicella cases by a further 5-13 % and 2-5 %, respectively. Similarly, a 10 % increase in first-dose efficacy (from 65 to 75 % efficacy) prevented 2-5 % more varicella cases, suggesting it is the least influential factor when considering routine varicella vaccination. Conclusions: Vaccination strategies can be implemented differently in each country depending on their needs, infrastructure and healthcare budget. However, ensuring high coverage remains the critical success factor for significant prevention of varicella when introducing varicella vaccination in the national immunisation programme

Probabilistic properties of detrended fluctuation analysis for Gaussian processes

Detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) is one of the most widely used tools for the detection of long-range dependence in time series. Although DFA has found many interesting applications and has been shown to be one of the best performing detrending methods, its probabilistic foundations are still unclear. In this paper, we study probabilistic properties of DFA for Gaussian processes. Our main attention is paid to the distribution of the squared error sum of the detrended process. We use a probabilistic approach to derive general formulas for the expected value and the variance of the squared fluctuation function of DFA for Gaussian processes. We also get analytical results for the expected value of the squared fluctuation function for particular examples of Gaussian processes, such as Gaussian white noise, fractional Gaussian noise, ordinary Brownian motion, and fractional Brownian motion. Our analytical formulas are supported by numerical simulations. The results obtained can serve as a starting point for analyzing the statistical properties of DFA-based estimators for the fluctuation function and long-memory parameter

Gaia eclipsing binary and multiple systems. Two-Gaussian models applied to OGLE-III eclipsing binary light curves in the Large Magellanic Cloud

The advent of large scale multi-epoch surveys raises the need for automated light curve (LC) processing. This is particularly true for eclipsing binaries (EBs), which form one of the most populated types of variable objects. The Gaia mission, launched at the end of 2013, is expected to detect of the order of few million EBs over a 5-year mission. We present an automated procedure to characterize EBs based on the geometric morphology of their LCs with two aims: first to study an ensemble of EBs on a statistical ground without the need to model the binary system, and second to enable the automated identification of EBs that display atypical LCs. We model the folded LC geometry of EBs using up to two Gaussian functions for the eclipses and a cosine function for any ellipsoidal-like variability that may be present between the eclipses. The procedure is applied to the OGLE-III data set of EBs in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) as a proof of concept. The bayesian information criterion is used to select the best model among models containing various combinations of those components, as well as to estimate the significance of the components. Based on the two-Gaussian models, EBs with atypical LC geometries are successfully identified in two diagrams, using the Abbe values of the original and residual folded LCs, and the reduced $\chi^2$. Cleaning the data set from the atypical cases and further filtering out LCs that contain non-significant eclipse candidates, the ensemble of EBs can be studied on a statistical ground using the two-Gaussian model parameters. For illustration purposes, we present the distribution of projected eccentricities as a function of orbital period for the OGLE-III set of EBs in the LMC, as well as the distribution of their primary versus secondary eclipse widths.Comment: 20 pages, 29 figures. Submitted to A&

Nanoscale Morphology of Type I Collagen is Altered in the Brtl Mouse Model of Osteogenesis Imperfecta

Bone has a complex hierarchical structure that has evolved to serve structural and metabolic roles in the body. Due to the complexity of bone structure and the number of diseases which affect the ultrastructural constituents of bone, it is important to develop quantitative methods to assess bone nanoscale properties. Autosomal dominant Osteogenesis Imperfecta results predominantly from glycine substitutions (80%) and splice site mutations (20%) in the genes encoding the α1 or α2 chains of Type I collagen. Genotype-phenotype correlations using over 830 collagen mutations have revealed that lethal mutations are located in regions crucial for collagen-ligand binding in the matrix. However, few of these correlations have been extended to collagen structure in bone. Here, an atomic force microscopy-based approach was used to image and quantitatively analyze the Dperiodic spacing of Type I collagen fibrils in femora from heterozygous (Brtl/+) mice (α1(I)G349C), compared to wild type (WT) littermates. This disease system has a well-defined change in the col1α1 allele, leading to a well characterized alteration in collagen protein structure, which are directly related to altered Type I collagen nanoscale morphology, as measured by the Dperiodic spacing. In Brtl/+ bone, the D-periodic spacing shows significantly greater variability on average and along the length of the bone compared to WT, although the average spacing was unchanged. Brtl/+ bone also had a significant difference in the population distribution of collagen D-period spacings. These changes may be due to the mutant collagen structure, or to the heterogeneity of collagen monomers in the Brtl/+ matrix. These observations at the nanoscale level provide insight into the structural basis for changes present in bone composition, geometry and mechanical integrity in Brtl/+ bones. Further studies are necessary to link these morphological observations to nanoscale mechanical integrity

Проект парогазовой ТЭЦ с противодавленческими турбинами

Дипломный проект 86страниц, 5рисунков, 10таблиц, 10 источников, 1 приложение, 7 листов графического материала, ТЕПЛОВАЯ СХЕМА, ПАРОГАЗОВАЯ УСТАНОВКА, КОТЕЛ-УТИЛИЗАТОР, ПАРОВАЯ ТУРБИНА СХЕМА КИП и А. Объектом исследования является парогазовый энергоблок. Цель работы – проект парогазового энергоблока. В процессе работы выполнен расчет тепловой схемы расчетный для проектирования отопления режим. режим, проектирование котла-утилизатора, технико-экономические расчеты. В результате выполнения работы показаны преимущества парогазового энергоблока на базе высокотемпературной газотурбинной установки SGT-800, проект позволяет повысить КПД энергоблока в сравнении с традиционными паросиловыми установками. Технико-экономические расчеты показали быструю окупаемость проекта и низкую себестоимость электроэнергии. Пояснительная записка выполнена в текстовом редакторе Microsoft Of- fice Word 2007, чертежи в графических редакторах Компас.Graduation project 86stranits, 5risunkov, 10tablits 10 sources 1 annex, 7 sheets of graphic material, Thermal circuit, combined cycle gas turbine, heat recovery boiler, steam turbine and instrumentation A. SCHEME The object of the research is combined-cycle unit. Objective - combined cycle power project. In the process, calculated the thermal circuit current mode for heating design. mode, design recovery boiler, technical and economic calculations. As a result of the work shows the benefits of combined cycle gas turbine power on the basis of high-temperature gas turbine SGT-800 installation, the project improves the power efficiency compared to conventional steam power plants. Technical and economic calculations have shown a rapid return on the project and the low cost of electricity. The explanatory note is made in the text editor Microsoft Of- fice Word 2007 drawing in the graphic editors Compass