Technique for highly efficient recovery of microbiological contaminants

Collecting and recovery small assay samples of viable microbiological contaminants in a gas stream involves use of a commercially available water-soluble paper. This paper is nontoxic to a number of microbiological organisms and can be dry-heat-sterilized

M-1 injector development - Philosophy and implementation

Subscale and full scale test firings of M-1 injector to improve combustion efficienc

Bristol Cathedral

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Mapping Sex Offender Addresses: The Utility of the Alaska Sex Offender Registry as a Research Data Base

The registration of sex offenders was part of a national effort to enhance public safety by permitting law enforcement officials to track the location of convicted sex offenders after their release. All fifty states have enacted legislation requiring persons convicted of various sex-related offenses to register with law enforcement agencies; many states also grant public access to all or a portion of their registries. This document reports on the Alaska Statistical Analysis Center's efforts to improve data accuracy in the Alaska Sex Offender Registry, maintained by the Alaska State Troopers, and to assess the registry's utility as a research tool.Bureau of Justice Statistics, Grant No. 1999-RU-RX-K006Background of the Project / Research Methodology / Results / Utility: Spatial Justice Research / APPENDICES / A. Alaska’s Sex Offender Registration Law / B. Establishment of a Central Registry of Sex Offenders in Alaska / C. Definitions of Offenses for which Convicted Persons Must Register as Sex Offenders in Alask

Detection of Non-Random Galaxy Orientations in X-ray Subclusters of the Coma Cluster

This study on the Coma cluster suggests that there are deviations from a completely random galaxy orientation on small scales. Since we found a significant coincidence of hot-gas features identified in the latest X-ray observations of Coma with these local anisotropies, they may indicate regions of recent mutual interaction of member galaxies within subclusters which are currently falling in on the main cluster.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables v2: Rewritten introduction, amendments to the 'Interpretation' sectio

Properties of athletic mouth protectors and materials

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73761/1/j.1365-2842.2002.00831.x.pd

Dendritic cell targeted HIV gag protein vaccine provides help to a DNA vaccine including mobilization of protective CD8+ T cells

To improve the efficacy of T cell-based vaccination, we pursued the principle that CD4+ T cells provide help for functional CD8 + T cell immunity. To do so, we administered HIV gag to mice successively as protein and DNA vaccines. To achieve strong CD4+ T cell immunity, the protein vaccine was targeted selectively to DEC-205, a receptor for antigen presentation on dendritic cells. This targeting helped CD8+ T cell immunity develop to a subsequent DNA vaccine and improved protection to intranasal challenge with recombinant vaccinia gag virus, including more rapid accumulation of CD8+ T cells in the lung. The helper effect of dendritic cell-targeted protein vaccine wasmimicked by immunization with specificMHCII binding HIV gag peptides but not peptides from a disparate Yersinia pestis microbe. CD4+ helper cells upon adoptive transfer allowed wild-type, but not CD40-/-, recipient mice to respond better to the DNA vaccine. The transfer also enabled recipients to more rapidly accumulate gagspecific CD8+ T cells in the lung following challenge with vaccinia gag virus. Thus, complementary prime boost vaccination, in which prime and boost favor distinct types of T cell immunity, improves plasmid DNA immunization, including mobilization of CD8+ T cells to sites of infection

The microbial mimic poly IC induces durable and protective CD4+ T cell immunity together with a dendritic cell targeted vaccine

CD4+ Th1 type immunity is implicated in resistance to global infectious diseases. To improve the efficacy of T cell immunity induced by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) vaccines, we are developing a protein-based approach that directly harnesses the function of dendritic cells (DCs) in intact lymphoid tissues. Vaccine proteins are selectively delivered to DCs by antibodies to DEC-205/CD205, a receptor for antigen presentation. We find that polyriboinosinic: polyribocytidylic acid (poly IC) independently serves as an adjuvant to allow a DC-targeted protein to induce protective CD4+ T cell responses at a mucosal surface, the airway. After two doses of DEC-targeted, HIV gag p24 along with poly IC, responder CD4+ T cells have qualitative features that have been correlated with protective function. The T cells simultaneously make IFN-γ, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and IL-2, and in high amounts for prolonged periods. The T cells also proliferate and continue to secrete IFN-γ in response to HIV gag p24. The adjuvant role of poly IC requires Toll-like receptor (TLR) 3 and melanoma differentiation-associated gene-5 (MDA5) receptors, but its analog poly IC 12U requires only TLR3. We suggest that poly IC be tested as an adjuvant with DC-targeted vaccines to induce numerous multifunctional CD4 + Th1 cells with proliferative capacity

Dendritic cell targeting of survivin protein in a xenogeneic form elicits strong CD4+ T cell immunity to mouse survivin

To determine whether strong CD4+ T cell immunity could be induced to a nonmutated self protein that is important for tumorigenesis, we selectively targeted the xenogencic form of survivin, a survival protein overexpressed in tumors, to maturing dendritic cells in lymphoid tissues. Dendritic cell targeting via the DEC205 receptor in the presence of anti-CD40 and poly(I:C) as maturation stimuli, induced strong human and mouse survivin-specific CD4+ T cell responses, as determined by IFN-γ, TNF-α, and IL-2 production, as well as the development of lytic MHC class II-restricted T cells and memory. Immunity was enhanced further by depletion of CD25+foxp3+ cells before vaccination. anti-DEC205-human survivin was superior in inducing CD4+ T cell responses relative to other approaches involving survivin plasmid DNA or survival peptides with adjuvants. However, we were unable to induce CD8 + T cell immunity to survivin by two doses of DEC205-targeted survivin or the other strategies. Therefore, significant CD4+ T cell immunity to a self protein that is overexpressed in most human cancers can be induced by DEC205 targeting of the Ag in its xenogeneic form to maturing DCs