In Vivo and in Vitro Stimulation of Murine Splenocytes With Brevetoxin-2 Immunogenic Conjugates for the Preparation of Monoclonal Antibodies Against Ciguatoxin-Related Compounds.

The proliferation of toxic algae is a natural phenomenon known as a harmful algal bloom. Ciguatera fish poisoning and neurotoxic fish poisoning are syndromes associated with this phenomenon. Current methods for the detection of their toxins (ciguatoxins and brevetoxins) are expensive, time-consuming, require trained personnel and special laboratory equipment. In the case of ciguatoxins, the lack of standard material worsens the problem. Specific objectives of this study included the use of brevetoxin-2 (PbTx-2) for the preparation of antibodies which could cross-react with ciguatoxins, the use of different PbTx-2 immunogenic conjugates, the use of in vivo versus in vitro stimulation of murine splenocytes, and the use of alternative screening assays to detect anti-PbTx-2 antibodies. Three different immunogenic conjugates were prepared for immunization (BSA-PbTx-2, KLH-PbTx-2, and LPH-PbTx-2) and given to three groups of mice. After several injections, murine anti-PbTx-2 IgG antibodies were detected in the serum of the mice using experiments such as measurement of titer, competition assays, and isotyping experiments. However, after fusion of the spleens of 12 mice, no monoclonal antibodies were obtained which could be used for detection of ciguatoxin-related compounds. Difficulties associated in producing antibodies against brevetoxin-2 are its size and hydrophobicity. Moreover, intrinsic problems in the production of monoclonal antibodies include the overgrowth of antibody-producing hybridomas by non-producer cells or fibroblasts in the same well and loss of chromosomes involved in the synthesis of heavy and/or light chains. The use of in vitro stimulation of murine splenocytes with the BSA-PbTx-2 conjugate failed to yield monoclonal anti-PbTx-2 antibodies. However, this method should be further explored using different doses of stimulation and carrier-specific T cell lines to increase the probability of obtaining antibodies of the desired specificity. To assure that anti-PbTx-2 antibodies had not been missed in the tissue culture supernatants, a highly sensitive modified cytotoxicity assay was used. However, this assay failed to detect antibodies capable of neutralizing the PbTx-2 activity on Neuro-2a cells. This may have been due to the lack of anti-PbTx-2 antibodies in the supernatants or to their low affinity which was insufficient to compete with the sodium channels on Neuro-2a cells for free PbTx-2

Production of He-4 and (4) in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S=2.76 TeV at the LHC

Results on the production of He-4 and (4) nuclei in Pb-Pb collisions at root(NN)-N-S = 2.76 TeV in the rapidity range vertical bar y vertical bar <1, using the ALICE detector, are presented in this paper. The rapidity densities corresponding to 0-10% central events are found to be dN/dy4(He) = (0.8 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.3 (syst)) x 10(-6) and dN/dy4 = (1.1 +/- 0.4 (stat) +/- 0.2 (syst)) x 10(-6), respectively. This is in agreement with the statistical thermal model expectation assuming the same chemical freeze-out temperature (T-chem = 156 MeV) as for light hadrons. The measured ratio of (4)/He-4 is 1.4 +/- 0.8 (stat) +/- 0.5 (syst). (C) 2018 Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe

Multiplicity dependence of light (anti-)nuclei production in p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 TeV

The measurement of the deuteron and anti-deuteron production in the rapidity range −1 < y < 0 as a function of transverse momentum and event multiplicity in p–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV is presented. (Anti-)deuterons are identified via their specific energy loss dE/dx and via their time-of- flight. Their production in p–Pb collisions is compared to pp and Pb–Pb collisions and is discussed within the context of thermal and coalescence models. The ratio of integrated yields of deuterons to protons (d/p) shows a significant increase as a function of the charged-particle multiplicity of the event starting from values similar to those observed in pp collisions at low multiplicities and approaching those observed in Pb–Pb collisions at high multiplicities. The mean transverse particle momenta are extracted from the deuteron spectra and the values are similar to those obtained for p and particles. Thus, deuteron spectra do not follow mass ordering. This behaviour is in contrast to the trend observed for non-composite particles in p–Pb collisions. In addition, the production of the rare 3He and 3He nuclei has been studied. The spectrum corresponding to all non-single diffractive p-Pb collisions is obtained in the rapidity window −1 < y < 0 and the pT-integrated yield dN/dy is extracted. It is found that the yields of protons, deuterons, and 3He, normalised by the spin degeneracy factor, follow an exponential decrease with mass number

International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortiu (INICC) report, data summary of 43 countries for 2007-2012. Device-associated module

We report the results of an International Nosocomial Infection Control Consortium (INICC) surveillance study from January 2007-December 2012 in 503 intensive care units (ICUs) in Latin America, Asia, Africa, and Europe. During the 6-year study using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) U.S. National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) definitions for device-associated health care–associated infection (DA-HAI), we collected prospective data from 605,310 patients hospitalized in the INICC's ICUs for an aggregate of 3,338,396 days. Although device utilization in the INICC's ICUs was similar to that reported from ICUs in the U.S. in the CDC's NHSN, rates of device-associated nosocomial infection were higher in the ICUs of the INICC hospitals: the pooled rate of central line–associated bloodstream infection in the INICC's ICUs, 4.9 per 1,000 central line days, is nearly 5-fold higher than the 0.9 per 1,000 central line days reported from comparable U.S. ICUs. The overall rate of ventilator-associated pneumonia was also higher (16.8 vs 1.1 per 1,000 ventilator days) as was the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (5.5 vs 1.3 per 1,000 catheter days). Frequencies of resistance of Pseudomonas isolates to amikacin (42.8% vs 10%) and imipenem (42.4% vs 26.1%) and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates to ceftazidime (71.2% vs 28.8%) and imipenem (19.6% vs 12.8%) were also higher in the INICC's ICUs compared with the ICUs of the CDC's NHSN

Higher harmonic non-linear flow modes of charged hadrons in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{\rm{NN}}} = 5.02 TeV

International audienceAnisotropic flow coefficients, v$_{n}$, non-linear flow mode coefficients, χ$_{n,mk}$, and correlations among different symmetry planes, ρ$_{n,mk}$ are measured in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV. Results obtained with multi-particle correlations are reported for the transverse momentum interval 0.2 < p$_{T}$< 5.0 GeV/c within the pseudorapidity interval 0.4 < |η| < 0.8 as a function of collision centrality. The v$_{n}$ coefficients and χ$_{n,mk}$ and ρ$_{n,mk}$ are presented up to the ninth and seventh harmonic order, respectively. Calculations suggest that the correlations measured in different symmetry planes and the non-linear flow mode coefficients are dependent on the shear and bulk viscosity to entropy ratios of the medium created in heavy-ion collisions. The comparison between these measurements and those at lower energies and calculations from hydrodynamic models places strong constraints on the initial conditions and transport properties of the system.[graphic not available: see fulltext

Measurement of electrons from beauty-hadron decays in p-Pb collisions at sNN=5.02 \sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02 TeV and Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 \sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=2.76 TeV

The production of beauty hadrons was measured via semi-leptonic decays at mid-rapidity with the ALICE detector at the LHC in the transverse momentum interval 1<p$_{T}$ < 8 GeV/c in minimum-bias p-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV and in 1.3 < p$_{T}$ < 8 GeV/c in the 20% most central Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=2.76$ TeV. The pp reference spectra at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV and $\sqrt{s}=2.76$ TeV, needed for the calculation of the nuclear modification factors R$_{pPb}$ and R$_{PbPb}$, were obtained by a pQCD-driven scaling of the cross section of electrons from beauty-hadron decays measured at $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV. In the p$_{T}$ interval 3 < p$_{T}$ < 8 GeV/c, a suppression of the yield of electrons from beauty-hadron decays is observed in Pb-Pb compared to pp collisions. Towards lower p$_{T}$, the R$_{PbPb}$ values increase with large systematic uncertainties. The R$_{pPb}$ is consistent with unity within systematic uncertainties and is well described by theoretical calculations that include cold nuclear matter effects in p-Pb collisions. The measured R$_{pPb}$ and these calculations indicate that cold nuclear matter effects are small at high transverse momentum also in Pb-Pb collisions. Therefore, the observed reduction of R$_{PbPb}$ below unity at high p$_{T}$ may be ascribed to an effect of the hot and dense medium formed in Pb-Pb collisions

π0\pi ^{0} and η\eta meson production in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV

An invariant differential cross section measurement of inclusive $\pi ^{0}$ and $\eta$ meson production at mid-rapidity in pp collisions at $\sqrt{s}=8$  TeV was carried out by the ALICE experiment at the LHC. The spectra of $\pi ^{0}$ and $\eta$ mesons were measured in transverse momentum ranges of $0.33.5$   $\text{ GeV/c }$ . However, a deviation from this empirical scaling rule is observed for transverse momenta below $p_{ \text{ T }} <3.5$   $\text{ GeV/c }$ in the $\eta /\pi ^0$ ratio with a significance of $6.2\sigma$

Relative particle yield fluctuations in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76 TeV

First results on K/$\pi$, p/$\pi$ and K/p fluctuations are obtained with the ALICE detector at the CERN LHC as a function of centrality in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76$ TeV. The observable $\nu_{\rm dyn}$, which is defined in terms of the moments of particle multiplicity distributions, is used to quantify the magnitude of dynamical fluctuations of relative particle yields and also provides insight into the correlation between particle pairs. This study is based on a novel experimental technique, called the Identity Method, which allows one to measure the moments of multiplicity distributions in case of incomplete particle identification. The results for p/$\pi$ show a change of sign in $\nu_{\rm dyn}$ from positive to negative towards more peripheral collisions. For central collisions, the results follow the smooth trend of the data at lower energies and $\nu_{\rm dyn}$ exhibits a change in sign for p/$\pi$ and K/p.First results on $\hbox {K}/\pi$ , $\hbox {p}/\pi$ and K/p fluctuations are obtained with the ALICE detector at the CERN LHC as a function of centrality in $\text{ Pb--Pb }$ collisions at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{{NN}}} =2.76\hbox { TeV}$ . The observable $\nu _{\mathrm{dyn}}$ , which is defined in terms of the moments of particle multiplicity distributions, is used to quantify the magnitude of dynamical fluctuations of relative particle yields and also provides insight into the correlation between particle pairs. This study is based on a novel experimental technique, called the Identity Method, which allows one to measure the moments of multiplicity distributions in case of incomplete particle identification. The results for $\hbox {p}/\pi$ show a change of sign in $\nu _{\mathrm{dyn}}$ from positive to negative towards more peripheral collisions. For central collisions, the results follow the smooth trend of the data at lower energies and $\nu _{\mathrm{dyn}}$ exhibits a change in sign for $\hbox {p}/\pi$ and K/p

W and Z boson production in p-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 5.02 TeV

The W and Z boson production was measured via the muonic decay channel in proton-lead collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\mathrm{NN}}}=5.02$ TeV at the Large Hadron Collider with the ALICE detector. The measurement covers backward (−4.46 10 GeV/c are determined. The results are compared to theoretical calculations both with and without including the nuclear modification of the parton distribution functions. The W-boson production is also studied as a function of the collision centrality: the cross section of muons from W-boson decays is found to scale with the average number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions within uncertainties