UTILIZATION OF PRESERVED BAMBOO IN SRI LANKA

Bamboo is one of the oldest materials used by mankind to increase comfort and upliftmentof human life. It is best put to use in situation where its natural properties are emphasized.The strength of bamboo culms, their straightness smoothness, lightness, cylindricstructure, abundance and shorter period in which they attain maturity make them suitablefor a wide variety of purposes. Bamboo has excellent properties but its natural resistance todecay is low. Chemical preservation using preservatives which have good diffusionproperties, improves, the durability of bamboo structures.Fourteen species of bamboo have been reported growing in Sri Lanka, and only five ofthem are used. They are widely used, for the craft industry and scaffoldings.World demand for handicrafts made of bamboo has increased considerably thedevelopment of cottage industries based on preserved bamboo will directly benefit poorrural people. The whole biomass of the tree can be utilized.Bamboo has several characteristics that make it a suitable and economical buildingmaterial for building construction, as well as for the scaffolding that facilitates the same.In place of steel, bamboo has been considered as a reinforcement factor for concreteThe major problem is the shortage of the raw material of bamboo in utilization in SriLanka. Wastage of bamboo can be minimized by introducing the preservation methods.People must be made aware of the value of bamboo in order to encourage their supportiveparticipation in development, conservation and usage aspects. Bamboo products can bepromoted as a substitute to plastic and polythene goods by highlighting their environmentfriendly qualities.

Viral Protein Fragmentation May Broaden T-Cell Responses to HIV Vaccines

High mutation rates of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) allows escape from T cell recognition preventing development of effective T cell vaccines. Vaccines that induce diverse T cell immune responses would help overcome this problem. Using SIV gag as a model vaccine, we investigated two approaches to increase the breadth of the CD8 T cell response. Namely, fusion of vaccine genes to ubiquitin to target the proteasome and increase levels of MHC class I peptide complexes and gene fragmentation to overcome competition between epitopes for presentation and recognition.three vaccines were compared: full-length unmodified SIV-mac239 gag, full-length gag fused at the N-terminus to ubiquitin and 7 gag fragments of equal size spanning the whole of gag with ubiquitin-fused to the N-terminus of each fragment. Genes were cloned into a replication defective adenovirus vector and immunogenicity assessed in an in vitro human priming system. The breadth of the CD8 T cell response, defined by the number of distinct epitopes, was assessed by IFN-γ-ELISPOT and memory phenotype and cytokine production evaluated by flow cytometry. We observed an increase of two- to six-fold in the number of epitopes recognised in the ubiquitin-fused fragments compared to the ubiquitin-fused full-length gag. In contrast, although proteasomal targeting was achieved, there was a marked reduction in the number of epitopes recognised in the ubiquitin-fused full-length gag compared to the full-length unmodified gene, but there were no differences in the number of epitope responses induced by non-ubiquitinated full-length gag and the ubiquitin-fused mini genes. Fragmentation and ubiquitination did not affect T cell memory differentiation and polyfunctionality, though most responses were directed against the Ad5 vector.Fragmentation but not fusion with ubiquitin increases the breadth of the CD8 T vaccine response against SIV-mac239 gag. Thus gene fragmentation of HIV vaccines may maximise responses

Fusion of ubiquitin to HIV gag impairs human monocyte-derived dendritic cell maturation and reduces ability to induce gag T cell responses

The efficient induction of CD8 T cell immunity is dependent on the processing and presentation of antigen on MHC class I molecules by professional antigen presenting cells (APC). To develop an improved T cell vaccine for HIV we investigated whether fusing the ubiquitin gene to the N terminus of the HIV gag gene enhanced targeting to the proteasome resulting in better CD8 T cell responses. Human monocyte derived dendritic cells (moDC), transduced with adenovirus vectors carrying either ubiquitinated or non-ubiquitinated gag transgene constructs, were co-cultured with autologous naïve T cells and T cell responses were measured after several weekly cycles of stimulation. Despite targeting of the ubiquitin gag transgene protein to the proteasome, ubiquitination did not increase CD8 T cell immune responses and in some cases diminished responses to gag peptides. There were no marked differences in cytokines produced from ubiquitinated and non-ubiquitinated gag stimulated cultures or in the expression of inhibitory molecules on expanded T cells. However, the ability of moDC transduced with ubiquitinated gag gene to upregulate co-stimulatory molecules was reduced, whilst no difference in moDC maturation was observed with a control ubiquitinated and non-ubiquitinated MART gene. Furthermore moDC transduced with ubiquitinated gag produced more IL-10 than transduction with unmodified gag. Thus failure of gag ubiquitination to enhance CD8 responses may be caused by suppression of moDC maturation. These results indicate that when designing a successful vaccine strategy to target a particular cell population, attention must also be given to the effect of the vaccine on APCs

Phenotypes of NDGs and LDGs in CD4low and CD4high HIV+ patients.

<p>PBMCs and NDGs were isolated from the blood of HIV+ patients with CD4⁺ T cell counts >350 (n = 11) or <350 cells/µL (n = 10) as described in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0072034#s2" target="_blank">materials and methods</a> and the expression levels of phenotypic markers were determined by flow cytometry. Isotype controls: <1%. Statistical significance was determined by a two-tailed Mann-Whitney test. Box = interquartile range and median; whiskers = range.</p

Phenotype of LDGs.

<p>LDGs were isolated from the blood of HIV+ patients with CD4⁺ T cell counts >350 cells/µL (n = 11) or <350 cells/µL (n = 10) as described in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0072034#s2" target="_blank">materials and methods</a> and the expression levels of phenotypic markers were determined by flow cytometry.</p

LDGs: Correlation between CD4⁺ T cell counts and MFIs.

<p>LDGs were isolated from the blood of HIV+ patients with CD4⁺ T cell counts >350 cells/µL (n = 11) or <350 cells/µL (n = 10) as described in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0072034#s2" target="_blank">materials and methods</a> and the correlations between CD4⁺ T cell counts and phenotypic markers were determined by a Spearman's rank test.</p

Correlation between viral load and phenotypic markers.

<p>NDGs were isolated from the blood of HIV+ patients (n = 21) as described in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0072034#s2" target="_blank">materials and methods</a> and the expression levels of phenotypic markers were determined by flow cytometry. Correlation between viral load and phenotypic markers was determined by a Spearman's rank test.</p

LDGs and NDGs in HIV+ patients in CD4low HIV+ patients.

<p>LDGs and NDGs were isolated from the blood of HIV+ patients with CD4⁺ T cell counts <350 cells/µL (n = 10) as described in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0072034#s2" target="_blank">materials and methods</a>. Expression levels of phenotypic markers were determined by flow cytometry.</p

NDGs: Correlation between CD4⁺ T cell counts and MFIs.

<p>NDGs were isolated from the blood of HIV+ patients with CD4⁺ T cell counts >350 cells/µL (n = 11) or <350 cells/µL (n = 10) as described in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0072034#s2" target="_blank">materials and methods</a> and the correlations between CD4⁺ T cell counts and phenotypic markers were determined by a Spearman's rank test.</p