Large frequency dependence of lowered maximum dielectric constant temperature of LiTaO3 nanocrystals dispersed in mesoporous silicate

A large frequency dependence of the maximum dielectric constant temperature was observed for LiTaO3 nanocrystals (the diameter 20 Å) dispersed in mesoporous silicate. At the applied field frequency of 100 kHz, the maximum temperatures in the real and imaginary parts were 365 and 345 °C, respectively. The maximum temperature in the real part is apparently lower than the paraelectric–ferroelectric transition temperature (645 °C) of bulk LiTaO3. The maximum temperature in the imaginary part rose from 285 to 420 °C with increasing frequency from 10 to 1000 kHz. Since the bulk LiTaO3 shows no relaxor behavior, such superparaelectric behavior is obviously a consequence of nanominiaturization of LiTaO3 crystal and insignificant cooperative interactions between the nanoparticles

Large frequency dependence of lowered maximum dielectric constant temperature of LiTaO3 nanocrystals dispersed in mesoporous silicate

A large frequency dependence of the maximum dielectric constant temperature was observed for LiTaO3 nanocrystals (the diameter 20 Å) dispersed in mesoporous silicate. At the applied field frequency of 100 kHz, the maximum temperatures in the real and imaginary parts were 365 and 345 °C, respectively. The maximum temperature in the real part is apparently lower than the paraelectric–ferroelectric transition temperature (645 °C) of bulk LiTaO3. The maximum temperature in the imaginary part rose from 285 to 420 °C with increasing frequency from 10 to 1000 kHz. Since the bulk LiTaO3 shows no relaxor behavior, such superparaelectric behavior is obviously a consequence of nanominiaturization of LiTaO3 crystal and insignificant cooperative interactions between the nanoparticles

A Pilot Study on Developing Mucosal Vaccine against Alveolar Echinococcosis (AE) Using Recombinant Tetraspanin 3: Vaccine Efficacy and Immunology

Humans and rodents become infected with E. multilocularis by oral ingesting of the eggs, which then develop into cysts in the liver and progress an endless proliferation. Untreated AE has a fatality rate of >90% in humans. Tetraspanins have been identified in Schistosoma and showed potential as the prospective vaccine candidates. In our recent study, we first identified seven tetraspanins in E. multilocularis and evaluated their protective efficacies as vaccines against AE when subcutaneously administered to BALB/c mice. Mucosal immunization of protective proteins is able to induce strong local and systemic immune responses, which might play a crucial role in protecting humans against E. multilocularis infection via the intestine, blood and liver. We focused on Em-TSP3, which achieved significant vaccine efficacy via both s.c. and i.n. routes. The adjuvanticity of nontoxic CpG OND as i.n. vaccine adjuvant was evaluated. The widespread expression of Em-TSP3 in all the developmental stages of E. multilocularis, and the strong local and systemic immune responses evoked by i.n. administration of rEm-TSP3 with CpG OND adjuvant suggest that this study might open the way for developing efficient, nontoxic human mucosal vaccines against AE

Retrospective evaluation of whole exome and genome mutation calls in 746 cancer samples

Funder: NCI U24CA211006Abstract: The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) curated consensus somatic mutation calls using whole exome sequencing (WES) and whole genome sequencing (WGS), respectively. Here, as part of the ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, which aggregated whole genome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumour types, we compare WES and WGS side-by-side from 746 TCGA samples, finding that ~80% of mutations overlap in covered exonic regions. We estimate that low variant allele fraction (VAF < 15%) and clonal heterogeneity contribute up to 68% of private WGS mutations and 71% of private WES mutations. We observe that ~30% of private WGS mutations trace to mutations identified by a single variant caller in WES consensus efforts. WGS captures both ~50% more variation in exonic regions and un-observed mutations in loci with variable GC-content. Together, our analysis highlights technological divergences between two reproducible somatic variant detection efforts