Production and purification of polyclonal anti-hamster immunoglobulins in rabbits

Polyclonal antibodies are mixtures of monoclonal antibodies that were produced against different epitops. The goal of this project is to know the production, purification and horseradish peroxidase (HRP) conjugation of polyclonal antibodies against hamster immunoglobulins in rabbits. 300 ìg/300 ìl of ten hamster immunoglobulins was mixed with the same volume (300 ìl) of adjuvant and injected into three 6-month-old white New Zealand rabbits. Anti hamster rich rabbits serums were isolated from whole blood and precipitated with ammonium sulfate in the final concentration of 50%. The precipitate was dialysed against phosphate buffered saline (PBS) (pH: 7.4) and applied to ion exchange chromatography (IEC) on diethylaminoethyl (DEAE)-sepharose 6B with tris-phosphate (pH: 8.1), andtris-phosphate contain 50 mM NaCl buffer. The purity of produced antibody was confirmed by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) under reduced condition. Then purifiedimmunoglobulin G (IgG) was conjugated with HRP. For exact measurement of conjugated IgG titer and evaluating of cross reaction, enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test was designed. Since IEC is a more simple and inexpensive method for the purification of IgG, we obtained a protein with approximate purity of 95%. Produced IgG showed high titer and high specificity in the designed ELISA. Purified antibody and its conjugation with HRP are used in research and diagnosis of hamster disease.Key words: Production, purification, hamster immunoglobulins

Neuroimaging and Analytical Methods for Studying the Pathways from Mild Cognitive Impairment to Alzheimer’s Disease: Protocol for a Rapid Systematic Review

Background Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder commonly associated with deficits of cognition and changes in behavior. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is the prodromal stage of AD that is defined by slight cognitive decline. Not all with MCI progress to AD dementia. Thus, the accurate prediction of progression to Alzheimer’s, particularly in the stage of MCI could potentially offer developing treatments to delay or prevent the transition process. The objective of the present study is to investigate the most recent neuroimaging procedures in the domain of prediction of transition from MCI to AD dementia for clinical applications and to systematically discuss the machine learning techniques used for the prediction of MCI conversion. Methods Electronic databases including PubMed, SCOPUS, and Web of Science will be searched from January 1, 2017, to the date of search commencement to provide a rapid review of the most recent studies that have investigated the prediction of conversion from MCI to Alzheimer’s using neuroimaging modalities in randomized trial or observational studies. Two reviewers will screen full texts of included papers using predefined eligibility criteria. Studies will be included if addressed research on AD dementia and MCI, explained the results in a way that would be able to report the performance measures such as the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. Only studies addressed Alzheimer’s type of dementia and its early-stage MCI using neuroimaging modalities will be included. We will exclude other forms of dementia such as vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia, and Parkinson’s disease. The risk of bias in individual studies will be appraised using an appropriate tool. If feasible, we will conduct a random effects meta-analysis. Sensitivity analyses will be conducted to explore the potential sources of heterogeneity. Discussion The information gathered in our study will establish the extent of the evidence underlying the prediction of conversion to AD dementia from its early stage and will provide a rigorous and updated synthesis of neuroimaging modalities allied with the data analysis techniques used to measure the brain changes during the conversion process

The parent play questionnaire: development of a parent questionnaire to assess parent–child play and digital media use

We introduce the Parent Play Questionnaire (PPQ), a parent-report measure designed to assess frequency of parent–infant play, parents’ attitudes towards play with their infant, and infants’ use of digital media. We describe measure development and empirical data across three samples of parent–infant dyads (total N = 414, offspring aged 0.3–2.5 years). Three latent factors explain the PPQ, corresponding with theoretically defined subscales. Summary scores showed good internal consistency and normally distributed results. Weak to moderate correlations were found between the frequency and attitude play scales, and with standardized measures of family social and emotional characteristics. Overall, frequency of digital media use was not correlated with play or broader family variables. Results suggest that the PPQ will be a useful tool for researchers interested in assessing parent–child play during early childhood

Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Genetically Informed Research: Associations between Parent Anxiety and Offspring Internalizing Problems

OBJECTIVE: Parent anxiety is associated with offspring internalizing problems (emotional problems related to anxiety and depression). This may reflect causal processes, whereby exposure to parent anxiety directly influences offspring internalizing (and/or vice versa). However, parent-offspring associations could also be attributable to their genetic relatedness. We present a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate whether exposure to parent anxiety is associated with offspring internalizing after controlling for genetic relatedness. METHOD: A literature search in five databases identified 429 records. Publications were retained if they used a quasi-experimental design in a general population sample to control for participant relatedness in associations between parent anxiety and offspring internalizing outcomes. Publications were excluded if they involved an experimental exposure or intervention. Studies of pre- and post-natal anxiety exposure were meta-analysed separately. Pearson's correlation coefficient estimates (r) were pooled using multilevel random effects models. RESULTS: Eight publications were retained. Data were drawn from four population cohorts, each unique to a quasi-experimental design: adoption, sibling-comparison, children-of-twins or in-vitro-fertilisation. Cohorts were located in northern Europe or America. Families were predominantly of European ancestry. Three publications (Nfamilies>11,700; offspring aged 0.5-10 years) showed no association between prenatal anxiety exposure and offspring internalizing outcomes after accounting for participant relatedness (r=.04, CI -.07,.14). Six publications (Nfamilies>12,700; offspring aged 0.75-22 years) showed a small but significant association between concurrent symptoms in parents and offspring, after accounting for participant relatedness (r=.13, CI .04,.21). CONCLUSION: Initial literature, derived from homogenous populations, suggests that prenatal anxiety exposure does not cause offspring internalizing outcomes. However, postnatal anxiety exposure may be causally associated with concurrent offspring internalizing, via non-genetic pathways. Longitudinal stability, child-to-parent effects, and the role of moderators and methodological biases require attention

Relativistic three-body bound states and the reduction from four to three dimensions

Beginning with an effective field theory based upon meson exchange, the Bethe-Salpeter equation for the three-particle propagator (six-point function) is obtained. Using the one-boson-exchange form of the kernel, this equation is then analyzed using time-ordered perturbation theory, and a three-dimensional equation for the propagator is developed. The propagator consists of a pre-factor in which the relative energies are fixed by the initial state of the particles, an intermediate part in which only global propagation of the particles occurs, and a post-factor in which relative energies are fixed by the final state of the particles. The pre- and post-factors are necessary in order to account for the transition from states where particles are off their mass shell to states described by the global propagator with all of the particle energies on shell. The pole structure of the intermediate part of the propagator is used to determine the equation for the three-body bound state: a Schr{\"o}dinger-like relativistic equation with a single, global Green's function. The role of the pre- and post-factors in the relativistic dynamics is to incorporate the poles of the breakup channels in the initial and final states. The derivation of this equation by integrating over the relative times rather than via a constraint on relative momenta allows the inclusion of retardation and dynamical boost corrections without introducing unphysical singularities.Comment: REVTeX, 21 pages, 4 figures, epsf.st

Relativistic three-particle scattering equations

We derive a set of relativistic three-particle scattering equations in the three-particle c.m. frame employing a relativistic three-particle propagator suggested long ago by Ahmadzadeh and Tjon in the c.m. frame of a two-particle subsystem. We make the coordinate transformation of this propagator from the c.m. frame of the two-particle subsystem to the three-particle c.m. frame. We also point out that some numerical applications of the Ahmadzadeh and Tjon propagator to the three-nucleon problem use unnecessary nonrelativistic approximations which do not simplify the computational task, but violate constraints of relativistic unitarity and/or covariance.Comment: 5pages, text and one ps figure (in revtex) include

Relativistic Effect on Low-Energy Nucleon-Deuteron Scattering

The relativistic effect on differential cross sections, nucleon-to-nucleon and nucleon-to-deuteron polarization transfer coefficients, and the spin correlation function, of nucleon-deuteron elastic scattering is investigated employing several three-dimensional relativistic three-body equations and several nucleon-nucleon potentials. The polarization transfer coefficients are found to be sensitive to the details of the nucleon-nucleon potentials and the relativistic dynamics employed, and prefer trinucleon models with the correct triton binding energy. (To appear in Phys. Rev. C)Comment: pages: 21, LaTex text + 7 ps-figures at the en