The B subunit of Escherichia coli heat-labile toxin alters the development and antigen-presenting capacity of dendritic cells

Escherichia coli’s heat-labile enterotoxin (Etx) and its non-toxic B subunit (EtxB) have been characterized as adjuvants capable of enhancing T cell responses to co-administered antigen. Here, we investigate the direct effect of intravenously administered EtxB on the size of the dendritic and mye-loid cell populations in spleen. EtxB treatment appears to enhance the development and turnover of dendritic and myeloid cells from precursors within the spleen. EtxB treatment also gives a dendritic cell (DC) population with higher viability and lower activation status based on the reduced expression of MHC-II, CD80 and CD86. In this respect, the in vivo effect of EtxB differs from that of the highly inflammatory mediator lipopolysaccharide. In in vi-tro bone marrow cultures, EtxB treatment was also found to enhance the development of DC from precursors dependent on Flt3L. In terms of the in vivo effect of EtxB on CD4 and CD8 T cell responses in mice, the interaction of EtxB directly with DC was demonstrated following conditional deple-tion of CD11c+ DC. In summary, all results are consistent with EtxB displaying adjuvant ability by enhancing the turnover of DC in spleen, leading to newly mature myeloid and DC in spleen, thereby increasing DC capacity to perform as antigen-presenting cells on encounter with T cells

HI 21 cm Emission Line Study of Southern Galactic Supernova Remnants

We have searched for HI 21 cm line emission from shocked atomic gas associated with southern supernova remnants (SNRs) using data from the Southern Galactic Plane Survey. Among the 97 sources studied, we have detected 10 SNRs with high-velocity HI emission confined to the SNR. The large velocity and the spatial confinement suggest that the emission is likely from the gas accelerated by the SN blast wave. We also detected 22 SNRs which show HI emission significantly brighter than the surrounding regions over a wide ($>10$\kms) velocity interval. The association with these SNRs is less certain. We present the parameters and maps of the excess emission in these SNRs. We discuss in some detail the ten individual SNRs with associated high-velocity HI emission.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in JKAS (Journal of the Korean Astronomical Society

An Exploration of Deep-Learning Based Phenotypic Analysis to Detect Spike Regions in Field Conditions for UK Bread Wheat

Wheat is one of the major crops in the world, with a global demand expected to reach 850 million tons by 2050 that is clearly outpacing current supply. The continual pressure to sustain wheat yield due to the world’s growing population under fluctuating climate conditions requires breeders to increase yield and yield stability across environments. We are working to integrate deep learning into field-based phenotypic analysis to assist breeders in this endeavour. We have utilised wheat images collected by distributed CropQuant phenotyping workstations deployed for multiyear field experiments of UK bread wheat varieties. Based on these image series, we have developed a deep-learning based analysis pipeline to segment spike regions from complicated backgrounds. As a first step towards robust measurement of key yield traits in the field, we present a promising approach that employ Fully Convolutional Network (FCN) to perform semantic segmentation of images to segment wheat spike regions. We also demonstrate the benefits of transfer learning through the use of parameters obtained from other image datasets. We found that the FCN architecture had achieved a Mean classification Accuracy (MA) >82% on validation data and >76% on test data and Mean Intersection over Union value (MIoU) >73% on validation data and and >64% on test datasets. Through this phenomics research, we trust our attempt is likely to form a sound foundation for extracting key yield-related traits such as spikes per unit area and spikelet number per spike, which can be used to assist yield-focused wheat breeding objectives in near future

Plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition of nanostructured gold near room temperature

A plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD) process to deposit metallic gold is reported, using the previously reported Me3Au(PMe3) precursor with H-2 plasma as the reactant. The process has a deposition window from 50 to 120 degrees C with a growth rate of 0.030 +/- 0.002 nm per cycle on gold seed layers, and it shows saturating behavior for both the precursor and reactant exposure. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements show that the gold films deposited at 120 degrees C are of higher purity than the previously reported ones (<1 at. % carbon and oxygen impurities and <0.1 at. % phosphorous). A low resistivity value was obtained (5.9 +/- 0.3 mu Omega/cm), and X-ray diffraction measurements confirm that films deposited at 50 and 120 degrees C are polycrystalline. The process forms gold nanoparticles on oxide surfaces, which coalesce into wormlike nanostructures during deposition. Nanostructures grown at 120 degrees C are evaluated as substrates for free-space surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) and exhibit an excellent enhancement factor that is without optimization, only one order of magnitude weaker than state-of-the-art gold nanodome substrates. The reported gold PE-ALD process therefore offers a deposition method to create SERS substrates that are template-free and does not require lithography. Using this process, it is possible to deposit nanostructured gold layers at low temperatures on complex three-dimensional (3D) substrates, opening up opportunities for the application of gold ALD in flexible electronics, heterogeneous catalysis, or the preparation of 3D SERS substrates

Spectral Grouping of Electrically Encoded Sound Predicts Speech-in-Noise Performance in Cochlear Implantees

\ua9 2023, The Author(s). Objectives: Cochlear implant (CI) users exhibit large variability in understanding speech in noise. Past work in CI users found that spectral and temporal resolution correlates with speech-in-noise ability, but a large portion of variance remains unexplained. Recent work on normal-hearing listeners showed that the ability to group temporally and spectrally coherent tones in a complex auditory scene predicts speech-in-noise ability independently of the audiogram, highlighting a central mechanism for auditory scene analysis that contributes to speech-in-noise. The current study examined whether the auditory grouping ability also contributes to speech-in-noise understanding in CI users. Design: Forty-seven post-lingually deafened CI users were tested with psychophysical measures of spectral and temporal resolution, a stochastic figure-ground task that depends on the detection of a figure by grouping multiple fixed frequency elements against a random background, and a sentence-in-noise measure. Multiple linear regression was used to predict sentence-in-noise performance from the other tasks. Results: No co-linearity was found between any predictor variables. All three predictors (spectral and temporal resolution plus the figure-ground task) exhibited significant contribution in the multiple linear regression model, indicating that the auditory grouping ability in a complex auditory scene explains a further proportion of variance in CI users’ speech-in-noise performance that was not explained by spectral and temporal resolution. Conclusion: Measures of cross-frequency grouping reflect an auditory cognitive mechanism that determines speech-in-noise understanding independently of cochlear function. Such measures are easily implemented clinically as predictors of CI success and suggest potential strategies for rehabilitation based on training with non-speech stimuli

Oscillatory correlates of auditory working memory examined with human electrocorticography

This work examines how sounds are held in auditory working memory (AWM) in humans by examining oscillatory local field potentials (LFPs) in candidate brain regions. Previous fMRI studies by our group demonstrated blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) response increases during maintenance in auditory cortex, inferior frontal cortex and the hippocampus using a paradigm with a delay period greater than 10s. The relationship between such BOLD changes and ensemble activity in different frequency bands is complex, and the long delay period raised the possibility that long-term memory mechanisms were engaged. Here we assessed LFPs in different frequency bands in six subjects with recordings from all candidate brain regions using a paradigm with a short delay period of 3 s. Sustained delay activity was demonstrated in all areas, with different patterns in the different areas. Enhancement in low frequency (delta) power and suppression across higher frequencies (beta/ gamma) were demonstrated in primary auditory cortex in medial Heschl’s gyrus (HG) whilst non-primary cortex showed patterns of enhancement and suppression that altered at different levels of the auditory hierarchy from lateral HG to superior- and middle-temporal gyrus. Inferior frontal cortex showed increasing suppression with increasing frequency. The hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus showed low frequency increases and high frequency decreases in oscillatory activity. This work demonstrates sustained activity patterns during AWM maintenance, with prominent low-frequency increases in medial temporal lobe regions

Phase-resolved optical and X-ray spectroscopy of low-mass X-ray binary X1822-371

(Abridged) X1822-371 is the prototypical accretion disc corona X-ray source, a low-mass X-ray binary viewed at very high inclination, thereby allowing the disc structure and extended disc coronal regions to be visible. We study the structure of the accretion disc in X1822-371 by modelling the phase-resolved spectra both in optical and X-ray regime. We analyse high time resolution optical ESO/VLT spectra of X1822-371 to study the variability in the emission line profiles. In addition, we use data from XMM-Newton space observatory to study phase-resolved as well as high resolution X-ray spectra. We apply the Doppler tomography technique to reconstruct a map of the optical emission distribution in the system. We fit multi-component models to the X-ray spectra. We find that our results from both the optical and X-ray analysis can be explained with a model where the accretion disc has a thick rim in the region where the accretion stream impacts the disc. The behaviour of the H_beta line complex implies that some of the accreting matter creates an outburst around the accretion stream impact location and that the resulting outflow of matter moves both away from the accretion disc and towards the centre of the disc. Such behaviour can be explained by an almost isotropic outflow of matter from the accretion stream impact region. The optical emission lines of HeII 4686 and 5411 show double peaked profiles, typical for an accretion disc at high inclination. However, their velocities are slower than expected for an accretion disc in a system like X1822-371. This, combined with the fact that the HeII emission lines do not get eclipsed during the partial eclipse in the continuum, suggests that the line emission does not originate in the orbital plane and is more likely to come from above the accretion disc, for example the accretion disc wind.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in A&

A Contour Integral Representation for the Dual Five-Point Function and a Symmetry of the Genus Four Surface in R6

The invention of the "dual resonance model" N-point functions BN motivated the development of current string theory. The simplest of these models, the four-point function B4, is the classical Euler Beta function. Many standard methods of complex analysis in a single variable have been applied to elucidate the properties of the Euler Beta function, leading, for example, to analytic continuation formulas such as the contour-integral representation obtained by Pochhammer in 1890. Here we explore the geometry underlying the dual five-point function B5, the simplest generalization of the Euler Beta function. Analyzing the B5 integrand leads to a polyhedral structure for the five-crosscap surface, embedded in RP5, that has 12 pentagonal faces and a symmetry group of order 120 in PGL(6). We find a Pochhammer-like representation for B5 that is a contour integral along a surface of genus five. The symmetric embedding of the five-crosscap surface in RP5 is doubly covered by a symmetric embedding of the surface of genus four in R6 that has a polyhedral structure with 24 pentagonal faces and a symmetry group of order 240 in O(6). The methods appear generalizable to all N, and the resulting structures seem to be related to associahedra in arbitrary dimensions.Comment: 43 pages and 44 figure

Cinchonidinium chloride monohydrate

In the title salt, C19H23N2O+·Cl−·H2O, the ions and the water mol­ecule are held together by O—H⋯Cl, N—H⋯Cl, O—H⋯O, O—H⋯N and C—H⋯Cl hydrogen bonds, forming a three-dimensional framework. The vinyl group is disordered over two orientations with refined occupancies of 0.564 (16) and 0.436 (16). The cell parameters of the title compound have been reported previously [Griffiths (1952 ▶). Acta Cryst. 5, 290–291]