Physicochemical and biological characterization of 1E10 Anti-Idiotype vaccine

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>1E10 monoclonal antibody is a murine anti-idiotypic antibody that mimics N-glycolyl-GM3 gangliosides. This antibody has been tested as an anti-idiotypic cancer vaccine, adjuvated in Al(OH)₃, in several clinical trials for melanoma, breast, and lung cancer. During early clinical development this mAb was obtained <it>in vivo </it>from mice ascites fluid. Currently, the production process of 1E10 is being transferred from the <it>in vivo </it>to a bioreactor-based method.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here, we present a comprehensive molecular and immunological characterization of 1E10 produced by the two different production processes in order to determine the impact of the manufacturing process in vaccine performance. We observed differences in glycosylation pattern, charge heterogeneity and structural stability between <it>in vivo</it>-produced 1E10 and bioreactor-obtained 1E10. Interestingly, these modifications had no significant impact on the immune responses elicited in two different animal models.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Changes in 1E10 primary structure like glycosylation; asparagine deamidation and oxidation affected 1E10 structural stability but did not affect the immune response elicited in mice and chickens when compared to 1E10 produced in mice.</p

Behavioural indicators of welfare in farmed fish

Behaviour represents a reaction to the environment as fish perceive it and is therefore a key element of fish welfare. This review summarises the main findings on how behavioural changes have been used to assess welfare in farmed fish, using both functional and feeling-based approaches. Changes in foraging behaviour, ventilatory activity, aggression, individual and group swimming behaviour, stereotypic and abnormal behaviour have been linked with acute and chronic stressors in aquaculture and can therefore be regarded as likely indicators of poor welfare. On the contrary, measurements of exploratory behaviour, feed anticipatory activity and reward-related operant behaviour are beginning to be considered as indicators of positive emotions and welfare in fish. Despite the lack of scientific agreement about the existence of sentience in fish, the possibility that they are capable of both positive and negative emotions may contribute to the development of new strategies (e. g. environmental enrichment) to promote good welfare. Numerous studies that use behavioural indicators of welfare show that behavioural changes can be interpreted as either good or poor welfare depending on the fish species. It is therefore essential to understand the species-specific biology before drawing any conclusions in relation to welfare. In addition, different individuals within the same species may exhibit divergent coping strategies towards stressors, and what is tolerated by some individuals may be detrimental to others. Therefore, the assessment of welfare in a few individuals may not represent the average welfare of a group and vice versa. This underlines the need to develop on-farm, operational behavioural welfare indicators that can be easily used to assess not only the individual welfare but also the welfare of the whole group (e. g. spatial distribution). With the ongoing development of video technology and image processing, the on-farm surveillance of behaviour may in the near future represent a low-cost, noninvasive tool to assess the welfare of farmed fish.Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, Portugal [SFRH/BPD/42015/2007]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

External Learning Opportunities and the Diffusion of Process Innovations to Small Firms: The Case of Programmable Automation

In this chapter, we are concerned with explaining which types of firms have failed to adopt well-known improvements in process technology. This problem has, of course, been the underlying concern of all studies of diffusion “to rationalize why, if a new technology is superior, it is not taken up by all potential adopters” (Stoneman, 1983). Drawing on various theoretical perspectives, we identify a number of different barriers to adoption. With data collected from a 1987 nationally representative sample of US establishments in 21 metal-working and machinery manufacturing industries, we then construct a multivariate logistic regression model to empirically test for the effects of these factors on the likelihood of adoption of a particular process innovation, namely programmable automation (PA) machine tools

Transitions to Working Life: Securing Professional Competence

This chapter examines the transition from education to work as a critical phase of professional career and the development of professional competence Literature on transition to working life has identified several challenges that many graduates meet in the early stages of their career such as: threat of unemployment, inadequate knowledge and skills, decreased self-efficacy and increased stress, instability of professional identity, newcomers’ role and position in a work community, early attrition and changing occupation. The importance of workplace learning in supporting graduates as they transit to the workplace is influential in assisting graduates deal with these challenges. This chapter examines each of these challenges from the professional competence point of view drawing upon examples from several research projects undertaken by the authors to accentuate how these challenges might be addressed. In particular special attention is paid to the role of social partnerships in meeting the challenges.peerReviewe