Different mice inbred strains humoral immune response against human prostate-specific antigen

The aim of the study was an investigation of humoral immune response to prostate-specific antigen (PSA) of different mice inbred strains for further development of recommendations for appropriate immunization schemes for monoclonal antibodies (McAbs) obtaining. The study was conducted using: Balb/c and NZB mice; PSA from human sperm (as immunogen). In case of booster immunization immunogen was previously diluted to the desired concentration (10 or 30 µg per 100 µl) in saline, and injected in the tail vein or intraperitoneally. In case of other immunizations, we prepared emulsion solution of immunogen with adjuvant to final concentration of 10 or 30 µg per 100 µl: PSA was dissolved in saline, the same volume of adjuvant was added, and mixture was thoroughly mixed to form a stable emulsion. When subcutaneous administration, total dose of 100 µl was divided into two equal parts and injected in the hind paw of mice. Intraperitoneal immunization was performed by single administration of 100 µl of emulsion. The level of specific antibodies was determined by titration of blood sera from animals in indirect ELISA. Series of experiments were conducted to determine the level of humoral response of mice of different inbred strains (Balb/c and NZB) for multi-stage immunization with different duration with different amounts of PSA (10 and 30 μg), with different immunoglobulin administration (intraperitoneal and subcutaneously), and with different adjuvants (Freund’s complete and incomplete adjuvants, FCA/FIA). Final booster immunization at a dose of 30 μg was performed either in the same manner as the previous administration of the immunogen, or intravenously in the physio­logical saline solution. Dependencies of the humoral immune response of Balb/c and NZB mice against PSA on the route of administration of immunogen, the dose and duration of immunization were established. It was shown that intraperitoneal administration provided formation of higher titers of specific antibodies in case of both mice strains. Balb/c mice lines more rapidly responded to PSA, than an NZB mice (for all investigated schemes immunization). It was shown that the most effective immunization scheme was three times intraperitoneal administration with 10 µg of PSA for 8 weeks (the first immunization with FCA, and the rest – with FIA) and booster immunogen intravenous administration in saline solution

A Climate Index Optimized for Longshore Sediment Transport Reveals Interannual and Multidecadal Littoral Cell Rotations

A recent 35-year endpoint shoreline change analysis revealed significant counterclockwiserotations occurring in north-central Oregon, USA, littoral cells that extend 10s of kilometers in length.While the potential for severe El Niños to contribute to littoral cell rotations at seasonal to interannual scalewas previously recognized, the dynamics resulting in persistent (multidecadal) rotation were unknown,largely due to a lack of historical wave conditions extending back multiple decades and the difficulty ofseparating the timescales of shoreline variability in a high energy region. This study addresses this questionby (1) developing a statistical downscaling framework to characterize wave conditions relevant for longshoresediment transport during data-poor decades and (2) applying a one-line shoreline change model toquantitatively assess the potential for such large embayed beaches to rotate. A climateINdex was optimizedto capture variability in longshore wave power as a proxy for potentialLOngshore Sediment Transport(LOST_IN), and a procedure was developed to simulate many realizations of potential wave conditions fromthe index. Waves were transformed dynamically with Simulating Waves Nearshore to the nearshore asinputs to a one-line model that revealed shoreline rotations of embayed beaches at multiple time and spatialscales not previously discernible from infrequent observations. Model results indicate that littoral cellsrespond to both interannual and multidecadal oscillations, producing comparable shoreline excursions toextreme El Niño winters. The technique quantitatively relates morphodynamic forcing to specific climatepatterns and has the potential to better identify and quantify coastal variability on timescales relevant to achanging climate.This work would not have been possible without funding from the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) through NSF grant DGE-1314109, the Coastal and Ocean Climate Applications (COCA) program through NOAA grant NA15OAR4310243, NOAA’s Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessments Program (RISA), under NOAA grant NA15OAR4310145, and the Spanish Ministerio de Educación Cultura y Deporte FPU (Formación del Profesorado Universitario) studentship BOE-A-2013-12235. Beach survey data collection undertaken on the Oregon coast was made possible by the Northwest Association of Networked Ocean Observing Systems (NANOOS) through NOAA grant NA16NOS0120019

Критеріальне моделювання якості функціонування розподільних мереж

У статті проводиться аналіз параметрів, які мають враховуватись у критерії якості функціонування розподільних мереж. Пропонується метод його визначення, який ґрунтується на поєднанні теорії марковських процесів та критеріального методу.In the article the analysis of properties to be considered in criterion of function quality of distribution networks is carried out. The method of its determination which is based on integration of Markov processes theory and criterial method is offered

Positron annihilation study of the juniperus communis based biomaterial NEFROVIL

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015. The results of positron annihilation lifetime (PAL) measurements of the Juniperus communis based biomaterial NEFROVIL are reported for the first time. Three- and four-component fittings were applied to deconvolute the PAL spectrum. In order to determine which fitting procedure is most suited, a maximum entropy lifetime (MELT) analysis was also performed. It was found that the nanovoid topology of this biomaterial is constructed by small and large free-volume holes identified by the ortho-positronium lifetime parameters in the most suitable fourcomponent fitting procedure

The averaged tensors of the relative energy-momentum and angular momentum in general relativity and some their applications

There exist at least a few different kind of averaging of the differences of the energy-momentum and angular momentum in normal coordinates {\bf NC(P)} which give tensorial quantities. The obtained averaged quantities are equivalent mathematically because they differ only by constant scalar dimensional factors. One of these averaging was used in our papers [1-8] giving the {\it canonical superenergy and angular supermomentum tensors}. In this paper we present another averaging of the differences of the energy-momentum and angular momentum which gives tensorial quantities with proper dimensions of the energy-momentum and angular momentum densities. But these averaged relative energy-momentum and angular momentum tensors, closely related to the canonical superenergy and angular supermomentum tensors, {\it depend on some fundamental length $L>0$}. The averaged relative energy-momentum and angular momentum tensors of the gravitational field obtained in the paper can be applied, like the canonical superenergy and angular supermomentum tensors, to {\it coordinate independent} analysis (local and in special cases also global) of this field. We have applied the averaged relative energy-momentum tensors to analyze vacuum gravitational energy and momentum and to analyze energy and momentum of the Friedman (and also more general) universes. The obtained results are very interesting, e.g., the averaged relative energy density is {\it positive definite} for the all Friedman universes.Comment: 30 pages, minor changes referring to Kasner universe

Ecological divergence of two sympatric lineages of Buggy Creek virus, an arbovirus associated with birds

Most arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) show distinct serological subtypes or evolutionary lineages, with the evolution of different strains often assumed to reflect differences in ecological selection pressures. Buggy Creek virus (BCRV) is an unusual RNA virus (Togaviridae, Alphavirus) that is associated primarily with a cimicid swallow bug (Oeciacus vicarius) as its vector and the Cliff Swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) and the introduced House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) as its amplifying hosts. There are two sympatric lineages of BCRV (lineages A and B) that differ from each other by .6% at the nucleotide level. Analysis of 385 BCRV isolates all collected from bug vectors at a study site in southwestern Nebraska, USA, showed that the lineages differed in their peak times of seasonal occurrence within a summer. Lineage A was more likely to be found at recently established colonies, at those in culverts (rather than on highway bridges), and at those with invasive House Sparrows, and in bugs on the outsides of nests. Genetic diversity of lineage A increased with bird colony size and at sites with House Sparrows, while that of lineage B decreased with colony size and was unaffected by House Sparrows. Lineage A was more cytopathic on mammalian cells than was lineage B. These two lineages have apparently diverged in their transmission dynamics, with lineage A possibly more dependent on birds and lineage B perhaps more a bug virus. The long-standing association between Cliff Swallows and BCRV may have selected for immunological resistance to the virus by swallows and thus promoted the evolution of the more bug-adapted lineage B. In contrast, the recent arrival of the introduced House Sparrow and its high competence as a BCRV amplifying host may be favoring the more bird-dependent lineage A

Тренажер персоналу оперативного керування режимом електроенергетичної системи як елемент Smart Grid - технологій

Зростаючі тенденції застосування технологій інтелектуальних мереж Smart Grid наразі із проблемами оптимального керування електричними мережами потребують навчання, перевірки знань і оцінки діяльності оперативно-диспетчерського персоналу тренажерами оперативного й протиаварійного керування. Наведена в роботі структура та основні засади створення тренажеру оперативного ведення економічного режиму ЕЕС можуть бути використані для побудови таких тренажерів

Quasigroups, Asymptotic Symmetries and Conservation Laws in General Relativity

A new quasigroup approach to conservation laws in general relativity is applied to study asymptotically flat at future null infinity spacetime. The infinite-parametric Newman-Unti group of asymptotic symmetries is reduced to the Poincar\'e quasigroup and the Noether charge associated with any element of the Poincar\'e quasialgebra is defined. The integral conserved quantities of energy-momentum and angular momentum are linear on generators of Poincar\'e quasigroup, free of the supertranslation ambiguity, posess the flux and identically equal to zero in Minkowski spacetime.Comment: RevTeX4, 5 page

Winter Ecology of Buggy Creek Virus (Togaviridae, \u3ci\u3eAlphavirus\u3c/i\u3e) in the Central Great Plains

A largely unanswered question in the study of arboviruses is the extent to which virus can overwinter in adult vectors during the cold winter months and resume the transmission cycle in summer. Buggy Creek virus (BCRV; Togaviridae, Alphavirus) is an unusual arbovirus that is vectored primarily by the swallow bug (Hemiptera: Cimicidae: Oeciacus vicarius) and amplified by the ectoparasitic bug’s main avian hosts, the migratory cliff swallow (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) and resident house sparrow (Passer domesticus). Bugs are sedentary and overwinter in the swallows’ mud nests. We evaluated the prevalence of BCRV and extent of infection in swallow bugs collected at different times in winter (October–early April) in Nebraska and explored other ecological aspects of this virus’s overwintering. BCRV was detected in 17% of bug pools sampled in winter. Virus prevalence in bugs in winter at a site was significantly correlated with virus prevalence at that site the previous summer, but winter prevalence did not predict BCRV prevalence there the following summer. Prevalence was higher in bugs taken from house sparrow nests in winter and (in April) at colony sites where sparrows had been present all winter. Virus detected by reverse transcription (RT)-polymerase chain reaction in winter was less cytopathic than in summer, but viral RNA concentrations of samples in winter were not significantly different from those in summer. Both of the BCRV lineages (A, B) overwintered successfully, with lineage A more common at sites with house sparrows and (in contrast to summer) generally more prevalent in winter than lineage B. BCRV’s ability to overwinter in its adult vector probably reflects its adaptation to the sedentary, long-lived bug and the ecology of the cliff swallow and swallow bug host–parasite system. Its overwintering mechanisms may provide insight into those of other alphaviruses of public health significance for which such mechanisms are poorly known