Use of hyaluronidase in the comparison between manual and automated hematology analysis with the ADVIA 120 to improve analysis of feline body cavity effusions

Classification of body cavity effusions is an important step in the investigation and diagnosis of disease in cats. Feline inflammatory effusions are often highly proteinaceous and viscous, which can cause clumping of white cells and subsequently inaccurate nucleated cell counts (NCCs) using automated and manual methods. Microscopic assessment of cellularity can also be difficult given the variable thickness of smears and cell clumping, which skews white cell distribution. The ADVIA 120 uses 2 white cell–counting channels, the basophil/lobularity (WBC/baso) and differential/peroxidase channels, which can provide quite different results in highly viscous feline samples and often disagree with smear assessment of cellularity. We investigated the effects of pre-incubation of feline effusion samples with hyaluronidase and its effects on NCCs and cellularity assessment. NCCs were obtained by automated analysis using the ADVIA 120 and by manual counting methods. Agreement was assessed using a Bland–Altman chart. Pretreatment of samples with hyaluronidase resulted in good agreement between the ADVIA basophil channel and manual counting methods in all samples in the study. However, improvements in NCCs after hyaluronidase treatment were significantly greater in clumped samples, and cell distribution of these samples on direct smears was also improved. Therefore, when nucleated cell clumping is observed on a direct smear, pretreatment of the sample with hyaluronidase prior to analysis on an automated analyzer is advised, with the WBC/baso channel displaying the most accurate NCC

The use of thermoresponsive nanoparticles for targeting cancer cells

The aim of this thesis was to investigate a dual method of targeting cancer cells with a nanoparticle system containing both a thermoresponsive corona and folate tag. The nanoparticle system used a �hide-and-reveal� motif whereby the folate tag would only be revealed above the transition temperature of the thermoresponsive corona. There were difficulties encountered during the synthesis of poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) for the further polymerisation of the thermoresponsive copolymer therefore poly(lactide) (PLA) was synthesized as an alternative. The initial thermoresponsive polymer library synthesised (PLGA-b-poly((polypropylene glycol methacrylate)-stat-(oligoethylene glycol methacrylate))) when assembled into nanoparticles had a transition temperature (Tt) of 40 � 65 °C and thus did not have a low enough Tt for the cell studies. A second polymer library (PLA-b-P((diethylene glycol methacrylate)-stat-(oligoethylene glycol methacrylate)), PLA-b-P(DEGMA-stat-OEGMA)) when assembled into NPs had a Tt of between 28 � 78 °C when the DEGMA:OEGMA ratio was altered from 100:0 to 50:50. In addition to the thermoresponsive polymer library, three folate tagged amphiphilic polymers were synthesised. The polymers were PLA-b-polyethylene glycol (PLA-PEG) with a terminal folate. Each of the three PLA-PEGx polymers were synthesised with a different length of PEG, PEG450, PEG3k and PEG10k. A reproducible method of nanoparticle assembly was developed which produced nanoparticles of an average radius of ?100 nm when PLA-b-P(DEGMA-stat-OEGMA) polymers were used. Three methods of controlling the overall aggregation temperature were put forward. By assembling NPs using one type of PLA-b-P(DEGMA-stat-OEGMA) the Tt of the NPs was dependent on the ratio of DEGMA:OEGMA. It was also possible to control the aggregation temperature by mixing two types of PLA-b-P(DEGMA-stat-OEGMA) polymers (provided the difference in DEGMA:OEGMA between the two polymers was between 0 � 10 %). In addition by mixing PLA-b-P(DEGMA-stat-OEGMA) preformed NPs the aggregation temperature could be controlled similar to that for polymer blend NPs. The NPs were tested in both MCF-7 and HCT116 cell lines and were shown to have no adverse effect on the cell metabolism or membrane integrity when the NP concentration was below 4 mg/mL. It was found that there was in increase in uptake of the thermoresponsive NPs when incubation temperature was above the NPs Tt. When the PEG450 and PEG3k linked folate was used an increased uptake was observed in MCF-7 cells however no difference in uptake was observed in HCT116 cell line. Overall the �hide-and-reveal� motif on this NP system was shown to be successful in enhancing the uptake in folate receptor positive cells

The use of thermoresponsive nanoparticles for targeting cancer cells

The aim of this thesis was to investigate a dual method of targeting cancer cells with a nanoparticle system containing both a thermoresponsive corona and folate tag. The nanoparticle system used a �hide-and-reveal� motif whereby the folate tag would only be revealed above the transition temperature of the thermoresponsive corona. There were difficulties encountered during the synthesis of poly(lactide-co-glycolide) (PLGA) for the further polymerisation of the thermoresponsive copolymer therefore poly(lactide) (PLA) was synthesized as an alternative. The initial thermoresponsive polymer library synthesised (PLGA-b-poly((polypropylene glycol methacrylate)-stat-(oligoethylene glycol methacrylate))) when assembled into nanoparticles had a transition temperature (Tt) of 40 � 65 °C and thus did not have a low enough Tt for the cell studies. A second polymer library (PLA-b-P((diethylene glycol methacrylate)-stat-(oligoethylene glycol methacrylate)), PLA-b-P(DEGMA-stat-OEGMA)) when assembled into NPs had a Tt of between 28 � 78 °C when the DEGMA:OEGMA ratio was altered from 100:0 to 50:50. In addition to the thermoresponsive polymer library, three folate tagged amphiphilic polymers were synthesised. The polymers were PLA-b-polyethylene glycol (PLA-PEG) with a terminal folate. Each of the three PLA-PEGx polymers were synthesised with a different length of PEG, PEG450, PEG3k and PEG10k. A reproducible method of nanoparticle assembly was developed which produced nanoparticles of an average radius of ?100 nm when PLA-b-P(DEGMA-stat-OEGMA) polymers were used. Three methods of controlling the overall aggregation temperature were put forward. By assembling NPs using one type of PLA-b-P(DEGMA-stat-OEGMA) the Tt of the NPs was dependent on the ratio of DEGMA:OEGMA. It was also possible to control the aggregation temperature by mixing two types of PLA-b-P(DEGMA-stat-OEGMA) polymers (provided the difference in DEGMA:OEGMA between the two polymers was between 0 � 10 %). In addition by mixing PLA-b-P(DEGMA-stat-OEGMA) preformed NPs the aggregation temperature could be controlled similar to that for polymer blend NPs. The NPs were tested in both MCF-7 and HCT116 cell lines and were shown to have no adverse effect on the cell metabolism or membrane integrity when the NP concentration was below 4 mg/mL. It was found that there was in increase in uptake of the thermoresponsive NPs when incubation temperature was above the NPs Tt. When the PEG450 and PEG3k linked folate was used an increased uptake was observed in MCF-7 cells however no difference in uptake was observed in HCT116 cell line. Overall the �hide-and-reveal� motif on this NP system was shown to be successful in enhancing the uptake in folate receptor positive cells

Adaptive reuse of built heritage in Hong Kong: integrated conservation approach for development

In this paper, references will be drawn from discussions at the one-day international conference organised by RICS on 9 January 2015. Several important case studies in Hong Kong and overseas were shared and discussed at the conference, from which good practices could be distilled for Hong Kong’s unique challenges. References will also be made to good practice where useful.published_or_final_versio

Optimizing the mirror (fusion--fission) hybrid reactor for plutonium production

An analytic model of the fusion components is used to generate a consistent set of fusion parameters, and component costs as parameters are varied. A model of the blanket, based on neutronic and thermal hydraulics, is then used to analyze the trade-offs of energy production vs plutonium production dictated by blanket type and management. An economic discussion of fuel cost is also given. (MOW

Progress on the conceptual design of a mirror hybrid fusion--fission reactor

A conceptual design study was made of a fusion-fission reactor for the purpose of producing fissile material and electricity. The fusion component is a D-T plasma confined by a pair of magnetic mirror coils in a Yin-Yang configuration and is sustained by neutral beam injection. The neutrons from the fusion plasma drive the fission assembly which is composed of natural uranium carbide fuel rods clad with stainless steel and helium cooled. It was shown conceptually how the reactor might be built using essentially present-day technology and how the uranium-bearing blanket modules can be routinely changed to allow separation of the bred fissile fuel. (MOW

Observation of odd-parity superconductivity in UTe2

Symmetry properties of the order parameter are among the most fundamental characteristics of a superconductor. The pairing symmetry of recently discovered heavy fermion superconductor UTe2 featuring an exceedingly large upper critical field has attracted a great deal of attention. Even though it is widely believed that UTe2 possesses an odd-parity, spin-triplet pairing symmetry, direct evidence for it is lacking, especially at zero or low magnetic fields. We report here the selection-rule results of Josephson coupling between In, an s-wave superconductor, and UTe2. The orientation dependence of the Josephson coupling suggests very strongly that UTe2 possess an odd-parity pairing state of B_1u in zero magnetic fields. We also report the formation of Andreev surface bound states on the (1-10) surface of UTe2.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, 2 table

An Innovations-Based Noise Cancelling Technique on Inverse Kepstrum Whitening Filter and Adaptive FIR Filter in Beamforming Structure

This paper presents an acoustic noise cancelling technique using an inverse kepstrum system as an innovations-based whitening application for an adaptive finite impulse response (FIR) filter in beamforming structure. The inverse kepstrum method uses an innovations-whitened form from one acoustic path transfer function between a reference microphone sensor and a noise source so that the rear-end reference signal will then be a whitened sequence to a cascaded adaptive FIR filter in the beamforming structure. By using an inverse kepstrum filter as a whitening filter with the use of a delay filter, the cascaded adaptive FIR filter estimates only the numerator of the polynomial part from the ratio of overall combined transfer functions. The test results have shown that the adaptive FIR filter is more effective in beamforming structure than an adaptive noise cancelling (ANC) structure in terms of signal distortion in the desired signal and noise reduction in noise with nonminimum phase components. In addition, the inverse kepstrum method shows almost the same convergence level in estimate of noise statistics with the use of a smaller amount of adaptive FIR filter weights than the kepstrum method, hence it could provide better computational simplicity in processing. Furthermore, the rear-end inverse kepstrum method in beamforming structure has shown less signal distortion in the desired signal than the front-end kepstrum method and the front-end inverse kepstrum method in beamforming structure