Energy Demonstration Trailer Assessment

The Energy Demonstration Trailer is a mobile showcase of renewable energy and energy efficient technologies. The trailer was developed by the Habitat Research and Development Centre in Namibia, with the intention to enhance awareness of sustainable energy alternatives. Our project involved preparing the trailer for use by expanding the trailer's educational capacities. We conducted three demonstrations with the trailer and assessed its performance and the audience's interactions. Modifications were made to the trailer based on the assessment, along with recommendations for additional improvements

TCR expression and clonality analysis in peripheral blood and lymph nodes of HIV-infected patients.

We compared the T cell receptor (TCR) V beta gene family repertoire in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and lymph node (LN) cells from 7 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients and 3 seronegative healthy controls. Virtually all the V beta family specificities were represented in patient PBMC and LN cells, and mean values for each specificity were comparable to figures in seronegative controls. In 4 patients, however, some V beta gene segment transcripts were overrepresented in the LN compartment, compared to the peripheral blood counterpart. To ascertain whether this phenomenon was due to polyclonal or oligoclonal expansion of T cells bearing the relevant V beta gene product, we sequenced the entire CDR3 region of a panel of 238 PCR clones corresponding to the V beta transcripts expanded in LN; as control, the same regions were cloned and sequenced in patient's PBMC, and in PBMC and LN cells from seronegative individuals. This analysis disclosed preferential usage of J beta 2 genes in PBMC and LN cells from both seropositive patients and controls, regardless of the V beta gene segment considered, thus indicating that this skewness in the V beta-J beta repertoire could be a consistent feature of at least a part of the V beta repertoire in different lymphoid compartments, regardless of the pathologic conditions. In addition, in LN from HIV seropositive patients we found the presence of recurrent TCR rearrangements, accounting for 8-23% of the generated clones, in each of the 4 V beta specificities analyzed; recurrent sequences were not found in PBMC from patients nor in PBMC and LN cells from seronegative controls. These findings suggest that antigen-driven oligoclonal T cell expansions may occur in vivo in lymphoid organs of HIV seropositive patients

DNA immunization of mice against SIVmac239 Gag and Env using Rev-independent expression plasmids.

Simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) structural gene expression, including gag and env, strictly depends on the interaction of the viral posttranscriptional regulator Rev with its target RNA, the Rev-responsive element (RRE). A small RNA element, termed the constitutive transport element (CTE), located in the 3' portion of simian retrovirus 1 (SRV-1) mRNA, can efficiently substitute for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) Rev-RRE interaction, and thus render HIV expression and replication Rev independent. We tested the ability of the SRV-1 CTE to drive the expression of SIVmac239 env and gag from subgenomic constructs designed for possible use in vaccine trials. In vitro expression studies showed that when the SRV-1 sequence is coupled to the SIV gag and env mRNAs, it functions in an orientation-dependent fashion, and leads to strong expression of SIV Gag and Env in human and monkey cell lines; levels of CTE-mediated protein expression were similar to those obtained with a functional Rev-RRE system. On the other hand, in murine fibroblast-like cells, SIV Gag and Env were expressed from constructs at relatively high levels even in the absence of Rev-RRE; nevertheless, their expression was increased by the presence of the SRV-1 CTE. As reported previously for HIV, the murine cell lines appeared to be defective for Rev-RRE activity, and required overexpression of Rev to induce a Rev response. Intramuscular injection of the gag-CTE and env-CTE constructs in BALB/c mice resulted in the expression of the corresponding mRNAs, and the production of anti-Gag and anti-Env antibodies, thus suggesting that these vectors might be used for genetic immunization approaches

Predicting GDP Growth with Stock and Bond Markets: Do They Contain Different Information?

This paper examines the ability of bond and stock markets to predict subsequent GDP growth over a range of horizons for twelve international countries. The results, using linear, probit, time- and regime-varying in-sample regressions and out-of-sample forecasting, confirm the view that both financial markets exhibit predictive power for future output growth. Moreover, there is notable variation within the strength of the predictive relation, for example, predictive power increases during the financial crisis period. Results suggest that while the term structure arguably exhibits stronger predictive power, both series contain distinct predictive information. Notably, predictive power emanating from the stock return series appears stronger over shorter (up to four-quarter) time horizons, while the term structure series exhibits more consistent predictive power over a range of horizons. Considering different regimes, we observe that the bond market exhibits greater predictive power for a flatter yield curve and lower stock prices relative to fundamentals, while the stock market exhibits greater predictive power for a steeper yield curve and higher relative stock prices. This suggests that the two financial markets exhibit different information content for future output growth. This view is further supported by forecast results whereby a model that includes both financial series outperforms a model that only includes one. Forecast encompassing tests further support the view that stock returns contain additional information over that presented by the term structure alone