Bio-Benchmarking of Electronic Nose Sensors

BACKGROUND:Electronic noses, E-Noses, are instruments designed to reproduce the performance of animal noses or antennae but generally they cannot match the discriminating power of the biological original and have, therefore, been of limited utility. The manner in which odorant space is sampled is a critical factor in the performance of all noses but so far it has been described in detail only for the fly antenna. METHODOLOGY:Here we describe how a set of metal oxide (MOx) E-Nose sensors, which is the most commonly used type, samples odorant space and compare it with what is known about fly odorant receptors (ORs). PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:Compared with a fly's odorant receptors, MOx sensors from an electronic nose are on average more narrowly tuned but much more highly correlated with each other. A set of insect ORs can therefore sample broader regions of odorant space independently and redundantly than an equivalent number of MOx sensors. The comparison also highlights some important questions about the molecular nature of fly ORs. CONCLUSIONS:The comparative approach generates practical learnings that may be taken up by solid-state physicists or engineers in designing new solid-state electronic nose sensors. It also potentially deepens our understanding of the performance of the biological system

Experimental Mycobacterium bovis infection in three white rhinoceroses (Ceratotherium simum):Susceptibility, clinical and anatomical pathology

Tuberculosis caused by Mycobacterium bovis is endemic in the African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) population in the Kruger National Park and other conservation areas in South Africa. The disease has been diagnosed in a total of 21 free ranging or semi-free ranging wildlife species in the country with highly variable presentations in terms of clinical signs as well as severity and distribution of tuberculous lesions. Most species are spillover or dead-end hosts without significant role in the epidemiology of the disease. White rhinoceroses (Ceratotherium simum) are translocated from the Kruger National Park in substantial numbers every year and a clear understanding of their risk to manifest overt tuberculosis disease and to serve as source of infection to other species is required. We report the findings of experimental infection of three white rhinoceroses with a moderately low dose of a virulent field isolate of Mycobacterium bovis. None of the animals developed clinical signs or disseminated disease. The susceptibility of the white rhinoceros to bovine tuberculosis was confirmed by successful experimental infection based on the ante mortem isolation of M. bovis from the respiratory tract of one rhinoceros, the presence of acid-fast organisms and necrotizing granulomatous lesions in the tracheobronchial lymph nodes and the detection of M. bovis genetic material by PCR in the lungs of two animals

Calculation of the relative metastabilities of proteins using the CHNOSZ software package

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Proteins of various compositions are required by organisms inhabiting different environments. The energetic demands for protein formation are a function of the compositions of proteins as well as geochemical variables including temperature, pressure, oxygen fugacity and pH. The purpose of this study was to explore the dependence of metastable equilibrium states of protein systems on changes in the geochemical variables.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A software package called CHNOSZ implementing the revised Helgeson-Kirkham-Flowers (HKF) equations of state and group additivity for ionized unfolded aqueous proteins was developed. The program can be used to calculate standard molal Gibbs energies and other thermodynamic properties of reactions and to make chemical speciation and predominance diagrams that represent the metastable equilibrium distributions of proteins. The approach takes account of the chemical affinities of reactions in open systems characterized by the chemical potentials of basis species. The thermodynamic database included with the package permits application of the software to mineral and other inorganic systems as well as systems of proteins or other biomolecules.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Metastable equilibrium activity diagrams were generated for model cell-surface proteins from archaea and bacteria adapted to growth in environments that differ in temperature and chemical conditions. The predicted metastable equilibrium distributions of the proteins can be compared with the optimal growth temperatures of the organisms and with geochemical variables. The results suggest that a thermodynamic assessment of protein metastability may be useful for integrating bio- and geochemical observations.</p

Demographic, clinical and antibody characteristics of patients with digital ulcers in systemic sclerosis: data from the DUO Registry

OBJECTIVES: The Digital Ulcers Outcome (DUO) Registry was designed to describe the clinical and antibody characteristics, disease course and outcomes of patients with digital ulcers associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc). METHODS: The DUO Registry is a European, prospective, multicentre, observational, registry of SSc patients with ongoing digital ulcer disease, irrespective of treatment regimen. Data collected included demographics, SSc duration, SSc subset, internal organ manifestations, autoantibodies, previous and ongoing interventions and complications related to digital ulcers. RESULTS: Up to 19 November 2010 a total of 2439 patients had enrolled into the registry. Most were classified as either limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc; 52.2%) or diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc; 36.9%). Digital ulcers developed earlier in patients with dcSSc compared with lcSSc. Almost all patients (95.7%) tested positive for antinuclear antibodies, 45.2% for anti-scleroderma-70 and 43.6% for anticentromere antibodies (ACA). The first digital ulcer in the anti-scleroderma-70-positive patient cohort occurred approximately 5 years earlier than the ACA-positive patient group. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides data from a large cohort of SSc patients with a history of digital ulcers. The early occurrence and high frequency of digital ulcer complications are especially seen in patients with dcSSc and/or anti-scleroderma-70 antibodies

Search for new physics with dijet angular distributions in proton-proton collisions at root S = 13 TeV

Peer reviewe

Search for supersymmetry in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV using identified top quarks

A search for supersymmetry is presented based on proton-proton collision events containing identified hadronically decaying top quarks, no leptons, and an imbalance p(T)(miss) in transverse momentum. The data were collected with the CMS detector at the CERN LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb(-1). Search regions are defined in terms of the multiplicity of bottom quark jet and top quark candidates, the p(T)(miss) , the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta, and themT2 mass variable. No statistically significant excess of events is observed relative to the expectation from the standard model. Lower limits on the masses of supersymmetric particles are determined at 95% confidence level in the context of simplified models with top quark production. For a model with direct top squark pair production followed by the decay of each top squark to a top quark and a neutralino, top squark masses up to 1020 GeVand neutralino masses up to 430 GeVare excluded. For amodel with pair production of gluinos followed by the decay of each gluino to a top quark-antiquark pair and a neutralino, gluino masses up to 2040 GeVand neutralino masses up to 1150 GeVare excluded. These limits extend previous results.Peer reviewe

Measurement of vector boson scattering and constraints on anomalous quartic couplings from events with four leptons and two jets in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

Peer reviewe

Search for dijet resonances in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV and constraints on dark matter and other models

Correction: DOI:10.1016/j.physletb.2017.09.029Peer reviewe

Search for light bosons in decays of the 125 GeV Higgs boson in proton-proton collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe