A Strategy for Electronic Dissemination of NASA Langley Technical Publications

To demonstrate NASA Langley Research Center\u27s relevance and to transfer technology to external customers in a timely and efficient manner, Langley has formed a working group to study and recommend a course of action for the electronic dissemination of technical reports (EDTR). The working group identified electronic report requirements (e.g., accessibility, file format, search requirements) of customers in U.S. industry through numerous site visits and personal contacts. Internal surveys were also used to determine commonalities in document preparation methods. From these surveys, a set of requirements for an electronic dissemination system was developed. Two candidate systems were identified and evaluated against the set of requirements: the Full-Text Electronic Documents System (FEDS), which is a full-text retrieval system based on the commercial document management package Interleaf, and the Langley Technical Report Server (LTRS), which is a Langley-developed system based on the publicly available World Wide Web (WWW) software system. Factors that led to the selection of LTRS as the vehicle for electronic dissemination included searching and viewing capability, current system operability, and client software availability for multiple platforms at no cost to industry. This report includes the survey results, evaluations, a description of the LTRS architecture, recommended policy statement, and suggestions for future implementations

Bacterial lipid II analogs : novel in vitro substrates for mammalian oligosaccharyl diphosphodolichol diphosphatase (DLODP) activities

Mammalian protein N-glycosylation requires the transfer of an oligosaccharide containing 2 residues of N-acetylglucosamine, 9 residues of mannose and 3 residues of glucose (Glc3Man9 GlcNAc2) from Glc3Man9GlcNAc2-diphospho (PP)-dolichol (DLO) onto proteins in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Under some pathophysiological conditions, DLO biosynthesis is perturbed, and truncated DLO is hydrolyzed to yield oligosaccharyl phosphates (OSP) via unidentified mechanisms. DLO diphosphatase activity (DLODP) was described in vitro, but its characterization is hampered by a lack of convenient non-radioactive substrates. Our objective was to develop a fluorescence-based assay for DLO hydrolysis. Using a vancomycin-based solid-phase extraction procedure coupled with thin layer chromatography (TLC) and mass spectrometry, we demonstrate that mouse liver membrane extracts hydrolyze fluorescent bacterial lipid II (LII: GlcNAc-MurNAc(dansyl-pentapeptide)-PP-undecaprenol) to yield GlcNAc-MurNAc(dansyl-pentapeptide)-P (GM5P). GM5P production by solubilized liver microsomal proteins shows similar biochemical characteristics to those reported for human hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cell DLODP activity. To conclude, we show, for the first time, hydrolysis of lipid II by a eukaryotic enzyme. As LII and DLO are hydrolyzed by the same, or closely related, enzymes, fluorescent lipid II analogs are convenient non-radioactive substrates for investigating DLODP and DLODP-like activities

A reference genome and methylome for the Plasmodium knowlesi A1-H.1 line.

Plasmodium knowlesi, a common parasite of macaques, is recognised as a significant cause of human malaria in Malaysia. The P. knowlesi A1H1 line has been adapted to continuous culture in human erythrocytes, successfully providing an in vitro model to study the parasite. We have assembled a reference genome for the PkA1-H.1 line using PacBio long read combined with Illumina short read sequence data. Compared with the H-strain reference, the new reference has improved genome coverage and a novel description of methylation sites. The PkA1-H.1 reference will enhance the capabilities of the in vitro model to improve the understanding of P. knowlesi infection in humans

Substrate and Stereochemical Control of Peptidoglycan Cross-Linking by Transpeptidation by Escherichia coli PBP1B

Penicillin binding proteins (PBPs) catalyzing transpeptidation reactions that stabilize the peptidoglycan component of the bacterial cell wall are the targets of β-lactams, the most clinically successful antibiotics to date. However, PBP-transpeptidation enzymology has evaded detailed analysis, because of the historical unavailability of kinetically competent assays with physiologically relevant substrates and the previously unappreciated contribution of protein cofactors to PBP activity. By re-engineering peptidoglycan synthesis, we have constructed a continuous spectrophotometric assay for transpeptidation of native or near native peptidoglycan precursors and fragments by Escherichia coli PBP1B, allowing us to (a) identify recognition elements of transpeptidase substrates, (b) reveal a novel mechanism of stereochemical editing within peptidoglycan transpeptidation, (c) assess the impact of peptidoglycan substrates on β-lactam targeting of transpeptidation, and (d) demonstrate that both substrates have to be bound before transpeptidation occurs. The results allow characterization of high molecular weight PBPs as enzymes and not merely the targets of β-lactam acylation

Reporting on sustainability and HRM: a comparative study of sustainability reporting practices by the world’s largest companies

As a response to the growing public awareness on the importance of organisational contributions to sustainable development, there is an increased incentive for corporations to report on their sustainability activities. In parallel with this has been the development of ‘Sustainable HRM’ which embraces a growing body of practitioner and academic literature connecting the notions of corporate sustainability to HRM. The aim of this article is to analyse corporate sustainability reporting amongst the world’s largest companies and to assess the HRM aspects of sustainability within these reports in comparison to environmental aspects of sustainable management and whether organisational attributes – principally country-of-origin – influences the reporting of such practices. A focus in this article is the extent to which the reporting of various aspects of sustainability may reflect dominant models of corporate governance in the country in which a company is headquartered. The findings suggest, first and against expectations, that the overall disclosure on HRM-related performance is not lower than that on environmental performance. Second, companies report more on their internal workforce compared to their external workforce. Finally, international differences, in particular those between companies headquartered in liberal market economies and coordinated market economies, are not as apparent as expected

Rapid increase of Plasmodium falciparum dhfr/dhps resistant haplotypes, after the adoption of sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine as first line treatment in 2002, in southern Mozambique

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In late 2002, the health authorities of Mozambique implemented sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP)/amodiaquine (AQ) as first-line treatment against uncomplicated falciparum malaria. In 2004, this has been altered to SP/artesunate in line with WHO recommendations of using Artemisinin Combination Therapies (ACTs), despite the fact that all the neighbouring countries have abandoned SP-drug combinations due to high levels of SP drug resistance. In the study area, one year prior to the change to SP/AQ, SP alone was used to treat uncomplicated malaria cases. The study described here investigated the immediate impact of the change to SP on the frequency of SP and CQ resistance-related haplotypes in the <it>Plasmodium falciparum </it>genes <it>Pfdhfr, Pfdhps </it>and <it>Pfcrt </it>before and a year after the introduction of SP.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Samples were collected during two cross sectional surveys in early 2002 and 2003 involving 796 and 692 children one year or older and adults randomly selected living in Maciana, an area located in Manhiça district, Southern Mozambique. Out of these, 171 and 173 <it>P. falciparum </it>positive samples were randomly selected to measure the frequency of resistance- related haplotypes in <it>Pfdhfr, Pfdhps </it>and <it>Pfcrt </it>based on results obtained by nested PCR followed by sequence-specific oligonucleotide probe (SSOP)-ELISA.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The frequency of the SP-resistance associated <it>Pfdhps </it>double mutant (SGEAA) haplotype increased significantly from 14% to 35% (P < 0.001), while the triple mutant <it>Pfdhfr </it>haplotype (CIRNI) remained high and only changed marginally from 46% to 53% (P = 0.405) after one year with SP as first-line treatment in the study area. Conversely, the combined <it>Pfdhfr/Pfdhps </it>quintuple mutant haplotype increased from 8% to 26% (P = 0.005). The frequency of the chloroquine resistance associated <it>Pfcrt</it>-CVIET haplotype was above 90% in both years.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These retrospective findings add to the general concern on the lifespan of the combination of SP/artesunate in Mozambique. The high frequency of quintuple <it>Pfdhfr</it>/<it>Pfdhps </it>haplotypes found here as early as 2002 most likely cause ideal conditions for the development of artesunate tolerance in the <it>P. falciparum </it>populations and may even endanger the sensitivity to the second-line drug, Coartem^®.</p

Participatory Augering: A methodology for challenging perceptions of archaeology and landscape change

Public engagement is a significant feature of twenty-first-century archaeological practice. While more diverse audiences are connecting with the discipline in a multitude of ways, public perceptions of archaeology are still marred by stereotypes. Community excavations of ‘sites’ to discover ‘treasures’ which tell us about the ‘past’ overshadow other forms of public research output and hinder the potential of the discipline to contribute to contemporary society more widely. This paper proposes participatory augering as an active public engagement method that challenges assumptions about the nature of archaeological practice by focusing on interpretation at a landscape-scale. Through exploration of recent participatory augering research by the REFIT Project and Environmental Archaeologist Mike Allen, this paper demonstrates how the public can contribute to active archaeological research by exploring narratives of landscape change. Evaluation of the existing case studies reflects the potential of the approach to engage audiences with new archaeological methods and narratives which have the potential to transform perceptions of the discipline and, through knowledge exchange, drive community-led contributions to contemporary landscape management