Antigen depot is not required for alum adjuvanticity

Alum adjuvants have been in continuous clinical use for more than 80 yr. While the prevailing theory has been that depot formation and the associated slow release of antigen and/or inflammation are responsible for alum enhancement of antigen presentation and subsequent T- and B-cell responses, this has never been formally proven. To examine antigen persistence, we used the chimeric fluorescent protein EαGFP, which allows assessment of antigen presentation in situ, using the Y-Ae antibody. We demonstrate that alum and/or CpG adjuvants induced similar uptake of antigen, and in all cases, GFP signal did not persist beyond 24 h in draining lymph node antigen-presenting cells. Antigen presentation was first detectable on B cells within 6–12 h of antigen administration, followed by conventional dendritic cells (DCs) at 12–24 h, then finally plasmacytoid DCs at 48 h or later. Again, alum and/or CpG adjuvants did not have an effect on the magnitude or sequence of this response; furthermore, they induced similar antigen-specific T-cell activation in vivo. Notably, removal of the injection site and associated alum depot, as early as 2 h after administration, had no appreciable effect on antigen-specific T- and B-cell responses. This study clearly rules out a role for depot formation in alum adjuvant activity

Disclosure of Maternal HIV Status to Children: To Tell or Not To Tell . . . That Is the Question

HIV-infected mothers face the challenging decision of whether to disclose their serostatus to their children. From the perspective of both mother and child, we explored the process of disclosure, providing descriptive information and examining the relationships among disclosure, demographic variables, and child adjustment. Participants were 23 mothers and one of their noninfected children (9 to 16 years of age). Sixty-one percent of mothers disclosed. Consistent with previous research, disclosure was not related to child functioning. However, children sworn to secrecy demonstrated lower social competence and more externalizing problems. Differential disclosure, which occurred in one-third of the families, was associated with higher levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms. Finally, knowing more than mothers had themselves disclosed was related to child maladjustment across multiple domains. Clinical implications and the need for future research are considered

Impact of the Wiggler Coherent Synchrotron Radiation Impedance on the Beam Instability

Coherent Synchrotron Radiation (CSR) can play an important role by not only increasing the energy spread and emittance of a beam, but also leading to a potential instability. Previous studies of the CSR induced longitudinal instability were carried out for the CSR impedance due to dipole magnets. However, many storage rings include long wigglers where a large fraction of the synchrotron radiation is emitted. This includes high-luminosity factories such as DAPHNE, PEP-II, KEK-B, and CESR-C as well as the damping rings of future linear colliders. In this paper, the instability due to the CSR impedance from a wiggler is studied assuming a large wiggler parameter $K$. The primary consideration is a low frequency microwave-like instability, which arises near the pipe cut-off frequency. Detailed results are presented on the growth rate and threshold for the damping rings of several linear collider designs. Finally, the optimization of the relative fraction of damping due to the wiggler systems is discussed for the damping rings.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure

Low uptake of antiretroviral therapy after admission with human immunodeficiency virus and tuberculosis in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

A prospective cohort study was conducted among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected in-patients with tuberculosis (TB) or other opportunistic infections (OIs) in South Africa to estimate subsequent antiretroviral therapy (ART) uptake and survival

14-An Archaeological Survey along Portage River and Dorrance Creek above Indian Lake in Pavilion Township, Kalamazoo County, Michigan

For three weeks during the 1982 field season, the Western Michigan University archaeological field school was located near Indian Lake in Pavilion Township, T3S RlOW, Kalamazoo County, Michigan (Map 1). As part of the research program, systematic site location survey was planned for this area;one which had not received any prior archaeological attention. With the cooperation of area landowners and the assistance of several local artifact collectors, more than 20 parcels of cultivated land aggregating 3.9 km2 were evaluated by means of surface re~onnaissance or walk-over survey. There follows a report of survey activity, together with descriptions of the archaeological sites recorded

Advanced Materials for Exploration Task Research Results

The Advanced Materials for Exploration (AME) Activity in Marshall Space Flight Center s (MSFC s) Exploration Science and Technology Directorate coordinated activities from 2001 to 2006 to support in-space propulsion technologies for future missions. Working together, materials scientists and mission planners identified materials shortfalls that are limiting the performance of long-term missions. The goal of the AME project was to deliver improved materials in targeted areas to meet technology development milestones of NASA s exploration-dedicated activities. Materials research tasks were targeted in five areas: (1) Thermal management materials, (2) propulsion materials, (3) materials characterization, (4) vehicle health monitoring materials, and (5) structural materials. Selected tasks were scheduled for completion such that these new materials could be incorporated into customer development plans

High-sensitivity microfluidic calorimeters for biological and chemical applications

High-sensitivity microfluidic calorimeters raise the prospect of achieving high-throughput biochemical measurements with minimal sample consumption. However, it has been challenging to realize microchip-based calorimeters possessing both high sensitivity and precise sample-manipulation capabilities. Here, we report chip-based microfluidic calorimeters capable of characterizing the heat of reaction of 3.5-nL samples with 4.2-nW resolution. Our approach, based on a combination of hard- and soft-polymer microfluidics, provides both exceptional thermal response and the physical strength necessary to construct high-sensitivity calorimeters that can be scaled to automated, highly multiplexed array architectures. Polydimethylsiloxane microfluidic valves and pumps are interfaced to parylene channels and reaction chambers to automate the injection of analyte at 1 nL and below. We attained excellent thermal resolution via on-chip vacuum encapsulation, which provides unprecedented thermal isolation of the minute microfluidic reaction chambers. We demonstrate performance of these calorimeters by resolving measurements of the heat of reaction of urea hydrolysis and the enthalpy of mixing of water with methanol. The device structure can be adapted easily to enable a wide variety of other standard calorimeter operations; one example, a flow calorimeter, is described

Interlayer tunneling in double-layer quantum Hall pseudo-ferromagnets

We show that the interlayer tunneling I--V in double-layer quantum Hall states displays a rich behavior which depends on the relative magnitude of sample size, voltage length scale, current screening, disorder and thermal lengths. For weak tunneling, we predict a negative differential conductance of a power-law shape crossing over to a sharp zero-bias peak. An in-plane magnetic field splits this zero-bias peak, leading instead to a ``derivative'' feature at $V_B(B_{||})=2\pi\hbar v B_{||}d/e\phi_0$, which gives a direct measure of the dispersion of the Goldstone mode corresponding to the spontaneous symmetry breaking of the double-layer Hall state.Comment: 4 pgs. RevTex, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Sampling a Littoral Fish Assemblage: Comparison of Small-Mesh Fyke Netting and Boat Electrofishing

We compared small-mesh (4-mm) fyke netting and boat electrofishing for sampling a littoral fish assemblage in Muskegon Lake, Michigan. We hypothesized that fyke netting selects for small-bodied fishes and electrofishing selects for large-bodied fishes. Three sites were sampled during May (2004 and 2005), July (2005 only), and September (2004 and 2005). We found that the species composition of captured fish differed considerably between fyke netting and electrofishing based on nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS). Species strongly associated with fyke netting (based on NMDS and relative abundance) included the brook silverside Labidesthes sicculus, banded killifish Fundulus diaphanus, round goby Neogobius melanostomus, mimic shiner Notropis volucellus, and bluntnose minnow Pimephales notatus, whereas species associated with electrofishing included the Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha, catostomids (Moxostoma spp. and Catostomus spp.), freshwater drum Aplodinotus grunniens, walleye Sander vitreus, gizzard shad Dorosoma cepedianum, and common carp Cyprinus carpio. The total length of fish captured by electrofishing was 12.8 cm (95% confidence interval ¼ 5.5– 17.2 cm) greater than that of fish captured by fyke netting. Size selectivity of the gears contributed to differences in species composition of the fish captured, supporting our initial hypothesis. Thus, small-mesh fyke nets and boat electrofishers provided complementary information on a littoral fish assemblage. Our results support use of multiple gear types in monitoring and research surveys of fish assemblages. Copyright by the American Fisheries Society 2007, Originally published in the North American Journal of Fisheries Management 27: 825-831, 2007