Teaching digital holography through an interface in Java

We present an interactive simulation software to help to teach and learn the holography concept. The education interface was developed in the Java platform. The Holographic Interface is a computer assisted learning that can be used in classrooms or for distance education. The binary holograms are numerically generated and reconstructed in the virtual optical laboratory. Several procedures are shown. The interface has been implemented with different options such as addition, subtraction, multiplexing and some properties of holography. Moreover, the software was designed to simultaneously visualize the 2D object, the generated hologram and the recovered image. We have taken into account the students’ suggestions in this version in Java

Low Dose of Bisphosphonate Enhances Sclerostin Antibody‐Induced Trabecular Bone Mass Gains in Brtl/+ Osteogenesis Imperfecta Mouse Model

Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a genetic disorder characterized by altered bone quality and imbalanced bone remodeling, leading to skeletal fractures that are most prominent during childhood. Treatments for OI have focused on restoring pediatric bone density and architecture to recover functional strength and consequently reduce fragility. Though antiresorptive agents like bisphosphonates (BPs) are currently the most common intervention for the treatment of OI, a number of studies have shown efficacy of sclerostin antibody (SclAb) in inducing gains in bone mass and reducing fragility in OI mouse models. In this study, the effects of the concurrent use of BP and SclAb were evaluated during bone growth in a mouse harboring an OI‐causing Gly→Cys mutation on col1a1. A single dose of antiresorptive BP facilitated the anabolic action of SclAb by increasing availability of surfaces for new bone formation via retention of primary trabeculae that would otherwise be remodeled. Chronic effects of concurrent administration of BP and SclAb revealed that accumulating cycles conferred synergistic gains in trabecular mass and vertebral stiffness, suggesting a distinct advantage of both therapies combined. Cortical gains in mass and strength occurred through SclAb alone, independent of presence of BP. In conclusion, these preclinical results support the scientific hypothesis that minimal antiresorptive treatment can amplify the effects of SclAb during early stages of skeletal growth to further improve bone structure and rigidity, a beneficial outcome for children with OI. © 2018 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144688/1/jbmr3421.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144688/2/jbmr3421_am.pd

Evaluation of the Thermal Stability of a Vaccine Prototype Based on Virus-like Particle Formulated HIV-1 Envelope

The long-term storage stability of vaccines has a major impact on the roll-out and success of global immunization programs. For the Human Immunodeficiency Virus type 1 (HIV-1) virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine prototype evaluated here, nanoparticle tracking analysis (NTA), and enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assay (ELISA) results demonstrated a remarkable structural stability. VLPs maintained their integrity and the recognition of relevant B-cell epitopes for three months at 4 and -20 °C. Interestingly, most particles remained intact and preserved the recognition of relevant epitopes even after a week of storage at room temperature.This research was funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III within the Spanish AIDS Research Network (RIS), grant number RD16CIII/0002/0001 (Plan Estatal de I + D + I 2013-2016) and cofunded by European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) “A way to build Europe”. This study was also supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and University, Instituto de Salud Carlos III [PI17CIII-00049 (MPY126/18)] and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, Instituto de Salud Carlos III [PI20CIII-00039 (MPY315/20)]. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no. 681137 (EAVI-2020).S

Pamidronate Administration During Pregnancy and Lactation Induces Temporal Preservation of Maternal Bone Mass in a Mouse Model of Osteogenesis Imperfecta

During pregnancy and lactation, the maternal skeleton undergoes significant bone loss through increased resorption to provide the necessary calcium supply to the developing fetus and suckling neonate. This period of skeletal vulnerability has not been clearly associated with increased maternal fracture risk, but these physiological conditions can exacerbate an underlying metabolic bone condition like osteogenesis imperfecta. Although bisphosphonates (BPs) are commonly used in postmenopausal women, there are cases where premenopausal women taking BPs become pregnant. Given BPs’ long half‐life, there is a need to establish how BPs affect the maternal skeleton during periods of demanding metabolic bone changes that are critical for the skeletal development of their offspring. In the present study, pamidronate‐ (PAM‐) amplified pregnancy‐induced bone mass gains and lactation‐induced bone loss were prevented. This preservation of bone mass was less robust when PAM was administered at late stages of lactation compared with early pregnancy and first day of lactation. Pregnancy‐induced osteocyte osteolysis was also observed and was unaffected with PAM treatment. No negative skeletal effects were observed in offspring from PAM‐treated dams despite lactation‐induced bone loss prevention. These findings provide important insight into (1) a treatment window for when PAM is most effective in preserving maternal bone mass, and (2) the maternal changes in bone metabolism that maintain calcium homeostasis crucial for fetal and neonatal bone development. © 2019 American Society for Bone and Mineral ResearchPeer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153136/1/jbmr3831.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/153136/2/jbmr3831_am.pd

ANTIMICROBIAL EFFECT OF BIOLOGICAL AND CHEMICAL SILVER NANOPARTICLES IN ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLES

The resistance of bacterial strains to antimicrobial agents and biofilm-associated infections causes considerable economiclosses and worldwide deaths. If this problem continues it is estimated that in 2050, about 10 million human deaths couldoccur per year and the costs would reach 1 trillion USD globally. Most of the studies evaluating the antimicrobial effect ofan antimicrobial agent focus on pure bacterial cultures, even when it is known that microorganisms live in communities interacting with each other, causing a less efficient antimicrobial effect on target compounds. Because of previous data, it is necessary the search for alternative and effective methods that, at the same time, do not generate bacterial resistance;silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) can be an excellent alternative; moreover, the evaluation of these antimicrobial agents onmicrobial communities from environmental samples are needed. In this paper, we synthesized spherical AgNPs by biological and chemical methods with an average diameter of 10.32 and 9.53 nm respectively; we evaluated the antimicrobial effect of both in microbial populations that came from three different environmental samples (computer keyboard, tap water, and pharyngeal exudate). Results showed that both AgNPs are excellent antimicrobial agents obtaining for both inhibition percentages higher than 90%.La resistencia de las cepas bacterianas a los agentes antimicrobianos y las infecciones asociadas a biopelículas provoca pérdidas económicas considerables y muertes en todo el mundo. De  continuar este problema, se estima que en el año2050 podrían ocurrir alrededor de 10 millones de muertes humanas y los costos alcanzarían 1 billón de dólares a nivel mundial. La mayoría de los estudios de evaluación del efecto antimicrobiano se han enfocado en el estudio de cultivos puros, aun cuando se sabe que los microorganismos viven en comunidades que interactúan entre sí, lo anterior ocasionaque el efecto antimicrobiano de los compuestos objetivo sea menos eficiente. Debido a esto, es necesaria la búsqueda de métodos alternativos que sean efectivos y no generen resistencia bacteriana; las nanopartículas de plata (AgNPs) pueden ser una excelente alternativa, así también es muy importante la evaluación de estos agentes antimicrobianos encomunidades microbianas provenientes de muestras ambientales. En este estudio se reporta la síntesis de AgNPs esféricaspor métodos biológicos y químicos con un diámetro promedio de 10,32 y 9,53 nm respectivamente; se evalúa el efecto antimicrobiano de ambos tipos de nanopartículas en la población microbiana proveniente de tres muestras ambientalesdiferentes (teclado de computadora, agua del grifo y un exudado faríngeo). Los resultados mostraron que ambos tipos de AgNPs son excelentes agentes antimicrobianos obteniendo en ambos casos porcentajes de inhibición mayores al 90%

EFECTO DE LA DIETA SOBRE LA MODULACIÓN DE LA MICROBIOTA EN EL DESARROLLO DE LA OBESIDAD

Hoy en día, la microbiota gastrointestinal se ha transformado en un tema de investigación dinámica para  dilucidar su relación con  la dieta y la salud metabólica del huésped. En los últimos años se ha  reconocido que la microbiota intestinal presenta una interacción estrecha  en la regulación de la homeostasis inmune humana y el metabolismo, esto con lleva a nuevas oportunidades para la prevención de la obesidad y las enfermedades metabólicas asociadas como  la diabetes tipo 2, para generar estrategias en el  tratamiento de enfermedades metabólicos y sobre todo en esclarecer la prevalencia de la obesidad. En recientes investigaciones se ha establecido elementos que permiten establecer a la  microbiota intestinal como un mediador sobre el impacto de la dieta, el estado metabólico y el  peso corporal del huésped. Los mecanismos que permite una relación de la microbiota del intestino con la obesidad son generados  mediante la  combinación de modelos con animales de experimentación y ensayos clínicos. El reto fundamental  del tema  es la capacidad en  establecer  la causalidad de la relación entre la nutrición, la microbiota y la salud del huésped, así como los factores que inciden sobre los cambios en el peso corporal del individuo. Palabras clave: microbiota, tratamiento dietético, obesidad.  ABSTRACTToday, the gastrointestinal microbiota has been transformed into a dynamic research topic to elucidate its relationship with diet and metabolic health of the host. In recent years it has been recognized that the intestinal microbiota presents a close interaction in the regulation of human immune homeostasis and metabolism, leading to new opportunities for the prevention of obesity and associated metabolic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, to generate strategies in the treatment of metabolic diseases and especially in clarifying the prevalence of obesity. Recent research has established elements that allow establishing the intestinal microbiota as a mediator on the impact of diet, metabolic status and body weight of the host. The mechanisms allowing a relationship of the intestinal microbiota with obesity are generated by combining models with experimental animals and clinical trials. The fundamental challenge of the subject is the ability to establish the causality of the relationship between nutrition, microbiota and the health of the host, as well as the factors that influence the changes in the individual's body weight. Keywords: microbiota, dietary treatment, obesity

Radiative Transference Equation Algorithm as an ANSYS® User-Defined Function for Solar Technology Applications

Heat effects in photocatalytic reactor applications are discussed and a case study is analyzed where sunlight is used to activate a chemical reaction to degrade water pollutants. Heat is produced in the light-capturing process, and heat effects need to be better understood during the device design process. Radiative transfer equation (RTE) is the guiding equation used to calculate radiation proliferation in participating media, and it is used to describe the balance of radiative energy transport in the participating media including the interactions caused by different processes such as absorption, scattering, and emission, which also are subject to additional phenomena like weakening and magnification. This equation plays an important role in the design process since it may be included in the simulation process to represent the sunlight heat effects in the different photocatalytic reactor components. In this chapter, it is explained how to build a simplified algorithm to incorporate the RTE in a numerical calculation during the design of a photocatalytic reactor using the commercial software ANSYS®. In addition, simplifications are explained that enable the program to coordinate some coefficients such as absorption and dispersion so their effects are included within the numerical calculation. A user-defined function is presented in the end of the chapter as a usable algorithm in ANSYS® program with acceptable results for photocatalytic reactors

Characterization of immunoglobulin loci in the gigantic genome of Ambystoma mexicanum

BackgroundThe axolotl, Ambystoma mexicanum is a unique biological model for complete tissue regeneration. Is a neotenic endangered species and is highly susceptible to environmental stress, including infectious disease. In contrast to other amphibians, the axolotl is particularly vulnerable to certain viral infections. Like other salamanders, the axolotl genome is one of the largest (32 Gb) and the impact of genome size on Ig loci architecture is unknown. To better understand the immune response in axolotl, we aimed to characterize the immunoglobulin loci of A. mexicanum and compare it with other model vertebrates.MethodsThe most recently published genome sequence of A. mexicanum (V6) was used for alignment-based annotation and manual curation using previously described axolotl Ig sequences or reference sequences from other vertebrates. Gene models were further curated using A. mexicanum spleen RNA-seq data. Human, Xenopus tropicalis, Danio rerio (zebrafish), and eight tetrapod reference genomes were used for comparison.ResultsCanonical A. mexicanum heavy chain (IGH), lambda (IGL), sigma (IGS), and the putative surrogate light chain (SLC) loci were identified. No kappa locus was found. More than half of the IGHV genes and the IGHF gene are pseudogenes and there is no clan I IGHV genes. Although the IGH locus size is proportional to genome size, we found local size restriction in the IGHM gene and the V gene intergenic distances. In addition, there were V genes with abnormally large V-intron sizes, which correlated with loss of gene functionality.ConclusionThe A. mexicanum immunoglobulin loci share the same general genome architecture as most studied tetrapods. Consistent with its large genome, Ig loci are larger; however, local size restrictions indicate evolutionary constraints likely to be imposed by high transcriptional demand of certain Ig genes, as well as the V(D)J recombination over very long genomic distance ranges. The A. mexicanum has undergone an extensive process of Ig gene loss which partially explains a reduced potential repertoire diversity that may contribute to its impaired antibody response

Hydrodynamic Analysis on a Photocatalytic Reactor Using ANSYS Fluent^®

Solar technology includes a wide variety of developments in environmental applications that include photovoltaic cells and photocatalytic devices, among others. Sunlight usage as a clean energy source is highly desirable in technology applications. The main interest of this proposal is to carry on with hydrodynamic analysis in photocatalytic reactors applications where sunlight is used to activate a chemical reaction to degrade water pollutants and calculations are based in computational fluid dynamics (CFD) using ANSYS®. The different steps, geometric domain, preprocessing steps, setup, and postprocessing steps, are described to display an analysis of a numerical calculation during the design of a photocatalytic reactor using the commercial software ANSYS Fluent®. This work may help as a guide for chemical reactor design and includes a numerical solution of one case for a photocatalytic reactor during its design process. In addition, simplifications are explained which enable the designer to make an efficient process of the numerical calculation. Calculations and analysis are carried over in ANSYS Fluent® a powerful multi-physics program suite to develop photocatalytic reactors

Solvent Effects on Dye Sensitizers Derived from Anthocyanidins for Applications in Photocatalysis

Anthocyanidins under the effects of solvents water, ethanol, n-hexane, and methanol are interesting due to their suitability as natural dyes for photocatalytic applications. In this chapter, DFT and TDDFT methodologies are used to study their electronic structure. The results displayed include HOMO, LUMO, HOMO-LUMO gap, chemical properties, and reorganization energies for the ground states, and excited state data are also displayed. Malvidin in gas phase has lower gap energy. After addition of solvents, gap energy increases in all cases but malvidin with n-hexane presents narrower gap. Conceptual DFT results show that cyanidin and malvidin may have good charge transfer. Cyanidin presented lower electron reorganization energy (λe) using solvent water; however, ethanol and methanol had similar values. TDDFT is used to calculate excited states, and absorption data show wavelength main peak between 479.1 and 536.4 nm. UV-Vis absorption spectra were generated and solvent effects on each molecule is discussed. Anthocyanidins work well in the visible region with the stronger peak at the green region. These pigments are good options for photocatalysis application and cyanidin and malvidin, in this order, may be the best choices for dye sensitization applications