Entity and Relational Queries over Big Data Storage

Big data storage involves using NoSQL technologies to handle and process huge volumes of data. NoSQL databases are non-relational, schema-free where data is stored as key-value pairs. The aim of the thesis is to implement Entity and Relational queries on top of Big Data storage. In order to achieve this, we use NoSQL technologies like MongoDB and HBase. We implement various methodologies and solutions on top of MongoDB and HBase to map data across different tables and implement entity and relational queries to retrieve entities from huge volumes of data. We also measure the performance of both the technologies and optimize them to increase the retrieval speed

A STUDY ON KNOWLEDGE, ATTITUDES, AND PRACTICES FOR THE PREVENTION OF DIABETIC FOOT IN RURAL TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL

Objective: To assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice of diabetic patients regarding care of their own feet.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted in the inpatient department of surgery at Adichunchanagiri hospital and research centre, B. G. Nagara, Karnataka, India from 1st Nov. 2016 to 31st Dec. 2016. The relation between gender and knowledge, attitude and practices of people with diabetes patients were compared by using the Chi-square test at 95% confidence interval at p<0.05.Results: Out of 51 patients, 72.54% were male and 27.46% female and 45.1% of the patients were in the age range 61-80 y. The mean SD of the age was 60.49±14.02. The mean SD of body weight of the patient was 66.17±8.54. The majority of the patients 45.1% were farmers and 41.7% were illiterate. Most of them did not know the practice of correct foot hygiene (39.22%) and what abnormalities observe in their feet (66.67%). We found that 90.2% patients were engaged in foot self-care practice and more than half of them (54.1%) always inspected their footwear before using it. Interestingly, more women were involved in foot care (100%) as compared to men (86.46%) but statistically not significant (p=0.147).Conclusion: We found that patients were not having sufficient knowledge about the correct hygiene of the foot, what abnormalities to observe in their feet and about ideal footwear. Even though females were showing interest towards self-care examination and foot care practice, it is essential that all the diabetic patients must be educated about the knowledge, attitude and foot self-care practice to prevent diabetic foot related complications

Environmental Factors that Influence the Geography of Yemen Leading to Dust and Sand Storms - A Case Study

In Yemen, the dust storm is a common phenomenon severely affecting the economy and health. Yemen is located in a semi-desert desert area, where dust and sand storms occur all year round, however they are the most common at summer (from June until the end of September). Coastal areas (Hajjah, Hoddeidah, Taiz, Lahg, Aden, Abyan, Shabwah and Hadramout) and desert areas (Marib and Al Jowf) are affected by dust and sandstorms almost all year round. The western and central governorates of Yemen are mountainous regions, but influenced by dust too. Dust storms in Yemen have an impact on humans, animals, plants and all environmental ecosystems. In this article, we attempted to understand the possible relationship between environmental parameters such as wind temperature, and precipitation, which influence the development of dust and sand storms in and around Yemen. Statistical analysis such as descriptive statistics, T-test, ANOVA one-way test, Tukey test, Levene test, and Correlation test were performed. The statistical analysis confirms that there is a significant correlation between wind, temperature and precipitation at 0.01 and 0.05 levels. The results further depict that environmental factors play a vital role in the formation of dust and sand storm. The results obtained are encouraging and further research will be conducted based on technological evidence

Environmental factors that influence the geography of Yemen leading to dust and sand storms - a case study

In Yemen, the dust storm is a common phenomenon severely affecting the economy and health. Yemen is located in a semi-desert desert area, where dust and sand storms occur all year round, however they are the most common at summer (from June until the end of September). Coastal areas (Hajjah, Hoddeidah, Taiz, Lahg, Aden, Abyan, Shabwah and Hadramout) and desert areas (Marib and Al Jowf) are affected by dust and sandstorms almost all year round. The western and central governorates of Yemen are mountainous regions, but influenced by dust too. Dust storms in Yemen have an impact on humans, animals, plants and all environmental ecosystems. In this article, we attempted to understand the possible relationship between environmental parameters such as wind temperature, and precipitation, which influence the development of dust and sand storms in and around Yemen. Statistical analysis such as descriptive statistics, T-test, ANOVA one-way test, Tukey test, Levene test, and Correlation test were performed. The statistical analysis confirms that there is a significant correlation between wind, temperature and precipitation at 0.01 and 0.05 levels. The results further depict that environmental factors play a vital role in the formation of dust and sand storm. The results obtained are encouraging and further research will be conducted based on technological evidence

A para-virtualization technique to improve the performance of cross-platform emulation

A cross platform system emulator is a hyper-visor which can emulate a source ISA (Instruction Set Architecture) platform on a different target ISA platform. Since the source instruction cannot be executed directly on the target system, each CPU instruction of the source platform should be converted to one or more target instructions. This incurs additional overhead, thus reducing the overall performance. In this paper we propose a solution to improve the performance of cross platform emulators that use a binary translator to translate a guest ISA to a target ISA. The solution para-virtualizes hot guest functions by invoking a more efficient host native code instead of translated guest code

Host-Reaktionen auf die partikulären Virulenzfaktoren von Bakterien und Parasiten

Table of Contents General Introduction 1 1.1 Infection and Immunity 1 1.1.1 Infection 1 1.1.2 Virulence and Virulence Factors 1 1.1.3 Immunity 2 1.1.4 Vaccines 3 1.1.5 Adjuvants and Vaccine Delivery Systems 5 1.1.5.1 Biodegradable Poly Lactic acid (PLA) as Particulate Vaccine Delivery System and Adjuvant 7 1.1.5.2 NKT cells and Glycolipids Adjuvants 10 1.1.5.2.1 NKT Cells 10 1.1.5.2.2 Glycolipid Antigens as iNKT Cell Adjuvants 10 1.1.5.2.3 α-Galactosyl Ceramide and Its Analogs 12 1.1.5.2.4 Bacterial Glycolipids 13 Materials and Methods 15 2.1 Materials 15 2.1.1 Instruments and Implements 15 2.1.2 Consumables 16 2.1.3 Chemicals, Polymers and Special Reagents 16 2.1.4 Mice, Cell Lines and Parasite Strains 17 2.1.5 Antibodies, Reagents and Kits 17 2.1.5.1 Antibodies 17 2.1.5.2 Reagents and Kits 18 2.1.5.3 Biochemistry Reagents 18 2.1.6 Materials for Cell Biology Methods 19 2.1.6.1 Media components 19 2.1.6.2 Buffers 20 2.2 Methods 21 2.2.1 Vaccine Delivery Systems 21 2.2.1.1 Fabrication of PLA Nano (NP) and Micro Particles (MP) 21 2.2.1.2 Fabrication of 6-Coumarin Loaded Fluorescent PLA Nano and Microparticles 21 2.2.1.3 Formulation of Antigen Loaded PLA Nano- and Microparticles 23 2.2.1.3.1 Depolymerization of Polysaccharide Antigen 23 2.2.1.3.2 Glycolipid Solubility 23 2.2.1.4 Formulation of PLA Nano (NP) and Microparticles (MP) Co- encapsulating Glycolipid and Polysaccharide Antigens 23 2.2.1.4 Preparation of CRM197-CPS3 Protein Glycoconjugate 24 2.2.1.4.1 Treatment of Polysaccharide 24 2.2.1.4.2 Periodate Oxidation 24 2.2.1.4.3 Introduction of Primary Amino Groups by Reductive Amination 25 2.2.1.4.4 Conjugation of Aminated CPS3 with CRM 197 Carrier Protein 26 2.2.2 Analytical Methods 27 2.2.2.1 Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS) Analysis 27 2.2.2.2 Electron Microscopy and Immune Gold Labeling 27 2.2.2.3 Protein Concentration Determination 28 2.2.2.4 SDS-PAGE and Western Blot 28 2.2.2.5 Proteomic Analysis of Microvesicles 28 2.2.2.6 Flow Cytometry 30 2.2.2.7 Confocal Microscopy Analysis of Antigen Loaded PLA Nano and Microparticles 30 2.2.2.8 Estimation of Encapsulated Antigens from PLA Nano and Microparticles 30 2.2.2.8.1 Particle Lysis Protocol 30 2.2.2.8.2 Flochs Extraction 31 2.2.2.9 MALDI-TOF-MS 31 2.2.2.10 HPAEC-PAD Quantification of α-GalCer (GSL) from PLA Nano and Microparticles 32 2.2.2.11 Size Exclusion Chromatography (SEC) of CRM197-CPS3 Protein Glycoconjugate 33 2.2.2.12 Glycan Microarray 33 2.2.3 Cell Biology Methods 34 2.2.3.1 Cell Culture 34 2.2.3.2 Cultivation of Toxoplasma gondii 35 2.2.3.3 Isolation and Purification of ELVs 35 2.2.3.4 Isolation of Glycosylphosphatidylinositol anchors (GPI) from Toxoplasma gondii 36 2.2.3.5 Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) 36 2.2.3.6 Cellular Uptake of PLA Nano- and Microparticles 38 2.2.3.7 Splenocyte Isolation 38 2.2.3.8 Isolation and Production of Bone Marrow Dendritic Cells 38 2.2.3.9 In vitro Stimulation of Splenocytes by PLA Nano and Microparticles 38 2.2.3.10 Dendritic Cell Loading and Splenocyte Activation 39 2.2.3.11 Apoptosis Studies in RAW 264.7 Macrophages 39 2.2.4 In vivo Studies 39 2.2.4.1 Ethics Statement 39 2.2.4.2 Immunization 39 2.2.4.3 Serum collection 40 Fabrication, Characterization and Immunological Evaluation of Polymeric Particles for the Delivery of Polysaccharide-Glycolipid Combination Vaccines 41 3.1 Introduction 42 3.1.1 Carbohydrate Antigens 42 3.1.2 Streptococcous pneumoniae 42 3.1.3 Pneumococcal Virulence Factors 43 3.1.4 Pneumococcal Capsular Polysaccharide 44 3.1.4.1 Streptococcus pneumoniae Serotype-3 Capsular Polysaccharide 47 3.1.5 Vaccines Against Capsular Polysaccharide 47 3.1.5.1 Capsular Polysaccharide Vaccines 48 3.1.5.2 Glycoconjugate Vaccine 49 3.1.6 Nasopharyngeal Carriage of Streptococcus pneumoniae and Natural Immunity 51 3.1.7 Mucosal Delivery of Polysaccharide Antigens 51 3.2 Results and Discussion 54 3.2.1. Glycolipid Antigens Show Immune Stimulatory Properties with Adjuvant Activity 54 3.2.1.1. Immunization Studies to Evaluate CPS-3 Specific Immune Responses of Mice Immunized with Glycosphingolipid (GSL) and Alum as Adjuvant 55 3.2.2. Fabrication and Characterization of Polylactic Acid (PLA) Nano- and Microparticles 57 3.2.2.1 Fabrication of PLA Microparticles 58 3.2.2.2 Fabrication of PLA Nanoparticles 60 3.2.3. Fabrication of PLA Nano- and Microparticles Encapsulating Capsular Polysaccharide-3 (CPS-3) Antigen 62 3.2.3.1 Immunization Studies to Evaluate Polysaccharide Specific Immune Response of Mice Immunized with CPS-3 Encapsulated PLA Nano- and Microparticles 64 3.2.4. Fabrication of PLA Nano- and Microparticles Co- Encapsulating Capsular Polysaccharide-3 (CPS-3) and Glycosphingolipid (GSL) Antigen 66 3.2.4.1 Quantification and Encapsulation Efficiency of CPS-3 and GSL 68 3.2.4.2. Splenocyte Activation by Soluble and Particulate GSL 70 3.2.4.3. Immunological Evaluation of CPS-3 and GSL Co-encapsulated PLA Nano- and Microparticles 73 3.2.5. Influences of Polysaccharide Size on the Immune Response 76 3.2.5.1 Preparation of CRM197-CPS3 Protein Conjugate 76 3.2.5.2 Immunization Studies to Evaluate Polysaccharide (CPS-3) Specific Immune Responses from Mice Immunized with Glycosphingolipid (GSL) and Alum Adjuvant 80 3.2.6. Mice Immunized with Particulate Formulations and Challenged with CPS-3 Polysaccharide Show Hyporesponsiveness and No Immunological Memory 82 3.2.6.1. GSL Rescues the Polysaccharide Induced Hyporesponsiveness in Soluble Formulations 84 3.2.6.2. Glycan Array Analysis Reveals Different Epitope Recognition 85 3.3 Conclusion 89 Toxoplasma gondii Exosome Like Vesicles (ELVs) act as Carriers of Virulence Factors 93 4.1 Introduction 94 4.1.1 Extracellular Vesicles 94 4.1.2 Extracellular Vesicles of Pathogens 95 4.1.3 Toxoplasmosis 96 4.1.4 Infection Biology of Toxoplasma gondii 97 4.1.5 Host Resistance and Immunity to Toxoplasma gondii infections 98 4.2 Results and Discussion 99 4.2.1 Toxoplasma gondii Tachyzoites Secrete Exosome Like Vesicles (ELVs) in a Time Dependent Manner 99 4.2.2 Toxoplasma gondii ELVs Contain Parasitic Proteins and Glycolipids 101 4.2.3 Peritonial Fluid of Toxoplasma gondii Infected Mice Contains ELVs with Parasite Proteins 103 4.2.4 Toxoplasma ELVs from RH and PTG Strains are Composed of Different Parasitic Proteins 104 4.2.5 Toxoplasma ELVs from RH and PTG Strains Differ in Parasitic Glycolipid (GPI) Composition 106 4.2.6 Toxoplasma ELVs Enhance Apoptosis of RAW Macrophages in the Presence of Exogenous IFN-γ 107 4.3 Conclusion 110 5\. References 112 Appendix 127Virulence factors decorate the surface of pathogens or are secreted as vesicular components of various shapes and sizes, thereby functioning as particulates and mediating diverse host responses. The knowledge of such particulate virulence factors and the host responses they mediate can be exploited in the development of disease intervention strategies like vaccines and therapeutics. Polysaccharides form an important class of virulence factors in bacteria like Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenza b and Neisseria meningitidis. Vaccine development against polysaccharide antigens is often challenging due to poor immunogenicity, absence of T cell recruitment in the case of polysaccharide vaccines and variables like the nature of the carbohydrate antigen, the carrier protein, the conjugation chemistry and the type of adjuvant used in the case of glycoconjugate vaccines. In the first part of this thesis (Chapter 3), a vaccine delivery system was developed to address the shortcomings of existing glycoconjugate vaccines. Capsular polysaccharide-3 (CPS-3) was used as the antigen and the well-characterized glycolipid α-GalCer (KRN 7000) was used as the adjuvant. Multiple cmbinations of CPS-3 and α-GalCer were formulated, including their co-encapsulation into either nano- or micrometer sized particles of polylactic acid. Incorporation of antigen and adjuvant in these particles was qualitatively and quantitatively assessed using biochemical and biophysical techniques. The particles were found to induce an immune response in mice, highlighting the immunogenic properties of the formulation. A physical mixture of CPS3 and α-GalCer as well as a CPS3 polysaccharide-protein conjugate used as controls produced comparable antibody titers that were lower than that obtained using the commercially available vaccine Prevnar 13®. Importantly, upon challenge with CPS-3 antigen, the particulate and soluble formulations, including Prevnar 13® mice developed a hyporesponsiveness phenotype except for the mice immunized with the physical CPS-3/α- GalCer mixture. Several studies have highlighted the hyporesponsiveness observed against the serotype-3 capsular polysaccharide of S. pneumoniae and this could be a serious drawback of the commercial vaccine. Using glycan microarray analysis, the antisera from Prevnar13 and physical CPS-3/α-GalCer mixture immunized groups correlated with a differential recognition of synthetic CPS-3 substructures highlighting the possible influence of the polysaccharide size on immune response. Thus, co- administration of α-GalCer in a physical mixture with CPS-3 leads to an altered recongition of certain epitopes and can be used to overcome hyporesponsiveness. The results obtained here have to be further validated using the other vaccine serotypes of S. pneumoniae. These results combined with the chemical synthesis of carbohydrate antigens indicate a promising future for the use of synthetic glycolipids as vaccine adjuvants. This would assist in the rational design of highly controlled vaccines enhancing the efficacy and minimizing formulation inconsistencies. The polymeric particulates of polylactic acid presented in this thesis, have a potential future application as excellent drypowder multicomponent vaccine formulation comprising of numerous antigens with well-defined adjuvants formulated on a single carrier platform. The packaging of the PLA based vaccine formulation into inhalers increases the shelf life and also encourages the needle-free self administration of the vaccine through the intranasal routes. Extracellular vesicles in the form of exosomes, ectosomes, microvesicles and microparticles are gaining importance as modulators of both systemic and cellular host responses. Unicellular pathogens like Trypanosama cruzi, Leishmania donovani, Cryptococcous neoformans, and Plasmodium falciparum are known to secrete such extracellular vesicles that can act as carriers of virulence factors. In the second part of this thesis (Chapter 4), the ability of Toxoplasma gondii to secrete/shed such extracellular vesicles and possible effector functions mediated was investigated. The study describes the isolation and characterization of Exosome Like Vesicles (ELVs) from the peritoneal fluid of Toxoplasma-infected mice and in vitro cultured tachyzoites. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements showed that the isolated ELVs had a uniform size of 80-100 nm. Proteomic analysis revealed several parasitic proteins such as SAG-1, SAG-2, SAG-3, GRA-3, GRA-6, GRA-7, GRA-12, Myosin, Actin, ROP-2, ROP-4, ROP-8, MIC-1, MIC-2, MIC-3, AMA-1, HSP-70 and HSP-90. Flow cytometry studies also showed differential expression of parasite glycolipids, glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchors on these ELVs. The proteins and glycolipid reported here are immunodominant epitopes important for both diagnosis and immunoprophylatics. The ELVs, in the presence of an external inducer, showed enhancement in apoptosis induction of uninfected macrophages. The particulate nature of the ELVs comprising of several important parasitic factors might exert an effect on distant cell populations and modulate the host responses to favor parasite growth. The observations reported here draws attention to the previously unnoticed role of Toxoplama ELVs. The role of ELVs in the context of in vivo Toxoplasma infection needs further investigation and the results might give useful insights for designing reliable prevention strategies against toxoplasmosis.Virulenzfaktoren finden sich meist auf der Oberfläche von Pathogenen, können aber auch in Form von Vesikeln unterschiedlicher Form und Größe sezerniert werden. Dabei rufen sie durch ihre partikulären Eigenschaften verschiedenartige Reaktionen im Wirt hervor. Die Untersuchung dieser Partikel und der ausgelösten Reaktionen des Wirtes können entscheidende Hinweise bei der Bekämpfung von Krankheiten liefern, zum Beispiel bei der Entwicklung von Impfstoffen oder Therapeutika. Während Polysaccharide bedeutende Virulenzfaktoren in bakteriellen Erregern wie Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae b und Neisseria meningitidis sind, gestaltet sich die Entwicklung von Polysaccharid-basierten Impfstoffen oft schwierig. Dies lässt sich im Falle von Polysaccharidimpfstoffen auf die geringe Immunogenität und das Fehlen einer T-Zell-vermittelten Immunantwort zurückführen, bei Glykokonjugatimpfstoffen dagegen auf die Wahl der richtigen Kombination aus Kohlenhydratantigen, Trägerprotein, Konjugationschemie und Art des Adjuvans. Der erste Teil dieser Arbeit (Kapitel 3) beschreibt die Entwicklung eines Formulierungssystems für Impfstoffe, um die Schwachstellen bestehender Glykokonjugatimpfstoffe zu umgehen. Als Antigen wurde das Kapselpolysaccharid von S. pneumoniae Serotyp 3 (CPS-3), als Adjuvans das gut charakterisierte Glykolipid α-GalCer (KRN 7000) gewählt. Es wurden Formulierungen verschiedener Kombinationen aus CPS-3 und α-GalCer hergestellt, darunter die Verkapselung beider Komponenten in mikro- oder nanometergroßen Partikeln aus Polymilchsäure. Der Einschluss von Antigen und Adjuvans wurde dabei mit Hilfe biochemischer und biophysischer Methoden qualitativ und quantitativ verfolgt. Die Partikel induzierten eine Immunantwort in Mäusen, was die immunogenen Eigenschaften der Formulierung bestätigt. Eine physikalische Mischung aus CPS-3 und α-GalCer und ein CPS-3-Polysaccharid-Protein- Konjugat erzeugten vergleichbare Antikörperspiegel, die jedoch geringer waren als die durch den kommerziell erhältlichen Impfstoff Prevnar13® hervorgerufenen. Bemerkenswerterweise wurde bei Verabreichung von CPS-3 zur Simulation einer natürlichen Infektion in mit allen partikulären und löslichen Formulierungen – einschließlich Prevnar13 – behandelten Mäusen ein hyporesponsiver Phänotyp beobachtet, mit Ausnahme der physikalischen CPS-3/α- GalCer-Mischung. Diese induzierte Hyporesponsivität ist eine bekannte Eigenschaft von S. pneumoniae CPS-3 und könnte ein entscheidender Nachteil des kommerziell erhältlichen Impfstoffes sein. Mittels Glykan-Mikroarrayanalyse stellte sich heraus, dass die Antiseren der mit Prevnar13 und der physikalischen CPS-3/α-GalCer-Mischung immunisierten Mäuse sich durch unterschiedliche Erkennungsmuster synthetischer CPS-3-Substrukturen auszeichneten. Dies weist auf einen möglichen Zusammenhang zwischen Immunantwort und Größe des Polysaccharids hin. Durch die Applikation einer physikalischen Mischung aus α-GalCer und CPS-3 lässt sich also eine Veränderung des Erkennungsmusters der Kohlenhydratepitope hervorrufen, was mit ausbleibender Hyporesponsivität einhergeht. Die hier gezeigten Ergebnisse sollen im nächsten Schritt mittels weiterer S. pneumoniae-Serotypen auf Allgemeingültigkeit überprüft werden. In Kombination mit dem Fortschritt in der Synthese von kleinstmöglichen Kohlenhydratantigenen könnte mit den gewonnenen Erkenntnissen ein großer Schritt hin zu gezielt und kontrolliert hergestellten Impfstoffen mit stark verbesserten Wirkungsprofilen getätigt werden, indem Unzulänglichkeiten durch die Formulierung schlecht charakterisierter Inhaltsstoffe ausgeschlossen werden. Die hier präsentierten Polymilchsäurepartikel könnten in der Herstellung von Trockenpulverimpfstoffen Anwendung finden, die potentiell mehrere Antigene in Kombination mit gut charakterisierten Adjuvantien auf einer einzigen Trägerplattform präsentieren. Durch die gegenüber proteinbasierten Impfstoffen erhöhte Haltbarkeit wird außerdem eine intranasale Applikation in Inhalatoren ermöglicht, was ein großer Fortschritt im Zuge der Entwicklung spritzenfreier Impfstoffe wäre. Extrazelluläre Vesikel in Form von Exosomen, Ektosomen, Mikrovesikeln und Mikropartikeln gewinnen zunehmend an Bedeutung, weil sie Reaktionen im Wirt auf sowohl systemischer als auch zellulärer Ebene beeinflussen können. Einzellige Pathogene wie Trypanosama cruzi, Leishmania donovani, Cryptococcous neoformans und Plasmodium falciparum sezernieren solche Vesikel, die als Träger von Virulenzfaktoren fungieren können. Im zweiten Teil dieser Arbeit (Kapitel 4) wurde die Fähigkeit von Toxoplasma gondii untersucht, extrazelluläre Vesikel freizusetzen. Beschrieben ist die Isolierung und Charakterisierung von Exosom-ähnlichen Vesikeln (ELVs) aus der peritonealen Flüssigkeit Toxoplasma-infizierter Mäuse sowie aus in vitro kultivierten Tachyzoiten. Messungen mittels Transmissionselektronenmikroskopie (TEM) und dynamischer Lichtstreuung (DLS) zeigten, dass die ELVs eine gleichmäßige Größe von 80-100 nm haben. Durch Analyse des ELV- Proteoms wurden verschiedene Proteine des Parasiten wie SAG-1, SAG-2, SAG-3, GRA-3, GRA-6, GRA-7, GRA-12, Myosin, Aktin, ROP-2, ROP-4, ROP-8, MIC-1, MIC-2, MIC-3, AMA-1, HSP-70 und HSP-90 identifiziert. Glykosylphosphatidylinositolanker (GPI), parasitäre Glykolipide, wurden mittels Durchflusszytometrie auf den ELVs gefunden. Die hier beschriebenen Proteine und Glykolipide sind immundominante Epitope, die sowohl für die Diagnostik als auch für die Immunprophylaxe eine wichtige Rolle spielen. Darüber hinaus bewirkten die ELVs eine Verstärkung der Apoptoseauslösung durch einen externen Stimulus in nicht infizierten Makrophagen. Durch die partikulären Eigenschaften der ELVs und die Anwesenheit diverser wichtiger parasitärer Faktoren könnten die Vesikel Einfluss auf räumlich entfernte Zellpopulationen nehmen und die angeborene Immunantwort des Wirtes zu Gunsten des Parasites modifizieren. Die hier beschriebenen Entdeckungen deuten auf eine bisher unbekannte Funktion der ELVs von Toxoplasma hin, die eine bedeutende Rolle im Zusammenhang mit Infektionen spielen kann und weitergehender Untersuchungen bedarf. Somit lassen sich möglicherweise wichtige Aufschlüsse in der Entwicklung verlässlicher Präventionsstrategien gegen Toxoplasmose gewinnen

Electropolymerization studies of conjugated monomers and their biosensor applications

Dr Supreetha has used an effective technique called electropolymerization to synthesise the highly stable Conjugated Polymer Films directly on the surface of various conducting substrates such as Glassy Carbon (GC), Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) and Flexible ITO (FITO) using a range of bifunctional and trifunctional monomers. These Electrodeposited conducting polymer thin films are directly utilised for capturing various biomolecules due to higher surface area and greater sensitivity. A customised 3D Microporous polymer film is evidenced to detect clinically relevant Ovarian Cancer Biomarker miRNA and Nucleic Acid. This thesis has demonstrated the development of highly sensitive Genosensing Platform