Structural and functional characterisation of novel bacterial Toll/Interleukin-1 receptor (TIR)-like proteins.

The extracellular domain of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognises highly specific pathogen-associated molecular patterns in innate immunity. This causes molecular rearrangement of the intracellular Toll/Interleukin-1 (TIR) domains of the TLRs allowing recruitment of downstream adaptor proteins via heterotypic TIR-TIR protein interactions. This in turn initiates a signalling cascade leading to proinflammatory immune responses. Recent work has indicated that TIR-like proteins (TLPs)from pathogenic bacteria contain TIR domains and interfere with host TLR signalling. Bacterial TLPs are suggested to bind to the TIR domains of host TLRs and/or adaptor proteins, thereby inhibiting intracellular signalling. This project focuses on characterisation of the TLPs from the highly pathogenic bacteria Yersinia pestis (YpTLP) and Burkholderia pseudomallei (BpTLP). The aim of the project was to produce soluble, pure and stable TLPs of yields suitable for functional and structural studies. Bacterial TLPs were expressed in E. coli. Expression of the full-length YpTLP and BpTLP using pWaldo-GFPe yielded 2.78 mg/l and 2.52 mg/l respectively. Protein purification steps were complicated by protein precipitation, possible degradation and misfolding. Subsequent efforts focused on the expression of the TIR only domain/homologue regions: YpTIR and BpTIR. Soluble YpTIR and BpTIR were expressed using pET26b. GST pull down assays indicated positive interactions between His-tagged YpTIR/BpTIR and GST-tagged human MyD88-TIR, a major adaptor protein, revealing MyD88 as a potential target of the bacterial TLPs. However expression yields of pure protein were too low to allow further studies. YpTIR and BpTIR were then expressed as fusions with an N-terminal GB1 tag using GEV2. Subsequent purification produced highly pure GB1-YpTIR (5 mg/l). NMR analysis indicated that the protein was folded and likely to be in a dimeric form, a finding confirmed by gel filtration. Native and derivative crystals of YpTIR were obtained, and native diffraction datasets collected to 2.95 A. Further work includes obtaining the phase information. It is anticipated that the crystal structure of YpTIR will provide insight into the molecular basis of TIR signalling and evidence of evolutionary conservation among TIR domains

Review of recent research on the development of infant social behavior

The purpose of this paper was (1) to review the literature which relates to the identification of the earliest signs of social awareness in an infant; (2) to establish the importance of stimulation to develop early social-awareness and social behavior in an infant

Survey of vector-like fermion extensions of the Standard Model and their phenomenological implications

With the renewed interest in vector-like fermion extensions of the Standard Model, we present here a study of multiple vector-like theories and their phenomenological implications. Our focus is mostly on minimal flavor conserving theories that couple the vector-like fermions to the SM gauge fields and mix only weakly with SM fermions so as to avoid flavor problems. We present calculations for precision electroweak and vector-like state decays, which are needed to investigate compatibility with currently known data. We investigate the impact of vector-like fermions on Higgs boson production and decay, including loop contributions, in a wide variety of vector-like extensions and their parameter spaces.Comment: 43 pages, 17 figures; v2: text modified to improve readability, references added, journal versio

Learning from a Class Imbalanced Public Health Dataset: a Cost-based Comparison of Classifier Performance

Public health care systems routinely collect health-related data from the population. This data can be analyzed using data mining techniques to find novel, interesting patterns, which could help formulate effective public health policies and interventions. The occurrence of chronic illness is rare in the population and the effect of this class imbalance, on the performance of various classifiers was studied. The objective of this work is to identify the best classifiers for class imbalanced health datasets through a cost-based comparison of classifier performance. The popular, open-source data mining tool WEKA, was used to build a variety of core classifiers as well as classifier ensembles, to evaluate the classifiers’ performance. The unequal misclassification costs were represented in a cost matrix, and cost-benefit analysis was also performed.  In another experiment, various sampling methods such as under-sampling, over-sampling, and SMOTE was performed to balance the class distribution in the dataset, and the costs were compared. The Bayesian classifiers performed well with a high recall, low number of false negatives and were not affected by the class imbalance. Results confirm that total cost of Bayesian classifiers can be further reduced using cost-sensitive learning methods. Classifiers built using the random under-sampled dataset showed a dramatic drop in costs and high classification accuracy

Against All Odds

A successful woman entrepreneur, Ms. Vrinda Navare has established ‘Vrinda's Bakes & Fast Food' in 1993 initially with manufacturing of bakery products only. Later on in the year 1996, fast food items were added in product basket as a need of the hour. At present, the firm's turnover is Rs. 90 lakhs with 15 full-time and 30 part-time workers. Currently the firm has 75+ products. Several types of bakery products, several varieties of snacks ranging from Rs. 5 to Rs. 25 categories and value for money mini lunches in the range Rs.15 to Rs. 30. Now the firm has also started a special unit of ‘Beverage Products' with substantial footfall in its initial stage. Present case deals with the Entrepreneurial and Startup Challenges and strategic solutions

Pengaruh Penambahan Na-alginat Dalam Proses Eksfoliasi Grafit Dengan Metode Pencampuran

Studi pengaruh penambahan Na-alginat dalam proses eksfoliasi grafit telah dilakukan melalui sintesis dan kajian komputasi menggunakan teori fungsi kerapatan pada level B3LYP/6-31G(d). Penelitian ini bertujuan mengkaji pengaruh Na-alginat terhadap pembentukkan partikel grafen sebagai bentuk interaksi elektrostatik antar keduanya. Pencampuran material dilakukan menggunakan metode percampuran kimia. Karakterisasi komposit dilakukan menggunakan spektrofotometer inframerah (FT-IR) untuk mengamati Perubahan serapan dan gugus fungsi komposit. Energi disosiasi ikatan (BDE) didapatkan 14 kali lebih besar akibat pengaruh interaksi Na-alginat dalam proses exfoliasi membentuk kompleks komposit. Kajian ini akan sangat berkontribusi dalam mendesain dan sintesis senyawa lapis tipis semikonduktor dari bahan grafit

“There is a Fabulous Play in the House of Cards:” Gender and Memory-Mapping in the Film Tasher Ghawr

The pandemic's collective memory features large-scale destruction in the public and private realms. This paper studies the latter by speculating on the complex interrelationship between gender, media, and collective memory. By foregrounding the potential of fictional experientialities to engage with real-life phenomena, the paper analyzes the movie Tasher Ghawr as an epitome of women’s experience of the COVID-19 lockdown. This movie was selected pertaining to its current relevance. The paper undertakes a qualitative investigation through a textual analysis of the movie’s narrative. The researchers use theories such as collective memory, gender performativity, affect, and counter-memory to illustrate how the protagonist Sujatha’s individual gendered memory constantly constructs and deconstructs the collective memory of women as it pertains to the pandemic. The notion of collective memory is highlighted as complexly entangled and dialogically engaged with the memories of the individuals. This paper demonstrates this by constructing Sujatha as a subject defined by the norms embedded in the female collective memory and then shedding light on her subversive brilliance in questioning the stronghold of these discourses. This act of subversion produces a new strand of collective memory where women are no longer simply victims. The results of this study indicate that while women are constructed as subjects through collective memory processes, they also demonstrate a potential to subvert and question the stronghold of this collective memory that presupposes their submissiveness and servility. For future researchers, this movie provides ample critical space to discuss the notion of traumatic memory

Gravid uterus in a neglected incisional hernia: a rare case report

Incidence of incisional hernia in pregnancy is rare and is mainly managed conservatively. An ideal technique for repairing incisional hernia in pregnant patients has yet to be established, but it is clear that each case must be dealt with on an individual basis. It is essential for surgeons to consider the length of the surgery, the presence of contamination, the age of the fetus, the size of the defect, and the chances of recurrence before selecting which technique to employ when repairing abdominal wall hernia in pregnancy. We report a case of term pregnancy in a third gravida, aged 30 years with previous two vaginal deliveries with incisional hernia with overlying hyperpigmented lax skin patch. Incisional hernia developed as a complication because of the previous surgical history of open appendectomy 10 years back which was complicated in the post-operative period, 22 days later leading to an emergency laparotomy in view of intestinal obstruction. Caesarean section was done with simultaneous repair of the incisional hernia with nonabsorbable sutures. The post-operative recovery was uneventful

RESOLVEMENT OF POWER QUALITY PROBLEMS BY UNIFIED POWER QUALITY CONDITIONER (UPQC)

In this project presents a Design of a Unified Power Quality conditioner (UPQC) connected to three phase four wire system (3P4W). The neutral of series transformer used in the fourth wire for the 3P4W system. The neutral current that may flow toward transformer neutral point is compensated by using a four-leg voltage source inverter topology for shunt part. The series transformer neutral will be at virtual zero potential during all operating conditions. In this simulation we observe the power quality problems such as unbalanced voltage and current, harmonics by connecting non linear load to 3P4W system with Unified Power Quality conditioner. A new control strategy such as unit vector template is used to design the series APF to balance the unbalanced current present in the load currents by expanding the concept of single phase P-Q theory