IgG1 Is Required for Optimal Protection after Immunization with the Purified Porin OmpD from Salmonella Typhimurium

In mice, the IgG subclass induced after Ag encounter can reflect the nature of the Ag. Th2 Ags such as alum-precipitated proteins and helminths induce IgG1, whereas Th1 Ags, such as Salmonella Typhimurium, predominantly induce IgG2a. The contribution of different IgG isotypes to protection against bacteria such as S. Typhimurium is unclear, although as IgG2a is induced by natural infection, it is assumed this isotype is important. Previously, we have shown that purified S. Typhimurium porins including outer membrane protein OmpD, which induce both IgG1 and IgG2a in mice, provide protection to S. Typhimurium infection via Ab. In this study we report the unexpected finding that mice lacking IgG1, but not IgG2a, are substantially less protected after porin immunization than wild-type controls. IgG1-deficient mice produce more porin-specific IgG2a, resulting in total IgG levels that are similar to wild-type mice. The decreased protection in IgG1-deficient mice correlates with less efficient bacterial opsonization and uptake by macrophages, and this reflects the low binding of outer membrane protein OmpD-specific IgG2a to the bacterial surface. Thus, the Th2-associated isotype IgG1 can play a role in protection against Th1-associated organisms such as S. Typhimurium. Therefore, individual IgG subclasses to a single Ag can provide different levels of protection and the IgG isotype induced may need to be a consideration when designing vaccines and immunization strategies

Autonomous Flight and Real-time Tracking of Nano Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

This study describes a system in which a micro UAV (quadrotor) was coupled with a Kinect (v2), a Myo armband and an RGB camera. The quadrotor was connected to two PC clients or workstations and communicated through the Robot Operating System. The UAV moved to the marked targets in a cluttered environment without collision using the depth sensor. Recognises faces via the on-board camera based on the frame by frame basis and uses feature-based monocular simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM) in real-time. The SLAM tracks the pose of the quadrotor, simultaneously builds an incremental map of the surrounding environment to locate the UAV in that. The Myo armband was employed for teleoperation which commands the quadrotor to start/stop its journey or to begin a new task using hand gestures. The face recognition algorithm was developed using the Fisherface library and pre-trained database. Three missions were assigned to the UAV; to detect the marked area via Kinect's depth sensor, fly towards and hover around the marked area, send the image/video streams to the ground station and to look for the person's face in the crowded environment, match the name with the face owner and follow him/her within the distance of $2$ m. Various organisations could use the proposed system for different purposes. It could be utilised for search and rescue, environmental monitoring, surveillance or inspection. It could be used to identify a person in a collapsed building, in urban/suburban areas or to locate people with a particular need (alzheimer or dementia casualties which leads to wandering behaviour)

Ecological phytochemistry of Cerrado (Brazilian savanna) plants

The Cerrado (the Brazilian savanna) is one of the vegetation formations of great biodiversity in Brazil and it has experienced strong deforestation and fragmentation. The Cerrado must contain at least 12,000 higher plant species.We discuss the ecological relevance of phytochemical studies carried out on plants from the Cerrado, including examples of phytotoxicity, antifungal, insecticidal and antibacterial activities. The results have been classified according to activity and plant family. The most active compounds have been highlighted and other activities are discussed. A large number of complex biochemical interactions occur in this system. However, only a small fraction of the species has been studied from the phytochemical viewpoint to identify the metabolites responsible for these interactions

Aloe barbadensis: how a miraculous plant becomes reality

Aloe barbadensis Miller is a plant that is native to North and East Africa and has accompanied man for over 5,000 years. The aloe vera plant has been endowed with digestive, dermatological, culinary and cosmetic virtues. On this basis, aloe provides a range of possibilities for fascinating studies from several points of view, including the analysis of chemical composition, the biochemistry involved in various activities and its application in pharmacology, as well as from horticultural and economic standpoints. The use of aloe vera as a medicinal plant is mentioned in numerous ancient texts such as the Bible. This multitude of medicinal uses has been described and discussed for centuries, thus transforming this miracle plant into reality. A summary of the historical uses, chemical composition and biological activities of this species is presented in this review. The latest clinical studies involved in vivo and in vitro assays conducted with aloe vera gel or its metabolites and the results of these studies are reviewed

The subjective well-being political paradox: Evidence from Latin America

The subjective well-being political paradox describes the observation that individuals are on average more satisfied with their lives in welfare states than under right-leaning (conservative) governments, which are less likely to promote welfare policies; however, at the individual level, people who identify as leaning politically more to the right show higher levels of life satisfaction than those who describe themselves as leaning to the left. This subjective well-being political paradox has previously been observed in Europe. The present study investigates whether this paradox can also be found across 18 Latin American countries by using data from 9 waves of the Latinobarómetro survey. In addition to life satisfaction, we further consider respondents’ self-rated ability to meet their financial needs in a satisfactory manner, which can be seen as a proxy for satisfaction with income. Latin America is an interesting region to study this question because of its political history and the emergence of left-leaning governments during the last fifteen years. We find that people report higher life satisfaction and a better ability to meet their financial needs under left-leaning governments compared to centre and right-leaning governments. In contrast, conservative individuals report higher financial and overall well-being than liberal individuals, which confirms the subjective well-being political paradox that was also found in Europe. Our analysis includes controls for macroeconomic indicators, such as inflation and unemployment rates and GDP per capita as well as socio-demographic factors

Resilience in Pre-Columbian Caribbean House-Building: Dialogue Between Archaeology and Humanitarian Shelter

This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10745-015-9741-5This paper responds to questions posed by archaeologists and engineers in the humanitarian sector about relationships between shelter, disasters and resilience. Enabled by an increase in horizontal excavations combined with high-resolution settlement data from excavations in the Dominican Republic, the paper presents a synthesis of Caribbean house data spanning a millennium (1400 BP- 450 BP). An analysis of architectural traits identify the house as an institution that constitutes and catalyses change in an emergent and resilient pathway. The ?Caribbean architectural mode? emerged in a period of demographic expansion and cultural transition, was geographically widespread, different from earlier and mainland traditions and endured the hazards of island and coastal ecologies. We use archaeological analysis at the house level to consider the historical, ecological and regional dimensions of resilience in humanitarian actionThank you to the Museo del Hombre Dominicano for collaboration on the site of El Cabo, to the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research and the Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University for supporting the archaeological research. Kate Crawford?s post-doctoral post at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering at University College London was funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council