549 research outputs found
Effect of amikacin, cephalothin, clindamycin and vancomycin on in vitro fibroblast growth
Tools for delivering entomopathogenic fungi to malaria mosquitoes: effects of delivery surfaces on fungal efficacy and persistence.
BACKGROUND\ud
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Entomopathogenic fungi infection on malaria vectors increases daily mortality rates and thus represents a control measure that could be used in integrated programmes alongside insecticide-treated bed nets (ITNs) and indoor residual spraying (IRS). Before entomopathogenic fungi can be integrated into control programmes, an effective delivery system must be developed.\ud
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METHODS\ud
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The efficacy of Metarhizium anisopliae ICIPE-30 and Beauveria bassiana I93-825 (IMI 391510) (2 Γ 10(10) conidia m(-2)) applied on mud panels (simulating walls of traditional Tanzanian houses), black cotton cloth and polyester netting was evaluated against adult Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto. Mosquitoes were exposed to the treated surfaces 2, 14 and 28 d after conidia were applied. Survival of mosquitoes was monitored daily.\ud
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RESULTS\ud
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All fungal treatments caused a significantly increased mortality in the exposed mosquitoes, descending with time since fungal application. Mosquitoes exposed to M. anisopliae conidia on mud panels had a greater daily risk of dying compared to those exposed to conidia on either netting or cotton cloth (p < 0.001). Mosquitoes exposed to B. bassiana conidia on mud panels or cotton cloth had similar daily risk of death (p = 0.14), and a higher risk than those exposed to treated polyester netting (p < 0.001). Residual activity of fungi declined over time; however, conidia remained pathogenic at 28 d post application, and were able to infect and kill 73 - 82% of mosquitoes within 14 d.\ud
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CONCLUSION\ud
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Both fungal isolates reduced mosquito survival on immediate exposure and up to 28 d after application. Conidia were more effective when applied on mud panels and cotton cloth compared with polyester netting. Cotton cloth and mud, therefore, represent potential substrates for delivering fungi to mosquitoes in the field
Incremental Non-Rigid Structure-from-Motion with Unknown Focal Length
The perspective camera and the isometric surface prior have recently gathered
increased attention for Non-Rigid Structure-from-Motion (NRSfM). Despite the
recent progress, several challenges remain, particularly the computational
complexity and the unknown camera focal length. In this paper we present a
method for incremental Non-Rigid Structure-from-Motion (NRSfM) with the
perspective camera model and the isometric surface prior with unknown focal
length. In the template-based case, we provide a method to estimate four
parameters of the camera intrinsics. For the template-less scenario of NRSfM,
we propose a method to upgrade reconstructions obtained for one focal length to
another based on local rigidity and the so-called Maximum Depth Heuristics
(MDH). On its basis we propose a method to simultaneously recover the focal
length and the non-rigid shapes. We further solve the problem of incorporating
a large number of points and adding more views in MDH-based NRSfM and
efficiently solve them with Second-Order Cone Programming (SOCP). This does not
require any shape initialization and produces results orders of times faster
than many methods. We provide evaluations on standard sequences with
ground-truth and qualitative reconstructions on challenging YouTube videos.
These evaluations show that our method performs better in both speed and
accuracy than the state of the art.Comment: ECCV 201
Gene expression and splicing alterations analyzed by high throughput RNA sequencing of chronic lymphocytic leukemia specimens.
BackgroundTo determine differentially expressed and spliced RNA transcripts in chronic lymphocytic leukemia specimens a high throughput RNA-sequencing (HTS RNA-seq) analysis was performed.MethodsTen CLL specimens and five normal peripheral blood CD19+ B cells were analyzed by HTS RNA-seq. The library preparation was performed with Illumina TrueSeq RNA kit and analyzed by Illumina HiSeq 2000 sequencing system.ResultsAn average of 48.5 million reads for B cells, and 50.6 million reads for CLL specimens were obtained with 10396 and 10448 assembled transcripts for normal B cells and primary CLL specimens respectively. With the Cuffdiff analysis, 2091 differentially expressed genes (DEG) between B cells and CLL specimens based on FPKM (fragments per kilobase of transcript per million reads and false discovery rate, FDR qβ<β0.05, fold change >2) were identified. Expression of selected DEGs (nβ=β32) with up regulated and down regulated expression in CLL from RNA-seq data were also analyzed by qRT-PCR in a test cohort of CLL specimens. Even though there was a variation in fold expression of DEG genes between RNA-seq and qRT-PCR; more than 90 % of analyzed genes were validated by qRT-PCR analysis. Analysis of RNA-seq data for splicing alterations in CLL and B cells was performed by Multivariate Analysis of Transcript Splicing (MATS analysis). Skipped exon was the most frequent splicing alteration in CLL specimens with 128 significant events (P-value <0.05, minimum inclusion level difference >0.1).ConclusionThe RNA-seq analysis of CLL specimens identifies novel DEG and alternatively spliced genes that are potential prognostic markers and therapeutic targets. High level of validation by qRT-PCR for a number of DEG genes supports the accuracy of this analysis. Global comparison of transcriptomes of B cells, IGVH non-mutated CLL (U-CLL) and mutated CLL specimens (M-CLL) with multidimensional scaling analysis was able to segregate CLL and B cell transcriptomes but the M-CLL and U-CLL transcriptomes were indistinguishable. The analysis of HTS RNA-seq data to identify alternative splicing events and other genetic abnormalities specific to CLL is an added advantage of RNA-seq that is not feasible with other genome wide analysis
Capturing the essence of folding and functions of biomolecules using Coarse-Grained Models
The distances over which biological molecules and their complexes can
function range from a few nanometres, in the case of folded structures, to
millimetres, for example during chromosome organization. Describing phenomena
that cover such diverse length, and also time scales, requires models that
capture the underlying physics for the particular length scale of interest.
Theoretical ideas, in particular, concepts from polymer physics, have guided
the development of coarse-grained models to study folding of DNA, RNA, and
proteins. More recently, such models and their variants have been applied to
the functions of biological nanomachines. Simulations using coarse-grained
models are now poised to address a wide range of problems in biology.Comment: 37 pages, 8 figure
Practitioners' Perceptions of the Soccer Extra-Time Period: Implications for Future Research
Qualitative research investigating soccer practitionersβ perceptions can allow researchers to create practical research investigations. The extra-time period of soccer is understudied compared to other areas of soccer research. Using an open-ended online survey containing eleven main and nine sub questions, we gathered the perceptions of extra-time from 46 soccer practitioners, all working for different professional soccer clubs. Questions related to current practices, views on extra-time regulations, and ideas for future research. Using inductive content analysis, the following general dimensions were identified: βimportance of extra-timeβ, βrule changesβ, βefficacy of extra-time hydro-nutritional provisionβ, βnutritional timingβ,
βfuture research directionsβ, βpreparatory modulationsβ and βrecoveryβ. The majority of practitioners (63%) either agreed or strongly agreed that extra-time is an important period
for determining success in knockout football match-play. When asked if a fourth substitution
should be permitted in extra-time, 67% agreed. The use of hydro-nutritional strategies prior
to extra-time was predominately considered important or very important. However; only
41% of practitioners felt that it was the most important time point for the use of nutritional
products. A similar number of practitioners account (50%) and do not (50%) account for the
potential of extra-time when training and preparing players and 89% of practitioners stated that extra-time influences recovery practices following matches. In the five minute break prior to extra-time, the following practices (in order of priority) were advocated to players: hydration, energy provision, massage, and tactical preparations. Additionally, 87% of practitioners advocate a particular nutritional supplementation strategy prior to extra-time. In order of importance, practitioners see the following as future research areas: nutritional interventions, fatigue responses, acute injury risk, recovery modalities, training paradigms, injury epidemiology, and environmental considerations. This study presents novel insight into the practitioner perceptions of extra-time and provides information to readers about current
applied practices and potential future research opportunities
Polarimetry of binary systems: polars, magnetic CVs, XRBs
Polarimetry provides key physical information on the properties of
interacting binary systems, sometimes difficult to obtain by any other type of
observation. Indeed, radiation processes such as scattering by free electrons
in the hot plasma above accretion discs, cyclotron emission by mildly
relativistic electrons in the accretion shocks on the surface of highly
magnetic white dwarfs and the optically thin synchrotron emission from jets can
be observed. In this review, I will illustrate how optical/near-infrared
polarimetry allows one to estimate magnetic field strengths and map the
accretion zones in magnetic Cataclysmic Variables as well as determine the
location and nature of jets and ejection events in X-ray binaries.Comment: 26 pages, 16 figures; to be published in Astrophysics and Space
Science Library 460, Astronomical Polarisation from the Infrared to Gamma
Rays, Editors: Mignani, R., Shearer, A., S{\l}owikowska, A., Zane,
Autism as a disorder of neural information processing: directions for research and targets for therapy
The broad variation in phenotypes and severities within autism spectrum disorders suggests the involvement of multiple predisposing factors, interacting in complex ways with normal developmental courses and gradients. Identification of these factors, and the common developmental path into which theyfeed, is hampered bythe large degrees of convergence from causal factors to altered brain development, and divergence from abnormal brain development into altered cognition and behaviour. Genetic, neurochemical, neuroimaging and behavioural findings on autism, as well as studies of normal development and of genetic syndromes that share symptoms with autism, offer hypotheses as to the nature of causal factors and their possible effects on the structure and dynamics of neural systems. Such alterations in neural properties may in turn perturb activity-dependent development, giving rise to a complex behavioural syndrome many steps removed from the root causes. Animal models based on genetic, neurochemical, neurophysiological, and behavioural manipulations offer the possibility of exploring these developmental processes in detail, as do human studies addressing endophenotypes beyond the diagnosis itself
The Human TPR Protein TTC4 Is a Putative Hsp90 Co-Chaperone Which Interacts with CDC6 and Shows Alterations in Transformed Cells
BACKGROUND: The human TTC4 protein is a TPR (tetratricopeptide repeat) motif-containing protein. The gene was originally identified as being localized in a genomic region linked to breast cancer and subsequent studies on melanoma cell lines revealed point mutations in the TTC4 protein that may be associated with the progression of malignant melanoma.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPLE FINDINGS: Here we show that TTC4 is a nucleoplasmic protein which interacts with HSP90 and HSP70, and also with the replication protein CDC6. It has significant structural and functional similarities with a previously characterised Drosophila protein Dpit47. We show that TTC4 protein levels are raised in malignant melanoma cell lines compared to melanocytes. We also see increased TTC4 expression in a variety of tumour lines derived from other tissues. In addition we show that TTC4 proteins bearing some of the mutations previously identified from patient samples lose their interaction with the CDC6 protein.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Based on these results and our previous work with the Drosophila Dpit47 protein we suggest that TTC4 is an HSP90 co-chaperone protein which forms a link between HSP90 chaperone activity and DNA replication. We further suggest that the loss of the interaction with CDC6 or with additional client proteins could provide one route through which TTC4 could influence malignant development of cells
In Situ-Targeting of Dendritic Cells with Donor-Derived Apoptotic Cells Restrains Indirect Allorecognition and Ameliorates Allograft Vasculopathy
Chronic allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is an atheromatous-like lesion that affects vessels of transplanted organs. It is a component of chronic rejection that conventional immuno-suppression fails to prevent, and is a major cause of graft loss. Indirect allo-recognition through T cells and allo-Abs are critical during CAV pathogenesis. We tested whether the indirect allo-response and its impact on CAV is down-regulated by in situ-delivery of donor Ags to recipient's dendritic cells (DCs) in lymphoid organs in a pro-tolerogenic fashion, through administration of donor splenocytes undergoing early apoptosis. Following systemic injection, donor apoptotic cells were internalized by splenic CD11chi CD8Ξ±+ and CD8β DCs, but not by CD11cint plasmacytoid DCs. Those DCs that phagocytosed apoptotic cells in vivo remained quiescent, resisted ex vivo-maturation, and presented allo-Ag for up to 3 days. Administration of donor apoptotic splenocytes, unlike cells alive, (i) promoted deletion, FoxP3 expression and IL-10 secretion, and decreased IFN-Ξ³-release in indirect pathway CD4 T cells; and (ii) reduced cross-priming of anti-donor CD8 T cells in vivo. Targeting recipient's DCs with donor apoptotic cells reduced significantly CAV in a fully-mismatched aortic allograft model. The effect was donor specific, dependent on the physical characteristics of the apoptotic cells, and was associated to down-regulation of the indirect type-1 T cell allo-response and secretion of allo-Abs, when compared to recipients treated with donor cells alive or necrotic. Down-regulation of indirect allo-recognition through in situ-delivery of donor-Ag to recipient's quiescent DCs constitutes a promising strategy to prevent/ameliorate indirect allorecognition and CAV
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