HAGE, a cancer/testis antigen expressed at the protein level in a variety of cancers

The search for novel tumour antigens that are either uniquely expressed or over-expressed in a wide variety of tumours is still ongoing. Because of their expression in a broad spectrum of cancers and limited expression in normal tissues, cancer/testis antigens are considered to be potentially reliable targets for immunotherapy of cancer in general. The helicase antigen HAGE has been identified as a cancer/testis antigen. However, little is known about its expression in normal and cancer tissues. Using a newly developed antibody against HAGE, specific staining of its expression by immunohistochemistry was validated and optimised on murine tumours transfected to express the HAGE protein. The antibody was subsequently used to determine HAGE expression in normal human and cancer tissue microarrays. HAGE protein expression was confirmed in 75% (12/16) of carcinomas as compared to normal tissues, which either did not express HAGE at all or expressed HAGE at very low levels with the exception of testis. Interestingly, discrepancies were also found between mRNA analysis by real time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) and protein analysis by immunohistochemistry, emphasising the need to validate the expression of cancer/testis antigens at the protein level prior to the development of new vaccine strategies. HAGE is therefore proposed to be a valid candidate for designing a broad spectrum vaccine against cancer

Collecting Online Memetic Cultures: how tho

Using insights gained from reflexive dyadic interviews undertaken as part of ongoing action research, this article positions memes as new and emerging objects of digital cultural heritage and begins to work through the implications of collecting them on museum acquisition practices. The article explores how Stockholm County Museum has collected memes as part of their digital photography collecting activities and draws out the challenges that a meme’s materiality and remix qualities present to provenance, Copyright and ownership. The article concludes that acquisition standards should be remixed to be more appropriate for the cultural contexts that memes sit within and offers some preliminary suggestions on the how tho of collecting. A key feature of those suggestions is my proposal that being more open to alternative approaches to ownership may be more appropriate for these new and emerging object types

WISE J064336.71-022315.4: A Thick Disk L8 Gaia DR2-Discovered Brown Dwarf at 13.9 Parsecs

While spectroscopically characterizing nearby ultracool dwarfs discovered in the Gaia Second Data Release with the TripleSpec spectrograph on the Palomar 200'' telescope, we encountered a particularly cool, nearby, new member of the solar neighborhood: Gaia DR2 3106548406384807680 = WISE J064336.71-022315.4 = 2MASS J06433670-0223130. The $\it{Gaia}$ parallax corresponds to a distance of 13.9 $\pm$ 0.3 pc. Using our TripleSpec spectrum we classify W0643 as spectral type L8, and measured a heliocentric radial velocity of 142 $\pm$ 12 km s$^{-1}$. When combined with $\it{Gaia}$ astrometry, we determine a Galactic velocity (heliocentric; $U$ towards Galactic center) of $U, V, W$ = -109, -91, -12 ($\pm$10, 5, 3) km s$^{-1}$. We estimate that W0643 passed within $\sim$1.4 pc away from the Sun $\sim$100,000 years ago

A review of the application of non-intrusive infrared sensing for gas–liquid flow characterization

This paper reviews the use of non-intrusive optical infrared sensing for gas–liquid flow characterisation in pipes. The application of signal analysis techniques to infrared-derived temporal signal outputs enables the objective determination of flow characteristics such as flow regimes, phase fractions and total pressure drops. Key considerations for improving the performance of infrared sensors are discussed. These include global and local measurements, ray divergence, effects of ambient light and temperature variations. Most experimental studies have reported consistent and excellent results for flow regime identifications and phase fraction estimation but with a few validating total pressures drop from correlations and direct pressure measurements. Other gaps in research were highlighted; these include the use of pipes sizes greater than 0.005m for experimentation under high superficial velocities conditions greater than 10 m/s. The capabilities of infrared sensing as a standalone measurement for flow metering were considered a possibility via an inferential approach for phase volumetric rates. More so, the derived infrared sensing flow characteristics could be combined with available pressure–volume–temperature correlations in estimating mass flow rates of each phase. As a future development, a conceptual modification to surface installations using a transparent opaque coupling is suggested to overcome the accessibility limitation of infrared light penetration for opaque pipes

Organisational and neuromodulatory underpinnings of structural-functional connectivity decoupling in patients with Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's dementia is characterised by changes in perception and thought, and preceded by visual dysfunction, making this a useful surrogate for dementia risk. Structural and functional connectivity changes are seen in humans with Parkinson's disease, but the organisational principles are not known. We used resting-state fMRI and diffusion-weighted imaging to examine changes in structural-functional connectivity coupling in patients with Parkinson's disease, and those at risk of dementia. We identified two organisational gradients to structural-functional connectivity decoupling: anterior-to-posterior and unimodal-to-transmodal, with stronger structural-functional connectivity coupling in anterior, unimodal areas and weakened towards posterior, transmodal regions. Next, we related spatial patterns of decoupling to expression of neurotransmitter receptors. We found that dopaminergic and serotonergic transmission relates to decoupling in Parkinson's overall, but instead, serotonergic, cholinergic and noradrenergic transmission relates to decoupling in patients with visual dysfunction. Our findings provide a framework to explain the specific disorders of consciousness in Parkinson's dementia, and the neurotransmitter systems that underlie these

Surfacing multiple perspectives on keywords for the Congruence Engine; embracing multiplicity, interdisciplinarity and mutual learning

Seeing a multiplicity of understandings as a strength for interdisciplinary projects, this article draws on four keywords for the Congruence Engine project and explores their meaning and relevance to the project from the perspective of three research fellows with different roles and disciplinary backgrounds. The article aims to demonstrate the productive ways that different understandings of the terms People, Improvisation, Memory and Network meet and form opportunities for mutual learning and collaborative dialogue

A questionnaire elicitation of surgeons' belief about learning within a surgical trial

PMID: 23145113 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] PMCID: PMC3493499 Free PMC ArticlePeer reviewedPublisher PD

An Application of the Deutsch-Jozsa Algorithm to Formal Languages and the Word Problem in Groups

We adapt the Deutsch-Jozsa algorithm to the context of formal language theory. Specifically, we use the algorithm to distinguish between trivial and nontrivial words in groups by finite presentations, under the promise that a word is of a certain type. This is done by extending the original algorithm to functions of arbitrary length binary output, with the introduction of a more general concept of parity. We provide examples in which properties of the algorithm allow to reduce the number of oracle queries with respect to the deterministic classical case. This has some consequences for the word problem in groups with a particular kind presentation