Prospectus, November 2, 1994

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1994/1019/thumbnail.jp

Prospectus, November 9, 1994

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1994/1020/thumbnail.jp

Developing immune-regulatory materials using immobilized monosaccharides with immune-instructive properties

New strategies for immune modulation have shown real promise in regenerative medicine as well as the fight against autoimmune diseases, allergies and cancer. Dendritic cells (DCs) are gatekeepers of the immune system and their ability in shaping the adaptive immune responses makes DCs ideal targets for immune modulation. Carbohydrates are abundant in different biological systems and are known to modulate DC phenotype and function. However, how simple monosaccharides instruct DC function is less well understood. In this study we used a combinatorial array of immobilized monosaccharides to investigate how they modulate DC phenotype and function, and crucially the impact of such changes on downstream adaptive immune responses. Our data show a selection of monosaccharides significantly suppress lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced DC activation as evidenced by reduction in CD40 expression, IL-12 production and 2,3 indoleamine dioxygenase activity, while inducing a significant increase in IL-10 production. These changes are indicative of induction of an anti-inflammatory or regulatory phenotype in DCs which was further confirmed in DC-T cell co-cultures where DCs cultured on the ‘regulatory’ monosaccharaide coated surfaces were shown to induce naïve T cell polarization towards regulatory phenotype. Our data also highlighted a selection of monosaccharides that are able to promote mixed Treg and Th17 cell differentiation, a T cell phenotype expected to be highly immune suppressive. These data show the potential immunomodulatory effects of immobilized monosaccharides in priming DCs and skewing T cell differentiation towards an immune-regulatory phenotype. The ability to fine tune immune responses using these simple carbohydrate combinations (e.g. as coatings for existing materials) can be utilized as novel tools for immune modulation with potential applications in regenerative medicine, implantable medical devices and wound healing where reduction of inflammatory responses and maintaining immune homeostasis are desirable

Bird evolution: testing the Metaves clade with six new mitochondrial genomes

Background Evolutionary biologists are often misled by convergence of morphology and this has been common in the study of bird evolution. However, the use of molecular data sets have their own problems and phylogenies based on short DNA sequences have the potential to mislead us too. The relationships among clades and timing of the evolution of modern birds (Neoaves) has not yet been well resolved. Evidence of convergence of morphology remain controversial. With six new bird mitochondrial genomes (hummingbird, swift, kagu, rail, flamingo and grebe) we test the proposed Metaves/Coronaves division within Neoaves and the parallel radiations in this primary avian clade. Results Our mitochondrial trees did not return the Metaves clade that had been proposed based on one nuclear intron sequence. We suggest that the high number of indels within the seventh intron of the β-fibrinogen gene at this phylogenetic level, which left a dataset with not a single site across the alignment shared by all taxa, resulted in artifacts during analysis. With respect to the overall avian tree, we find the flamingo and grebe are sister taxa and basal to the shorebirds (Charadriiformes). Using a novel site-stripping technique for noise-reduction we found this relationship to be stable. The hummingbird/swift clade is outside the large and very diverse group of raptors, shore and sea birds. Unexpectedly the kagu is not closely related to the rail in our analysis, but because neither the kagu nor the rail have close affinity to any taxa within this dataset of 41 birds, their placement is not yet resolved. Conclusion Our phylogenetic hypothesis based on 41 avian mitochondrial genomes (13,229 bp) rejects monophyly of seven Metaves species and we therefore conclude that the members of Metaves do not share a common evolutionary history within the Neoaves

The SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Quasar Target Selection for Data Release Nine

The SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS), a five-year spectroscopic survey of 10,000 deg^2, achieved first light in late 2009. One of the key goals of BOSS is to measure the signature of baryon acoustic oscillations in the distribution of Ly-alpha absorption from the spectra of a sample of ~150,000 z>2.2 quasars. Along with measuring the angular diameter distance at z\approx2.5, BOSS will provide the first direct measurement of the expansion rate of the Universe at z > 2. One of the biggest challenges in achieving this goal is an efficient target selection algorithm for quasars over 2.2 < z < 3.5, where their colors overlap those of stars. During the first year of the BOSS survey, quasar target selection methods were developed and tested to meet the requirement of delivering at least 15 quasars deg^-2 in this redshift range, out of 40 targets deg^-2. To achieve these surface densities, the magnitude limit of the quasar targets was set at g <= 22.0 or r<=21.85. While detection of the BAO signature in the Ly-alpha absorption in quasar spectra does not require a uniform target selection, many other astrophysical studies do. We therefore defined a uniformly-selected subsample of 20 targets deg^-2, for which the selection efficiency is just over 50%. This "CORE" subsample will be fixed for Years Two through Five of the survey. In this paper we describe the evolution and implementation of the BOSS quasar target selection algorithms during the first two years of BOSS operations. We analyze the spectra obtained during the first year. 11,263 new z>2.2 quasars were spectroscopically confirmed by BOSS. Our current algorithms select an average of 15 z > 2.2 quasars deg^-2 from 40 targets deg^-2 using single-epoch SDSS imaging. Multi-epoch optical data and data at other wavelengths can further improve the efficiency and completeness of BOSS quasar target selection. [Abridged]Comment: 33 pages, 26 figures, 12 tables and a whole bunch of quasars. Submitted to Ap

Evaluation of Rapid Syphilis Testing Using the Syphilis Health Check in Florida, 2015–2016

The Syphilis Health Check (SHC) had low estimated specificity (91.5%) in one Florida county. We investigated use of SHC by a range of Florida publicly-funded programs between 2015 and 2016 to estimate specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), field staff acceptance, and impacts on programmatic outcomes. All reported SHC results were extracted from routinely collected program data. Field staff were surveyed about SHC’s utility. Analyses investigated differences between SHC and traditional syphilis testing outcomes. Of 3,630 SHC results reported, 442 were reactive; 92 (20.8%) had prior diagnoses of syphilis; 7 (1.6%) had no further testing. Of the remaining 343; 158 (46.0%) were confirmed cases, 168 (49.0%) were considered false-positive, and 17 (5.0%) were not cases but not clearly false-positive. Estimated specificity of SHC was 95.0%. Overall, 48.5% of positives became confirmed cases (PPV). PPV varied according to prevalence of syphilis in populations tested. Staff (90%) thought SHC helped identify new cases but expressed concern regarding discordance between reactive SHC and lab-based testing. Programmatic outcomes assessment showed shorter time to treatment and increased numbers of partners tested for the SHC group; these enhanced outcomes may better mitigate the spread of syphilis compared to traditional syphilis testing alone, but more research is needed

The relationship between mosquito abundance and rice field density in the Republic of Korea

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), the causative agent of Japanese encephalitis (JE), is endemic to the Republic of Korea (ROK) where unvaccinated United States (U.S.) military Service members, civilians and family members are stationed. The primary vector of the JEV in the ROK is <it>Culex tritaeniorhynchus</it>. The ecological relationship between <it>Culex </it>spp. and rice fields has been studied extensively; rice fields have been shown to increase the prevalence of <it>Cx. tritaeniorhynchus</it>. This research was conducted to determine if the quantification of rice field land cover surrounding U.S. military installations in the ROK should be used as a parameter in a larger risk model that predicts the abundance of <it>Cx. tritaeniorhynchus </it>populations.</p> <p>Mosquito data from the U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) mosquito surveillance program were used in this project. The average number of female <it>Cx. tritaeniorhynchus </it>collected per trap night for the months of August and September, 2002-2008, was calculated. Rice fields were manually digitized inside 1.5 km buffer zones surrounding U.S. military installations on high-resolution satellite images, and the proportion of rice fields was calculated for each buffer zone.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Mosquito data collected from seventeen sample sites were analyzed for an association with the proportion of rice field land cover. Results demonstrated that the linear relationship between the proportion of rice fields and mosquito abundance was statistically significant (R²= 0.62, r = .79, F = 22.72, p < 0.001).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The analysis presented shows a statistically significant linear relationship between the two parameters, proportion of rice field land cover and log₁₀of the average number of <it>Cx. tritaeniorhynchus </it>collected per trap night. The findings confirm that agricultural land cover should be included in future studies to develop JE risk prediction models for non-indigenous personnel living at military installations in the ROK.</p

The Relation between Black Hole Mass and Host Spheroid Stellar Mass out to z~2

We combine Hubble Space Telescope images from the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey with archival Very Large Telescope and Keck spectra of a sample of 11 X-ray selected broad-line active galactic nuclei in the redshift range 1<z<2 to study the black hole mass - stellar mass relation out to a lookback time of 10 Gyrs. Stellar masses of the spheroidal component are derived from multi-filter surface photometry. Black hole masses are estimated from the width of the broad MgII emission line and the 3000A nuclear luminosity. Comparing with a uniformly measured local sample and taking into account selection effects, we find evolution in the form M_BH/M_spheroid ~ (1+z)^(1.96+/-0.55), in agreement with our earlier studies based on spheroid luminosity. However, this result is more accurate because it does not require a correction for luminosity evolution and therefore avoids the related and dominant systematic uncertainty. We also measure total stellar masses. Combining our sample with data from the literature, we find M_BH/M_host ~ (1+z)^(1.15+/-0.15), consistent with the hypothesis that black holes (in the range M_BH ~ 10^8-9 M_sun) predate the formation of their host galaxies. Roughly one third of our objects reside in spiral galaxies; none of the host galaxies reveal signs of interaction or major merger activity. Combined with the slower evolution in host stellar masses compared to spheroid stellar masses, our results indicate that secular evolution or minor mergers play a non-negligible role in growing both BHs and spheroids.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Final version, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa