Some Aspects of Chemoprophylaxis Against Trypanosoma congolense

This thesis is concerned with investigating two aspects of the use of isometamidium chloride (Samorin, May and Baker, Dagenham) as a chemoprophylactic drug. Firstly, twentyfour Boran cattle were injected with 1 mg/kg isometamidium chloride to investigate the duration of drug-induced prophylaxis against infection by metacyclic forms of Trypanosome congolense, and to determine if specific antibody responses to the organisms were mounted by animals under chemoprophylactic cover. Complete protection against either single challenge by five tsetse infected with Trypanosoma congolense, or repeated challenge at monthly intervals by five tsetse, lasted for 148 days or approximately five months. Even at six months post treatment, two-thirds of the cattle were still resistant to challenge with either trypanosome-infected tsetse, or titrated doses of in vitro derived metacyclic forms of T. congolense (5x10e2 to 5 x 10e5 organisms), innoculated intradermally. No animal which resisted infection developed either detectable skin reactions at the site of the metacyclic innoculation or produced trypanosome-specific antibodies. It was concluded that drug levels in the skin were effective at preventing trypanosome multiplication, thus preventing the development of parasitaemia or priming of the hosts' immune system. Secondly, the local tissue toxicity of isometamidium chloride and its dextran complex were investigated. Four Boran cattle/ cattle were injected at different sites with 2% and 4% isometamidium chloride or 2% isometamidium-dextran complex. Sequential slaughter at 7, 28 and 56 days post injection was carried out and the innoculation sites examined for changes in gross pathology and histology. Both 2% and 4% isometamidium chloride given at a dose of 1mg/kg/injection site resulted in severe tissue damage which progressed from a necrotic, oedematous, haemorrhagic lesion at day 7 to extensive fibrosis by day 56. Isometamidium-dextran complex produced a limited well encapsulated lesion and was safe to inject subcutaneously

Maritime cultures of the Erythraean Sea

In the first three centuries AD an explosion in the long distance trade between the Roman Empire and various states in India, East Africa and South Arabia, known as the Erythraean Sea Trade, was sparked by Roman Imperial interests and the expensive tastes of Rome’s growing elite. In the north of the Red Sea, this created bustling, cosmopolitan port communities at Aila, Berenike and Myos Hormos. The peoples of both Egypt and Nabataea could only await the implications for their lives in being subject to empire and the economic opportunities available through providing for its elite. More specifically, these annexed kingdoms had indigenous populations who inhabited the desert coastal regions of the Red Sea, which were perceived in antiquity as being ethnically distinct and whose various relationships with the Roman Imperial authorities were varied, often chequered. Here they are discussed. The purpose of this study is to discover the role of maritime activities in the construction of group identities in the Northern Red Sea ports of the first three centuries AD. This question has five component parts: How is group identity (such as ethnicity) defined? How is identity represented archaeologically? How to identify maritime activities? How important were maritime activities in defining group identities? And: How can we recognise the various power relationships that shaped these identities?This study provides detailed analysis of original material from Aila, Berenike and Myos Hormos, namely maritime artefacts that cover many finds groups (metal, cordage, basketry, bone, shell, horn, wood, pitch, stone) as well as reanalysis of published or forthcoming material from the finds groups of ceramics, stoppers, and faunal remains from these sites. These artefacts provide an independent source of information with which to compare historical documents on these communities. This is an original approach to the question of how ethnic identity was distinguished within port communities through assessing consumption practices (such as diet) and maritime activities

Restoring the Final Frontier: Exosomal MicroRNA and Cutaneous Wound Repair

oai:openjournals.ljmu.ac.uk:article/601Non-healing wounds present a major healthcare challenge associated with the ageing population, the rising incidence of diabetes and the obesity epidermic. Driven by the need to expand therapeutic options for the treatment of such wounds, a large body of evidence has emerged in recent years demonstrating that microRNAs (miRNAs) modulate various aspects of cutaneous wound healing through effects on diverse cell types, including keratinocytes, fibroblasts, endothelial cells and macrophages. However, clear translational pathways for non-invasive cutaneous delivery of miRNAs to facilitate wound repair have not yet been established. The recognition that miRNAs can be actively partitioned into extracellular vesicles (EVs)—exosomes, microvesicles and apoptotic bodies—has stimulated research into the regulation, function and translational exploitation of EV-derived miRNAs both as a novel mode of intercellular signalling and as a tool for miRNA transfer to cells for therapeutic purposes. In particular, because mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) were found to support wound healing, there is much interest in the therapeutic potential of EVs, especially exosomes, derived from these cells. In this review, we survey some of the main mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) for which exosomal miRNAs have been evaluated in the context of skin repair, including exosomes from adipose-derived MSCs, bone MSCs, amniotic MSCs and umbilical cord MSCs. Epithelial stem cell (EPSC)-derived exosomes are also considered, from keratinocytes and epidermal stem cells. The picture that emerges from studies on exosomes from various cell types reveal they share a limited set of exosomal miRNAs enhancing wound repair. We suggest a need for direct comparison of exosomal miRNA profiles from a range of MSCs and EPSCs. The ability of exogenous exosomal miRNAs to promote healing of chronic diabetic wounds also warrants further attention in order to more fully establish their therapeutic potential

‘Lo, he merys. Lo, he laghys’: Humour, Laughter, and Audience Response in the York and Towneley Plays.

Humour is generally regarded as a means to entertain, but it should not always be considered superficial. This thesis explores the use of humour in the ‘mystery plays’ of the York Corpus Christi Cycle and the Towneley MS, moving away from a consideration of the use of humor as little more than an aesthetic embellishment on otherwise serious biblical dramas, towards an appreciation of the range of meanings located in comic forms. Rather than merely functioning as a pleasing distraction, the humour of these plays was rooted in devotional trends and broader lay concerns of Yorkshire and north-east England in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Its analysis offers fruitful insights into the complex and competing discourses of contemporary lay society, and how a varied demographic of spectators considered their relationship with God. Drawing on established critical approaches and utilising theories from the field of Humour Studies, the following work argues that comic forms were utilised as a way to prompt a cognitive process in spectators, playing on incongruities between the biblical narrative and elements of contemporary life brought into performances. Rather than timeless evocations of biblical history, these plays were defined by their contemporaneity. The surviving play-texts encode tensions through their use of humour, drawing attention to apparent inconsistencies between the biblical and the contemporary, rather than masking them. By this means, those experiencing the dramas were motivated to consider the relationship between their own lives and the arc – or cycle – of biblical history. The first chapter considers the ‘lost’ York Funeral of the Virgin pageant, which prompted the only record of laughter as a response to the cycle: though not for the reasons producers might have hoped. A new speculative context is offered for the play, reflecting the sense in which narratives beyond performances could inform audience response. A similar approach is presented in the second chapter on the Noah plays of York and Towneley; it reassesses the much-discussed comic relationship of the patriarch and his wife. Chapter three looks to plays associated with the ‘shepherds’, considering the humour of the plays as a reflection of specific devotional and commercial interests vested in the region where they were produced. In chapter five the comically-inflected performances of Herod and the tyrants are reconsidered, within a discursive context of temptation and superficiality. Finally, chapters six and seven look to the use of humour in plays involving Joseph, Mary and Christ, where comic elements mediate between the ‘earthly’ and the divine

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in ZH -> l+ l- bbbar production with the D0 detector in 9.7 fb-1 of ppbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV

We present a search for the standard model (SM) Higgs boson produced in association with a Z boson in 9.7 fb-1 of ppbar collisions collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV. Selected events contain one reconstructed Z-> e+e- or Z-> mu+mu- candidate and at least two jets, including at least one jet identified as likely to contain a b quark. To validate the search procedure, we also measure the cross section for ZZ production in the same final state. It is found to be consistent with its SM prediction. We set upper limits on the ZH production cross section times branching ratio for H->bbbar at the 95% C.L. for Higgs boson masses 9

Search for a fourth generation t' quark in ppbar collisions at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV

We present a search for pair production of a fourth generation t' quark and its antiparticle, followed by their decays to a W boson and a jet, based on an integrated luminosity of 5.3/fb of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV collected by the D0 Collaboration at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. We set upper limits on the t't'bar production cross section that exclude at the 95% C.L. a t' quark that decays exclusively to W+jet with a mass below 285 GeV. We observe a small excess in the muon+jets channel which reduces the mass range excluded compared to the expected limit of 320 GeV in the absence of a signal

Combined search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying to b bbar using the D0 Run II data set

We present the results of the combination of searches for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with a W or Z boson and decaying into b bbar using the data sample collected with the D0 detector in p pbar collisions at sqrt{s}=1.96 TeV at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. We derive 95% CL upper limits on the Higgs boson cross section relative to the standard model prediction in the mass range 100 Ge

Observation of a narrow mass state decaying into Upsilon(1S) + gamma in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV

Using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.3 fb^-1, we observe a narrow mass state decaying into Upsilon(1S)+gamma, where the Upsilon(1S) meson is detected by its decay into a pair of oppositely charged muons, and the photon is identified through its conversion into an electron-positron pair. The significance of this observation is 5.6 standard deviations. The mass of the state is centered at 10.551 \pm 0.014 (stat.) \pm 0.017 (syst.) GeV/c^2, which is consistent with that of the state recently observed by the ATLAS Collaboration