Snow and ice melt flow features on Devon Island, Nunavut, Arctic Canada as possible analogs for recent slope flow features on Mars

Based on morphologic and contextual analogs from Devon Island, Arctic Canada, the recent martian slope flow features reported by Malin and Edgett are reinterpreted as being due not necessarily to groundwater seepage but possibly to snow or ice melt

Fingerprints of Inelastic Transport at the Surface of the Topological Insulator Bi2Se3: Role of Electron-Phonon Coupling

We report on electric-field and temperature dependent transport measurements in exfoliated thin crystals of Bi$_{2}$Se$_{3}$ topological insulator. At low temperatures ($< 50$ K) and when the chemical potential lies inside the bulk gap, the crystal resistivity is strongly temperature dependent, reflecting inelastic scattering due to the thermal activation of optical phonons. A linear increase of the current with voltage is obtained up to a threshold value at which current saturation takes place. We show that the activated behavior, the voltage threshold and the saturation current can all be quantitatively explained by considering a single optical phonon mode with energy $\hbar \Omega \approx 8$ meV. This phonon mode strongly interacts with the surface states of the material and represents the dominant source of scattering at the surface at high electric fields.Comment: Supplementary Material at: http://journals.aps.org/prl/supplemental/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.086601/TIPhonon_SM.pd

Protective efficacy and pulmonary immune response following subcutaneous and intranasal BCG administration in mice

Despite global coverage of intradermal BCG vaccination, tuberculosis remains one of the most prevalent infectious diseases in the world. Preclinical data have encouraged pulmonary tuberculosis vaccines as a promising strategy to prevent pulmonary disease, which is responsible for transmission. In this work, we describe the methodology used to demonstrate in the mouse model the benefits of intranasal BCG vaccination when compared to subcutaneous. Our data revealed greater protective efficacy following intranasal BCG administration. In addition, our results indicate that pulmonary vaccination triggers a higher immune response in lungs, including Th1 and Th17 responses, as well as an increase of immunoglobulin A (IgA) concentration in respiratory airways. Our data show correlation between protective efficacy and the presence of IL17- producing cells in lungs post-Mycobacterium tuberculosis challenge, suggesting a role for this cytokine in the protective response conferred by pulmonary vaccination. Finally, we detail the global workflow we have developed to study respiratory vaccination in the mouse model, which could be extrapolated to other tuberculosis vaccines, apart from BCG, targeting the mucosal response or other pulmonary routes of administration such as the intratracheal or aerosol

Microbiological evaluation of sewage sludge in terms of possibilities of application in soil as a fertilizer

Research was conducted of sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plant for the existence of microorganisms of several major groups, containing pathogenic representatives with epizootological significance (Gram-negative aerobic bacteria, E. coli, Clostridium perfringens, the genera Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus, Enterococcus, fungi, and the total number of microorganisms), in order to assess the environmental safety of the final product. In parallel similar studies were made of fresh and composted cattle manures. A comparison of the results was made with the ready for manuring compost in order to assess the possibilities for the use of sludge for fertilizing. The quantities of microorganisms were given in CFU per 1 g of the investigated material, as well as per 1 g of dry substance for each of them. In our opinion this new approach to the reporting of the results per unit of dry matter of the investigated materials, allows for a more accurate comparison. It was found that the examined sewage sludge from wastewater treatment plant were rich in microorganisms from studied groups and their direct application in soils without prior treatment by aerobic or anaerobic digestion may represent epidemiological danger

Data-driven model for the assessment of mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission in evolving demographic structures

In the case of tuberculosis (TB), the capabilities of epidemic models to produce quantitatively robust forecasts are limited by multiple hindrances. Among these, understanding the complex relationship between disease epidemiology and populations’ age structure has been highlighted as one of the most relevant. TB dynamics depends on age in multiple ways, some of which are traditionally simplified in the literature. That is the case of the heterogeneities in contact intensity among different age strata that are common to all airborne diseases, but still typically neglected in the TB case. Furthermore, while demographic structures of many countries are rapidly aging, demographic dynamics are pervasively ignored when modeling TB spreading. In this work, we present a TB transmission model that incorporates country-specific demographic prospects and empirical contact data around a data-driven description of TB dynamics. Using our model, we find that the inclusion of demographic dynamics is followed by an increase in the burden levels predicted for the next decades in the areas of the world that are most hit by the disease today. Similarly, we show that considering realistic patterns of contacts among individuals in different age strata reshapes the transmission patterns reproduced by the models, a result with potential implications for the design of age-focused epidemiological interventions

Agroecologic valuation of organic waste in different technologies of storage

A study has been conducted, based on three types of fertilizers / cow, pig and bird manure/ and bioshlam /received from clearing station/ that have been storage in different technologies in order to make an agroecologic valuation. The different types of fertilizers and wastewater in different technologies of storage have been analyzed according to the following parameters: Dry matter (DM) ,Organic matter (OM), Organic Carbon (OC), Nitrogen Kjeldahl (N), Nitrogen Ammonium (N -ammonium), Nitrogen nitrate (N- nitrate), Sulfates (SO4) , Calcium Oxide (CaO), Magnesium Oxide (MgO), Patassium (K), P (Phosphorus), pH (H2O) and heavy metals – arsenic (As), Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Copper (Cu), Mercury (Hg), Nickel (Ni), Lead (Pd), Zinc (Zn). The received results show: variation of the percentage of dry material /from 92,12% to 4,03%/ according to the technology of storage. The way of storage has no essential influence on the content of carbon in the various stable fertilizers, where pig manure has the highest value of nitrogen in all technologies of storage. Near to the recommendable optimal values of C:N is stayed/dry/ and fresh/hard/ in all three fertilizer types. The technology of storage by the different manure types has no influence on the content of heavy metal. Exception can be observed as far as the zinc content in stale /fluid/ pig manure is concerned. High content of dry material can be observed in bioshlam received from clearing station. In both ways of production of variation in the content of dry material the ratio between the biogenic macro elements C:N remains. The free nitrogen forms (N-ammonium and Nnitrate) in bioshlam are higher to other organic waste in both technologies of storage. No values over the critically admissible in bioshlam are observed in both technologies of production

MTBVAC vaccine is safe, immunogenic and confers protective efficacy against Mycobacterium tuberculosis in newborn mice

Development of novel more efficient preventive vaccines against tuberculosis (TB) is crucial to achieve TB eradication by 2050, one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) for the current century. MTBVAC is the first and only live attenuated vaccine based on a human isolate of Mycobacterium tuberculosis developed as BCG-replacement strategy in newborns that has entered first-in-human adult clinical trials. In this work, we characterize the safety, immunogenicity and protective efficacy of MTBVAC in a model of newborn C57/BL6 mice. Our data clearly indicate that MTBVAC is safe for newborn mice, and does not affect animal growth or organ development. In addition, MTBVAC-vaccinated mice at birth showed enhanced immunogenicity and better protection against M. tuberculosis challenge in comparison with BCG

Pulmonary but not subcutaneous vaccination confers protection to TB susceptible mice by an IL17-dependent mechanism.

Some of the most promising novel tuberculosis vaccine strategies currently under development are based on respiratory vaccination, mimicking the natural route of infection. In this work, we have compared pulmonary and subcutaneous delivery of BCG vaccine in the tuberculosis-susceptible DBA/2 mouse strain, a model in which parenterally administered BCG vaccine does not protect against tuberculosis. Our data show that intranasally but not subcutaneously administered BCG confers robust protection against pulmonary tuberculosis challenge. In addition, our results indicate that pulmonary vaccination triggers a Mycobacterium tuberculosis–specific mucosal immune response orchestrated by interleukin 17A (IL-17A). Thus, IL-17A neutralization in vivo reduces protection and abrogates M. tuberculosis–specific immunoglobulin A (IgA) secretion to respiratory airways and lung expression of polymeric immunoglobulin receptor induced following intranasal vaccination. Together, our results demonstrate that pulmonary delivery of BCG can overcome the lack of protection observed when BCG is given parenterally, suggesting that respiratory tuberculosis vaccines could have an advantage in tuberculosis-endemic countries, where intradermally administered BCG has inefficient effectiveness against pulmonary tuberculosis