Intercultural discussion of conceptual universals in discourse. Joint online methodology to bring about social change through novel conceptualizations of Covid-19

The present article addresses the professional conclusions of an international platform of education in intercultural discourse in the European Union’s EDUC Project. In flagging social issues and concerns, cross-cultural academic collaboration is a powerful tool to bring about social change. In our educational project participants encounter different cultures, so the discussed topics, and especially the metaphors for the Covid-19 pandemic, receive instant reflections from different cultural perspectives, multiplying the potential sphere of valid interpretations, yielding novel perspectives in intercultural pragmatics and communication. This gives birth to a novel methodology that builds on the open-minded integration of different points of view, understanding universal traits of human cognition and differences in culture in the linguistics of discourse

A versatile electrostatic trap

A four electrode electrostatic trap geometry is demonstrated that can be used to combine a dipole, quadrupole and hexapole field. A cold packet of 15ND3 molecules is confined in both a purely quadrupolar and hexapolar trapping field and additionally, a dipole field is added to a hexapole field to create either a double-well or a donut-shaped trapping field. The profile of the 15ND3 packet in each of these four trapping potentials is measured, and the dependence of the well-separation and barrier height of the double-well and donut potential on the hexapole and dipole term are discussed.Comment: submitted to pra; 7 pages, 9 figure

Cryptanalysis of Basic Bloom Filters Used for Privacy Preserving Record Linkage

Bloom filter encoded identifiers are increasingly used for privacy preserving record linkage applications, because they allow for errors in encrypted identifiers. However, little research on the security of Bloom filters has been published so far. In this paper, we formalize a successful attack on Bloom filters composed of bigrams. It has previously been assumed in the literature that an attacker knows the global data set from which a sample is drawn. In contrast, we suppose that an attacker does not know this global data set. Instead, we assume the adversary knows a publicly available list of the most frequent attributes. The attack is based on subtle filtering and elementary statistical analysis of encrypted bigrams. The attack described in this paper can be used for the deciphering of a whole database instead of only a small subset of the most frequent names, as in previous research. We illustrate our proposed method with an attack on a database of encrypted surnames. Finally, we describe modifications of the Bloom filters for preventing similar attacks

Ebola Virus Localization in the Macaque Reproductive Tract during Acute Ebola Virus Disease.

Sexual transmission of Ebola virus (EBOV) has been demonstrated more than a year after recovery from the acute phase of Ebola virus disease (EVD). The mechanisms underlying EBOV persistence and sexual transmission are not currently understood. Using the acute macaque model of EVD, we hypothesized EBOV would infect the reproductive tissues and sought to localize the infection in these tissues using immunohistochemistry and transmission electron microscopy. In four female and eight male macaques that succumbed to EVD between 6 and 9 days after EBOV challenge, we demonstrate widespread EBOV infection of the interstitial tissues and endothelium in the ovary, uterus, testis, seminal vesicle, epididymis, and prostate gland, with minimal associated tissue immune response or organ pathology. Given the widespread involvement of EBOV in the reproductive tracts of both male and female macaques, it is reasonable to surmise that our understanding of the mechanisms underlying sexual transmission of EVD and persistence of EBOV in immune-privileged sites would be facilitated by the development of a nonhuman primate model in which the macaques survived past the acute stage into convalescence

Carotid Intima-Media Thickness Progression in HIV-Infected Adults Occurs Preferentially at the Carotid Bifurcation and Is Predicted by Inflammation.

BackgroundShear stress gradients and inflammation have been causally associated with atherosclerosis development in carotid bifurcation regions. The mechanism underlying higher levels of carotid intima-media thickness observed among HIV-infected individuals remains unknown.Methods and resultsWe measured carotid intima-media thickness progression and development of plaque in the common carotid, bifurcation region, and internal carotid artery in 300 HIV-infected persons and 47 controls. The median duration of follow-up was 2.4 years. When all segments were included, the rate of intima-media thickness progression was greater in HIV-infected subjects compared with controls after adjustment for traditional risk factors (0.055 vs. 0.024 mm/year, P=0.016). Rate of progression was also greater in the bifurcation region (0.067 vs. 0.025 mm/year, P=0.042) whereas differences were smaller in the common and internal regions. HIV-infected individuals had a greater incidence of plaque compared with controls in the internal (23% vs. 6.4%, P=0.0037) and bifurcation regions (34% vs. 17%, P=0.014). Among HIV-infected individuals, the rate of progression in the bifurcation region was more rapid compared with the common carotid, internal, or mean intima-media thickness; in contrast, progression rates among controls were similar at all sites. Baseline hsCRP was elevated in HIV-infected persons and was a predictor of progression in the bifurcation region.ConclusionsAtherosclerosis progresses preferentially in the carotid bifurcation region in HIV-infected individuals. hsCRP, a marker of inflammation, is elevated in HIV and is associated with progression in the bifurcation region. These data are consistent with a model in which the interplay between hemodynamic shear stresses and HIV-associated inflammation contribute to accelerated atherosclerosis. (J Am Heart Assoc. 2012;1:jah3-e000422 doi: 10.1161/JAHA.111.000422.)Clinical trial registrationURL: http://clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT01519141

A primary fish gill cell culture model to assess pharmaceutical uptake and efflux:evidence for passive and facilitated transport

AbstractThe gill is the principle site of xenobiotic transfer to and from the aqueous environment. To replace, refine or reduce (3Rs) the large numbers of fish used in in vivo uptake studies an effective in vitro screen is required that mimics the function of the teleost gill. This study uses a rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) primary gill cell culture system grown on permeable inserts, which tolerates apical freshwater thus mimicking the intact organ, to assess the uptake and efflux of pharmaceuticals across the gill. Bidirectional transport studies in media of seven pharmaceuticals (propranolol, metoprolol, atenolol, formoterol, terbutaline, ranitidine and imipramine) showed they were transported transcellularly across the epithelium. However, studies conducted in water showed enhanced uptake of propranolol, ranitidine and imipramine. Concentration-equilibrated conditions without a concentration gradient suggested that a proportion of the uptake of propranolol and imipramine is via a carrier-mediated process. Further study using propranolol showed that its transport is pH-dependent and at very low environmentally relevant concentrations (ngL−1), transport deviated from linearity. At higher concentrations, passive uptake dominated. Known inhibitors of drug transport proteins; cimetidine, MK571, cyclosporine A and quinidine inhibited propranolol uptake, whilst amantadine and verapamil were without effect. Together this suggests the involvement of specific members of SLC and ABC drug transporter families in pharmaceutical transport

Real-Time Control, Acquisition and Data Treatment for Beam Current Transformers in a Transfer Line

Particle beams are transferred from the 1 GeV Booster to the 26 GeV Proton Synchrotron and to an experimental area, ISOLDE. The characteristics of the beams and their destination change on a 1.2 s cycle basis. There are six beam current transformers to measure the beam intensities, i.e. the number of particles passing through the transfer lines. On each pulse of the Booster, a real-time system, called BTTR (Beam Transfer TRansformers), acquires the transformer values, selects the range, executes a calibration, and treats the data. Part of the treatment is the subtraction of the base-value, which includes systematic perturbations, acquired in the absence of beam. The system also handles asynchronous tasks, such as acquisition of base-value, readout of calibration factors and other diagnostic actions. The concept of the BTTR and its design are presented, as well as some practical results