Ignition of binary alloys of uranium

Experiments determine the effect of alloying additives on the ignition of uranium. Data on oxidation rates, ignition temperatures, and burning curves are provided in the report

Evaluation of TruCount Absolute-Count Tubes for Determining CD4 and CD8 Cell Numbers in Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Positive Adults

A single-platform technology that uses an internal bead standard and three-color flow cytometry to determine CD4 and CD8 absolute counts was evaluated for reproducibility and agreement. Values obtained using TruCount absolute-count tubes were compared to those obtained using a two-color predicate methodology. Sixty specimens from human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected donors were shipped to five laboratories. Each site also analyzed replicates of 14 human immunodeficiency virus type 1-infected local specimens at 6 h and again at 24 h. The interlaboratory variability was significantly less with TruCount (median difference in percent coefficient of variation [%CV] between the two methods was −8% and −3% for CD4 and CD8, respectively) than with the predicate method. Intralaboratory variability was smaller, with a median difference in %CV of −1% for both CD4 and CD8 with 6-h samples and −2% and −3% for CD4 and CD8, respectively, with 24-h samples. Use of TruCount for shipped samples resulted in a median CD4 count change of 7 cells (50th estimated percentile) when all laboratories and CD4 strata were combined. For on-site samples, the median CD4 count change was 10 CD4 cells for 6-h samples and 2 CD4 cells for 24-h samples. Individual site biases occurred in both directions and cancelled each other when the data were combined for all laboratories. Thus, the combined data showed a smaller change in median CD4 count than what may have occurred at an individual site. In summary, the use of TruCount decreased both the inter- and intralaboratory variability in determining absolute CD4 and CD8 counts

Modeling flow cytometry data for cancer vaccine immune monitoring

Flow cytometry (FCM) is widely used in cancer research for diagnosis, detection of minimal residual disease, as well as immune monitoring and profiling following immunotherapy. In all these applications, the challenge is to detect extremely rare cell subsets while avoiding spurious positive events. To achieve this objective, it helps to be able to analyze FCM data using multiple markers simultaneously, since the additional information provided often helps to minimize the number of false positive and false negative events, hence increasing both sensitivity and specificity. However, with manual gating, at most two markers can be examined in a single dot plot, and a sequential strategy is often used. As the sequential strategy discards events that fall outside preceding gates at each stage, the effectiveness of the strategy is difficult to evaluate without laborious and painstaking back-gating. Model-based analysis is a promising computational technique that works using information from all marker dimensions simultaneously, and offers an alternative approach to flow analysis that can usefully complement manual gating in the design of optimal gating strategies. Results from model-based analysis will be illustrated with examples from FCM assays commonly used in cancer immunotherapy laboratories

Multisite Comparison of CD4 and CD8 T-Lymphocyte Counting by Single- versus Multiple-Platform Methodologies: Evaluation of Beckman Coulter Flow-Count Fluorospheres and the tetraONE System

New analytic methods that permit absolute CD4 and CD8 T-cell determinations to be performed entirely on the flow cytometer have the potential for improving assay precision and accuracy. In a multisite trial, we compared two different single-platform assay methods with a predicate two-color assay in which the absolute lymphocyte count was derived by conventional hematology. A two-color method employing lymphocyte light scatter gating and Beckman Coulter Flow-Count fluorospheres for absolute counting produced within-laboratory precision equivalent to that of the two-color predicate method, as measured by coefficient of variation of replicate measurements. The fully automated Beckman Coulter tetraONE System four-color assay employing CD45 lymphocyte gating, automated analysis, and absolute counting by fluorospheres resulted in a small but significant improvement in the within-laboratory precision of CD4 and CD8 cell counts and percentages suggesting that the CD45 lymphocyte gating and automated analysis might have contributed to the improved performance. Both the two-color method employing Flow-Count fluorospheres and the four-color tetraONE System provided significant and substantial improvements in between-laboratory precision of absolute counts. In some laboratories, absolute counts obtained by the single-platform methods showed small but consistent differences relative to the predicate method. Comparison of each laboratory's absolute counts with the five-laboratory median value suggested that these differences resulted from a bias in the absolute lymphocyte count obtained from the hematology instrument in some laboratories. These results demonstrate the potential for single-platform assay methods to improve within-laboratory and between-laboratory precision of CD4 and CD8 T-cell determinations compared with conventional assay methods

Microbial Metabolite Signaling Is Required for Systemic Iron Homeostasis

45 Pág.Iron is a central micronutrient needed by all living organisms. Competition for iron in the intestinal tract is essential for the maintenance of indigenous microbial populations and for host health. How symbiotic relationships between hosts and native microbes persist during times of iron limitation is unclear. Here, we demonstrate that indigenous bacteria possess an iron-dependent mechanism that inhibits host iron transport and storage. Using a high-throughput screen of microbial metabolites, we found that gut microbiota produce metabolites that suppress hypoxia-inducible factor 2α (HIF-2α) a master transcription factor of intestinal iron absorption and increase the iron-storage protein ferritin, resulting in decreased intestinal iron absorption by the host. We identified 1,3-diaminopropane (DAP) and reuterin as inhibitors of HIF-2α via inhibition of heterodimerization. DAP and reuterin effectively ameliorated systemic iron overload. This work provides evidence of intestine-microbiota metabolic crosstalk that is essential for systemic iron homeostasis.This work was supported by the NIH, United States (grants CA148828 and DK095201 to Y.M.S. and F31 DK11655 to A.J.S.); the University of Michigan Center for Gastrointestinal Research, United States (DK034933); a pilot grant from the University of Michigan, United States-GI Spore (CA130810 to Y.M.S.); the University of Michigan, United States Microbiome Explorer Program, NIAID, United States Novel Alternative Model Systems for Enteric Diseases (NAMSED) consortium (U19AI116482 to M.K.S., J.R.S. and V.B.Y.); NIAID, United States (U01AI124255 to M.K.S. and V.B.Y.) Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation, United States Senior Research Award (410234) to N.I.; Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) from The Michigan Institute for Clinical & Health Research (MICHR), United States (UL1TR000433) to D.R.H.; The Pennsylvania Department of Health, United States using Tobacco CURE grant to A.D.P.; and the Spanish Ministry of Science Innovation and Universities, Spain (RTA2017-00002-00-00 to J.L.A.).Peer reviewe

A delay bound alternative revision of RFC 2598

For historical interest, this document captures the EF Design Team's proposed solution, preferred by the original authors of RFC 2598 but not adopted by the working group in December 2000. The original definition of EF was based on comparison of forwarding on an unloaded network. This experimental Delay Bound (DB) PHB requires a bound on the delay of packets due to other traffic in the network. At the Pittsburgh IETF meeting in August 2000, the Differentiated Services working group faced serious questions regarding RFC 2598 - the group's standards track definition of the Expedited Forwarding (EF) Per Hop Behavior (PHB). An 'EF Design Team' volunteered to develop a re-expression of RFC 2598, bearing in mind the issues raised in the DiffServ group. At the San Diego IETF meeting in December 2000 the DiffServ working group decided to pursue an alternative re-expression of the EF PHB

Anamnestic responses induced by antigen persisting on follicular dendritic cells from cyclophosphamide-treated mice.

In contrast to most mouse lymph node cells, follicular dendritic cells (FDCs) resist cyclophosphamide (Cy; 300 mg/kg)-mediated destruction in vivo. In this study we sought to determine if antigen-bearing FDCs from Cy-treated animals maintained biological activity. We were especially interested in whether FDCs from Cy-treated animals could stimulate an antibody response when combined with primed spleen cells and whether the FDCs needed to be intact and viable for stimulation to occur. The effect of Cy treatment on lymph node histology, number of T cells and B cells, and the 'spontaneous antibody response' was determined. Cy treatment resulted in a massive depletion of the lymph node cortex and a loss of follicles and germinal centres. Over 90% of B cells in the lymph node were eliminated. The paracortex was more resistant although nearly 80% of T cells were eliminated. Cy treatment also eliminated the 'spontaneous antibody response' as established by in vitro culture or after adoptive transfer. The addition of primed spleen cells to antigen-bearing FDCs including sonicated non-viable FDCs from Cy-treated animals resulted in an anamnestic antibody response. Memory lymphocytes, injected into the hind foot pads of Cy-treated animals, migrated to the follicular area of popliteal lymph nodes and cells from these reconstituted nodes spontaneously responded upon subsequent adoptive transfer. It was concluded that antigen retained on Cy-treated FDCs maintains its immunogenicity and is capable of inducing a 'spontaneous antibody response' or an anamnestic response. Furthermore antigen on FDCs or on fragments of FDCs from one animal can interact with memory cells from another animal to induce a productive antibody response. Lymph nodes enriched for FDCs by Cy treatment should be a good source of FDCs for isolation and further study of the nature of this interaction