CLINICAL STUDIES OF THE VACCINE PREPARATION FOR PREVENTION OF FLEXNER DYSENTERY ON THE BASIS OF MODIFIED SHIGELLA FLEXNERI LIPOPOLYSACCHARIDE (BASED ON THE RESULTS OF THE I PHASE OF CLINICAL TRIALS)

The article presents the results of the I phase of clinical trials of a vaccine preparationfor prevention of Flexner dysentery on the basis of modified Shigella flexneri lipopolysaccharide on the limited contingent of adult volunteers (26 persons). Studying general and local post-inoculative reactions showed good acceptability and low reactogenicity of candidate vaccine "FLEXVAC®" in the doses from 25 to 100 gg. In the majority ofvolunteers immunized by the candidate vaccine "FLEXVAC®" we registered 4 and more times seroconversion of IgG and IgA classes antibodies playing basic role in the formation of adaptive anti-shigella immune response

IMMUNOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTIC OF SYNTHETIC PEPTIDES SIMILAR TO ACTUAL HIV ANTIGEN DETERMINANTS

The development of HIV vaccine remains an important goal in prophylaxis and therapy of HIV/ AIDS epidemics. There are various approaches for development of а candidate vaccine based on induction of neutralizing antibodies and cell-mediated immunity. Synthetic peptides are considered promising vaccine antigens since they are capable of activating both humoral and cellular immune response. HIV-1 envelope gp120 is the target for neutralizing antiviral antibodies. The V3 region of the HIV-1 gp120 is highly immunogenic and important for the virus-coreceptor interaction. In a RV144 vaccine trial, the levels of vaccine-induced IgG antibodies recognizing V1V2 regions from multiple HIV-1 subtypes show inverse correlations with a risk for HIV-1 infection. Meanwhile, HIV is characterized by high diversity. The consensus and mosaic immunogens are complete but artificial proteins, which are computationally designed to elicit immune responses with improved cross-reactive broadness. We have been studied immunogenic properties of synthetic peptides derived from V1, V2, V3 loop regions of the consensus M HIV1 (CON-S) sequence group of the gp 120 envelope protein and V3 loop derived from a Russian RUA022a2 isolate. These peptides specifically reacted to HIV-positive sera in ELISA, thus indicating their similarity to appropriate HIV proteins. The peptides proved to be weakly immunogenic. Therefore, Freund complete adjuvant was used to enhance peptide immunogenicity. To assess the immunogenicity, the mice were immunized with a peptide mixture. Antibodies have been developed to every peptide from the mixture, being, predominantly, of IgG isotype. The antibody titers depended on the length of peptide sequences. However, the sera from immunized mice did not have a HIV neutralizing activity. The serum neutralization was assessed by pseudovirus-based assay, using a molecular clone of virus isolates CAP 45.2.00.G3 and QH.209.14.M.EnvA2. The virus neutralization is a complex process and may be influenced by several factors, such as antibody titer, isotype, or antibody structure. Probably, to induce neutralizing antibodies by this peptide mixture, it is necessary to choose appropriate adjutants and immunization schedule. Moreover, it was shown that peptides could increase in vitro virus infectivity in pseudovirus-based model, using the CAP 45.2.00.G3, QH209.14M.ENV.A2, QD435.100M.ENV.E1 molecular clone. These viral isolates belong to different HIV-1 subtypes

Measurements of the transverse-momentum-dependent cross sections of J /ψ production at mid-rapidity in proton+proton collisions at s =510 and 500 GeV with the STAR detector

We present measurements of the differential cross sections of inclusive J/ψ meson production as a function of transverse momentum (pTJ/ψ) using the μ+μ- and e+e- decay channels in proton+proton collisions at center-of-mass energies of 510 and 500 GeV, respectively, recorded by the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The measurement from the μ+μ- channel is for

Bulk properties of the system formed in Au+Au collisions at sNN =14.5 GeV at the BNL STAR detector

We report systematic measurements of bulk properties of the system created in Au+Au collisions at sNN=14.5 GeV recorded by the STAR detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The transverse momentum spectra of π±, K±, and p(p) are studied at midrapidity (|y|<0.1) for nine centrality intervals. The centrality, transverse momentum (pT), and pseudorapidity (η) dependence of inclusive charged particle elliptic flow (v2), and rapidity-odd charged particles directed flow (v1) results near midrapidity are also presented. These measurements are compared with the published results from Au+Au collisions at other energies, and from Pb+Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV. The results at sNN=14.5 GeV show similar behavior as established at other energies and fit well in the energy dependence trend. These results are important as the 14.5-GeV energy fills the gap in μB, which is of the order of 100 MeV, between sNN=11.5 and 19.6 GeV. Comparisons of the data with UrQMD and AMPT models show poor agreement in general

Charge-dependent pair correlations relative to a third particle in p + Au and d + Au collisions at RHIC

Quark interactions with topological gluon configurations can induce chirality imbalance and local parity violation in quantum chromodynamics. This can lead to electric charge separation along the strong magnetic field in relativistic heavy-ion collisions – the chiral magnetic effect (CME). We report measurements by the STAR collaboration of a CME-sensitive observable in p+Au and d+Au collisions at 200 GeV, where the CME is not expected, using charge-dependent pair correlations relative to a third particle. We observe strong charge-dependent correlations similar to those measured in heavy-ion collisions. This bears important implications for the interpretation of the heavy-ion data

Observation of Excess J/ψ Yield at Very Low Transverse Momenta in Au+Au Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200 GeV and U+U Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=193 GeV.

We report on the first measurements of J/ψ production at very low transverse momentum (p_{T}<0.2  GeV/c) in hadronic Au+Au collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=200  GeV and U+U collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=193  GeV. Remarkably, the inferred nuclear modification factor of J/ψ at midrapidity in Au+Au (U+U) collisions reaches about 24 (52) for p_{T}<0.05  GeV/c in the 60%-80% collision centrality class. This noteworthy enhancement cannot be explained by hadronic production accompanied by cold and hot medium effects. In addition, the dN/dt distribution of J/ψ for the very low p_{T} range is presented for the first time. The distribution is consistent with that expected from the Au nucleus and shows a hint of interference. Comparison of the measurements to theoretical calculations of coherent production shows that the excess yield can be described reasonably well and reveals a partial disruption of coherent production in semicentral collisions, perhaps due to the violent hadronic interactions. Incorporating theoretical calculations, the results strongly suggest that the dramatic enhancement of J/ψ yield observed at extremely low p_{T} originates from coherent photon-nucleus interactions. In particular, coherently produced J/ψ's in violent hadronic collisions may provide a novel probe of the quark-gluon plasma

Measurement of inclusive J/ψ suppression in Au+Au collisions at sNN=200 GeV through the dimuon channel at STAR

J/ψ suppression has long been considered a sensitive signature of the formation of the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP) in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. In this letter, we present the first measurement of inclusive J/ψ production at mid-rapidity through the dimuon decay channel in Au+Au collisions at sNN=200 GeV with the STAR experiment. These measurements became possible after the installation of the Muon Telescope Detector was completed in 2014. The J/ψ yields are measured in a wide transverse momentum (pT) range of 0.15 GeV/c to 12 GeV/c from central to peripheral collisions. They extend the kinematic reach of previous measurements at RHIC with improved precision. In the 0-10% most central collisions, the J/ψ yield is suppressed by a factor of approximately 3 for pT>5 GeV/c relative to that in p+p collisions scaled by the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions. The J/ψ nuclear modification factor displays little dependence on pT in all centrality bins. Model calculations can qualitatively describe the data, providing further evidence for the color-screening effect experienced by J/ψ mesons in the QGP

Longitudinal double-spin asymmetry for inclusive jet and dijet production in pp collisions at s =510 GeV

We report the first measurement of the inclusive jet and the dijet longitudinal double-spin asymmetries, ALL, at midrapidity in polarized pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy s=510 GeV. The inclusive jet ALL measurement is sensitive to the gluon helicity distribution down to a gluon momentum fraction of x≈0.015, while the dijet measurements, separated into four jet-pair topologies, provide constraints on the x dependence of the gluon polarization. Both results are consistent with previous measurements made at s=200 GeV in the overlapping kinematic region, x>0.05, and show good agreement with predictions from recent next-to-leading order global analyses

Elliptic Flow of Electrons from Heavy-Flavor Hadron Decays in Au + Au Collisions at √\u3cem\u3e\u3csup\u3es\u3c/sup\u3e\u3csub\u3eNN\u3c/sub\u3e\u3c/em\u3e = 200, 62.4, and 39 GeV

We present measurements of elliptic flow (ν2) of electrons from the decays of heavy-flavor hadrons (eHF) by the STAR experiment. For Au+Au collisions at √sNN = 200 GeV we report v2, for transverse momentum (pT) between 0.2 and 7 GeV/c, using three methods: the event plane method (v2{EP}), two-particle correlations (v2{2}), and four-particle correlations (v2{4}). For Au+Au collisions at √sNN = 62.4 and 39 GeV we report v2{2} for pT \u3c 2 GeV/c. v2{2} and v2{4} are nonzero at low and intermediate pT at 200 GeV, and v2{2} is consistent with zero at low pT at other energies. The v2{2} at the two lower beam energies is systematically lower than at √sNN = 200 GeV for pT \u3c 1GeV/c. This difference may suggest that charm quarks interact less strongly with the surrounding nuclear matter at those two lower energies compared to √sNN = 200 GeV