Developments and trends in three-dimensional mesh generation

An intense research effort over the last few years has produced several competing and apparently diverse methods for generating meshes. Recent progress is reviewed and the central themes are emphasized which form a solid foundation for future developments in mesh generation

Prospects and expectations for unstructured methods

The last decade has witnessed a vigorous and sustained research effort on unstructured methods for computational fluid dynamics. Unstructured mesh generators and flow solvers have evolved to the point where they are now in use for design purposes throughout the aerospace industry. In this paper we survey the various mesh types, structured as well as unstructured, and examine their relative strengths and weaknesses. We argue that unstructured methodology does offer the best prospect for the next generation of computational fluid dynamics algorithms

Passive fetal monitoring sensor

An ambulatory, passive sensor for use in a fetal monitoring system is discussed. The invention is comprised of a piezoelectric polymer film, combined with a metallic mounting plate fastened to a belt, and electrically connected to a signal processing unit by means of a shielded cable. The purpose of the sensor is to receive pressure pulses emitted by a fetus inside an expectant mother. Additionally, the monitor will filter out pressure pulses arising from other sources, such as the maternal heart

A Baker–Venkataraman retro-Claisen cascade delivers a novel alkyl migration process for the synthesis of amides

A simple extension of the carbamoyl Baker-Venkataraman rearrangement has been developed. If residual water in the reaction is not strictly excluded a Baker-Venkataraman retro-Claisen cascade takes place, giving amide products, in which an alkyl group apparently migrates between two functionalities of the substrate

Functionalising the azobenzene motif delivers a light-responsive membrane-interactive compound with the potential for photodynamic therapy applications

When adorned with n-octyl chains azobenzene is able to disrupt a variety of calcein-loaded phospholipid liposomes. The levels of lysis observed are dependent both on the lipid headgroup and the conformation of the azobenzene compound. In all cases studied, it has been shown that the cis-conformer is more membrane-interactive than the trans-conformer, suggesting that this class of molecule could be optimised for photo-dynamic therapy applications against infectious pathogens

The Role of Vector Boson Fusion in the Production of Heavy Vector Triplets at the LHC and HL-LHC

We clarify the role of vector boson fusion (VBF) in the production of heavy vector triplets at the LHC and the HL-LHC. We point out that the presence of VBF production leads to an unavoidable rate of Drell-Yan (DY) production and highlight the subtle interplay between the falling parton luminosities and the increasing importance of VBF production as the heavy vector mass increases. We discuss current LHC searches and HL-LHC projections in di-boson and di-lepton final states and demonstrate that VBF production outperforms DY production for resonance masses above 1 TeV in certain regions of the parameter space. We define two benchmark parameter points which provide competitive production rates in vector boson fusion.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl

Use of Irradiated and Formalin-fixed Trichomonas vaginalis to Examine Protective Immune Responses in the Mouse Intraperitoneal Model

Gamma irradiated Trichomonas vaginalis was used to initiate a protective immune response in mice by intraperitoneal inoculation using host mortality as the measure of virulence. Irradiated trichomonads of a virulent strain gave some immune protection but no more so than the use of formalin-fixed, virulent trichomonads. A formalin-fixed virulent strain combined with complete Freund\u27s adjuvant (CFA) gave complete protection. Metabolically produced antigens do not appear to be important in conferring protective immunity in these experiments. A common laboratory strain of T. vaginalis (ATCC 30001) was used as an avirulent control. It gave no protection against a virulent strain. Combining CFA with ATCC 30001 (avirulent) gave partial protection indicating that a protective antigen is present, but needed an immune stimulant to be detected. IgG analysis corresponded to the mortality results with the avirulent strain being the weakest responder and the strongest being the formalin-fixed virulent strain with CFA. Western blot analysis indicated a band of about 31-kDa that was present using the protocols that showed from partial to complete protection. This band was not present using the avirulent strain but appeared with the addition of CFA. These results indicated that a 31-kDa protein is present in the avirulent strain but it requires an immune stimulant to be revealed. Whether this antigen confers protective immunity or not in the mouse intraperitoneal model is an open question

MicroRNA regulation of bovine monocyte inflammatory and metabolic networks in an in vivo infection model.

peer-reviewedBovine mastitis is an inflammation-driven disease of the bovine mammary gland that costs the global dairy industry several billion dollars per annum. Because disease susceptibility is a multi-factorial complex phenotype, an integrative biology approach is required to dissect the molecular networks involved. Here, we report such an approach, using next generation sequencing combined with advanced network and pathway biology methods to simultaneously profile mRNA and miRNA expression at multiple time-points (0, 12, 24, 36 and 48h) in both milk and blood FACS-isolated CD14+ monocytes from animals infected in vivo with Streptococcus uberis. More than 3,700 differentially expressed (DE) genes were identified in milk-isolated monocytes (MIMs), a key immune cell recruited to the site of infection during mastitis. Up-regulated genes were significantly enriched for inflammatory pathways, while down-regulated genes were enriched for non-glycolytic metabolic pathways. Monocyte transcriptional changes in the blood, however, were more subtle but highlighted the impact of this infection systemically. Genes up-regulated in blood-isolated-monocytes (BIMs) showed a significant association with interferon and chemokine signalling. Furthermore, twenty-six miRNAs were differentially expressed in MIMs and three in BIMs. Pathway analysis revealed that predicted targets of down-regulated miRNAs were highly enriched for roles in innate immunity (FDR < 3.4E-8) in particular TLR signalling, while up-regulated miRNAs preferentially targeted genes involved in metabolism. We conclude that during S. uberis infection miRNAs are key amplifiers of monocyte inflammatory response networks and repressors of several metabolic pathways.This study was funded in part by Teagasc RMIS 6018 and United States Department of Agriculture ARS funding 3625-32000-102-00. NL is supported by a Teagasc Walsh Fellowship

Increasing knowledge of biodiversity on the Orphan Seamount: a new species of Tedania (Tedaniopsis) Dendy, 1924

A new Tedania species (Porifera) was collect using remotely operated vehicles during the Canadian mission HUD2010-029 and the British RRS Discovery Cruise DY081, on the Orphan Seamount near the Orphan Knoll, northwest Atlantic, between 2999.88 and 3450.4 m depth. Orphan Knoll is an isolated, drowned continental fragment 550 km northeast Newfoundland in the Labrador Sea. This region is biologically rich and complex and in 2007, the regional fisheries management organization operating in the area regulated that no vessel shall engage in bottom-contact fishing activities until reviewed in 2020 with a review slated at the end of this year. Members of the genus Tedania are uncommon in the temperate northern hemisphere with only six species known previously: Tedania (Tedania) anhelans; Tedania (Tedania) pilarriosae; Tedania (Tedania) suctoria; Tedania (Tedania) urgorrii; Tedania (Tedaniopsis) gurjanovae; and Tedania (Tedaniopsis) phacellina. The particular features of the new sponge we describe are the very peculiar external morphology which is tree-like with dichotomous branching—a morphology not previously described in this subgenus; and the combination of spicules found: long styles, the typical tornotes of the subgenus and two sizes of onychaetes. Additional information is provided on other species of Tedaniopsis described from the Atlantic Ocean. Based on the characteristics reported, we propose a new species, Tedania (Tedaniopsis) rappi sp. nov. in honor of Prof. Hans Tore Rapp (1972–2020), University of Bergen, Norway, a renowned sponge taxonomist and coordinator of the Horizon 2020 SponGES project. The holotype of T. (T.) phacellina Topsent, 1912 from the Azores, the only other northern Atlantic species in the subgenus Tedaniopsis, was reviewed for comparison.Postprin