The development of contraceptive vaccines

The use of vaccination as a means of controlling fertility was established during the last decade with the publication of a successful Phase II trial demonstrating the efficacy of this approach to family planning. However, only this one Phase II trial has been completed despite a plethora of hormonal and gamete antigens that have been proposed as candidate vaccines. Improvements in the design and formulation of contraceptive vaccines are underway and will be a necessary prelude to further clinical trials

Changes in metabolic phenotypes of Plasmodium falciparum in vitro cultures during gametocyte development.

BACKGROUND: Gametocytes are the Plasmodium life stage that is solely responsible for malaria transmission. Despite their important role in perpetuating malaria, gametocyte differentiation and development is poorly understood. METHODS: To shed light on the biochemical changes that occur during asexual and gametocyte development, metabolic characterization of media from in vitro intra-erythrocytic Plasmodium falciparum cultures was performed throughout gametocyte development by applying 1H nuclear magnetic spectroscopy, and using sham erythrocyte cultures as controls. Spectral differences between parasite and sham cultures were assessed via principal component analyses and partial-least squares analyses, and univariate statistical methods. RESULTS: Clear parasite-associated changes in metabolism were observed throughout the culture period, revealing differences between asexual parasites and gametocyte stages. With culture progression and development of gametocytes, parasitic release of the glycolytic end products lactate, pyruvate, alanine, and glycerol, were found to be dramatically reduced whilst acetate release was greatly increased. Also, uptake of lipid moieties CH(2), CH(3), and CH = CH-CH(2)-CH(2) increased throughout gametocyte development, peaking with maturity. CONCLUSIONS: This study uniquely presents an initial characterization of the metabolic exchange between parasite and culture medium during in vitro P. falciparum gametocyte culture. Results suggest that energy metabolism and lipid utilization between the asexual stages and gametocytes is different. This study provides new insights for gametocyte-specific nutritional requirements to aid future optimization and standardization of in vitro gametocyte cultivation, and highlights areas of novel gametocyte cell biology that deserve to be studied in greater detail and may yield new targets for transmission-blocking drugs

Pattern formation in crystal growth under parabolic shear flow

Morphological instability of the solid-liquid interface occuring in a crystal growing from an undercooled thin liquid being bounded on one side by a free surface and flowing down inclined plane is investigated by a linear stability analysis under shear flow. It is found that restoring forces due to gravity and surface tension is important factor for stabilization of the solid-liquid interface on long length scales. This is a new stabilizing effect different from the Gibbs-Thomson effect. A particular long wavelength mode of about 1 cm of wavy pattern observed on the surface of icicles covered with thin layer of flowing water is obtained from the dispersion relation including the effect of flow and restoring forces.Comment: 30 pages, 4 figure

The immunological analysis of epitopes on hCG

The heterodimeric glycoprotein hormone, human chorionic gonadotropin, has been extensively characterized in terms of its recognition by mouse monoclonal antibodies. A number of different approaches have led to the definition of several epitope clusters on the surface of the molecule. These include epitopes located solely on the alpha- or beta-chain, some of which are masked when the two chains associate to form the holo-hormone. Additional epitopes comprise amino acids contributed by both the chains. In contrast to the extensive knowledge regarding B cell epitopes, the characterization of T cell epitopes on hCG has only recently begun to be explored

The cycle of success : mentoring in Sarah Grand’s Morningquest trilogy

Sarah Grand’s titular character, Ideala, is unconventional, outspoken, and a mentor to other women. Appearing in all three of Grand’s Morningquest narratives, Ideala is also immediately recognisable as a “New Woman”. Yet few studies have analysed Ideala’s critical role as mentor or her extended narrative across the three novels: Ideala, The Heavenly Twins and The Beth Book. Taking a fresh approach to the “Woman Question” and Grand’s understudied trilogy, this thesis aims to closely examine the cyclic pattern of mentoring; specifically, how Ideala becomes a mentor, how she actively mentors her own sex, and subsequently, how her protégés become mentors. Read as an organised whole, this thesis argues that Grand’s Morningquest trilogy is an intimate exploration of one character, Ideala, on a crusade to improve women’s rights in marriage and society, as well as to improve women’s opinions of each other. This thesis argues that Ideala is only a New Woman because she is a mentor to other women. By fixing the argument on Ideala’s relationship with other characters, this thesis invites the reader to reconsider Grand’s purpose in writing fiction for her nineteenth-century audience. Additionally, what emerges out of an analysis of the Morningquest trilogy is a comprehensive understanding of the female mentor as a central figure in Grand’s formation of the New Woman

The Morality of Football-Betting in its Intersections with Capitalism and Social Reproduction

Gambling involves a mixture of luck, knowledge, skill and nerve. Through interview discussions with my informant Stew I seek to analyse the ideologies of economy, money, and exchange that interplay into forming the moralities and motivations for Sports betting. Furthermore, Sports-betting via the online bookmaker Paddy Power involves multiple moralities that shape the practice around accumulation and leisure. These forces speak to larger capitalist and societal moralities and spheres of exchange including the nature of money as begetting more money. However, the goal of my informant is to combine pleasure and knowledge in what becomes a socially reproductive activity

MEASUREMENT AND ANALYSIS OF SEA WAVES NEAR A REFLECTIVE STRUCTURE

Merged with duplicate record 10026.1/2047 on 06.20.2017 by CS (TIS)Methods and equipment for the measurement of ocean waves were reviewed and their suitability assessed for the aim of this project: field measurement of sea waves near a reflective coastal structure such as a breakwater. None was found to be suitable. The functional and performance objectives are set out for a new system. The evolution of the final design, based on an array of pressure sensors, is described. The whole system is intended to be deployed on the sea-bed. It is fully self contained and independent of shore based services. Located away from the surf zone it is well placed to survive storm conditions and unauthorised interference. Theoretical methods for the re-construction of surface elevation records from measured sub-surface pressures, and the experimental findings of other workers, are presented. Available methods of estimating the wave directional spectrum from a spatial array of surface elevation records are reviewed, and the most appropriate one implemented. The system has given extensive service at a number of coastal defence sites. The results of subsequent analysis of selected data sets are presented in detail. They show the pronounced nodal structure in amplitude expected in the presence of wave reflection, clearly demonstrating that a single point measurement is likely to give misleading estimates of incident wave height. For near-calm to moderate, shore-normal incident wave conditions the results were found to agree with theoretical predictions both of wave height as a function of distance offshore, and of the structure's frequency-dependent reflection coefficient. For rougher conditions, in which both theoretical and physical models are less applicable, the results agreed with visual observations

The Integral Equation Method for a Steady Kinematic Dynamo Problem

With only a few exceptions, the numerical simulation of cosmic and laboratory hydromagnetic dynamos has been carried out in the framework of the differential equation method. However, the integral equation method is known to provide robust and accurate tools for the numerical solution of many problems in other fields of physics. The paper is intended to facilitate the use of integral equation solvers in dynamo theory. In concrete, the integral equation method is employed to solve the eigenvalue problem for a hydromagnetic dynamo model with a spherically symmetric, isotropic helical turbulence parameter alpha. Three examples of the function alpha(r) with steady and oscillatory solutions are considered. A convergence rate proportional to the inverse squared of the number of grid points is achieved. Based on this method, a convergence accelerating strategy is developed and the convergence rate is improved remarkably. Typically, quite accurate results can be obtained with a few tens of grid points. In order to demonstrate its suitability for the treatment of dynamos in other than spherical domains, the method is also applied to alpha^2 dynamos in rectangular boxes. The magnetic fields and the electric potentials for the first eigenvalues are visualized.Comment: 22 pages, 18 figures, to appear in J. Comp. Phy

VASE inform of neural cell adhesion molecule protein: distribution, subcellular localisation and functional effect on cell morphology

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Adiabatic hyperspherical study of triatomic helium systems

The 4He3 system is studied using the adiabatic hyperspherical representation. We adopt the current state-of-the-art helium interaction potential including retardation and the nonadditive three-body term, to calculate all low-energy properties of the triatomic 4He system. The bound state energies of the 4He trimer are computed as well as the 4He+4He2 elastic scattering cross sections, the three-body recombination and collision induced dissociation rates at finite temperatures. We also treat the system that consists of two 4He and one 3He atoms, and compute the spectrum of the isotopic trimer 4He2 3He, the 3He+4He2 elastic scattering cross sections, the rates for three-body recombination and the collision induced dissociation rate at finite temperatures. The effects of retardation and the nonadditive three-body term are investigated. Retardation is found to be significant in some cases, while the three-body term plays only a minor role for these systems.Comment: 24 pages 6 figures Submitted to Physical Review