Cysteine proteinase C1A paralog profiles correspond with phylogenetic lineages of pathogenic piroplasmids

Piroplasmid parasites comprising of Babesia, Theileria, and Cytauxzoon are transmitted by ticks to farm and pet animals and have a significant impact on livestock industries and animal health in tropical and subtropical regions worldwide. In addition, diverse Babesia spp. infect humans as opportunistic hosts. Molecular phylogeny has demonstrated at least six piroplasmid lineages exemplified by B. microti, B. duncani, C. felis, T. equi, Theileria sensu stricto (T. annulata, T. parva, and T. orientalis) and Babesia sensu stricto (B. bovis, B. bigemina, and B. ovis). C1A cysteine-proteinases (C1A-Cp) are papain-like enzymes implicated in pathogenic and vital steps of the parasite life cycle such as nutrition and host cell egress. An expansion of C1A-Cp of T. annulata and T. parva with respect to B. bovis and B. ovis was previously described. In the present work, C1A-Cp paralogs were identified in available genomes of species pertaining to each piroplasmid lineage. Phylogenetic analysis revealed eight C1A-Cp groups. The profile of C1A-Cp paralogs across these groups corroborates and defines the existence of six piroplasmid lineages. C. felis, T. equi and Theileria s.s. each showed characteristic expansions into extensive families of C1A-Cp paralogs in two of the eight groups. Underlying gene duplications have occurred as independent unique evolutionary events that allow distinguishing these three piroplasmid lineages. We hypothesize that C1A-Cp paralog families may be associated with the advent of the schizont stage. Differences in the invertebrate tick host specificity and/or mode of transmission in piroplasmid lineages might also be associated with the observed C1A-Cp paralog profiles

Refractive effects in the scattering of loosely bound nuclei

A study of the interaction of loosely bound nuclei 6,7Li at 9 and 19 AMeV with light targets has been undertaken. With the determination of unambiguous optical potentials in mind, elastic data for four projectile-target combinations and one neutron transfer reaction 13C(7Li,8Li)12C have been measured on a large angular range. The kinematical regime encompasses a region where the mean field (optical potential) has a marked variation with mass and energy, but turns out to be sufficiently surface transparent to allow strong refractive effects to be manifested in elastic scattering data at intermediate angles. The identified exotic feature, a "plateau" in the angular distributions at intermediate angles, is fully confirmed in four reaction channels and interpreted as a pre-rainbow oscillation resulting from the interference of the barrier and internal barrier farside scattering subamplitudes.Comment: 19 pages, 14 figures, 3 tables to submit to Phys. Rev.

Web-based sensor streaming wearable for respiratory monitoring applications.

This paper presents a system for remote monitoring of respiration of individuals that can detect respiration rate, mode of breathing and identify coughing events. It comprises a series of polymer fabric-sensors incorporated into a sports vest, a wearable data acquisition platform and a novel rich internet application (RIA) which together enable remote real-time monitoring of untethered wearable systems for respiratory rehabilitation. This system will, for the first time, allow therapists to monitor and guide the respiratory efforts of patients in real-time through a web browser. Changes in abdomen expansion and contraction associated with respiration are detected by the fabric sensors and transmitted wirelessly via a Bluetooth-based solution to a standard computer. The respiratory signals are visualized locally through the RIA and subsequently published to a sensor streaming cloud-based server. A web-based signal streaming protocol makes the signals available as real-time streams to authorized subscribers over standard browsers. We demonstrate real-time streaming of a six-sensor shirt rendered remotely at 40 samples/s per sensor with perceptually acceptable latency (<0.5s) over realistic network conditions

Probing molecular free energy landscapes by periodic loading

Single molecule pulling experiments provide information about interactions in biomolecules that cannot be obtained by any other method. However, the reconstruction of the molecule's free energy profile from the experimental data is still a challenge, in particular for the unstable barrier regions. We propose a new method for obtaining the full profile by introducing a periodic ramp and using Jarzynski's identity for obtaining equilibrium quantities from non-equilibrium data. Our simulated experiments show that this method delivers significant more accurate data than previous methods, under the constraint of equal experimental effort.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Pressure measurements of a three wave journal air bearing

In order to validate theoretical predictions of a wave journal bearing concept, a bench test rig was assembled at NASA Lewis Research Center to measure the steady-state performance of a journal air bearing. The tester can run up to 30,000 RPM and the spindle has a run out of less than 1 micron. A three wave journal bearing (50 mm diameter and 58 mm length) has been machined at NASA Lewis. The pressures at 16 ports along the bearing circumference at the middle of the bearing length were measured and compared to the theoretical prediction. The bearing ran at speeds up to 15,000 RPM and certain loads. Good agreement was found between the measured and calculated pressures