Control/structure interaction during Space Station Freedom-Orbiter berthing

The berthing maneuver is essential for the construction and assembly of Space Station Freedom (SSF) and has a direct effect on the SSF assembly build up and SSF/Orbiter operations. The effects of flexible body dynamics coupled with the available control system may impose new requirements on the maneuver. The problem is further complicated by the effect of the SSF control system on the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (SRMS). These effects will play a major role in the development of operational requirements which need to be identified and validated in order to assure total safety and maneuver execution during SSF construction. This paper presents the results of ongoing studies to investigate the Control/Structure Interaction (CSI) during the berthing operations. The problem is formulated in terms of multi-flex body equations of motion for SSF and the SRMS and on-orbit flight control systems for the SRMS and the SSF, which includes the Control Moment Gyro (CMG) and Reaction Control System (RCS) Attitude Control Systems (ACS). The SSF control system designs are based on the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) version of the Honeywell design. The simulation tool used for the analysis is briefly described and the CSI results are presented for given berthing scenarios

MỘT SỐ ĐẶC ĐIỂM SINH HỌC SINH SẢN CỦA LOÀI MÓNG TAY SOLEN THACHI COSEL, 2002 Ở ĐẦM THUỶ TRIỀU, KHÁNH HOÀ

Razor clam Solen thachi Cosel, 2002 is one of the high valuable species distributed at Thuy Trieu lagoon, Khanh Hoa. The aim of this paper was to examine some reproductive biology characteristics of razor clam. Samples of razor clam were collected monthly with a total of 822 inds. at Thuy Trieu lagoon and analysed at the laboratory of the Institute of Oceanography. Results of analysis showed that sex ratio was about 1:1. Spawning season was mainly between December and March of the following year, with the peak in December. The absolute fecundity was 1,048,893 ± 608,964 eggs per individual, while the relative fecundity was 146,349 ± 95,666 eggs/gram of body weight. Length of the first maturity was recorded at 69.6 mm of shell length. This paper provided baseline data for management and sustainable exploitation of marine living resources.Bài viết trình bày một số kết quả nghiên cứu đặc điểm sinh học sinh sản của loài móng tay Solen thachi Cosel, 2002 là loài có giá trị kinh tế ở đầm Thủy Triều, góp phần cung cấp cơ sở khoa học cho việc quản lý khai thác loài móng tay một cách hiệu quả và bền vững. Mẫu vật được thu hàng tháng trong chu kỳ 1 năm với tổng số mẫu là 822 cá thể. Kết quả phân tích cho thấy móng tay là loài phân tính, không phân biệt đực cái bằng mắt thường, tỷ lệ đực cái xấp xỉ 1:1. Tuyến sinh dục phát triển theo bốn giai đoạn. Mùa vụ sinh sản kéo dài từ tháng 12 đến tháng 3 năm sau, đỉnh cao vào tháng 12. Sức sinh sản tuyệt đối trung bình của móng tay là 1.048.893 ± 608.964 trứng/cá thể và sức sinh sản tương đối trung bình là 146.349 ± 95.666 trứng/gram khối lượng. Kích thước thành thục lần đầu 69,6 mm. Bài viết góp phần cung cấp cơ sở khoa học cho việc quản lý khai thác loài móng tay một cách hiệu quả và bền vững

THÀNH PHẦN LOÀI VÀ PHÂN BỐ CỦA THÂN MỀM VÀ DA GAI RẠN SAN HÔ TRONG CHUYẾN KHẢO SÁT TRÊN TÀU VIỆN SĨ OPARIN NĂM 2016–2017

A study on the species composition and distribution of Mollusca and Echinodermata on coral reefs from Quang Tri to Binh Thuan was conducted during the field survey between Vietnam and Russia on the AKADEMIK OPARIN RC vessel in 2016 and 2017 at 39 reef stations. 150 species were identified belonging to 100 genera, 50 families, 22 orders, 7 classes distributed on coral reefs. The species composition of mollusca and echinodermata was different between study areas.Nghiên cứu về thành phần loài và phân bố của động vật thân mềm, da gai trên rạn san hô khu vực từ Quảng Trị đến Bình Thuận được thực hiện trong chuyến khảo sát hỗn hợp Việt - Nga trên tàu Viện sĩ OPARIN trong thời gian từ tháng 11 đến tháng 12/2016 và chuyến khảo sát bổ sung từ tháng 5 đến tháng 7/2017 tại 39 trạm rạn thuộc 10 vùng nghiên cứu. Bằng phương pháp hình thái so sánh, nhóm tác giả đã xác định được 150 loài động vật thân mềm và da gai thuộc 100 giống, 50 họ, 22 bộ, 7 lớp phân bố trên rạn san hô. Thành phần loài thân mềm và da gai tương đối khác biệt giữa các vùng nghiên cứu

ĐÁNH GIÁ HIỆU QUẢ TẠI CÁC MÔ HÌNH DOANH NGHIỆP THAM GIA QUẢN LÝ RẠN SAN HÔ VÌ MỤC ĐÍCH DU LỊCH SINH THÁI Ở VỊNH NHA TRANG

The models of coral reef management for the development of ecological tourism were conducted under the coordination among the 3 businesses (Khanh Hoa Salanganes Nest Company, Vinpearl Nha Trang and Tri Nguyen Tourism), Institute of Oceanography and Khanh Hoa Department of Natural Resources Environment. The analysis of trends of coral cover, density of reef fishes and big size invertebrates at 3 sites allowed assessing effectiveness of 3 years’ management. The stability of hard coral cover, except the decline at southern Hon Tam due to impacts of the typhoon in Nov., 2017 indicated no increased damage to corals from human activities. However, the dominance of small size fish ( 10 cm in length), the decline of density of larger size fish and the poorness of large size invertebrate showed continuous overexploitation at these managed areas.Mô hình quản lý rạn san hô vì mục đích du lịch sinh thái được thực hiện với sự tham gia của Viện Hải dương học, Sở Tài nguyên và Môi trường Khánh Hòa và 3 doanh nghiệp bao gồm Công ty TNHH Nhà nước MTV Yến Sào, Công ty TNHH Vinpearl Nha Trang và Công ty Du lịch Trí Nguyên. Hiệu quả sau 3 năm quản lý được đánh giá thông quan phân tích xu thế biến động về độ phủ san hô, mật độ cá rạn và sinh vật đáy kích thước lớn. Sự ổn định độ phủ san hô ở khu vực Sau Sao - Vinpearl và Bãi Sạn - Hòn Miếu chứng tỏ san hô không bị suy thoái. Trong khi đó, độ phủ san hô ở Nam Hòn Tằm tăng rõ rệt trong giai đoạn 2015–2017 nhưng giảm đột ngột vào năm 2018 do bão số 12 diễn ra vào tháng 11/2017. Tổng mật độ cá rạn biến động không rõ rệt với ưu thế là nhóm cá có kích thước nhỏ hơn 10 cm, trong khi nhóm cá có kích thước lớn suy giảm đáng kể về mật độ. Mật độ động vật đáy kích thước lớn rất thấp và chủ yếu thuộc về các nhóm không có giá trị kinh tế. Phân tích này chứng tỏ rằng hoạt động quản lý đã ngăn chặn được tác động của con người gây suy thoái san hô nhưng chưa có hiệu quả với hoạt động khai thác nguồn lợi quá mức

Height and body-mass index trajectories of school-aged children and adolescents from 1985 to 2019 in 200 countries and territories: a pooled analysis of 2181 population-based studies with 65 million participants

Summary Background Comparable global data on health and nutrition of school-aged children and adolescents are scarce. We aimed to estimate age trajectories and time trends in mean height and mean body-mass index (BMI), which measures weight gain beyond what is expected from height gain, for school-aged children and adolescents. Methods For this pooled analysis, we used a database of cardiometabolic risk factors collated by the Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factor Collaboration. We applied a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends from 1985 to 2019 in mean height and mean BMI in 1-year age groups for ages 5–19 years. The model allowed for non-linear changes over time in mean height and mean BMI and for non-linear changes with age of children and adolescents, including periods of rapid growth during adolescence. Findings We pooled data from 2181 population-based studies, with measurements of height and weight in 65 million participants in 200 countries and territories. In 2019, we estimated a difference of 20 cm or higher in mean height of 19-year-old adolescents between countries with the tallest populations (the Netherlands, Montenegro, Estonia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina for boys; and the Netherlands, Montenegro, Denmark, and Iceland for girls) and those with the shortest populations (Timor-Leste, Laos, Solomon Islands, and Papua New Guinea for boys; and Guatemala, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Timor-Leste for girls). In the same year, the difference between the highest mean BMI (in Pacific island countries, Kuwait, Bahrain, The Bahamas, Chile, the USA, and New Zealand for both boys and girls and in South Africa for girls) and lowest mean BMI (in India, Bangladesh, Timor-Leste, Ethiopia, and Chad for boys and girls; and in Japan and Romania for girls) was approximately 9–10 kg/m2. In some countries, children aged 5 years started with healthier height or BMI than the global median and, in some cases, as healthy as the best performing countries, but they became progressively less healthy compared with their comparators as they grew older by not growing as tall (eg, boys in Austria and Barbados, and girls in Belgium and Puerto Rico) or gaining too much weight for their height (eg, girls and boys in Kuwait, Bahrain, Fiji, Jamaica, and Mexico; and girls in South Africa and New Zealand). In other countries, growing children overtook the height of their comparators (eg, Latvia, Czech Republic, Morocco, and Iran) or curbed their weight gain (eg, Italy, France, and Croatia) in late childhood and adolescence. When changes in both height and BMI were considered, girls in South Korea, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and some central Asian countries (eg, Armenia and Azerbaijan), and boys in central and western Europe (eg, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, and Montenegro) had the healthiest changes in anthropometric status over the past 3·5 decades because, compared with children and adolescents in other countries, they had a much larger gain in height than they did in BMI. The unhealthiest changes—gaining too little height, too much weight for their height compared with children in other countries, or both—occurred in many countries in sub-Saharan Africa, New Zealand, and the USA for boys and girls; in Malaysia and some Pacific island nations for boys; and in Mexico for girls. Interpretation The height and BMI trajectories over age and time of school-aged children and adolescents are highly variable across countries, which indicates heterogeneous nutritional quality and lifelong health advantages and risks

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

Sonochemical Preparation of a Magnet-Responsive Fe₃O₄@ZIF-8 Adsorbent for Efficient Cu²⁺ Removal

This work presents a novel approach to synthesizing magnetic core-shell nanocomposites, consisting of magnetic nanoparticles and a metal-organic framework, for environmental applications. The synthesis is based on the encapsulation of magnetic Fe3O4 nanoparticles with microporous zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) nanocrystals via ultrasonic activation under a continuous supply of precursor solutions. This sonochemical approach is proven to be a fast, cost-effective, and controllable route for the preparation of magnet-responsive Fe3O4@ZIF-8 nanoparticles with a core-shell structure. The functional nanomaterial possesses a high content of ZIF-8 and combined micro/mesoporosity, and thus can be used as adsorbents that can be easily separated using a magnet. In particular, the sonochemically prepared Fe3O4@ZIF-8 exhibits significant adsorption performance for the removal of copper ions from water: a short adsorption time (10 min), high maximum uptake capacity (345 mg g−1), and excellent removal efficiency (95.3%). These performances are interpreted and discussed based on the materials characteristics of Fe3O4@ZIF-8 established by microscopy, gas sorption, X-ray diffraction, and thermal analysis

TRAP1 Inhibition Increases Glutamine Synthetase Activity in Glutamine Auxotrophic Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Cells

Background/Aim: Cancer cells are distinct in terms of glutamine dependence. Here we investigated the different susceptibility of glutamine-independent and glutamine-dependent non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to treatment with tumor necrosis factor receptor-associated protein 1 (TRAP1) inhibitor gamitrinib-triphenylphosphonium (G-TPP). Materials and Methods: Cell viability and proliferation under glutamine deprivation and G-TPP treatment were determined by the MTT and colony-formation assays. Protein and mRNA expression were determined by western blot and quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Colorimetric-based assay was performed to check for glutamine synthetase (GS) activity. Results: NSCLC cells showed diverse adaptation under glutamine-depleted condition and were categorized into glutamine-independent and glutamine-dependent cells. Treatment with G-TPP particularly increased GS activity and induced cell death due to energy shortage indicated by phosphorylated AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in glutamine-dependent cells. Conclusion: This finding provides better understanding of TRAP1-mediated glutamine metabolism through GS activity, and evidence that TRAP1 could be a promising therapeutic target for glutamine-addicted cancer

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma as a theragnostic target for mesenchymal-type glioblastoma patients

Glioblastomas (GBMs) are characterized by four subtypes, proneural (PN), neural, classical, and mesenchymal (MES) GBMs, and they all have distinct activated signaling pathways. Among the subtypes, PN and MES GBMs show mutually exclusive genetic signatures, and the MES phenotype is, in general, believed to be associated with more aggressive features of GBM: tumor recurrence and drug resistance. Therefore, targeting MES GBMs would improve the overall prognosis of patients with fatal tumors. In this study, we propose peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) as a potential diagnostic and prognostic biomarker as well as therapeutic target for MES GBM; we used multiple approaches to assess PPARγ, including biostatistics analysis and assessment of preclinical studies. First, we found that PPARγ was exclusively expressed in MES glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs), and ligand activation of endogenous PPARγ suppressed cell growth and stemness in MES GSCs. Further in vivo studies involving orthotopic and heterotopic xenograft mouse models confirmed the therapeutic efficacy of targeting PPARγ; compared to control mice, those that received ligand treatment exhibited longer survival as well as decreased tumor burden. Mechanistically, PPARγ activation suppressed proneural–mesenchymal transition (PMT) by inhibiting the STAT3 signaling pathway. Biostatistical analysis using The Cancer Genomics Atlas (TCGA, n = 206) and REMBRANDT (n = 329) revealed that PPARγ upregulation is linked to poor overall survival and disease-free survival of GBM patients. Analysis was performed on prospective (n = 2) and retrospective (n = 6) GBM patient tissues, and we finally confirmed that PPARγ expression was distinctly upregulated in MES GBM. Collectively, this study provides insight into PPARγ as a potential therapeutic target for patients with MES GBM