Assessment of a novel, capsid-modified adenovirus with an improved vascular gene transfer profile

<p>Background: Cardiovascular disorders, including coronary artery bypass graft failure and in-stent restenosis remain significant opportunities for the advancement of novel therapeutics that target neointimal hyperplasia, a characteristic of both pathologies. Gene therapy may provide a successful approach to improve the clinical outcome of these conditions, but would benefit from the development of more efficient vectors for vascular gene delivery. The aim of this study was to assess whether a novel genetically engineered Adenovirus could be utilised to produce enhanced levels of vascular gene expression.</p> <p>Methods: Vascular transduction capacity was assessed in primary human saphenous vein smooth muscle and endothelial cells using vectors expressing the LacZ reporter gene. The therapeutic capacity of the vectors was compared by measuring smooth muscle cell metabolic activity and migration following infection with vectors that over-express the candidate therapeutic gene tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase-3 (TIMP-3).</p> <p>Results: Compared to Adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5), the novel vector Ad5T*F35++ demonstrated improved binding and transduction of human vascular cells. Ad5T*F35++ mediated expression of TIMP-3 reduced smooth muscle cell metabolic activity and migration in vitro. We also demonstrated that in human serum samples pre-existing neutralising antibodies to Ad5T*F35++ were less prevalent than Ad5 neutralising antibodies.</p> <p>Conclusions: We have developed a novel vector with improved vascular transduction and improved resistance to human serum neutralisation. This may provide a novel vector platform for human vascular gene transfer.</p&gt

Interleukin (IL)-17A and IL-17F and asthma in Saudi Arabia: mRNA transcript levels and gene polymorphisms

Asthma is a multifactorial disorder and both genetic and environmental factors contribute to its development. The present study explored cytokines interleukin (IL)-17A and IL17F levels as usable parameters for the diagnosis of asthmatics Saudi patients. Blood samples were collected from 100 asthma patients and 100 matched controls. The transcript mRNA levels in whole blood were determined by real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Expression studies showed that levels of IL17A and IL17F were significantly higher in asthma patients compared to controls [IL17A: 1.112 (2.088) vs 0.938 (1.363)]; IL17F: 0.707 (1.33) vs 0.667 (0.590). The mRNA transcripts of IL17A and IL17F were positively and significantly correlated in all subjects examined in this study: controls as well as asthma patients (r = 0.455, P < 0.01 for controls and r = 0.644, P < 0.01 for patients). These findings suggest that asthma is characterized by an elevation of cytokines IL17A and IL17F and the measurement of their expression can be a valuable parameter for the diagnosis of asthma.Keywords: Asthma, interleukin-17F (IL17F), interleukin-17A (IL17A), gene expression, real time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), Saudi Arabia.African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(23), pp. 3615-362

Global Networks of Trade and Bits

Considerable efforts have been made in recent years to produce detailed topologies of the Internet. Although Internet topology data have been brought to the attention of a wide and somewhat diverse audience of scholars, so far they have been overlooked by economists. In this paper, we suggest that such data could be effectively treated as a proxy to characterize the size of the "digital economy" at country level and outsourcing: thus, we analyse the topological structure of the network of trade in digital services (trade in bits) and compare it with that of the more traditional flow of manufactured goods across countries. To perform meaningful comparisons across networks with different characteristics, we define a stochastic benchmark for the number of connections among each country-pair, based on hypergeometric distribution. Original data are thus filtered by means of different thresholds, so that we only focus on the strongest links, i.e., statistically significant links. We find that trade in bits displays a sparser and less hierarchical network structure, which is more similar to trade in high-skill manufactured goods than total trade. Lastly, distance plays a more prominent role in shaping the network of international trade in physical goods than trade in digital services.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure

Inclusive J/ψ production at mid-rapidity in pp collisions at √s = 5.02 TeV

Inclusive J/ψ production is studied in minimum-bias proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of s = 5.02 TeV by ALICE at the CERN LHC. The measurement is performed at mid-rapidity (|y| < 0.9) in the dielectron decay channel down to zero transverse momentum pT, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of Lint = 19.4 ± 0.4 nb−1. The measured pT-integrated inclusive J/ψ production cross sec- tion is dσ/dy = 5.64 ± 0.22(stat.) ± 0.33(syst.) ± 0.12(lumi.) μb. The pT-differential cross section d2σ/dpTdy is measured in the pT range 0–10 GeV/c and compared with state-of- the-art QCD calculations. The J/ψ 〈pT〉 and 〈pT2〉 are extracted and compared with results obtained at other collision energies. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Measurement of Λ (1520) production in pp collisions at √s=7TeV and p–Pb collisions at √sNN=5.02TeV

The production of the Λ (1520) baryonic resonance has been measured at midrapidity in inelastic pp collisions at s=7TeV and in p–Pb collisions at sNN=5.02TeV for non-single diffractive events and in multiplicity classes. The resonance is reconstructed through its hadronic decay channel Λ (1520) → pK - and the charge conjugate with the ALICE detector. The integrated yields and mean transverse momenta are calculated from the measured transverse momentum distributions in pp and p–Pb collisions. The mean transverse momenta follow mass ordering as previously observed for other hyperons in the same collision systems. A Blast-Wave function constrained by other light hadrons (π, K, KS0, p, Λ) describes the shape of the Λ (1520) transverse momentum distribution up to 3.5GeV/c in p–Pb collisions. In the framework of this model, this observation suggests that the Λ (1520) resonance participates in the same collective radial flow as other light hadrons. The ratio of the yield of Λ (1520) to the yield of the ground state particle Λ remains constant as a function of charged-particle multiplicity, suggesting that there is no net effect of the hadronic phase in p–Pb collisions on the Λ (1520) yield

Measurement of charged jet cross section in pp collisions at s =5.02 TeV

The cross section of jets reconstructed from charged particles is measured in the transverse momentum range of

Measurement of electrons from heavy-flavour hadron decays as a function of multiplicity in p-Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV

The multiplicity dependence of electron production from heavy-flavour hadron decays as a function of transverse momentum was measured in p-Pb collisions at sNN = 5.02 TeV using the ALICE detector at the LHC. The measurement was performed in the centre-of-mass rapidity interval −1.07 < ycms< 0.14 and transverse momentum interval 2 < pT< 16 GeV/c. The multiplicity dependence of the production of electrons from heavy-flavour hadron decays was studied by comparing the pT spectra measured for different multiplicity classes with those measured in pp collisions (QpPb) and in peripheral p-Pb collisions (Qcp). The QpPb results obtained are consistent with unity within uncertainties in the measured pT interval and event classes. This indicates that heavy-flavour decay electron production is consistent with binary scaling and independent of the geometry of the collision system. Additionally, the results suggest that cold nuclear matter effects are negligible within uncertainties, in the production of heavy-flavour decay electrons at midrapidity in p-Pb collisions. [Figure not available: see fulltext.

Measurement of prompt D0, D+, D*+, and DS+ production in p–Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV

The measurement of the production of prompt D0, D+, D*+, and DS+ mesons in proton–lead (p–Pb) collisions at the centre-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of sNN = 5.02 TeV, with an integrated luminosity of 292 ± 11 μb−1, are reported. Differential production cross sections are measured at mid-rapidity (−0.96 < ycms< 0.04) as a function of transverse momentum (pT) in the intervals 0 < pT< 36 GeV/c for D0, 1 < pT< 36 GeV/c for D+ and D*+, and 2 < pT< 24 GeV/c for D+ mesons. For each species, the nuclear modification factor RpPb is calculated as a function of pT using a proton-proton (pp) ref- erence measured at the same collision energy. The results are compatible with unity in the whole pT range. The average of the non-strange D mesons RpPb is compared with theoretical model predictions that include initial-state effects and parton transport model predictions. The pT dependence of the D0, D+, and D*+ nuclear modification factors is also reported in the interval 1 < pT< 36 GeV/c as a function of the collision centrality, and the central-to-peripheral ratios are computed from the D-meson yields measured in different centrality classes. The results are further compared with charged-particle measurements and a similar trend is observed in all the centrality classes. The ratios of the pT-differential cross sections of D0, D+, D*+, and DS+ mesons are also reported. The DS+ and D+ yields are compared as a function of the charged-particle multiplicity for several pT intervals. No modification in the relative abundances of the four species is observed with respect to pp collisions within the statistical and systematic uncertainties. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Measurement of ϒ(1S) Elliptic Flow at Forward Rapidity in Pb-Pb Collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02 TeV.

The first measurement of the ϒ(1S) elliptic flow coefficient (v_{2}) is performed at forward rapidity (2.