Immunotherapeutic Strategies to Reverse Tumor Associated Immunosuppression in Breast Cancer

Heterogenous cancers such as breast carcinoma, would highly benefit from personalized vaccine approaches such as autologous tumor cell vaccines (ATCVs). By using cancer cells that are isolated from self, this approach has the potential to generate a polyclonal immune response against tumor antigens, that are specific to the individual. However, so far, ATCVs against breast cancers have not had any clinical success due to the poor immunogenicity of the malignant cells. In this study, for the first time, we determined tumor derived G-CSF to play a major role in affecting immune response against breast cancer ATCVs. By using CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology, we found that tumor derived G-CSF results in the accumulation of exceptionally high levels of myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in the spleen and lymph nodes of immunized mice. For the first time, we demonstrated that by eliminating G-CSF in ATCVs, the overall efficacy of the vaccine can be significantly improved. Further, for the first time, by using breast cancer cells that naturally produce varying levels of G-CSF, we reestablished the effect of G-CSF on splenic MDSC accumulation. Additionally, we addressed the MDSC associated immunosuppression, by investigating strategies to facilitate the maturation of immature immune cells. We considered different commercially available toll like receptor (TLR) agonists namely Pam3CSK4 (Pam), Poly (I:C), lipopolysaccharide, FLA-ST, FSL-1 and R848, and compared their effect on MDSC maturation in-vitro. Of all the agonists, we found that only Pam resulted in the complete maturation of MDSCs since it resulted in the upregulation of all four MDSC maturation markers, CD80, CD86, MHCII and F4/80. Additionally, Pam also significantly reduced the number of MDSCs in the treated whole splenocyte cultures. Future studies that are discussed here will expand our knowledge on the effect of tumor derived G-CSF in clinical cancer burden and metastasis of breast cancer. Further, in-vivo studies with the TLR agonists, would help design an effective adjuvant therapy against aggressive and metastatic breast cancers, with improved survival and reduced rate of recurrence

A Voting Algorithm for Dynamic Object Identification and Pose Estimation

While object identification enables autonomous vehicles to detect and recognize objects from real-time images, pose estimation further enhances their capability of navigating in a dynamically changing environment. This thesis proposes an approach which makes use of keypoint features from 3D object models for recognition and pose estimation of dynamic objects in the context of self-driving vehicles. A voting technique is developed to vote out a suitable model from the repository of 3D models that offers the best match with the dynamic objects in the input image. The matching is done based on the identified keypoints on the image and the keypoints corresponding to each template model stored in the repository. A confidence score value is then assigned to measure the confidence with which the system can confirm the presence of the matched object in the input image. Being dynamic objects with complex structure, human models in the COCO-DensePose dataset, along with the DensePose deep-learning model developed by the Facebook research team, have been adopted and integrated into the system for 3D pose estimation of pedestrians on the road. Additionally, object tracking is performed to find the speed and location details for each of the recognized dynamic objects from consecutive image frames of the input video. This research demonstrates with experimental results that the use of 3D object models enhances the confidence of recognition and pose estimation of dynamic objects in the real-time input image. The 3D pose information of the recognized dynamic objects along with their corresponding speed and location information would help the autonomous navigation system of the self-driving cars to take appropriate navigation decisions, thus ensuring smooth and safe driving

Vocational education and fisheries

Vocational courses in fisheries are offered in 4 states in India. The technologies in fisheries developed offer good scope for vocational training for self employment. There is an urgent need to have radical revision of the course content to make the students vocationally competent

Development and storage characteristics of dehydrated salt mince from low priced fish

The study showed that less initial moisture with high salt content will be the best condition for enhanced storage life of dehydrated salt mince. Between sample I (10% salt per meat weight) and sample II (15% salt per meat weight) the latter was comparatively better in colour, odour and longer shelf-life. At room temperature the dehydrated salt mince has not showed any increase in total bacterial count. It is also found that the storage life of the salt mince can be enhanced to a significant extent by lowering the moisture content to below 10% and increasing the salt content to above 30%. Peroxide value, free fatty acid value, total volatile nitrogen and trimethylamine registered gradual increase during storage at room temperature for all the three samples. Among the three samples, the sample treated with 0.1% citric acid and 0.125% butylated hydroxy anisole was comparatively better in appearance and showed less rancidity as indicated by TBA values, up to a period of 15 weeks and thereafter all the three samples were almost similar in storage characteristics. Hence, the treatment with citric acid and B.H.A. has apparently not much significance in improving shelf-life and quality of salted dehydrated fish mince

Record catch of rock perch, Epinephelus fasciatus by bottom trawling off Ratnagiri

A productive fishing ground for rock perch (Epinephelus fasciatus) was located off Ratnagiri between 17 degree 00' to 17 degree 10' N latitude and 72 degree 20' to 72 degree 30' E longitude, around a depth of 96m during November, 1983. An average catch of 2 ton/hr. was recorded. Length frequency studies of E. fasciatus indicate the probability of a nursery ground consisting of three brood stocks. Hydrographic studies of the ground revealed that the bottom water was oxygen deficient below a strong thermocline extending from 15-75 m depth with the recorded bottom temperature amounting to 20.5 degree C

Mesoflowers: a new class of highly efficient surface-enhanced Raman active and infrared-absorbing materials

A method for the synthesis of a new class of anisotropic mesostructured gold material, which we call "mesoflowers", is demonstrated. The mesoflowers, unsymmetrical at the single particle level, resemble several natural objects and are made up of a large number of stems with unusual pentagonal symmetry. The mesostructured material has a high degree of structural purity with star-shaped, nano-structured stems. The mesoflowers were obtained in high yield, without any contaminating structures and their size could be tuned from nano- to meso-dimensions. The dependence of various properties of the mesoflowers on their conditions of formation was studied. The near-infrared-infrared (NIR-IR) absorption exhibited by the mesoflowers has been used for the development of infrared filters. Using a prototypical device, we demonstrated the utility of the gold mesoflowers in reducing the temperature rise in an enclosure exposed to daylight in peak summer. These structures showed a high degree of surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) activity compared to spherical analogues. SERS-based imaging of a single mesoflower is demonstrated. The high SERS activity and NIR-IR absorption property open up a number of exciting applications in diverse areas

Cross correlations between 13C-1H dipolar interactions and 15N chemical shift anisotropy in nucleic acids

Two sets of cross-correlated relaxation rates involving chemical shift anisotropy and dipolar interactions have been measured in an RNA kissing complex. In one case, both the CSA and dipolar interaction tensors are located on the same nucleotide base and are rigidly fixed with respect to each other. In the other case, the CSA tensor is located on the nucleotide base whereas the dipolar interaction is located on the adjoining ribose unit. Analysis of the measured rates in terms of isotropic or anisotropic rotational diffusion has been carried out for both cases. A marked difference between the two models is observed for the cross-correlation rates involving rigidly fixed spin interactions. The influence of internal motions about the glycosidic linkage between the nucleotide base and the ribose unit on cross-correlated relaxation rates has been estimated by applying a model of restricted rotational diffusion. Local motions seem to have a more pronounced effect on cross-correlated relaxation rates when the two spin interactions are not rigidly fixed with respect to each othe

Biochemical changes of fish fingers held at frozen storage

The frozen storage characteristics of fish fingers made out of two different species, differing in lipid content for a period of six months are outlined. The study reveals that the lipid content of the fish meat used for making fish fingers influences the storage pattern in terms of the chemical parameters like peroxide value, thiobarbituric acid value and free fatty acids. The introduction of monosodium glutamate has improved the flavour of the fish fingers. Further, the application of batter on the fish fingers imparted some protective effect in the case of semi-fatty fish

L’oublié du récit : prénom et préhistoire dans En famille de Marie NDiaye

Peut-être n’aimait-on pas ici que les étrangers fissent connaissance De l’automne, qui en quelque sorte ne les regardait pas, Et considérait-on comme indiscrète cette immixtion Dans la mystérieuse existence de l’arrière-saison ? (Marie NDiaye, Un temps de saison) On connaît la fin de l’Odyssée, et la place qu’y occupe le chien. Si la tragédie, comme agencement d’actions, culmine, pour Aristote, lors de la péripétie, dans une scène de reconnaissance [anagnórisis], cette fonction était assurée,..