ПРОФИЛАКТИКА ТУБЕРКУЛЕЗА: СОВРЕМЕННЫЕ ПОДХОДЫ К РАЗРАБОТКЕ ПРОТИВОТУБЕРКУЛЕЗНЫХ ВАКЦИН

This review is focused on recent advances in development of new vaccines for the prevention of tuberculosis. The main reasons for lack of BCG vaccine efficacy in different populations and geographic regions are presented. Design of new vaccines based on live modified strains of Mycobacterium bovis BCG, attenuated strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, recombinant proteins and viral vectors is considered in the specific examples. The usage of the heterologous «prime-boost» vaccination strategy against tuberculosis is discussed. В обзоре освещены современные достижения в области разработки новых вакцин для профилактики туберкулеза. Представлены основные причины недостаточной эффективности вакцины БЦЖ в различных популяциях и географических регионах. На конкретных примерах рассмотрены направления дизайна новых вакцин на основе живых модифицированных штаммов Mycobacterium bovis БЦЖ, аттенуированных штаммов Mycobacterium tuberculosis, рекомбинантных белков и вирусных векторов. Обсуждается перспектива применения схемы гетерологичной «prime-boost» вакцинации против туберкулеза.

Single-cell Atlas of common variable immunodeficiency shows germinal center-associated epigenetic dysregulation in B-cell responses

Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID), the most prevalent symptomatic primary immunodeficiency, displays impaired terminal B-cell differentiation and defective antibody responses. Incomplete genetic penetrance and ample phenotypic expressivity in CVID suggest the participation of additional pathogenic mechanisms. Monozygotic (MZ) twins discordant for CVID are uniquely valuable for studying the contribution of epigenetics to the disease. Here, we generate a single-cell epigenomics and transcriptomics census of naïve-to-memory B cell differentiation in a CVID-discordant MZ twin pair. Our analysis identifies DNA methylation, chromatin accessibility and transcriptional defects in memory B-cells mirroring defective cell-cell communication upon activation. These findings are validated in a cohort of CVID patients and healthy donors. Our findings provide a comprehensive multi-omics map of alterations in naïve-to-memory B-cell transition in CVID and indicate links between the epigenome and immune cell cross-talk. Our resource, publicly available at the Human Cell Atlas, gives insight into future diagnosis and treatments of CVID patients

Generalised Mie theory of light scattering by an annular anisotropic layer: anisotropy effects

We describe the method to extend the generalized Mie approach to the case of light scattering by uniformly anisotropic spherical particles by relating the wave packet representation and expansions for electromagnetic field over spherical harmonics. As a result, we define quasi-spherical modes in anisotropic medium. For radially anisotropic layer we determine the region of validity of Rayleigh-Gans approximation by comparing approximate values of the scattering cross-section with the results computed from the exact solution. We study the relative error for the scattering cross section as a function of the particle size, the anisotropy parameter and the layer thickness

T-matrix theory of light scattering by uniformly anisotropic spherical scatterers

We extend the T-matrix approach to light scattering by spherical particles to the simple case in which the scatterers are optically anisotropic. Specifically, we consider the spherical particles that are uniformly anisotropic. We find that the T-matrix theory can be formulated using a modified T-matrix ansatz with suitably defined modes. We derive these modes by relating the wave packet representation and expansions of electromagnetic field over spherical harmonics. We present preliminary results of numerical calculations of the scattering by spherical droplets. We concentrate on cases in which the scattering is due only to the local optical anisotropy within the scatterer

Instance: The Builder’s Association

This essay explores the position of the human in the space of technology by examining Super Vision, The Builders Association’s ninth major work since the company’s formation in 1994. Created in collaboration with multimedia company dBox, it explores the concept of “data bodies”; the versions of ourselves that exist as the collation of all the data files that collectively store our information. The perceived supremacy of information has altered our social, economic, and creative practices and the concept of the “data-body” explored in Super Vision epitomises the contemporary cultural tendency to perceive information as dominant over the material world. This case study will explore how Super Vision presents the human as positioned within what Katherine Hayles has labelled “a condition of Virtuality” defined as “the cultural perception that material objects are interpenetrated by information patterns” (2000, 69, original emphasis). This essay uses Hayles’ semiotics of Virtuality to provide a point of departure from which to address the complex and dynamic intermingling of presence, absence, pattern and randomness that occurs in intermedial performance. Such an analytical framework foregrounds the intersections of these dialectics and enables theatre analysis to avoid reinforcing the distinction of the live and the mediatised, and focus instead on the patterns and rhythms created across media