Thermodynamics of aggregation of two proteins

We investigate aggregation mechanism of two proteins in a thermodynamically unambiguous manner by considering the finite size effect of free energy landscape of HP lattice protein model. Multi-Self-Overlap-Ensemble Monte Carlo method is used for numerical calculations. We find that a dimer can be formed spontaneously as a thermodynamically stable state when the system is small enough. It implies the possibility that the aggregation of proteins in a cell is triggered when they are confined in a small region by, for example, being surrounded by other macromolecules.We also find that the dimer exhibits a transition between unstable state and metastable state in the infinite system.Comment: jpsj2.cls, 7 pages, 14 figures; misconfigurations of Fig.Nos. correcte

Four-point bending evaluation of dentin-composite interfaces with various stresses

Fracture properties of composite-dentin beams bonded with a self?etching adhesive were tested following short term pretreatments to simulate potential degradation mechanisms (thermal cycling, immersion in 5% NaOCl, or fatigue cycling). Beams of rectangular cross-section were shaped to a size of ~0.87 x 0.87 x 10 mm and placed in a four-point bending apparatus, with the loading points 1.8 and 7.2 mm apart, with the interface centered between the inner rollers. Testing was performed in Hanks? Balanced Salt Solution at 25 ?C . Solid dentin and solid composite beams [n = 6] had bending strengths of 164.4 and 164.6 MPa, respectively, under monotonically increasing loads. Bonded beams [n = 6] had strengths of 56.3 MPa. Thermo-cycling (5? to 55?C), NaOCl solution immersion, or 105 of pre-fatigue cycles did not decrease the strength. Conclusion: Thermal stress, exposure to NaOCL, or 105 cycles of mechanical stress does not decrease bond strength of composite bonded to dentin as tested in four-point bending

Four-point bending evaluation of dentin-composite interfaces with various stresses

Fracture properties of composite-dentin beams bonded with a self?etching adhesive were tested following short term pretreatments to simulate potential degradation mechanisms (thermal cycling, immersion in 5% NaOCl, or fatigue cycling). Beams of rectangular cross-section were shaped to a size of ~0.87 x 0.87 x 10 mm and placed in a four-point bending apparatus, with the loading points 1.8 and 7.2 mm apart, with the interface centered between the inner rollers. Testing was performed in Hanks? Balanced Salt Solution at 25 ?C . Solid dentin and solid composite beams [n = 6] had bending strengths of 164.4 and 164.6 MPa, respectively, under monotonically increasing loads. Bonded beams [n = 6] had strengths of 56.3 MPa. Thermo-cycling (5? to 55?C), NaOCl solution immersion, or 105 of pre-fatigue cycles did not decrease the strength. Conclusion: Thermal stress, exposure to NaOCL, or 105 cycles of mechanical stress does not decrease bond strength of composite bonded to dentin as tested in four-point bending

Customer-engineer relationship management for converged ICT service companies

Thanks to the advent of converged communications services (often referred to as ‘triple play’), the next generation Service Engineer will need radically different skills, processes and tools from today’s counterpart. Why? in order to meet the challenges of installing and maintaining services based on multi-vendor software and hardware components in an IP-based network environment. The converged services environment is likely to be ‘smart’ and support flexible and dynamic interoperability between appliances and computing devices. These radical changes in the working environment will inevitably force managers to rethink the role of Service Engineers in relation to customer relationship management. This paper aims to identify requirements for an information system to support converged communications service engineers with regard to customer-engineer relationship management. Furthermore, an architecture for such a system is proposed and how it meets these requirements is discussed

The play's the thing

For very understandable reasons phenomenological approaches predominate in the field of sensory urbanism. This paper does not seek to add to that particular discourse. Rather it takes Rorty’s postmodernized Pragmatism as its starting point and develops a position on the role of multi-modal design representation in the design process as a means of admitting many voices and managing multidisciplinary collaboration. This paper will interrogate some of the concepts underpinning the Sensory Urbanism project to help define the scope of interest in multi-modal representations. It will then explore a range of techniques and approaches developed by artists and designers during the past fifty years or so and comment on how they might inform the question of multi-modal representation. In conclusion I will argue that we should develop a heterogeneous tool kit that adopts, adapts and re-invents existing methods because this will better serve our purposes during the exploratory phase(s) of any design project that deals with complexity

Acute kidney injury in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 from the ISARIC WHO CCP-UK Study: a prospective, multicentre cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is common in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This study investigated adults hospitalized with COVID-19 and hypothesized that risk factors for AKI would include comorbidities and non-White race. METHODS: A prospective multicentre cohort study was performed using patients admitted to 254 UK hospitals with COVID-19 between 17 January 2020 and 5 December 2020. RESULTS: Of 85 687 patients, 2198 (2.6%) received acute kidney replacement therapy (KRT). Of 41 294 patients with biochemistry data, 13 000 (31.5%) had biochemical AKI: 8562 stage 1 (65.9%), 2609 stage 2 (20.1%) and 1829 stage 3 (14.1%). The main risk factors for KRT were chronic kidney disease (CKD) [adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 3.41: 95% confidence interval 3.06-3.81], male sex (aOR 2.43: 2.18-2.71) and Black race (aOR 2.17: 1.79-2.63). The main risk factors for biochemical AKI were admission respiratory rate >30 breaths per minute (aOR 1.68: 1.56-1.81), CKD (aOR 1.66: 1.57-1.76) and Black race (aOR 1.44: 1.28-1.61). There was a gradated rise in the risk of 28-day mortality by increasing severity of AKI: stage 1 aOR 1.58 (1.49-1.67), stage 2 aOR 2.41 (2.20-2.64), stage 3 aOR 3.50 (3.14-3.91) and KRT aOR 3.06 (2.75-3.39). AKI rates peaked in April 2020 and the subsequent fall in rates could not be explained by the use of dexamethasone or remdesivir. CONCLUSIONS: AKI is common in adults hospitalized with COVID-19 and it is associated with a heightened risk of mortality. Although the rates of AKI have fallen from the early months of the pandemic, high-risk patients should have their kidney function and fluid status monitored closely

Odour-mediated orientation of beetles is influenced by age, sex and morph

The behaviour of insects is dictated by a combination of factors and may vary considerably between individuals, but small insects are often considered en masse and thus these differences can be overlooked. For example, the cowpea bruchid Callosobruchus maculatus F. exists naturally in two adult forms: the active (flight) form for dispersal, and the inactive (flightless), more fecund but shorter-lived form. Given that these morphs show dissimilar biology, it is possible that they differ in odour-mediated orientation and yet studies of this species frequently neglect to distinguish morph type, or are carried out only on the inactive morph. Along with sex and age of individual, adult morph could be an important variable determining the biology of this and similar species, informing studies on evolution, ecology and pest management. We used an olfactometer with motion-tracking to investigate whether the olfactory behaviour and orientation of C. maculatus towards infested and uninfested cowpeas and a plant-derived repellent compound, methyl salicylate, differed between morphs or sexes. We found significant differences between the behaviour of male and female beetles and beetles of different ages, as well as interactive effects of sex, morph and age, in response to both host and repellent odours. This study demonstrates that behavioural experiments on insects should control for sex and age, while also considering differences between adult morphs where present in insect species. This finding has broad implications for fundamental entomological research, particularly when exploring the relationships between physiology, behaviour and evolutionary biology, and the application of crop protection strategies

Structures of apo IRF-3 and IRF-7 DNA binding domains: effect of loop L1 on DNA binding

Interferon regulatory factors IRF-3 and IRF-7 are transcription factors essential in the activation of interferon-β (IFN-β) gene in response to viral infections. Although, both proteins recognize the same consensus IRF binding site AANNGAAA, they have distinct DNA binding preferences for sites in vivo. The X-ray structures of IRF-3 and IRF-7 DNA binding domains (DBDs) bound to IFN-β promoter elements revealed flexibility in the loops (L1–L3) and the residues that make contacts with the target sequence. To characterize the conformational changes that occur on DNA binding and how they differ between IRF family members, we have solved the X-ray structures of IRF-3 and IRF-7 DBDs in the absence of DNA. We found that loop L1, carrying the conserved histidine that interacts with the DNA minor groove, is disordered in apo IRF-3 but is ordered in apo IRF-7. This is reflected in differences in DNA binding affinities when the conserved histidine in loop L1 is mutated to alanine in the two proteins. The stability of loop L1 in IRF-7 derives from a unique combination of hydrophobic residues that pack against the protein core. Together, our data show that differences in flexibility of loop L1 are an important determinant of differential IRF-DNA binding

BICEP2 / Keck Array VIII: Measurement of gravitational lensing from large-scale B-mode polarization

We present measurements of polarization lensing using the 150 GHz maps which include all data taken by the BICEP2 & Keck Array CMB polarization experiments up to and including the 2014 observing season (BK14). Despite their modest angular resolution ($\sim 0.5^\circ$), the excellent sensitivity ($\sim 3\mu$K-arcmin) of these maps makes it possible to directly reconstruct the lensing potential using only information at larger angular scales ($\ell\leq 700$). From the auto-spectrum of the reconstructed potential we measure an amplitude of the spectrum to be $A^{\phi\phi}_{\rm L}=1.15\pm 0.36$ (Planck $\Lambda$CDM prediction corresponds to $A^{\phi\phi}_{\rm L}=1$), and reject the no-lensing hypothesis at 5.8$\sigma$, which is the highest significance achieved to date using an EB lensing estimator. Taking the cross-spectrum of the reconstructed potential with the Planck 2015 lensing map yields $A^{\phi\phi}_{\rm L}=1.13\pm 0.20$. These direct measurements of $A^{\phi\phi}_{\rm L}$ are consistent with the $\Lambda$CDM cosmology, and with that derived from the previously reported BK14 B-mode auto-spectrum ($A^{\rm BB}_{\rm L}=1.20\pm 0.17$). We perform a series of null tests and consistency checks to show that these results are robust against systematics and are insensitive to analysis choices. These results unambiguously demonstrate that the B-modes previously reported by BICEP / Keck at intermediate angular scales ($150\lesssim\ell\lesssim 350$) are dominated by gravitational lensing. The good agreement between the lensing amplitudes obtained from the lensing reconstruction and B-mode spectrum starts to place constraints on any alternative cosmological sources of B-modes at these angular scales.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure