Recombinant Envelope-Proteins with Mutations in the Conserved Fusion Loop Allow Specific Serological Diagnosis of Dengue-Infections

Dengue virus (DENV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus and a major international public health concern in many tropical and sub-tropical areas worldwide. DENV is divided into four major serotypes, and infection with one serotype leads to immunity against the same, but not the other serotypes. The specific diagnosis of DENV-infections via antibody-detection is problematic due to the high degree of cross-reactivity displayed by antibodies against related flaviviruses, such as West Nile virus (WNV), Yellow Fever virus (YFV) or Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV). Especially in areas where several flaviviruses co-circulate or in the context of vaccination e.g. against YFV or TBEV, this severely complicates diagnosis and surveillance. Most flavivirus cross-reactive antibodies are produced against the highly conserved fusion loop (FL) domain in the viral envelope (E) protein. We generated insect-cell derived recombinant E-proteins of the four DENV-serotypes which contain point mutations in the FL domain. By using specific mixtures of these mutant antigens, cross-reactivity against heterologous flaviviruses was strongly reduced, enabling sensitive and specific diagnosis of the DENV-infected serum samples in IgG and IgM-measurements. These results have indications for the development of serological DENV-tests with improved specificity

Sozial konstruierte Risiken erfordern diskursive Willensbildungsprozesse

Ein Gespräch mit Cornelia Ulbert zur Governance von Risiken zwischen wissenschaftlicher Analyse und politischer Aushandlung. Die Fragen stellte Karsten Schubert

GPU-Accelerated Simulation of a Rotary Valve by the Discrete Element Method

The rotary valve is the most frequently used piece of equipment that is suitable for the controlled feeding or discharging of products in powdered or granular form. It is usually connected to silos, hoppers, pneumatic conveying systems, bag filters or cyclones. In this paper, a simulation study is presented on the discharge of solid particles from a silo through a rotary valve. The discrete element method (DEM), which accounts for collisions between particles and particle-wall collisions, was used to model and simulate the motion of individual particles. The diameter of the simulated silo was 0.2 m and a total of 245,000 particles were calculated. In the simulations, the effect of the geometric and operational parameters of the rotary valve on the mass outflow rate was investigated. The diameter of the rotary valve varied between 0.06 and 0.12 m and the rotational speed of the rotor was changed between 0.5 and 5 1 . The simulations showed that the mass outflow rate of the particles from the rotary valve changes periodically due to its rotary cell structure. Within the lower range of rotational speeds of the rotor, the mass outflow rate of particles changes linearly in correlation with the rotational speed. The identification of this linear section is important in terms of control as this would facilitate the implementation of control devices by applying well-established linear control algorithms. Adjacent to the linear section, the dependence of the average mass outflow rate on the rotational speed was found to be nonlinear. Within the upper range of examined rotational speeds for each diameter of the rotary valve, the mass outflow rate reaches a maximum then decreases. The simulations were performed using GPU hardware. The application of parallel programming was an essential aspect of the simulations and significantly decreased the calculation time of simulations. In the treatment of particle-wall contacts, a novel flat triangular-based geometric representation technique was used which allows the particle-wall contacts to be calculated more effectively and their treatment implemented more easily into the parallel programming code. Using the calculated particle positions, the particles were visualized to view the effect of the interactions between the particles and rotor blades on particle motion. The simulation results showed that the discrete element method is capable of determining the detailed flow patterns of particles through the rotary valve at various rotational speeds

Transformation through ‘Meaningful’ Partnership? SDG 17 as Metagovernance Norm and Its Global Health Implementation

SDG 17 calls for the international community to “strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development,” emphasizing the role of multi-stakeholder partnerships for achieving the SDGs. Policy documents are replete with statements on the necessity of ‘meaningful’ engagement, especially with civil society—without clarifying what ‘meaningful’ stands for. In this article, we develop an analytical approach to partnership as a form and norm of metagovernance. Partnership as a metanorm is about the roles and relations of different sets of actors. We suggest operationalizing the concept of partnership according to different levels of accountability and participation, allowing for a gradual enhancement of the quality of partnership in terms of ‘meaningfulness.’ We apply our analytical model to the Global Action Plan for Healthy Lives and Well‐Being for All (GAP), a fairly new initiative by health and development agencies to accelerate progress towards the health-related targets of the 2030 Agenda. By investigating the development and the early phase of implementing the GAP, we empirically assess if and how the notion of partnership envisioned in the GAP qualifies as ‘meaningful’ with respect to civil society engagement. From our empirical example, we infer lessons for attaining normative standards of ‘meaningfulness’ and highlight implications for future research on partnerships

A hazai vállalkozások alapítására, növekedésére ható tényezők vizsgálata = The influential factors of start-up and growth of the domestic businesses

Az OTKA kutatás keretén belül két kutatási irányt alakítottunk ki. Egyrészt egy 700 erősségű rétegzetten reprezentatív minta alapján a hazai kkv szektort vizsgáltuk. Részletesebben elemeztük a növekedés, a vállalati innovációs stratégia, a HRM, a finanszírozás és a rendszerszemléletnek megfelelően a komplex versenyképesség tényezőit. A kapott eredmények alapján megállapítható, hogy a magyar kkv szektor problémái nem a világgazdasági válsággal, hanem sokkal korábban elkezdődtek. Vállalkozóink jó része a fejlettség magasabb fokához szükséges vezetési, menedzsmenti, innovációs, együttműködési, pénzügyi ismeretekkel nem rendelkezik. Gazdasági bajaink jelentős része rövid távon nem orvosolható, a kilábaláshoz strukturális reformok szükségesek. A másik kutatási irány a GEM adatbázisa alapján képzett komplex Globális Vállalkozói és Fejlettségi Index kialakítása és elemzése volt. Remény van arra, hogy ez az index a vállalkozásmérés domináns mutatójává válik. Az index kialakításához került sor egy olyan egyedi módszer a Szűk Keresztmetszetekért Történő Büntetés módszerének kifejlesztésére, amely a leggyengébb elemhez igazítja a többi tényezőt. A módszertan alapfeltevése, hogy a vállalati teljesítményt a leggyengébb tényező határozza meg, és ezt a gyengeséget csak részben kompenzálhatják más, ennél jobb elemek.. Összességében 22 tudományos közleményt publikáltunk, 16-ot angolul. 5 folyóiratcikk (3 angol nyelvű) és 2 angol nyelven megjelent könyv is kiadásra került. | Within the OTKA, there were two major lines of research. The first research was about the investigation of the Hungarian SMEs based on a representative sample of 700. We provided a detailed analysis about the growth, the innovation strategy, the HRM, the finance and the complex competitiveness of the Hungarian SMEs. It has been proven that the problems of the domestic SMEs started much before the world wide recession. Our entrepreneurs did not posses the proper leadership, management, innovation, collaboration and financial skills. The problems cannot be improved in a short run, and structural reforms are necessary. The other line of research was based on the GEM data collection. We constructed a unique Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index, that could become a dominant measure of entrepreneurship. It is consistent with the major economic theories, unlike the previous indexes. For this index we developed a new methodology, called the Penalty for Bottleneck that adjust the elements to the weakest element of the system. The basic assumption of the model was that the performance of the system is determined by the weakest performing element. In sum, we have published 22 scientific papers, 16 was in English. Out of these there were five journal articles (three in English) and two books issued by Edward Elgar Printing House

In vivo measurements with robust silicon-based multielectrode arrays with extreme shaft lengths

In this paper, manufacturing and in vivo testing of extreme-long Si-based neural microelectrode arrays are presented. Probes with different shaft lengths (15–70 mm) are formed by deep reactive ion etching and have been equipped with platinum electrodes of various configurations. In vivo measurements on rats indicate good mechanical stability, robust implantation, and targeting capability. High-quality signals have been recorded from different locations of the cerebrum of the rodents. The accompanied tissue damage is characterized by histology

Physiological sharp wave-ripples and interictal events in vitro: What’s the difference?

Sharp wave-ripples and interictal events are physiological and pathological forms of transient high activity in the hippocampus with similar features. Sharp wave-ripples have been shown to be essential in memory consolidation, while epileptiform (interictal) events are thought to be damaging. It is essential to grasp the difference between physiological sharp wave-ripples and pathological interictal events in order to understand the failure of control mechanisms in the latter case. We investigated the dynamics of activity generated intrinsically in the CA3 region of the mouse hippocampus in vitro, using four different types of intervention to induce epiletiform activity. As a result, sharp wave-ripples spontaneously occurring in CA3 disappeared, and following an asynchronous transitory phase, activity reorganized into a new form of pathological synchrony. During epileptiform events, all neurons increased their firing rate compared to sharp wave-ripples. Different cell types showed complementary firing: parvalbumin-positive basket cells and some axo-axonic cells stopped firing due to a depolarization block at the climax of the events in high potassium, 4-aminopyridine and zero magnesium models, but not in the gabazine model. In contrast, pyramidal cells started firing maximally at this stage. To understand the underlying mechanism we measured changes of intrinsic neuronal and transmission parameters in the high potassium model. We found that the cellular excitability increased and excitatory transmission was enhanced, whereas inhibitory transmission was compromised. We observed a strong short-term depression in parvalbumin-positive basket cell to pyramidal cell transmission. Thus, the collapse of pyramidal cell perisomatic inhibition appears to be a crucial factor in the emergence of epileptiform events