Immunological mimicry between retinal S-antigen and group A streptococcal M proteins

Immunological mimicry between host and microbial proteins has been suggested as a potential mechanism in the development of uveitis in humans. In this study immunological crossreactivity between anti-streptococcal monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) and the human eye was investigated. In indirect immunofluorescence, we demonstrated novel immunological crossreactivity of two anti-streptococcal MAbs (27 and 112) with the rod outer (and inner) segments of the retina of the human eye. In further studies, retinal S-Ag, a uveitogenic protein in the rod outer (and inner) segments, was found to react with the anti-streptococcal MAbs. In addition, several uveitogenic peptides of S-Ag were recognized by the anti-streptococcal MAbs. In the ELISA and Western immunoblot, anti-S-Ag MAbs crossreacted with group A streptococci and the streptococcal M protein further demonstrating sites of antigenic similarity. Homology between the retinal S-Ag and streptococcal M protein was observed in amino acid sequences repeated in the B repeat region of the streptococcal M5 protein. These data show that retinal S-antigen has immunological similarities with streptococcal M protein, a major virulence determinant and strong bacterial cell surface antigen.     

Automatic Schaeffer's gestures recognition system

Schaeffer's sign language consists of a reduced set of gestures designed to help children with autism or cognitive learning disabilities to develop adequate communication skills. Our automatic recognition system for Schaeffer's gesture language uses the information provided by an RGB‐D camera to capture body motion and recognize gestures using dynamic time warping combined with k‐nearest neighbors methods. The learning process is reinforced by the interaction with the proposed system that accelerates learning itself thus helping both children and educators. To demonstrate the validity of the system, a set of qualitative experiments with children were carried out. As a result, a system which is able to recognize a subset of 11 gestures of Schaeffer's sign language online was achieved.     

Optimizing location and size of rural schools in Chile

The Chilean Ministry of Education oversees preschool, primary, and secondary education in both urban and rural areas. Many parts of Chile are sparsely populated and there are currently over 4,000 rural schools (almost 38% of all schools in Chile) educating 9.5% of the students in the country. Many of the rural schools are small with only one teacher responsible for instruction of all local students (multigrade schools). The geographical distribution of the rural schools has not been coordinated and this has resulted in unequal utilization of existing schools and some unreasonably long travel distances by students. Good management of the rural schools is fundamental to meeting Chile's goal of providing quality education to its citizens. Seeking to improve the situation, the Ministry of Education ordered a study of the optimal location and size of rural schools with the general goals of reducing the number of lesser quality multigrade schools and reducing student travel distances while maintaining reasonable costs. This paper presents results of this study obtained using an integer linear program that has been embedded in a geographical information system. We present computational results for the entire country. Recommendations include where to open new rural schools as well as where to expand, reduce, close, or leave unchanged existing schools. We show how recommendations are sensitive to key parameters such as the cost of transportation.     

Optimal design of 2D conducting graded materials by minimizing quadratic functionals in the field

We explore a typical optimal design problem in 2D conductivity: given fixed amounts of two isotropic dielectric materials, decide how we are to mix them in a 2D domain so as to minimize a certain cost functional depending on the underlying electric field. We rely on a reformulation of the optimal design problem as a vector variational problem and examine its relaxation, taking advantage of the explicit formulae for the relaxed integrands recently computed in Pedregal (2003). We provide numerical evidence, based on our relaxation, that Tartar’s result Tartar (1994) is verified when the target field is zero (also for divergence-free fields) and optimal solutions are given by first-order laminates. This same evidence also holds for a general quadratic functional in the field.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">J</Emphasis>-<Emphasis Type="Italic">Q</Emphasis> Characterization of Constraint Effects of a Three-Dimensional Cracked Specimen

Failure assessment of the integrity of a ductile flawed structural component is done currently by a one-parameter fracture mechanics approach. The J-integral is the one-parameter used; it has proven to be useful in order to predict ductile crack initiation. However, when tension loading dominates and/or a fully plastic condition develops around the crack, the J-integral alone does not describe completely the crack-tip stress field and a second parameter is needed. In this work, an accurate modeling of the elastic-plastic stress field around a deep crack in a three-dimensional three-point bend specimen is carried out. Numerical results for the crack-tip stress field are used to evaluate a crack-tip constraint parameter Q, in terms of applied loading, from contained plasticity to large-scale yielding. The parameter Q, measures the degree of stress triaxiality and constraint around the crack-tip. In order to obtain the stresses in the near-crack-tip field with high accuracy, a detailed mesh with higher order three-dimensional finite elements is located around the crack front. The modeling of crack-tip blunting deformation is performed by using a small notch radius in the crack-tip. Large-strain and finite-rotation nonlinear behavior effects around the crack-tip are included. The material, an ASTM A 516 steel, is modeled with incremental theory of plasticity. Numerical results of the Q triaxiality parameter are presented for increasing level loads to obtain an extended yield condition. Additional results of J-integral parameter and crack-tip opening displacement, for different load ratios and for different position across the specimen thickness are shown.     

Static strain-aging in commercial purity alpha titanium

Static strain-aging was investigated in commercial purity α-Ti, containing 0.41 at. pct of oxygen as the principal interstitial impurity. 17 μM grain size specimens, prestrained to 0.02 strain at a nominal strain-rate of 3.3×10⁻⁴S⁻¹, were agedin situ between 555 and 630 K for lengths of time between 150 and 2.55×10⁵ seconds. Both the upper and lower yield point increments were employed as measures of the aging progress. Under the stated conditions, the static strain-aging response of the titanium appeared to consist of four stages, of which only Stages 1 and 2 were considered in this work. Stage 1 corresponded to a Haasen and Kelly type of yield point, while Stage 2, after correcting for the time-independent yield point increment of Stage 1, conformed to Cotrell aging,i.e., the increase in flow stress after aging followed at ^2/3 behavior. The activation energy deduced for the process is in good agreement with that for the diffusion of oxygen in titanium.     

Nanomechanical detection of antibiotic-mucopeptide binding in a model for superbug drug resistance

The alarming growth of the antibiotic-resistant superbugs methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) is driving the development of new technologies to investigate antibiotics and their modes of action. We report the label-free detection of vancomycin binding to bacterial cell wall precursor analogues (mucopeptides) on cantilever arrays, with 10 nM sensitivity and at clinically relevant concentrations in blood serum. Differential measurements have quantified binding constants for vancomycin-sensitive and vancomycin-resistant mucopeptide analogues. Moreover, by systematically modifying the mucopeptide density we gain new insights into the origin of surface stress. We propose that stress is a product of a local chemical binding factor and a geometrical factor describing the mechanical connectivity of regions activated by local binding in terms of a percolation process. Our findings place BioMEMS devices in a new class of percolative systems. The percolation concept will underpin the design of devices and coatings to significantly lower the drug detection limit and may also have an impact on our understanding of antibiotic drug action in bacteria.