Easy,Green and Safe Carbonylation Reactions through Zeolite‐Catalyzed Carbon Monoxide Production from Formic Acid

Zeolites with the right shape and acid site density and strength, such as certain ZSM‐5 forms, were able to cleanly decompose formic acid to carbon monoxide (CO), and the latter could be directly used in palladium‐catalyzed carbonylation reactions. A simple two‐reactor system was designed to produce CO conveniently and then further react this gas in a safe way. The two‐reactor system is particularly cheap, easy to set up and use. In addition, the carbonylation conditions without pressure allowed for very efficient CO incorporation, with only 1% of palladium(II) chloride (PdCl₂) and Xantphos.

     

Human Chorionic Gonadotropin and Early Embryogenesis: Review

Human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) has four major isoforms: classical hCG, hyperglycosylated hCG, free β subunit, and sulphated hCG. Classical hCG is the first molecule synthesized by the embryo. Its RNA is transcribed as early as the eight-cell stage and the blastocyst produces the protein before its implantation. This review synthetizes everything currently known on this multi-effect hormone: hCG levels, angiogenetic activity, immunological actions, and effects on miscarriages and thyroid function.     

Immunologic Effects of Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy in Dogs with Spontaneous Tumors and the Impact of Intratumoral OX40/TLR Agonist Immunotherapy

Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is known to induce important immunologic changes within the tumor microenvironment (TME). However, little is known regarding the early immune responses within the TME in the first few weeks following SBRT. Therefore, we used the canine spontaneous tumor model to investigate TME responses to SBRT, and how local injection of immune modulatory antibodies to OX40 and TLR 3/9 agonists might modify those responses. Pet dogs with spontaneous cancers (melanoma, carcinoma, sarcoma, n = 6 per group) were randomized to treatment with either SBRT or SBRT combined with local immunotherapy. Serial tumor biopsies and serum samples were analyzed for immunologic responses. SBRT alone resulted at two weeks after treatment in increased tumor densities of CD3+ T cells, FoxP3+ Tregs, and CD204+ macrophages, and increased expression of genes associated with immunosuppression. The addition of OX40/TLR3/9 immunotherapy to SBRT resulted in local depletion of Tregs and tumor macrophages and reduced Treg-associated gene expression (FoxP3), suppressed macrophage-associated gene expression (IL-8), and suppressed exhausted T cell-associated gene expression (CTLA4). Increased concentrations of IL-7, IL-15, and IL-18 were observed in serum of animals treated with SBRT and immunotherapy, compared to animals treated with SBRT. A paradoxical decrease in the density of effector CD3+ T cells was observed in tumor tissues that received combined SBRT and immunotherapy as compared to animals treated with SBRT only. In summary, these results obtained in a spontaneous large animal cancer model indicate that addition of OX40/TLR immunotherapy to SBRT modifies important immunological effects both locally and systemically.     

Retention of Eucalyptol,a Natural Volatile Insecticide,in Delivery Systems Based on Hydroxypropyl‐β‐Cyclodextrin and Liposomes

Eucalyptol (Euc) is a natural monoterpene with insecticide effects. Being highly volatile and sensitive to ambient conditions, its encapsulation would enlarge its application. Euc‐loaded conventional liposomes (CL), cyclodextrin/drug inclusion complex, and drug‐in‐cyclodextrin‐in‐liposomes (DCL) are prepared to protect Euc from degradation, reduce its evaporation, and provide its controlled release. The liposomal suspension is freeze‐dried using hydroxypropyl‐β‐cyclodextrin (HP‐β‐CD) as cryoprotectant. The liposomes are characterized before and after freeze‐drying. The effect of Euc on the fluidity of liposomal membrane is also examined. A release study of Euc from delivery systems, in powder and reconstituted forms, is performed by multiple head extraction at 60 °C after 6 months of storage at 4 °C. CL and DCL suspensions are homogeneous, show nanometric vesicles size, spherical shape, and negative surface charge before and after freeze‐drying. Moreover, HP‐β‐CD does not affect the fluidity of liposomes. CL formulations present a weak encapsulation for Euc. The loading capacity of eucalyptol in DCL is 38 times higher than that in CL formulation. In addition, freeze‐dried DCL and HP‐β‐CD/Euc inclusion complex show a higher retention of eucalyptol than CL delivery system. Both carrier systems HP‐β‐CD/Euc and Euc‐loaded DCL decrease Euc evaporation and improve its retention. Practical Applications: Eucalyptol is a natural insecticide. It is highly volatile and poorly soluble in water. To enlarge its application, its encapsulation in three delivery systems (conventional liposomes, cyclodextrin/drug inclusion complex, combined system composed of cyclodextrin inclusion complex and liposome) is studied. In this paper it is proved that cyclodextrin/eucalyptol inclusion complex and eucalyptol‐in‐cyclodextrin‐in‐liposome are effective delivery systems for encalyptol encapsulation, retention, and release.     

ITER CODAC interface for the visible and infra-red wide angle viewing cameras

The amount of data generated by the infra-red and visible cameras at ITER is expected to be considerably larger than most diagnostics. ITER will have 12 infra-red cameras plus 12 visible cameras in four different equatorial port plugs. Each of the ports will have a Plant System Host (PSH) that will provide a standard image of the plant system to the ITER's Control and Data Access and Communication (CODAC) system.The two key functions of these cameras will be the scientific exploitation with the detection of interesting physics events and the operational protection of the machine, namely the first wall. Already assuming high bandwidth requirements for both audio and video, ITER will provide a separate network for this kind of communication, which will be used to transmit both the experimental and informational data provided by the cameras.This paper presents the current camera plant system design and its interaction with ITER CODAC system and networks. Starting from the camera specifications several alternatives for data collection and compression are discussed. The required inputs from CODAC and a first specification for the internal finite state machine are also presented. Finally, a possible hardware straw man design solution for the plant system hardware is proposed.     

Line of sight controller tuning using Bayesian optimisation: application to a double stage stabilisation platform

The inertial stabilisation of the line of sight of an imager fixed on a mobile carrier is considered in order to acquire good quality images despite the disturbances generated by the carrier. A double stage mechanical stabilisation architecture is proposed, where a second stabilisation stage, based on a piezoelectric actuator, is added to the usual structure. The piezoelectric actuator transfer function and hysteresis are characterised through experiments. In order to design the controllers of both stages, a high-level image quality criterion (the modulation transfer function (MTF)) is considered, together with design constraints on the main variables of interest. The criterion and the constraints are evaluated by realistic simulations based on some input and noise profiles measured on a real-life system. The MTF evaluation being time-consuming, a Bayesian optimisation method specially dedicated to expensive-to-evaluate functions is used to obtain the parameters of the controllers. The obtain experimental results are displayed and their performances discussed.     

Object-based fusion for urban tree species classification from hyperspectral,panchromatic and nDSM data

This study aims at identifying the best object-based fusion strategy that takes advantage of the complementarity of several heterogeneous airborne data sources for improving the classification of 15 tree species in an urban area (Toulouse, France). The airborne data sources are: hyperspectral Visible Near-Infrared (160 spectral bands, spatial resolution of 0.4 m) and Short-Wavelength Infrared (256 spectral bands, 1.6 m), panchromatic (14 cm), and a normalized Digital Surface Model (12.5 cm). Object-based feature and decision level fusion strategies are proposed and compared when applied to a reference site where the species are previously identified during ground truth collection. This allows the best fusion strategy to be selected with a view to introducing the method in an automatic process (tree crown delineation and species classification) on a test site, independent of the reference site used for learning. In particular, a decision level fusion is selected: based on the Support Vector Machine algorithm, Visible Near-Infrared and Short-Wavelength Infrared classifications use Minimum Noise Fraction components at the original spatial resolution, whereas panchromatic and normalized Digital Surface Model classifications use, respectively, Haralick’s and structural features computed at the object scale. After the computation of a decision profile for each source at the object level based on the classification algorithms’ membership probabilities, these decision profiles are combined and a decision rule is applied to predict the species. Focusing on the reference site, the Visible Near-Infrared exhibits the best performances with F-score values higher than 60% for 13 species out of 15. The Short-Wavelength Infrared is the most powerful for three species with F-score greater than 60% for seven common species with the Visible Near-Infrared. The panchromatic and normalized Digital Surface Model contribute marginally. The best fusion strategy (decision fusion) does not improve significantly the overall accuracy with 77% (kappa = 74%) against 75% (kappa = 72%) for the Visible Near-Infrared but in general, it improves the results for cases where complementarities have been observed. When applied to the test site and assessed for the two majority species (Tilia tomentosa and Platanus x hispanica), the selected approach gives consistent results with an overall accuracy of 63% against 55% for the Visible Near-Infrared.     

Dynamics of killer T cell inflation in viral infections

Upon acute viral infection, a typical cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) response is characterized by a phase of expansion and contraction after which it settles at a relatively stable memory level. Recently, experimental data from mice infected with murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) showed different and unusual dynamics. After acute infection had resolved, some antigen specific CTL started to expand over time despite the fact that no replicative virus was detectable. This phenomenon has been termed as "CTL memory inflation". In order to examine the dynamics of this system further, we developed a mathematical model analysing the impact of innate and adaptive immune responses. According to this model, a potentially important contributor to CTL inflation is competition between the specific CTL response and an innate natural killer (NK) cell response. Inflation occurs most readily if the NK cell response is more efficient than the CTL at reducing virus load during acute infection, but thereafter maintains a chronic virus load which is sufficient to induce CTL proliferation. The model further suggests that weaker NK cell mediated protection can correlate with more pronounced CTL inflation dynamics over time. We present experimental data from mice infected with MCMV which are consistent with the theoretical predictions. This model provides valuable information and may help to explain the inflation of CMV specific CD8+T cells seen in humans as they age.     

Aminolysis of Aziridines Catalyzed by Samarium Iodides

Abstract  

Samarium diiodide is an efficient catalyst for the aminolysis of either activated or non activated aziridines with aromatic amines. A variety of N-diprotected β-diamines has been prepared including new products. The comparison of the N-protecting groups of aziridines in reactions catalyzed by samarium diiodide or by samarium iodobinaphtholate indicates that N-Boc protection leads to the best results.