Polyurethane/Polylactide-Based Electrospun Nonwovens as Carriers for Human Adipose-Derived Stromal Stem Cells and Chondrogenic Progenitor Cells

Articular cartilage dysfunctions are major cause of pain and disability and lead to serious health complications. Cell-based therapies are proposed as treatment methods for cartilage regeneration. In this study, we proposed polyurethane/poly(L-lactide-co-D, L-lactide)-based electrospun nonwovens as carriers for the delivery of human adipose-derived stromal stem cells. We found that 6:4 and 8:2 polyurethane/poly(L-lactide-co-D, L-lactide) initially enhance proliferative rate of human adipose-derived stromal stem cells, shorten their population doubling time, promote creation of functional chondrogenic nodules during chondrogenic differentiation, improve the collagen-2-to-collagen-1 protein ratio, and upregulate the expression of collagen-2 and aggrecan genes.     

Co-Production as a Driver of Urban Governance Transformation? The Case of the Oplan LIKAS Programme in Metro Manila,Philippines

Social movement-initiated co-production has been increasingly described as an approach that enables urban poor communities in the South to gain wider access to urban governance. However, with a predominant focus on project-level interventions, the case studies in which movements truly affect governance matters in a metro scale are rare. One of the examples involving such an achievement is the activism of civil society organisations and urban poor groups in Metro Manila, Philippines, which have succeeded to have a major impact on the housing and resettlement programme; the Oplan LIKAS. This article analyses how the civil society was able to gain such a position and the way it utilised it. The documentation of the challenges experienced by the civil society reflects the nature of co-productive engagement in the South and shows that it may easily reach its limits in an exclusionary governance setting.     

The Periplasmic Oxidoreductase DsbA Is Required for Virulence of the Phytopathogen Dickeya solani

In bacteria, the DsbA oxidoreductase is a crucial factor responsible for the introduction of disulfide bonds to extracytoplasmic proteins, which include important virulence factors. A lack of proper disulfide bonds frequently leads to instability and/or loss of protein function; therefore, improper disulfide bonding may lead to avirulent phenotypes. The importance of the DsbA function in phytopathogens has not been extensively studied yet. Dickeya solani is a bacterium from the Soft Rot Pectobacteriaceae family which is responsible for very high economic losses mainly in potato. In this work, we constructed a D. solani dsbA mutant and demonstrated that a lack of DsbA caused a loss of virulence. The mutant bacteria showed lower activities of secreted virulence determinants and were unable to develop disease symptoms in a potato plant. The SWATH-MS-based proteomic analysis revealed that the dsbA mutation led to multifaceted effects in the D. solani cells, including not only lower levels of secreted virulence factors, but also the induction of stress responses. Finally, the outer membrane barrier seemed to be disturbed by the mutation. Our results clearly demonstrate that the function played by the DsbA oxidoreductase is crucial for D. solani virulence, and a lack of DsbA significantly disturbs cellular physiology.     

Cytokine Receptors—Regulators of Antimycobacterial Immune Response

Cytokine receptors are critical regulators of the antimycobacterial immune response, playing a key role in initiating and coordinating the recruitment and activation of immune cells during infection. They recognize and bind specific cytokines and are involved in inducing intracellular signal transduction pathways that regulate a diverse range of biological functions, including proliferation, differentiation, metabolism and cell growth. Due to mutations in cytokine receptor genes, defective signaling may contribute to increased susceptibility to mycobacteria, allowing the pathogens to avoid killing and immune surveillance. This paper provides an overview of cytokine receptors important for the innate and adaptive immune responses against mycobacteria and discusses the implications of receptor gene defects for the course of mycobacterial infection.     

The Uneven Rate of the Molecular Evolution of Gene Sequences of DNA-Dependent RNA Polymerase I of the Genus Lamium L

RNA polymerase type I (plastid-encoded polymerase, PEP) is one of the key chloroplast enzymes. However, the rpo genes that encode its subunits (rpoA, rpoB, rpoC1 and rpoC2) are relatively rapidly evolving sequences. The aim of this study was to investigate the rate of the molecular evolution of rpo genes and to evaluate them as phylogenetic markers on the example of the genus Lamium L. (Lamiaceae). The analyzed genes were shown to differ in the level of variation, rate of intragenic mutations, phylogenetic informativeness, and in the impact of these mutations on the properties of encoded peptides. Destabilizing effects of the positive pressure were observed in all genes examined coding for PEP enzyme. We have demonstrated the relationship between mutations fixed by positive selection and the separation of phylogenetic lines within the genus Lamium. The study showed also that the rpo genes were reliable phylogenetic markers, useful in the reconstruction of interconnections of species belonging to the same genus. Of the four tested genes, the most promising phylogenetic marker was rpoA gene, while the least useful gene appeared to be rpoC1.     

Fully automatic AI-based leak detection system

This paper presents a fully automatic system intended to detect leaks of dielectric fluid in underground high-pressure, fluid-filled (HPFF) cables. The system combines a number of artificial intelligence (AI) and data processing techniques to achieve high detection capabilities for various rates of leaks, including leaks as small as 15 l per hour. The system achieves this level of precision mainly thanks to a novel auto-tuning procedure, enabling learning of the Bayesian network – the decision-making component of the system – using simulated leaks of various rates. Significant new developments extending the capabilities of the original leak detection system described in [1] and [2] form the basis of this paper. Tests conducted on the real-life HPFF cable system in New York City are also discussed.     

Effect of amine-terminated butadiene-acrylonitrile/clay combinations on the structure and properties of epoxy nanocomposites

The effect of the clay content and the method of its combination with amine-terminated butadiene-acrylonitrile (ATBN) on the structure and behavior of epoxy was studied. In the case of the simultaneous addition of both components, the increasing clay content had a very small effect on the size of the reaction-induced phase separation-formed particles at 5% rubber content due to predominant elimination of two major clay effects, i.e., the nucleation due to phase separation and the kinetics. As a result, both the time window between the onset of phase separation and vitrification and the viscosity at the cloud point did not change significantly. The minor change in the particle size/clay content dependences with different curing temperatures indicates that the balance between the two clay effects shifted. The corresponding study of the mechanical behavior indicated that the best balanced mechanical properties were obtained at certain clay/ATBN ratios, and thus, there was synergy between the components. Similar mechanical parameters were obtained for the application of both components in the form of ATBN/montmorillonite intercalate. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012     

Nutrient and polyphenolic composition of industrial strawberry press cake

The objective of the present work was to determine the nutrient and polyphenolic composition of dried strawberry press cake (SPC), as well as that of its seedless fraction, termed exhausted strawberry flesh (ESF). The study materials were obtained over three consecutive years from an industrial facility manufacturing concentrated fruit juices. On average, SPC consists of 40 % seeds, 3.5 % sand, and about 55 % ESF. In the dry matter of SPC and ESF, the mean content of fat is 9.8 and 3.5 %, protein 17.3 and 20.4 %, and total polyphenols 3,449 and 5,410 mg/100 g, respectively. Both materials are rich in total dietary fiber, whose content amounts to 60 %. The predominant polyphenols in SPC and ESF are flavanols and ellagitannins, which collectively constitute over 95 % of the determined total polyphenol content. In ESF composition, of note is the high content of the strawberry ellagitannin, agrimoniin, which is approximately 1,000 mg/100 g DW (dry weight). SPC has the disadvantage of being highly contaminated with sand (3.4 %), which accumulates in ESF (5.6 %). However, as compared to SPC, ESF contains approximately 20 % more proteins and almost three times less fat. Based on our results, it appears that SPC may be considered a potential raw material for seed recovery. Moreover, dried strawberry press cake, and especially its seedless fraction (ESF), despite substantial contamination with sand, may be used as rich and widely available raw material for the extraction of proanthocyanidins and/or ellagitannins, and especially dimeric agrimoniin.     

Forgetting Exceptions is Harmful in Language Learning

We show that in language learning, contrary to received wisdom, keeping exceptional training instances in memory can be beneficial for generalization accuracy. We investigate this phenomenon empirically on a selection of benchmark natural language processing tasks: grapheme-to-phoneme conversion, part-of-speech tagging, prepositional-phrase attachment, and base noun phrase chunking. In a first series of experiments we combine memory-based learning with training set editing techniques, in which instances are edited based on their typicality and class prediction strength. Results show that editing exceptional instances (with low typicality or low class prediction strength) tends to harm generalization accuracy. In a second series of experiments we compare memory-based learning and decision-tree learning methods on the same selection of tasks, and find that decision-tree learning often performs worse than memory-based learning. Moreover, the decrease in performance can be linked to the degree of abstraction from exceptions (i.e., pruning or eagerness). We provide explanations for both results in terms of the properties of the natural language processing tasks and the learning algorithms.     

Accuracy and uncertainty of single-shot, nonresonant laser-induced thermal acoustics

We study the accuracy and uncertainty of single-shot nonresonant laser-induced thermal acoustics measurements of the speed of sound and the thermal diffusivity in unseeded atmospheric air from electrostrictive gratings as a function of the laser power settings. For low pump energies, the measured speed of sound is too low, which is due to the influence of noise on the numerical data analysis scheme. For pump energies comparable to and higher than the breakdown energy of the gas, the measured speed of sound is too high. This is an effect of leaving the acoustic limit, and instead creating finite-amplitude density perturbations. The measured thermal diffusivity is too large for high noise levels but it decreases below the predicted value for high pump energies. The pump energy where the error is minimal coincides for the speed of sound and for the thermal diffusivity measurements. The errors at this minimum are 0.03% and 1%, respectively. The uncertainties for the speed of sound and the thermal diffusivity decrease monotonically with signal intensity to 0.25% and 5%, respectively.