Personal construal of life tasks: Those who struggle for independence.

Life tasks serve as an avenue for individuals to give personal meaning to their lives and to organize personal effort and activities. The present data, from a longitudinal study of the transition to college life, demonstrate how construals of life tasks can help to illuminate individuals' activity choices and affective experience of daily life activities. Ss who were absorbed in the task of "being on my own, away from family," also invested their academic activities with special significance. They experienced more stress and less satisfaction from their (considerable) academic accomplishments than did those who framed their tasks in more concrete terms. Experience-sampling data showed that activity choices followed from life task concerns, even when such activities were particularly anxiety-provoking. Discussion considers how similar life task themes may be enacted differently in other contexts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Modeling individual’s aging within a bacterial population using a pi-calculus paradigm

We propose an aging mechanism which develops in artificial bacterial populations fighting against antibiotic molecules. The mechanism is based on very elementary information gathered by each individual and elementary reactions as well. Though we do not interpret the aging process in strictly biological terms, it appears compliant with recent studies on the field, and physically feasible. The root of the aging mechanism is an adaptation strategy based on a thresholding operation that derives from theoretical results on stochastic monotone games. The methods for implementing it denote their rationale in that they represent a sophisticated dialect of pi-calculus, a widespread computational paradigm for implementing dynamics of massive populations with bipolar reactions. As a result we may implement processes that explain some typical patterns of the evolution of the immunosystems.     

Making the Bend: DNA Tertiary Structure and Protein-DNA Interactions

DNA structure functions as an overlapping code to the DNA sequence. Rapid progress in understanding the role of DNA structure in gene regulation, DNA damage recognition and genome stability has been made. The three dimensional structure of both proteins and DNA plays a crucial role for their specific interaction, and proteins can recognise the chemical signature of DNA sequence (“base readout”) as well as the intrinsic DNA structure (“shape recognition”). These recognition mechanisms do not exist in isolation but, depending on the individual interaction partners, are combined to various extents. Driving force for the interaction between protein and DNA remain the unique thermodynamics of each individual DNA-protein pair. In this review we focus on the structures and conformations adopted by DNA, both influenced by and influencing the specific interaction with the corresponding protein binding partner, as well as their underlying thermodynamics.     

Finite element modeling and simulation of proposed design magneto-rheological valve

Magneto-rheological (MR) valve is one of the devices generally used to control the speed of Hydraulic actuator of MR fluid. The performance of valve depends on the magnetic circuit design. Present study deals with a new design of MR valve. A mathematical model for the MR valve is developed and the simulation is carried out to evaluate the newly developed MR valve. The design of the magnetic circuit is accomplished by magnetic finite element software such as Finite Element Method Magnetic (FEMMR). The model dimensions of MR valve, material properties are taken into account. The results of analysis are presented in terms of magnetic strength H and magnetic flux density B. The simulation results based on the proposed model indicate that the efficiency of the proposed MR valve is superior to two other types of MR valves, under the same magnetic flux density. As a conclusion, the new valve design has improved the efficiency of MR valve significantly.     

Harmful dinoflagellate Ostreopsis cf. ovata Fukuyo: detection of ovatoxins in field samples and cell immunolocalization using antipalytoxin antibodies

Ostreopsis cf. ovata, a benthic dinoflagellate often blooming along the Mediterranean coasts, has been associated with toxic events ranging from dyspnea to mild dermatitis. In late September 2009, an Ostreopsis cf. ovata bloom occurred in the Gulf of Trieste (Northern Adriatic Sea; Italy), causing pruritus and mild dermatitis in beachgoers. An integrated study was initiated to characterize Ostreopsis cells by light and confocal microscopy, PCR techniques, immunocytochemistry, and high resolution liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HR LC-MS). The presence of Ostreopsis cf. ovata of the Atlantic/Mediterranean clade was unambiguously established by morphological and genetic analyses in field samples. Several palytoxin-like compounds (ovatoxin-a,-b,-c,-d,-e) were identified by HR LC-MS, ovatoxin-a being the most abundant (45-64 pg/cell). Surprisingly, no palytoxin was detected. For the first time, monoclonal and polyclonal antipalytoxin antibodies revealed the intracellular cytoplasmic localization of ovatoxins, suggesting their cross-reactivity with these antibodies. Since harmful dinoflagellates do not always produce toxins, the immunocytochemical localization of ovatoxins, although qualitative, can provide an early warning for toxic Ostreopsis cells before their massive diffusion and/or concentration in seafood.     

Design of challenge testing experiments to assess the variability of Listeria monocytogenes growth in foods

The assessment of the evolution of micro-organisms naturally contaminating food must take into account the variability of biological factors, food characteristics and storage conditions. A research project involving eight French laboratories was conducted to quantify the variability of growth parameters of Listeria monocytogenes obtained by challenge testing in five food products. The residual variability corresponded to a coefficient of variation (CV) of approximately 20% for the growth rate (μ_max) and 130% for the parameter K = μ_max × lag. The between-batch and between-manufacturer variability of μ_max was very dependent on the food tested and mean CV of approximately 20 and 35% were observed for these two sources of variability, respectively. The initial physiological state variability led to a CV of 100% for the parameter K. It appeared that repeating a limited number of three challenge tests with three different batches (or manufacturers) and with different initial physiological states seems often necessary and adequate to accurately assess the variability of the behavior of L. monocytogenes in a specific food produced by a given manufacturer (or for a more general food designation).     

Enzymatic cross-linking of human recombinant elastin (HELP) as biomimetic approach in vascular tissue engineering

The use of polymers naturally occurring in the extracellular matrix (ECM) is a promising strategy in regenerative medicine. If compared to natural ECM proteins, proteins obtained by recombinant DNA technology have intrinsic advantages including reproducible macromolecular composition, sequence and molecular mass, and overcoming the potential pathogens transmission related to polymers of animal origin. Among ECM-mimicking materials, the family of recombinant elastin-like polymers is proposed for drug delivery applications and for the repair of damaged elastic tissues. This work aims to evaluate the potentiality of a recombinant human elastin-like polypeptide (HELP) as a base material of cross-linked matrices for regenerative medicine. The cross-linking of HELP was accomplished by the insertion of cross-linking sites, glutamine and lysine, in the recombinant polymer and generating ε-(γ-glutamyl) lysine links through the enzyme transglutaminase. The cross-linking efficacy was estimated by infrared spectroscopy. Freeze-dried cross-linked matrices showed swelling ratios in deionized water (≈2500%) with good structural stability up to 24 h. Mechanical compression tests, performed at 37°C in wet conditions, in a frequency sweep mode, indicated a storage modulus of 2/3 kPa, with no significant changes when increasing number of cycles or frequency. These results demonstrate the possibility to obtain mechanically resistant hydrogels via enzymatic crosslinking of HELP. Cytotoxicity tests of cross-linked HELP were performed with human umbilical vein endothelial cells, by use of transwell filter chambers for 1-7 days, or with its extracts in the opportune culture medium for 24 h. In both cases no cytotoxic effects were observed in comparison with the control cultures. On the whole, the results suggest the potentiality of this genetically engineered HELP for regenerative medicine applications, particularly for vascular tissue regeneration.     

Monitoring Anti-PEG Antibodies Level upon Repeated Lipid Nanoparticle-Based COVID-19 Vaccine Administration

PEGylated lipids are one of the four constituents of lipid nanoparticle mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. Therefore, various concerns have been raised on the generation of anti-PEG antibodies and their potential role in inducing hypersensitivity reactions following vaccination or in reducing vaccine efficacy due to anti-carrier immunity. Here, we assess the prevalence of anti-PEG antibodies, in a cohort of vaccinated individuals, and give an overview of their time evolution after repeated vaccine administrations. Results indicate that, in our cohort, the presence of PEG in the formulation did not influence the level of anti-Spike antibodies generated upon vaccination and was not related to any reported, serious adverse effects. The time-course analysis of anti-PEG IgG showed no significant booster effect after each dose, whereas for IgM a significant increase in antibody levels was detected after the first and third dose. Data suggest that the presence of PEG in the formulation does not affect safety or efficacy of lipid-nanoparticle-based COVID-19 vaccines.