Selective Silencing of Disease-Associated B Lymphocytes from Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis Patients by Chimeric Protein Molecules

Hashimoto’s thyroiditis is one of the most common endocrine disorders, affecting up to 20% of the adult population. No treatment or prevention exists except hormonal substitution for hypothyroidism. We hypothesize that it may be possible to selectively suppress anti-thyroglobulin (Tg) IgG antibody-producing B lymphocytes from HT patients by a chimeric protein molecule containing a monoclonal antibody specific for the human inhibitory receptor CR1, coupled to peptide epitopes derived from Tg protein. We expect that this treatment will down-regulate B-cell autoreactivity by delivering a strong inhibitory signal. Three peptides—two epitope-predicted ones derived from Tg and another irrelevant peptide—were synthesized and then coupled with monoclonal anti-human CR1 antibody to construct three chimeric molecules. The binding to CD35 on human B cells and the effects of the chimeric constructs on PBMC and TMC from patients with HT were tested using flow cytometry, ELISpot assay, and immunoenzyme methods. We found that after the chemical conjugation, all chimeras retained their receptor-binding capacity, and the Tg epitopes could be recognized by anti-Tg autoantibodies in the patients’ sera. This treatment downregulated B-cell autoreactivity and cell proliferation, inhibited Tg-specific B-cell differentiation to plasmablasts and promoted apoptosis to the targeted cells. The treatment of PBMCs from HT patients with Tg-epitope-carrying chimeric molecules affects the activity of Tg-specific autoreactive B lymphocytes, delivering to them a strong suppressive signal.     

Influence of operational parameters and material properties on the contact heat transfer in rotary kilns

The heat transfer by contact between the covered inner wall surface and the solid bed in a rotary kiln was experimentally investigated. An indirect heated batch rotary drum with a diameter of D = 600 mm and a length of L = 450 mm has been used. Inside the drum, a rotating and stationary measuring rod was installed, each assembled with 16 k-type thermocouples to measure the temperatures. Thus, the radial and circumferential temperature gradients within the solid bed were measured, and the contact heat transfer was determined from the heating of the bed. The effect on the contact heat transfer coefficient was estimated for the operational parameters of the drum, rotational speed (1, 3, 6 rpm) and filling degree (10%, 15%, 20%); the solid bed parameters, particle diameter (0.7, 1.3, 2.0 mm) and thermo physical properties (conductivity, heat capacity, density). As test material, quartz sand, glass beads and copper beads were used. The measured heat transfer coefficients were compared with theoretical calculations of four model approaches from the recent literature. A good agreement with just one of these model approaches could be achieved.     

Reaction of nitric oxide and nitric oxide + carbon monoxide with amorphous Fe-Co-B alloy powders

The activity of amorphous Fe---Co---B alloy powder was investigated for the decomposition and the reduction of nitrogen monoxide. The transient response technique and a fixed bed reactor were applied to study the interactions of the Fe---Co---B alloy with two gas mixtures: NO + Ar at 353 and 573 K and NO + CO + Ar at 333–573 K. Moessbauer spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to study the state of the initial sample and the samples utilized in both gas mixtures. It is shown that the amorphous Fe---Co---B alloy powder has an activity for the direct decomposition of nitric oxide to nitrous oxide and nitrogen at a high gas space velocity (26 000 h⁻¹). Oxygen from the decomposed nitric oxide poisons the surface for the formation of nitrogen. In the presence of carbon monoxide (a NO + CO + Ar gas mixture) nitric oxide is reduced to nitrous oxide at 333–353 K and fully reduced to nitrogen at 373–573 K. The quantities of the carbon dioxide formed are not equal to the values expected from the stoichiometry of the NO + CO reaction. Probably, the interaction of carbon monoxide with the adsorbed oxygen (left on the surface by the decomposed nitric oxide) enhances the rate of nitric oxide decomposition to nitrous oxide and nitrogen. The rate limiting steps for both reactions of nitric oxide decomposition, as indicated by the transient response data, change with increasing temperature. The data from the Moessbauer spectroscopy and the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies have shown that the amorphous Fe---Co---B alloy powder undergoes phase changes under the conditions of both, the NO + Ar and the NO + CO + Ar gas mixtures. Boron migrates to the surface of globules and serves the accumulation of oxygen by the formation of B₂O₃ (or B(OH)₃).     

Mechanical properties of model membranes studied from shape transformations of giant vesicles

Membrane deformations occur frequently in cell functioning. From the physical point of view, the understanding of such shape changes requires the introduction of mechanical parameters like bending elasticity. In this article it is shown how this physical property can be obtained from the analysis of small or large shape transformations from giant vesicles. Then it is demonstrated that the bending modulus is strongly dependent on the membrane composition and environmental conditions. This is the case for one-component bilayers (dilauroylphosphatidylcholine (DLPC), dimyristoylphosphatidylcholine (DMPC), dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine and stearoyloleoyl-phosphatidylcholine (SOPC) and for two-component lipid mixtures (DMPC/cholesterol, DLPC/dilauroylphosphatidic acid). Further it is shown that the bending elasticity of natural lipid extracts (egg phosphatidylcholine, digalactosyl diglyceride and red blood cell lipid extracts) is generally smaller than that of comparable synthetic model membranes. The role of transmembrane proteins is examined by measuring the bending elasticity of SOPC/gramicidin mixtures. Finally, larger scale shape transformations of giant vesicles under an alternative electric field are discussed.     

Projective Blue‐Noise Sampling

We propose projective blue‐noise patterns that retain their blue‐noise characteristics when undergoing one or multiple projections onto lower dimensional subspaces. These patterns are produced by extending existing methods, such as dart throwing and Lloyd relaxation, and have a range of applications. For numerical integration, our patterns often outperform state‐of‐the‐art stochastic and low‐discrepancy patterns, which have been specifically designed only for this purpose. For image reconstruction, our method outperforms traditional blue‐noise sampling when the variation in the signal is concentrated along one dimension. Finally, we use our patterns to distribute primitives uniformly in 3D space such that their 2D projections retain a blue‐noise distribution.     

Stratified Sampling of Projected Spherical Caps

We present a method for uniformly sampling points inside the projection of a spherical cap onto a plane through the sphere's center. To achieve this, we devise two novel area‐preserving mappings from the unit square to this projection, which is often an ellipse but generally has a more complex shape. Our maps allow for low‐variance rendering of direct illumination from finite and infinite (e.g. sun‐like) spherical light sources by sampling their projected solid angle in a stratified manner. We discuss the practical implementation of our maps and show significant quality improvement over traditional uniform spherical cap sampling in a production renderer.     

Cobalt and iron oxide modified mesoporous zirconia: Preparation, characterization and catalytic behaviour in methanol conversion

Mesoporous zirconia materials with different textural characteristics and degrees of crystallinity were obtained by various procedures and modified with cobalt and iron oxide nanoparticles. The obtained materials were characterized by N₂-physisorption, XRD, TEM, FTIR, Mössbauer spectroscopy, TPR-TG and methanol conversion as a catalytic test. Formation of finely dispersed iron and cobalt oxide species, hosted in the zirconia matrix, was observed after the modification. The obtained composites possess higher catalytic activity and different in comparison with the corresponding zirconia supports dehydration and dehydrogenation ability. It was demonstrated that the variations in the textural and surface features of zirconia support and the deposition of different metal oxides on it provided a great opportunity for the preparation of catalysts with tunable bi-functional acidic and redox properties.     

Toluene oxidation on titanium- and iron-modified MCM-41 materials

Iron- and titanium-modified MCM-41 materials, prepared by direct synthesis at ambient temperature or wet impregnation technique, were investigated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), temperature-programmed reduction (TPR), UV–vis diffuse reflectance, Mössbauer and FT-IR spectroscopies. Their catalytic behavior was studied in total oxidation of toluene. Materials with high surface area and well-ordered pore structure were obtained. The increase of the titanium content (up to 50%) in the bisubstituted, iron and titanium containing materials leads to partial structure collapse of the silica matrix. Finely dispersed anatase particles were also formed during the impregnation procedure. The catalytic activity of the bisubstituted materials was influenced by the method of their preparation, but higher catalytic stability could be achieved, compared to iron monosubstituted one. The nature of the catalytic active sites is discussed.     

Long-range structuring of nanoparticles by mimicry of a cholesteric liquid crystal

Patterning nano-objects is an exciting interdisciplinary research area in current materials science, arising from new optical and optoelectronic properties and the need to miniaturize electronic components. Many techniques have been developed for assembling nanoparticles into two- and three-dimensional arrays. Most studies involving liquid crystals as templates have dealt with colloidal particles and nematic and smectic phases. Here, we demonstrate the long-range ordering of nanoparticle assemblies that adopt the helical configuration of the cholesteric liquid crystalline phase. Because we used glass-forming cholesterics, the nanostructures could be examined by transmission electron microscopy. The platinum nanoparticles form periodic ribbons that mimic the well-known 'fingerprint' cholesteric texture. Surprisingly, the nanoparticles do not decorate the original cholesteric texture but create a novel helical structure with a larger helical pitch. By varying the molar fraction of cholesterol-containing mesogen in the liquid crystal host, we show that the distance between the ribbons is directly correlated to the pitch. Therefore this inherent lengthscale becomes a simple control parameter to tune the structuring of nanoparticles. These results demonstrate how such an assembly process could be modulated, providing a versatile route to new materials systems.     

Iron-chromium-molybdenum oxide catalysts for methanol oxidation

The activity and selectivity of a precipitated iron-chromium-molybdenum oxide catalyst (Mo/(Fe + Cr) = 2.5/(0.5 + 0.5)) towards methanol mild oxidation have been studied by a flow-circulation method. Commensurable activity and selectivity with those of the industrial Fe₂ (MoO₄)₃-MoO₃ catalysts as well as an enhanced stability have been found. The Mössbauer spectra of fresh and tested catalysts show that during the catalytic reaction a partial reduction occurs and a steady state composition differing from the initial one is formed.