Antibody-Based Tracers for PET/SPECT Imaging of Chronic Inflammatory Diseases

Chronic inflammatory diseases are often progressive, resulting not only in physical damage to patients but also social and economic burdens, making early diagnosis of them critical. Nuclear medicine techniques can enhance the detection of inflammation by providing functional as well as anatomical information when combined with other modalities such as magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography or ultrasonography. Although small molecules and peptides were mainly used for the treatment and imaging of chronic inflammatory diseases in the past, antibodies and their fragments have also been emerging for chronic inflammatory diseases as they show high specificity to their targets and can have various biological half-lives depending on how they are engineered. In addition, imaging with antibodies or their fragments can visualize the in vivo biodistribution of the probes or help monitor therapeutic responses, thereby providing physicians with a greater understanding of drug behavior in vivo and another means of monitoring their patients. In this review, we introduce various targets and radiolabeled antibody-based probes for the molecular imaging of chronic inflammatory diseases in preclinical and clinical studies. Targets can be classified into three different categories: 1) cell-adhesion molecules, 2) surface markers on immune cells, and 3) cytokines or enzymes. The limitations and future directions of using radiolabeled antibodies for imaging inflammatory diseases are also discussed.     

Gene Discovery in Gelsemium Highlights Conserved Gene Clusters in Monoterpene Indole Alkaloid Biosynthesis

Genome mining is a routine technique in microbes for discovering biosynthetic pathways. In plants, however, genomic information is not commonly used to identify novel biosynthesis genes. Here, we present the genome of the medicinal plant and oxindole monoterpene indole alkaloid (MIA) producer Gelsemium sempervirens (Gelsemiaceae). A gene cluster from Catharanthus roseus, which is utilized at least six enzymatic steps downstream from the last common intermediate shared between the two plant alkaloid types, is found in G. sempervirens, although the corresponding enzymes act on entirely different substrates. This study provides insights into the common genomic context of MIA pathways and is an important milestone in the further elucidation of the Gelsemium oxindole alkaloid pathway.     

The distribution,density, and biomass of the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) on natural substrates in Lake Winnipeg 2017–2019

The distribution, density, biomass and size-structure of the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) population in Lake Winnipeg were examined between 2017 and 2019. Zebra mussels have colonized most of the available hard substrate in the south basin and Narrows region, but colonization of the north basin remains low at present, even on suitable substrate. Numerical densities and shell free biomass peaked at 5530 ± 953 m^?2 and 64.7 ± 57.9 g shell free dry mass m^?2 respectively. The distribution appeared to be strongly limited by substrate type and availability, with further limitations on the distribution imposed by physical disturbance in shallow waters and unsuitable substrate in deeper areas of the lake. Zebra mussels <1 year old dominated the populations, and individuals >18 mm were exceedingly rare. Poor recruitment was observed at sites along the eastern side of the south basin compared to elsewhere in the lake. The proximate causes of these differences in colonization success and recruitment are not clear, but may be in part due to heterogeneous patterns of key physico-chemical environmental conditions such as calcium concentrations required for successful development of juvenile mussels and colder water temperatures in the north basin. This study provides a baseline of information on which to track further expansion of zebra mussels in Lake Winnipeg and assist efforts to develop an understanding of how zebra mussels may affect the ecology of Lake Winnipeg.     

Calcium and Vitamin D in the Regulation of Energy Balance: Where Do We Stand?

There is a pandemic of obesity and associated chronic diseases. Dietary calcium and vitamin D have many extra-skeletal roles in human health. In this review we have summarized the current understanding of their influence on human energy balance by examining the epidemiological, clinical, animal, cellular and molecular evidence. We opine that while calcium and vitamin D are functional nutrients in the battle against obesity, there is a need for prospective human trials to tilt the balance of evidence in favour of these nutrients.     

Solving non-convex economic dispatch problem with valve point effects using modified group search optimizer method

This paper presents a novel solution based on the group search optimizer (GSO) methodology in order to determine the feasible optimal solution of the economic dispatch (ED) problem considering valve loading effects. The basic disadvantage of the original GSO algorithm is the fact that it gives a near-optimal solution rather than an optimal one in a limited runtime period. In this paper, a new modified group search optimizer (MGSO) is presented for improving the scrounger and ranger operators of GSO. The proposed MGSO is applied on different test systems and compared with most of the recent methodologies. The results show the effectiveness of the proposed method and prove that MGSO can be applicable for solving the power system economic load dispatch problem, especially in large scale power systems.     

Investigation of pedestrian crashes on two-way two-lane rural roads in Ethiopia

Understanding pedestrian crash causes and contributing factors in developing countries is critically important as they account for about 55% of all traffic crashes. Not surprisingly, considerable attention in the literature has been paid to road traffic crash prediction models and methodologies in developing countries of late. Despite this interest, there are significant challenges confronting safety managers in developing countries. For example, in spite of the prominence of pedestrian crashes occurring on two-way two-lane rural roads, it has proven difficult to develop pedestrian crash prediction models due to a lack of both traffic and pedestrian exposure data. This general lack of available data has further hampered identification of pedestrian crash causes and subsequent estimation of pedestrian safety performance functions. The challenges are similar across developing nations, where little is known about the relationship between pedestrian crashes, traffic flow, and road environment variables on rural two-way roads, and where unique predictor variables may be needed to capture the unique crash risk circumstances. This paper describes pedestrian crash safety performance functions for two-way two-lane rural roads in Ethiopia as a function of traffic flow, pedestrian flows, and road geometry characteristics. In particular, random parameter negative binomial model was used to investigate pedestrian crashes. The models and their interpretations make important contributions to road crash analysis and prevention in developing countries. They also assist in the identification of the contributing factors to pedestrian crashes, with the intent to identify potential design and operational improvements.     

Community Solar Presents Rewards and Risks

Communities, private companies, and households are increasingly turning to community solar as a way to fulfill sustainability and renewable energy goals. And for good reason—community solar can provide significant financial, social, environmental, and public relations benefits. However, due to the relatively new market and variability in financial projections and because each solar garden program and project is unique, participation in community solar comes with its own benefits, limitations, and uncertainties.     

Transect Planning

This article outlines a new approach to the implementation of New Urbanist and smart growth principles. The approach is termed transect planning and is based on the creation of a set of human habitats that vary by their level and intensity of urban character. In transect planning, this range of environments, from rural to urban, is the basis for organizing the components of the built world: building, lot, land use, street, and all of the other physical elements of the human habitat. Transect planning seeks to create immersive environments, created to preserve the integrity of each location along the rural-to-urban continuum. This is a matter of finding an appropriate spatial allocation of the elements that make up the human habitat. Rural elements must find their place in rural locations, while urban elements must find their place in more urban locations—not unlike natural ecological systems where plant and animal species coexist within habitats that best support them. The transect is designed to strengthen the integrity of each immersive environment and can be used as a new, alternative approach to conventional zoning systems.     

Poly(methyl methacrylate)‐grafted cellulose nanocrystals: One‐step synthesis,nanocomposite preparation,and characterization

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) are ideal reinforcing agents for polymer nanocomposites because they are lightweight and nano‐sized with a large aspect ratio and high elastic modulus. To overcome the poor compatibility of hydrophilic CNCs in non‐polar composite matrices, we grafted poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) from the surface of CNCs using an aqueous, one‐pot, free radical polymerization method with ceric ammonium nitrate as the initiator. The hybrid nanoparticles were characterized by CP/MAS NMR, X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, contact angle, thermogravimetric analysis, X‐ray diffraction, and atomic force microscopy. Spectroscopy demonstrates that 0.11 g/g (11 wt %) PMMA is grafted from the CNC surface, giving PMMA‐g‐CNCs, which are similar in size and crystallinity to unmodified CNCs but have an onset of thermal degradation 45 °C lower. Nanocomposites were prepared by compounding unmodified CNCs and PMMA‐g‐CNCs (0.0025–0.02 g/g (0.25–2 wt %) loading) with PMMA using melt mixing and wet ball milling. CNCs improved the performance of melt‐mixed nanocomposites at 0.02 g/g (2 wt %) loading compared to the PMMA control, while lower loadings of CNCs and all loadings of PMMA‐g‐CNCs did not. The difference in Young's modulus between unmodified CNC and polymer‐grafted CNC composites was generally insignificant. Overall, ball‐milled composites had inferior mechanical and rheological properties compared to melt‐mixed composites. Scanning electron microscopy showed aggregation in the samples with CNCs, but more pronounced aggregation with PMMA‐g‐CNCs. Despite improving interfacial compatibility between the nanoparticles and the matrix, the effect of PMMA‐g‐CNC aggregation and decreased thermal stability dominated the composite performance.