Purinergic Signalling in Allogeneic Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation and Graft-versus-Host Disease

Allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is a curative therapy for blood cancers and other haematological disorders. However, allo-HSCT leads to graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), a severe and often lethal immunological response, in the majority of transplant recipients. Current therapies for GVHD are limited and often reduce the effectiveness of allo-HSCT. Therefore, pro- and anti-inflammatory factors contributing to disease need to be explored in order to identify new treatment targets. Purinergic signalling plays important roles in haematopoiesis, inflammation and immunity, and recent evidence suggests that it can also affect haematopoietic stem cell transplantation and GVHD development. This review provides a detailed assessment of the emerging roles of purinergic receptors, most notably P2X7, P2Y₂ and A_2A receptors, and ectoenzymes, CD39 and CD73, in GVHD.     

Fibre-optic two-photon scanning fluorescence microscopy

Two geometries of a novel two‐photon fluorescence microscope incorporating single‐mode fibre optics for the delivery of ultrashort‐pulsed illumination to a remote sample are characterized. First, a 785 nm single‐mode optical fibre is implemented in a scanning microscope, which demonstrates that an improvement in axial resolution is achieved due to the non‐linear response of the fibre to intense ultrashort‐pulsed light. Second, a 785 nm single‐mode optical fibre coupler is adapted, in which case spectral broadening and blue shifting of the ultrashort‐pulsed laser beam caused by the non‐linear response of the fibre to ultrashort‐pulsed illumination are experimentally characterized. An investigation into the impact of temporal broadening of the ultrashort‐pulsed beam on the systems is also considered. The coupling efficiency of both geometries for various illumination wavelengths is also presented. The introduction of the fibre coupler to the system has significant advantages, including an improved optical sectioning effect and a reduction in the number of bulk optical components resulting in a low‐cost, compact instrument. Sets of three‐dimensional images of fluorescent polymer microspheres and biological material confirm these features.     

Aggregation properties of relative impact and other classical indicators: Convexity issues and the Yule-Simpson paradox

Among classical bibliometric indicators, direct and relative impact measures for countries or other players in science are appealing and standard. Yet, as shown in this article, they may exhibit undesirable statistical properties, or at least ones that pose questions of interpretation in evaluation and benchmarking contexts. In this article, we address two such properties namely sensitivity to the Yule-Simpson effect, and a problem related to convexity. The Yule-Simpson effect can occur for direct impacts and, in a variant form, for relative impact, causing an apparent incoherence between field values and the aggregate (all-fields) value. For relative impacts, it may result in a severe form of ‘out-range’ of aggregate values, where a player’s relative impact shifts from ‘good’ to ‘bad’, or conversely. Out-range and lack of convexity in general are typical of relative impact indicators. Using empirical data, we suggest that, for relative impact measures, ‘out-range’ due to lack of convexity is not exceptional. The Yule-Simpson effect is less frequent, and especially occurs for small players with particular specialisation profiles.     

Thermal decomposition and pore structure of pure and doped stannic oxide gel

The surface properties of a stannic oxide gel and its thermal dehydration products obtained both in vacuo and in the presence of air in the temperature range 100–600°C have been examined by N₂ adsorption. Phase and structural changes have been followed by differential thermal analysis and X-ray diffractometry. Complete pore structure analysis showed that samples dehydrated at or below 250°C were microporous. Above 250°C the pores were found to widen with increase of temperature, the widening occurring concurrently with the crystallisation process. Doping with cations of lower valency (Li⁺ and Al³⁺) than the host cation (Sn⁴⁺) had little effect on the pore structure and specific surface area for the low temperature samples (≤250°), whereas at higher temperatures, e.g. 600°C, it increased the specific area remarkably. The dope ions produce oxygen vacancies and hinder or retard sintering in SnO₂.     

Are marron,Cherax tenuimanus (Crustacea: Decapoda), populations in irrigation reservoirs habitat limited? A trial using artificial habitats

Many valleys in Western Australia have been dammed to provide irrigation and potable water. To minimize the risks of outlet blockages, basins have been cleared of vegetation and rocky outcrops during construction. As a result, dam basins contain limited numbers of aquatic habitats, being dominated by sandy and muddy substrata. Nonetheless, endemic crayfishes (especially marron, Cherax tenuimanus) and three introduced species of fishes support large recreational fisheries in irrigation reservoirs. Recently, it has been shown that Perca fluviatilis (red‐fin perch) imposes an extremely high mortality on C. tenuimanus in reservoirs, with the result that marron populations might be below reservoir‐carrying capacity. To test this hypothesis, three types of artificial habitats (pipes, tiles, mesh) that mimic natural habitat types were placed into a reservoir and their use by C. tenuimanus was assessed. As C. tenuimanus is an annual brooder, releasing young during November and December, the effects of artificial habitats on biomass concentration and productivity can be differentiated. The study results showed that C. tenuimanus rapidly populated artificial habitats (concentration effects). Small, newly recruited C. tenuimanus also utilized the pipe and tile habitats (productivity effects). The addition of these types of habitats increased the suitability of the reservoir for the studied C. tenuimanus population, increasing productivity, probably via reduction of teleost predation. The increased productivity of the C. tenuimanus population might, in turn, increase the productivity and sustainability of the recreational marron fishery. Other aquatic species, including a biofilm community, also utilized the artificial habitats, increasing the species richness in the dam. Due to the success of the current study, large artificial habitats have been installed into two irrigation reservoirs in order to increase recreational marron fishing and conservation values.     

Antibiotics from the newly isolated Streptomyces elizabethii. II. Isolation and characterisation of the antibiotics

The principal antibiotics formed by Streptomyces elizabethii have been isolated and identified as actinomycins IV and V, together with a methylpentaene macrolide, elizabethin, stereoisomeric with previously reported compounds.     

Eigenstate Selection in Open Quantum Dot Systems: On the True Nature of Level Broadening

We show that transport in open quantum dots can be mediated by single eigenstates, even when the leads allow several propagating modes. The broadening of these states, generally localized in the interior, can be virtually independent of lead width. As such, the Thouless argument, invoked to suggest that all states should be unresolvable under these conditions, can in fact fail. Thus, any transport theory based on such assumptions (in particular, random matrix theory) must be called into question, as the fluctuations produced by these states can in fact dominate the conductance. These trapped states also produce interesting and potentially useful effects in coupled dot systems as well.     

Accessing the spoken word

Spoken-word audio collections cover many domains, including radio and television broadcasts, oral narratives, governmental proceedings, lectures, and telephone conversations. The collection, access, and preservation of such data is stimulated by political, economic, cultural, and educational needs. This paper outlines the major issues in the field, reviews the current state of technology, examines the rapidly changing policy issues relating to privacy and copyright, and presents issues relating to the collection and preservation of spoken audio content .     

A novel fuzzy clustering algorithm for the analysis of axillary lymph node tissue sections

Recently Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopic imaging has been used as a tool to detect the changes in cellular composition that may reflect the onset of a disease. This approach has been investigated as a mean of monitoring the change of the biochemical composition of cells and providing a diagnostic tool for various human cancers and other diseases. The discrimination between different types of tissue based upon spectroscopic data is often achieved using various multivariate clustering techniques. However, the number of clusters is a common unknown feature for the clustering methods, such as hierarchical cluster analysis, k-means and fuzzy c-means. In this study, we apply a FCM based clustering algorithm to obtain the best number of clusters as given by the minimum validity index value. This often results in an excessive number of clusters being created due to the complexity of this biochemical system. A novel method to automatically merge clusters was developed to try to address this problem. Three lymph node tissue sections were examined to evaluate our new method. These results showed that this approach can merge the clusters which have similar biochemistry. Consequently, the overall algorithm automatically identifies clusters that accurately match the main tissue types that are independently determined by the clinician.