Engineering of Janus-Like Dendrimers with Peptides Derived from Glycoproteins of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1: Toward a Versatile and Novel Antiviral Platform

Novel antiviral nanotherapeutics, which may inactivate the virus and block it from entering host cells, represent an important challenge to face viral global health emergencies around the world. Using a combination of bioorthogonal copper-catalyzed 1,3-dipolar alkyne/azide cycloaddition (CuAAC) and photoinitiated thiol–ene coupling, monofunctional and bifunctional peptidodendrimer conjugates were obtained. The conjugates are biocompatible and demonstrate no toxicity to cells at biologically relevant concentrations. Furthermore, the orthogonal addition of multiple copies of two different antiviral peptides on the surface of a single dendrimer allowed the resulting bioconjugates to inhibit Herpes simplex virus type 1 at both the early and the late stages of the infection process. The presented work builds on further improving this attractive design to obtain a new class of therapeutics.     

Robust procedures in multiple regression: P-subsets and a computational proposal

A number of robust and diagnostic techniques for the linear regression are in terms of p-dimensional subsets of the original sample. In a sample of size n this leads to consider ⁿ C _p subsets. To reduce the computational burden, a limited number of subsets can be selected by means of a sub-sampling scheme. In this paper we suggest and discuss the use of a Balanced Incomplete Block design plan.     

An Innovative Science Gateway for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is currently building the next generation, ground-based, very high-energy gamma-ray instrumentation. CTA is expected to collect very large datasets (in the order of petabytes) which will have to be stored, managed and processed. This paper presents a graphical user interface built inside a science gateway aiming at providing CTA-users with a common working framework. The gateway is WS-PGRADE/gUSE workflow-oriented and is equipped with a flexible SSO (based on SAML) to control user access for authentication and authorization. An interactive desktop environment is provided, called Astronomical & Physics Cloud Interactive Desktop (ACID). Users are able to exploit the graphical interface as provided natively by the tools included in ACID. A cloud data service shares and synchronizes data files and output results between the user desktop and the science gateway. Our solution is a first attempt towards an ecosystem of new technologies with a high level of flexibility to suit present and future requirements of the CTA community.     

The proton iron-sulfur cluster environment of the [FeFe]-hydrogenase maturation protein HydF from Thermotoga neapolitana

[FeFe]-hydrogenases contain a complex [4Fe–4S]-2Fe cluster (H-cluster) and are able to efficiently reduce protons to H₂. Due to their potential exploitation for renewable energy production biotechnologies, significant efforts have been put into understanding the mechanisms driving the H-cluster assembly, which involves three conserved proteins. Among them, HydF works as scaffold upon which the H-cluster precursor is synthesized and carrier to deliver it to the hydrogenase, resulting in its activation. A FeS cluster binding sequence (CxHx₄₆-₅₃HCxxC) is conserved in all HydF proteins and should in principle provide four ligands to coordinate the Fe atom. However, we found that alternative metal coordination may exist in different HydF proteins and that only the three cysteines are strictly required, whereas the fourth ligand may vary and is, in any case, readily exchangeable. In this work we analyzed by EPR/HYSCORE the FeS cluster proton environment of HydF from Thermotoga neapolitana to determine the possible role of surrounding residues in the non-cysteinyl iron ligation of the protein.     

Complexity analysis of blast-induced vibrations in underground mining:A case study

Blasting in geological bodies is an industrial process acting in an environment characterized by high uncertainties (natural joints,faults,voids,abrupt structural changes),which are transposed into the...     

DTG combustion behaviour of charcoals

In this paper, data are reported for the behaviour of some charcoals during combustion and devolatilization in a thermal analyser.     

An accurate calculation model of solar heat gain through glazed surfaces

A model for the calculation of solar heat gain through glazed surfaces, to be used in the simplified calculation of thermal energy requirements in air-conditioned buildings, is proposed. The model uses the effective absorption coefficient of the indoor environment to take into account that the entering energy is in part absorbed by the surfaces of the cavity and in part is dispersed outwards, through the same glazed surfaces. The effective absorption coefficient is calculated by means of a correlation, and is made to depend on the average absorption coefficient of the internal opaque surfaces of the environment, on the glazed fraction and on the transmission coefficient of diffuse radiation of the glazed system. This coefficient permits a more accurate evaluation of solar heat gain through glazed surfaces, obtained adding: the direct optical contribution, produced by solar radiation absorbed by the indoor environment, the direct secondary contribution, produced by external solar radiation absorbed by the glazed surfaces, the indirect secondary contribution, produced by the absorption of reflected radiation exiting the indoor environment. The model, validated by means of comparisons with the TRNSYS 16 code, was used for the verification of the monthly solar heat gain calculation procedure of EN ISO 13790:2008.     

Polyclonal T cell elimination by prolonged immunostimulation in an experimental model

Acute radiation and combined radiation-thermal injuries (CRTIs) were modelled in the experiments on CBA x C57B16 mice. Changes in the concentrations of endogenic and lipopolysaccharide-induced TNF-alpha in the blood serum were measured in 3 to 24 h after gamma-irradiation at a dose of 7 Gy and a combined radiation-thermal injury. The status of mature and reserve pools of the bone marrow granulocytes was determined from the reaction of leukocytes mobilization to blood in response to the administration of interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) in 48 h after Irradiation and CRTI. The contents of IL-3 and IL-6 in the blood serum, the level of cytokine secretion by the bone marrow cells were determined in vitro in the peak phases of acute radiation and combined injuries. No significant changes in the reaction of the bone marrow cells and in the level of pancytopenia were revealed after acute radiation and CRTIs, which could help in understanding an increase in the death rates after CRTIs. Also, quantitative changes in the TNF and IL-6 concentrations in the blood serum were estimated along with those in the level of secretion of IL-3 by the bone marrow cells of mice exposed to radiation and CRTIs.