A simple IgG-specific ELISA for Leptospira spp. was compared with the microscopic agglutination test (MAT) to detect IgG antibody responses to a commercial vaccine in cattle. We used an enzyme-linked ...immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with sonicated Leptospira interrogans serovar copenhageni M 20. After initial vaccination, specific antibodies against Leptospira spp. were detected in 90 % of the animals by IgG-ELISA and 60 % by MAT, while after booster, antibodies were detected in 100 % and 80 % of the animals by IgG-ELISA and MAT, respectively. Both serological MAT and ELISA tests revealed interferences of vaccine antibodies. Disease diagnosis with ELISA and MAT methods should be made two and a half months and four months, respectively, after vaccination to avoid interference of vaccine antibodies. On the other hand, our results suggest that IgG-ELISA may be a useful method to assess the development of IgG antibodies induced by Leptospira vaccine.
•The IgG-ELISA would be useful to monitor antibody responses to vaccination in cattle.•The IgG-ELISA showed a better performance than MAT for monitoring IgG responses of leptospira vaccine in cattle.•Interferences by vaccine antibodies were evident with both serological MAT and ELISA tests.•ELISA at 2.5 months and MAT at 4 months post-vaccination prevent vaccine antibody interference in disease diagnosis.
A review of the book: Patrick M. Green and Mathew Johnson (2014). Crossing Boundaries: Tension and Transformation in International Service-Learning. Sterling, Virginia: Stylus Publishing, LLC. 294 ...pages. ISBN: 978-1579226206
•An advanced glass mat thermoplastic (GMT) tube is studied for crashworthiness.•A 3D damage model is developed to reflect randomly oriented fibers of GMT.•Efficient crash analysis is proposed to ...implement a splaying failure mode of GMT.•Fracture toughness calibration leads to actual energy absorption in crash analysis.
Glass mat thermoplastic tubes are potential materials for improving crashworthiness owing to their excellent crash energy absorption capability due to their splaying failure mode of glass mat thermoplastic tubes, which must be considered in the crash analysis to accurately predict their crash performance. This study investigates the crash analysis of glass-mat thermoplastic composite tubes to realize the splaying failure mode and crash energy absorption capability. We evaluated the mechanical properties and fracture toughness of advanced glass mat thermoplastics, termed multi-layered hybrid mats, and employed the result in a 3D Hashin-type continuum damage model implemented with a user material subroutine. For the crash analysis of glass mat thermoplastic tubes, a three-dimensional finite element (FE) model, including cohesive elements in the middle layer of the tube to simulate the splaying failure mode, was constructed. In addition, in the process of the efficient FE modeling of the crash tube, the fracture toughness correction factor was proposed and optimized to calibrate the energy absorption in conjunction with crash test results, as interlaminar fracture modeling causes a difference in energy absorption between the actual test and simulation. As a result, the proposed crash analysis predicted the energy absorption capacity and a splaying failure mode of glass-mat thermoplastic tubes, demonstrating strong concordance with experimental results.
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Melia dubia is a rapidly expanding tree species in southern India, but its main drawback has been limited use in wood-based panel products until recently. To address this research gap, this study ...aimed to develop three reinforcement materials for producing Reinforced Laminated Veneer Lumber (RLVL) using Melia dubia. Three types of reinforcement materials, chopped glass fiber mat (CGM), glass fiber mesh (GM), and bamboo mat (BM) were employed in two layers to manufacture RLVL. The investigated parameters included physical, mechanical, and bonding performance. Furthermore, morphological images were analyzed using optical and scanning electron microscopes. The research findings revealed that the highest performance was demonstrated by BM, followed by GM and CGM. These results suggest that all three reinforcements enhanced the mechanical properties and overall performance of RLVL. Arranging the reinforcement layers closer to the surface veneer layer in the assembly resulted in outstanding mechanical properties for RLVL. The performance is superior to solid wood made from the same wood species. The findings indicate that RLVL demonstrated superior mechanical properties to laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and solid wood. The modulus of rupture for LVL reinforced with CGM, GM and BM was 7.27%, 30.91%, and 32.73% greater respectively, than that of unreinforced LVL. The composite LVL reinforced with bamboo and glass matting exhibits potential for successful utilization in outdoor structural applications, including beams, rafters, and purlins.
•LVL reinforced with CGM, GM, and BM exhibited excellent modulus of rupture.•RLVL demonstrated superior mechanical properties to LVL and solid wood.•LVL reinforced with GM and BM can successfully utilized in outdoor structural applications.
•A microbial mat was studied for diagenetic turnover of organic matter (OM).•AMS-dating reveals increase of age with depth (maximizing at ∼1500years).•Biomarkers of primary producers different to ...those introduced into the geosphere.•Protokerogen reflects bacterial and/or algal biomacromolecules.•Proterozoic settings likely biased through selective OM preservation mechanisms.
Phototrophic mats (microbial mats with a phototrophic top layer) are complex systems in terms of microbial diversity, biogeochemical cycles and organic matter (OM) turnover. It has been proposed that these mats were a predominant life form in Proterozoic shallow water settings, prior to the emergence of bioturbating organisms in the Ediacaran–Cambrian transition. For most of the Precambrian, microbial mats were not only quantitative important carbon fixing systems, but also influenced the transfer and transformation of OM before it entered the geosphere. The profound alteration of compound inventories during transit through microbial mats, implying substantial consequences for OM preservation in the Proterozoic, was recently proposed as a “mat-seal effect” Pawlowska et al. (2012) Geology 41, 103–106. To obtain a better understanding of the early diagenetic fate of primary produced OM in microbial mats, we studied a recent calcifying mat from a hypersaline lake in Kiritimati, which showed in the deeper mat layers a maximum 14Ccarbonate age of ∼1500years. We particularly focused on OM entrapped in the carbonate matrix, because of the better potential of such biomineral-encapsulated OM to reach the geosphere before degradation (and remineralization). Our data indicate that selective preservation is important in phototrophic mats. While a diagenetic transformation of lipid fatty acids (FAs) was evident, their fatty acyl-derived hydrocarbon moieties were not introduced into protokerogen, which was instead mainly comprised of cyanobacterial and/or algal biomacromolecules. Our data support the proposed major impact of the “mat-seal effect” on OM turnover and preservation; i.e. the suppression of biosignatures derived from the upper mat layers, while signals of heterotrophic microbes thriving in deeper mat layers become preferentially preserved (e.g. high hopane/sterane ratios). This mechanism may have broad consequences for the interpretation of biomarkers from Proterozoic shelf environments, because biosignatures of phototrophic mat dwellers as well as planktonic signals may have become heavily biased by the production and turnover of OM in microbial mat systems.
The characteristics of the X‐ray attenuation in electrospun nano(n)‐ and micro(m)‐Bi2O3/polylactic acid (PLA) nanofibre mats with different Bi2O3 loadings were compared as a function of energy using ...mammography (i.e. tube voltages of 22–49 kV) and X‐ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) (7–20 keV). Results indicate that X‐ray attenuation by electrospun n‐Bi2O3/PLA nanofibre mats is distinctly higher than that of m‐Bi2O3/PLA nanofibre mats at all energies investigated. In addition, with increasing filler loading (n‐Bi2O3 or m‐Bi2O3), the porosity of the nanofibre mats decreased, thus increasing the X‐ray attenuation, except for the sample containing 38 wt% Bi2O3 (the highest loading in the present study). The latter showed higher porosity, with some beads formed, thus resulting in a sudden decrease in the X‐ray attenuation.
Co3O4 carbon nanofiber (CNF) mats were synthesized by sol-gel electrospinning and carbonization. The tiny Co3O4 nanocrystals (~6.27nm) are homogeneously embedded in CNFs predominantly ~150nm in ...diameter. When applied as negative electrode for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs), Co3O4-CNF mat delivered an excellent cycling stability with reversible specific capacity of 400mAhg−1 at 0.5C until 700 cycles. This impressed cycling performance is attributed to the nanoconfinement of the high capacity Co3O4 nanocrystals into one-dimensional CNF network. Such a conductive CNF mat could not only used as buffering matrix to effectively release the mechanical strain originated from the Na ion insertion/extraction, but also prevent the aggregation of Co3O4 nanocrystals.
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•Co3O4-CNF mats were synthesized by electrospinning and carbonation.•Co3O4-CNF mats direct used as negative electrodes for sodium-ion batteries.•Co3O4-CNF mats delivered a capacity of ~400mAhg−1 at 0.5C after 700 cycles.
•Fabrication of lawsone-encapsulated chitosan/polyethylene oxide nanofibrous mat.•Addition of lawsone into chitosan nanofibers increase the hydrophilic properties.•The lawsone-encapsulated ...chitosan/polyethylene oxide nanofibrous mat showed antibacterial properties.
Biodegradable and absorptive wound dresses with antibacterial activity are in demand to accelerate wound healing along with eliminating bacterial infection. Plant-derived naphthoquinones compounds such as lawsone have shown sustained antibacterial functions to avoid development of bacterial resistance by reducing pH or attaching to bacterial proteins. Here the nanofibrous mats based on chitosan/polyethylene oxide (PEO) fibers containing various concentrations of lawsone (0, 1, 3, 7, 10% wt.) were fabricated by electrospinning for potential applications as wound dressing materials. The results exhibited that the chitosan/PEO/Lawsone nanofibers possess antibacterial activity toward Gram-negative and -positive bacteria. Surprisingly, the addition of lawsone in the proper amount into chitosan/PEO nanofibers not only introduced an antithetical property but also reduced the platform's cytotoxicity, promoting cell viability of normal human fibroblast cells. Accordingly, the achieved data suggest the potential application of biocompatible nanofibrous mats as an antibacterial wound dressing material.
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Botrytis cinerea, the grey mould agent, is one of the most important pathogens of grapevine, due to the great yield losses caused and the economic costs related to disease control. Ground cover ...plants are assumed to have a role in the complex epidemiology of the pathogen, even if no information on the genetic variability of the strains is available. In this study, a molecular epidemiology approach, based on the comparative analysis of the nucleotide sequences of multiple genes (ITS1‐ITS2, G3PDH, NEP1, NEP2, BC‐hch, and sdhB), was used to evaluate whether B. cinerea isolated from herbaceous species contributes to grey mould diffusion on grapevines. From 330 samples collected in two vineyards in Lombardy, Italy, 63 B. cinerea strains were isolated from tissues of grapevine with symptoms (50 strains) and spontaneous ground cover plants (13 strains). Capsella bursa‐pastoris, Cardamine impatiens, Lamium purpureum, and Crepis tectorum were identified as novel B. cinerea hosts. Sequence analysis and phylogeny showed that the same genotypes were present on both grapevines and herbaceous plants, with no fitness (estimated from growth and sporulation on potato dextrose agar) or pathogenicity (on grapevine leaves and berries, and tomato leaves) penalties. This confirms that ground cover plants can be a source of inoculum for B. cinerea on grapevine. Moreover, phylogenetic analysis of the BC‐hch gene allowed the identification of two genetically distinct clusters, characterized by vegetative incompatibility and different distributions of the mating types, fitness, and pathogenicity. Therefore, B. cinerea seems to be composed of two diverging subpopulations that do not differ for host specialization.
Botrytis cinerea isolates from vines and herbaceous species are phylogenetically related and show analogous fitness and pathogenicity, therefore grey mould inoculum is circulating among different plant species in vineyard.
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•An electrospun fibrous mat 1-PLA was prepared via an electrospinning process.•1 possesses three-dimensional framework assembled from rod-shaped molecular building blocks.•1-PLA shows ...unique broad-spectrum antibiosis potency.•1-PLA can accelerate the healing rate of infection wounds in rats.•Antibacterial mechanism was investigated by Ag+ leaching, ROS production and proteomics analysis.
The fabrication of functional wound dressings to control skin bacterial infection is of vital importance. In this work, a silver (I) metal-organic framework Ag2HBTCim (1) and polylactic acid composite fibrous mat (1-PLA) with efficient antimicrobial capability was prepared via an electrospinning process. 1 possesses three-dimensional framework assembled from rod-shaped molecular building blocks which consist of Ag (I) ions, 1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylate (HBTC) and imidazole (im) ligand. The as-prepared 1-PLA shows unique broad-spectrum antibiosis potency against Escherichia coli (E. coli), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (P. aeruginosa), Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Mycobacterium smegmatis (M. smegmatis). Proteomic investigations enable to gain insight on the antimicrobial mechanism of 1-PLA composite indicating that the dissipation of proton motive force, destroying of energy metabolism, decreasing or losing of transport system may be associated with the antibacterial action. Furthermore, in vivo experiments indicate that the 1-PLA electrospun fibrous mat can significantly accelerate the healing rate of infection wounds in rats. This study demonstrated the electrospun fibrous mat with efficient on-demand antibacterial properties is promising for practical application in anti-infective therapy.
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