BK polyomavirus (BKV) is ubiquitous in the human population, infecting children asymptomatically and then persisting in the kidney. Based on serological and genotyping methods, BKV isolates worldwide ...are classified into four subtypes (I-IV), with subtype I prevalent throughout the world, subtype IV prevalent in Asia and part of Europe, and subtypes II and III rare throughout the world. Phylogenetic analyses of complete genome sequences have identified several geographically distinct subgroups of subtypes I and IV. To explain how the geographical distribution patterns of BKV subtypes and subgroups were formed, this study hypothesized that BKV co-migrated with human populations (the co-migration hypothesis), and examined this hypothesis by comparing the BKV subtype and subgroup profiles among two American populations in North-east USA and southern California, two European populations in Finland and Ireland/England, and two Asian populations in Japan and China (both American populations were composed mainly of European Americans). The frequency of subtype I was always the highest throughout the populations, but that of subtype IV was variable among populations. A subgroup of subtype I (I/b-2) was detected primarily in all of the European and American populations, whereas subgroup I/c was predominant in the Asian populations (the observed difference was statistically significant). Additionally, all of the five fully sequenced subtype IV isolates from the American and European populations belonged to subgroup IV/c-2, whereas all subtype IV isolates from the Asian populations belonged to the other subgroups. Collectively, the current findings provide support for the co-migration hypothesis.
Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play a pivotal role in pathogen recognition and subsequent cytokine synthesis by immune cells. Uremic patients have a high infectious morbidity, but it remains unclear if ...this arises from the defective innate immune responses related to TLRs. We studied TLR4 expression in monocytes and their intracellular cytokine synthesis in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation in 35 predialysis patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) with or without predisposition to bacterial infections and 16 age-matched controls. Expression of TLR4 in unstimulated peripheral monocytes was determined by staining with anti-TLR4 antibody and analysis with flow cytometry. Monocytes were then stimulated by LPS, labeled with anti-CD14 antibody, and subjected to intracellular cytokine staining and flow cytometry. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and IL-8 synthesis was examined in CD14+ monocytes. TLR4 expression was constitutively diminished in CKD patients with reduced expression being more severe in those CKD patients who were predisposed to infections. Monocytes from these infection prone CKD patients exhibited significantly reduced synthesis of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-8 in response to LPS challenge compared with those from control subjects. The intensity of synthesis of each cytokine significantly correlated with TLR4 expression levels in monocytes (P<0.01). The capacity of monocytes to synthesize proinflammatory cytokines was significantly reduced in infection prone CKD patients, and this may possibly be due to the reduced monocyte expression of TLR4. Abnormal TLR4 expression by monocytes may play a role in the susceptibility of such patients to bacterial infections.
Nonthermal plasma technologies offer an innovative approach to the problem of decomposing various volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The authors focused on DC capillary tube discharge plasma reactors ...to study the decomposition/destruction efficiency for toluene, EGM, trichloroethane and trichloroethylene at 50-2300 ppm levels in dry air. The effects of gas flow rate, VOC concentration and reactor operating conditions on decomposition and analysis of reactant conversion for each VOC were investigated. The results show that VOC destruction efficiency as high as 90% can be achieved, even under a short residence time (3.8 ms) with a destruction energy efficiency of up to 95 g (VOC)/kWh. Laboratory-scale plasma technology was successfully demonstrated for its potential application for VOC control in the semiconductor clean-room environment.
In recent years, several large-scale flood disasters occurred in Japan. The large-scale flooding causes not only direct damage but also indirect damage due to the closure of lifelines such as water, ...electricity, roads, and railways, and both impact the affected region’s resilience. Therefore, it is important to understand the current level of disaster resilience and consider non-structural measures accordingly to prepare for the next disastrous event. To assess current disaster resilience requires understanding how each building or lifeline structure is damaged in a disaster and the recovery time. In this study, water supply related facilities are selected from various kinds of lifelines, and a questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate facility damage and recovery after being affected by major flood events occurring in Japan after 2015. A comprehensive study on the damage and recovery of water supply related facilities due to flood has never been conducted, not only in Japan but also worldwide. This is because of difficulty in collecting enough data from many facilities, and thus, there have been reports of damage and recovery of an individual facility, but not more. However, occurrence of several severe flooding disasters in recent years in Japan made it possible to do so. This study dug into not only facility-level damage and recovery but also component level ones based on the quantity of data collected (97 components from 61 facilities) through the questionnaire survey. We found that control panels are most likely to be damaged by flood, and the number of days required for temporary recovery strongly depends on how quikly replacement equipment/parts for failed equipment can be procured.
Intercellular adhesion molecules play an important role in the generation of T lymphocyte–mediated immune responses. Here, we describe a novel accessory molecule, DNAX accessory molecule-1 (DNAM-1), ...that is constitutively expressed on the majority of peripheral blood T lymphocytes. DNAM-1 is a 65 kDa transmembrane glycoprotein consisting of 318 aa includ- ing two immunoglobulin-like domains. Anti-DNAM-1 monoclonal antibody (MAb) inhibits T and NK cell–mediated cytotoxicity against a variety of tumor cell targets and blocks cytokine production by alloanti- gen-specific T cells. In addition, DNAM-1 is a tyrosine-phosphorylated signal-transducing molecule that participates in primary adhesion during cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL)–mediated cytotoxicity.
The synthesis and characterization of a thermally stable semicrystalline polyimide based on 3,4'-oxydianiline (3,4'-ODA) and 3,3',4,4'-biphenyltetracarboxylic dianhydride (BPDA), end capped with ...phthalic anhydride, were carried out. The glass transition temperature and the melting temperature of this polyimide (abbreviated as 3,4'-ODA polyimide) were detected at 251 and 402 deg C, respectively, by differential scanning colorimeter (DSC) measurement. The degree of crystallinity and heat of fusion for the annealed film of this polyimide, estimated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and DSC measurements, were 28% and 32 J/g, respectively. The crystallization times of this polyimide under isothermal DSC measurement conditions were second order at below 300 deg C. This result showed the 3,4'-ODA polyimide to be a polymer having first crystallization kinetics. The thermal stability of the 3,4'-ODA polyimide was compared with that of a known semicrystalline polyimide based on 1,3-bis(4-aminophenoxy)benzene and BPDA (abbreviated as TPER polyimide). The 3,4'-ODA polyimide displayed excellent thermal stability, as evidenced by thermogravimetric analysis especially in air atmosphere and melt viscosity study during storage time. Copyright (c) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd
While several methods have been proposed for detecting three-dimensional (3D) objects in semi-real time by sparsely acquiring features from 3D point clouds, the detection of strongly occluded objects ...still poses difficulties. Herein, we propose a method of detecting strongly occluded objects by setting up virtual auxiliary point clouds in the vicinity of the target object. By generating auxiliary point clouds only in the occluded space estimated from a detected object at the front of the sensor-observed region, i.e., the occluder, the processing efficiency and accuracy are improved. Experiments are performed with various strongly occluded scenes based on real environmental data, and the results confirm that the proposed method is capable of achieving a mean processing time of 0.5 s for detecting strongly occluded objects.
NK cells use a variety of receptors to detect abnormal cells, including tumors and their metastases. However, in the case of melanoma, it remains to be determined what specific molecular interactions ...are involved and whether NK cells control metastatic progression and/or the route of dissemination. Here we show that human melanoma cell lines derived from LN metastases express ligands for natural cytotoxicity receptors (NCRs) and DNAX accessory molecule-1 (DNAM-1), two emerging NK cell receptors key for cancer cell recognition, but not NK group 2 member D (NKG2D). Compared with cell lines derived from metastases taken from other anatomical sites, LN metastases were more susceptible to NK cell lysis and preferentially targeted by adoptively transferred NK cells in a xenogeneic model of cell therapy. In mice, DNAM-1 and NCR ligands were also found on spontaneous melanomas and melanoma cell lines. Interference with DNAM-1 and NCRs by antibody blockade or genetic disruption reduced killing of melanoma cells. Taken together, these results show that DNAM-1 and NCRs are critical for NK cell-mediated innate immunity to melanoma cells and provide a background to design NK cell-based immunotherapeutic strategies against melanoma and possibly other tumors.
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