The Mars2020/Perseverance and ExoMars/Rosalind Franklin rovers are both slated to return the first Raman spectra ever collected from another planetary surface, Mars. In order to optimize the rovers ...scientific outcome, the scientific community needs to be provided with tailored tools for data treatment and interpretation. Responding to this need, the purpose of the Analytical Database of Martian Minerals (ADaMM) project is to build an extended multianalytical database of mineral phases that have been detected on Mars or are expected to be found at the landing sites where the two rovers will operate. Besides the use of conventional spectrometers, the main objective of the ADaMM database is to provide access to data collected by means of laboratory prototypes simulating the analytical performances of the spectroscopic systems onboard the Mars 2020 and ExoMars rovers. Planned to be released to the public in 2022, ADaMM will also provide access to data treatment and visualization tools developed in the framework of the mentioned space exploration missions. As such, the present work seeks to provide an overview of the ADaMM online platform, spectral tools, and mineral collection. In addition to that, the manuscript describes the Raman spectrometers used to analyze the mineral collection and presents a representative example of the analytical performance ensured by the Raman prototypes assembled to simulate the Raman Laser Spectrometer (RLS) and SuperCam systems.
The Analytical Database of Martian Minerals (ADaMM) provides the scientific community with a comprehensive set of spectroscopic and diffractometric data collected from a wide collection of mineral phases relevant for Mars exploration. As much of the given data have been collected by analytical prototypes emulating the spectroscopic tools onboard ExoMars and Mars 2020 rovers, the ADaMM database is meant as a tool to optimize the scientific output of the data returned from Mars.
Groundwater quality in urban catchments is endangered by the input of biocides, such as those used in facade paints to suppress algae and fungal growth and washed off by heavy rainfall. Their ...retention in storm water infiltration systems (SIS) depends, in addition to their molecular properties, on chemical properties and structure of the integrated soil layer. These soil properties change over time and thus possibly also the relevance of preferential flow paths, e.g. due to ongoing biological activity. To investigate the mobility of biocides in SIS, we analyzed the breakthrough of differently adsorbing tracers (bromide, uranine, sulforhodamine B) and commonly used biocides (diuron, terbutryn, octhilinone) in laboratory column experiments of undisturbed soil cores of SIS, covering ages from 3 to 18 years. Despite similar soil texture and chemical soil properties, retention of tracers and biocides differed distinctly between SIS. Tracer and biocide breakthrough ranged from 54% and 5%, to 96% and 54%, respectively. We related the reduced solute retention to preferential transport in macropores as could be confirmed by brilliant blue staining. Our results suggest an increasing risk of groundwater pollution with increasing number of macropores related to biological activity and the age of SIS.
Neuroinflammation plays a crucial role in the progression of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. Overactivated microglia cause neurotoxicity and prolong the inflammatory ...response in many neuropathologies. In this study, we have synthesised a series of isatin derivatives to evaluate their anti-neuroinflammatory potential using lipopolysaccharide activated microglia as a cell model. We explored four different substitutions of the isatin moiety by testing their anti-neuroinflammatory activity on BV2 microglia cells. Based on the low cytotoxicity and the activity in reducing the release of nitric oxide, pro-inflammatory interleukin 6 and tumour necrosis factor α by microglial cells, the
-alkylated compound
and the chlorinated
showed the best results at 25 µM. Taken together, the data suggest that
and
are promising lead compounds for developing new neuroprotective agents.
Abstract
The combined analysis of geological targets by complementary spectroscopic techniques could enhance the characterization of the mineral phases found on Mars. This is indeed the case with the ...SuperCam instrument onboard the Perseverance rover. In this framework, the present study seeks to evaluate and compare multiple machine learning techniques for the characterization of carbonate minerals based on Raman‐LIBS (Laser‐Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy) spectroscopic data. To do so, a Ca‐Mg prediction curve was created by mixing hydromagnesite and calcite at different concentration ratios. After their characterization by Raman and LIBS spectroscopy, different multivariable machine learning (Gaussian process regression, support vector machines, ensembles of trees, and artificial neural networks) were used to predict the concentration ratio of each sample from their respective datasets. The results obtained by separately analyzing Raman and LIBS data were then compared to those obtained by combining them. By comparing their performance, this work demonstrates that mineral discrimination based on Gaussian and ensemble methods optimized the combine of Raman‐LIBS dataset outperformed those ensured by Raman and LIBS data alone. This demonstrated that the fusion of data combination and machine learning is a promising approach to optimize the analysis of spectroscopic data returned from Mars.
Bluetongue virus (BTV) is an economically important Orbivirus of the Reoviridae family that causes a hemorrhagic disease in ruminants. Its control has been achieved by inactivated-vaccines that have ...proven to protect against homologous BTV challenge although unable to induce long-term immunity. Therefore, a more efficient control strategy needs to be developed. Recombinant adenovirus vectors are lead vaccine candidates for protection of several diseases, mainly because of their potency to induce potent T cell immunity. Here we report the induction of humoral and T-cell mediated responses able to protect animals against BTV challenge by recombinant replication-defective human adenovirus serotype 5 (Ad5) expressing either VP7, VP2 or NS3 BTV proteins. First we used the IFNAR(-/-) mouse model system to establish a proof of principle, and afterwards we assayed the protective efficacy in sheep, the natural host of BTV. Mice were completely protected against BTV challenge, developing humoral and BTV-specific CD8+- and CD4+-T cell responses by vaccination with the different rAd5. Sheep vaccinated with Ad5-BTV-VP2 and Ad5-BTV-VP7 or only with Ad5-BTV-VP7 and challenged with BTV showed mild disease symptoms and reduced viremia. This partial protection was achieved in the absence of neutralizing antibodies but strong BTV-specific CD8+ T cell responses in those sheep vaccinated with Ad5-BTV-VP7. These data indicate that rAd5 is a suitable vaccine vector to induce T cell immunity during BTV vaccination and provide new data regarding the relevance of T cell responses in protection during BTV infection.
Graphene on different substrates, such as SiO2, h-BN and Al2O3, has been subjected to oscillatory electric fields to analyse the response of the carriers in order to explore the generation of ...terahertz radiation by means of high-order harmonic extraction. The properties of the ensemble Monte Carlo simulator employed for such study have allowed us to evaluate the high-order harmonic intensity and the spectral density of velocity fluctuations under different amplitudes of the periodic electric field, proving that strong field conditions are preferable for the established goal. Furthermore, by comparison of both harmonic intensity and noise level, the threshold bandwidth for harmonic extraction has been determined. The results have shown that graphene on h-BN presents the best featuring of the cases under analysis and that in comparison to III–V semiconductors, it is a very good option for high-order harmonic extraction under AC electric fields with large amplitudes.
Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) causes an economically important disease that limits productivity in small domestic ruminants and often affects the livestock of the poorest populations in ...developing countries. Animals that survive PPRV develop strong cellular and humoral responses, which are probably necessary for protection. Vaccination should thus aim at mimicking these natural responses. Immunization strategies against this morbillivirus using recombinant adenoviruses expressing PPRV-F or -H proteins can protect PPRV-challenged animals and permit differentiation of infected from vaccinated animals. Little is known of the T cell repertoire these recombinant vaccines induce. In the present work, we identified several CD4
and CD8
T cell epitopes in sheep infected with PPRV. We also show that recombinant adenovirus vaccination induced T cell responses to the same epitopes, and led to memory T cell differentiation. T cells primed by these recombinant adenovirus vaccines expanded after PPRV challenge and probably contributed to protection. These data validate the use of recombinant adenovirus expressing PPRV genes as DIVA strategies to control this highly contagious disease.
The toll-like receptor (TLR) family comprises both cell-surface and intracellular receptors that recognize different types of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) leading to the production ...of pro-inflammatory cytokines and subsequent development of adaptive immunity. TLR2 is a cell-surface receptor initially thought to act as a bacterial sentinel but also shown to recognize a number of viral glycoproteins. In this study, we sought to characterize the role of TLR2 in the activation of the immune response by peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV), a morbillivirus of the Paramixoviridae family that causes an acute, highly contagious disease in goats and sheep. Using human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293 cells stably expressing human (h)TLR2 but lacking any other TLR, we found that PPRV induces IL-8 production in a dose-dependent manner. That activation is only observed in cells expressing hTLR2 and is greatly reduced when the receptor is blocked by pretreatment with specific antibody. We identified hemagglutinin (H) as the viral protein responsible of TLR2 activation by performing the same assays with purified recombinant mammalian-expressed H protein. Exogenous addition of recombinant H protein to cell culture induces high levels of interleukin (IL)-8 only in TLR2-expressing cells. Moreover, H engagement on TLR2 in the monocytic cell line THP-1 activates extracellular-signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling. Stimulation of primary ovine dendritic cells with either inactivated PPRV or purified recombinant H protein results in transcription of pro-inflammatory cytokines and the secretion of the Th1-polarizing cytokine IL-12. The role of these host immune mechanisms in the control of PPR is discussed.
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