Flow cytometry-based method using diversity of cytokine production differentiates between Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and disease.

Authors present a pilot study of the development of innovative flow cytometry-based assay with a potential for use in tuberculosis diagnostics. Currently available tests do not provide robust discrimination between latent tuberculosis infection (TBI) and tuberculosis disease (TB). The desired application is to distinguish between the two conditions by evaluating the production of a combination of three cytokines: IL-2 (interleukin-2), IFNɣ (interferon gamma) and TNFɑ (tumor necrosis factor alpha) in CD4 and CD8 T cells.

Protective Effect of Vegan Microbiota on Liver Steatosis Is Conveyed by Dietary Fiber: Implications for Fecal Microbiota Transfer Therapy.

Fecal microbiota transfer may serve as a therapeutic tool for treating obesity and related disorders but currently, there is no consensus regarding the optimal donor characteristics. We studied how microbiota from vegan donors, who exhibit a low incidence of non-communicable diseases, impact on metabolic effects of an obesogenic diet and the potential role of dietary inulin in mediating these effects. Ex-germ-free animals were colonized with human vegan microbiota and fed a standard or Western-type diet (WD) with or without inulin supplementation.

Engineered human cytokine/antibody fusion proteins expand regulatory T cells and confer autoimmune disease protection.

Low-dose human interleukin-2 (hIL-2) treatment is used clinically to treat autoimmune disorders due to the cytokine's preferential expansion of immunosuppressive regulatory T cells (Tregs). However, off-target immune cell activation and short serum half-life limit the clinical potential of IL-2 treatment. Recent work showed that complexes comprising hIL-2 and the anti-hIL-2 antibody F5111 overcome these limitations by preferentially stimulating Tregs over immune effector cells.

Modeling the effects of the governmental responses to COVID-19 on transit demand: The case of Athens, Greece.

Short-term demand forecasting is essential for the public transit system, allowing for effective operations planning. This is especially relevant in the highly uncertain environment created by the SARS‑CoV‑2 pandemic. In this paper, we attempt to develop accurate prediction models of transit ridership in Athens, Greece, using Autoregressive Fractional Integrated time series models enhanced with SARS‑CoV‑2-related exogenous variables.

Optimal Tolerogenic Dendritic Cells in Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) Therapy: What Can We Learn From Non-obese Diabetic (NOD) Mouse Models?

Tolerogenic dendritic cells (tolDCs) are explored as a promising standalone or combination therapy in type 1 diabetes (T1D). The therapeutic application of tolDCs, including in human trials, has been tested also in other autoimmune diseases, however, T1D displays some unique features. In addition, unlike in several disease-induced animal models of autoimmune diseases, the prevalent animal model for T1D, the NOD mouse, develops diabetes spontaneously.

Human gut microbiota transferred to germ-free NOD mice modulate the progression towards type 1 diabetes regardless of the pace of beta cell function loss in the donor.

Aims/hypothesis: This study aimed to assess the ability of human gut microbiota to delay the onset of type 1 diabetes when transferred into germ-free NOD mice.

Methods: Two children with rapid and three children with slow beta cell function loss (as assessed by C-peptide AUC change in the mixed-meal tolerance tests performed 1 and 12 months after type 1 diabetes onset), participating in an ongoing trial with gluten-free diet, donated faeces, which were transferred into germ-free NOD mice. The mice were subsequently followed for diabetes incidence.

Germ-Free Mice Exhibit Mast Cells With Impaired Functionality and Gut Homing and Do Not Develop Food Allergy.

Mucosal mast cells (MC) are key players in IgE-mediated food allergy (FA). The evidence on the interaction between gut microbiota, MC and susceptibility to FA is contradictory. We tested the hypothesis that commensal bacteria are essential for MC migration to the gut and their maturation impacting the susceptibility to FA.

Antigen Loading (e.g., Glutamic Acid Decarboxylase 65) of Tolerogenic DCs (tolDCs) Reduces Their Capacity to Prevent Diabetes in the Non-Obese Diabetes (NOD)-Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Model of Adoptive Cotransfer of Diabetes As Well As in NOD Mice.

Unlabelled: Tolerogenic DCs (tolDCs) are being researched as a promising intervention strategy also in autoimmune diseases including type 1 diabetes (T1D). T1D is a T-cell-mediated, organ-specific disease with several well-defined and rather specific autoantigens, i.e.

Cellular differentiation of non-transformed intestinal epithelial cells is regulated by Lactobacillus rhamnosus and L. casei strains.

The aim of this study was to characterize an in vitro modulating effect of three commensal Lactobacillus strains on cellular differentiation of non-transformed crypt-like rat small intestinal cell line IEC-18. IEC-18 was grown on extracellular matrix, with or without presence of Lactobacillus strains. Gene expression of IEC-18 bacterial detection system - such as Toll-like receptors TLR-2, TLR-4, signal adapter MyD88, cytoplasmic NOD2 receptor, inflammatory cytokines IL-18, IL-1beta, chemokine IL-8 and enzyme caspase-1 - was evaluated using real-time PCR.

Rates and impact of potentially preventable readmissions at children's hospitals.

Objective: To assess readmission rates identified by 3M-Potentially Preventable Readmissions software (3M-PPRs) in a national cohort of children's hospitals.

Study Design: A total of 1 719 617 hospitalizations for 1 531 828 unique patients in 58 children's hospitals from 2009 to 2011 from the Children's Hospital Association Case-Mix Comparative database were examined. Main outcome measures included rates, diagnoses, and costs of potentially preventable readmissions (PPRs) and all-cause readmissions.

Identification of rice proteins recognized by the IgE antibodies of patients with food allergies.

Similarity among food allergens is a great problem affecting the specificity of diagnosis and treatment of allergic patients. We have observed that 80% of patients with food (including wheat) and pollen allergies have increased IgE antibodies against rice proteins. By immunoblotting, we documented that boiling decreased solubility and IgE reactivity of PBS-extracted rice and wheat proteins, yet in SDS extracts this reactivity was only slightly changed.

Critical power two wheeler driving patterns at the emergence of an incident.

The paper proposes a methodology based on Bayesian Networks for identifying the power two wheeler (PTW) driving patterns that arise at the emergence of a critical incident based on high resolution driving data (100Hz) from a naturalistic PTW driving experiment. The proposed methodology aims at identifying the prevailing PTW drivers' actions at the beginning and during critical incidents and associating the critical incidents to specific PTW driving patterns. Results using data from one PTW driver reveal three prevailing driving actions for describing the onset of an incident and an equal number of actions that a PTW driver executes during the course of an incident to avoid a crash.

Heat-induced structural changes affect OVA-antigen processing and reduce allergic response in mouse model of food allergy.

Background And Aims: The egg protein ovalbumin (OVA) belongs to six most frequent food allergens. We investigated how thermal processing influences its ability to induce allergic symptoms and immune responses in mouse model of food allergy.

Methodology/principal Findings: Effect of increased temperature (70°C and 95°C) on OVA secondary structure was characterized by circular dichroism and by the kinetics of pepsin digestion with subsequent HPLC.

Overview of critical risk factors in Power-Two-Wheeler safety.

Power-Two-Wheelers (PTWs) constitute a vulnerable class of road users with increased frequency and severity of accidents. The present paper focuses of the PTW accident risk factors and reviews existing literature with regard to the PTW drivers' interactions with the automobile drivers, as well as interactions with infrastructure elements and weather conditions. Several critical risk factors are revealed with different levels of influence to PTW accident likelihood and severity.

A new approach to the isolation and characterization of wheat flour allergens.

Background: The incidence of food allergy to wheat is increasing. Its diagnosis depends on the purity of major allergens and their inclusion in tests. Isolation and characterization of wheat allergens are therefore of utmost importance.

Measuring accident risk exposure for pedestrians in different micro-environments.

Pedestrians are mainly exposed to the risk of road accident when crossing a road in urban areas. Traditionally in the road safety field, the risk of accident for pedestrian is estimated as a rate of accident involvement per unit of time spent on the road network. The objective of this research is to develop an approach of accident risk based on the concept of risk exposure used in environmental epidemiology, such as in the case of exposure to pollutants.

Accident risk of foreign drivers in various road environments.

Introduction: This paper reports on the accident risk of foreign and native drivers in various road environments in Greece. In particular, the analysis aims to determine the combined effect of driver nationality, area type (inside/outside urban area), junction (yes/no), and lighting conditions (day/night) on accident fault risk.

Methods: Data from the national accident database of Greece are used in a hierarchical log-linear analysis.

Effects of driver nationality and road characteristics on accident fault risk.

This paper investigates the combined effect of driver nationality and several road characteristics (area type, at or not at junction, lighting conditions) on accident fault risk. Data from the national accident database of Greece are used to calculate accident relative fault risk rates under induced exposure assumptions. A log-linear analysis is then used to examine first- and higher-order effects within three or more variable groups.

Driver age and vehicle engine size effects on fault and severity in young motorcyclists accidents.

This paper reports a study of the combined effect of driver age and engine size on accident severity and at-fault risk of young riders of two-wheelers. Data from the national accident database of Greece are used to calculate accident severity and relative fault risk rates. The induced exposure technique is applied due to the lack of exposure data.

Direct continuous supercritical fluid extraction as a novel method of wine analysis. Comparison with conventional indirect extraction and implications for wine variety identification.

Direct supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of wines with carbon dioxide was compared to SFE of the sorbent used for solid-phase extraction of the same wine samples (SPE-SFE). Compared to SPE-SFE, the direct SFE results in amore specific and representative gas chromatographic fingerprint of the wine sample. The multivariate statistical processing of the direct SFE-GC data provides a clear-cut and sharp discrimination among the individual wine varieties while the discrimination based on the SPE-SFE-GC data is relatively poor.

Differences between vehicle lateral displacement on the road and in a fixed-base simulator.

This work investigates differences in lateral displacement when driving on curved and straight road sections in real-road and simulator conditions. We observed 100 licensed drivers on a rural road and 100 in a fixed-base simulator. Speed and lateral position on the real road were measured using videocameras.

Effects of signalisation on four-arm urban junction safety.

This paper investigates the effect of signalisation on safety of urban priority controlled four-arm junctions. Forty-eight such junctions were carefully selected to have different values for the geometric and traffic characteristics that may influence the safety effects of signalisation. Long periods before and after signalisation were considered so that the effect of the regression to the mean phenomenon becomes negligible.

Establishing relationships between accidents and flows at urban priority road junctions.

This papers explores the effects of traffic stream flows on accident potential at urban priority-controlled (i.e. unsignalized), four-arm junctions.

[Simultaneous determination of volatile substances in intact apples and apple juice using gas chromatographic head-space analysis].

Relations between the rate of the generation of volatiles by intact apples during their ripening and the contents of the volatiles in the juice pressed out of the apples were investigated with the aid of two different techniques of headspace gas analysis. The juice was analyzed by the technique of stripping and trapping in a closed circuit, which made it possible to determine the violatiles in concentrations of several tens of micrograms/1 of juice. The volatiles generated by intact apples were determined by analysis the gas percolating through a layer of fruits by a sample-enrichment technique, the sensitivity of analysis being some hundredths of micrograms/1.