Virus-Like Particle (VLP) Plus Microcrystalline Tyrosine (MCT) Adjuvants Enhance Vaccine Efficacy Improving T and B Cell Immunogenicity and Protection against Plasmodium berghei/vivax.

Vaccination is the most effective prophylactic tool against infectious diseases. Despite continued efforts to control malaria, the disease still generally represents a significant unmet medical need. Microcrystalline tyrosine (MCT) is a well described depot used in licensed allergy immunotherapy products and in clinical development.

Multi-frequency sound production and mixing in graphene.

The ability to generate, amplify, mix and modulate sound in one simple electronic device would open up a new world in acoustics. Here we show how to build such a device. It generates sound thermoacoustically by Joule heating in graphene.

Molecular fingerprinting of complex grass allergoids: size assessments reveal new insights in epitope repertoires and functional capacities.

Background: Subcutaneous allergen immunotherapy (SCIT) is a well-documented treatment for allergic disease which involves injections of native allergen or modified (allergoid) extracts. The use of allergoid vaccines is a growing sector of the allergy immunotherapy market, associated with shorter-course therapy. The aim of this study was the structural and immunological characterisation of group 1 (Lol p 1) IgG-binding epitopes within a complex mix grass allergoid formulation containing rye grass.

Long-Term Maintenance of Executive-Related Oculomotor Improvements in Older Adults with Self-Reported Cognitive Complaints Following a 24-Week Multiple Modality Exercise Program.

Adults (≥55 years) with self-reported cognitive complaints (sCC) were randomized to: multiple-modality exercise (M2), or multiple-modality plus mind-motor exercise (M4), for 24-weeks. Participants (n = 58) were assessed on antisaccade reaction time (RT) to examine executive-related oculomotor control and self-reported physical activity (PA) at pre-intervention (V0), post-intervention (V1), and 52-weeks follow-up (V2). We previously reported significant improvements in antisaccade RT of 23 ms at V1, in both groups.

Fitts' Theorem and Movement Time Dissociation for Amplitude and Width Manipulations: Replying to Hoffmann.

The commentary by Errol Hoffmann asserts that previous work by our group provides the spurious conclusion that amplitude and width manipulations to a movement environment elicit dissociable relations between movement time (MT) and P. M. Fitts' (1954) index of difficulty (ID).

Comparison of a novel microcrystalline tyrosine adjuvant with aluminium hydroxide for enhancing vaccination against seasonal influenza.

Background: Vaccination against seasonal influenza strains is recommended for "high risk" patient groups such as infants, elderly and those with respiratory or circulatory diseases. However, efficacy of the trivalent influenza vaccine (TIV) is poor in many cases and in the event of an influenza pandemic, mono-valent vaccines have been rapidly developed and deployed. One of the main issues with use of vaccine in pandemic situations is the lack of a suitable quantity of vaccine early enough during the pandemic to exert a major influence on the transmission of virus and disease outcome.

The spatial relations between stimulus and response determine an absolute visuo-haptic calibration in pantomime-grasping.

Pantomime-grasps entail a response to an area adjacent to (i.e., spatially dissociated pantomime-grasp), or previously occupied by (i.

Manual estimations of functionally graspable target objects adhere to Weber's law.

The manual estimation task requires that participants separate the distance between their thumb and forefinger until they perceive it to match the size of a target object. Ganel and colleagues (Curr Biol 18:R599-R601, 2008a) demonstrated that manual estimations yield just-noticeable-difference (JND) scores that linearly increased with increasing target object size; that is, responses adhered to Weber's law and thus evince response mediation via relative and perception-based visual information. In turn, more recent work has reported that the size of a target object influences whether JNDs provide a reliable metric for evaluating the nature of the visual information supporting manual estimations.

Clinical use of adjuvants in allergen-immunotherapy.

Allergen-specific Immunotherapy (AIT) is the only available treatment aimed to tackle the underlying causes of allergy. The active components of subcutaneous vaccines traditionally consist of natural or modified allergen extracts which can be combined with adjuvant platforms. In recent years new targets have been further developed in an attempt to raise the safety and efficacy profile of AIT.

Haptic feedback attenuates illusory bias in pantomime-grasping: evidence for a visuo-haptic calibration.

Relative visual information has been shown to mediate grasping responses directed to an area previously occupied by a target object (i.e., pantomime-grasping) and is an information type functionally distinct from the absolute visual information supporting naturalistic grasping (i.

A 24-Week Multi-Modality Exercise Program Improves Executive Control in Older Adults with a Self-Reported Cognitive Complaint: Evidence from the Antisaccade Task.

Exercise programs involving aerobic and resistance training (i.e., multiple-modality) have shown promise in improving cognition and executive control in older adults at risk, or experiencing, cognitive decline.

Multiple Levels of Family Factors and Oppositional Defiant Disorder Symptoms Among Chinese Children.

Family factors are closely associated with child developmental outcomes. This study examined the relationship of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptoms and factors at whole family, dyadic, and individual levels in Chinese children. Participants, who were recruited from 14 primary schools in north, east, and south-west China, included 80 father-child dyads and 169 mother-child dyads.

Biomechanical constraints do not influence pantomime-grasping adherence to Weber's law: A reply to Utz et al. (2015).

Work by our group and others employed the within-participants variability in peak grip aperture as a 'just-noticeable-difference' (JND) in grasping. Notably, our group reported that grasping responses with decoupled spatial relations between stimulus and response (i.e.

Fitts' Theorem in Oculomotor Control: Dissociable Movement Times for Amplitude and Width Manipulations.

The authors examined whether movement times (MT) for discrete saccades are constant given equivalent index of difficulty (ID) values (i.e., unitary nature of Fitts' theorem).

The visual properties of proximal and remote distractors differentially influence reaching planning times: evidence from pro- and antipointing tasks.

The saccade literature has consistently reported that the presentation of a distractor remote to a target increases reaction time (i.e., the remote distractor effect: RDE).

Megatibicen n. gen., a new North American cicada genus (Hemiptera: Cicadidae: Cicadinae: Cryptotympanini).

The genus Tibicen has had a confusing history (see summary in Boulard and Puissant 2014; Marshall and Hill 2014; Sanborn 2014). Boulard and his colleague (Boulard 1984; 1988; 1997; 2001; 2003; Boulard and Puissant 2013; 2014; 2015) have argued for the suppression of Tibicen and the taxa derivatived from it in favor of Lyristes Horváth. Boulard's argument for suppression was first described in Melville and Sims (1984) who presented the case for suppression to the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature with further comments made by Hamilton (1985), Boulard (1985), and Lauterer (1985).

Cold Agglutinin Autoantibodies in a Patient without a Visible Coronary Sinus Ostium: Strategies for Myocardial Protection without Using Retrograde Cardioplegia.

The presence of cold agglutinins (CA) during cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass usually creates the need for an altered surgical plan. In this case, the CA were discovered after the initiation of bypass, limiting the time, and cardioplegia solutions that could be used in the new approach. The inability to cannulate the coronary sinus with a retrograde cardioplegia catheter excluded the standard approach to myocardial preservation with CA of using continuous warm blood.

A Six-Month Cognitive-Motor and Aerobic Exercise Program Improves Executive Function in Persons with an Objective Cognitive Impairment: A Pilot Investigation Using the Antisaccade Task.

Persons with an objective cognitive impairment (OCI) are at increased risk for progression to Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. The present pilot project sought to examine whether participation in a long-term exercise program involving cognitive-motor (CM) dual-task gait training and aerobic exercise training improves executive function in persons with an OCI. To accomplish our objective, individuals with an OCI (n = 12) as determined by a Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score of less than 26 and older adults (n = 11) deemed to be cognitively healthy (i.

Expression of polycomb protein BMI-1 maintains the plasticity of basal bronchial epithelial cells.

The airway epithelium is altered in respiratory disease and is thought to contribute to disease etiology. A caveat to disease research is that the technique of isolation of bronchial epithelial cells from patients is invasive and cells have a limited lifespan. The aim of this study was to extensively characterize the plasticity of primary human bronchial epithelial cells that have been engineered to delay cell senescence including the ability of these cells to differentiate.

Assessing the Cost of Global Biodiversity and Conservation Knowledge.

Knowledge products comprise assessments of authoritative information supported by standards, governance, quality control, data, tools, and capacity building mechanisms. Considerable resources are dedicated to developing and maintaining knowledge products for biodiversity conservation, and they are widely used to inform policy and advise decision makers and practitioners. However, the financial cost of delivering this information is largely undocumented.

A novel microcrystalline tyrosine-adsorbed, mite-allergoid subcutaneous immunotherapy: 1-year follow-up report.

Aim: A 1-year follow-up study comparing the safety and tolerability of the dosing schedules, satisfaction and effectiveness of a novel microcrystalline tyrosine-adsorbed mite (Dermatophagoides pteronyssinus)-allergoid subcutaneous immunotherapy (Acarovac Plus™) in 30 adult patients (18-65 years) with allergic rhinitis and/or asthma.

Materials & Methods: The effectiveness of the product was assessed by nasal provocation test measuring peak nasal inspiratory flow/symptoms, in vitro immunologic changes (IgE, IgG4 and IL-10) and Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication.

Results: No adverse events were reported during dosing schedules.

Application of a spectrofluorimetric tool (bbe BenthoTorch) for monitoring potentially toxic benthic cyanobacteria in rivers.

Over the last decade reports of animal poisoning following accidental consumption of neurotoxin-producing benthic cyanobacteria (mainly Phormidium spp.) have increased. There is a need for rapid and cost-effective tools to survey benthic cyanobacteria.

An assessment of juvenile Atlantic cod Gadus morhua distribution and growth using diver operated stereo-video surveys.

Stereo-video scuba transects were conducted during daylight hours from June to September 2013 within a proposed marine protected area (MPA) in the Firth of Clyde, west of Scotland. More juvenile Atlantic cod Gadus morhua of fork length (LF ) range 6-11 cm were observed in substrata containing mixed gravel, including maerl, than in boulder-cobble substrata with high algal cover, or sand with low density seagrass. Community composition was significantly different between substratum types.

Pantomime-Grasping: Advance Knowledge of Haptic Feedback Availability Supports an Absolute Visuo-Haptic Calibration.

An emerging issue in movement neurosciences is whether haptic feedback influences the nature of the information supporting a simulated grasping response (i.e., pantomime-grasping).