Chemical and biological characterization of vaccine adjuvant QS-21 produced via plant cell culture.

Many vaccines, including those using recombinant antigen subunits, rely on adjuvant(s) to enhance the efficacy of the host immune responses. Among the few adjuvants clinically approved, QS-21, a saponin-based immunomodulatory molecule isolated from the tree bark of (QS) is used in complex formulations in approved effective vaccines. High demand of the QS raw material as well as manufacturing scalability limitation has been barriers here.

Development and assessment of the performance of a shared ventilatory system that uses clinically available components to individualize tidal volumes.

Objectives: To develop and assess a system for shared ventilation using clinically available components to individualize tidal volumes.

Design: Evaluation and in vitro validation study SETTING: Ventilator shortage during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.

Participants: The team consisted of physicians, bioengineers, computer programmers, and medical technology professionals.

Archaeological assessment reveals Earth's early transformation through land use.

Environmentally transformative human use of land accelerated with the emergence of agriculture, but the extent, trajectory, and implications of these early changes are not well understood. An empirical global assessment of land use from 10,000 years before the present (yr B.P.

New evidence of broader diets for archaic populations in the northwestern Mediterranean.

Investigating diet breadth is critical for understanding how archaic populations, including Neanderthals, competed for seasonally scarce resources. The current consensus in Western Europe is that ungulates formed the bulk of the human diet during the Lower and Middle Paleolithic, while small fast prey taxa were virtually ignored. Here, we present a multisite taphonomic study of leporid assemblages from Southern France that supports frequent exploitation of small fast game during marine isotope stages 11 to 3.

Patient preferences regarding intraoperative versus external beam radiotherapy following breast-conserving surgery.

The TARGIT-A Trial is an international randomized, prospective trial comparing intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) for equivalence to external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) following lumpectomy for invasive breast cancer in selected low-risk patients; early results suggest that outcomes are similar. In addition to effectiveness data and cost considerations, the preferences of patients should help inform practice. This study was undertaken to explore and quantify preference in choosing between IORT and the current standard, EBRT.