Self-organized criticality and pattern emergence through the lens of tropical geometry.

Tropical geometry, an established field in pure mathematics, is a place where string theory, mirror symmetry, computational algebra, auction theory, and so forth meet and influence one another. In this paper, we report on our discovery of a tropical model with self-organized criticality (SOC) behavior. Our model is continuous, in contrast to all known models of SOC, and is a certain scaling limit of the sandpile model, the first and archetypical model of SOC.

A single dose of the novel chimeric subunit vaccine E2-CD154 confers early full protection against classical swine fever virus.

Classical swine fever is an economically important, highly contagious disease of swine worldwide. Subunit vaccines are a suitable alternative for the control of classical swine fever. However, such vaccines have as the main drawback the relatively long period of time required to induce a protective response, which hampers their use under outbreak conditions.

LALF-E7 therapeutic vaccine induces antitumor immunity against human papillomavirus type 16 E7-expressing murine tumor metastases in the lungs.

One important goal of cancer immunotherapy is to prevent and treat tumor metastasis. We have previously reported the significant antitumor effect induced by the immunization with our human papillomavirus therapeutic protein-based vaccine (LALF-E7) without adjuvant and admixed with clinically relevant adjuvants in the subcutaneous TC-1 tumor challenge model. In the present study, we evaluated the efficacy of the above mentioned vaccine formulations in controlling the hematogenous spread of TC-1 tumor cells using a more tumourigenic clone named TC-1* and other intravenous injection site less stressful than the tail vein.

How far from water? terrestrial dispersal and nesting sites of the freshwater turtle Phrynops hilarii in the floodplain of the Paraná River (Argentina).

Terrestrial environments surrounding aquatic resources are important and intensively used by semi-aquatic species. In the present work, terrestrial dispersal and nesting sites of the freshwater turtle Phrynops hilarii were analyzed in the floodplain of the Paraná River, using field data and variables obtained from remote sensing. A total of 112 turtles and 44 nests were recorded during road sampling for one year (covered a total of 786 km in 30 surveys).

Two mucosal-parenteral schedules to coadminister a multiantigenic formulation against HIV-1 in Balb/c mice.

Previous studies showed that simultaneous immunization through the nasal (IN) and subcutaneous (SC) route of a multiantigenic formulation induced a Th1 anti-HIV humoral and cellular immune responses. The formulation was comprised of a recombinant protein of HIV-1 (named CR3; Cellular Response number 3) and the surface and nucleocapsid antigens of hepatitis B virus. This study asks whether four times simultaneous administration through the IN and SC routes (SC+IN) of the multiantigenic formulation induces a similar systemic and mucosal immune responses than two sequential IN priming and two SC boosting (2IN&2SC) inoculations in mice.

6,9-Dimeth-oxy-3,4-dihydro-1H-1,4-oxazino[4,3-a]indol-1-one.

The title compound, C(13)H(13)NO(4), is one cyclization product of the reaction of ethyl 1-(2-bromo-eth-yl)-4,7-dimeth-oxy-1H-indole-2-carboxyl-ate with sodium azide in refluxing dioxane and was synthesized with the aim of finding new compounds with biological properties. Bond lengths and angles are within the expected values and confirm the bond orders giving in the scheme. The shortest contacts between mol-ecules are set along the a axis, where stacked mol-ecules related by an inversion center form an ABAB array through π-π stacking inter-actions with centroid-centroid distances ranging from 3.

Towards the molecular characterization of the stable producer phenotype of recombinant antibody-producing NS0 myeloma cells.

The loss of heterologous protein expression is one of the major problems faced by industrial cell line developers and has been reported by several authors. Therefore, the understanding of the mechanisms involved in the generation of stable and high producer cell lines is a critical issue, especially for those processes based on long term continuous cultures. We characterized two recombinant NS0 myeloma cell lines expressing Nimotuzumab, a humanized anti-human epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) antibody.

Purification process development for HER1 extracellular domain as a potential therapeutic vaccine.

HER1 is a tumor associated antigen emerging as an attractive target for cancer therapy. In the present study we demonstrated for first time that HER1 extracellular domain can be purified by a downstream process at pilot scale based on immunoaffinity chromatography from bioreactor supernatant of HEK 293 transfectomes. Filtered supernatant was applied to CNBr-activated Sepharose CL-4B with monoclonal antibody anti-human EGF immobilized, followed by three additional chromatographic polishing steps.

[Presence of urban rabies in Zulia State, Venezuela. Years 1996-2006].

Rabies is a zoonotic viral disease and in Zulia State, it constitutes a public health problem of a high social impact, due to the report of cases in human beings. In this study, the presence of urban rabies was determined in Zulia's State and its distribution was identified according to municipalities and affected species during 1996-2006. In the scope of a descriptive study, a documented revision of Zulia's State Zoonosis Regional Coordination registries for the period in study was carried out.

Thermal stress treatment does not affect the stability and protective capacity of goat milk derived E2-marker vaccine formulation against CSFV.

Classical swine fever virus produces a huge mortality in infected herds during recurrent outbreaks, predominantly in tropical and subtropical areas. In this scenario, it is common that cold-chain related issues affect the efficacy of virus attenuated-derived vaccines, which are frequently used in eradication programs. In the present work, the stability and protective capacity of a recombinant vaccine preparation, based on goat milk derived E2 glycoprotein extracellular domain, were both analyzed after incubation at 4 degrees C or 37 degrees C for 1 week.

Polyethylenimine-based transfection method as a simple and effective way to produce recombinant lentiviral vectors.

HIV-1-derived lentiviral vectors (LvV) are within the most attractive gene delivery vehicles in the context of both dividing and quiescent cells. LvV is currently produced by the conventional calcium phosphate precipitation method. Nevertheless, this procedure is highly susceptible to variations in pH and impurities, which lead to inconsistencies in LvV production.

Self-complementary sequences induce the formation of double-stranded filamentous phages.

The single strand nature of the filamentous phage (Ff) genome is currently one of the main drawbacks for their application as gene delivery vectors. In this work, by the incorporation of inverted self complementary sequences into the genome of Ff, we were able to convert single strand genome of Ff into double strand DNA structures. The presence of self complementary sequences in phage genome did not affect viral yields significantly, and the formation of double strands structures was successfully determined by a Mung Bean Nuclease resistance assay.

Antileishmanial activity of polycyclic derivatives.

33 polycyclic derivatives have been studied and tested on Leishmania donovani and L. major promastigotes. Their antileishmanial activity was assessed in vitro and an assay of their cytotoxicity was realized on human myelomonocytic cell line.

Synthesis and antiprotozoal evaluation of benzothiazolopyrroloquinoxalinones, analogues of kuanoniamine A.

Boc-aminoethylindoloquinone 8, a key intermediate for the building of pentacyclic quinoneimines, analogues of kuanoniamine A, was synthesized by alkylation of 4,7-dimethoxyindole 3 with 1,2-dibromoethane followed by transformation into azide, reduction of the latter with trimethylphosphine in the presence of 2-(tert-butoxycarbonyloximino)-2-phenylacetonitrile and oxydative demethylation of the Boc-amine 6 with silver(II) oxide. Quinone 8 was then treated in situ with the thiazole o-quinodimethane 10 to afford a regioisomeric mixture of the tetracyclic quinones 11. Treatment of the mixture with trifluoroacetic acid and molecular sieves 4-A provided the corresponding quinoneimines 12.