A Modular Vaccine Platform Combining Self-Assembled Peptide Cages and Immunogenic Peptides.

Subunit vaccines use delivery platforms to present minimal antigenic components for immunization. The benefits of such systems include multivalency, self-adjuvanting properties, and more specific immune responses. Previously, the design, synthesis, and characterization of self-assembling peptide cages (SAGEs) have been reported.

Imaging Lithospheric Discontinuities Beneath the Northern East African Rift Using -to- Receiver Functions.

Imaging the lithosphere is key to understand mechanisms of extension as rifting progresses. Continental rifting results in a combination of mechanical stretching and thinning of the lithosphere, decompression upwelling, heating, sometimes partial melting of the asthenosphere, and potentially partial melting of the mantle lithosphere. The northern East African Rift system is an ideal locale to study these processes as it exposes the transition from tectonically active continental rifting to incipient seafloor spreading.

Sediment Characterization at the Equatorial Mid-Atlantic Ridge From P-to-S Teleseismic Phase Conversions Recorded on the PI-LAB Experiment.

Accurate marine sediment characteristics, for example, thickness and seismic velocity, are important for constraining sedimentation rates with implications for climate variations and for seismic imaging of deeper structures using ocean bottom seismic deployments. We analyze P-to-S seismic phase conversions from the sediment-crust boundary recorded by the Passive Imaging of the Lithosphere-Asthenosphere Boundary (PI-LAB) experiment to infer the sediment thickness across the Mid-Atlantic Ridge covering 0- to 80-Myr-old seafloor. We find P s-P delay times of 0.

Systematic review of interventions for the prevention and treatment of postoperative urinary retention.

Background: Postoperative urinary retention (PO-UR) is an acute and painful inability to void after surgery that can lead to complications and delayed hospital discharge. Standard treatment with a urinary catheter is associated with a risk of infection and can be distressing, undignified and uncomfortable. This systematic review aimed to identify effective interventions for the prevention and treatment of PO-UR that might be alternatives to urinary catheterization.

Developing a graduate training program in Synthetic Biology: SynBioCDT.

This article presents the experience of a team of students and academics in developing a post-graduate training program in the new field of Synthetic Biology. Our Centre for Doctoral Training in Synthetic Biology (SynBioCDT) is an initiative funded by the United Kingdom's Research Councils of Engineering and Physical Sciences (EPSRC), and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences (BBSRC). SynBioCDT is a collaboration between the Universities of Oxford, Bristol and Warwick, and has been successfully running since 2014, training 78 students in this field.

The early-life environment and individual plasticity in life-history traits.

We tested whether the early-life environment can influence the extent of individual plasticity in a life-history trait. We asked: can the early-life environment explain why, in response to the same adult environmental cue, some individuals invest more than others in current reproduction? Moreover, can it additionally explain why investment in current reproduction trades off against survival in some individuals, but is positively correlated with survival in others? We addressed these questions using the burying beetle which breeds on small carcasses and sometimes carries phoretic mites. These mites breed alongside the beetle, on the same resource, and are a key component of the beetle's early-life environment.

Allowing for informative missingness in aggregate data meta-analysis with continuous or binary outcomes: Extensions to metamiss.

Missing outcome data can invalidate the results of randomized trials and their meta-analysis. However, addressing missing data is often a challenging issue because it requires untestable assumptions. The impact of missing outcome data on the meta-analysis summary effect can be explored by assuming a relationship between the outcome in the observed and the missing participants via an informative missingness parameter.

The phylogenetic signal in tooth wear: What does it mean?

A new study by Fraser et al (2018) urges the use of phylogenetic comparative methods, whenever possible, in analyses of mammalian tooth wear. We are concerned about this for two reasons. First, this recommendation may mislead the research community into thinking that phylogenetic signal is an artifact of some sort rather than a fundamental outcome of the evolutionary process.

Synthesis of Nitrogen Heterocycles Directed Carbonylative C-C Bond Activation of Cyclopropanes.

This review concentrates on recent developments from our laboratory concerning the Rh-catalyzed carbonylative C-C bond activation of cyclopropanes. Specifically, we have found that N-based directing groups are effective at controlling the regioselectivity of C-C bond activation during the formation of rhodacyclopentanone intermediates. These engage tethered -unsaturated components ( alkenes) or conventional nucleophiles in cycloaddition and heterocyclization processes, respectively.

Near-patient coagulation testing to predict bleeding after cardiac surgery: a cohort study.

Background: Coagulopathic bleeding is common after cardiac surgery and is associated with increased morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs. Implementation of blood management algorithms in which patients with severe bleeding undergo near-patient coagulation testing results in less overall bleeding and transfusion. However, it is unknown whether there is additional value from pre-emptive near-patient testing to predict whether severe bleeding will occur.

Active Suspensions have Nonmonotonic Flow Curves and Multiple Mechanical Equilibria.

We point out unconventional mechanical properties of confined active fluids, such as bacterial suspensions, under shear. Using a minimal model of an active liquid crystal with no free parameters, we predict the existence of a window of bacteria concentration for which a suspension of E. Coli effectively behaves, at steady-state, as a negative viscosity fluid and reach a quantitative agreement with experimental measurements.

Prediction and attenuation of seasonal spillover of parasites between wild and domestic ungulates in an arid mixed-use system.

Transmission of parasites between host species affects host population dynamics, interspecific competition, and ecosystem structure and function. In areas where wild and domestic herbivores share grazing land, management of parasites in livestock may affect or be affected by sympatric wildlife due to cross-species transmission.We develop a novel method for simulating transmission potential based on both biotic and abiotic factors in a semi-arid system in Botswana.

Infinitesimal Probabilities.

Non-Archimedean probability functions allow us to combine regularity with perfect additivity. We discuss the philosophical motivation for a particular choice of axioms for a non-Archimedean probability theory and answer some philosophical objections that have been raised against infinitesimal probabilities in general.                                                                    .

Biogeophysical Impacts of Land-Use Change on Climate Extremes in Low-Emission Scenarios: Results From HAPPI-Land.

The impacts of land use have been shown to have considerable influence on regional climate. With the recent international commitment to limit global warming to well below 2°C, emission reductions need to be ambitious and could involve major land-use change (LUC). Land-based mitigation efforts to curb emissions growth include increasing terrestrial carbon sequestration through reforestation, or the adoption of bioenergy crops.

Land Ice Freshwater Budget of the Arctic and North Atlantic Oceans: 1. Data, Methods, and Results.

The freshwater budget of the Arctic and sub-polar North Atlantic Oceans has been changing due, primarily, to increased river runoff, declining sea ice and enhanced melting of Arctic land ice. Since the mid-1990s this latter component has experienced a pronounced increase. We use a combination of satellite observations of glacier flow speed and regional climate modeling to reconstruct the land ice freshwater flux from the Greenland ice sheet and Arctic glaciers and ice caps for the period 1958-2016.

Following the water? Landscape-scale temporal changes in bat spatial distribution in relation to Mediterranean summer drought.

Understanding how the spatial distribution of ecological resources shapes species' diversity and abundance in human-modified landscapes is a central theme in conservation biology. However, studies often disregard that such patterns may vary over time, thereby potentially missing critical environmental constraints to species persistence. This may be particularly important in highly mobile species such as bats, which are able to track temporal variations in spatial resource distribution.

Bayesian Analysis of the Glacial-Interglacial Methane Increase Constrained by Stable Isotopes and Earth System Modeling.

The observed rise in atmospheric methane (CH) from 375 ppbv during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM: 21,000 years ago) to 680 ppbv during the late preindustrial era is not well understood. Atmospheric chemistry considerations implicate an increase in CH sources, but process-based estimates fail to reproduce the required amplitude. CH stable isotopes provide complementary information that can help constrain the underlying causes of the increase.

Introducing carbon dots to moderate the blue emission from zinc vanadium oxide hydroxide hydrate nanoplates.

The relative intensity of the blue component of the total emission from light-emitting diodes (LEDs) can be an important factor when assessing their biological safety. Carbon quantum dots (CQDs) are compatible with many materials and present a high density of multiple surface states; the incorporation of such CQDs thus offers a route to modifying the emission from a given LED matrix. Here we report the fabrication of stable CQD/zinc pyrovanadate (Zn(OH)VO·2HO) nanoplate composites a facile hydrothermal route.

Protein for Life: Towards a focussed dietary framework for healthy ageing.

'Ageing well' has been highlighted as an important research area by the World Health Organization. In the UK, healthy ageing has been identified as a priority research area by multiple Research Councils and is a key NHS priority. Sarcopaenia, the decline of muscle mass/strength and a key component of healthy ageing, can have a major impact on quality of life and is associated with premature mortality.

Environmental consequences of deltamethrin residues in cattle feces in an African agricultural landscape.

Pyrethroid insecticides are widely used to control ectoparasites of livestock, particularly ticks and biting flies. Their use in African livestock systems is increasing, driven by the need to increase productivity and local food security. However, insecticide residues present in the dung after treatment are toxic to dung-inhabiting insects.

Breastfeeding and behavior disorders among children and adolescents: a systematic review.

Objective: This systematic review study aimed to assess the evidence available for the association between breastfeeding and behavior disorders in childhood and adolescence.

Methods: The search was carried out in the PubMed, Lilacs, and PsycINFO databases up to December 2016. Inclusion criteria were as follows: prospective, retrospective and cross-sectional studies assessing the association between breastfeeding and behavior disorders in childhood or adolescence, using psychometric tests, carried out in humans and published in Portuguese, English, or Spanish.

Setting up a cohort study in speech and language therapy: lessons from The UK Cleft Collective Speech and Language (CC-SL) study.

Background: Efforts to increase the evidence base in speech and language therapy are often limited by methodological factors that have restricted the strength of the evidence to the lower levels of the evidence hierarchy. Where higher graded studies, such as randomized controlled trials, have been carried out, it has sometimes been difficult to obtain sufficient power to detect a potential effect of intervention owing to small sample sizes or heterogeneity in the participants. With certain clinical groups such as cleft lip and palate, systematic reviews of intervention studies have shown that there is no robust evidence to support the efficacy of any one intervention protocol over another.