10/08/2024


In the recent of years, the use of lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) for RNA delivery has gained considerable attention, with a large number in the clinical pipeline as vaccine candidates or to treat a wide range of diseases. Microfluidics offers considerable advantages for their manufacture due to its scalability, reproducibility and fast preparation. Thus, in this study, we have evaluated operating and formulation parameters to be considered when developing LNPs. Among them, the flow rate ratio (FRR) and the total flow rate (TFR) have been shown to significantly influence the physicochemical characteristics of the produced particles. In particular, increasing the TFR or increasing the FRR decreased the particle size. The amino lipid choice (cationic-DOTAP and DDAB; ionisable-MC3), buffer choice (citrate buffer pH 6 or TRIS pH 7.4) and type of nucleic acid payload (PolyA, ssDNA or mRNA) have also been shown to have an impact on the characteristics of these LNPs. LNPs were shown to have a high (>90%) loading in all cases and were below 100 nm with a low polydispersity index (≤0.25). The results within this paper could be used as a guide for the development and scalable manufacture of LNP systems using microfluidics.Coxsackie B (CVB) viruses have been associated with type 1 diabetes. We have recently observed that CVB1 was linked to the initiation of the autoimmune process leading to type 1 diabetes in Finnish children. Viral persistency in the pancreas is currently considered as one possible mechanism. In the current study persistent infection was established in pancreatic ductal and beta cell lines (PANC-1 and 1.1B4) using four different CVB1 strains, including the prototype strain and three clinical isolates. We sequenced 5' untranslated region (UTR) and regions coding for structural and non-structural proteins and the second single open reading frame (ORF) protein of all persisting CVB1 strains using next generation sequencing to identify mutations that are common for all of these strains. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/ps-1145.html One mutation, K257R in VP1, was found from all persisting CVB1 strains. The mutations were mainly accumulated in viral structural proteins, especially at BC, DE, EF loops and C-terminus of viral capsid protein 1 (VP1), the puff region of VP2, the knob region of VP3 and infection-enhancing epitope of VP4. This showed that the capsid region of the viruses sustains various changes during persistency some of which could be hallmark(s) of persistency.In the current energy context of intelligent buildings and smart grids, the use of load forecasting to predict future building energy performance is becoming increasingly relevant. The prediction accuracy is directly influenced by input uncertainties such as the weather forecast, and its impact must be considered. Traditional load forecasting provides a single expected value for the predicted load and cannot properly incorporate the effect of these uncertainties. This research presents a methodology that calculates the probabilistic load forecast while accounting for the inherent uncertainty in forecast weather data. In the recent years, the probabilistic load forecasting approach has increased in importance in the literature but it is mostly focused on black-box models which do not allow performance evaluation of specific components of envelope, HVAC systems, etc. This research fills this gap using a white-box model, a building energy model (BEM) developed in EnergyPlus, to provide the probabilistic load for creation of the uncertainty map; therefore, the proposed method is appropriate for predicting the probabilistic expected error in load forecasting due to the use of weather forecast data.Spacecraft formation flying (SFF) in highly elliptical orbit (HEO) has attracted much attention since many applications in space explore, while precise guidance navigation and control (GNC) technology, especially precise ranging, conducted the basis of success for such SFF missions. In this paper, we introduced a novel K band microwave ranging (MWR) equipment that aimed for the on-orbit verification of submillimeter level precise ranging technology in future HEO SFF missions. The ranging technique is a synchronous dual one-way ranging (DOWR) microwave phase accumulation system, which achieved tens of microns of ranging accuracy in laboratory environment. Detailed design and development process of MWR equipment are provided, with ranging error sources analyzed, and relative orbit dynamic models for HEO formation scenes are given with real perturbations considered. Moreover, an adaptive Kalman filter algorithm is introduced for SFF relative navigation design, incorporating with process noise uncertainty. The performance of SFF relative navigation while using MWR are tested in a hardware in loop (HIL) simulation system within a high precision six degree of freedom (6-DOF) moving platform. The final range estimation errors from MWR using adaptive filter are less than 35 μm m and 8.5 μm/s for range rate, which demonstrated the promising accuracy for future HEO formation mission applications.The objective of this study was to evaluate the physicochemical and texture changes of the Manchego-style cheese produced from hair sheep (Pelibuey) throughout 180 days of ripening, as well as consumer's acceptance. Cheese pH was constant from 1 to 180 days of ripening. Moisture, water activity, fat, elasticity and hardness decreased from day 1 to day 180, while protein, trichloroacetic acid-soluble N and free amino acid increased. Cheese lightness decreased as ripening time increased, while elasticity and hardness decreased. Principal Component Analysis was useful in discriminating cheeses according to their physicochemical composition and that allowed cheeses to be classified in two groups according to their ripening time and this resulted in those with less than 60 days and those with more than 90 days of ripening. Compared with cheeses ripened at 1 and 90 days, aged cheeses at 180 days reduced scores for appearance, color, odor, taste, texture and overall acceptance. Overall, Manchego-style cheeses from hair sheep had the usual ripened-cheese physicochemical changes.The location of large telescopes, generally far from the data processing centers, represents a logistical problem for the supervision of the capture of images. In this work, we carried out a preliminary study of the vibration signature of the T80 telescope at the Javalambre Astrophysical Observatory (JAO). The study analyzed the process of calculating the displacement that occurs because of the vibration in each of the frequencies in the range of interest. We analyzed the problems associated with very low frequencies by means of simulation, finding the most critical vibrations below 20 Hz, since they are the ones that generate greater displacements. The work also relates previous studies based on simulation with the real measurements of the vibration of the telescope taken remotely when it is subjected to different positioning movements (right ascension and/or declination) or when it performs movement actions such as those related to filter trays or mirror cover. The obtained results allow us to design a remote alarm system to detect invalid images (taken with excess vibration).The COVID-19 pandemic led to unprecedented restrictions on people's movements and interactions, as well as the cancellation of major sports events and social activities, directly altering the gambling landscape. There is urgent need to provide regulators, policy makers and treatment providers with evidence on the patterns and context of gambling during COVID-19 and its aftermath. This protocol describes a study addressing the following three questions (1) How has COVID-19 changed gambling practices and the risk factors for, and experience of, gambling harms? (2) What is the effect of COVID-19 on gambling marketing? (3) How has COVID-19 changed high risk groups' gambling experiences and practices? This mixed-method study focuses on two groups, namely young adults and sports bettors. In workpackage-1, we will extend an existing longitudinal survey of gambling in young adults (aged 16-24 years) (first wave conducted June-August 2019), adding COVID-19-related questions to the second wave (July-August 2020) and extending to a third wave in 2021; and undertake a survey of sports bettors in the UK (baseline n = 4000, ~July-August 2020), with follow-ups in ~October-November 2020 and ~February-March 2021. In workpackage-2, we will examine changes in expenditure on paid-for gambling advertising from January 2019 to July 2021 and undertake a mixed-method content analysis of a random sample of paid-for gambling advertising (n ~ 200) and social media marketing (n ~ 100) during the initial COVID-19 "lockdown". Workpackage-3 will involve qualitative interviews with a purposive sample of (a) young adults (aged 18-24 years) and (b) sports bettors.Pharmacological efficiency of active compounds is largely determined by their membrane permeability. Thus, identification of drug-membrane interactions seems to be a crucial element determining drug-like properties of chemical agents. Yet, knowledge of this issue is still lacking. Since chemoprevention based on natural compounds such as cinnamic acid (CinA), p-coumaric acid (p-CoA) and ferulic (FA) is becoming a strong trend in modern oncopharmacology, determination of physicochemical properties of these anticancer compounds is highly important. Here, electrophoretic light scattering and impedance spectroscopy were applied to study the effects of these phenolic acids on electrical properties of bilayers formed from 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine (DOPC), 1,2-diacyl-sn-glycero-3-phospho-l-serine (PS) or DOPC-PS mixture. After phenolic acid treatment, the negative charge of membranes increased in alkaline pH solutions, but not in acidic ones. The impedance data showed elevated values of both the electrical capacitance and the electrical resistance. We concluded that at acidic pH all tested compounds were able to solubilize into the membrane and permeate it. At neutral and alkaline pH, the CinA could be partially inserted into the bilayers, whereas p-CoA and FA could be anchored at the bilayer surface. Our results indicate that the electrochemical methods might be crucial for predicting pharmacological activity and bioavailability of phenolic acids.The emotion of disgust evolved as a way to protect oneself from illness and is associated with aspects of disease avoidance. Disgust Scale-Revised (DS-R) (Olatunji et al., 2008) measures the disgust propensity of three kinds of disgust (core, animal reminder, contamination). Contextual factors, such as academic background, might influence DS-R scoring, especially among medical students, where the notion of disease is central. We examined DS-R scoring and the choice of postgraduate studies in medical (n = 94) and psychology (n = 97) students. In an anonymous web-based survey, participants completed the DS-R and a questionnaire including plans for postgraduate studies. Females outnumbered males and scored higher in total DS-R score (p = 0.003). Psychology students scored higher in all three kinds of disgust (p less then 0.001 for core disgust and animal reminder, p = 0.069 for contamination disgust), indicating a higher level of disease avoidance. Medical students willing to follow Internal Medicine scored higher in core disgust (p less then 0.