Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Optimal CD8+ T‐cell memory formation following subcutaneous cytomegalovirus infection requires virus replication but not early dendritic cell responses

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) induction of large frequencies of highly functional memory T-cells has attracted much interest in the utility of CMV-based vaccine vectors, with exciting preclinical data obtained in models of infectious diseases and cancer. However, pathogenesis of human CMV (HCMV) remains a concern. Attenuated CMV-based vectors, such as replication- or spread-deficient viruses potentially offer an alternative to fully replicating vectors. However, it is not well-understood how CMV attenuation impacts vector immunogenicity, in particularly when administered via relevant routes of immunization such as the skin. Herein we used the murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) model to investigate the impact of vector attenuation on T-cell memory formation following subcutaneous administration. We found that the spread deficient virus (ΔgL-MCMV) was impaired in its ability to induce memory CD8+ T-cells reactive to some (M38, IE1) but not all (IE3) viral antigens. Impaired memory T-cell development was associated with a preferential and pronounced loss of polyfunctional (IFN-γ+ TNF-α+) T-cells, and was not rescued by increasing the dose of replication-defective MCMV. Finally, whilst vector attenuation reduced dendritic cell (DC) recruitment to skindraining lymph nodes, systematic depletion of multiple DC subsets during acute subcutaneous MCMV infection had a negligible impact on T-cell memory formation, implying that attenuated responses induced by replication-deficient vectors were likely not a consequence of impaired initial DC activation. Thus, overall, these data imply that the choice of antigen and/or cloning strategy of exogenous antigen in combination with the route of immunization may influence the ability of attenuated CMV vectors to induce robust functional T-cell memory.
Azo-functionalised liquid crystalline dimers composed of bent-core and rod-like moieties: synthesis and mesomorphic properties

Three new series of azo-functionalised dimers composed of banana (bent-core) and rod-like moieties connected via flexible alkylene spacer have been synthesised and characterised. Here, the molecular structure – liquid crystalline property relationship has been studied, mainly by varying the spacer chain length in addition to the effect of polar –CN end group. All the compounds synthesised are characterised by the organic spectroscopic methods. The thermal behaviour of these dimers is investigated by the polarising optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, electro-optical and X-ray diffraction studies. Interestingly, we observed a variety of mesophases in these dimers, namely, N, SmA, SmC, SmX, SmY, Colx and Coly. We even observed a re-entrant phenomena of the mesophases in one of these dimers. The nematic phases of some of these dimers exhibit electric field induced textural patterns. The dimers are photosensitive and the T NI was found to decrease as the illuminated light intensity increases.
The C60 Molecules in (C60) N @SWCNT Peapods: Crystal Field, Intermolecular Interactions and Dynamics

Abstract We calculate the crystal field experienced by a single C60 molecule encapsulated in a single‐walled carbon nanotube. We take the icosahedral symmetry of the C60 molecule fully into account by treating it as a cluster of interaction centers. Although we do not distinguish between armchair, zig‐zag and chiral nanotubes since we consider a nanotube as a uniform cylindrical surface density, we can vary the tube radius R T. We observe a flip of the lowest‐energy C60 molecular orientation when increasing the radius: below R T≈6.5 Å, the lowest energy occurs when two pentagons are perpendicular to the nanotube's long axis, while for higher values, an orientation with hexagons perpendicular to the tube's long axis is energetically more favorable. Then, we consider a linear chain of C60 molecules inside a carbon nanotube, all experiencing the crystal field as a confinement potential. We find tube radius‐dependent effects: distinct equilibrium lattice spacings and lattice contractions. We calculate the structure factor and demonstrate the presence of pseudo‐Bragg peaks. Finally, we briefly comment on the calculation of infrared and Raman absorption spectra within the presented framework.
Simulating the D/H ratio of water formed in the early solar nebula

Our solar system originated from a protoplanetary disk about 4.6 billion years ago. We simulate the formation of this disk by a three-stage model of the solar nebula (SN) which describes the hydrodynamic and chemical evolution of a cold cloud core consisting of gas and one mass percent dust. Considering the first two stages of this SN-model we have studied the formation and deuteration of water, which is an important precondition of life. During the quasi-stationary stage of the cloud core, corresponding to the first SN stage, water has been formed on the surface of dust grains by the hydrogenation of oxygen. The gas and dust temperatures, which differ at the outer boundary of the core, are nearly 14 K and reach 9 K in its center. Therefore an icy mantle forms on the dust grains in less than 105 years and changes slowly afterwards. Because of the large abundance of hydrogen and a carbon to oxygen (C/O) ratio of 0.44 the major component of this mantle is water ice. We found that the water produced in the gas phase amounts to less than 20 ppm of the water formed on dust grains. In both phases, the deuterium enrichment δD (‰) relative to the Standard Mean Ocean Water varies at 1 AU from 15,050 to 63,100‰ (or a D/H ratio from 2 to 0.5%) and indicates the low formation temperature of water molecules. In the second stage of our SN-model, the collapse of the cold cloud core is simulated using a semi-analytical solution of the magneto-hydrodynamic equations. Due to relatively high temperatures around the center (10^(2-3) K), this range is identified with the hot corino observed in regions of low mass star formation in our galaxy. There, the icy mantles of the grains vanish due to desorption of water molecules from their surfaces. As a result the water to hydrogen ratio in the gas phase increases to 10^(-5)-10^(-4). Since this water was formed in a cold region and a collision related destruction of water molecules (occurring at ~10^5 K) can be neglected everywhere except for the protostellar source in the core center (< 10^(-2) AU), the deuterium enrichment in the outer hot corino (1 AU) reaches δD of 2,210‰ (or D/H of 0.1%) at the end of the main collapse phase. Different reasons for this relatively high value are discussed.
COBALT(II)-SELECTIVE COATED GRAPHITE PVC-MEMBRANE ELECTRODE BASED ON A RECENTLY SYNTHESIZED DIBENZOPYRIDINO-SUBSTITUTED MACROCYCLIC DIAMIDE

A cobalt(II)-selective graphite coated PVC-membrane electrode has been developed by using a new dibenzopyridino-substituted macrocyclic diamide as a neutral carrier. The electrode exhibits a Nernstian response for Co2+ ions over a very wide concentration range (7.0×10−7−1.0×10−2 M). The limit of detection was 2.0×10−7 M (ca. 12 ppb). It has a fast response time of about 10 s and can be used for at least 3 months without observing any deviation. The proposed electrode revealed good selectivities for Co2+ over a wide variety of alkali, alkaline earth, transition and heavy metal ions, and could be used in a pH range of 3.0–8.5. It has been used as an indicator electrode in the potentiometric titration of Co2+ ions and in direct determination of cobalt ion in waste water samples.
Iron fortification of rice: a potential strategy to counteract iron deficiency?

Although rice can be fortified with iron by producing fortified extruded grains, achieving good sensory properties and high iron bioavailability is difficult. Our study aim was to develop iron-fortified rice with comparable sensory characteristics to natural rice using iron compounds of high bioavailability. We tested ferrous sulfate, NaFeEDTA, ferric pyrophosphate of different particle sizes (mean particle sizes: 20 pm, 2.5 pm, 0.5 pm) and electrolytic iron, as well as encapsulated forms of iron. Extruded rice grains containing 0.5 and 1 g Fe/100 g were produced using a single screw extruder and blended, respectively, with natural rice at a 1:100 or 1:200 ratio. Extruded rice grains were evaluated by color measurements and texture profile analysis, and iron loss during rinsing was measured. The sensory comparison between fortified and unfortified rice was performed using triangle tests. Color scores in a similar range to natural rice were obtained using ferric pyrophosphate as iron fortification compound. The cooked extruded grains had comparable texture to cooked natural grains, and losses during rinsing were <3%. Fortification with all other compounds resulted in strong color changes. In the triangle tests, rice grains fortified with either of the 2 forms of micronized ferric pyrophosphate closely resembled unfortified rice in both uncooked and cooked form. Iron fortified extruded rice grains with excellent sensory characteristics and potential high bioavailability can be produced using micronized ferric pyrophosphate.
Menchettiite, AgPb2.40Mn1.60Sb3As2S12, a new sulfosalt belonging to the lillianite series from the Uchucchacua polymetallic deposit, Lima Department, Peru

Abstract Menchettiite, ideally AgPb2.40Mn1. 60Sb3As2S12, is a new mineral from the Uchucchacua polymetallic deposit, Oyon district, Catajambo, Lima Department, Peru. It occurs as black, anhedral to subhedral grains up to 200 μm across, closely associated with orpiment, tennantite/tetrahedrite, other unnamed minerals of the system Pb-Ag-Sb-Mn-As-S, and calcite. Menchettiite is opaque with a metallic luster and possesses a black streak. It is brittle, with uneven fracture; the Vickers microhardness (VHN100) is 128 kg/mm2 (range 119-136) (corresponding to a Mohs hardness of 2½-3). The calculated density is 5.146 g/cm3 (on the basis of the empirical formula). In plane-polarized incident light, menchettiite is weakly to moderately bireflectant and weakly pleochroic from dark gray to a dark green. Internal reflections are absent. Between crossed polarizers, the mineral is anisotropic, without characteristic rotation tints. Reflectance percentages (Rmin and Rmax) for the four standard COM wavelengths are 33.1, 39.8 (471.1 nm), 31.8, 38.0 (548.3 nm), 30.9, 37.3 (586.6 nm), and 29.0, 35.8 (652.3 nm), respectively. Menchettiite is monoclinic, space group P21/n, with unit-cell parameters: a = 19.233(2), b = 12.633(3), c = 8.476(2) Å, β = 90.08(2)°, V = 2059.4(8) Å3, a: b: c 1.522:1:0.671, Z = 2, and it is twinned on {100}. The crystal structure was refined to R = 0.0903 for 2365 reflections with Fo > 4σ(Fo) and it resulted to be topologically identical to those of ramdohrite, uchucchacuaite, and fizélyite. The six strongest X-ray powder-diffraction lines [d in Å (I/I0) (hkl)] are: 3.4066 (39) ( 3̅12), 3.4025 (39) (312), 3.2853 (100) (520), 2.8535 (50) ( 2̅32), 2.8519 (47) (232), and 2.1190 (33) (004). Electron-microprobe analyses gave the chemical formula Ag1.95Cu0. 01Pb4.81Mn3. 20Fe0.02Zn0. 01Sb6.09As3. 94Bi0.01S23. 95Se0.01, on the basis of 44 atoms and according to the structure refinement results. Menchettiite can be classified among the Sb-rich members of the lillianite homeotypic series, which are described with the general formula AgxPb3-2xSb2+xS6. Besides the heterovalent substitution 2Pb2+ → Ag+ + Sb3+ taken into consideration by the above formula, two isovalent substitutions relate menchettiite to the other lillianite homeotypes, i.e., Mn2+ → Pb2+ and As3+ → Sb3+. The name is after Silvio Menchetti (1937-), Professor of Mineralogy and Crystallography at the University of Florence. The new mineral and mineral name have been approved by the Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification, IMA (2011-009).
How I Treat Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer Refractory to Immunotherapy

Abstract Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality despite continued advances in diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. Although the development of immune checkpoint inhibitors has revolutionized the treatment landscape for advanced non–small cell lung cancer, many patients either have primary resistance to these agents or eventually develop secondary resistance necessitating a change to an alternate therapy. Understanding novel patterns of response to immunotherapy is crucial in determining appropriate selection and sequencing of treatment. Chemotherapy remains the standard of care in immunotherapy-refractory disease, but multiple trials are ongoing to explore the role of combination radioimmunotherapy and rechallenging with immunotherapy either alone or in combination with other antineoplastic agents.
A Comparative Study Of Discomfort Caused By Indoor Air Pollution, Thermal Load And Noisec

The relative importance of sensory air pollution, thermal load and noise was studied under controlled conditions in two identical environmental chambers. In one chamber subjects were exposed to various levels of either thermal load or poor indoor air quality. For each condition tested in this chamber, the subjects were exposed to a number of noise levels in an adjacent chamber with neutral thermal conditions and good indoor air quality in order to determine a noise level causing the same degree of discomfort. A total of 68 comparisons of the conditions in the two chambers were made by the same group of 16 subjects after one-minute exposure in each chamber. In the operative temperature range of 23–29°C, a 1°C change in operative temperature was found to have the same effect on human comfort as a change in perceived air quality of 2.4 decipol or a change in noise level of 3.9 dB. For levels of perceived air quality up to 10 decipol, a 1 -decipol change in perceived air quality had the same effect on human comfort as a change in noise level of 1.2 dB. A relationship between traffic noise level and percentage dissatisfied was established
Mobility and distribution of proteins in the nucleus of living cells

In the recent molecular and cell biological research, there is an increasing need for labeling of subcellular structures in living cells. Here, we present the use of a Xuorescently labeled cell penetrating peptide for fast labeling of nucleoli in living cells of diVerent species and origin. We show that the short peptide with ten amino acids was able to cross cellular membranes and reach the nucleolar target sites, thereby marking this subnuclear structure in living cells. The treatment of cells with actinomycin D and labeling of B23 protein and Wbrillarin provided evidence for a localization to the granular component of the nucleolus. The Xuorescently conjugated nucleolar marker could be used in combination with diVerent Xuorophores like Xuorescent proteins or DNA dyes, and nucleolar labeling was also preserved during Wxation and staining of the cells. Furthermore, we observed a high stability of the label in long-term studies over 24 h as well as no eVect on the cellular viability and proliferation and on rDNA transcription. The transducible nucleolar marker is therefore a valuable molecular tool for cell biology that allows a fast and easy labeling of this structure in living cells.
Studies on duration of seed dormancy and dormancy breaking methods on seed quality in cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) seeds

The laboratory experiment was conducted during 2018-19 having 19 treatments with 4 replications planned with CRD design. Freshly harvested cucumber variety Swarna Sheetal seeds were exposed to various physico-chemical dormancy breaking methods. For physical methods seeds were exposed to a different treatments and duration. For chemical treatments, soaking duration was 24 h. Results revealed that exposure of cucumber seeds to a hot dry air treatment at 70 ℃ for 3 days (T11) showed significantly highest (90.25%) normal seedling per cent, shoot length (14.42 cm), root length (21.07 cm), seedling dry weight (725.00 mg), seedling vigour index-I (3202), seedling vigour index-II (65432) and dehydrogenase enzyme activity (0.051 OD value) compared to other treatments and control and it was found on par with thiourea @ 0.5% (T16). However, significantly highest (0.634 dSm-1) electrical conductivity recorded in control (T1) and lowest (0.227 dSm-1) in hot dry air treatment at 70 ℃ for 3 days (T11). For duration of seed dormancy results showed that cucumber variety “Swarna Sheetal” exists up to 35 to 40 days after harvest with germination per cent of 61.25 to 63.50% respectively.
A novel architectured negative electrode based on titania nanotube and iron oxide nanowire composites for Li-ion microbatteries

We report a novel procedure for the fabrication of vertical iron oxide nanowires with quite regular form and diameters ranging between 20 and 150 nm grown from a matrix of self-organized TiO2 nanotubes. The 3 μm thick nanocomposite electrode presented here shows relatively high areal capacities of 468 μAh cm−2 (1st reversible discharge) and 200 μA h cm−2 over 45 cycles at a rate of 25 μA cm−2 (specific capacities of 1190 and 510 mAh g−1, respectively). Additionally, studies performed at kinetics of 6, 12.5, and 50 μA cm−2 suggest that this architectured nanocomposite material reveals excellent electrochemical performance with promising potential applications as nano-architectured negative electrodes for Li-ion microbatteries.
Complete analysis of technical chlordane using negative ionization mass spectrometry

Using electron capture, negative ionization mass spectrometry combined with high-resolution gas chromatography, the authors have resolved more than 120 components in technical chlordane. Components they have identified include chlorbicyclen and related compounds, compounds based on a C{sub 11} carbon skeleton, and compounds based on a C{sub 15} carbon skeleton. Many additional isomers of the C{sub 10}-derived compounds have also been separated and tentatively identified. X-ray crystallography was used to confirm the structures of {alpha}, {beta}, {gamma}, and isomer II chlordene, thus resolving conflicting reports in the previous literature. Gas chromatographic retention index data, on two different stationary phases, are presented for 147 components of technical chlordane. Electron capture, negative ion mass spectral features were used to discern structural characteristics of individual components. These data should be useful to workers interested in identifying and quantitating technical chlordane's many components wherever they are found.
Geometry of adversarial robustness of deep networks: methods and applications

We are witnessing a rise in the popularity of using artificial neural networks in many fields of science and technology. Deep neural networks in particular have shown impressive classification performance on a number of challenging benchmarks, generally in well controlled settings. However it is equally important that these classifiers satisfy robustness guarantees when they are deployed in uncontrolled (noise-prone) and possibly hostile environments. In other words, small perturbations applied to the samples should not yield significant loss to the performance of the classifier. Unfortunately, deep neural network classifiers are shown to be intriguingly vulnerable to perturbations and it is relatively easy to design noise that can change the estimated label of the classifier. The study of this high-dimensional phenomenon is a challenging task, and requires the development of new algorithmic tools, as well as theoretical and experimental analysis in order to identify the key factors driving the robustness properties of deep networks. This is exactly the focus of this PhD thesis. First, we propose a computationally efficient yet accurate method to generate minimal perturbations that fool deep neural networks. It permits to reliably quantify the robustness of classifiers and compare different architectures. We further propose a systematic algorithm for computing universal (image-agnostic) and very small perturbation vectors that cause natural images to be misclassified with high probability. The vulnerability to universal perturbations is particularly important in security-critical applications of deep neural networks, and our algorithm shows that these systems are quite vulnerable to noise that is designed with only limited knowledge about test samples or classification architectures. Next, we study the geometry of the classifier’s decision boundary in order to explain the adversarial vulnerability of deep networks. Specifically, we establish precise theoretical bounds on the robustness of classifiers in a novel semi-random noise regime that generalizes both the adversarial and the random perturbation regimes. We show in particular that the robustness of deep networks to universal perturbations is driven by a key property of the curvature of their decision boundaries. Our analysis therefore suggests ways to improve the robustness properties of these classifiers to adversarial perturbations. Finally, we build on the geometric insights derived in this thesis in order to improve the robustness properties of state-of-the-art image classifiers. We leverage a fundamental property in the curvature of the decision boundary of deep networks, and propose a method to detect small adversarial perturbations in images, and to recover the labels vii
Sonochemical immobilization of silver nanoparticles on porous polypropylene

Silver nanoparticles were immobilized on the surface of polypropylene (PP) porous beads by an ultrasound-assisted reduction method. The structure and properties of the silver-PP composite were characterized with XRD, TEM, HRSEM, EDX, XPS, and Raman spectroscopy. Water-soluble polymers such as PEG, PVA, and PVP were used as stabilizing agents for preventing the agglomeration of the silver nanoparticles. With PVP, a homogeneous distribution of silver nanocrystals, 50 nm in size, on the PP surface was achieved. The mechanism proposed for the silver anchoring to the inert polymer accounts for a localized melting of the PP. The beads of the silver PP composite demonstrated good stability and high antibacterial activity.
Sesquiterpenes of Lauraceae Plants. IV. Germacranolides from Laurus nobilis L.

By virtue of correlation with pyrethrosin 6a, the structure of laurenobiolide 1, a component of Laurus nobilis L. , was confirmed. At least, two races of this plant exist, one of which contains 1 as a major component and the other costunolide 9.