Polycationic nanoparticles show biocompatible, broad-spectrum bactericidal properties in vitro and in vivo when incorporated in denture lining material post-maxillectomy in head and neck cancer patients. In the present study, the synthesized Crosslinked quaternary ammonium polyethylenimine nanoparticles were found to have a strong bactericidal activity against a wide variety of microorganisms rapidly killing bacterial cells when incorporated at small concentrations into soft lining materials without compromising mechanical and biocompatibility properties. This appears advantageous over conventional released antimicrobials with regard to in vivo efficacy and safety, and may provide a convenient platform for the development of non-released antimicrobials. This is a crucial issue when it comes to giving an answer to the serious and life-threatening problems of contaminations in immunocompromised patients such as orofacial cancer patient.
Hydantoin-N-halamine derivatives conjugated on polystyrene beads are promising disinfectants with broad antimicrobial activity affected by the gradual release of oxidizing halogen in water. The objective of this work was to identify and test of hydantoin-like molecules possessing urea moiety, which may provide N-haloamines releasing oxidizing halogens when exposed to water at different rates and release profiles for tailored antimicrobial agents. In this work, several hydantoin (five member ring) and for the first time reported, uracil (six member ring) derivatives have been conjugated to polystyrene beads and tested for their lasting antimicrobial activity. Four molecules of each series were conjugated onto polystyrene beads from the reaction of the N-potassium hydantoin or uracil derivatives onto chloromethylated polystyrene beads. A distinct difference in bromine loading capacity and release profiles was found for the different conjugated derivatives. All tested materials exhibit strong antimicrobial activity against Escherichia coli and bacteriophages MS2 of 7 and $\sim$4 log reduction, respectively. These results highlight the antimicrobial potential of halogenated cyclic molecules containing urea groups as water disinfection agents.
The virulence of Plasmodium falciparum, the causative agent of the deadliest form of human malaria, is attributed to its ability to evade human immunity through antigenic variation. These parasites alternate between expression of variable antigens, encoded by members of a multicopy gene family named var. Immune evasion through antigenic variation depends on tight regulation of var gene expression, ensuring that only a single var gene is expressed at a time while the rest of the family is maintained transcriptionally silent. Understanding how a single gene is chosen for activation is critical for understanding mutually exclusive expression but remains a mystery. Here, we show that antisense long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) initiating from var introns are associated with the single active var gene at the time in the cell cycle when the single var upstream promoter is active. We demonstrate that these antisense transcripts are incorporated into chromatin, and that expression of these antisense lncRNAs in trans triggers activation of a silent var gene in a sequence- and dose-dependent manner. On the other hand, interference with these lncRNAs using complement peptide nucleic acid molecules down-regulated the active var gene, erased the epigenetic memory, and induced expression switching. Altogether, our data provide evidence that these antisense lncRNAs play a key role in regulating var gene activation and mutually exclusive expression.
This essay examines the intertextual dialogue between François Truffaut’s cycle of autobiographical films, known as the Doinel cycle, and Charles Baudelaire’s collection of poems The Flowers of Evil (Les Fleurs du mal), and collection of prose poems The Spleen of Paris (Le Spleen de Paris: Petits poèmes en prose). The focal point is the fourth Doinel film, Bed and Board (Domicile Conjugal, 1970), and the poem “Spleen IV” in The Flowers of Evil. By applying Aner Preminger’s (Preminger: 2006) cinematic adaptation of Harold Bloom’s “anxiety of influence” theory (Bloom: 1973) and “misreading” concept (Bloom: 1975), I argue that the explicit and implicit references to Baudelaire are not a homage, i.e. a mere expression of admiration, but a complex and multilayered misreading, which encompasses the dual movement of admiration, as well as rebellion, towards the forefather. The wrestle with Baudelaire is a significant milestone in Truffaut’s journey towards finding his own voice on the one hand, and towards establishing his position as an important (re)former of modernist cinema on the other. Furthermore, along with a considerable contribution to thematic interpretation of Truffaut’s film(s), the misreading of Baudelaire is distinctly important as it reveals that Truffaut’s cinema is rooted in poetry, as, and perhaps even more than, it is rooted in prose fiction. On a larger scale, this suggests that the cinematic medium corresponds to the hybrid genre of prose poetry
This volume aims to satisfy a pressing need for an updated account of Chinese archaeology. It covers an extended time period from the earliest peopling of China to the unification of the Chinese Empire some two thousand years ago. The geographical coverage includes the traditional focus on the Yellow River basin but also covers China's many other regions. Among the topics covered are the emergence of agricultural communities; the establishment of a sedentary way of life; the development of sociopolitical complexity; advances in lithic technology, ceramics, and metallurgy; and the appearance of writing, large-scale public works, cities, and states. Particular emphasis is placed on the great cultural variations that existed among the different regions and the development of interregional contacts among those societies.
Orit Peleg-Barkat ו Chachy, Rachel . 2015. “The Architectural Decoration Of The Mausoleum”. Roi Porat, Rachel Chachy And Yakov Kalman (Eds), Herodium Final Reports Of The 1972–2010 Excavations Directed By Ehud Netzer, 1, Pp. 314–48.
The function and components of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis are conserved among vertebrates; however, in fish, a neuroglandular mode of delivery (direct contact between axons and endocrine cells) was considered dominant, whereas in tetrapods hypothalamic signals are relayed to their targets via the hypophysial portal blood system (neurovascular delivery mode). By using a transgenic zebrafish model we studied the functional and anatomical aspects of gonadotrope regulation thus revisiting the existing model. FSH cells were found to be situated close to the vasculature whereas the compact organization of LH cells prevented direct contact of all cells with the circulation. GnRH3 fibers formed multiple boutons upon reaching the pituitary, but most of these structures were located in the neurohypophysis rather than adjacent to gonadotropes. A close association was observed between FSH cells and GnRH3 boutons, but only a fifth of the LH cells were in direct contact with GnRH3 axons, suggesting that FSH cells are more directly regulated than LH cells. GnRH3 fibers closely followed the vasculature in the neurohypophysis and formed numerous boutons along these tracts. These vessels were found to be permeable to relatively large molecules, suggesting the uptake of GnRH3 peptides. Our findings have important implications regarding the differential regulation of LH and FSH and contradict the accepted notion that fish pituitary cells are mostly regulated directly by hypothalamic fibers. Instead, we provide evidence that zebrafish apply a dual mode of gonadotrope regulation by GnRH3 that combines both neuroglandular and neurovascular components.
