A Combined Immunofluorescence and Fluorescent Viability Cocktail Staining Procedure for Rapid Microscopic Detection and Enumeration of Live Legionella pneumophila

Journal of Fluorescence - This report describes a combined immunofluorescence and fluorescence viability stain applied as one staining solution for rapid detection of live Legionella...     

Analysis of a tripartite entanglement distribution switch

Queueing Systems - We study a quantum switch that distributes tripartite entangled states to sets of users. The entanglement switching process requires two steps: First, each user attempts to...     

Pectic Galactan Polysaccharide-Based Gene Delivery System for Targeting Neuroinflammation

Treating neuroinflammation-related injuries and disorders through manipulation of neuroinflammation functions is being heralded as a new therapeutic strategy. In this study, a novel pectic galactan (PG) polysaccharide based gene therapy approach is developed for targeting reactive gliosis in neuroinflammation. Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is a cell protein with a high affinity to β-galactoside sugars and is highly expressed in reactive gliosis. Since PG carries galactans, it can target reactive gliosis via specific carbohydrate interaction between galactan and Gal-3 on the cell membrane, and therefore can be utilized as a carrier for delivering genes to these cells. The carrier is synthesized by modifying quaternary ammonium groups on the PG. The resulting quaternized PG (QPG) is found to form complexes with plasmid DNA with a mean diameter of 100 nm and have the characteristics required for targeted gene therapy. The complexes efficiently condense large amounts of plasmid per particle and successfully bind to Gal-3. The in vivo study shows that the complexes are biocompatible and safe for administration and can selectively transfect reactive glial cells of an induced cortical lesion. The results confirm that this PG-based delivery system is a promising platform for targeting Gal-3 overexpressing neuroinflammation cells for treating neuroinflammation-related injuries and neurodegenerative diseases.     

Supramolecular Assembly of Aminoethylene‐Lipopeptide PMO Conjugates into RNA Splice‐Switching Nanomicelles

Phosphorodiamidate morpholino oligomers (PMOs) are oligonucleotide analogs that can be used for therapeutic modulation of pre‐mRNA splicing. Similar to other classes of nucleic acid‐based therapeutics, PMOs require delivery systems for efficient transport to the intracellular target sites. Here, artificial peptides based on the oligo(ethylenamino) acid succinyl‐tetraethylenpentamine (Stp), hydrophobic modifications, and an azide group are presented, which are used for strain‐promoted azide‐alkyne cycloaddition conjugation with splice‐switching PMOs. By systematically varying the lead structure and formulation, it is determined that the type of contained fatty acid and supramolecular assembly have a critical impact on the delivery efficacy. A compound containing linolenic acid with three cis double bonds exhibits the highest splice‐switching activity and significantly increases functional protein expression in pLuc/705 reporter cells in vitro and after local administration in vivo. Structural and mechanistic studies reveal that the lipopeptide PMO conjugates form nanoparticles, which accelerate cellular uptake and that the content of unsaturated fatty acids enhances endosomal escape. In an in vitro Duchenne muscular dystrophy exon skipping model using H2K‐mdx52 dystrophic skeletal myotubes, the highly potent PMO conjugates mediate significant splice‐switching at very low nanomolar concentrations. The presented aminoethylene‐lipopeptides are thus a promising platform for the generation of PMO‐therapeutics with a favorable activity/toxicity profile.     

Students’ conceptual understanding of a function and its derivative in an experimental calculus course

Calculus has been witnessing fundamental changes in its curriculum, with an increased emphasis on visualization. This mode for representing mathematical concepts is gaining more strength due to the advances in computer technology and the development of dynamical mathematical software. This paper focuses on the understanding of the function and its derivative as viewed by students of a reformed Calculus 1 course offered in two experimental sections at the Lebanese American University in Beirut, Lebanon. Results have shown that the general approach adopted in the course proved to be unpopular for a great majority of the students, but rewarding for others. Interviews conducted with some students and a study of their performance on very specific exam questions reveal that for most students, the algebraic representation of a function still dominated their thinking; however, these students showed an almost complete understanding of the derivative, particularly the idea of the instantaneous rate of change and/or the slope of a curve at a given point. Furthermore, very few of these students referred to the mechanical methods for finding derivatives.     

Coherence properties of the supercontinuum source

Mutual–temporal coherence of the supercontinuum (SC) generation has been experimentally investigated using a diffraction grating based interferometer. A broadband SC generation was produced in a pyrex glass plate with a 1.6-μm coherence length at 550-nm center wavelength. The degree of mutual coherence of 0.34 was measured for a wavefront shift for zero and first diffraction orders of half of the beam diameter. A design of SC source with the capability of manipulating the amplitudes and phases of optical frequency components within the SC pulse is presented for coherence applications.     

Judge Nonverbal Communication on Trial: Do Mock Trial Jurors Notice?

This study investigated jurors' reactions to judges' nonverbal communication in mock trials. Participants in 80 mock juries viewed taped segments of direct and cross examination that varied the judges' level of nonverbal involvement. Comments about the judge were solicited in predeliberation questionnaires and unsolicited comments obtained from dialogue that occurred during mock jury deliberations. The investigation found that jurors are aware of nonverbal cues from judges, particularly negative behaviors. Although the high- and low-involved judges solicited roughly the same number of comments, more negative comments were made about the judge displaying low than high nonverbal involvement. The results also revealed that jurors made more negative comments than positive ones. Overall, jurors are most aware of a judge's lack of involvement and apparent bias. Discussion focuses on ways to minimize the influence of judge nonverbal communication on jurors.