Search Results (13)

Background/Objectives: In a Phase 2a, double-blind, placebo-controlled study including healthy participants aged 18–55 years, OVX836, a nucleoprotein (NP)-based candidate vaccine, previously showed a good safety profile, a robust immune response (both humoral and cellular) and a preliminary signal of protection (VE = 84%) against PCR-confirmed symptomatic influenza after a single intramuscular dose of 180 µg, 300 µg or 480 µg. Methods: Using the same methodology, we confirmed the good safety and strong immunogenicity of OVX836 at the same doses in older adults (≥65 years), a key target population for influenza vaccination. Results: Significant humoral (anti-NP IgG) and cellular (interferon gamma (IFNγ) spot-forming cells per million peripheral blood mononuclear cells and specific CD4⁺ IFNγ⁺ T-cells) immune responses were observed at the three dose levels, without clear dose–response relationship. T-cell responses were shown to be highly cross-reactive against various influenza A strains, both seasonal and highly pathogenic avian strains. We also evaluated the effect of sex (stronger immune response in females) and age (stronger immune response in young adults) on the immune response to OVX836 after adjustment based on the pre-vaccination immune status. Conclusions: The results obtained with OVX836 lay the groundwork for a future placebo-controlled, field proof of concept efficacy Phase 2b trial. Full article

Methane-producing Archaea can be found in a variety of habitats, including the gastrointestinal tract, where they are linked to various diseases. The majority of current monitoring methods can be slow and laborious. To facilitate gut methanogenic Archaea detection, we investigated flow cytometry for rapid quantification based on the autofluorescent F₄₂₀ cofactor, an essential coenzyme in methanogenesis. The methanogenic population was distinguishable from the SYBR green (SG) and SYBR green/propidium iodide (SGPI) stained background microbiome based on elevated 452 nm emission in Methanobrevibacter smithii spiked controls. As a proof-of-concept, elevated F₄₂₀-autofluorescence was used to detect and quantify methanogens in 10 faecal samples and 241 in vitro incubated faecal samples. The methanogenic population in faeces, determined through Archaea-specific 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, consisted of Methanobrevibacter and Methanomassiliicoccus. F₄₂₀-based methanogen quantification in SG and SGPI-stained faecal samples showed an accuracy of 90 and 100% against Archaea proportions determined with universal primers. When compared to methane and Archaea presence, methanogen categorisation in in vitro incubated faeces exhibited an accuracy of 71 and 75%, with a precision of 42 and 70%, respectively. To conclude, flow cytometry is a reproducible and fast method for the detection and quantification of gut methanogenic Archaea. Full article

Over the last few years, there has been increasing interest in the use of amorphous carbon thin films with low secondary electron yield (SEY) to mitigate electron multipacting in particle accelerators and RF devices. Previous works found that the SEY increases with the amount of incorporated hydrogen and correlates with the Tauc gap. In this work, we analyse films produced by magnetron sputtering with different contents of hydrogen and deuterium incorporated via the target poisoning and sputtering of C_xD_y molecules. XPS was implemented to estimate the phase composition of the films. The maximal SEY was found to decrease linearly with the fraction of the graphitic phase in the films. These results are supported by Raman scattering and UPS measurements. The graphitic phase decreases almost linearly for hydrogen and deuterium concentrations between 12% and 46% (at.), but abruptly decreases when the concentration reaches 53%. This vanishing of the graphitic phase is accompanied by a strong increase of SEY and the Tauc gap. These results suggest that the SEY is not dictated directly by the concentration of H/D, but by the fraction of the graphitic phase in the film. The results are supported by an original model used to calculate the SEY of films consisting of a mixture of graphitic and polymeric phases. Full article

Reliable and accurate flood prediction in poorly gauged basins is challenging due to data scarcity, especially in developing countries where many rivers remain insufficiently monitored. This hinders the design and development of advanced flood prediction models and early warning systems. This paper introduces a multi-modal, sensor-based, near-real-time river monitoring system that produces a multi-feature data set for the Kikuletwa River in Northern Tanzania, an area frequently affected by floods. The system improves upon existing literature by collecting six parameters relevant to weather and river flood detection: current hour rainfall (mm), previous hour rainfall (mm/h), previous day rainfall (mm/day), river level (cm), wind speed (km/h), and wind direction. These data complement the existing local weather station functionalities and can be used for river monitoring and extreme weather prediction. Tanzanian river basins currently lack reliable mechanisms for accurately establishing river thresholds for anomaly detection, which is essential for flood prediction models. The proposed monitoring system addresses this issue by gathering information about river depth levels and weather conditions at multiple locations. This broadens the ground truth of river characteristics, ultimately improving the accuracy of flood predictions. We provide details on the monitoring system used to gather the data, as well as report on the methodology and the nature of the data. The discussion then focuses on the relevance of the data set in the context of flood prediction, the most suitable AI/ML-based forecasting approaches, and highlights potential applications beyond flood warning systems. Full article

Advancements in machine learning techniques, availability of more data sets, and increased computing power have enabled a significant growth in a number of research areas. Predicting, detecting, and classifying complex events in earth systems which by nature are difficult to model is one such area. In this work, we investigate the application of different machine learning techniques for detecting and classifying extreme rainfall events in a sub-catchment within the Pangani River Basin, found in Northern Tanzania. Identification and classification of extreme rainfall event is a preliminary crucial task towards success in predicting rainfall-induced river floods. To identify a rain condition in the selected sub-catchment, we use data from five weather stations that have been labeled for the whole sub-catchment. In order to assess which machine learning technique is better suited for rainfall classification, we apply five different algorithms in a historical dataset for the period of 1979 to 2014. We evaluate the performance of the models in terms of precision and recall, reporting random forest and XGBoost as having the best overall performances. However, because the class distribution is imbalanced, a generic multi-layer perceptron performs best when identifying heavy rainfall events, which are eventually the main cause of rainfall-induced river floods in the Pangani River Basin. Full article

The detection of methane, a strong greenhouse gas, has increased in importance due to rising emissions, which partly originate from unreported and undetected leaks in oil and gas fields. The gas emitted by these leaks could be detected using an optical fiber-based photoacoustic sensor called PAS-WRAP. Here, we investigate the potential of silicon-based membranes as more sensitive microphones in the PAS-WRAP concept. Toward this goal, we built a setup with which the frequency response of the membranes was interrogated by an optical fiber. Multiple mounting mechanisms were tested by adapting commercial interferometry systems (OP1550, ZonaSens, Optics11 B.V.) to our case. Finally, methane detection was attempted using a silicon nitride membrane as a sensor. Our findings show a quality factor of 2.4 at 46 kHz and 33.6 at 168 kHz for a thin silicon nitride membrane. This membrane had a frequency response with a signal-to-background ratio of 1 ± 0.7 at 44 kHz when tested in a vacuum chamber with 4% methane at 0.94 bar. The signal-to-background ratio was not significant for methane detection; however, we believe that the methods and experimental procedures that we used in this work can provide a useful reference for future research into gas trace detection with optical fiber-based photoacoustic spectroscopy. Full article

Ultrathin films of the ternary topological insulator (Bi${}_{0.4}$Sb${}_{0.6}$)${}_2$Te${}_3$ are fabricated by molecular beam epitaxy. Although it is generally assumed that the ternary topological insulator tellurides grow by van der Waals epitaxy, our results show that the influence of the substrate is substantial and governs the formation of defects, mosaicity, and twin domains. For this comparative study, InP (111)A, Al${}_2$O${}_3$ (001), and SrTiO${}_3$ (111) substrates were selected. While the films deposited on lattice-matched InP (111)A show van der Waals epitaxial relations, our results point to a quasi-van der Waals epitaxy for the films grown on substrates with a larger lattice mismatch. Full article

Probiotics are live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host. To date, there is an increasing number of commercially available products containing probiotics on the market. Probiotics have been recommended by health care professionals for reasons ranging from their long-term immunomodulatory effects to proven benefits in the management of different health conditions. For probiotic products, there are several important aspects that determine the success rate of the development from bench to market. The aim of this review is to explore how the current knowledge on microbe–microbe and host–microbe interactions can be used to develop high-quality, evidence-based probiotic formulations, specifically probiotic dietary supplements, with a focus on the selection of safe strains with relevant functional properties. In addition, we will highlight aspects of the probiotic manufacturing process that need to be considered during the product development and the subsequent manufacturing process to guarantee consistent efficacy of a probiotic product. For each high-quality probiotic formulation, it is important to screen multiple strains, and select only those strains that show relevant functional properties and that can be considered safe for human consumption. In addition, it is imperative that attention is paid to the product development and manufacturing process, and that safety and quality properties are monitored. Importantly, the beneficial effects of probiotics should be evaluated in product efficacy studies and post-marketing surveys in order to demonstrate their clinical efficacy. All these aspects need to be evaluated and validated during the development of a successful high-quality and ready-to-market probiotic. Full article

To avoid any type of cross-contamination, residue-free production equipment is of utmost importance in the pharmaceutical industry. The equipment cleaning for continuous processes such as hot melt extrusion (HME), which has recently gained popularity in pharmaceutical applications, necessitates extensive manual labour and costs. The present work tackles the HME cleaning issue by investigating two cleaning strategies following the extrusion of polymeric formulations of a hormonal drug and for a sustained release formulation of a poorly soluble drug. First, an in-line quantification by means of UV–Vis spectroscopy was successfully implemented to assess very low active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) concentrations in the extrudates during a cleaning procedure for the first time. Secondly, a novel in-situ solvent-based cleaning approach was developed and its usability was evaluated and compared to a polymer-based cleaning sequence. Comparing the in-line data to typical swab and rinse tests of the process equipment indicated that inaccessible parts of the equipment were still contaminated after the polymer-based cleaning procedure, although no API was detected in the extrudate. Nevertheless, the novel solvent-based cleaning approach proved to be suitable for removing API residue from the majority of problematic equipment parts and can potentially enable a full API cleaning-in-place of a pharmaceutical extruder for the first time. Full article

Multi-stall fast charging stations are often thought to require megawatt-range grid connections. The power consumption profile of such stations results in high cost penalties due to monthly power peaks and expensive linkage fees. A local energy storage system (ESS) can be used to address peak power demands. However, no appropriate sizing method is available to match specific constraints, such as the contracted power available from the grid and the projected recharging demand. A stochastic distribution of charging events was used in this paper to model power demand profiles at the station, with a one minute resolution. Based on 100 simulated months, we propose an optimum number of charging points, and we developed an algorithm to return the required local ESS capacity as a function of the available grid connection. The role of ESSs in the range of 100 kWh to 1 MWh was studied for all stations with up to 2000 charging events per week. The relevance of ESS implementation was assessed along three parameters: the number of charging points, the available grid connection, and the ESS capacity. This work opens new possibilities for multi-stall charging station deployment in locations with limited access to the medium voltage grid, and provides sizing guidelines for effective ESSs implementation. In addition, it helps build business cases for charging station operators in regions with high demand charges. Full article

As Hamlet gazes into Yorick’s skull, he reassembles the quirks of the jester’s personhood and also imagines a self that he used to be, in relation to Yorick. Partially through the lens of Hamlet, characterized by A.C. Bradley as Shakespeare’s most “religious” play, this essay interrogates how several eighteenth-century textual editors, and some nineteenth-century scholars and popular admirers, imagine and construct Shakespeare’s beliefs: the first, through their efforts to reassemble the textual “bones” of Shakespeare’s works; and the second, through the rising pseudoscience of phrenology, operating in the background in the national debate to exhume and examine Shakespeare’s skull. Full article

Two of the major pathways involved in induced defense of plants against pathogens include the salicylic acid (SA)- and jasmonic acid (JA)-mediated pathways that act mainly against biotrophs and necrotrophs, respectively. However, some necrotrophic pathogens, such as Botrytis cinerea, actively induce the SA pathway, resulting in cell death that allows the pathogen to proliferate in the plant. Starting from an isogenic canola (Brassica napus) line, epilines were selected with a reduced sensitivity to SA. The genes belonging to the SA pathway had an altered transcription profile in the SA-tolerant lines, when treated with SA. Besides the already known genes of the SA pathway, new SA target genes were identified, creating possibilities to better understand the plant defense mechanism against pathogens. The SA-tolerant line with the lowest SA-induced gene expression is tolerant to Botrytis cinerea. When treated with SA, this line has also a reduced histone modification (histone H3 lysine 4 trimethylation) at the genes at the start of the SA pathway. Full article

This work presents a detailed breakdown of the energy conversion chains from intermittent electricity to a vehicle, considering battery electric vehicles (BEVs) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs). The traditional well-to-wheel analysis is adapted to a grid to mobility approach by introducing the intermediate steps of useful electricity, energy carrier and on-board storage. Specific attention is given to an effective coupling with renewable electricity sources and associated storage needs. Actual market data show that, compared to FCEVs, BEVs and their infrastructure are twice as efficient in the conversion of renewable electricity to a mobility service. A much larger difference between BEVs and FCEVs is usually reported in the literature. Focusing on recharging events, this work additionally shows that the infrastructure efficiencies of both electric vehicle (EV) types are very close, with 57% from grid to on-board storage for hydrogen refilling stations and 66% for fast chargers coupled with battery storage. The transfer from the energy carrier at the station to on-board storage in the vehicle accounts for 9% and 12% of the total energy losses of these two modes, respectively. Slow charging modes can achieve a charging infrastructure efficiency of 78% with residential energy storage systems coupled with AC chargers. Full article