A new approach to the investigation of allergenic respirable particles using a modified Andersen Impactor

Pollen allergens have been shown to occur in fine particles much smaller than pollen grains. As such allergenic particles have a high probability of entering the lower human airways, it is important to further investigate their origin and their biological and immunological properties. Accordingly, we have modified the particle collection surface of an Andersen Impactor using adhesive coated microscope slides to enable identification by high resolution microscopic analysis and immunodetection of allergenic particulates.     

Cytotoxic and anti-angiogenic effects of zoledronic acid in DU-145 and PC-3 prostate cancer cell lines

Molecular Biology Reports - This study aims to investigate the apoptotic and anti-angiogenic effect of Zoledronic acid on hormone-refractory prostate cancer cell lines. XTT cell proliferation assay...     

Generalized and localized biased hypermutation affecting the matrix gene of a measles virus strain that causes subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.

The matrix (M) genes of Yamagata-1 strain subacute sclerosing panencephalitis virus passaged in African green monkey kidney cells and human neuroblastoma cells displayed strikingly nonrandom sequence divergence. The genes of both substrains shared a large number of uridine (U) to cytidine (C) transitions, but the latter contained numerous additional U to C changes in a localized region. Over 90% of the additional mutations were identical to the hypermutated nucleotides in the M gene found in a measles inclusion body encephalitis case. The nonrandom nature, the apparent host dependency, and the abrupt boundaries of these mutations suggest that these mutations might be caused by an extrinsic biased mutational activity rather than intrinsic polymerase errors. This mutational activity might account for the extraordinarily high C to U ratios in the non-protein-coding regions of both the M and fusion genes of wild-type measles virus.     

A machine-learning approach to calibrate generic Raman models for real-time monitoring of cell culture processes

The manufacture of biotherapeutic proteins consists of complex upstream unit operations requiring multiple raw materials, analytical techniques, and control strategies to produce safe and consistent products for patients. Raman spectroscopy is a ubiquitous multipurpose analytical technique in biopharmaceutical manufacturing for real-time predictions of critical parameters in cell culture processes. The accuracy of Raman spectroscopy relies on chemometric models that need to be carefully calibrated. The existing calibration procedure is nontrivial to implement as it necessitates executing multiple carefully designed experiments for generating relevant calibration sets. Further, existing procedure yields calibration models that are reliable only in operating conditions they were calibrated in. This creates a unique challenge in clinical manufacturing where products have limited production history. In this paper, a novel machine-learning procedure based on just-in-time learning (JITL) is proposed to calibrate Raman models. Unlike traditional techniques, JITL-based generic Raman models can be reliably used for different modalities, cell lines, culture media, and operating conditions. The accuracy of JITL-based generic models is demonstrated on several validation studies involving real-time predictions of critical cell culture performance parameters, such as glucose, glutamate, glutamine, ammonium, lactate, sodium, calcium, viability, and viable cell density. The proposed JITL framework introduces a paradigm shift in the way industrial Raman models are calibrated, which to the best of authors’ knowledge have not been done before.     

Electrostatic solvent effects on the conversion of substituted carbonyl oxides to dioxiranes

The effects of substituents (H, CH₃, CN, OCH₃, di-CH₃, and di-CN) on the conversion of carbonyl oxides to dioxiranes have been examined in the gas phase and in solution, with B3LYP/6-31G(d,p). The solvent has been modeled with the SCIPCM method. Optimizations in solution have shown that the geometry of carbonyl oxides and the reaction barriers for their conversion to dioxiranes depend on the characteristics of the substituents. The syn isomers of CH₃ and OCH₃ carbonyl oxides are more stable than their anti counterparts, whereas the conversion of anti substituted carbonyl oxides into dioxiranes is easier for all the substituents. Disubstitution favors the ring-opening reaction of dioxiranes.