69 research outputs found

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    Detecting pathogens and mounting immune responses upon infection is crucial for animal health. However, these responses come at a high metabolic price (McKean and Lazzaro, 2011, Kominsky et al., 2010), and avoiding pathogens before infection may be advantageous. The bacterial endotoxins lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are important immune system infection cues (Abbas et al., 2014), but it remains unknown whether animals possess sensory mechanisms to detect them prior to infection. Here we show that Drosophila melanogaster display strong aversive responses to LPS and that gustatory neurons expressing Gr66a bitter receptors mediate avoidance of LPS in feeding and egg laying assays. We found the expression of the chemosensory cation channel dTRPA1 in these cells to be necessary and sufficient for LPS avoidance. Furthermore, LPS stimulates Drosophila neurons in a TRPA1-dependent manner and activates exogenous dTRPA1 channels in human cells. Our findings demonstrate that flies detect bacterial endotoxins via a gustatory pathway through TRPA1 activation as conserved molecular mechanism.sponsorship: Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie Alessia Soldano Luis Franco Guangda Liu Natalia Mora Emre Yaksi Bassem A Hassanr Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek G.0702.12 Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Alejandro Lopez-Requena Natalia Mora Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talaverar Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek G.0077.15 Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Alejandro Lopez-Requena Natalia Mora Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talaverar Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek G.0680.10 Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Alejandro Lopez-Requena Natalia Mora Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talaverar Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek G.0681.10 Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Alejandro Lopez-Requena Natalia Mora Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talaverar Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek G.0503.12 Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Alejandro Lopez-Requena Natalia Mora Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talaverar Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek G.0654.15 Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Alejandro Lopez-Requena Natalia Mora Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talaverar Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek G.0761.10N Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Alejandro Lopez-Requena Natalia Mora Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talaverar Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek G.0596.12 Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Alejandro Lopez-Requena Natalia Mora Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talaverar Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek G.0565.07 Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Alejandro Lopez-Requena Natalia Mora Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talaverar KU Leuven GOA/14/011 Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Luis Franco Alejandro Lopez-Requena Guangda Liu Natalia Mora Emre Yaksi Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talaverar European Commission IUAP P7/13 Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Luis Franco Alejandro Lopez-Requena Guangda Liu Natalia Mora Emre Yaksi Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekensr KU Leuven OT/12/091 Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Luis Franco Alejandro Lopez-Requena Guangda Liu Natalia Mora Emre Yaksi Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talaverar KU Leuven PF-TRPLe Alessia Soldano Yeranddy A Alpizar Brett Boonen Luis Franco Alejandro Lopez-Requena Guangda Liu Natalia Mora Emre Yaksi Thomas Voets Rudi Vennekens Bassem A Hassan Karel Talavera (Vlaams Instituut voor Biotechnologie, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek|G.0702.12, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek|G.0077.15, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek|G.0680.10, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek|G.0681.10, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek|G.0503.12, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek|G.0654.15, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek|G.0761.10N, Fonds Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek|G.0596.12, KU Leuven|GOA/14/011, KU Leuven|OT/12/091, European Commission|IUAP P7/13, KU Leuven PF-TRPLe)status: Publishe

    Les plages de Beyrouth : privatisation et communautarisation d’espaces publics

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    Beirut beaches appeared on the western side of the city, which was once the most cosmopolitan district. The author describes these public spaces and the way of life prior to the war. He also considers the main evolutions that took place through the war period.El-Jisr Bassem. Les plages de Beyrouth : privatisation et communautarisation d’espaces publics. In: Reconstruire Beyrouth. Les paris sur le possible

    Academic freedom at Palestinian universities : a human rights report

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    Bassem Eid traces the history of Palestinian Universities over three periods - the Israeli occupation early 1970s until the Intifada, the Intifada and its aftermath and the current era. The author examines the serious problems and restrictions faced by University students and intellectuals. He denounces a series of human rights violations particularly the rights of freedom of expression and association. Such violations include deportations, violence against students, arrests and detentions without formal charges and unfair dismissal of professors who spoke their minds. These human rights violations are not solely a result of Israeli oppression but also a result of the interference of the Palestinian Authority. The author probes into the University Security Administration and the presence of undercover agents within the universities, who monitor and report the activities of individuals, are associated with the Islamic bloc or who criticise the Palestinian Authority.peer-reviewe

    Corrections to “D2D-V2X-SDN: Taxonomy and Architecture Towards 5G Mobile Communication”

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    In the above article [1], the following author bios must be updated as their posts and positions were upgraded, and the profile picture of Bassem F. Felemban was previously incorrect.Scopu

    The utility of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in patients with hematologic malignancies: a literature review

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    Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) is used to provide respiratory and/or circulatory support for critically ill patients. In people suffering from hematologic malignancies (HMs), acute respiratory failure often necessitates intensive care. Whereas initial studies reported that these patients generally have poor outcomes, studies conducted within the last 10 years have shown that ECMO is quite beneficial for patients with HMs. This review showcases data from 2010 to 2019 demonstrating the utility of ECMO in cancer patients. Retrospective studies revealed long-term disease-free survival, particularly when ECMO served as a bridge through chemotherapy. Case reports suggested strong evidence of mortality benefit from ECMO, especially in patients with aggressive lymphomas. However, a systematic approach is needed to better quantify and validate these findings. Studies with larger sample size and prospective cohorts are needed to help create well-defined guidelines for physicians approaching the treatment of cancer patients on ECMO

    Optimizing Joint Data and Power Transfer in Energy Harvesting Multiuser Wireless Networks

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    Energy harvesting emerges as a potential solution for prolonging the lifetime of the energy-constrained mobile wireless devices. In this paper, we focus on radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting for multiuser multicarrier mobile wireless networks. Specifically, we propose joint data and energy transfer optimization frameworks for powering mobile wireless devices through RF energy harvesting. We introduce a power utility that captures the power consumption cost at the base station (BS) and the used power from the users' batteries, and determine optimal power resource allocations that meet data rate requirements of downlink and uplink communications. Two types of harvesting capabilities are considered at each user: harvesting only from dedicated RF signals and hybrid harvesting from both dedicated and ambient RF signals. The developed frameworks increase the end users' battery lifetime at the cost of a slight increase in the BS power consumption. Several evaluation studies are conducted in order to validate our proposed frameworks. 1 2017 IEEE.Manuscript received August 25, 2016; revised February 16, 2017 and May 9, 2017; accepted June 9, 2017. Date of publication June 22, 2017; date of current version December 14, 2017. This work was supported by the National Priorities Research Program under Grant NPRP 5-319-2-121 from the Qatar National Research Fund (a member of Qatar Foundation). The review of this paper was coordinated by Prof. Y. Li. (Corresponding author: Bassem Khalfi.) B. Khalfi and B. Hamdaoui are with Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331 USA (e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]. edu).Scopu

    Uncomputability in Information Theory

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    We present a powerful approach for learning about uncomputability and undecidability in informationtheory. Our approach is to use automata from automata theory that have undecidable properties toconstruct channels for which an information-theoretic quantity is uncomputable or undecidable. Wedemonstrate this approach by showing that, for channels with memory, capacity is uncomputable andinformation-stability is undecidable

    Repair of damaged end regions of prestressed concrete girders using fiber reinforced polymer composite materials

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    Over the past couple decades, fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have emerged as a lightweight and efficient repair and retrofit material for many concrete infrastructure applications. FRP can be applied to concrete using many techniques, but primarily as either externally bonded laminates or near-surface mounted (NSM) bars or plates. These repair methods have been shown to be effective when used to provide supplemental flexural and shear reinforcement for reinforced concrete and prestressed concrete beams. One problem afflicting bridge girders in cold climates is the deterioration of the girder ends due to deicing salt exposure, thus reducing their shear strength. This thesis presents the results of the beginning stages of an Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) sponsored study to use FRP materials to repair and retrofit the damaged ends of prestressed concrete beams. In the first phase of the study, direct shear pull-out tests on glass-FRP (GFRP) and carbon-FRP (CFRP) externally bonded laminate and NSM bar concrete specimens are performed. An accelerated aging scheme consisting of freeze/thaw cycling in the presence of a deicing salt solution is implemented to determine the effect of long-term environmental exposure on the FRP/concrete interface. In the next phase, three-point bending tests are performed on small scale prestressed concrete beams. End region deterioration is simulated by imposing damage to the cover concrete, and mortar and FRP repairs are applied to test their effectiveness. Finally, a 3D finite element (FE) model of a full scale prestressed concrete (PC) I-girder is used to investigate the effect of damage to the cover concrete and stirrups in the end region of the girder. Parametric studies are performed using externally bonded CFRP shear laminates to determine the most effective repair schemes for the damaged end region. The results of the shear pull-out tests of CFRP laminates that have undergone accelerated aging are used to calibrate a bond stress-slip model for the interface between the FRP and concrete substrate and approximate the reduced bond stress-slip properties associated with exposure to the environment that causes this type of end region damage. The results of this study indicate the potential for FRP repairs to be an effective means of recovering the original strength of PC bridge girders with damaged end regions, even after environmental aging.Submission published under a 24 month embargo labeled 'U of I Access', the embargo will last until 2019-05-01The student, Ian Shaw, accepted the attached license on 2017-04-27 at 14:28.The student, Ian Shaw, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2017-04-27 at 14:32.This Thesis was approved for publication on 2017-04-27 at 18:48.DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #11118 on 2017-08-10 at 15:07:14Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-10T20:33:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 3 SHAW-THESIS-2017.pdf: 34368389 bytes, checksum: e0540d2494ba0a646269e92471dbef91 (MD5) Final_Master_s_Thesis-Ian_Shaw.docx: 12655240 bytes, checksum: a308388926dbbf7b12b666116e6cd0f6 (MD5) LICENSE.txt: 4205 bytes, checksum: 6863b17cb8e19bc6665b4366ff5d8845 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-04-27Embargo set by: Colleen Fallaw for item 102853 Lift date: 2019-08-10T21:27:21Z Reason: Author requested U of Illinois access only (OA after 2yrs) in Vireo ETD systemU of I Only Restriction Lifted for Item 102853 on 2019-08-11T09:15:39Z
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