3,274 research outputs found
Chlamydia trachomatis: small genome, big challenges.
No full textChlamydial infections are highly newsworthy, but basic research into Chlamydia trachomatis is severely hampered by a series of formidable technical barriers. This has resulted in a paucity of information with respect to the genetics and population structure of these recalcitrant bacteria. Here we present a review of what is currently known about the genomics of C. trachomatis and discuss the usefulness of molecular typing systems and the prospects of developing a pan-chlamydial genome resourc
Dataset for Deep learning enabled design of complex transmission matrices for universal optical components
No full textData comprising Numerical simulation results and deep learning results to supprot article N. J. Dinsdale, P. R. Wiecha, M. Delaney, J. Reynolds, M. Ebert, I. Zeimpekis, D. J. Thomson, G. T. Reed, P. Lalanne, K. Vynck, O. L. Muskens "Deep learning enabled design of complex transmission matrices for universal optical components". ACS Photonics (2020). Each figure has a Readme file attached.</span
External interventions and the duration of civil wars
No full textThe authors combine an empirical model of external intervention, with a theoretical model of civil war duration. Their empirical model of intervention allows them to analyze civil war duration, using"expected"rather than"actual"external intervention as an explanatory variable in the duration model. Unlike previous studies, they find that external intervention is positively associated with the duration of civil war. They distinguish partial third-party interventions that extend the length of war, from multilateral"peace"operations, which have a mandate to restore peace without taking sides - and which typically take place at war's end, or at least when both sides have agreed to a cease-fire. In a future paper, the authors will examine whether partial third-party interventions - whatever their effect on a war's duration - increase the risk of war's recurrence. If that proves true, then even if interventions reduce the length of civil war, they may do so at the cost of further destabilizing the political system, and sowing the seeds of future rebellion.Children and Youth,Peace&Peacekeeping,Post Conflict Reconstruction,Post Conflict Reconstruction,International Affairs,Post Conflict Reconstruction,Social Conflict and Violence,Peace&Peacekeeping,Post Conflict Reconstruction,International Affairs
Recommended from our members
Nicholas and Anna Ricco Ethics Awards
No full textThis paper was awarded a Nicholas and Anna Ricco Ethics Award for 2013. In this paper, the author discusses issues related to accountability versus autonomy and suggestions toward a more responsible practice of science
The nature and extent of plasmid variation in Chlamydia trachomatis
No full textChlamydia trachomatis is an obligate intracellular pathogen of humans, causing both the sexually transmitted infection, chlamydia, and the most common cause of infectious blindness, trachoma. The majority of sequenced C. trachomatis clinical isolates carry a 7.5-Kb plasmid, and it is becoming increasingly evident that this is a key determinant of pathogenicity. The discovery of the Swedish New Variant and the more recent Finnish variant highlight the importance of understanding the natural extent of variation in the plasmid. In this study we analysed 524 plasmid sequences from publicly available whole-genome sequence data. Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in each of the eight coding sequences (CDS) were identified and analysed. There were 224 base positions out of a total 7550 bp that carried a SNP, which equates to a SNP rate of 2.97%, nearly three times what was previously calculated. After normalising for CDS size, CDS8 had the highest SNP rate at 3.97% (i.e., number of SNPs per total number of nucleotides), whilst CDS6 had the lowest at 1.94%. CDS5 had the highest total number of SNPs across the 524 sequences analysed (2267 SNPs), whereas CDS6 had the least SNPs with only 85 SNPs. Calculation of the genetic distances identified CDS6 as the least variable gene at the nucleotide level (d = 0.001), and CDS5 as the most variable (d = 0.007); however, at the amino acid level CDS2 was the least variable (d = 0.001), whilst CDS5 remained the most variable (d = 0.013). This study describes the largest in-depth analysis of the C. trachomatis plasmid to date, through the analysis of plasmid sequence data mined from whole genome sequences spanning 50 years and from a worldwide distribution, providing insights into the nature and extent of existing variation within the plasmid as well as guidance for the design of future diagnostic assays. This is crucial at a time when single-target diagnostic assays are failing to detect natural mutants, putting those infected at risk of a serious long-term and life-changing illness
User evaluation of a market-based recommender system
No full textRecommender systems have been developed for a wide variety of applications (ranging from books, to holidays, to web pages). These systems have used a number of different approaches, since no one technique is best for all users in all situations. Given this, we believe that to be effective, systems should incorporate a wide variety of such techniques and then some form of overarching framework should be put in place to coordinate them so that only the best recommendations (from whatever source) are presented to the user. To this end, in our previous work, we detailed a market-based approach in which various recommender agents competed with one another to present their recommendations to the user. We showed through theoretical analysis and empirical evaluation with simulated users that an appropriately designed marketplace should be able to provide effective coordination. Building on this, we now report on the development of this multi-agent system and its evaluation with real users. Specifically, we show that our system is capable of consistently giving high quality recommendations, that the best recommendations that could be put forward are actually put forward, and that the combination of recommenders performs better than any constituent recommende
Progress towards an inducible, replication-proficient transposon delivery vector for Chlamydia trachomatis
No full textBackgroundGenetic systems have been developed for Chlamydia but the extremely low transformationfrequency remains a significant bottleneck. Our goal is to develop aself-replicating transposon delivery vector for C. trachomatis which can be expanded prior to transposaseinduction.MethodsWe made E. coli/ C. trachomatis shuttle vectors bearing the Himar1 C9 transposase under control of the tet promoter and a novel rearrangement of the Himar1 transposon with the β-lactamase gene. Activity of the transposase was monitored by immunoblot and by DNA sequencing.ResultsWe constructed pSW2-mCh-C9, a C. trachomatis plasmid designed to act as aself-replicating vector carrying both the Himar1 C9 transposase under tet promoter control and its transposon. However, we were unable to recover this plasmid in C. trachomatis following multiple attempts attransformation.Therefore, we assembled two new deletion plasmidspSW2-mCh-C9-ΔTpon carrying only the Himar1 C9 transposase (under tet promoter control) and a sister vector (samesequence backbone) pSW2-mCh-C9-ΔTpase carrying its cognate transposon. Wedemonstrated that the biological components that make up both pSW2-mCh-C9-ΔTponand pSW2-mCh-C9-ΔTpase are active in E. coli. Both these plasmids could be independentlyrecovered in C. trachomatis.We attempted to perform lateral gene transfer bytransformation and mixed infection with C. trachomatis strains bearing pSW2-mCh-C9-ΔTpon and pSW2-RSGFP-Tpon (a green fluorescent version of pSW2-mCh-C9-ΔTpase). Despite success inachieving mixed infections, it was not possible to recover progeny bearing bothversions of these plasmids.ConclusionsWe have designed a self-replicating plasmid vectorpSW2-mCh-C9 for C. trachomatis carrying the Himar1 C9 transposase under tet promoter control. Whilst this can betransformed into E. coli it cannot be recovered in C. trachomatis. Based on selected deletions and phenotypicanalyses we conclude that low level expression from the tet inducible promoter is responsible forpremature transposition and hence plasmid loss early on in the transformationprocess.</p
Complete Genome Sequence of the First KPC-Type Carbapenemase-Positive Proteus mirabilis Strain from a Bloodstream Infection
No full textSequencing of the blaKPC-positive strain Proteus mirabilis AOUC-001 was performed using both the MiSeq and PacBio RS II platforms and yielded a single molecule of 4,272,433 bp, representing the complete chromosome. Genome analysis showed the presence of several acquired resistance determinants, including two copies of blaKPC-2 carried on a fragment of a KPC-producing plasmid previously described in Klebsiella pneumoniae
Characterization and structure in the development of Tudor comedy
No full textThe role of characterization in dramatic structure is assessed by theoretical criteria.
Characters who perform actions necessary for the completion of the narrative sequence are
said to be "bound" to the narrative; those without such obligations are "free". Characters
who maintain a single, constant meaning during the course of a play are said to be "static";
characters who change or develop into new roles are "dynamic". Horatian decorum
demanded that comic characters be static, and the characters of Plautine and Terentian
tradition were almost always bound to narrative intrigue. However, evaluations of six
Tudor comedies show an increasing use of non-classical characterization within the comic
form.
In the early comedies lohan lohan and Roister Doister all characters are bound and
static, yet the impetus to enlarge the role of characterization is evident. The characters of
lohan lohan are expanded from their French source, and Roister Doister includes
extraneous episodes in which Udall displays his braggart hero. Free characters abound in
Misogonus; as well the play brings dynamic characterization into the scope of comedy with
the conversion of its prodigal son.
Free characters offer new possibilities of non-narrative plotting. In comedies of the
1580s favourite traditional characters appear as diversions outside the action, and thematic
arrangements of characters inform the increasingly complex plots. Lyly stresses the
symbolic potential of characters in Endimion, whereas Greene uses dynamic
characterization to heighten the illusion of independent figures in Friar Bacon and Friar
Bungay. Love's Labour's Lost exposes the limitations of comic artifice by pulling the
characters between convention and individualization.
By the end of the sixteenth century free and dynamic characters had become
common, and characterization had established a sizable claim on the design of English
comedy. These developments set the English form apart from its neoclassical counterparts
Correction to:PTH1 receptor agonists for fracture risk: a systematic review and network meta-analysis (Osteoporosis International, (2025), 10.1007/s00198-025-07440-1)
No full textThe original online version of this article was revised: In this article, the author Olivier Bruyère's name was missing; the order in which the authors appeared in the author list was incorrectly given as: Charlotte Beaudart 1,2 · Nicola Veronese 1,3 · Jonathan Douxfils 4,5,6 · Jotheeswaran Amuthavalli Thiyagarajan 7 · Francesco Bolzetta 8 · Paolo Albanese 8 · Gianpaolo Voltan 8 · Majed Alokail 9 · Nicholas C. Harvey 1,10 · Nicholas R. Fuggle 1,10 · René Rizzoli 1,11 · Jean‑Yves Reginster 1,9 where it should have been: Charlotte Beaudart 1,2, Nicola Veronese 1,3, Jonathan Douxfils 4,5,6, Jotheeswaran Amuthavalli Thiyagarajan 7, Francesco Bolzetta 8, Paolo Albanese 8, Gianpaolo Voltan 8, Majed Alokail 9, Nicholas C. Harvey 1,10, Nicholas R. Fuggle 1,10, Olivier Bruyère 1,11, René Rizzoli 1,12, Jean-Yves Reginster 1,9 In this article, the affiliation “Research Unit in Public Health, Epidemiology and Health Economics, University of Liege, Liege, Belgium” for Olivier Bruyère was missing. The original article has been corrected.</p
- …
