Thin films of MoO3 were prepared by deposition of size-selected ligand-free Mo clusters under high vacuum conditions and subsequent exposure to air. The growth pattern is highly dependent on the cluster size. At low coverage, small clusters (Mo51) form a continuous monolayer of fused particles. On top of this monolayer, additional clusters survive as individual entities. Medium sized clusters (...

Passive immunization with antibodies directed against the cellular form of the prion protein (PrPC) can protect against prion disease. However, active immunization with recombinant prion protein has so far failed to induce antibodies directed against native PrPC expressed on the cell surface. To develop an antiprion vaccine, a retroviral display system presenting either the full-length mouse Pr...

Rat serosal mast cells contain cytoplasmic secretory granules composed of a proteoglycan matrix in which histamine and neutral proteases are embedded. On stimulation, these granules are exocytosed, but some of them remain in the degranulation channels where on exposure to the extracellular fluid, they lose their histamine and a fraction of their proteoglycans. In vitro, such granule remnants ef...

Fluorescent tagging of viral particles by genetic means enables the study of virus dynamics in living cells. However, the study of beta-herpesvirus entry and morphogenesis by this method is currently limited. This is due to the lack of replication competent, capsid-tagged fluorescent viruses. Here, we report on viable recombinant MCMVs carrying ectopic insertions of the small capsid protein (SC...

Porous tablets of crystalline calcium carbonate were formed upon sintering of a precursor powder of amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) under compressive stress (20 MPa) at relatively low temperatures (120–400 uC), induced by pulsed direct currents. Infrared spectroscopy ascertained the amorphous nature of the precursor powders. At temperatures of 120–350 uC and rates of temperature increase of 2...

Pfs16 is a sexual stage/sporozoite-specific antigen of Plasmodium falciparum and is a potential candidate for a sporozoite-neutralizing vaccine. To obtain more information on the function of Pfs16 and to investigate its role during transmission and hepatocyte invasion, immunization experiments were performed with both a Pfs16-specific recombinant vaccinia virus and virus-like particles produced...

The formation and function of axons depends on the microtubule-based transport of cellular components from their sites of synthesis in the neuronal cell body to their sites of utilization at the axon terminus. To directly visualize this axonal transport in a living organism, we constructed transgenic lines of Caenorhabditis elegans that express green fluorescent protein fused to the monomeric s...

objective:at the present study, relationship between phagocytosis of plga particles and combined effects of particle size and surface pegylation was investigated.  materials and methods:microspheres and nanospheres (3500 nm and 700 nm) were prepared from three types of plga polymers (non-pegylated and pegylation percents of 9% and 15%). these particles were prepared by solvent evaporation metho...

Soot from the thermochemical conversion of solid and liquid fuels can be infused with metallic heteroatoms originating fuel – these alter nanostructure reactivity soot. Here, we investigate spatial distribution in soot generated by biomass gasification, using aberration-corrected Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy Energy Loss Spectroscopy (STEM-EELS). The technique allowed for mapping he...

Background: D-Phenylglycine aminotransferase (D-PhgAT) is highly beneficial in pharmaceutical biotechnology. Like many other enzymes, D-PhgAT suffers from low stability under harsh processing conditions, poor solubility of substrate, products and occasional microbial contamination. Incorporation of miscible organic solvents into the enzyme’s reaction is considered as a solution...