BACKGROUND Generation of robust cell-mediated immune responses at mucosal surfaces while reducing overall inflammation is a primary goal for vaccination. Here we report the use of a recombinant nanoparticle as a vaccine delivery platform against mucosal infections requiring T cell-mediated immunity for eradication. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We encapsulated an immunogenic protein, the maj...

In this work we place some of the traditional biometrics work on fingerprint verification via the fuzzy vault scheme within a cryptographic framework. We show that the breaking of a fuzzy vault leads to decoding of Reed-Solomon codes from random errors, which has been proposed as a hard problem in the cryptography community. We provide a security parameter for the fuzzy vault in terms of the de...

previous studies have shown that the receptive field properties, spontaneous activity and spatio-temporal interactions of low-threshold mechanical somatosensory cells in the barrel cortex are influenced by c-fibers. in this study, we examined the effect of c-fiber depletion on response properties of barrel cortex neurons following experience dependent plasticity. methods: in this study, exterac...

This paper applies Thrust-Network Analysis, a three-dimensional computational method for obtaining lower-bound solutions of masonry vaults with complex geometries. The method extends thrust-line analysis to three-dimensional problems by finding equilibrium force networks within the vault’s geometry, representing possible paths of the compression forces. Through two case studies, this paper demo...

Introduction: Acinetobacter baumannii is associated with hospital-acquired infections. Outer membrane protein A of A.baumannii (AbOmpA) is a well-characterized virulence factor which has important roles in pathogenesis of this bacterium. Methods: Based on our PCR-sequencing of ompA gene in the clinical isolates, AbOmpA protein can be categorized into two types, named here type-1 and type-2. We ...

One of the central issues facing the emerging field of nanotechnology is cellular compatibility. Nanoparticles have been proposed for diagnostic and therapeutic applications, including drug delivery, gene therapy, biological sensors, and controlled catalysis. Viruses, liposomes, peptides, and synthetic and natural polymers have been engineered for these applications, yet significant limitations...

Despite their ubiquitous expression and high conservation during evolution, precise cellular functions of vault ribonucleoparticles, mainly built of multiple major vault protein (MVP) copies, are still enigmatic. With regard to cancer, vaults were shown to be upregulated during drug resistance development as well as malignant transformation and progression. Such in a previous study we demonstra...

BACKGROUD The Implantable Collamer Lens (ICL) has been used widely for refractive errors, We performed this prospective randomized comparative study to compare postoperative intraocular pressure (IOP) and vaults of the eyes implanted with conventional ICL and central hole ICL. METHODS This study evaluated 44 eyes of 22 patients who underwent central hole ICL implantation in one eye and conven...