scholarly journals Heterogeneity of SARS-CoV-2 virus produced in cell culture revealed by shotgun proteomics and supported by genome sequencing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabrice Gallais ◽  
Olivier Pible ◽  
Jean-Charles Gaillard ◽  
Stéphanie Debroas ◽  
Hélène Batina ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Structure ◽  
Cell Culture ◽  
Shotgun Proteomics ◽  
Rapid Analysis ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
Tandem Mass ◽  
The Past ◽  
Viral Particles ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
The Subject

AbstractCOVID-19 is the most disturbing pandemic of the past hundred years. Its causative agent, the SARS-CoV-2 virus, has been the subject of an unprecedented investigation to characterize its molecular structure and intimate functioning. While markers for its detection have been proposed and several diagnostic methodologies developed, its propensity to evolve and evade diagnostic tools and the immune response is of great concern. The recent spread of new variants with increased infectivity requires even more attention. Here, we document how shotgun proteomics can be useful for rapidly monitoring the evolution of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. We evaluated the heterogeneity of purified SARS-CoV-2 virus obtained after culturing in the Vero E6 cell line. We found that cell culture induces significant changes that are translated at the protein level, such changes being detectable by tandem mass spectrometry. Production of viral particles requires careful quality control which can be easily performed by shotgun proteomics. Although considered relatively stable so far, the SARS-CoV-2 genome turns out to be prone to frequent variations. Therefore, the sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 variants from patients reporting only the consensus genome after its amplification would deserve more attention and could benefit from more in-depth analysis of low level but crystal-clear signals, as well as complementary and rapid analysis by shotgun proteomics. Graphical abstract

Comments on “Challenges Facing African Universities”

2004 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-66
Author(s):  
William Saint
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
African History ◽  
Valuable Resource ◽  
The Past ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
Political Forces ◽  
African Higher Education ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Near Future

In tackling the topic of current challenges to African universities, Akilagpa Sawyerr has chosen to paint with a broad brush. While giving appropriate acknowledgment to the diversity and complexity of prevailing circumstances in each country, he has elected to focus on a limited number of important issues that he believes constitute, in varying degrees, common challenges to universities across the continent. In electing this approach, he shows a preference for illuminating the dynamic interrelationships among these challenges, and for situating them with regard to some of the larger economic and political forces that have shaped African history in the latter part of the twentieth century. In consequence, he necessarily foregoes in-depth analysis of specific issues. To provide such analysis would require a book, which I sincerely hope Prof. Sawyerr will undertake in the near future.What is valuable about this article? I would like to underscore three aspects.First, it provides a clear overview of the main challenges that have confronted African higher education, especially during the past decade, together with helpful interpretations of the causes and consequences of these events. It also incorporates much of the very recent explosion of research on this topic, particularly by African scholars. The bibliography itself is a valuable resource for those interested in the subject.

scholarly journals Ироническое начало в фельетоне Киев-город Михаила Булгакова

2021 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-134
Author(s):  
Antoni Bortnowski
Keyword(s):  
The Novel ◽  
Spiritual Values ◽  
Characteristic Element ◽  
The Past ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Stark Contrast ◽  
Colloquial Speech ◽  
The City

The subject of the article is the analysis of the image of Kiev, presented in Mikhail Bulgakov’s feuilleton Kiev, the City. This work has rarely been the subject of in-depth analysis, despite the fact that it is one of the few texts in which the writer presents the image of his hometown. A characteristic element of the description of Kiev’s past and present is the irony. It is noticeable in the title of the feuilleton, as well as in the names of its parts. The ironic image of Soviet Kiev stands in stark contrast to the vision of the city captured in the novel The White Guard. The analysis of the techniques used by the writer in the text of Kiev, the City (e.g. the naive narrator’s mask, a combination of pompous style and colloquial speech) is carried out in order to prove that the feuilleton, in its style and ideas expressed, also shows the author’s rejection of post-revolutionary reality and his attempt to overcome the trauma of the past through laughter. The ironic image of the Soviet reality on the background of eternal spiritual values makes Kiev, the City a harbinger of the problems covered inMikhail Bulgakov’s later works.

Pakistan’s Development: Successes, Failures, and Future Tasks (Presidential Remarks)

1997 ◽  
Vol 36 (4I) ◽  
pp. 321-331
Author(s):  
Sarfraz Khan Qureshi
Keyword(s):  
Indian Subcontinent ◽  
General Meeting ◽  
The Past ◽  
Past Half Century ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Golden Jubilee ◽  
Freedom Movement ◽  
Past Half ◽  
Do So

It is an honour for me as President of the Pakistan Society of Development Economists to welcome you to the 13th Annual General Meeting and Conference of the Society. I consider it a great privilege to do so as this Meeting coincides with the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the state of Pakistan, a state which emerged on the map of the postwar world as a result of the Muslim freedom movement in the Indian Subcontinent. Fifty years to the date, we have been jubilant about it, and both as citizens of Pakistan and professionals in the social sciences we have also been thoughtful about it. We are trying to see what development has meant in Pakistan in the past half century. As there are so many dimensions that the subject has now come to have since its rather simplistic beginnings, we thought the Golden Jubilee of Pakistan to be an appropriate occasion for such stock-taking.

TARP DVIEJŲ KOLONŲ: XVIII A. PABAIGOS – XIX A. PRADŽIOS VILNIAUS MASONŲ KASDIENYBĖ SIMBOLIKOJE

2018 ◽  
pp. 144-163
Author(s):  
Daiva Milinkevičiūtė
Keyword(s):  
Daily Life ◽  
The Other ◽  
Daily Routine ◽  
The Past ◽  
Secular World ◽  
National Characteristics ◽  
Conservative Christian ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The One ◽  
Craft Guilds

The Age of Enlightenment is defined as the period when the universal ideas of progress, deism, humanism, naturalism and others were materialized and became a golden age for freemasons. It is wrong to assume that old and conservative Christian ideas were rejected. Conversely, freemasons put them into new general shapes and expressed them with the help of symbols in their daily routine. Symbols of freemasons had close ties with the past and gave them, on the one hand, a visible instrument, such as rituals and ideas to sense the transcendental, and on the other, intense gnostic aspirations. Freemasons put in a great amount of effort to improve themselves and to create their identity with the help of myths and symbols. It traces its origins to the biblical builders of King Solomon’s Temple, the posterity of the Templar Knights, and associations of the medieval craft guilds, which were also symbolical and became their link not only to each other but also to the secular world. In this work we analysed codified masonic symbols used in their rituals. The subject of our research is the universal Masonic idea and its aspects through the symbols in the daily life of the freemasons in Vilnius. Thanks to freemasons’ signets, we could find continuity, reception, and transformation of universal masonic ideas in the Lithuanian freemasonry and national characteristics of lodges. Taking everything into account, our article shows how the universal idea of freemasonry spread among Lithuanian freemasonry, and which forms and meanings it incorporated in its symbols. The objective of this research is to find a universal Masonic idea throughout their visual and oral symbols and see its impact on the daily life of the masons in Vilnius. Keywords: Freemasonry, Bible, lodge, symbols, rituals, freemasons’ signets.

Performance Management Transformation

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Performance ◽  
Performance Management ◽  
High Performance ◽  
Best Practice ◽  
Call To Action ◽  
Daily Work ◽  
The Past ◽  
Great Debate ◽  
The Subject ◽  
New Research

No other talent process has been the subject of such great debate and emotion as performance management (PM). For decades, different strategies have been tried to improve PM processes, yielding an endless cycle of reform to capture the next “flavor-of-the-day” PM trend. The past 5 years, however, have brought novel thinking that is different from past trends. Companies are reducing their formal processes, driving performance-based cultures, and embedding effective PM behavior into daily work rather than relying on annual reviews to drive these. Through case studies provided from leading organizations, this book illustrates the range of PM processes that companies are using today. These show a shift away from adopting someone else’s best practice; instead, companies are designing bespoke PM processes that fit their specific strategy, climate, and needs. Leading PM thought leaders offer their views about the state of PM today, what we have learned and where we need to focus future efforts, including provocative new research that shows what matters most in driving high performance. This book is a call to action for talent management professionals to go beyond traditional best practice and provide thought leadership in designing PM processes and systems that will enhance both individual and organizational performance.

scholarly journals Shopping Centres, Cycling Accessibility and Planning—The Case of Nova Lund in Sweden

Urban Science ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 70
Author(s):  
Till Koglin ◽  
Lucas Glasare
Keyword(s):  
Conflicts Of Interest ◽  
Current Situation ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Literature Study ◽  
Shopping Centre ◽  
The Past ◽  
Whole Process ◽  
The Subject

This paper evaluates the history and cycling accessibility of Nova, a shopping centre established in Lund, Sweden, in 2002. The current situation was also analysed through observation and a literature review. Moreover, the study conducted a closer analysis of the history and role of the municipality based on further literature study and interviews with officials. The conclusion of the analysis indicates poor and unsafe bikeways caused by conflicts of interest between politicians, officials, landowners and the general public. It also depicts a situation in which the municipality’s master plan has been ignored, and, in contrast to the local goals, cycling accessibility at Nova has seen no significant improvement since the shopping centre was first established. The reasons for this, arguably, are a relatively low budget for bikeway improvements in the municipality, as well as a situation in which decision-makers have stopped approaching the subject, as a result of the long and often boisterous conflicts it has created in the past. Lastly, it must be noted that it is easy to regard the whole process of Nova, from its establishment to the current situation, as being symptomatic of the power structures between drivers and cyclists that still affect decision-makers at all levels.

scholarly journals Life Cycle Assessment and Material Flow Analysis: Two Under-Utilized Tools for Informing E-Waste Management

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7939
Author(s):  
Sohani Vihanga Withanage ◽  
Komal Habib
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Assessment ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Material Flow ◽  
Keyword Search ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Flow Analysis ◽  
Material Flow Analysis ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
The Past ◽  
Depth Analysis

The unprecedented technological development and economic growth over the past two decades has resulted in streams of rapidly growing electronic waste (e-waste) around the world. As the potential source of secondary raw materials including precious and critical materials, e-waste has recently gained significant attention across the board, ranging from governments and industry, to academia and civil society organizations. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive review of the last decade of e-waste literature followed by an in-depth analysis of the application of material flow analysis (MFA) and life cycle assessment (LCA), i.e., two less commonly used strategic tools to guide the relevant stakeholders in efficient management of e-waste. Through a keyword search on two main online search databases, Scopus and Web of Science, 1835 peer-reviewed publications were selected and subjected to a bibliographic network analysis to identify and visualize major research themes across the selected literature. The selected 1835 studies were classified into ten different categories based on research area, such as environmental and human health impacts, recycling and recovery technologies, associated social aspects, etc. With this selected literature in mind, the review process revealed the two least explored research areas over the past decade: MFA and LCA with 33 and 31 studies, respectively. A further in-depth analysis was conducted for these two areas regarding their application to various systems with numerous scopes and different stages of e-waste life cycle. The study provides a detailed discussion regarding their applicability, and highlights challenges and opportunities for further research.

scholarly journals Teaching Science in Today’s Society: The Case of Particle Physics for Primary Schools

Universe ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 169
Author(s):  
Cristina Lazzeroni ◽  
Sandra Malvezzi ◽  
Andrea Quadri
Keyword(s):  
Particle Physics ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Scientific Information ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Ongoing Project

The rapid changes in science and technology witnessed in recent decades have significantly contributed to the arousal of the awareness by decision-makers and the public as a whole of the need to strengthen the connection between outreach activities of universities and research institutes and the activities of educational institutions, with a central role played by schools. While the relevance of the problem is nowadays unquestioned, no unique and fully satisfactory solution has been identified. In the present paper we would like to contribute to the discussion on the subject by reporting on an ongoing project aimed to teach Particle Physics in primary schools. We will start from the past and currently planned activities in this project in order to establish a broader framework to describe the conditions for the fruitful interplay between researchers and teachers. We will also emphasize some aspects related to the dissemination of outreach materials by research institutions, in order to promote the access and distribution of scientific information in a way suited to the different age of the target students.

Does the Injunction Gap Violate Implementers’ Fair Trial Rights Under the ECHR?

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Léon E Dijkman
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Fair Trial ◽  
European Convention ◽  
The Past ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Right ◽  
Federal Supreme ◽  
Validity Of A Patent

Abstract Germany is one of few jurisdictions with a bifurcated patent system, under which infringement and validity of a patent are established in separate proceedings. Because validity proceedings normally take longer to conclude, it can occur that remedies for infringement are imposed before a decision on the patent’s validity is available. This phenomenon is colloquially known as the ‘injunction gap’ and has been the subject of increasing criticism over the past years. In this article, I examine the injunction gap from the perspective of the right to a fair trial enshrined in Art. 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. I find that the case law of the European Court of Human Rights interpreting this provision supports criticism of the injunction gap, because imposing infringement remedies with potentially far-reaching consequences before the validity of a patent has been established by a court of law arguably violates defendants’ right to be heard. Such reliance on the patent office’s grant decision is no longer warranted in the light of contemporary invalidation rates. I conclude that the proliferation of the injunction gap should be curbed by an approach to a stay of proceedings which is in line with the test for stays as formulated by Germany’s Federal Supreme Court. Under this test, courts should stay infringement proceedings until the Federal Patent Court or the EPO’s Board of Appeal have ruled on the validity of a patent whenever it is more likely than not that it will be invalidated.

scholarly journals Morphological Characteristics, Classifications and Difficulties in the Use of Diagnostic Criteria for Serrated Lesions of the Large Intestine

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cesar de Souza Bastos Junior ◽  
Vera Lucia Nunes Pannain ◽  
Adriana Caroli-Bottino
Keyword(s):  
Diagnostic Criteria ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
World Health ◽  
Diagnostic Tools ◽  
Serrated Adenoma ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Serrated Lesions ◽  
Health Organization

Abstract Introduction Colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is the most common gastrointestinal neoplasm in the world, accounting for 15% of cancer-related deaths. This condition is related to different molecular pathways, among them the recently described serrated pathway, whose characteristic entities, serrated lesions, have undergone important changes in their names and diagnostic criteria in the past thirty years. The multiplicity of denominations and criteria over the last years may be responsible for the low interobserver concordance (IOC) described in the literature. Objectives The present study aims to describe the evolution in classification of serrated lesions, based on the last three publications of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the reproducibility of these criteria by pathologists, based on the evaluation of the IOC. Methods A search was conducted in the PubMed, ResearchGate and Portal Capes databases, with the following terms: sessile serrated lesion; serrated lesions; serrated adenoma; interobserver concordance; and reproducibility. Articles published since 1990 were researched. Results and Discussion The classification of serrated lesions in the past thirty years showed different denominations and diagnostic criteria. The reproducibility and IOC of these criteria in the literature, based on the kappa coefficient, varied in most studies, from very poor to moderate. Conclusions Interobserver concordance and the reproducibility of microscopic criteria may represent a limitation for the diagnosis and appropriate management of these lesions. It is necessary to investigate diagnostic tools to improve the performance of the pathologist's evaluation, for better concordance, and, consequently, adequate diagnosis and treatment.

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