Role of HSV-1 Capsid Vertex-Specific Component (CVSC) and Viral Terminal DNA in Capsid Docking at the Nuclear Pore

Penetration of the viral genome into a host cell nucleus is critical for initiation of viral replication for most DNA viruses and a few RNA viruses. For herpesviruses, viral DNA ejection into a nucleus occurs when the capsid docks at the nuclear pore complex (NPC) basket with the correct orientation of the unique capsid portal vertex. It has been shown that capsid vertex-specific component (CVSC) proteins, which are located at the twelve vertices of the human herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) capsid, interact with nucleoporins (Nups) of NPCs. However, it remained unclear whether CVSC proteins determine capsid-to-NPC binding. Furthermore, it has been speculated that terminal DNA adjacent to the portal complex of DNA-filled C-capsids forms a structural motif with the portal cap (which retains DNA in the capsid), which mediates capsid-NPC binding. We demonstrate that terminal viral DNA adjacent to the portal proteins does not present a structural element required for capsid-NPC binding. Our data also show that level of CVSC proteins on the HSV-1 capsid affects level of NPC binding. To elucidate the capsid-binding process, we use an isolated, reconstituted cell nucleus system that recapitulates capsid-nucleus binding in vivo without interference from trafficking kinetics of capsids moving toward the nucleus. This allows binding of non-infectious capsid maturation intermediates with varying levels of vertex-specific components. This experimental system provides a platform for investigating virus–host interaction at the nuclear membrane.

Evaluation and consideration of local specimen material properties in lifetime prediction of short fibre reinforced PA6T/6I

To exploit the full material potential of short fibre reinforced PA6T/6I, specific component calculations including aniso- tropic material behaviour is necessary. For this, different failure criteria and fatigue models are used to describe the behaviour during a component service life. This paper deals with the determination and consideration of fibre orientations for failure criteria and fatigue calculations. Therefore, a novel method to determine fibre orientation (FO) distributions across injection moulded plates, is proposed. The developed method allows a forecast of FOs for different specimen extraction positions and angles on injection moulded plates by using only a few measured reference points. As a result, fatigue models can be calibrated with the strength values and the corresponding FO, calculated for fracture position. The performed tests show a non-negligible influence of failure positions, due to fibre orientation distributions along the specimens. So, the FO determination method delivers an improvement in strength values estimation.

The efficacy of sampling strategies for estimating scabies prevalence

Background Estimating scabies prevalence in communities is crucial for identifying the communities with high scabies prevalence and guiding interventions. There is no standardisation of sampling strategies to estimate scabies prevalence in communities, and a wide range of sampling sizes and methods have been used. The World Health Organization recommends household sampling or, as an alternative, school sampling to estimate community-level prevalence. Due to varying prevalence across populations, there is a need to understand how sampling strategies for estimating scabies prevalence interact with scabies epidemiology to affect accuracy of prevalence estimates. Methods We used a simulation-based approach to compare the efficacy of different sampling methods and sizes. First, we generate synthetic populations with Australian Indigenous communities' characteristics and then, assign a scabies status to individuals to achieve a specified prevalence using different assumptions about scabies epidemiology (random, age-specific, household-specific, or age-and-household-specific transmissions). Second, we calculate an observed prevalence for different sampling methods (household-based, school-based or random sampling) and sizes. Results The distribution of prevalence in population groups can vary substantially when the underlying scabies assignment method changes. For example, age-specific scabies assignment increases the prevalence among children as well as prevalence in larger households. Household specific assignment approaches introduce higher variance in prevalence among households. Across all of the scabies assignment methods combined, the simple random sampling method produces the narrowest 95% confidence interval for all sampling percentages. The household sampling method introduces higher variance compared to simple random sampling when the assignment of scabies includes a household-specific component. The school sampling method overestimates community prevalence when the assignment of scabies includes an age-specific component. Discussion Our results indicate that there are interactions between transmission assumptions and surveillance strategies, emphasizing the need for understanding scabies transmission dynamics. We suggest using the simple random sampling method for estimating scabies prevalence. Our approach can be adapted to various populations and diseases.

Cavin4 interacts with Bin1 to promote T-tubule formation and stability in developing skeletal muscle

The cavin proteins are essential for caveola biogenesis and function. Here, we identify a role for the muscle-specific component, Cavin4, in skeletal muscle T-tubule development by analyzing two vertebrate systems, mouse and zebrafish. In both models, Cavin4 localized to T-tubules, and loss of Cavin4 resulted in aberrant T-tubule maturation. In zebrafish, which possess duplicated cavin4 paralogs, Cavin4b was shown to directly interact with the T-tubule–associated BAR domain protein Bin1. Loss of both Cavin4a and Cavin4b caused aberrant accumulation of interconnected caveolae within the T-tubules, a fragmented T-tubule network enriched in Caveolin-3, and an impaired Ca2+ response upon mechanical stimulation. We propose a role for Cavin4 in remodeling the T-tubule membrane early in development by recycling caveolar components from the T-tubule to the sarcolemma. This generates a stable T-tubule domain lacking caveolae that is essential for T-tubule function.

Safer Systems: People Training or System Tuning?

Safety is usually seen as a problem when it is absent rather than when it is present, where accidents, incidents, and the like represent a lack of safety rather than the presence of safety. To explain this lack of safety, one or more causes must be found. In the management of industrial safety, the human factor has traditionally been seen as a weak element; human error is often offered as the first, and sometimes the only cause of lack of safety and human factors have since the early days offered three principal solutions, namely training, design, and automation. Of these, training has considerable face value as an effective means to improve human performance. The drawback of safety training, however, is that it focuses on a single system component, the human, instead of on the system as a whole. Safety training further takes for granted that humans are a liability and focuses on overcoming the weakness of this specific component through simplistic models of what determines human performance. But humans may also be seen as an asset which changes the focus to strengthening how a complex socio-technical system functions. A socio-technical system comprises multiple functions that must be finely tuned in order to ensure expected and acceptable performance. Since systems cannot be made safer without developing effective ways of managing the conditions in which people work, system tuning offers an alternative solution to an old problem.

The relationship between habits and skills in humans

How do habit and skill relate to one another? We review current frameworks for skills and habits, and suggest a way of relating them through the notion of automaticity. Though various types of habit have been studied, we suggest that “slips-of-action” habits, such as habitually pressing a wrong key on a foreign keyboard, are the kind of habit most relevant to skill. Skilled behaviors rarely become habitual in their entirety, but instead specific component computations become habitual – or, equivalently, automatized – improving performance speed but at the cost of flexibility. We lastly consider the essential role of habits in learning complex skills given limited cognitive resources, and interpret deliberate practice as a process of breaking and restructuring habits to optimize performance.

Characteristics of changes in the structures of the anterior eye of rabbits at acute opisthorchosis and paracoenogonymosis

The purpose of the research is studying changes in the structures of the anterior eye of rabbits at acute opisthorchosis and paracoenogonymosis in experiment.Materials and methods. The studies were performed on sexually mature male rabbits. The first group consisted of animals infected with 50 metacercariae Opisthorhis felineus (Rivolta, 1884) (n = 3), and the second consisted of animals infected with 50 metacercariae Paracoenogonimus ovatus (Katsurada, 1914) (n = 3). The animals from the third group were control (n = 3). The study at opisthorchosis was performed at 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 weeks after infection, and the study at paracoenogonymosis was only performed at 1 and 2 weeks in connection with rapidly proceeding infection. These groups were compared within 1 and 2 weeks and according to specific changes. The clinical study included the upper and lower eyelids turned outwards in animals, and examination of the conjunctival surface of the eyelids, epicanthus (third eyelid), cornea, limbus and sclera of the eyeball, and eyelash less edge of the eyelids at all periods of observation. The measurements were carried out with a millimeter ruler along the longest part of the formation. The data were processed statistically by calculating the arithmetic mean (M) with the standard error of mean (σ) using the Microsoft Excel 2007 software package, and changes in characteristics were assessed at follow-up by the Wilcoxon rank sum test.Results and discussion. In the acute phase of opisthorchosis, the structures of the anterior eye are damaged, which occurs after the first week of infection in the form of allergic conjunctivitis, episcleritis. We found follicular formations in the upper eyelid, in the outer corner of the eye with further synulosis by the 5th week, and vascular enhancement of the upper eyelid. Conjunctival and corneal changes a month later were of the type of trachomatous pannus with conjunctival hyperemia of both eyelids, edema, and reddening of the free eyelash less edge. The infection by P. ovatus showed no follicular formations or eyelid edema for two weeks. Thus, at opisthorchosis, we observed the phenomena of combined pathology of the visual organ with a specific component for which an independent name can be distinguished, specific parasite-associated ophthalmitis.

Prediction Model of the Resulting Dimensions of Welded Stamped Parts

The combination of stamping and subsequent welding of components is an important area of the automotive industry. Stamping inaccuracies affect the final size of the stamping and the welded part. In this article, we deal with a specific component that is produced by such a procedure and is also a common part of the geometry of a car. We focused on the possibility of using a negative phenomenon—deformation during welding—on the partial elimination of inaccuracies arising during stamping. Based on the planned experiment, we created a prediction model for the selected part and its production, with the help of which it is possible to determine suitable welding parameters for a specific dimension of the stamping and the required monitored dimension of the welded part. The article also includes the results of additional experimental measurements verifying the accuracy of the model and prediction maps for practice.

Leveraging Human Resource Development Practice to Enhance Organizational Creativity: A Multilevel Conceptual Model

Developing creativity is a critical challenge for the survival and success of businesses. Using Amabile’s dynamic componential theory of creativity as a framework, we examined the underexplored potential of HRD practice to develop and foster creativity at the individual, group, and organizational levels. We bring together dispersed attempts in HRD literature to hypothesize the role of individual HRD activities under a conceptual model and indicate how the different activities influence specific component/s of organizational creativity identified in the theory. The model demonstrates the potential of HRD practice to exert a multilevel influence on organizational creativity and provides a theoretical grounding for the potential of HRD to develop creativity and augment the strategic capabilities of organizations. This article also contributes to organizational creativity literature by outlining specific relationships between key HRD practices and components of organizational creativity and to an underexplored area of creativity, namely developing the creative abilities of individuals and teams within organizational contexts.

Development and control of a home-based training device for hand rehabilitation with a spring and cable driven mechanism

Rehabilitation at home is rapidly increasing. Although successful results are achieved with treatment methods applied in rehabilitation clinics, there are also some disadvantages in this process, such as dependence on an expert and high costs. Developments in mechatronic technologies have accelerated the development of assistive devices which are designed for use at home. One of the rehabilitation applications is on a hemiplegic hand. In previous studies, some useful devices have been developed for hand rehabilitation. In this study, we suggest a new, low-cost and wearable robotic glove for hand rehabilitation. The specific component of this device is the spring and cable driven system proposed for transmission of motion and force. The device was tested on both unimpaired participants and patients with the hemiplegic hand, and it was proven to be beneficial for hand rehabilitation. As a result of trials with unimpaired participants, the muscle activation of the extensor digitorum and the flexor carpi radialis were increased by 184.1 and 197.8% respectively. The weight of the device was less than 400 g, thanks to 3D printed parts.