Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “replication”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 289 records · Page 16

Property of hepatitis B virus replication in Tupaia belangeri hepatocytes

The northern treeshrew (Tupaia belangeri) has been reported to be an effective candidate for animal infection model with hepatitis B virus (HBV). The objective of our study was to analyze the growth characteristics of HBV in tupaia hepatocytes and the host response to HBV infection. We established primary tupaia hepatocytes (3–6-week old tupaia) and infected them with HBV genotypes A, B and C, and all the genotypes proliferated as well as those in human primary hepatocytes (>10{sup 5} copies/ml in culture supernatant). We next generated a chimeric mouse with tupaia liver by transplantation of tupaia primary hepatocytes to urokinase-type plasminogen activator cDNA (cDNA-uPA)/severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice and the replacement ratio with tupaia hepatocytes was found to be more than 95%. Infection of chimeric mice with HBV (genotypes B, C, and D) resulted in HBV-DNA level of 10{sup 4}-10{sup 6} copies/ml after 8 weeks of infection, which were almost similar to that in humanized chimeric mouse. In contrast, serum HBV level in adult tupaia (1-year-old tupaia) was quite low (<10{sup 3} copies/ml). Understanding the differences in the response to HBV infection in primary tupaia hepatocytes, chimeric mouse, and adult tupaia will contribute to elucidating the mechanism of persistent HBV infection and viral eradication. Thus, T. belangeri was found to be efficient for studying the host response to HBV infection, thereby providing novel insight into the pathogenesis of HBV. - Highlights: • Primary hepatocytes were established from tupaia that is a novel HBV infection model. • Tupaia primary hepatocytes were susceptible for HBV infection. • The immunodeficient chimeric mice with tupaia hepatocytes were established. • The chimeric mice with tupaia hepatocytes were susceptible for HBV infection.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Effect of betulinic acid and its ionic derivatives on M-MuLV replication

Murine leukemia virus (MuLV) is a retrovirus known causing leukemia and neurological disorders in mice, and its viral life cycle and pathogenesis have been investigated extensively over the past decades. As a natural antiviral agent, betulinic acid is a pentacyclic triterpenoid that can be found in the bark of several species of plants (particularly the white birch). One of the hurdles for betulinic acid to release its antiviral potency is its poor water solubility. In this study, we synthesized more water-soluble ionic derivatives of betulinic acid, and examined their activities against Moloney MuLV (M-MuLV). The mouse fibroblast cells stably infected with M-MuLV, 43D cells, were treated with various doses of betulinic acids and its derivatives, and the viral structural protein Gag in cells and media were detected by western blots. Two ionic derivatives containing the benzalkonium cation were found to inhibit the virus production into media and decreased Gag in cells. However, a cell proliferation assay showed that the benzalkonium cation inhibited the growth of 43D cells, suggesting that our ionic derivatives limited virus production through the inhibition of metabolism in 43D cells. Interestingly, all of these betulinic acid compounds exhibited a minimum impact on the processing and release of Gag from 43D cells, which outlines the differences of viral maturation between MuLV and human immunodeficiency virus.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗

Replicating the Z iron opacity experiments on the NIF

Here, X-ray opacity is a crucial factor of all radiation-hydrodynamics calculations, yet it is one of the least validated of the material properties in the simulation codes. Recent opacity experiments at the Sandia Z-machine have shown up to factors of two discrepancies between theory and experiment, casting doubt on the validity of the opacity models. Therefore, a new experimental opacity platform is being developed on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) not only to verify the Z-machine experimental results but also to extend the experiments to other temperatures and densities. The first experiments will be directed towards measuring the opacity of iron at a temperature of ~160 eV and an electron density of ~7 x 10 21 cm -3 . Preliminary experiments on NIF have demonstrated the ability to create a sufficiently bright point backlighter using an imploding plastic capsule and also a hohlraum that can heat the opacity sample to the desired conditions. The first of these iron opacity experiments is expected to be performed in 2017.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

RECQ1 A159C Polymorphism Is Associated With Overall Survival of Patients With Resected Pancreatic Cancer: A Replication Study in NRG Oncology Radiation Therapy Oncology Group 9704

Purpose: To confirm whether a previously observed association between RECQ1 A159C variant and clinical outcome of resectable pancreatic cancer patients treated with preoperative chemoradiation is reproducible in another patient population prospectively treated with postoperative chemoradiation. Methods and Materials: Patients were selected, according to tissue availability, from eligible patients with resected pancreatic cancer who were enrolled on the NRG Oncology Radiation Therapy Oncology Group 9704 trial of 5-fluorouacil (5-FU)-based chemoradiation preceded and followed by 5-FU or gemcitabine. Deoxyribonucleic acid was extracted from paraffin-embedded tissue sections, and genotype was determined using the Taqman method. The correlation between genotype and overall survival was analyzed using a Kaplan-Meier plot, log-rank test, and multivariate Cox proportional hazards models. Results: In the 154 of the study's 451 eligible patients with evaluable tissue, genotype distribution followed Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (ie, 37% had genotype AA, 43% AC, and 20% CC). The RECQ1 variant AC/CC genotype carriers were associated with being node positive compared with the AA carrier (P=.03). The median survival times (95% confidence interval [CI]) for AA, AC, and CC carriers were 20.6 (16.3-26.1), 18.8 (14.2-21.6), and 14.2 (10.3-21.0) months, respectively. On multivariate analysis, patients with the AC/CC genotypes were associated with worse survival than patients with the AA genotype (hazard ratio [HR] 1.54, 95% CI 1.07-2.23, P=.022). This result seemed slightly stronger for patients on the 5-FU arm (n=82) (HR 1.64, 95% CI 0.99-2.70, P=.055) than for patients on the gemcitabine arm (n=72, HR 1.46, 95% CI 0.81-2.63, P=.21). Conclusions: Results of this study suggest that the RECQ1 A159C genotype may be a prognostic or predictive factor for resectable pancreatic cancer patients who are treated with adjuvant 5-FU before and after 5-FU-based chemoradiation. Further study is needed in patients treated with gemcitabine to determine whether an association exists.

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE↗

Quantifying replication through repeated analysis of UVM-A, a liquid reference material for cosmogenic 10 Be and 26 Al studies

In this study, in-situ produced cosmogenic nuclide sample preparation and analysis is a complicated, multi-step process with numerous possible sources of error, many of which have not been robustly quantified. Here, we use a liquid reference material (UVM-A) to test whether the analytic precision associated with individual isotopic ratios (n = 96) measured at two Accelerator Mass Spectrometry facilities (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Purdue Rare Isotope Measurement Laboratory) accurately represents the range of values determined for aliquots prepared in a single laboratory over a period of five years. We find that 10 Be/ 9 Be ratios measured at the different accelerator facilities (n = 26 and n = 70) have statistically indistinguishable central tendencies, matching to within 0.1 %. Based on this large dataset, we suggest preliminary consensus values for UVM-A of 1.45 ± 0.06 x 10 -13 for 10 Be/ 9 Be (mean, one standard deviation, n = 96) and 4.47 ± 0.22 x 10 -13 for 26 Al/ 27 Al (mean, one standard deviation, n = 27). For both 10 Be/ 9 Be and 26 Al/ 27 Al, the relative standard deviations of the measured ratios are similar to the reported analytic uncertainties of sample measurement, suggesting that sample preparation introduced little if any additional scatter beyond the uncertainty of isotopic analysis. This dataset demonstrates that robust sample preparation and measurement can generate isotope ratio data reproducible at the level of counting statistics.

58 GEOSCIENCES↗