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HAMLET is a protein-lipid complex with a specific and broad bactericidal and tumoricidal activity, that lacks cytotoxic activity against healthy cells. In this study, we show that HAMLET also has general immune-stimulatory effects on primary human monocyte-derived dendritic cells and macrophages (Mo-DC and Mo-M) and murine RAW264.7 macrophages. HAMLET, but not its components alpha-lactalbumin or o
Geospatial information is indispensable for various spatially-informed analysis and decision-making, e.g. traffic analysis and built environment processes. Geospatial data often must be integrated for meaningful analysis, whereas such integration is challenging due to siloed data organization, semantic heterogeneity and multiple representation of geospatial data. Moreover, the visualization of geo
The ability to form biofilms is a crucial virulence trait for several microorganisms, including Klebsiella pneumoniae - a Gram-negative encapsulated bacterium often associated with nosocomial infections. It is estimated that 65-80% of bacterial infections are biofilm related. Biofilms are complex bacterial communities composed of one or more species encased in an extracellular matrix made of pro
Streptococcus pneumoniae is a pathogen responsible for high morbidity and mortality worldwide. The polysaccharide capsule confers protection against phagocytosis and influences many aspects of pneumococcal pathogenesis. The capsular polysaccharides (CPS) are highly immunogenic and exhibit great structural variability, with more than 100 serotypes described so far. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) a
A Circular Economy (CE) constitutes one pathway towards realising sustainable productionand consumption. Here, the repair of broken products (compared to replacement) consti-tutes an important strategy to keep products in the economy for longer, thereby reducingwaste, as well as the need to extract resources and emit pollution in the manufacture of areplacement product. In today’s world, repair do
This study aims to evaluate the accuracy of location (x, y and z) using a Magellan GPS NAV 1000 receiver. The position of a known reference point was compared with 50 fix points measured in two-dimensional (2D) mode (x, y) and with 50 fix points measured in three-dimensional (3D) mode (x, y and z). The mean errors and the root mean square errors (RMSE) in the Euclidian distances between the refere
Spatial decision making is an everyday activity, common to individuals and organizations. However, recently there is an increasing interest in the importance of spatial decision-making systems, as more decision-makers with concerns about sustainability, social, economic, environmental, land use planning, and transportation issues discover the benefits of geographical information. Many spatial deci
Soil erosion by water represents a serious threat to the natural and human environment in Mediterranean countries, including Lebanon, which represents a good case study. This research deals with how to use Geographic Information Systems (GIS), remote sensing, and, more specifically, structural classification techniques and decision-tree modeling to map erosion risks and design priority management
Nature-based tourism in the fragile Arctic environments is emerging as a major environmental concern, mainly due to extreme seasonality in these locations, the lack of suitable infrastructures and planning, and its interference with fragile ecosystems. In Iceland tourism has increased exponentially during the past decades, causing more environmental impacts on the country's natural recourses. Hiki
Dockless bike-sharing systems (DLBS) have gained much popularity due to their environmentally friendly features. This study puts forward a distinctive framework for assessing the environmental influences of DLBS in high resolution based on DLBS transaction data. The proposed framework firstly estimates the transport mode substituted by DLBS for each recorded bike-sharing trip by utilizing the rout
BACKGROUND: Mesoamerica is severely affected by an epidemic of Chronic Kidney Disease of non-traditional origin (CKDnt), an epidemic with a marked variation within countries. We sought to describe the spatial distribution of CKDnt in Mesoamerica and examine area-level crop and climate risk factors.METHODS: CKD mortality or hospital admissions data was available for five countries: Mexico, Guatemal
Monitoring pollution of PM2.5 on walkable roads is important for resident health in high-density cities. Due to the spatiotemporal resolution limitations of Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) observation, fixed-point monitoring, or traditional mobile measurement instruments, the microscale PM2.5 distribution in the walking environment cannot be fully estimated at the fine scale. In this study, by the int
Policy-makers are starting to acknowledge the urgent need for policy-intervention to achieve sustainable consumption. However, it is difficult to achieve policy-making that leads to impactful consumption interventions. Generally speaking, sustainable consumption can be achieved in three ways; to reduce consumption, to change consumption, and to improve consumption. These strategies all have their
Cartographic mashup is a powerful tool for users to visualize thematic data together with base maps, and it is increasingly popular due to the better availability of geodata. In current typical mashups, thematic data and base mapscome from different providers without any connection between the data sets, and their scales are not synchronized. In this paper, we firstly explore the problems in such
Mixtures between choline and geranic acid (CAGE) have previously been shown to insert into lipid bilayers. This may be useful for the transdermal delivery of larger pharmaceuticals, however, little is known about the mechanism of activity. By comparing the interactions between CAGE and lipid bilayers with those of a less-active, yet closely-related analogue, choline octanoic acid (CAOT), a chemica
