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Affinity precipitation is a powerful separation method in that it combines the binding selectivity of affinity chromatography with precipitation of captured biomolecules via phase separation triggered by small changes in the environment, e.g., pH, ionic strength, temperature, light, etc. Elastin‐like polypeptides (ELPs) are thermally responsive biopolymers composed of pentapeptide repeats VPGVG that undergo reversible phase separation, where they aggregate when temperature and/or salt concentration are increased. Here we describe the generation of an ELP fusion to a soluble streptavidin mutant that enables rapid purification of any Strep‐tag II fusion protein of interest. This heterobifunctional protein takes advantage of the native tetrameric structure of streptavidin, leading to binding‐induced multivalent crosslinking upon protein capture. The efficient biotin‐mediated dissociation of the bound Strep‐tag II fusion protein from the streptavidin‐ELP capturing scaffold allows for mild elution conditions. We also show that this platform is particularly effective in the purification of a virus‐like particle (VLP)‐like E2 protein nanoparticle, likely because the high valency of the protein particle causes binding‐induced crosslinking and precipitation. Considering the importance of VLP for gene therapy applications, we believe this is a particularly exciting advance. We demonstrated this feasibility by the efficient purification of a VLP‐like E2 protein nanoparticle as a surrogate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A general trend in adult education across the disciplines has been the gradual shift from teaching specialized knowledge to developing various skills. The inclusion of professional skills in the area of Languages for Specific Purposes (LSP) is often based on the results of complex needs analyses of the target situation that leads to effective course design both for in-service and pre-service learners. While major law schools have recently started putting a greater emphasis on the training of legal skills, the present article suggests that some of those legal skills can be effectively developed in the ELP (English for Legal Purposes) classroom as well, i.e. among L2 learners of specialist language. That holds particularly for the soft skill of linguistic mediation. Promoted by CEFR, mediation is characterized by the situation when an expert speaker needs to overcome a communicative gap arising from a difference in the technical or linguistic knowledge of the interlocutors. The present article shows how a sample activity can be used for teaching linguistic mediation in the ELP classroom and how it can serve as an opportunity for enhancing students’ critical self-reflection. It describes a custom-made activity – a role-played lawyer-client interview – and analyses students’ subsequent comments on the activity. The paper suggests that self-reflection is deeper if the theory is supplied after the task and that such a practice enhances students’ learning process. It is suggested that the findings are applicable not only to teachers’ syllabus design and classroom activities design but also more generally to pedagogic theory, e.g. the field of LSP teacher training.

Cerebrovascular ischemia from intracranial atherosclerosis remains difficult to treat. Although current revascularization procedures, including intraluminal stents and extracranial to intracranial bypass, have shown some benefit, they suffer from perioperative and postoperative morbidity. To address these limitations, here we developed a novel approach that involves gluing of arteries and subsequent transmural anastomosis from the healthy donor into the ischemic recipient. This approach required an elastic vascular sealant with distinct mechanical properties and adhesion to facilitate anastomosis. We engineered two hydrogel-based glues: an elastic composite hydrogel based on methacryloyl elastin-like polypeptide (mELP) combined with gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) and a stiff glue based on pure GelMA. Two formulations with distinct mechanical characteristics were necessary to achieve stable anastomosis. The elastic GelMA/mELP composite glue attained desirable mechanical properties (elastic modulus: 288 ± 19 kPa, extensibility: 34.5 ± 13.4%) and adhesion (shear strength: 26.7 ± 5.4 kPa) to the blood vessel, while the pure GelMA glue exhibited superior adhesion (shear strength: 49.4 ± 7.0 kPa) at the cost of increased stiffness (elastic modulus: 581 ± 51 kPa) and reduced extensibility (13.6 ± 2.5%). The in vitro biocompatibility tests confirmed that the glues were not cytotoxic and were biodegradable. In addition, an ex vivo porcine anastomosis model showed high arterial burst pressure resistance of 34.0 ± 7.5 kPa, which is well over normal (16 kPa), elevated (17.3 kPa), and hypertensive crisis (24 kPa) systolic blood pressures in humans. Finally, an in vivo swine model was used to assess the feasibility of using the newly developed two-glue system for an endovascular anastomosis. X-ray imaging confirmed that the anastomosis was made successfully without postoperative bleeding complications and the procedure was well tolerated. In the future, more studies are required to evaluate the performance of the developed sealants under various temperature and humidity ranges.

The article deals with an issue which continues to draw increasingly more attention in LSP teaching, i.e., collocations, with a particular focus on legal collocations and legal English. The aim of the text is to offer an overview of the treatment given to specialised legal collocations in legal English textbooks used in tertiary level institutions in Poland. The methodology employed for selecting the textbooks is presented in detail in the Aims and Methodology section. The selected textbooks were then reviewed in terms of their collocation focus and the extent to which they follow pedagogical recommendations regarding teaching phraseology. Bearing in mind the importance of familiarizing students with natural and accurate language in order to help them master the legal genre, it appears that there is still a need to place more focus on phraseology and extend the formats and number of exercises centred on collocations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leukocyte common antigen-related phosphatase (LAR) is widely expressed in the central nervous system and is known to regulate a variety of processes including cell growth, differentiation, and inflammation. However, little is currently known about LAR signaling mediated neuroinflammation after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). The objective of this study was to investigate the role of LAR in ICH using autologous blood injection-induced ICH mouse model. Expression of endogenous proteins, brain edema and neurological function after ICH were evaluated. Extracellular LAR peptide (ELP), an inhibitor of LAR, was administered to ICH mice and outcomes were evaluated. LAR activating-CRISPR or IRS inhibitor NT-157 was administered to elucidate the mechanism. The results showed that expressions of LAR, its endogenous agonist chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs) including neurocan and brevican, and downstream factor RhoA increased after ICH. Administration of ELP reduced brain edema, improved neurological function, and decreased microglia activation after ICH. ELP decreased RhoA and phosphorylated serine-IRS1, increased phosphorylated tyrosine-IRS1 and p-Akt, and attenuated neuroinflammation after ICH, which was reversed by LAR activating-CRISPR or NT-157. In conclusion, this study demonstrated that LAR contributed to neuroinflammation after ICH via RhoA/IRS-1 pathway, and ELP may be a potential therapeutic strategy to attenuate LAR mediated neuroinflammation after ICH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To enable students majoring in translation at the College of Languages and Translation to read, identify the lexical and syntactic features of legal documents and hence comprehend their content, this article proposes an instructional module for teaching English for Legal Purposes (ELP). The module should be based on the assessment of the students' proficiency level in English and analysis of their academic and professional need. It consists of the most common legal terms such as (alias, amicus, peosequi, res judicata, puisine, puis ne, estoppel fee, simple laches, quash); grammatical structures common in legal documents such as the use of long and complex sentences, conditional clauses, adverbial clusters, long complicated nominal groups, the modal auxiliary shall, and French word order (court martial, heir apparent, secretary general); reading legal documents such as insurance policies, wills, statutes, contracts and agreements between individuals, leases, petitions, investigations...etc. Global legal themes are integrated in the practice material. The students practice listening, speaking, reading, writing and translation. They learn the legal terms and grammatical structures in context (through the text). The instructor performs text analysis. Together with the students, she goes through a legal text, locates legal terms and syntactic structures, and explains and/or translates them. Then the students perform text analysis of new legal texts. Numerous technologies can be integrated into teaching and learning ELP. Assignments are posted on Blackboard LMS, a blog or a social media page. At the end of the instructional period, the students are tested, and the ELP module is evaluated by the students and legal translation instructors. The article recommends that ELP be student-centered. The students should have an active role in the learning process where they select legal topics to read, talk, write about and translate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vijaya Sarangthem,1,2,* Aena Yi,1,* Yunjae Kim,1 Alnawaz Rehemtulla,3 Byung-Heon Lee,1 Young Hyun Jeon,4 Thoudam Debraj Singh,5 Rang-Woon Park1 1Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, School of Medicine, and Cell & Matrix Research Institute, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, 41944, Republic of Korea; 2Department of Pathology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, 110029, India; 3Department of Radiation Oncology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA; 4Laboratory Animal Center, Daegu-Gyeongbuk Medical Innovation Foundation (DGMIF), Daegu, Republic of Korea; 5Department of Medical Oncology Laboratory, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, 110029, India*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Rang-Woon ParkDepartment of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, School of Medicine, and Cell & Matrix Research Institute, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, 41944, Republic of KoreaTel +82 53 420 4822Fax +82 53 422 1466Email nwpark@knu.ac.krThoudam Debraj SinghDepartment of Medical Oncology Laboratory, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, 110029, IndiaEmail debraj.thoudam@gmail.comBackground: Thermal-responsive self-assembled elastin-like polypeptide (ELP)-based nanoparticles are an emerging platform for controlled delivery of therapeutic peptides, proteins and small molecular drugs. The antitumor effect of bioengineered chimeric polypeptide AP1-ELP-KLAK containing an interleukin-4 receptor (IL-4R) targeting peptide and pro-apoptotic peptide (KLAKLAK) was evaluated in glioblastoma (GBM) in vitro and in vivo.Methods and Results: Herein, the therapeutic effect of AP1-ELP-KLAK was tested in advanced, and less curable glioblastoma cells with higher expression of IL-4R. Glioblastoma cell lines stably expressing different reporter systems i.e., caspase-3 sensor (surrogate marker for cellular apoptosis) or effluc/enhanced firefly luciferase (cellular viability) were established to measure cell death non-invasively. Bioluminescence imaging (BLI) of D54/effluc and U97MG/effluc treated with AP1-ELP-KLAK exhibited higher cell death up to 2∼ 3-fold than the control. Treatment with AP1-ELP-KLAK resulted in time-dependent increase of caspase-3 sensor BLI activity in D54/C cells and D54/C tumor-bearing mice. Intravenous injection of AP1-ELP-KLAK dramatically reduced tumor growth by inducing cellular apoptosis in D54/effluc tumor-bearing mice. Further, the immuno-histological examination of the excised tumor tissue confirmed the presence of apoptotic cells as well as caspase-3 activation.Conclusion: Collectively, AP1-ELP-KLAK effectively induced cellular apoptosis of glioblastoma cells and non-invasive imaging provides a window for real-time monitoring of anti-tumor effect with the provision of improving therapeutic efficacy in a glioblastoma mice model.Keywords: tumor targeting, ELP, caspase-sensor, apoptosis, IL-4 receptor, glioblastoma

This paper aims to explore the viability and applicability of differentiated instruction in tertiary education in Hong Kong. At Caritas Institute of Higher Education (CIHE) in Hong Kong we conducted a study to probe into students' and teachers' views and reflections towards differentiated instruction in the ESL/EFL Classroom. Some three hundred health science and social science students were invited to participate in the research study, and three tiered tasks were created and implemented to enhance students' learning motivation, to determine their learning difficulties, and to record classroom engagements in a 13-week semester. Contributing factors including learning motivation, classwork preference, affective factors, and other educational factors have been assessed by means of a student survey and through one-on-one interviews. Feedback was also collected from three participating teachers and 25 representative students on a voluntary basis. The study has thrown positive light and suggests that a perception difference is found between students and teachers in influential educational factors. Both teachers and students have shown favouring the differentiating teaching and learning approach. Doubtless, further research work is required for refining differentiated instruction to maximize its effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Successful gene delivery depends on the entry of negatively charged DNAs and oligonucleotides across the various barriers of the tumor cells and localization into the nucleus for its transcription and protein translation. Here, we have reported a thermal responsive self-assemble and highly biocompatible, targeted ELP-based gene delivery system. These systems consist of cell-penetrating peptides, Tat and single or multiple repeats of IL-4 receptor targeting peptide AP-1 along the backbone of ELP. Cell-penetrating peptides were introduced for nuclear localization of genes of interest, AP-1 for targeting IL-4R highly expressed tumor cells and ELP for stable condensation favoring protection of nucleic acids. The designed multidomain fusion ELPs referred to as Tat-ELP, Tat-A1E28 and Tat-A4V48 were employed to generate formulation with pEGFP-N1. Profound formulation of stable complexes occurred at different molar ratios owing to electrostatic interactions of positively charged amino acids in polymers with negatively charged nucleic acids. Among the complexes, Tat-A4V48 containing four copies of AP-1 showed maximum complexation with pEGFP-N1 in lower molar ratio. The polymer-pEGFP complexes were further analyzed for its transfection efficiency in different cancer cell lines. Both the targeted polymers, Tat-A4V48 and Tat-A1E28 upon transfection displayed significant EGFP-expression with low toxicity in different cancer cells. Therefore, both Tat-A4V48 and Tat-A1E28 can be considered as novel transfection system for successful gene delivery with therapeutic applications.

Three artificial proteins that bind the gadolinium ion (Gd3+) with tumour-specific ligands were de novo engineered and tested as candidate drugs for binary radiotherapy (BRT) and contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Gd3+-binding modules were derived from calmodulin. They were joined with elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) repeats from human elastin to form the four-centre Gd3+-binding domain (4MBS-domain) that further was combined with F3 peptide (a ligand of nucleolin, a tumour marker) to form the F3-W4 block. The F3-W4 block was taken alone (E2-13W4 protein), as two repeats (E1-W8) and as three repeats (E1-W12). Each protein was supplemented with three copies of the RGD motif (a ligand of integrin αvβ3) and green fluorescent protein (GFP). In contrast to Magnevist (a Gd-containing contrast agent), the proteins exhibited three to four times higher accumulation in U87MG glioma and A375 melanoma cell lines than in normal fibroblasts. The proteins remained for >24 h in tumours induced by Ca755 adenocarcinoma in C57BL/6 mice. They exhibited stability towards blood proteases and only accumulated in the liver and kidney. The technological advantages of using the engineered proteins as a basis for developing efficient and non-toxic agents for early diagnosis of tumours by MRI as well as part of BRT were demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Antibiotic resistance is a major public health threat to both humans and animals. There is an urgent need for antimicrobial agents with novel modes of action. Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) with broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity become the ideal alternative to traditional antibiotics. Here, the ELP-intein self-cleavage system was used to produce antimicrobial peptide arasin-likeSp in Escherichia coli. The tagged target protein (ELP-intein-arasin-likeSp) was mainly expressed in soluble, separated from cell lysates by the inverse transition cycling (ITC), and the arasin-likeSp was further purified by the self-cleavage of intein and the second round of ITC. The final yield of arasin-likeSp was about 3.56 mg/L. Purified arasin-likeSp exhibited significant antibacterial activities against the Gram-positive Bacillus subtilis and Gram-negative Vibrio harveyi bacteria. FE-SEM and PI staining analysis revealed that the arasin-likeSp treatment altered the morphology and membrane permeability of Bacillus subtilis and Vibrio harveyi. Collectively, these data suggest that arasin-likeSp is a candidate AMP for effective inhibition of Vibrio harveyi , a significant bacterial pathogen infecting marine fish and invertebrates. The ELP-intein self-cleavage system described here is a low-cost, simple and potential method for producing antimicrobial peptides, which lays foundations for the large-scale production of antimicrobial peptides in the future. [Display omitted] • Antimicrobial peptide arasin-likeSp was expressed and purified using ELP-intein self-cleavage system in E. coli. • Arasin-likeSp showed strong antibacterial activity against Vibrio harveyi which was an important marine pathogen. • Arasin-likeSp exerted its antibacterial activity via potential membrane interaction indicated by SEM and PI staining. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is concerned with investigation of the importance of the four English Language Skills in teaching a new ELP (English for Legal purposes) Course Design.The present study is limited to the first-year students in the College of Law / Tikrit University during the academic year 2017/ 2018.It is hypothesized that in teaching a new ESP course, i.e., LE, all the four English language skills are extremely important and should be emphasized in a closely similar degree.This study aims at:1. Designing an ESP course for teaching an ELP (English for legal purposes), according to the analysis of students' constructed needs.2. Investigating whether the four English Language skills are important and should be emphasized in teaching an ELP course.After instruction for six weeks, a situation analysis has been constructed by the application of questionnaire and interview analysis.Results indicate close importance of the four English language skills along with the inclusion of the two elements of language are all required to be emphasized in the proposed specialized legal English course.Finally, in the light of the obtained results, a number of conclusions, recommendations and suggestions have been put forward. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to find the impact of the abrupt transition from traditional teaching to remote teaching of the phonology courses and how stakeholders dealt with such a shift. To this end, a descriptive approach was used, and data were collected using a questionnaire. The sample included students at English language programs (ELP) in some Saudi universities at levels 5 and 6 since they took the phonetics and phonology course at the beginning of the pandemic. There was an educational challenge during the coronavirus that compelled the conventional system of education to accept the status quo where educators found themselves obliged to shift abruptly from a traditional, face-to-face educational environment to fully online instruction. However, most of our Saudi academic institutions were not prepared for such a sudden and quick change. During the COVID-19 lockdown, language teachers in English Departments at Saudi Universities (ELP) resorted to the different type of teaching which depended mostly on technology where internet-wired personal computers or tablets played a significant role, and which expanded the scope of the teaching process and practically increased orientation on the teachers' part. Moreover, students' independence and self-teaching seemed to have increased, which could have influenced their cognition and skills. This study discussed the way language teachers in ELP dealt with the challenging content of the phonology course during Covid-19. The findings show that there were some problems at the beginning moving from traditional to virtual classes, where the students depended upon themselves and adapted to the change. The findings also showed that the teaching aids were not satisfactory enough to suit the purpose of the course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In English for Specific Purposes (ESP), Integrative Learning has been used in many contexts as a conceptual and structural framework for designing holistic and authentic learning experiences. This approach encompasses many intradisciplinary, multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary perspectives. Given the prominent role of English for Legal Purposes (ELP) or Legal English (LE) in legal education, this article explores the theoretical framework of Integrative Learning approach to ELP/LE curriculum design for academic and professional purposes in tertiary education. The first part of the paper presents the conceptual framework of Integrative Learning in contemporary education, legal education and ESP/ELP instruction. The second part examines the conceptual framework and tenets of different (intra/multi/inter/transdisciplinary) approaches to curriculum design. The third part reviews the tenets of the integrated curriculum, as a structural framework for integration of these diverse perspectives, focusing on the major challenges and multidimensional alignments in ELP/LE course design. As integrative learning offers viable solutions for authentic learning in various academic/professional contexts, the paper aims to encourage cooperation in developing integrated law-andlanguage programs and promoting interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary legal education.

Abstract Background The successful deliveries of siRNA depend on their stabilities under physiological conditions because greater in vivo stability enhances cellular uptake and enables endosomal escape. Viral-based systems appears as most efficient approaches for gene delivery but often compromised in terms of biocompatibility, patient safety and high cost scale up process. Here we describe a novel platform of gene delivery by elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) based targeting biopolymers. Results For better tumor targeting and membrane penetrating characteristics, we designed various chimeric ELP-based carriers containing a cell penetrating peptide (Tat), single or multiple copies of AP1 an IL-4 receptor targeting peptide along with coding sequence of ELP and referred as Tat-A1E28 or Tat-A4V48. These targeted polypeptides were further analyzed for its ability to deliver siRNA (Luciferase gene) in tumor cells in comparison with non-targeted controls (Tat-E28 or E28). The positively charged amino acids of these polypeptides enabled them to readily complex with negatively charged nucleic acids. The complexation of nucleic acid with respective polypeptides facilitated its transfection efficiency as well as stability. The targeted polypeptides (Tat-A1E28 or Tat-A4V48) selectively delivered siRNA into tumor cells in a receptor-specific fashion, achieved endosomal and lysosomal escape, and released gene into cytosol. The target specific delivery of siRNA by Tat-A1E28 or Tat-A4V48 was further validated in murine breast carcinoma 4T1 allograft mice model. Conclusion The designed delivery systems efficiently delivered siRNA to the target site of action thereby inducing significant gene silencing activity. The study shows Tat and AP1 functionalized ELPs constitute a novel gene delivery system with potential therapeutic applications.

Abstract Cerebrovascular ischemia from intracranial atherosclerosis remains difficult to treat. Although current revascularization procedures, including intraluminal stents and extracranial to intracranial bypass, have shown some benefit, they suffer from perioperative and postoperative morbidity. To address these limitations, here we developed a novel approach that involves gluing of arteries and subsequent transmural anastomosis from the healthy donor into the ischemic recipient. This approach required an elastic vascular sealant with distinct mechanical properties and adhesion to facilitate anastomosis. We engineered two hydrogel‐based glues: an elastic composite hydrogel based on methacryloyl elastin‐like polypeptide (mELP) combined with gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) and a stiff glue based on pure GelMA. Two formulations with distinct mechanical characteristics were necessary to achieve stable anastomosis. The elastic GelMA/mELP composite glue attained desirable mechanical properties (elastic modulus: 288 ± 19 kPa, extensibility: 34.5 ± 13.4%) and adhesion (shear strength: 26.7 ± 5.4 kPa) to the blood vessel, while the pure GelMA glue exhibited superior adhesion (shear strength: 49.4 ± 7.0 kPa) at the cost of increased stiffness (elastic modulus: 581 ± 51 kPa) and reduced extensibility (13.6 ± 2.5%). The in vitro biocompatibility tests confirmed that the glues were not cytotoxic and were biodegradable. In addition, an ex vivo porcine anastomosis model showed high arterial burst pressure resistance of 34.0 ± 7.5 kPa, which is well over normal (16 kPa), elevated (17.3 kPa), and hypertensive crisis (24 kPa) systolic blood pressures in humans. Finally, an in vivo swine model was used to assess the feasibility of using the newly developed two‐glue system for an endovascular anastomosis. X‐ray imaging confirmed that the anastomosis was made successfully without postoperative bleeding complications and the procedure was well tolerated. In the future, more studies are required to evaluate the performance of the developed sealants under various temperature and humidity ranges.

Graph-based semi-supervised learning (GSSL) has attracted great attention over the past decade. However, there are still several open problems: (1) how to construct a graph that effectively represents the underlying structure of data and (2) how to incorporate label information of the labeled samples into a procedure of label propagation. Our solution mainly focuses on two aspects: (1) we propose a new graph construction technique by fusing local and global structural similarity (FLGSS). Based on an initial graph structure such as K-nearest neighbors (KNN), we utilize different types of link prediction algorithms to extract local and global graph structure information. These two types of structure information are fused into a graph structure that enhances the ability to represent the data correlation. (2) By incorporating the label correlation with feature similarity of samples, we propose an extended label propagation algorithm (ELP). Through experiments on three different types of datasets, it is shown that our method outperforms other widely used graph construction methods. The extended label inference algorithm achieves better classification results than some state-of-the-art methods. The proposed FLGSS method starts from KNN graph and two link prediction algorithms are performed to construct the graph. With the time complexity analysis, we theoretically deduce that the time complexity of FLGSS is not beyond that of KNN. Meanwhile, the time complexity of ELP remains the same as that of the traditional LP algorithm.

FLT3 receptor is an important therapeutic target in acute myeloid leukemia due to high incidence of mutations associated with poor clinical outcome. Targeted therapies against the FLT3 receptor, including small-molecule FLT3 tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) and anti-FLT3 antibodies, have demonstrated promising preclinical and even clinical efficacy. Yet, even with the current FDA approval for two FLT3 inhibitors, these modalities were unable to cure AML or significantly extend the lives of patients with a common mutation called FLT3-ITD. While FLT3 is a viable target, the approaches to inhibit its activity were inadequate. To develop a new modality for targeting FLT3, our team engineered an α-FLT3-A192 fusion protein composed of a single chain variable fragment antibody conjugated with an elastin-like polypeptide. These fusion proteins assemble into multi-valent nanoparticles with excellent stability and pharmacokinetic properties as well as in vitro and in vivo pharmacological activity in cellular and xenograft murine models of AML. In conclusion, α-FLT3-A192 fusions appear to be a viable new modality for targeting FLT3 in AML and warrant further preclinical development to bring it into the clinic. Unlabelled Image [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taenia saginata infection has seldom been reported in Cambodia. In this study, we performed a survey of intestinal parasites in 1,156 residents of Preah Vihear and Stung Treng Provinces in 2018. The results revealed that 26 (2.4%) cases were positive for Taenia spp. eggs. In order to obtain the strobilae of the tapeworms, 2 patients in Preah Vihear were treated with praziquantel and purged with magnesium salts. The proglottids expelled after the medication were morphologically and molecularly analyzed to determine the species. The main uterine lateral braches in gravid proglottids were >15 in number suggesting that they are either T. saginata or Taenia asiatica. The sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (cox1) gene and 2 nuclear loci, elongation factor-1 alpha (ef1) and ezrin-radixin-moesin-like protein (elp), were identical to the sequences of T. saginata available in GenBank but distant from Taenia solium, T. asiatica, and T. saginata-T. asiatica hybrid. This is the first report of the presence of T. saginata in the northern part of Cambodia bordering Lao PDR based on a molecular confirmation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the use of asymmetric loss functions for the optimal prediction of positive-valued spatial processes. We focus on the family of power-divergence loss functions with properties such as continuity, convexity, connections to well known divergence measures, and the ability to control the asymmetry and behaviour of the loss function via a power parameter. The properties of power-divergence loss functions, optimal power-divergence (OPD) spatial predictors, and related measures of uncertainty quantification are studied. In addition, we examine in general the notion of asymmetry in loss functions defined for positive-valued spatial processes and define an asymmetry measure, which we apply to the family of power-divergence loss functions and other common loss functions. The paper concludes with a simulation study comparing the optimal power-divergence predictor to predictors derived from other common loss functions. Finally, we illustrate OPD spatial prediction on a dataset of zinc measurements in the soil of a floodplain of the Meuse River, Netherlands. • Spatial prediction is examined through a decision-theoretic lens. • The automatic use of squared-error loss for spatial prediction is questioned. • The family of power-divergence loss functions is examined as an alternative. • Optimal power-divergence prediction and uncertainty quantification are studied. • A measure of asymmetry in loss functions for positive-valued processes is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with mediation in language teaching, focusing on how the practice of mediation – as a specific language skill – can be incorporated in the syllabus. The chapter defines the skill of mediation as an emerging concept in language education, and discusses its potential for effective teaching of English for Specific Purposes in general and English for Legal Purposes in particular. The first part of the text seeks to answer several questions, aiming to determine whether mediation is relevant in the context of legal practice and whether it has a place in an English for Law syllabus. The second part addresses a more practical concern of how the skill of mediation can be practiced by students. The article makes a case for assigning mediation a much more central place in the classroom, giving a number of specific examples of how this soft skill can be developed in the teaching of ESP and ELP.

Background: The successful deliveries of siRNA depend on their stabilities under physiological conditions because greater in vivo stability enhances cellular uptake and enables endosomal escape. Viral-based systems appears as most efficient approaches for gene delivery but often compromised in terms of biocompatibility, patient safety and high cost scale up process. Here we describe a novel platform of gene delivery by elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) based targeting biopolymers. Results: For better tumor targeting and membrane penetrating characteristics, we designed various chimeric ELP-based carriers containing a cell penetrating peptide (Tat), single or multiple copies of AP1 an IL-4 receptor targeting peptide along with coding sequence of ELP and referred as Tat-A1E28 or Tat-A4V48. These targeted polypeptides were further analyzed for its ability to deliver siRNA (Luciferase gene) in tumor cells in comparison with non-targeted controls (Tat-E28 or E28). The positively charged amino acids of these polypeptides enabled them to readily complex with negatively charged nucleic acids. The complexation of nucleic acid with respective polypeptides facilitated its transfection efficiency as well as stability. The targeted polypeptides (Tat-A1E28 or Tat-A4V48) selectively delivered siRNA into tumor cells in a receptor-specific fashion, achieved endosomal and lysosomal escape, and released gene into cytosol. The target specific delivery of siRNA by Tat-A1E28 or Tat-A4V48 was further validated in murine breast carcinoma 4T1 allograft mice model. Conclusion: The designed delivery systems efficiently delivered siRNA to the target site of action thereby inducing significant gene silencing activity. The study shows Tat and AP1 functionalized ELPs constitute a novel gene delivery system with potential therapeutic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Achieving the desired post-operative refraction in cataract surgery requires accurate calculations for intraocular lens (IOL) power. Latest-generation formulae use anterior-chamber depth (ACD)--the distance from the corneal apex to the anterior surface of the lens--as one of the parameters to predict the post-operative IOL position within the eye, termed the effective lens position (ELP). Significant discrepancies between predicted and actual ELP result in refractive surprise. This study aims to improve the predictability of ELP. We hypothesise that predictions based on the distance from the corneal apex to the mid-sagittal plane of the cataractous lens would more accurately reflect the position of the principal plane of the non-angulated IOL within the capsular bag. Accordingly, we propose that predictions derived from ACD + ½LT (length thickness) would be superior to those from ACD alone. Design: Retrospective cohort study, comparing ELP predictions derived from ACD to a proposed prediction parameter. Method: This retrospective study includes data from 162 consecutive cataract surgery cases, with posterior-chamber IOL (AlconSN60WF) implantation. Pre- and postoperative biometric measurements were made using the IOLMaster700 (ZEISS, Jena, Germany). The accuracy and reliability of ELP predictions derived from ACD and ACD + ½LT were compared using software-aided analyses. Results: An overall reduction in average ELP prediction error (PEELP) was achieved using the proposed parameter (root-mean-square-error [RMSE] = 0.50 mm), compared to ACD (RMSE = 1.57 mm). The mean percentage PEELP, comparing between eyes of different axial lengths, was 9.88% ± 3.48% and -34.9% ± 4.79% for predictions derived from ACD + ½LT and ACD, respectively. A 44.10% ± 5.22% mean of differences was observed (p < 0.001). Conclusion: ACD + ½LT predicts ELP with greater accuracy and reliability than ACD alone; its use in IOL power calculation formulae may improve refractive outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigated the effect of self-assessment via the European Language Portfolio (ELP), a unit based checklist and a learner style inventory on students' attitudes towards learning English. The data were collected via an attitude scale adopted from Dörnyei and Csizér (2006) and from Ryan (2005). The results of the study indicated that the ELP, learner style inventory and unit based checklists were the tools which have potential to promote self-assessment on the condition that they are used effectively both by EFL teachers and their students, and as a consequence they may support developing positive attitudes towards learning English. Additionally, it was found. In addition, both the teachers and the students believed that the ELP was a tool for self-assessment; however, the implementation that the students felt positive towards the use of the ELP and working with it as far as they used it correctly as part of their curriculum of the ELP in the school curriculum needs support since they do not have enough information about the use and the effectiveness of the ELP [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Positively charged elastin-like polypeptides (ELPs) were synthesized for the compaction of genetic material. A recombinant ELP (VPGXG) 40 with X = V,M (3:1) was post-modified in two steps to introduce chemoselectively either primary or secondary amine pendant groups at each methionine residue. Positively charged ELPs were characterized by SDS-PAGE, size exclusion chromatography, 1H NMR, potentiometric titrations and dynamic light scattering to assess their purity and determine their degree of functionalization, molecular weight, isoelectric point and thermo-responsive behaviour. Electrostatic complexation between the different ELP derivatives and nucleic acids was studied to determine the stoichiometry of ELP S /nucleic acids complex formation, and to find optimal conditions leading to stable nanoparticles with controlled size and surface potential. The stability of these complexes was investigated in the presence of salts at physiological concentrations and in the presence of surfactant. This study revealed that two regimes of stable nanoparticles in terms of size and charge can be obtained from the electrostatic complexation between the primary amine containing ELP derivative, ELP(-NH 2), and plasmid DNA. Resulting complexes were found to be stable to dissociation for charge ratios up to 2.5 under physiological salt concentrations (154 mM NaCl), showing that plasmid DNA was completely condensed by the polycationic ELP and protected against electrolyte-mediated dissociation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bio-based polyurethane materials are broadly applied in medicine as drug delivery systems. Nevertheless, their synthesis comprises the use of petroleum-based toxic amines, isocyanates and polyols, and their biocompatibility or functionalization is limited. Therefore, the use of lysine residues as amine sources to create non-isocyanate urethane (NIU) linkages was investigated. Therefore, a five-membered biscyclic carbonate (BCC) was firstly synthetized and reacted with a protected lysine, a tripeptide and a heptapeptide to confirm the urethane linkage formation with lysine moiety and to optimize reaction conditions. Afterwards, the reactions between BCC and a model protein, elastin-like protein (ELP), and β-Lactoglobulin (BLG) obtained from whey protein, respectively, were performed. The synthesized protein materials were structural, thermally and morphologically characterized to confirm the urethane linkage formation. The results demonstrate that using both simple and more complex source of amines (lysine), urethane linkages were effectively achieved. This pioneering approach opens the possibility of using proteins to develop non-isocyanate polyurethanes (NIPUs) with tailored properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Globalization of trade and economy led to a growing demand all over the world for English for Specific Purposes courses. Conscious of this fact, Algeria has incorporated English for Legal Purposes teaching into tertiary studies. In Algeria, Law students receive ELP course aimed to help them in their studies and future careers. However, at the end of their learning process these students still find linguistic and communication difficulties in situations where English is needed as the course received is no more than teaching specific words and phrases and translating some texts following the traditional Grammar Translation Method. Accordingly, this paper aims to presents the current ELP course situation and to measure students' and teachers' attitudes towards the use of Blended ELP course based on Content Language Integrated Learning model. The course has twofold: to provide students with international legal knowledge and to compare them to the Algerian one, and to expose learners to intensive reading activities and overcome lack of teaching time activities. In this quantitative study, seven teachers were interviewed and fifty seven masters' students were questioned. The results revealed that the students have comprehension difficulties because the time load for reading activities is not sufficient. Concerning informants readiness to use Blended approach, the teachers present negatively the usefulness of such an approach for their students; on the contrary, students show a positive attitude to have additional English reading comprehension activities online, and they demonstrate a high interest to the proposal to support their English course with extra home tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Elastin-like polypeptides (ELP) can be genetically-fused or chemically-bioconjugated to therapeutic agents. • ELP shielding sterically stabilizes the surface of nanoparticles, promoting their colloidal stability. • Even in nanoparticulate assemblies, fusion ELPs conserve bioactivity of their therapeutic cargo and extend their pharmacokinetic half-life. Elastin-like polypeptides (ELP) are versatile, thermo-responsive polymers that can be conjugated to virtually any therapeutic cargo. Derived from short amino-acid sequences and abundant in humans, certain ELPs display low immunogenicity. Substrates for endogenous proteases, ELPs are biodegradable and thus, are candidate biomaterials. Peptides and proteins can be directly coupled with ELPs through genetic engineering, while other polymers and small molecules can be appended through covalent bioconjugation or non-covalent complexation. ELPs that phase separate at physiological temperatures can form the core of nano assemblies; however, ELPs that remain soluble can sterically stabilize the corona of a variety of nanoparticles. Nanoparticles with ELPs at their corona promote colloids with favorable pharmacokinetic (PK) properties that enables therapeutic efficacy with intermittent administration. This review highlights a comprehensive spectrum of ELP fusions shown to stabilize the solubility, and sometimes bioactivity, of their cargo – with a focus on biophysical properties that underlie their therapeutic effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of recent social changes in Central Europe, the article outlines the need for a change in the traditional syllabi for legal English classes. It deals with needs analysis as one of the most important sources of inspiration in syllabus design. First, needs analysis is situated within the methodology of English for Specific Purposes. Then, the rationale for a needs analysis survey among pre-service students in current legal English courses is presented and, finally, the findings are interpreted with respect to the actual target situations that students are likely to encounter after graduation. The article concludes by pointing out that although pre-service students may have vague ideas about the use of English in their future jobs, course instructors should consider their needs and wants because they are crucial for increasing the students’ motivation. Instructors and course designers should, however, obtain information from professionals and former graduates as well because that will enable them to address the actual target situations most effectively.

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Protein-conjugated magnetic nanoparticles (mNPs) are promising tools for a variety of biomedical applications, from immunoassays and biosensors to theranostics and drug-delivery. In such applications, conjugation of affinity proteins (e.g., antibodies) to the nanoparticle surface many times compromises biological activity and specificity, leading to increased reagent consumption and decreased assay performance. To address this problem, we engineered a biomolecular magnetic separation system that eliminates the need to chemically modify nanoparticles with the capture biomolecules or synthetic polymers of any kind. The system consists of (i) thermoresponsive magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles displaying poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (pNIPAm), and (ii) an elastin-like polypeptide (ELP) fused with the affinity protein Cohesin (Coh). Proper design of pNIPAm-mNPs and ELP-Coh allowed for efficient cross-aggregation of the two distinct nanoparticle types under collapsing stimuli, which enabled magnetic separation of ELP-Coh aggregates bound to target Dockerin (Doc) molecules. Selective resolubilization of the ELP-Coh/Doc complexes was achieved under intermediate conditions under which only the pNIPAm-mNPs remained aggregated. We show that ELP-Coh is capable of magnetically separating and purifying nanomolar quantities of Doc as well as eukaryotic whole cells displaying the complementary Doc domain from diluted human plasma. This modular system provides magnetic enrichment and purification of captured molecular targets and eliminates the requirement of biofunctionalization of magnetic nanoparticles to achieve bioseparations. Our streamlined and simplified approach is amenable for point-of-use applications and brings the advantages of ELP-fusion proteins to the realm of magnetic particle separation systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Enseñanza & Teaching (2386-3919) is the property of Ensenanza & Teaching and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)