Invasive salmonellosis caused by Salmonella enterica involves an enteric stage of infection where the bacteria colonize mucosal epithelial cells, followed by systemic infection with intracellular replication in immune cells. The type III secretion system encoded in Salmonella Pathogenicity Island (SPI)-2 is essential for intracellular replication and the regulators governing high-level expressi...

Human plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), also called type 2 dendritic cell precursors or natural interferon (IFN)-producing cells, represent a cell type with distinctive phenotypic and functional features. They are present in the thymus and probably share a common precursor with T and natural killer (NK) cells. In an effort to identify genes that control pDC development we searched for genes ...

OBJECTIVE To explore the validity, reliability, and applicability of using a short, psychometrically sound survey instrument to measure population attitudes toward tobacco control policies. DESIGN Surveys. SUBJECTS AND SETTING Student respondents attending university in Australia (n = 403), Hong Kong (n = 336), the Netherlands (n = 351), South Africa (n = 291), the United Kingdom (n = 164) ...

One of the most popular ways to improve the software development capability in organizations is to embark upon a Software Process Improvement (SPI) program based on one of the existing capability maturity models. Some of the challenges in norm-based SPI are to create commitment to the norm in the organization, to involve all parts of the organization in the SPI program, and to create opportunit...

The applicability of a European numerical diatom index, the Specific Pollution sensitivity Index (SPI), was tested in a river system where the SPI scores were compared both to chemical water quality and to scores yielded using a macro-invertebrate index of riverine health namely the South African Scoring System (SASS 5). This investigation showed that the SPI reflects certain elements of water ...

We report on a questionnaire survey of key success factors that impact software process improvement (SPI). We analysed responses to identify factors that have a major impact, or no impact, on implementing SPI. We found four factors (reviews, standards and procedures, training and mentoring, and experienced staff) that practitioners generally considered had a major impact on successfully impleme...

All-biomass soy protein-based films were prepared using soy protein isolate (SPI), glycerol, hydroxypropyl cellulose (HPC) and epoxy castor oil acid sodium (ECOS). The effect of the incorporated HPC and ECOS on the properties of the SPI film was investigated. The experimental results showed that the tensile strength of the resultant films increased from 2.84 MPa (control) to 4.04 MPa and the el...

Software process improvement (SPI) is around for decades: frameworks are proposed, success factors are studied, and experiences have been reported. However, the sheer mass of concepts, approaches, and standards published over the years overwhelms practitioners as well as researchers. What is out there? Are there new emerging approaches? What are open issues? Still, we struggle to answer the que...

Serine protease inhibitor 6 (SPI-6), also called Serpinb9, inhibits granzyme B and thus may provide a method for delaying apoptotic cell death in dendritic cells. We have previously enhanced DNA vaccine potency by targeting antigen to MHC antigen presentation pathways, using proteins such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis heat shock protein 70, calreticulin, domain II of Pseudomonas aeruginosa exot...

A number of transcription factors that act as molecular switches for hematopoietic lineage decisions have been identified. We recently described the ETS transcription factor Spi-B to be exclusively expressed in plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs), but not in myeloid DCs. To assess whether Spi-B is required for pDC development we used an RNA interference knock down approach to specifically silen...