TRPV4-A Missing Link Between Mechanosensation and Immunity

Transient receptor potential vanilloid-type 4 (TRPV4) cation channel is widely expressed in all tissues as well as in immune cells and its function as mechanosensitive Ca2+ channel seems to be conserved throughout all mammalian species. Of late, emerging evidence has implicated TRPV4 in the activation and differentiation of innate immune cells, especially in neutrophils, monocytes, and macrophages. As such, TRPV4 has been shown to mediate neutrophil adhesion and chemotaxis, as well as production of reactive oxygen species in response to pro-inflammatory stimuli. In macrophages, TRPV4 mediates formation of both reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, and regulates phagocytosis, thus facilitating bacterial clearance and resolution of infection. Importantly, TRPV4 may present a missing link between mechanical forces and immune responses. This connection has been exemplary highlighted by the demonstrated role of TRPV4 in macrophage activation and subsequent induction of lung injury following mechanical overventilation. Mechanosensation via TRPV4 is also expected to activate innate immune cells and establish a pro-inflammatory loop in fibrotic diseases with increased deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) and substrate stiffness. Likewise, TRPV4 may be activated by cell migration through the endothelium or the extracellular matrix, or even by circulating immune cells squeezing through the narrow passages of the pulmonary or systemic capillary bed, a process that has recently been linked to neutrophil priming and depriming. Here, we provide an overview over the emerging role of TRPV4 in innate immune responses and highlight two distinct modes for the activation of TRPV4 by either mechanical forces (“mechanoTRPV4”) or by pathogens (“immunoTRPV4”)

Programmable Superpositions of Ising Configurations

We present a framework to prepare superpositions of bit strings, i.e., many-body spin configurations, with deterministic programmable probabilities. The spin configurations are encoded in the degenerate ground states of the lattice-gauge representation of an all-to-all connected Ising spin glass. The ground state manifold is invariant under variations of the gauge degrees of freedom, which take the form of four-body parity constraints. Our framework makes use of these degrees of freedom by individually tuning them to dynamically prepare programmable superpositions. The dynamics combines an adiabatic protocol with controlled diabatic transitions. We derive an effective model that allows one to determine the control parameters efficiently even for large system sizes.Comment: published version, 12 pages, 4 figure

Default swaps and hedging credit baskets

We investigate the pricing of basket credit derivatives and their hedging with single name credit default swaps (CDS) based on a model for the joint dynamics of the fair CDS spreads. In the situation of the market flow of information being a pure jump filtration, we present an extremely efficient approach to pricing and study explicit hedging strategies. --credit default swap,credit basket,hedging

External productivity and utility effects of city airports

This paper uses a micro-level data set for residential and commercial property transactions to investigate external utility and productivity effects for three (city) airports in Berlin, Germany in a spatial hedonic analysis. We find strong evidence of adverse noise effects on property prices and a discontinuity at approximately 55dB. Marginal price effects decrease significantly in the presence of alternative noise sources, which can lead to biased estimates if the interaction effect is not accounted for appropriately. Given that there is less evidence of positive accessibility effects, our result questions the justification for locating airports in city centres

Femtosecond spectroscopy of the first events of the photochemical cycle in bacteriorhodopsin

The first steps in the photochemistry of bacteriorhodopsin (BR) are investigated with light pulses of 160 fs duration. Four samples are studied: (i) the purple membrane, (ii) deuterated purple membrane, (iii) BR trimers and (iv) BR monomers. In all samples the first intermediate J is formed within 430±50 fs. No isotope effect is observed in the formation of J upon deuteration, in contrast to previous reports with much higher excitation energies. Thus proton movement to or from the retinal Schiff's base is not relevant during the first step. Comparing the data for trimeric and monomeric BR suggests an upper limit of 50 fs for the transfer of excitation energy from the excitonically coupled trimer to a single retinal chromophore

Rational self-affine tiles

An integral self-affine tile is the solution of a set equation $\mathbf{A} \mathcal{T} = \bigcup_{d \in \mathcal{D}} (\mathcal{T} + d)$, where $\mathbf{A}$ is an $n \times n$ integer matrix and $\mathcal{D}$ is a finite subset of $\mathbb{Z}^n$. In the recent decades, these objects and the induced tilings have been studied systematically. We extend this theory to matrices $\mathbf{A} \in \mathbb{Q}^{n \times n}$. We define rational self-affine tiles as compact subsets of the open subring $\mathbb{R}^n\times \prod_\mathfrak{p} K_\mathfrak{p}$ of the ad\'ele ring $\mathbb{A}_K$, where the factors of the (finite) product are certain $\mathfrak{p}$-adic completions of a number field $K$ that is defined in terms of the characteristic polynomial of $\mathbf{A}$. Employing methods from classical algebraic number theory, Fourier analysis in number fields, and results on zero sets of transfer operators, we establish a general tiling theorem for these tiles. We also associate a second kind of tiles with a rational matrix. These tiles are defined as the intersection of a (translation of a) rational self-affine tile with $\mathbb{R}^n \times \prod_\mathfrak{p} \{0\} \simeq \mathbb{R}^n$. Although these intersection tiles have a complicated structure and are no longer self-affine, we are able to prove a tiling theorem for these tiles as well. For particular choices of digit sets, intersection tiles are instances of tiles defined in terms of shift radix systems and canonical number systems. Therefore, we gain new results for tilings associated with numeration systems