Autoantibodies to low-density-lipoprotein-receptor-related protein 2 (LRP2) in systemic autoimmune diseases

We previously reported that autoantibodies (autoAbs) to the main epitope on CD69 reacted to its homologous amino acid sequence in low-density-lipoprotein-receptor-related protein 2 (LPR2), a multiligand receptor for protein reabsorption. In this study, we have investigated the prevalence, autoepitope distribution, and clinical significance of the autoAbs to LRP2 in patients with systemic autoimmune diseases. Using six recombinant proteins (F2–F7) for LRP2 and one for CD69, we detected autoAbs to LRP2 in sera of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus, Behçet's disease, systemic sclerosis, and osteoarthritis and then mapped autoepitopes by Western blotting. The autoAbs to LRP2 were detected in 87% of the patients with rheumatoid arthritis, 40% of those with systemic lupus erythematosus, 35% of those with systemic sclerosis, 15% of those with osteoarthritis, and 3% of those with Behçet's disease. Multiple epitopes on LRP2 were recognized by most of the anti-LRP2(+ )serum samples. All of the tested anti-CD69 autoAb(+ )samples reacted to LRP2-F3 containing the homologous sequence to the main epitope of CD69; however, only 38% of the anti-LRP2-F3(+ )samples reacted to CD69. Clinically, the existence of the autoAbs to LRP2-F4, -F5, and -F6 correlated with the presence of proteinuria in RA. This study revealed that LRP2 is a major autoantigen in RA. The autoAbs to LRP2 are probably produced by the antigen-driven mechanism and the autoimmunity to LRP2 may spread to include CD69. The anti-LRP2 autoAbs may play pathological roles by inhibiting the reabsorbing function of LRP2

Intranasal Chemosensory Lateralization Through the Multi-electrode Transcutaneous Electrical Nasal Bridge Stimulation

Numerous studies have been conducted on display techniques for intranasal chemosensory perception. However, a limited number of studies have focused on the presentation of sensory spatial information. To artificially produce intranasal chemosensory spatial perception, we focused on a technique to induce intranasal chemosensation by transcutaneous electrical stimulation between the nasal bridge and the back of the neck. Whether this technique stimulates the trigeminal nerve or the olfactory nerve remains debatable; if this method stimulates the trigeminal nerve, the differences in the amount of stimulation to the left and right trigeminal branches would evoke lateralization of intranasal chemosensory perception. Therefore, we propose a novel method to lateralize intranasal chemosensation by selectively stimulating the left or right trigeminal nerve branches through the shifting of an electrode on the nasal bridge to the left or right. Finite element simulations reveal that electrical stimulation applied between the electrodes on the left/right nasal bridge and the back of the neck results in the construction of a high current density area on the left/right branch of the trigeminal nerve. The results of two psychophysical experiments reveal that intranasal chemosensation can be lateralized by using the proposed method. The results of our experiment also suggest that lateralization is not the result of electrically induced tactile sensation of the skin surface but rather due to the distribution of stimuli to the trigeminal nerves. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first successful lateralization of intranasal chemosensation that utilizes an easy-to-apply method without involving nostril blocking

Imaging correlated wave functions of few-electron quantum dots: Theory and scanning tunneling spectroscopy experiments

We show both theoretically and experimentally that scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) images of semiconductor quantum dots may display clear signatures of electron-electron correlation. We apply many-body tunneling theory to a realistic model which fully takes into account correlation effects and dot anisotropy. Comparing measured STS images of freestanding InAs quantum dots with those calculated by the full configuration interaction method, we explain the wave function sequence in terms of images of one- and two-electron states. The STS map corresponding to double charging is significantly distorted by electron correlation with respect to the non-interacting case.Comment: RevTeX 4.0, 5 pages, 3 B/W figures, 1 table. This paper is based on an invited talk presented by the authors at the 28th International Conference on the Physics of Semiconductors, which was held 24-28 July 2006, in Vienna, Austri