1,202 research outputs found
Innate immunity and neuroinflammation
Copyright © 2013 Abhishek Shastri et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Inflammation of central nervous system (CNS) is usually associated with trauma and infection. Neuroinflammation occurs in close relation to trauma, infection, and neurodegenerative diseases. Low-level neuroinflammation is considered to have beneficial effects whereas chronic neuroinflammation can be harmful. Innate immune system consisting of pattern-recognition receptors, macrophages, and complement system plays a key role in CNS homeostasis following injury and infection. Here, we discuss how innate immune components can also contribute to neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration
Multi-wavelength Observations of the Giant X-ray Flare Galaxy NGC 5905: signatures of tidal disruption
NGC 5905 is one of the few galaxies with no prior evidence for an AGN in
which an X-ray flare, due to the tidal disruption of a star by the massive
black hole in the center of the galaxy, was detected by the RASS in 1990-91.
Here we present analysis of late-time follow-up observations of NGC 5905 using
Chandra, Spitzer VLA 3 GHz and 8 GHz archival data and GMRT 1.28 GHz radio
observations. The X-ray image shows no compact source that could be associated
with an AGN. Instead, the emission is extended -- likely due to nuclear star
formation and the total measured X-ray luminosity is comparable to the X-ray
luminosity determined from the 2002 Chandra observations. Diffuse X-ray
emission was detected close to the circum-nuclear star forming ring. The
Spitzer 2006 mid-infrared spectrum also shows strong evidence of nuclear star
formation but no clear AGN signatures. The semi-analytical models of Tommasin
et. al. 2010 together with the measured [OIV]/[NeII] line ratio suggest that at
most only 5.6% of the total IR Flux at 19 m is being contributed by the
AGN. The GMRT 1.28 GHz observations reveal a nuclear source. In the much higher
resolution VLA 3 GHz map, the emission has a double lobed structure of size
2.7'' due to the circumnuclear star forming ring. The GMRT 1.28 GHz peak
emission coincides with the center of the circumnuclear ring. We did not detect
any emission in the VLA 8 GHz (1996) archival data. The 3 upper limits
for the radio afterglow of the TDE at 1.28 GHz, 3 GHz and 8 GHz are 0.17 mJy,
0.09 mJy and 0.09 mJy, respectively. Our studies thus show that (i) NGC 5905
has a declining X-ray flux consistent with a TDE, (ii) the IR flux is dominated
by nuclear star formation, (iii) the nuclear radio emission observed from the
galaxy is due to circumnuclear star formation, (iv) no compact radio emission
associated with a radio afterglow from the TDE is detected.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted to be published in Astrophysics and
Space Scienc
SIMPEL: Circuit model for photonic spike processing laser neurons
We propose an equivalent circuit model for photonic spike processing laser
neurons with an embedded saturable absorber---a simulation model for photonic
excitable lasers (SIMPEL). We show that by mapping the laser neuron rate
equations into a circuit model, SPICE analysis can be used as an efficient and
accurate engine for numerical calculations, capable of generalization to a
variety of different laser neuron types found in literature. The development of
this model parallels the Hodgkin--Huxley model of neuron biophysics, a circuit
framework which brought efficiency, modularity, and generalizability to the
study of neural dynamics. We employ the model to study various
signal-processing effects such as excitability with excitatory and inhibitory
pulses, binary all-or-nothing response, and bistable dynamics.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figure
Silicon saw-tooth refractive lens for high-energy X-rays made using a diamond saw
A Si saw-tooth refractive lens, fabricated by a dicing process, is demonstrated to focus a 115 keV X-ray beam
Dietary alterations modulate the microRNA 29/30 and IGF-1/AKT signaling axis in breast Cancer liver metastasis.
Background: Metastatic cancer is incurable and understanding the molecular underpinnings is crucial to improving survival for our patients. The IGF-1/Akt signaling pathway is often impaired in cancer leading to its progression and metastases. Diet modification is known to alter the IGF-1/Akt pathway and affect the expression of microRNA involved in tumor initiation, growth and metastases. Liver metastases are one of the most common type of metastases in breast and colon cancer. In the present study, we looked at the effect of diet modification on the expression of microRNA in normal liver and liver with breast cancer metastases using in vivo model.
Methodology: 6-month-old C57BL/6 J mice were put on either an ad libitum (AL) diet, or 40% calorie restricted (CR) diet or were fasted for 24 h (FA) before sacrifice. MicroRNA array analysis, western blot and qRT-PCR were performed using liver tissue to compare the treatment groups. A breast cancer model was also used to study the changes in microRNA expression in liver of a group of BALB/c mice orthotopically injected with 4 T1 cells in the mammary fat pad, put on either an AL or 30% CR diet. Liver and primary tumor tissues were used to perform qRT-PCR to compare the treatment groups.
Results: MicroRNA array analysis showed significant changes in miRNA expression in both CR and FA conditions in normal liver. Expression of miR-29 and miR-30 family members was increased in both CR and FA. Western blot analysis of the normal liver tissue showed that CR and FA downregulated the IGF-1/Akt pathway and qRT-PCR showed that the expression of miR-29b, miR-29c, miR-30a and miR-30b were increased with CR and FA. Liver tissue collected from mice in the breast cancer model showed an increase in expression of miR-29b, miR-29c and miR-30b while tumor tissue showed increased expression of miR-29c, miR-30a and miR-30b.
Discussion: Members of the miR-29 family are known to target and suppress IGF-1, while members of the miR-30 family are known to target and suppress both IGF-1 and IGF-1R. In the present study, we observe that calorie restriction increased the expression of miR-29 and miR-30 in both the normal liver as well as the liver with breast cancer metastases. These findings suggest that dietary alterations may play a role in the treatment of liver metastasis, which should be evaluated further
Dynamical laser spike processing
Novel materials and devices in photonics have the potential to revolutionize
optical information processing, beyond conventional binary-logic approaches.
Laser systems offer a rich repertoire of useful dynamical behaviors, including
the excitable dynamics also found in the time-resolved "spiking" of neurons.
Spiking reconciles the expressiveness and efficiency of analog processing with
the robustness and scalability of digital processing. We demonstrate that
graphene-coupled laser systems offer a unified low-level spike optical
processing paradigm that goes well beyond previously studied laser dynamics. We
show that this platform can simultaneously exhibit logic-level restoration,
cascadability and input-output isolation---fundamental challenges in optical
information processing. We also implement low-level spike-processing tasks that
are critical for higher level processing: temporal pattern detection and stable
recurrent memory. We study these properties in the context of a fiber laser
system, but the addition of graphene leads to a number of advantages which stem
from its unique properties, including high absorption and fast carrier
relaxation. These could lead to significant speed and efficiency improvements
in unconventional laser processing devices, and ongoing research on graphene
microfabrication promises compatibility with integrated laser platforms.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure
New faecal tests for colorectal cancer screening: is tumour pyruvate kinase M2 one of the options?
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