Contact sensitizer nickel sulfate activates the transcription factors NF-kB and AP-1 and increases the expression of nitric oxide synthase in a skin dendritic cell line

Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB) and activating protein-1 (AP-1) transcription factors are ubiquitously expressed signaling molecules known to regulate the transcription of a large number of genes involved in immune responses, namely the inducible isoform of nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). In this study, we demonstrate that a fetal skin-derived dendritic cell line (FSDC) produces nitric oxide (NO) in response to the contact sensitizer nickel sulfate (NiSO(4)) and increases the expression of the iNOS protein, as determined by immunofluorescence and Western blot analysis. The sensitizer NiSO(4) increased cytoplasmic iNOS expression by 31.9 +/- 10.3% and nitrite production, as assayed by the Griess reaction, by 27.6 +/- 9.5%. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA), showed that 30 min of FSDC exposure to NiSO(4) activates the transcription factor NF-kB by 58.2 +/- 7.0% and 2 h of FSDC exposure to NiSO(4) activates the transcription factor AP-1 by 26.0 +/- 1.4%. Together, these results indicate that NiSO(4) activates the NF-kB and AP-1 pathways and induces iNOS expression in skin dendritic cells

Involvement of JAK2 and MAPK on type II nitric oxide synthase expression in skin-derived dendritic cells

In this report, we demonstrate that a fetal mouse skin-derived dendritic cell line produces nitric oxide (NO) in response to the endotoxin [lipopolysaccharide (LPS)] and to cytokines [tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF)]. Expression of the inducible isoform of NO synthase (iNOS) was confirmed by immunofluorescence with an antibody against iNOS. The tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein decreased LPS- and GM-CSF-induced nitrite (NO(-2)) production. The effect of LPS and cytokines on NO(-2) production was inhibited by the Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) inhibitor tyrphostin B42. The p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) inhibitor SB-203580 also reduced the NO(-2) production evoked by LPS, TNF-alpha, or GM-CSF, but it was not as effective as tyrphostin B42. Inhibition of MAPK kinase with PD-098059 also slightly reduced the effect of TNF-alpha or GM-CSF on NO(-2) production. Immunocytochemistry studies revealed that the transcription factor nuclear factor-kappaB was translocated from the cytoplasm into the nuclei of fetal skin-derived dendritic cells (FSDC) stimulated with LPS, and this translocation was inhibited by tyrphostin B42. Our results show that JAK2 plays a major role in the induction of iNOS in FSDC

Differential activation of nuclear factor kappa B subunits in a skin dendritic cell line in response to the strong sensitizer 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene

Dendritic cell (DC) maturation is essential for the initiation of T-dependent immune responses. Nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB) transcription factors are ubiquitously expressed signalling molecules, known to regulate the transcription of a large number of genes involved in immune responses, including cytokines and cell surface molecules. In this work, we studied the time-dependent activation of five members of the NF-kappaB family, p50, p52, p65, RelB and cRel, in a mouse skin DC line in response to stimulation with the strong sensitizer, 2,4-dinitrofluorobenzene (DNFB). Western blot assay revealed that exposure of fetal skin DC (FSDC) to DNFB induced the degradation of the inhibitor of NF-kappaB (IkappaB). Three out of its five members, i.e. p50, p52, and RelB, were similarly activated upon DNFB stimulation, with subsequent translocation of these subunits from the cytosol to the nucleus, but with different kinetics. In contrast, p65 expression was diminished in both the nucleus and the cytosol. The electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) showed that exposure of FSDC to DNFB induced DNA binding to NF-kappaB. Together, these results show that DNFB differentially activates the various members of the NF-kappaB family in skin DC

Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor activates the transcription of nuclear factor kappa B and induces the expression of nitric oxide synthase in a skin dendritic cell line.

Nitric oxide (NO) produced by skin dendritic cells and keratinocytes plays an important role in skin physiology, growth and remodelling. Nitric oxide is also involved in skin inflammatory processes and in modulating antigen presentation (either enhancing or suppressing it). In this study, we found that GM-CSF stimulates the expression of the inducible isoform of nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in a fetal-skin-derived dendritic cell line (FSDC) and, consequently, increases the nitrite production from 11.9 +/- 3.2 micromol/L (basal level) to 26.9 +/- 4.2 micromol/L. Pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (PDTC) inhibits nitrite production, with a half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 19.3 micromol/L and the iNOS protein expression in FSDC. In addition, western blot assays revealed that exposure of FSDC to GM-CSF induces the phosphorylation and degradation of the inhibitor of NF-kappaB (IkB), with subsequent translocation of the p50, p52 and RelB subunits of the transcription nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappaB) from the cytosol to the nucleus. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA) showed that FSDC exposure to GM-CSF activates the transcription factor NF-kappaB. Together, these results show that GM-CSF induces iNOS expression in skin dendritic cells by a mechanism involving activation of the NF-kappaB pathway

The luminosity function of field galaxies

Schmidt's method for construction of luminosity function of galaxies is generalized by taking into account the dependence of density of galaxies from the distance in the near Universe. The logarithmical luminosity function (LLF) of field galaxies depending on morphological type is constructed. We show that the LLF for all galaxies, and also separately for elliptical and lenticular galaxies can be presented by Schechter function in narrow area of absolute magnitudes. The LLF of spiral galaxies was presented by Schechter function for enough wide area of absolute magnitudes: . Spiral galaxies differ slightly by parameter . At transition from early spirals to the late spirals parameter in Schechter function is reduced. The reduction of mean luminosity of galaxies is observed at transition from elliptical galaxies to lenticular galaxies, to early spiral galaxies, and further, to late spiral galaxies, in a bright end, . The completeness and the average density of samples of galaxies of different morphological types are estimated. In the range the mean number density of all galaxies is equal 0.127 Mpc-3.Comment: 14 page, 8 figures, to appear in Astrophysic

The ℓs\ell^s-boundedness of a family of integral operators on UMD Banach function spaces

We prove the $\ell^s$-boundedness of a family of integral operators with an operator-valued kernel on UMD Banach function spaces. This generalizes and simplifies earlier work by Gallarati, Veraar and the author, where the $\ell^s$-boundedness of this family of integral operators was shown on Lebesgue spaces. The proof is based on a characterization of $\ell^s$-boundedness as weighted boundedness by Rubio de Francia.Comment: 13 pages. Generalization of arXiv:1410.665

Paternal obesity is associated with IGF2 hypomethylation in newborns: results from a Newborn Epigenetics Study (NEST) cohort

Data from epidemiological and animal model studies suggest that nutrition during pregnancy may affect the health status of subsequent generations. These transgenerational effects are now being explained by disruptions at the level of the epigenetic machinery. Besides in vitro environmental exposures, the possible impact on the reprogramming of methylation profiles at imprinted genes at a much earlier time point, such as during spermatogenesis or oogenesis, has not previously been considered. In this study, our aim was to determine associations between preconceptional obesity and DNA methylation profiles in the offspring, particularly at the differentially methylated regions (DMRs) of the imprinted Insulin-like Growth Factor 2 (IGF2) gene

Magnetism, FeS colloids, and Origins of Life

A number of features of living systems: reversible interactions and weak bonds underlying motor-dynamics; gel-sol transitions; cellular connected fractal organization; asymmetry in interactions and organization; quantum coherent phenomena; to name some, can have a natural accounting via $physical$ interactions, which we therefore seek to incorporate by expanding the horizons of `chemistry-only' approaches to the origins of life. It is suggested that the magnetic 'face' of the minerals from the inorganic world, recognized to have played a pivotal role in initiating Life, may throw light on some of these issues. A magnetic environment in the form of rocks in the Hadean Ocean could have enabled the accretion and therefore an ordered confinement of super-paramagnetic colloids within a structured phase. A moderate H-field can help magnetic nano-particles to not only overcome thermal fluctuations but also harness them. Such controlled dynamics brings in the possibility of accessing quantum effects, which together with frustrations in magnetic ordering and hysteresis (a natural mechanism for a primitive memory) could throw light on the birth of biological information which, as Abel argues, requires a combination of order and complexity. This scenario gains strength from observations of scale-free framboidal forms of the greigite mineral, with a magnetic basis of assembly. And greigite's metabolic potential plays a key role in the mound scenario of Russell and coworkers-an expansion of which is suggested for including magnetism.Comment: 42 pages, 5 figures, to be published in A.R. Memorial volume, Ed Krishnaswami Alladi, Springer 201

Search for Charged Higgs Bosons in e+e- Collisions at \sqrt{s} = 189 GeV

A search for pair-produced charged Higgs bosons is performed with the L3 detector at LEP using data collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 188.6 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 176.4 pb^-1. Higgs decays into a charm and a strange quark or into a tau lepton and its associated neutrino are considered. The observed events are consistent with the expectations from Standard Model background processes. A lower limit of 65.5 GeV on the charged Higgs mass is derived at 95 % confidence level, independent of the decay branching ratio Br(H^{+/-} -> tau nu)

Measurement of the inclusive and dijet cross-sections of b-jets in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The inclusive and dijet production cross-sections have been measured for jets containing b-hadrons (b-jets) in proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measurements use data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 34 pb^-1. The b-jets are identified using either a lifetime-based method, where secondary decay vertices of b-hadrons in jets are reconstructed using information from the tracking detectors, or a muon-based method where the presence of a muon is used to identify semileptonic decays of b-hadrons inside jets. The inclusive b-jet cross-section is measured as a function of transverse momentum in the range 20 < pT < 400 GeV and rapidity in the range |y| < 2.1. The bbbar-dijet cross-section is measured as a function of the dijet invariant mass in the range 110 < m_jj < 760 GeV, the azimuthal angle difference between the two jets and the angular variable chi in two dijet mass regions. The results are compared with next-to-leading-order QCD predictions. Good agreement is observed between the measured cross-sections and the predictions obtained using POWHEG + Pythia. MC@NLO + Herwig shows good agreement with the measured bbbar-dijet cross-section. However, it does not reproduce the measured inclusive cross-section well, particularly for central b-jets with large transverse momenta.Comment: 10 pages plus author list (21 pages total), 8 figures, 1 table, final version published in European Physical Journal