Immune response to gut escherichia coli and susceptibility to adjuvant arthritis in the rats

We have investigated the humoral immune response to antigens of predominant gut aerobic bacterial strains (i.e. Escherichia coli) over the course of adjuvant arthritis and oil-induced arthritis in two inbred rat strains: Dark Agouti (DA) and Albino Oxford (AO). We report the presence of antibodies specific to proteins of Escherichia coli in molecular weight range between 20-30 kDa in sera of diseased DA rats, and the absence of these antibodies in the sera of AO rats. In DA rats, CFA and IFA provoked a stronger antibody response to Escherichia coli, especially of the IgG2b antibody class. Intramuscular administration of Escherichia coli preceding the adjuvant arthritis induction had no effect on the development and course of disease, as well as on the activation of T cells in the draining inguinal lymph nodes. Higher serum levels of natural and induced IgA antibodies, combined with a higher CD3(+)CD26(+) cell percentage were found in AO rats. The observed correlation between the serologic response to commensal flora and rats' genetic background as a defining factor for arthritis susceptibility may contribute to the process of creating a favorable (or less favorable) milieu for arthritis development

FIRST SEARCHES FOR OPTICAL COUNTERPARTS TO GRAVITATIONAL-WAVE CANDIDATE EVENTS

During the LIGO and Virgo joint science runs in 2009-2010, gravitational wave (GW) data from three interferometer detectors were analyzed within minutes to select GW candidate events and infer their apparent sky positions. Target coordinates were transmitted to several telescopes for follow-up observations aimed at the detection of an associated optical transient. Images were obtained for eight such GW candidates. We present the methods used to analyze the image data as well as the transient search results. No optical transient was identified with a convincing association with any of these candidates, and none of the GW triggers showed strong evidence for being astrophysical in nature. We compare the sensitivities of these observations to several model light curves from possible sources of interest, and discuss prospects for future joint GW-optical observations of this type

Leading change in higher education

This article considers the situation in the UK higher education system and investigates specifically the leadership practice in a cluster of UK institutions as they changed their status. The research goes further to advocate a form of contextualized leadership that is relevant to higher institutions under change

The Power of Pictures: Learning-by-Looking at Papua in Illustrated Newspapers and Magazines

Illustrated newspapers and magazines at the end of the 19th and early in the 20th century promoted economic opportunities in gold mining, planting, tourism and trading in the Australian Territory of Papua and visually suggested it was a potentially prosperous tropical frontier of costumed dancers, ex-cannibals, mission converts and eager labourers. The widespread dissemination of pictorial material in this era allowed Australians to be relatively well informed about Papua and learning-by-looking at daily, weekly and monthly publications liberally illustrated with photographs meant existing colonial, racist and hegemonic attitudes were reinforced and new interest generated in Australia’s sub-regional empire in the island