5,088 research outputs found
Enrichment of innate lymphoid cell populations in gingival tissue
Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are a population of lymphocytes that act as the first line of immunologic defense at mucosal surfaces. The ILC family in the skin, lungs, and gastrointestinal tissues has been investigated, and there are reports of individual subsets of ILCs in the oral tissues. We sought to investigate the whole ILC population (group 1, 2, and 3 subsets) in the murine gingivae and the lymph nodes draining the oral cavity. We show that ILCs made up a greater proportion of the whole CD45+ lymphocyte population in the murine gingivae (0.356% ± 0.039%) as compared with the proportion of ILCs in the draining lymph nodes (0.158% ± 0.005%). Cytokine profiling of the ILC populations demonstrated different proportions of ILC subsets in the murine gingivae versus the regional lymph nodes. The majority of ILCs in the draining lymph nodes expressed IL-5, whereas there were equal proportions of IFN-γ- and IL-5 expressing ILCs in the oral mucosa. The percentage of IL-17+ ILCs was comparable between the murine gingivae and the oral draining lymph nodes. These data suggest an enrichment of ILCs in the murine gingivae, and these ILCs reflect a cytokine profile discrepant to that of the local draining lymph nodes. These studies indicate diversity and enrichment of ILCs at the oral mucosal surface. The function of ILCs in the oral cavity remains to be determined; here, we provide a premise of ILC populations that merits future consideration in investigations of mouse models and human tissues
Full Scale Proton Beam Impact Testing of new CERN Collimators and Validation of a Numerical Approach for Future Operation
New collimators are being produced at CERN in the framework of a large
particle accelerator upgrade project to protect beam lines against stray
particles. Their movable jaws hold low density absorbers with tight geometric
requirements, while being able to withstand direct proton beam impacts. Such
events induce considerable thermo-mechanical loads, leading to complex
structural responses, which make the numerical analysis challenging. Hence, an
experiment has been developed to validate the jaw design under representative
conditions and to acquire online results to enhance the numerical models. Two
jaws have been impacted by high-intensity proton beams in a dedicated facility
at CERN and have recreated the worst possible scenario in future operation. The
analysis of online results coupled to post-irradiation examinations have
demonstrated that the jaw response remains in the elastic domain. However, they
have also highlighted how sensitive the jaw geometry is to its mounting support
inside the collimator. Proton beam impacts, as well as handling activities, may
alter the jaw flatness tolerance value by 70 m, whereas the
flatness tolerance requirement is 200 m. In spite of having validated
the jaw design for this application, the study points out numerical limitations
caused by the difficulties in describing complex geometries and boundary
conditions with such unprecedented requirements.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, Prepared for submission to JINS
Absolute calibration of the LOPES antenna system
Radio emission in extensive air showers arises from an interaction with the
geomagnetic field and is subject of theoretical studies. This radio emission
has advantages for the detection of high energy cosmic rays compared to
secondary particle or fluorescence measurement methods. Radio antennas like the
LOPES30 antenna system are suited to investigate this emission process by
detecting the radio pulses. The characteristic observable parameters like
electric field strength and pulse length require a calibration which was done
with a reference radio source resulting in an amplification factor representing
the system behavior in the environment of the KASCADE-Grande experiment.
Knowing the amplification factor and the gain of the LOPES antennas LOPES30 is
calibrated absolutely for systematic analyses of the radio emission.Comment: 5 pages, Proceedings of International Workshop on Acoustic and Radio
EeV Neutrino detection Activities: ARENA, May 17-19, 2005, DESY Zeuthe
Mobilising urban knowledge in an infodemic: Urban observatories, sustainable development and the COVID-19 crisis
Along with disastrous health and economic implications, COVID-19 has also been an
epidemic of misinformation and rumours – an ‘infodemic’. The desire for robust, evidence-based
policymaking in this time of disruption has been at the heart of the multilateral response to the
crisis, not least in terms of supporting a continuing agenda for global sustainable development. The
role of boundary-spanning knowledge institutions in this context could be pivotal, not least in cities,
where much of the pandemic has struck. ‘Urban observatories’ have emerged as an example of such
institutions; harbouring great potential to produce and share knowledge supporting sustainable and
equitable processes of recovery. Building on four ‘live’ case studies during the crisis of institutions
based in Johannesburg, Karachi, Freetown and Bangalore, our research note aims to capture the role
of these institutions, and what it means to span knowledge boundaries in the current crisis. We do
so with an eye towards a better understanding of their knowledge mobilisation practices in
contributing towards sustainable urban development. We highlight that the crisis offers a key
window for urban observatories to play a progressive and effective role for sustainable and inclusive
development. However, we also underline continuing challenges in these boundary knowledge
dynamics: including issues of institutional trust, inequality of voices, collective memory, and the
balance between normative and advisory roles for observatories
Confined magnetic guiding orbit states
We show how snake-orbit states which run along a magnetic edge can be
confined electrically. We consider a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG)
confined into a quantum wire, subjected to a strong perpendicular and steplike
magnetic field . Close to this magnetic step new, spatially confined
bound states arise as a result of the lateral confinement and the magnetic
field step. The number of states, with energy below the first Landau level,
increases as becomes stronger or as the wire width becomes larger. These
bound states can be understood as an interference between two
counter-propagating one-dimensional snake-orbit states.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Hostility and cellular aging in men from the Whitehall II cohort.
Hostility is associated with a significantly increased risk of age-related disease and mortality, yet the pathophysiological mechanisms involved remain unclear. Here we investigated the hypothesis that hostility might impact health by promoting cellular aging
cDNA-RNA subtractive hybridization reveals increased expression of mycocerosic acid synthase in intracellular Mycobacterium bovis BCG.
Identifying genes that are differentially expressed by Mycobacterium bovis BCG after phagocytosis by macrophages will facilitate the understanding of the molecular mechanisms of host cell-intracellular pathogen interactions. To identify such genes a cDNA-total RNA subtractive hybridization strategy has been used that circumvents the problems both of limited availability of bacterial RNA from models of infection and the high rRNA backgrounds in total bacterial RNA. The subtraction products were used to screen a high-density gridded Mycobacterium tuberculosis genomic library. Sequence data were obtained from 19 differential clones, five of which contained overlapping sequences for the gene encoding mycocerosic acid synthase (mas). Mas is an enzyme involved in the synthesis of multi-methylated long-chain fatty acids that are part of phthiocerol dimycocerosate, a major component of the complex mycobacterial cell wall. Northern blotting and primer extension data confirmed up-regulation of mas in intracellular mycobacteria and also revealed a putative extended -10 promoter structure and a long untranslated upstream region 5' of the mas transcripts, containing predicted double-stranded structures. Furthermore, clones containing overlapping sequences for furB, groEL-2, rplE and fadD28 were identified and the up-regulation of these genes was confirmed by Northern blot analysis. The cDNA-RNA subtractive hybridization enrichment and high density gridded library screening, combined with selective extraction of bacterial mRNA represents a valuable approach to the identification of genes expressed during intra-macrophage residence for bacteria such as M. bovis BCG and the pathogenic mycobacterium, M. tuberculosis
Classification and prediction of macroinvertebrate assemblages from running waters in Victoria, Australia
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