696 research outputs found
Innate Immunity and Resistance to Tolerogenesis in Allotransplantation
The development of immunosuppressive drugs to control adaptive immune responses has led to the success of transplantation as a therapy for end-stage organ failure. However, these agents are largely ineffective in suppressing components of the innate immune system. This distinction has gained in clinical significance as mounting evidence now indicates that innate immune responses play important roles in the acute and chronic rejection of whole organ allografts. For instance, whereas clinical interest in natural killer (NK) cells was once largely confined to the field of bone marrow transplantation, recent findings suggest that these cells can also participate in the acute rejection of cardiac allografts and prevent tolerance induction. Stimulation of Toll-like receptors (TLRs), another important component of innate immunity, by endogenous ligands released in response to ischemia/reperfusion is now known to cause an inflammatory milieu favorable to graft rejection and abrogation of tolerance. Emerging data suggest that activation of complement is linked to acute rejection and interferes with tolerance. In summary, the conventional wisdom that the innate immune system is of little importance in whole organ transplantation is no longer tenable. The addition of strategies that target TLRs, NK cells, complement, and other components of the innate immune system will be necessary to eventually achieve long-term tolerance to human allograft recipients
Modelling the unfolding pathway of biomolecules: theoretical approach and experimental prospect
We analyse the unfolding pathway of biomolecules comprising several
independent modules in pulling experiments. In a recently proposed model, a
critical velocity has been predicted, such that for pulling speeds
it is the module at the pulled end that opens first, whereas for
it is the weakest. Here, we introduce a variant of the model that is
closer to the experimental setup, and discuss the robustness of the emergence
of the critical velocity and of its dependence on the model parameters. We also
propose a possible experiment to test the theoretical predictions of the model,
which seems feasible with state-of-art molecular engineering techniques.Comment: Accepted contribution for the Springer Book "Coupled Mathematical
Models for Physical and Biological Nanoscale Systems and Their Applications"
(proceedings of the BIRS CMM16 Workshop held in Banff, Canada, August 2016),
16 pages, 6 figure
How do paediatricians use and monitor antithyroid drugs in the UK? A clinician survey
Objective
We aimed to document current practice in the medical management of paediatric hyperthyroidism in the UK and compare to international recommendations.
Design
A 27‐question online survey distributed via an electronic newsletter in August 2018.
Participants
Responses from 48 members (11%) of the British Society for Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes.
Measurements
Information about antithyroid drug (ATD) preference, treatment duration, monitoring of full blood count (FBC), management of neutropaenia, agranulocytosis screening and patient education.
Results
Carbimazole is favoured by 98% of respondents and a “dose titration” regimen preferred over “block and replace” (65% vs 29%). TRAbs (thyroid‐stimulating hormone receptor antibodies) are used for diagnostic purposes by 85% and by 33% to look for evidence of disease remission. The majority (81%) treat for a minimum of 2 years before considering a trial off ATD. All respondents reported that they “always/usually” warn their patients about the risk of agranulocytosis before starting ATD, but written information is “rarely/never” provided by 63%. Sore throat (98%) and fever (92%) are the most commonly cited symptoms used to alert a patient to possible agranulocytosis. FBC is measured prior to treatment by 65% and measured periodically during treatment by 70%.
Conclusions
The management of paediatric hyperthyroidism with ATDs in the UK is not consistent with all international recommendations because a block and replace ATD regimen remains widely used. TRAbs are utilized at presentation, but underused for detecting disease remission. National consensus guidelines and written patient information may refine the management of paediatric patients on ATDs
Alternaria dauci, agent causal des brûlures foliaires est pathogène sur différentes espèces végétales
Non-chiral current algebras for deformed supergroup WZW models
We study deformed WZW models on supergroups with vanishing Killing form. The
deformation is generated by the isotropic current-current perturbation which is
exactly marginal under these assumptions. It breaks half of the global
isometries of the original supergroup. The current corresponding to the
remaining symmetry is conserved but its components are neither holomorphic nor
anti-holomorphic. We obtain the exact two- and three-point functions of this
current and a four-point function in the first two leading orders of a 1/k
expansion but to all orders in the deformation parameter. We further study the
operator product algebra of the currents, the equal time commutators and the
quantum equations of motion. The form of the equations of motion suggests the
existence of non-local charges which generate a Yangian. Possible applications
to string theory on Anti-de Sitter spaces and to condensed matter problems are
briefly discussed.Comment: 43 pages, Latex, one eps figure; v.2: minor corrections, a reference
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First-principles derivation of the AdS/CFT Y-systems
We provide a first-principles, perturbative derivation of the AdS5/CFT4
Y-system that has been proposed to solve the spectrum problem of N=4 SYM. The
proof relies on the computation of quantum effects in the fusion of some loop
operators, namely the transfer matrices. More precisely we show that the
leading quantum corrections in the fusion of transfer matrices induce the
correct shifts of the spectral parameter in the T-system. As intermediate steps
we study UV divergences in line operators up to first order and compute the
fusion of line operators up to second order for the pure spinor string in
AdS5xS5. We also argue that the derivation can be easily extended to other
integrable models, some of which describe string theory on AdS4, AdS3 and AdS2
spacetimes.Comment: 45 pages, 5 figures; v2: minor additions, JHEP versio
The conformal current algebra on supergroups with applications to the spectrum and integrability
We compute the algebra of left and right currents for a principal chiral
model with arbitrary Wess-Zumino term on supergroups with zero Killing form. We
define primary fields for the current algebra that match the affine primaries
at the Wess-Zumino-Witten points. The Maurer-Cartan equation together with
current conservation tightly constrain the current-current and current-primary
operator product expansions. The Hilbert space of the theory is generated by
acting with the currents on primary fields. We compute the conformal dimensions
of a subset of these states in the large radius limit. The current algebra is
shown to be consistent with the quantum integrability of these models to
several orders in perturbation theory.Comment: 45 pages. Minor correction
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