247 research outputs found
ADAMTS -1 and -4 are up-regulated following transient middle cerebral artery occlusion in the rat and their expression is modulated by TNF in cultured astrocytes
ADAMTS (a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs) enzymes are a recently described group of metalloproteinases. The substrates degraded by ADAMTS-1, -4 and -5 suggests that they play a role in turnover of extracellular matrix in the central nervous system (CNS). ADAMTS-1 is also known to exhibit anti-angiogenic activity. Their main endogenous inhibitor is tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP)-3.
The present study was designed to investigate ADAMTS-1, -4 and -5 and TIMP-3 expression after experimental cerebral ischaemia and to examine whether cytokines known to be up-regulated in stroke could alter their expression by astrocytes in vitro. Focal cerebral ischaemia was induced by transient middle cerebral artery occlusion in the rat using the filament method.
Our results demonstrate a significant increase in expression of ADAMTS-1 and -4 in the occluded hemisphere but no significant change in TIMP-3. This was accompanied by an increase in mRNA levels for interleukin (IL)-1, IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1ra) and tumour necrosis factor (TNF). ADAMTS-4 mRNA and protein was up-regulated by TNF in primary human astrocyte cultures. The increased ADAMTS-1 and -4 in experimental stroke, together with no change in TIMP-3, may promote ECM breakdown after stroke, enabling infiltration of inflammatory cells and contribute to brain injury. In vitro studies suggest that the in vivo modulation of ADAMTS-1 and -4 may be controlled in part by TNF.</p
Negative Kaons in Dense Baryonic Matter
Kaon polarization operator in dense baryonic matter of arbitrary isotopic
composition is calculated including s- and p-wave kaon-baryon interactions. The
regular part of the polarization operator is extracted from the realistic
kaon-nucleon interaction based on the chiral and 1/N_c expansion. Contributions
of the Lambda(1116), Sigma(1195), Sigma*(1385) resonances are taken explicitly
into account in the pole and regular terms with inclusion of mean-field
potentials. The baryon-baryon correlations are incorporated and fluctuation
contributions are estimated. Results are applied for K- in neutron star matter.
Within our model a second-order phase transition to the s-wave K- condensate
state occurs at rho_c \gsim 4 \rho_0 once the baryon-baryon correlations are
included. We show that the second-order phase transition to the p-wave
condensate state may occur at densities in
dependence on the parameter choice. We demonstrate that a first-order phase
transition to a proton-enriched (approximately isospin-symmetric) nucleon
matter with a p-wave K- condensate can occur at smaller densities, \rho\lsim 2
\rho_0. The transition is accompanied by the suppression of hyperon
concentrations.Comment: 41 pages, 24 figures, revtex4 styl
Mucin 5B promoter polymorphism is associated with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis but not with development of lung fibrosis in systemic sclerosis or sarcoidosis
BACKGROUND: A polymorphism (rs35705950) 3 kb upstream of MUC5B, the gene encoding Mucin 5 subtype B, has been shown to be associated with familial and sporadic idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). We set out to verify whether this variant is also a risk factor for fibrotic lung disease in other settings and to confirm the published findings in a UK Caucasian IPF population. METHODS: Caucasian UK healthy controls (n=416) and patients with IPF (n=110), sarcoidosis (n=180) and systemic sclerosis (SSc) (n=440) were genotyped to test for association. The SSc and sarcoidosis cohorts were subdivided according to the presence or absence of fibrotic lung disease. To assess correlation with disease progression, time to decline in forced vital capacity and/or lung carbon monoxide transfer factor was used in the IPF and SSc groups, while a persistent decline at 4 years since baseline was evaluated in patients with sarcoidosis. RESULTS: A significant association of the MUC5B promoter single nucleotide polymorphism with IPF (p=2.04 x 10(-17); OR 4.90, 95% CI 3.42 to 7.03) was confirmed in this UK population. The MUC5B variant was not a risk factor for lung fibrosis in patients with SSc or sarcoidosis and did not predict more rapidly progressive lung disease in any of the groups. Rather, a trend for a longer time to decline in forced vital capacity was observed in patients with IPF. CONCLUSIONS: We confirm the MUC5B variant association with IPF. We did not observe an association with lung fibrosis in the context of SSc or sarcoidosis, potentially highlighting fundamental differences in genetic susceptibility, although the limited subgroup numbers do not allow a definitive exclusion of an association
Dual origins of dairy cattle farming : evidence from a comprehensive survey of European Y-Chromosomal variation
Background - Diversity patterns of livestock species are informative to the history of agriculture and indicate uniqueness of breeds as relevant for conservation. So far, most studies on cattle have focused on mitochondrial and autosomal DNA variation. Previous studies of Y-chromosomal variation, with limited breed panels, identified two Bos taurus (taurine) haplogroups (Y1 and Y2; both composed of several haplotypes) and one Bos indicus (indicine/zebu) haplogroup (Y3), as well as a strong phylogeographic structuring of paternal lineages.
Methodology and Principal Findings - Haplogroup data were collected for 2087 animals from 138 breeds. For 111 breeds, these were resolved further by genotyping microsatellites INRA189 (10 alleles) and BM861 (2 alleles). European cattle carry exclusively taurine haplotypes, with the zebu Y-chromosomes having appreciable frequencies in Southwest Asian populations. Y1 is predominant in northern and north-western Europe, but is also observed in several Iberian breeds, as well as in Southwest Asia. A single Y1 haplotype is predominant in north-central Europe and a single Y2 haplotype in central Europe. In contrast, we found both Y1 and Y2 haplotypes in Britain, the Nordic region and Russia, with the highest Y-chromosomal diversity seen in the Iberian Peninsula.
Conclusions - We propose that the homogeneous Y1 and Y2 regions reflect founder effects associated with the development and expansion of two groups of dairy cattle, the pied or red breeds from the North Sea and Baltic coasts and the spotted, yellow or brown breeds from Switzerland, respectively. The present Y1-Y2 contrast in central Europe coincides with historic, linguistic, religious and cultural boundaries
Pion, kaon, proton and anti-proton transverse momentum distributions from p+p and d+Au collisions at GeV
Identified mid-rapidity particle spectra of , , and
from 200 GeV p+p and d+Au collisions are reported. A
time-of-flight detector based on multi-gap resistive plate chamber technology
is used for particle identification. The particle-species dependence of the
Cronin effect is observed to be significantly smaller than that at lower
energies. The ratio of the nuclear modification factor () between
protons and charged hadrons () in the transverse momentum
range GeV/c is measured to be
(stat)(syst) in minimum-bias collisions and shows little
centrality dependence. The yield ratio of in minimum-bias d+Au
collisions is found to be a factor of 2 lower than that in Au+Au collisions,
indicating that the Cronin effect alone is not enough to account for the
relative baryon enhancement observed in heavy ion collisions at RHIC.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. We extended the pion spectra from
transverse momentum 1.8 GeV/c to 3. GeV/
The Idea of Social Life
This paper reclaims the idea that human society is a form of life, an idea once vibrant in the work of Toennies, Durkheim, Simmel, Le Bon, Kroeber, Freud, Bion, and Follett but moribund today. Despite current disparagements, this idea remains the only and best answer to our primary experience of society as vital feeling. The main obstacle to conceiving society as a life is linguistic; the logical form of life is incommensurate with the logical form of language. However, it is possible to extend our conceptual reach by appealing to alternative symbolisms more congenial to living form such as, and especially, art.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68336/2/10.1177_004839319502500201.pd
Azimuthal anisotropy and correlations in p+p, d+Au and Au+Au collisions at 200 GeV
We present the first measurement of directed flow () at RHIC. is
found to be consistent with zero at pseudorapidities from -1.2 to 1.2,
then rises to the level of a couple of percent over the range . The latter observation is similar to data from NA49 if the SPS rapidities
are shifted by the difference in beam rapidity between RHIC and SPS.
Back-to-back jets emitted out-of-plane are found to be suppressed more if
compared to those emitted in-plane, which is consistent with {\it jet
quenching}. Using the scalar product method, we systematically compared
azimuthal correlations from p+p, d+Au and Au+Au collisions. Flow and non-flow
from these three different collision systems are discussed.Comment: Quark Matter 2004 proceeding, 4 pages, 3 figure
Azimuthal anisotropy: the higher harmonics
We report the first observations of the fourth harmonic (v_4) in the
azimuthal distribution of particles at RHIC. The measurement was done taking
advantage of the large elliptic flow generated at RHIC. The integrated v_4 is
about a factor of 10 smaller than v_2. For the sixth (v_6) and eighth (v_8)
harmonics upper limits on the magnitudes are reported.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, contribution to the Quark Matter 2004 proceeding
Partonic flow and -meson production in Au+Au collisions at = 200 GeV
We present first measurements of the -meson elliptic flow
() and high statistics distributions for different
centralities from = 200 GeV Au+Au collisions at RHIC. In
minimum bias collisions the of the meson is consistent with the
trend observed for mesons. The ratio of the yields of the to those of
the as a function of transverse momentum is consistent with a model
based on the recombination of thermal quarks up to GeV/,
but disagrees at higher momenta. The nuclear modification factor () of
follows the trend observed in the mesons rather than in
baryons, supporting baryon-meson scaling. Since -mesons are
made via coalescence of seemingly thermalized quarks in central Au+Au
collisions, the observations imply hot and dense matter with partonic
collectivity has been formed at RHIC.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, submit to PR
Plasma Wakefield Acceleration with a Modulated Proton Bunch
The plasma wakefield amplitudes which could be achieved via the modulation of
a long proton bunch are investigated. We find that in the limit of long bunches
compared to the plasma wavelength, the strength of the accelerating fields is
directly proportional to the number of particles in the drive bunch and
inversely proportional to the square of the transverse bunch size. The scaling
laws were tested and verified in detailed simulations using parameters of
existing proton accelerators, and large electric fields were achieved, reaching
1 GV/m for LHC bunches. Energy gains for test electrons beyond 6 TeV were found
in this case.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
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