Transgenic expression of the Ly49A natural killer cell receptor confers class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-specific inhibition and prevents bone marrow allograft rejection.

Natural killer (NK) cells and some T cells are endowed with receptors specific for class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules that can inhibit cellular effector functions. The function of the Ly49 receptor family has been studied in vitro, but no gene transfer experiments have directly established the role of these receptors in NK cell functions. We show here that transgenic expression of the H-2Dd-specific Ly49A receptor in all NK cells and T cells conferred class I-specific inhibition of NK cell-mediated target cell lysis as well as of T cell proliferation. Furthermore, transgene expression prevented NK cell-mediated rejection of allogeneic H-2d bone marrow grafts by irradiated mice. These results demonstrate the function and specificity of Ly49 receptors in vivo, and establish that their subset-specific expression is necessary for the discrimination of MHC-different cells by NK cells in unmanipulated mice

Positive patient experience in eye care during COVID-19: A case from Eye Hospital Sistina Oftalmologija

COVID-19 was a wake-up call, changing the world we know and our experiences in every possible way. Healthcare systems, as the most exposed and stressed in this situation, were called to urgently respond to the new reality. Physical distancing and stay-at-home directives have flattened the curve and decreased the risk of viral transmission but also decreased the clinical volume in eye care medical practice. Hospitals must work hard to find a balance in responding to the pandemic while providing quality care and positive patient experiences. Previous research on crises has been mostly focused on implementing crisis management strategies to handle the threat against citizens’ health, within a relatively bounded geographic area. Novel COVID-19 virus struck globally and urged the need for additional knowledge and practice to successfully manage world crises and create positive patient experiences in a pandemic. The Case of Eye Hospital Sistina Oftalmologija in N. Macedonia answers the call by suggesting four managerial best practices that provide its patients with positive experiences during the pandemic by addressing organizational changes, engaging employees, improving communication with patients and recognizing its social responsibilities. This study also offers recommendations for further action in communication and digital transformations related to acute and long-term care and suggests questions for further exploration. Findings provide important insights for medical institutions and health care providers. Experience Framework This article is associated with the Patient, Family & Community Engagement lens of The Beryl Institute Experience Framework. (http://bit.ly/ExperienceFramework) Access other PXJ articles related to this lens. Access other resources related to this lens

Baryogenesis from Higgs Inflation

If the inflaton field is coupled to the hypercharge Chern-Simons density $F\tilde F$, an explosive production of helical gauge fields when inflation ends can trigger baryogenesis at the electroweak phase transition. Besides, Higgs inflation identifies the inflaton with the Higgs field $\mathcal H$, thus relating cosmological observables to properties of electroweak physics. In this paper we merge both approaches: the helical gauge fields are produced at the end of Higgs inflation from the coupling $|\mathcal H|^2 F\tilde F$. In the metric formulation of gravity we found a window in the parameter space for electroweak baryogenesis consistent with all experimental observations. Conversely, for the Palatini formalism the non-gaussianity bounds strongly constrain the helicity produced at the end of inflation, forbidding an efficient baryogenesis.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figure

Numerical study of the Schwinger effect in axion inflation

Previous studies demonstrate that the inflaton, when coupled to the hypercharge Chern-Simons density, can source an explosive production of helical hypermagnetic fields. Then, in the absence of fermion production, those fields have the capability of preheating the Universe after inflation and triggering a successful baryogenesis mechanism at the electroweak phase transition. In the presence of fermion production however, we expect a strong damping of the gauge fields production from the fermion backreaction, a phenomenon called Schwinger effect, thus jeopardizing their original capabilities. Using numerical methods we study the backreaction on the generated gauge fields and revisit the processes of gauge preheating and baryogenesis in the presence of the Schwinger effect. We have found that gauge preheating is very unlikely, while still having a sizable window in the parameter space to achieve the baryon asymmetry of the Universe at the electroweak phase transition.Comment: fit the Physical Review D version, 30 pages, 8 figure

Baryogenesis from combined Higgs - scalar field inflation

We study a modification of the Higgs inflation scenario where we introduce an extra scalar $\phi$, with mass $m$, coupled to the Ricci scalar as $g\phi^2 R$, and mixed with the Higgs field $h$ via the Lagrangian term $\mu \phi h^2$. Both fields participate in the inflation process in a unitary theory that predicts values of the cosmological observables in agreement with the results from the Planck/BICEP/Keck collaborations. In addition, by means of a $\mathcal{CP}$-odd effective operator that couples $\phi$ to the Chern-Simons term of the hypercharge gauge group as $f_\phi^{-1}\phi \,Y_{\mu\nu}\tilde Y^{\mu\nu}$, maximally helical magnetic fields are produced during the last $e$-folds of inflation. We found a window in the coupling $f_\phi$ where these fields survive all constraints until the electroweak phase transition, and source the baryon asymmetry of the Universe through the Standard Model chiral anomaly. From a phenomenological perspective, the model can solve the Standard Model instability problem at the scale $\mathcal Q_I\simeq 10^{11}$ GeV, provided that $\mu\lesssim m \lesssim \mathcal Q_I$, and for $m\lesssim \mathcal{O}$(few)~TeV, the $\phi$-$h$ mixing becomes sizable while the theory turns natural. The latter thus predicts modifications of the trilinear and quartic couplings that could be explored at the HE-LHC, as well as at future colliders, and allows for direct $\phi$ production at the LHC followed by decay into $hh$. Present results from ATLAS and CMS already put (mild) bounds on the mass of the heavy scalar as $m\gtrsim 0.55$~TeV at 95\% C.L.Comment: Version to appear in Physical Review D, 56 pages, 11 figure

A novel element upstream of the Vgamma2 gene in the murine T cell receptor gamma locus cooperates with the 3 enhancer to act as a locus control region.

Transgenic expression constructs were employed to identify a cis-acting transcription element in the T cell receptor (TCR)-gamma locus, called HsA, between the Vgamma5 and Vgamma2 genes. In constructs lacking the previously defined enhancer (3E(Cgamma1)), HsA supports transcription in mature but not immature T cells in a largely position-independent fashion. 3E(Cgamma1), without HsA, supports transcription in immature and mature T cells but is subject to severe position effects. Together, the two elements support expression in immature and mature T cells in a copy number-dependent, position-independent fashion. Furthermore, HsA was necessary for consistent rearrangement of transgenic recombination substrates. These data suggest that HsA provides chromatin-opening activity and, together with 3E(Cgamma1), constitutes a T cell-specific locus control region for the TCR-gamma locus

Política fiscal y evasión: una introducción práctica a la teoría de los juegos

Se estudiarán los diferentes mecanismos a través de los cuales las economías en desarrollo podrían evitar el equilibrio subóptimo del cual muchas de ellas son víctimas, con tasas impositivas nominales altas y una evasión considerable. De modo paralelo, se explicarán detalladamente los fundamentos teóricos utilizados en cada sección del trabajo, constituyendo el mismo un resumen a partir del cual pueden introducirse estudiantes o personas interesadas a la teoría de los juegos

Developmentally Programmed Rearrangement of T Cell Receptor Vγ Genes Is Controlled by Sequences Immediately Upstream of the Vγ Genes

AbstractDistinct subsets of γδ T cells expressing different Vγ and Vδ chains arise in ordered waves during thymic development. In the murine Jγ1–Cγ1 cluster, the Vγ3 gene segment is utilized earliest in fetal thymic development, in progenitors of dendritic epidermal T cells (DECs). The Vγ2 gene segment predominates in the late fetal stages and beyond, in cells destined for the secondary lymphoid organs. Using transgenic TCRγ recombination substrates, we demonstrate that this restricted Vγ gene usage is determined by developmentally targeted gene rearrangement. We show that sequences immediately upstream of the Vγ2 and Vγ3 genes direct the rearrangement pattern in adult thymocytes. Thus, the choice of Vγ gene for recombination is coordinated with distinct differentiation programs in γδ subsets

Perancangan unit mesin pendingin (Cold Storage) untuk produk karkas sapi kapasitas 25 ton dengan kombinasi refrigerasi kompresi uap, refrigerasi absorpsi, dan flat plate solar collector di Kabupaten Pamekasan-Madura

Daging merupakan salah satu hasil ternak yang hampir tidak dapat dipisahkan dari kehidupan manusia. Namun dari semua jenis daging, daging sapi menjadi primadona bagi kalangan masyarakat Indonesia. Bahkan, pemerintah mendatangkan daging sapi impor untuk memenuhi kebutuhan pangan masyarakat. Kabupaten Pamekasan merupakan salah satu daerah dengan produksi daging sapi tertinggi di Pulau Madura. Bahkan tidak sedikit yang disuplai ke luar daerah, seperti daerah Situbodo dan Bondowoso melalui jalur laut. Namun, distribusi daging dilakukan dengan cara yang tidak efektif, yaitu dengan cara mengangkut sapi dalam keadaan hidup agar proses penyembelihan dapat dilakukan di tempat tujuan untuk mempertahankan kualitas daging. Proses ini akan lebih baik jika pengiriman dilakukan setelah daging sapi diawetkan dengan cara dibekukan setelah proses penyembelihan. Selain itu, Pamekasan juga memiliki potensi iradiasi matahari yang memungkinkan. Sehingga, dapat dilakukan perancangan mesin pendingin untuk pengawetan karkas sapi di Pamekasan dengan memanfaatkan energi panas matahari menggunakan pengumpul energi matahari berbentuk plat datar (flat plate solar collector). Perancangan cold storage ini terdiri dari rancangan konstruksi dan sistem pendingin. Sistem pendingin yang akan dirancang menggunakan kombinasi daur refrigerasi absorpsi dengan kompresi uap hingga mencapai temperatur karkas sapi 25ton yang uniform hingga -20℃. Refrigeran yang digunakan yaitu ammonia (R717) untuk sistem kompresi uap dan pasangan absorben-refrigeran yaitu air-ammonia pada sistem absorpsi. Variasi dilakukan pada konsentrasi air-ammonia untuk larutan lemah 10%, 20%, 30%, dan 40%. Hasil yang diperoleh dari perancangan ini selain rancangan konstruksi adalah perhitungan beban pendinginan tertinggi yaitu bulan Januari pada 15 jam waktu pendinginan 859595.541 Btu/hr atau 251.922 KW. Nilai Coefficient of Performance (COP) terbaik untuk sistem absorpsi yaitu pada persentase water-ammonia untuk weak solution 0.40 dengan COP 0.794. Luas Flat Plate Solar Collector terkecil yaitu pada variasi persentasi water-ammonia untuk weak solution 0.40 yaitu 300.703 m2. Nilai COP untuk sistem kompresi uap yaitu 3.375 dan lebih kecil daripada sistem pendingin Carnot sistem kompresi uap. Selain itu, diperoleh juga komponen-komponen penting sistem dari katalog. ======================================================================================================= Meat is one of product in farming sector. People almost consume meat everyday in their whole life. However, from all kinds of meat, Indonesian like to eat beef than others. On the contrary, the government import beef from other countries to serve a society’s demand of consuming beef. Pamekasan regency is one of the region which has the highest production of beef carcass in Madura. Moreover, they export the beef carcass to other region like Situbondo and Bondowoso by shipping distribution. But, they do the uneffective distribution. Before shipping, exporting is done by picking the live cows up with car and cut them off in the destination place. The purpose of that is to make longest live of beef. It will be better if the cows are cut off first and make them freeze, so the distribution is easier because distribute the freezed beef. In the other hand, Pamekasan regency has a good potential in solar irradiation. So that, it can design a cold storage for freezing beef carcass in Pamekasan by collecting solar energy with flat plate solar collector. The design of this cold storage is divided by construction design and refrigeration system. This design will combine absorption and vapor compression refrigeration system to make the uniform temperature of beef carcass -20℃ in 25ton capacity. This refrigeration system will use ammonia (R717) as the refrigerant and aquos-ammonia as the absorbent-refrigerant for absorption system. This cold storage will have variation of aquos-ammonia weak solution 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40%. The result from this design is construction design. Besides that, the result is the highest cooling load estimation in January on 15 hours cooling time is 859595.541 Btu/hr or 251.922 KW. The highest value of Coefficient of Performance (COP) for absorption refrigeration system is in the concentration of 40% aquos-ammonia weak solution with COP 0.794. The lowest surface area of flat plate solar collector is in the 40% of aquos-ammonia weak solution with 300.703 m2. The value of COP for vapor compression refrigeration system is 3.375 and lower than COP of Carnot system in vapor compression system. The other result is all important components of refrigeration system from catalogue