Type I interferon-driven susceptibility to Mycobacterium tuberculosis is mediated by IL-1Ra.

The bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) causes tuberculosis and is responsible for more human mortality than any other single pathogen1. Progression to active disease occurs in only a fraction of infected individuals and is predicted by an elevated type I interferon (IFN) response2-7. Whether or how IFNs mediate susceptibility to Mtb has been difficult to study due to a lack of suitable mouse models6-11. Here, we examined B6.Sst1S congenic mice that carry the 'susceptible' allele of the Sst1 locus that results in exacerbated Mtb disease12-14. We found that enhanced production of type I IFNs was responsible for the susceptibility of B6.Sst1S mice to Mtb. Type I IFNs affect the expression of hundreds of genes, several of which have previously been implicated in susceptibility to bacterial infections6,7,15-18. Nevertheless, we found that heterozygous deficiency in just a single IFN target gene, Il1rn, which encodes interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra), is sufficient to reverse IFN-driven susceptibility to Mtb in B6.Sst1S mice. In addition, antibody-mediated neutralization of IL-1Ra provided therapeutic benefit to Mtb-infected B6.Sst1S mice. Our results illustrate the value of the B6.Sst1S mouse to model IFN-driven susceptibility to Mtb, and demonstrate that IL-1Ra is an important mediator of type I IFN-driven susceptibility to Mtb infections in vivo

Meissner state in finite superconducting cylinders with uniform applied magnetic field

We study the magnetic response of superconductors in the presence of low values of a uniform applied magnetic field. We report measurements of DC magnetization and AC magnetic susceptibility performed on niobium cylinders of different length-to-radius ratios, which show a dramatic enhance of the initial magnetization for thin samples, due to the demagnetizing effects. The experimental results are analyzed by applying a model that calculates the magnetic response of the superconductor, taking into account the effects of the demagnetizing fields. We use the results of magnetization and current and field distributions of perfectly diamagnetic cylinders to discuss the physics of the demagnetizing effects in the Meissner state of type-II superconductors.Comment: Accepted to be published in Phys. Rev. B; 15 pages, 7 ps figure

Acculturation is associated with left ventricular mass in a multiethnic sample: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.

BackgroundAcculturation involves stress-related processes and health behavioral changes, which may have an effect on left ventricular (LV) mass, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). We examined the relationship between acculturation and LV mass in a multiethnic cohort of White, African-American, Hispanic and Chinese subjects.MethodsCardiac magnetic resonance assessment was available for 5004 men and women, free of clinical CVD at baseline. Left ventricular mass index was evaluated as LV mass indexed by body surface area. Acculturation was characterized based on language spoken at home, place of birth and length of stay in the United States (U.S.), and a summary acculturation score ranging from 0 = least acculturated to 5 = most acculturated. Mean LV mass index adjusted for traditional CVD risk factors was compared across acculturation levels.ResultsUnadjusted mean LV mass index was 78.0 ± 16.3 g/m(2). In adjusted analyses, speaking exclusively English at home compared to non-English language was associated with higher LV mass index (81.3 ± 0.4 g/m(2) vs 79.9 ± 0.5 g/m(2), p = 0.02). Among foreign-born participants, having lived in the U.S. for ≥ 20 years compared to < 10 years was associated with greater LV mass index (81.6 ± 0.7 g/m(2) vs 79.5 ± 1.1 g/m(2), p = 0.02). Compared to those with the lowest acculturation score, those with the highest score had greater LV mass index (78.9 ± 1.1 g/m(2) vs 81.1 ± 0.4 g/m(2), p = 0.002). There was heterogeneity in which measure of acculturation was associated with LV mass index across ethnic groups.ConclusionsGreater acculturation is associated with increased LV mass index in this multiethnic cohort. Acculturation may involve stress-related processes as well as behavioral changes with a negative effect on cardiovascular health

Vision Based Adaptation to Kernelized Synergies for Human Inspired Robotic Manipulation

Humans in contrast to robots are excellent in performing fine manipulation tasks owing to their remarkable dexterity and sensorimotor organization. Enabling robots to acquire such capabilities, necessitates a framework that not only replicates the human behaviour but also integrates the multi-sensory information for autonomous object interaction. To address such limitations, this research proposes to augment the previously developed kernelized synergies framework with visual perception to automatically adapt to the unknown objects. The kernelized synergies, inspired from humans, retain the same reduced subspace for object grasping and manipulation. To detect object in the scene, a simplified perception pipeline is used that leverages the RANSAC algorithm with Euclidean clustering and SVM for object segmentation and recognition respectively. Further, the comparative analysis of kernelized synergies with other state of art approaches is made to confirm their flexibility and effectiveness on the robotic manipulation tasks. The experiments conducted on the robot hand confirm the robustness of modified kernelized synergies framework against the uncertainties related to the perception of environment

A model of CP Violation from Extra Dimension

We construct a realistic model of CP violation in which CP is broken in the process of dimensional reduction and orbifold compactification from a five dimensional theories with $SU(3)\times SU(3) \times SU(3)$ gauge symmetry. CP violation is a result of the Hosotani type gauge configuration in the higher dimension.Comment: 5 page