Dynamics of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Ag85B Revealed by a Sensitive Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay.

Secretion of specific proteins contributes to pathogenesis and immune responses in tuberculosis and other bacterial infections, yet the kinetics of protein secretion and fate of secreted proteins in vivo are poorly understood. We generated new monoclonal antibodies that recognize the Mycobacterium tuberculosis secreted protein Ag85B and used them to establish and characterize a sensitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to quantitate Ag85B in samples generated in vitro and in vivo We found that nutritional or culture conditions had little impact on the secretion of Ag85B and that there is considerable variation in Ag85B secretion by distinct strains in the M. tuberculosis complex: compared with the commonly used H37Rv strain (lineage 4), Mycobacterium africanum (lineage 6) secretes less Ag85B, and two strains from lineage 2 secrete more Ag85B. We also used the ELISA to determine that the rate of secretion of Ag85B is 10- to 100-fold lower than that of proteins secreted by Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria, respectively. ELISA quantitation of Ag85B in lung homogenates of M. tuberculosis H37Rv-infected mice revealed that although Ag85B accumulates in the lungs as the bacterial population expands, the amount of Ag85B per bacterium decreases nearly 10,000-fold at later stages of infection, coincident with the development of T cell responses and arrest of bacterial population growth. These results indicate that bacterial protein secretion in vivo is dynamic and regulated, and quantitation of secreted bacterial proteins can contribute to the understanding of pathogenesis and immunity in tuberculosis and other infections.IMPORTANCE Bacterial protein secretion contributes to host-pathogen interactions, yet the process and consequences of bacterial protein secretion during infection are poorly understood. We developed a sensitive ELISA to quantitate a protein (termed Ag85B) secreted by M. tuberculosis and used it to find that Ag85B secretion occurs with slower kinetics than for proteins secreted by Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria and that accumulation of Ag85B in the lungs is markedly regulated as a function of the bacterial population density. Our results demonstrate that quantitation of bacterial proteins during infection can reveal novel insights into host-pathogen interactions

Study of Chromium-Frit-Type Coatings for High-Temperature Protection of Molybdenum

The achievement of more compact and efficient power plants for aircraft is dependent, among other factors, on the perfection of heat-resisting materials that are superior to those in current use. Molybdenum is one of the high-melting metals (melting point, 4750 F). It is fairly abundant and also can be worked into many of the shapes required in modern power plants. To permit its widespread use at elevated temperatures, however, some means must first be found to prevent its rapid oxidation. The application of a protective coating is one method that might be used to achieve this goal. In the present work, a number of chromium-frit-type coatings were studied. These were bonded to molybdenum specimens by firing in controlled atmospheres to temperatures in the range of 2400 to 2700 F

Finger patterns produced by thermomagnetic instability in superconductors

A linear analysis of thermal diffusion and Maxwell equations is applied to study the thermomagnetic instability in a type-II superconducting slab. It is shown that the instability can lead to formation of spatially nonuniform distributions of magnetic field and temperature. The distributions acquire a finger structure with fingers perpendicular to the screening current direction. We derive the criterion for the instability, and estimate its build-up time and characteristic finger width. The fingering instability emerges when the background electric field is larger than a threshold field, $E>E_c$, and the applied magnetic field exceeds a value $H_fing \propto 1/\sqrt{E}$. Numerical simulations support the analytical results, and allow to follow the development of the fingering instability beyond the linear regime. The fingering instability may be responsible for the nucleation of dendritic flux patterns observed in superconducting films using magneto-optical imaging.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, accepted to Phys. Rev. B; (new version: minor changes

Hydrodynamical analysis of single inclusive spectra and Bose-Einstein correlations for Pb+PbPb+Pb at 160 AGeV

We present the first analysis of preliminary data for $Pb+Pb$ at 160 $AGeV$ using 3+1-dimensional relativistic hydrodynamics. We find excellent agreement with the rapidity spectra of negative hadrons and the correlation measurements. The data indicates a large amount of stopping; $65\%$ of the invariant energy of the collision is thermalized and $73\%$ of the baryons are contained in the central fireball. Within our model this implies that a quark-gluon-plasma of lifetime 3.4 $fm/c$ was formed.Comment: 13 pages, 5 Postscript figures (attached to this file as compressed and uuencoded Postscript file

Commercial air transport hazard warning and avoidance system. Volume 2 - Requirements studies Final report

Operational requirements and cost effectiveness of commercial air transport hazard warning and avoidance syste

Gravitino perturbations in Schwarzschild black holes

We consider the time evolution of massless gravitino perturbations in Schwarzschild black holes, and show that as in the case of fields of other values of spin, the evolution comes in three stages, after an initial outburst as a first stage, we observe the damped oscillations characteristic of the quasinormal ringing stage, followed by long time tails. Using the sixth order WKB method and Prony fitting of time domain data we determine the quasinormal frequencies. There is a good correspondence between the results obtained by the above two methods, and we obtain a considerable improvement with respect to the previously obtained third order WKB results. We also show that the response of a black hole depends crucially on the spin class of the perturbing field: the quality factor becomes a decreasing function of the spin for boson perturbations, whereas the opposite situation appears for fermion ones

Hydrodynamical analysis of symmetric nucleus-nucleus collisions at CERN/SPS energies

We present a coherent theoretical study of ultrarelativistic heavy-ion data obtained at the CERN/SPS by the NA35/NA49 Collaborations using 3+1-dimensional relativistic hydrodynamics. We find excellent agreement with the rapidity spectra of negative hadrons and protons and with the correlation measurements in two experiments: $S+S$ at 200 $AGeV$ and $Pb+Pb$ at 160 $AGeV$ (preliminary results). Within our model this implies that for $Pb+Pb$ ($S+S$) a quark-gluon-plasma of initial volume 174 $fm^3$ (24 $fm^3$) with a lifetime 3.4 $fm/c$ (1.5 $fm/c$) was formed. It is found that the Bose-Einstein correlation measurements do not determine the maximal effective radii of the hadron sources because of the large contributions from resonance decay at small momenta. Also within this study we present an NA49 acceptance corrected two-pion Bose-Einstein correlation function in the invariant variable, $Q_{inv}$.Comment: 21 pages, 11 Postscript figures (1 File, 775654 Bytes, has to be requested for submission via e.mail from [email protected]

Long-term Outcome after Surgical Closure of Atrial Septal Defect in Childhood with Extensive Assessment Including MRI Measurement of the Ventricles

Surgical closure of the secundum type of atrial septal defect (ASD) in childhood leads to excellent survival. However, relevant morbidity has been reported. Transcatheter closure of these defects has now become an alternative approach. To compare the results of the two different interventions, reliable data are needed on the long-term morbidity after defect closure with both methods. Patients were evaluated after a minimum of 10 years after surgical closure of an ASD in childhood. Assessment included analysis of perioperative data, interview, clinical examination, electrocardiogram, (ECG), 24-hour ECG, ergometry, chest radiograph, echocardiography, and MRI. A total of 66 patients underwent operation between 1971 and 1986 at our institution. Forty-eight of them (73%) were interviewed and 38 (58%) participated fully in the study program. Eighteen (27%) either refused to participate or were lost to follow-up. There were no substantial residual disorders, such as arrhythmias, right-sided heart dilatation, pulmonary hypertension, or reduced work capacity. Surgical closure of an ASD in childhood has an excellent long-term outcome. Surgical closure is thus the standard against which transcatheter closure needs to be measure

On the Equation of State of Nuclear Matter in 158A GeV Pb+Pb Collisions

Within a hydrodynamical approach we investigate the sensitivity of single inclusive momentum spectra of hadrons in 158A GeV Pb+Pb collisions to three different equations of state of nuclear matter. Two of the equations of state are based on lattice QCD results and include a phase transition to a quark-gluon plasma. The third equation of state has been extracted from the microscopic transport code RQMD under the assumption of complete local thermalization. All three equations of state provide reasonable fits to data taken by the NA44 and NA49 Collaborations. The initial conditions before the evolution of the fireballs and the space-time evolution pictures differ dramatically for the three equations of state when the same freeze-out temperature is used in all calculations. However, the softest of the equations of state results in transverse mass spectra that are too steep in the central rapidity region. We conclude that the transverse particle momenta are determined by the effective softness of the equation of state during the fireball expansion.Comment: 4 pages, including 4 figures and 2 tables. For a PostScript file of the manuscript, you can also goto http://t2.lanl.gov/schlei/eprint.htm

Massive Gauge Fields and the Planck Scale

The present work is devoted to massive gauge fields in special relativity with two fundamental constants-the velocity of light, and the Planck length, so called doubly special relativity (DSR). The two invariant scales are accounted for by properly modified boost parameters. Within above framework we construct the vector potential as the (1/2,0)x(0,1/2) direct product, build the associated field strength tensor together with the Dirac spinors and use them to calculate various observables as functions of the Planck length.Comment: Affiliation of first author updated; Reference [13] updated; Typos in Refs. [15], [19] correcte