The QED Structure of the Photon

Measurements of the QED structure of the photon based on the reaction ee --> ee \gamma(*)(P^2)\gamma*(Q^2) --> ee mumu are discussed. This review is an update of the discussion of the results on the QED structure of the photon presented in Refs.[1], and covers the published measurements of the photon structure functions F_2, F_A nd F_B and of the differential cross-section dsig/dx for the exchange of two virtual photons.Comment: Invited talk given at the 7th International Workshop on Deep Inelastic Scattering and QCD, April 19 to 23, 1999, Zeuthen, to appear in the proceedings. 8pages 4 figure

Bone Resorption Is Increased in Pheochromocytoma Patients and Normalizes following Adrenalectomy

Context: The sympathetic nervous system (SNS) controls bone turnover in rodents, but it is uncertain whether a similar role for the SNS exists in humans. Pheochromocytomas are catecholamine-producing neuroendocrine tumors. Because catecholamines are the neurotransmitters of the SNS, we hypothesized that pheochromocytoma patients have increased bone turnover. Objective: Our objective was to compare bone turnover in pheochromocytoma patients and controls. Design and Setting: This retrospective case-control study was performed at the Endocrine Department of the Academic Medical Center of the University of Amsterdam in The Netherlands from 2007 until 2011. Patients: All patients were screened for pheochromocytoma. Cases (n = 21) were identified by 24-h urinary excretion of fractionated metanephrines above the institutional reference value and confirmed by histology after adrenalectomy. All patients screened and diagnosed as not having pheochromocytoma served as controls (n = 126). Main Outcome Measure: The difference in bone turnover markers C-terminal cross-linking telopeptides of collagen type I (CTx) and procollagen type 1 N propeptide (P1NP) between cases and controls was the main outcome measure. Results: CTx concentrations were higher in cases [343 ng/liter; interquartile range (IQR), 295 ng/liter] than in controls (232 ng/liter; IQR, 168 ng/liter; P <0.001) and decreased after adrenalectomy [before, 365 ng/liter (IQR, 450 ng/liter); after, 290 ng/liter (IQR, 241 ng/liter); P = 0.044]. The effect remained after adjustment for possible confounders. P1NP concentrations did not differ. Conclusions: This study shows that pheochromocytoma patients have increased bone resorption, which normalizes after adrenalectomy. This finding supports the concept of regulation of bone remodeling by the SNS in humans. (J Clin Endocrinol Metab 97: E2093-E2097, 2012

Lipolytic sensitivity to catecholamines in patients with human immunodeficiency virus infection

Lipolysis is higher in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) than in healthy control subjects. To evaluate whether this increase in lipolysis is related to increased beta-adrenergic sensitivity, we compared the lipolytic response to epinephrine (approximately 15 ng x kg(-1) x min(-1)) of six AIDS patients with that of six matched control subjects. Lipolysis was measured by infusion of [2H2]glycerol and [2H2]palmitate. The baseline rates of appearance of palmitate (2.06 +/- 0.21 compared with 1.45 +/- 0.07 micromol x kg(-1) x min(-1)) and glycerol (2.35 +/- 0.16 compared with 1.35 +/- 0.06 micromol x kg(-1) x min(-1)) were higher in AIDS patients (P <0.05). The absolute increase in lipolysis, an indicator of the responsiveness to epinephrine, was not different between groups for the rate of appearance of palmitate (86 +/- 14 compared with 75 +/- 7 micromol x L(-1) x min(-1)) or glycerol (79 +/- 13 compared with 59 +/- 6 micromol x L(-1) x min(-1)). Plasma concentrations of epinephrine were not different between groups. Lipolysis was higher whereas the lipolytic response to epinephrine was normal in AIDS patients. Increased lipolytic sensitivity to catecholamines is not the cause of increased lipolysis in AID

Broadening Intellectual Diversity in Visualization Research Papers

Promoting a wider range of contribution types can facilitate healthy growth of the visualization community, while increasing the intellectual diversity of visualization research papers. In this article, we discuss the importance of contribution types and summarize contribution types that can be meaningful in visualization research. We also propose several concrete next steps we can and should take to ensure a successful launch of the contribution types

A Detailed Analysis of the Murine TAP Transporter Substrate Specificity

The transporter associated with antigen processing (TAP) supplies cytosolic peptides into the endoplasmic reticulum for binding to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I molecules. Its specificity therefore influences the repertoire of peptides presented by MHC molecules. Compared to human TAP, murine TAP's binding specificity has not been characterized as well, even though murine systems are widely used for basic studies of antigen processing and presentation.We performed a detailed experimental analysis of murine TAP binding specificity by measuring the binding affinities of 323 peptides. Based on this experimental data, a computational model of murine TAP specificity was constructed. The model was compared to previously generated data on human and murine TAP specificities. In addition, the murine TAP specificities for known epitopes and random peptides were predicted and compared to assess the impact of murine TAP selectivity on epitope selection.Comparisons to a previously constructed model of human TAP specificity confirms the well-established differences for peptide substrates with positively charged C-termini. In addition these comparisons show that several residues at the N-terminus of peptides which strongly influence binding to human TAP showed little effect on binding to murine TAP, and that the overall influence of the aminoterminal residues on peptide affinity for murine TAP is much lower than for the human transporter. Murine TAP also partly prefers different hydrophobic amino acids than human TAP in the carboxyterminal position. These species-dependent differences in specificity determined in vitro are shown to correlate with the epitope repertoire recognized in vivo. The quantitative model of binding specificity of murine TAP developed herein should be useful for interpreting epitope mapping and immunogenicity data obtained in humanized mouse models

P16-23. Antigen processing influences HIV-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte immunodominance

International audienc

Making machine intelligence less scary for criminal analysts: reflections on designing a visual comparative case analysis tool

A fundamental task in Criminal Intelligence Analysis is to analyze the similarity of crime cases, called CCA, to identify common crime patterns and to reason about unsolved crimes. Typically, the data is complex and high dimensional and the use of complex analytical processes would be appropriate. State-of-the-art CCA tools lack flexibility in interactive data exploration and fall short of computational transparency in terms of revealing alternative methods and results. In this paper, we report on the design of the Concept Explorer, a flexible, transparent and interactive CCA system. During this design process, we observed that most criminal analysts are not able to understand the underlying complex technical processes, which decrease the users' trust in the results and hence a reluctance to use the tool}. Our CCA solution implements a computational pipeline together with a visual platform that allows the analysts to interact with each stage of the analysis process and to validate the result. The proposed Visual Analytics workflow iteratively supports the interpretation of the results of clustering with the respective feature relations, the development of alternative models, as well as cluster verification. The visualizations offer an understandable and usable way for the analyst to provide feedback to the system and to observe the impact of their interactions. Expert feedback confirmed that our user-centred design decisions made this computational complexity less scary to criminal analysts

Regulation of Cathepsin G Reduces the Activation of Proinsulin-Reactive T Cells from Type 1 Diabetes Patients

Autoantigenic peptides resulting from self-proteins such as proinsulin are important players in the development of type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D). Self-proteins can be processed by cathepsins (Cats) within endocytic compartments and loaded to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules for CD4+ T cell inspection. However, the processing and presentation of proinsulin by antigen-presenting cells (APC) in humans is only partially understood. Here we demonstrate that the processing of proinsulin by B cell or myeloid dendritic cell (mDC1)-derived lysosomal cathepsins resulted in several proinsulin-derived intermediates. These intermediates were similar to those obtained using purified CatG and, to a lesser extent, CatD, S, and V in vitro. Some of these intermediates polarized T cell activation in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from T1D patients indicative for naturally processed T cell epitopes. Furthermore, CatG activity was found to be elevated in PBMC from T1D patients and abrogation of CatG activity resulted in functional inhibition of proinsulin-reactive T cells. Our data suggested the notion that CatG plays a critical role in proinsulin processing and is important in the activation process of diabetogenic T cells