8,307 research outputs found
A combination of soluble helper factors bypasses the requirement for stimulator cells and induces nonspecific cytotoxic T cell responses
The specificity of cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses generated in the presence of lymphokines was studied. Thymic responder cells were activated in the presence of stimulator cells that differed in their metabolic activity. After 5 days of culture, the cytotoxic response was estimated in a 4-h 51Cr-release test. Coculture of thymic responders with irradiated splenic stimulator cells in the presence of interleukin 2(IL 2) led to preferential cytolysis of target cells that expressed the same histocompatibility antigens as the cells used for sensitization. Addition of T cell cytotoxicity-inducing factor 1 (TCF1), however, to those cultures made the presence of stimulator cells unnecessary and induced cytotoxic responses against all target cells tested, including target cells syngeneic to the responder cells. This activation was neither due to contaminating mitogen nor to the effect of heterologous serum in the assay system. The conclusion of these findings was that either polyclonal activation of CTL was induced by TCF1 or that some specific CTL clones differentiated into unrestricted killer cells under the influence of TCF1
Mixed finite element methods for linear elasticity with weakly imposed symmetry
In this paper, we construct new finite element methods for the approximation
of the equations of linear elasticity in three space dimensions that produce
direct approximations to both stresses and displacements. The methods are based
on a modified form of the Hellinger--Reissner variational principle that only
weakly imposes the symmetry condition on the stresses. Although this approach
has been previously used by a number of authors, a key new ingredient here is a
constructive derivation of the elasticity complex starting from the de Rham
complex. By mimicking this construction in the discrete case, we derive new
mixed finite elements for elasticity in a systematic manner from known
discretizations of the de Rham complex. These elements appear to be simpler
than the ones previously derived. For example, we construct stable
discretizations which use only piecewise linear elements to approximate the
stress field and piecewise constant functions to approximate the displacement
field.Comment: to appear in Mathematics of Computatio
Excited Heavy Mesons Beyond Leading Order in the Heavy Quark Expansion
We examine the decays of excited heavy mesons, including the leading power
corrections to the heavy quark limit. We find a new and natural explanation for
the large deviation of the width of the from the heavy quark
symmetry prediction. Our formalism leads to detailed predictions for the
properties of the excited bottom mesons, some of which recently have been
observed. Finally, we present a detailed analysis of the effect of power
corrections and finite meson widths on the angular distributions which may be
measured in heavy meson decays.Comment: Uses REVTeX, 19 pages, 6 EPS figures embedded with epsf.st
Requirement of endogenous tumor necrosis factor/cachectin for recovery from experimental peritonitis
By intrasplenic immunization we raised a rat mAb (mAb V1q; IgG2a, kappa) with a potent neutralizing activity against natural mouse TNF (1 microgram/ml mAb V1q/100 U/ml TNF). mAb V1q was used to study the role of endogenous TNF in experimental peritonitis induced by sublethal cecal ligation and puncture. mAb V1q persisted for over 5 days in the serum of mice injected with 100 micrograms of the antibody and, therefore, proved useful for in vivo experiments. As little as 20 micrograms mAb V1q/mouse prevented lethal shock of the animals by 400 micrograms LPS/mouse. In sublethal cecal ligation and puncture i.p. injection of mAb V1q directly and up to 8 h after induction of experimental peritonitis lead to death of the animals within 1 to 3 days. The lethal effect of mAb V1q was compensated by injection of recombinant mouse TNF. Similar mAb V1q effects as in immunocompetent mice were shown in severe combined immune deficiency mice deficient of mature functional B and T cells. Taken together, these data suggest that during the early phase of peritonitis endogenous TNF may stimulate nonlymphoid cells such as granulocytes, macrophages, platelets, and fibroblasts to ingest bacteria and to localize inflammation, respectively. These beneficial effects of TNF may determine survival. Thus, our data may have implications for the therapeutic management of a beginning peritonitis
Coupling between a dark and a bright eigenmode in a terahertz metamaterial
Terahertz time domain spectroscopy and rigorous simulations are used to probe
the coupling between a dark and a bright plasmonic eigenmode in a metamaterial
with broken symmetry. The metamaterial consists of two closely spaced split
ring resonators that have their gaps in non-identical positions within the
ring. For normal incidence and a fixed polarization both lowest order
eigenmodes of the split ring resonators can be excited; although one of them
has to be regarded as dark since coupling is prohibited because of symmetry
constraints. Emphasis in this work is put on a systematic evaluation of the
coupling effects depending on a spectral tuning of both resonances
Phenomenological Study of Strong Decays of Heavy Hadrons in Heavy Quark Effective Theory
The application of the tensor formalism of the heavy quark effective theory
(HQET) at leading order to strong decays of heavy hadrons is presented.
Comparisons between experimental and theoretical predictions of ratios of decay
rates for B mesons, D mesons and kaons are given. The application of HQET to
strange mesons presents some encouraging results. The spin-flavor symmetry is
used to predict some decay rates that have not yet been measured.Comment: 10 page
Second Order Power Corrections in the Heavy Quark Effective Theory I. Formalism and Meson Form Factors
In the heavy quark effective theory, hadronic matrix elements of currents
between two hadrons containing a heavy quark are expanded in inverse powers of
the heavy quark masses, with coefficients that are functions of the kinematic
variable . For the ground state pseudoscalar and vector mesons, this
expansion is constructed at order . A minimal set of universal form
factors is defined in terms of matrix elements of higher dimension operators in
the effective theory. The zero recoil normalization conditions following from
vector current conservation are derived. Several phenomenological applications
of the general results are discussed in detail. It is argued that at zero
recoil the semileptonic decay rates for and receive only small second order corrections, which are unlikely
to exceed the level of a few percent. This supports the usefulness of the heavy
quark expansion for a reliable determination of .Comment: (34 pages, REVTEX, two postscript figures available upon request),
SLAC-PUB-589
Rounding Up the Three-Fifths Clause: Eradicating Prison Gerrymandering in the South
This Comment examines the phenomenon of prison gerrymandering, a practice that involves counting prisoners as residents of the counties where their state correctional facilities are located—rather than in their home communities—for redistricting and representational purposes. This practice of counting inflates the voting power of rural, white districts with large prison complexes and diminishes the voting power of minority communities. Prison gerrymandering has become especially pervasive across southern states while many of the South’s northern counterparts have eradicated this practice through legislative reform. This Comment proposes a solution to stop prison gerrymandering in the South, arguing a strategy to produce a circuit split to prime the Supreme Court to address the constitutionality of prison gerrymandering. The Comment covers a variety of topics that either directly or indirectly contribute to prison gerrymandering, such as the Three-Fifths Compromise, the Census Bureau’s “usual residence rule,” sentencing disparities, felon disenfranchisement, and malapportionment claims
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