21,445 research outputs found
Retinoic acid as a modulator of T cell immunity
Indexación: Scopus. DOAJ.Vitamin A, a generic designation for an array of organic molecules that includes retinal, retinol and retinoic acid, is an essential nutrient needed in a wide array of aspects including the proper functioning of the visual system, maintenance of cell function and differentiation, epithelial surface integrity, erythrocyte production, reproduction, and normal immune function. Vitamin A deficiency is one of the most common micronutrient deficiencies worldwide and is associated with defects in adaptive immunity. Reports from epidemiological studies, clinical trials and experimental studies have clearly demonstrated that vitamin A plays a central role in immunity and that its deficiency is the cause of broad immune alterations including decreased humoral and cellular responses, inadequate immune regulation, weak response to vaccines and poor lymphoid organ development. In this review, we will examine the role of vitamin A in immunity and focus on several aspects of T cell biology such as T helper cell differentiation, function and homing, as well as lymphoid organ development. Further, we will provide an overview of the effects of vitamin A deficiency in the adaptive immune responses and how retinoic acid, through its effect on T cells can fine-tune the balance between tolerance and immunity.http://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/8/6/34
Experimental proposal for accurate determination of the phase relaxation time and testing a formation of thermalized non-equilibrated matter in highly excited quantum many-body systems
We estimate how accurate the phase relaxation time of quantum many-body
systems can be determined from data on forward peaking of evaporating protons
from a compound nucleus. The angular range and accuracy of the data needed for
a reliable determination of the phase relaxation time are evaluated. The
general method is applied to analyze the inelastic scattering of 18 MeV protons
from Pt for which previously measured double differential cross sections for
two angles in the evaporating domain of the spectra show a strong forward
peaking. A new experiment for an improved determination of the phase relaxation
time is proposed. The experiment is also highly desirable for an accurate test
of a formation of thermalized non-equilibrated matter in quantum many-body
systems.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Modelling of epitaxial graphene functionalization
A new model for graphene, epitaxially grown on silicon carbide is proposed.
Density functional theory modelling of epitaxial graphene functionalization by
hydrogen, fluorine and phenyl groups has been performed with hydrogen and
fluorine showing a high probability of cluster formation in high adatom
concentration. It has also been shown that the clusterization of fluorine
adatoms provides midgap states in formation due to significant flat distortion
of graphene. The functionalization of epitaxial graphene using larger species
(methyl and phenyl groups) renders cluster formation impossible, due to the
steric effect and results in uniform coverage with the energy gap opening.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Nanotechnolog
Isocausal spacetimes may have different causal boundaries
We construct an example which shows that two isocausal spacetimes, in the
sense introduced by Garc\'ia-Parrado and Senovilla, may have c-boundaries which
are not equal (more precisely, not equivalent, as no bijection between the
completions can preserve all the binary relations induced by causality). This
example also suggests that isocausality can be useful for the understanding and
computation of the c-boundary.Comment: Minor modifications, including the title, which matches now with the
published version. 12 pages, 3 figure
Normal state magnetotransport properties of -FeSe superconductors
We present -FeSe magnetotransport data, and describe them
theoretically. Using a simplified microscopic model with two correlated
effective orbitals, we determined the normal state electrical conductivity and
Hall coefficient, using Kubo formalism. With model parameters relevant for
Fe-chalcogenides, we describe the observed effect of the structural transition
on the ab-plane electrical resistivity, as well as on the magnetoresistance.
Temperature-dependent Hall coefficient data were measured at 16 Tesla, and
their theoretical description improves upon inclusion of moderate electron
correlations. We confirm the effect of the structural transition on the
electronic structure, finding deformation-induced band splittings comparable to
those reported in angle-resolved photoemission.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Cluster Cores, Gravitational Lensing, and Cosmology
Many multiply--imaged quasars have been found over the years, but none so far
with image separation in excess of 8\arcsec. The absence of such large
splittings has been used as a test of cosmological models: the standard Cold
Dark Matter model has been excluded on the basis that it predicts far too many
large--separation double images. These studies assume that the lensing
structure has the mass profile of a singular isothermal sphere. However, such
large splittings would be produced by very massive systems such as clusters of
galaxies, for which other gravitational lensing data suggest less singular mass
profiles. Here we analyze two cases of mass profiles for lenses: an isothermal
sphere with a finite core radius (density , and a Hernquist profile (). We find that small core radii
kpc, as suggested by the cluster data, or large a \gsim 300 h^{-1} kpc, as
needed for compatibility with gravitational distortion data, would reduce the
number of large--angle splittings by an order of magnitude or more. Thus, it
appears that these tests are sensitive both to the cosmological model (number
density of lenses) and to the inner lens structure, which is unlikely to depend
sensitively on the cosmology, making it difficult to test the cosmological
models by large--separation quasar lensing until we reliably know the structure
of the lenses themselves.Comment: 17 pages, uuencoded compressed tarred postscript file including text
and 1 figure. To appear in January 20, 1996 issue of ApJ Letter
The distribution of oxygen at the Ni81Fe19/Ta interface
The knowledge of how oxygen atoms are distributed at a magnetic-metal /
oxide, or magnetic-metal / non-magnetic-metal interface, can be an useful tool
to optimize device production. Multilayered Ni81Fe19 / Ta samples consisting of
15 bilayers of 2.5 nm each, grown onto glass substrates by magnetron sputtering
from Ni81Fe19 and Ta targets, have been investigated. X-ray absorption near
edge structure, extended X-Ray absorption fine structure, small angle X-ray
diffraction, and simulations, were used to characterize the samples. Oxygen
atoms incorporated onto Ni81Fe19 films during O2 exposition are mainly bonded
to Fe atoms. This partial oxidation of the Ni81Fe19 surface works as a barrier
to arriving Ta atoms, preventing intermixing at the Ni81Fe19 / Ta interface.
The reduction of the Ni81Fe19 surface by the formation of TaO x is observed.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Advances in
Materials Science and Engineerin
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