489 research outputs found
Pollen grains induce a rapid and biphasic eczematous immune response in atopic eczema patients
Introduction: Eczematous reactions to type I allergy-inducing antigens are documented in a subgroup of patients with atopic eczema. Yet, the underlying immunological mechanisms are not well understood. Material and Methods: To delineate the effect of native pollen grains on human skin of healthy and atopic individuals we performed patch tests (atopy patch test with native pollen grains, PPT). Nickel patch tests (NPT) served as an established model of contact dermatitis. Skin site biopsies were taken 6 - 96 h after allergen application and investigated immunohistochemically. Results: Histology of positive patch tests showed an influx of mononuclear cells (predominantly CD4+, CD25+, CD45RO+). This influx was detected earlier in the PPT reaction than in the immune response to nickel. A biphasic cytokine response could be detected in the PPT: IL-5 dominated in the early, IFN-gamma in the late phase. The NPT was continuously dominated by IFN-gamma. Dendritic cell subpopulations imitated the earlier kinetics of the mononuclear infiltrate. Discussion: Thus, pollen grains induce eczematous reactions in susceptible individuals. This reaction appears clinically and immunohistochemically similar to the contact hypersensitivity reaction to nickel but follows a faster kinetic and a biphasic course: Th2 and IgE in the early (24 h) and Th1 predominance in the late (96 h) phase. Copyright (c) 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel
A New Formalism, Method and Open Issues for Zero-Shot Coordination
In many coordination problems, independently reasoning humans are able to
discover mutually compatible policies. In contrast, independently trained
self-play policies are often mutually incompatible. Zero-shot coordination
(ZSC) has recently been proposed as a new frontier in multi-agent reinforcement
learning to address this fundamental issue. Prior work approaches the ZSC
problem by assuming players can agree on a shared learning algorithm but not on
labels for actions and observations, and proposes other-play as an optimal
solution. However, until now, this "label-free" problem has only been
informally defined. We formalize this setting as the label-free coordination
(LFC) problem by defining the label-free coordination game. We show that
other-play is not an optimal solution to the LFC problem as it fails to
consistently break ties between incompatible maximizers of the other-play
objective. We introduce an extension of the algorithm, other-play with
tie-breaking, and prove that it is optimal in the LFC problem and an
equilibrium in the LFC game. Since arbitrary tie-breaking is precisely what the
ZSC setting aims to prevent, we conclude that the LFC problem does not reflect
the aims of ZSC. To address this, we introduce an alternative informal
operationalization of ZSC as a starting point for future work
Similarity-based cooperative equilibrium
As machine learning agents act more autonomously in the world, they will
increasingly interact with each other. Unfortunately, in many social dilemmas
like the one-shot Prisoner's Dilemma, standard game theory predicts that ML
agents will fail to cooperate with each other. Prior work has shown that one
way to enable cooperative outcomes in the one-shot Prisoner's Dilemma is to
make the agents mutually transparent to each other, i.e., to allow them to
access one another's source code (Rubinstein 1998, Tennenholtz 2004) -- or
weights in the case of ML agents. However, full transparency is often
unrealistic, whereas partial transparency is commonplace. Moreover, it is
challenging for agents to learn their way to cooperation in the full
transparency setting. In this paper, we introduce a more realistic setting in
which agents only observe a single number indicating how similar they are to
each other. We prove that this allows for the same set of cooperative outcomes
as the full transparency setting. We also demonstrate experimentally that
cooperation can be learned using simple ML methods.Comment: Published at NeurIPS 2023. 32 pages, 9 figure
A comparison of manual counting of rabbit reticulocytes with ADVIA 2120i analyzer counting
We compared manual counting of reticulocytes in rabbits with automatic counting using an ADVIA 2120i analyzer. Reproducibility and the influence of different anticoagulants (EDTA and Li-heparin) were also examined. Blood samples of 331 rabbits (method comparison, n = 289; reproducibility, n = 33; comparison of anticoagulants, n = 9) were tested. The reticulocyte numbers of each specimen were manually determined twice for method comparison. Passing–Bablok regressions, Bland–Altman plots, and the coefficient of variation (CV) were used to evaluate statistical significance. Good correlation (rs = 0.81) was observed between manual reticulocyte counting (groups 1–4) and the ADVIA 2120i. Quantification with the ADVIA 2120i was reproducible for relative reticulocyte numbers (EDTA, CV = 4.24%; Li-heparin, CV = 3.63%) and absolute reticulocyte numbers (EDTA, CV = 5.64%; Li-heparin, CV = 3.81%). The absolute and relative reticulocyte numbers were significantly higher in Li-heparin samples than in EDTA samples (absolute, p = 0.009; relative, p = 0.016). The ADVIA 2120i is suitable for counting reticulocytes in rabbit blood samples, but reticulocyte numbers are higher by manual counting than by ADVIA 2120i counting. Therefore, microscopic confirmation of quantifications is recommended when high numbers of reticulocytes are observed. The anticoagulant of choice is EDTA
comparison of health-related quality of life and mental status – a cross- sectional study
Background Liver Retransplantation (Re-LT) procedures are associated with an
increased risk of morbidity and mortality. Up to date, there is no knowledge
on the health-related quality of life and the mental status of these patients.
Methods Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) was assessed by using the Short
Form 36 (SF-36) Health Survey and Mental Status was assessed by using the
Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). The patients were examined in
different assessments: During regular check-up examinations in the LT
outpatient department in 2011 (Survey 1) and in a postal survey in 2013
(Survey 2). Their medical data was collected by using an established database.
Results We received eligible surveys of 383 patients (55.6%) with a history of
LT, of which 15 (3.9%) had undergone Re-LT (Re-LT group). These patients were
compared to a group of 60 patients who had undergone only one LT. With regard
to their HRQoL, the Re-LT group had significantly lower scores on the scales
of physical function (PF, p = 0.026), their role-physical (RP, p = 0.008),
their vitality (VIT, p = 0.040), and their role-emotional (RE, p = 0.005). The
scores for anxiety and depression did not differ significantly between the
groups. In a multiple regression analysis, chronic kidney disease was found to
be an independent risk factor for decreased scores of PF (p = 0.023).
Conclusions Patients who have to undergo Re-LT procedures are faceing
impairments in physical aspects of a HRQoL. Together with clinical results
from other studies, the findings of the present examination underline the need
for an optimized organ distribution strategy since not all patients listed for
Re-LT appear to benefit from it
An automatic parameter extraction method for the 7x50m Stroke Efficiency Test
We developed an automatic method to extract the parameters of the 7 x 50m Stroke Eficiency Test for swimming based on a wrist worn acceleration sensor device. In the wrist acceleration signal we detect characteristic swim events such as wall push-offs, wall-strikes and strokes. Based on this information we compute the distance per stroke and the swimming velocity. The upper error bounds of our automatic method are 1.67% for the velocity and 1.33% for the time per stroke. The velocity measurement accuracy is of comparable order to the manual accuracy. The automatic method clearly outperforms the manual measurement for the time per stroke extraction
An Exactly Solvable Kondo Problem for Interacting One-Dimensional Fermions
The single impurity Kondo problem in the one-dimensional -potential
Fermi gas is exactly solved for two sets of special coupling constants via
Bethe ansatz. It is found that ferromagnetic Kondo screening does occur in one
case which confirms the Furusaki-Nagaosa conjecture while in the other case it
does not, which we explain in a simple physical picture. The surface energy,
the low temperature specific heat and the Pauli susceptibility induced by the
impurity and thereby the Kondo temperature are derived explicitly.Comment: 8 pages, LATEX, REVTE
Establishing a persistent interoperability test-bed for European geospatial research
The development of standards for geospatial web services has been spearheaded by the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) - a group of over 370 private, public and academic organisations (OGC, 1999-2009). The OGC aims to facilitate interoperability between geospatial technologies through education, standards and other initiatives. The OGC Service Architecture, described in the international standard ISO 19119, offers an abstract specification for web services covering data dissemination, processing, portrayal, workflows and other areas. The development of specifications covering each of these categories of web services has led to a significant number of geospatial data and computational services available on the World Wide Web (the Web). A project1 to establish a persistent geospatial interoperability test-bed (PTB) was commissioned in 2007 by the Association of Geographic Information Laboratories in Europe (AGILE), Commission 5 (Networks) of the European Spatial Data Research (EuroSDR) organisation and the OGC
Patients with chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis exhibit reduced production of Th17-associated cytokines IL-17 and IL-22
Chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis (CMC) constitutes a selective inability to clear infection with the yeast Candida, resulting in persistent debilitating inflammation of skin, nails, and mucous membranes. The underlying defect is unknown. Only recently, IL-17-producing T cells have been reported to be involved in clearing Candida infections. In order to characterize T cellular immune response to Candida, we analyzed T-cell cytokine secretion to Candida antigen and mitogenic stimuli in CMC patients, immunocompetent patients suffering from acute Candida infection, and healthy volunteers. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from CMC patients produced significantly lower amounts of IL-17 and IL-22 mRNA and protein when stimulated with Candida albicans or mitogen in vitro compared with that in matched healthy individuals. Additionally, PBMCs from immunocompetent Candida-infected patients secreted more IL-17 and IL-22 than those of both CMC patients and healthy, non-infected controls. Flow cytometry revealed a decreased number of CCR6+ IL-17-producing T cells in CMC patients, whereas the amount of CCR6+/CCR4+ cells was not altered. Levels of differentiating cytokines for human Th17 cells, IL-1β and IL-6, tended to be higher in CMC patients. The inability to clear C. albicans in CMC patients could be due to a defect in the immune response of IL-17-producing T cells
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