342 research outputs found
Phase stability analysis in Fe-Pt and Co-Pt alloy systems: An augmented space study
We have studied the problem of phase stability in Fe-Pt and Co-Pt alloy
systems. We have used the orbital peeling technique in the conjunction of
augmented space recursion based on the tight binding linear orbital method as
the method for the calculation of pair interaction energies. In particular, we
have generalized our earlier technique to take into account of magnetic effects
for the cases where the magnetic transition is higher than the order disorder
chemical transition temperature as in the case of CoPt. Our theoretical
results obtained within this framework successfully reproduce the
experimentally observed trends.Comment: 17 pages, 9 Figures. Accepted for publication in Journal of Physics :
Condensed Matte
From Teamchef Arminius to Hermann Junior: glocalised discourse about a national foundation myth
If for much of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the âBattle of the Teutoburg Forestâ, fought in 9 CE between Roman armies and Germanic tribes, was predominantly a reference point for nationalist and chauvinist discourses in Germany, the first decade of the twenty-first century has seen attempts to link public remembrance with local/regional identities on the one hand and international/intercultural contact on the other. In the run up to and during the âanniversary yearâ of 2009, German media, sports institutions and various other official institutions articulating tourist, economic and political interests attempted to create a new âglocalisedâ version of the public memory of the Teutoburg battle. Combining methods of Cognitive Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis, the paper analyses the narrative and argumentative topoi employed in this re-orientation of public memory, with a special emphasis on hybrid, post-national identity-construction. Das zweitausendjährige Gedenkjahr der âSchlacht im Teutoburger Waldâ im Jahr 2009 bot eine gĂźnstige Gelegenheit, die bis in die zweite Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts dominante Tradition nationalistischâchauvinistischer Deutungen des Sieges von germanischen Stämmen Ăźber drei rĂśmische Legionen zu korrigieren und zu Ăźberwinden. Der Aufsatz analysiert mit Hilfe diskurslinguistischer Methoden die Anstrengungen regionaler Institutionen und Medien, die nationale Vereinnahmung des historischen Gedenkens kritisch zu thematisieren sowie neue, zum eine lokal situierte, zum andern international orientierte Identifikationsangebote anzubieten. Die Analyse zeigt, dass solche âde-nationalisiertenâ Identifikationsangebote zwar teilweise auch frĂźher verwendet wurden, aber heutzutage rekontextualisiert und auf innovative Weise in den Vordergrund gestellt werden
Toll-like receptors in cellular subsets of human tonsil T cells: altered expression during recurrent tonsillitis
BACKGROUND: The palatine tonsils have a pivotal role in immunological detection of airborne and ingested antigens like bacteria and viruses. They have recently been demonstrated to express Toll-like receptors (TLRs), known to recognize molecular structures on such microbes and activate innate immune responses. Their activation might also provide a link between innate and adaptive immunity. In the present study, the expression profile of TLR1-TLR10 was characterized in human tonsil T cells, focusing on differences between subsets of CD4(+ )T helper (Th) cells and CD8(+ )cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL). The study was also designed to compare the TLR expression in T cells from patients with recurrent tonsillitis and tonsillar hyperplasia. METHODS: Tonsils were obtained from children undergoing tonsillectomy, and classified according to the clinical diagnoses and the outcome of tonsillar core culture tests. Two groups were defined; recurrently infected tonsils and hyperplastic tonsils that served as controls. Subsets of T cells were isolated using magnetic beads. The expression of TLR transcripts in purified cells was assessed using quantitative real-time RT-PCR. The corresponding protein expression was investigated using flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: T cells expressed a broad repertoire of TLRs, in which TLR1, TLR2, TLR5, TLR9 and TLR10 predominated. Also, a differential expression of TLRs in CD4(+ )and CD8(+ )T cells was obtained. TLR1 and TLR9 mRNA was expressed to a greater extent in CD4(+ )cells, whereas expression of TLR3 mRNA and protein and TLR4 protein was higher in CD8(+ )cells. CD8(+ )cells from infected tonsils expressed higher levels of TLR2, TLR3 and TLR5 compared to control. In contrast, CD4(+ )cells exhibited a down-regulated TLR9 as a consequence of infection. CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrates the presence of a broad repertoire of TLRs in T cells, a differential expression in CD4(+ )and CD8(+ )cells, along with infection-dependent alterations in TLR expression. Collectively, these results support the idea that TLRs are of importance to adaptive immune cells. It might be that TLRs have a direct role in adaptive immune reactions against infections. Thus, further functional studies of the relevance of TLR stimulation on T cells will be of importance
Long-Range Magnetic Interactions Induced by the Lattice Distortions and the Origin of the E-type Antiferromagnetic Phase in the Undoped Orthorhombic Manganites
With the increase of the lattice distortion, the orthorhombic manganites
MnO ( La, Pr, Nd, Tb, and Ho) are known to undergo the phase
transition from the layered A-type antiferromagnetic (AFM) state to the zigzag
E-type AFM state. We consider the microscopic origin of this transition. Our
approach consists of the two parts. First, we construct an effective lattice
fermion model for the manganese 3d-bands and derive parameters of this model
from the first-principles electronic structure calculations. Then, we solve
this model in the Hartree-Fock approximation (HFA) and analyze the behavior of
interatomic magnetic interactions. We argue that the nearest-neighbor
interactions decrease with the distortion and at certain stage start to compete
with the longer range (particularly, second- and third-neighbor) AFM
interactions in the orthorhombic ab-plane, which lead to the formation of the
E-phase. The origin of these interactions is closely related to the orbital
ordering, which takes place in the distorted orthorhombic structure. The model
is able to capture the experimental trend and explain why LaMnO develops
the A-type AFM order and why it tends to transform to the E-type AFM order in
the more distorted compounds. Nevertheless, the quantitative agreement with the
experimental data crucially depends on other factors, such as the magnetic
polarization of the oxygen sites and the correlation interactions beyond HFA.Comment: 26 pages, 15 figure
Vitamin D and the hepatitis B vaccine response: a prospective cohort study and a randomized, placebo-controlled oral vitamin D3 and simulated sunlight supplementation trial in healthy adults.
PURPOSE: To determine serum 25(OH)D and 1,25(OH)2D relationship with hepatitis B vaccination (study 1). Then, to investigate the effects on hepatitis B vaccination of achieving vitamin D sufficiency (serum 25(OH)DââĽâ50 nmol/L) by a unique comparison of simulated sunlight and oral vitamin D3 supplementation in wintertime (study 2). METHODS: Study 1 involved 447 adults. In study 2, 3 days after the initial hepatitis B vaccination, 119 men received either placebo, simulated sunlight (1.3âĂâstandard-erythema dose, 3âĂâ/week for 4 weeks and then 1âĂâ/week for 8 weeks) or oral vitamin D3 (1000 IU/day for 4 weeks and 400 IU/day for 8 weeks). We measured hepatitis B vaccination efficacy as percentage of responders with anti-hepatitis B surface antigen immunoglobulin GââĽâ10 mIU/mL. RESULTS: In study 1, vaccine response was poorer in persons with low vitamin D status (25(OH)Dââ¤â40 vs 41-71 nmol/L mean difference [95% confidence interval] - 15% [- 26, - 3%]; 1,25(OH)2Dââ¤â120 vsââĽâ157 pmol/L - 12% [- 24%, - 1%]). Vaccine response was also poorer in winter than summer (- 18% [- 31%, - 3%]), when serum 25(OH)D and 1,25(OH)2D were at seasonal nadirs, and 81% of persons had serum 25(OH)Dâ<â50 nmol/L. In study 2, vitamin D supplementation strategies were similarly effective in achieving vitamin D sufficiency from the winter vitamin D nadir in almost all (~â95%); however, the supplementation beginning 3 days after the initial vaccination did not effect the vaccine response (vitamin D vs placebo 4% [- 21%, 14%]). CONCLUSION: Low vitamin D status at initial vaccination was associated with poorer hepatitis B vaccine response (study 1); however, vitamin D supplementation commencing 3 days after vaccination (study 2) did not influence the vaccination response. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRY NUMBER: Study 1 NCT02416895; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT02416895; Study 2 NCT03132103; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03132103
Fashioning Entitlements: A Comparative Law and Economic Analysis of the Judicial Role in Environmental Centralization in the U.S. and Europe
This paper identifies and evaluates, from an economic point of view, the role of the judiciary the steady shift of environmental regulatory authority to higher, more centralized levels of government in both the U.S. and Europe. We supply both a positive analysis of how the decisions made by judges have affected the incentives of both private and public actors to pollute the natural environment, and normative answers to the question of whether judges have acted so as to create incentives that move levels of pollution in an efficient direction, toward their optimal, cost-minimizing (or net-benefit-maximizing) levels. Highlights of the analysis include the following points: 1) Industrial-era local (state or national) legislation awarding entitlements to pollute was almost certainly inefficient due to a fundamental economic obstacle faced by those who suffer harm from the over-pollution of publicly owned natural resources: the inability to monetize and credibly commit to repay the future economic value of reducing pollution. 2) When industrial era pollution spilled across state lines in the US, the federal courts, in particular the Supreme Court, fashioned a federal common law of interstate nuisance that set up essentially the same sort of blurry, uncertain entitlements to pollute or be free of pollution that had been created by the state courts in resolving local pollution disputes. We argue that for the typical pollution problem, a legal regime of blurry interstate entitlements - with neither jurisdiction having a clear right either to pollute or be free of pollution from the other - is likely to generate efficient incentives for interjursidictional bargaining, even despite the public choice problems besetting majority-rule government. Interestingly, a very similar system of de facto entitlements arose and often stimulated interjursidictional bargaining in Europe as well as in the U.S. 3) The US federal courts have generally interpreted the federal environmental statutes in ways that give clear primacy to federal regulators. Through such judicial interpretation, state and local regulators face a continuing risk of having their decisions overridden by federal regulators. This reduces the incentives for regulatory innovation at the state and local level. Judicial authorization of federal overrides has thus weakened the economic rationale for cooperative federalism suggested by economic models of principal-agent relationships. As a result of the principle of attribution, there is less risk in Europe that (like in the US) courts would enlarge the federal purview and thereby limit the powers of the Member States. Despite this principle, the power of the European bureaucracy (that is, the European Commission) has steadily increased and led to a steady shift of environmental regulatory competencies to the European level. This shift is only sometimes normatively desirable, and yet there is little that the ECJ can or will do to slow it
AtriplaR/anti-TB combination in TB/HIV patients. Drug in focus
Co-administration of anti-tuberculosis and antiretroviral therapy is often inevitable in high-burden countries where tuberculosis is the most common opportunistic infection associated with HIV/AIDS. Concurrent use of rifampicin and several antiretroviral drugs is complicated by pharmacokinetic drug-drug interaction. Pubmed and Google search following the key words tuberculosis, HIV, emtricitabine, tenofovir efavirenz, interaction were used to find relevant information on each drug of the fixed dose combination AtriplaR RESULTS: Information on generic name, trade name, pharmacokinetic parameter, metabolism and the pharmacokinetic interaction with Anti-TB drugs of emtricitabine, tenofovir, and efavirenz was obtained. Fixed dose combination of emtricitabine/tenofovir/efavirenz (ATRIPLAR) which has been approved by Food and Drug Administration shows promising results as far as safety and efficacy is concerned in TB/HIV co-infection patients, hence can be considered effective and safe antiretroviral drug in TB/HIV management for adult and children above 3 years of age
The German National Registry of Primary Immunodeficiencies (2012-2017)
Introduction: The German PID-NET registry was founded in 2009, serving as the first national registry of patients with primary immunodeficiencies (PID) in Germany. It is part of the European Society for Immunodeficiencies (ESID) registry. The primary purpose of the registry is to gather data on the epidemiology, diagnostic delay, diagnosis, and treatment of PIDs.
Methods: Clinical and laboratory data was collected from 2,453 patients from 36 German PID centres in an online registry. Data was analysed with the software StataÂŽ and Excel.
Results: The minimum prevalence of PID in Germany is 2.72 per 100,000 inhabitants. Among patients aged 1â25, there was a clear predominance of males. The median age of living patients ranged between 7 and 40 years, depending on the respective PID. Predominantly antibody disorders were the most prevalent group with 57% of all 2,453 PID patients (including 728 CVID patients). A gene defect was identified in 36% of patients. Familial cases were observed in 21% of patients. The age of onset for presenting symptoms ranged from birth to late adulthood (range 0â88 years). Presenting symptoms comprised infections (74%) and immune dysregulation (22%). Ninety-three patients were diagnosed without prior clinical symptoms. Regarding the general and clinical diagnostic delay, no PID had undergone a slight decrease within the last decade. However, both, SCID and hyper IgE- syndrome showed a substantial improvement in shortening the time between onset of symptoms and genetic diagnosis. Regarding treatment, 49% of all patients received immunoglobulin G (IgG) substitution (70%âsubcutaneous; 29%âintravenous; 1%âunknown). Three-hundred patients underwent at least one hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Five patients had gene therapy.
Conclusion: The German PID-NET registry is a precious tool for physicians, researchers, the pharmaceutical industry, politicians, and ultimately the patients, for whom the outcomes will eventually lead to a more timely diagnosis and better treatment
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