1,367 research outputs found
Association of FCGR3A and FCGR3B haplotypes with rheumatoid arthritis and primary Sjögren's syndrome [POSTER PRESENTATION]
Background
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease that is thought to arise from a complex interaction between multiple genetic factors and environmental triggers. We have previously demonstrated an association between a Fc gamma receptor (FcγR) haplotype and RA in a cross-sectional cohort of RA patients. We have sought to confirm this association in an inception cohort of RA patients and matched controls. We also extended our study to investigate a second autoanti-body associated rheumatic disease, primary Sjögren's syndrome (PSS).
Methods
The FCGR3A-158F/V and FCGR3B-NA1/NA2 functional polymorphisms were examined for association in an inception cohort of RA patients (n = 448), and a well-characterised PSS cohort (n = 83) from the United Kingdom. Pairwise disequilibrium coefficients (D') were calculated in 267 Blood Service healthy controls. The EHPlus program was used to estimate haplotype frequencies for patients and controls and to determine whether significant linkage disequilibrium was present. A likelihood ratio test is performed to test for differences between the haplotype frequencies in cases and controls. A permutation procedure implemented in this program enabled 1000 permutations to be performed on all haplotype associations to assess significance.
Results
There was significant linkage disequilibrium between FCGR3A and FCGR3B (D' = -0.445, P = 0.001). There was no significant difference in the FCGR3A or FCGR3B allele or genotype frequencies in the RA or PSS patients compared with controls. However, there was a significant difference in the FCGR3A-FCGR3B haplotype distributions with increased homozygosity for the FCGR3A-FCGR3B 158V-NA2 haplotype in both our inception RA cohort (odds ratio = 2.15, 95% confidence interval = 1.1–4.2 P = 0.027) and PSS (odds ratio = 2.83, 95% confidence interval = 1.0–8.2, P = 0.047) compared with controls. The reference group for these analyses comprised individuals who did not possess a copy of the FCGR3A-FCGR3B 158V-NA2 haplotype.
Conclusions
We have confirmed our original findings of association between the FCGR3A-FCGR3B 158V-NA2 haplotype and RA in a new inception cohort of RA patients. This suggests that there may be an RA-susceptibility gene at this locus. The significant increased frequency of an identical haplotype in PSS suggests the FcγR genetic locus may contribute to the pathogenesis of diverse autoantibody-mediated rheumatic diseases
Optimizing internal wave drag in a forward barotropic model with semidiurnal tides
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109739/1/ocemod_buijsmanetal_2015.pd
Existence theorems in the geometrically non-linear 6-parametric theory of elastic plates
In this paper we show the existence of global minimizers for the
geometrically exact, non-linear equations of elastic plates, in the framework
of the general 6-parametric shell theory. A characteristic feature of this
model for shells is the appearance of two independent kinematic fields: the
translation vector field and the rotation tensor field (representing in total 6
independent scalar kinematic variables). For isotropic plates, we prove the
existence theorem by applying the direct methods of the calculus of variations.
Then, we generalize our existence result to the case of anisotropic plates. We
also present a detailed comparison with a previously established Cosserat plate
model.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figur
Analysis of Hamiltonian formulations of linearized General Relativity
The different forms of the Hamiltonian formulations of linearized General
Relativity/spin-two theories are discussed in order to show their similarities
and differences. It is demonstrated that in the linear model, non-covariant
modifications to the initial covariant Lagrangian (similar to those
modifications used in full gravity) are in fact unnecessary. The Hamiltonians
and the constraints are different in these two formulations but the structure
of the constraint algebra and the gauge invariance derived from it are the
same. It is shown that these equivalent Hamiltonian formulations are related to
each other by a canonical transformation which is explicitly given. The
relevance of these results to the full theory of General Relativity is briefly
discussed.Comment: Section Discussion is modified and references are added; 19 page
Autosis is a Na+,K+-ATPase-regulated form of cell death triggered by autophagy-inducing peptides, starvation, and hypoxia-ischemia.
A long-standing controversy is whether autophagy is a bona fide cause of mammalian cell death. We used a cell-penetrating autophagy-inducing peptide, Tat-Beclin 1, derived from the autophagy protein Beclin 1, to investigate whether high levels of autophagy result in cell death by autophagy. Here we show that Tat-Beclin 1 induces dose-dependent death that is blocked by pharmacological or genetic inhibition of autophagy, but not of apoptosis or necroptosis. This death, termed "autosis," has unique morphological features, including increased autophagosomes/autolysosomes and nuclear convolution at early stages, and focal swelling of the perinuclear space at late stages. We also observed autotic death in cells during stress conditions, including in a subpopulation of nutrient-starved cells in vitro and in hippocampal neurons of neonatal rats subjected to cerebral hypoxia-ischemia in vivo. A chemical screen of ~5,000 known bioactive compounds revealed that cardiac glycosides, antagonists of Na(+),K(+)-ATPase, inhibit autotic cell death in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, genetic knockdown of the Na(+),K(+)-ATPase α1 subunit blocks peptide and starvation-induced autosis in vitro. Thus, we have identified a unique form of autophagy-dependent cell death, a Food and Drug Administration-approved class of compounds that inhibit such death, and a crucial role for Na(+),K(+)-ATPase in its regulation. These findings have implications for understanding how cells die during certain stress conditions and how such cell death might be prevented
Topological Defects on Fluctuating Surfaces: General Properties and the Kosterlitz-Thouless Transition
We investigate the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition for hexatic order on a free
fluctuating membrane and derive both a Coulomb gas and a sine-Gordon
Hamiltonian to describe it. The Coulomb-gas Hamiltonian includes charge
densities arising from disclinations and from Gaussian curvature. There is an
interaction coupling the difference between these two densities, whose strength
is determined by the hexatic rigidity, and an interaction coupling Gaussian
curvature densities arising from the Liouville Hamiltonian resulting from the
imposition of a covariant cutoff. In the sine-Gordon Hamiltonian, there is a
linear coupling between a scalar field and the Gaussian curvature. We discuss
gauge-invariant correlation function for hexatic order and the dielectric
constant of the Coulomb gas. We also derive renormalization group recursion
relations that predict a transition with decreasing bending rigidity .Comment: REVTEX, 45 pages with 11 postscript figures compressed using uufiles.
Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Ghost D-branes
We define a ghost D-brane in superstring theories as an object that cancels
the effects of an ordinary D-brane. The supergroups U(N|M) and OSp(N|M) arise
as gauge symmetries in the supersymmetric world-volume theory of D-branes and
ghost D-branes. A system with a pair of D-brane and ghost D-brane located at
the same location is physically equivalent to the closed string vacuum. When
they are separated, the system becomes a new brane configuration. We generalize
the type I/heterotic duality by including n ghost D9-branes on the type I side
and by considering the heterotic string whose gauge group is OSp(32+2n|2n).
Motivated by the type IIB S-duality applied to D9- and ghost D9-branes, we also
find type II-like closed superstrings with U(n|n) gauge symmetry.Comment: 49 pages, 6 figures, harvmac. v2: references and acknowledgements
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Matter wave functions and Yukawa couplings in F-theory Grand Unification
We study the local structure of zero mode wave functions of chiral matter
fields in F-theory unification. We solve the differential equations for the
zero modes derived from local Higgsing in the 8-dimensional parent action of
F-theory 7-branes. The solutions are found as expansions both in powers and
derivatives of the magnetic fluxes. Yukawa couplings are given by an overlap
integral of the three wave functions involved in the interaction and can be
calculated analytically. We provide explicit expressions for these Yukawas to
second order both in the flux and derivative expansions and discuss the effect
of higher order terms. We explicitly describe the dependence of the couplings
on the U(1) charges of the relevant fields, appropriately taking into account
their normalization. A hierarchical Yukawa structure is naturally obtained. The
application of our results to the understanding of the observed hierarchies of
quarks and leptons is discussed.Comment: Latex, 51 pages, 4 figures, typos corrected, note adde
On the variation of the gauge couplings during inflation
It is shown that the evolution of the (Abelian) gauge coupling during an
inflationary phase of de Sitter type drives the growth of the two-point
function of the magnetic inhomogeneities. After examining the constraints on
the variation of the gauge coupling arising in a standard model of inflationary
and post-inflationary evolution, magnetohydrodynamical equations are
generalized to the case of time evolving gauge coupling. It is argued that
large scale magnetic fields can be copiously generated. Other possible
implications of the model are outlined.Comment: 5 pages in RevTex style, one figur
Quintessence arising from exponential potentials
We demonstrate how exponential potentials that could arise in the early
Universe as a result of Kaluza-Klein type compactifications of string theory,
can lead to cosmological solutions which correspond to the currently observed
accelerating Universe. The idea is simple, relying solely on the known scaling
properties associated with exponential potentials. In particular we show that
the existence of stable attractor solutions implies that the results hold for a
wide range of coupling constants and initial conditions.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, published versio
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