Association of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms in the IL-18 Gene with Production of IL-18 Protein by Mononuclear Cells from Healthy Donors

IL-18 has proinflammatory effects and participates in both innate and adaptive cellular and humoral immunity. A number of SNPs that influence IL-18 production are found in the gene promoter region. We investigated the association of SNPs in the IL-18 promoter at −607 and −137 with the level of IL-18 protein production by PBMC from healthy donors from Southwestern Siberia. The genetic distribution of these SNPs in the promoter site was established by PCR. IL-18 protein production was determined by ELISA. Our results showed that PBMC from donors carrying allele 137C have lower levels of both spontaneous and LPS-stimulated IL-18 production. In contrast, PBMC from donors carrying allele 607A showed significant increases in spontaneous and stimulated IL-18 production compared to wild type. Our study suggests that the SNPs −607 and −137 in the promoter region of the IL-18 gene influence the level of IL-18 protein production by PBMC from healthy donors in Southwestern Siberia

Expression of progenitor markers is associated with the functionality of a bioartificial adrenal cortex

This work was in part supported by the International Fund Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia (IFCAH) (to SRB), by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (CRC-TRR 127 (to SRB and BL), CRC-TRR 205 (to SRB, BL and CS), IRTG 2251 (to SRB, BL and CS), and CRU 252 (to SRB and BL)), the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) (to GRB) and The TransCampus initiative between TU Dresden and King’s College London (to SRB). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Signatures of the slow solar wind streams from active regions in the inner corona

Some of local sources of the slow solar wind can be associated with spectroscopically detected plasma outflows at edges of active regions accompanied with specific signatures in the inner corona. The EUV telescopes (e.g. SPIRIT/CORONAS-F, TESIS/CORONAS-Photon and SWAP/PROBA2) sometimes observed extended ray-like structures seen at the limb above active regions in 1MK iron emission lines and described as "coronal rays". To verify the relationship between coronal rays and plasma outflows, we analyze an isolated active region (AR) adjacent to small coronal hole (CH) observed by different EUV instruments in the end of July - beginning of August 2009. On August 1 EIS revealed in the AR two compact outflows with the Doppler velocities V =10-30 km/s accompanied with fan loops diverging from their regions. At the limb the ARCH interface region produced coronal rays observed by EUVI/STEREO-A on July 31 as well as by TESIS on August 7. The rays were co-aligned with open magnetic field lines expanded to the streamer stalks. Using the DEM analysis, it was found that the fan loops diverged from the outflow regions had the dominant temperature of ~1 MK, which is similar to that of the outgoing plasma streams. Parameters of the solar wind measured by STEREO-B, ACE, WIND, STEREO-A were conformed with identification of the ARCH as a source region at the Wang-Sheeley-Arge map of derived coronal holes for CR 2086. The results of the study support the suggestion that coronal rays can represent signatures of outflows from ARs propagating in the inner corona along open field lines into the heliosphere.Comment: Accepted for publication in Solar Physics; 31 Pages; 13 Figure

Relationship of anemia with clinicolaboratory measures of inflammation activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Objective. To study relationship of anemic syndrome with inflammation activity measures in pts with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Material and methods. 177 pts with RA fulfilled 1987 ACR criteria were included. 132 from them had anemia at the examination. Results were processed with complex of descriptive, structural and multivariate statistics. Results. Close relationship of RA clinical features with erythropoiesis disturbances clinically manifesting with anemia development was proved. Critical hemoglobin level (<113 g/1) was determined at which pathological processes in erythron leading to the development of anemia begin significantly influence severity of immunopathological rheumatoid process. Diapasons of disease activity measures were revealed associated with anemia presence or absence in pts with RA. Diagnostic value of studied measures diapasons for prognosis of anemia development in RA was determined. Conclusion. The results of the study allow developing criteria for prognosis of anemia appearance in RA pts with normal blood concentration of hemoglobin. Such method could help to reveal early disturbances of erythron and improve RA treatment schemes with erythropoiesis modulating drugs

MULTIPLEX EVALUATION OF ConA-INDUCED PRODUCTION OF TWELVE CYTOKINES IN THE CULTURES OF MONONUCLEAR CELLS FROM PERIPHERAL BLOOD OF HEALTHY SUBJECTS

Abstract. The goal of this work was a multiplex single-step evaluation of the levels of stimulated cytokine production in the supernates of cultivated mononuclear cells from healthy Caucasian individuals. We compared the levels of cytokines for various groups. In Th1 cells, the production of INF-γ is typically greater than production of IL-2. Analysis of Th2-derived cytokines demonstrated predominance of IL-10 production over other cytokines. Furthermore, we observed in healthy donors a significantly stronger production of IL-13 as compared to IL-4. These cytokines function as co-stimulators of proliferation for pre-activated B-cells.When performing pairwise comparisons of the growth factor concentrations, we have shown higher levels of G-CSF production than that of GM-CSF, thus reflecting predominance of differentiation stimuli for granulocytopoiesis over monocytopoiesis in bone marrow of healthy humans.Among pro-inflammatory cytokines tested, the significantly higher TNF-α production is prevalent. Low levels of ConA stimulated IL-7 production from the bone marrow stromal cells, which activates complete differentiation of T- and B-lymphocyte progenitors, might be due to low mitogen activity for the non-lymphoid cells

Numerical Bifurcation Methods and their Application to Fluid Dynamics: Analysis beyond Simulation

We provide an overview of current techniques and typical applications of numerical bifurcation analysis in fluid dynamical problems. Many of these problems are characterized by high-dimensional dynamical systems which undergo transitions as parameters are changed. The computation of the critical conditions associated with these transitions, popularly referred to as 'tipping points', is important for understanding the transition mechanisms. We describe the two basic classes of methods of numerical bifurcation analysis, which differ in the explicit or implicit use of the Jacobian matrix of the dynamical system. The numerical challenges involved in both methods are mentioned and possible solutions to current bottlenecks are given. To demonstrate that numerical bifurcation techniques are not restricted to relatively low-dimensional dynamical systems, we provide several examples of the application of the modern techniques to a diverse set of fluid mechanical problems