5,929 research outputs found
Innate immune response to intramammary infection with Serratia marcescens and Streptococcus uberis
Streptococcus uberis and Serratia marcescens are Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, respectively, that induce clinical mastitis. Once initial host barrier systems have been breached by these pathogens, the innate immune system provides the next level of defense against these infectious agents. The innate immune response is characterized by the induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines, as well as increases in other accessory proteins that facilitate host recognition and elimination of the pathogens. The objective of the current study was to characterize the innate immune response during clinical mastitis elicited by these two important, yet less well-studied, Gram-positive and Gram-negative organisms. The pro-inflammatory cytokine response and changes in the levels of the innate immune accessory recognition proteins, soluble CD14 (sCD14) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-binding protein (LBP), were studied. Decreased milk output, induction of a febrile response, and increased acute phase synthesis of LBP were all characteristic of the systemic response to intramammary infection with either organism. Infection with either bacteria similarly resulted in increased milk levels of IL-1, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, IFN-, TNF-, sCD14, LBP, and the complement component, C5a. However, the duration of and/or maximal changes in the increased levels of these inflammatory markers were significantly different for several of the inflammatory parameters assayed. In particular, S. uberis infection was characterized by the sustained elevation of higher milk levels of IL-1, IL-10, IL-12, IFN-, and C5a, relative to S. marcescens infection. Together, these data demonstrate the variability of the innate immune response to two distinct mastitis pathogens
Magnetic Excitations in the Quasi-1D Ising-like Antiferromagnet TlCoCl
Neutron inelastic scattering measurements have been performed in order to
investigate the magnetic excitations in the quasi-1D Ising-like antiferromagnet
TlCoCl. We observed the magnetic excitation, which corresponds to the
spin-wave excitation continuum corresponding to the domain-wall pair excitation
in the 1D Ising-like antiferromagnet. According to the Ishimura-Shiba theory,
we analyzed the observed spin-wave excitation, and the exchange constant
and the anistropy were estimated as 14.7 meV and 0.14 in TlCoCl,
respectively.Comment: 2 pages, 3 figures, jpsj2.cls, to be published in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn.
Vol.75 (2006) No.
Off-diagonal Interactions, Hund's Rules and Pair-binding in Hubbard Molecules
We have studied the effect of including nearest-neighbor, electron-electron
interactions, in particular the off-diagonal (non density-density) terms, on
the spectra of truncated tetrahedral and icosahedral ``Hubbard molecules,''
focusing on the relevance of these systems to the physics of doped C.
Our perturbation theoretic and exact diagonalization results agree with
previous work in that the density-density term suppresses pair-binding.
However, we find that for the parameter values of interest for the
off-diagonal terms {\em enhance} pair-binding, though not enough to offset the
suppression due to the density-density term. We also find that the critical
interaction strengths for the Hund's rules violating level crossings in
C, C and C are quite insensitive to the
inclusion of these additional interactions.Comment: 20p + 5figs, Revtex 3.0, UIUC preprint P-94-10-08
Recommended from our members
Targeted gene disruption of the endogenous c-abl locus by homologous recombination with DNA encoding a selectable fusion protein
We have introduced a substitution mutation into the c-abl locus of murine embryonic stem cells by homologous recombination between exogenously added DNA and the endogenous gene. Model constructs were initially generated that consisted of a promoterless selectable neomycin resistance marker inserted into the v-abl gene of the complete Abelson murine leukemia virus genome, designed to be expressed either as a fusion protein or by translational restart. Tests of these viral genomes for transmission of v-abl and neo markers showed more stable coexpression in a protein fusion construct. The neo fusion was subcloned from this v-abl construct into a promoterless c-abl fragment, and the resulting DNA was used to transform embryonic stem cells. Direct screening of genomic DNAs showed that a high proportion of drug-resistant clones arose from homologous recombination into the endogenous c-abl locus
Diffusive counter dispersion of mass in bubbly media
We consider a liquid bearing gas bubbles in a porous medium. When gas bubbles
are immovably trapped in a porous matrix by surface-tension forces, the
dominant mechanism of transfer of gas mass becomes the diffusion of gas
molecules through the liquid. Essentially, the gas solution is in local
thermodynamic equilibrium with vapor phase all over the system, i.e., the
solute concentration equals the solubility. When temperature and/or pressure
gradients are applied, diffusion fluxes appear and these fluxes are faithfully
determined by the temperature and pressure fields, not by the local solute
concentration, which is enslaved by the former. We derive the equations
governing such systems, accounting for thermodiffusion and gravitational
segregation effects which are shown not to be neglected for geological
systems---marine sediments, terrestrial aquifers, etc. The results are applied
for the treatment of non-high-pressure systems and real geological systems
bearing methane or carbon dioxide, where we find a potential possibility of the
formation of gaseous horizons deep below a porous medium surface. The reported
effects are of particular importance for natural methane hydrate deposits and
the problem of burial of industrial production of carbon dioxide in deep
aquifers.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, Physical Review
The Real Combination Problem : Panpsychism, Micro-Subjects, and Emergence
Panpsychism harbors an unresolved tension, the seriousness of which has yet to be fully appreciated. I capture this tension as a dilemma, and offer panpsychists advice on how to resolve it. The dilemma, briefly, is as follows. Panpsychists are committed to the perspicuous explanation of macro-mentality in terms of micro-mentality. But panpsychists take the micro-material realm to feature not just mental properties, but also micro-subjects to whom these properties belong. Yet it is impossible to explain the constitution of a macro-subject (like one of us) in terms of the assembly of micro-subjects, for, I show, subjects cannot combine. Therefore the panpsychist explanatory project is derailed by the insistence that the world’s ultimate material constituents (ultimates) are subjects of experience. The panpsychist faces a choice of abandoning her explanatory project, or recanting the claim that the ultimates are subjects. This is the dilemma. I argue that the latter option is to be preferred. This needn’t constitute a wholesale abandonment of panpsychism, however, since panpsychists can maintain that the ultimates possess phenomenal qualities, despite not being subjects of those qualities. This proposal requires us to make sense of phenomenal qualities existing independently of experiencing subjects, a challenge I tackle in the penultimate section. The position eventually reached is a form of neutral monism, so another way to express the overall argument is to say that, keeping true to their philosophical motivations, panpsychists should really be neutral monists.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio
Polarized Neutron Inelastic Scattering Study of the Anisotropic Magnetic Fluctuations in the Quasi-1D Ising-like Antiferromagnet TlCoCl
Polarized neutron inelastic scattering experiments have been carried out in
the quasi-1D Ising-like antiferromagnet TlCoCl. We observed the
longitudinal magnetic fluctuation for the spin-wave
excitation continuum, which has not been observed in the unpolarized neutron
inelastic scattering experiments of the quasi-1D Ising-like antiferromagnets
CsCoCl and TlCoCl so far, together with the transverse magnetic
fluctuation . We compared both obtained intensities of
and with the perturbation theory from
the pure Ising limit by Ishimura and Shiba, and a semi-quantitative agreement
was found.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, jpsj2.cls, to be published in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn.
Vol. 75 (2006) No.
Recommended from our members
Integrating reading and literature into content area curriculum through thematic units
The goals of this project include developing a way to efficiently teach the many required subjects in the overloaded elementary school day and incorporating litrature into content area curriculum
- …