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$\beta$, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12, IFN-$\gamma$, TNF-$\alpha$, 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$\beta$, IL-10, IL-12, IFN-$\gamma$, 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 TlCoCl3_3

Neutron inelastic scattering measurements have been performed in order to investigate the magnetic excitations in the quasi-1D Ising-like antiferromagnet TlCoCl$_3$. 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 $2J$ and the anistropy $\epsilon$ were estimated as 14.7 meV and 0.14 in TlCoCl$_3$, 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$_{60}$. 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 $C_{60}$ 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$_{60}^{-2}$, C$_{60}^{-3}$ and C$_{60}^{-4}$ are quite insensitive to the inclusion of these additional interactions.Comment: 20p + 5figs, Revtex 3.0, UIUC preprint P-94-10-08

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 TlCoCl3_3

Polarized neutron inelastic scattering experiments have been carried out in the quasi-1D Ising-like antiferromagnet TlCoCl$_3$. We observed the longitudinal magnetic fluctuation $S_{zz} (Q, \omega)$ 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$_3$ and TlCoCl$_3$ so far, together with the transverse magnetic fluctuation $S_{xx} (Q, \omega)$. We compared both obtained intensities of $S_{xx} (Q, \omega)$ and $S_{zz} (Q, \omega)$ 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.

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