IL11 stimulates IL33 expression and proinflammatory fibroblast activation across tissues

Interleukin 11 (IL11) is upregulated in inflammatory conditions, where it is mostly believed to have anti-inflammatory activity. However, recent studies suggest instead that IL11 promotes inflammation by activating fibroblasts. Here, we assessed whether IL11 is pro- or anti-inflammatory in fibroblasts. Primary cultures of human kidney, lung or skin fibroblasts were stimulated with IL11 that resulted in the transient phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) and the sustained activation of extracellular signal-regulated protein kinases (ERK). RNA sequencing over a time course of IL11 stimulation revealed a robust but short-lived transcriptional response that was enriched for gene set hallmarks of inflammation and characterized by the upregulation of SERPINB2, TNFRSF18, Interleukin 33 (IL33), CCL20, IL1RL1, CXCL3/5/8, ICAM1 and IL11 itself. IL33 was the most upregulated signaling factor (38-fold, p = 9.8 × 10-5), and IL1RL1, its cognate receptor, was similarly increased (18-fold, p = 1.1 × 10-34). In proteomic studies, IL11 triggered a proinflammatory secretome with the notable upregulation of IL8, IL6, MCP1, CCL20 and CXCL1/5/6, which are important chemotaxins for neutrophils, monocytes, and lymphocytes. IL11 induced IL33 expression across fibroblast types, and the inhibition of STAT3 but not of MEK/ERK prevented this. These data establish IL11 as pro-inflammatory with specific importance for priming the IL33 alarmin response in inflammatory fibroblasts across tissues

Correlated multiplexity and connectivity of multiplex random networks

Nodes in a complex networked system often engage in more than one type of interactions among them; they form a multiplex network with multiple types of links. In real-world complex systems, a node's degree for one type of links and that for the other are not randomly distributed but correlated, which we term correlated multiplexity. In this paper we study a simple model of multiplex random networks and demonstrate that the correlated multiplexity can drastically affect the properties of giant component in the network. Specifically, when the degrees of a node for different interactions in a duplex Erdos-Renyi network are maximally correlated, the network contains the giant component for any nonzero link densities. In contrast, when the degrees of a node are maximally anti-correlated, the emergence of giant component is significantly delayed, yet the entire network becomes connected into a single component at a finite link density. We also discuss the mixing patterns and the cases with imperfect correlated multiplexity.Comment: Revised version, 12 pages, 6 figure

Emergence of skew distributions in controlled growth processes

Starting from a master equation, we derive the evolution equation for the size distribution of elements in an evolving system, where each element can grow, divide into two, and produce new elements. We then probe general solutions of the evolution quation, to obtain such skew distributions as power-law, log-normal, and Weibull distributions, depending on the growth or division and production. Specifically, repeated production of elements of uniform size leads to power-law distributions, whereas production of elements with the size distributed according to the current distribution as well as no production of new elements results in log-normal distributions. Finally, division into two, or binary fission, bears Weibull distributions. Numerical simulations are also carried out, confirming the validity of the obtained solutions.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Chemical Pressure and Physical Pressure in BaFe_2(As_{1-x}P_{x})_2

Measurements of the superconducting transition temperature, T_c, under hydrostatic pressure via bulk AC susceptibility were carried out on several concentrations of phosphorous substitution in BaFe_2(As_{1-x}P_x)_2. The pressure dependence of unsubstituted BaFe_2As_2, phosphorous concentration dependence of BaFe_2(As_{1-x}P_x)_2, as well as the pressure dependence of BaFe_2(As_{1-x}P_x)_2 all point towards an identical maximum T_c of 31 K. This demonstrates that phosphorous substitution and physical pressure result in similar superconducting phase diagrams, and that phosphorous substitution does not induce substantial impurity scattering.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Journal of the Physical Society of Japa

Quantum beats in the electric-field quenching of metastable hydrogen

The strong field-induced quantum beats observed in beam-foil studies of Ly- alpha radiation are obtained in a conventional metastable-hydrogen quenching experiment. The phase relation between the Stark shifted 2s 1/2- 2p 1/2 Lamb-shift oscillations and the much more rapid 2s 1-2p 3/2 fine-structure oscillations depends on the detailed way in which the quenching field is switched on. Apart from a phaseshift, the results agree with a non-perturbative theoretical calculation which assumes that the field is applied suddenly. Various frequency components of the time-dependent radiation intensity are identified with specific hyperfine transitions or groups of transitions. No adjustable parameters are used for the initial state amplitudes