Radioiodine Labeled Anti-MIF McAb: A Potential Agent for Inflammation Imaging

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a proinflammatory cytokine that may play a role in the pathogenesis of inflammation. Radiolabeled anti-MIF McAb can be used to detect in vivo inflammatory changes. The objective of this study was to investigate in vivo biology of radioiodinated anti-MIF McAb using the inflammation model mice. Anti-MIF McAb was radioiodinated with NaI125 by Iodogen method. Animal models were induced in the mice by intramuscular injection of S. aureus, E. coli, and turpentine oil. The biodistribution studies with radioiodinated anti-MIF McAb were performed on inflammation mice. The relationship between inflammatory lesions and anti-MIF McAb binding was investigated using the percent of injected dose per gram tissue (% ID/g) of tissue samples and whole-body autoradiography. The radioactivity of I125-anti-MIF McAb in the inflammatory tissue increased gradually for three inflammation models. The highest uptake was found in S. aureus group and the lowest was in E. coli group. The uptake in turpentine oil group was average. Whole-body autoradiography showed that all inflammation foci could be visualized clearly from 24 hours after injection, but 48 hours images were much clearer in accordance with the high T/NT ratio. These results demonstrate the ability of radioiodinated anti-MIF McAb to measure in vivo inflammatory events represented by high expression of MIF and suggests that radiolabeled anti-MIF McAb warrants further investigation as a potential inflammation-seeking agent for imaging to detect inflammatory disorders

A role of corazonin receptor in larval-pupal transition and pupariation in the oriental fruit fly Bactrocera dorsalis (Hendel) (Diptera: Tephritidae)

Corazonin (Crz) is a neuropeptide hormone, but also a neuropeptide modulator that is internally released within the CNS, and it has a widespread distribution in insects with diverse physiological functions. Here, we identified and cloned the cDNAs of Bactrocera dorsalis that encode Crz and its receptor CrzR. Mature BdCrz has 11 residues with a unique Ser11 substitution (instead of the typical Asn) and a His in the evolutionary variable position 7. The BdCrzR cDNA encodes a putative protein of 608 amino acids with 7 putative transmembrane domains, typical for the structure of G-protein-coupled receptors. When expressed in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, the BdCrzR exhibited a high sensitivity and selectivity for Crz (EC50 approximate to 52.5 nM). With qPCR, the developmental stage and tissue-specific expression profiles in B. dorsalis demonstrated that both BdCrz and BdCrzR were highly expressed in the larval stage, and BdCrzR peaked in 2-day-old 3rd-instar larvae, suggesting that the BdCrzR may play an important role in the larval-pupal transition behavior. Immunochemical localization confirmed the production of Crz in the central nervous system (CNS), specifically by a group of three neurons in the dorso-lateral protocerebrum and eight pairs of lateral neurons in the ventral nerve cord. qPCR analysis located the BdCrzR in both the CNS and epitracheal gland, containing the Inka cells. Importantly, dsRNA-BdCrzR-mediated gene-silencing caused a delay in larval-pupal transition and pupariation, and this phenomenon agreed with a delayed expression of tyrosine hydroxylase and dopa-decarboxylase genes. We speculate that CrzR-silencing blocked dopamine synthesis, resulting in the inhibition of pupariation and cuticular melanization. Finally, injection of Crz in head-ligated larvae could rescue the effects. These findings provide a new insight into the roles of Crz signaling pathway components in B. dorsalis and support an important role of CrzR in larval-pupal transition and pupariation behavior

Plant Root Exudates Are Involved in Bacillus cereus AR156 Mediated Biocontrol Against Ralstonia solanacearum

The biological control process mediated by microbes relies on multiple interactions among plants, pathogens and biocontrol agents (BCAs). One such efficient BCA is Bacillus cereus AR156, a bacterial strain that controls a broad spectrum of plant diseases and potentially works as a microbe elicitor of plant immune reactions. It remains unclear, however, whether the interaction between plants and B. cereus AR156 may facilitate composition changes of plant root exudates and whether these changes directly affect the growth of both plant pathogens and B. cereus AR156 itself. Here, we addressed these questions by analyzing the influences of root exudate changes mediated by B. cereus AR156 during biocontrol against tomato bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum. Indeed, some upregulated metabolites in tomato root exudates induced by B. cereus AR156 (REB), such as lactic acid and hexanoic acid, induced the growth and motile ability of in vitro B. cereus AR156 cells. Exogenously applying hexanoic acid and lactic acid to tomato plants showed positive biocontrol efficacy (46.6 and 39.36%) against tomato bacterial wilt, compared with 51.02% by B. cereus AR156 itself. Furthermore, fructose, lactic acid, sucrose and threonine at specific concentrations stimulated the biofilm formation of B. cereus AR156 in Luria-Bertan- Glycerol- Magnesium medium (LBGM), and we also detected more colonized cells of B. cereus AR156 on the tomato root surface after adding these four compounds to the system. These observations suggest that the ability of B. cereus AR156 to induce some specific components in plant root exudates was probably involved in further biocontrol processes

Optimasi Portofolio Resiko Menggunakan Model Markowitz MVO Dikaitkan dengan Keterbatasan Manusia dalam Memprediksi Masa Depan dalam Perspektif Al-Qur`an

Risk portfolio on modern finance has become increasingly technical, requiring the use of sophisticated mathematical tools in both research and practice. Since companies cannot insure themselves completely against risk, as human incompetence in predicting the future precisely that written in Al-Quran surah Luqman verse 34, they have to manage it to yield an optimal portfolio. The objective here is to minimize the variance among all portfolios, or alternatively, to maximize expected return among all portfolios that has at least a certain expected return. Furthermore, this study focuses on optimizing risk portfolio so called Markowitz MVO (Mean-Variance Optimization). Some theoretical frameworks for analysis are arithmetic mean, geometric mean, variance, covariance, linear programming, and quadratic programming. Moreover, finding a minimum variance portfolio produces a convex quadratic programming, that is minimizing the objective function ðð¥with constraintsð ð 𥠥 ðandð´ð¥ = ð. The outcome of this research is the solution of optimal risk portofolio in some investments that could be finished smoothly using MATLAB R2007b software together with its graphic analysis

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass

Impacts of the Tropical Pacific/Indian Oceans on the Seasonal Cycle of the West African Monsoon

The current consensus is that drought has developed in the Sahel during the second half of the twentieth century as a result of remote effects of oceanic anomalies amplified by local land–atmosphere interactions. This paper focuses on the impacts of oceanic anomalies upon West African climate and specifically aims to identify those from SST anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Oceans during spring and summer seasons, when they were significant. Idealized sensitivity experiments are performed with four atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). The prescribed SST patterns used in the AGCMs are based on the leading mode of covariability between SST anomalies over the Pacific/Indian Oceans and summer rainfall over West Africa. The results show that such oceanic anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Ocean lead to a northward shift of an anomalous dry belt from the Gulf of Guinea to the Sahel as the season advances. In the Sahel, the magnitude of rainfall anomalies is comparable to that obtained by other authors using SST anomalies confined to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. The mechanism connecting the Pacific/Indian SST anomalies with West African rainfall has a strong seasonal cycle. In spring (May and June), anomalous subsidence develops over both the Maritime Continent and the equatorial Atlantic in response to the enhanced equatorial heating. Precipitation increases over continental West Africa in association with stronger zonal convergence of moisture. In addition, precipitation decreases over the Gulf of Guinea. During the monsoon peak (July and August), the SST anomalies move westward over the equatorial Pacific and the two regions where subsidence occurred earlier in the seasons merge over West Africa. The monsoon weakens and rainfall decreases over the Sahel, especially in August.Peer reviewe

Severe early onset preeclampsia: short and long term clinical, psychosocial and biochemical aspects

Preeclampsia is a pregnancy specific disorder commonly defined as de novo hypertension and proteinuria after 20 weeks gestational age. It occurs in approximately 3-5% of pregnancies and it is still a major cause of both foetal and maternal morbidity and mortality worldwide1. As extensive research has not yet elucidated the aetiology of preeclampsia, there are no rational preventive or therapeutic interventions available. The only rational treatment is delivery, which benefits the mother but is not in the interest of the foetus, if remote from term. Early onset preeclampsia (<32 weeks’ gestational age) occurs in less than 1% of pregnancies. It is, however often associated with maternal morbidity as the risk of progression to severe maternal disease is inversely related with gestational age at onset2. Resulting prematurity is therefore the main cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity in patients with severe preeclampsia3. Although the discussion is ongoing, perinatal survival is suggested to be increased in patients with preterm preeclampsia by expectant, non-interventional management. This temporising treatment option to lengthen pregnancy includes the use of antihypertensive medication to control hypertension, magnesium sulphate to prevent eclampsia and corticosteroids to enhance foetal lung maturity4. With optimal maternal haemodynamic status and reassuring foetal condition this results on average in an extension of 2 weeks. Prolongation of these pregnancies is a great challenge for clinicians to balance between potential maternal risks on one the eve hand and possible foetal benefits on the other. Clinical controversies regarding prolongation of preterm preeclamptic pregnancies still exist – also taking into account that preeclampsia is the leading cause of maternal mortality in the Netherlands5 - a debate which is even more pronounced in very preterm pregnancies with questionable foetal viability6-9. Do maternal risks of prolongation of these very early pregnancies outweigh the chances of neonatal survival? Counselling of women with very early onset preeclampsia not only comprises of knowledge of the outcome of those particular pregnancies, but also knowledge of outcomes of future pregnancies of these women is of major clinical importance. This thesis opens with a review of the literature on identifiable risk factors of preeclampsia