The biological activity of soluble antigen-antibody complexes: II. Physical properties of soluble complexes having skin-irritating activity

Previous work by Germuth and McKinnon (1), Trapani et al. (2), and ourselves (3) has established the fact that soluble antigen-antibody complexes formed in excess antigen can, (a) induce symptoms similar to anaphylaxis, (b) cause contraction of isolated smooth muscle from normal guinea pigs, and (c) increase the permeability of skin capillaries in a manner similar to that obtained in passive cutaneous anaphylaxis. These findings immediately raise many questions as to the fundamental mechanisms involved. For example, is the free antigen playing some role; is the toxicity dependent upon some change in the molecular structure of either antigen or antibody upon combination; is the complex itself toxic without any change in the molecular structure of the components; is the antigen-antibody ratio important; and, is complement involved? The work reported here involves a study of the possible role of free antigen and the nature of the complex. Some study was also made of untreated and decomplemented antiserums and, although there was no difference, this cannot rule out the possible participation of the test animal's (guinea pig's) own complement

Observation of Jonscher Law in AC Hopping Conduction of Electron-Doped Nanoporous Crystal 12CaO7Al2O3 in THz Frequency Range

We have performed terahertz time-domain spectroscopy of carrier-doped nanoporous crystal 12CaO7Al2O3 showing the Mott variable range hopping at room temperature. The real part of the dielectric constant clearly demonstrates the nature of localized carriers. The frequency dependence of both the real and imaginary parts of the dielectric constant can be simply explained by assuming two contributions: a dielectric response by the parent compound with no carriers and an AC hopping conduction with the Jonscher law generally reported up to GHz range. The possible obedience to the Jonscher law in the THz range suggests a relaxation time of the hopping carriers much faster than 1ps in the carrier-doped 12CaO7Al2O3.Comment: 4pages 3figures. to be published in Phys. Rev.

Influence of aluminum oxide film on thermocompression bonding of gold wire to evaporated aluminum film

The influence of Al surface condition on the thermocompression bonding of Au wires to Al electrodes for integrated electric circuits was studied. Au wires were connected to Al electrodes by nail-head bonding after various Al surface treatments. Bonding was evaluated by measuring the wire pull strength and fraction of the number of failures at Au-Al bonds to the total number of failures. Dependence of the fraction on applied load was derived theoretically with a parameter named critical load to take into consideration the differences in Al surface condition. The relation also held explicately for various surface treatments. Characterization of the Al surface was carried out by electron microscopy for chemical analysis

Glucose-sulfate conjugates as a new phase II metabolite formed by aquatic crustaceans

ArticleBIOCHEMICAL AND BIOPHYSICAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS. 360(2): 490-495 (2007)journal articl

Mast cell clones: a model for the analysis of cellular maturation.

Cloned mouse mast cells resemble, by ultrastructure, immature mast cells observed in vivo. These mast cell clones can be grown in the absence of any other cells, facilitating direct investigations of their biochemistry and function. We find that cloned mast cells express plasma membrane receptors (Fc epsilon R) that bind mouse IgE with an equilibrium constant (KA) similar to that of normal mouse peritoneal mast cells. In addition, cloned mast cells do not display detectable la antigens and cannot enhance lg secretion when added to lymphocyte cultures or mediate natural killer lysis. In the presence of 1 mM sodium butyrate, cloned mast cells stop dividing and acquire abundant electron-dense cytoplasmic granules similar to those of mature mast cells. Their histamine content increases concomitant with cytoplasmic granule maturation and may exceed that of untreated mast cells by 50-fold. Unlike peritoneal mast cells, cloned mast cells incorporate 35SO4 into chondroitin sulfates rather than heparin. These findings demonstrate that, unlike fully differentiated mouse peritoneal mast cells, cloned immature mouse mast cells contain no heparin and low levels of histamine. In addition, they establish that high-affinity Fc epsilon R are expressed early in mast cell maturation, well before completion of cytoplasmic granule synthesis and mediator storage

Momentum dependence of the energy gap in the superconducting state of optimally doped Bi2(Sr,R)2CuOy (R=La and Eu)

The energy gap of optimally doped Bi2(Sr,R)2CuOy (R=La and Eu) was probed by angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) using a vacuum ultraviolet laser (photon energy 6.994 eV) or He I resonance line (21.218 eV) as photon source. The results show that the gap around the node at sufficiently low temperatures can be well described by a monotonic d-wave gap function for both samples and the gap of the R=La sample is larger reflecting the higher Tc. However, an abrupt deviation from the d-wave gap function and an opposite R dependence for the gap size were observed around the antinode, which represent a clear disentanglement between the antinodal pseudogap and the nodal superconducting gap.Comment: Submitted as the proceedings of LT2

Superconducting electronic state in optimally doped YBa2Cu3O7-d observed with laser-excited angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

Low energy electronic structure of optimally doped YBa2Cu3O7-d is investigated using laser-excited angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. The surface state and the CuO chain band that usually overlap the CuO2 plane derived bands are not detected, thus enabling a clear observation of the bulk superconducting state. The observed bilayer splitting of the Fermi surface is ~0.08 angstrom^{-1} along the (0,0)-(pi,pi) direction, significantly larger than Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+d. The kink structure of the band dispersion reflecting the renormalization effect at ~60 meV shows up similarly as in other hole-doped cuprates. The momentum-dependence of the superconducting gap shows d_{x^2-y^2}-wave like amplitude, but exhibits a nonzero minimum of ~12 meV along the (0,0)-(pi,pi) direction. Possible origins of such an unexpected "nodeless" gap behavior are discussed.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures; revised version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.