Induction of IL-8(CXCL8) and MCP-1(CCL2) with oxidative stress and its inhibition with N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) in cell culture model using HK-2 cell

Renal transplantation can often be complicated due to delayed graft function, which is a direct sequel of ischaemia reperfusion injury. The adverse outcome of delayed graft function is not only short term but the long-term function of the graft is also affected. Therefore, it is important to understand the mechanisms of ischaemia reperfusion injury. Reactive oxygen species are the key mediators in ischaemia reperfusion injury causing direct cell damage which also initiate inflammation by inducing chemokines. The presence of inflammation is a marker of severe delayed graft function. However, the effect of oxidative stress on the expression of key chemokines has not been fully established yet. Therefore, the aim of this study was to measure the oxidative stress response and the secretion of chemokines in a cell culture model that mimics the effects of ischaemia reperfusion injury in immortalised human renal proximal tubular epithelial cells, HK-2. Cells were treated with varying concentrations of hydrogen peroxide and markers of oxidative stress response and chemokine release were measured. Exposure to hydrogen peroxide induced a significant increase in the activity of the antioxidant enzyme glutathione peroxidase and the levels of the chemokines Interleukin-8 (IL-8; CXCL8) and MCP-1 (CCL2). A dose related increase of chemokine secretion was also observed. The cytokine Interleukin-1β (IL-1β) at 1 ng/ml significantly potentiated the expression of both IL-8 (CXCL8) and MCP-1 (CCL2) which showed synergistic response in the presence of hydrogen peroxide. Pre-incubation of the cells with the anti-oxidant N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) strongly suppressed the induction of both IL-8 and MCP-1 when stimulated with hydrogen peroxide and IL-1β. This study demonstrates the potential of anti-oxidants like N-acetyl cysteine in ameliorating the effects of ischaemia reperfusion injury thus suggesting a new therapeutic approach in renal transplantation. These findings can have potential implications for clinical use to prevent ischaemia reperfusion injury in renal transplantation

Erratum to: An Entropy Functional for Riemann-Cartan Space-Times

We correct the entropy functional constructed in Int. J. Theor. Phys. 51:362 (2012). The 'on-shell' functional one obtains from this correct functional possesses a holographic structure without imposing any constraint on the spin-angular momentum tensor of matter, in contrast to the conclusion made in the above paper.Comment: 15 pages. These are the preprints of the original paper and its erratum published in Int. J. Theor. Phy

Prenatal and Neighborhood Correlates of Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)

This study investigates the link between prenatal exposure to alcohol and drugs, parental perceptions of neighborhood safety and support, and the diagnosis of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) among a nationally representative sample of youth. A subset of variables from a larger study, the 2001–2004 National Comorbidity Survey-Adolescent Supplement (NCS-A), as well as its supplemental parental surveys, was analyzed in this study. This study used a specific selection of 5,924 adolescents and their parents from the NCS-A. Results suggest a correlation between prenatal caffeine use and a subsequent ODD diagnosis in female adolescents. Overall correlations between neighborhood drug use/sales and minority status and a subsequent diagnosis of ODD in adolescents were also found. Social, environmental, and professional implications of these findings are also discussed

Microsomal Triglyceride Transfer Protein Transfers and Determines Plasma Concentrations of Ceramide and Sphingomyelin but Not Glycosylceramide

Sphingolipids, a large family of bioactive lipids, are implicated in stress responses, differentiation, proliferation, apoptosis, and other physiological processes. Aberrant plasma levels of sphingolipids contribute to metabolic disease, atherosclerosis, and insulin resistance. They are fairly evenly distributed in high density and apoB-containing lipoproteins (B-lps). Mechanisms involved in the transport of sphingolipids to the plasma are unknown. Here, we investigated the role of microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP), required for B-lp assembly and secretion, in sphingolipid transport to the plasma. Abetalipoproteinemia patients with deleterious mutations in MTP and absence of B-lps had significantly lower plasma ceramide and sphingomyelin but normal hexosylceramide, lactosylceramide, and different sphingosines compared with unaffected controls. Furthermore, similar differential effects on plasma sphingolipids were seen in liver- and intestine-specific MTP knock-out (L,I-Mttp(-/-)) mice, suggesting that MTP specifically plays a role in the regulation of plasma ceramide and sphingomyelin. We hypothesized that MTP deficiency may affect either their synthesis or secretion. MTP deficiency had no effect on ceramide and sphingomyelin synthesis but reduced secretion from primary hepatocytes and hepatoma cells. Therefore, MTP is involved in ceramide and sphingomyelin secretion but not in their synthesis. We also found that MTP transferred these lipids between vesicles in vitro. Therefore, we propose that MTP might regulate plasma ceramide and sphingomyelin levels by transferring these lipids to B-lps in the liver and intestine and facilitating their secretion

The Data Quality Monitoring for the CMS Silicon Strip Tracker

The CMS Silicon Strip Tracker (SST), consisting of more than 10 million channels, is organized in about 15,000 detector modules and it is the largest silicon strip tracker ever built for high energy physics experiments. The Data Quality Monitoring system for the Tracker has been developed within the CMS Software framework. More than 100,000 monitorable quantities need to be managed by the DQM system that organizes them in a hierarchical structure reflecting the detector arrangement in subcomponents and the various levels of data processing. Monitorable quantities computed at the level of individual detectors are processed to extract automatic quality checks and summary results that can be visualized with specialized graphical user interfaces. In view of the great complexity of the CMS Tracker detector the standard visualization tools based on histograms have been complemented with 2 and 3 dimensional graphical images of the subdetector that can show the whole detector down to single channel resolution. The functionalities of the CMS Silicon Strip Tracker DQM system and the experience acquired during the SST commissioning will be described

A high rate silicon detector and front-end electronics prototype for single ion discrimination in particle therapy

none18noThe medical physics group of the Turin section of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics, on the behalf of the MoVeIT collaboration, is working for the development of a new prototype of silicon strip detector for particle therapy applications. This device, based on 50 μm thin silicon sensors with internal gain, aims to detect the single beam particle and count their number up to 10 8 cm 2 /s fluxes, with a pileup probability <; 1%. A similar approach would lead to a drastic step forward, compared to the classical and widely used monitoring system based on ionization chambers. The better sensitivity, the higher dynamic range and the fact that the particle counting is independent of the beam energy, pressure and temperature, make this silicon detector suitable for the on-line dose monitoring in particle therapy applications. The prototype detector will cover a 3×3 cm 2 area and at the moment, two sets of strip sensors with different geometry and custom design, have been produced and are currently under investigation. The classic orthogonal strip positioning is used for beam profile measures. For what concerns the front-end electronics, the design of two different solutions is ongoing: one based on a transimpedance preamplifier, with a resistive feedback and the second one based on a charge sensitive amplifier. The challenging task for the design is the expected 3 fC - 130 fC wide input charge range (due to the Landau fluctuation spreading and different beam energies), dealing with a hundreds of MHz instantaneous rate (from 200 MHz up to 500 MHz ideally). To effectively design these components, it is crucial to perform preliminary investigation of the sensor response to the expected stimuli. For this reason an extensive work has been done and is still on going, using 1.2 mm 2 area and 50μm silicon pads with gain, performing test with the clinical beam of the Italian National Center of Oncological Hadrontherapy (CNAO) in Pavia, Italy.noneFausti, F.; Arcidiacono, R.; Attili, A.; Cartiglia, N.; Cenna, F.; Donetti, M.; Ferrero, M.; Giordanengo, S.; Hammad Ali, O.; Mandurrino, M.; Manganaro, L.; Monaco, V.; Mazza, G.; Sacchi, R.; Sola, V.; Staiano, A.; Vignati, A.; Cirio, R.Fausti, F.; Arcidiacono, R.; Attili, A.; Cartiglia, N.; Cenna, F.; Donetti, M.; Ferrero, M.; Giordanengo, S.; Hammad Ali, O.; Mandurrino, M.; Manganaro, L.; Monaco, V.; Mazza, G.; Sacchi, R.; Sola, V.; Staiano, A.; Vignati, A.; Cirio, R