856 research outputs found
Consequences of self and foreign superantigen interaction with specific VB elements of the murine TCR aB
Journal ArticleThe aB T-cell receptor (TCRaB) recognizes a ligand composed of an antigen fragment complexed with a product of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC). The repertoire of receptors is limited both by the germ line of receptor variable elements and by selective events that take place during T-cell development. The current view is that the germ-line repertoire is expressed in the thymus randomly but that only those T cells bearing receptors that successfully interact with MHC molecules expressed on thymic cortical epithelial cells are allowed to mature (Bevan and Fink 1978; Zinkernagel et al. 1978; Kisielow et al. 1988; Sha et al. 1988). Furthermore, during the process of establishing tolerance to self-antigens, this positively selected population is further reduced by the deletion or inactivation of clones whose receptors continue to interact with self-antigen/MHC ligands (Kappler et al. 1987a, 1988; MacDonald et al. 1988; Pullen et al. 1988). Thus, positive and negative selections reduce expressed receptor repertoire in the periphery to a fraction of the germ-line repertoire
An experimental investigation of the mechanical properties of a selected group of plastic materials
Dynamic and static testing of selected plastics for determination of mechanical propertie
2D Potts Model Correlation Lengths: Numerical Evidence for at
We have studied spin-spin correlation functions in the ordered phase of the
two-dimensional -state Potts model with , 15, and 20 at the
first-order transition point . Through extensive Monte Carlo
simulations we obtain strong numerical evidence that the correlation length in
the ordered phase agrees with the exactly known and recently numerically
confirmed correlation length in the disordered phase: . As a byproduct we find the energy moments in the ordered phase
at in very good agreement with a recent large -expansion.Comment: 11 pages, PostScript. To appear in Europhys. Lett. (September 1995).
See also http://www.cond-mat.physik.uni-mainz.de/~janke/doc/home_janke.htm
Monte Carlo Study of Cluster-Diameter Distribution: A New Observable to Estimate Correlation Lengths
We report numerical simulations of two-dimensional -state Potts models
with emphasis on a new quantity for the computation of spatial correlation
lengths. This quantity is the cluster-diameter distribution function
, which measures the distribution of the diameter of
stochastically defined cluster. Theoretically it is predicted to fall off
exponentially for large diameter , , where
is the correlation length as usually defined through the large-distance
behavior of two-point correlation functions. The results of our extensive Monte
Carlo study in the disordered phase of the models with , 15, and on
large square lattices of size , , and , respectively, clearly confirm the theoretically predicted behavior.
Moreover, using this observable we are able to verify an exact formula for the
correlation length in the disordered phase at the first-order
transition point with an accuracy of about for all considered
values of . This is a considerable improvement over estimates derived from
the large-distance behavior of standard (projected) two-point correlation
functions, which are also discussed for comparison.Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX + 13 postscript figures. See also
http://www.cond-mat.physik.uni-mainz.de/~janke/doc/home_janke.htm
Direct Evidence of the Role of Hybridization in the X-Ray Magnetic Circular Dichroism of a-Ce
We present an x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD) study of a [Ce(10 Å)/Fe(30 Å)] multilayer
performed at the Ce-M4,5 absorption edges. In this system the Ce-4f electrons are strongly hybridized
with the valence band. XMCD experiments show that they carry an ordered magnetic moment. The
differences of the shape of the XMCD signals of a typical g-like compound (CeCuSi) and of the Ce/
Fe multilayer highlight the role of hybridization in determining the ground state of cerium atoms in the
multilayer, which results in a mixing of J = 5/2 and J = 7/2 coupled states
Gr1+IL-4-producing innate cells are induced in response to Th2 stimuli and suppress Th1-dependent antibody responses
Alum is used as a vaccine adjuvant and induces T<sub>h</sub>2 responses and T<sub>h</sub>2-driven antibody isotype production against co-injected antigens. Alum also promotes the appearance in the spleen of Gr1+IL-4+ innate cells that, via IL-4 production, induce MHC II-mediated signaling in B cells. To investigate whether these Gr1+ cells accumulate in the spleen in response to other T<sub>h</sub>2-inducing stimuli and to understand some of their functions, the effects of injection of alum and eggs from the helminth, Schistosoma mansoni, were compared. Like alum, schistosome eggs induced the appearance of Gr1+IL-4+ cells in spleen and promoted MHC II-mediated signaling in B cells. Unlike alum, however, schistosome eggs did not promote CD4 T cell responses against co-injected antigens, suggesting that the effects of alum or schistosome eggs on splenic B cells cannot by themselves explain the T cell adjuvant properties of alum. Accordingly, depletion of IL-4 or Gr1+ cells in alum-injected mice had no effect on the ability of alum to improve expansion of primary CD4 T cells. However, Gr1+ cells and IL-4 played some role in the effects of alum, since depletion of either resulted in antibody responses to antigen that included not only the normal T<sub>h</sub>2-driven isotypes, like IgG1, but also a T<sub>h</sub>1-driven isotype, IgG2c. These data suggest that alum affects the immune response in at least two ways: one, independent of Gr1+ cells and IL-4, that promotes CD4 T cell proliferation and another, via Gr1+IL-4+ cells, that participates in the polarization of the response
Tolerance induction in memory CD4 T cells requires two rounds of antigen-specific activation
Autoimmune diseases are driven by immune cells that recognize self-tissues. A major goal for treatment strategies for autoimmune diseases is to turn off or tolerize self-reactive immune cells such as CD4 T cells that coordinate tissue damage in many autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune diseases are often diagnosed many years following their onset. The self-reactive CD4 T cells that must be tolerized, therefore, are previously activated or memory CD4 T cells. Little is known about whether tolerance can be induced in memory CD4 T cells. This paper demonstrates that memory CD4 T cells survive initial exposure to tolerance-inducing signals but that a second activation signal leads to cell death. This study has important implications for immunotherapeutic strategies for autoimmune diseases
Stochastic wave function approach to the calculation of multitime correlation functions of open quantum systems
Within the framework of probability distributions on projective Hilbert space
a scheme for the calculation of multitime correlation functions is developed.
The starting point is the Markovian stochastic wave function description of an
open quantum system coupled to an environment consisting of an ensemble of
harmonic oscillators in arbitrary pure or mixed states. It is shown that matrix
elements of reduced Heisenberg picture operators and general time-ordered
correlation functions can be expressed by time-symmetric expectation values of
extended operators in a doubled Hilbert space. This representation allows the
construction of a stochastic process in the doubled Hilbert space which enables
the determination of arbitrary matrix elements and correlation functions. The
numerical efficiency of the resulting stochastic simulation algorithm is
investigated and compared with an alternative Monte Carlo wave function method
proposed first by Dalibard et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 68}, 580 (1992)]. By
means of a standard example the suggested algorithm is shown to be more
efficient numerically and to converge faster. Finally, some specific examples
from quantum optics are presented in order to illustrate the proposed method,
such as the coupling of a system to a vacuum, a squeezed vacuum within a finite
solid angle, and a thermal mixture of coherent states.Comment: RevTex, 19 pages, 3 figures, uses multico
A weak characterization of slow variables in stochastic dynamical systems
We present a novel characterization of slow variables for continuous Markov
processes that provably preserve the slow timescales. These slow variables are
known as reaction coordinates in molecular dynamical applications, where they
play a key role in system analysis and coarse graining. The defining
characteristics of these slow variables is that they parametrize a so-called
transition manifold, a low-dimensional manifold in a certain density function
space that emerges with progressive equilibration of the system's fast
variables. The existence of said manifold was previously predicted for certain
classes of metastable and slow-fast systems. However, in the original work, the
existence of the manifold hinges on the pointwise convergence of the system's
transition density functions towards it. We show in this work that a
convergence in average with respect to the system's stationary measure is
sufficient to yield reaction coordinates with the same key qualities. This
allows one to accurately predict the timescale preservation in systems where
the old theory is not applicable or would give overly pessimistic results.
Moreover, the new characterization is still constructive, in that it allows for
the algorithmic identification of a good slow variable. The improved
characterization, the error prediction and the variable construction are
demonstrated by a small metastable system
- …