Immunotherapy of human cancers using gene modified T lymphocytes

Adoptive T cell therapies can produce objective clinical responses in patients with hematologic and solid malignancies. Genetic manipulation of T lymphocytes has been proposed as a means of increasing the potency and range of this anti-tumor activity. We now review how coupling expression of transgenic receptors with countermeasures against potent tumor immune evasion strategies is proving highly effective in pre-clinical models and describe how these approaches are being evaluated in human subjects

Hard diffractive quarkonium hadroproduction at high energies

We present a study of heavy quarkonium production in hard diffractive process by the Pomeron exchange for Tevatron and LHC energies. The numerical results are computed using recent experimental determination of the diffractive parton density functions in Pomeron and are corrected by unitarity corrections through gap survival probability factor. We give predictions for single as well as central diffractive ratios. These processes are sensitive to the gluon content of the Pomeron at small Bjorken-x and may be particularly useful in studying the small-x physics. They may also be a good place to test the different available mechanisms for quarkonium production at hadron colliders.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. Final version to be published in European Physical Journal

Using process algebra to model radiation induced bystander effects

Radiation induced bystander effects are secondary effects caused by the production of chemical signals by cells in response to radiation. We present a Bio-PEPA model which builds on previous modelling work in this field to predict: the surviving fraction of cells in response to radiation, the relative proportion of cell death caused by bystander signalling, the risk of non-lethal damage and the probability of observing bystander signalling for a given dose. This work provides the foundation for modelling bystander effects caused by biologically realistic dose distributions, with implications for cancer therapies

Multiple current reversals in forced inhomogeneous ratchets

Transport properties of overdamped Brownian paricles in a rocked thermal ratchet with space dependent friction coefficient is studied. By tuning the parameters, the direction of current exhibit multiple reversals, both as a function of the thermal noise strength as well as the amplitude of rocking force. Current reversals also occur under deterministic conditions and exhibits intriguing structure. All these features arise due to mutual interplay between potential asymmetry,noise, driving frequency and inhomogeneous friction.Comment: 6 figure

Relationship between spermatozoa motility parameters, sperm/egg ratio, and fertilization and hatching rates in pufferfish (Takifugu niphobles)

[EN] The use of high quality gametes from both males and females during in vitro fertilization (IVF) trials is an essential step in order to achieve high fertilization and hatching rates. Although aquaculture hatcheries have focused more on egg rather than spermatozoa quality, some studies have demonstrated that sperm quantity and quality have a great influence both on fertilization/hatching success and the subsequent development of the embryo and larvae. In this study we have demonstrated that sperm/egg ratio and sperm quality are factors strongly related to each other in the pufferfish (Takifugu niphobles). Our results suggest that both factors should be taken into account as unique interrelated elements, making possible to obtain high fertilization rates using a successful combination of small amount of high quality sperm or high amount of low quality sperm. In addition, coefficients of correlation and determination among all the sperm motion parameters provided by a CASA system and fertilization/hatching rates were estimated for the first time in a marine species. Positive significant correlations were found in some parameters such as total and progressive motility (0.68 and 0.7 respectively). However, curvilinear velocity (VCL), straight line velocity (VSL) and average velocity (VAP) showed the highest coefficients of correlation (0.82, 0.8, and 0.81, respectively). In this respect, spermatozoa velocity appears to be a key factor in the fertilization process, especially when the number of spermatozoa per egg is limited in the aqueous environment. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO; AGL2010-16009). Victor Gallego has a predoctoral grant (MINECO; BES-2009-020310) and has been granted a fellowship (EEBB-I-12-05858) of the MINECO's Spanish Personnel Research Training Programme to carry out this research in the Misaki Marine Biological Station (Miura, Japan). We would like to thank to Dr. Kurokawa for the help and knowledge supplied during this study.Gallego Albiach, V.; Pérez Igualada, LM.; Asturiano Nemesio, JF.; Yoshida, M. (2013). Relationship between spermatozoa motility parameters, sperm/egg ratio, and fertilization and hatching rates in pufferfish (Takifugu niphobles). Aquaculture. 416:238-243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2013.08.035S23824341

Meson Cloud of the Nucleon in Polarized Semi-Inclusive Deep-Inelastic Scattering

We investigate the possibility of identifying an explicit pionic component of the nucleon through measurements of polarized $\Delta^{++}$ baryon fragments produced in deep-inelastic leptoproduction off polarized protons, which may help to identify the physical mechanism responsible for the breaking of the Gottfried sum rule. The pion-exchange model predicts highly correlated polarizations of the $\Delta^{++}$ and target proton, in marked contrast with the competing diquark fragmentation process. Measurement of asymmetries in polarized $\Lambda$ production may also reveal the presence of a kaon cloud in the nucleon.Comment: 23 pages REVTeX, 7 uuencoded figures, accepted for publication in Zeit. Phys.

Magnetoluminescence

Pulsar Wind Nebulae, Blazars, Gamma Ray Bursts and Magnetars all contain regions where the electromagnetic energy density greatly exceeds the plasma energy density. These sources exhibit dramatic flaring activity where the electromagnetic energy distributed over large volumes, appears to be converted efficiently into high energy particles and gamma-rays. We call this general process magnetoluminescence. Global requirements on the underlying, extreme particle acceleration processes are described and the likely importance of relativistic beaming in enhancing the observed radiation from a flare is emphasized. Recent research on fluid descriptions of unstable electromagnetic configurations are summarized and progress on the associated kinetic simulations that are needed to account for the acceleration and radiation is discussed. Future observational, simulation and experimental opportunities are briefly summarized.Comment: To appear in "Jets and Winds in Pulsar Wind Nebulae, Gamma-ray Bursts and Blazars: Physics of Extreme Energy Release" of the Space Science Reviews serie

Effects of Spatial Dispersion on the Casimir Force between Graphene Sheets

The Casimir force between graphene sheets is investigated with emphasis on the effect from spatial dispersion using a combination of factors, such as a nonzero chemical potential and an induced energy gap. We distinguish between two regimes for the interaction - T=0 $K$ and $T\neq 0$ $K$. It is found that the quantum mechanical interaction (T=0 $K$) retains its distance dependence regardless of the inclusion of dispersion. The spatial dispersion from the finite temperature Casimir force is found to contribute for the most part from $n=0$ Matsubara term. These effects become important as graphene is tailored to become a poor conductor by inducing a band gap.Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures. Submitted to EP

Study of pufferfish (Takifugu niphobles) sperm: development of methods for short-term storage, effects of different activation media and role of intracellular changes in Ca2+ and K+ in the initiation of sperm motility

[EN] The first goal of this study was the development of a short-term storage method for pufferfish (Takifugu niphobles) sperm. In this respect, the best results were obtained by diluting the sperm in a seminal-like solution and keeping it in a Petri dish in chilled storage (4 degrees C). This method was successful in preserving sperm quality parameters without resulting in differences in fresh sperm for a relatively long-term period (7 days), for use in aquaculture matters. The addition of bovine serum albumin (BSA) to the medium did not improve the results. On the other hand, both the osmolality and the ion composition of the media are essential factors which can modulate the sperm motility parameters. The osmolality of the activating medium was the most important factor in triggering pufferfish sperm motility, and osmolalities of 750-825 mOsm/kg were necessary to initiate this process, demonstrating that it appears to be a dose-independent mechanism. Regarding the ion composition of the activation media, this study has shown that despite the spermatozoa being able to initiate movement without any ion in the activation medium, the absence of ions can negatively affect the kinetic parameters of the spermatozoa. Finally, in natural conditions (seawater), the activation of sperm motility generates intracellular increases in Ca2+ and K+, suggesting that these ions play an essential role in the activation mechanism of pufferfish sperm. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN; AGL2010-16009). Victor Gallego has a predoctoral grant (MICINN; BES-2009-020310) and has been granted a fellowship (EEBB-I-12-05858) from the Spanish Personnel Research Training Programme to carry out this study in the Misaki Marine Biological Station (Miura, Japan).Gallego Albiach, V.; Pérez Igualada, LM.; Asturiano Nemesio, JF.; Yoshida, M. (2013). Study of pufferfish (Takifugu niphobles) sperm: development of methods for short-term storage, effects of different activation media and role of intracellular changes in Ca2+ and K+ in the initiation of sperm motility. Aquaculture. 414:82-91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2013.07.046S829141

Multidimensional Conservation Laws: Overview, Problems, and Perspective

Some of recent important developments are overviewed, several longstanding open problems are discussed, and a perspective is presented for the mathematical theory of multidimensional conservation laws. Some basic features and phenomena of multidimensional hyperbolic conservation laws are revealed, and some samples of multidimensional systems/models and related important problems are presented and analyzed with emphasis on the prototypes that have been solved or may be expected to be solved rigorously at least for some cases. In particular, multidimensional steady supersonic problems and transonic problems, shock reflection-diffraction problems, and related effective nonlinear approaches are analyzed. A theory of divergence-measure vector fields and related analytical frameworks for the analysis of entropy solutions are discussed.Comment: 43 pages, 3 figure