621 research outputs found
Role and Specificity of LGI4-ADAM22 Interactions in Peripheral Nerve Myelination
In the peripheral nervous system, large caliber axons are ensheathed and
myelinated by Schwann cells. Myelin is crucial for a faster signal transduction
along the nerve. Hence it is not surprising that defects in this myelination
process cause serious neurological disease. Despite the medical importance
of these cells, our understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms
that control Schwann cell development and myelination is still incomplete.
Continuous communication between Schwann cells and neurons is essential for
the development, differentiation and myelination of peripheral nerves. Previous
studies showed that LGI4 is a secreted protein that is crucial for myelination
and might be a key player in this communication process. The main aim of
this thesis is to elucidate the mechanism of LGI4 function in peripheral nerve
myelination and to identify its interaction partners.
Chapter 1 of this thesis presents an overview of the different types
of cells in the peripheral nervous system with an emphasis on Schwann cell
development and myelination
The Probability Distribution Function of Column Density in Molecular Clouds
(Abridged) We discuss the probability distribution function (PDF) of column
density resulting from density fields with lognormal PDFs, applicable to
isothermal gas (e.g., probably molecular clouds). We suggest that a
``decorrelation length'' can be defined as the distance over which the density
auto-correlation function has decayed to, for example, 10% of its zero-lag
value, so that the density ``events'' along a line of sight can be assumed to
be independent over distances larger than this, and the Central Limit Theorem
should be applicable. However, using random realizations of lognormal fields,
we show that the convergence to a Gaussian is extremely slow in the high-
density tail. Thus, the column density PDF is not expected to exhibit a unique
functional shape, but to transit instead from a lognormal to a Gaussian form as
the ratio of the column length to the decorrelation length increases.
Simultaneously, the PDF's variance decreases. For intermediate values of
, the column density PDF assumes a nearly exponential decay. We then
discuss the density power spectrum and the expected value of in actual
molecular clouds. Observationally, our results suggest that may be
inferred from the shape and width of the column density PDF in
optically-thin-line or extinction studies. Our results should also hold for gas
with finite-extent power-law underlying density PDFs, which should be
characteristic of the diffuse, non-isothermal neutral medium (temperatures
ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand degrees). Finally, we note that
for , the dynamic range in column density is small
( a factor of 10), but this is only an averaging effect, with no
implication on the dynamic range of the underlying density distribution.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures (10 postscript files). Accepted in ApJ.
Eliminated implication that ratio of column length to correlation length
necessarily increases with resolution, and thus that 3D simulations are
unresolved. Added discussion of dependence of autocorrelation function with
parameters of the turbulenc
Interplay between elastic fields due to gravity and a partial dislocation for a hard-sphere crystal coherently grown under gravity: driving force for defect disappearance
We previously observed that an intrinsic staking fault shrunk through a glide
of a Shockley partial dislocation terminating its lower end in a hard-sphere
crystal under gravity coherently grown in by Monte Carlo simulations
[Mori et al., Molec. Phys. 105, 1377 (2007)]; it was an answer to a one-decade
long standing question why the stacking disorder in colloidal crystals reduced
under gravity [Zhu et al., Nature 387, 883 (1997)]. Here, we present an elastic
energy calculation; in addition to the self-energy of the partial dislocation
[Mori et al., Prog. Theor. Phys. Suppl. 178, 33 (2009)] we calculate the
cross-coupling term between elastic field due to gravity and that due to a
Shockley partial dislocation. The cross term is a increasing function of the
linear dimension R over which the elastic field expands, showing that a driving
force arises for the partial dislocation moving toward the upper boundary of a
grain.Comment: 8pages, 4figures, to be published in Molecular Physic
Simulation studies of a phenomenological model for elongated virus capsid formation
We study a phenomenological model in which the simulated packing of hard,
attractive spheres on a prolate spheroid surface with convexity constraints
produces structures identical to those of prolate virus capsid structures. Our
simulation approach combines the traditional Monte Carlo method with a modified
method of random sampling on an ellipsoidal surface and a convex hull searching
algorithm. Using this approach we identify the minimum physical requirements
for non-icosahedral, elongated virus capsids, such as two aberrant flock house
virus (FHV) particles and the prolate prohead of bacteriophage , and
discuss the implication of our simulation results in the context of recent
experimental findings. Our predicted structures may also be experimentally
realized by evaporation-driven assembly of colloidal spheres
LGI proteins in the nervous system
The development and function of the vertebrate nervous system depend on specific interactions between different cell types. Two examples of such interactions are synaptic transmission and myelination. LGI1-4 (leucine-rich glioma inactivated proteins) play important roles in these processes. They are secreted proteins consisting of an LRR (leucinerich repeat) domain and a so-called epilepsy-associated or EPTP (epitempin) domain. Both domains are thought to function in protein-protein interactions. The first LGI gene to be identified, LGI1, was found at a chromosomal translocation breakpoint in a glioma cell line. It was subsequently found mutated in ADLTE (autosomal dominant lateral temporal (lobe) epilepsy) also referred to as ADPEAF (autosomal dominant partial epilepsy with auditory features). LGI1 protein appears to act at synapses and antibodies against LGI1 may cause the autoimmune disorder limbic encephalitis. A similar function in synaptic remodelling has been suggested for LGI2, which is mutated in canine Benign Familial Juvenile Epilepsy. LGI4 is required for proliferation of glia in the peripheral nervous system and binds to a neuronal receptor, ADAM22, to foster ensheathment and myelination of axons by Schwann cells. Thus, LGI proteins play crucial roles in nervous system development and function and their study is highly important, both to understand their biological functions and for their therapeutic potential. Here, we review our current knowledge about this important family of proteins, and the progress made towards understanding their functions
Geographical Indication as a vector of regional development and the possibility of its application in the artisanal crystal sector of Vale do ItajaĂ
In a context marked by the deepening of globalization, geographic dispersion of industrial production and international division of labor, the sector of crystal craft of the Vale of ItajaĂ in the State of Santa Catarina/ Brazil, has been facing different challenges and looking for new perspectives of competitiveness. The aim of the paper is to address, more specifically, the question of Geographic Indication as a key factor in the strategy of regional development, linking the productive organization and performance in the industrial sector to the socioeconomic situation of the region and its development. To this end, the paper discussed the feasibility of obtaining Geographic Indication and its impacts on restructuring of territories, reorganization of production thru clusters and regional development. Finally, the study pointed out to which extent geographical proximity and territorial economic activity may affect the strategy of competitiveness and international integration of the firms connected with the crystal industry in the regio
Thermal noise properties of two aging materials
In this lecture we review several aspects of the thermal noise properties in
two aging materials: a polymer and a colloidal glass.
The measurements have been performed after a quench for the polymer and
during the transition from a fluid-like to a solid-like state for the gel. Two
kind of noise has been measured: the electrical noise and the mechanical noise.
For both materials we have observed that the electric noise is characterized
by a strong intermittency, which induces a large violation of the Fluctuation
Dissipation Theorem (FDT) during the aging time, and may persist for several
hours at low frequency. The statistics of these intermittent signals and their
dependance on the quench speed for the polymer or on sample concentration for
the gel are studied. The results are in a qualitative agreement with recent
models of aging, that predict an intermittent dynamics. For the mechanical
noise the results are unclear. In the polymer the mechanical thermal noise is
still intermittent whereas for the gel the violation of FDT, if it exists, is
extremely small.Comment: to be published in the Proceedings of the XIX Sitges Conference on
''Jammming, Yielding and Irreversible Deformation in Condensed Matter'',
M.-C.Miguel and M. Rubi eds.,Springer Verlag, Berli
Subtoxic Concentrations of Hepatotoxic Drugs Lead to Kupffer Cell Activation in a Human In Vitro Liver Model
Drug induced liver injury (DILI) is an idiosyncratic adverse drug reaction
leading to severe liver damage. Kupffer cells (KC) sense hepatic tissue
stress/damage and therefore could be a tool for the estimation of consequent
effects associated with DILI. Aim of the present study was to establish a
human in vitro liver model for the investigation of immune-mediated signaling
in the pathogenesis of DILI. Hepatocytes and KC were isolated from human liver
specimens. The isolated KC yield was cells/g liver tissue with a purity of
>80%. KC activation was investigated by the measurement of reactive oxygen
intermediates (ROI, DCF assay) and cell activity (XTT assay). The initial KC
activation levels showed broad donor variability. Additional activation of KC
using supernatants of hepatocytes treated with hepatotoxic drugs increased KC
activity and led to donor-dependent changes in the formation of ROI compared
to KC incubated with supernatants from untreated hepatocytes. Additionally, a
compound- and donor-dependent increase in proinflammatory cytokines or in
anti-inflammatory cytokines was detected. In conclusion, KC related immune
signaling in hepatotoxicity was successfully determined in a newly established
in vitro liver model. KC were able to detect hepatocyte stress/damage and to
transmit a donor- and compound-dependent immune response via cytokine
production
Anomalous quantum confined Stark effects in stacked InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots
Vertically stacked and coupled InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots (SADs)
are predicted to exhibit a strong non-parabolic dependence of the interband
transition energy on the electric field, which is not encountered in single SAD
structures nor in other types of quantum structures. Our study based on an
eight-band strain-dependent Hamiltonian indicates that
this anomalous quantum confined Stark effect is caused by the three-dimensional
strain field distribution which influences drastically the hole states in the
stacked SAD structures.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Absence of correlation between built-in electric dipole moment and quantum Stark effect in InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots
We report significant deviations from the usual quadratic dependence of the
ground state interband transition energy on applied electric fields in
InAs/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots. In particular, we show that conventional
second-order perturbation theory fails to correctly describe the Stark shift
for electric field below kV/cm in high dots. Eight-band calculations demonstrate this effect is predominantly due to
the three-dimensional strain field distribution which for various dot shapes
and stoichiometric compositions drastically affects the hole ground state. Our
conclusions are supported by two independent experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
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