1,127 research outputs found
Mathematical Modeling of the Impact of Actin and Keratin Filaments on Keratinocyte Cell Spreading
AbstractKeratin intermediate filaments (IFs) form cross-linked arrays to fulfill their structural support function in epithelial cells and tissues subjected to external stress. How the cross-linking of keratin IFs impacts the morphology and differentiation of keratinocytes in the epidermis and related surface epithelia remains an open question. Experimental measurements have established that keratinocyte spreading area is inversely correlated to the extent of keratin IF bundling in two-dimensional culture. In an effort to quantitatively explain this relationship, we developed a mathematical model in which isotropic cell spreading is considered as a first approximation. Relevant physical properties such as actin protrusion, adhesion events, and the corresponding response of lamellum formation at the cell periphery are included in this model. Through optimization with experimental data that relate time-dependent changes in keratinocyte surface area during spreading, our simulation results confirm the notion that the organization and mechanical properties of cross-linked keratin filaments affect cell spreading; in addition, our results provide details of the kinetics of this effect. These in silico findings provide further support for the notion that differentiation-related changes in the density and intracellular organization of keratin IFs affect tissue architecture in epidermis and related stratified epithelia
Validation of the Dimensions of Anger Reactions Scale (the DAR-5) in non-clinical South Korean adults
Background
Posttraumatic anger is a commonly reported emotion among people who have experienced traumatic events. The current study aimed to demonstrate the reliability and validity of the South Korean version of the DAR-5 (DAR-5-K). The DAR-5 is a single scale with 5 items which measures posttraumatic anger. The DAR-5 is composed of five items that measure anger frequency, intensity, duration, aggression, and its interference with social relations. Methods
Data were collected from 814 South Korean adults who had experienced traumatic events and participated in the study and analyzed via the combination of exploratory factor analysis (n = 405) and confirmatory factor analysis (n = 409). Results
Results supported the one-factor structure, as reported in previous validation studies. The scale demonstrated robust internal reliability and concurrent validity with measures of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, depression, anxiety, and self-esteem. The DAR-5 cut-off score of 12 that was established in the original validation study successfully differentiated high from low scorers with regard to PTSD symptoms, depression, anxiety, and self-esteem. Conclusion
The results confirm that the DAR-5-K is a brief and psychometrically robust measure of anger that can be used to examine South Korean adults who have experienced traumatic events
Candida Arthritis after Arthroscopic Arthroplasty in a Patient without Predisposing Factors
Because candidiasis is usually associated with immunosuppression, candida arthritis in an immunocompetent patient is rare. The symptoms of candidiasis are similar to bacterial infections, tuberculosis, and autoimmune diseases. In our patient with no predisposing factors, candida arthritis was initially excluded because the probability of occurrence was low. The patient had no leukocytosis, the acid-fast bacteria (AFB) stain was negative, and the autoimmune antibody screen was negative. After Candida parapsilosis was cultured in the synovial fluid, the patient was treated with amphotericin B (0.7 mg/kg/day) and oral fluconazole (400 mg/day). The treatment was successful and there were no side effects of the medications
Efficient Perovskite Light-Emitting Diodes Using Polycrystalline Core-Shell-Mimicked Nanograins
Making small nanograins in polycrystalline organic-inorganic halide perovskite (OIHP) films is critical to improving the luminescent efficiency in perovskite light-emitting diodes (PeLEDs). 3D polycrystalline OIHPs have fundamental limitations related to exciton binding energy and exciton diffusion length. At the same time, passivating the defects at the grain boundaries is also critical when the grain size becomes smaller. Molecular additives can be incorporated to shield the nanograins to suppress defects at grain boundaries; however, unevenly distributed molecular additives can cause imbalanced charge distribution and inefficient local defect passivation in polycrystalline OIHP films. Here, a kinetically controlled polycrystalline organic-shielded nanograin (OSN) film with a uniformly distributed organic semiconducting additive (2,2 ',2 ''-(1,3,5-benzinetriyl)-tris(1-phenyl-1-H-benzimidazole), TPBI) is developed mimicking core-shell nanoparticles. The OSN film causes improved photophysical and electroluminescent properties with improved light out-coupling by possessing a low refractive index. Finally, highly improved electroluminescent efficiencies of 21.81% ph el(-1) and 87.35 cd A(-1) are achieved with a half-sphere lens and four-time increased half-lifetime in polycrystalline PeLEDs. This strategy to make homogeneous, defect-healed polycrystalline core-shell-mimicked nanograin film with better optical out-coupling will provide a simple and efficient way to make highly efficient perovskite polycrystal films and their optoelectronics devices.
Inhibitory Effect of Inflexinol on Nitric Oxide Generation and iNOS Expression via Inhibition of NF-κB Activation
Inflexinol, an ent-kaurane diterpenoid, was isolated from the leaves of Isodon excisus. Many diterpenoids isolated from the genus Isodon (Labiatae) have antitumor and antiinflammatory activities. We investigated the antiinflammatory effect of inflexinol in RAW 264.7 cells and astrocytes. As a result, we found that inflexinol (1, 5, 10 μM) suppressed the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) as well as the production of nitric oxide (NO) in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells and astrocytes. Consistent with the inhibitory effect on iNOS and COX-2 expression, inflexinol also inhibited transcriptional and DNA binding activity of NF-κB via inhibition of IκB degradation as well as p50 and p65 translocation into nucleus. These results suggest that inflexinol inhibits iNOS and COX-2 expression through inhibition of NF-κB activation, thereby inhibits generation of inflammatory mediators in RAW 264.7 cells and astrocytes, and may be useful for treatment of inflammatory diseases
Gaussian Quantum Illumination via Monotone Metrics
Quantum illumination is to discern the presence or absence of a low
reflectivity target, where the error probability decays exponentially in the
number of copies used. When the target reflectivity is small so that it is hard
to distinguish target presence or absence, the exponential decay constant falls
into a class of objects called monotone metrics. We evaluate monotone metrics
restricted to Gaussian states in terms of first-order moments and covariance
matrix. Under the assumption of a low reflectivity target, we explicitly derive
analytic formulae for decay constant of an arbitrary Gaussian input state.
Especially, in the limit of large background noise and low reflectivity, there
is no need of symplectic diagonalization which usually complicates the
computation of decay constants. First, we show that two-mode squeezed vacuum
(TMSV) states are the optimal probe among pure Gaussian states with fixed
signal mean photon number. Second, as an alternative to preparing TMSV states
with high mean photon number, we show that preparing a TMSV state with low mean
photon number and displacing the signal mode is a more experimentally feasible
setup without degrading the performance that much. Third, we show that it is of
utmost importance to prepare an efficient idler memory to beat coherent states
and provide analytic bounds on the idler memory transmittivity in terms of
signal power, background noise, and idler memory noise. Finally, we identify
the region of physically possible correlations between the signal and idler
modes that can beat coherent states.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure
Protective Immunity Induced by Incorporating Multiple Antigenic Proteins of Toxoplasma gondii Into Influenza Virus-Like Particles
Virus-like particle (VLP) as a highly efficient vaccine platform has been used to present single or multiple antigenic proteins. In this study, we generated VLPs (multi-antigen VLPs, TG146) in insect cells co-infected with recombinant baculoviruses presenting IMC, ROP18, and MIC8 of Toxoplasma gondii together with influenza matrix protein 1 (M1) as a core protein. We also generated three VLPs expressing IMC, ROP18, or MIC8 together with M1 for combination VLPs (TG1/TG4/TG6). A total of four kinds of VLPs generated were characterized by TEM. Higher number of VLPs particles per μm2 were observed in multi-antigen VLPs compared to combination VLPs. Mice (BALB/c) were intranasually immunized with multi-antigen VLPs or combination VLPs and challenged with T. gondii tachyzoites (GT1) intraperitoneally. Compared to combination VLPs, multi-antigen VLPs showed significantly higher levels of CD4+ T cell, and germinal center B cell responses with reduced apoptosis responses, resulting in significant reduction on parasite burden. These results indicate that higher efficacy of VLPs generated by multi-antigen VLPs can induce significant reduction of parasite burden and better survival of mice than that by combination VLPs, providing important insights into vaccine design strategy for VLPs vaccine expressing multiple antigenic proteins
Satellite radiance data assimilation for binary tropical cyclone cases over the western North Pacific
A total of three binary tropical cyclone (TC) cases over the Western North Pacific are selected to investigate the effects of satellite radiance data assimilation on analyses and forecasts of binary TCs. Two parallel cycling experiments with a 6 h interval are performed for each binary TC case, and the difference between the two experiments is whether satellite radiance observations are assimilated. Satellite radiance observations are assimilated using the Weather Research and Forecasting Data Assimilation (WRFDA)'s three-dimensional variational (3D-Var) system, which includes the observation operator, quality control procedures, and bias correction algorithm for radiance observations. On average, radiance assimilation results in slight improvements of environmental fields and track forecasts of binary TC cases, but the detailed effects vary with the case. When there is no direct interaction between binary TCs, radiance assimilation leads to better depictions of environmental fields, and finally it results in improved track forecasts. However, positive effects of radiance assimilation on track forecasts can be reduced when there exists a direct interaction between binary TCs and intensities/structures of binary TCs are not represented well. An initialization method (e.g., dynamic initialization) combined with radiance assimilation and/or more advanced DA techniques (e.g., hybrid method) can be considered to overcome these limitations
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