Strong-field approximation for Coulomb explosion of H_2^+ by short intense laser pulses

We present a simple quantum mechanical model to describe Coulomb explosion of H$_2^+$ by short, intense, infrared laser pulses. The model is based on the length gauge version of the molecular strong-field approximation and is valid for pulses shorter than 50 fs where the process of dissociation prior to ionization is negligible. The results are compared with recent experimental results for the proton energy spectrum [I. Ben-Itzhak et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 073002 (2005), B. D. Esry et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 013003 (2006)]. The predictions of the model reproduce the profile of the spectrum although the peak energy is slightly lower than the observations. For comparison, we also present results obtained by two different tunneling models for this process.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Differential expression of collectins in human placenta and role in inflammation during spontaneous Labor.

© 2014 Yadav et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Collectins, collagen-containing Ca2+ dependent C-type lectins and a class of secretory proteins including SP-A, SP-D and MBL, are integral to immunomodulation and innate immune defense. In the present study, we aimed to investigate their placental transcript synthesis, labor associated differential expression and localization at feto-maternal interface, and their functional implication in spontaneous labor. The study involved using feto-maternal interface (placental/decidual tissues) from two groups of healthy pregnant women at term (≥37 weeks of gestation), undergoing either elective C-section with no labor ('NLc' group, n = 5), or normal vaginal delivery with spontaneous labor ('SLv' group, n = 5). The immune function of SP-D, on term placental explants, was analyzed for cytokine profile using multiplexed cytokine array. SP-A, SP-D and MBL transcripts were observed in the term placenta. The 'SLv' group showed significant up-regulation of SP-D (p = 0.001), and down-regulation of SP-A (p = 0.005), transcripts and protein compared to the 'NLc' group. Significant increase in 43 kDa and 50 kDa SP-D forms in placental and decidual tissues was associated with the spontaneous labor (p<0.05). In addition, the MMP-9-cleaved form of SP-D (25 kDa) was significantly higher in the placentae of 'SLv' group compared to the 'NLc' group (p = 0.002). Labor associated cytokines IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, TNF-α and MCP-1 showed significant increase (p<0.05) in a dose dependent manner in the placental explants treated with nSP-D and rhSP-D. In conclusion, the study emphasizes that SP-A and SP-D proteins associate with the spontaneous labor and SP-D plausibly contributes to the pro-inflammatory immune milieu of feto-maternal tissues.Funding provided by BT/PR15227/BRB/10/906/2011) Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India http://dbtindia.nic.in/index.asp (TM) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Junior Research Fellowship (JRF)/Senior Research Fellowship (SRF), Government of India, www.icmr.nic.in (AKY)

Adherence to Tuberculosis Therapy among Patients Receiving Home-Based Directly Observed Treatment: Evidence from the United Republic of Tanzania.

\ud \ud Non-adherence to tuberculosis (TB) treatment is the leading contributor to the selection of drug-resistant strains of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and subsequent treatment failure. Tanzania introduced a TB Patient Centred Treatment (PCT) approach which gives new TB patients the choice between home-based treatment supervised by a treatment supporter of their own choice, and health facility-based treatment observed by a medical professional. The aim of this study was to assess the extent and determinants of adherence to anti-TB therapy in patients opting for home-based treatment under the novel PCT approach. In this cross-sectional study, the primary outcome was the percentage of patients adherent to TB therapy as detected by the presence of isoniazid in urine (IsoScreen assay). The primary analysis followed a non-inferiority approach in which adherence could not be lower than 75%. Logistic regression was used to examine the influence of potentially predictive factors. A total of 651 new TB patients were included. Of these, 645 (99.1%) provided urine for testing and 617 patients (95.7%; 90%CI 94.3-96.9) showed a positive result. This result was statistically non-inferior to the postulated adherence level of 75% (p<0.001). Adherence to TB therapy under home-based Directly Observed Treatment can be ensured in programmatic settings. A reliable supply of medication and the careful selection of treatment supporters, who preferably live very close to the patient, are crucial success factors. Finally, we recommend a cohort study to assess the rate of adherence throughout the full course of TB treatment

The transmission of trauma in refugee families: associations between intra-family trauma communication style, children’s attachment security and psychosocial adjustment

This study explores the transmission of trauma in 30 Middle Eastern refugee families in Denmark, where one or both parents were referred for treatment of PTSD symptoms and had non-traumatized children aged 4–9 years. The aim of the study was to explore potential risk and protective factors by examining the association between intra-family communication style regarding the parents’ traumatic experiences from the past, children’s psychosocial adjustment and attachment security. A negative impact of parental trauma on children might be indicated, as children’s Total Difficulties Scores on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) were significantly higher than the Danish norms. A negative association between children’s attachment security as measured by the Attachment and Traumatization Story Task and higher scores on the SDQ Total Difficulties Scale approached significance, suggesting that the transmission of trauma may be associated with disruptions in children’s attachment representations. Furthermore a significant association between parental trauma communication and children’s attachment style was found

The Economic Crisis and Residential Electricity Consumption in Spanish Provinces: A Spatial Econometric Analysis

This paper presents an empirical analysis of residential electricity demand considering the existence of spatial effects. This analysis has been performed using aggregate panel data at the province level for 46 Spanish provinces for the period from 2001 to 2009. For this purpose, we estimated a log-log demand equation using a spatial autoregressive model with autoregressive disturbances (SARAR). The purpose of this empirical analysis is to determine the influence of price, income, and spatial spillovers on residential electricity demand in Spain. We are particularly interested in analyzing the impact of household disposable income variation across provinces observed during the economic crisis period from 2008-2009. The estimation results show relatively high income elasticity and relatively low price elasticity. Furthermore, the results show the presence of spatial effects in Spanish residential electricity consumption

Surfactant protein D modulates HIV infection of both T-cells and dendritic cells

Surfactant Protein D (SP-D) is an oligomerized C-type lectin molecule with immunomodulatory properties and involvement in lung surfactant homeostasis in the respiratory tract. SP-D binds to the enveloped viruses, influenza A virus and respiratory syncytial virus and inhibits their replication in vitro and in vivo. SP-D has been shown to bind to HIV via the HIV envelope protein gp120 and inhibit infectivity in vitro. Here we show that SP-D binds to different strains of HIV (BaL and IIIB) and the binding occurs at both pH 7.4 and 5.0 resembling physiological relevant pH values found in the body and the female urogenital tract, respectively. The binding of SP-D to HIV particles and gp120 was inhibited by the presence of several hexoses with mannose found to be the strongest inhibitor. Competition studies showed that soluble CD4 and CVN did not interfere with the interaction between SP-D and gp120. However, soluble recombinant DC-SIGN was shown to inhibit the binding between SP-D and gp120. SP-D agglutinated HIV and gp120 in a calcium dependent manner. SP-D inhibited the infectivity of HIV strains at both pH values of 7.4 and 5.0 in a concentration dependent manner. The inhibition of the infectivity was abolished by the presence of mannose. SP-D enhanced the binding of HIV to immature monocyte derived dendritic cells (iMDDCs) and was also found to enhance HIV capture and transfer to the T-cell like line PM1. These results suggest that SP-D can bind to and inhibit direct infection of T-cells by HIV but also enhance the transfer of infectious HIV particles from DCs to T-cells in vivo

Surfactant protein D inhibits HIV-1 infection of target cells via interference with gp120-CD4 interaction and modulates pro-inflammatory cytokine production

© 2014 Pandit et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Surfactant Protein SP-D, a member of the collectin family, is a pattern recognition protein, secreted by mucosal epithelial cells and has an important role in innate immunity against various pathogens. In this study, we confirm that native human SP-D and a recombinant fragment of human SP-D (rhSP-D) bind to gp120 of HIV-1 and significantly inhibit viral replication in vitro in a calcium and dose-dependent manner. We show, for the first time, that SP-D and rhSP-D act as potent inhibitors of HIV-1 entry in to target cells and block the interaction between CD4 and gp120 in a dose-dependent manner. The rhSP-D-mediated inhibition of viral replication was examined using three clinical isolates of HIV-1 and three target cells: Jurkat T cells, U937 monocytic cells and PBMCs. HIV-1 induced cytokine storm in the three target cells was significantly suppressed by rhSP-D. Phosphorylation of key kinases p38, Erk1/2 and AKT, which contribute to HIV-1 induced immune activation, was significantly reduced in vitro in the presence of rhSP-D. Notably, anti-HIV-1 activity of rhSP-D was retained in the presence of biological fluids such as cervico-vaginal lavage and seminal plasma. Our study illustrates the multi-faceted role of human SPD against HIV-1 and potential of rhSP-D for immunotherapy to inhibit viral entry and immune activation in acute HIV infection. © 2014 Pandit et al.The work (Project no. 2011-16850) was supported by Medical Innovation Fund of Indian Council of Medical Research, New Delhi, India (www.icmr.nic.in/)

Adiponectin levels in people with Latent Autoimmune Diabetes-a case control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To examine adiponectin levels in people with Latent Autoimmune Diabetes in Adults using a matched pair case control study.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>Patients with LADA (n = 64), were matched for sex with type 2 diabetic and non-diabetic controls. A matched paired T-test was used to examine average adiponectin levels in the LADA patients' versus controls. The average adiponectin level for the LADA patients was 9.96 μg/ml compared to 6.4 μg/ml for Type 2 matched controls and 9.6 μg/ml for non-diabetic controls. Mean difference for the LADA-type 2 comparison was calculated after data was log transformed and showed a difference of 1.58 μg/ml (95%CI: 1.28-1.95, p = 0.0001). There was no significant difference between LADA and non-diabetic controls (p = 0.54).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Adiponectin levels are higher among people with LADA compared to those with type 2 diabetes and are equivalent to levels seen in non-diabetic controls. This suggests that risk of complications in LADA, as with type 1 diabetes may be related more to glycaemic control rather than to factors of the metabolic syndrome.</p