2,136 research outputs found
Transcriptional Heterogeneity and the Microbiome of Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphoma
Cutaneous T-Cell Lymphomas (CTCL) presents with substantial clinical variability and transcriptional heterogeneity. In the recent years, several studies paved the way to elucidate aetiology and pathogenesis of CTCL using sequencing methods. Several T-cell subtypes were suggested as the source of disease thereby explaining clinical and transcriptional heterogeneity of CTCL entities. Several differentially expressed pathways could explain disease progression. However, exogenous triggers in the skin microenvironment also seem to affect CTCL status. Especially Staphylococcus aureus was shown to contribute to disease progression. Only little is known about the complex microbiome patterns involved in CTCL and how microbial shifts might impact this malignancy. Nevertheless, first hints indicate that the microbiome might at least in part explain transcriptional heterogeneity and that microbial approaches could serve in diagnosis and prognosis. Shaping the microbiome could be a treatment option to maintain stable disease. Here, we review current knowledge of transcriptional heterogeneity of and microbial influences on CTCL. We discuss potential benefits of microbial applications and microbial directed therapies to aid patients with CTCL burden
The AdS/CFT/Unparticle Correspondence
We examine the correspondence between the anti-de Sitter (AdS) description of
conformal field theories (CFTs) and the unparticle description of CFTs. We show
how unparticle actions are equivalent to holographic boundary actions for
fields in AdS, and how massive unparticles provide a new type of infrared
cutoff that can be simply implemented in AdS by a soft breaking of conformal
symmetry. We also show that processes involving scalar unparticles with
dimensions d_s<2 or fermion unparticles with dimensions d_f<5/2 are insensitive
to ultraviolet cutoff effects. Finally we show that gauge interactions for
unparticles can be described by bulk gauge interactions in AdS and that they
correspond to minimal gauging of the non-local effective action, and we compute
the fermion unparticle production cross-section.Comment: 26 pages, 1 figur
Search for plant biomagnetism with a sensitive atomic magnetometer
We report what we believe is the first experimental limit placed on plant
biomagnetism. Measurements with a sensitive atomic magnetometer were performed
on the Titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) inflorescence, known for its fast
bio-chemical processes while blooming. We find that the surface magnetic field
from these processes, projected along the Earth's magnetic field, and measured
at the surface of the plant, is less then ~0.6uG.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, to be published - modified one sentence in
abstract + reformatted fi
On the mechanism of diminished urinary carbon dioxide tension caused by amiloride
On the mechanism of diminished urinary carbon dioxide tension caused by amiloride. We investigated under both in vivo and in vitro conditions the mechanism whereby amiloride administration, a model of distal renal tubular acidosis in dogs, decreases the urine-to-blood PCO2 gradient (U-B PCO2) in alkaline urine. The results demonstrate that U-B PCO2 is reduced in amiloride-treated dogs as previously reported in rats. The reduction in U-B PCO2 could not be attributed to amiloride-induced reductions in urinary HCO-3 concentration since the reduction in U-B PCO2 was observed over the same range of urinary HCO-3 concentrations (150 to 250 mEq per liter) as that achieved prior to amiloride administration. U-B PCO2 correlated positively and linearly with urinary HCO-3 concentration both prior to (P < 0.001) and during amiloride infusion (P < 0.001). Amiloride administration significantly decreased the slope (Î[U-B PCO2]/Î[HCO-3]u) of the regression line (P < 0.005). The possibility that amiloride might lower urine PCO2 by catalyzing intraluminal dehydration of H2CO3 was excluded by demonstrating that amiloride does not possess carbonic anhydrase activity. The additional possibility that amiloride might facilitate dissipation of carbon dioxide gradients through diffusion (as reported for carbonic anhydrase) was excluded by in vitro studies of the effect of amiloride on carbon dioxide diffusion. These findings suggest that the U-B PCO2 lowering effect of amiloride is not caused by alterations in urinary [HCO-3, CO2 diffusibility, or alterations in the dehydration rate of H2CO3 thereby providing strong support for the interpretation that reductions in U-B PCO2 during amiloride administration represent an impairment in distal nephron hydrogen ion secretion.Sur le mĂ©chanisme de la diminution de la pression partielle de carbonique dans l'urine dĂ©terminĂ©e par l'amiloride. Nous avons examinĂ© in vivo et in vitro le mĂ©canisme par lequel l'administration d'amiloride, un modĂšle d'acidose tubulaire distale chez le chien, diminue le gradient urinesang de PCO2 (U-B PCO2) en urine alcaline. Les rĂ©sultats dĂ©montrent que U-B PCO2 est rĂ©duit chez le chien traitĂ© par l'amiloride comme cela a Ă©tĂ© antĂ©rieurement montrĂ© chez le rat. Le diminution de U-B PCO2 ne peut pas ĂȘtre attribuĂ©e Ă la diminution de la concentration urinaire de HCO-3 dĂ©terminĂ©e par l'amiloride puisque la diminution de U-B PCO2 a Ă©tĂ© observĂ©e pour le mĂȘme Ă©ventail de concentrations urinaires de HCO-3 (150 Ă 250 mEq par litre) que celui rĂ©alisĂ© avant l'administration d'amiloride. U-B PCO2 est corrĂ©lĂ© linĂ©airement et positivement Ă la concentration urinaire de HCO-3 aussi bien avant (P < 0,001) que pendant la perfusion d'amiloride (P < 0,001). L'administration d'amiloride diminue rĂ©guliĂšrement la pente (Î[U-B PCO2]/Î[HCO-3]u) de la droite de rĂ©gression (P < 0,005). La possibilitĂ© que l'amiloride puisse diminuer la PCO2 urinaire en catalysant la dĂ©shydratation intraluminal de H2CO3 a Ă©tĂ© exclue par la dĂ©monstration de l'absence d'activitĂ© de type anhydrase carbonique de l'amiloride. La possibilitĂ© que l'amiloride puisse faciliter la dissipation par diffusion des gradients de carbonique a Ă©tĂ© exclue par des Ă©tudes in vitro. Ces constatations suggĂšrent que l'effet de l'amiloride de diminution de U-B PCO2 n'est pas liĂ© Ă des modifications de [HCO-3] de l'urine, de la diffusibilitĂ© du carbonique, ou du dĂ©bit de dĂ©shydratation de H2CO3, et par consĂ©quent constituent un argument fort en faveur d'une altĂ©ration de la sĂ©crĂ©tion distale d'ion hydrogĂšne
Imperfect Imitation Can Enhance Cooperation
The promotion of cooperation on spatial lattices is an important issue in
evolutionary game theory. This effect clearly depends on the update rule: it
diminishes with stochastic imitative rules whereas it increases with
unconditional imitation. To study the transition between both regimes, we
propose a new evolutionary rule, which stochastically combines unconditional
imitation with another imitative rule. We find that, surprinsingly, in many
social dilemmas this rule yields higher cooperative levels than any of the two
original ones. This nontrivial effect occurs because the basic rules induce a
separation of timescales in the microscopic processes at cluster interfaces.
The result is robust in the space of 2x2 symmetric games, on regular lattices
and on scale-free networks.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Rapid shifts in Atta cephalotes fungus-garden enzyme activity after a change in fungal substrate (Attini, Formicidae)
Fungus gardens of the basidiomycete Leucocoprinus gongylophorus sustain large colonies of leaf-cutting ants by degrading the plant material collected by the ants. Recent studies have shown that enzyme activity in these gardens is primarily targeted toward starch, proteins and the pectin matrix associated with cell walls, rather than toward structural cell wall components such as cellulose and hemicelluloses. Substrate constituents are also known to be sequentially degraded in different sections of the fungus garden. To test the plasticity in the extracellular expression of fungus-garden enzymes, we measured the changes in enzyme activity after a controlled shift in fungal substrate offered to six laboratory colonies of Atta cephalotes. An ant diet consisting exclusively of grains of parboiled rice rapidly increased the activity of endo-proteinases and some of the pectinases attacking the backbone structure of pectin molecules, relative to a pure diet of bramble leaves, and this happened predominantly in the most recently established top sections of fungus gardens. However, fungus-garden amylase activity did not significantly increase despite the substantial increase in starch availability from the rice diet, relative to the leaf diet controls. Enzyme activity in the older, bottom sections of fungus gardens decreased, indicating a faster processing of the rice substrate compared to the leaf diet. These results suggest that leaf-cutting ant fungus gardens can rapidly adjust enzyme activity to provide a better match with substrate availability and that excess starch that is not protected by cell walls may be digested by the ants rather than by the fungus-garden symbiont
Effect of gluon-exchange pair-currents on the ratio G(E(P))/G(M(P))
The effect of one-gluon-exchange (OGE) pair-currents on the ratio for the proton is investigated within a nonrelativistic
constituent quark model (CQM) starting from nucleon wave
functions, but with relativistic corrections. We found that the OGE
pair-currents are important to reproduce well the ratio .
With the assumption that the OGE pair-currents are the driving mechanism for
the violation of the scaling law we give a prediction for the ratio of the neutron.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
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