1,399 research outputs found
Immunomodulation induced by synthetic peptides derived from Staphylococcus aureus protein A
Peptides from 10 to 22 amino acids containing sequences encompassed by Staphylococcus aureus protein A were synthesized. Some of these peptides, when present in cultures of lymphomononuclear cells from healthy donors or from cancer patients (melanoma, breast carcinoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma and renal cell carcinoma) promoted: (i) changes in the phenotype of the lymphomononuclear population, (ii) stimulation of monocytes (release of IL-1 and TNF-alpha), and (iii) an increase in cytotoxicity against K562, Daudi and HT-29 cells. Isolated monocytes responded also to those peptides with a release of IL-1 and TNF alpha and an increase of cytotoxicity against HT-29 cells. It was found that the active peptides had the following structural pattern: a length of at least 15 amino-acid residues with a proline at position 6, valine, leucine, isoleucine, glycine, alanine or lysine at position 2, and glutamic or aspartic acid at position 11. Replacement of Pro at position 6 with any other residue turned the peptide inactive. Replacement of residues at positions 2 and 11 with amino-acid residues other than those required for activity resulted in compounds with a marked decrease in the immunomodulating properties described, or lacking these properties altogether
Inducible nitric oxide synthase in human lymphomononuclear cells activated by synthetic peptides derived from extracellular matrix proteins.
Synthetic peptides with sequences present in extracellular matrix proteins are capable of causing the expression of the inducible form of nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), detected by immunocytochemistry, and the release of NO by human lymphomononuclear cells incubated in their presence. Active peptides are 15-mers containing a characteristic 2-6-11 motif in which the amino acid residue at position 2 is Leu, Ile, Val, Gly, Ala or Lys; the residue at position 6 is always Pro; and residue 11 is Glu or Asp. The induction of iNOS in human monocytes and macrophages could be involved in the cytotoxicity against tumor cell lines also elicited by these peptides
Exploring the Expanding Universe and Dark Energy using the Statefinder Diagnostic
The coming few years are likely to witness a dramatic increase in high
quality Sn data as current surveys add more high redshift supernovae to their
inventory and as newer and deeper supernova experiments become operational.
Given the current variety in dark energy models and the expected improvement in
observational data, an accurate and versatile diagnostic of dark energy is the
need of the hour. This paper examines the Statefinder diagnostic in the light
of the proposed SNAP satellite which is expected to observe about 2000
supernovae per year. We show that the Statefinder is versatile enough to
differentiate between dark energy models as varied as the cosmological constant
on the one hand, and quintessence, the Chaplygin gas and braneworld models, on
the other. Using SNAP data, the Statefinder can distinguish a cosmological
constant () from quintessence models with and Chaplygin gas
models with at the level if the value of \om is
known exactly. The Statefinder gives reasonable results even when the value of
\om is known to only accuracy. In this case, marginalizing over
\om and assuming a fiducial LCDM model allows us to rule out quintessence
with and the Chaplygin gas with (both at
). These constraints can be made even tighter if we use the
Statefinders in conjunction with the deceleration parameter. The Statefinder is
very sensitive to the total pressure exerted by all forms of matter and
radiation in the universe. It can therefore differentiate between dark energy
models at moderately high redshifts of z \lleq 10.Comment: 21 pages, 17 figures. Minor typos corrected to agree with version
published in MNRAS. Results unchange
Scalar field cosmology in the energy phase-space -- unified description of dynamics
In this letter we apply dynamical system methods to study all evolutional
paths admissible for all initial conditions of the FRW cosmological model with
a non-minimally coupled to gravity scalar field and a barotropic fluid. We
choose "energy variables" as phase variables. We reduce dynamics to a
3-dimensional dynamical system for an arbitrary potential of the scalar field
in the phase space variables. After postulating the potential parameter
as a function of (defined as ) we reduce whole
dynamics to a 3-dimensional dynamical system and study evolutional paths
leading to current accelerating expansion. If we restrict the form of the
potential then we will obtain a 2-dimensional dynamical system. We use the
dynamical system approach to find a new generic quintessence scenario of
approaching to the de Sitter attractor which appears only for the case of
non-vanishing coupling constant.Comment: revtex4, 16 pages, 3 figs; (v2) refs. added, published versio
Cutaneous Biology: In vivo blockade of pemphigus vulgaris acantholysis by inhibition of intracellular signal transduction cascades
Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is an autoimmune disease characterized by
mucocutaneous intraepithelial blisters and pathogenic autoantibodies against
desmoglein 3. The mechanism of blister formation in pemphigus has not been
defined; however, in vitro data suggest a role for activation of intracellular
signalling cascades. OBJECTIVES: To investigate the contribution of these
signalling pathways to the mechanism of PV IgG-induced acantholysis in vivo.
METHODS: We used the passive transfer mouse model. Mice were injected with IgG
fractions of sera from a patient with PV, with or without pretreatment with
inhibitors of proteins that mediate intracellular signalling cascades. RESULTS:
Inhibitors of tyrosine kinases, phospholipase C, calmodulin and the
serine/threonine kinase protein kinase C prevented PV IgG-induced acantholysis in
vivo. CONCLUSIONS: These observations strongly support the role of intracellular
signalling cascades in the molecular mechanism of PV IgG-induced acantholysi
An approach to the toxicity and toxicokinetics of aflatoxin B1 and ochratoxin A after simultaneous oral administration to fasted F344 rats
Humans are exposed to the hepatotoxic aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) and nephrotoxic ochratoxin A (OTA) through diet. However, kinetic and toxicological data after their co-administration are scarce. In this study, a single oral dose of AFB1 (0.25mg/kg bw)+OTA (0.5mg/kgbw) was administered to fasted F344 rats. Blood, liver and kidney were harvested at different timepoints for mycotoxins quantification, relative weight calculation, clinical biochemistry and histopathology analysis. Toxicity parameters pointed to acute toxicity in liver due to AFB1. No remarkable toxicity was observed in kidneys or immunological organs. Maximum observed concentrations in plasma (C(max)) were at 10min and 2h for AFB1 and OTA, respectively. AFB1 plasma concentration could indicate a rapid absorption/ metabolism of the mycotoxin; and AFB1 liver and kidney concentrations were lower than LOQ and LOD, respectively. For OTA, C(max) was 4326.2ÎŒg/L in plasma. In kidney and liver C(max) was reached at 8h and concentrations were very similar between both organs at all timepoints. Due to the low levels of AFB1, the effect of OTA on AFB1 kinetics could not be assessed. However, AFB1 seems not to affect OTA kinetics, as its profile seems very similar to kinetic studies performed only with OTA in similar conditions
Size effects in the structural phase transition of VO2 nanoparticles
We have observed size effects in the structural phase transition of submicron vanadium dioxide precipitates in silica. The VO2 nanoprecipitates are produced by the stoichiometric coimplantation of vanadium and oxygen and subsequent thermal processing. The observed size dependence in the transition temperature and hysteresis loops of the semiconductor-to-metal phase transition in VO2 is described in terms of heterogeneous nucleation statistics with a phenomenological approach in which the density of nucleating defects is a power function of the driving force
Enhanced hysteresis in the semiconductor-to-metal phase transition of VO2 precipitates formed in SiO2 by ion implantation
A strongly enhanced hysteresis with a width of >34°C has been observed in the semiconductor-to-metal phase transition of submicron-scale VO2 precipitates formed in the near-surface region of amorphous SiO2 by the stoichiometric coimplantation of vanadium and oxygen and subsequent thermal processing. This width is approximately an order of magnitude larger than that reported previously for the phase transition of VO2 particles formed in Al2O3 by a similar technique. The phase transition is accompanied by a significant change in infrared transmission. The anomalously wide hysteresis loop observed here for the VO2/SiO2 system can be exploited in optical data storage and switching applications in the infrared region
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