The Jungle Universe

In this paper, we exploit the fact that the dynamics of homogeneous and isotropic Friedmann-Lemaitre universes is a special case of generalized Lotka-Volterra system where the competitive species are the barotropic fluids filling the Universe. Without coupling between those fluids, Lotka-Volterra formulation offers a pedagogical and simple way to interpret usual Friedmann-Lemaitre cosmological dynamics. A natural and physical coupling between cosmological fluids is proposed which preserve the structure of the dynamical equations. Using the standard tools of Lotka-Volterra dynamics, we obtain the general Lyapunov function of the system when one of the fluids is coupled to dark energy. This provides in a rigorous form a generic asymptotic behavior for cosmic expansion in presence of coupled species, beyond the standard de Sitter, Einstein-de Sitter and Milne cosmologies. Finally, we conjecture that chaos can appear for at least four interacting fluids.Comment: 26 pages, 4 figure

Expression of growth hormone receptors by normal or pathological human lymphoid cells.

The human pituitary growth hormone (hGH-N) is mainly known for its effects on the staturo-ponderal growth and on the lipid and carbohydrate metabolism. It also plays a part in the immune system regulation. According to many authors, hGH-N stimulates the proliferation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells or that of tumoral lymphoid cell lines. With the aid of the FACS (Fluorescent-Activated Cell Sorter), we were able to detect hGH-N receptors on various tumoral cell lines : JURKAT (a acute lymphoid leukemia T cell line), DAUDI and RAJI (acute lymphoid leukemia B cell lines). These receptors were nearly absent from quiescent B or T cells prepared from human tonsils but were expressed in culture conditions after activation

Lymphoid cell apoptosis induced by trophoblastic cells: a model of active foeto-placental tolerance

To test the hypothesis that CD95-L (Fas-L) present on trophoblastic cells plays a part in establishing foeto-placental tolerance by inducing apoptosis of immune defence cells, we cocultured trophoblasts with lymphoid cells and scored the frequency of cell death in these cultures. We prepared human trophoblastic cells from term placentas removed by C-section and placed them in culture for 48 h before introducing the lymphoid cells. We added Jurkat cells, a CD3 + lymphoid cell line, or purified T cells from human blood to the cultured trophoblasts and monitored apoptosis by electron microscopy and flow cytometry after TUNEL or annexin V labelling. The frequency of cell death in the CD3 + cell population was higher when the lymphoid cells were cocultured with trophoblastic cells than when they were cultured alone. This frequency increased with time but was reduced when anti-CD95-L antibodies were added to the culture medium. Cell death was less frequent in the lymphoid cell population when trophoblasts were replaced with human fibroblasts not expressing CD95-L. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved