Harmonically confined, semiflexible polymer in a channel: response to a stretching force and spatial distribution of the endpoints

We consider an inextensible, semiflexible polymer or worm-like chain which is confined in the transverse direction by a parabolic potential and subject to a longitudinal force at the ends, so that the polymer is stretched out and backfolding is negligible. Simple analytic expressions for the partition function, valid in this regime, are obtained for chains of arbitrary length with a variety of boundary conditions at the ends. The spatial distribution of the end points or radial distribution function is also analyzed.Comment: 14 pages including figure

Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guerin treated human cord blood monocyte-derived dendritic cells polarize naïve T cells into a tolerogenic phenotype in newborns

Background: As one of the first infectious challenges of life, the impact of neonatal Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination on the polarization of neonatal T helper subset has not been well defined. Methods: We investigated the effect of BCG-treated cord blood (CB) dendritic cells (DCs) on naïve CD4+ T cells polarization compared with that of adult blood DCs. Results: BCG-treated CB DCs had significantly lower expression of CD83 and a higher ratio of CD47/Fas than BCG-treated adult blood DCs. BCG induced significantly lower IL-12 but relatively higher IL-10 production from CB DCs than adult blood DCs. Moreover, in comparison with BCG-treated adult blood DCs, BCG-treated CB DCs induced higher IL-10 production and cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4) expression, and lower interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) production from naïve CD4+ T cells. On the other hand, lipopolysaccharide- treated CB DCs had similar capacity as prime naïve CD4+ T cells did to produce higher IFN-γ, lower IL-10 production, and CTLA-4 expression compared with their adult counterparts. Conclusion: These results suggested that BCG-treated CB DCs might be semi-mature DCs which polarize naïve T cells into a tolerogenic T cell phenotype in newborns. ©Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, China and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010.link_to_subscribed_fulltex