Mechanical strain induces growth of vascular smooth muscle cells via autocrine action of PDGF.

The effect of cyclic mechanical strain on growth of neonatal rat vascular smooth muscle (VSM) cells were examined. Cells were grown on silicone elastomer plates subjected to cyclic strain (60 cycle/min) by application of a vacuum under the plates. A 48 h exposure to mechanical strain increased the basal rate of thymidine incorporation by threefold and increased cell number by 40% compared with cells grown on stationary rubber plates. Strain also increased the rate of thymidine incorporation in response to alpha-thrombin (from 15- to 33-fold), but not to PDGF. As determined by thymidine autoradiography, strain alone induced a fourfold increase in labeled nuclei at the periphery of dishes, where strain is maximal, and a 2-3-fold increase at the center of dishes. Strain appeared to induce the production of an autocrine growth factor(s), since conditioned medium from cells subjected to strain induced a fourfold increase in DNA synthesis in control cells. Western blots of medium conditioned on the cells subjected to strain indicate that the cells secrete both AA and BB forms of PDGF in response to strain. Northern blots of total cell RNA from cells exposed to strain for 24 h show increased steady-state level of mRNA for PDGF-A. Lastly, polyclonal antibodies to the AA form of PDGF reduced by 75% the mitogenic effect of strain and polyclonal antibodies to AB-PDGF reduced mitogenicity by 50%. Antibodies to bFGF did not significantly reduce the strain-induced thymidine incorporation. Thus, the mechanism of strain-induced growth appears to involve the intermediary action of secreted PDGF

ABSENCE OF REENTRANCE IN THE TWO-DIMENSIONAL XY-MODEL WITH RANDOM PHASE SHIFT

We show, that the 2D XY-model with random phase shifts exhibits for low temperature and small disorder a phase with quasi-long-range order, and that the transition to the disordered phase is {\it not} reentrant. These results are obtained by heuristic arguments, an analytical renormalization group calculation, and a numerical Migdal-Kadanoff renormalization group treatment. Previous predictions of reentrance are found to fail due to an overestimation of the vortex pair density as a consequence of independent dipole approximations. At positions, where vortex pairs are energetically favored by disorder, their statistics becomes effectively fermionic. The results may have implications for a large number of related models.Comment: 5 pages, latex, with 2 figures, one author added, minor text changes, to be published in J. de Physique

Interview with Charles C. King

An interview with Charles C. King on May 14, 1962 at Hays, KS 00:00:00 - Introduction and biographical information 00:02:10 - Life as a barber in Hays 00:03:30 - Story about Buffalo Bill\u27s Wild West Show 00:08:16 - Old Fort Hays 00:13:12 - Old Hays and his family history 00:16:47 - The last buffalo calf in Ellis County and early businesses 00:19:59 - School experiences 00:27:52 - Boxing in the barbershop 00:35:31 - Playing football against the Russell team 00:38:08 - Experience as a drum major and trip to Washington D.C. 00:44:35 - Social life in Hays: Dances, banquets, picnics, and shows 00:46:33 - Local economy: Jobs, wages, prices 00:54:33 - Availability of medical carehttps://scholars.fhsu.edu/sackett/1075/thumbnail.jp

Interview of George King

An interview with George King of Hays, KS on May 13, 1962 00:00:04 - Introduction and biographical information 00:04:39 - Career as a pharmacist 00:20:00 - Parents 00:22:06 - A shooting on the day of his mother\u27s arrival from Germany 00:23:54 - Boothill on 18th street in Hays and locally famous murders 00:26:39 - Discussion of photos shown to interviewers of local theatrical productions 00:33:09 - Local football 00:37:14 - James Farm 00:43:20 - Meeting Vice President Charles Curtis 00:48:53 - Law enforcement in the early days of Hays - Wild Bill Hickok 00:54:25 - Relations with Indigenous Americans 00:54:59 - Buffalo soldiers of the 9th Cavalry 00:57:06 - Storms and blizzards 00:58:02 - Robberies in old Hays 00:59:39 - Anecdote about bugs used for red coloring 01:02:00 - Prostitutes exhumed from Boot Hill (racially insensitive language) 01:07:53 - Parts in theatrical productions 01:10:11 - Hachmeier family and the 9th Cavalry (racially insensitive language) 01:13:16 - Charles Curtis and the experiment station 01:16:05 - Mary Middlekauff as a source 01:17:28 - Brother Charlie 01:17:45 - Social life in early Hayshttps://scholars.fhsu.edu/sackett/1062/thumbnail.jp

Probing the Mechanisms of Fibril Formation Using Lattice Models

Using exhaustive Monte Carlo simulations we study the kinetics and mechanism of fibril formation using lattice models as a function of temperature and the number of chains. While these models are, at best, caricatures of peptides, we show that a number of generic features thought to govern fibril assembly are present in the toy model. The monomer, which contains eight beads made from three letters (hydrophobic, polar, and charged), adopts a compact conformation in the native state. The kinetics of fibril assembly occurs in three distinct stages. In each stage there is a cascade of events that transforms the monomers and oligomers to ordered structures. In the first "burst" stage highly mobile oligomers of varying sizes form. The conversion to the aggregation-prone conformation occurs within the oligomers during the second stage. As time progresses, a dominant cluster emerges that contains a majority of the chains. In the final stage, the aggregation-prone conformation particles serve as a template onto which smaller oligomers or monomers can dock and undergo conversion to fibril structures. The overall time for growth in the latter stages is well described by the Lifshitz-Slyazov growth kinetics for crystallization from super-saturated solutions.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figure

Microbial-Physical Synthesis of Fe and Fe3O4 Magnetic Nanoparticles Using Aspergillus niger YESM1 and Supercritical Condition of Ethanol

Magnetic Fe and Fe3O4 (magnetite) nanoparticles are successfully synthesized using Aspergillus niger YESM 1 and supercritical condition of liquids. Aspergillus niger is used for decomposition of FeSO4 and FeCl3 to FeS and Fe2O3, respectively. The produced particles are exposed to supercritical condition of ethanol for 1 hour at 300∘ C and pressure of 850 psi. The phase structure and the morphology measurements yield pure iron and major Fe3O4 spherical nanoparticles with average size of 18 and 50 nm, respectively. The crystal size amounts to 9 nm for Fe and 8 nm for Fe3O4. The magnetic properties are measured to exhibit superparamagneticand ferromagnetic-like behaviors for Fe and Fe3O4 nanoparticles, respectively. The saturation magnetization amounts to 112 and 68 emu/g for Fe and Fe3O4, respectively. The obtained results open new route for using the biophysical method for large-scale production of highly magnetic nanoparticles to be used for biomedical applications

Wrongful convictions of refugees and asylum seekers: responses by the Criminal Cases Review Commission

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) reviews possible miscarriages of justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland when applicants have exhausted other avenues of appeal, with a view to referring unsafe convictions back to the appeal court. This article considers the CCRC’s handling of applications from refugees and asylum seekers who claim to have been wrongly convicted of entering the UK illegally. These cases commonly relate to people who could not obtain travel documents lawfully and were erroneously advised by defence lawyers that they should plead guilty. The article first examines the sources of these wrongful convictions by reviewing CCRC referrals to the appeal court. It then reviews the CCRC’s wider engagement with other criminal justice agencies in an effort to prevent further wrongful convictions of refugees and asylum seekers. The failing of the criminal justice agencies to properly protect refugees and asylum seekers reflects a wider anxiety about the negative effects of immigration, and the societal appetite to use punitive measures to control immigration. The article concludes by arguing that the CCRC’s campaign was effective, and demonstrates the importance of inter-agency communication in preventing miscarriages of justice