Interleukin-10 Production by Cultured Human Keratinocytes: Regulation by Ultraviolet B and Ultraviolet A1 Radiation

Keratinocytes are the primary cellular target for ultraviolet radiation in human skin, and ultraviolet radiation-induced therapeutical effects may thus be mediated by keratinocyte-derived, antiinflammatory mediators. Interleukin-10 is capable of exerting anti-inflammatory effects by virtue of its capacity to suppress the production of interferon-γ. The present study therefore assessed the ability of cultured human keratinocytes to produce interleukin-10 following ultraviolet irradiation. Exposure of long-term cultured normal human keratinocytes to ultraviolet B(280-320 nm) or to ultraviolet A1 (340-400 nm) radiation caused a time- and dose-dependent induction of interleukin-10 mRNA expression and interleukin-10 protein secretion, with ultraviolet A1 radiation being the strongest stimulus. Ultraviolet radiation-induced interleukin-10 production by normal human keratinocytes was enhanced by a factor of two, when cells were cultured in high- rather than low-calcium medium. Neither addition of the ultraviolet radiation-inducible cytokines tumor necrosis factor-α or interleukin-1α to unirradiated keratinocytes nor presence of their respective neutralizing antibodies in cultures of irradiated keratinocytes induced or inhibited interleukin-10 synthesis. Modulation of eicosanoid production by addition of prostaglandin E2 to keratinocyte cultures or disturbance of cyclooxygenase activity by indomethacin did not affect interleukin-10 production in resting or irradiated cells. These studies demonstrate that cultured human keratinocytes are capable of producing interleukin-10. Human keratinocyte interleukin-10 production is dependent on the differentiation state of the cell and induced by ultraviolet B and, in particular, ultraviolet A1 radiation exposure. This novel property of ultraviolet radiation may account at least in part for the efficacy of phototherapy in inflammatory skin diseases

Comparison of the O3 chemistry in the Po Valley with that in the Benelux region as simulated with MECO(n)

This study investigates the contributions of anthropogenic non-traffic (i.e. households, industry, etc.) and land transport emis- sions to the ozone budget in Europe and Southeast Asia. For this we performed two simulations with the global/regional che- mistry-climate model MECO(n) including a source apportionment method for ozone to investigate regional differences bet- ween the chemical regimes, especially of the ozone formation potential. Our findings show that contributions from global anthropogenic non-traffic emissions to ground-level ozone are larger in Southeast Asia than in Europe. The contrary applies for the global land transport emissions, which are more important in Europe compared to Southeast Asia

Comparison of the O3 chemistry in the Po Valley with that in the Benelux region as simulated with MECO(n)

Non-traffic (i.e. households, industry, etc.) emissions and land transport emissions are important anthropogenic precursors of tropospheric O3 and affect the air quality and contribute to global climate change. In order to improve air quality and mitigate climate change, robust knowledge of the amount of O3 formed by different emission sources is required. This study investigates the contributions of the different emission sectors to the ground-level ozone budget in Europe and Southeast Asia. For the present study we applied the MECO(n) model system, which couples the global chemistry-climate model EMAC on-line with the regional chemistry-climate model COSMO-CLM/MESSy. We used MECO(n) with a source apportionment method for ozone to investigate regional differences of the contributions from different emissions to ground-level ozone. Our findings show that contributions from anthropogenic non-traffic emissions to ground-level ozone are larger in Southeast Asia than in Europe. The contrary applies for the land transport emissions, which are more important in Europe compared to Southeast Asia

Comparing and combining different climate mitigation measures in aviation

In the context of aviation’s significant contribution to anthropogenic climate change from CO2 and non-CO2 emissions, ambitious climate goals have been defined for the aviation industry that require an implementation of extensive measures from technical, regulatory and operational perspectives. While technical innovations including new aircraft designs and alternative fuels are expected to contribute significantly in the long run as they are associated with late entry-into-service, operational measures can benefit from their fast implementation with the current world fleet. Regulatory implementation enablers can further support the required changes to the air transport system. While the current state of research comprises a broad variety of studies on individual climate mitigation measures, a direct comparison and combination of the achieved results is typically not directly possible due to different reference cases, application scopes, and modelling assumptions as well as different maturities and expected realization times. However, a direct comparability is required to identify especially effective and efficient measures as well as to combine individual approaches in order to compare the resulting potentials towards the defined climate goals. This study aims to address the lack of comparability by developing an approach to compare and combine different climate mitigation measures. We consider different concepts addressing technical, operational as well as regulatory aspects. Based on the individual assessment of climate mitigation measures, we expand a previously developed generalization approach to scale individual results from measures-specific studies to a comparable scope considering varying traffic samples, assessment methods as well as temporal and spatial boundary conditions of the individual studies. Differences in maturities and possible entry-into-service times are also incorporated. Hence, different combinations of mitigation measures can be analysed regarding their climate mitigation potential in terms of temperature change as well as their operational applicability. Finally, possible combinations of the selected measures can be contrasted with defined climate goals

Neuronal interactions between mentalizing and action systems during indirect request processing

Human communication relies on the ability to process linguistic structure and to map words and utterances onto our environment. Furthermore, as what we communicate is often not directly encoded in our language (e.g., in the case of irony, jokes, or indirect requests), we need to extract additional cues to infer the beliefs and desires of our conversational partners. Although the functional interplay between language and the ability to mentalize has been discussed in theoretical accounts in the past, the neurobiological underpinnings of these dynamics are currently not well understood. Here, we address this issue using functional imaging (fMRI). Participants listened to question-reply dialogues. In these dialogues, a reply is interpreted as a direct reply, an indirect reply, or a request for action, depending on the question. We show that inferring meaning from indirect replies engages parts of the mentalizing network (mPFC) while requests for action also activate the cortical motor system (IPL). Subsequent connectivity analysis using Dynamic Causal Modelling (DCM) revealed that this pattern of activation is best explained by an increase in effective connectivity from the mentalizing network (mPFC) to the action system (IPL). These results are an important step towards a more integrative understanding of the neurobiological basis of indirect speech processing

IMA Genome - F15: Draft genome assembly of Fusarium pilosicola, Meredithiella fracta, Niebla homalea, Pyrenophora teres hybrid WAC10721, and Teratosphaeria viscida

No abstract available.The Meredithiella fracta genome, the Galaxy server is in part funded by Collaborative Research Centre 992 Medical Epigenetics and German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The Department of Science and Innovation (DSI)-National Research Foundation (NRF) Centre of Excellence in Plant Health Biotechnology (CPHB), South Africa and the DSTNRF SARChI chair in Fungal Genomics for the Fusarium pilosicola, Teratosphaeria viscida and Meredithiella fracta genomes.http://www.imafungus.orgam2022BiochemistryForestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI)GeneticsMicrobiology and Plant Patholog

25th annual computational neuroscience meeting: CNS-2016

The same neuron may play different functional roles in the neural circuits to which it belongs. For example, neurons in the Tritonia pedal ganglia may participate in variable phases of the swim motor rhythms [1]. While such neuronal functional variability is likely to play a major role the delivery of the functionality of neural systems, it is difficult to study it in most nervous systems. We work on the pyloric rhythm network of the crustacean stomatogastric ganglion (STG) [2]. Typically network models of the STG treat neurons of the same functional type as a single model neuron (e.g. PD neurons), assuming the same conductance parameters for these neurons and implying their synchronous firing [3, 4]. However, simultaneous recording of PD neurons shows differences between the timings of spikes of these neurons. This may indicate functional variability of these neurons. Here we modelled separately the two PD neurons of the STG in a multi-neuron model of the pyloric network. Our neuron models comply with known correlations between conductance parameters of ionic currents. Our results reproduce the experimental finding of increasing spike time distance between spikes originating from the two model PD neurons during their synchronised burst phase. The PD neuron with the larger calcium conductance generates its spikes before the other PD neuron. Larger potassium conductance values in the follower neuron imply longer delays between spikes, see Fig. 17.Neuromodulators change the conductance parameters of neurons and maintain the ratios of these parameters [5]. Our results show that such changes may shift the individual contribution of two PD neurons to the PD-phase of the pyloric rhythm altering their functionality within this rhythm. Our work paves the way towards an accessible experimental and computational framework for the analysis of the mechanisms and impact of functional variability of neurons within the neural circuits to which they belong

Climate impact assessment of varying cruise flight altitudes applying the CATS simulation approach

The present paper describes a comprehensive assessment and modelling approach that was developed in the DLR project Climate compatible Air Transport System (CATS) with the goal to analyze different options to reduce the climate impact of aviation. The CATS simulation chain is applied to assess the climate impact reduction potential (via CO2, contrail-cirrus, H2O, NOx, ozone, methane, primary mode ozone) for the world fleet of a representative long-range aircraft operated on a global route network in the year 2006. The average temperature response (ATR) and the direct operating costs (DOC) are calculated for flights with varying cruise flight altitudes and speeds. The obtained results are expressed as relative changes with respect to the minimum DOC trajectory and assessed as cost-benefit ratio (ATR vs. DOC). The results are highlighted for a single route and transferred to the global route network, showing a large potential to reduce the climate impact of aviation for small to moderate increments on costs