613 research outputs found
Relationships between geomagnetic Ар-indeх and parameters of the immunity in patients with neuroendocrine-immune complex dysfunction in former sportsmen
Background. The effect of geomagnetism on human immunity has so far been studied through long-term observations. Recently, we have been detected the immediate immunotropic effects of the disturbances of the geomagnetic field (Ap-index) at multiple sclerosis patients. The aim of this study was to identify the immunotropic effects of geomagnetism on another contingent of people. Material and methods. The object of observation were 21 men (24-63 y) and 20 women (33-62 y) with neuroendocrine-immune complex dysfunction. Each patient was tested twice with an interval of 4 days. Observations were carried out on 09.06. and 13.06. 2015, 14.09 and 18.09. 2015, 27-28.03. and 04-05.04. 2018, 28.01. and 01.02. 2019. Retrospectively we recorded the geomagnetic Ap-Index on the day of testing and during the previous 7 days, using resource https://www.spaceweatherlive.com/. The content of subpopulations of lymphocytes expressing CD3, CD4, CD25, CD8, CD22 and CD56 receptors as well as the serum concentration of circulating immune complexes, immunoglobulins classes M, G, A, C-reactive protein and IL-1β was determined. The state of phagocytic function of neutrophils estimated by microbial count and phagocytic and killing indices against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli. Results. During the week, the average level of Ap-index ranged from 7 to 13 nT. Maximum coefficients of multiple correlation with immunity parameters were detected for Ap-index on the eve of blood sampling (R=0,768) and 5 days before it (R=0,758) while the minimum on 3 (R=0,541) and 2 (R=0,479) days before sampling. The canonical correlation between Ap-indices for 7 days before and on the day of testing, on the one hand, and the immunity parameters - on the other hand, was very strong: R=0,921; R2=0,849; χ2(200)=375; p<10-6. Conclusion. Disturbances of the geomagnetic field (Ap-index) has a significant immediate modulating effect on the immune parameters, mostly phagocytosis completeness, Igg A and M serum concentration, T-helper and B lymphocytes as well as eosinophils, rod-shaped neutrophils and monocytes blood level
Assessing toxicity of metal contaminated soil from glassworks sites with a battery of biotests
© 2017 The present study addresses toxicological properties of metal contaminated soils, using glassworks sites in south-eastern Sweden as study objects. Soil from five selected glassworks sites as well as from nearby reference areas were analysed for total and water-soluble metal concentrations and general geochemical parameters. A battery of biotests was then applied to assess the toxicity of the glassworks soil environments: a test of phytotoxicity with garden cress (Lepidium sativum); the BioTox™ test for toxicity to bacteria using Vibrio fischeri; and analyses of abundancies and biomass of nematodes and enchytraeids. The glassworks- and reference areas were comparable with respect to pH and the content of organic matter and nutrients (C, N, P), but total metal concentrations (Pb, As, Ba, Cd and Zn) were significantly higher at the former sites. Higher metal concentrations in the water-soluble fraction were also observed, even though these concentrations were low compared to the total ones. Nevertheless, toxicity of the glassworks soils was not detected by the two ex situ tests; inhibition of light emission by V. fischeri could not be seen, nor was an effect seen on the growth of L. sativum. A decrease in enchytraeid and nematode abundance and biomass was, however, observed for the landfill soils as compared to reference soils, implying in situ toxicity to soil-inhabiting organisms. The confirmation of in situ bioavailability and negative effects motivates additional studies of the risk posed to humans of the glassworks villages
Assessing toxicity of metal contaminated soil from glassworks sites with a battery of biotests
The present study addresses toxicological properties of metal contaminated soils, using glassworks sites in south-easternl Sweden as study objects. Soil from five selected glassworks sites as well as from nearby reference areas were analysed for total and water-soluble metal concentrations and general geochemical parameters. A battery of biotests was then applied to assess the toxicity of the glassworks soil environments: a test of phytotoxicity with garden cress (Lepidium sativum); the BioTox(TM) test for toxicity to bacteria using Vibrio fischeri; and analyses of abundancies and biomass of nematodes and enchytraeids. The glassworks-and reference areas were comparable with respect to pH and the content of organic matter and nutrients (C, N, P), but total metal concentrations (Pb, As, Ba, Cd and Zn) were significantly higher at the former sites. Higher metal concentrations in the water-soluble fraction were also observed, even though these concentrations were low compared to the total ones. Nevertheless, toxicity of the glassworks soils was not detected by the two ex situ tests; inhibition of light emission by V. fischeri could not be seen, nor was an effect seen on the growth of L. sativum. A decrease in enchytraeid and nematode abundance and biomass was, however, observed for the landfill soils as compared to reference soils, implying in situ toxicity to soil-inhabiting organisms. The confirmation of in situ bioavailability and negative effects motivates additional studies of the risk posed to humans of the glassworks villages. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V.Peer reviewe
A novel reverse transduction adenoviral array for the functional analysis of shRNA libraries
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The identification of novel drug targets by assessing gene functions is most conveniently achieved by high-throughput loss-of-function RNA interference screening. There is a growing need to employ primary cells in such screenings, since they reflect the physiological situation more closely than transformed cell lines do. Highly miniaturized and parallelized approaches as exemplified by reverse transfection or transduction arrays meet these requirements, hence we verified the applicability of an adenoviral microarray for the elucidation of gene functions in primary cells.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Here, we present microarrays of infectious adenoviruses encoding short hairpin RNA (shRNA) as a new tool for gene function analysis. As an example to demonstrate its application, we chose shRNAs directed against seven selected human protein kinases, and we have performed quantitative analysis of phenotypical responses in primary human umbilical vein cells (HUVEC). These microarrays enabled us to infect the target cells in a parallelized and miniaturized procedure without significant cross-contamination: Viruses were reversibly immobilized in spots in such a way that the seeded cells were confined to the area of the viral spots, thus simplifying the subsequent addressing of genetically modified cells for analysis. Computer-assisted image analysis of fluorescence images was applied to analyze the cellular response after shRNA expression. Both the expression level of knock-down target proteins as well as the functional output as measured by caspase 3 activity and DNA fractionation (TUNEL) were quantified.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>We have developed an adenoviral microarray technique suitable for miniaturized and parallelized analysis of gene function. The practicability of this technique was demonstrated by the analysis of several kinases involved in the activation of programmed cell death, both in tumor cells and in primary cells.</p
The Drift Chambers Of The Nomad Experiment
We present a detailed description of the drift chambers used as an active
target and a tracking device in the NOMAD experiment at CERN. The main
characteristics of these chambers are a large area, a self supporting structure
made of light composite materials and a low cost. A spatial resolution of 150
microns has been achieved with a single hit efficiency of 97%.Comment: 42 pages, 26 figure
Recent Borexino results and prospects for the near future
The Borexino experiment, located in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory, is an
organic liquid scintillator detector conceived for the real time spectroscopy
of low energy solar neutrinos. The data taking campaign phase I (2007 - 2010)
has allowed the first independent measurements of 7Be, 8B and pep fluxes as
well as the first measurement of anti-neutrinos from the earth. After a
purification of the scintillator, Borexino is now in phase II since 2011. We
review here the recent results achieved during 2013, concerning the seasonal
modulation in the 7Be signal, the study of cosmogenic backgrounds and the
updated measurement of geo-neutrinos. We also review the upcoming measurements
from phase II data (pp, pep, CNO) and the project SOX devoted to the study of
sterile neutrinos via the use of a 51Cr neutrino source and a 144Ce-144Pr
antineutrino source placed in close proximity of the active material.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figures. To be published as proceedings of Rencontres de
Moriond EW 201
Recommended from our members
Solar neutrino with Borexino: results and perspectives
Borexino is a unique detector able to perform measurement of solar neutrinos
fluxes in the energy region around 1 MeV or below due to its low level of
radioactive background. It was constructed at the LNGS underground laboratory
with a goal of solar Be neutrino flux measurement with 5\% precision. The
goal has been successfully achieved marking the end of the first stage of the
experiment. A number of other important measurements of solar neutrino fluxes
have been performed during the first stage. Recently the collaboration
conducted successful liquid scintillator repurification campaign aiming to
reduce main contaminants in the sub-MeV energy range. With the new levels of
radiopurity Borexino can improve existing and challenge a number of new
measurements including: improvement of the results on the Solar and terrestrial
neutrino fluxes measurements; measurement of pp and CNO solar neutrino fluxes;
search for non-standard interactions of neutrino; study of the neutrino
oscillations on the short baseline with an artificial neutrino source (search
for sterile neutrino) in context of SOX project.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure
A scheme with two large extra dimensions confronted with neutrino physics
We investigate a particle physics model in a six-dimensional spacetime, where
two extra dimensions form a torus. Particles with Standard Model charges are
confined by interactions with a scalar field to four four-dimensional branes,
two vortices accommodating ordinary type fermions and two antivortices
accommodating mirror fermions. We investigate the phenomenological implications
of this multibrane structure by confronting the model with neutrino physics
data.Comment: LATEX, 24 pages, 9 figures, minor changes in the tex
Final results of Borexino Phase-I on low energy solar neutrino spectroscopy
Borexino has been running since May 2007 at the LNGS with the primary goal of
detecting solar neutrinos. The detector, a large, unsegmented liquid
scintillator calorimeter characterized by unprecedented low levels of intrinsic
radioactivity, is optimized for the study of the lower energy part of the
spectrum. During the Phase-I (2007-2010) Borexino first detected and then
precisely measured the flux of the 7Be solar neutrinos, ruled out any
significant day-night asymmetry of their interaction rate, made the first
direct observation of the pep neutrinos, and set the tightest upper limit on
the flux of CNO neutrinos. In this paper we discuss the signal signature and
provide a comprehensive description of the backgrounds, quantify their event
rates, describe the methods for their identification, selection or subtraction,
and describe data analysis. Key features are an extensive in situ calibration
program using radioactive sources, the detailed modeling of the detector
response, the ability to define an innermost fiducial volume with extremely low
background via software cuts, and the excellent pulse-shape discrimination
capability of the scintillator that allows particle identification. We report a
measurement of the annual modulation of the 7 Be neutrino interaction rate. The
period, the amplitude, and the phase of the observed modulation are consistent
with the solar origin of these events, and the absence of their annual
modulation is rejected with higher than 99% C.L. The physics implications of
phase-I results in the context of the neutrino oscillation physics and solar
models are presented
New limits on heavy sterile neutrino mixing in -decay obtained with the Borexino detector
If heavy neutrinos with mass 2 are produced in the
Sun via the decay in a side
branch of pp-chain, they would undergo the observable decay into an electron, a
positron and a light neutrino . In the
present work Borexino data are used to set a bound on the existence of such
decays. We constrain the mixing of a heavy neutrino with mass 1.5 MeV 14 MeV to be
respectively. These are tighter limits on the mixing parameters than obtained
in previous experiments at nuclear reactors and accelerators.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
- …