Alveolar macrophages and Toll-like receptor 4 mediate ventilated lung ischemia reperfusion injury in mice.

BackgroundIschemia-reperfusion (I-R) injury is a sterile inflammatory process that is commonly associated with diverse clinical situations such as hemorrhage followed by resuscitation, transient embolic events, and organ transplantation. I-R injury can induce lung dysfunction whether the I-R occurs in the lung or in a remote organ. Recently, evidence has emerged that receptors and pathways of the innate immune system are involved in recognizing sterile inflammation and overlap considerably with those involved in the recognition of and response to pathogens.MethodsThe authors used a mouse surgical model of transient unilateral left pulmonary artery occlusion without bronchial involvement to create ventilated lung I-R injury. In addition, they mimicked nutritional I-R injury in vitro by transiently depriving cells of all nutrients.ResultsCompared with sham-operated mice, mice subjected to ventilated lung I-R injury had up-regulated lung expression of inflammatory mediator messenger RNA for interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, and chemokine (C-X-C motif) ligand-1 and -2, paralleled by histologic evidence of lung neutrophil recruitment and increased plasma concentrations of interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, and high-mobility group protein B1 proteins. This inflammatory response to I-R required toll-like receptor-4 (TLR4). In addition, the authors demonstrated in vitro cooperativity and cross-talk between human macrophages and endothelial cells, resulting in augmented inflammatory responses to I-R. Remarkably, the authors found that selective depletion of alveolar macrophages rendered mice resistant to ventilated lung I-R injury.ConclusionsThe data reveal that alveolar macrophages and the pattern recognition receptor toll-like receptor-4 are involved in the generation of the early inflammatory response to lung I-R injury

Equilibrium and transport properties of CO2+N2O and CO2+NO mixtures : a molecular simulation and equation of state modelling study.

International audienceIn the present study, the thermodynamic behaviour and transport properties of CO2+N2O and CO2+NO mixtures have been investigated using molecular simulation and equation of state modelling. Molecular simulations were based on Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics calculations using force fields calibrated from pure component properties and no adjustment of mixture properties was performed. Original force fields were proposed for N2O, NO and N2O2 molecules. Special attention must be paid when studying nitric oxide containing systems because this compound can exist as a mixture of monomers (NO) and dimers (N2O2) under certain pressure and temperature conditions. Liquid-vapour coexistence properties of the reacting NO-N2O2 system were thus first investigated using combined reaction ensemble and Gibbs ensemble Monte Carlo methods. Using the new force fields proposed, phase compositions, phase densities and phase viscosities were determined for CO2+NOx mixtures. Due to the strong similarities between carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide (Tc(CO2) = 304.21 K; Tc(N2O) = 309.57 K; Pc(CO2) = 7.38 MPa; Pc(N2O) = 7.24 MPa), the obtained thermodynamic and transport properties for a CO2+N2O mixture with 10 mol% of N2O are similar to pure CO2 properties in the whole range of studied temperatures (273 - 293 K), in agreement with available experimental data. Calculations of CO2+NO equilibrium and transport properties were also performed at three different temperatures in the range of 253 - 273 K. At these temperatures, only the monomer form of the nitric oxide (NO) has to be accounted for. The performed calculations are pure predictions since no experimental data are available in the open literature for this system. For a mixture containing 10 mol% of NO, the simulation results show a decrease of the liquid densities and viscosities of 9% and 24% with respect to corresponding pure CO2 values, respectively. The new pseudo-experimental data generated in this work were finally used to calibrate binary interaction parameters required in standard cubic equations of states. Both Peng-Robinson and Soave-Redlich-Kwong equations of state have been considered and after the regression, they display a decent match with experimental and pseudo-experimental data of the vapour-liquid equilibrium for the two studied mixtures

Note: A new truncation correction for the configurational temperature extends its applicability to interaction potentials with a discontinuous force

Supramolecular & Biomaterials Chemistr

Clarification of the Three-Body Decay of 12C (12.71 MeV)

Using β decays of a clean source of 12 N produced at the IGISOL facility, we have measured the breakup of the 12 C (12.71 MeV) state into three α particles with a segmented particle detector setup. The high quality of the data permits solving the question of the breakup mechanism of the 12.71 MeV state, a longstanding problem in few-body nuclear physics. Among existing models, a modified sequential model fits the data best, but systematic deviations indicate that a three-body description is needed

Low-lying resonance states in the Be-9 continuum

Excited states in Be-9 from 2 to 9 MeV are studied via beta delayed particle emission from Li-9. The broad overlapping particle unbound states are investigated using an extension of an experimental method developed for dealing with three-body decays of broad isolated levels. The results confirm the existence of a broad state at 5 MeV, with a width of 2 MeV. Angular correlations are used for firm spin determinations for this and other levels

Low-lying resonance states in the Be-9 continuum

Excited states in Be-9 from 2 to 9 MeV are studied via beta delayed particle emission from Li-9. The broad overlapping particle unbound states are investigated using an extension of an experimental method developed for dealing with three-body decays of broad isolated levels. The results confirm the existence of a broad state at 5 MeV, with a width of 2 MeV. Angular correlations are used for firm spin determinations for this and other levels

Influences on the triple alpha process beyond the Hoyle state

The triple alpha process is studied using indirect methods. The beta decays of 12N and 12B are used to probe the triple alpha continuum of 12C. Different independent breakup channels are identified, consistently showing that the 10 MeV strength is dominated by a 0+ state interfering with the Hoyle state ghost. The 13.14 MeV region on the other hand is dominated by a 2+ state. Present: National Superconducting Cyclotron Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan MI-48824, USA.</p

Projectile Coulomb excitation with fast radioactive beams

5 pages, 5 figures, 1 table.-- PACS nrs.: 23.20.Ck; 27.20.+n.We report a search for γ rays emanating from Coulomb excitation of fast (30-46 MeV/u) radioactive projectiles He-8, Be-11, Be-12, Be-14 interacting with a lead target. These are clearly identified by their Doppler shift. The 320 keV 1/2(-) --> 1/2(+)γ transition from Be-11 was observed with a cross-section of 191 ± 26 mb which is noticeably less than expected from the known lifetime and in the perturbation limit of pure Coulomb excitation. In the other nuclei rather stringent upper limits of 0.01 to 0.2 Weisskopf units, are placed on the hypothetical transition to 1(-) states.We would like to thank F. Geoffroy, R. Hue and L. Petizon for their technical assistance during the experiment, N. Alamanos, G. Baur aud C. Bertulani for discussions and R. Lombard for drawing our attention to the Bertlmann-Martin bound. This work was partly supported by la Région Basse Normandie. One of us, G. Schrieder, would like to thank for the support by the German Federal Minister for Research and Technology (BMFT) under contract 06DA641.Peer reviewe