Immune responses to homocitrulline- and citrulline-containing peptides in rheumatoid arthritis

Anti-citrulline immune responses contribute to rheumatoid arthritis (RA) development, and are linked with the expression of HLA-DR molecules that encode the Shared Epitope (SE). Immune responses to homocitrulline, a structural analog of citrulline, have been recently detected in RA, but their role in RA is unknown. The objectives of this study were to examine the specificity of anti-homocitrulline antibodies for RA, the dependence of anti-homocitrulline responses on SE-expression, and the cross-reactivity of responses to homocitrulline and citrulline. These objectives were addressed in RA patients and in SE-expressing DR4tg mice using homocitrulline- and citrulline-rich peptides. Anti-homocitrulline antibodies occurred specifically in RA. The SE was associated with the development of immune responses to homocitrulline and cross-reactivity to citrulline in homocitrullinated peptide-immunized mice. Anti-homocitrulline and anti-citrulline antibodies were cross-reactive in RA patients and DR4tg mice, and the responses to homocitrulline- and citrulline-containing peptides were immunologically related

Design strategies and functionality of the Visual Interface for Virtual Interaction Development (VIVID) tool

Development of interactive virtual environments (VE) has typically consisted of three primary activities: model (object) development, model relationship tree development, and environment behavior definition and coding. The model and relationship tree development activities are accomplished with a variety of well-established graphic library (GL) based programs - most utilizing graphical user interfaces (GUI) with point-and-click interactions. Because of this GUI format, little programming expertise on the part of the developer is necessary to create the 3D graphical models or to establish interrelationships between the models. However, the third VE development activity, environment behavior definition and coding, has generally required the greatest amount of time and programmer expertise. Behaviors, characteristics, and interactions between objects and the user within a VE must be defined via command line C coding prior to rendering the environment scenes. In an effort to simplify this environment behavior definition phase for non-programmers, and to provide easy access to model and tree tools, a graphical interface and development tool has been created. The principal thrust of this research is to effect rapid development and prototyping of virtual environments. This presentation will discuss the 'Visual Interface for Virtual Interaction Development' (VIVID) tool; an X-Windows based system employing drop-down menus for user selection of program access, models, and trees, behavior editing, and code generation. Examples of these selection will be highlighted in this presentation, as will the currently available program interfaces. The functionality of this tool allows non-programming users access to all facets of VE development while providing experienced programmers with a collection of pre-coded behaviors. In conjunction with its existing, interfaces and predefined suite of behaviors, future development plans for VIVID will be described. These include incorporation of dual user virtual environment enhancements, tool expansion, and additional behaviors

The effect of sex on immune responses to a homocitrullinated peptide in the DR4-transgenic mouse model of Rheumatoid Arthritis

© 2020 The Author(s) Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is more common and severe in women compared to men. Both women and men with RA express autoantibodies to post-translationally modified antigens, including citrullinated and homocitrullinated proteins or peptides. These autoantibodies are strongly linked with the HLA-DR4 gene. The objective of this study was to determine sex differences in immune responses to homocitrullinated antigens. We used a humanized animal model of RA, DR4-transgenic mice and immunized them with a homocitrullinated peptide called HomoCitJED. Immune responses in these mice were measured for splenocyte proliferation by tritiated thymidine incorporation, serum autoantibody production by ELISA and cytokine levels by multiplex. We found that T cell and antibody responses to homocitrullinated antigens were similar in male and female mice. However, we found sex differences in serum cytokine profiles with female mice having higher ratio of IL-1α to IL-5, suggesting imbalances in immune regulation. This is the first study to report that immune responses to homocitrullinated antigens can be differentiated by sex

Interaction d'un cyclone tropical avec une onde de Rossby planétaire

La migration d'un cyclone tropical aux moyennes latitudes est un problème récurrent pour les modèles de prévision du temps. En particulier, l'interaction entre un cyclone tropical et une onde de Rossby planétaire réduit la prévisibilité en aval. Une simulation numérique avec le modèle atmosphérique Méso-NH reproduit cette interaction d'échelle grâce à sa résolution kilométrique étendue à une domaine semi-hémisphérique. Cette résolution élevée permet pour la première fois de décrire explicitement les phénomènes fortement diabatiques associés à la convection du cyclone

Modelling the biochemical behaviour of growing trees at the forest stand scale. Part I: Development of an incremental transfer matrix method and application to simplified tree structures

Stem straightness defects are often associated with heterogeneities in wood structure in relation to tree tropisms. This paper presents a numerical model which is dedicated to simulate the biomechanical behaviour of growing trees. A simplified description of tree structure, separating trunk and crown, has been used in order to perform future calculations at the stand level. The model is based on the Transfer Matrix Method, which was adjusted under an incremental form to compute the evolution of trunk biomechanics during growth. Deflections due to self-weight distribution and straightening up reactions, which are associated with maturation strains of reaction wood cells, were considered. This model has been implemented in the CAPSIS software. Numerical results were compared to those obtained by the software AMAPpara, which is more applicable to the whole tree architecture level. Limits of the simplified description, which will be useful for studies at stand level, are discussed. (Résumé d'auteur