3,337 research outputs found
Bacterial-epithelial contact is a key determinant of host innate immune responses to enteropathogenic and enteroaggregative escherichia coli
Background: Enteropathogenic (EPEC) and Enteroaggregative (EAEC) E. coli have similar, but distinct clinical symptoms and modes of pathogenesis. Nevertheless when they infect the gastrointestinal tract, it is thought that their flagellin causes IL-8 release leading to neutrophil recruitment and gastroenteritis. However, this may not be the whole story as the effect of bacterial adherence to IEC innate response(s) remains unclear. Therefore, we have characterized which bacterial motifs contribute to the innate epithelial response to EPEC and EAEC, using a range of EPEC and EAEC isogenic mutant strains.
Methodology: Caco-2 and HEp-2 cell lines were exposed to prototypical EPEC strain E2348/69 or EAEC strain O42, in addition to a range of isogenic mutant strains. E69 [LPS, non-motile, non-adherent, type three secretion system (TTSS) negative, signalling negative] or O42 [non-motile, non-adherent]. IL-8 and CCL20 protein secretion was measured. Bacterial surface structures were assessed by negative staining Transmission Electron Microscopy. The Fluorescent-actin staining test was carried out to determine bacterial adherence.
Results: Previous studies have reported a balance between the host pro-inflammatory response and microbial suppression of this response. In our system an overall balance towards the host pro-inflammatory response is seen with the E69 WT and to a greater extent O42 WT, which is in fit with clinical symptoms. On removal of the external EPEC structures flagella, LPS, BFP, EspA and EspC; and EAEC flagella and AAF, the host inflammatory response is reduced. However, removal of E69 lymphostatin increases the host inflammatory response suggesting involvement in the bacterial mediated anti-inflammatory response.
Conclusion: Epithelial responses were due to combinations of bacterial agonists, with host-bacterial contact a key determinant of these innate responses. Host epithelial recognition was offset by the microbe's ability to down-regulate the inflammatory response. Understanding the complexity of this host-microbial balance will contribute to improved vaccine design for infectious gastroenteritis
Asymptotic behaviour of tests for a unit root against an explosive alternative
We compare the asymptotic local power of upper-tail unit root tests against an explosive alternative based on ordinary least squares (OLS) and quasi-differenced (QD) demeaning/detrending. We find that under an asymptotically negligible initialisation, the QD-based tests are near asymptotically efficient and generally offer superior power to OLS-based approaches; however, the power gains are much more modest than in the lower-tail testing context. We also find that asymptotically non-negligible initial conditions do not affect the power ranking in the same way as they do for lower-tail tests, with the QD-based tests retaining a power advantage in such cases
Error of truncated Chebyshev series and other near minimax polynomial approximations
AbstractIt is well known that a near minimax polynomial approximation p is obtained by truncating the Chebyshev series of a function ƒ; after n + 1 terms. It is shown that if ƒ; ϵ C(n + 1)[−1, 1], then ∥ƒ; − p ∥ may be expressed in terms of ƒ;(n + 1) in the same manner as the error of minimax approximation. The result is extended to other types of near minimax approximation
Comparison theory and smooth minimal C*-dynamics
We prove that the C*-algebra of a minimal diffeomorphism satisfies
Blackadar's Fundamental Comparability Property for positive elements. This
leads to the classification, in terms of K-theory and traces, of the
isomorphism classes of countably generated Hilbert modules over such algebras,
and to a similar classification for the closures of unitary orbits of
self-adjoint elements. We also obtain a structure theorem for the Cuntz
semigroup in this setting, and prove a conjecture of Blackadar and Handelman:
the lower semicontinuous dimension functions are weakly dense in the space of
all dimension functions. These results continue to hold in the broader setting
of unital simple ASH algebras with slow dimension growth and stable rank one.
Our main tool is a sharp bound on the radius of comparison of a recursive
subhomogeneous C*-algebra. This is also used to construct uncountably many
non-Morita-equivalent simple separable amenable C*-algebras with the same
K-theory and tracial state space, providing a C*-algebraic analogue of McDuff's
uncountable family of II_1 factors. We prove in passing that the range of the
radius of comparison is exhausted by simple C*-algebras.Comment: 30 pages, no figure
The Distribution of Tetrahymena pyriformis 1
This paper is a brief account of both amicronucleate and sexually active strains of Tetrahymena pyriformis and their distribution with some comments on their possible evolution.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72276/1/j.1550-7408.1970.tb02348.x.pd
Classification of Extensions of Classifiable C*-algebras
We classify extensions of certain classifiable C*-algebras using the six term
exact sequence in K-theory together with the positive cone of the K_0-groups of
the distinguished ideal and quotient. We then apply our results to a class of
C*-algebras arising from substitutional shift spaces.Comment: 22 pages, Reordered some sections, an application involving graph
algebras is adde
Microscopic Aspects of Stretched Exponential Relaxation (SER) in Homogeneous Molecular and Network Glasses and Polymers
Because the theory of SER is still a work in progress, the phenomenon itself
can be said to be the oldest unsolved problem in science, as it started with
Kohlrausch in 1847. Many electrical and optical phenomena exhibit SER with
probe relaxation I(t) ~ exp[-(t/{\tau}){\beta}], with 0 < {\beta} < 1. Here
{\tau} is a material-sensitive parameter, useful for discussing chemical
trends. The "shape" parameter {\beta} is dimensionless and plays the role of a
non-equilibrium scaling exponent; its value, especially in glasses, is both
practically useful and theoretically significant. The mathematical complexity
of SER is such that rigorous derivations of this peculiar function were not
achieved until the 1970's. The focus of much of the 1970's pioneering work was
spatial relaxation of electronic charge, but SER is a universal phenomenon, and
today atomic and molecular relaxation of glasses and deeply supercooled liquids
provide the most reliable data. As the data base grew, the need for a
quantitative theory increased; this need was finally met by the
diffusion-to-traps topological model, which yields a remarkably simple
expression for the shape parameter {\beta}, given by d*/(d* + 2). At first
sight this expression appears to be identical to d/(d + 2), where d is the
actual spatial dimensionality, as originally derived. The original model,
however, failed to explain much of the data base. Here the theme of earlier
reviews, based on the observation that in the presence of short-range forces
only d* = d = 3 is the actual spatial dimensionality, while for mixed short-
and long-range forces, d* = fd = d/2, is applied to four new spectacular
examples, where it turns out that SER is useful not only for purposes of
quality control, but also for defining what is meant by a glass in novel
contexts. (Please see full abstract in main text
The ordered K-theory of a full extension
Let A be a C*-algebra with real rank zero which has the stable weak
cancellation property. Let I be an ideal of A such that I is stable and
satisfies the corona factorization property. We prove that 0->I->A->A/I->0 is a
full extension if and only if the extension is stenotic and K-lexicographic. As
an immediate application, we extend the classification result for graph
C*-algebras obtained by Tomforde and the first named author to the general
non-unital case. In combination with recent results by Katsura, Tomforde, West
and the first author, our result may also be used to give a purely
K-theoretical description of when an essential extension of two simple and
stable graph C*-algebras is again a graph C*-algebra.Comment: Version IV: No changes to the text. We only report that Theorem 4.9
is not correct as stated. See arXiv:1505.05951 for more details. Since
Theorem 4.9 is an application to the main results of the paper, the main
results of this paper are not affected by the error. Version III comments:
Some typos and errors corrected. Some references adde
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