CELLULAR RECOGNITION IN VITRO BY MOUSE LYMPHOCYTES : EFFECTS OF NEONATAL THYMECTOMY AND THYMUS GRAFT RESTORATION ON ALLOANTIGEN AND PHA STIMULATION OF WHOLE AND GRADIENT-SEPARATED SUBPOPULATIONS OF SPLEEN CELLS

The effects of thymectomy and thymus graft restoration upon the in vitro primary responses to alloantigens and PHA have been studied. It has been found that neonatal thymectomy substantially eliminates both PHA reactivity and responsiveness to alloantigens assayed in vitro in host spleen cell populations. Analysis of albumin density gradient-separated subpopulations of the spleen and thymus in such animals was also performed. It was found that the total and proportional representation of the individual density subpopulations was identical in neonatally thymectomized, in normal, and in thymectomized and thymus graft-restored animals. Therefore, thymectomized mice appear to retain a nonfunctioning, small, dense, lymphocyte population. Reconstitution of thymic-dependent in vitro reactivity was nearly complete when syngeneic, but not allogeneic or semisyngeneic thymus was employed. Occasional partial restoration did occur when F1 thymus was employed, but never when allogeneic thymus was grafted. The grafted thymus contained PHA and alloantigen-reactive cells in a large, less dense B layer subpopulation, whereas the restored animals, as in the case of normals, showed these reactivities to be a property of a small, more dense cell population

Generic phase diagram of active polar films

We study theoretically the phase diagram of compressible active polar gels such as the actin network of eukaryotic cells. Using generalized hydrodynamics equations, we perform a linear stability analysis of the uniform states in the case of an infinite bidimensional active gel to obtain the dynamic phase diagram of active polar films. We predict in particular modulated flowing phases, and a macroscopic phase separation at high activity. This qualitatively accounts for experimental observations of various active systems, such as acto-myosin gels, microtubules and kinesins in vitro solutions, or swimming bacterial colonies.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

CELLULAR RECOGNITION BY MOUSE LYMPHOCYTES IN VITRO : I. DEFINITION OF A NEW TECHNIQUE AND RESULTS OF STIMULATION BY PHYTOHEMAGGLUTININ AND SPECIFIC ANTIGENS

The media and culture conditions required for in vitro stimulation of mouse lymphoid cells are described. The medium was arginine-rich and contained heat-inactivated human serum. A component of the human sera necessary for stimulation of the cells was a natural mouse cell agglutinin, which affected both background stimulation and the degree of induced stimulation with phytohemagglutinin (PHA). Absorption of the agglutinin from the human serum rendered the medium incapable of sustaining DNA synthesis in the presence of PHA. The response to PHA of mouse spleen and thymus cells was age-dependent and, although this response was not present at birth, it rapidly rose to adult levels. Spleen cells from mice immunized with bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) or sheep erythrocytes (SRBC) showed increased in vitro reactivity to added purified protein derivative (PPD) or SRBC stroma, dependent on the time of immunization. The dose response curve for the SRBC stroma stimulated, immune spleen cells is compatible with a theory of cell to cell interaction being necessary for an in vitro reaction to antigen. The possible role of the mouse cell agglutinin (AMLG) is discussed

Time Delays in the Synchronization of Chaotic Coupled Systems with Feedback

The synchronized excitable behavior of two coupled chaotic diode lasers with feedback was experimental and numerically studied. We determine the relation between the observed delay times in synchronized Low Frequency Fluctuation spikes and the coupling and the feedback times in the lasers.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure

Pattern formation driven by nematic ordering of assembling biopolymers

The biopolymers actin and microtubules are often in an ongoing assembling/disassembling state far from thermal equilibrium. Above a critical density this leads to spatially periodic patterns, as shown by a scaling argument and in terms of a phenomenological continuum model, that meets also Onsager's statistical theory of the nematic--to--isotropic transition in the absence of reaction kinetics. This pattern forming process depends much on nonlinear effects and a common linear stability analysis of the isotropic distribution of the filaments is often misleading. The wave number of the pattern decreases with the assembling/disassembling rate and there is an uncommon discontinuous transition between the nematic and the periodic state.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

VLBI measurements for time transfer between time and frequency laboratories

In the usual geodetic VLBI analysis, clock offsets and their rates of change at participating stations except for the reference station are estimated. The averaged formal error (1σ) of the clock offsets is typically about 20 picoseconds in the geodetic VLBI experiments regularly conducted by the International VLBI Service for Geodesy and Astrometry (IVS). This accuracy is better than other techniques like GPS time transfer and TWSTFT (Two-way Satellite Time and Frequency Transfer) which are used to maintain Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). It will become possible to use the geodetic VLBI technique for accurate time transfer if we can collocate the VLBI radio telescopes at Time and Frequency laboratories. For this purpose, we started to develop a compact and transportable VLBI system. In this study, to confirm the potential of VLBI time transfer aiming at the practical use of VLBI time transfer in the future, we compared the results of VLBI time transfer and the results of GPS time transfer (Carrier Phase) by using Kashima-Koganei baseline (109 km). The averaged formal error (1σ) of the clock offsets when they are estimated every one hour was 29 picoseconds. The results of VLBI time transfer were consistent with the results of GPS time transfer. The difference of both results was about ±500 picoseconds and it is considered to be dominated by the uncertainty of the GPS time transfer. In terms of frequency stability, the Allan deviation was evaluated and it showed that VLBI time transfer is more stable than GPS time transfer in the time range from 2000 seconds to 60000 seconds. Based on these results, we will discuss about the possible improvements to the time transfer between Time and Frequency laboratories by collocating the compact VLBI system at the laboratorie

Controlling malignant pericardial effusion by intrapericardial carboplatin administration in patients with primaryon-small-cell lung cancer

Malignant pericarditis, when associated with massive pericardial effusion, presents a critical condition in lung cancer patients. Because this condition often arises in terminally ill patients, intensive therapy such as multi-drug combination chemotherapy is rarely appropriate. This study evaluated the clinical relevance of intrapericardial administration of carboplatin for controlling malignant pericardial effusions associated with non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). The method used for 10 eligible patients consisted of draining the pericardial effusion and infusing 300 mg/body of carboplatin in 50 ml of saline through an in-place catheter into the pericardial space and clamping the catheter for 40 min. Nine of the 10 patients showed satisfactory results, and 8 experienced complete regression of the effusion. No major or minor adverse effects were observed. Pharmacokinetics analysis revealed that the concentration of free platinum in the pericardial fluid was very high while that of total platinum in the circulating plasma was very low, assuring the usefulness of the intrapericardial instillation of carboplatin in terminally ill patients for controlling malignant pericardial effusion when the systemic delivery of cytotoxic agents is inappropriate. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaig

Self-organization and Mechanical Properties of Active Filament Bundles

A phenomenological description for active bundles of polar filaments is presented. The activity of the bundle results from crosslinks, that induce relative displacements between the aligned filaments. Our generic description is based on momentum conservation within the bundle. By specifying the internal forces, a simple minimal model for the bundle dynamics is obtained, capturing generic dynamic behaviors. In particular, contracted states as well as solitary and oscillatory waves appear through dynamic instabilities. The introduction of filament adhesion leads to self-organized persistent filament transport. Furthermore, calculating the tension, homogeneous bundles are shown to be able to actively contract and to perform work against external forces. Our description is motivated by dynamic phenomena in the cytoskeleton and could apply to stress-fibers and self-organization phenomena during cell-locomotion.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figure

An evaluation of metal removal during wastewater treatment: The potential to achieve more stringent final effluent standards

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final published article is available from the link below. Copyright @ 2011 Taylor & Francis.Metals are of particular importance in relation to water quality, and concern regarding the impact of these contaminants on biodiversity is being encapsulated within the latest water-related legislation such as the Water Framework Directive in Europe and criteria revisions to the Clean Water Act in the United States. This review undertakes an evaluation of the potential of 2-stage wastewater treatment consisting of primary sedimentation and biological treatment in the form of activated sludge processes, to meet more stringent discharge consents that are likely to be introduced as a consequence. The legislation, sources of metals, and mechanisms responsible for their removal are discussed, to elucidate possible pathways by which the performance of conventional processes may be optimized or enhanced. Improvements in effluent quality, achievable by reducing concentrations of suspended solids or biochemical oxygen demand, may also reduce metal concentrations although meeting possible requirements for the removal of copper my be challenging