1,297 research outputs found
No evidence of a significant role for CTLA-4 in multiple sclerosis
Variation in the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte-associated protein 4 (CTLA-4) gene plays a significant role in determining susceptibility to autoimmune thyroid disease and type 1 diabetes. Its role in multiple sclerosis is more controversial. In order to explore this logical candidate more thoroughly, we genotyped 771 multiple sclerosis trio families from the United Kingdom for the 3? untranslated region variable number tandem repeat, the CT60 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and five haplotype-tagging SNPs. No individual marker or common haplotype showed evidence of association with disease. These data suggest that any effect of CTLA-4 on multiple sclerosis susceptibility is likely to be very small
Manufacturing Cells for Clinical Use
Citation: Weiss, M. L., Rao, M. S., Deans, R., & Czermak, P. (2016). Manufacturing Cells for Clinical Use. Stem Cells International, 5. doi:10.1155/2016/1750697The growth in the number of registered clinical trials indicates that there is a need for cells for many types of cell therapy. Figure 1, which is reprinted from the excellent blog maintained by Alexi Bersenev, shows that the cell type used in most clinical trials worldwide is the mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC). The MSC type requires in vitro expansion to reach a clinical dose and thus there is a desire to optimize and standardize processes and procedures for MSC manufacture specifically for clinical use
Convergence and segregation of the multiple rod pathways in mammalian retina.
Using a multidisciplinary approach, we demonstrate that three different pathways are responsible for the transmission of rod signals across the mouse retina. Each pathway serves a primarily nonoverlapping range of stimulus intensities, with ganglion cells receiving either segregated or convergent inputs. For both on-center (ON) and off-center (OFF) ganglion cells, the primary rod pathway carries signals with the lowest threshold, whereas the secondary rod pathway is less sensitive by approximately 1 log unit. In addition, OFF signaling uses a tertiary rod pathway that is approximately 1 log unit less sensitive than the secondary. Although some ganglion cells received rod inputs exclusively from one of the pathways, others showed convergent inputs. Using pharmacological and genetic approaches, we defined classes of ON and OFF ganglion cells for which the scotopic inputs derive only from the primary pathway or from both primary and secondary pathways. In addition, we observed a class of OFF ganglion cell receiving mixed input from primary and tertiary pathways. Interestingly, OFF ganglion cells receiving convergent inputs from all three rod pathways or from the secondary and tertiary pathways together were never observed. Overall, our data show a complex arrangement of convergence and segregation of rod inputs to ganglion cells in the mammalian retina
Tomographic approach to resolving the distribution of LISA Galactic binaries
The space based gravitational wave detector LISA is expected to observe a
large population of Galactic white dwarf binaries whose collective signal is
likely to dominate instrumental noise at observational frequencies in the range
10^{-4} to 10^{-3} Hz. The motion of LISA modulates the signal of each binary
in both frequency and amplitude, the exact modulation depending on the source
direction and frequency. Starting with the observed response of one LISA
interferometer and assuming only doppler modulation due to the orbital motion
of LISA, we show how the distribution of the entire binary population in
frequency and sky position can be reconstructed using a tomographic approach.
The method is linear and the reconstruction of a delta function distribution,
corresponding to an isolated binary, yields a point spread function (psf). An
arbitrary distribution and its reconstruction are related via smoothing with
this psf. Exploratory results are reported demonstrating the recovery of binary
sources, in the presence of white Gaussian noise.Comment: 13 Pages and 9 figures high resolution figures can be obtains from
http://www.phys.utb.edu/~rajesh/lisa_tomography.pd
Comparative study of semiclassical approaches to quantum dynamics
Quantum states can be described equivalently by density matrices, Wigner
functions or quantum tomograms. We analyze the accuracy and performance of
three related semiclassical approaches to quantum dynamics, in particular with
respect to their numerical implementation. As test cases, we consider the time
evolution of Gaussian wave packets in different one-dimensional geometries,
whereby tunneling, resonance and anharmonicity effects are taken into account.
The results and methods are benchmarked against an exact quantum mechanical
treatment of the system, which is based on a highly efficient Chebyshev
expansion technique of the time evolution operator.Comment: 32 pages, 8 figures, corrected typos and added references; version as
publishe
Quantum reconstruction of an intense polarization squeezed optical state
We perform a reconstruction of the polarization sector of the density matrix
of an intense polarization squeezed beam starting from a complete set of Stokes
measurements. By using an appropriate quasidistribution, we map this onto the
Poincare space providing a full quantum mechanical characterization of the
measured polarization state.Comment: 4 pages, 4 eps color figure
Fermiology via the electron momentum distribution
Investigations of the Fermi surface via the electron momentum distribution
reconstructed from either angular correlation of annihilation radiation (or
Compton scattering) experimental spectra are presented. The basis of these
experiments and mathematical methods applied in reconstructing
three-dimensional densities from line (or plane) projections measured in these
experiments are described. The review of papers where such techniques have been
applied to study the Fermi surface of metallic materials with showing their
main results is also done.Comment: 22 pages, 9 Figures, 4 Table
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