Strange Exotic States and Compact Stars

We discuss the possible appearance of strange exotic multi-quark states in the interior of neutron stars and signals for the existence of strange quark matter in the core of compact stars. We show how the in-medium properties of possible pentaquark states are constrained by pulsar mass measurements. The possibility of generating the observed large pulsar kick velocities by asymmetric emission of neutrinos from strange quark matter in magnetic fields is outlined.Comment: 10 pages, invited talk given at the International Conference on Strangeness in Quark Matter 2006 (SQM2006), UCLA, USA, March 26-31, 2006, Journal of Physics G in press, refs. adde

NF-κB contributes to transcription of placenta growth factor and interacts with metal responsive transcription factor-1 in hypoxic human cells

Placenta growth factor (PlGF) is a member of the vascular endothelial growth factor family of cytokines that control vascular and lymphatic endothelium development. It has been implicated in promoting angiogenesis in pathological conditions via signaling to vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1. PlGF expression is induced by hypoxia and proinflammatory stimuli. Metal responsive transcription factor 1 (MTF-1) was shown to take part in the hypoxic induction of PlGF in Ras-transformed mouse embryonic fibroblasts. Here we report that PlGF expression is also controlled by NF-κB. We identified several putative binding sites for NF-κB in the PlGF promoter/enhancer region by sequence analyses, and show binding and transcriptional activity of NF-κB p65 at these sites. Expression of NF-κB p65 from a plasmid vector in HEK293 cells caused a substantial increase of PlGF transcript levels. Furthermore, we found that hypoxic conditions induce nuclear translocation and interaction of MTF-1 and NF-κB p65 proteins, suggesting a role for this complex in hypoxia-induced transcription of PlG

Is a soft nuclear equation of state extracted from heavy-ion data incompatible with pulsar data?

We discuss the recent constraints on the nuclear equation of state from pulsar mass measurements and from subthreshold production of kaons in heavy-ion collisions. While recent pulsar data points towards a hard equation of state, the analysis of the heavy-ion data allows only for soft equations of state. We resolve the apparent contradiction by considering the different density regimes probed. We argue that future measurements of global properties of low-mass pulsars can serve as an excellent cross-check to heavy-ion data.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, contribution to the proceedings of the international conference on 'Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics III', Dresden, Germany, March 26-31, 2007, minor corrections to match published version, JPG in pres

Prospective evaluation of biomarkers for prediction of quality of life in community-acquired pneumonia

Most clinical research investigated prognostic biomarkers for their ability to predict cardiovascular events or mortality. It is unknown whether biomarkers allow prediction of quality of life (QoL) after survival of the acute event. Herein, we investigated the prognostic potential of well-established inflammatory/cardiovascular blood biomarkers including white blood cells (WBC), C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), pro-adrenomedullin (proADM) and pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (proANP) in regard to a decline in QoL in a well-defined cohort of patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).; Within this secondary analysis including 753 patients with a final inpatient diagnosis of CAP from a multicenter trial, we investigated associations between admission biomarker levels and decline in QoL assessed by the EQ-5D health questionnaire from admission to day 30 and after 6 years.; Admission proADM and proANP levels significantly predicted decline of the weighted EQ-5D index after 30 days (n=753) with adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of 2.0 ([95% CI 1.1-3.8]; p=0.027) and 3.7 ([95% CI 2.2-6.0]; p>0.001). Results for 6-year outcomes (n=349) were similar with ORs of 3.3 ([95% CI 1.3-8.3]; p=0.012) and 6.2 ([95% CI 2.7-14.2]; p>0.001). The markers were associated with most of the different QoL dimensions including mobility, self-care, and usual activities, but not pain/discomfort and to a lesser degree anxiety/depression and the visual analogue scale (VAS). Initial WBC, PCT and CRP values did not well predict QoL at any time point.; ProADM and proANP accurately predict short- and long-term decline in QoL across most dimensions in CAP patients. It will be interesting to reveal underlying physiopathology in future studies

Prospective evaluation of biomarkers for prediction of quality of life in community-acquired pneumonia

AbstractBackground: Most clinical research investigated prognostic biomarkers for their ability to predict cardiovascular events or mortality. It is unknown whether biomarkers allow prediction of quality of life (QoL) after survival of the acute event. Herein, we investigated the prognostic potential of well-established inflammatory/cardiovascular blood biomarkers including white blood cells (WBC), C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), pro-adrenomedullin (proADM) and pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (proANP) in regard to a decline in QoL in a well-defined cohort of patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). Methods: Within this secondary analysis including 753 patients with a final inpatient diagnosis of CAP from a multicenter trial, we investigated associations between admission biomarker levels and decline in QoL assessed by the EQ-5D health questionnaire from admission to day 30 and after 6 years. Results: Admission proADM and proANP levels significantly predicted decline of the weighted EQ-5D index after 30 days (n=753) with adjusted odds ratios (ORs) of 2.0 ([95% CI 1.1-3.8]; p=0.027) and 3.7 ([95% CI 2.2-6.0]; p<0.001). Results for 6-year outcomes (n=349) were similar with ORs of 3.3 ([95% CI 1.3-8.3]; p=0.012) and 6.2 ([95% CI 2.7-14.2]; p<0.001). The markers were associated with most of the different QoL dimensions including mobility, self-care, and usual activities, but not pain/discomfort and to a lesser degree anxiety/depression and the visual analogue scale (VAS). Initial WBC, PCT and CRP values did not well predict QoL at any time point. Conclusions: ProADM and proANP accurately predict short- and long-term decline in QoL across most dimensions in CAP patients. It will be interesting to reveal underlying physiopathology in future studies

Remote Lab Management System

Ziel der Bachelorarbeit war es, ein Control Panel zu erstellen, damit es den Benutzern möglich ist, Pods zu reservieren. Ein Pod besteht aus mehreren Geräten wie z.B. Routern, Switches, Firewalls oder Unix Servern. Um Reservationen auf Pods zu machen, muss ein Benutzer am Control Panel angemeldet sein und über genügend Credit Points verfügen. So ist es dem Administrator möglich, die Reservationen eines Benutzers zu kontrollieren und der Benutzer kann den Pod nicht die ganze Zeit reservieren. Ein weiteres Ziel war es, über das Control Panel per SNMP Ansteuerung, die Geräte neu zu starten und SSH Verbindungen trennen zu können. Das Control Panel haben wir unter Verwendung des PHP Frameworks Symfony erstellt, da dieses Framework sehr mächtig ist und vom Betreuer vorgegeben wurde. Bei der Entwicklung der Software wurde als Software Engineering Vorgehensmodell der Rational Unified Process (RUP) eingesetzt. Als Ergebnis haben wir ein Control Panel, das eine Ansicht für den Administrator, sowie eine eingeschränkte Ansicht für den Benutzer zeigt. Sobald sich der Benutzer am Control Panel anmeldet, wird eine Abfrage an die LDAP Datenbank gemacht, ob der Benutzername und das Passwort stimmen. Hat sich ein Benutzer angemeldet, kann er Credit Points kaufen, Reservationen verwalten, seine Benutzerangaben bearbeiten, seine History der Reservationen anschauen, Reservationen auf ein Gerät z.B. einem PDA herunterladen, Geräte der reservierten Pods neu starten und dem Administrator via Kontaktformulare Mails senden, um allfällige Probleme zu melden oder einen Kommentar zu schreiben. Der Administrator hat zudem die Möglichkeit Pods, Podkategorien, Geräte, Gerätkategorien, Labs, Gruppenrechte und Reservationen von Benutzern zu verwalten, sowie eine LDAP Gruppe oder die Benutzerdaten zu bearbeiten oder zu löschen. Der Administrator sieht alle Geräte von allen Pods, auch wenn diese von einem Benutzer reserviert sind und kann diese zu jeder Zeit neu starten. Meldet sich ein Benutzer am Terminal Server an, wird über Radius ein XML-RPC Methodenaufruf an das Control Panel gesendet, das wissen will, ob der Benutzer zu dieser Zeit eine Reservation auf den gewünschten Pod hat. Das XML-RPC gibt als Antwort ein „ja“ oder „nein“ zurück

NF-kappaB contributes to transcription of placenta growth factor and interacts with metal responsive transcription factor-1 in hypoxic human cells

Placenta growth factor (PlGF) is a member of the vascular endothelial growth factor family of cytokines that control vascular and lymphatic endothelium development. It has been implicated in promoting angiogenesis in pathological conditions via signaling to vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-1. PlGF expression is induced by hypoxia and proinflammatory stimuli. Metal responsive transcription factor 1 (MTF-1) was shown to take part in the hypoxic induction of PlGF in Ras-transformed mouse embryonic fibroblasts. Here we report that PlGF expression is also controlled by NF-kappaB. We identified several putative binding sites for NF-kappaB in the PlGF promoter/enhancer region by sequence analyses, and show binding and transcriptional activity of NF-kappaB p65 at these sites. Expression of NF-kappaB p65 from a plasmid vector in HEK293 cells caused a substantial increase of PlGF transcript levels. Furthermore, we found that hypoxic conditions induce nuclear translocation and interaction of MTF-1 and NF-kappaB p65 proteins, suggesting a role for this complex in hypoxia-induced transcription of PlGF