Hot dense capsule implosion cores produced by z-pinch dynamic hohlraum radiation

Hot dense capsule implosions driven by z-pinch x-rays have been measured for the first time. A ~220 eV dynamic hohlraum imploded 1.7-2.1 mm diameter gas-filled CH capsules which absorbed up to ~20 kJ of x-rays. Argon tracer atom spectra were used to measure the Te~ 1keV electron temperature and the ne ~ 1-4 x10^23 cm-3 electron density. Spectra from multiple directions provide core symmetry estimates. Computer simulations agree well with the peak compression values of Te, ne, and symmetry, indicating reasonable understanding of the hohlraum and implosion physics.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

An investigation of the pharmacological applications used for the Ancient Egyptian systemic model ‘ra-ib’ compared with modern Traditional Chinese Medicine

Plant science

Integrated genomic approaches implicate osteoglycin (Ogn) in the regulation of left ventricular mass

Left ventricular mass (LVM) and cardiac gene expression are complex traits regulated by factors both intrinsic and extrinsic to the heart. To dissect the major determinants of LVM, we combined expression quantitative trait locus1 and quantitative trait transcript (QTT) analyses of the cardiac transcriptome in the rat. Using these methods and in vitro functional assays, we identified osteoglycin (Ogn) as a major candidate regulator of rat LVM, with increased Ogn protein expression associated with elevated LVM. We also applied genome-wide QTT analysis to the human heart and observed that, out of 22,000 transcripts, OGN transcript abundance had the highest correlation with LVM. We further confirmed a role for Ogn in the in vivo regulation of LVM in Ogn knockout mice. Taken together, these data implicate Ogn as a key regulator of LVM in rats, mice and humans, and suggest that Ogn modifies the hypertrophic response to extrinsic factors such as hypertension and aortic stenosi

MicroRNA Involvement in Immune Activation During Heart Failure

Heart failure is one of the common end stages of cardiovascular diseases, the leading cause of death in developed countries. Molecular mechanisms underlying the development of heart failure remain elusive but there is a consistent observation of chronic immune activation and aberrant microRNA (miRNA) expression that is present in failing hearts. This review will focus on the interplay between the immune system and miRNAs as factors that play a role during the development of heart failure. Several studies have shown that heart failure patients can be characterized by a sustained innate immune activation. The role of inflammatory signaling is discussed and TLR4 signaling, IL-1β, TNFα and IL-6 expression appears to coincide with the development of heart failure. Furthermore, we describe the implication of the renin angiotensin aldosteron system in immunity and heart failure. In the past decade microRNAs (miRNAs), small non-coding RNAs that translationally repress protein synthesis by binding to partially complementary sequences of mRNA, have come to light as important regulators of several kinds of cardiovascular diseases including cardiac hypertrophy and heart failure. The involvement of differentially expressed miRNAs in the inflammation that occurs during the development of heart failure is still subject of investigation. Here, we summarize and comment on the first studies in this field and hypothesize on the putative involvement of certain miRNAs in heart failure. MicroRNAs have been shown to be critical regulators of cardiac function and inflammation. Future research will have to point out if dampening the immune response, and the miRNAs associated with it, during the development of heart failure is a therapeutically plausible route to follow

Thrombospondins in the heart: potential functions in cardiac remodeling

Cardiac remodeling after myocardial injury involves inflammation, angiogenesis, left ventricular hypertrophy and matrix remodeling. Thrombospondins (TSPs) belong to the group of matricellular proteins, which are non-structural extracellular matrix proteins that modulate cell–matrix interactions and cell function in injured tissues or tumors. They interact with different matrix and membrane-bound proteins due to their diverse functional domains. That the expression of TSPs strongly increases during cardiac stress or injury indicates an important role for them during cardiac remodeling. Recently, the protective properties of TSP expression against heart failure have been acknowledged. The current review will focus on the biological role of TSPs in the ischemic and hypertensive heart, and will describe the functional consequences of TSP polymorphisms in cardiac disease

MMP19 Is Essential for T Cell Development and T Cell-Mediated Cutaneous Immune Responses

Matrix metalloproteinase-19 (MMP19) affects cell proliferation, adhesion, and migration in vitro but its physiological role in vivo is poorly understood. To determine the function of MMP19, we generated mice deficient for MMP19 by disrupting the catalytic domain of mmp19 gene. Although MMP19-deficient mice do not show overt developmental and morphological abnormalities they display a distinct physiological phenotype. In a model of contact hypersensitivity (CHS) MMP19-deficient mice showed impaired T cell-mediated immune reaction that was characterized by limited influx of inflammatory cells, low proliferation of keratinocytes, and reduced number of activated CD8+ T cells in draining lymph nodes. In the inflamed tissue, the low number of CD8+ T cells in MMP19-deficient mice correlated with low amounts of proinflammatory cytokines, especially lymphotactin and interferon-inducible T cell α chemoattractant (I-TAC). Further analyses showed that T cell populations in the blood of immature, unsensitized mice were diminished and that this alteration originated from an altered maturation of thymocytes. In the thymus, thymocytes exhibited low proliferation rates and the number of CD4+CD8+ double-positive cells was remarkably augmented. Based on the phenotype of MMP19-deficient mice we propose that MMP19 is an important factor in cutaneous immune responses and influences the development of T cells

Preparation of Multi-layered Microcapsules from Nanofibrils of Soy Protein Isolate using Layer-by-Layer Adsorption Method

Nanofibrils were formed from soy protein isolate (SPI), which was isolated from black soybean, and commercial SPI by heating 2% w/w SPI suspensions at pH 2 and 80°C for 16 h. Nanofibrils from both types of SPI have branches and curvy structures with diameters between 10 and 20 nm. These fibrils, together with high methoxyl pectin (HMP), were used to make up to seven layered microcapsules at pH 3.5. Initially, negatively charged HMP (0.1 %w/w) was adsorbed onto oil droplets stabilized by unheated SPI (0.1 %w/w) which was positively charged. Onto this base, following layers were added by alternately adsorbing positively charged SPI nanofibrils and negatively charged HMP until the desired numbers of layers were achieved. Both types of SPI resulted in similar morphology of microcapsules. The microcapsules had a diameter between 12 and 18 μm with shell thickness of around1.7 μm and a final charge of +3.5 mV. This research showed that SPI nanofibrils can be used effectively as building blocks for constructing multilayer microcapsules that have much thicker shells for the same number of layers as examples from literature

Can we prevent lipid oxidation in emulsions by using fat-based Pickering particles?

Interest has recently been rising in the development of food-compatible Pickering emulsions, i.e., particle-stabilized emulsions, and various biobased particles have been demonstrated as useful for such a purpose. Most of the related work has focused on the physical stability of the emulsions, but whether such particles can be advantageous in terms of chemical stability, and in particular, with regard to lipid oxidation, is largely unexplored. Recently, we found that colloidal lipid particles (CLPs) are efficient Pickering stabilizers, and the objective of the present study was to investigate the oxidative stability of emulsions stabilized with those particles. Three types of sunflower oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions were considered: Pickering emulsions stabilized with colloidal lipid particles (CLPs) made of high melting point (HMP) fat (tripalmitin or palm stearin), adsorbed onto the liquid oil droplets; and, as references, two conventional sodium caseinate-stabilized emulsions, of which one contained only liquid oil, and the other liquid oil mixed with HMP fat as the core of the emulsion droplets. In the presence of iron, the latter oxidized faster than conventional liquid oil and Pickering emulsions, resulting in 2- to 3-fold higher amounts of primary and secondary lipid oxidation products. This may be due to intra-droplet HMP fat pushing oxidizable lipids towards the oil-water interface, which would promote lipid oxidation. This shows that the localization of solid fat in O/W emulsions affects lipid oxidation. We also found that CLP-stabilized Pickering emulsions had similar oxidation rates as conventional sodium caseinate-stabilized emulsions containing only liquid oil. This suggests that the potential of such Pickering particles to prevent lipid oxidation is limited. This could be because diffusion of small pro-oxidant molecules is not hindered by Pickering particles, as they cannot form an interfacial barrier that is structurally homogeneous at such a small scale