Carboxylterminal verkuerzte Varianten des humanen Interferon-#gamma#: Genkonstruktion, Expression in E. coli, Reinigung und Charakterisierung

Available from TIB Hannover: DB 4120 / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEDEGerman

Interleukin-10 induction of nitric-oxide synthase expression attenuates CD40-mediated interleukin-12 synthesis in human endothelial cells

Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is a potent anti-inflammatory cytokine in Th1 cell-mediated chronic inflammatory diseases such as, e. g. Crohn's disease. Moreover, IL-10 has been shown to limit the progression of atherosclerosis, presumably by influencing endothelial cell function. Here we demonstrate that under pro-inflammatory conditions expression of the human IL-10 receptor gene is enhanced in endothelial cells in vitro and in vivo. Subsequent exposure to IL-10 results in an up-regulation of both endothelial nitric-oxide synthase (NOS-3) expression and activity. Gel mobility shift analyses and decoy oligonucleotide experiments suggest that this effect of IL-10 is mediated through activation of the transcription factor STAT-3 ( signal transducer and activator of transcription-3). One functional consequence of IL-10 up-regulation of NOS-3 abundance in cultured endothelial cells is the attenuation of CD154-induced IL-12 p40 expression. Moreover, CD154-induced IL-12 p40 expression is enhanced after blockade of NOS-3 activity but attenuated in the presence of exogenous nitric oxide. Increased NOS-3 expression may, thus, be one mechanism by which IL-10 exerts its anti-inflammatory effects in Th1 cell-mediated chronic inflammatory diseases

Effective-medium model for fast evaluation of scatterometric measurements on gratings

Scatterometry is now an accepted technique for linewidth measurement in semiconductor manufacturing. To reduce the evaluation time when using real-time optimization procedures, we introduce an effective-medium approach to simulate the optical signatures of subwavelength line-and-space gratings. Such gratings behaves approximately like uniaxial crystals whose optical properties are completely described by two refractive indices. We propose an algebraic method for their calculation up to second order in pitch/wavelength for the extraordinary index, and up to 4th order in pitch/wavelength for the ordinary index. The formulas are valid for any angle of incidence and can be used with standard matrix formalism to calculate the optical properties of any arbitrary layer stack. We deduce the formul as for the indices. The comparison of effective medium-calculations to rigorous coupled wave simulations for spectral measurements (polarized reflectometer and spectroscopic ellipsometer) shows excellent agreement. The sensitivity of scatterometry to tilt of the structures is very low for all measurement parameters except phase difference. It is shown that left and right tilt cannot be distinguished at all with spectral measurements with non-conical incidence of light