505 research outputs found
COUNTERREGULATORY EFFECTS OF PTX3 ON INFLAMMATION AND CELLULAR AGING
Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is a vital regulator of innate immune function that has been shown to counterregulate pro-inflammatory signaling and protect against the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Less is known about how PTX3 may mitigate against CVD risk by regulating the pro-inflammatory response at the cellular level. Therefore, this dissertation details four manuscripts which aimed to examine the capacity of PTX3 to regulate the innate immune response of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) isolated from healthy adults. Manuscript 1 examined the capacity of PTX3 to alter the inflammatory milieu following in vitro stimulation of isolated PBMCs with the pro-inflammatory lipid palmitate. In addition, Manuscript 2 sought to examine how participation in acute exercise, a powerful anti-inflammatory behavior that reduces CVD risk, alters the inflammatory phenotype and response of mononuclear cells following ex vivo stimulation with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Manuscript 3 aimed to further elucidate the potential impact of cardiorespiratory fitness on the capacity of PTX3 to stimulate an innate immune response prior to and immediately following acute exercise in aerobically trained and untrained individuals. Finally, Manuscript 4 investigated the impact of healthy aging on plasma PTX3 concentrations and its relationship with telomere length in middle-aged compared to young adults. The capacity of isolated PBMCs to express a key cellular mechanism involved in maintaining longer telomere lengths, human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT), following cellular stimulation with LPS, PTX3, and PTX3+LPS was also examined to address a mechanism that might explain how persistent exposure of circulating immune cells to the age-related pro-inflammatory milieu contributes to the shortening of telomere lengths
The Potential Role of Aerobic Exercise-Induced Pentraxin 3 on Obesity-Related Inflammation and Metabolic Dysregulation
Obesity is defined as the excess accumulation of intra-abdominal body fat, resulting in a state of chronic, low-grade proinflammation that can directly contribute to the development of insulin resistance. Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is an acute-phase protein that is expressed by a variety of tissue and cell sources and provides an anti-inflammatory property to downregulate the production of proinflammatory cytokines, in particular interleukin-1 beta and tumor necrosis factor alpha. Although PTX3 may therapeutically aid in altering the proinflammatory milieu in obese individuals, and despite elevated expression of PTX3 mRNA observed in adipose tissue, the circulating level of PTX3 is reduced with obesity. Interestingly, aerobic activity has been demonstrated to elevate PTX3 levels. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to discuss the therapeutic potential of PTX3 to positively regulate obesity-related inflammation and discuss the proposition for utilizing aerobic exercise as a nonpharmacological anti-inflammatory treatment strategy to enhance circulating PTX3 concentrations in obese individuals
Increase woodland products through timber stand improvement
John Slusher and J.M. Nichols (School of Forestry, Fisheries & Wildlife), Eldon L. Heflin (Missouri Department of Conservation), Ivan L. Sander (U.S. Forest Service)Revised 7/79/8
Experimental Vacuum Squeezing in Rubidium Vapor via Self-Rotation
We report the generation of optical squeezed vacuum states by means of
polarization self-rotation in rubidium vapor following a proposal by Matsko et
al. [Phys. Rev. A 66, 043815 (2002)]. The experimental setup, involving in
essence just a diode laser and a heated rubidium gas cell, is simple and easily
scalable. A squeezing of 0.85+-0.05 dB was achieved
Increase woodland products through timber stand improvement
"Timber Stand Improvement (TSI) denotes management practices that improve the vigor, productivity, and quality of stands of trees."--First page.John Slusher and H.E. Garrett (School of Forestry, Fisheries and Wildlife), Clell Solomon (Missouri Department of Conservation), and Ivan L. Sander (U.S. Forest Service)Revised 5/84/5
Conditional large Fock state preparation and field state reconstruction in Cavity QED
We propose a scheme for producing large Fock states in Cavity QED via the
implementation of a highly selective atom-field interaction. It is based on
Raman excitation of a three-level atom by a classical field and a quantized
field mode. Selectivity appears when one tunes to resonance a specific
transition inside a chosen atom-field subspace, while other transitions remain
dispersive, as a consequence of the field dependent electronic energy shifts.
We show that this scheme can be also employed for reconstructing, in a new and
efficient way, the Wigner function of the cavity field state.Comment: 4 Revtex pages with 3 postscript figures. Submitted for publicatio
Expression and Localization of an Aquaporin-1 Homologue in the Avian Kidney and Lower Intestinal Tract
Measurements of pernitric acid at the South Pole during ISCAT 2000
The first measurements of pernitric acid at the South Pole were performed during the second Investigation of Sulfur Chemistry in the Antarctic Troposphere (ISCAT 2000). Observed HO2NO2 concentrations averaged 25 pptv. Simple steady-state calculations constrained by measurements show that the lifetime of pernitric acid was largely controlled by dry deposition, with thermal decomposition becoming increasingly important at warmer temperatures. We determined that the pernitric acid equilibrium constant is less uncertain than indicated in the literature. One consequence of pernitric acid deposition to the snow surface is that it is an important sink for both NOx and HOx. Another is that the photochemistry of HO2NO2 in the Antarctic snowpack may be a NOx source in addition to nitrate photolysis. This might be one of the important differences in snow photochemistry between the South Pole and warmer polar sites
Observation of polarization quantum noise of laser radiation in Rb vapor cell
We present experimental study of polarization quantum noise of laser
radiation passed through optically think vapor of Rb87. We observe a step-like
noise spectrum. We discuss various factor which may result in such noise
spectrum and prevent observation of squeezing of quantum fluctuations predicted
in Matsko et al. PRA 63, 043814 (2001).Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. Translated from Russian by I. Novikov
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