Correlation between synthesis of ?2-macroglobulin in hepatocytes and changes in serum cytokine levels in rats after infl ammatory stimulation

The time course of ?2-macroglobulin (?2M) synthesis in rat liver was investigated using immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, correlations between synthesis of ?2M in hepatocytes and interleukin (IL)-6 and cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant-1 (CINC-1), which are considered to contribute to the production of ?2M, were evaluated. The presence of ?2M in the liver was investigated by immunohistochemistry, and serum levels of ?2M, IL-6 and CINC-1 were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. ?2M was not detected in the liver before injection of turpentine oil. ?2M was detected throughout the liver at 12 hours after injection of turpentine oil, when high serum levels of IL-6 and CINC-1 were observed. ?2M was distributed mainly around the central vein of the liver at 36 hours. Only small amounts of ?2M were detected in the liver at 48 hours, when peak serum levels of ?2M were observed. Synthesis of ?2M in hepatocytes peaked long before peak ?2M serum levels were seen. In conclusion, ?2M was considered to be synthesized in response to stimulation by IL-6 and CINC-1

Abnormal left ventricular wall rotation in patients with complete left bundle branch block: analysis using magnetic resonance imaging tagging images

The ideal vaccine is a simple and stable formulation which can be conveniently administered and provides life-long immunity against a given pathogen. The development of such a vaccine, which should trigger broad and strong B-cell and T-cell responses against antigens of the pathogen in question, is highly dependent on tailored vaccine delivery approaches. This review addresses vaccine delivery in its broadest scope. We discuss the needs and challenges in the area of vaccine delivery, including restrictions posed by specific target populations, potentials of dedicated stable formulations and devices, and the use of adjuvants. Moreover, we address the current status and perspectives of vaccine delivery via several routes of administration, including non-or minimally invasive routes. Finally we suggest possible directions for future vaccine delivery research and development. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

On hydrogen bond correlations at high pressures

In situ high pressure neutron diffraction measured lengths of O H and H O pairs in hydrogen bonds in substances are shown to follow the correlation between them established from 0.1 MPa data on different chemical compounds. In particular, the conclusion by Nelmes et al that their high pressure data on ice VIII differ from it is not supported. For compounds in which the O H stretching frequencies red shift under pressure, it is shown that wherever structural data is available, they follow the stretching frequency versus H O (or O O) distance correlation. For compounds displaying blue shifts with pressure an analogy appears to exist with improper hydrogen bonds.Comment: 12 pages,4 figure

Shimura varieties in the Torelli locus via Galois coverings of elliptic curves

We study Shimura subvarieties of $\mathsf{A}_g$ obtained from families of Galois coverings $f: C \rightarrow C'$ where $C'$ is a smooth complex projective curve of genus $g' \geq 1$ and $g= g(C)$. We give the complete list of all such families that satisfy a simple sufficient condition that ensures that the closure of the image of the family via the Torelli map yields a Shimura subvariety of $\mathsf{A}_g$ for $g' =1,2$ and for all $g \geq 2,4$ and for $g' > 2$ and $g \leq 9$. In a previous work of the first and second author together with A. Ghigi [FGP] similar computations were done in the case $g'=0$. Here we find 6 families of Galois coverings, all with $g' = 1$ and $g=2,3,4$ and we show that these are the only families with $g'=1$ satisfying this sufficient condition. We show that among these examples two families yield new Shimura subvarieties of $\mathsf{A}_g$, while the other examples arise from certain Shimura subvarieties of $\mathsf{A}_g$ already obtained as families of Galois coverings of $\mathbb{P}^1$ in [FGP]. Finally we prove that if a family satisfies this sufficient condition with $g'\geq 1$, then $g \leq 6g'+1$.Comment: 18 pages, to appear in Geometriae Dedicat

Strong time operators associated with generalized Hamiltonians

Let the pair of operators, $(H, T)$, satisfy the weak Weyl relation: $Te^{-itH} = e^{-itH}(T + t)$, where $H$ is self-adjoint and $T$ is closed symmetric. Suppose that g is a realvalued Lebesgue measurable function on \RR such that $g \in C^2(R K)$ for some closed subset K \subset \RR with Lebesgue measure zero. Then we can construct a closed symmetric operator $D$ such that $(g(H), D)$ also obeys the weak Weyl relation.Comment: 10 page

L-infinity algebra connections and applications to String- and Chern-Simons n-transport

We give a generalization of the notion of a Cartan-Ehresmann connection from Lie algebras to L-infinity algebras and use it to study the obstruction theory of lifts through higher String-like extensions of Lie algebras. We find (generalized) Chern-Simons and BF-theory functionals this way and describe aspects of their parallel transport and quantization. It is known that over a D-brane the Kalb-Ramond background field of the string restricts to a 2-bundle with connection (a gerbe) which can be seen as the obstruction to lifting the PU(H)-bundle on the D-brane to a U(H)-bundle. We discuss how this phenomenon generalizes from the ordinary central extension U(1) -> U(H) -> PU(H) to higher categorical central extensions, like the String-extension BU(1) -> String(G) -> G. Here the obstruction to the lift is a 3-bundle with connection (a 2-gerbe): the Chern-Simons 3-bundle classified by the first Pontrjagin class. For G = Spin(n) this obstructs the existence of a String-structure. We discuss how to describe this obstruction problem in terms of Lie n-algebras and their corresponding categorified Cartan-Ehresmann connections. Generalizations even beyond String-extensions are then straightforward. For G = Spin(n) the next step is "Fivebrane structures" whose existence is obstructed by certain generalized Chern-Simons 7-bundles classified by the second Pontrjagin class.Comment: 100 pages, references and clarifications added; correction to section 5.1 and further example to 9.3.1 adde