Not All Antibodies Are Created Equal: Factors That Influence Antibody Mediated Rejection.

Consistent with Dr. Paul Terasaki's "humoral theory of rejection" numerous studies have shown that HLA antibodies can cause acute and chronic antibody mediated rejection (AMR) and decreased graft survival. New evidence also supports a role for antibodies to non-HLA antigens in AMR and allograft injury. Despite the remarkable efforts by leaders in the field who pioneered single antigen bead technology for detection of donor specific antibodies, a considerable amount of work is still needed to better define the antibody attributes that are associated with AMR pathology. This review highlights what is currently known about the clinical context of pre and posttransplant antibodies, antibody characteristics that influence AMR, and the paths after donor specific antibody production (no rejection, subclinical rejection, and clinical dysfunction with AMR)

Incidence and Patterns of Representation Campaign Tactics: A Comparison of Manufacturing and Service Unions

Cet article étudie l'incidence et les modèles de tactiques d'organisation à l'aide d'un échantillon de campagnes d'organisation syndicale. Trois sujets sont traités. D'abord, quelle est l'étendue de certaines stratégies et tactiques d'organisation? Ensuite, les tactiques varient-elles selon le type de syndicat? Finalement, y a-t-il des modèles de tactiques d'organisation syndicale?Utilisant les données de 430 campagnes d'organisation fournies par 64 organisateurs de huit syndicats américains, l'auteur recourt aux tests-T, à l'analyse de régression logistique, aux corrélations et à une échelle multidimensionnelle pour jauger l'incidence et les tendances dans les tactiques d'organisation. Les résultats indiquent que les approches dites classiques, telles les visites à la maison, la présence aux assemblées syndicales, la participation à des comités et le contact direct avec les travailleurs ont souvent été utilisées. Les nouvelles tactiques d'organisation, regroupées sous le vocable de stratégie du pouvoir coopératif (piquetage à l'usine, au siège social, chez les actionnaires, menace à la pension et boycott de la compagnie), ne furent utilisées que dans au plus cinq pourcent des cas. Finalement, les nouvelles tactiques regroupées sous le vocable d'intégration et acceptation communautaire (publicisation des noms des supporteurs syndicaux, pétitions, publicité payée) furent plus utilisées que les stratégies de pouvoir corporatif et moins que les approches classiques.La comparaison dans l'utilisation des tactiques entre les syndicats du secteur manufacturier et ceux du secteur des services démontre qu'en général les organisateurs de syndicats du secteur manufacturier ont tendance à utiliser plus souvent les tactiques de l'approche classique et moins souvent les tactiques de pouvoir corporatif et celles d'intégration et d'acceptation communautaire que leurs collègues des syndicats du secteur des services.L'analyse de régression logistique a permis la formulation d'un certain nombre d'hypothèses. Tel que prévu, les campagnes menées par les syndicats du secteur des services ont connu une participation moindre à leurs assemblées que celles des syndicats du secteur manufacturier. De plus, les syndicats du secteur des services étaient plus enclins que leur contrepartie manufacturière à rendre publics les noms de leurs supporteurs et à utiliser des pétitions que de recourir à la signature confidentielle de cartes durant les stades préliminaires de leurs campagnes. Les syndicats du secteur des services étaient également plus portés que ceux du secteur manufacturier à utiliser des coalitions avec d'autres groupes durant leurs campagnes.L'utilisation de corrélations et de l'échelle multidimensionnelle a également permis de dégager des tendances parmi les différentes tactiques utilisées. Plus spécifiquement, les tactiques de pouvoir corporatif ont tendance à être utilisées ensemble et simultanément. C'est également le cas de certaines tactiques de l'approche classique. L'échelle multidimensionnelle a aussi permis de conclure que les tactiques pouvaient être classées en deux dimensions: «confrontation, non-confrontation» et «gros et détail».On peut tirer deux conclusions de ces résultats. D'abord, on a beaucoup plus utilisé les tactiques traditionnelles que les nouvelles stratégies d'organisation. Aucune tactique de pouvoir corporatif ne fut utilisée dans plus de cinq pourcent des campagnes d'organisation. Les tactiques d'intégration et d'acceptation communautaire sont moins utilisées que les tactiques de l'approche classique mais plus que celles du pouvoir corporatif. Ensuite, les syndicats du secteur des services recourent moins souvent aux tactiques de l'approche classique et plus souvent à celles de pouvoir corporatif et à celles d'intégration et d'acceptation communautaire que leur contrepartie manufacturière. Toutes les différences significatives entre les deux types de syndicats étaient dans la direction attendue à l'exception de la publicité payante. Peut-être que les syndicats du secteur manufacturier ont utilisé plus souvent les médias simplement parce qu'ils avaient plus de ressources à leur disposition.Les corrélations rapportées et les résultats préliminaires de l'échelle multidimensionnelle suggèrent que la classification de tactiques selon les trois groupes de Craft et Extejt (1983) trouve un appui empirique, particulièrement en ce qui a trait aux approches classiques et aux catégories de pouvoir corporatif. De plus, cette méthode suggère que les tactiques syndicales peuvent être classifiées selon deux dimensions: confrontation, non-confrontation et gros et détail. Cependant, vu les problèmes potentiels de fiabilité causés par l'incidence très basse de certaines tactiques, ce dernier aspect exige plus de recherche. En conclusion, il semble que l'importance des «nouvelles» stratégies et tactiques d'organisation a été exagérée dans les publications universitaires, d'affaires et populaires. Certes, les syndicats du secteur des services utilisent d'avantage plusieurs nouvelles tactiques que leur contrepartie manufacturière, mais leur incidence est petite même à l'intérieur du secteur des services. Alors que les deux types de syndicat utilisent une variété de tactiques similaires, l'incidence de certaines tactiques semble différer selon le type de syndicat. De plus, la table de corrélation et l'échelle multidimensionnelle suggèrent que les organisateurs n'utilisent pas toutes les tactiques dans toutes leurs campagnes. Ils choisissent plutôt les tactiques à être utilisées selon les caractéristiques de chacune des campagnes.Using data on 430 campaigns provided by organizers employed by eight U.S. unions, this paper examines the incidence and patterns of organizing tactics in representation campaigns. Three issues are addressed: how prévalent are various organizing strategies and tactics?; do tactics differ by union type?; and do patterns exist among campaign tactics

Automatic, simultaneous control of molar mass and composition in free radical copolymerization using ACOMP/CI

ACOMP/CI has progressed to the point where molar mass and composition can be automatically controlled during free radical copolymerization reactions. The topics covered will be: i) Automatic, simultaneous control of molar mass and composition in free radical copolymerization. The original strategy used to control only molar mass involved the use of two proportionality parameters, aA and p, without any detailed kinetic models. aA is monomer A conversion rate and p the link between instantaneous weight average molar mass Mw,inst and monomer concentration. aA and p can be re-measured during a reaction as frequently as needed and are used to control monomer feed from a reservoir into the reactor. Extending the method to simultaneous control of molar mass and composition requires only one additional, measurable proportionality parameter, the conversion rate of monomer B, aB. Figure 1 shows production of a copolymer with trimodal composition and constant Mw. The comonomers were Acrylamide and Styrene Sulfonate (SS). FSS is the instantaneous fraction of SS incorporated into chains. Please download the file below for full content

An upstream open reading frame modulates ebola virus polymerase translation and virus replication

Ebolaviruses, highly lethal zoonotic pathogens, possess longer genomes than most other non-segmented negative-strand RNA viruses due in part to long 5' and 3' untranslated regions (UTRs) present in the seven viral transcriptional units. To date, specific functions have not been assigned to these UTRs. With reporter assays, we demonstrated that the Zaire ebolavirus (EBOV) 5'-UTRs lack internal ribosomal entry site function. However, the 5'-UTRs do differentially regulate cap-dependent translation when placed upstream of a GFP reporter gene. Most dramatically, the 5'-UTR derived from the viral polymerase (L) mRNA strongly suppressed translation of GFP compared to a β-actin 5'-UTR. The L 5'-UTR is one of four viral genes to possess upstream AUGs (uAUGs), and ablation of each uAUG enhanced translation of the primary ORF (pORF), most dramatically in the case of the L 5'-UTR. The L uAUG was sufficient to initiate translation, is surrounded by a "weak" Kozak sequence and suppressed pORF translation in a position-dependent manner. Under conditions where eIF2α was phosphorylated, the presence of the uORF maintained translation of the L pORF, indicating that the uORF modulates L translation in response to cellular stress. To directly address the role of the L uAUG in virus replication, a recombinant EBOV was generated in which the L uAUG was mutated to UCG. Strikingly, mutating two nucleotides outside of previously-defined protein coding and cis-acting regulatory sequences attenuated virus growth to titers 10-100-fold lower than a wild-type virus in Vero and A549 cells. The mutant virus also exhibited decreased viral RNA synthesis as early as 6 hours post-infection and enhanced sensitivity to the stress inducer thapsigargin. Cumulatively, these data identify novel mechanisms by which EBOV regulates its polymerase expression, demonstrate their relevance to virus replication and identify a potential therapeutic target

KELT-8b: A highly inflated transiting hot Jupiter and a new technique for extracting high-precision radial velocities from noisy spectra

We announce the discovery of a highly inflated transiting hot Jupiter discovered by the KELT-North survey. A global analysis including constraints from isochrones indicates that the V = 10.8 host star (HD 343246) is a mildly evolved, G dwarf with $T_{\rm eff} = 5754_{-55}^{+54}$ K, $\log{g} = 4.078_{-0.054}^{+0.049}$, $[Fe/H] = 0.272\pm0.038$, an inferred mass $M_{*}=1.211_{-0.066}^{+0.078}$ M$_{\odot}$, and radius $R_{*}=1.67_{-0.12}^{+0.14}$ R$_{\odot}$. The planetary companion has mass $M_P = 0.867_{-0.061}^{+0.065}$ $M_{J}$, radius $R_P = 1.86_{-0.16}^{+0.18}$ $R_{J}$, surface gravity $\log{g_{P}} = 2.793_{-0.075}^{+0.072}$, and density $\rho_P = 0.167_{-0.038}^{+0.047}$ g cm$^{-3}$. The planet is on a roughly circular orbit with semimajor axis $a = 0.04571_{-0.00084}^{+0.00096}$ AU and eccentricity $e = 0.035_{-0.025}^{+0.050}$. The best-fit linear ephemeris is $T_0 = 2456883.4803 \pm 0.0007$ BJD$_{\rm TDB}$ and $P = 3.24406 \pm 0.00016$ days. This planet is one of the most inflated of all known transiting exoplanets, making it one of the few members of a class of extremely low density, highly-irradiated gas giants. The low stellar $\log{g}$ and large implied radius are supported by stellar density constraints from follow-up light curves, plus an evolutionary and space motion analysis. We also develop a new technique to extract high precision radial velocities from noisy spectra that reduces the observing time needed to confirm transiting planet candidates. This planet boasts deep transits of a bright star, a large inferred atmospheric scale height, and a high equilibrium temperature of $T_{eq}=1675^{+61}_{-55}$ K, assuming zero albedo and perfect heat redistribution, making it one of the best targets for future atmospheric characterization studies.Comment: Submitted to ApJ, feedback is welcom

A natural Finsler--Laplace operator

We give a new definition of a Laplace operator for Finsler metric as an average with regard to an angle measure of the second directional derivatives. This definition uses a dynamical approach due to Foulon that does not require the use of connections nor local coordinates. We show using 1-parameter families of Katok--Ziller metrics that this Finsler--Laplace operator admits explicit representations and computations of spectral data.Comment: 25 pages, v2: minor modifications, changed the introductio

Anadromy, potamodromy and residency in brown trout Salmo trutta: the role of genes and the environment

Brown trout Salmo trutta is endemic to Europe, western Asia, north‐western Africa and is a prominent member of freshwater and coastal marine fish faunas. The species shows two resident (river‐resident, lake‐resident) and three main facultative migratory life histories (downstream–upstream within a river system, fluvial–adfluvial potamodromous; to and from a lake, lacustrine–adfluvial (inlet)–allucustrine (outlet) potamodromous; to and from the sea, anadromous). River‐residency v. migration is a balance between enhanced feeding and thus growth advantages of migration to a particular habitat v. the costs of potentially greater mortality and energy expenditure. Fluvial–adfluvial migration usually has less feeding improvement, but less mortality risk, than lacustrine–adfluvial–allacustrine and anadromous, but the latter vary among catchments as to which is favoured. Indirect evidence suggests that around 50% of the variability in S. trutta migration v. residency, among individuals within a population, is due to genetic variance. This dichotomous decision can best be explained by the threshold‐trait model of quantitative genetics. Thus, an individual's physiological condition (e.g., energy status) as regulated by environmental factors, genes and non‐genetic parental effects, acts as the cue. The magnitude of this cue relative to a genetically predetermined individual threshold, governs whether it will migrate or sexually mature as a river‐resident. This decision threshold occurs early in life and, if the choice is to migrate, a second threshold probably follows determining the age and timing of migration. Migration destination (mainstem river, lake, or sea) also appears to be genetically programmed. Decisions to migrate and ultimate destination result in a number of subsequent consequential changes such as parr–smolt transformation, sexual maturity and return migration. Strong associations with one or a few genes have been found for most aspects of the migratory syndrome and indirect evidence supports genetic involvement in all parts. Thus, migratory and resident life histories potentially evolve as a result of natural and anthropogenic environmental changes, which alter relative survival and reproduction. Knowledge of genetic determinants of the various components of migration in S. trutta lags substantially behind that of Oncorhynchus mykiss and other salmonids. Identification of genetic markers linked to migration components and especially to the migration–residency decision, is a prerequisite for facilitating detailed empirical studies. In order to predict effectively, through modelling, the effects of environmental changes, quantification of the relative fitness of different migratory traits and of their heritabilities, across a range of environmental conditions, is also urgently required in the face of the increasing pace of such changes

Abnormal Ocular Pneumoplethysmographic Results in Unilateral Neovascular Glaucoma.

Little is known about the predictive value of ocular pneumoplethysmography in patients with ophthalmic disease. We evaluated eight patients with unilateral increased intraocular pressure due to neovascular glaucoma who did not have evidence of severe extracranial carotid stenosis by duplex scanning and continuous-wave Doppler ultrasound. The ophthalmic systolic pressure measured by ocular pneumoplethysmography was decreased in the affected eye of all eight patients, indicating that neovascular glaucoma may be a cause of abnormal ocular pneumoplethysmographic results. Patients with neovascular glaucoma tended to have larger interocular ophthalmic systolic pressure differences than other patients with false-positive ocular pneumoplethysmographic results by noninvasive criteria

State Orthogonalization by Building a Hilbert Space: A New Approach to Electronic Quantum Transport in Molecular Wires

Quantum descriptions of many complex systems are formulated most naturally in bases of states that are not mutually orthogonal. We introduce a general and powerful yet simple approach that facilitates solving such models exactly by embedding the non-orthogonal states in a new Hilbert space in which they are by definition mutually orthogonal. This novel approach is applied to electronic transport in molecular quantum wires and is used to predict conductance antiresonances of a new type that arise solely out of the non-orthogonality of the local orbitals on different sites of the wire.Comment: 4 pages 1 figur