Enhancement of the antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte-inducing ability in the PMDC11 leukemic plasmacytoid dendritic cell line via lentiviral vector-mediated transduction of the caTLR4 gene.

The aim of the present study was to enhance the efficiency of leukemia immunotherapy by increasing the antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte-inducing ability of leukemia cells. The leukemic plasmacytoid dendritic cell line PMDC05 containing the HLA-A02/24 antigen, which was previously established in our laboratory (Laboratory of Hematology and Oncology, Graduate School of Health Sciences, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan), was used in the present study. It exhibited higher expression levels of CD80 following transduction with lentiviruses encoding the CD80 gene. This CD80-expressing PMDC05 was named PMDC11. In order to establish a more potent antigen-presenting cell for cellular immunotherapy of tumors or severe infections, PMDC11 cells were transduced with a constitutively active (ca) toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) gene using the Tet-On system (caTLR4-PMDC11). CD8(+) T cells from healthy donors with HLA-A02 were co-cultured with mutant WT1 peptide-pulsed PMDC11, lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated PMDC11 or caTLR4-PMDC11 cells. Interleukin (IL)-2 (50 IU/ml) and IL-7 (10 ng/ml) were added on day three of culture. Priming with mutant WT1 peptide-pulsed PMDC11, LPS-stimulated PMDC11 or caTLR4-PMDC11 cells was conducted once per week and two thirds of the IL-2/IL-7 containing medium was replenished every 3-4 days. Immediately prior to the priming with these various PMDC11 cells, the cultured cells were analyzed for the secretion of interferon (IFN)-γ in addition to the percentage and number of CD8(+)/WT1 tetramer(+) T cells using flow cytometry. caTLR4-PMDC11 cells were observed to possess greater antigen-presenting abilities compared with those of PMDC11 or LPS-stimulated PMDC11 cells in a mixed leukocyte culture. CD8 T cells positive for the WT1 tetramer were generated following 3-4 weeks of culture and CD8(+)/WT1 tetramer+ T cells were markedly increased in caTLR4-PMDC11-primed CD8(+) T cell culture compared with PMDC11 or LPS-stimulated PMDC11-primed CD8(+) T cell culture. These CD8(+) T cells co-cultured with caTLR4-PMDC11 cells were demonstrated to secrete IFN-γ and to be cytotoxic to WT1-expressing target cells. These data suggested that the antigen-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL)-inducing ability of PMDC11 was potentiated via transduction of the caTLR4 gene. The present study also suggested that caTLR4-PMDC11 cells may be applied as potent antigen-presenting cells for generating antigen-specific CTLs in adoptive cellular immunotherapy against tumors and severe viral infections

Effects of the package holding with one hand on the center of foot pressure

金沢大学人間社会研究域人間科学系福井大学医学部The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of holding a package with one hand on the center of foot pressure (CFP) during a static upright posture. Fifteen healthy male adults kept the posture for 1 minute while holding a weight corresponding to 0%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40%, and 50% of maximal jerk strength with one hand. Body sway during a static upright posture with each weight was evaluated by the CFP deflection. Before the CFP test, the bilateral difference of body weight was measured with each load weight to reveal the shift of the center of gravity. In the results of one-way ANOVA, the bilateral difference of body weight increased significantly between the weight conditions. The four mean factor scores of CFP tended to increase above 30% of maximal jerk strength (factors 1, 3, and 4) or 40% (factor 2). There was no significant difference between mean factor scores in load weights from 0% to 30% in any factor. There is little CFP deflection for upright postural control with package weights up to 30%. However, over 40% there is a large CFP deflection, and the tendency is to keep the posture with high frequency CFP sway. © Springer-Verlag Italia 2007

Magnetic Field Amplification Associated with the Richtmyer-Meshkov Instability

The amplification of a magnetic field due to the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) is investigated by two-dimensional MHD simulations. Single-mode analysis is adopted to reveal definite relation between the nonlinear evolution of RMI and the field enhancement. It is found that an ambient magnetic field is stretched by fluid motions associated with the RMI, and the strength is amplified significantly by more than two orders of magnitude. The saturation level of the field is determined by a balance between the amplified magnetic pressure and the thermal pressure after shock passage. This effective amplification can be achieved in a wide range of the conditions for the RMI such as the Mach number of an incident shock and the density ratio at a contact discontinuity. The results suggest that the RMI could be a robust mechanism of the amplification of interstellar magnetic fields and cause the origin of localized strong fields observed at the shock of supernova remnants.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Fermi level tuning of Ag-doped Bi2Se3 topological insulator

The temperature dependence of the resistivity (rho) of Ag-doped Bi2Se3 (AgxBi2-xSe3) shows insulating behavior above 35 K, but below 35 K, rho suddenly decreases with decreasing temperature, in contrast to the metallic behavior for non-doped Bi2Se3 at 1.5-300 K. This significant change in transport properties from metallic behavior clearly shows that the Ag doping of Bi2Se3 can effectively tune the Fermi level downward. The Hall effect measurement shows that carrier is still electron in AgxBi2-xSe3 and the electron density changes with temperature to reasonably explain the transport properties. Furthermore, the positive gating of AgxBi2-xSe3 provides metallic behavior that is similar to that of non-doped Bi2Se3, indicating a successful upward tuning of the Fermi level

Suzaku Observations of HESS J1616-508: Evidence for a Dark Particle Accelerator

We observed the bright unidentified TeV gamma-ray source HESS J1616-508 with the X-ray Imaging Spectrometers onboard the Suzaku satellite. No X-ray counterpart was found to a limiting flux of 3.1e-13 erg/s/cm^2 in the 2--10 keV band, which is some 60 times below the gamma-ray flux in the 1--10 TeV band. This object is bright in TeV gamma-rays but very dim in the X-ray band, and thus is one of the best examples in the Galaxy of a "dark particle accelerator." We also detected soft thermal emission with kT=0.3--0.6 keV near the location of HESSJ1616. This may be due to the dust grain scattering halo from the nearby bright supernova remnant RCW103.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in PASJ Suzaku Special Issue (vol. 59 sp. 1

The Effect of Surgical Repair for Pectum Excavatum on Cardiopulmonary Function

In five patients with corrective surgery for pectus Excavatum, the effectiveness of surgical repair were evaluated from the results of pulmonary function test as well as the finding on ECG according to follow-up study postoperativelly. Of five patient undergone the corrective surgery which sternoturnover with costalplasty employed in 4, and sternoplasty alone in I, all of them were male and the average age except 3 years of age was 14.8 years ranging from 10 to 21 years. There are no manifestation of clinical syndrome in all 5 cases. However, the fair mental growth demands psychologically the early corrective surgery in young chidren. By follow-up study after surgical correction for pectus excavatum during a period from 3 months to 3 years and 3 months, the finding on EKG of right ventricular overload revealed the improvement within 2 months after surgical correction in contrast the results of pulmonary function test disclosed no marked changes until 2 months following surgery. From the view of cosmetic efficacy of corrective surgery, sternoturnover with or without costalplasty are one of the adovocating operative procedures

Clinical Evaluation with Referrence to Operative Specificity on Tracheal and Bronchial Reconstruction

The clinical specificity were evaluated in those 11 cases who underwent tracheal recon - structive surgery and in those 25 cases who underwent bronchial reconstructive surgery respectively. Its prognosis after tracheal reconstruction at the level of intrathoracic region was extremely poor. The operative specificity with regard to tracheal surgery consist of being a poor genera- condition preoperativelly and of having an urgent demand of removal of tracheal stenotic lesion to alleviate respiratory distress . The prognosis after tracheal surgery was commonly poor and was similar to that after emergency operation as a general accep - tance for the reason of unfavorable general condtion . The present study was to define clinical problems in which the salvage after tracheal surgery was entirely difficult. The improvement of the prognosis following tracheal surgery should be found in maximum endeavor for prevention of postoperative complication related to operative death intimately. However, terminal tracheostomy employed for lesions of cervical trachea was one o

New CTI Correction Method for the Spaced-Row Charge Injection of the Suzaku X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer

The charge transfer inefficiency (CTI) of the X-ray CCDs on board the Suzaku satellite (X-ray Imaging Spectrometers; XIS) has increased since the launch due to radiation damage, and the energy resolution has been degraded. To improve the CTI, we have applied a spaced-row charge injection (SCI) technique to the XIS in orbit; by injecting charges into CCD rows periodically, the CTI is actively decreased. The CTI in the SCI mode depends on the distance between a signal charge and a preceding injected row, and the pulse height shows periodic positional variations. Using in-flight data of onboard calibration sources and of the strong iron line from the Perseus cluster of galaxies, we studied the variation in detail. We developed a new method to correct the variation. By applying the new method, the energy resolution (FWHM) at 5.9 keV at March 2008 is ~155 eV for the front-illuminated CCDs and ~175 eV for the back-illuminated CCD.Comment: 7 pages, 14 figure

The ASTRO-H X-ray Observatory

The joint JAXA/NASA ASTRO-H mission is the sixth in a series of highly successful X-ray missions initiated by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS). ASTRO-H will investigate the physics of the high-energy universe via a suite of four instruments, covering a very wide energy range, from 0.3 keV to 600 keV. These instruments include a high-resolution, high-throughput spectrometer sensitive over 0.3-2 keV with high spectral resolution of Delta E < 7 eV, enabled by a micro-calorimeter array located in the focal plane of thin-foil X-ray optics; hard X-ray imaging spectrometers covering 5-80 keV, located in the focal plane of multilayer-coated, focusing hard X-ray mirrors; a wide-field imaging spectrometer sensitive over 0.4-12 keV, with an X-ray CCD camera in the focal plane of a soft X-ray telescope; and a non-focusing Compton-camera type soft gamma-ray detector, sensitive in the 40-600 keV band. The simultaneous broad bandpass, coupled with high spectral resolution, will enable the pursuit of a wide variety of important science themes.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, Proceedings of the SPIE Astronomical Instrumentation "Space Telescopes and Instrumentation 2012: Ultraviolet to Gamma Ray