1,012 research outputs found
Islets of Langerhans Are Protected from Inflammatory Cell Recruitment during Reperfusion of Rat Pancreas Grafts
Background: Ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury plays a pivotal role in the development of graft pancreatitis, with ischemia time representing one of its crucial factors. However, it is unclear, whether exocrine and endocrine tissue experience similar inflammatory responses during pancreas transplantation (PTx). This study evaluated inflammatory susceptibilities of islets of Langerhans (ILH) and exocrine tissue after different preservation periods during early reperfusion. Methods: PTx was performed in rats following 2 h (2h-I) or 18 h (18h-I) preservation. Leukocyte-endothelial cell interactions (LEI) were analyzed in venules of acinar tissue and ILH in vivo over 2 h reperfusion. Nontransplanted animals served as controls. Tissue samples were analyzed by histomorphometry. Results: In exocrine venules leukocyte rolling predominated in the 2h-I group. In the 18h-I group, additionally, high numbers of adherent leukocytes were found. Histology revealed significant edema formation and leukocyte extravasation in the 18h-I group. Notably, LEI in postcapillary venules of ILH were significantly lower. Leukocyte rolling was only moderately enhanced and few leukocytes were found adherent. Histology revealed minor leukocyte extravasation. Conclusion: Ischemia time contributes decisively to the extent of the I/R-injury in PTx. However, ILH have a significantly lower susceptibility towards I/R, even when inflammatory reactions in adjacent exocrine tissue are evident. Copyright (C) 2010 S. Karger AG, Base
Innate and Adaptive Immunity in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases
While barrier function and the effects of the intestinal microbiome have only recently moved into the focus of inflammatory bowel disease research, the role of the innate and the adaptive immune system in these gastrointestinal disorders has extensively been studied. Although still not completely understood, the increasing knowledge about the immune system's contribution to the pathophysiology of inflammatory bowel diseases has led to new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. This review gives a compact overview on this important topic
Topological solitons in highly anisotropic two dimensional ferromagnets
e study the solitons, stabilized by spin precession in a classical
two--dimensional lattice model of Heisenberg ferromagnets with non-small
easy--axis anisotropy. The properties of such solitons are treated both
analytically using the continuous model including higher then second powers of
magnetization gradients, and numerically for a discrete set of the spins on a
square lattice. The dependence of the soliton energy on the number of spin
deviations (bound magnons) is calculated. We have shown that the
topological solitons are stable if the number exceeds some critical value
. For and the intermediate values of anisotropy
constant ( is an exchange constant), the soliton
properties are similar to those for continuous model; for example, soliton
energy is increasing and the precession frequency is decreasing
monotonously with growth. For high enough anisotropy we found some fundamentally new soliton features absent for continuous
models incorporating even the higher powers of magnetization gradients. For
high anisotropy, the dependence of soliton energy E(N) on the number of bound
magnons become non-monotonic, with the minima at some "magic" numbers of bound
magnons. Soliton frequency have quite irregular behavior with
step-like jumps and negative values of for some regions of . Near
these regions, stable static soliton states, stabilized by the lattice effects,
exist.Comment: 17 page
Topological phase separation in 2D quantum lattice Bose-Hubbard system away from half-filling
We suppose that the doping of the 2D hard-core boson system away from
half-filling may result in the formation of multi-center topological
inhomogeneity (defect) such as charge order (CO) bubble domain(s) with Bose
superfluid (BS) and extra bosons both localized in domain wall(s), or a {\it
topological} CO+BS {\it phase separation}, rather than an uniform mixed CO+BS
supersolid phase. Starting from the classical model we predict the properties
of the respective quantum system. The long-wavelength behavior of the system is
believed to remind that of granular superconductors, CDW materials, Wigner
crystals, and multi-skyrmion system akin in a quantum Hall ferromagnetic state
of a 2D electron gas. To elucidate the role played by quantum effects and that
of the lattice discreteness we have addressed the simplest nanoscopic
counterpart of the bubble domain in a checkerboard CO phase of 2D hc-BH square
lattice. It is shown that the relative magnitude and symmetry of
multi-component order parameter are mainly determined by the sign of the
and transfer integrals. In general, the topologically inhomogeneous phase
of the hc-BH system away from the half-filling can exhibit the signatures both
of , and symmetry of the off-diagonal order.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure
Soliton-Magnon Scattering in Two-Dimensional Isotropic Ferromagnets
It is studied the scattering of magnons by the 2d topological
Belavin-Polyakov soliton in isotropic ferromagnet. Analytical solutions of the
scattering problem are constructed: (i) exactly for any magnon wave vectors for
the partial wave with the azimuthal number m=1 (translational mode), and (ii)
in the long- and short-wave limits for the rest modes. The magnon mode
frequencies are found for the finite size magnets. An effective equation of the
soliton motion is constructed. The magnon density of states, connected with the
soliton-magnon interaction, is found in a long-wave approximation.Comment: 4 pages, REVTe
Internal Modes and Magnon Scattering on Topological Solitons in 2d Easy-Axis Ferromagnets
We study the magnon modes in the presence of a topological soliton in a 2d
Heisenberg easy-axis ferromagnet. The problem of magnon scattering on the
soliton with arbitrary relation between the soliton radius R and the "magnetic
length" Delta_0 is investigated for partial modes with different values of the
azimuthal quantum numbers m. Truly local modes are shown to be present for all
values of m, when the soliton radius is enough large. The eigenfrequencies of
such internal modes are calculated analytically on limiting case of a large
soliton radius and numerically for arbitrary soliton radius. It is demonstrated
that the model of an isotropic magnet, which admits an exact analytical
investigation, is not adequate even for the limit of small radius solitons,
R<<Delta_0: there exists a local mode with nonzero frequency. We use the data
about local modes to derive the effective equation of soliton motion; this
equation has the usual Newtonian form in contrast to the case of the easy-plane
ferromagnet. The effective mass of the soliton is found.Comment: 33 pages (REVTeX), 12 figures (EPS
Lack of Intestinal Epithelial Atg7 Affects Paneth Cell Granule Formation but Does Not Compromise Immune Homeostasis in the Gut
Genetic polymorphisms of autophagy-related genes have been associated with an increased risk to develop inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Autophagy is an elementary process participating in several cellular events such as cellular clearance and nonapoptotic programmed cell death. Furthermore, autophagy may be involved in intestinal immune homeostasis due to its participation in the digestion of intracellular pathogens and in antigen presentation. In the present study, the role of autophagy in the intestinal epithelial layer was investigated. The intestinal epithelium is essential to maintain gut homeostasis, and defects within this barrier have been associated with the pathogenesis of IBD. Therefore, mice with intestinal epithelial deletion of Atg7 were generated and investigated in different mouse models. Knockout mice showed reduced size of granules and decreased levels of lysozyme in Paneth cells. However, this was dispensable for gut immune homeostasis and had no effect on susceptibility in mouse models of experimentally induced colitis
Topological phase separation in 2D hard-core Bose-Hubbard system away from half-filling
We suppose that the doping of the 2D hard-core boson system away from
half-filling may result in the formation of multi-center topological defect
such as charge order (CO) bubble domain(s) with Bose superfluid (BS) and extra
bosons both localized in domain wall(s), or a {\it topological} CO+BS {\it
phase separation}, rather than an uniform mixed CO+BS supersolid phase.
Starting from the classical model we predict the properties of the respective
quantum system. The long-wavelength behavior of the system is believed to
remind that of granular superconductors, CDW materials, Wigner crystals, and
multi-skyrmion system akin in a quantum Hall ferromagnetic state of a 2D
electron gas.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figur
Direct and indirect effects of interspecific competition in a highly partitioned guild of reef fishes
Competitive interactions and resource partitioning facilitate species coexistence in complex ecosystems. However, while pairwise interactions between ecologically similar species have been well studied, multi‐species competitive networks have received less attention. When interference competition between two species results in partitioning of resources, this may have indirect consequences for other species distributed along the same resource gradient. Here, we tested whether interference competition between two territorial damselfish influenced the fine‐scale species distributions of five other territorial damselfish in Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea. These species partition habitat across three reef zones—the flat, crest, and slope, with distinct patterns of distribution within these zones. We predicted the two species with similar distributions and microhabitat use, Pomacentrus adelus and Pomacentrus bankanensis, would display the greatest level of aggression toward one another. This was tested through an intruder experiment where stimulus fish were introduced into a resident's territory, which confirmed disproportionately high levels of interspecific aggression between these two species. We also predicted that the fine‐scale differences in the distribution of each species were maintained through multi‐species interference competition among neighboring species, with further indirect effects on species that did not directly interact. To test this, we conducted a large‐scale (22 × 10 m) experimental removal of the most abundant species, Po. adelus, and quantified the abundance and distribution of all territorial damselfish species for 6 months to a 25 cm resolution. The main direct competitor, Po. bankanensis, exhibited a marked increase in abundance and expanded its distribution (+1.33 m) to acquire the space previously occupied by Po. adelus. This competitive release triggered indirect effects on the distribution of other neighboring species further back on the reef flat, with Chrysiptera unimaculata moving into the zone formerly occupied by Po. bankanensis. This study indicates that the distinct distribution patterns among the reef crest species are linked to levels of interspecific agonistic behavior. We argue that the competitive release following the removal of a superior competitor resulted in both direct and indirect effects, with the immediate neighbor shifting into the newly available space, followed by successive shifts in species responding to the change in the distributions of their immediate neighbors
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