Effect of Skin Sensitizers on Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase Expression and Nitric Oxide Production in Skin Dendritic Cells: Role of Different Immunosuppressive Drugs

Nitric oxide (NO) is involved in the pathogenesis of acute and chronic inflammatory conditions, namely in allergic contact dermatitis (ACD). However, the mechanism by which NO acts in ACD remains elusive. The present study focuses on the effects of different contact sensitizers (2,4-dinitrofluorbenzene, 1,4-phenylenediamine, nickel sulfate), the inactive analogue of DNFB, 2,4-dichloronitrobenzene, and two irritants (sodium dodecyl sulphate and benzalkonium chloride) on the expression of the inducible isoform of nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and NO production in skin dendritic cells. It was also studied the role of different immunosuppressive drugs on iNOS expression and NO production. Only nickel sulfate increased the expression of iNOS and NO production being these effects inhibited by dexamathasone. In contrast, cyclosporin A and sirolimus, two other immunosuppressive drugs tested, did not affect iNOS expression triggered by nickel

Why Distinguish Between Statistics and Mathematical Statistics–The Case of Swedish Academia

A separation between the academic subjects statistics and mathematical statistics has existed in Sweden almost as long as there have been statistics professors. The same distinction has not been maintained in other countries. Why has it been kept for so long in Sweden, and what consequences may it have had?In May 2015, it was 100 years since Mathematical Statistics was formally established as an academic discipline at a Swedish university where Statistics had existed since the turn of the century.We give an account of the debate in Lund and elsewhere about this division during the first decades after 1900 and present two of its leading personalities. The Lund University astronomer (and mathematical statistician) C. V. L. Charlier was a leading proponent for a position in mathematical statistics at the university. Charlier's adversary in the debate was Pontus Fahlbeck, professor in political science and statistics, who reserved the word statistics for ‘statistics as a social science’. Charlier not only secured the first academic position in Sweden in mathematical statistics for his former PhD student Sven Wicksell but also demonstrated that a mathematical statistician can be influential in matters of state, finance as well as in different natural sciences. Fahlbeck saw mathematical statistics as a set of tools that sometimes could be useful in his brand of statistics.After a summary of the organisational, educational and scientific growth of the statistical sciences in Sweden that has taken place during the last 50 years, we discuss what effects the Charlier–Fahlbeck divergence might have had on this development