A change of IL-2 and IL-4 production in patients with Helicobactor pylori infection

Hellcobacter pylori is the most common cause of gastroduodenal inflammation. However, the exact immune pathogenesis is not fully understood. To look for evidence of the immunological mechanism in H. pylori associated disease, we measured cytokine interleukin-2 (IL-2) and IL-4 levels produced by peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) and gastric biopsies in 20 subjects with or without H. pylori infection. H. pylori can stimulate IL-2 and IL-4 production from PBL in H. pylori negative as well as H. pylori positive individuals. The spontaneous IL-2 production by PBL and gastric biopsies was greater (p < 0.0025, <0.001)in H. pylori negative individuals than that in H. pylori infected patients. Increased IL-4 levels from PBL in H. pylori infected patients were found in the presence of H. pylori (p < 0.0025). An increased spontaneous production of IL-4 from gastric biopsies was also observed in H. pylori infected patients (p < 0.025). In conclusion, an enhanced type 2 cytokine production was observed in H. pylori infected patients, which may be responsible for H. pylori chronic infection

Uniaxial pulling and nano-scratching of a newly synthesized high entropy alloy

Multicomponent alloys possessing nanocrystalline structure, often alluded to as Cantor alloys or high entropy alloys (HEAs), continue to attract the great attention of the research community. It has been suggested that about 64 elements in the periodic table can be mixed in various compositions to synthesize as many as ∼108 different types of HEA alloys. Nanomechanics of HEAs combining experimental and atomic simulations are rather scarce in the literature, which was a major motivation behind this work. In this spirit, a novel high-entropy alloy (Ni25Cu18.75Fe25Co25Al6.25) was synthesized using the arc melting method, which followed a joint simulation and experimental effort to investigate dislocation-mediated plastic mechanisms leading to side flow, pileup, and crystal defects formed in the sub-surface of the HEA during and after the scratch process. The major types of crystal defects associated with the plastic deformation of the crystalline face-centered cubic structure of HEA were 2,3,4-hcp layered such as defect coordination structures, coherent ∑3 twin boundary, and ∑11 fault or tilt boundary, in combination with Stair rods, Hirth locks, Frank partials, and Lomer–Cottrell locks. Moreover, 1/6 &lt;112&gt; Shockley, with exceptionally larger dislocation loops, was seen to be the transporter of stacking faults deeper into the substrate than the location of the applied cutting load. The (100) orientation showed the highest value for the kinetic coefficient of friction but the least amount of cutting stress and cutting temperature during HEA deformation, suggesting that this orientation is better than the other orientations for improved contact-mode manufacturing

Counting statistics of tunneling through a single molecule: effect of distortion and displacement of vibrational potential surface

We analyze the effects of a distortion of the nuclear potential of a molecular quantum dot (QD), as well as a shift of its equilibrium position, on nonequilibrium-vibration-assisted tunneling through the QD with a single level ($\epsilon_d$) coupled to the vibrational mode. For this purpose, we derive an explicit analytical expression for the Franck-Condon (FC) factor for a displaced-distorted oscillator surface of the molecule and establish rate equations in the joint electron-phonon representation to examine the current-voltage characteristics and zero-frequency shot noise, and skewness as well. Our numerical analyses shows that the distortion has two important effects. The first one is that it breaks the symmetry between the excitation spectra of the charge states, leading to asymmetric tunneling properties with respect to $\epsilon_d>0$ and $\epsilon_d<0$. Secondly, distortion (frequency change of the oscillator) significantly changes the voltage-activated cascaded transition mechanism, and consequently gives rise to a different nonequilibrium vibrational distribution from that of the case without distortion. Taken in conjunction with strongly modified FC factors due to distortion, this results in some new transport features: the appearance of strong NDC even for a single-level QD with symmetric tunnel couplings; a giant Fano factor even for a molecule with an extremely weak electron-phonon interaction; and enhanced skewness that can have a large negative value under certain conditions.Comment: 29 pages, 11 figures, published versio

k-Component q-deformed charge coherent states and their nonclassical properties

k-Component q-deformed charge coherent states are constructed, their (over)completeness proved and their generation explored. The q-deformed charge coherent states and the even (odd) q-deformed charge coherent states are the two special cases of them as k becomes 1 and 2, respectively. A D-algebra realization of the SU$_q$(1,1) generators is given in terms of them. Their nonclassical properties are studied and it is shown that for $k\geq3$, they exhibit two-mode q-antibunching, but neither SU$_q$(1,1) squeezing, nor one- or two-mode q-squeezing.Comment: LaTeX, 29 pages, 2 Postscript figures, minor change

The X-ray Spectral Properties and Variability of Luminous High-Redshift Active Galactic Nuclei

We perform a detailed investigation of moderate-to-high quality X-ray spectra of ten of the most luminous active galactic nuclei (AGNs) known at z>4 (up to z~6.28). This study includes five new XMM observations and five archived X-ray observations (four by XMM and one by Chandra). We find that the X-ray power-law photon indices of our sample, composed of eight radio-quiet sources and two that are moderately radio loud, are not significantly different from those of lower redshift AGNs. The upper limits obtained on intrinsic neutral hydrogen column densities, N_H<~10^{22}-10^{23} cm^{-2}, indicate that these AGNs are not significantly absorbed. A joint fit performed on our eight radio-quiet sources, with a total of ~7000 photons, constrains the mean photon index of z>4 radio-quiet AGNs to Gamma=1.97^{+0.06}_{-0.04}, with no detectable intrinsic dispersion from source to source. We also obtain a strong constraint on the mean intrinsic column density, N_H<~3x10^{21} cm^{-2}, showing that optically selected radio-quiet AGNs at z>4 are, on average, not more absorbed than their lower-redshift counterparts. All this suggests that the X-ray production mechanism and the central environment in radio-quiet AGNs have not significantly evolved over cosmic time. The mean equivalent width of a putative neutral narrow Fe Ka line is constrained to be <~190 eV, and similarly we place constraints on the mean Compton reflection component (R<~1.2). None of the AGNs varied on short (~1 hr) timescales, but on longer timescales (months-to-years) strong variability is observed in four of the sources. In particular, the X-ray flux of the z=5.41 radio-quiet AGN SDSS 0231-0728 dropped by a factor of ~4 over a rest-frame period of 73 d. This is the most extreme X-ray variation observed in a luminous z>4 radio-quiet AGN.Comment: 10 pages (emulateapj), 5 figures. Accepted by Ap

Chaotic to ordered state transition of cathode-sheath instabilities in DC glow discharge plasmas

Transition from chaotic to ordered state has been observed during the initial stage of a discharge in a cylindrical dc glow discharge plasma. Initially it shows a chaotic behavior but increasing the discharge voltage changes the characteristics of the discharge glow and shows a period substraction of order 7 period $\to$ 5 period $\to$3 period $\to$1 period i.e. the system goes to single mode through odd cycle subtraction. On further increasing the discharge voltage, the system goes through period doubling, like 1 period $\to$ 2 period $\to$ 4 period. On further increasing the voltage, the system goes to stable state without having any oscillations.Comment: chathode-sheath, instabilities, chaos, period-subtraction, bifurcation, dc-discharg

Influence of intensive melt shearing on the microstructure and mechanical properties of an Al-Mg alloy with high added impurity content

The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society and ASM International 2011We have investigated the influence of melt conditioning by intensive shearing on the mechanical behavior and microstructure of Al-Mg-Mn-Fe-Cu-Si alloy sheet produced from a small book mold ingot with high added impurity content. The melt conditioned ingot has fine grains throughout its cross section, whereas a conventionally cast ingot, without melt shearing, has coarser grains and shows a wider variation of grain size. Both needle-shaped and coarse Chinese script iron bearing intermetallic particles are found in the microstructure at the center of the conventionally processed ingot, but for the melt conditioned ingot, only fine Chinese script intermetallic particles are observed. In addition to the iron bearing intermetallics, Mg2Si particles are also observed. The ingots were rolled to thin sheet and solution heat treated (SHT). During rolling, the iron-based intermetallics and Mg2Si particles are broken and aligned along the rolling direction. Yield strength (YS), ultimate tensile strength (UTS), and elongation of the intensively melt sheared and processed sheet are all improved compared to the conventionally cast and processed sheet. Fractographic analysis of the tensile fracture surfaces shows that the clustered and coarse iron bearing intermetallic particles are responsible for the observed reduction in mechanical properties of the conventionally cast sheet. We have shown that by refining the initial microstructure of the ingot by intensive shear melt conditioning, it is possible to achieve improved mechanical properties at the final sheet gage of an AlMgMn alloy with a high content of impurities.This study is under the Technology Strategy Board funded REALCAR projec