Characteristic free volume change of bulk metallic glasses

2011-2012 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Characteristic free volumes of bulk metallic glasses : measurement and their correlation with glass-forming ability

2010-2011 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalVersion of RecordPublishe

Bacteria-Induced Uroplakin Signaling Mediates Bladder Response to Infection

Urinary tract infections are the second most common infectious disease in humans and are predominantly caused by uropathogenic E. coli (UPEC). A majority of UPEC isolates express the type 1 pilus adhesin, FimH, and cell culture and murine studies demonstrate that FimH is involved in invasion and apoptosis of urothelial cells. FimH initiates bladder pathology by binding to the uroplakin receptor complex, but the subsequent events mediating pathogenesis have not been fully characterized. We report a hitherto undiscovered signaling role for the UPIIIa protein, the only major uroplakin with a potential cytoplasmic signaling domain, in bacterial invasion and apoptosis. In response to FimH adhesin binding, the UPIIIa cytoplasmic tail undergoes phosphorylation on a specific threonine residue by casein kinase II, followed by an elevation of intracellular calcium. Pharmacological inhibition of these signaling events abrogates bacterial invasion and urothelial apoptosis in vitro and in vivo. Our studies suggest that bacteria-induced UPIIIa signaling is a critical mediator of bladder responses to insult by uropathogenic E. coli

Freeze-Fracture Replica Immunolabelling Reveals Urothelial Plaques in Cultured Urothelial Cells

The primary function of the urothelium is to provide the tightest and most impermeable barrier in the body, i.e. the blood-urine barrier. Urothelial plaques are formed and inserted into the apical plasma membrane during advanced stages of urothelial cell differentiation. Currently, it is supposed that differentiation with the final formation of urothelial plaques is hindered in cultured urothelial cells. With the aid of the high-resolution imaging technique of freeze-fracture replica immunolabelling, we here provide evidence that urothelial cells in vitro form uroplakin-positive urothelial plaques, localized in fusiform-shaped vesicles and apical plasma membranes. With the establishment of such an in vitro model of urothelial cells with fully developed urothelial plaques and functional properties equivalent to normal bladder urothelium, new perspectives have emerged which challenge prevailing concepts of apical plasma membrane biogenesis and blood-urine barrier development. This may hopefully provide a timely impulse for many ongoing studies and open up new questions for future research

Urothelial Plaque Formation in Post-Golgi Compartments

Urothelial plaques are specialized membrane domains in urothelial superficial (umbrella) cells, composed of highly ordered uroplakin particles. We investigated membrane compartments involved in the formation of urothelial plaques in mouse umbrella cells. The Golgi apparatus did not contain uroplakins organized into plaques. In the post-Golgi region, three distinct membrane compartments containing uroplakins were characterized: i) Small rounded vesicles, located close to the Golgi apparatus, were labelled weakly with anti-uroplakin antibodies and they possessed no plaques; we termed them “uroplakin-positive transporting vesicles” (UPTVs). ii) Spherical-to-flattened vesicles, termed “immature fusiform vesicles” (iFVs), were uroplakin-positive in their central regions and contained small urothelial plaques. iii) Flattened “mature fusiform vesicles” (mFVs) contained large plaques, which were densely labelled with anti-uroplakin antibodies. Endoytotic marker horseradish peroxidase was not found in these post-Golgi compartments. We propose a detailed model of de novo urothelial plaque formation in post-Golgi compartments: UPTVs carrying individual 16-nm particles detach from the Golgi apparatus and subsequently fuse into iFV. Concentration of 16-nm particles into plaques and removal of uroplakin-negative membranes takes place in iFVs. With additional fusions and buddings, iFVs mature into mFVs, each carrying two urothelial plaques toward the apical surface of the umbrella cell

Electron Tomography of Fusiform Vesicles and Their Organization in Urothelial Cells

The formation of fusiform vesicles (FVs) is one of the most distinctive features in the urothelium of the urinary bladder. FVs represent compartments for intracellular transport of urothelial plaques, which modulate the surface area of the superficial urothelial (umbrella) cells during the distension-contraction cycle. We have analysed the three-dimensional (3D) structure of FVs and their organization in umbrella cells of mouse urinary bladders. Compared to chemical fixation, high pressure freezing gave a new insight into the ultrastructure of urothelial cells. Electron tomography on serial sections revealed that mature FVs had a shape of flattened discs, with a diameter of up to 1.2 µm. The lumen between the two opposing asymmetrically thickened membranes was very narrow, ranging from 5 nm to 10 nm. Freeze-fracturing and immunolabelling confirmed that FVs contain two opposing urothelial plaques connected by a hinge region that made an omega shaped curvature. In the central cytoplasm, 4–15 FVs were often organized into stacks. In the subapical cytoplasm, FVs were mainly organized as individual vesicles. Distension-contraction cycles did not affect the shape of mature FVs; however, their orientation changed from parallel in distended to perpendicular in contracted bladder with respect to the apical plasma membrane. In the intermediate cells, shorter and more dilated immature FVs were present. The salient outcome from this research is the first comprehensive, high resolution 3D view of the ultrastructure of FVs and how they are organized differently depending on their location in the cytoplasm of umbrella cells. The shape of mature FVs and their organization into tightly packed stacks makes them a perfect storage compartment, which transports large amounts of urothelial plaques while occupying a small volume of umbrella cell cytoplasm

Observation of CR Anisotropy with ARGO-YBJ

The measurement of the anisotropies of cosmic ray arrival direction provides important informations on the propagation mechanisms and on the identification of their sources. In this paper we report the observation of anisotropy regions at different angular scales. In particular, the observation of a possible anisotropy on scales between $\sim$ 10 $^{\circ}$ and $\sim$ 30 $^{\circ}$ suggests the presence of unknown features of the magnetic fields the charged cosmic rays propagate through, as well as potential contributions of nearby sources to the total flux of cosmic rays. Evidence of new weaker few-degree excesses throughout the sky region $195^{\circ}\leq$ R.A. $\leq 315^{\circ}$ is reported for the first time.Comment: Talk given at 12th TAUP Conference 2011, 5-9 September 2011, Munich, German

Observation of a ppb mass threshoud enhancement in \psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p}) decay

The decay channel $\psi^\prime\to\pi^+\pi^-J/\psi(J/\psi\to\gamma p\bar{p})$ is studied using a sample of $1.06\times 10^8$ $\psi^\prime$ events collected by the BESIII experiment at BEPCII. A strong enhancement at threshold is observed in the $p\bar{p}$ invariant mass spectrum. The enhancement can be fit with an $S$-wave Breit-Wigner resonance function with a resulting peak mass of $M=1861^{+6}_{-13} {\rm (stat)}^{+7}_{-26} {\rm (syst)} {\rm MeV/}c^2$ and a narrow width that is $\Gamma<38 {\rm MeV/}c^2$ at the 90% confidence level. These results are consistent with published BESII results. These mass and width values do not match with those of any known meson resonance.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Chinese Physics