Effective Field Theories for Electrons in Crystalline Structures

We present an effective field theory formulation for a class of condensed matter systems with crystalline structures for which some of the discrete symmetries of the underlying crystal survive the long distance limit, up to mesoscopic scales, and argue that this class includes interesting materials, such as $Si$-doped $GaAs$. The surviving symmetries determine a limited set of possible effective interactions, that we analyze in detail for the case of $Si$-doped $GaAs$ materials. These coincide with the ones proposed in the literature to describe the spin relaxation times for the $Si$-doped $Ga As$ materials, obtained here as a consequence of the choice of effective fields and their symmetries. The resulting low-energy effective theory is described in terms of three (six chiral) one-dimensional Luttinger liquid systems and their corresponding intervalley transitions. We also discuss the Mott transition within the context of the effective theory.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figure

Abelian Chern-Simons field theory and anyon equation on a torus

We quantize the abelian Chern-Simons theory coupled to non-relativistic matter field on a torus without invoking the flux quantization. Through a series of canonical transformations which is equivalent to solving the Gauss constraint, we obtain an effective hamiltonian density with periodic matter field. We also obtain the many-anyon Schr\"odinger equation with periodic Aharonov-Bohm potentials and analyze the periodic property of the wavefunction. Some comments are given on the different features of our approach from the previous ones.Comment: 24, SNUTP-93-9

Immunosuppressive potential of human amnion epithelial cells in the treatment of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

BACKGROUND: Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune inflammatory disease of the central nervous system (CNS). In recent years, it has been found that cells such as human amnion epithelial cells (hAECs) have the ability to modulate immune responses in vitro and in vivo and can differentiate into multiple cell lineages. Accordingly, we investigated the immunoregulatory effects of hAECs as a potential therapy in an MS-like disease, EAE (experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis), in mice. METHODS: Using flow cytometry, the phenotypic profile of hAECs from different donors was assessed. The immunomodulatory properties of hAECs were examined in vitro using antigen-specific and one-way mixed lymphocyte proliferation assays. The therapeutic efficacy of hAECs was examined using a relapsing-remitting model of EAE in NOD/Lt mice. T cell responsiveness, cytokine secretion, T regulatory, and T helper cell phenotype were determined in the peripheral lymphoid organs and CNS of these animals. RESULTS: In vitro, hAECs suppressed both specific and non-specific T cell proliferation, decreased pro-inflammatory cytokine production, and inhibited the activation of stimulated T cells. Furthermore, T cells retained their naïve phenotype when co-cultured with hAECs. In vivo studies revealed that hAECs not only suppressed the development of EAE but also prevented disease relapse in these mice. T cell responses and production of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-17A were reduced in hAEC-treated mice, and this was coupled with a significant increase in the number of peripheral T regulatory cells and naïve CD4+ T cells. Furthermore, increased proportions of Th2 cells in the peripheral lymphoid organs and within the CNS were observed. CONCLUSION: The therapeutic effect of hAECs is in part mediated by inducing an anti-inflammatory response within the CNS, demonstrating that hAECs hold promise for the treatment of autoimmune diseases like MS

A Particle-Associated Glycoprotein Signal Peptide Essential for Virus Maturation and Infectivity

Signal peptides (SP) are key determinants for targeting glycoproteins to the secretory pathway. Here we describe the involvement in particle maturation as an additional function of a viral glycoprotein SP. The SP of foamy virus (FV) envelope glycoprotein is predicted to be unusually long. Using an SP-specific antiserum, we demonstrate that its proteolytic removal occurs posttranslationally by a cellular protease and that the major N-terminal cleavage product, gp18, is found in purified viral particles. Analysis of mutants in proposed signal peptidase cleavage positions and N-glycosylation sites revealed an SP about 148 amino acids (aa) in length. FV particle release from infected cells requires the presence of cognate envelope protein and cleavage of its SP sequence. An N-terminal 15-aa SP domain with two conserved tryptophan residues was found to be essential for the egress of FV particles. While the SP N terminus was found to mediate the specificity of FV Env to interact with FV capsids, it was dispensable for Env targeting to the secretory pathway and FV envelope-mediated infectivity of murine leukemia virus pseudotypes