The New Insight into the Role of Antimicrobial Proteins-Alarmins in the Immunopathogenesis of Psoriasis

The pathognesis of psoriasis still remains not fully elucidated. Recent advances favor the idea that interactions between innate and adaptive immune response drive inflammatory process in this disease. Innate antimicrobial peptides and proteins (AMPs) are diverse group of small molecules that provide the first line of defense against invading pathogens. In recent years, the novel functions ofAMPs have been identified. There are three subclasses among AMPs that have gained the special interest as a potentially important player in the pathogenesis of psoriasis: cathelicidin, S100 proteins, and defensins. These AMPs have been shown to modulate and trigger host immune response in psoriasis acting as interplayer between innate and adaptive immune mechanisms. Overexpressed in psoriatic lesions, they prime immune cells for enhanced production of proinflammatory mediators and act as chemoattractant for leukocytes. Therefore, the novel term describing AMPs alarmins has been suggested. As multifunctional player in pathogenesis of psoriasis, AMPs may constitute potential target for therapeutic interventions. However, further investigations are required to establish the methods of downregulation of the aberrant proinflammatory functions of AMPs without increasing the risk of infections

Identification and differentiation of Trichophyton rubrum clinical isolates using PCR-RFLP and RAPD methods

Trichophyton rubrum represents the most frequently isolated causative agent of superficial dermatophyte infections. Several genotyping methods have recently been introduced to improve the delineation between pathogenic fungi at both the species and the strain levels. The purpose of this study was to apply selected DNA fingerprinting methods to the identification and strain discrimination of T. rubrum clinical isolates. Fifty-seven isolates from as many tinea patients were subjected to species identification by polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis and strain differentiation using a randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) method, with two primers designated 1 and 6. Using PCR-RFLP, 55 of the isolates studied were confirmed to be T. rubrum. Among those, a total of 40 and five distinct profiles were obtained by RAPD with primers 1 and 6, respectively. The combination of profiles from both RAPD assays resulted in 47 genotypes and an overall genotypic diversity rate of 85.4%. A dendrogram analysis performed on the profiles generated by RAPD with primer 1 showed most of the isolates (87.3%) to be genetically related. PCR-RFLP serves as a rapid and reliable method for the identification of T. rubrum species, while the RAPD analysis is rather a disadvantageous tool for T. rubrum strain typing

Arabic language skin-related stigmatization instruments: Translation and validation process

Contains fulltext : 205447.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)BACKGROUND: Skin diseases are frequently the reason for social rejection. Therefore, the assessment of stigmatization level in patients suffering from dermatoses plays a crucial role in providing proper health service. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to create and validate Arabic language versions of stigmatization instruments - the 6-item Stigmatization Scale and the Feelings of Stigmatization Questionnaire. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Development of the Arabic language versions was done with international standards of forward-back translations. The validation was performed on 39 psoriatic individuals. The group included 11 females and 28 males. The subjects were asked to fill out both questionnaires: the 6-item Stigmatization Scale and the Feelings of Stigmatization Questionnaire (Arabic language versions) at the time of examination and 7 days after enrollment for reassessment to evaluate test-retest reliability. During the first visit the patients additionally filled out an already existing Arabic version of Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI), which was used as a reference questionnaire. RESULTS: The results concerning the integrity of instruments were very good, and the Cronbach's alpha coefficient for both scales was 0.89. The reproducibility level assessed with interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) stood at 0.91 for the 6-item Stigmatization Scale and 0.92 for the Feelings of Stigmatization Questionnaire. There was a strong correlation between total score of the 6-item Stigmatization Scale and DLQI. Significant negative moderate correlation was documented between the Feelings of Stigmatization Questionnaire and DLQI. Moreover, both stigmatization instruments correlated significantly with each other. CONCLUSIONS: The developed Arabic language versions of the abovementioned stigmatization instruments can be successfully used in daily clinical practice as well as in clinical research

Quantum computation with devices whose contents are never read

In classical computation, a "write-only memory" (WOM) is little more than an oxymoron, and the addition of WOM to a (deterministic or probabilistic) classical computer brings no advantage. We prove that quantum computers that are augmented with WOM can solve problems that neither a classical computer with WOM nor a quantum computer without WOM can solve, when all other resource bounds are equal. We focus on realtime quantum finite automata, and examine the increase in their power effected by the addition of WOMs with different access modes and capacities. Some problems that are unsolvable by two-way probabilistic Turing machines using sublogarithmic amounts of read/write memory are shown to be solvable by these enhanced automata.Comment: 32 pages, a preliminary version of this work was presented in the 9th International Conference on Unconventional Computation (UC2010

Translation from Classical Two-Way Automata to Pebble Two-Way Automata

We study the relation between the standard two-way automata and more powerful devices, namely, two-way finite automata with an additional "pebble" movable along the input tape. Similarly as in the case of the classical two-way machines, it is not known whether there exists a polynomial trade-off, in the number of states, between the nondeterministic and deterministic pebble two-way automata. However, we show that these two machine models are not independent: if there exists a polynomial trade-off for the classical two-way automata, then there must also exist a polynomial trade-off for the pebble two-way automata. Thus, we have an upward collapse (or a downward separation) from the classical two-way automata to more powerful pebble automata, still staying within the class of regular languages. The same upward collapse holds for complementation of nondeterministic two-way machines. These results are obtained by showing that each pebble machine can be, by using suitable inputs, simulated by a classical two-way automaton with a linear number of states (and vice versa), despite the existing exponential blow-up between the classical and pebble two-way machines

Higher Derivative Corrections to R-charged Black Holes: Boundary Counterterms and the Mass-Charge Relation

We carry out the holographic renormalization of Einstein-Maxwell theory with curvature-squared corrections. In particular, we demonstrate how to construct the generalized Gibbons-Hawking surface term needed to ensure a perturbatively well-defined variational principle. This treatment ensures the absence of ghost degrees of freedom at the linearized perturbative order in the higher-derivative corrections. We use the holographically renormalized action to study the thermodynamics of R-charged black holes with higher derivatives and to investigate their mass to charge ratio in the extremal limit. In five dimensions, there seems to be a connection between the sign of the higher derivative couplings required to satisfy the weak gravity conjecture and that violating the shear viscosity to entropy bound. This is in turn related to possible constraints on the central charges of the dual CFT, in particular to the sign of c-a.Comment: 30 pages. v2: references added, some equations simplifie

Probing the accelerating Universe with radio weak lensing in the JVLA Sky Survey

We outline the prospects for performing pioneering radio weak gravitational lensing analyses using observations from a potential forthcoming JVLA Sky Survey program. A large-scale survey with the JVLA can offer interesting and unique opportunities for performing weak lensing studies in the radio band, a field which has until now been the preserve of optical telescopes. In particular, the JVLA has the capacity for large, deep radio surveys with relatively high angular resolution, which are the key characteristics required for a successful weak lensing study. We highlight the potential advantages and unique aspects of performing weak lensing in the radio band. In particular, the inclusion of continuum polarisation information can greatly reduce noise in weak lensing reconstructions and can also remove the effects of intrinsic galaxy alignments, the key astrophysical systematic effect that limits weak lensing at all wavelengths. We identify a VLASS "deep fields" program (total area ~10-20 square degs), to be conducted at L-band and with high-resolution (A-array configuration), as the optimal survey strategy from the point of view of weak lensing science. Such a survey will build on the unique strengths of the JVLA and will remain unsurpassed in terms of its combination of resolution and sensitivity until the advent of the Square Kilometre Array. We identify the best fields on the JVLA-accessible sky from the point of view of overlapping with existing deep optical and near infra-red data which will provide crucial redshift information and facilitate a host of additional compelling multi-wavelength science.Comment: Submitted in response to NRAO's recent call for community white papers on the VLA Sky Survey (VLASS

Orientation bias of optically selected galaxy clusters and its impact on stacked weak-lensing analyses

Weak-lensing measurements of the averaged shear profiles of galaxy clusters binned by some proxy for cluster mass are commonly converted to cluster mass estimates under the assumption that these cluster stacks have spherical symmetry. In this paper, we test whether this assumption holds for optically selected clusters binned by estimated optical richness. Using mock catalogues created from N-body simulations populated realistically with galaxies, we ran a suite of optical cluster finders and estimated their optical richness. We binned galaxy clusters by true cluster mass and estimated optical richness and measure the ellipticity of these stacks. We find that the processes of optical cluster selection and richness estimation are biased, leading to stacked structures that are elongated along the line of sight. We show that weak-lensing alone cannot measure the size of this orientation bias. Weak-lensing masses of stacked optically selected clusters are overestimated by up to 3–6 per cent when clusters can be uniquely associated with haloes. This effect is large enough to lead to significant biases in the cosmological parameters derived from large surveys like the Dark Energy Survey, if not calibrated via simulations or fitted simultaneously. This bias probably also contributes to the observed discrepancy between the observed and predicted Sunyaev–Zel’dovich signal of optically selected clusters

On the Temperature Dependence of the Shear Viscosity and Holography

We examine the structure of the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio eta/s in holographic theories of gravity coupled to a scalar field, in the presence of higher derivative corrections. Thanks to a non-trivial scalar field profile, eta/s in this setup generically runs as a function of temperature. In particular, its temperature behavior is dictated by the shape of the scalar potential and of the scalar couplings to the higher derivative terms. We consider a number of dilatonic setups, but focus mostly on phenomenological models that are QCD-like. We determine the geometric conditions needed to identify local and global minima for eta/s as a function of temperature, which translate to restrictions on the signs and ranges of the higher derivative couplings. Finally, such restrictions lead to an holographic argument for the existence of a global minimum for eta/s in these models, at or above the deconfinement transition.Comment: references adde

Generating Temperature Flow for eta/s with Higher Derivatives: From Lifshitz to AdS

We consider charged dilatonic black branes in AdS_5 and examine the effects of perturbative higher derivative corrections on the ratio of shear viscosity to entropy density eta/s of the dual plasma. The structure of eta/s is controlled by the relative hierarchy between the two scales in the plasma, the temperature and the chemical potential. In this model the background near-horizon geometry interpolates between a Lifshitz-like brane at low temperature, and an AdS brane at high temperatures -- with AdS asymptotics in both cases. As a result, in this construction the viscosity to entropy ratio flows as a function of temperature, from a value in the IR which is sensitive to the dynamical exponent z, to the simple result expected for an AdS brane in the UV. Coupling the scalar directly to the higher derivative terms generates additional temperature dependence, and leads to a particularly interesting structure for eta/s in the IR.Comment: Plots and references added. Journal version of the pape