Immunoglobulin VH Chain Gene Analysis of Peripheral Blood IgM-Producing B Cells in Patients with Kawasaki Disease

PURPOSE: Kawasaki disease is a systemic vasculitis, and its etiology and pathogenesis are still not clear. Our study was undertaken to investigate the characteristics of the activation of B cells in the peripheral blood of Kawasaki disease (KD) patients and evidence of stimulation by superantigens. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Blood samples were obtained from three patients (2 males, 1 female) with KD, who were admitted to our Hospital, Seoul, Korea. The mean age was 1.2 years. Distribution of B cells was studied in the acute and subacute phases of KD patients. From the RNA of B cells, we obtained complementary DNA (cDNA) and performed polymerase chain reaction (PCR). To determine the oligoclonal expansion of immunoglobulin M (IgM) V(H) family, we cloned and sequenced the PCR products from each group and analyzed DNA. RESULTS: In the peripheral blood of acute phase patients, T cells were significantly decreased (p < 0.05), whereas B cells were significantly increased (p < 0.05). When the first PCR was done on the B cell chains, V(H)1 to V(H)6 were all found to be expressed. The number of micro gene clones obtained from 3 patients was 312, and they belonged to V(H)3, V(H)4 and V(H)5 family. M99686 germ line was most frequently used and the next most frequently used, were X92224/J, L21967 and L21964. A similar order was seen in patients. Among the clones, 20 sets of clones showed the same base sequence and this was frequent between V(H)2 and V(H)5. There was one set, which showed almost the same base sequence between different patients, and the homology was 99.5%. Twenty sets of clones that had the same base sequence showed high similarity to the germ line (94 - 100%). Among these, the clones that utilized the M99686 germ line were 4 sets which were most frequent. The 3-dimensional structure of one of these clones showed typical beta, sheet structure of immunoglobulin chains. CONCLUSION: The IgM transcripts expressed by the B cells in the peripheral blood of KD patients in the acute phase of the disease clearly showed an oligoclonal expansion, suggesting that KD is caused not by stimulation of a superantigen, but rather by a conventional antigen.ope

5-dim Superconformal Index with Enhanced En Global Symmetry

The five-dimensional N = 1 supersymmetric gauge theory with Sp(N) gauge group and SO(2N(f)) flavor symmetry describes the physics on N D4-branes with N-f D8-branes on top of a single O8 orientifold plane in Type I&apos; theory. This theory is known to be superconformal at the strong coupling limit with the enhanced global symmetry ENf+1 for N-f <= 7. In this work we calculate the superconformal index on S-1 x S-4 for the Sp(1) gauge theory by the localization method and confirm such enhancement of the global symmetry at the superconformal limit for N-f <= 5 to a few leading orders in the chemical potential. Both perturbative and (anti) instanton contributions are present in this calculation. For N-f = 6, 7 cases some issues related the pole structure of the instanton calculation could not be resolved and here we could provide only some suggestive answer for the leading contributions to the index. For the Sp(N) case, similar issues related to the pole structure appear.1151sciescopu

Superconformal indices for non-Lagrangian theories in five dimensions

We propose two novel methods for computing the superconformal index of 5d superconformal field theories that cannot be described by conventional Lagrangian descriptions under mass deformations. The first approach involves the use of Higgs branch flows from UV Lagrangian theories, guided by transitions in 5-brane webs in Type IIB string theory. The second method employs the relationship between O$7^+$-plane and O$7^-$-plane with eight D7-branes, which applies to particular non-Lagrangian theories realized by brane configurations involving an O$7^+$-plane. As a concrete application of our method, we compute the superconformal indices for all known rank-1 non-Lagrangian theories, which we also use to identify flavor symmetries and their global forms at the conformal field theory (CFT) fixed points.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

ON SEMIDEFINITE LINEAR FRACTIONAL OPTIMIZATION PROBLEMS (Study on Nonlinear Analysis and Convex Analysis)

Recently, semidefinite optimization problems have been intensively studied since many optimization problems can be changed into the problems and the problems are very tractable ([5]). In this paper, we review the duality results for semidefinite linear fractional optimization problems in the paper ([3] On duality theorems for semidefinite linear fractional optimization problems, Journal of Nonliner and Convex Analysis, volume 20, 2019, 1907-1912)

Proteomic and biochemical analyses reveal the activation of unfolded protein response, ERK-1/2 and ribosomal protein S6 signaling in experimental autoimmune myocarditis rat model

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To investigate the molecular and cellular pathogenesis underlying myocarditis, we used an experimental autoimmune myocarditis (EAM)-induced heart failure rat model that represents T cell mediated postinflammatory heart disorders.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>By performing unbiased 2-dimensional electrophoresis of protein extracts from control rat heart tissues and EAM rat heart tissues, followed by nano-HPLC-ESI-QIT-MS, 67 proteins were identified from 71 spots that exhibited significantly altered expression levels. The majority of up-regulated proteins were confidently associated with unfolded protein responses (UPR), while the majority of down-regulated proteins were involved with the generation of precursor metabolites and energy metabolism in mitochondria. Although there was no difference in AKT signaling between EAM rat heart tissues and control rat heart tissues, the amounts and activities of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)-1/2 and ribosomal protein S6 (rpS6) were significantly increased. By comparing our data with the previously reported myocardial proteome of the Coxsackie viruses of group B (CVB)-mediated myocarditis model, we found that UPR-related proteins were commonly up-regulated in two murine myocarditis models. Even though only two out of 29 down-regulated proteins in EAM rat heart tissues were also dysregulated in CVB-infected rat heart tissues, other proteins known to be involved with the generation of precursor metabolites and energy metabolism in mitochondria were also dysregulated in CVB-mediated myocarditis rat heart tissues, suggesting that impairment of mitochondrial functions may be a common underlying mechanism of the two murine myocarditis models.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>UPR, ERK-1/2 and S6RP signaling were activated in both EAM- and CVB-induced myocarditis murine models. Thus, the conserved components of signaling pathways in two murine models of acute myocarditis could be targets for developing new therapeutic drugs or methods aimed at treating enigmatic myocarditis.</p

Increased Risk of Ischemic Stroke during Sleep in Apneic Patients.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:The literature indicates that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) increases the risk of ischemic stroke. However, the causal relationship between OSA and ischemic stroke is not well established. This study examined whether preexisting OSA symptoms affect the onset of acute ischemic stroke. METHODS:We investigated consecutive patients who were admitted with acute ischemic stroke, using a standardized protocol including the Berlin Questionnaire on symptoms of OSA prior to stroke. The collected stroke data included the time of the stroke onset, risk factors, and etiologic subtypes. The association between preceding OSA symptoms and wake-up stroke (WUS) was assessed using multivariate logistic regression analysis. RESULTS:We identified 260 subjects with acute ischemic strokes with a definite onset time, of which 25.8% were WUS. The presence of preexisting witnessed or self-recognized sleep apnea was the only risk factor for WUS (adjusted odds ratio=2.055, 95% confidence interval=1.035-4.083, p=0.040). CONCLUSIONS:Preexisting symptoms suggestive of OSA were associated with the occurrence of WUS. This suggests that OSA contributes to ischemic stroke not only as a predisposing risk factor but also as a triggering factor. Treating OSA might therefore be beneficial in preventing stroke, particularly that occurring during sleep

Prevention and Treatment of Multiple Osteoporotic Compression Fracture

Korea's demographic profile is undergoing tremendous change as the country rapidly ages at one of the fastest rates in the world. Indeed, the country is expected to become an "aged society" in 2018 when the proportion of elderly is estimated to reach 14.3% of the total population. With the notable increase in the number of elderly individuals, the incidence of osteoporotic fractures will also likely increase. Osteoporosis is a systemic musculoskeletal disease that is characterized by the decreased bone quantity and the abnormalities of the microstructures. There are both conservative and surgical treatment modalities for the fracture: conservative treatments include pharmacological treatments and orthosis; surgical treatments include vertebroplasty, kyphoplasty, and reconstructive surgery. Clinicians should consider the severity of osteoporosis, the concurrent osteoporotic fracture, the age and sex of the patient, and the underlying diseases in making a patient-tailored prescription