Silencing Nociceptor Neurons Reduces Allergic Airway Inflammation

Lung nociceptors initiate cough and bronchoconstriction. To elucidate if these fibers also contribute to allergic airway inflammation, we stimulated lung nociceptors with capsaicin and observed increased neuropeptide release and immune cell infiltration. In contrast, ablating Nav1.8(+) sensory neurons or silencing them with QX-314, a charged sodium channel inhibitor that enters via large-pore ion channels to specifically block nociceptors, substantially reduced ovalbumin- or house-dust-mite-induced airway inflammation and bronchial hyperresponsiveness. We also discovered that IL-5, a cytokine produced by activated immune cells, acts directly on nociceptors to induce the release of vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP). VIP then stimulates CD4(+) and resident innate lymphoid type 2 cells, creating an inflammatory signaling loop that promotes allergic inflammation. Our results indicate that nociceptors amplify pathological adaptive immune responses and that silencing these neurons with QX-314 interrupts this neuro-immune interplay, revealing a potential new therapeutic strategy for asthma

A Next-Generation Liquid Xenon Observatory for Dark Matter and Neutrino Physics

The nature of dark matter and properties of neutrinos are among the mostpressing issues in contemporary particle physics. The dual-phase xenontime-projection chamber is the leading technology to cover the availableparameter space for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), whilefeaturing extensive sensitivity to many alternative dark matter candidates.These detectors can also study neutrinos through neutrinoless double-beta decayand through a variety of astrophysical sources. A next-generation xenon-baseddetector will therefore be a true multi-purpose observatory to significantlyadvance particle physics, nuclear physics, astrophysics, solar physics, andcosmology. This review article presents the science cases for such a detector.<br

A next-generation liquid xenon observatory for dark matter and neutrino physics

The nature of dark matter and properties of neutrinos are among the most pressing issues in contemporary particle physics. The dual-phase xenon time-projection chamber is the leading technology to cover the available parameter space for weakly interacting massive particles, while featuring extensive sensitivity to many alternative dark matter candidates. These detectors can also study neutrinos through neutrinoless double-beta decay and through a variety of astrophysical sources. A next-generation xenon-based detector will therefore be a true multi-purpose observatory to significantly advance particle physics, nuclear physics, astrophysics, solar physics, and cosmology. This review article presents the science cases for such a detector

Part-based geometric categorization and object reconstruction in cluttered table-top scenes

This paper presents an approach for 3D geometry-based object categorization in cluttered table-top scenes. In our method, objects are decomposed into different geometric parts whose spatial arrangement is represented by a graph. The matching and searching of graphs representing the objects is sped up by using a hash table which contains possible spatial configurations of the different parts that constitute the objects. Additive feature descriptors are used to label partially or completely visible object parts. In this work we categorize objects into five geometric shapes: sphere, box, flat, cylindrical, and disk/plate, as these shapes represent the majority of objects found on tables in typical households. Moreover, we reconstruct complete 3D models that include the invisible back-sides of objects as well, in order to facilitate manipulation by domestic service robots. Finally, we present an extensive set of experiments on point clouds of objects using an RGBD camera, and our results highlight the improvements over previous methods. © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht