23,838 research outputs found
Dendritic cells activated with products released by schistosome larvae drive Th2-type immune responses, which can be inhibited by manipulation of CD40 costimulation
The early immune events in response to infective larvae of the parasitic helminth Schistosoma mansoni are poorly understood, but here for the first time we report on the potential of products released by schistosome larvae (material released in the first 3 It after transformation [0-3hRP]) to stimulate the maturation of dendritic cells (DC) and alter their T-cell-polarizing function. This was performed in comparison with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and zymosan A, which classically activate DC to prime for Th1- and Th2-type responses, respectively. In our study, immature bone marrow-derived DC stimulated in vitro with 0-3hRP exhibited up-regulated expression of major histocompatibility complex class II, CD40, and CD86 and increased production of interleukin 12p40 (IL-12p40) and IL-6, albeit at lower levels than in response to LPS or zymosan A. Using an in vitro ovalbumin peptide-restricted priming assay, DC matured with 0-3hRP exhibited a potent capacity to drive Th2 polarization of CD4(+) cells from DO11.10 transgenic mice. This was characterized by increased IL-4 production (but not gamma interferon) of a magnitude similar to that primed by DC matured with zymosan A. Inoculation of DO11.10 mice with 0-3hRP-activated DC pulsed with ovalbumin peptide also led to the development of a Th2-type polarized response in the skin-draining lymph nodes and spleen. However, ligation of CD40 on DC by anti-CD40 antibody treatment reversed the ability of 0-3hRP-activated DC to prime for Th2-type responses and instead caused the induction of a more Th1-type response
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Mental Health and Wellbeing in England: the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey 2014
This report presents findings of a survey of mental illness and wellbeing among people aged 16 and over living in private households in England. The survey was commissioned by NHS Digital and funded by the Department of Health, and is the fourth in a series of surveys of adult mental health
Higher-Order Gravitational Lensing Reconstruction using Feynman Diagrams
We develop a method for calculating the correlation structure of the Cosmic
Microwave Background (CMB) using Feynman diagrams, when the CMB has been
modified by gravitational lensing, Faraday rotation, patchy reionization, or
other distorting effects. This method is used to calculate the bias of the
Hu-Okamoto quadratic estimator in reconstructing the lensing power spectrum up
to O(\phi^4) in the lensing potential . We consider both the diagonal
noise TTTT, EBEB, etc. and, for the first time, the off-diagonal noise TTTE,
TBEB, etc. The previously noted large O(\phi^4) term in the second order noise
is identified to come from a particular class of diagrams. It can be
significantly reduced by a reorganization of the expansion. These
improved estimators have almost no bias for the off-diagonal case involving
only one component of the CMB, such as EEEB.Comment: 17 pages, 17 figure
Gravitational Lensing of the CMB: a Feynman Diagram Approach
We develop a Feynman diagram approach to calculating correlations of the
Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) in the presence of distortions. As one
application, we focus on CMB distortions due to gravitational lensing by Large
Scale Structure (LSS). We study the Hu-Okamoto quadratic estimator for
extracting lensing from the CMB and derive the noise of the estimator up to
in the lensing potential . The previously noted
large term can be significantly reduced by a
reorganization of the expansion. Our approach makes it simple to obtain
expressions for quadratic estimators based on any CMB channel. We briefly
discuss other applications to cosmology of this diagrammatic approach, such as
distortions of the CMB due to patchy reionization, or due to Faraday rotation
from primordial axion fields.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures, v2: journal versio
Effective field theory and the quark model
We analyze the connections between the quark model (QM) and the description
of hadrons in the low-momentum limit of heavy-baryon effective field theory in
QCD. By using a three-flavor-index representation for the effective baryon
fields, we show that the ``nonrelativistic'' constituent QM for baryon masses
and moments is completely equivalent through O(m_s) to a parametrization of the
relativistic field theory in a general spin--flavor basis. The flavor and spin
variables can be identified with those of effective valence quarks. Conversely,
the spin-flavor description clarifies the structure and dynamical
interpretation of the chiral expansion in effective field theory, and provides
a direct connection between the field theory and the semirelativistic models
for hadrons used in successful dynamical calculations. This allows dynamical
information to be incorporated directly into the chiral expansion. We find, for
example, that the striking success of the additive QM for baryon magnetic
moments is a consequence of the relative smallness of the non-additive
spin-dependent corrections.Comment: 25 pages, revtex, no figure
Sand as Maxwell's demon
We consider a dilute gas of granular material inside a box, kept in a
stationary state by shaking. A wall separates the box into two identical
compartments, save for a small hole at some finite height . As the gas is
cooled, a second order phase transition occurs, in which the particles
preferentially occupy one side of the box. We develop a quantitative theory of
this clustering phenomenon and find good agreement with numerical simulations
Giant planets around two intermediate-mass evolved stars and confirmation of the planetary nature of HIP67851 c
Precision radial velocities are required to discover and characterize planets
orbiting nearby stars. Optical and near infrared spectra that exhibit many
hundreds of absorption lines can allow the m/s precision levels required for
such work. However, this means that studies have generally focused on
solar-type dwarf stars. After the main-sequence, intermediate-mass stars
(former A-F stars) expand and rotate slower than their progenitors, thus
thousands of narrow absorption lines appear in the optical region, permitting
the search for planetary Doppler signals in the data for these types of stars.
We present the discovery of two giant planets around the intermediate-mass
evolved star HIP65891 and HIP107773. The best Keplerian fit to the HIP65891 and
HIP107773 radial velocities leads to the following orbital parameters: P=1084.5
d; msin = 6.0 M; =0.13 and P=144.3 d; msin = 2.0
M; =0.09, respectively. In addition, we confirm the planetary nature
of the outer object orbiting the giant star HIP67851. The orbital parameters of
HIP67851c are: P=2131.8 d, msin = 6.0 M and =0.17. With
masses of 2.5 M and 2.4 M HIP65891 and HIP107773 are two of the
most massive stars known to host planets. Additionally, HIP67851 is one of five
giant stars that are known to host a planetary system having a close-in planet
( 0.7 AU). Based on the evolutionary states of those five stars, we
conclude that close-in planets do exist in multiple systems around subgiants
and slightly evolved giants stars, but probably they are subsequently destroyed
by the stellar envelope during the ascent of the red giant branch phase. As a
consequence, planetary systems with close-in objects are not found around
horizontal branch stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
Improving driver behaviour by design : a cognitive work analysis methodology
Within the European Community both the environmental and safety costs of road
transport are unacceptably high. ‘Foot-LITE’ is a UK project which aims to encourage
drivers to adopt ‘greener’ and safer driving practices, with real-time and retrospective
feedback being given both in-vehicle and off-line. This paper describes the early
concept development of Foot-LITE, for which a Cognitive Work Analysis (CWA) was
conducted. In this paper, we present the results of the first phase of CWA – the Work
Domain Analysis, as well as some concept interface designs based on the WDA to
illustrate its application. In summary, the CWA establishes a common framework for
the project, and will ultimately contribute to the design of the in-vehicle interface
Observation of suppression of light scattering induced by dipole-dipole interactions in a cold atomic ensemble
We study the emergence of collective scattering in the presence of
dipole-dipole interactions when we illuminate a cold cloud of rubidium atoms
with a near-resonant and weak intensity laser. The size of the atomic sample is
comparable to the wavelength of light. When we gradually increase the atom
number from 1 to 450, we observe a broadening of the line, a small red shift
and, consistently with these, a strong suppression of the scattered light with
respect to the noninteracting atom case. Numerical simulations, which include
the internal atomic level structure, agree with the data.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
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