208 research outputs found
The Role of TLR2 in Infection and Immunity
Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are recognition molecules for multiple pathogens, including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. TLR2 forms heterodimers with TLR1 and TLR6, which is the initial step in a cascade of events leading to significant innate immune responses, development of adaptive immunity to pathogens and protection from immune sequelae related to infection with these pathogens. This review will discuss the current status of TLR2 mediated immune responses by recognition of pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPS) on these organisms. We will emphasize both canonical and non-canonical responses to TLR2 ligands with emphasis on whether the inflammation induced by these responses contributes to the disease state or to protection from diseases
Distinct gene signatures in aortic tissue from ApoE-/- mice exposed to pathogens or Western diet
BACKGROUND: Atherosclerosis is a progressive disease characterized by inflammation and accumulation of lipids in vascular tissue. Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg) and Chlamydia pneumoniae (Cp) are associated with inflammatory atherosclerosis in humans. Similar to endogenous mediators arising from excessive dietary lipids, these Gram-negative pathogens are pro-atherogenic in animal models, although the specific inflammatory/atherogenic pathways induced by these stimuli are not well defined. In this study, we identified gene expression profiles that characterize P. gingivalis, C. pneumoniae, and Western diet (WD) at acute and chronic time points in aortas of Apolipoprotein E (ApoE-/-) mice.
RESULTS: At the chronic time point, we observed that P. gingivalis was associated with a high number of unique differentially expressed genes compared to C. pneumoniae or WD. For the top 500 differentially expressed genes unique to each group, we observed a high percentage (76%) that exhibited decreased expression in P. gingivalis-treated mice in contrast to a high percentage (96%) that exhibited increased expression in WD mice. C. pneumoniae treatment resulted in approximately equal numbers of genes that exhibited increased and decreased expression. Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) revealed distinct stimuli-associated phenotypes, including decreased expression of mitochondrion, glucose metabolism, and PPAR pathways in response to P. gingivalis but increased expression of mitochondrion, lipid metabolism, carbohydrate and amino acid metabolism, and PPAR pathways in response to C. pneumoniae; WD was associated with increased expression of immune and inflammatory pathways. DAVID analysis of gene clusters identified by two-way ANOVA at acute and chronic time points revealed a set of core genes that exhibited altered expression during the natural progression of atherosclerosis in ApoE-/- mice; these changes were enhanced in P. gingivalis-treated mice but attenuated in C. pneumoniae-treated mice. Notable differences in the expression of genes associated with unstable plaques were also observed among the three pro-atherogenic stimuli.
CONCLUSIONS: Despite the common outcome of P. gingivalis, C. pneumoniae, and WD on the induction of vascular inflammation and atherosclerosis, distinct gene signatures and pathways unique to each pro-atherogenic stimulus were identified. Our results suggest that pathogen exposure results in dysregulated cellular responses that may impact plaque progression and regression pathways
THE SECRET SAUCE IS AN ENGAGED STAFF...HOW A REHABILITATION DEPARTMENT MET THE CHALLENGES OF COVID 19
Identified baryon and meson distributions at large transverse momenta from Au+Au collisions at GeV
Transverse momentum spectra of , and up to 12 GeV/c
at mid-rapidity in centrality selected Au+Au collisions at GeV are presented. In central Au+Au collisions, both and
show significant suppression with respect to binary scaling at
4 GeV/c. Protons and anti-protons are less suppressed than
, in the range 1.5 6 GeV/c. The and
ratios show at most a weak dependence and no significant
centrality dependence. The ratios in central Au+Au collisions approach
the values in p+p and d+Au collisions at 5 GeV/c. The results at high
indicate that the partonic sources of , and have
similar energy loss when traversing the nuclear medium.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Longitudinal double-spin asymmetry and cross section for inclusive jet production in polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV
We report a measurement of the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry A_LL and
the differential cross section for inclusive midrapidity jet production in
polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s)=200 GeV. The cross section data cover
transverse momenta 5 < pT < 50 GeV/c and agree with next-to-leading order
perturbative QCD evaluations. The A_LL data cover 5 < pT < 17 GeV/c and
disfavor at 98% C.L. maximal positive gluon polarization in the polarized
nucleon.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Minor changes from review process in Phys. Rev.
Lett. Plain text tables of data in STAR publications may be found at
http://www.star.bnl.gov/central/publications
Neutral Kaon Interferometry in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV
We present the first statistically meaningful results from two-K0s
interferometry in heavy-ion collisions. A model that takes the effect of the
strong interaction into account has been used to fit the measured correlation
function. The effects of single and coupled channel were explored. At the mean
transverse mass m_T = 1.07 GeV, we obtain the values R = 4.09 +/- 0.46 (stat.)
+/- 0.31 (sys) fm and lambda = 0.92 +/- 0.23 (stat) +/- 0.13 (sys), where R and
lambda are the invariant radius and chaoticity parameters respectively. The
results are qualitatively consistent with m_T systematics established with
pions in a scenario characterized by a strong collective flow.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure
Strangelet search at RHIC
Two position sensitive Shower Maximum Detector (SMDs) for Zero-Degree
Calorimeters (ZDCs) were installed by STAR before run 2004 at both upstream and
downstream from the interaction point along the beam axis where particles with
small rigidity are swept away by strong magnetic field. The ZDC-SMDs provides
information about neutral energy deposition as a function of transverse
position in ZDCs. We report the preliminary results of strangelet search from a
triggered data-set sampling 100 million Au+Au collisions at top RHIC energy.Comment: Strange Quark Matter 2004 conference proceedin
Multiplicity and Pseudorapidity Distributions of Charged Particles and Photons at Forward Pseudorapidity in Au + Au Collisions at sqrt{s_NN} = 62.4 GeV
We present the centrality dependent measurement of multiplicity and
pseudorapidity distributions of charged particles and photons in Au + Au
collisions at sqrt{s_NN} = 62.4 GeV. The charged particles and photons are
measured in the pseudorapidity region 2.9 < eta < 3.9 and 2.3 < eta < 3.7,
respectively. We have studied the scaling of particle production with the
number of participating nucleons and the number of binary collisions. The
photon and charged particle production in the measured pseudorapidity range has
been shown to be consistent with energy independent limiting fragmentation
behavior. The photons are observed to follow a centrality independent limiting
fragmentation behavior while for the charged particles it is centrality
dependent. We have carried out a comparative study of the pseudorapidity
distributions of positively charged hadrons, negatively charged hadrons,
photons, pions, net protons in nucleus--nucleus collisions and pseudorapidity
distributions from p+p collisions. From these comparisons we conclude that
baryons in the inclusive charged particle distribution are responsible for the
observed centrality dependence of limiting fragmentation. The mesons are found
to follow an energy independent behavior of limiting fragmentation while the
behavior of baryons seems to be energy dependent.Comment: 17 pages and 20 figure
Strangelet Search in AuAu Collisions at 200 GeV
We have searched for strangelets in a triggered sample of 61 million central
(top 4%) Au+Au collisions at \sNN = 200 GeV near beam rapidities at the STAR
detector. We have sensitivity to metastable strangelets with lifetimes of order
, in contrast to limits over ten times longer in AGS studies and
longer still at the SPS. Upper limits of a few 10^{-6} to 10^{-7} per central
Au+Au collision are set for strangelets with mass GeV/c^{2}.Comment: As publishe
Minijet deformation and charge-independent angular correlations on momentum subspace in Au-Au collisions at = 130 GeV
First measurements of charge-independent correlations on angular difference
variables (pseudorapidity) and (azimuth)
are presented for primary charged hadrons with transverse momentum GeV/ and from Au-Au collisions at
GeV. Strong charge-independent angular correlations are
observed associated with jet-like structures and elliptic flow. The width of
the jet-like peak on increases by a factor 2.3 from
peripheral to central collisions, suggesting strong coupling of semi-hard
scattered partons to a longitudinally-expanding medium. New methods of jet
analysis introduced here provide evidence for nonperturbative QCD medium
effects in heavy ion collisions.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
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