Podocyte-Related Mechanisms Underlying Survival Benefit of Long-Term Angiotensin Receptor Blocker

We previously found that short-term treatment (week 8 to 12 after injury) with high-dose angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) induced the regression of existing glomerulosclerosis in 5/6 nephrectomy rats. We therefore assessed the effects of long-term intervention with ARB vs. nonspecific antihypertensives in this study. Adult rats underwent 5/6 nephrectomy and renal biopsy 8 weeks later. The rats were then divided into three groups with equivalent renal function and glomerular sclerosis and treated with high-dose losartan (ARB), nonspecific antihypertensive triple-therapy (TRX), or left untreated (Control) until week 30. We found that blood pressure, serum creatinine levels, and glomerulosclerosis were lower at sacrifice in ARB and TRX vs. Control. Only ARB reduced proteinuria and maintained the density of WT-1-positive podocytes. Glomerular tufts showed more double-positive cells for CD44, a marker of activated parietal epithelial cells, and synaptopodin after ARB vs. TRX or Control. ARB treatment reduced aldosterone levels. ARB-treated rats had significantly improved survival when compared with TRX or Control. We conclude that both long-term ARB and triple-therapy ameliorate progression, but do not sustain the regression of glomerulosclerosis. ARB resulted in the superior preservation of podocyte integrity and decreased proteinuria and aldosterone, linked to increased survival in the uremic environment.     

A changing society and problems of method: a politically committed research type

This essay examines a politically engaged research genre, which follows the biography of the author who founded two journals: one on mathematical models published in English (Quality and Quantity) and one on politically committed social and economic research published in Italian (Inchiesta). The research considered focuses on Italy in the 1950s, the research by Lazarsfeld in Vienna in the 1920s and in the United States in the 1950s and 1960s, and post-1968 politically committed research in Italy. The analysis of such politically committed types of research (all very different from one another in terms of the interpretative model of reality, the methods used and the relations with the tendering party and the people observed) allows one to understand how this kind of research can be performed with very different methods—all of which do, however, seek to modify reality on the grounds of the research results. The metaphor of the crystal and the flame presented by Italo Calvino in order to classify facts and ideas and styles and feelings can also be used to visualise the polarity (and the difficulty/impossibility of contact) that has always been present in sociology between two different tendencies: towards a discipline that offers the most abstract and objective interpretative model of reality possible with the use of mathematical models (the crystal), and, instead, towards a discipline in which an interpretative model of reality is central, one that produces a social change and in which the qualitative and quantitative methods utilised are at the service of this change (the flame). This polarity thus allows us to separate first and foremost all the politically committed research performed by others for different purposes (market research, research to verify some theoretical hypotheses, etc.) but the same polarity also lies within the politically committed research. We can, indeed, identify a type of politically committed research in an area that has, at one extreme, research tending towards the utmost objectivity and scientific quality of the results and where the co-ordinators try to have all the information on the subjects maintaining the greatest possible distance (the subjects must not know they are being observed); at the other extreme, there is a type of research in which the coordinator completely involves the subjects in the gathering of information that will serve to realise a piece of research whose political aims are explicitly shared. For the identification of a sufficiently articulated typology it has been important to consider five dimensions of politically committed research: (a) the characteristics of the research coordinator (his/her belonging to the type and the academic/non-academic professional status) and his/her interpretative model of reality (b) some general characteristics of the research (the tender and funding, the topic choice, the aims, the contributions to the sociological theory, the duration); (c) the research coordinators relations with the political actors (the intensity of the relations, the political use of the research); (d) the relations of the research co-ordinator with the research subjects; (e) the methodological choices (the basic strategies, the methods used, the use of mathematical procedures). The research that exemplifies this typology is all politically committed to the left and was realised in different times and contexts. I start by considering a kind of politically engaged research (co-research) that appeared in Italy in the 1950s; I then analyse two types of politically engaged research realised in Austria at the end of the 1920s and one in the United States in the 1950s; there then follow two kinds of research realised in the 1960s and 1970s in the United States and a further two kinds realised in Italy in the 1970s and early 1980s. In order to have other kinds of research please refer to the two Journals of which I am the editor: one is an English language journal of mathematical models (Quality and Quantity, International Journal of Methodology, founded in 1966 and published today by Kluwer of Amsterdam), and a politically engaged review (Inchiesta, founded in 1971 and still published today by Dedalo of Bari).     

PlGF Immunological Impact during Pregnancy

During pregnancy, the mother’s immune system has to tolerate the persistence of paternal alloantigens without affecting the anti-infectious immune response. Consequently, several mechanisms aimed at preventing allograft rejection, occur during a pregnancy. In fact, the early stages of pregnancy are characterized by the correct balance between inflammation and immune tolerance, in which proinflammatory cytokines contribute to both the remodeling of tissues and to neo-angiogenesis, thus, favoring the correct embryo implantation. In addition to the creation of a microenvironment able to support both immunological privilege and angiogenesis, the trophoblast invades normal tissues by sharing the same behavior of invasive tumors. Next, the activation of an immunosuppressive phase, characterized by an increase in the number of regulatory T (Treg) cells prevents excessive inflammation and avoids fetal immuno-mediated rejection. When these changes do not occur or occur incompletely, early pregnancy failure follows. All these events are characterized by an increase in different growth factors and cytokines, among which one of the most important is the angiogenic growth factor, namely placental growth factor (PlGF). PlGF is initially isolated from the human placenta. It is upregulated during both pregnancy and inflammation. In this review, we summarize current knowledge on the immunomodulatory effects of PlGF during pregnancy, warranting that both innate and adaptive immune cells properly support the early events of implantation and placental development. Furthermore, we highlight how an alteration of the immune response, associated with PlGF imbalance, can induce a hypertensive state and lead to the pre-eclampsia (PE).     

Catalytic activity of a mechanically mixed Ga2Oe/H-MFI catalyst under distance preservative conditions

The distance between active centers is the key factor in studying the activity of a gallium promoted zeolite catalyst. Special conditions, preserving the long distance between gallium and zeolite acid center (i.e. distance preservative conditions), were found in mechanically mixed catalysts. Catalyst samples were tested with the n-butane aromatization reaction under these conditions. The observed catalytic cooperation between active centers was ascribed to a bifunctional catalyst and/or a remote control mechanism.     

Room temperature migration of ion beam injected point defects in crystalline silicon

We have investigated the room temperature diffusion and trapping phenomena of ion beam generated point defects in crystalline Si by monitoring their interaction with dopants, native contaminants such as C and O, and other defects. Spreading resistance measurements show that a small fraction ( 10⁻⁷–10⁻⁶) of the defects generated at the surface by a 40 keV Si implant is injected into the bulk. These defects undergo trap-limited diffusion and produce dopant deactivation and/or partial annihilation of preexisting deep (several micron) defect markers, produced by MeV He implants. It is found that in highly pure, epitaxial Si layers, these effects extend to several microns from the surface, demonstrating a long range migration of point defects at room temperature. A detailed analysis of the experimental evidences allows us to identify the Si self-interstitials injected into the bulk as the major responsible of both dopant deactivation and partial annealing of vacancy-type defects (divacancies, phosphorus-vacancy and oxygen-vacancy) generated by the implants. Finally, a lower limit of 6 × 10⁻¹¹ cm²/s is obtained for the room temperature diffusivity of Si self-interstitials.     

Coupling Impedance in a Circular Particle Accelerator, a Particular Case: Circular Beam, Elliptic Chamber

As a first step the concept of coupling impedance (c.i.) is extended to characterize the relationship between cause and effect relevant to distinct points. Then we can exploit a new law that relates the transverse c.i. to the lonitudinal one by means of a second derivative. When cause and effect coincide we get the standard definition of c.i. At a first sight the computation of the coupling impedance for the present model seems a trivial problem. In fact the c.i. is proportional to the Green function of the relevant model, which can be found as an open series, for instance in the treatise of Morse and Feshbach. But the authors themselves warn that this series is poorly convergent and in addition should not be differentiated. We succeeded in closing the series. The problem formally seems to be solved. But this procedure could however turn out to be sterile for numerical purposes, where we obviously need series expansions, unless one finds better alternative expansions. This is the final and possibly the most important step, where a different extremely rapidly convergent expansion is found. The use of this expansion has led to the recognition of a vast number of numerical results that are synthesized in the graphic representations of this work. The longitudinal c.i. is scarsely affected by the ellipticity and excentricity of the beam, so that, unless the beam is far off the central beam position, it behaves as in a circular cross section pipe.     

Dynamic Photoswitching of Electron Energy Levels at Hybrid ZnO/Organic Photochromic Molecule Junctions

The functionality of interfaces in hybrid inorganic/organic (opto)electronic devices is determined by the alignment of the respective frontier energy levels at both sides of the heterojunctions. Controlling the interface electronic landscape is a key element for achieving favourable level alignment for energy and charge transfer processes. Here, it is shown that the electronic properties of polar ZnO surfaces can be reversibly modified using organic photochromic switches. By employing a range of surface characterization techniques combined with density functional theory calculations, it is demonstrated that self‐assembled monolayers (SAMs) of photochromic phosphonic acid diarylethenes (PA‐DAEs) can be employed to reversibly change the electronic properties of polar ZnO/SAM structures by light stimuli. The highest occupied molecular orbital level of PA‐DAE is raised by 0.7 eV and the lowest unoccupied one lowered by 0.9 eV, respectively, upon illumination by ultraviolet light and the levels shift back to their original position upon illumination by green light. The results thus provide a pathway to tailor hybrid interface electronic properties in a dynamic manner upon simple light illumination, which can be exploited to reversibly tune the electrical properties of photoswitchable (opto)electronic devices.     

Dielectric behavior of some polar high polymers at ultra-high frequencies (microwaves)

The dielectric behavior of different polar high polymers at ultra-high frequencies has been investigated by means of a dielectrometer, suitably modified to permit measurements at different temperatures. Experimental measurements were made at about 9 × 10⁹ cps over the temperature range of ?150 to 200°C. for polyoxymethylene, polythiomethylene, poly(3,3′-chloromethyl)oxetane (Penton), polycarbonate of 4,4′-dioxydiphenyl-2,2′-propane (Makrolon), poly(vinyl alcohol), poly(vinyl acetate), poly(vinyl chloride), vinyl chloride–vinyl acetate copolymer, and two ABS plastics, type B (blend) and type G (graft). On comparing the dielectric behavior of the examined materials at ultra-high frequencies with the corresponding ones determined at low or at radiofrequencies, it is observed that, in the microwave region, all relaxation peaks, either connected with cooperative motions in main chain (primary processes) or with local motions in the backbone or in side chains (secondary processes), usually observed at lower frequencies, tend to disappear; the corresponding relaxation effects, however, manifest themselves through a progressive increase of losses with increasing temperature, which is particularly marked above the glass transition temperature T_g. The latter transition, in spite of the very high frequency, is easily distinguished, in most cases, by the sudden change of slope in the tan δ versus temperature curve which accompanies its onset. This is explained on the basis of the very wide distribution times of molecular relaxation processes in polymers and the increase in strength of the secondary relaxation effects, which is verified at T_g, as a consequence of the increased kinetic energy of macromolecules and of the larger free volume for orientation of side chains. Each case is discussed separately and the experimental results interpreted on the basis of the molecular structure and chain mobility of the examined polymers.