Formation of eosinophilic and monocytic intradermal inflammatory sites in the dog by injection of human RANTES but not human monocyte chemoattractant protein 1, human macrophage inflammatory protein 1 alpha, or human interleukin 8

Equilibrium binding studies on canine mononuclear and granulocytic cells allow the identification of a single high affinity receptor for the human C-C chemokine RANTES (dissociation constant, 14 +/- 8 pM), that, in contrast to the human RANTES receptor, has no affinity for human macrophage inflammatory protein 1 alpha (hMIP-1 alpha). A single intradermal injection of hRANTES in dog resulted in eosinophil- and macrophage-rich inflammatory sites within 4 h. Cell infiltration peaked at 16-24 h after hRANTES injection. There was histological evidence of intravascular activation of eosinophils at 4 h, although eosinophils in the vasculature and interstitium contained apparently intact granules. Monocytes were the predominant cells adherent to venular endothelium at 16-24 h. Human MIP-1 alpha elicited no response in canine dermis, whereas monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 caused mild perivascular cuffing with monocytes. In contrast, human interleukin 8 induced a neutrophilic dermal infiltrate that was maximal by 4 h after challenge. This provides the first direct evidence in vivo that RANTES has significant proinflammatory activity and, in addition, could be a mediator in atopic pathologies characterized by eosinophilic and monocytic inflammatory responses.     

Federation Lifecycle Management Incorporating Coordination of Bio-inspired Self-management Processes

As it has evolved, the Internet has had to support a broadening range of networking technologies, business models and user interaction modes. Researchers and industry practitioners have realised that this trend necessitates a fundamental rethinking of approaches to network and service management. This has spurred significant research efforts towards developing autonomic network management solutions incorporating distributed self-management processes inspired by biological systems. Whilst significant advances have been made, most solutions focus on management of single network domains and the optimisation of specific management or control processes therein. In this paper we argue that a networking infrastructure providing a myriad of loosely coupled services must inherently support federation of network domains and facilitate coordination of the operation of various management processes for mutual benefit. To this end, we outline a framework for federated management that facilitates the coordination of the behaviour of bio-inspired management processes. Using a case study relating to distribution of IPTV content, we describe how Federal Relationship Managers realising our layered model of management federations can communicate to manage service provision across multiple application/storage/network providers. We outline an illustrative example in which storage providers are dynamically added to a federation to accommodate demand spikes, with appropriate content being migrated to those providers servers under control of a bio-inspired replication process.     

Mitigation of Open-Circuit Voltage Losses in Perovskite Solar Cells Processed over Micrometer-Sized-Textured Si Substrates

The recent development of solution-processed perovskite thin films over micrometer-sized textured silicon bottom solar cells enables tandem solar cells with power conversion efficiencies > 30%. Next to improved light harvesting, textured silicon wafers are the industrial standard. To achieve high performance, the open-circuit voltage losses that occur when fabricating perovskite solar cells over such textures need to be mitigated. This study provides a practical guideline to discriminate and address the voltage losses at the interfaces as well as in the bulk of solution-processed double cation perovskite thin films using photoluminescence quantum yield measurements. Furthermore, the origin of these losses is investigated via morphological, microstructural, and compositional analysis and present possible mitigation strategies. The guideline will be beneficial for scientists working on randomly textured surfaces and provides a deeper understanding on this timely research topic.     

The solution structure of the complex of Lactobacillus casei dihydrofolate reductase with methotrexate

We have determined the three-dimensional solution structure of the complex of Lactobacillus casei dihydrofolate reductase (18.3 kDa, 162 amino acid residues) formed with the anticancer drug methotrexate using 2531 distance, 361 dihedral angle and 48 hydrogen bond restraints obtained from analysis of multidimensional NMR spectra. Simulated annealing calculations produced a family of 21 structures fully consistent with the constraints. The structure has four alpha-helices and eight beta-strands with two other regions, comprising residues 11 to 14 and 126 to 127, also interacting with each other in a beta-sheet manner. The methotrexate binding site is very well defined and the structure around its glutamate moiety was improved by including restraints reflecting the previously determined specific interactions between the glutamate alpha-carboxylate group with Arg57 and the gamma-carboxylate group with His28. The overall fold of the binary complex in solution is very similar to that observed in the X-ray studies of the ternary complex of L. casei dihydrofolate reductase formed with methotrexate and NADPH (the structures of the binary and ternary complexes have a root-mean-square difference over the backbone atoms of 0.97 A). Thus no major conformational change takes place when NADPH binds to the binary complex. In the binary complex, the loop comprising residues 9 to 23 which forms part of the active site has been shown to be in the "closed" conformation as defined by M. R. Sawaya & J. Kraut, who considered the corresponding loops in crystal structures of complexes of dihydrofolate reductases from several organisms. Thus the absence of the NADPH does not result in the "occluded" form of the loop as seen in crystal studies of some other dihydrofolate reductases in the absence of coenzyme. Some regions of the structure in the binary complex which form interaction sites for NADPH are less well defined than other regions. However, in general terms, the NADPH binding site appears to be essentially pre-formed in the binary complex. This may contribute to the tighter binding of coenzyme in the presence of methotrexate.     

Gas barrier properties of butyl rubber/vermiculite nanocomposite coatings

Gas barrier properties of butyl rubber/vermiculite nanocomposites coatings are described here. The coating formulations consisting of a butyl rubber latex (the rubber particles are about 1 μm in diameter) to which exfoliated vermiculite was added were applied to a poly(2,6-dimethyl-1,4-phenylene oxide) (PPO) coated Anapore ceramic disc; composites containing 0, 20 and 30 wt% of vermiculite were evaluated. The permeability of the nanocomposite coatings to various gases was measured and compared to permeation models for composites with flake-like fillers proposed by Cussler, Nielsen, Fredrickson and Bicerano, and Gusev and Lusti. The gas permeability of the nanocomposite materials was decreased remarkably by the presence of the high loadings of vermiculite. Diffusion coefficients computed from time lag data also decreased remarkably with the vermiculite content. TEM and SEM were used to observe the internal structure of the nanocomposite membranes in an effort to gain further understanding of the permeability properties. Aspect ratios ranging from 100 to 480 were predicted from the gas permeation results and the above models. TEM experiments could not provide a precise estimate of the aspect ratio but the range predicted from the models are of this order. Apparent solubility coefficients, computed by dividing the experimental permeability by the diffusivity obtained from the time lag observation, increased significantly with vermiculite content in contradiction to the theoretical prediction. Independent gas sorption isotherm experiments for CO₂ were measured and found to be larger than that in butyl rubber possibly due to adsorption on the vermiculite. While this turned out to be a very complicated system, it seems clear from these results that the transient tortuosity factor defined by the time lag is significantly larger than the steady-state tortuosity factor defined by permeability.     

A Longitudinal Study of Well-Being of Older Europeans: Does Retirement Matter?

We examine determinants of financial and subjective well-being, in particular poverty and depression, among older individuals in Europe. We do so using the 2004, 2006, and 2010 waves of the Survey of Health Ageing and Retirement in Europe and estimating dynamic panel data and binary choice transition models. We find a number of common effects across financial and subjective well-being. Unemployment, disabilities, serious health conditions, lower education, being female, and not being married increase the probability of poverty or depression. Conversely, healthy individuals, those with higher levels of education, males, and married individuals have higher probabilities of exiting poverty or depression. The effect of retirement is of special policy interest. It turns out to be crucial to control for endogeneity (i.e. the possibility of reverse causality) of retirement. If we don’t control for endogeneity, retirement appears to increase both the risk of poverty and of depression. Once we control for endogeneity using instrumental variables, these negative effects disappear and point to weak evidence that retirement induced through eligibility for retirement pensions may be protective against poverty and depression.     

Evaluating the use of social impact assessment in Northeast US federal fisheries management

This analysis of Northeast US federal fisheries management focused on how social data have been collected and incorporated. Qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with 45 primary informants was augmented with secondary data. Results showed that the social factors of Northeast US federal fisheries are considered important, and that participation in and processes involved with collecting and incorporating social data have improved over time. Nonetheless, progress is still necessary to ensure that managers have the information necessary to understand how fishermen and fishing communities might be impacted by decisions. Managers tend rely on perception and public comment, rather than social impact assessment (SIA) documents. A number of steps are being taken to improve data collection, analysis, and use. Similar challenges exist nation-wide, but dialogue among providers of SIAs is elevating the quality and consistency of products. Where social scientists are engaged early and consistently, fostering the consideration of human dimensions in the design of measures in a participatory and iterative manner, both the SIA process and product are most valuable.     

Photoaddition of ruthenium(II)-tris-1,4,5,8-tetraazaphenanthrene to DNA and mononucleotides

The purpose of this study was to show if inflammatory cells within healthy or diseased human intestinal mucosa produce some regulatory neuropeptides. First, inflammatory cells were isolated from the intestinal lamina propria of 11 patients with ulcerative colitis or Crohn's disease. Also collected were cells from anatomically normal intestine derived from five patients requiring bowel resection for diseases not related to inflammatory bowel disease. Extracts of these isolated cells contained authentic substance P (SP) and vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) as shown by RIA and their elution profiles on HPLC. Immunostaining of cells from nine of 13 additional patients localized immunoreactive SP and VIP to secretory granules within most mucosal eosinophils. No other cell types stained positive. Messenger RNA encoding SP and VIP was localized to lamina propria eosinophils by in situ hybridization. Mucosa inflammatory cells, from eight of nine more patients, cultured in vitro, released detectable amounts of VIP, but not SP. It is concluded that intestinal eosinophils produce SP and VIP. Since the eosinophils store and release more VIP than SP, it is possible that VIP is the preferred secretory product.     

Reconstructive Memory Related to Adolescent-Parent Conflict Interactions: The Influence of Attachment-Related Representations on Immediate Perceptions and Changes in Perceptions Over Time.

This investigation examined the hypothesis that individuals change, over time, their perceptions of interactions with attachment figures in ways that are consistent with their attachment-related representations of those individuals. In an original and a replication study, adolescents participated in laboratory conflict discussions with each of their parents. Adolescents rated their perceptions of the interactions immediately after the conflict discussions, then again 6 weeks later. Results indicated that (a) adolescents' immediate perceptions of the interactions were influenced by their attachment-related representations of their parents, and (b) adolescents' perceptions, over a period of 6 weeks, shifted such that their later perceptions were more congruent with their attachment-related representations than were their immediate perceptions. Implications for the continuity of relational models and relationship patterns are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relevance framework for category-based induction: Evidence from garden-path arguments.

Relevance theory (Sperber & Wilson, 1995) suggests that people expend cognitive effort when processing information in proportion to the cognitive effects to be gained from doing so. This theory has been used to explain how people apply their knowledge appropriately when evaluating category-based inductive arguments (Medin, Coley, Storms, & Hayes, 2003). In such arguments, people are told that a property is true of premise categories and are asked to evaluate the likelihood that it is also true of conclusion categories. According to the relevance framework, reasoners generate hypotheses about the relevant relation between the categories in the argument. We reasoned that premises inconsistent with early hypotheses about the relevant relation would have greater effects than consistent premises. We designed three premise garden-path arguments where the same 3rd premise was either consistent or inconsistent with likely hypotheses about the relevant relation. In Experiments 1 and 2, we showed that effort expended processing consistent premises (measured via reading times) was significantly less than effort expended on inconsistent premises. In Experiment 2 and 3, we demonstrated a direct relation between cognitive effect and cognitive effort. For garden-path arguments, belief change given inconsistent 3rd premises was significantly correlated with Premise 3 (Experiment 3) and conclusion (Experiments 2 and 3) reading times. For consistent arguments, the correlation between belief change and reading times did not approach significance. These results support the relevance framework for induction but are difficult to accommodate under other approaches. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)