GDF15 Supports the Inflammatory Response of PdL Fibroblasts Stimulated by P. gingivalis LPS and Concurrent Compression

Periodontitis is characterized by bacterially induced inflammatory destruction of periodontal tissue. This also affects fibroblasts of the human periodontal ligaments (HPdLF), which play a coordinating role in force-induced tissue and alveolar bone remodeling. Excessive inflammation in the oral tissues has been observed with simultaneous stimulation by pathogens and mechanical forces. Recently, elevated levels of growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15), an immuno-modulatory member of the transforming growth factor (TGFB) superfamily, were detected under periodontitis-like conditions and in force-stressed PdL cells. In view of the pleiotropic effects of GDF15 in various tissues, this study aims to investigate the role of GDF15 in P. gingivalis-related inflammation of HPdLF and its effect on the excessive inflammatory response to concurrent compressive stress. To this end, the expression and secretion of cytokines (IL6, IL8, COX2/PGE2, TNFα) and the activation of THP1 monocytic cells were analyzed in GDF15 siRNA-treated HPdLF stimulated with P. gingivalis lipopolysaccharides alone and in combination with compressive force. GDF15 knockdown significantly reduced cytokine levels and THP1 activation in LPS-stimulated HPdLF, which was less pronounced with additional compressive stress. Overall, our data suggest a pro-inflammatory role for GDF15 in periodontal disease and demonstrate that GDF15 partially modulates the force-induced excessive inflammatory response of PdLF under these conditions.     

Weighted least-squares approximation of FIR by IIR digital filters

This paper presents a method for the weighted least-squares approximation of finite impulse response (FIR) filters by infinite impulse response (IIR) filters. It is shown, how a solution to this approximation problem can be obtained by solving a related pure least-squares approximation problem. For the latter, we utilize a generalized version of a previously published technique with low computational complexity and guaranteed stability of the IIR filters. Unlike the well-established model-reduction approaches that are carried out in the state space, our method works directly with the numerator and denominator coefficients of the transfer functions. Thus, the influence of finite-precision arithmetic on the results is small. This makes our approach applicable for the approximation of large-order FIR filters and allows the usage of arbitrarily shaped weighting functions. It is shown that our method can successfully be employed to achieve a uniform approximation