Plasma-derived proteins in airway defence, disease and repair of epithelial injury

One significant characteristic of the airway mucosa in vivo, that cannot easily be mimicked in vitro, is its microcirculation, which generates a highly dynamic, biologically active milieu of plasma-derived molecules that may pass to the airway lumen in vivo. New data on the mechanisms of airway mucosal exudation indicate that the protein systems of circulating plasma may contribute significantly to the biology and immunology of the lamina propria, its surface epithelium and the luminal surface, not only in injured airways, but also in airways that are activated but display no sign of oedema, epithelial disruption, or increased absorption capacity. We suggest that present knowledge of the mechanisms of plasma exudation, together with rapidly emerging information (not detailed herein) on receptors, target cells and cellular responses to the plasma-derived molecules, must be considered in any realistic model that investigates "immuno-inflammatory" mechanisms of the airway mucosa.     

Personalcasting: Tailored Broadcast News

Broadcast news sources and newspapers provide society with the vast majority of real-time information. Unfortunately, cost efficiencies and real-time pressures demand that producers, editors, and writers select and organize content for stereotypical audiences. In this article we illustrate how content understanding, user modeling, and tailored presentation generation promise personalcasts on demand. Specifically, we report on the design and implementation of a personalized version of a broadcast news understanding system, MITRE’s Broadcast News Navigator (BNN), that tracks and infers user content interests and media preferences. We report on the incorporation of Local Context Analysis to both expand the user’s original query to the most related terms in the corpus, as well as to allow the user to provide interactive feedback to enhance the relevance of selected newsstories. We describe an empirical study of the search for stories on ten topics from a video corpus. By personalizing both the selection of stories and the form in which they are delivered, we provide users with tailored broadcast news. This individual news personalization provides more fine-grained content tailoring than current personalized television program level recommenders and does not rely on externally provided program metadata.     

Cytolysis and piecemeal degranulation as distinct modes of activation of airway mucosal eosinophils

In contrast to the protective effect of chronic caloric restriction on tumor development, we have shown that fasting sustained tumor initiation in rat liver by a noninitiating dose of diethylnitrosamine. Here we investigated whether fasting had a similar favorable effect on initiation in the colorectal mucosa in 80 male F344 rats. Animals fasted for 4 days were given a single s.c. dose of azoxymethane (AOM) (20 mg/kg) on the first day of re-feeding, and rates of kinetic proliferative parameters, and development of the pre-neoplastic lesions such as aberrant crypt foci (ACF), were evaluated. Starvation before AOM treatment enhanced the growth of ACF, as shown by the significantly higher crypt multiplicity of fasted/re-fed rats as compared with fully fed rats (3.97 +/- 0.50 vs. 2.64 +/- 0.20, p < or = 0.025). This difference was associated with perturbations in cell death and cell proliferation. Fasting induced apoptosis and depressed cell division, while re-feeding had opposite effects, resulting in a higher percentage of S-phase cells at the time of AOM injection and 2 days thereafter. Starvation-induced apoptosis may represent the mitogenic stimulus to an increase in the number of cells susceptible to AOM damage, and may favor its fixation, leading to enhanced growth of ACF. Our data therefore suggest that fasting/re-feeding enhances colon cancer.     

Exploring behavioural patterns during complex problem-solving

In this explorative study, we investigate how sequences of behaviour are related to success or failure in complex problem-solving (CPS). To this end, we analysed log data from two different tasks of the problem-solving assessment of the Programme for International Student Assessment 2012 study (n = 30,098 students). We first coded every interaction of students as (initial or repeated) exploration, (initial or repeated) goal-directed behaviour, or resetting the task. We then split the data according to task successes and failures. We used full-path sequence analysis to identify groups of students with similar behavioural patterns in the respective tasks. Double-checking and minimalistic behaviour was associated with success in CPS, while guessing and exploring task-irrelevant content was associated with failure. Our findings held for both tasks investigated, from two different CPS measurement frameworks. We thus gained detailed insight into the behavioural processes that are related to success and failure in CPS.     

Integrating a collaboration script and group awareness to support group regulation and emotions towards collaborative problem solving

International Journal of Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning - The research landscape displays increasing awareness of the important role of self-regulation and emotions in the process of...     

Stabilitätsuntersuchungen an binären Triglyceridgemischen

Stability Behaviour of Binary Triglyceride Mixtures Drawing in a diagram the durability of a modification against the mixture concentration with increasing part of trimyristin an almost exponential rising curve is typical for the β′-form of trilaurin-trimyristin-mixtures. Deviating from this course a relative maximum exists at 30% trimyristin. The exponential course can be explained by the increasing difference of the experimental temperature from the β′-melting point with a rising part of trimyristin. The relative maximum is caused by the specific qualities of the β′(3)-form. This modification is characterized by particularly strong interlockings of the molecular end groups between neighbouring monomolecular crystal layers; this causes an increase of the potential barrier and with that a retardation of the phase transition. Experiments show that already very small quantities of the α-form will influence the durability of the β′-form, if the trimyristin part is higher than 80%. This influence is so strong that the sample exhibits the durability of the α-form. In this case the velocity of the transition does no longer depend on the quantity of the molecules existing in the β′-form.     

Innovative Konstruktionsmöglichkeiten mit Stahlfaserbeton: Optimierter Stahlfaserbeton zum Nachweis der Rißbreitenbegrenzung eines kombinationsbewehrten Regenrückhaltebeckens

Innovative construction possibilities with steelfibre reinforced concrete Optimized steelfibre reinforced concrete for proof of crack with limitation of a combined reinforced rain storage reservoir To optimize the performance of steelfibre reinforced concrete in combination with conventional reinforced concrete, it is necessary to test selected steelfibres in a converted concrete. The optimization of Steelfibres and concrete is the presupposition to get innovative, technical formidable solutions and economic advantages. With a strong reinforced rain storage reservoir the advantages are getting clear. The steel bar reinforcement is reduced and the durability is increased.     

Demonstration of mast-cell chemotactic activity in nasal lavage fluid: characterization of one chemotaxin as c-kit ligand, stem cell factor

Mast cells are known to accumulate in tissue during allergic inflammation. However, the chemotaxins responsible are undefined. Using a modified Boyden chamber and the human mast-cell line HMC-1, we first identified mast-cell chemotactic activity in nasal lavage fluid collected before the pollen season after allergen provocation of allergic patients (n=29) (mean migratory response compared to medium control was 121%, range 85-198%). Mast-cell chemotactic activity was also detected in lavage fluid collected after allergen provocation at the end of a Swedish birch-pollen season from three different treatment groups: topical steroid treatment with budesonide; the topical antihistamine, levocabastine; and placebo. There was no significant difference in mast-cell chemotactic activity between nasal lavage fluid collected from the placebo group (mean=102%), the budesonide-treated group (mean=114%), or the levocabastine group (mean=125%). Stem cell factor (SCF), a known mast-cell chemotaxin, was present in the nasal lavage fluids from all three groups, and correlated with the mast-cell chemotactic activity (r=0.67, P<0.01). The mast-cell chemotactic activity was inhibited (range 5-100%) in some, but not all, nasal lavage fluids by a polyclonal antibody directed against SCF. This report describes the presence of mast-cell chemotactic activity in nasal lavage fluid during an allergic reaction. These findings show that SCF may play a pivotal role in the recruitment of mast cells in allergic rhinitis.