We present a detailed derivation of heat radiation, heat transfer, and (Casimir) interactions for N arbitrary objects in the framework of fluctuational electrodynamics in thermal nonequilibrium. The ...results can be expressed as basis-independent trace formulas in terms of the scattering operators of the individual objects. We prove that heat radiation of a single object is positive, and that heat transfer (for two arbitrary passive objects) is from the hotter to a colder body. The heat transferred is also symmetric, exactly reversed if the two temperatures are exchanged. Introducing partial wave expansions, we transform the results for radiation, transfer, and forces into traces of matrices that can be evaluated in any basis, analogous to the equilibrium Casimir force. The method is illustrated by (re)deriving the heat radiation of a plate, a sphere, and a cylinder. We analyze the radiation of a sphere for different materials, emphasizing that a simplification often employed for metallic nanospheres is typically invalid. We derive asymptotic formulas for heat transfer and nonequilibrium interactions for the cases of a sphere in front a plate and for two spheres, extending previous results. As an example, we show that a hot nanosphere can levitate above a plate with the repulsive nonequilibrium force overcoming gravity, an effect that is not due to radiation pressure.
The Casimir force between arbitrary objects in equilibrium is related to scattering from individual bodies. We extend this approach to heat transfer and Casimir forces in nonequilibrium cases where ...each body, and the environment, is at a different temperature. The formalism tracks the radiation from each body and its scatterings by the other objects. We discuss the radiation from a cylinder, emphasizing its polarized nature, and obtain the heat transfer between a sphere and a plate, demonstrating the validity of proximity transfer approximation at close separations and arbitrary temperatures.
Glioblastomas are the most common primary brain tumours. They are known for their highly aggressive growth and invasion, leading to short survival times. Treatments for glioblastomas commonly involve ...a combination of surgical intervention, chemotherapy, and external beam radiation therapy (XRT). Previous works have not only successfully modelled the natural growth of glioblastomas in vivo, but also show potential for the prediction of response to radiation prior to treatment. This suggests that the efficacy of XRT can be optimized before treatment in order to yield longer survival times. However, while current efforts focus on optimal scheduling of radiotherapy treatment, they do not include a similarly sophisticated spatial optimization. In an effort to improve XRT, we present a method for the spatial optimization of radiation profiles. We expand upon previous results in the general problem and examine the more physically reasonable cases of 1-step and 2-step radiation profiles during the first and second XRT fractions. The results show that by including spatial optimization in XRT, while retaining a constant prescribed total dose amount, we are able to increase the total cell kill from the clinically-applied uniform case.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
The spikes on virus surfaces bind receptors on host cells to propagate infection. High spike densities (SDs) can promote infection, but spikes are also targets of antibody-mediated immune responses. ...Thus, diverse evolutionary pressures can influence virus SDs. HIV's SD is about two orders of magnitude lower than that of other viruses, a surprising feature of unknown origin. By modeling antibody evolution through affinity maturation, we find that an intermediate SD maximizes the affinity of generated antibodies. We argue that this leads most viruses to evolve high SDs. T helper cells, which are depleted during early HIV infection, play a key role in antibody evolution. We find that T helper cell depletion results in high affinity antibodies when SD is high, but not if SD is low. This special feature of HIV infection may have led to the evolution of a low SD to avoid potent immune responses early in infection.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
T cells orchestrate pathogen-specific adaptive immune responses by identifying peptides derived from pathogenic proteins that are displayed on the surface of infected cells. Host cells also display ...peptide fragments from the host’s own proteins. Incorrectly identifying peptides derived from the body’s own proteome as pathogenic can result in autoimmune disease. To minimize autoreactivity, immature T cells that respond to self-peptides are deleted in the thymus by a process called negative selection. However, negative selection is imperfect, and autoreactive T cells exist in healthy individuals. To understand how autoimmunity is yet avoided, without loss of responsiveness to pathogens, we have developed a model of T-cell training and response. Our model shows that T cells reliably respond to infection and avoid autoimmunity because collective decisions made by the T-cell population, rather than the responses of individual T cells, determine biological outcomes. The theory is qualitatively consistent with experimental data and yields a criterion for thymic selection to be adequate for suppressing autoimmunity.
Our investigation of knotted structures in the Protein Data Bank reveals the most complicated knot discovered to date. We suggest that the occurrence of this knot in a human ubiquitin hydrolase might ...be related to the role of the enzyme in protein degradation. While knots are usually preserved among homologues, we also identify an exception in a transcarbamylase. This allows us to exemplify the function of knots in proteins and to suggest how they may have been created.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
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