Macrophages are innate immune cells that contribute to fighting infections, tissue repair, and maintaining tissue homeostasis. To enable such functional diversity, macrophages resolve potentially ...conflicting cues in the microenvironment via mechanisms that are unclear. Here, we use single-cell RNA sequencing to explore how individual macrophages respond when co-stimulated with inflammatory stimuli LPS and IFN-γ and the resolving cytokine IL-4. These co-stimulated macrophages display a distinct global transcriptional program. However, variable negative cross-regulation between some LPS + IFN-γ-specific and IL-4-specific genes results in cell-to-cell heterogeneity in transcription. Interestingly, negative cross-regulation leads to mutually exclusive expression of the T-cell-polarizing cytokine genes Il6 and Il12b versus the IL-4-associated factors Arg1 and Chil3 in single co-stimulated macrophages, and single-cell secretion measurements show that these specialized functions are maintained for at least 48 h. This study suggests that increasing functional diversity in the population is one strategy macrophages use to respond to conflicting environmental cues.
Trigger mechanisms and syn-eruptive processes of Plinian eruptions are poorly understood especially in the case of mafic powerful events. In the last decades, the combined geochemical and textural ...studies on volcanic rocks have proven to be fundamental tools for exploring the dynamics of magma ascent in volcanic conduits and for improving our ability to interpret volcano-monitoring signals and assess hazard. In this case study, we quantitatively investigate 2D and 3D micro-textural, geochemical, and isotopic features of pyroclastic rocks erupted during the Pomici di Base Plinian eruption (22 ka), the generally acknowledged first and most powerful event of the Somma–Vesuvius volcano. A peculiar aspect of this eruption is its high intensity that remained stable during the entire Plinian phase despite the strong magma compositional variation towards mafic terms. We infer that the transfer of magma towards the surface was intensified by the occurrence of rapid vesiculation pulses driven by limestone assimilation (skarn recycling) during magma ascent through the carbonatic bedrock. We conclude that limestone assimilation can hence be a syn-eruptive process, able to trigger further gas nucleation with deep impact on the eruption intensity, particularly crucial in the case of mafic/intermediate magma compositions.
A
bstract
The
ϒ
(1
S
)
μ
+
μ
−
invariant-mass distribution is investigated for a possible exotic meson state composed of two
b
quarks and two
b
¯
quarks,
X
b
b
¯
b
b
¯
. The analysis is based on a ...data sample of
pp
collisions recorded with the LHCb detector at centre-of-mass energies
s
=
7
, 8 and 13 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 6.3 fb
−1
. No significant excess is found, and upper limits are set on the product of the production cross-section and the branching fraction as functions of the mass of the
X
b
b
¯
b
b
¯
state. The limits are set in the fiducial volume where all muons have pseudorapidity in the range 2
.
0
,
5
.
0, and the
X
b
b
¯
b
b
¯
state has rapidity in the range 2
.
0
,
4
.
5 and transverse momentum less than 15 GeV/
c
.
Generation of biologic diversity is a cornerstone of immunity, yet the tools to investigate the causal influence of genetic and environmental factors have been greatly limited. Studies from the Human ...Functional Genomics Project, presented in Cell and other Cell Press journals, integrate environmental and genetic factors with the direction and magnitude of immune responses to decipher inflammatory disease pathogenesis.
Generation of biologic diversity is a cornerstone of immunity, yet the tools to investigate the causal influence of genetic and environmental factors have been greatly limited. Studies from the Human Functional Genomics Project, presented in Cell and other Cell Press journals, integrate environmental and genetic factors with the direction and magnitude of immune responses to decipher inflammatory disease pathogenesis.
A search is presented for massive long-lived particles decaying into a muon and two quarks. The dataset consists of proton-proton interactions at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV, corresponding ...to integrated luminosities of 1 and 2
fb
-
1
, respectively. The analysis is performed assuming a set of production mechanisms with simple topologies, including the production of a Higgs-like particle decaying into two long-lived particles. The mass range from 20 to 80
GeV
/
c
2
and lifetimes from 5 to 100
ps
are explored. Results are also interpreted in terms of neutralino production in different R-Parity violating supersymmetric models, with masses in the 23–198 GeV/
c
2
range. No excess above the background expectation is observed and upper limits are set on the production cross-section for various points in the parameter space of theoretical models.
Here, we present the first measurement of dihadron angular correlations in electron-nucleus scattering. The data were taken with the CLAS detector and a 5.0 GeV electron beam incident on deuterium, ...carbon, iron, and lead targets. Relative to deuterium, the nuclear yields of charged-pion pairs show a strong suppression for azimuthally opposite pairs, no suppression for azimuthally nearby pairs, and an enhancement of pairs with large invariant mass. These effects grow with increased nuclear size. The data are qualitatively described by the gibuu model, which suggests that hadrons form near the nuclear surface and undergo multiple scattering in nuclei.These results show that angular correlation studies can open a new way to elucidate how hadrons form and interact inside nuclei.
Ethylene–propylene–diene terpolymer rubber (EPDM)-based nanocomposites containing carbon black (CB), graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs), and mixtures of the two fillers were prepared. The influence of the ...relative amounts of the two fillers on the dynamic and static friction coefficients was examined. The static analysis of the coefficient of friction suggests that the partial substitution GNPs into the EPDM/CB blend did not produce a significant variation of the surface grip. The sample comprising EPDM/CB composite and an effective amount of GNPs dispersed in the matrix provides an increase of the thermal conductivity, damping (i. e. shock absorbing properties) and mechanical properties of the nanocomposites. The field-emission scanning electron microscopy and micro tomography analyses showed that the replacement of CB with GNPs reduces the CB aggregation and, hence, improving the percolation of the hybrid fillers and the interface resistance of the composite. The development of thermally conducting elastomeric nanocomposites could envisage their utilization in the processing of rubber blends satisfying the increasing demand to reduce both the duration of the vulcanization process and thus the cost of the vulcanized rubbers.
A search is presented for long-lived particles with a mass between 25 and 50
GeV
/
c
2
and a lifetime between 2 and 500 ps, using proton–proton collision data corresponding to an integrated ...luminosity of 2.0
fb
-
1
, collected by the LHCb detector at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. The particles are assumed to be pair-produced in the decay of a 125
GeV
/
c
2
Standard-Model-like Higgs boson. The experimental signature is a single long-lived particle, identified by a displaced vertex with two associated jets. No excess above background is observed and limits are set on the production cross-section as a function of the mass and lifetime of the long-lived particle.
A
bstract
A comprehensive set of azimuthal single-spin and double-spin asymmetries in semi-inclusive leptoproduction of pions, charged kaons, protons, and antiprotons from transversely polarized ...protons is presented. These asymmetries include the previously published HERMES results on Collins and Sivers asymmetries, the analysis of which has been extended to include protons and antiprotons and also to an extraction in a three-dimensional kinematic binning and enlarged phase space. They are complemented by corresponding results for the remaining four single-spin and four double-spin asymmetries allowed in the one-photon-exchange approximation of the semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering process for target-polarization orientation perpendicular to the direction of the incoming lepton beam. Among those results, significant non-vanishing cos (
ϕ−ϕ
S
) modulations provide evidence for a sizable worm-gear (II) distribution,
g
1
T
q
x
p
T
2
. Most of the other modulations are found to be consistent with zero with the notable exception of large sin (
ϕ
S
) modulations for charged pions and
K
+
.
Azimuthal single-spin asymmetries of leptoproduced pions and charged kaons were measured on a transversely polarized hydrogen target. Evidence for a naive-T-odd, transverse-momentum-dependent parton ...distribution function is deduced from nonvanishing Sivers effects for pi(+), pi(0), and K(+/-), as well as in the difference of the pi(+) and pi(-) cross sections.