CCL5/RANTES contributes to prolonged eosinophilic inflammation and asthma exacerbation after a viral infection. We studied the mechanism of CCL5 expression using viral product double-stranded RNA ...(dsRNA), a ligand of Toll-like receptor 3 (TLR3), and inflammatory cytokines in airway epithelial cells.
The airway epithelial cell line BEAS-2B was used in our in vitro study, and the levels of CCL5 mRNA and CCL5 protein expression were determined using real-time PCR and ELISA. The activity of the CCL5 promoter region and nuclear factor (NF)-kappaB was assessed by dual luciferase assay using specific luciferase reporter plasmids. We used actinomycin D to assess the stability of mRNA. Phosphorylation of signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT-1) was analyzed by Western blot.
Synthetic dsRNA up-regulated the expression of CCL5 mRNA and CCL5 protein. Adding TNF-alpha or IFN-gamma to dsRNA further increased the expression of CCL5. The combination of TNF-alpha and dsRNA cooperatively activated the CCL5 promoter region and the NF-kappaB-specific reporter. IFN-gamma did not activate these reporters. However, it increased the stability of CCL5 mRNA induced by dsRNA. IFN-gamma phosphorylated STAT-1, but dsRNA did not. The effects of IFN-gamma were not evident in the cells transfected with short interfering RNA for STAT-1.
Cross-talk between TLR3 signaling and inflammatory cytokines regulates the expression of CCL5 in airway epithelial cells. In this mechanism, TNF-alpha may activate NF-kappaB, in cooperation with TLR3 signaling. IFN-gamma may stabilize CCL5 mRNA up-regulated by TLR3. This mechanism may depend on STAT-1.
Nowadays, blood gas analysis is mainly performed by instruments using electrode methods, which have some disadvantage of instrumentation, troublesome maintenance and measuring procedures. An AVL's ...new blood gas analyzer works with optodes sensors based on optical fluorescence. We have studied the quality difference among cartridge lots and the effect of hemoglobin concentration on the measurements. We have also studied the relationship between actual measurements and reference values from tonometry. An AVL's new blood gas analyzer has shown good results in the tests.
A large-area Multi-Pixel Photon Counter (MPPC) sensitive to vacuum ultra violet (VUV) light has been developed for the liquid xenon (LXe) scintillation detector of the MEG II experiment. The LXe ...detector is designed to detect the 52.8\,MeV photon from the lepton flavour violating decay \(\mu^+ \to \mathrm{e}^+ \gamma\) and is based on \(900\,\ell\) LXe with a highly granular scintillation readout by 4092 VUV-MPPCs with an active area of \(139\,\mathrm{mm}^2\) each, totalling \(0.57\,\mathrm{m}^2\). The VUV-MPPC shows an excellent performance in LXe, which includes a high photon detection efficiency (PDE) up to 21\% for the LXe scintillation light in the VUV range, a high gain, a low probability of the optical cross-talk and the after-pulsing, a low dark count rate and a good single photoelectron resolution. The large active area of the VUV-MPPC is formed by connecting four independent small VUV-MPPC chips in series to avoid the increase of the sensor capacitance and thus, to have a short pulse-decay-time, which is crucial for high rate experiments. Performance tests of 4180 VUV-MPPCs produced for the LXe detector were also carried out at room temperature prior to the installation to the detector and all of them with only a few exceptions were found to work properly. The design and performance of the VUV-MPPC are described in detail as well as the results from the performance tests at room temperature.
Experimental information on fragment emissions is important in understanding the dynamics of nuclear collisions and in the development of transport model simulating heavy-ion collisions. The ...composition of complex fragments emitted in the heavy-ion collisions can be explained by statistical models, which assume that thermal equilibrium is achieved at collision energies below 100 MeV/u. Our new experimental data together with theoretical analyses for light particles from Sn+Sn collisions at 270 MeV/u, suggest that the hypothesis of thermal equilibrium breaks down for particles emitted with high transfer momentum. To inspect the system's properties in such limit, the scaling features of the yield ratios of particles from two systems, a neutron-rich system of \({}^{132}\mathrm{Sn}+{}^{124}\mathrm{Sn}\) and a nearly symmetric system of \({}^{108}\mathrm{Sn}+{}^{112}\mathrm{Sn}\), are examined in the framework of the statistical multifragmentation model and the antisymmetrized molecular dynamics model. The isoscaling from low energy particles agree with both models. However the observed breakdown of isoscaling for particles with high transverse momentum cannot be explained by the antisymmetrized molecular dynamics model.
To determine whether urinary excretion of type IV collagen can be used as a predictor of progression of early diabetic nephropathy, we measured the levels of type IV collagen and albumin in ...first-voided morning urine samples from 190 non-insulin dependent diabetic patients with normoalbuminuria (urinary albumin creatinine ratio ACR<20mg/gCr). Even in these patients, 66.3% showed elevated urinary type IV collagen (urinary type IV collagen creatinine ratio IV-C≥3.5μg/gCr). In patients with elevated IV-C, there were significantly more whose ACR after 2 years rose to more than 20 mg/gCr than those whose IV-C remained normal (odds ratio 2.66, 95% confidence interval 1.10-6.43). These results suggest that urinary excretion of type IV collagen might be a useful predictive marker for the progression of early diabetic nephropathy.
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