One of the most abundant immunologic cell types in early decidua is the uterine natural killer (UNK) cell that despite the presence of cytoplasmic granules rich in perforin and granzymes does not degranulate in normal pregnancy. UNK cells are important producers of angiogenic factors that permit normal dilation of uterine arteries to provide increased blood flow for the growing feto-placental unit. Gram-negative bacteria lipopolysaccharide (LPS) administration can trigger an imbalance of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines impairing the normal immune cells activity as well as uterine homeostasis. The present study aimed to evaluate by immunohistochemistry the reactivity of perforin and α-actin on UNK cell from LPStreated pregnant mice. For the first time, we demonstrate that LPS injection in pregnant mice causes α-actin down regulation, concomitantly with perforin loss in UNK cells. This suggests that LPS alters UNK cell migration and activates cytotoxic granule release., B. Zavan, A. M. do Amarante-Paffaro, V. A. Paffaro Jr., and Obsahuje bibliografii
The concept of α-ideals in posets is introduced. Several properties of α-ideals in 0-distributive posets are studied. Characterization of prime ideals to be α-ideals in 0- distributive posets is obtained in terms of minimality of ideals. Further, it is proved that if a prime ideal I of a 0-distributive poset is non-dense, then I is an α-ideal. Moreover, it is shown that the set of all α-ideals α Id(P) of a poset P with 0 forms a complete lattice. A result analogous to separation theorem for finite 0-distributive posets is obtained with respect to prime α-ideals. Some counterexamples are also given.
In vitro produced β-like cells can provide promising cell therapy for curing the epidemic of diabetes. In this context, we aimed to investigate the effects of different concentrations of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) on the differentiation of rat pancreatic ductal epithelial-like stem cells (PDESCs) into β-like cells. The PDESC line cells were cultured in the basal media (DMEM/F12 + 10% FBS + 1% penicillinstreptomycin) supplemented with 0 µM, 5 µM, 50 µM, 500 µM, and 5 mM of GABA for 28 days to induce their differentiation. The differentiated cells were detected by cell morphology, dithizone (DTZ) staining, immunofluorescence staining, real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), and glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) assay to validate their identity. At the end of 28 days, compared with the control group, enrichment of induced cells was high among the 5 μM, 50 μM, 500 μM, and 5 mM GABA induction groups. The formation of islet-like cell clusters (ICCs) began at 14 days, and the cell clusters showed a growth trend with the culture time. The induced ICCs were positive for DTZ staining, while the control group showed negative results for DTZ staining and the differentiated cells were also positive for β-cell-specific markers (Ins1 and Pdx1). GSIS assay of 50 μM induction group cells at 28 days showed significantly higher levels of C-peptide and insulin secretion than the control, 5 μM, 500 μM, and 5 mM GABA-treated groups (P < 0.01). At the same time, the 50 μM induction group cells also showed significantly higher levels of Ins1, Pdx1 and Nkx6.1 mRNA as compared to the 5 μM, 500 μM and 5 mM GABA groups (P < 0.01). Thus, the addition of GABA to the basal medium effectively induced differentiation of adult rat PDESCs into insulin-secreting β-like cells, and 50 μM was the most effective concentration for the induction.
According to a widespread view, deontic modalities are relative to normative systems. Four arguments in favour of this suggestion will be presented in this paper. Nevertheless, I have proposed and defended an analysis of deontic modalities in terms of Transparent Intensional Logic (TIL) that is non-relativistic (with respect to normative systems) and accommodates minimal semantics of TIL. This leads to a question whether one can do justice to arguments for deontic relativism and put forward a relativistic analysis of deontic modalities in TIL. The main aim of this paper is to amend the former analysis of deontic modalities in terms of TIL to incorporate both the standard (relativistic) view and the minimal semantics of TIL., Podle široce rozšířeného pohledu jsou deontické modality vztaženy k normativním systémům. V tomto příspěvku budou prezentovány čtyři argumenty ve prospěch tohoto návrhu. Nicméně jsem navrhl a obhájil analýzu deontických modalit v podmínkách transparentní intenzivní logiky (TIL), která je nerelativistická (s ohledem na normativní systémy) a pojme minimální sémantiku TIL. Toto vede k otázce zda jeden může dělat spravedlnost k argumentům pro deontic relativismus a navrhl relativistic analýzu deontic modalities v TIL. Hlavním cílem této práce je doplnit dřívější analýzu deontických modalit z hlediska TIL tak, aby zahrnovala jak standardní (relativistický) pohled, tak minimální sémantiku TIL., and Daniela Glavaničová
Based on stable carbon isotope ratio (δ13C) measurements, photosynthetic pathway types were determined for 61 species in 54 genera and 24 families of flowering plants from the saline meadows of Northeastern China. Of these total vascular plants, 18 species in 17 genera from 6 families were found to have C4 photosynthesis; 43 species in 38 genera from 20 families had C3 photosynthesis. Six dicotyledonous species exhibited C4 pathway, 12 monocotyledonous species were found with C4 photosynthesis. The dicotyledonous C4 species had relative greater mean δ13C value and less total carbon content than both monocotyledonous C4 and C3 species. Most dicotyledonous C4 species were annual forbs and halophytes. Some C4 species had been previously documented, but their δ13C values varied remarkably from those of the present study. Even though there are some fluctuations for the δ13C values of some C4 species, δ13C value was still more reliable for C3 and C4 identification than the use of the enzyme ratio method and of low CO2 compensation concentration.
Plants have developed various photoprotective mechanisms to resist irradiation stress. One of the photoprotective mechanisms described in the literature for LHC2-containing organisms involves a down-regulation of photosystem (PS) 2 occurring simultaneously with the build-up of a proton gradient across the thylakoid membrane (ΔpH). It is often correlated with deepoxidation of xanthophylls located in LHC2. In Rhodophyta instead of LHC2, the peripheral antenna of PS2 consists of a large extramembrane complex, the phycobilisome (PBS), which transfers its excitation to the core antennae of PS2 composed of the CP43 and CP47 protein-chlorophyll complexes and there is no xanthophyll cycle. In the red alga Rhodella violacea a ΔpH-dependent chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence quenching can be formed. We characterised this quenching, studied the effects of various irradiances and inhibitors. Under photoinhibitory conditions, the ΔpH-dependent Chl fluorescence quenching exerts a photoprotective role and delays the kinetics of photoinhibition. It is the first time that such a photoprotective mechanism is described in PBS-containing organisms. and M. Ritz, K. V. Neverov, A.-L. Etienne.
The broadening of the photospheric lines in ζ Ophiuchu by very rapid rotation allows not ony mapping of its surface velocities and temperature distribution, but makes the star an excellent probe for a profusion of sharp interstellar lines. Being bright, it is a good object for smaller telescopes. Apart from discovering nonradial oscillations in its atmosphere over twenty years ago and a significant temperature differential between pole and equator (the von Zeipel effect), I have recently assisted in the discovery of some 30 lines of interstellar C3 near 405 nm - the first carbon chain to have been found in a diffuse interstellar cloud and at a much higher concentration than expected.
\vspace{-1.6cm} The paper studies the relations between ϕ-divergences and fundamental concepts of decision theory such as sufficiency, Bayes sufficiency, and LeCam's deficiency. A new and considerably simplified approach is given to the spectral representation of ϕ-divergences already established in Österreicher and Feldman \cite{OestFeld} under restrictive conditions and in Liese and Vajda \cite{LiV06}, \cite{LiV08} in the general form. The simplification is achieved by a new integral representation of convex functions in terms of elementary convex functions which are strictly convex at one point only. Bayes sufficiency is characterized with the help of a binary model that consists of the joint distribution and the product of the marginal distributions of the observation and the parameter, respectively. LeCam's deficiency is expressed in terms of ϕ-divergences where ϕ belongs to a class of convex functions whose curvature measures are finite and satisfy a normalization condition.
In the Prague Dependency Treebank, a part of the texts from the Czech National Corpus is being annotated on several layers, including the underlying (tectogrammatical) representations. The usefulness of such a treebank is briefly characterized and a large set of topics is discussed for which further monographical research appears to be necessary. The future discussion and elaboration of these topics can be carried out much more effectively with the use of the annotated corpus, and the results thus gained may then serve to an enrichment of the descriptive framework and of the annotation procedure.
Individual values of syntactic and morphological attributes used in the syntactic annotation of the Prague Dependency Treebank are discussed, as well as certain more general issues concerning the relationships between the underlying and the morphemic levels (word order, deletion and others).