Search results for "ACTIVATION"
showing 10 items of 2079 documents
Phase dynamics in graphene-based Josephson junctions in the presence of thermal and correlated fluctuations
2014
In this work we study by numerical methods the phase dynamics in ballistic graphene-based short Josephson junctions. The supercurrent through a graphene junction shows a non-sinusoidal phase-dependence, unlike a conventional junction ruled by the well-known d.c. Josephson relation. A superconductor-graphene-superconductor system exhibits superconductive quantum metastable states similar to those present in normal current-biased JJs. We explore the effects of thermal and correlated fluctuations on the escape time from these metastable states, when the system is stimulated by an oscillating bias current. As a first step, the analysis is carried out in the presence of an external Gaussian whit…
Lifetime of the superconductive state in long Josephson junctions in presence of non-Gaussian noise sources
2012
The effects of Lévy noise sources on the transient dynamics of long Josephson junctions (LJJ) are investigated in the presence of both a periodical current signal and a noise source with Gaussian, Cauchy-Lorentz or Levy-Smirnov probability distributions. In particular, by numerically integrating the Sine-Gordon equation, the mean escape time (MET) from the superconductive metastable state is obtained as a function both of the frequency of the periodical force and amplitude of the noise signal. We find resonant activation (RA) and noise enhanced stability (NES). Significative changes in RA and NES are observed by using Lévy noise sources with different statistics. MET is also studied as a fu…
Activation of metabotropic glutamate receptors induces propagating network oscillations in the intact cerebral cortex of the newborn mouse.
2006
Activation of metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) with (1S,3R)-1-aminocyclopentane-1,3-dicarboxylic acid (ACPD) elicited in the frontal or occipital pole of the intact cerebral cortex preparation of the newborn mouse (P0-P3) a transient oscillatory field potential activity in the frequency range of 11-14Hz. These oscillations propagated over the whole cortical hemisphere and were blocked by tetrodotoxin, indicating that action potentials are required for the generation of this activity. Blockade of GABA-A receptors with gabazine did not influence the ACPD-induced network activity, but the glycine antagonist strychnine caused a significant decrease in the frequency, amplitude and durat…
Resealing of large transmembrane pores produced by streptolysin O in nucleated cells is accompanied by NF‐κB activation and downstream events
2001
Streptolysin O (SLO), archetype of a cholesterol-binding bacterial cytolysin, forms large pores in the plasma membrane of mammalian cells. We have recently reported that when a limited number of pores are generated in a cell, they can be sealed in a Ca++-dependent process. Here, we show that resealing is followed by the release of IL-6 and IL-8 from keratinocytes and from endothelial cells, both relevant targets for SLO attack. Production of cytokines by these cells was preceded by activation of transcription factor nuclear factor kappaB, which thus emerges as a common denominator of stress responses to various pore-forming agents, including alpha-toxin of Staphylococcus aureus and compleme…
Melittin Modulates Keratinocyte Function through P2 Receptor-dependent ADAM Activation
2012
Melittin, the major component of the bee venom, is an amphipathic, cationic peptide with a wide spectrum of biological properties that is being considered as an anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer agent. It modulates multiple cellular functions but the underlying mechanisms are not clearly understood. Here, we report that melittin activates disintegrin-like metalloproteases (ADAMs) and that downstream events likely contribute to the biological effects evoked by the peptide. Melittin stimulated the proteolysis of ADAM10 and ADAM17 substrates in human neutrophil granulocytes, endothelial cells and murine fibroblasts. In human HaCaT keratinocytes, melittin induced shedding of the adhesion molecu…
Differential role of p38 mitogen activated protein kinase for cellular recovery from attack by pore-forming S. aureus alpha-toxin or streptolysin O.
2006
Following the observation that cells are able to recover from membrane lesions incurred by Staphylococcus aureus alpha-toxin and streptolysin O (SLO), we investigated the role of p38 in this process. p38 phosphorylation occurred in response to attack by both toxins, commencing within minutes after toxin treatment and waning after several hours. While SLO reportedly activates p38 via ASK1 and ROS, we show that this pathway does not play a major role for p38 induction in alpha-toxin-treated cells. Strikingly divergent effects of p38 blockade were noted depending on the toxin employed. In the case of alpha-toxin, inhibition of p38 within the time frame of its activation led to disruption of th…
Heat-stable antigen is expressed by murine keratinocytes and delivers costimulatory signals in T-cell activation.
1995
Heat-stable antigen (HSA), expressed by various antigen-presenting cells (APC), has been described as a costimulatory molecule for CD4+ T cells. Recently, we observed that HSA also serves as an important costimulatory molecule on epidermal Langerhans cells (LC). During these studies, low levels of HSA staining were also detected on normal murine keratinocytes (KC). To investigate whether HSA also is involved in T-cell activation by KC, normal murine KC or the spontaneously transformed KC cell-line PAM 212 were treated with PDB or PMA to induce HSA-expression. FACS analyses showed induction of HSA expression on normal murine KC, as well as PAM 212 cells. In functional assays PDB or PMA-treat…
Quick Recovery of Renal Alterations and Inflammatory Activation after a Marathon
2018
<b><i>Purpose:</i></b> We evaluated the incidence of acute kidney injury in a cohort of marathon participants. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> We conducted a prospective observational study focused on evaluating the incidence of kidney damage after a marathon, and its evolution in the first 48 h after the marathon in 88 runners who completed the Valencia Marathon. <b><i>Results:</i></b> From the 88 participants, 42 (48.28%) presented with acute kidney injury, mainly grade 1 (95.20%). Microscopic haematuria was observed in 29 runners (33%). Levels of interleukin 6, leukocytes, and neutrophils were markedly increased at the marath…
Optimizing tumor-reactive γδ T cells for antibody-based cancer immunotherapy.
2010
Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) constitute the most rapidly growing class of human therapeutics and the second largest class of drugs after vaccines. The treatment of B-cell malignancies and HER2/Neu(+) breast cancer has benefited considerably from the use of therapeutic mAbs, either alone or in combination with standard chemotherapy. Frequent relapses, however, demonstrate that the bioactivity of these mAbs is still suboptimal. The concept of improving the anti-tumor activity of mAbs is well established and potentiating the cytotoxicity induced by anticancer mAbs can be achieved by strategies that target the downstream cytolytic effector cells. The recruitment of Fcγ receptor-dependent functi…
Ordering kinetics in synthetic Mg(Al,Fe3+)2O4 spinels: Quantitative elucidation of the whole Al-Mg-Fe partitioning, rate constants, activation energi…
2014
A novel procedure, based on the application of the kinetics simulator Gepasi, has been successfully applied for modeling the cation ordering process in two synthetic Mg(Al2-yFe3+y)O4 spinels (y~ 0.39 and 0.54, samples F39 and F54, respectively). The kinetic profiles suggested a two-stage mechanism, with rapid inter-site exchange of Fe3+ with Mg followed by slow exchange of Al with Mg. The trial to apply the classical approaches, based on the explicit solutions of the differential equations corresponding to single-cation (Sha-Chappel model) or two-cation (Müller model) exchange reactions, proved not feasible in the whole time range, thus implying a lack of information about the exchange proc…