Search results for "Systemic."
showing 10 items of 756 documents
Functional analysis of the classical, alternative, and MBL pathways of the complement system: standardization and validation of a simple ELISA.
2004
Primary defence against invading microorganisms depends on a functional innate immune system and the complement system plays a major role in such immunity. Deficiencies in one of the components of the complement system can cause severe and recurrent infections, systemic diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and renal disease. Screening for complement deficiencies in the classical or alternative complement pathways has mainly been performed by haemolytic assays. Here, we describe a simple ELISA-based format for the evaluation of three pathways of complement activation. The assays are based on specific coatings for each pathway in combination with specific buffer systems. We ha…
Social Constructionist and Social Engineer
2021
This chapter follows the times series of the previous chapter. It is not just the scale of the problem that distinguishes one stage from another but also the nature of the problem. When social entrepreneurs try to shift the context in an institutional approach, they have to face some issues previously described in the second part of the book. This case study exemplifies what these issues are, linked to the concept of legitimacy, and the strategies carried out by the social entrepreneur to overcome them.
Hysteresis Model of Unconscious-Conscious Interconnection: Exploring Dynamics on m-Adic Trees
2015
The theoretical model outlined in this paper, has been experimentally validated by: H. Kim ,J-Y. Moon ,G.A. Mashour & U. Lee, ''Mechanisms of hysteresis in human brain networks during transitions of consciousness and unconsciousness: Theoretical principles and empirical evidence'', PLOS-Computational Biology, August 30, 2018, https://journals.plos.org/ploscompbiol/article?id=10.1371/journal.pcbi.1006424; International audience; In this brief note, we focus attention on a possible implementation of a basic hysteretic pattern (the Preisach one), suitably generalized, into a formal model of unconscious-conscious interconnection and based on representation of mental entities by m-adic numbers. …
IL-2, IL-3, and IFN-gamma differently affect in vivo frequencies of circulating precursors of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL-p)
1993
Experimental animal and human in vivo studies have previously demonstrated the impact of exogenous administration of various cytokines on frequencies of circulating myeloid and LAK precursor cells. For the first time we investigated whether exogenous cytokines, in the absence of antigenic challenge, may also influence frequencies of circulating antigen-specific cytotoxic T-lymphocyte precursor cells. We further asked whether triggering of autoimmune pathways as has been reported for several cytokines can be confirmed on the cellular level by demonstration of induction of autoreactive CTL-p. Limiting dilution analysis was used to determine alloreactive CTL-p frequencies in 31 patients with n…
The Obesity Paradox Predicts the Second Wave of COVID-19 to Be Severe in Western Countries.
2021
While COVID-19 infection and mortality rates are soaring in Western countries, Southeast Asian countries have successfully avoided the second wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic despite high population density. We provide a biochemical hypothesis for the connection between low COVID-19 incidence, mortality rates, and high visceral adiposity in Southeast Asian populations. The SARS-CoV-2 virus uses angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as a gateway into the human body. Although the highest expression levels of ACE2 are found in people’s visceral adipose tissue in Southeast Asia, this does not necessarily make them vulnerable to COVID-19. Hypothetically, high levels of visceral adiposity cause s…
Zur Wirkung von Muskelrelaxantien auf den intraokularen Druck
1988
Since general anesthesia is being used increasingly in ophthalmic surgery, the effects of anesthetic drugs on intraocular pressure (IOP) have to be considered. Competitive neuromuscular blocking drugs either do not affect IOP or produce a slight decrease. Depolarizing muscle relaxants increase IOP. This effect, which is pronounced with succinylcholine, cannot be reliably prevented by any concomitant medication. The new competitive relaxants atracurium and vecuronium provide stable conditions with respect to IOP and systemic circulation, combined with fast onset and intermediate duration of action.
TD-09 IL-34 promotes macrophage-mediated lupus nephritis in MRL-Faslpr mice
2018
Background Nephritis is the major cause of mortality and morbidity in patients with lupus. Macrophages (Mo) are central to kidney destruction in lupus-prone mice and patients. CSF-1, and the newly identified IL-34, mediate Mo survival and proliferation. However, IL-34 and CSF-1 differ during development and disease. While CSF-1 and IL-34 share the CSF-1 receptor (cFMS), expressed by Mo, IL-34 binds to a second receptor, Protein-Tyrosine Phosphatase ζ (PTPRZ) in inflamed kidneys. Intra-renal IL-34, cFMS, and PTPRZ are increased during the progression of lupus nephritis in MRL-Faslpr mice. Therefore, we hypothesized that IL-34 is a potential therapeutic target for lupus nephritis. Methods and…
Knowledge Representation on the Web Revisited: The Case for Prototypes
2016
Recently, RDF and OWL have become the most common knowledge representation languages in use on the Web, propelled by the recommendation of the W3C. In this paper we examine an alternative way to represent knowledge based on Prototypes. This Prototype-based representation has different properties, which we argue to be more suitable for data sharing and reuse on the Web. Prototypes avoid the distinction between classes and instances and provide a means for object-based data sharing and reuse.
<title>HAP: a hybrid system for reasoning about actions and plans in robotics</title>
1990
The paper describes the main ideas and principles of HAP (Hybrid representation of Actions and Plans), a system for hybrid representation and reasoning in advanced robotics. In this context, hybrid representation refers to the integration of both symbolic and analogic knowledge representation paradigms. In particular, the logic/symbolic component is based on a KL-ONE-like representation language. The system embeds "analogic experts", that are concurrent procedures operating in a direct and fast way on the world representation. These "experts" help the system in planning a correct temporal sequence of actions. As a reference scenario, assembly (and disassembly) problems are considered. The a…
Reasoning with Multilevel Contexts in Semantic Metanetworks
2000
It is generally accepted that knowledge has a contextual component. Acquisition, representation, and exploitation of knowledge in context would have a major contribution in knowledge representation, knowledge acquisition, and explanation, as Brezillon and Abu-Hakima supposed in [Brezillon and Abu-Hakima, 1995]. Among the advantages of the use of contexts in knowledge representation and reasoning Akman and Surav [Akman and Surav, 1996] mentioned the following: economy of representation, more competent reasoning, allowance for inconsistent knowledge bases, resolving of lexical ambiguity and flexible entailment. Brezillon and Cases noticed however in [Brezillon and Cases, 1995] that knowledge-…