Search results for "Traps"

Genetic and clinical profile of a sicilian population with R92Q mutation

2017

Gene TNFRSF1A mutation is linked to TRAPS, autosomal dominant Autoinflammatory Disease (AID) with recurrent attacks of fever (2-3 weeks long), abdominal pain, vomiting, serositis, arthralgia and/or arthritis, myalgia, fasciitis, rash. The disease starts precociously and amyloidosis is reported in the 25% of the patients. Patients carrying the mutation R92Q usually show a mild clinical phenotype, with an extreme interindividual variability. Arthralgia and serositis are frequently less severe, however oral ulcers and pharyngitis are recurrent. Objectives: We studied the clinical and biochemical impact of the mutation R92Q in our population and the treatment outcome in all the patients with cl…

A peptide from the staphylococcal protein Efb binds P‐selectin and inhibits the interaction of platelets with leukocytes

2022

AimsP-selectin is a key surface adhesion molecule for the interaction of platelets with leukocytes. We have shown previously that the N-terminal domain of S. aureus extracellular fibrinogen-binding protein (Efb) binds to P-selectin and interferes with platelet-leukocyte aggregate formation. Here, we aimed to identify the minimal Efb motif required for binding platelets and to characterise its ability to interfering with the formation of platelet-leukocyte aggregates.Methods and ResultsUsing a library of synthetic peptides, we mapped the platelet-binding site to a continuous 20 amino acid stretch. The peptide Efb68-87 was able to bind to resting and, to a greater extent, thrombin-stimulated …

Neutrophil extracellular traps impair fungal clearance in a mouse model of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis

2019

Abstract Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) are formed by polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN) and contribute to the innate host defense by binding and killing bacterial and fungal pathogens. Because NET formation depends on histone hypercitrullination by peptidylarginine deiminase 4 (PAD4), we used PAD4 gene deficient (Pad4-/-) mice in a mouse model of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) to address the contribution of NETs to the innate host defense in vivo. After the induction (24 h) of IPA by i.t. infection with Aspergillus fumigatus conidia, Pad4-/- mice revealed lower fungal burden in the lungs, accompanied by less acute lung injury, TNFα and citH3 compared to wildtype controls. T…

Contributions of Psychosocial Factors and Physical Activity to Successful Aging

2018

AbstractThe aim of this study was twofold: (a) To validate a successful aging model in a Spanish older adult’s sample, and (b) to predict successful aging from psychosocial factors and physical activity. Participants were 725 Spanish older people, of whom 478 were women and 247 men, aged between 55 and 100 years. Of these, 501 were physically active and 197 persons did not practice physical activity. The sample was collected in three areas: Sport centers, day centers and public areas of several Spanish towns. Factorial validity of the Successful Aging Inventory was studied by confirmatory factor analysis, and four multiple regressions to predict each of the dimensions of successful aging (f…

Neutrophils: Between host defence, immune modulation, and tissue injury.

2015

Neutrophils, the most abundant human immune cells, are rapidly recruited to sites of infection, where they fulfill their life-saving antimicrobial functions. While traditionally regarded as short-lived phagocytes, recent findings on long-term survival, neutrophil extracellular trap (NET) formation, heterogeneity and plasticity, suppressive functions, and tissue injury have expanded our understanding of their diverse role in infection and inflammation. This review summarises our current understanding of neutrophils in host-pathogen interactions and disease involvement, illustrating the versatility and plasticity of the neutrophil, moving between host defence, immune modulation, and tissue da…

Towards a test of the weak equivalence principle of gravity using anti-hydrogen at CERN

2016

International audience; The aim of the GBAR (Gravitational Behavior of Antimatter at Rest) experiment is to measure the free fall acceleration of an antihydrogen atom, in the terrestrial gravitational field at CERN and therefore test the Weak Equivalence Principle with antimatter. The aim is to measure the local gravity with a 1% uncertainty which can be reduced to few parts of 10-3.

SPARC is a new myeloid-derived suppressor cell marker licensing suppressive activities

2019

Myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC) are well-known key negative regulators of the immune response during tumor growth, however scattered is the knowledge of their capacity to influence and adapt to the different tumor microenvironments and of the markers that identify those capacities. Here we show that the secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC) identifies in both human and mouse MDSC with immune suppressive capacity and pro-tumoral activities including the induction of epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and angiogenesis. In mice the genetic deletion of SPARC reduced MDSC immune suppression and reverted EMT. Sparc−/− MDSC were less suppressive overall and the granu…

Improved limit on the directly measured antiproton lifetime

2017

Continuous monitoring of a cloud of antiprotons stored in a Penning trap for 405 days enables us to set an improved limit on the directly measured antiproton lifetime. From our measurements we extract a storage time of $3.15\times {10}^{8}$ equivalent antiproton-seconds, resulting in a lower lifetime limit of ${\tau }_{\bar{{\rm{p}}}}\gt 10.2\,{\rm{a}}$ with a confidence level of $68 \% $. This result improves the limit on charge-parity-time violation in antiproton decays based on direct observation by a factor of 7.

Space Charge and Carrier Trapping Effects on the Transient Photocurrents of Organic Materials Using the Time-of-Flight Technique

2007

We apply the time-of-flight (TOF) technique to study space charge and carrier trapping effects in the organic materials N,N'-diphenyl-N,N'-bis(3- methylphenyl)-1,1-biphenyl-4,4'-diamine (TPD) and tris(8-hydroxyquinolato) aluminum (Alq3). This is carried out by changing the applied electric field, the laser pulse intensity, and the repetition rate together with environmental conditions in air or in vacuum. We report for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, a clearly nondispersive electron transport in TPD due to the absence of deep traps. Conversely, Alq3 exhibits a dispersive electron transport. However, this can be partially recovered by leaving the sample in high vacuum for sever…

2016

Immunologically, active visceral leishmaniasis (VL) is characterised by profound immunosuppression, severe systemic inflammatory responses and an impaired capacity to control parasite replication. Neutrophils are highly versatile cells, which play a crucial role in the induction as well as the resolution of inflammation, the control of pathogen replication and the regulation of immune responses. Neutrophil functions have been investigated in human cutaneous leishmaniasis, however, their role in human visceral leishmaniasis is poorly understood. In the present study we evaluated the activation status and effector functions of neutrophils in patients with active VL and after successful anti-l…