Search results for "Unity"
showing 10 items of 3852 documents
Crosstalk of the plasma contact system with bacteria.
2012
Activation of the plasma contact system triggers several cascade systems such as the kallikrein-kinin system, the intrinsic pathway of coagulation, the classical complement cascade and the fibrinolytic system. Recent studies have shown a critical role of the contact system for arterial and venous thrombus formation and thromboembolic disease. In contrast, the function of the contact system for host-defense reactions and its physiological functions have remained enigmatic. Experimental animal studies and clinical data have linked the contact system to bacterial infections with implications for sepsis disease. The present review summarizes the role of the contact system and its activation for…
Cosmopolitanism and Human Reason
2019
Over and above the modalities with which it is expressed in the domains of Kant’s system, the theme of cosmopolitanism embodies the meaning of a philosophy seen as a plan to build on the connection between man, polis and reason; an essential connection that in human reason identifies not a simple endowment which everyone has by nature but a form of life to be realized in the world, a purpose whose binding strength is only fully expressed in the public dimension.
Comunità non solo come mezzo ma anche come fine
2019
L’originaria condizione di inermità all’insegna della quale Kant concepisce la ragione umana rappresenta qualcosa di più della premessa di una storia di progresso in cui l’uomo si rende via via meno inerme e più reattivo al mondo che abita. Tale condizione suggerisce piuttosto il fatto che non disponiamo della ragione allo stesso modo in cui possiamo disporre di qualunque altra dotazione naturale e che, anzi, per quanto possiamo evolverci, rafforzarci nello sviluppo delle nostre conoscenze ed abilità, non muoveremmo un passo in direzione della nostra umanità, quando ci limitassimo a considerare la ragione come un puro mezzo di affermazione e di potere, e non riconoscessimo invece in essa un…
Langerhans Cells Prevent Autoimmunity via Expansion of Keratinocyte Antigen-Specific Regulatory T Cells
2017
Langerhans cells (LCs) are antigen-presenting cells in the epidermis whose roles in antigen-specific immune regulation remain incompletely understood. Desmoglein 3 (Dsg3) is a keratinocyte cell-cell adhesion molecule critical for epidermal integrity and an autoantigen in the autoimmune blistering disease pemphigus. Although antibody-mediated disease mechanisms in pemphigus are extensively characterized, the T cell aspect of this autoimmune disease still remains poorly understood. Herein, we utilized a mouse model of CD4+ T cell-mediated autoimmunity against Dsg3 to show that acquisition of Dsg3 and subsequent presentation to T cells by LCs depended on the C-type lectin langerin. The lack of…
An integrated humoral and cellular response is elicited in pancreatic cancer by alpha-enolase, a novel pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma-associated an…
2009
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a fatal disease with a very poor 5-year survival rate. alpha-Enolase is a glycolytic enzyme that also acts as a surface plasminogen receptor. We find that it is overexpressed in PDAC and present on the cell surface of PDAC cell lines. The clinical correlation of its expression with tumor status has been reported for lung and hepatocellular carcinoma. We have previously demonstrated that sera from PDAC patients contain IgG autoantibodies to alpha-enolase. The present work was intended to assess the ability of alpha-enolase to induce antigen-specific T cell responses. We show that alpha-enolase-pulsed dendritic cells (DC) specifically stimulate healt…
Keratinocytes Determine Th1 Immunity during Early Experimental Leishmaniasis
2010
Experimental leishmaniasis is an excellent model system for analyzing Th1/Th2 differentiation. Resistance to Leishmania (L.) major depends on the development of a L. major specific Th1 response, while Th2 differentiation results in susceptibility. There is growing evidence that the microenvironment of the early affected tissue delivers the initial triggers for Th-cell differentiation. To analyze this we studied differential gene expression in infected skin of resistant and susceptible mice 16h after parasite inoculation. Employing microarray technology, bioinformatics, laser-microdissection and in-situ-hybridization we found that the epidermis was the major source of immunomodulatory mediat…
Identification of avarol derivatives as potential antipsoriatic drugs using an in vitro model for keratinocyte growth and differentiation.
2006
Contains fulltext : 49512schalkwijk.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Avarol, a marine sesquiterpenoid hydroquinone, and 14 avarol derivatives have shown interesting anti-inflammatory properties in previous studies. In this study, avarol and derivatives were evaluated in high-throughput keratinocyte culture models using cytokeratin 10 and SKALP/Elafin expression as markers for respectively normal and psoriatic differentiation. Avarol and five of its derivatives (5, 10, 13, 14 and 15) were selected for further study. Only 10, 13, 14 and 15 were able to inhibit keratinocyte cell growth. Changes in expression levels of 22 genes were assessed by quantitative real time PCR (qPCR). From …
Diagnostic and therapeutical role of vitamin D in chronic hepatitis C virus infection
2011
Although initially identified as a calcium homeostatic hormone, vitamin D is now known to have pleiotropic functions, dealing with both innate and adaptative immunity. Calcitriol mediates its biological effects by binding to the vitamin D receptor (VDR), which is expressed not only by intestine, bone and kidney but also on cell membranes of T lymphocytes, B lymphocytes, dendritic cells and macrophages. Vitamin D plays a role on the degree of liver damage in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC): low vitamin D levels have been associated with high hepatic necroinflammatory activity and progression of liver fibrosis. Vitamin D, in CHC patients, could also affect the response to antiviral th…
Co-occurrence of resonant activation and noise-enhanced stability in a model of cancer growth in the presence of immune response.
2006
We investigate a stochastic version of a simple enzymatic reaction which follows the generic Michaelis-Menten kinetics. At sufficiently high concentrations of reacting species, the molecular fluctuations can be approximated as a realization of a Brownian dynamics for which the model reaction kinetics takes on the form of a stochastic differential equation. After eliminating a fast kinetics, the model can be rephrased into a form of a one-dimensional overdamped Langevin equation. We discuss physical aspects of environmental noises acting in such a reduced system, pointing out the possibility of coexistence of dynamical regimes where noise-enhanced stability and resonant activation phenomena …
Enhancing citizen response to crises through communication : investigating expert views
2015
The purpose of this paper is to clarify how citizen response to crises is currently being enhanced, and how it might be increased, by emergency response organisations in member states of the European Union via communication strategies and tools. Data were gathered via an online questionnaire directed at emergency management and crisis communication experts working in the field of crisis response. The experts were drawn from the database of an international conference. The results indicate that while the importance of involving citizens in crisis response is generally acknowledged, the implementation of such activities is often fragmented. Although some initiatives are under way, coherent st…