Search results for "tolerance"

Protein kinase CK2 governs the molecular decision between encephalitogenic T H 17 cell and T reg cell development

2016

T helper 17 (TH17) cells represent a discrete TH cell subset instrumental in the immune response to extracellular bacteria and fungi. However, TH17 cells are considered to be detrimentally involved in autoimmune diseases like multiple sclerosis (MS). In contrast to TH17 cells, regulatory T (Treg) cells were shown to be pivotal in the maintenance of peripheral tolerance. Thus, the balance between Treg cells and TH17 cells determines the severity of a TH17 cell-driven disease and therefore is a promising target for treating autoimmune diseases. However, the molecular mechanisms controlling this balance are still unclear. Here, we report that pharmacological inhibition as well as genetic ablat…

Osteopontin shapes immunosuppression in the metastatic niche.

2014

Abstract The matricellular protein osteopontin (OPN, Spp-1) is widely associated with cancer aggressiveness when produced by tumor cells, but its impact is uncertain when produced by leukocytes in the context of the tumor stroma. In a broad study using Spp1−/− mice along with gene silencing in tumor cells, we obtained evidence of distinct and common activities of OPN when produced by tumor or host cells in a spontaneously metastatic model of breast cancer. Different cellular localization of OPN is associated with its distinct activities, being mainly secreted in tumor cells while intracellular in myeloid cells. OPN produced by tumor cells supported their survival in the blood stream, wherea…

Plant Response to Saline-Water Irrigation in a Sicilian Vineyard

2012

This chapter presents results of a 3-year field investigation in a vineyard located in Sicily (Mazara del Vallo, Trapani) within the framework of the Project “Evolution of cropping systems as affected by climate change” (CLIMESCO). Soil-plant responses to two saline irrigation waters were determined by measuring soil hydrological characteristics, soil salinity, crop transpiration and stomatal conductance in field plots of a Sicilian vineyard. The results proved that crop transpiration (T r) and stomatal conductance (G s) were significantly affected by soil salinity conditions, expressed by electrical conductivity of soil saturation extract (ECe). Significant reductions in T r and G s were f…

New insights into the role of spermine in Arabidopsis thaliana under long-term salt stress

2010

Polyamines (putrescine, spermidine and spermine) are traditionally implicated in the response of plants to environmental cues. Free spermine accumulation has been suggested as a particular feature of long-term salt stress, and in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana the spermine synthase gene (AtSPMS) has been reported as inducible by abscisic acid (ABA) and acute salt stress treatments. With the aim to unravel the physiological role of free spermine during salinity, we analyzed polyamine metabolism in A. thaliana salt-hypersensitive sos mutants (salt overlay sensitive; sos1-1, sos2-1 and sos3-1), and studied the salt stress tolerance of the mutants in spermine and thermospermine synthesis …

Recovery Estimation of Dried Foodborne Pathogens Is Directly Related to Rehydration Kinetics.

2016

International audience; Drying is a common process which is used to preserve food products and technological microorganisms, but which is deleterious for the cells. The aim of this study is to differentiate the effects of drying alone from the effects of the successive and necessary rehydration. Rehydration of dried bacteria is a critical step already studied in starter culture but not for different kinetics and not for pathogens. In the present study, the influence of rehydration kinetics was investigated for three foodborne pathogens involved in neonatal diseases caused by the consumption of rehydrated milk powder: Salmonella enterica subsp. enterica serovar Typhimurium, Salmonella enteri…

Robust fault tolerant tracking controller design for vehicle dynamics: A descriptor approach

2015

Abstract In this paper, an active Fault Tolerant Tracking Controller (FTTC) scheme dedicated to vehicle dynamics system is proposed. To address the challenging problem, an uncertain dynamic model of the vehicle is firstly developed, by considering the lateral forces nonlinearities as a Takagi–Sugeno (TS) representation, the sideslip angle as unmeasurable premise variables and the road bank angle as an unknown input. Subsequently, the vehicle dynamic states with the sensor faults are jointly estimated by a descriptor observer on the basis of the roll rate and the steering angle measures. Then a fault tolerant tracking controller is synthesized and solutions are proposed in terms of Linear Ma…

Inspection Policies in Service of Fatigued Aircraft Structures

2011

Fatigue is one of the most important problems of aircraft arising from their nature as multiple-component structures, subjected to random dynamic loads. For guaranteeing safety, the structural life ceiling limits of the fleet aircraft are defined from three distinct approaches: Safe-Life, Fail-Safe, and Damage Tolerance approaches. The common objectives to define fleet aircraft lives by the three approaches are to ensure safety while at the same time reducing total ownership costs. In this paper, the damage tolerance approach is considered and the focus is on the inspection scheme with decreasing intervals between inspections. The paper proposes an analysis methodology to determine appropri…

A Study on Distributed Fault-Tolerant Service Architectures for Critical Software Systems

2021

Reliable systems have been the subject of much research in the past years, with societal dependency on computer systems becoming more and more apparent. With more and more organizations embracing DevOps culture, there is a persistent need to understand how these systems are built and what their trade-offs are. This paper discusses and benchmarks the components of a modern fault tolerant and easily scalable system, designed to maximize up-time. The paper also describes the techniques used in the development of such a system. The system architecture described is implemented through several services deployed for a new critical single sign-on system deployed at CERN (The European Laboratory for…

APPROACHES TO STUDY BIODIVERSITY AND SALINITY TOLERANCE MECHANISMS IN MEDITERRANEAN FRUIT TREE SPECIES

Changes in global climate are going to increase the problem of drought and soil salinity in the Mediterranean area, where increases in temperature, drought and soil and water salinity are expected. Identification of plant genotypes with positive agronomic traits, such as salt tolerance, may reduce the effects of salinity and drought on productivity. Therefore, there is considerable effort being directed toward the development of salt-tolerant genotypes through plant breeding, with the aim to the introgression of salt-tolerance traits into new cultivars. The results presented in this thesis contributed to the develop of new tools to improve knowledge on the biodiversity and salinity toleranc…

Genetic and morphologic diversity of European fan palm (Chamaerops humilisL.) populations from different environments from Sicily

2014

Chamaerops humilis is decreasing in abundance in Mediterranean Europe, which has induced the European community to call for its protection in Special Areas of Conservation. However, information about its genetic and morphological variability, which is crucial to the development of any conservation strategies, is insufficient. The present study aimed to investigate the genetic and morphological variability of C. humilis in Sicily, which was selected as a model because of the high number of dense populations. The relationships between morphological traits and climatic variables were studied to highlight patterns of adaptation to the environment, along with the genetic similarity among the pop…