Effect of high glucose concentration on the synthesis of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 in human peritoneal mesothelial cells: Involvement of protein kinase C

Human peritoneal mesothelial cells (HMC) contribute to the activation and control of inflammatory processes in the peritoneum by their potential to produce various inflammatory mediators. The present study was designed to assess the effect of glucose, the osmotic active compound in most commercially available peritoneal dialysis fluids, on the synthesis of the C-C chemokine monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) in cultured HMC. The MCP-1 concentration in the cell supernatants was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and the MCP-1 mRNA expression was examined using Northern blot analysis. Incubation of HMC with glucose (30-120 mM) resulted in a time- and concentration-dependent increase in MCP-1 protein secretion and mRNA expression. After 24 h the MCP-1 synthesis was increased from 2.8 +/- 0.46 to 4.2 +/- 0.32 ng/10(5) cells (n = 5, p 2001 S. Karger AG. Basel

Functional heterogeneity in CD4+ T cell responses against a bacterial pathogen

To investigate how CD4+ T cells function against a bacterial pathogen, we generated a Listeria monocytogenes-specific CD4+ T cell model. In this system, two TCRtg mouse lines, LLO56 and LLO118 recognize the same immunodominant epitope (LLO190-205) of Listeria monocytogenes and have identical in vitro responses. However, in vivo LLO56 and LLO118 display vastly different responses during both primary and secondary infection. LLO118 dominates in the primary response and in providing CD8 T cell help. LLO56 predominates in the secondary response. We have also shown that both specific (TCR-mediated) and nonspecific stimuli (bypassing the TCR) elicit distinct responses from the two transgenics, leading us to conclude that the strength of self-pMHC signaling during development tightly dictates the cell’s future response in the periphery. Herein, we review our findings in this transfer system, focusing on the contribution of the immunomodulatory molecule CD5 and the importance of self-interaction in peripheral maintenance of the cell. We also discuss the manner in which individual TCR affinities to foreign and self-pMHC contribute to the outcome of an immune response; our assertion is that there exists a spectrum of possible T cell responses to recognition of cognate antigen during infection, adding immense diversity to the immune system’s response to pathogens

Characterization of the CD14⁺⁺CD16⁺ Monocyte Population in Human Bone Marrow

Numerous studies have divided blood monocytes according to their expression of the surface markers CD14 and CD16 into following subsets: classical CD14(++)CD16(-), intermediate CD14(++)CD16(+) and nonclassical CD14(+)CD16(++) monocytes. These subsets differ in phenotype and function and are further correlated to cardiovascular disease, inflammation and cancer. However, the CD14/CD16 nature of resident monocytes in human bone marrow remains largely unknown. In the present study, we identified a major population of CD14(++)CD16(+) monocytes by using cryopreserved bone marrow mononuclear cells from healthy donors. These cells express essential monocyte-related antigens and chemokine receptors such as CD11a, CD18, CD44, HLA-DR, Ccr2, Ccr5, Cx3cr1, Cxcr2 and Cxcr4. Notably, the expression of Ccr2 was inducible during culture. Furthermore, sorted CD14(++)CD16(+) bone marrow cells show typical macrophage morphology, phagocytic activity, angiogenic features and generation of intracellular oxygen species. Side-by-side comparison of the chemokine receptor profile with unpaired blood samples also demonstrated that these rather premature medullar monocytes mainly match the phenotype of intermediate and partially of (non) classical monocytes. Together, human monocytes obviously acquire their definitive CD14/CD16 signature in the bloodstream and the medullar monocytes probably transform into CD14(++)CD16(-) and CD14(+)CD16(++) subsets which appear enriched in the periphery

An i2b2-based, generalizable, open source, self-scaling chronic disease registry

Objective: Registries are a well-established mechanism for obtaining high quality, disease-specific data, but are often highly project-specific in their design, implementation, and policies for data use. In contrast to the conventional model of centralized data contribution, warehousing, and control, we design a self-scaling registry technology for collaborative data sharing, based upon the widely adopted Integrating Biology & the Bedside (i2b2) data warehousing framework and the Shared Health Research Information Network (SHRINE) peer-to-peer networking software. Materials and methods Focusing our design around creation of a scalable solution for collaboration within multi-site disease registries, we leverage the i2b2 and SHRINE open source software to create a modular, ontology-based, federated infrastructure that provides research investigators full ownership and access to their contributed data while supporting permissioned yet robust data sharing. We accomplish these objectives via web services supporting peer-group overlays, group-aware data aggregation, and administrative functions. Results: The 56-site Childhood Arthritis & Rheumatology Research Alliance (CARRA) Registry and 3-site Harvard Inflammatory Bowel Diseases Longitudinal Data Repository now utilize i2b2 self-scaling registry technology (i2b2-SSR). This platform, extensible to federation of multiple projects within and between research networks, encompasses >6000 subjects at sites throughout the USA. Discussion We utilize the i2b2-SSR platform to minimize technical barriers to collaboration while enabling fine-grained control over data sharing. Conclusions: The implementation of i2b2-SSR for the multi-site, multi-stakeholder CARRA Registry has established a digital infrastructure for community-driven research data sharing in pediatric rheumatology in the USA. We envision i2b2-SSR as a scalable, reusable solution facilitating interdisciplinary research across diseases

Scalable Collaborative Infrastructure for a Learning Healthcare System (SCILHS): Architecture

We describe the architecture of the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) funded Scalable Collaborative Infrastructure for a Learning Healthcare System (SCILHS, http://www.SCILHS.org) clinical data research network, which leverages the $48 billion dollar federal investment in health information technology (IT) to enable a queryable semantic data model across 10 health systems covering more than 8 million patients, plugging universally into the point of care, generating evidence and discovery, and thereby enabling clinician and patient participation in research during the patient encounter. Central to the success of SCILHS is development of innovative ‘apps’ to improve PCOR research methods and capacitate point of care functions such as consent, enrollment, randomization, and outreach for patient-reported outcomes. SCILHS adapts and extends an existing national research network formed on an advanced IT infrastructure built with open source, free, modular components

A Path Integral Approach to Age Dependent Branching Processes

Age dependent population dynamics are frequently modeled with generalizations of the classic McKendrick-von Foerster equation. These are deterministic systems, and a stochastic generalization was recently reported in [1,2]. Here we develop a fully stochastic theory for age-structured populations via quantum field theoretical Doi-Peliti techniques. This results in a path integral formulation where birth and death events correspond to cubic and quadratic interaction terms. This formalism allows us to efficiently recapitulate the results in [1,2], exemplifying the utility of Doi-Peliti methods. Furthermore, we find that the path integral formulation for age-structured moments has an exact perturbative expansion that explicitly relates to the hereditary structure between correlated individuals. These methods are then generalized with a binary fission model of cell division

Forty years of carabid beetle research in Europe - from taxonomy, biology, ecology and population studies to bioindication, habitat assessment and conservation

Volume: 100Start Page: 55End Page: 14