Recent studies have pointed out that highly cationic histones released by PMNs netosis may be major agents in autoimmune lupus since they have high affinity to various kidney sites and can be expected to play a key role in autoimmune glomerular disease.
Similarly to antibodies, cationic peptides such a nuclear histone can also act as potent opsonic agents capable of binding by strong electrostatic forces to negatively charged domains in immune complexes and in complement components resulting in their endocytosis and deposition in various parts of the kidney. It is also proposed that to prevent such events, highly anionic heparin and heparinoids, may be effective drugs since these may effectively neutralize histones activities but provided that agents such as steroids, methotrexate and colchicine, all potent inhibitors of neutrophils functions, and antibodies to TH1 cytokines be essential to treat nephritis and to prevent kidney failure. However, the main cause of kidney damage is eventually caused by the plethora of toxic pro inflammatory agents delivered by activated neutrophils and macrophages.
This book provides a comprehensive treatment of the syntax and semantics of a single linguistic phenomenon – the NP-strategy for expressing reciprocity – in synchronic, diachronic, and typological perspectives. It challenges the assumption common in the typological, syntactic, and semantic literature, namely that so-called reciprocal constructions encode symmetric relations. Instead, they are analyzed as constructions encoding unspecified relations. In effect, it provides a new proposal for the truth-conditional semantics of these constructions. More broadly, this book introduces new ways of bringing together historical linguistics and formal semantics, demonstrating how, on the one hand, the inclusion of historical data concerning the sources of reciprocal constructions enriches their synchronic analysis; and how, on the other hand, an analysis of the syntax and the semantics of these constructions serves as a key for understanding their historical origins.
The selective removal of radioactive cationic species, specifically 137Cs+ and 90Sr2+, from contaminated water is critical for nuclear waste remediation processes and environmental cleanup after accidents, such as the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant disaster in 2011. Nanoporous silicates, such as zeolites, are most commonly used for this process but in addition to acting as selective ion exchange media must also be deployable in a correct physical form for flow columns. Herein, Digital Light Processing (DLP) three-dimensional (3D) printing was utilized to form monoliths from zeolite ion exchange powders that are known to be good for nuclear wastewater treatment. The monoliths comprise 3D porous structures that will selectively remove radionuclides in an engineered form that can be tailored to various sizes and shapes as required for any column system and can even be made with fine-grained powders unsuitable for normal gravity flow column use. 3D-printed monoliths of zeolites chabazite and 4A were made, characterized, and evaluated for their ion exchange capacities for cesium and strontium under static conditions. The 3D-printed monoliths with 50 wt% zeolite loadings exhibit Cs and Sr uptake with an equivalent ion-capacity as their pristine powders. These monoliths retain their porosity, shape and mechanical integrity in aqueous media, providing a great potential for use to not only remove radionuclides from nuclear wastewater, but more widely in other aqueous separation-based applications and processes.
Artemisone is an innovative artemisinin derivative with applications in the treatment of malaria, schistosomiasis and other diseases. However, its low aqueous solubility and tendency to degrade after solubilisation limits the translation of this drug into clinical practice. We developed a self-microemulsifying drug delivery system (SMEDDS), which is easy to produce (simple mixing) with a high drug load. In addition to known pharmaceutical excipients (Capmul MCM, Kolliphor HS15, propylene glycol), we identified Polysorb ID 46 as a beneficial new additional excipient. The physicochemical properties were characterized by dynamic light scattering, conductivity measurements, rheology and electron microscopy. High storage stability, even at 30 °C, was achieved. The orally administrated artemisone SMEDDS formulation was highly active in vivo in S. mansoni infected mice. Thorough elimination of the adult worms, their eggs and prevention of the deleterious granuloma formation in the livers of infected mice was observed even at a relatively low dose of the drug. The new formulation has a high potential to accelerate the clinical use of artemisone in schistosomiasis and malaria.
A new approach to fabricate Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells on conductive fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) is reported, in which commercial CuO, In2O3, and Ga2O3 are formulated into high-quality ink based o...
This book explores relationships and maps out intersections between discussions on causation in three scientific disciplines: linguistics, philosophy, and psychology. The book is organized in five thematic parts, investigating connections between philosophical and linguistic studies of causation; presenting novel methodologies for studying the representation of causation; tackling central issues in syntactic and semantic representation of causal relations; and introducing recent advances in philosophical thinking on causation.
Beyond its thematic organization, readers will find several recurring topics throughout this book, such as the attempt to reduce causality to other non-causal terms; causal pluralism vs. one all-encompassing account for causation; causal relations pertaining to the mental as opposed to the physical realm, and more.
This collection also lays the foundation for questioning whether it is possible to evaluate available philosophical approaches to causation against the variety of linguistic phenomena ranging across diverse lexical and grammatical items, such as bound morphemes, prepositions, connectives, and verbs. Above all, it lays the groundwork for considering whether the fruits of the psychological-cognitive study of the perception of causal relations may contribute to linguistic and philosophical studies, and whether insights from linguistics can benefit the other two disciplines.
Virus are remarkable self-assembled nanobiomaterial-based machines, exposed to a wide range of pH values. Extreme pH values can induce dramatic structural changes, critical for the function of the virus nanoparticles including assembly and genome uncoating. Tuning cargo - capsid interactions is essential for designing viral-based delivery systems. Here we show how pH controls the structure and activity of wild-type simian virus 40 (wtSV40) and the interplay between its cargo and capsid. Using cryo-TEM and solution X-ray scattering, we found that wtSV40 was stable between pH 5.5 and 9, and only slightly swelled with increasing pH. At pH 3, the particles aggregated, while capsid protein pentamers continued to coat the virus cargo but lost their positional correlations. Infectivity was only partly lost after the particles had been returned to pH 7. At pH 10 or higher, the particles were unstable, lost their infectivity, and disassembled. Using time-resolved experiments we discovered that disassembly began by swelling of the particles, poking a hole in the capsid through which the genetic cargo escaped, and followed by a slight shrinking of the capsids and complete disassembly. These findings provide insight into the fundamental intermolecular forces, essential for SV40 function, and for designing virus-based nanobiomaterials, including delivery systems and antiviral drugs.
The use of gem-diborylalkenes as light-reactive groups is explored for the first time. These reactions provide an efficient and general method for the photochemical conversion of gem-diborylalkenes to rapidly access 1,1-bisborylalkanes. This method exploits a novel photoredox decarboxylative radical addition to gem-diborylalkenes to afford α-gemdiboryl carbon-centered radicals, which benefit from additional stability by virtue of an interaction with the empty p-orbitals on borons. The reaction offers a highly modular and regioselective approach to γ-amino gem-diborylalkanes. Furthermore, EPR spectroscopy and DFT calculations have provided insight into the radical mechanism underlying the photochemistry reaction.
Jack Copeland and Oron Shagrir. 2020. “Physical Computability Theses.” Quantum Physics, Probability and Logic: Itamar Pitowsky’s Work and Influence (eds. Meir Hemmo and Orly Shenker) Springer, Pp. 217-232.
Drawing on the prevailing theoretical paradigm of post-Holocaust research, which defines primarily the post-traumatic subject positions of victim and perpetrator, this paper focuses on the Chinese cinema’s representation of collaboration during the Cultural Revolution (CR). It discusses the issue of betrayal inside the real or symbolic family, which is still unexplored and even overlooked by Chinese cinema research. Furthermore, it analyzes the prolonged and profound identity crisis generated by the CR as presented by twenty-first century blockbuster (e.g. Zhang Yimou’s Coming Home) and independent films (e.g. Wu Wenguang’s 1966: My Time in the Red Guards and Investigating My Father) especially through the figure of the collaborator and the destructive dynamics of betrayal. In these films, the process I term the ‘doubling paradigm,’ and its ‘doubling effect’ enable the spectator to come to terms with the dimensions of pain and loss caused by collaboration, and the ethical repercussions of revolutionary morality. Following an analysis of the four forms of collaboration which emerge from this corpus, this discussion points to the potential contribution of Chinese ‘cinema of betrayal’ to the undertheorized subject position of the collaborator, beyond the Chinese case.
Building damage probabilities are invaluable for assessing short-term losses from natural hazards. In many countries however, the individual building level data required for assessing reliable damage are usually unavailable. This paper shows how the post-processing of aggregate HAZUS earthquake damage assessments can yield building-level damage probabilities. On the basis of three plausible scenarios for Northern Israel, we generate and visualize a building-level combined damage probability index. We use the tools of exploratory spatial data analysis to purge any causal influences in the spatial pattern of these calculated damage probabilities. The costs and benefits of our approach are discussed.
