Blockade of translationally controlled tumor protein attenuated the aggressiveness of fibroblast-like synoviocytes and ameliorated collagen-induced arthritis

Histamine releasing factor/translationally controlled tumor protein (HRF/TCTP) stimulates cancer progression and allergic responses, but the role of HRF/TCTP in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) remains undefined. In this study, we explored the pathogenic significance of HRF/TCTP and evaluated the therapeutic effects of HRF/TCTP blockade in RA. HRF/TCTP transgenic (TG) and knockdown (KD) mice with collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) were used to determine the experimental phenotypes of RA. HRF/TCTP levels in the sera of RA patients were measured and compared to those from patients with osteoarthritis (OA), ankylosing spondylitis, Behçet’s disease, and healthy controls. HRF/TCTP expression was also assessed in the synovium and fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLSs) obtained from RA or OA patients. Finally, we assessed the effects of HRF/TCTP and dimerized HRF/TCTP-binding peptide-2 (dTBP2), an HRF/TCTP inhibitor, in RA-FLSs and CIA mice. Our clinical, radiological, histological, and biochemical analyses indicate that inflammatory responses and joint destruction were increased in HRF/TCTP TG mice and decreased in KD mice compared to wild-type littermates. HRF/TCTP levels in the sera, synovial fluid, synovium, and FLSs were higher in patients with RA than in control groups. Serum levels of HRF/TCTP correlated well with RA disease activity. The tumor-like aggressiveness of RA-FLSs was exacerbated by HRF/TCTP stimulation and ameliorated by dTBP2 treatment. dTBP2 exerted protective and therapeutic effects in CIA mice and had no detrimental effects in a murine tuberculosis model. Our results indicate that HRF/TCTP is a novel biomarker and therapeutic target for the diagnosis and treatment of RA.Subject terms: Translational research, Autoimmunity     

Phase transformation driven by valence electron concentration: tuning interslab bond distances in Gd5GaxGe4-x

X-ray single crystal and powder diffraction studies on the Gd(5)Ga(x)()Ge(4)(-)(x)() system with 0 < or = x < or = 2.2 reveal dependence of interslab T-T dimer distances and crystal structures themselves on valence electron concentration (T is a mixture of Ga and Ge atoms). While the Gd(5)Ga(x)()Ge(4)(-)(x)() phases with 0 < or = x < or = 0.6 and valence electron concentration of 30.4-31 e(-)/formula crystallize with the Sm(5)Ge(4)-type structure, in which all interslab T-T dimers are broken (distances exceeding 3.4 A), the phases with 1 < or = x < or = 2.2 and valence electron concentration of 28.8-30 e-/formula adopt the Pu(5)Rh(4)- or Gd(5)Si(4)-type structures with T-T dimers between the slabs. An orthorhombic Pu(5)Rh(4)-type structure, which is intermediate between the Gd(5)Si(4)- and Sm(5)Ge(4)-type structures, has been identified for the Gd(5)GaGe(3) composition. Tight-binding linear-muffin-tin-orbital calculations show that substitution of three-valent Ga by four-valent Ge leads to larger population of the antibonding states within the dimers and, thus, to dimer stretching and eventually to dimer cleavage.     

Migration phenomena of surfactants in polyethylene film

Migration diffusion coefficients of two surfactants (sorbitan laurate, SPAN‐20 and sorbitan palmitate, SPAN‐40) in polyethylene blend are calculated in the desorption process by means of Fourier transform infrared (FT‐IR) spectroscopy technique at 25°C. They are 2.31 and 2.24 × 10⁻¹¹ cm²/s, respectively, which show no significant dependency of molecular weights of the surfactants on diffusion. The composition of LLDPE (linear low‐density polyethylene) and LDPE (low‐density polyethylene) in LLDPE blend is a 7 : 3 ratio, and ethylene acrylic acid (EAA) copolymer is used to verify its role as a migration controller. The key factor affecting the diffusion of the surfactant is suggested to be the segmental mobility by the semicrystalline LLDPE blend. Incorporation of 20 wt% EAA in the LLDPE blend retards the migration rate of the surfactants by reducing the diffusion coefficients to be 9.6 and 7.7 × 10⁻¹² cm²/s and this is believed to be due to the blocking effect of EAA. Although the diffusion coefficient was varied from system to system, the migration kinetics of the surfactants in short times obeys the Fickian behavior if the experimental error is allowed. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 37: 1387–1395, 1999     

Solid-state relaxations in linear low-density (1-octene comonomer), low-density,and high-density polyethylene blends

Extensive thermal and relaxational behavior in the blends of linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE) (1-octene comonomer) with low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and high-density polyethylene (HDPE) have been investigated to elucidate miscibility and molecular relaxations in the crystalline and amorphous phases by using a differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and a dynamic mechanical thermal analyzer (DMTA). In the LLDPE/LDPE blends, two distinct endotherms during melting and crystallization by DSC were observed supporting the belief that LLDPE and LDPE exclude one another during crystallization. However, the dynamic mechanical β and γ relaxations of the blends indicate that the two constituents are miscible in the amorphous phase, while LLDPE dominates α relaxation. In the LLDPE/HDPE system, there was a single composition-dependent peak during melting and crystallization, and the heat of fusion varied linearly with composition supporting the incorporation of HDPE into the LLDPE crystals. The dynamic mechanical α, β, and γ relaxations of the blends display an intermediate behavior that indicates miscibility in both the crystalline and amorphous phases. In the LDPE/HDPE blend, the melting or crystallization peaks of LDPE were strongly influenced by HDPE. The behavior of the α relaxation was dominated by HDPE, while those of β and γ relaxations were intermediate of the constituents, which were similar to those of the LLDPE/HDPE blends. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Polym Sci B: Polym Phys 35 : 1633–1642, 1997     

Gd2AlGe2: An “Almost‐Zintl Phase” and a New Stacking Variant of the W2CoB2 Type

The synthesis, structure determination and calculated electronic structure of the new phase, Gd₂AlGe₂, are reported. The compound crystallizes in a new structure type with space group C2/c, a = 10.126(2) Å, b = 5.6837(12) Å, c = 7.7683(16) Å, and β = 104.729(3)s. Tight‐binding linear‐muffin‐tin orbital (TB‐LMTO‐ASA) calculations show a distinct minimum in the total density of states for this structure at 18 valence electrons per formula unit (Gd₂AlGe₂ has 17 valence electrons in its formula unit), which arises from polar covalent bonding within the three‐dimensional [AlGe₂] net, Gd‐Ge interactions and three‐center, two‐electron bonding between Al and Gd. The structure is a new stacking variant of the W₂CoB₂ structure type, which is observed for numerous ternary rare‐earth silicides and germanides.     

Internal energy content of n-butylbenzene, bromobenzene, iodobenzene and aniline molecular ions generated by two-photon ionization at 266 nm. A photodissociation study

A technique to investigate photodissociation kinetics on a nanosecond time scale has been devised for molecular ions generated by multiphoton ionization (MPI) using mass-analyzed ion kinetic energy spectrometry. The branching ratio or rate constant has been determined for the photodissociation of the n-butylbenzene, bromobenzene, iodobenzene, and aniline molecular ions generated by MPI at 266 nm. The ion internal energies have been estimated by comparing the measured kinetic data with the previous energy dependence data. The analysis has shown that only those molecular ions generated by two-photon ionization contribute to the photodissociation signals. Around half of the available energy has been found to remain as molecular ion internal energy in the two-photon ionization process. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Finite rank Toeplitz products with harmonic symbols

On the Bergman space of the unit ball of Cn, we study the finite rank problem for Toeplitz products with harmonic symbols. We first solve the problem with two factors in case symbols have local continuous extension property up to the boundary. Also, in case symbols have additional Lipschitz continuity up to (some part of) the boundary, we solve the problem for multiple products with number of factors depending on the dimension n. Analogous theorems on the polydisk are also obtained.     

Myocardial injury occurs earlier than myocardial inflammation in acute experimental viral myocarditis

Endomyocardial biopsy often fails to show myocardial inflammation for patients with clinically suspected myocarditis. The serum isoforms of troponin T (cTnT) level is a very sensitive marker of myocardial injury and it is elevated even in the absence of myocardial inflammation. We investigated the correlations for myocardial injury, virus titers and inflammation in acute viral infection. Using the murine coxsackievirus group B3 (CVB3) myocarditis model, the histopathologic findings and virus titers in mouse hearts were compared with the serum cTnT levels measured by ELISA at various time points. Viable virus titers in the hearts peaked at 3 days after infection (8.22 +/- 0.13 log10 PFU/100 mg of heart); they decreased at day 7 and no viable virus was detected from day 14. Myocardial inflammation was minimal at day 3, peaked at day 7 and markedly decreased at day 14. The individual serum TnT levels were significantly increased at day 3 (7.37 +/- 1.46 ng/ml), persisted to day 7 (0.73 +/- 0.08 ng/ml), and normalized at day 14. Serum cTnT levels were correlatable with virus titers in the heart (r = 0.744, P <0.01), but the serum cTnT levels were not correlated with the degrees of inflammation. Using the less myocarditic strain of CVB3, similar relationships were observed between the changes for the serum cTnT levels and the heart virus titers. During the course of viral infection, myocardial injury precedes the pathologic evidence of inflammation, and the elevated cTnT levels provide evidence of myocardial injury even in the absence of any histologic findings of myocarditis.     

Direct observation of Barkhausen avalanche in Co thin films

We report direct full-field magneto-optical observations of Barkhausen avalanches in Co polycrystalline thin films at criticality. We provide experimental evidence for the validity of a phenomenological model of the Barkhausen avalanche originally proposed by Cizeau, Zapperi, Durin, and Stanley [Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 4669 (1997)]], where the model describes a 180 degrees -type flexible domain wall deformed by a localized defect with consideration of long-range dipolar interaction. The Barkhausen jump areas show a power-law scaling distribution with critical exponent tau approximately 1.33 for all the samples having different thickness from 5 to 50 nm, which is in accord with the two-dimensional prediction of the model.