87 research outputs found
Human lipocalin-2 variants : therapeutic evaluations
No full textLipocalin-2 is a proinflammatory protein that undergoes post-translational modification by polyamination and has unique structure-function dynamics. The presence of different lipocalin-2 variants exhibits varied expression patterns. In the present study, the role of human lipocalin-2 variants, including polyaminated lipocalin-2 (hLcn2), non-polyaminated lipocalin-2 (C87A), and highly polyaminated lipocalin-2 (R81E) in regulating neutrophil function and the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) was investigated. The expression of distinctive human lipocalin-2 variants was examined in mouse models with obesity and/or cardiovascular dysfunctions. The therapeutical potential of targeting the different human lipocalin-2 variants was also explored.
The results demonstrated that C87A levels were significantly elevated in cardiac and epididymal white adipose tissue following a high-fat diet. Neutralization with an anti-C87A antibody effectively reduced NETs formation and downregulated key inflammatory chemokines,
I including CXCL2, which are critical for recruiting neutrophils via the CXCR2 chemokine receptor. Enhanced signaling through CXCR2 was observed in the presence of elevated C87A, correlating with increased neutrophil infiltration and NETosis, suggesting a direct link between lipocalin-2 variants and the regulation of neutrophil activity in inflammatory conditions.
Furthermore, the pathogenic role of C87A in models of obesity-induced hypertension and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction was assessed. Our results showed that modulation of C87A not only decreased neutrophil infiltration and NETosis but also mitigated the associated cardiovascular complications. Additionally, macrophage polarization was found to be protective against C87A-induced inflammation, while astrocytes in the brain may contribute to obesityinduced hypertension through the paracrine release of inflammatory factors, including lipocalin-2.
These findings highlight the complex interplay between lipocalin-2 variants, neutrophils, and inflammation, suggesting that targeting lipocalin-2 variant C87A may represent a novel therapeutic strategy to mitigate chronic inflammatory conditions and their cardiometabolic complications. This research underscores the importance of understanding the mechanisms underlying NETs formation and the potential for lipocalin-2 variants as therapeutic targets in managing obesity-related obesity and cardiometabolic diseases.published_or_final_versionPharmacology and PharmacyDoctoralDoctor of Philosoph
Derivation of a continuum model for the long-ranged elastic interaction on a stepped surface
No full textIn heteroepitaxy, the mismatch of lattice constants between the crystal film and the substrate causes a misfit stress in the bulk of the film, driving the surface of the film to self-organize into various nano-structures. Below roughing transition temperature, the surface of a crystal film consists of terraces separated by atomic- height steps, and the misfit results in a long-ranged interaction between surface steps. In this case, the surface morphology is determined by the motion of the steps, and the widely used continuum theories for surface evolution under the elastic effect do not apply directly.In this thesis, we present a continuum model for the surface morphology evolution of a heteroepitaxial film surface. The continuum model is derived rigorously by taking the continuum limit from the discrete model for the interaction between steps, thus it incorporates the atomic features of the stepped surface. Linear instability analysis is performed for surfaces consisting of straight and parallel steps.</p
ELECTRONIC SELF-SERVICE APPLICATION FRAMEWORK (ESSAF)
No full textMaster'sMASTER OF SCIENCE IN COMPUTER SCIENCEDissertation Supervisors: 1. Assoc. Prof. Cham Tat Jen, SMA Fellow, NTU. 2. Mr. Rernglertpricha Sitthichai, IT Advisory of IBM Singapore
Rehabilitation as Social Control - a Review of Existing Research and Data
No full textRehabilitation programs in the post-Second Chance Pell Grant time comes in greater variation in the United States Prison system than ever before, but they all generally share the same goals: to prepare inmates for re-entry into their communities and society at-large, and as deterrence for recidivism. Despite the fact that many studies on rehabilitation programs suggest positive effects, existing studies on recidivism and participation in rehabilitation must be approached with the understanding that critical amounts of data are missing or inaccessible for public policy and/or privacy concerns. This does not mean that no conclusions of any kind can be drawn from the data, nor does it mean that existing data is not in favor of rehabilitation. In fact, most research done on rehabilitation programs and their effects strongly suggest that there are significant positive effects for both the individual participating and their communities on release. In order to further study rehabilitation and its general effects on prison populations, we first review existing literature surrounding rehabilitation programs. Next, we move into a statistical review of open source data from the Bureau of Prisons to look more closely at the relationship between the availability of rehabilitation programs and in-prison conduct as a measure of the efficacy of these programs. In our findings from both the qualitative and quantitative reviews, we find evidence that suggests access to college education, and possibly other types of rehabilitation in the prison system, may currently be used against incarcerated people as a form of social control. Further research and testing is needed, both to prove the positive benefits of rehabilitation programming, as well as our hypothesis of access to rehabilitation programming as social control. Limitations and implications are also discussed
Rehabilitation as Social Control - a Review of Existing Research and Data
No full textRehabilitation programs in the post-Second Chance Pell Grant time comes in greater variation in the United States Prison system than ever before, but they all generally share the same goals: to prepare inmates for re-entry into their communities and society at-large, and as deterrence for recidivism. Despite the fact that many studies on rehabilitation programs suggest positive effects, existing studies on recidivism and participation in rehabilitation must be approached with the understanding that critical amounts of data are missing or inaccessible for public policy and/or privacy concerns. This does not mean that no conclusions of any kind can be drawn from the data, nor does it mean that existing data is not in favor of rehabilitation. In fact, most research done on rehabilitation programs and their effects strongly suggest that there are significant positive effects for both the individual participating and their communities on release. In order to further study rehabilitation and its general effects on prison populations, we first review existing literature surrounding rehabilitation programs. Next, we move into a statistical review of open source data from the Bureau of Prisons to look more closely at the relationship between the availability of rehabilitation programs and in-prison conduct as a measure of the efficacy of these programs. In our findings from both the qualitative and quantitative reviews, we find evidence that suggests access to college education, and possibly other types of rehabilitation in the prison system, may currently be used against incarcerated people as a form of social control. Further research and testing is needed, both to prove the positive benefits of rehabilitation programming, as well as our hypothesis of access to rehabilitation programming as social control. Limitations and implications are also discussed
Derivation of a continuum model for the long-range elastic interaction on stepped epitaxial surfaces in 2 + 1 dimensions
No full textIn heteroepitaxy, the mismatch of lattice constants in the crystal film and the substrate causes a misfit stress in the bulk of the film, driving the self-organization of the film surface into various nanostructures. Below roughening transition temperature, the epitaxial surface consists of terraces separated by atomic-height steps, and the misfit results in a long-range elastic interaction between surface steps. In this case, the surface morphology is determined by the motion of the steps, and the widely used continuum models for surface evolution above the roughening transition temperature do not apply directly. In this paper, we present a continuum model for this long-range elastic interaction on a stepped heteroepitaxial surface in 2+1 dimensions. The continuum model is derived rigorously by taking the continuum limit from the discrete model for the interaction between steps, thus incorporating the discrete features of the stepped surface.</p
任友梅 <环球汉语> 中国文化因素的分析与评 (An analysis and evaluation of Chinese cultural factors in Cynthia Y. Ning's Encounters: Chinese language and culture)
No full textThe rapid development of China's economy and the increase of its national strength make people all over the world become eager to know more about China, which leads to the rise of global "Chinese fever". As a crucial tool for human communication and a carrier of culture, the content of Teaching Chinese as a Second Language (TCSL) needs to satisfy the needs of learners to understand Chinese culture. Nowadays, in view of the fact that the lexical outline and grammatical outline in TCSL textbooks have already been formed, but the cultural outline has not been uniformly promulgated yet, it is of great importance to study the cultural outline in different kinds of TCSL textbooks. Therefore, the author makes statistics, analysis and discussion on Chinese cultural factors in TCSL textbooks. It is hoped that this study will play a certain role in promoting the establishment of cultural outline. Taking Encounters：Chinese and Chinese culture (volume 1-4 of teacher's book) as the research object, this paper makes a tabulation selection, classification, statistics, induction and summary of Chinese cultural factors in the textbook. The first part is the introduction of this paper, in which the relevant research results and deficiencies, as well as the purpose and significance of this study are included. The second part expounds the concept of culture and the definition of cultural factors. In the third part, through the selection of Chinese cultural factors of Encounters：Chinese Language and Culture Culture, this paper summarizes them in the form of table. The fourth part analyzes and evaluates the typical examples of Chinese cultural factors in volume 1-4 of teacher's book. Some suggestions on the teaching of cultural factors in teaching Chinese as a foreign language are put forward in the fifth part. In the conclusion part, the main points of view and limitations and shortcomings of the research are summarized
Continuum model for the long-range elastic interaction on stepped epitaxial surfaces in2+1dimensions
No full textIn heteroepitaxy, the mismatch of lattice constants between the crystal film and the substrate causes misfit strain and stress in the bulk of the film, driving the surface of the film to self-organize into various nanostructures. Below the roughening transition temperature, an epitaxial surface consists of facets and steps and changes its morphology by lateral motion of steps. In this paper, we present a 2+1 -dimensional continuum model for the long-range elastic interaction on stepped surface of a strained film. The continuum model is derived rigorously from the discrete model for the interaction between steps; thus it incorporates the discrete features of the stepped surfaces. Examples show that our continuum model is much more accurate as an approximation to the discrete model than the traditional continuum approximation. Moreover, in the linear instability of a planar surface, our continuum model gives the transition from step bunching instability to step undulation instability as the distance between adjacent steps increases, which agrees with the experimental observations and the results of discrete models and is missing using the traditional continuum approximation. Numerical simulations of the surface evolution using our model in the nonlinear regime show several different surface morphologies, including the morphology of step bunching which cannot be obtained using the traditional continuum approximation.</p
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