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The numbers of macrophages are increased in the lungs of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. COPD lung macrophages have reduced ability to phagocytose microbes and efferocytose apoptotic cells. Inhaled corticosteroids (ICSs) are widely used anti-inflammatory drugs in COPD; however, their role beyond suppression of cytokine release has not been explored in COPD macrophages. We have examined the effects of corticosteroids on COPD lung macrophage phenotype and function. Lung macrophages from controls and COPD patients were treated with corticosteroids; effects on gene and protein expression of CD163, CD164, CD206, MERTK, CD64, CD80 and CD86 were studied. We also examined the effect of corticosteroids on the function of CD163, MERTK and cluster of differentiation 64 (CD64). Corticosteroid increased CD163, CD164, CD206 and MERTK expression and reduced CD64, CD80 and CD86 expression. We also observed an increase in the uptake of the haemoglobin-haptoglobin complex (CD163) from 59 up to 81% and an increase in efferocytosis of apoptotic neutrophils (MERTK) from 15 up to 28% following corticosteroid treatment. We observed no effect on bacterial phagocytosis. Corticosteroids alter the phenotype and function of COPD lung macrophages. Our findings suggest mechanisms by which corticosteroids exert therapeutic benefit in COPD, reducing iron available for bacterial growth and enhancing efferocytosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on a study regarding molecularly selective nanoporous membrane-based wearable organic electrochemical device for noninvasive cortisol sensing. It mentions that wearable biosensors have emerged as an alternative evolutionary development in the field of healthcare technology due to their potential to change conventional medical diagnostics and health monitoring.

A less explored aspect of dwarf galaxies is their metallicity evolution. Generally, dwarfs have lower metallicities than Hubble sequence late-type galaxies, but in reality, dwarfs span a wide range of metallicities with several open questions regarding the formation and evolution of the lowest and the highest metallicity dwarfs. We present a catalogue of 3459 blue, nearby, star-forming dwarf galaxies extracted from SDSS DR-16 including calculation of their metallicities using the mean of several calibrators. To compile our catalogue we applied redshift, absolute magnitude, stellar mass, optical diameter, and line flux signal-to-noise criteria. This produced a catalogue from the upper end of the dwarf galaxy stellar mass range. Our catalogued dwarfs have blue g – i colours and Hβ equivalent widths, indicative of having undergone a recent episode of star formation, although their star formation rates (SFRs) suggest only a moderate to low enhancement in star formation, similar to the SFRs in low surface brightness and evolved tidal dwarfs. While the catalogued dwarfs cover a range of metallicities, their mean metallicity is ∼0.2 dex below solar metallicity, indicating relatively chemically evolved galaxies. The vast majority of the catalogue, with clean photometry, are relatively isolated dwarfs with only modest SFRs and a narrow range of g – i colour, consistent with internally driven episodic mild bursts of star formation. The presented catalogue's robust metallicity estimates for nearby SDSS dwarf galaxies will help target future studies to understand the physical processes driving the metallicity evolution of dwarfs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the design, procurement and construction of Clyde Arc bridge in River Clyde in Glasgow, Scotland. The 20.3 million pounds project was started to construct the bridge in May 2005 to provide a transport infrastructure link in the city. In addition, it was advertised in the "Journal of the European Union" in 2000 to attract prospective tenderers and to comply with Europen law.

The article offers views concerning the recent writings on the German reformation between deconstruction and reconstruction. It relates that the coding of religious ardour in a post-Christian age has led to no visible lessening of interest in the reformation. Historian Andrew Pettegree contends that the potency of the reformation lay first in its power of destruction which could any positive identification with the new order.

Abstract: Chicken thrombocytes are equivalent in hemostatic function to mammalian platelets. Platelets are enucleated components of mammalian blood, while thrombocytes are nucleated blood leukocytes of chickens. Platelets and thrombocytes share characteristics that contribute to innate immunity. Experiments were conducted to determine if thrombocytes could respond in vitro to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of Salmonella minnesota through Toll-like receptor-4 (TLR4). The aim was to activate the signal pathways leading to expression of interleukin-6 (IL-6) and inducible cyclooxygenase (COX-2) and to production of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2). Chicken thrombocytes were found to express TLR4, and LPS-induced an increase in thrombocyte mRNA expression of IL-6 and COX-2 with release of PGE2 into culture media. An increase of COX-2 and PGE2 due to LPS stimulation was inhibited by MEK1 inhibitor PD98059, but IL-6 expression was unaffected by PD98059. The IKK-2 inhibitor BMS345541 inhibited IL-6 and COX-2 with reduction of PGE2 concentrations. Therefore, the MAP kinase (MAPK) pathway activates expression of COX-2 and ultimately PGE2 production, but this pathway has little or no influence on IL-6 expression in thrombocytes. The NF-κB pathway also influences COX-2 expression and PGE2 production, and it is a primary activation signaling cascade for IL-6 gene expression in chicken thrombocytes. Thrombocytes represent a major component of the innate immune system of chickens in response to LPS and possibly other microbial products. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Reflects on the theme of a crisis of feudalism and the German Peasants' War, which was principally advanced by Peter Bickle. Information provided by Bickle's 'Die Revolution von 1525'; Reason for the neglect in west German scholarship on the Peasants' War; Transformation of rural economy and society in studies of the Peasants' War.

The article offers a historiographical review of viticulture in German-speaking lands during the Middle Ages. The author focuses on several key aspects including viticulture from the Roman period to the Frankish period, the effect of viticulture on the economy and society, and the place of viticulture within the late medieval agrarian crisis.

Considers several questions in responding to the challenge of rapid and significant change in the practice of medicine. What understanding of basic science is required by graduating medical students; Person who should be responsible for the learning; Effect of the introduction of a basic science examination component on curriculum development.

Presents a study on the effect of baroreceptor denervation in normotensive rats on blood pressure regulation and on cardiac hypertrophy. Extent of baroreflex impairment; Impact on the weight of the left ventricle; Association with increases in the variability of telemetered mean arterial pressure.

With the development of ever more powerful micro-computers, the cost and capabilities of robotic systems for environmental surveying using remotely control systems continues to decrease and improve. Historically, submarine exploration was restricted to companies or organisations with considerable finances and resources; however, the last decade has seen the advent of ‘low cost’ remotely operated vehicles (ROV). These cost anywhere from $400-$40,000 and provide an opportunity for wider participation in ocean exploration. However, with 60% of the world's seafloor lying at depths in excess of 1000 m and current low cost ROVs typiclly depth limited to just 100 m, there is presently an inability to “go deep” affordably. This review assesses the state of the art for deep ROV technologies and identifies the primary technological hurdles to overcome in order to facilitate proliferation of low cost ROVs for deep ocean exploration with an emphasis on their application to mineral and ore prospecting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present results from an H  i counterpart search using the HI Parkes All Sky Survey (HIPASS) for a sample of low surface brightness galaxies (LSBGs) and ultradiffuse galaxies (UDGs) identified from the Dark Energy Survey (DES). We aimed to establish the redshifts of the DES LSBGs to determine the UDG fraction and understand their properties. Out of 409 galaxies investigated, none were unambiguously detected in H  i. Our study was significantly hampered by the high spectral rms of HIPASS and thus in this paper we do not make any strong conclusive claims but discuss the main trends and possible scenarios our results reflect. The overwhelming number of non-detections suggest that (a) Either all the LSBGs in the groups, blue or red, have undergone environment aided pre-processing and are H  i deficient or the majority of them are distant galaxies, beyond the HIPASS detection threshold. (b) The sample investigated is most likely dominated by galaxies with H  i masses typical of dwarf galaxies. Had there been Milky Way (MW) size (R e) galaxies in our sample, with proportionate H  i content, they would have been detected, even with the limitations imposed by the HIPASS spectral quality. This leads us to infer that if some of the LSBGs have MW-size optical diameters, their H  i content is possibly in the dwarf range. More sensitive observations using the SKA precursors in future may resolve these questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Trace elements are widely used to unravel magmatic processes and constrain the chemical differentiation of the Earth. Key to their use is understanding the controls on fractionation between solid and liquid, which hinge on the energetics of trace element incorporation into crystals. At equilibrium most trace elements are incompatible in bulk magmatic minerals because of unfavourable incorporation energies. We use computational methods to explore the role that crystal interfaces can play in trace element incorporation in minerals. We demonstrate that differences between bulk and interface incorporation energies can be very large and lead to concentration differences of many orders of magnitude, consistent with experimental evidence for interface enrichment. By emphasising the importance of adsorption/incorporation at interfaces, we account for the competing effects of bulk equilibrium and interface segregation operating during melting and crystallisation. Computational results are presented for divalent cations and Ar in bulk forsterite, at the {010} surface and at the {100}/{010} stepped grain boundary. For all species studied larger than Mn2+, segregation to the interface is highly exothermic. We discuss in particular the take-up of noble gases where, in contrast to earlier work, a recent experimental study concluded that argon is highly compatible in mantle minerals. In contrast our calculations indicate bulk Ar solubility is very small and suggests incorporation at mineral interfaces is overwhelmingly favourable. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Breast cancer is the second leading cause of death in women after lung cancer, and only 5% of patients with metastatic breast cancer survive beyond ten years of diagnosis. Considering the heterogeneous subclasses of breast cancer, current cancer models have shortfalls due to copy number variants, and genetic differences of humans and immunocompromised animal models. Preclinical studies indicate stem cell activity in early post-natal mammary development may be reactivated in the human adult as a trigger to initiate cell proliferation leading to breast cancer. The goal of the work reported herein was to compare genetic expression of early development, post-natal pig mammary glands to the literature reported genes implicated in different subclasses of human breast cancer. Differentially expressed genes associated with breast cancer and present in early developing pig samples include NUCB2 , ANGPTL4 and ACE. Histological staining confirmed E-cadherin, Vimentin, N-cadherin, and Claudin-1, which are all implicated in malignant cancer. Due to the homology of gene expression patterns in the developing pig mammary gland and reported genes in human breast cancer profiles, this research is worthy of further study to address a potential model using mammary development cues to unravel breast cancer biology. [Display omitted] • Early development of pig mammary glands may serve as a model for human breast cancer research. • Pig mammary transcriptome expression correlates with previously reported breast cancer genes. • Discoveries in breast cancer research could be evaluated from alternative mouse models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]