Search

Lipocalin-2 (Lcn2) expression contributes to ischemia and reperfusion injury (IRI) by enhancing pro-inflammatory responses. The aim of this work was to elucidate the regulation of Lcn2 during hypoxia and its effects on the expression of key chemokines and adhesion molecules. Lcn2 wt and Lcn2(-/-) mice were used in a heterotopic heart transplantation model. Quantitative RT-PCR was applied for chemokine gene expression analysis. Reporter gene studies were used to elucidate the regulation of the Lcn2 promoter by hypoxia. HIF-1β expression led to a 2.4-fold induction of the Lcn2 promoter. Apart from an earlier onset of granulocyte infiltration in the Lcn2 wt setting after 2 h of reperfusion compared with the Lcn2(-/-) setting (P < 0.013), exogenous application of recombinant Lcn2 revealed a trend toward increase of granulocyte infiltration. Analyzed chemokines were expressed significantly higher in the Lcn2 wt setting at 2 h of reperfusion (P ≤ 0.05). The number of apoptotic cells observed in Lcn2(-/-) grafts was significantly higher than in the Lcn2 wt setting. Our results indicate that Lcn2 affects granulocyte infiltration in the reperfused graft by modulating the expression of chemokines, their receptors and the apoptotic rate.

Electron tomography is becoming an increasingly important tool in materials science for studying the three-dimensional morphologies and chemical compositions of nanostructures. The image quality obtained by many current algorithms is seriously affected by the problems of missing wedge artefacts and nonlinear projection intensities due to diffraction effects. The former refers to the fact that data cannot be acquired over the full 180 degrees tilt range; the latter implies that for some orientations, crystalline structures can show strong contrast changes. To overcome these problems we introduce and discuss several algorithms from the mathematical fields of geometric and discrete tomography. The algorithms incorporate geometric prior knowledge (mainly convexity and homogeneity), which also in principle considerably reduces the number of tilt angles required. Results are discussed for the reconstruction of an InAs nanowire. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Researchers and industry envision the next generation Internet to be a global, socio-technical information infrastructure, where humans as well as software agents continuously interact to trade electronic services, forming a digital economy of its own. For an economically successful participation in the IoS a dedicated management approach for electronic services is needed. In this paper we present a proposal for such a service-centric life cycle model acting as a conceptual basis for (automated) service management at both, build and run time. It is used in a second step to define a comprehensive spiral model of service development and usage for electronic service markets. A real-world business case is finally used to demonstrate the benefits of our approach.

The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com; International audience; We show that if a line L is an isolated line transversal to a finite family F of (possibly intersecting) balls in R^3 and no two balls are externally tangent on L, then there is a subfamily G ⊆ F of size at most 12 such that L is an isolated line transversal to G. We generalize this result to families of semialgebraic ovaloids.

A universal and robust analytical method for the determination of Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and two of its metabolites Δ9-(11-OH)-tetrahydrocannabinol (11-OH-THC) and 11-nor-Δ9-carboxy-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC-COOH) in human whole blood was developed and validated for use in forensic toxicology. Protein precipitation, integrated solid phase extraction and on-line enrichment followed by high-performance liquid chromatography separation and detection with a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer were combined. The linear ranges used for the three cannabinoids were from 0.5 to 20 ng/mL for THC and 11-OH-THC and from 2.5 to 100 ng/mL for THC-COOH, therefore covering the requirements for forensic use. Correlation coefficients of 0.9980 or better were achieved for all three analytes. No relevant hydrolysis was observed for THC-COOH glucuronide with this procedure — in contrast to our previous GC-MS procedure, which obviously lead to an artificial increase of the THC-COOH concentration due to the hydrolysis of the glucuronide-conjugate occurring at high pH during the phase-transfer catalyzed methylation step.

This paper deals with the containment problem under homothetics which has the minimal enclosing ball (MEB) problem as a prominent representative. We connect the problem to results in classic convex geometry and introduce a new series of radii, which we call core-radii. For the MEB problem, these radii have already been considered from a different point of view and sharp inequalities between them are known. In this paper sharp inequalities between core-radii for general containment under homothetics are obtained. Moreover, the presented inequalities are used to derive sharp upper bounds on the size of core-sets for containment under homothetics. In the MEB case, this yields a tight (dimension independent) bound for the size of such core-sets. In the general case, we show that there are core-sets of size linear in the dimension and that this bound stays sharp even if the container is required to be symmetric., Comment: Discrete & Computational Geometry, 2012; The final publication is available at http://www.springerlink.com

Recent developments have shown the emergence of electronic negotiation systems and electronic markets used to efficiently allocate electronic resources, such as web services. Electronic negotiations exhibit much of the same problems real life negotiations have, such as coalition formation, efficient offer matching etc. However, some problems become more crucial in electronic environments due to the anonymity of the users and the sheer amount of negotiations that can be executed in short time spans. In this paper we investigate the trust issue in electronic negotiations, dealing with how to trust a potential transaction partner and how to choose such partners based on their past behaviour in the system. In particular, we want to investigate the efficiency or even applicability of reputation mechanisms for different negotiation protocols and market flavors. Based on social science findings we derive hypotheses on the effects of various commonly used negotiation protocols on the efficient usage of reputation mechanism. We conclude with a set of such hypotheses that can be used to give recommendations to designers of electronic negotiation systems or markets on which protocols to use, so that they can apply reputation mechanisms and therefore tackle the trusting issue.

Objectifs Le but de cette etude est de montrer que les concentrations de THCCOOH-glucuronide (gluc) dans le sang total peuvent etre utilisees en complement des concentrations de THCCOOH libre pour permettre de distinguer les fumeurs reguliers des fumeurs occasionnels de cannabis. Methodes Une etude d’administration controlee de cannabis contre placebo a ete menee au CHU de Lausanne, Suisse [1] . Vingt-trois fumeurs reguliers (declarant consommer plus de 10 fois/mois) et 25 fumeurs occasionnels (entre 1 fois/mois et 1 fois/semaine) de cannabis ont fume un joint de cannabis ou un joint placebo selon un protocole minute. Des echantillons de sang ont ete preleves avant et jusqu’a 5 h apres l’inhalation. Les analyses de THCCOOH ont ete effectuees par GC– ou LC-MS/MS dans les jours suivants, puis les echantillons ont ete conserves a –80 °C. Trois a 6 ans plus tard, les echantillons ont ete decongeles et analyses par LC-MS/MS pour le THCCOOH et le THCCOOH-gluc. L’analyse de courbes ROC [1] a ensuite ete appliquee aux concentrations mesurees pour determiner des cut-offs permettant de distinguer fumeurs reguliers et occasionnels. Resultats – Pour les fumeurs reguliers, les concentrations de THCCOOH libre mesurees en 2015 sont en moyenne superieures de 1,7 μg/L (6,0 %) a celles mesurees precedemment. – Les concentrations en THCCOOH-gluc chez les fumeurs reguliers vont de 4,1 a 358 μg/L. A ce jour, 73 echantillons des fumeurs occasionnels ont ete analyses, les valeurs vont de – La concentration molaire maximale de THCCOOH total (libre + gluc) mesuree chez les fumeurs occasionnels est de 0,167 μmol/L, soit l’equivalent de 57 μg/L de THCCOOH. Chez les reguliers, les concentrations vont de 0,014 μmol/L (4,82 μg/L) a 1,095 μmol/L (377 μg/L). 4) Plusieurs seuils de concentrations permettant de distinguer les fumeurs reguliers des occasionnels avec 100 % de specificite ont ete mis en evidence : 66 μg/L de THCCOOH-gluc (sensibilite 27 %) et/ou 57 μg/L de THCCOOH total (sensibilite 52 %) contre 40 μg/L (sensibilite 20 %) si on considere uniquement le THCCOOH libre comme precedemment [1] . Conclusion La conservation des echantillons de sang a –80 °C permet une bonne stabilite des echantillons : les concentrations en THCCOOH de 2015 sont superieures de 6 % en moyenne a celles des annees precedentes, probablement a cause d’une degradation partielle du gluc. Nos resultats suggerent qu’une concentration en THCCOOH-gluc superieure a 66 μg/L correspond a une consommation reguliere de cannabis. De meme, nous proposons une concentration seuil de 60 μg/L de THCCOOH total dans le sang complet pour mettre en evidence un usage regulier de cannabis. Ces valeurs sont a confirmer avec les analyses de l’ensemble des echantillons des fumeurs occasionnels.

Summary: Purpose: We present three children with severe therapy-refractory epilepsy who tolerated valproate (VPA) well in various combinations with other antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) but developed typical VPA side effects in combination with topiramate (TPM). Methods: The clinical symptoms began with apathy in all three children; two of them also had hypothermia. Furthermore all children had elevated blood ammonia levels, one child in combination with increased liver transaminases and one with thrombocytopenia. Results: All children recovered completely after discontinuation of VPA or TPM. Conclusions: TPM seems likely to enhance the risk of side effects usually attributed to VPA and not described in TPM monotherapy. Our case reports suggest that possible adverse effects of VPA should be given particular attention when VPA is combined with TPM.

Die Problemanalyse hat die Aufgabe, Wissen uber Probleme der Ressourcenabstimmung aus Informationen uber die Planungssituation zu gewinnen. Aus diesem Verstandnis heraus konnen Anforderungen an notwendige Bestandteile zum Aufbau des zu entwickelnden Analyseverfahrens abgeleitet werden (Bild 3.1-1).

Nachdem im vorangegangenen Kapitel die Verfahrensbausteine in Form von Einzelmodellen entwickelt wurden, werden in diesem Kapitel diese Bausteine in einen abgestimmten Gesamtablauf der Problemanalyse integriert. Der Gesamtverfahrensablauf gliedert sich in die Phase der Vorbereitung und die Phase der Anwendung.

Das Vorhaben der vorliegenden Arbeit ist, ein Verfahren zur Analyse von Problemen der Ressourcenabstimmung zur verbesserten Unterstutzung der Produktionsplanung zu entwickeln. Das Analyseverfahren soll zu Zeitgewinn, Risikomini-mierung, Sensibilisierung und Systematisierung der Problemanalyse beitragen, damit Kosten-und Zeitziele in Industrieunternehmen besser erreicht werden. Die Integration einer derartigen Problemanalyse in die betriebliche Planung wurde in Kapitel 2 grundsatzlich abgeleitet und ist in Bild 5-1 erganzt um wichtige Informationsbeziehungen im Uberblick dargestellt.

Das entwickelte Verfahren zur Analyse von Problemen der Ressourcenabstimmung wurde zur Verifikation der Leistungsfahigkeit als EDV-gestutzter Prototyp realisiert.1 Ausgehend von den Anforderungen des in Kapitel 8.1 beschriebenen konkreten Anwendungsbeispiels wurden mit diesem Prototyp Tests in Labor (Kap. 8.2) und Praxis (Kap. 8.3) durchgefuhrt.

Novel types of reflective spiral micro-electro-mechanical systems were used to generate few-cycle vortex pulses of variable topological charge from a Ti:sapphire laser oscillator. The phase profile of these components was controlled by varying the temperature. The temporal properties of the pulses were characterized with spatially resolved nonlinear autocorrelation. The beam structure resembles a slightly distorted Laguerre-Gaussian distribution. The different topological charges were indicated by detecting Poynting-vector maps with a programmable Shack-Hartmann sensor of enhanced angular sensitivity.

Last man die Geschichte der Industriealisierung am Beispiel der Automobilherstellung Revue passieren, so mus man bei der von Karl Daimler in Handarbeit hergestellten Motorkutsche beginnen. Als nachster Meilenstein ist sicherlich die von Henry Ford in der ersten Massenproduktion gebaute Tin Lizzy zu erwahnen, fur die vor allem Fords Slogan »You can have any color as long as it’s black« in Erinnerung geblieben ist. Beendet wird dieser geschichtliche Ruckblick in der heutigen Zeit, wo hochst komplexe Automobile mit enormer Variantenzahl in einer Massenproduktion hergestellt und weltweit angeboten werden.

Weder in der Theorie noch in der Praxis liegen bislang langerfristig Perspektive bietende Losungen zur Entwicklung und Nutzung von Mitarbeiterpotentialen zur kontinuierlichen Unternehmensentwicklung und -Optimierung vor. Dieser Bestandteil der sozio-informellen Ebene wird jedoch vor dem Hintergrund der dynamischen Umwelt immer wichtiger. Die folgenden Ausfuhrungen geben daher Methoden und erste Erfahrungen auf diesem Gebiet als richtungsweisende Leitlinien wieder.

Die systematische Analyse von Problemen der Ressourcenabstimmung im Sinne eines geordneten informationsverarbeitenden Prozesses ist in der Praxis bislang wenig verbreitet und wird durch die veroffentlichten Verfahren nur unzureichend unterstutzt. Die uberwiegende Zahl der existierenden Analyseverfahren beschrankt sich auf die Analyse sehr einfacher Abstimmungsprobleme und arbeitet mit entsprechend wenig leistungsfahigen Analysemethoden. Diese werden zusammengefast in Kapitel 4.1 vorgestellt. Leistungsfahigere Verfahren zur Problemanalyse, die bislang nur fur einen speziellen Teil des Untersuchungsbereichs dieser Arbeit konzipiert wurden oder deren Anwendung vielfach empfohlen wird, werden in den Kapiteln 4.2 und 4.3 beschrieben.