Ectopic lymphoid-organ development occurs through interleukin 7-mediated enhanced survival of lymphoid-tissue-inducer cells.

Development of Peyer's patches and lymph nodes requires the interaction between CD4+ CD3- IL-7Ralpha+ lymphoid-tissue inducer (LTi) and VCAM-1+ organizer cells. Here we showed that by promoting their survival, enhanced expression of interleukin-7 (IL-7) in transgenic mice resulted in accumulation of LTi cells. With increased IL-7 availability, de novo formation of VCAM-1+ Peyer's patch anlagen occurred along the entire fetal gut resulting in a 5-fold increase in Peyer's patch numbers. IL-7 overexpression also led to formation of multiple organized ectopic lymph nodes and cecal patches. After immunization, ectopic lymph nodes developed normal T cell-dependent B cell responses and germinal centers. Mice overexpressing IL-7 but lacking either RORgamma, a factor required for LTi cell generation, or lymphotoxin alpha1beta2 had neither Peyer's patches nor ectopic lymph nodes. Therefore, by controlling LTi cell numbers, IL-7 can regulate the formation of both normal and ectopic lymphoid organs.

Estat d'ànim sota la crisi / Estado de ánimo bajo la crisis

Viure és una cosa més aviat hostil, un eludir constantment dificultats i de tant en tant, alguna satisfacció vital.

El programa de cooperación interuniversitària de la AECID: 18 años de historia interrumpidos por la crisis econòmica

Nota on es vol fer constar la cancel·lació del “Programa de Cooperación Interuniversitaria” conegut per l'acrònim “PCI” de l' “Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo” (AECID), un dels programes més exitosos y de més llarga tradició de la cooperació espanyola

Observation of a continuous interior crisis in the Hindmarsh-Rose neuron model.

Interior crises are understood as discontinuous changes of the size of a chaotic attractor that occur when an unstable periodic orbit collides with the chaotic attractor. We present here numerical evidence and theoretical reasoning which prove the existence of a chaos-chaos transition in which the change of the attractor size is sudden but continuous. This occurs in the Hindmarsh¿Rose model of a neuron, at the transition point between the bursting and spiking dynamics, which are two different dynamic behaviors that this system is able to present. Moreover, besides the change in attractor size, other significant properties of the system undergoing the transitions do change in a relevant qualitative way. The mechanism for such transition is understood in terms of a simple one-dimensional map whose dynamics undergoes a crossover between two different universal behaviors

Destruction of lymphoid organ architecture and hepatitis caused by CD4 T cells.

Immune responses have the important function of host defense and protection against pathogens. However, the immune response also causes inflammation and host tissue injury, termed immunopathology. For example, hepatitis B and C virus infection in humans cause immunopathological sequel with destruction of liver cells by the host's own immune response. Similarly, after infection with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) in mice, the adaptive immune response causes liver cell damage, choriomeningitis and destruction of lymphoid organ architecture. The immunopathological sequel during LCMV infection has been attributed to cytotoxic CD8(+) T cells. However, we now show that during LCMV infection CD4(+) T cells selectively induced the destruction of splenic marginal zone and caused liver cell damage with elevated serum alanin-transferase (ALT) levels. The destruction of the splenic marginal zone by CD4(+) T cells included the reduction of marginal zone B cells, marginal zone macrophages and marginal zone metallophilic macrophages. Functionally, this resulted in an impaired production of neutralizing antibodies against LCMV. Furthermore, CD4(+) T cells reduced B cells with an IgM(high)IgD(low) phenotype (transitional stage 1 and 2, marginal zone B cells), whereas other B cell subtypes such as follicular type 1 and 2 and germinal center/memory B cells were not affected. Adoptive transfer of CD4(+) T cells lacking different important effector cytokines and cytolytic pathways such as IFNγ, TNFα, perforin and Fas-FasL interaction did reveal that these cytolytic pathways are redundant in the induction of immunopathological sequel in spleen. In conclusion, our results define an important role of CD4(+) T cells in the induction of immunopathology in liver and spleen. This includes the CD4(+) T cell mediated destruction of the splenic marginal zone with consecutively impaired protective neutralizing antibody responses.

Characterization of rue extract and its potential for controlling rice blast

Abstract: The objective of this work was to purify and standardize the rue (Ruta graveolens) extract and evaluate its effect on Magnaporthe oryzae as an alternative to the integrated management of rice blast. The drug was characterized, the liquid extract was obtained, and the methodology for quantifying the standard markers psoralen and bergapten was validated. Rue extract and the markers, solely or in combination, were assayed in vitro, as well as in greenhouse conditions, for their ability to suppress leaf blast, by the evaluation of mycelial growth, conidial germination, and appressorium formation. Rue extract inhibited M. oryzae mycelial growth (100%), conidial germination (LD50=0.237 mg), and the appressorium formation (LD50=0.121 mg); besides, the extract reduced leaf blast severity by 80.84%. Fluorescence microscopy showed that rue extract did not damage M. oryzae cell wall and plasma membrane, indicating another mode of action. Rue extract has a great potential for controlling rice leaf blast.

Federal Dynamics in Times of Economic and Financial Crisis

The global economic and financial crisis is a challenge for all governments, but particularly for federal states because divided and/or shared territorial powers make federations susceptible to coordination problems in fiscal policy making. This article explores the effects of the ongoing crisis on federal relations. Three kinds of problems that may become the cause of federal tensions and conflicts are evoked: opportunism of subgovernments, centralisation and erosion of solidarity among members of the federation. Our analysis of fiscal policies and federal conflicts of 11 federations between 2007 and the present reveals three kinds of coordination problems: shirking in the use of federal government grants, rent-seeking in equalisation payments, and over-borrowing and over-spending. Our results show that shirking remained limited to few cases and occurred only in the first part of the crisis. However, rent-seeking and over-borrowing and over-spending led to a reduction of solidarity among subgovernments and to increased regulation of the fiscal discretion of the members of the federation. Subsequently, tensions in federal relations increased - although only in one case did this challenged the federal order.

Religion in Times of Crisis

Religion is alive and well all over the world, especially in times of personal, political, and social crisis. Even in Europe, long regarded the most "secular" continent, religion has taken centre stage in how people respond to the crises associated with modernity, or how they interact with the nation-state. In this book, scholars working in and on Europe offer fresh perspectives on how religion provides answers to existential crisis, how crisis increases the salience of religious identities and cultural polarization, and how religion is contributing to changes in the modern world in Europe and beyond. Cases from Poland to Pakistan and from Ireland to Zimbabwe, among others, demonstrate the complexity and ambivalence of religion's role in the contemporary world.

Successful business strategies during periods of crisis

Treball Final de Carrera ( TFC ) consistent en l'anàlisi de diferents tipus d'estratègies que les empreses poden aplicar centrant-se en les idees de Michael Porter i el desenvolupament d'aquestes idees per part de diferents professionals. El TFC està dividit en dos blocs, un de teòric i un de pràctic. El primer bloc consisteix en l'anàlisi dels diferents tipus d'estratègies derivades de les idees de Michael Porter. En aquest primer bloc, hem analitzat com a través del model de les cinc forces, Porter va arribar a les estratègies genèriques. Després hem analitzat les tres estratègies genèriques conjuntament amb l'estratègia híbrida i amb l'Estratègia de l'Oceà Blau. El segon bloc està format per diversos casos pràctics d'empreses que han aconseguit l'èxit durant l'actual període de crisi en els diferents sectors de l'economia. Aquestes empreses són Yoigo com a exemple de baix cost , Starbucks com implementació d'una estratègia de diferenciació i Ryan Air exemplificant una estratègia de segmentació enfocada als baixos costos. Finalment, hem analitzat a Toyota degut a la seva estratègia híbrida i Graphenea com una companyia que implementa Estratègia de l'Oceà Blau. Totes aquestes companyies han aconseguit l'èxit durant l'actual període de crisi. El motiu és que aquestes empreses van escollir un tipus d'estratègia d'acord amb l'estructura de la indústria en la qual operen. No obstant això, la implementació d'aquestes estratègies no assegura resultats d'èxit. L'adequada aplicació d'aquestes estratègies suposa per a les empreses una demostració de que aconseguir l'èxit durant períodes de recessió econòmica és possible, vinculat a una bona gestió estratègica.

Crisis de las solidaridades tradicionales y nuevas formas de asociación y resistencia campesina en la Cataluña occidental (1750-1920)

El objeto de este estudio es el análisis de las solidaridades campesinas y de su crisis en la etapa final del Antiguo Régimen. A través de la Cofradía de Labradores - que, en el siglo XVIII, representaba de hecho a la mayor parte del campesinado de Lleida -, se analiza la defensa de los comunales y la lucha contra el diezmo. Estos conflictos en el fondo traducen las dificultades del pequeño campesinado de Lleida para obtener los ingresos necesarios para reproducir la unidad familiar. Se estudian las dos vías - la campesina y la de los hacendados - de desarrollo social y económico en relación con la propiedad de la tierra en la etapa de reforma liberal. Ante el fracaso de la "vía campesina", se estudia el origen del asociacionismo tanto el impulsado por el pequeño campesinado -a través de sociedades de socorros mutuos en un primer momento- como aquél que tiene como objetivo la introducción de mejoras técnico-productivas. Como en el resto de Cataluña, en la parte occidental llana se desarrollarán estas experiencias de manera más intensa en el marco de la crisis finisecular y etapa posterior.

Guerra y crisis generacional: el caso de Jean-Richard Bloch

El presente artículo trata de mostrar cómo la primera guerra mundial originó entre los intelectuales franceses un particular concepto de generación: se consideran una generación malograda, incapaz de haber podido evitar la catástrofe y, a la vez, inexperta para construir una nueva coherencia social. El análisis toma como eje principal al escritor Jean-Richard Bloch cuyas tesis son comparadas con las de sus contemporáneos con el fin de reconstruir el contexto cultural que condiciona tanto sus vidas privadas como sus trayectorias artísticas.

"Et hoc facimus propter necessitatem famis...". Possibilitats de les fonts documentals catalanes per a l'estudi de les crisis alimentàries dels segles X-XIII

European studies of famines before the thirteenth century have been based principally on chronicles and especially on information from monastic annals. These sources, which are especially numerous during the so-called Carolingian Cultural Renaissance, offer abundant evidence of a phenomenon scarcely mentioned in other types of sources, including archival sources: the frequency and gravity of crises of food supply in some regions of continental Europe during the central middle ages, an epoch which, being situated between the terrible famines of the carolingian period and the great panademics of the fourteenth century, has been considered a period “without famines.” The object of this article is to shed light on the limitations of medieval catalan chronicle sources for the reconstruction of food-supply crises which affected the catalan counties in the tenth through the thirteenth centuries and illustrate, in contrast, the multiple opportunities offered by sources from the lordly archives. A significant part of these archival sources are connected in a direct and indirect manner to the difficulties of the rural and urban populations during famines and therefore, in a broad sense, can be considered a consequence of these crises.