TLR2 Is a Negative Regulator of Th17 Cells and Tissue Pathology in a Pulmonary Model of Fungal Infection

To study the role of TLR2 in a experimental model of chronic pulmonary infection, TLR2-deficient and wild-type mice were intratracheally infected with Paracoccidioides brasiliensis, a primary fungal pathogen. Compared with control, TLR2(-/-) mice developed a less severe pulmonary infection and decreased NO synthesis. Equivalent results were detected with in vitro-infected macrophages. Unexpectedly, despite the differences in fungal loads both mouse strains showed equivalent survival times and severe pulmonary inflammatory reactions. Studies on lung-infiltrating leukocytes of TLR2(-/-) mice demonstrated an increased presence of polymorphonuclear neutrophils that control fungal loads but were associated with diminished numbers of activated CD4(+) and CD8(+) T lymphocytes. TLR2 deficiency leads to minor differences in the levels of pulmonary type 1 and type 2 cytokines, but results in increased production of KC, a CXC chemokine involved in neutrophils chemotaxis, as well as TGF-beta, IL-6, IL-23, and IL-17 skewing T cell immunity to a Th17 pattern. In addition, the preferential Th17 immunity of TLR2(-/-) mice was associated with impaired expansion of regulatory CD4(+)CD25(+)FoxP3(+) T cells. This is the first study to show that TLR2 activation controls innate and adaptive immunity to P. brasiliensis infection. TLR2 deficiency results in increased Th17 immunity associated with diminished expansion of regulatory T cells and increased lung pathology due to unrestrained inflammatory reactions. The Journal of Immunology, 2009, 183: 1279-1290.

A Metal-Repressed Promoter From Gram-Positive Bacillus subtilis Is Highly Active and Metal-Induced in Gram-Negative Cupriavidus metallidurans

A synthetic version of the metal-regulated gene A (mrgA) promoter from Bacillus subtilis, which in this Gram-positive bacterium is negatively regulated by manganese, iron, cobalt, or copper turned out to promote high level of basal gene expression that is further enhanced by Co(II), Cd(II), Mn(II), Zn(II), Cu(II), or Ni(II), when cloned in the Gram-negative bacterium Cupriavidus metallidurans. Promoter activity was monitored by expression of the reporter gene coding for the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP), and cellular intensity fluorescence was quantified by flow cytometry. Expression levels in C. metallidurans driven by the heterologous promoter, here called pan, ranged from 20- to 53-fold the expression level driven by the Escherichia coli lac promoter (which is constitutively expressed in C. metallidurans), whether in the absence or presence of metal ions, respectively. The pan promoter did also function in E. coli in a constitutive pattern, regardless of the presence of Mn(II) or Fe(II). In conclusion, the pan promoter proved to be a powerful tool to express heterologous proteins in Gram-negative bacteria, especially in C. metallidurans grown upon high levels of toxic metals, with potential applications in bioremediation. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 2010; 107: 469-477. (C) 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The effect of the negative coupling parameter on the spectrum of a trapped Bose gas

The interest in attractive Bose-Einstein Condensates arises due to the chemical instabilities generate when the number of trapped atoms is above a critical number. In this case, recombination process promotes the collapse of the cloud. This behavior is normally geometry dependent. Within the context of the mean field approximation, the system is described by the Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We have considered the attractive Bose-Einstein condensate, confined in a nonspherical trap, investigating numerically and analytically the solutions, using controlled perturbation and self-similar approximation methods. This approximation is valid in all interval of the negative coupling parameter allowing interpolation between weak-coupling and strong-coupling limits. When using the self-similar approximation methods, accurate analytical formulas were derived. These obtained expressions are discussed for several different traps and may contribute to the understanding of experimental observations.

Second-order negative-curvature methods for box-constrained and general constrained optimization

A Nonlinear Programming algorithm that converges to second-order stationary points is introduced in this paper. The main tool is a second-order negative-curvature method for box-constrained minimization of a certain class of functions that do not possess continuous second derivatives. This method is used to define an Augmented Lagrangian algorithm of PHR (Powell-Hestenes-Rockafellar) type. Convergence proofs under weak constraint qualifications are given. Numerical examples showing that the new method converges to second-order stationary points in situations in which first-order methods fail are exhibited.

A New Class of Non Negative Distributions Generated by Symmetric Distributions

In this article, we study a new class of non negative distributions generated by the symmetric distributions around zero. For the special case of the distribution generated using the normal distribution, properties like moments generating function, stochastic representation, reliability connections, and inference aspects using methods of moments and maximum likelihood are studied. Moreover, a real data set is analyzed, illustrating the fact that good fits can result.

Football supporters an the negative word of mouth of their rival team's brand

This article has the objective of identifying whether the loyalty for the team has a negative effect on the word of mouth of the rival team’s brand. It has been developed a model based on the works of Fagundes (2013) and Santana and Akel Sobrinho (2010), through the use of Structural Equation Modeling - SEM, which presents three constructions: the identification with the team, the loyalty to the team and the negative word of mouth of the rival’s brand. 528 students from two college were interviewed and it has been identified that the emotional involvement of the supporter with his team reflects on the identification of a supporter by his team (KWON e ARMSTRONG, 2004; KAYNAK, 2008; JORDAN et al., 2014), it is thus formed a loyalty for the team (FUNK and JAMES, 2006). It influences other people in their personal relationships through the negative word of mouth communication.

A search-theoretic explanation for the negative correlation between labor income and impatience

Lawrance (1991) has shown, through the estimation of consumption Euler equations, that subjective rates of impatience (time preference) in the U.S. are three to Öve percentage points higher for households with lower average labor incomes than for those with higher labor income. From a theoretical perspective, the sign of this correlation in a job-search model seems at Örst to be undetermined, since more impatient workers tend to accept wage o§ers that less impatient workers would not, thereby remaining less time unemployed. The main result of this paper is showing that, regardless of the existence of e§ects of opposite sign, and independently of the particular speciÖcations of the givens of the model, less impatient workers always end up, in the long run, with a higher average income. The result is based on the (unique) invariant Markov distribution of wages associated with the dynamic optimization problem solved by the consumers. An example is provided to illustrate the method.

Uma análise do valor social considerado pelo Comitê de Pronunciamentos Contábeis à luz da teoria tridimensional do direito

Esta tese teve como objetivo identificar qual o valor social considerado pelo Comitê de Pronunciamentos Contábeis (CPC) na emissão de seus pronunciamentos contábeis: aproximação ou distanciamento das normas contábeis brasileiras às internacionais. A contabilidade mundial se encontra em um momento histórico, marcado pelo processo de convergência das normas contábeis e da criação de uma linguagem universal. No processo, cada país tem uma abordagem, que pode variar da convergência, onde os países mantêm suas instituições normativas, ao endosso, onde é efetuada uma tradução dos pronunciamentos contábeis. No Brasil, o processo é conduzido pelo CPC, formado sob a égide de seis instituições privadas brasileiras, cada uma representando um diferente grupo de agentes econômicos. O CPC emite um pronunciamento, que entra em audiência pública por no mínimo 30 dias. A nova versão é resultado da análise das sugestões recebidas. Utilizamos na tese a Teoria Tridimensional do Direito, de Miguel Reale, composta por norma, fato e valor, que estão sempre presentes e correlacionados de maneira funcional e dialética, e sofrem interferência do Poder, que determina quais os valores positivos, a serem preservados, e quais os valores negativos, a serem proibidos. Foram utilizados os pronunciamentos contábeis emitidos pelo CPC no que diz respeito a Conceituação Geral e Evidenciação, antes e depois da audiência pública, a norma internacional em que se baseia o pronunciamento brasileiro e as sugestões recebidas pelo CPC sobre os pronunciamentos contábeis. Os resultados apontam para uma forte associação entre sugestões que tinham como finalidade a aproximação das normas internacionais e a aceitação por parte do CPC. Além disso, os atores envolvidos no processo passam a aceitar a aproximação dos pronunciamentos contábeis brasileiros aos internacionais como realidade e aprenderam que o caminho para modificação de algum ponto do pronunciamento brasileiro é a alteração do pronunciamento do IASB.

The impact of negative social environmental events on the market value of supply chain partners

The present work analyzes the impact of negative social / environmental events on the market value of supply chain partners. The study offers a contextualized discussion around important concepts which are largely employed on the Operations Management and Management literature in general. Among them, the developments of the literature around supply chains, supply chain management, corporate social responsibility, sustainable development and sustainable supply chain management are particularly addressed, beyond the links they share with competitive advantage. As for the theoretical bases, the study rests on the Stakeholder Theory, on the discussion of the efficient-market hypothesis and on the discussion of the adjustment of stock prices to new information. In face of such literature review negative social / environmental events are then hypothesized as causing negative impact in the market value of supply chain partners. Through the documental analysis of publicly available information around 15 different cases (i.e. 15 events), 82 supply chain partners were identified. Event studies for seven different event windows were conducted on the variation of the stock price of each supply chain partner, valuing the market reaction to the stock price of a firm due to triggering events occurred in another. The results show that, in general, the market value of supply chain partners was not penalized in response to such announcements. In that sense, the hypothesis derived from the literature review is not confirmed. Beyond that, the study also provides a critical description of the 15 cases, identifying the companies that have originated such events and their supply chain partners involved.

O espaço central das atenções: o corredor de integração da região metropolitana de Natal

This work considers the space study of the main road runner of integration of the Region Metropolitan of Natal (RMN) in formation, emphasizing its repercussion for the geographic context of the city, where we identify the positive and negative aspects of such space configuration, as for the aspects of the urban inaquality, economic centrality and of flows, promoted for the state and private capital (national and foreign). The linear convergence and polinucleately of geographic objects in that we identify as Central Space of Attentions (CSA), promoted, and still it promotes, important repercussion in the space estructuretion of the peripheral areas of the RMN, such as in the constitution of the "Capital Value of the Space". In this direction, to endorse the analysis of such reading, choose as cientific ballast the geographic theory, in a perspective dialectic, as well as we rescue contributions of the science of the administration, sociology, economy, amongst others. From the empirical research, subsidized with the application of forms together the entrepreneurs whom they possess investments in the CSA, as well as in the rescue of information you register in cadastre in the Junta Comercial do Estado do Rio Grande do Norte (JUNCERN) and telephonic list, we construct a proposal of reading of the current period of training of the process of space production to which is rank the CSA. The analysis of the data, under a comparative space angle, presents an important contribution to reevaluate the urban space of the RMN in its bigger aspect, exceeding the limits of the studied road corridor