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NK cells have the capacity to spontaneously kill tumor cell lines, in particular cell lines of hemopoietic origin. In contrast, they do not generally kill nontransformed autologous cells. However, here we demonstrate that short-term activated polyclonal human NK cells, as well as human NK cell lines, efficiently lyse autologous dendritic cells (DC) derived from peripheral blood monocytes as wel...

For battery-powered electronic products, one way to extend battery life is to use a versatile step-up/step-down DC-DC converter. A new versatile step-up/step-down switched-capacitor-based converter structure is proposed, and its efficiency is analyzed. In the step-down case, the efficiency is the same as, or even better than the efficiency of linear regulators. key words: DC-DC converter, switc...

We report on experimental studies focusing on the dynamic ac magnetic susceptibility of a ferronematic. It has been shown recently, that in the isotropic phase of a ferronematic, a weak dc bias magnetic field of a few oersteds increases the ac magnetic susceptibility. This increment vanishes irreversibly if the substance is cooled down to the nematic phase, but can be reinduced by applying the ...

General block diagram models are proposed for PWM DC-DC converters in continuous and discontinuous conduction modes with fixed switching frequency. Both current mode control and voltage mode control are addressed in these models. Based on these models, detailed nonlinear and linearized sampled-data dynamics are derived. Asymptotic orbital stability is analyzed. Audio-susceptibility and output i...

Dendritic cells (DCs) are key antigen-presenting cells that have an important role in autoimmune pathogenesis. DCs control both steady-state T cell tolerance and activation of pathogenic responses. The balance between these two outcomes depends on several factors, including genetic susceptibility, environmental signals that stimulate varied innate responses, and which DC subset is presenting an...

The iron-based oxypnictide superconductor SmFeAsO0.8F0.2 was synthesized under high-pressure and investigated by measuring dc magnetic susceptibility. zero-field cooled (ZFC) susceptibility confirmed the bulk superconductivity of sample with a critical temperature Tc = 50 K significant jump in magnetization at 4.3 K, usually attributed to antiferromagnetic ordering Sm3+ ions this system. Since ...