Cigarette smoking is a major pathogenic factor in lung cancer. Macrophages play an important role in host defense and adaptive immunity. These cells display diverse phenotypes for performing different functions. M2 type macrophages usually exhibit immunosuppressive and tumor-promoting characteristics. Although macrophage polarization toward the M2 phenotype has been observed in the lungs of cig...

BACKGROUND Type 2 T-helper cells (Th2) are involved in the regulation of the humoral immune response against antigens and allergens and directly affect which isotype will be produced. The mechanism that regulates antigen-specific IgE secretion and immune deviation is still not known. OBJECTIVES To delineate mechanisms behind antigen-specific IgE secretion we have used in vitro immunization an...

The dependence of some thermodynamic properties of spin-polarized liquid 3He such as velocity of sound, adiabatic index, isentropic compressibility and temperature on the spin polarization has been investigated along different isentropic paths. The Lennard-Jones potential has been used in our calculations. It has been found that for higher values of entropy, the spin polarization has greate...

The effect of vanillin on the corrosion behavior of AA6061 Al alloy in 3.5% NaCl solution wasinvestigated using potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical noise (EN) techniques. Vanillinoffers interesting possibilities for corrosion inhibition due to its nontoxicity and high solubility inaqueous media. The best inhibition effect at 200 ppm vanillin was a marked characteristic of theinhibi...

We theoretically explore a scheme for generation of bright circularly and elliptically polarized high-order harmonics by bursts of linearly polarized pulses with a rotating polarization axis. Circularly polarized harmonics are formed if the bursts are comprised of N pulses that uphold an N-fold rotational symmetry, for N > 2. Rotating the polarization axes of the comprising pulses can generate ...

In this investigation, attempts were directed to study the inhibitive effects of nitrite and phosphate base inhibitors for the carbon steel alloy samples, which are used in an acid gas treatment process (The SULFIRAN® solution), in Fe-EDTA solution. Electrochemical techniques, i.e. polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), were used to evaluate the inhibition efficie...

The B7/CD28 costimulatory pathway plays a critical role in T cell activation including Th1/Th2 differentiation. However, little is known about whether CD28 costimulation favors polarization of either Th1 and Th2 or both. Here, we show a critical role of the natural ligands for CD28 molecules (B7.2-Ig or B7.1-Ig fusion proteins), particularly in the induction of type 2 T cell polarization. Upon ...

Graves' hyperthyroidism, an organ-specific autoimmune disease mediated by stimulatory thyrotropin receptor (TSHR) autoantibodies, has been considered a Th2-dominant disease. However, recent data with mouse Graves' models are conflicting. For example, we recently demonstrated that injection of BALB/c mice with adenovirus coding the TSHR induced Graves' hyperthyroidism characterized by mixed Th1 ...

Patients treated with the immunosuppressive drug tacrolimus (FK506), which binds FK506 binding protein 12 (FKBP12) and then inhibits the calcium-dependent phosphatase calcineurin, exhibit decreased regulatory T cells, endothelial dysfunction, and hypertension; however, the mechanisms and whether altered T-cell polarization play a role are unknown. Tacrolimus treatment of mice for 1 week dose-de...