Complement activation leads to membrane attack complex formation, which can lyse not only pathogens but also host cells. Histones can be released from the lysed or damaged cells and serve as a major type of damage-associated molecular pattern, but their effects on the complement system are not clear. In this study, we pulled down two major proteins from human serum using histone-conjugated beads: one was C-reactive protein and the other was C4, as identified by mass spectrometry. In surface plasmon resonance analysis, histone H3 and H4 showed stronger binding to C4 than other histones, with KD around 1 nM. The interaction did not affect C4 cleavage to C4a and C4b. Because histones bind to C4b, a component of C3 and C5 convertases, their activities were significantly inhibited in the presence of histones. Although it is not clear whether the inhibition was achieved through blocking C3 and C5 convertase assembly or just through reducing their activity, the outcome was that both classical and mannose-binding lectin pathways were dramatically inhibited. Using a high concentration of C4 protein, histone-suppressed complement activity could not be fully restored, indicating C4 is not the only target of histones in those pathways. In contrast, the alternative pathway was almost spared, but the overall complement activity activated by zymosan was inhibited by histones. Therefore, we believe that histones inhibiting complement activation is a natural feedback mechanism to prevent the excessive injury of host cells.
Deep beams are used in wide construction fields such as water tanks, foundations, and girders in multi-story buildings to provide certain areas free of columns. In practice it is quite often occurring to create web opening in deep beams to supply convenient passage of ventilation ducts, cable channels, gas and water pipes. Experimental studies of ten 10 deep beams were carried out, where two of them are control specimens without openings and eight with large web openings in the shear spans. The variables that have been adopted are the ratio of the shear span to the overall depth of the member cross-section, location and dimensions of the opening. Test results showed that there was a decrease in the load carrying capacity of deep bea
... Show MoreData scarcity is a major challenge when training deep learning (DL) models. DL demands a large amount of data to achieve exceptional performance. Unfortunately, many applications have small or inadequate data to train DL frameworks. Usually, manual labeling is needed to provide labeled data, which typically involves human annotators with a vast background of knowledge. This annotation process is costly, time-consuming, and error-prone. Usually, every DL framework is fed by a significant amount of labeled data to automatically learn representations. Ultimately, a larger amount of data would generate a better DL model and its performance is also application dependent. This issue is the main barrier for
The mathematical construction of an ecological model with a prey-predator relationship was done. It presumed that the prey consisted of a stage structure of juveniles and adults. While the adult prey species had the power to fight off the predator, the predator, and juvenile prey worked together to hunt them. Additionally, the effect of the harvest was considered on the prey. All the solution’s properties were discussed. All potential equilibrium points' local stability was tested. The prerequisites for persistence were established. Global stability was investigated using Lyapunov methods. It was found that the system underwent a saddle-node bifurcation near the coexistence equilibrium point while exhibiting a transcritical bifurcation
... Show MoreDyes are extensively water-soluble and toxic chemicals. The disposing of wastewater rich with such chemicals has severely impacted surface water quality (rivers and lakes). In the current study, an anionic dye, methyl orange, were extracted from wastewater fluids using bulk liquid membranes supplemented with an anionic carrier (Aliquat 336 (QCI)). Parameters including solvent type (carbon tetrachloride and chloroform), membrane stirring speed (100-250 rpm), mixing speed of both phases (50-100 rpm), The feed pH (2-12) and implemented temperature (35-60 °C) were thoroughly analyzed to determine the effect of such variables on extraction effectiveness. Furthermore, the effect of methyl orange (10-50 ppm) in the feed stage and NaOH (0
... Show MoreThe aim of this investigation is to evaluate the experimental and numerical effectiveness of a new kind of composite column by using Glass Fiber‐Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) I‐section as well as steel I‐section in comparison to the typical reinforced concrete one. The experimental part included testing six composite columns categorized into two groups according to the slenderness ratio and tested under concentric axial load. Each group contains three specimens with the same dimensions and length, while different cross‐section configurations were used. Columns with reinforced concrete cross‐section (reference column), encased GFRP I‐section, and encased steel I‐section were adopted in each