Covalent modification of protein by drugs may disrupt self-tolerance, leading to lymphocyte activation. Until now, determination of the threshold required for this process has not been possible. Therefore, we performed quantitative mass spectrometric analyses to define the epitopes formed in tolerant and hypersensitive patients taking the β-lactam antibiotic piperacillin and the threshold required for T cell activation. A hydrolyzed piperacillin hapten was detected on four lysine residues of human serum albumin (HSA) isolated from tolerant patients. The level of modified Lys541 ranged from 2.6 to 4.8%. Analysis of plasma from hypersensitive patients revealed the same pattern and levels of modification 1–10 d after the commencement of therapy. Piperacillin-responsive skin-homing CD4+ clones expressing an array of Vβ receptors were activated in a dose-, time-, and processing-dependent manner; analysis of incubation medium revealed that 2.6% of Lys541 in HSA was modified when T cells were activated. Piperacillin–HSA conjugates that had levels and epitopes identical to those detected in patients were shown to selectively stimulate additional CD4+ clones, which expressed a more restricted Vβ repertoire. To conclude, the levels of piperacillin–HSA modification that activated T cells are equivalent to the ones formed in hypersensitive and tolerant patients, which indicates that threshold levels of drug Ag are formed in all patients. Thus, the propensity to develop hypersensitivity is dependent on other factors, such as the presence of T cells within an individual’s repertoire that can be activated with the β-lactam hapten and/or an imbalance in immune regulation.
The main purpose of this work is the construction of an optical parametric amplifier (OPA) to generate a 629 nm pulsed laser. KTP nonlinear crystals were used for both parametric oscillation and amplification. A singly resonant parametric oscillator (OPO) is constructed to generate a signal of 1.54 μm and idler of 3.4 μm when the OPO system is pumped by 1.064 μm Q – switched Nd: YAG laser. The signal was then mixed with the pumping beam in OPA system to form the wanted wavelength. The obtained optical conversion efficiency was 60%.
The presence of dyes in wastewater has become a major issue all over the world. The discharge of dyes in the environment is concerned for both toxicological and esthetical reasons. In this study, the removal of dyes from aqueous solution by electrocoagulation using aluminum electrodes as cathode and anode were investigated with the electrocoagulation cell of 1litter. The study included: the impact of various operating parameters on the dyes removal efficiency like pH, NaCl concentration, distance between electrodes, voltage, initial dyes concentration and type of electrodes. The dye (congo red) concentrations were (50, 100, 150, and 200 ppm), stirring speed was 120 rpm at room temperature. pH used was maintained constant
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Critical buckling temperature of angle-ply laminated plate is developed using a higher-order displacement field. This displacement field used by Mantari et al based on a constant ‘‘m’’, which is determined to give results closest to the three dimensions elasticity (3-D) theory. Equations of motion based on higher-order theory angle ply plates are derived through Hamilton, s principle, and solved using Navier-type solution to obtain critical buckling temperature for simply supported laminated plates. Changing (α2/ α1) ratios, number of layers, aspect ratios, E1/E2 ratios for thick and thin plates and their effect on thermal
... Show MoreLaser ablation of a silver target immersed in distilled water using Nd:YAG laser with a fundamental wavelength of 1064nm was carried out to fabricate silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) with different laser energy in the presence and absence of magnetic field. UV-Visible spectrum showed that the nanoparticles are almost spherical in shape. The number of Ag NPs increased by increasing laser energy while their particle size was reduced by increasing laser energy without magnetic field. In the presence of magnetic field, the size of Ag NPs increased slightly by increasing laser energy. According to AFM results, the presence of magnetic field did not affect the average diameter of Ag NPs. The presence of a magn
... Show MorePlants and their extracts preparations have been used as medicines against infectious diseases. In present work, Cassia senna (leaves), Piper nigrum (fruits) were extracted with different organic solvents to investigate their antifungal activities in vitro. However, the effective of plant extracts against some pathologic fungi (Tricophyton rubrum, T. tonsurans, T. violaceum, Microsporum audouinii, M. canis and M. gypseum) were evaluated at concentrations ranged between (0.005–5%) using agar diffusion methods and compared with standard antifungal drug (Clotrimazole). Results showed that methanol extract of C. senna and ethanol extract of P. nigrum displayed excellent inhibition on dermatophytes compared with standard antifungal drug, th
... Show MoreNumerical simulations have been investigated to study the external free convective heat transfer from a vertically rectangular interrupted fin arrays. The continuity, Naver-Stockes and energy equations have been solved for steady-state, incompressible, two dimensional, laminar with Boussiuesq approximation by Fluent 15 software. The performance of interrupted fins was evaluated to gain the optimum ratio of interrupted length to fin length (
Fusion can be described as the process of integrating information resulting from the collection of two or more images from different sources to form a single integrated image. This image will be more productive, informative, descriptive and qualitative as compared to original input images or individual images. Fusion technology in medical images is useful for the purpose of diagnosing disease and robot surgery for physicians. This paper describes different techniques for the fusion of medical images and their quality studies based on quantitative statistical analysis by studying the statistical characteristics of the image targets in the region of the edges and studying the differences between the classes in the image and the calculation
... Show MoreThis research is devoted to investigate the behavior and performance of reinforced concrete beams strengthened with externally bonded Carbon Fiber Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) laminates under the effect of torsion. In this study a theoretical analysis has been conducted using finite element code ANSYS. Six previously tested beams are used to investigate reinforced concrete beams behavior
under torsion, two of them are solid and the rest are box-section beams. Also, two beams are without CFRP reinforcement, which are used as control beams for the strengthened one, and the other four beams are strengthened with CFRP laminates with different number of layers and spacing. Numerical investigation is conducted on these beams, and comparisons b
Chromium oxide nanoparticles were synthesized using cauliflower extract by two methods: simple chemical method and the sol-gel method. These technologies are new, environmentally friendly and cheap. Cauliflower contains plant materials and biomolecules (chromium, phenols, alkalis, vitamins, amino acids, quinones, etc. (that convert chromium chloride hexahydrate (CrCl3.6H2O) into chromium nanoparticles. The plant extracts also act as diluents, stabilizers and anti-caking agents. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis showed that the size of the crystals decreased from (36.1 to 57.8) nm using the simple chemical method to (13.31 to 20.68) nm of Cr2O3 using sol-gel.
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