Phonon and Magnon Jets above the Critical Current in Nanowires with Planar Domain Walls.

We show through nonequilibrium nonadiabatic electron-spin-lattice simulations that above a critical current in magnetic atomic wires with a narrow domain wall (DW), a couple of atomic spaces in width, the electron flow triggers violent stimulated emission of phonons and magnons with an almost complete conversion of the incident electron momentum flux into a phonon and magnon flux. Just below the critical levels of the current flow, the DW achieves maximal velocity of about 3×10^{4} m/s, entering a strongly nonadiabatic regime of DW propagation, followed by a breakdown at higher biases. Above this threshold, a further increase of the current with the applied bias is impossible-the electronic current suffers a heavy suppression and the DW stops. This poses a fundamental limit to the current densities attainable in atomic wires. At the same time it opens up an exciting way of generating the alternative quasiparticle currents, described above, once the requisite electronic-structure properties are met.

Femtosecond Spin Current Pulses Generated by the Nonthermal Spin-Dependent Seebeck Effect and Interacting with Ferromagnets in Spin Valves.

Using the sensitivity of optical second harmonic generation to currents, we demonstrate the generation of 250-fs long spin current pulses in Fe/Au/Fe/MgO(001) spin valves. The temporal profile of these pulses indicates ballistic transport of hot electrons across a sub-100 nm Au layer. The pulse duration is primarily determined by the thermalization time of laser-excited hot carriers in Fe. Considering the calculated spin-dependent Fe/Au interface transmittance we conclude that a nonthermal spin-dependent Seebeck effect is responsible for the generation of ultrashort spin current pulses. The demonstrated rotation of spin polarization of hot electrons upon interaction with noncollinear magnetization at Au/Fe interfaces holds high potential for future spintronic devices.

The role of small heat-shock protein αB-crystalline (HspB5) in COPD pathogenesis.

BACKGROUND: αB-crystallin (HspB5) is a chaperone whose role as a marker of innate immunity activation as well as its therapeutic potential have recently been investigated in several inflammatory diseases: multiple sclerosis, myocardial ischemia, and Guillain-Barré syndrome. AIM: The aim of this study is to determine the role of αB-crystallin in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) pathogenesis and inflammation. MATERIALS: Plasma levels of αB-crystallin were studied in 163 patients: 52 healthy non-COPD smokers; 20 COPD smokers in Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) stages I-II; 43 COPD smokers in GOLD stages III-IV. Forty-eight patients were diagnosed with acute inflammatory respiratory disease. The plasma levels of αB-crystallin antibodies were determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Calbiochem), and were confirmed with Western blotting. Tissue expression of the protein was compared in three different groups of patients: COPD smokers, COPD nonsmokers, and in patients with age-related emphysema. RESULTS: The mean level of anti-αB-crystallin antibodies in non-COPD smokers was 0.291 nm. In COPD smokers it was 0.352 nm and, in patients with inflammatory lung diseases, 0.433 nm. There was a statistically significant difference between COPD smokers and healthy non-COPD smokers (P = 0.010). The same could be observed comparing the group of patients with acute inflammation and non-COPD healthy smokers (P = 0.007). There was no statistically significant difference between patients with mild/moderate inflammation and those with severe COPD. Tissue detection of the protein showed that it was significantly overexpressed in COPD smokers in comparison to COPD nonsmokers and was only slightly expressed in patients with age-related emphysema. CONCLUSION: αB-crystallin is increased in patients with inflammatory lung diseases. Though unspecific, it could be used in a panel of markers discerning COPD smokers from healthy nonsmokers. As αB-crystallin is a regulator of innate immunity and a therapeutic anti-inflammatory agent, its exact role in COPD pathogenesis and therapy should be explored further.

Expression profile of the small heat-shock protein alpha-B-crystallin in operated-on non-small-cell lung cancer patients: clinical implication.

OBJECTIVE: Alpha-B-crystallin, a small heat-shock protein, recently gained major interest because of its differential expression during tumourigenesis and metastasis in various epithelial tumours. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of alpha-B-crystallin and its biologic and prognostic significance in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). METHODS: Immunohistochemical analysis was performed on a tissue microarray slide containing samples from 146 NSCLC patients who were operated on between 2004 and 2005. RESULTS: Cytoplasmic and nuclear staining was detected. Squamous cell carcinomas and adenocarcinomas had a distinctive profile of expression. The cytoplasmic staining of the tumours, however, is related to the local invasion - T-factor (p=0.044). Nuclear staining was more commonly detected in advanced stages, and was a biomarker of an aggressive tumour biology (p=0.042). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that patients with positive nuclear staining had shorter overall survival (log-rank p=0.002). Using Cox's proportional hazards model, we performed multivariate analyses to assess the independent prognostic value of nuclear staining. The variables used included age, histology, gender and stage. Alpha-B-crystallin was an independent negative prognostic factor of survival in addition to clinical stage. CONCLUSIONS: Alpha-B-crystallin plays an essential role in NSCLC biology and its nuclear staining is an independent factor of poor survival. Its clinical application in molecular biologic substaging of NSCLC patients needs further validation.

First-trimester human decidua contains a population of mesenchymal stem cells.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether first-trimester human decidua contains multipotent stromal cells capable of differentiating into other cell lines. DESIGN: In vitro-cultured decidual stromal cells were analyzed by flow cytometry and induced to differentiate into osteogenic and adipogenic lineages, endothelial cells, and PRL-secreting mature decidual cells. SETTING: Research laboratory. PATIENT(S): Eight decidua samples were collected from healthy women aged 26-32 years undergoing elective vaginal surgical terminations of early pregnancy (8-10 gestational weeks). INTERVENTION(S): Cell suspensions from human decidual stromal cells were cultured at clonogenic concentrations and in bulk under differentiation conditions and analyzed for specific markers. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Multipotent differentiation potential of decidual stromal cells. RESULT(S): Decidual stromal cells express the surface markers specific to cells of mesenchymal origin as analyzed by flow cytometry. A pool of the decidual stromal cells can be induced to differentiate into mature PRL-secreting decidual cells and into osteogenic, adipogenic, and endothelial cells expressing the corresponding specific markers. CONCLUSION(S): It is demonstrated for the first time that first-trimester human decidua contains multipotent mesenchymal stem cells that can be grown in vitro for prolonged periods, have clonogenic properties, can differentiate into different cell lineages, and express surface markers specific to mesenchymal stem cells.

Expression of the small heat shock protein alphaB-crystallin in term human placenta.

PROBLEM: Expression of heat shock proteins has been described in different tissues relevant to human reproduction, including placenta. AlphaB-crystallin is a member of the small heat shock protein family (sHsp) exerting biologically important chaperon functions. METHOD OF STUDY: Immunofluorescence; immunoblot analysis; quantitative real-time-PCR; CpG island methylation analysis. RESULTS: In this study, we once again describe the expression of alphaB-crystallin in the stroma of the placental villi and in the cytoplasm of decidual cells by immunofluorescence. In contrast, Hsp27--another sHsp family member--was detected exclusively in the syncytiotrophoblast layer. This varying expression pattern provides additional support to earlier reports of functional differences between both proteins. Semi-quantitative immunoblot analysis of placenta tissue specimens (n = 6) revealed Hsp27 expression exceeding that of alphaB-crystallin, albeit with interindividual variations. Inter-individual alphaB-crystallin expression variations were confirmed by quantitative RT-PCR. CpG island methylation was ruled out as the underlying cause for the inter-individual alphaB-crystallin expression variations. However, the expression extent of GATA3, which is a transcription factor with corresponding elements within the alphaB-crystallin gene (CRYAB) promoter, paralleled that of alphaB-crystallin. We demonstrated remarkable GATA3 expression in placental tissue, exceeding that of other endocrine organs. CONCLUSION: We can conclude that the differential expression patterns of alphaB-crystallin and Hsp27 indicate functional differences between these highly related proteins in placental tissues.

[Endometriosis and the role of the integrins in the pathogenesis of the endometriosis].

The endometriosis is gynecological disease what is characterized with the presence of endometrial lesions are composed of endometrial epithelial and stromal cells outside of the uterus. There are many theories for the development of the disease endometriosis. The most widely accepted theory is the theory what is postulated the endometriosis is a result of retrograde menstruation. The essential stage in the process of development of endometrial lesions is the process of adhesion of endometrial cells on the peritoneal surface and on the organs, are situated in the peritoneal cavity. The adhesion molecules (integrins) have the most essential role in this first stage. The integrins are cell surface receptors with glycoprotein structure. They have part in process of adhesion of the endometrial cells to the proteins from EC matrix outside the uterus. The integrins have part like signal molecules in the processes of proliferation and invasion of endometrial implants. They are very essential molecules what influence the viability of endometrial implants as well as the angiogenesis in the new forming endometrial implants. Improvement of the studies, related to the roles of the integrins in the pathogenesis of endometriosis would be give new possibilities to search more effective methods for therapy of the endometriosis.

Molecular conduction: do time-dependent simulations tell you more than the Landauer approach?

A dynamical method for simulating steady-state conduction in atomic and molecular wires is presented which is both computationally and conceptually simple. The method is tested by calculating the current-voltage spectrum of a simple diatomic molecular junction, for which the static Landauer approach produces multiple steady-state solutions. The dynamical method quantitatively reproduces the static results and provides information on the stability of the different solutions.

Porcine eye lens crystallins: antigenic similarity with human crystallins and tool for the detection of anti-crystallin antibodies.

BACKGROUND: The usual sources of antigenic material for investigations on circulating immunoglobulins with anti-lens crystallins specificity are saline extracts of human cataract lenses. This practice has a number of drawbacks, especially the possible antigenic alterations that may have occurred in cataract lenses. The aim of this investigation was to compare the antigenic properties of porcine eye lens crystallins and human crystallins, with regard to the possibility for an alternative source of antigenic material for detection of anti-crystallin antibodies in human sera. METHODS: We produced rabbit antisera against saline extracts of human and porcine eye lenses. These sera were applied for the antigenic characterizations of the two extracts with indirect and absorption enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The two antigens were further compared by testing them against 30 human sera from cataract patients and 30 sera from blood donors. RESULTS: The antibodies raised against human eye lens cross-reacted with antigens of the porcine lens. This finding was supported by the absorption experiments - the antigens of the porcine eye lens strongly inhibit the reactivity of the rabbit serum raised against human eye lens and vice versa. We established a significant positive correlation (Spearman, r=0.89, P<0.0001) between the reactivity of the tested sera against human and porcine lens extracts. CONCLUSION: These data demonstrated a strong antigenic similarity between human and porcine lens crystallins, suggesting the appropriateness of the use of porcine lens extracts for the detection of humoral anti-lens autoimmune response in patients with eye diseases.