Celiac disease, induced by dietary gluten, is characterized by mucosal atrophy and local inflammation associated with cell infiltration and activation. Unlike other food proteins, gluten and its proteolytic fragments, besides inducing a specific immune response, were shown to activate components of innate immunity and cause, e.g., direct stimulation of TNF-α and IL-10 and a significant rise in NO production by peritoneal macrophages. The identity of the active fragments was established by separating the peptic digest of gliadin by RP-HPLC chromatography. The purest fraction with the highest activity was analyzed by mass spectrometry, and the gliadin peptide sequence was identified as VSFQQPQQQYPSSQ. This peptide (T) and its N- and C-terminally shortened forms (A, B, C and D, E, F) were synthesized. Peptide B (FQQPQQQYPSSQ) elicited the highest TNF-α, IL-10, and RANTES secretion and increase in IFN-γ-primed NO production by mouse macrophages. In contrast, C-terminally shortened peptides had a lower ability to stimulate macrophages than the native form.
Mapping the daily spatial mobility of university students in an urban environment is the focus of this paper. It uses the city of České Budějovice in the Czech Republic as a case study, employing three different research tools – travel diaries, GPS loggers and Smartphone applications. We focus our attention on the analysis of spatial patterns of mobility using basic mobility indicators (distance, number of daily trips, time spent mobility), travel behaviours (use of transport modes) and the detection of time-space bundles (spaces of concentration of particular time-space trajectories) within the city. We identified four main time-space bundles. Then we compare the three main research methods according to their tracking accuracy and informative value. The Smartphone applications (using the A-GPS technology) provided the best results for the spatial mobility of respondents, although the travel diaries method is still unique due to the extent of some socio-demographic and transport characteristics.
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