Piperine, the major alkaloid derived from black pepper corns, has played an important role in traditional medicine worldwide. Current research has demonstrated piperine to have several anti-inflammatory properties, however, little is known concerning the effect of piperine on B cells. Spleen-derived murine B cells were cultured in the presence or absence of piperine during T-dependent or T-independent activation. Piperine reversibly inhibited B cell proliferation in a dose-dependent manner. This was due to a G0/1-phase cell cycle arrest, and was associated with a reduction in phospho-ERK, phospho-AKT, and Cyclin D1, D2, and D3. Piperine also inhibited antibody and cytokine production. Furthermore, piperine treatment diminished B cell-mediated antigen presentation determined by measuring OT-II transgenic T cell proliferation in response to OVA, which was attributed to the decreased MHC-II ad co-stimulatory molecule expression observed. This in vitro study shows that piperine has potent immuno-suppressive effects on B cell activation and effector function.

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The document describes a search for the rare decay B¯ → K¯vv̄ in a data set of about 230 millions of BB̄ pairs recorded by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II B Factory, via the process e⁺e⁻ → ϒ(4S) → BB̄. The method used selects events in which the B+ meson is fully reconstructed, and looks for a K¯ in the rest of the event. This is accomplished by applying kinematical and topological restrictions that select B¯ → K¯vv̄ events with the largest possible efficiency, while rejecting a maximum amount of background events. The number of background events is estimated from data and from simulated events, while the value of the selection efficiency relies solely on the simulation of B¯ → K¯vv̄ decays in the BABAR detector. These two numbers are required in order to set an upper limit on the branching ratio. We analyze a subset of the data sample and provide an interpretation of the result.

Hepatitis B virus genotype G (HBV/G) is a unique genotype of HBV which contains a 36-nucleotide insertion in the Core gene as well as 2 mutations that lead to stop codons in the Pre-Core coding region. Chronic infection with HBV/G is not known to occur without a co-infecting HBV genotype, suggesting that it is defective on its own. This study aims to look at the replication capacity of HBV/G, HBV/A, and HBV/A/G recombinant strains circulating in Canada and to determine the relationship between co-infecting strains. Four full-length HBV genomes were isolated from 2 different patients and transiently transfected into the HepG2 human hepatoma cell line for phenotypic analysis of each strain. HBV/G, HBV/A and HBV/A/G recombinant strains were isolated from Patient 1, while a different HBV/A/G recombinant strain was isolated from Patient 2. HBV replication capacity was measured using a quantitative real time PCR assay. Markers of replication, such as secreted HBsAg and HBeAg, intracellular core particles and replicative DNA intermediates were measured by ELISA, Western blot and Southern blot, respectively. HBV/G demonstrated a higher replicative capability, relative to its co-infecting strains, while both HBV/A/G strains had levels of secreted HBV DNA greater than HBV/A alone, suggesting a modulating effect due to recombination. Replication marker levels revealed possible reasons for a co-infection requirement during HBV/G infection such as HBeAg for chronicity. These observations demonstrate the potential interactions of HBV/G with its co-infecting HBV genotype and provide the first reported phenotypic analysis of a HBV recombinant.

In 2010, the Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infected 1.2 million people in the United States, many of whom were unaware of their infection (CDC, 2010). The available research on HBV infection is predominately among Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and other Pacific Islander. HBV infection and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection share similar modes of transmission. Very little HBV research has been dedicated to the African American females; who accounted for 29% of the new HIV cases among young adolescents in 2010 (CDC, 2010). Due to the common mode of transmission of HIV and Hepatitis B many persons at risk for HIV are also at risk for contracting Hepatitis B. One’s risk for acquisition of HBV can be mitigated or eliminated by vaccination or naturally acquired immunity. In the absence of both, an individual is susceptible to acquisition of HBV. The aims of this study are to define susceptibility of non-Hispanic, blacks to Hepatitis B infection compared to other races as well as defining possible risk factors that may increase or decrease their susceptibility.

This dissertation, by employing the work of Slavoj Žižek in his engagement with the Apostle Paul, argues that Paul, in Romans 6-8, understands sin as a lie grounding the Subject outside of Christ and salvation as an exposure and displacement of this lie as one is joined to the body of Christ. In this understanding salvation may be seen primarily in terms of an overcoming of alienation from God, neighbour and self through participation in the Trinity (adoption by the Father through the Son by means of the Spirit), which stands in contrast to the sinful Subject who in his inner alienation and his alienation from God and others is oriented by a deceitful death dealing desire that would find life in the law rather than in God. The specific theological significance of Žižek (along with his predecessors Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan) is his demonstration of the pervasive and systemic nature of this lie (chapter 1) and its description as he finds it in Romans 7 (chapter 2). The general significance this account might have for theology is to frame the concept of sin as a deception (reifying the self) with its own logic, dynamic, and structure, similar to the Subject of psychoanalysis, and salvation, in turn, can be understood as the place and means from which the Subject of sin and its destructive nature are understood and displaced by new life in Christ (chapter 3). Sin and salvation, under this notion, are not forensic categories but have to do with the lived reality of identity, of being either a Subject oriented to death or to life.

This thesis provides a comparative analysis of the different ways Hegel and Sartre understand that consciousness can be alienated. Because understanding the various ways Hegel and Sartre hold that consciousness can be alienated is not possible without first understanding what each thinker understands by consciousness, I first identify and outline the different ways Hegel and Sartre conceptualise consciousness’s ontological structure before identifying the various ways each thinker understands that consciousness can be alienated. The general argument developed shows that while Hegel and Sartre agree that alienation is a constitutive aspect of consciousness’s existence and are, therefore, allies in the battle against it, Sartre’s analysis of consciousness’s ontological structure is unable to provide the same depth of analysis as Hegel’s. Put differently, I believe it is Hegel’s analysis of consciousness’s ontological structure that provides an analysis of alienation that is more nuanced, subtle, complex, and multi-dimensional than the account Sartre’s provides. To support my argument, I first explore Sartre’s understanding of consciousness’s ontological structure. This discloses that, because Sartre defines consciousness as ontologically nothing, he holds that consciousness is defined in strict ontological opposition to objectivity. Consciousness’s ontological nothingness leads Sartre to hold that consciousness is free to choose its mode of being. This leads me to identify what Sartre holds to be constitutive of authentic and inauthentic modes of being. But while Sartre distinguishes between the ontological structure of consciousness and its experiences, I argue that Hegel: 1) does not introduce a distinction between consciousness’s ontological structure and its mode of being, but holds that consciousness’s self-understanding and ontological structure develop through its experiences; and 2) holds that consciousness is not ontologically opposed to objectivity, but is a spiritual synthesis of subjectivity and objectivity. I show that because Hegel holds that consciousness’s intentional object is an aspect of its ontological structure, rather than something simply opposed to itself, and because he recognises that consciousness must learn what it is ontologically by experiencing numerous different relations with its object, he is able to show that while the subject/object binary opposition of Sartre’s analysis of consciousness’s ontological structure describes one potential ontological relation consciousness can have to its object, it is not the only one. Indeed, Hegel’s analysis of consciousness’s ontological structure insists that consciousness will only truly understand its ontological structure if it learns to not think of itself in terms of the subject/object dichotomy and, instead, realises that it is a spiritual synthesis of subjectivity and objectivity. To show how this fundamental difference manifests itself throughout their thought, I identify and compare what each thinker’s understanding of consciousness’s ontological structure means in terms of consciousness’s relation to the world, alienation, authenticity, ethics, self-transformation, and social relations.

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No description available.