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Stem cell therapies have had tremendous potential application for many diseases in recent years. However, the tumorigeneic properties of stem cells restrict their potential clinical application; therefore, strategies for reducing the tumorigenic potential of stem cells must be established prior to transplantation. We have demonstrated that syngeneic transplantation of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) provokes an inflammatory response that involves the rapid recruitment of bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs). ESCs are able to prevent mature macrophages from macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) withdrawal-induced apoptosis, and thus prolong macrophage lifespan significantly by blocking various apoptotic pathways in an M-CSF-independent manner. ESCs express and secrete IL-34 which may be responsible for ESC-promoted macrophage survival. This anti-apoptotic effect of ESCs involves activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1/2 and PI3K/Akt pathways and thus, inhibition of ERK1/2 and PI3K/AKT activation decreases ESC-induced macrophage survival. Functionally, ESC-treated macrophages also showed a higher level of phagocytic activity. ESCs further serve to polarize BMDMs into M2-like macrophages that exhibit most tumor-associated macrophage (TAM) phenotypic and functional features. ESC-educated macrophages produce high levels of arginase-1, Tie-2 and TNF-, which participate in angiogenesis and contribute to teratoma progression. Our study suggests that induction of M2-like macrophage activation is an important mechanism for teratoma development. Strategies targeting macrophages to

Let ψ be a conformal map on D with ψ(0)=0 and let F_α={z∈D:|ψ(z)|=α} for α>0. Denote by H^p(D) the classical Hardy space with exponent p>0 and by h(ψ) the Hardy number of ψ. Consider the limits L:=lim_{α→+∞} (log ω_D(0,Fα)^{−1} / logα), μ:=lim_{α→+∞}(d_D(0,Fα) / logα), where ω_D(0,Fα) denotes the harmonic measure at 0 of F_α and d_D(0,Fα) denotes the hyperbolic distance between 0 and F_α in D. We study a problem posed by P. Poggi-Corradini. What is the relation between L, μ and h(ψ)? Motivated by the result of Kim and Sugawa that h(ψ)=lim inf_{α→+∞} (log ω_D(0,Fα)^{−1} logα), we show that h(ψ)=lim inf_{α→+∞} (d_D(0,Fα) / logα). We also provide conditions for the existence of L and μ and for the equalities L=μ=h(ψ). Poggi-Corradini proved that ψ∉H^μ(D) for a wide class of conformal maps ψ. We present an example of ψ such that ψ∈H^μ(D).

In this paper we prove a global existence theorem, in the direction of cosmological expansion, for sufficiently small perturbations of a family of n + 1-dimensional, spatially compact spacetimes, which generalizes the k = −1 Friedmann–Lemaˆıtre-Robertson– Walker vacuum spacetime. This work extends the result from [3].The background spacetimes we consider are Lorentz cones over negative Einstein spaces of dimension n  3. We use a variant of the constant mean curvature, spatially harmonic (CMCSH) gauge introduced in [2]. An important difference from the 3+1 dimensional case is that one may have a nontrivial moduli space of negative Einstein geometries. This makes it necessary to introduce a time-dependent background metric, which is used to define the spatially harmonic coordinate system that goes into the gauge. Instead of the Bel-Robinson energy used in [3], we here use an expression analogous to the wave equation type of energy introduced in [2] for the Einstein equations in CMCSH gauge. In order to prove energy estimates, it turns out to be necessary to assume stability of the Einstein geometry. Further, for our analysis it is necessary to have a smooth moduli space. Fortunately, all known examples of negative Einstein geometries satisfy these conditions. We give examples of families of Einstein geometries which have nontrivial moduli spaces. A product construction allows one to generate new families of examples. Our results demonstrate causal geodesic completeness of the perturbed spacetimes, in the expanding direction, and show that the scale-free geometry converges toward an element in the moduli space of Einstein geometries, with a rate of decay depending on the stability properties of the Einstein geometry.