Initial and innate responses to viral infections--pattern setting in immunity or disease.

Host responses to infectious challenges include initial events elicited directly by agent structures distinct from host determinants, activation of innate immune system components by the products of initial events, and the shaping of downstream adaptive immunity by these initial/innate responses. The picture emerging from viral infections is that viral structures interact with intracellular signaling pathways to induce expression of the type 1 interferons, IFN-alpha/beta. In addition to mediating direct antiviral effects, these cytokines play dominant roles in regulating innate and adaptive immune responses to infection. In particular, IFN-alpha/beta acts to inhibit interleukin-12 (IL-12) expression and IL-12 activation of innate natural killer (NK) cell IFN-alpha production, while inducing NK cell cytotoxicity and proliferation, and promoting adaptive T cell IFN-alpha responses. Although certain viral infections do elicit initial/innate IL-12 and NK-cell-produced IFN-alpha, endogenous IFN-alpha/beta also controls the magnitudes of these responses. Thus, the pathways activated, to dominantly regulate innate and adaptive immune responses during viral infections, are being defined.     

A hopefully biased pilot survey of physicians' knowledge of the content of drug combinations

A selected group of doctors were asked to state the number and names of the ingredients of several drug combinations they were accustomed to prescribe. The results indicate that among physicians there are serious gaps in their exact knowledge of the content of the preparations they order for their patients.     

Contribution palynologique à la connaissance du Triasdu Haut-Atlas de Marrakech,Maroc

This note provides a precision on the age (Carnian) of one of the terms of the High Atlas series of Marrakech by the palynological datation and gives an account on the recent palaeontological discoveries realized in course of a sedimentological study of a so called azoic series. The deposit environment is briefly sketched.