The self determinants recognized by human virus-immune T cells can be distinguished from the serologically defined HLA antigens

The self specificity of human influenza virus-immune cytotoxic T cells has been analyzed in order to clarify the relationship between the self antigens that they recognize and the serologically defined HLA-A and -B antigens. Virus-immune effectors from HLA-A2-positive donors were tested on panels of virus-infected target cells from donors who were either HLA-mismatched or matched only for HLA-A2. Virus-immune T cells from 11 out of 11 A2-positive donors lysed all A2-matched virus-infected target cells (and no HLA-mismatched targets), except that each of these effector cells consistently failed to lyse virus-infected target cells from one A2-positive donor (designated M7). Although the A2 specificity of donor M7 could also be distinguished from the A2 antigen of other donors by alloimmune cytotoxic T cells, no differences in the A2 antigen of donor M7 could be defined by extensive serologic analyses. These results indicate that there is a strong but incomplete association between a self antigen recognized by virus-immune T cells and the serologically defined HLA-A2 specificity.     

Studies on ulcerative dermal necrosis of salmonids

Fourteen fresh run salmon Satmo salar L. with early extant lesions of ulcerative dermal necrosis (UDN) were kept in separate tanks and treated with zinc free malachite green. Ten of the fish were held at 10° C and 4 at 2° C. The treatment precluded infection with Saprolegnia fungus and allowed natural resolution of the lesions. There was a marked difference in rate of healing between warm and cold water conditions.
Histological examination of healing lesions at different stages showed that there was a primary invasion of cuboidal epithelium over the collagen scar followed by a phase of disorganized proliferation which eventually organized itself into normal epithelium. Melanocytes were very obvious in the dermis of healing lesions.     

Disparity in Physician Perception of Patients' Adherence to Medications by Obesity Status

Physician perception of medication adherence may alter prescribing patterns. Perception of patients has been linked to readily observable factors, such as race and age. Obesity shares a similar stigma to these factors in society. We hypothesized that physicians would perceive patients with a higher BMI as nonadherent to medication. Data were collected from the baseline visit of a randomized clinical trial of patient–physician communication (240 patients and 40 physicians). Physician perception of patient medication adherence was measured on a Likert scale and dichotomized as fully adherent or not fully adherent. BMI was the predictor of interest. We performed Poisson regression analyses with robust variance estimates, adjusting for clustering of patients within physicians, to examine the association between BMI and physician perception of medication adherence. The mean (s.d.) BMI was 32.6 (7.7) kg/m². Forty‐five percent of patients were perceived as nonadherent to medications by their physicians. Higher BMI was significantly and negatively associated with being perceived as adherent to medication (prevalence ratio (PrR) 0.76, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.64–0.90; P = 0.002; per 10 kg/m² increase in BMI). BMI remained significantly and negatively associated with physician perception of medication adherence after adjustment for patient and physician characteristics (PrR 0.80, 95% CI: 0.66–0.96; P = 0.020). In this study, patients with higher BMI were less likely to be perceived as adherent to medications by their providers. Physician perception of medication adherence has been shown to affect prescribing patterns in other studies. More work is needed to understand how this perception may affect the care of patients with obesity.     

Are There Circadian Variations of Polymorphonuclear Phagocytosis in Man?

Eleven male subjects were investigated to detect a possible circadian rhythm of the polymorphonuclear phagocytosis. Both cell activity and serum opsonins were studied for numerical detection of granulocytes having ingested at least one particle and for the mean number of ingested particles per cell. No significant temporal differences (ANOVA and cosinor) were found.     

Developmental plasticity in the queen-polymorphic ant Temnothorax longispinosus

Females of social Hymenoptera show developmental plasticity in response to varying social and environmental conditions, though some species have strong genetic influences on the form of the female reproductives. In ants, a queen polymorphism can occur in which large queens initiate new colonies on their own, while small queens enter established nests. Most queen polymorphisms studied to date originate due to genetic differences between individuals of differing form. Here, we report on the development of female form in response to social factors within the nest in the queen-polymorphic ant Temnothorax longispinosus. Three queen size morphs occur: a rare large queen with higher fat stores that can found new colonies independently, a large queen that has low fat stores and is behaviorally flexible, and a small queen that rejoins the natal nest. Both in nesting units collected from the field and those reared in the lab, queen presence during larval development led to fewer larvae developing as gynes (virgin, winged queens), and most of those gynes were the small morph. This queen effect is transferred to developing gyne larvae by close, physical interaction between queens and workers, and causes slower larval development. We conclude that gyne size, and therefore reproductive behavior, in T. longispinosus is developmentally plastic in response to queen presence. Plasticity in reproductive behavior may be an adaptive response to the nest sites utilized by this species. T. longispinosus nests predominantly in acorns and hickory nuts, which can vary dramatically from 1 year to the next. Since queens are more likely to be present in each nesting unit when fewer nest sites are available, the queen effect that results in more small gynes produced links the expression of colony-founding traits to ecological conditions across habitat patches.     

Foraging interactions between Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans breeding on Marion Island and long-line fisheries in the southern Indian Ocean

Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans are frequently killed when they attempt to scavenge baited hooks deployed by long-line fishing vessels. We studied the foraging ecology of Wandering Albatrosses breeding on Marion Island in order to assess the scale of interactions with known long-line fishing fleets. During incubation and late chick-rearing, birds foraged further away from the island, in warmer waters, and showed high spatial overlap with areas of intense tuna Thunnus spp. long-line fishing. During early chick-rearing, birds made shorter foraging trips and showed higher spatial overlap with the local Patagonian Toothfish Dissostichus eleginoides long-line fishery. Tracks of birds returning with offal from the Toothfish fishery showed a strong association with positions at which Toothfish long-lines were set and most diet samples taken during this stage contained fishery-related items. Independent of these seasonal differences, females foraged further from the islands and in warmer waters than males. Consequently, female distribution overlapped more with tuna long-line fisheries, whereas males interacted more with the Toothfish long-line fishery. These factors could lead to differences in the survival probabilities of males and females. Non-breeding birds foraged in warmer waters and showed the highest spatial overlap with tuna long-line fishing areas. The foraging distribution of Marion Island birds showed most spatial overlap with birds from the neighbouring Crozet Islands during the late chick-rearing and non-breeding periods. These areas of foraging overlap also coincided with areas of intense tuna long-line fishing south of Africa. As the population trends of Wandering Albatrosses at these two localities are very similar, it is possible that incidental mortality during the periods when these two populations show the highest spatial overlap could be driving these trends.     

Role of cytotoxic T lymphocytes in the prevention of lupus-like disease occurring in a murine model of graft-vs-host disease

The inoculation of B6D2F1 mice with T lymphocytes from the C57BL/6 parental strain induces an "immunosuppressive" graft-vs-host reaction (B6 GVH), whereas inoculation of T cells from the other, DBA/2 parental strain induces an "immunostimulatory" GVH reaction and a lupus-like disease (DBA GVH). The present study compares cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) function in the spleens of these GVH mice as well as differences in the donor inoculum that could account for these different types of GVH. We observed that the B6 GVH induces an immunodeficiency that encompasses CTL precursors (and possibly T helper cells) and results in suppressor cells that abrogate responses to both trinitrophenyl (TNP)-modified self and third party alloantigens. In contrast, the DBA GVH induces only a T helper cell immunodeficiency and results in suppressor cells selective for class II restricted L3T4+ T helper cells. Chimeric T cells were detected in both types of GVH. In the B6 GVH both L3T4+ and Lyt-2+ donor cells were observed, although Lyt-2+ cells predominated. In the DBA GVH, donor T cells were almost exclusively of the L3T4+ phenotype. The lack of appreciable donor Lyt-2+ cells in the DBA GVH can be explained by a defect in the DBA donor inoculum manifested by a naturally occurring two-fold reduction in Lyt-2+ cell numbers as well as a nine-fold reduction in CTL precursors with anti-F1 specificity. T cells in the DBA inoculum, therefore, are predominantly L3T4+. A similar defect induced in B6 donor cells by anti-Lyt2 antibody and complement not only converted the suppressive GVH to a stimulatory GVH, as measured by anti-DNA antibodies, but also resulted in a T cell immune deficiency characteristic of the DBA GVH, i.e., a selective loss of the TNP-self CTL response. Thus the presence or absence of adequate numbers of functioning Lyt-2+ cells in the donor inoculum is correlated with the development of either a suppressive or stimulatory GVH, respectively. That donor Lyt-2+ cells mediate a suppressive GVH through cytolytic mechanisms is evidenced by greater than 70% reduction in B6 GVH spleen cell numbers and readily demonstrable anti-F1 CTL activity by these spleen cells despite an inability to generate anti-allogeneic or anti-TNP self CTL activity even in the presence of added T helper factors.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)