THE EFFECT OF ANTIGENIC COMPETITION ON VARIOUS MANIFESTATIONS OF HUMORAL ANTIBODY FORMATION AND CELLULAR IMMUNITY

The effect of antigenic competition on various parameters of humoral antibody formation and cellular immunity was studied in mice. Several pairs of antigens were employed in the investigation of the competitive aspects of induction of humoral antibody formation. Induction of a primary immune response to hemocyanin in Swiss white female mice moderately suppressed the induction of both 19S and 7S antibody formation to goose or rat erythrocytes. Suppression of 7S antibody formation was maximal when a time interval of 1–3 days separated the sequence of injections, although suppression was noted for intervals of up to 14 days. The induction of a primary immune response to rat RBC, the second of the two antigens in sequence, also suppressed The induction of both 19S and 7S antibody formation to goose RBC when appropriate intervals of 1–3 days were employed between injections. The induction of a secondary immune response to rat RBC totally suppressed the primary induction of both 19S and 7S antibody formation to goose RBC administered in the appropriate time sequence. Subsequently, it was shown that the secondary immune response to the suppressed antigen (goose RBC) elicited 30 days after induction of a primary immune response (5 days after secondary immunization with rat RBC) was characterized by deficient 19S and 7S antibody production. These levels were suppressed even in comparison with a normal primary immune response to this antigen. The results were interpreted in part on the basis of a deficiency of formation of primed cells associated with immunological memory. Alternatively, evidence was obtained for the development of a split type of immunological tolerance in 6 of 10 animals studied, since a total suppression of 7S antibody production was obtained in association with deficient 19S antibody synthesis (titers < 1/10). The induction of a primary immune response to several antigens in A/J female mice suppressed the processes of cellular immunity as manifested by prolonged survival of skin grafts from C57 BL/6J female donors. These results were interpreted as evidence for the existence and utilization of processing cells by the initial immune stimulus yielding a deficiency of cells available for processing the second antigen administered in sequence

CLASSIFICATION OF THYMUS-DERIVED AND MARROW-DERIVED LYMPHOCYTES BY DEMONSTRATION OF THEIR ANTIGEN-BINDING CHARACTERISTICS

Antigen-binding cells of T and B origin can readily be determined by quantitating the number of sheep erythrocytes per rosette after glutaraldehyde fixation. The T1 and T2 populations have low antigen-binding properties and are very unstable without fixation. The B1 and B2 populations are stable and correlate with precursor and secretory cells. Fixation of rosettes permits a sensitive test for studying differentiation of T and B cells

DNA deaminases: AIDing hormones in immunity and cancer

It is well established that hormones can cause cancer, much less known is how they induce this change in our somatic cells. This review highlights the recent finding that estrogen can exert its DNA-damaging potential by directly activating DNA deaminases. This recently discovered class of proteins deaminate cytosine to uracil in DNA, and are essential enzymes in the immune system. The enhanced production of a given DNA deaminase, induced by estrogen, can lead not only to a more active immune response, but also to an increase in mutations and oncogenic translocations. Identifying the direct molecular link between estrogen and a mutation event provides us with new targets for studying and possibly inhibiting the pathological side-effects of estrogen

Any difference? Use of a CAM provider among cancer patients, coronary heart disease (CHD) patients and individuals with no cancer/CHD

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Although use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) among cancer patients has been described previously, prevalence of use has not commonly been compared to other disease groups in a true population sample where CAM use or cancer is not the main focus. The aims of the present study are to (1) examine how CAM use in cancer patients differs from people with a previous CHD diagnosis and people with no cancer or CHD diagnosis in an unselected general population and (2), investigate the use of a CAM provider among individuals with a previous cancer diagnosis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 8040 men and women aged 29 to 87 in the city of Tromsø, Norway filled in a questionnaire developed specifically for the Tromsø V study with questions on life style and health issues. Visits to a CAM provider within the last 12 months and information on cancer, heart attack and angina pectoris (heart cramp) were among the questions. 1449 respondents were excluded from the analyses.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among the 6591 analysed respondents 331 had a prior cancer diagnosis, of whom 7.9% reported to have seen a CAM provider within the last 12 months. This did not differ significantly from neither the CHD group (6.4%, p = 0.402) nor the no cancer/CHD group (9.5%, p = 0.325).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>According to this study, the proportion of cancer patients seeing a CAM provider was not statistically significantly different from patients with CHD or individuals without cancer or CHD.</p

Lifelines Performance and Management following the 22 February 2011 Christchurch Earthquake, New Zealand: Highlights of Resilience

A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck the city of Christchurch at 12:51pm on Tuesday 22 February 2011. The earthquake caused 182 fatalities, a large number of injuries, and resulted in widespread damage to the built environment, including significant disruption to the lifelines. The event created the largest lifeline disruption in a New Zealand city in 80 years, with much of the damage resulting from extensive and severe liquefaction in the Christchurch urban area. The Christchurch earthquake occurred when the Canterbury region and its lifelines systems were at the early stage of recovering from the 4 September 2010 Darfield (Canterbury) magnitude 7.1 earthquake. This paper describes the impact of the Christchurch earthquake on lifelines by briefly summarising the physical damage to the networks, the system performance and the operational response during the emergency management and the recovery phase. Special focus is given to the performance and management of the gas, electric and road networks and to the liquefaction ejecta clean-up operations that contributed to the rapid reinstatement of the functionality of many of the lifelines. The water and wastewater system performances are also summarized. Elements of resilience that contributed to good network performance or to efficient emergency and recovery management are highlighted in the paper