Minors held by majors: the H13 minor histocompatibility locus defined as a peptide/MHC class I complex

The products of minor histocompatibility (H) loci are serious barriers to tissue transplantation even among major histocompatibility complex (MHC) identical individuals, frequently causing chronic graft rejection and graft versus host disease. Over 50 minor H loci map to mouse autosomal chromosomes but none are known at the molecular level. By expression cloning, we identified the H13 locus, a classical minor H locus first detected 30 years ago by the trait of graft rejection. The H13a allele is located on chromosome 2 and encodes a novel protein that yields the rare naturally processed nonapeptide SSVVGVWYL (SVL9) for presentation by the Db MHC class I molecule. The SVL9 peptide binds Db MHC despite the absence of the consensus binding motif, and a conservative methyl group substitution (Valine 4 <--> Isoleucine) explains why reciprocal T cell responses are elicited in H13a and H13b congenic strains.     

Simultaneous cross-linking of CD6 and CD28 induces cell proliferation in resting T cells

In the present study, we showed that simultaneous ligation of the monoclonal antibodies (mAb) against CD6 and CD28 induces T-cell proliferation in purified resting T lymphocytes in the absence of T-cell receptor (TCR) occupancy. No cell proliferation was observed when the mAb were cross-linked alone or used simultaneously in the soluble form. T-cell proliferation mediated through CD6/CD28 is accompanied by the up-regulation of interleukin-2 (IL-2) mRNA and expression of IL-2 receptors on the cell surface. In the presence of IL-2-neutralizing mAb the proliferative response of the T cell induced through CD6/CD28 was inhibited dose dependently. Cross-linking mAb to CD6 and CD28 alone or together did not down-regulate the CD3/TCR complex. T-cell proliferation mediated through CD6/CD28 was only partially blocked by the immunosuppressive drug, cyclosporin A (CsA), whereas anti-CD28-induced T-cell proliferation in the presence of the phorbol ester, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA), was unaffected. In sharp contrast T-cell proliferation mediated by anti-CD6 in the presence of TPA was efficiently blocked by CsA. In addition, two protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitors, GF 109203X and H-7 dose-dependently inhibited T-cell proliferation mediated through CD6/CD28, suggesting that PKC activation may be involved. Furthermore, there was a marked differential dose-dependent inhibitory effect of the PKC inhibitors on T-cell proliferation mediated by the co-ligation of anti-CD6 or anti-CD28 in the presence of anti-CD3, with the former being more sensitive to PKC inhibition. Taken collectively, our results suggest that T-cell activation can occur through an antigen-independent pathway by cross-linking the accessory molecules, CD6 and CD28, and that these two cell surface antigens may have distinct signalling pathways.     

Minimum spanning trees made easier via multi-objective optimization

Many real-world problems are multi-objective optimization problems and evolutionary algorithms are quite successful on such problems. Since the task is to compute or approximate the Pareto front, multi-objective optimization problems are considered as more difficult than single-objective problems. One should not forget that the fitness vector with respect to more than one objective contains more information that in principle can direct the search of evolutionary algorithms. Therefore, it is possible that a single-objective problem can be solved more efficiently via a generalized multi-objective model of the problem. That this is indeed the case is proved by investigating the computation of minimum spanning trees.This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) as part of the Collaborative Research Center Computational Intelligence (SFB 531) and by the German-Israeli Foundation (GIF) in the project Robustness Aspects of Algorithms.     

The Role of Acceptance and Job Control in Mental Health, Job Satisfaction, and Work Performance.

Acceptance, the willingness to experience thoughts, feelings, and physiological sensations without having to control them or let them determine one's actions, is a major individual determinant of mental health and behavioral effectiveness in a more recent theory of psychopathology. This 2-wave panel study examined the ability of acceptance also to explain mental health, job satisfaction, and performance in the work domain. The authors hypothesized that acceptance would predict these 3 outcomes 1 year later in a sample of customer service center workers in the United Kingdom (N = 412). Results indicated that acceptance predicted mental health and an objective measure of performance over and above job control, negative affectivity, and locus of control. These beneficial effects of having more job control were enhanced when people had higher levels of acceptance. The authors discuss the theoretical and practical relevance of this individual characteristic to occupational health and performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Criteria to disprove context freeness of collage languages

Collage grammars are context-free devices which generate picture languages consisting of collages—sets of parts, where a part is a set of points in a given space. In order to show that certain collage languages cannot be generated, the well-known pumping technique turns out to be rather useless. To circumvent this difficulty, other necessary criteria for context-freeness are established in this paper. Roughly speaking, these criteria reveal that (1) the collages in a context-free collage language can be deflated stepwise in such a manner that the difference between subsequent collages in the resulting chain is small and (2) the volume of parts can grow or shrink only exponentially.     

Does anticipation training affect drivers' risk taking?

Skill and risk taking are argued to be independent and to require different remedial programs. However, it is possible to contend that skill-based training could be associated with an increase, a decrease, or no change in risk-taking behavior. In 3 experiments, the authors examined the influence of a skill-based training program (hazard perception) on the risk-taking behavior of car drivers (using video-based driving simulations). Experiment 1 demonstrated a decrease in risk taking for novice drivers. In Experiment 2, the authors examined the possibilities that the skills training might operate through either a nonspecific reduction in risk taking or a specific improvement in hazard perception. Evidence supported the latter. These findings were replicated in a more ecological context in Experiment 3, which compared advanced and nonadvanced police drivers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)