Sex-Based Selectivity of PPARγ Regulation in Th1, Th2, and Th17 Differentiation

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) has recently been recognized to regulate adaptive immunity through Th17 differentiation, Treg functions, and T_FH responses. However, its role in adaptive immunity and autoimmune disease is still not clear, possibly due to sexual differences. Here, we investigated in vitro treatment study with the PPARγ agonist pioglitazone to compare Th1, Th2, and Th17 differentiation in male and female mouse splenic T cells. Pioglitazone treatment significantly inhibited various effector T cell differentiations including Th1, Th2, and Th17 cells from female naïve T cells, but it selectively reduced IL-17 production in male Th17 differentiation. Interestingly, pioglitazone and estradiol (E2) co-treatment of T cells in males inhibited differentiation of Th1, Th2, and Th17 cells, suggesting a mechanism for the greater sensitivity of PPARγ to ligand treatment in the regulation of effector T cell differentiation in females. Collectively, these results demonstrate that PPARγ selectively inhibits Th17 differentiation only in male T cells and modulates Th1, Th2, and Th17 differentiation in female T cells based on different level of estrogen exposure. Accordingly, PPARγ could be an important immune regulator of sexual differences in adaptive immunity.     

The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer science data system, its products, tools, and performance

Ground processing of data from the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument, part of NASA's Earth Observing System (EOS), exploits new and unique science algorithms not previously used operationally. A range of data products from Level 1 through Level 3 is being produced. Because of MISR's unprecedented design, extensive prototyping was required from a relatively early stage. The data throughput is large, necessitating an innovative software design approach that maximizes performance. The systematic science processing software was developed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, with data processing occurring at the NASA Langley Research Center using the EOS Core System, a collaborative arrangement that works well. With the availability of actual mission data following launch on the Terra spacecraft in December 1999, MISR's computational needs have become better known, and many improvements have been made to both the science software and the production system to achieve a successful overall data processing capability. This paper provides information about MISR data for the science user, and describes the nature and scope of implementation and operations activities.     

Performance of the MISR instrument during its first 20 months in Earth orbit

The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer, one of five science instruments aboard NASA's Terra spacecraft, was launched into Earth orbit in December 1999. Acquisition of Earth imagery began in February 2000, and the quality of the data is excellent. Overall, MISR has been performing superbly, though the instrument exhibits several idiosyncrasies, some of which were anticipated prior to launch. Details regarding the in-flight performance of the instrument system are presented.     

Open-space schools: Anticipation of peer interaction and development of cooperative interdependence.

42 same-sex pairs of varied racial composition were randomly selected from 8th graders in each of 2 matched schools, with open- vs closed-space architectural styles. Open-space Ss were more likely to develop cooperative interdependence in a mixed-motive game (a decomposed prisoner's dilemma) and were more inclined to make proximal seating choices indicative of anticipated peer interaction. A Sex by Race by Trial Blocks interaction effect reflected different patterns of responding for males and females. Females of either race learned to cooperate in same-race pairs and to compete in mixed-race pairs. White males learned to cooperate and Black males to compete independent of their partner's race. External scores on Rotter's Internal–External Locus of Control Scale were not related to schools but were, as expected, higher for Black than for White students. (14 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A multiangle imaging spectroradiometer for terrestrial remote sensing from the earth observing system

The Multiangle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) instrument for the Earth Observing System (EOS) will provide a unique opportunity for studying the ecology and climate of the Earth through the acquisition of systematic, global multiangle imagery in reflected sunlight. MISR employs nine discrete cameras pointed at fixed angles, viewing the nadir direction and forward and aftward along the spacecraft ground track. Each camera is a charge-coupled-device –based pushbroom imager. Within a 7-minute period, every point in a 204-km-wide swath is imaged at the nine viewing angles, ensuring observations acquired under virtually identical illumination and atmospheric conditions. The cameras will image the Earth in the nadir direction and at 30.7°, 45.6°, 60.0°, and 72.5° forward and aftward of the local vertical at the Earth's surface. Images at each angle will be obtained in four spectral bands centered at 440, 550, 670, and 860 nm. MISR is capable of taking image data in two different spatial resolution modes: Local Mode, in which selected targets are observed with 240-m spatial sampling, and Global Mode, where the entire sunlit Earth is observed continuously with 1.92-km sampling. Absolute radiometric calibration of the MISR instrument will be performed in-flight using special on-board hardware. The data produced by MISR will be valuable in a number of scientific discipline areas, and MISR images and geophysical products will be archived at the EOS Data and Information System to make them available to the broad scientific community.     

The advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflectance radiometer (Aster)

The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission Reflectance Radiometer (ASTER) is the only high-spatial-resolution multispectral imager scheduled to fly in Earth orbit on the first platform of NASA's Earth Observation System (EOS-A). The instrument will nave three bands in the visible near infrared with 15-m spatial resolution, six bands in the short-wave infrared with 30-m spatial resolution and five bands in the thermal infrared with 90-m spatial resolution. There will be an additional band in the near infrared with 15-m spatial resolution that will provide same-orbit stereo data when combined with the corresponding nadir viewing band. The ASTER instrument is being built by the Japanese Government based on the scientific requirements of the ASTER science team. This team consists of Japanese and American scientists, who will also be responsible for the development of algorithms for data reduction and analysis. The ASTER will be able to address a variety of science objectives identified by the EOS global change program. ASTER will provide surface temperatures and emissivity estimates, surface reflected radiances and digital elevation models at a spatial scale that will allow detailed process studies for MODIS and other global monitoring instruments at the subpixel level. Existing aircraft instruments can be used to simulate data that will be provided by ASTER. Examples are shown here of surface temperature mapping, surface compositional mapping, and digital elevation models derived from the NASA Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner, the Airborne Visible Infrared Imaging Spectrometer, and aerial photography.     

Ribonuclease P substrate specificity: cleavage of a bacteriophage phi80-induced RNA

RNase P can cleave in vitro a bacteriophage phi80-induced RNA which is 62 nucleotides long [M3 RNA, G. Pieczenik et al. (1972) Arch. Biochem. Biophys. 152, 152-165] to yield two specific fragments 25 and 37 nucleotides long. As is the case for another substrate of RNase P; the precursor to Escherichia coli 4.5S RNA, the cleavage site in M3 RNA is at the end of a long double-stranded region immediately adjacent to a single-stranded segment. Similar nucleotide sequences span the cleavage site in both substrates. These and other features of the reaction of RNase P with M3 and 4.5S precursor RNA are different from some aspects of the reaction of this enzyme with tRNA precursor molecules. A qualitative scheme is presented that is directed towards the understanding of the differences in RNase P cleavage site specificity for these substrates.