Recent studies have provided evidence that macrophages from Th1-prone mouse strains respond with an M1 profile, and macrophages from Th2-prone mouse strains respond with an M2 profile, characterized by the dominant production of NO or TGF-beta 1, respectively. We have shown that peritoneal macrophages from IL-12p40 gene knockout mice have a bias toward the M2 profile, spontaneously secreting la...

HLA DRB1*02 and its subtypes predispose individuals for a far-advanced sputum-positive pulmonary tuberculosis transcending ethnic boundaries. Mycobacterium bovis BCG does not afford the desired protection against adult pulmonary tuberculosis, and a spectrum of immune reactivity exists in controls and hospital contacts. All of these findings have been identified and demonstrated in areas of ende...

Delayed effects for pharmacodynamic responses can be observed for many signal transduction processes. Three approaches are summarized in this report to describe such effects caused by cascading steps: stochastic process model, gamma distribution function, and transit compartment model. The gamma distribution function, a probability density function of the waiting time for the final step in a st...

Rhesus monkey rhadinovirus (RRV) and Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV; also called human herpesvirus 8) belong to the gamma-2 grouping of herpesviruses. RRV and KSHV share a high degree of sequence similarity, and their genomes are organized in a similar fashion. RRV serves as an excellent animal model system to study the gamma herpesvirus life cycle both in vitro and in vivo. We h...

To correlate a particular state of immunity with Entamoeba spp., we used colorimetric PCR to differentiate E. histolytica from E. dispar in individuals with amoebiasis and to associate its presence with the clinical profile, including humoral and cellular immune responses to E. histolytica. Our results showed high levels of antibody in acute amoebiasis and elevation of IL-4 production, a cytoki...

The relative biological effectiveness of 31 MeV electrons and 6°Co gamma-rays for 200 KVp X-rays as standard was determined. As indicator, the regression rate of the splenic weight of the mouse 120 hours after whole body irradiation was adopted. When 200 KVp X-rays were chosen as standard, the relative biological effectiveness of 31 MeV electrons was 0.64 at 50% splenic regression rate and 0.72...

The excess above 1 GeV in the energy spectrum of the diffuse Galactic gamma radiation, measured with the EGRET experiment, can be interpreted as the annihilation of Dark Matter (DM) particles. The DM is distributed in a halo around the Milky Way. Considering the directionality of the gamma ray flux it is possible to determine the halo profile. The DM within the halo has a smooth and a clumpy co...