Leadership Studies in the Cross Roads

Cross-Roads in Studies of Galaxy Evolution

Studies of galaxy evolution at optical and near-infrared wavelengths have reached an interesting point in their historical development and the arrival of a new millenium provides an appropriate occasion to review the overall direction in which this subject is moving. The aim of this short essay is to emphasize the qualitatively different datasets now arriving and the more detailed and challengi...

Neutrino Astrophysics at the Cross Roads

The indications for neutrino oscillations from the atmospheric and solar neutrino anomalies and from the LSND experiment are now so overwhelming that the discourse in neutrino physics has changed. One no longer asks if these particles indeed oscillate, one rather debates the most plausible pattern of masses and mixing angles, and if the existence of a sterile neutrino is required. Of course, al...

American Tropical Medicine at the Cross-roads

The many roads to cross-presentation

Cross-presentation of extracellular antigens by MHC class I molecules is required for priming cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs) at locations remote from the site of infection. Various mechanisms have been proposed to explain cross-presentation. One such mechanism involves the fusion of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) with the endosomal-phagosomal system, in which the machinery required for peptide ...

The plasmacytoid dendritic cell: at the cross-roads in asthma.

The onset, progression and exacerbations of asthma are frequently associated with viral infections of the lower respiratory tract. An emerging paradigm suggests that this relationship may be underpinned by a defect in the host's antiviral response, typified by the impaired production of type I and type III interferons (IFNs). The failure to control viral burden probably causes damage to the lun...