Pretreatment of mice with anti-asialo GM1, which has been shown to deplete NK cytolytic activity without affecting cytotoxic T cells or macrophages, increased the weak anti-PPS 6 responses of adult mice to levels similar to that of their anti-PPS 3 responses, and increased the weak-to-absent anti-PPS 3 and anti-PPS 6 responses of weanling mice to the same levels as achieved by adult mice. By co...

Intestinal immunity exists as a complex relationship among immune cells, epithelial cells, and microbiota. CCR6 and its ligand-CCL20 are highly expressed in intestinal mucosal tissues, such as Peyer's patches (PPs) and isolated lymphoid follicles (ILFs). In this study, we investigated the role of the CCR6-CCL20 axis in intestinal immunity under homeostatic conditions. CCR6 deficiency intrinsica...

This paper discusses asynchronous parallel universal computation and self-replication based on a computation model, called a logic molecular model, or a parallel production system (PPS). The program in this model consists of extended Horn clause rules, which are used for forward deduction of unit clauses, called molecules, from unit clauses in working memory. All possible deductions in the syst...

The indigenous bacteria create natural cohabitation niches together with mucosal Abs in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Here we report that opportunistic bacteria, largely Alcaligenes species, specifically inhabit host Peyer's patches (PPs) and isolated lymphoid follicles, with the associated preferential induction of antigen-specific mucosal IgA Abs in the GI tract. Alcaligenes were identifie...

The interpretation of modified PPs, like one meter behind the desk, far outside the village, or right under the lamp has never received much attention in the literature about prepositions. However, as this paper shows, the modification of PPs presents an intriguing problem for a compositional semantics of PPs. This problem can be solved when the PP is interpreted, not as a set of points or mere...

Ensemble Modeling (EM) is a recently developed method for metabolic modeling, particularly for utilizing the effect of enzyme tuning data on the production of a specific compound to refine the model. This approach is used here to investigate the production of aromatic products in Escherichia coli. Instead of using dynamic metabolite data to fit a model, the EM approach uses phenotypic data (eff...

Network data envelopment analysis (NDEA) is an extension of standard DEA that models the efficiency assessment decision-making units (DMUs) by considering their internal structure. While in DEA, DMU regarded as a single process, NDEA, viewed network interconnected sub-processes (stages, divisions), where flow intermediate products (measures) essential assessment. In prevalent conventional metho...

It is well established that Peyer's patches (PPs) are sites for the differentiation of IgA plasma cell precursors, but molecular and cellular mechanisms in their trafficking remain to be elucidated. In this study, we show that alterations in type 1 sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) receptor expression during B cell differentiation in the PPs control the emigration of IgA plasma cell precursors. Typ...

Natural killer (NK) cells are the effectors of innate immunity and are recruited into the lung 48 h after influenza virus infection. Functional NK cell activation can be triggered by the interaction between viral hemagglutinin (HA) and natural cytotoxicity receptors NKp46 and NKp44 on the cell surface. Recently, novel subtypes of influenza viruses, such as H5N1 and 2009 pandemic H1N1, transmitt...