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Biomedical subjects

R De Jong

Publications and source records attributed to R De Jong.

16 recordsLinked to original sources

Selection of biting sites on man by two malaria mosquito species.

While searching for blood, female mosquitoes pass through a behavioural process involving responses to visual, physical and chemical properties of the host. Temperature and humidity are thought to dominate mosquito orientation near the host. We observed that biting of two malaria mosquito species, i.e. Anopheles atroparvus (van Thiel) and Anopheles gambiae s.s. (Giles) preferentially occurs on different body regions of a naked motionless human host. Their preference for the head and foot regions respectively correlated with particular combinations of skin temperature and eccrine sweat gland density. Subsequent modification of the host's odour profile by removing exhaled breath and washing feet results in significant changes of these preferences.

Animals

Strategies and mechanisms in nonselective and selective inhibitory motor control.

Motor inhibition was studied in 3 versions of the stop-signal paradigm, with the stop signal requiring inhibition of any response (stop-all), a fixed alternative response (stop-change), or selective inhibition of only 1 of the responses (selective-stop). The lateralized readiness potential was used in Experiment 1 to distinguish between a selective, central, and a global peripheral inhibition mechanism. Inhibition was found to be effected by the central mechanism in the stop-change condition and by the peripheral mechanism in the other conditions. Manipulation of stimulus discriminability in Experiment 2 strongly affected the speed of selective motor inhibition, confirming that such inhibition was achieved by conditionally engaging the peripheral mechanism. These results support the idea that functionally distinct mechanisms and strategies are involved in inhibitory motor control in different situations.

Adolescent

The role of preparation in overlapping-task performance.

We examined how performance of two overlapping discrete tasks is organized and controlled. Experiment 1 showed that when stimuli were presented in an unexpected order, expectations rather than actual presentation order determined the order in which the two stimuli were processed. In Experiment 2, when task order was unpredictable, performance was facilitated when task order was repeated on consecutive trials. In Experiment 3, performance of the second but not the first task benefited greatly when task order was held constant as compared to regularly alternated between trials; such effects were especially pronounced at short intertrial intervals. These results suggest that sequential performance of overlapping tasks is scheduled in advance and is regulated by initially allocating the central processing channel to one task and subsequently switching this channel to the other task.

Adult

Conditional and unconditional automaticity: a dual-process model of effects of spatial stimulus-response correspondence.

Distributional analyses and event-related brain potential were used to show that effects of irrelevant spatial stimulus-response correspondence consist of 2 qualitatively different automatic components that can be distinguished on the basis of their dependencies on relative response speed and on computational requirements of the primary task. One component reflects priming of the spatially corresponding response by an abrupt stimulus onset that does not depend on the nature of the primary task. This unconditional component exhibits a biphasic pattern, with initial facilitation later turning into inhibition, analogous to that found for spatial cuing in visual detection tasks. The 2nd component reflects automatic generalization of task-defined transformations of relevant stimulus information to spatial codes; this conditional component does not depend on relative response speed. Possible connectionist implementations of the conditional mechanism are discussed.

Automatism

Preparatory strategies in overlapping-task performance.

In four experiments, we tested whether perceptual identification is impeded by temporal overlap with another task. The results demonstrate that temporal overlap with an auditory task consistently impaired the identification of the highest digit in a briefly presented and masked array of digits. The impairment was especially pronounced when we emphasized speed on the auditory task, thus counteracting the normal tendency to focus advance preparation on the more challenging visual task. The data also indicate that previous findings of minimal effects of temporal overlap may have been due to the use of a restricted range of stimulus onset asynchronies. The present results demonstrate the important role of preparatory strategies in overlapping-task performance, and show that perceptual identification is impeded by the overlapping performance of another task.

Acoustic Stimulation

CD34-expressing human thymocyte precursors proliferate in response to interleukin-7 but have lost myeloid differentiation potential.

CD34 is a marker for pluripotent stem cells also present on lineage-committed hematopoietic progenitors from bone marrow and a subpopulation of immature thymocytes. To characterize these early immature thymocytes, we have studied 24 pediatric thymus samples for CD34/7 expression. Three subpopulations could be defined from these T-cell receptor (TcR-) immature thymocytes: CD34+7++ (12.0 +/- 5.8), CD34-7++ (12.6 +/- 8.6), and CD34-7+ (71.5 +/- 17.0%). CD7++ represents upregulation of this antigen and is expressed by cells of a blast-like morphology. Three-color flow cytometric analysis of these three subsets suggests the following ordered differentiation sequence: CD34+7++1-4-8-45RA+-->CD34+7++1+ 4+8-45RA+/- -->CD34-7++1+4+8-+45RO+-->CD34-7+1++4+8+45RO+. Early immature thymocyte cell division is essential in the thymus to generate a large number of precursors before the initiation of the selection process. We observed that both CD2 as well CD28 activation pathways were inefficient to serve as costimulant with phorbol ester 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol 13-acetate or interleukin-2 (IL-2) to induce the proliferation of the three CD34/7 subsets isolated by cell sorting. However, whereas IL-1, IL-2, IL-3, IL-4, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor were ineffective, IL-7 was a potent cytokine, alone or in synergy with stem cell factor (SCF) to induce immature thymocyte proliferation. The proliferation induced by IL-7 or IL-7 + SCF is restricted to the CD34+ cells and, after 4 or 8 days of culture with IL-7, some CD34+7++ acquire the expression of CD4 and/or CD8, but remain CD3/TcR-. We also tested the myeloid differentiation capacity of these CD34 immature thymocytes. Using two different approaches, myeloid colony formation in methylcellulose and limiting dilution analysis in the presence of myeloid growth factors, we were unable to detect myeloid differentiation capacity from CD34+ early thymocytes, whereas CD34+7+ from bone marrow contained about 10% of the clonogenic cells present in the CD34+7- fraction. Together, these data support the concept that thymic CD34+7++ represents the earliest thymic subset of fully committed T-lineage cells, capable of proliferating specifically to IL-7.

Antibodies, Monoclonal

Multiple bottlenecks in overlapping task performance.

A dual-bottleneck model for overlapping-task performance is proposed. A central bottleneck prevents central processes in overlapping tasks from operating in parallel. A response-initiation bottleneck prevents 2 responses from being initiated in close succession. Response requirements of the overlapping tasks were manipulated in order to demonstrate the existence of the latter bottleneck and to assess its role in delimiting overlapping-task performance. In several experiments, elimination of this bottleneck resulted in a strong reduction of underadditive interactions that serve as key indicators of parallel processing in overlapping-task performance. Results indicate that these interactions were caused primarily by the response initiation bottleneck instead of the central bottleneck and suggest that perceptual identification and categorization require the central bottleneck.

Adult

The CD27- subset of peripheral blood memory CD4+ lymphocytes contains functionally differentiated T lymphocytes that develop by persistent antigenic stimulation in vivo.

On the basis of expression of the T cell differentiation antigen CD27, human peripheral blood CD4+ memory cells can be divided into two subsets, a large CD45RA-CD27+ (82%) and a small CD45RA-CD27- (18%) population. Analysis of the functional properties of these memory T cell subsets showed that proliferative responses to the recall antigen tetanus toxoid (TT), shortly after booster immunization, were mainly confined to the CD27- population. Also, in atopic individuals, proliferative responses to allergens for which these individuals are sensitized, were limited to the CD45RA-CD27- population. After stimulation with CD3 monoclonal antibody and phorbol ester, CD27+ cells produced vast amounts of interleukin (IL)-2 but minimal amounts of IL-4, whereas in marked contrast, CD27- T cells secreted low levels of IL-2 and high levels of IL-4. The capacity of the vast majority of these latter cells to produce IL-4 was found to be a stable feature since high IL-4 secreting T cell clones were generated from the CD27- subset. These findings suggest that upon renewed as well as chronic antigenic stimulation in vivo, memory T cells acquire the CD45RA-CD27- phenotype and that, as a consequence, in this subset functionally differentiated CD4+ T cells are compartmentalized. Our results predict that analysis of the small CD27- subset of memory cells, that makes up approximately 10% of the peripheral blood T cell population, will provide information on the specificity and function of responding CD4+ T cells at a given point in time in healthy and diseased individuals.

Antigens

Partial information or facilitation? Different interpretations of results from speed-accuracy decomposition.

The speed-accuracy decomposition technique was developed by Meyer, Irwin, Osman, and Kounios (1988) to examine the time course of information processing. The technique allows for the estimation of the accuracy of guesses that are induced by the presentation of a response signal on a proportion of trials. Estimated guessing accuracy has been found to be above chance and to increase as time of guessing increases, suggesting that guesses are based on partial information that has accumulated prior to a response decision (sophisticated guesses). In this paper, a different interpretation of these data is presented. Results suggest that response signals may enhance the speed of regular processes, thereby violating the temporal-independence assumption that underlies the decomposition technique. As shown by Monte Carlo simulations, such facilitating effects of response signals can explain the results from the decomposition technique at least in part and possibly in full, even when guesses are actually at chance accuracy (pure guesses). The pure-guess model was supported by the results from an experiment designed to test between the alternative interpretations. These results point to the need for great caution in the attempt to infer the time course of information processing from guessing accuracies as estimated by the speed-accuracy decomposition technique.

Adolescent

Selective loss of T cell functions in different stages of HIV infection. Early loss of anti-CD3-induced T cell proliferation followed by decreased anti-CD3-induced cytotoxic T lymphocyte generation in AIDS-related complex and AIDS.

To investigate the effects of persistant human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection on T cell reactivity, functional properties of peripheral blood T cells from HIV-seropositive homosexual men in various stages of infection were studied. T cell activation via CD3 resulting in proliferation and differentiation was measured in a model system independent of accessory cells, using immobilized anti-CD3 monoclonal antibodies (mAb). T cells from HIV-infected asymptomatic men had a decreased proliferative response compared to HIV-negative controls. T cells from AIDS-related complex (ARC) and AIDS patients, compared to T cells from asymptomatic HIV-infected men, had a significantly lower proliferative response to anti-CD3 mAb. This diminished response to anti-CD3 mAb was shown to be due to decreased interleukin (IL) 2 production and could be enhanced by co-stimulation with anti-CD28 mAb or by adding IL 2. Anti-CD3-induced generation of cytotoxic T lymphocytes was fully intact in early infection but was severely decreased in T cells from ARC and AIDS patients. Cytotoxic activity could be restored to near normal levels after co-stimulation with either anti-CD28 mAb or IL 2. Our data demonstrate a differential loss of T cell functions in the course of HIV infection which is predominantly caused by a lack of IL 2 production after stimulation via the CD3/T cell receptor complex. In early HIV infection this seems to be predominantly caused by a specific loss of memory T cells. However, in later stages of infection when both naive and memory T cell subsets are depleted, resulting in a normal naive/memory T cell ratio, T cell functions further deteriorate probably due to intrinsic activation defects. These findings may be of pathogenic relevance since diminished T cell reactivity may facilitate spreading and replication of virulent HIV variants heralding development of ARC and AIDS.

AIDS-Related Complex

Generation of alloreactive cytolytic T lymphocytes by immobilized anti-CD3 monoclonal antibodies. Analysis of requirements for human cytolytic T-lymphocyte differentiation.

Requirements for the induction of human cytolytic T-lymphocyte (CTL) activity were studied in a monocyte-free T-cell activation system that uses immobilized anti-CD3 monoclonal antibodies (mAb) as a stimulus. Alloreactive CTL with specificity for HLA-A and -B locus antigens could be demonstrated within 2 days after the initiation of activation. CTL induction in purified T cells initiated by an optimal concentration of immobilized anti-CD3 mAb was not enhanced by the addition of monocytes or exogeneous cytokines, whereas addition of anti-CD25 mAb largely blocked the response. Upon suboptimal anti-CD3 mAb stimulation, addition of recombinant interleukin (rIL)-2, rIL-1 and rIL-4, but not recombinant interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) or rIL-6, potentiated the development of CTL activity. Finally it was shown that immobilized anti-CD3 mAb induced significant levels of CTL activity in both purified CD4+ and CD8+ cells. This study indicates that the requirement for cytokines in the differentiation of CTL precursors depends on the strength of the activation signal delivered through the T-cell receptor.

Antibodies, Monoclonal

Granular cell tumor of the breast.

Three cases of granular cell tumor of the breast are reported. Granular cell tumor of the breast is a rare benign tumor with a malignant appearance both clinically, radiologically and macroscopically. The cytology is quite characteristic although the tumor clinically often resembles a carcinoma. Frozen section can be misinterpreted, unnecessary mastectomy or axillary dissection can be prevented by careful cytological examination.

Aged

Integration of olfactory information in the Colorado potato beetle brain.

The processing of olfactory information in the Colorado potato beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say, was studied by recording responses of olfactory neurones intracellularly in the deutocerebrum. Response characteristics of neurones in this first relay station of the olfactory pathway were measured when the antennae were stimulated with five general green leaf volatiles, i.e. cis-3-hexen-1-ol, trans-2-hexenal, cis-3-hexenyl acetate, trans-2-hexen-1-ol and 1-hexanol. These compounds are part of the so-called green odour of potato, whose defined composition is essential for the beetle's host plant finding. The response spectra of deutocerebral neurones can be divided roughly into two classes: one class containing neurones which are not very specific for the tested compounds, and another class with highly specialized neurones. Their different responses to a potato leaf extract suggest two channels for the processing of olfactory information in the antennal lobe: one channel for the detection of the presence of green leaf odour components, and another one for an evaluation of the component ratios.

Animals

Specificity-related suppression of responses to binary mixtures in olfactory receptors of the Colorado potato beetle.

Responses of antennal olfactory receptors of the Colorado potato beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say) to stimulation with 5 general green odour components, i.e. cis-3-hexen-1-ol, trans-2-hexenal, cis-3-hexenyl acetate, trans-2-hexen-1-ol and 1-hexanol, were recorded extracellularly. Response spectra derived from these recordings cannot be classified into distinct reaction types. The spectra overlap in their sensitivity to individual stimuli, but there are differences in their degree of specialization with a gradual conversion from generalist to specialist receptors. Moreover, specialization is found to different stimuli. Receptor reactions to stimulation with binary mixtures of 3 of these compounds indicated that suppression of the response to one chemical by another is very common in olfactory receptor cells. The more a receptor is specialized, the stronger is this suppression. Suppression in narrowly tuned olfactory receptor neurones, therefore, is expected to play a fundamental role in the recognition of natural odour blends.

Animals