Rectal T-cell responses were significantly greater in the orally vaccinated animals than in the other animals. The most balanced, diverse, and higher-magnitude vaginal T-cell responses were observed after intestinal vaccination. Significantly higher CD8(+) granzyme B-positive T-cell responses were observed systemically after intestinal vaccination and in rectal cells after oral immunization. The majority of SIV-specific

T cells that produced AG-120 granzyme B did not produce cytokines. Of the immunization routes tested, oral vaccination provided the most diverse and significant response to the vaccine.”
“Beginning with a prominent article by Crick and Koch in 1995 (Nature 375, 121-123), cognitive neuroscience has witnessed an intensive debate about whether or not neural activity in primary visual cortex correlates with conscious visual experience. While some studies – especially those employing functional magnetic resonance imaging – imply that this is the case, others – particularly those recording from single neurons – suggest that it is not. In the light of this ongoing controversy, it is surprising that the analogous question in other sensory modalities has received far less attention. The first part of the present article reviews studies relevant

to the role of primary auditory and primary somatosensory cortices in conscious auditory and tactile experience. As will become evident, the results of these studies, at least at first sight, appear no less contradictory than those obtained in the visual modality – in fact, they evidence discrepancies that resemble those found in the visual SC75741 clinical trial system to an impressive degree. The second part of the article attempts to reconcile the seemingly

contradictory data by suggesting that only activity induced in the primary sensory cortices through cortico-cortical top-down signals can become consciously accessible, whereas activity induced by bottom-up signals from the thalamus cannot. This conclusion is in line with the earlier proposals of several prominent neuroscientists that portrayed conscious perception as the result of an active interpretative process by the brain, rather than a passive reflection of the environment. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. Molecular motor All rights reserved.”
“A human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) vaccine that induces potent immune responses in the gastrointestinal mucosa would be highly desirable. Here we show that attenuated recombinant Listeria monocytogenes, administered orally utilizing its natural route of infection, induces potent mucosal as well as systemic immune responses in mice. Moreover, these responses can be boosted efficiently with replication-incompetent adenoviral vectors. L. monocytogenes elicited more potent simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) Gag-specific CD8(+) T lymphocyte responses in mucosal compartments than DNA vaccines.