Robust anti-tumor immunity and memory in Rag-1-deficient mice following adoptive transfer of cytokine-primed splenocytes and tumor CD80 expression.

Successful immunotherapy of solid tumors has proven difficult to achieve. The aim of the current study was to further investigate the effects of peripheral CD80-mediated co-stimulation on the efficacy of polyclonal anti-tumor effector CTL in an adoptive transfer model. Splenocytes obtained from wild-type mice immunized with CD80-transduced EL4 tumor cells were expanded in vitro in the presence of either IL-12 or IL-15 and irradiated CD80-transduced EL4 tumor cells.

Defining task-set reconfiguration: the case of reference point switching.

Some researchers argue that task switching involves task-set reconfiguration--that is, changing the existing task set to perform a different task. Although this idea is intriguing, it is often unclear what is reconfigured and which processes are involved in reconfiguration. We addressed these issues by defining task sets, identifying differences between them, and obtaining evidence that was diagnostic of reconfiguration.

Inhibitory control in mind and brain: an interactive race model of countermanding saccades.

The stop-signal task has been used to study normal cognitive control and clinical dysfunction. Its utility is derived from a race model that accounts for performance and provides an estimate of the time it takes to stop a movement. This model posits a race between go and stop processes with stochastically independent finish times.

Separating cue encoding from target processing in the explicit task-cuing procedure: are there "true" task switch effects?

Six experiments were conducted to separate cue encoding from target processing in explicitly cued task switching to determine whether task switch effects could be separated from cue encoding effects and to determine the nature of the representations produced by cue encoding. Subjects were required to respond to the cue, indicating which cue was presented (Experiments 1, 3a, and 4a) or which task was cued (Experiments 2, 3b, and 4b), before performing the cued task on the target. Cue encoding was successfully separated from target processing when the cue response indicated which task was cued but not when it indicated which cue was presented.

Limiting {gamma}c expression differentially affects signaling via the interleukin (IL)-7 and IL-15 receptors.

X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID-X1) results from mutations in the IL2RG gene, which encodes the common gamma chain (gammac) of the receptors for interleukin (IL)-2, 4, 7, 9, 15, and 21. Affected infants typically lack T and natural killer (NK) cells as a consequence of loss of signaling via the IL-7 receptor (IL-7R) and the IL-15R, respectively. In some infants, however, autologous NK cells are observed despite failure of T-cell ontogeny.

Task switching versus cue switching: using transition cuing to disentangle sequential effects in task-switching performance.

Recent methodological advances have allowed researchers to address confounds in the measurement of task-switch costs in task-switching performance by dissociating cue switching from task switching. For example, in the transition-cuing procedure, which involves presenting cues for task transitions rather than for tasks, cue transitions (cue switches and cue repetitions) and task transitions (task switches and task repetitions) can be examined in a complete factorial design. Transition cuing removes the confound between cue transitions and first-order task transitions, but it introduces a confound between cue transitions and longer task sequences.

Restraint and cancellation: multiple inhibition deficits in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

We used variations of the stop signal task to study two components of motor response inhibition-the ability to withhold a strong response tendency (restraint) and the ability to cancel an ongoing action (cancellation)-in children with a diagnosis of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and in non-ADHD controls of similar age (ages 7-14 years). The goal was to determine if restraint and cancellation were related and if both were deficient in ADHD. The stop signal task involved a choice reaction time task (go task) which required a rapid response.

Testing the semantic differential as a model of task processes with the implicit association test.

In this study, we examined the hypothesis that semantic judgment tasks share overlapping processes if they require processing on common dimensions but not if they require processing on orthogonal dimensions in semantic space (Osgood, Suci, & Tannenbaum, 1957). We tested the hypothesis with the implicit association test (IATl Greenwald, McGhee, & Schwartz, 1998) in three experiments. Consistent with the hypothesis, IAT effects (costs in reaction time because of incompatible response mapping between associated judgment tasks) occurred consistently when judgment tasks tapped into common semantic dimensions, whereas no IAT effect appeared when judgment tasks entailed processing on orthogonal semantic dimensions.

Priming or executive control? Associative priming of cue encoding increases "switch costs" in the explicit task-cuing procedure.

The explicit task-cuing procedure involves presenting a cue that indicates which task to perform on a target. Responses are typically faster when tasks repeat than when they alternate, and this difference is often interpreted as a measure of the time required for executive control processes to change task set. This article suggests that the difference reflects priming of cue encoding when successive cues are identical or associatively related.

Hierarchical control of cognitive processes: switching tasks in sequences.

Hierarchical control of cognitive processes was studied by examining the relationship between sequence- and task-level processing in the performance of explicit, memorized task sequences. In 4 experiments, switch costs in task-switching performance were perturbed by sequence initiation times that varied with sequence complexity, preparation time, and type of sequence transition (repetition or switch). Hierarchical control was inferred from these sequence initiation time effects and the recurrent finding of no switch cost at the first serial position across sequences, the point at which sequence-level processes are likely active in maintaining or instantiating a hierarchical control structure in working memory.

AAV vectors encoding malarial antigens stimulate antigen-specific immunity but do not protect from parasite infection.

This study explores the utility of recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) as a genetic vaccine delivery system using muscle as a target tissue. A single injection of rAAV encoding the malarial antigens MSP4 (Plasmodium falciparum) or MSP4/5 (Plasmodium yoelii) stimulated long-term antigen-specific antibody responses. Anti-MSP4/5 immunity stimulated by AAV was not protective against P.

Influence of history on saccade countermanding performance in humans and macaque monkeys.

The stop-signal or countermanding task probes the ability to control action by requiring subjects to withhold a planned movement in response to an infrequent stop signal which they do with variable success depending on the delay of the stop signal. We investigated whether performance of humans and macaque monkeys in a saccade countermanding task was influenced by stimulus and performance history. In spite of idiosyncrasies across subjects several trends were evident in both humans and monkeys.

Absolute measurement of electron-cloud density in a positively charged particle beam.

Clouds of stray electrons are ubiquitous in particle accelerators and frequently limit the performance of storage rings. Earlier measurements of electron energy distribution and flux to the walls provided only a relative electron-cloud density. We have measured electron accumulation using ions expelled by the beam.

Parallel response selection in dual-task situations.

Semantic priming and response priming were studied in a dual-task procedure. In two experiments, reaction times to the first and second stimuli were faster when the finger required for the Task 1 response was the same as the finger required for the Task 2 response. Such priming suggests that Task 2 response information was generated prior to the completion of Task 1 response selection.

Priming cue encoding by manipulating transition frequency in explicitly cued task switching.

Explicitly cued task switching with multiple cues per task permits three types of transitions: cue repetitions (cue and task repeat), task repetitions (cue changes but task repeats), and task alternations (cue and task change). The difference between task alternations and task repetitions can be interpreted as a switch cost, but its magnitude varies substantially across experiments. We investigated how switch cost is affected by transition frequency (how often subjects repeat and switch tasks) with an experiment in which each transition had a frequency of .

Out with the old, in with the new: more valid measures of switch cost and retrieval time in the task span procedure.

Two experiments provided new measures of switch cost and retrieval time in the task span procedure. In Experiment 1, subjects were given lists of six task names to remember, followed by six targets on which to perform the tasks named in the list. The lists contained alternations and repetitions, and switch costs were estimated by comparing reaction time (RT) on alternation and repetition trials.

Interpreting instructional cues in task switching procedures: the role of mediator retrieval.

In 3 experiments the role of mediators in task switching with transparent and nontransparent cues was examined. Subjects switched between magnitude (greater or less than 5) and parity (odd or even) judgments of single digits. A cue-target congruency effect indicated mediator use: subjects responded faster to congruent cue-target combinations (e.

The time it takes to switch attention.

An experiment is reported that measured the time it takes to switch attention from one set of locations to another in response to a cue that indicates the relevant locations. The experiment compared sequences of trials in which the same locations were cued in succession with sequences in which different locations were cued in succession in order to separate cue-encoding time from attention-switching time. Same-location sequences require cue encoding but not attention switching.

Biomarker evidence for green and purple sulphur bacteria in a stratified Palaeoproterozoic sea.

The disappearance of iron formations from the geological record approximately 1.8 billion years (Gyr) ago was the consequence of rising oxygen levels in the atmosphere starting 2.45-2.

Modeling task switching without switching tasks: a short-term priming account of explicitly cued performance.

Switch costs in task switching are commonly attributed to an executive control process of task-set reconfiguration, particularly in studies involving the explicit task-cuing procedure. The authors propose an alternative account of explicitly cued performance that is based on 2 mechanisms: priming of cue encoding from residual activation of cues in short-term memory and compound cue retrieval of responses from long-term memory. Their short-term priming account explains the repeated cue encoding benefit, switch cost, reduction in switch cost with preparation time, and other effects.

Voluntary task switching: chasing the elusive homunculus.

In the voluntary task switching procedure, subjects choose the task to perform on a series of bivalent stimuli, requiring top-down control of task switching. Experiments 1-3 contrasted voluntary task switching and explicit task cuing. Choice behavior showed small, inconsistent effects of external stimulus characteristics, supporting the assumption of top-down control of task choice.

Women and botany in Risorgimento Italy.

The first Italian women described as botanists by their male peers were active during the Risorgimento. They were few in numbers and only one of them, Elisabetta Fiorini, was recognized for her extensive contributions to the field of cryptogams in Italy by being nominated to important Italian scientific academies. No such recognition was ever alloted to the other female botanists who acted as collectors, correspondents and/or patrons to male botanists, had their own garden of exotic plants, or discovered a new species of phanerogams, and occasionally published on the subject.

A memory-based account of automatic numerosity processing.

We investigated the mechanisms responsible for the automatic processing of the numerosities represented by digits in the size congruity effect (Henik & Tzelgov, 1982). The algorithmic model assumes that relational comparisons of digit magnitudes (e.g.

Vocal range and intensity in actors: a studio versus stage comparison.

A voice range profile (VRP) was obtained from each of eight professional actors and compared with two speech range profiles (SRPs). One speech profile was obtained during the dramatic reading of a scene in the laboratory and the other during a performance on stage in a professional theater. The objective was to determine the pitch and loudness ranges used by the actors in speech relative to the VRP.

Very clever homunculus: compound stimulus strategies for the explicit task-cuing procedure.

In two experiments, subjects were given arbitrary letter cues or meaningful word cues that specified the task to be performed on a subsequent target stimulus. Letter and word cues were presented in separate blocks. There were two cues of each type for each task.