The potential for income improvement and biodiversity conservation via specialty coffee in Ethiopia.

The specialty coffee sector represents opportunities for coffee farmers and other actors due to increased value within the supply chain, driven by elevated consumer purchase prices. We investigated these relationships up to the export stage, as well as the potential for specialty coffee to improve stakeholder participation in biodiversity conservation. Household data was collected from a sample of 272 coffee farmers belonging to five primary cooperatives, in the heavily forested area of Yayu, in the Illubabor administrative zone of Oromia regional state in south-western Ethiopia, for the 2017/2018 harvest season.

Increase in dendritic cell numbers, their function and the proportion uninfected during AZT therapy.

The effects of AZT treatment on the numbers, level of infection and function of peripheral blood dendritic cells (DC) were examined in patients with HIV infection. This was a cross-sectional study of patients before AZT treatment and up to 20 months after initiation of treatment. Numbers of DC separated by density gradients were below the normal range in patients before treatment, but increased between 3 and 12 months of treatment.

Transfer of antigen between dendritic cells in the stimulation of primary T cell proliferation.

Primary proliferative T cell responses require stimulation with antigen-pulsed dendritic cells (Ag-DC). Here we show that for optimal stimulation, dendritic cells (DC) not exposed directly to antigen are also required. Ag-DC added to DC-depleted T cells caused negligible primary stimulation; adding back DC resulted in stimulation.

IL-1 alpha and TNF-alpha are required for IL-12-induced development of Th1 cells producing high levels of IFN-gamma in BALB/c but not C57BL/6 mice.

The development of Th1- or Th2-type responses determines the type of immune response that is elicited in response to Ag. Responsiveness to IL-12 is critical for the development of Th1-type CD4+ T cells required for cell-mediated immune responses. Addition of IL-12 to primary cultures of CD4+ T cells stimulated with OVA and splenocytes or dendritic cells resulted in the development of a Th1 phenotype with the capacity to secrete high levels of IFN-gamma upon restimulation with splenic APC.