Switch from a type 2 to a type 1 T helper cell response and cure of established Leishmania major infection in mice is induced by combined therapy with interleukin 12 and Pentostam.

Successful treatment in allergic, autoimmune, and infectious diseases often requires altering the nature of a detrimental immune response mediated by a particular CD4+ T helper (Th) cell subset. While several factors contribute to the development of CD4+ Th1 and Th2 cells, the requirements for switching an established response are not understood. Here we use infection with Leishmania major as a model to investigate those requirements. We report that treatment with interleukin 12 (IL-12), in combination with the antimony-based leishmanicidal drug Pentostam, induces healing in L. major-infected mice and that healing is associated with a switch from a Th2 to a Th1 response. The data suggest that decreasing antigen levels may be required for IL-12 to inhibit a Th2 response and enhance a Th1 response. These observations are important for treatment of nonhealing forms of human leishmaniasis and also demonstrate that in a chronic infectious disease an inappropriate Th2 response can be switched to an effective Th1 response.

Student lectures notes on chemistry and materia medica, and medical recipes, of Lyman Spalding, 1795-1799 (inclusive)

Contains notes taken by Harvard student Lyman Spalding during eleven chemistry lectures delivered by Harvard Professor Aaron Dexter (1750-1829) in the fall of 1795 and recipes prepared and used by Spalding in his medical practice in 1797. The recipes include elixir vitriol, containing liquor, Jamaica pepper, cinnamon, and ginger, and an electuary for a cough, containing oxymel squills (sea onion in honey), licorice, antimonium tartaricum potash (a compound of the chemical element antimony and a potassium-containing salt), and opium. The volume also contains writings about chemistry by Spalding, some of which appear transcribed from published sources, in undated entries, and a diary entry from 1799 regarding an experiment with water.

(Table 1) Elements at DSDP Section 93-605-66-1

The oldest sediments cored at Site 605 are upper Maestrichtian argillaceous limestone (Hole 605, Subunit VB). The terrigeneous silt content of the uppermost Maestrichtian is quite low, averaging about 3%, whereas the carbonate content is high, usually greater than 60%; the silt contains only traces of glauconite (Site 605 chapter, this volume). Within Subunit VB a K/T boundary was defined by planktonic foraminifers. It was expected to be spread over an extended vertical interval because of the continental margin depositional setting. Examination by the shipboard party showed that the K/T boundary occurs in Section 605-66-1, between 70 and 75 cm. At the contact, the foraminiferal Globigerina pseudobulloides Zone (PIc) and the Coccolith Cruciplacolithus primus Subzone (CPla) overlie, respectively, the Abathomphalus mayaroensis and Nephrolithus frequens zones (Site 605). However, the thin K/T boundary clay, which is always present in complete sections, was not found, indicating either that the K/T boundary clay was not present or, more likely, that it was washed away during the coring operation.

Chemical and isotopic compositions of hydrothermal manifestations and minerals from the Broken Spur hydrothermal field

A representative collection of hydrothermal manifestations was sampled practically from all hydrothermal mounds of the Broken Spur hydrothermal vent field with use of the Mir manned submersibles during three cruises of R/V Akademik Mstislav Keldysh. Mineral associations characteristic for different morphological types of sulfide ores from hydrothermal pipes, plates, and diffusers are assessed. Particular attention is paid to distribution of minor elements and their distribution patterns determined by mineralogical zonation. Measured isotopic composition of sulfur in sulfide minerals varies from 0.4 to 5.2 per mil that indicates their similarity with ores from the Snake Pit vent field and is related to dilution of hot ore-bearing solutions by seawater and reduction of water sulfate ions to H2S with heavy isotopic composition.