Images of JHK and gi obtained with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope are used to investigate the stellar contents of the resolved asymptotic giant branch (AGB) population in the area of 3. 6×6. 3 on the central bar of the dwarf irregular galaxy NGC 6822. The upper envelope of near-infrared (J − K, K) and (H − K, K) color−magnitude diagrams (CMDs) shows four components of main-sequence stars, foreground stars, massive supergiants, and AGB stars. These components are also noticeable in the bright part of (g − i, g) CMD.We select AGB stars in NGC 6822 from the (g − K, g) CMD, which has a long spectral wavelength base line in the color index. There are 141 C stars with a mean absolute magnitude of M K = −7.60 ± 0.50, and with mean colors of (J − K) 0 = 1.77 ± 0.41, and (H − K) 0 = 0.75 ± 0.28. The number ratio of C stars to M-giants (C/M) is estimated as 0.27 ± 0.03, while the northern part of the bar has a somewhat lower C/M ratio than the southern part. The (J − K) and (H − K) color distributions of AGB stars contain a main peak of M-giant stars and a red tail of C stars. The broad color distributions for M-giants indicate that NGC 6822 has a wide range of intermediate ages with a peak at log(t yr ) ∼ 9.0. The M K luminosity function (LF) for C stars in the central bar of NGC 6822 is likely to be a Gaussian distribution, while the LF of C stars in the southern part is slightly skewed to the brighter side than in northern part. The mean bolometric magnitude of 141 C stars in NGC 6822 is M bol = −4.36 ± 0.54. The bolometric LF for M-giants extends up to M bol = −6.5, while the one for C stars spans −5.8 < M bol < −3.5.

High quality J, H and K images are used to investigate the morphological properties of the near-infrared color-magnitude diagrams for five metal-poor bulge globular clusters and three halo clusters. Photometric parameters to describe the RGB shape, i.e., the colors at fixed magnitudes of M K = M H = (−5.5, −5, −4 and −3), the magnitudes at fixed colors of (J − K) o = (J − H) o = 0.70, and the RGB slope, have been measured from the fiducial normal points of the CMDs. We also measured the near-infrared magnitudes of the RGB bump and tip on the luminosity function of the RGB stars for each cluster. The RGB parameters of the observed metal-poor bulge and halo clusters are consistent with the previous empirical relationships between the RGB parameters and the cluster metallicity for metal-rich bulge clusters and halo clusters. The near-infrared magnitudes of the RGB bump and tip are in good agreement with the theoretical prediction of the Yonsei-Yale isochrone.

Staphylococcal infection-producing superantigens, such as staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB), are presumed to play an important role of inflammatory processes in atopic dermatitis (AD). The aim of this study was to elucidate the apoptotic response of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from children with AD. PBMCs from AD children were sampled and cultured with SEB stimulation. Levels of apoptosis and Fas expression were measured using flow cytometry; the soluble Fas ligand (sFasL) was also measured using the enzymelinked immunosorbent assay method, and the expression of FasL in PBMCs was observed using reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. There was no difference in the initial levels of apoptosis and Fas expression in precultured PBMCs of AD patients and healthy donors. After culturing for 48 h under SEB stimulation, the apoptosis level and Fas expression were significantly upregulated in the PBMCs from AD children compared with that from the normal controls. In patients, the sFasL was significantly increased, and the expression of FasL was observed in messenger RNA of peripheral monocytes. These results suggest that the Fas/FasL system is involved in the apoptosis induced by SEB in AD, with simultaneous increases in sFasL and expression of FasL.