SummaryLevels of IL-12p40, TNFa, TGFb, IFNg and IL-10 mRNA were assessed by laser capture microdissection followed by quantitative real-time PCR in the pulmonary granulomas of unimmunized and BCG-vaccinated guinea pigs infected by aerosol with virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Lesions microdissected from unimmunized guinea pigs were overwhelmed by the pro-inflammatory TNFa mRNA at both 3 and 6 weeks post infection, indicating the struggle to control the mounting infection. The cytokine profile of granulomas from vaccinated guinea pigs shifted from type 1 cytokine mRNA (IFNg and IL-12p40) at 3 weeks to a predominantly anti-inflammatory environment (TGFb mRNA) at 6 weeks. The relative proportions of cytokine mRNA transcripts in the periphery of the granuloma were different from the centre, reflecting differences in cell composition and architecture. Moreover, analysis of the individual lung lobes at 6 weeks post infection suggests that heterogeneity exists in the cytokine profile between the lobes of the lung.

The cytokine mRNA profiles of primary (arising from inhaled bacilli) and secondary (arising from hematogenous reseeding of the lung) granulomas from the lung lobes of bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-vaccinated and unimmunized guinea pigs challenged with virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis by the pulmonary route were assessed in situ using laser capture microdissection (LCM) at 6 weeks after infection. The challenge dose chosen was so low that some lung lobes did not receive an implant from the airway. In unimmunized guinea pigs, some lobes contained either large, necrotic primary lesions or small, non-necrotic secondary lesions, or both. The lobes of BCG-vaccinated animals contained only non-necrotic primary tubercles, and no secondary lesions were visible. Real-time PCR analysis of the acquired RNA clearly demonstrated that primary tubercles from BCG-vaccinated guinea pigs were overwhelmed with mRNA from the anti-inflammatory cytokine, transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta, with some IFN-gamma and IL-12p40 mRNA. In contrast, primary lesions from unimmunized animals were dominated by proinflammatory TNF-alpha mRNA. The cytokine mRNA profile of secondary lesions from unimmunized animals was strikingly similar to the profile of primary lesions from BCG-vaccinated guinea pigs (i.e., a predominance of TGF-beta mRNA with some IL-12p40 and IFN-gamma mRNA), indicating that the lung lobes from which these lesions were retrieved had been naturally "vaccinated" by the time the bloodborne bacilli returned to the lung at 3 to 4 weeks after infection. Furthermore, cytokine mRNA analysis of splenic granulomas from nonvaccinated and vaccinated animals showed close resemblance to primary granulomas recovered from the lungs of the same animal, that is, high levels of TNF-alpha mRNA in unimmunized animals, and mostly TGF-beta mRNA in BCG-vaccinated guinea pigs. Taken together, these data indicate that mycobacteria returning to the lungs of unimmunized guinea pigs 3 to 4 weeks after infection induce a local cytokine response that is fundamentally different from the response to inhaled bacilli and is reminiscent of the primary response in a vaccinated animal.

Soldiers, to guard themselves from enemy assault, have to maintain visual and auditory awareness of their environment. Their visual and auditory senses are thus saturated. This makes these channels less usable for communication. The tactile medium of communication with users is appropriate for displaying information in such situations. Research in interpersonal communication among soldiers shows that the most common form of communication between soldiers involves the use of verb phrases. In this article, we have developed a three-by-three tactile display and proposed a method for mapping the components of a verb phrase to two dimensions of tactile codes-shape and waveform. Perception of tactile codes by users depends on the ability of users to distinguish shape and waveform of the code. We have proposed a measure to rate the distinguish-ability of any two shapes and created a graph-based user-centric model using this measure to select distinguishable shapes from a set of all presentable shapes.We conducted two user studies to evaluate the ability of users to perceive tactile information. The results from our first study showed users' ability to perceive tactile shapes, tactile waveforms, and form verb phrases from tactile codes. The recognition accuracy and time taken to distinguish were better when the shapes were selected from the graph model than when shapes were chosen based on intuition. The second user study was conducted to test the performance of users while performing a primary visual task simultaneously with a secondary audio or haptic task. Users were more familiar with perceiving information from an auditory medium than from a haptic medium, which was reflected in their performance. Thus the performance of users in the primary visual task was better while using an audio medium of communication than while using a haptic medium of communication.

The most conspicuous feature of the rabbit retina is the visual streak that extends along the horizontal azimuth from the nasal margin to the temporal limit of the retina. We believe the streak processes movement vision and that the temporal region (area centralis) is responsible for pattern perception. Both anatomical and behavioural experiments were used to test this hypothesis. Behavioural measures of pattern vision in normal and chiasma-sectioned rabbits revealed both to have the same visual acuity. Using OKN as a measure of movement vision, normal rabbits showed both a directional and velocity-tuned response. The chiasma-sectioned rabbits, with only uncrossed fibre projections remaining, showed a total loss of movement detection. The injection of HRP into the vitreal chamber of one eye in normal rabbits revealed extensive uptake throughout the contralateral thalamus. In the ipsilateral thalamus, there was uptake solely from the ipsilateral retinal projection to a restricted wafer of the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). The chiasma cut rabbits showed a very different distribution of HRP in the thalamus. The uptake was restricted to a thin wafer of the LGN, with no contralateral uptake. Thus, the thalamic projections from the retinal area centralis were strictly segregated from the thalamic target areas for the visual streak without any overlap. These findings provide strong evidence for separate retinal origins with anatomically separate pathways for pattern and movement vision in the rabbit.