by a specific subset of dendritic cells in the absence of feedback signaling.

Patients infected with Neisseria gonorrhoea present with intense inflammation resulting in urethral or cervical pus discharge, but the specific immune response to the bacteria is weak and does not protect against subsequent gonococcal infections. In February 19 online Nature Immunology, Ian Boulton and Scott Gray-Owen from University of Toronto, Canada, show that N. gonorrhoea have a mechanism that can arrest the activation and proliferation of CD4+ T lymphocytes via the CEACAM1 adhesion molecul

Artificial neural networks can efficiently distinguish human subtypes of neoplastic colorectal lesions.

Injection of suicide gene modified tumor cells induces a systemic antitumor response in a rat model of metastatic colon carcinoma.

The mammalian circadian clock is based on autonomous rhythmic expression of several clock genes in the pituitary gland, but how these signals are disseminated into the periphery remains unclear. In February 11 online Nature Neuroscience, Charlotte von Gall and colleagues from Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University, Frankfurt, Germany, show that rhythmic gene expression in the pituitary is linked with the release of the neurohormones melatonin and prolactin.von Gall et al. used rodent pituitary cells

Cloning animals from nuclei that are genetically marked by terminal differentiation remains inefficient, with most clones dying during gestation. In February 10 online Nature, Konrad Hochedlinger and Rudolf Jaenisch from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA, show that monoclonal mice can be generated by nuclear transfer from mature B and T donor cells. Hochedlinger & Jaenisch transferred nuclei from peripheral lymph node cells of mice into enucleate oocytes. From the resulti

Computer-assisted detection of proteomic patterns identifies types of ovarian cancer and could help screen high-risk populations.

, a transcription factor activated by the IL-6 family of cytokines, has a critical role in the control of systemic inflammation.

Cold sensation has a specific receptor but can also be produced by coordinated action of several different ion channels.

Intrinsic brain activity triggers the changes that eventually lead to the development of a migraine.

A key step in the development of bacterial biofilms — complex structures resistant to many common antibiotics — is adhesion to the substrate. This process has important implications for the implantation of medical devices, but the genotypic differences between attached and planktonic cells remains unclear. In February 5 online Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Karen Otto and Thomas Silhavy from Princeton University, USA describe the genetic mechanism used by Escherichi

T cells in the course of a viral infection shows very early activation by relatively few antigen presenting cells.