Kidney International (2011) 79, 966-976; doi:10.1038/ki.2010.535; published online 19 January 2011″
“High-density ERPs evoked by rotated alphanumeric characters were examined to determine how neural processing is affected by stimulus orientation during letter/digit classifications and during mirror/normal discriminations. The former task typically produces response times that are unaffected by stimulus orientation while

the latter is thought to require mental rotation. Sensitivity to orientation was first observed around 100-140 ms and this effect was attributed to differences in low-level features between vertical and oblique orientations. Subsequently, character misorientation amplified the N170, a neural marker of object classification, between 160 and 220 ms. Top-down processing is reflected in the ERPs beginning at 280-320 ms and this GW3965 cost time range may reflect binding of ventral and dorsal stream information. In the case of mirror-normal discrimination these top-down

processes can lead to mental rotation between 340 and 700 ms. Therefore, although neural processing reflects object orientation, these effects do not translate into increases in reaction-times PARP inhibitor or impaired accuracy for categorisation, and precede those that do in the mental-rotation task. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.”
“Foxp3(+) T-regulatory cells (Tregs) may suppress pathogenic inflammation; however, although transferred Tregs lessen glomerulonephritis in mice, the role of endogenous foxp3(+) cells is not known. To study this, we characterized endogenous foxp3(+) cells in accelerated anti-glomerular basement membrane (GBM) nephritis by using foxp3(GFP) reporter mice to track their responses in early and established disease. Further, diphtheria toxin was used to ablate

foxp3(+) Tregs in foxp3(DTR) mice after establishing an immune response. In this model, mice were immunized with sheep globulin in adjuvant, and sheep anti-mouse GBM globulin was injected after 4 days to initiate progressive histological and functional injury. Intrarenal leukocytic infiltrates were increased by day 3 but intrarenal foxp3(+) Tregs, present in interstitial and periglomerular areas, were only increased at day 7. Ablation of foxp3(+) Tregs after injection Nitroxoline of anti-GBM globulin increased renal injury and systemic T-cell responses, including increased interferon-gamma and interleukin-17A (IL-17A) production, but no change in antibody titers. Compared with foxp3(+) Tregs isolated from naive mice, those from immunized mice produced more IL-10 and more effectively regulated CD4(+)foxp3(-) responder T cells. Thus, endogenous foxp3(+) Tregs infiltrate the kidney in glomerulonephritis, and deleting foxp3(+) cells after the induction of immune responses upregulated T-cell reactions and enhanced disease. Hence, endogenous foxp3(+) cells have increased suppressive capacity after immune stimuli. Kidney International (2011) 79, 977-986; doi:10.1038/ki.2010.