Inflammablog: peer-to-peer online learning in immunology.

Is it possible for students in different courses, at different academic levels, and at different universities to learn immunology together using the Internet? We teach a colloquium on inflammation for undergraduates at the University of Arizona and a lecture course on human immunology for graduate students and clinical and basic science fellows at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Students in these programs, being scattered about large campuses, have little time for student-directed discussion and peer interactions, and they never have the opportunity to meet students in the course in the other state. Instead of requiring the usual essays and term papers, we set up a blog (an online discussion group) for the two courses, and required all students to post, and comment on other posts, within and between the courses. Student writing is normally directed at a single reader, the instructor, which seems like a waste of talent; we encouraged peer exchanges. Furthermore, we were interested in observing the interactions between the Colorado students, who were older and sometimes experienced professionals, and the younger Arizonans. We used a blog because it is administratively impossible to enroll the students in two universities in a single courseware (learning management system) site. Blogging has offered insights into students' comfort with this form of social medium, and into the potential for this approach in light of the rapid adoption of blended and massively open online courses.

The biological effects of five feline IFN-alpha subtypes.

IFN-alpha has been shown to induce both antiviral and antiproliferative activities in animals. This report describes the biological activity of five recently identified feline IFN-alpha subtypes expressed in the Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cell line (rfeIFN-alpha1[CHO], rfeIFN-alpha2[CHO], rfeIFN-alpha3[CHO], rfeIFN-alpha5[CHO] and rfeIFN-alpha6[CHO]) and the feIFN-alpha6 subtype expressed in and purified from Pichia pastoris (rfeIFN-alpha6[P. pastoris]). The rfeIFN-alpha[CHO] subtypes were tested for antiviral activity against either Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) or feline calicivirus (FCV) infected feline embryonic fibroblast cell line (AH927) or Crandell feline kidney cell line (CRFK). Antiviral activity was induced against both VSV and FCV infected AH927 cells and VSV infected CRFK cells by all five of the rfeIFN-alpha[CHO] subtypes and rfeIFN-alpha6[P. pastoris]. In addition, the IFN-alpha inducible Mx gene (associated with antiviral activity) was upregulated in vivo 24 h following treatment with rfeIFN-alpha6[P. pastoris], compared to baseline levels seen prior to treatment. All of the rfeIFN-alpha[CHO] subtypes and rfeIFN-alpha6[P. pastoris] exhibited antiproliferative activity in the FeT-J cell line (an IL-2 independent feline T-cell line). Both necrosis and apoptosis were observed in rfeIFN-alpha6[P. pastoris]-treated FeT-J cells. The rfeIFN-alpha3[CHO] subtype consistently exhibited lower antiviral and antiproliferative activity compared to that observed with the other four rfeIFN-alpha[CHO] subtypes. In summary, this paper demonstrates that five previously described feIFN-alpha subtypes induce both antiviral and antiproliferative activities in vitro and are capable of upregulating the feMx gene in vivo.

Quantitative structure-activity relationships of phenolic compounds causing apoptosis.

A study of a variety of phenolic compounds (simple phenols, estradiol, bisphenol A, diethylstilbesterol) on their action on L1210 leukemia cells led to the formulation of the following QSAR for apoptosis:log 1/C=-3.16 Clog P+2.77 CMR-3.76n=11, r(2)=0.939, s=0.630, q(2)=0.892C is the molar concentration causing 25% apoptosis, Clog P is the calculated octanol/water partition coefficient and CMR is the calculated molecular refractivity. Our results imply the significance of characterization of the phenolic compounds with apoptotic activity and the development of new agents for cancer therapy.