Interconnectivity via a consolidated type hierarchy and XML

We propose building a software system that passes any message type between legacy Command, Control, Communications, Computer, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems. The software system presents significant cost savings to the Department of Defense (DoD) because it allows us continued use of already purchased systems without changing the system itself. In the midst of the information age, the DoD cannot get information to the warfighter. We still maintain and use heterogeneous legacy systems, which send limited information via a set of common messages developed for a specific domain or branch of DoD. Our ability to communicate with one message format does not meet our needs today, though these stovepipe C4ISR systems still provide vital information. By combining these systems, we will have a synergistic effect on our information operations because of the shared information. Our translator will resolve data representational differences between the legacy systems using a model entitled the Common Type Hierarchy (CTH) . The CTH stores the relationships between different data representations and captures what is needed to perform translations between the different representations. We will use the platform neutral extensible Mark-up Language (XML) as an enabling technology for the CTH modelhttp://www.archive.org/details/interconnectivit00lyttCaptain, United States ArmyLieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

GWAS in autoimmune thyroid disease: redefining our understanding of pathogenesis

The ability of the immune system to protect the body from attack by foreign antigens is essential for human survival. The immune system can, however, start to attack the body's own organs. An autoimmune response against components of the thyroid gland affects 2-5 of the general population. Considerable familial clustering is also observed in autoimmune thyroid disease (AITD). Teasing out the genetic contribution to AITD over the past 40 years has helped unravel how immune disruption leads to disease onset. Breakthroughs in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in the past decade have facilitated screening of a greater proportion of the genome, leading to the identification of a before unimaginable number of AITD susceptibility loci. This Review will focus on the new susceptibility loci identified by GWAS, what insights these loci provide about the pathogenesis of AITD and how genetic susceptibility loci shared between different autoimmune diseases could help explain disease co-clustering within individuals and families. This Review also discusses where future efforts should be focused to translate this step forward in our understanding of the genetic contribution to AITD into a better understanding of disease presentation and progression, and improved therapeutic options.© 2013 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved

Guidelines for the use of flow cytometry and cell sorting in immunological studies

International audienceThe classical model of hematopoiesis established in the mouse postulates that lymphoid cells originate from a founder population of common lymphoid progenitors. Here, using a modeling approach in humanized mice, we showed that human lymphoid development stemmed from distinct populations of CD127(-) and CD127(+) early lymphoid progenitors (ELPs). Combining molecular analyses with in vitro and in vivo functional assays, we demonstrated that CD127(-) and CD127(+) ELPs emerged independently from lympho-mono-dendritic progenitors, responded differently to Notch1 signals, underwent divergent modes of lineage restriction, and displayed both common and specific differentiation potentials. Whereas CD127(-) ELPs comprised precursors of T cells, marginal zone B cells, and natural killer (NK) and innate lymphoid cells (ILCs), CD127(+) ELPs supported production of all NK cell, ILC, and B cell populations but lacked T potential. On the basis of these results, we propose a "two-family" model of human lymphoid development that differs from the prevailing model of hematopoiesis