Feature integration in natural language concepts

Two experiments measured the joint influence of three key sets of semantic features on the frequency with which artifacts (Experiment 1) or plants and creatures (Experiment 2) were categorized in familiar categories. For artifacts, current function outweighed both originally intended function and current appearance. For biological kinds, appearance and behavior, an inner biological function, and appearance and behavior of offspring all had similarly strong effects on categorization. The data were analyzed to determine whether an independent cue model or an interactive model best accounted for how the effects of the three feature sets combined. Feature integration was found to be additive for artifacts but interactive for biological kinds. In keeping with this, membership in contrasting artifact categories tended to be superadditive, indicating overlapping categories, whereas for biological kinds, it was subadditive, indicating conceptual gaps between categories. It is argued that the results underline a key domain difference between artifact and biological concepts

Antigen-specific immune responses to influenza vaccine in utero

Initial immune responses to allergens may occur before birth, thereby modulating the subsequent development of atopy. This paradigm remains controversial, however, due to the inability to identify antigen-specific T cells in cord blood. The advent of MHC tetramers has revolutionized the detection of antigen-specific T cells. Tetramer staining of cord blood after CMV infection has demonstrated that effective CD8+ antigen-specific immune responses can follow intrauterine viral infections. We hypothesized that sensitization to antigens occurs in utero in humans. We studied cord blood B and T cell immune responses following vaccination against influenza during pregnancy. Anti-Fluzone and anti-matrix protein IgM antibodies were detected in 38.5% (27 of 70) and 40.0% (28 of 70), respectively, of cord blood specimens. Using MHC tetramers, HA-specific CD4+ T cells were detected among 25.0% (3 of 12) and 42.9% (6 of 14) of cord blood specimens possessing DRB1*0101 and DRB1*0401 HLA types, respectively, and were detected even when the DRB1 HLA type was inherited from the father. Matrix protein–specific CD8+ T cells were detected among 10.0% (2 of 20) of HLA-A*0201+ newborns. These results suggest that B and T cell immune responses occur in the fetus following vaccination against influenza and have important implications for determining when immune responses to environmental exposures begin

Is economics scientific discipline loyal to its own starting points and fundamental principles?

The article argues that the economic scientific community, by disregarding the importance of freedom which was essential for its emancipation and market as its key criterion of choice, is disloyal to its own starting points and fundamental principles. By dictating strict methodological rules the neoclassical school has consolidated its monopoly position within economics. The article highlights that this methodological normativism is substantially reducing the diversity of methodological approaches and that such restriction of freedom has become a source of subordination within economic community. The author argues that today a new emancipation is needed, with a strong emphasis on the freedom to forge new approaches and acute awareness of the fact that no theoretical platform can persist without adequate demand for its findings in the science market