Malignant pleural mesothelioma is a neoplasm that is often detected late due to nonspecific symptoms. This study utilized NSG-SGM3 mice to examine interactions between a human-derived mesothelioma reporter cell line (MZT-Luc2-mCherry) and the host's myeloid compartment. Tumor growth was assessed using optical tomography, while cytokine/chemokine production was analyzed via multiplex assay.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecent reports suggest the ON and OFF pathways are differentially susceptible to selective vision loss in glaucoma. Thus, perimetric assessment of ON- and OFF-pathway function may serve as a useful diagnostic. However, this necessitates a developed understanding of normal ON/OFF pathway function around the visual field and as a function of input intensity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVitamin D is a unique compound that can enter the human body not only with food, but also be synthesized in the skin under the influence of ultraviolet radiation. Individual differences in the need for this vitamin may be associated with the carriage of polymorphic variants of genes that implement its biological effects, which include VDR BsmI C>T (rs1544410), VDR TaqI A>G (rs731236) and GC rs2282679 T>G. At risk for vitamin D deficiency are workers in the coal mining industry, whose working conditions combine limited insolation and a pronounced deficiency of vitamins in the diet.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRecent evidence from small animal models and human electrophysiology suggests that the OFF-pathway is more vulnerable to glaucomatous insult than the ON-pathway. Thus, OFF-pathway based measurements of visual function may be useful in the diagnosis of Glaucoma. The steady-state visually evoked potential (SSVEP) can be used to non-invasively make such functional measurements.
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