Rationale and design of the preserved versus reduced ejection fraction biomarker registry and precision medicine database for ambulatory patients with heart failure (PREFER-HF) study.

Introduction: Patients with heart failure (HF) are classically categorised by left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Efforts to predict outcomes and response to specific therapy among LVEF-based groups may be suboptimal, in part due to the underlying heterogeneity within clinical HF phenotypes. A multidimensional characterisation of ambulatory patients with and without HF across LVEF groups is needed to better understand and manage patients with HF in a more precise manner.

Role of lymph node stroma and microenvironment in T cell tolerance.

Lymph nodes (LNs) are at the cross roads of immunity and tolerance. These tissues are compartmentalized into specialized niche areas by lymph node stromal cells (LN SCs). LN SCs shape the LN microenvironment and guide immunological cells into different zones through establishment of a CCL19 and CCL21 gradient.

Immune heterogeneity of head and tail pancreatic lymph nodes in non-obese diabetic mice.

The pancreatic lymph node is critical to the pathogenesis of autoimmune diabetes, as it constitutes the initial site for the priming of autoreactive T cells. In this study, we compared the histopathology of the head pancreatic lymph node (HPLN) to the tail pancreatic lymph node (TPLN) in NOD mice. HPLNs and TPLNs were harvested from 4 week-, 8 week-, and 12 week-old NOD mice, and their microvasculature, extracellular matrix, and immune cell subsets were characterized.