Hyperresponsiveness of Corticoid-Resistant Th17/Tc-17 Cells to TLR-2 and TLR-4 Ligands is a Feature of Multiple Sclerosis Patients at Higher Risk of Therapy Failure.

Purpose: The presence of T cells expressing TLR-2 and TLR-4 has been associated with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) pathogenesis. Here, we evaluated whether the effectiveness of DMT in controlling clinical activity of the disease would be associated with modulation of proportion of TLRs T cells.

Patients And Methods: Whole peripheral blood mononuclear cells, purified CD4 and CD8 T cells from RRMS patients were cultured with different stimuli.

Assay Development for High-Throughput Drug Screening Against Mycobacteria.

Mycobacterium abscessus (Mab) infections are challenging to treat due to high intrinsic drug resistance, comparable to multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Treatments are extremely ineffective and based on a multi-drug regimen, resulting in low patient compliance. Consequently, the scientific community is urged to identify new and effective drugs to treat these infections.

Association study of common variants with Hb F and Hb A levels in β-thalassaemia carriers of Portuguese ancestry.

Kruppel-like factor 1 (KLF1) is an essential erythroid-specific transcription factor. Several reports have shown that gene mutations are associated with increased levels of Hb F and Hb A. However, scarce population studies have analysed common variations.

P2X7 receptor in macrophage polarization and its implications in neuroblastoma tumor behavior.

Tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) exhibit antitumor or protumor responses related to inflammatory (or M1) and alternative (or M2) phenotypes, respectively. The P2X7 receptor plays a key role in macrophage polarization, influencing inflammation and immunosuppression. In this study, we investigated the role of the P2X7 receptor in TAMs.

Measurement of ethanol concentration for monitoring the solvent exchange during the alcogel preparation.

A crucial and time-consuming stage in aerogel production is the solvent exchange process for alcogel formation. This process involves multiple steps, exposing the hydrogel to ethanol solutions with increasing concentration until the equilibrium in each step. Currently, the determination of contact time between phases (hydrogel and liquid solution) is either arbitrary or based on prior studies.