Indomethacin-induced oxidative stress enhances death receptor 5 signaling and sensitizes tumor cells to adoptive T-cell therapy.

Background: Adoptive cell therapy (ACT) using genetically modified T cells has evolved into a promising treatment option for patients with cancer. However, even for the best-studied and clinically validated CD19-targeted chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy, many patients face the challenge of lack of response or occurrence of relapse. There is increasing need to improve the efficacy of ACT so that durable, curative outcomes can be achieved in a broad patient population.

Oxidative Stress in the Tumor Microenvironment and Its Relevance to Cancer Immunotherapy.

It has been well-established that cancer cells are under constant oxidative stress, as reflected by elevated basal level of reactive oxygen species (ROS), due to increased metabolism driven by aberrant cell growth. Cancer cells can adapt to maintain redox homeostasis through a variety of mechanisms. The prevalent perception about ROS is that they are one of the key drivers promoting tumor initiation, progression, metastasis, and drug resistance.

A New Method for Structured Integration of User Needs in Two Health Technology Development Projects: Action Sheets.

An early integration of users and stakeholders is needed for a successful innovation process. Nonetheless, the integration of users is often hard to realize - especially when dealing with persons with chronic diseases. In addition, patients or users in general often are not able to formulate the requirements in a technical manner.

[The determination of caries risk in schoolchildren based on microbiological-chemical analyses of the saliva and on the clinical dental status].

In a feasibility study for the determination of the caries risk in children by whole school class, the number of the colony forming units of mutans streptococci and lactobacilli in the stimulated saliva, the buffer capacity of the saliva and some chosen clinical indicators of increased caries risk were determined and evaluated in 103 schoolchildren (7 to 10 years old) in the city of Zurich. Mutans streptococci in the saliva were found in 73% of the children and lactobacilli in 77%. In 11% of the children, neither of the microorganisms were found.

Q-switched laser at 912 nm using ground-state-depleted neodymium in yttrium orthosilicate.

A ground-state-depleted laser is demonstrated in the form of a Q-switched oscillator operating at 912 nm. By using Nd(3+) as the active ion and Y(2)SiO(5) as the host material, the laser transition is from the lowest-lying Stark level of the Nd(3+4)F(?) level to a Stark level 355 cm(-1) above the lowest-lying one in the (4)I(9/2) manifold. The necessity of depleting the ground (4)I(9/2) manifold is evident for this level scheme as transparency requires a 10% inversion.