Lower Semen Quality Among Men in the Modern Era-Is There a Role for Diet and the Microbiome?

The prevalence of infertility is increasing worldwide; poor nutrition, increased sedentary lifestyles, obesity, stress, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, and advanced age of childbearing may contribute to the disruption of ovulation and influence oocyte and sperm quality and overall reproductive health. Historically, infertility has been primarily attributed to female factors, neglecting the importance of male fertility; this has resulted in an incomplete understanding of reproductive health. Male factors account for 40-50% of infertility cases.

Cell-Based Assays to Detect Innate Immune Response Modulating Impurities: Application to Biosimilar Insulin.

Characterizing and mitigating factors that impact product immunogenicity can aid in risk assessment and/or managing risk following manufacturing changes. For follow-on products that have the same indication, patient population, and active product ingredient, the residual immunogenicity risk resides predominantly on differences in product and process related impurities. Characterizing differences in innate immune modulating impurities (IIRMI), which could act as adjuvants by activating local antigen presenting cells (APCs), can inform the immunogenicity risk assessment potentially reducing the need for clinical trials.

Downregulation of IRF7-mediated type-I interferon response by LmCen parasites is necessary for protective immunity.

Leishmaniasis is a tropical disease caused by Leishmania parasites and currently has no licensed vaccines. We developed a dermotropic Leishmania major centrin gene-deleted strain (LmCen) as a live attenuated vaccine. Recent studies have shown that type I interferons (IFNs) play important roles in immunity to parasitic and viral pathogens.