Pathological spectrum of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Human prion diseases are a rare group of transmissible neurodegenerative conditions which are classified according to their aetiology as sporadic, genetic or acquired forms. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is the most common form of human prion disease, with the sporadic form accounting for ∼85% of all reported cases. While advances have been made in the development of clinical tools and biomarkers in the diagnosis of prion disease, allowing greater diagnostic certainty for surveillance purposes, definitive diagnosis requires neuropathological examination of the brain at postmortem.

Photoelectric tunable-step terahertz detectors: a study on optimal antenna parameters, speed, and temperature performance.

Field effect transistors have shown promising performance as terahertz (THz) detectors over the past few decades. Recently, a quantum phenomenon, the in-plane photoelectric effect, was discovered as a novel detection mechanism in gated two-dimensional electron gases (2DEGs), and devices based on this effect, photoelectric tunable-step (PETS) THz detectors, have been proposed as sensitive THz detectors. Here, we demonstrate a PETS THz detector based on GaAs/AlGaAs heterojunction using a dipole antenna.

Compassionate access to virus-specific T cells for adoptive immunotherapy over 15 years.

Adoptive T-cell immunotherapy holds great promise for the treatment of viral complications in immunocompromised patients resistant to standard anti-viral strategies. We present a retrospective analysis of 78 patients from 19 hospitals across Australia and New Zealand, treated over the last 15 years with "off-the-shelf" allogeneic T cells directed to a combination of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), BK polyomavirus (BKV), John Cunningham virus (JCV) and/or adenovirus (AdV) under the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration's Special Access Scheme. Most patients had severe post-transplant viral complications, including drug-resistant end-organ CMV disease, BKV-associated haemorrhagic cystitis and EBV-driven post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder.

Emerging concepts of CMV in transplantation.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infections continue to be associated with significant morbidity and mortality following solid organ transplantation and haemopoietic stem cell transplantation. Advances in understanding the biology of CMV in the immunosuppressed host will translate into improved management approaches and better clinical outcomes. Updated definitions of resistant and refractory CMV infections will lead to more consistent reporting of CMV outcomes, better inform appropriate antiviral strategies and influence clinical trial design.

Choice of activation protocol impacts the yield and quality of CAR T cell product, particularly with older individuals.

Objectives: In clinical chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, one of the strongest correlates of favorable patient responses is lower levels of differentiation in T cells from the peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) starting material or the CAR T cell product. T cells from older patients are inherently more differentiated, but we hypothesised that specific activation protocols could be used to limit CAR T cell differentiation during manufacturing, particularly in older patients.

Methods: We used PBMCs from young (20-30 years old) and older (60+ years old) healthy donors to generate CAR T cells using two activation protocols: soluble anti-(α) CD3 monoclonal antibody (mAb) immune complexes of αCD3 and αCD28 mAbs.