Early decrease of T-bet B cells during subcutaneous belimumab predicts response to therapy in systemic lupus erythematosus patients.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is characterized by B cell dysregulation and expansion of atypical B cells that may correlate with disease manifestations and activity. This study investigated the impact of subcutaneous (sc) Belimumab (BLM) on the peripheral B cell compartment and on the functional properties of CD21, T-bet and CD11c atypical B cells, in 21 active SLE patients over a 12-month period. At baseline, active SLE patients displayed reduced unswitched IgM memory B cells and expansion of atypical B cells, compared to healthy donors and to SLE patients in remission.

Competition and stereotypic behavior in Thoroughbred horses: The value of saliva as a diagnostic marker of stress.

Many horses exhibit stereotypies, especially when living in human controlled environments that may prevent horses from satisfying natural needs in terms of feeding, drinking, moving, and socializing. In human medicine, obsessive compulsive disorder and other severe psychiatric disturbances are associated with stereotypic behaviors; salivary biomarkers evaluation is considered a reliable tool for diagnosis of common mental health disorders because saliva collection easy to obtain and noninvasive. In this study, we hypothesized that salivary cortisol concentrations, in addition to alpha-amylase (sAA) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) activities, are considered stress biomarkers that may be influenced in horses trained for racing competition with stereotypic behaviors.

Salivary analysis to unveil the paradigma of stress of domestic horses reared in the wild.

Horse welfare is the product of multiple factors, including behavioral and physiological adjustments to cope with stressful situation regarding environment and housing condition. Collectively, it is supposed that a horse kept in the wild has a lower level of stress than other housing system, and the aim of the present study was to investigate the level of stress in domestic horses reared in the wild and then moved to human controlled housing, through saliva analysis. Twelve clinically healthy Catria (Italian local breed) mares, usually reared in the wild, were moved into collective paddocks for a folkloric event.

High prevalence of past hepatitis B virus infection in diffuse large B cell lymphoma: a retrospective study from Italy.

Studies from high endemic areas, mostly China, indicate that surface antigen positive (HBsAg) chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is associated with an increased risk of developing diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), whereas studies in low endemic areas have provided conflicting results. Past infection, serologically defined by negative HBsAg and positive anti-core antibody (HBsAgHBcAb), has also been suggested to increase the risk of B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) in high endemic areas. We retrospectively reviewed unselected clinical records of 253 patients with DLBCL (54% male, aged 60.

Opposite Effects of mRNA-Based and Adenovirus-Vectored SARS-CoV-2 Vaccines on Regulatory T Cells: A Pilot Study.

New-generation mRNA and adenovirus vectored vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 spike protein are endowed with immunogenic, inflammatory and immunomodulatory properties. Recently, BioNTech developed a noninflammatory tolerogenic mRNA vaccine (MOGm1Ψ) that induces in mice robust expansion of antigen-specific regulatory T (Treg) cells. The Pfizer/BioNTech BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 is identical to MOGm1Ψ except for the lipid carrier, which differs for containing lipid nanoparticles rather than lipoplex.