Allergen-specific immunotherapy (AIT) induces immune tolerance, showing the highest success rate (>95%) for insect venom while a much lower chance for pollen allergy. However, the molecular switches leading to successful durable tolerance restoration remain elusive. The primary outcome of this observational study is the comprehensive immunological cellular characterization during the AIT initiation phase, whereas the secondary outcomes are the serological and Th2-cell-type-specific transcriptomic analyses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeuroinflammation in the brain contributes to the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD), but the potential dysregulation of peripheral immunity has not been systematically investigated for idiopathic PD (iPD). Here we showed an elevated peripheral cytotoxic immune milieu, with more terminally-differentiated effector memory (TEMRA) CD8 T, CD8 NKT cells and circulating cytotoxic molecules in fresh blood of patients with early-to-mid iPD, especially females, after analyzing > 700 innate and adaptive immune features. This profile, also reflected by fewer CD8FOXP3 T cells, was confirmed in another subcohort.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInvest Ophthalmol Vis Sci
September 2023
Walnuts (including those covered with a pellicle) are loved for their rich nutritional value. And the popular varieties of walnut cultivation are Juglans sigillata L. The pellicle (seed coat) of these walnut cultivars has different colors and has an indispensable influence on the walnut quality formation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInvest Ophthalmol Vis Sci
April 2022
Decline in immune function during aging increases susceptibility to different aging-related diseases. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms, especially the genetic factors contributing to imbalance of naïve/memory T-cell subpopulations, still remain largely elusive. Here, we show that loss of DJ-1 encoded by PARK7/DJ-1, causing early-onset familial Parkinson's disease (PD), unexpectedly diminished signs of immunoaging in T-cell compartments of both human and mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFor a century ferroelectricity has attracted widespread interest from science and industry. Inorganic ferroelectric ceramics have dominated multibillion dollar industries of electronic ceramics, ranging from nonvolatile memories to piezoelectric sonar or ultrasonic transducers, whose polarization can be reoriented in multiple directions so that they can be used in the ceramic and thin-film forms. However, the realization of macroscopic ferroelectricity in the polycrystalline form is challenging for molecular ferroelectrics.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Clin Endocrinol Metab
November 2015
Context: Epidemiological studies have supported the premise that an adequate selenium intake is essential for thyroid gland function.
Objective: The objective was to investigate whether the prevalence of thyroid disease differed in two areas that were similar, except for very different soil/crop selenium concentrations.
Design: Cross-sectional observational study.
High-fat (HF) diets can produce obesity and have been linked to the development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and changes in the gut microbiome. To test the hypothesis that HF feeding increases certain predominant hind gut bacteria and development of steatohepatitis, C57BL/6 mice were fed an HF (45% energy) or low-fat (LF) (10% energy) diet for 10 wk. At the end of the feeding period, body weights in the HF group were 34% greater than those in the LF group (P < 0.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHemoglobin (Hb) Q-Thailand, also known as G-Taichung, Mahidol, Kurashiki-I and Asabara, is an α-globin chain variant that results from a point mutation (GAC→CAC; Asp→His) at codon 74 of the α1-globin gene on chromosome 16p with a leftward single α-globin gene deletion (-α(4.2)). Co-inheritance of Hb Q-Thailand with α-thalassemia (mainly --(SEA)) results in thalassemia intermedia, termed Hb Q-H disease.
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