Publications by authors named "Heather West"

Article Synopsis
  • T cell pathology in the skin causes an influx of monocytes, but we lack knowledge about how these recruited cells behave over time and affect immune balance in the skin.
  • Research combining a mouse model of acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) and patient samples reveals that disease leads to the differentiation of macrophages specifically in the skin's dermis and results in a dominance of these macrophages, reducing the presence of resting MHCII cells.
  • After the disease resolves, exposing the altered skin to certain substances can cause overactivation of regulatory T cells (Tregs), leading to a loss of immune tolerance and an enduring impact on immune regulation, referred to as an "immunological scar."
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A dense population of embryo-derived Langerhans cells (eLCs) is maintained within the sealed epidermis without contribution from circulating cells. When this network is perturbed by transient exposure to ultraviolet light, short-term LCs are temporarily reconstituted from an initial wave of monocytes but thought to be superseded by more permanent repopulation with undefined LC precursors. However, the extent to which this process is relevant to immunopathological processes that damage LC population integrity is not known.

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Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is a life-threatening complication of allogeneic stem cell transplantation induced by the influx of donor-derived effector T cells (TE) into peripheral tissues. Current treatment strategies rely on targeting systemic T cells; however, the precise location and nature of instructions that program TE to become pathogenic and trigger injury are unknown. We therefore used weighted gene coexpression network analysis to construct an unbiased spatial map of TE differentiation during the evolution of GVHD and identified wide variation in effector programs in mice and humans according to location.

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Langerhans cells (LC) are a unique population of tissue-resident macrophages that form a network of cells across the epidermis of the skin, but which have the ability to migrate from the epidermis to draining lymph nodes (LN). Their location at the skin barrier suggests a key role as immune sentinels. However, despite decades of research, the role of LC in skin immunity is unclear; ablation of LC results in neither fatal susceptibility to skin infection nor overt autoimmunity due to lack of immune regulation.

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Development of a protective and broadly-acting vaccine against the most widely distributed human malaria parasite, Plasmodium vivax, will be a major step towards malaria elimination. However, a P. vivax vaccine has remained elusive by the scarcity of pre-clinical models to test protective efficacy and support further clinical trials.

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Article Synopsis
  • Permanent vascular catheterization is frequently used in pharmacology studies on rodents, but complications like thromboembolic disease and sepsis can lead to poor tolerance of the procedure.
  • The study focused on a model using Wistar Han and Sprague-Dawley rats, particularly examining carotid and jugular catheterization to understand the causes of nontolerance and improve animal welfare.
  • Findings revealed significant thromboembolic issues affecting organs like the brain and kidneys, with over 10% body weight loss being a key indicator of nontolerance, while routine aseptic techniques were effective in preventing sepsis.
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The ability to understand sequences of items may be an important cognitive ability. To test this proposition, 8 first-grade children from each of 36 classes were randomly assigned to four conditions. Some were taught sequences that represented increasing or decreasing values, or were symmetrical, or were rotations of an object through 6 or 8 positions.

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Patient-centered cancer care has become a priority in the oncology field. Increasing efforts to train oncologists in communication skills have led to a growing literature on patient-centered cancer education. In addition, systems approaches have led to an increased emphasis on the concept of teams as an organizing framework for cancer care.

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Purpose: Palliative care consultants play an increasing role in assisting critical care clinicians with end-of-life communication in the intensive care unit (ICU). One of the ethical principles these consultants may apply to such communication is nonabandonment of the patient. Limited data exist concerning expressions of nonabandonment in the ICU family conference.

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A maltogenic amylase produced by a genetically engineered Bacillus subtilis was studied to evaluate its safety in the food industry. First, the safety of the component parts used in the cloning process, i.e.

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