Group 2 innate lymphoid cells are a non-redundant source of interleukin-5 required for development and function of murine B1 cells.

Tissue-resident immune cells, such as innate lymphoid cells, mediate protective or detrimental immune responses at barrier surfaces. Upon activation by stromal or epithelial cell-derived alarmins, group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) are a rapid source of type 2 cytokines, such as IL-5. However, due to the overlap in effector functions, it remains unresolved whether ILC2s are an essential component of the type 2 response or whether their function can be compensated by other cells, such as T cells.

SciJava Ops: an improved algorithms framework for Fiji and beyond.

Decades of iteration on scientific imaging hardware and software has yielded an explosion in not only the size, complexity, and heterogeneity of image datasets but also in the tooling used to analyze this data. This wealth of image analysis tools, spanning different programming languages, frameworks, and data structures, is itself a problem for data analysts who must adapt to new technologies and integrate established routines to solve increasingly complex problems. While many "bridge" layers exist to unify pairs of popular tools, there exists a need for a general solution to unify new and existing toolkits.

Monitoring nucleolar-nucleoplasmic protein shuttling in living cells by high-content microscopy and automated image analysis.

The nucleolus has core functions in ribosome biosynthesis, but also acts as a regulatory hub in a plethora of non-canonical processes, including cellular stress. Upon DNA damage, several DNA repair factors shuttle between the nucleolus and the nucleoplasm. Yet, the molecular mechanisms underlying such spatio-temporal protein dynamics remain to be deciphered.

Antibiotic use during pregnancy is linked to offspring gut microbial dysbiosis, barrier disruption, and altered immunity along the gut-lung axis.

Antibiotic use during pregnancy is associated with increased asthma risk in children. Since approximately 25% of women use antibiotics during pregnancy, it is important to identify the pathways involved in this phenomenon. We investigate how mother-to-offspring transfer of antibiotic-induced gut microbial dysbiosis influences immune system development along the gut-lung axis.

Non-redundant functions of group 2 innate lymphoid cells.

Protective immunity relies on the interplay of innate and adaptive immune cells with complementary and redundant functions. Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) have recently emerged as tissue-resident, innate mirror images of the T cell system, with which they share lineage-specifying transcription factors and effector machinery. Located at barrier surfaces, ILCs are among the first responders against invading pathogens and thus could potentially determine the outcome of the immune response.

Integration of the ImageJ Ecosystem in the KNIME Analytics Platform.

Open-source software tools are often used for analysis of scientific image data due to their flexibility and transparency in dealing with rapidly evolving imaging technologies. The complex nature of image analysis problems frequently requires many tools to be used in conjunction, including image processing and analysis, data processing, machine learning and deep learning, statistical analysis of the results, visualization, correlation to heterogeneous but related data, and more. However, the development, and therefore application, of these computational tools is impeded by a lack of integration across platforms.

Time and space-resolved quantification of plasma membrane sialylation for measurements of cell function and neurotoxicity.

While there are many methods to quantify the synthesis, localization, and pool sizes of proteins and DNA during physiological responses and toxicological stress, only few approaches allow following the fate of carbohydrates. One of them is metabolic glycoengineering (MGE), which makes use of chemically modified sugars (CMS) that enter the cellular biosynthesis pathways leading to glycoproteins and glycolipids. The CMS can subsequently be coupled (via bio-orthogonal chemical reactions) to tags that are quantifiable by microscopic imaging.

Regulating the development of pulmonary Group 2 innate lymphoid cells.

Group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) are members of the family of innate lymphoid cells and are innately committed to type 2 immune responses. In the lungs, ILC2s are the predominant population of innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) and their development is orchestrated by several different transcription factors ensuring lineage commitment by intrinsic regulation. ILC2s are present in the lungs from the foetal period onwards and are thus exposed to extrinsic regulation due to the airways' continuous morphological changes upon birth.

Group 2 Innate Lymphoid Cells in Respiratory Allergic Inflammation.

Millions of people worldwide are suffering from allergic inflammatory airway disorders. These conditions are regarded as a consequence of multiple imbalanced immune events resulting in an inadequate response with the exact underlying mechanisms still being a subject of ongoing research. Several cell populations have been proposed to be involved but it is becoming increasingly evident that group 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2s) play a key role in the initiation and orchestration of respiratory allergic inflammation.

Image-Based Single Cell Profiling: High-Throughput Processing of Mother Machine Experiments.

Background: Microfluidic lab-on-chip technology combined with live-cell imaging has enabled the observation of single cells in their spatio-temporal context. The mother machine (MM) cultivation system is particularly attractive for the long-term investigation of rod-shaped bacteria since it facilitates continuous cultivation and observation of individual cells over many generations in a highly parallelized manner. To date, the lack of fully automated image analysis software limits the practical applicability of the MM as a phenotypic screening tool.

Non-Invasive Microbial Metabolic Activity Sensing at Single Cell Level by Perfusion of Calcein Acetoxymethyl Ester.

Phase contrast microscopy cannot give sufficient information on bacterial metabolic activity, or if a cell is dead, it has the fate to die or it is in a viable but non-growing state. Thus, a reliable sensing of the metabolic activity helps to distinguish different categories of viability. We present a non-invasive instantaneous sensing method using a fluorogenic substrate for online monitoring of esterase activity and calcein efflux changes in growing wild type bacteria.

Spatiotemporal microbial single-cell analysis using a high-throughput microfluidics cultivation platform.

Cell-to-cell heterogeneity typically evolves due to a manifold of biological and environmental factors and special phenotypes are often relevant for the fate of the whole population but challenging to detect during conventional analysis. We demonstrate a microfluidic single-cell cultivation platform that incorporates several hundred growth chambers, in which isogenic bacteria microcolonies growing in cell monolayers are tracked by automated time-lapse microscopy with spatiotemporal resolution. The device was not explicitly developed for a specific organism, but has a very generic configuration suitable for various different microbial organisms.

Vizardous: interactive analysis of microbial populations with single cell resolution.

Motivation: Single cell time-lapse microscopy is a powerful method for investigating heterogeneous cell behavior. Advances in microfluidic lab-on-a-chip technologies and live-cell imaging render the parallel observation of the development of individual cells in hundreds of populations possible. While image analysis tools are available for cell detection and tracking, biologists are still confronted with the challenge of exploring and evaluating this data.

Live cell imaging of SOS and prophage dynamics in isogenic bacterial populations.

Almost all bacterial genomes contain DNA of viral origin, including functional prophages or degenerated phage elements. A frequent but often unnoted phenomenon is the spontaneous induction of prophage elements (SPI) even in the absence of an external stimulus. In this study, we have analyzed SPI of the large, degenerated prophage CGP3 (187 kbp), which is integrated into the genome of the Gram-positive Corynebacterium glutamicum ATCC 13032.

Application of a genetically encoded biosensor for live cell imaging of L-valine production in pyruvate dehydrogenase complex-deficient Corynebacterium glutamicum strains.

The majority of biotechnologically relevant metabolites do not impart a conspicuous phenotype to the producing cell. Consequently, the analysis of microbial metabolite production is still dominated by bulk techniques, which may obscure significant variation at the single-cell level. In this study, we have applied the recently developed Lrp-biosensor for monitoring of amino acid production in single cells of gradually engineered L-valine producing Corynebacterium glutamicum strains based on the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex-deficient (PDHC) strain C.

Ultrasound with topical anesthetic rapidly decreases pain of intravenous cannulation.

Objectives: Physicians and nurses in the emergency department rarely use topical anesthesia when starting intravenous (IV) lines because of time constraints and lack of data on patients' perception of the pain associated with this procedure. Ultrasound pretreatment of skin increases permeation rates of hydrophobic topical medications, including topical lidocaine. The objective of this study was to demonstrate that ultrasound treatment followed by brief application of topical anesthetic decreases the patients' perception of the pain of IV cannulation.

Detection of human papillomavirus type 16 DNA and of antibodies to human papillomavirus type 16 proteins in children.

We have measured markers of human papillomavirus type 16 (HPV 16) infection in children (1-10 years of age) who were hospitalized for reasons unrelated to papillomavirus infection. Genital and buccal swabs obtained from 79 children were tested for the presence of HPV 16 DNA by PCR. Low-level positivity was found in 34 donors, twice as often in oral than in genital swabs.

Interactions of the subthalamic nucleus and the subpallidal area in oro-facial dyskinesia: role of GABA and glutamate.

Previous studies have shown that lowering the GABAergic activity in the sub-pallidal area (SP) in the cat results in the display of oro-facial dyskinesia (OFD). There exists an intense, mutual anatomical connection between the SP and the subthalamic nucleus and the adjoining lateral hypothalamic area (STH). The present study investigated whether the STH is also involved in OFD.

Adrenocorticotropic hormone in relation to interrenal function during stress in tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus).

This study examines ACTH-like immunoreactivity in the pituitary pars distalis and pars intermedia of the freshwater teleost Oreochromis mossambicus (tilapia). Two products (tACTHA and tACTHB) were present in both lobes. These two products also accounted for the majority of the ACTH i.

Subclinical human immunodeficiency virus-related changes in oral mucosa shown by image analysis of tongue smears.

There is evidence that certain lesions of the oral mucosa, such as hairy leukoplakia (HL), in patients seropositive for human immunodeficiency virus correlate with the subsequent development of acquired immune deficiency syndrome. The authors suggest that HL is a final manifestation of alterations that gradually develop after HIV infection. To recognize inapparent early subclinical changes in oral mucosa, the authors applied methods of digital image analysis to investigate tongue smears from healthy control subjects and immunosuppressed patients after chemotherapy and HIV infection.

Subclinical Epstein-Barr virus infection of both the male and female genital tract--indication for sexual transmission.

Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) can infect B lymphocytes as well as epithelial cells of the oral cavity. Recently, infection of epithelial cells of the inflamed uterine cervix has been demonstrated, and EBV-DNA has been detected in urethral discharge of men suffering from genital infection. We investigated whether EBV can be found in the genital tract of both sexes independently from inflammatory disease states.

Elevated circulating levels of tumor necrosis factor predict unresponsiveness to treatment with interferon alfa-2b in chronic myelogenous leukemia.

Purpose: The study was undertaken to analyze circulating tumor necrosis factor (TNF) levels in patients with chronic-phase chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) undergoing interferon (IFN) alfa-2b therapy, and to correlate pretreatment serum levels of TNF with response to IFN alfa-2b therapy.

Patients And Methods: Fourteen patients with CML in chronic phase were treated with recombinant human IFN alfa-2b for 7 to 39 months.

Results: In eight patients IFN alfa-2b treatment failed due to lack of hematologic response.

[Hodgkin's disease in HIV infection--detection of Epstein-Barr virus DNA in tongue epithelium and lymphoma].

We present an HIV-infected patient with lymphadenopathy syndrome in whom an unusually aggressive case of Hodgkin's disease developed. Examination of tissue excised from the lymphoma and of epithelial cells scraped from the tongue of the patient revealed Epstein-Barr virus (EBV). The relationship between an enhanced replication of EBV in the epithelium of the tongue and the elevated frequency of Hodgkin's lymphomas containing EBV-DNA among HIV-infected patients is discussed.