Protocol for flow cytometry immunophenotyping of human antigen-specific T cells by activation-induced marker and Th1 cytokine detection.

Flow cytometry characterization of antigen-specific polyfunctional T cells is a valuable tool to study adaptive immunity. Here, we present a protocol for flow cytometry immunophenotyping of human antigen-specific T cells by activation-induced marker (AIM) and Th1 cytokine detection. We describe steps for preparing peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) for stimulation followed by washing and staining PBMCs for flow cytometry.

Understanding immune system dysfunction and its context in mood disorders: psychoneuroimmunoendocrinology and clinical interventions.

Mood disorders include a set of psychiatric manifestations of increasing prevalence in our society, being mainly represented by major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD). The etiopathogenesis of mood disorders is extremely complex, with a wide spectrum of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors being responsible for their appearance and development. In this sense, immune system dysfunction represents a key mechanism in the onset and pathophysiology of mood disorders, worsening mainly the central nervous system (neuroinflammation) and the periphery of the body (systemic inflammation).

The artificial intelligence revolution...in unethical publishing: Will AI worsen our dysfunctional publishing system?

Scholarly publishing has been shaped by the pressure of a liquid economy to become an exercise in branding more than a vehicle for the advancement of science. The current revolution in artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to make matters worse. The new generation of large language models (LLMs) have shown impressive capabilities in text generation and are already being used to write papers, grants, peer review reports, code for analyses, and even perform literature reviews.

Metal-based nanomaterials in aquatic environments: What do we know so far about their ecotoxicity?

The wide range of applications of nanomaterials (NM) in different fields has led to both uncontrolled production and release into environmental compartments, such as aquatic systems, where final disposal occurs. Some efforts have been made to estimate their concentrations in environmental matrices; however, little is known about the actual effects of environmental NM concentrations on biota. The aims of the present review are to (i) expose the state of the art of the most applied NM and their actual concentrations regarding how much is being released to the aquatic environment and which are the predicted ones; (ii) analyze the current literature to elucidate if the aforementioned conditions were proven to cause deleterious effects on the associated organisms; and (iii) identify gaps in the knowledge regarding whether the actual NM concentrations are harmful to aquatic biota.

Abnormal Histopathological Expression of Klotho, Ferroptosis, and Circadian Clock Regulators in Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma: Prognostic Implications and Correlation Analyses.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is an extremely lethal tumor with increasing incidence, presenting numerous clinical challenges. The histopathological examination of novel, unexplored biomarkers offers a promising avenue for research, with significant translational potential for improving patient outcomes. In this study, we evaluated the prognostic significance of ferroptosis markers (TFRC, ALOX-5, ACSL-4, and GPX-4), circadian clock regulators (CLOCK, BMAL1, PER1, PER2), and KLOTHO in a retrospective cohort of 41 patients deceased by PDAC.