Design of a Small Unmanned Aircraft System for Bridge Inspections.

Bridge inspections are an important procedure for maintaining the infrastructure vital to our economy and well-being. The current methodology of utilizing specialized equipment such as snooper trucks and scaffolding to support manned-inspections poses a significant financial cost, disrupts traffic, and is dangerous to the inspectors and public. The advent of unmanned aerial systems (UAS), more commonly called drones, presents a practical solution that promises reduced cost, enhanced safety, and is significantly less intrusive than previous methodologies.

Cytokine/chemokine profiles in squamous cell carcinoma correlate with precancerous and cancerous disease stage.

Actinic Keratosis (AK), Intraepidermal Carcinoma (IEC), and Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) are generally considered to be advancing stages of the same disease spectrum. However, while AK often regress spontaneously, and IEC often regress in response to immune-activating treatments, SCC typically do not regress. Therefore, it is vital to define whether fundamental immunological changes occur during progression to SCC.

Cytokines, Chemokines, and Other Biomarkers of Response for Checkpoint Inhibitor Therapy in Skin Cancer.

Immunotherapy for skin malignancies has ushered in a new era for cancer treatments by demonstrating unprecedented durable responses in the setting of metastatic Melanoma. Consequently, checkpoint inhibitors are now the first-line treatment of metastatic melanoma and widely used as adjuvant therapy for stage III disease. With the observation that higher tumor mutational burden correlates with a better response, checkpoint inhibitors are tested in other skin cancer types of known high tumor mutational burden with promising results and recently became the first-ever FDA-approved treatment for metastatic Merkel cell carcinoma.

Clinically-Relevant Rapamycin Treatment Regimens Enhance CD8 Effector Memory T Cell Function In The Skin and Allow their Infiltration into Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

Patients receiving immunosuppressive drugs to prevent organ transplant rejection exhibit a greatly increased risk of developing cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). However, not all immunosuppressive drugs confer the same risk. Randomised, controlled trials demonstrate that switching renal transplant recipients receiving calcineurin inhibitor-based therapies to mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) inhibitors results in a reduced incidence of SSC formation, and can even result in the regression of pre-existing premalignant lesions.

Sirolimus Increases T-Cell Abundance in the Sun Exposed Skin of Kidney Transplant Recipients.

Background: Kidney transplant recipients (KTRs) receiving the mammalian target of rapamycin inhibitor sirolimus may display a reduced risk of skin cancer development compared to KTRs receiving calcineurin inhibitors. Despite studies investigating the effects of these 2 drug classes on T cells in patient blood, the effect these drugs may have in patient skin is not yet known.

Methods: Fifteen patients with chronic kidney disease (not recipients of immunosuppressive drugs), and 30 KTRs (15 receiving a calcineurin inhibitor, and 15 receiving sirolimus) provided matched samples of blood, sun exposed (SE) and non-SE skin.

CD4CD8β double-positive T cells in skin-draining lymph nodes respond to inflammatory signals from the skin.

CD4CD8 double-positive (DP), mature, peripheral T cells are readily detectable in a variety of species and tissues. Despite a common association with autoimmune and malignant skin disorders, however, little is understood about their role or function. Herein, we show that DP T cells are readily detectable in the blood, spleen, and peripheral lymph nodes of naïve C57BL/6 mice.

Antigen-encoding bone marrow terminates islet-directed memory CD8+ T-cell responses to alleviate islet transplant rejection.

Islet-specific memory T cells arise early in type 1 diabetes (T1D), persist for long periods, perpetuate disease and are rapidly reactivated by islet transplantation. As memory T cells are poorly controlled by 'conventional' therapies, memory T-cell mediated attack is a substantial challenge in islet transplantation and this will extend to application of personalized approaches using stem-cell derived replacement β cells. New approaches are required to limit memory autoimmune attack of transplanted islets or replacement β cells.

Optimizing inter-professional communications in surgery: protocol for a mixed-methods exploratory study.

Background: Effective nurse-physician communication is critical to delivering high quality patient care. Interprofessional communication between surgical nurses and surgeons, often through the use of pagers, is currently characterized by information gaps and interprofessional tensions, both sources of workflow interruption, potential medical error, impaired educational experience, and job satisfaction.

Objective: This study aims to define current patterns of, and understand enablers and barriers to interprofessional communication in general surgery, in order to optimize the use of communication technologies, teamwork, provider satisfaction, and quality and safety of patient care.

Barriers to implementing the World Health Organization's Trauma Care Checklist: A Canadian single-center experience.

Background: Management of trauma patients is difficult because of their complexity and acuity. In an effort to improve patient care and reduce morbidity and mortality, the World Health Organization developed a trauma care checklist. Local stakeholder input led to a modified 16-item version that was subsequently piloted.

Comparative immune phenotypic analysis of cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Intraepidermal Carcinoma in immune-competent individuals: proportional representation of CD8+ T-cells but not FoxP3+ Regulatory T-cells is associated with disease stage.

Squamous Cell Carcinoma (SCC) is a type of non-melanoma skin cancer prevalent in immune-suppressed transplant recipients and older individuals with a history of chronic sun-exposure. SCC itself is believed to be a late-stage manifestation that can develop from premalignant lesions including Intraepidermal Carcinoma (IEC). Notably, while SCC regression is rare, IEC typically regresses in response to immune modifying topical treatments, however the underlying immunological reasons for these differential responses remain unclear.

IL-17 suppresses immune effector functions in human papillomavirus-associated epithelial hyperplasia.

Persistent infection with high-risk human papillomaviruses (HPV) causes epithelial hyperplasia that can progress to cancer and is thought to depend on immunosuppressive mechanisms that prevent viral clearance by the host. IL-17 is a cytokine with diverse functions in host defense and in the pathology of autoimmune disorders, chronic inflammatory diseases, and cancer. We analyzed biopsies from patients with HPV-associated cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 2/3 and murine skin displaying HPV16 E7 protein-induced epithelial hyperplasia, which closely models hyperplasia in chronic HPV lesions.

An inventory of Canadian trauma systems: opportunities for improving access to trauma care.

Objective: Despite evidence that patients suffering major traumatic injuries have improved outcomes when cared for within an organized system, the extent of trauma system development in Canada is limited. We sought to compile a detailed inventory of trauma systems in Canada as a first step toward identifying opportunities for improving access to trauma care.

Methods: We distributed a nationwide online and mail survey to stakeholders intended to evaluate the extent of implementation of specific trauma system components.

Tolerance induction with gene-modified stem cells and immune-preserving conditioning in primed mice: restricting antigen to differentiated antigen-presenting cells permits efficacy.

Bone marrow (BM) or hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation is used as curative therapy for hematologic malignancies. Incorporation of gene therapy to drive tolerogenic expression of antigens is a promising strategy to overcome the limited long-term efficacy of autologous HSC transplantation for autoimmune diseases. HSC engraftment and tolerance induction is readily achieved after myeloablative or immune-depleting conditioning regardless of the cellular compartment in which antigen is expressed.