Adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma associated with a compromised blood-brain barrier: patient series.

Background: Adamantinomatous craniopharyngioma (ACP) is a highly morbid adult and pediatric brain tumor derived from epithelial remnants of the craniopharyngeal canal (Rathke's pouch), which gives rise to the anterior pituitary gland. Standard therapy includes maximal safe resection with or without radiation therapy. Systemic antitumor therapy remains elusive.

High-Dimensional Analysis of Postsplenectomy Peripheral Immune Cell Changes.

Although the consequences of splenectomy are well understood in mice, much less is known about the immunologic changes that occur following splenectomy in humans. We sought to characterize the circulating immune cell populations of patients before and after elective splenectomy to determine if these changes are related to postsplenectomy survival outcomes. Retrospective clinical information was collected from 95 patients undergoing elective splenectomy compared with 91 patients undergoing pancreaticoduodenectomy (Whipple procedure).

Nanostructured CuO Synthesized via Bipolar Electrochemistry.

Cuprous oxide (CuO) was synthesized for the first time via an open bipolar electrochemistry (BPE) approach and characterized in parallel with the commercially available material. As compared to the reference, CuO formed through a BPE reaction demonstrated a decrease in particle size; an increase in photocurrent; more efficient light scavenging; and structure-correlated changes in the flat band potential and charge carrier concentration. More importantly, as-synthesized oxides were all phase-pure, defect-free, and had an average crystallite size of 20 nm.

Mass Cytometry Reveals Global Immune Remodeling with Multi-lineage Hypersensitivity to Type I Interferon in Down Syndrome.

People with Down syndrome (DS; trisomy 21) display a different disease spectrum relative to the general population, including lower rates of solid malignancies and higher incidence of neurological and autoimmune conditions. However, the mechanisms driving this unique clinical profile await elucidation. We completed a deep mapping of the immune system in adults with DS using mass cytometry to evaluate 100 immune cell types, which revealed global immune dysregulation consistent with chronic inflammation, including key changes in the myeloid and lymphoid cell compartments.

Integrating Telemental Healthcare with the Patient-Centered Medical Home Model.

Objective: The purpose of this article is to discuss how telemental healthcare and the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) can be integrated to improve the quality of mental healthcare available.

Methods: This article outlines the components of a PCMH, and how the needs of this type of system of care can benefit from telemental healthcare.

Results: The princples of PCMHs are being increasingly promoted in a variety of settings.

Type I IFN-dependent T cell activation is mediated by IFN-dependent dendritic cell OX40 ligand expression and is independent of T cell IFNR expression.

Type I IFNs are important for direct control of viral infection and generation of adaptive immune responses. Recently, direct stimulation of CD4(+) T cells via type I IFNR has been shown to be necessary for the formation of functional CD4(+) T cell responses. In contrast, we find that CD4(+) T cells do not require intrinsic type I IFN signals in response to combined TLR/anti-CD40 vaccination.

Multiple innate signaling pathways cooperate with CD40 to induce potent, CD70-dependent cellular immunity.

We have previously shown that Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists cooperate with CD40 to generate CD8 T cell responses exponentially larger than the responses generated with traditional vaccine formulations. We have also shown that combined TLR agonist/anti-CD40 immunization uniquely induces the upregulation of CD70 on antigen bearing dendritic cells (DCs). In contrast, immunization with either a TLR agonist or a CD40 stimulus alone does not significantly increase CD70 expression on DCs.

Framework for evaluating anthrax risk in buildings.

If Bacillus anthracis (BA), the organism that causes anthrax, is known or suspected to have contaminated a building, a critical decision is what level of contamination is unacceptable. This decision has two components: (1) what is the relationship between the degree of contamination and the risk to occupants, (2) and what is an acceptable risk to occupants? These lead to a further decision: (3) how many samples must be taken to determine whether a building is unacceptably contaminated? We discuss existing data that bear on these questions, and introduce a nomogram that can be used to investigate the relationship between risk of contracting anthrax, the surface concentration of BA, the probability of detection, and the number of samples needed to ensure detection with a given degree of certainty. The same approach could be used for other agents that are dangerous due to resuspension of deposited particles.

Age-dependent tolerance to an endogenous tumor-associated antigen.

Immunologic tolerance to endogenous antigens reduces antitumor responses. Gp70 is an endogenous tumor-associated antigen (TAA) of the BALB/c-derived colon carcinoma CT26. We found that expression of gp70 mRNA is detectable in tissues of mice 8 months of age and older.

Semantic memory organization during the early stage of recovery from traumatic brain injury.

Primary Objective: This study used an object definitions test to examine semantic memory and the organization of semantic knowledge during the early stage of recovery from traumatic brain injury (TBI).

Research Design: Twenty-four participants with moderate-to-severe TBI and 24 controls described three living and three non-living objects as if they were describing them to someone who had never heard of or seen such things before.

Methods And Procedures: The verbal definitions were examined at a feature level and for whether they communicated the core concept (i.

Combined TLR/CD40 stimulation mediates potent cellular immunity by regulating dendritic cell expression of CD70 in vivo.

We previously showed that immunization with a combination of TLR and CD40 agonists (combined TLR/CD40 agonist immunization) resulted in an expansion of Ag-specific CD8 T cells exponentially greater than the expansion observed to immunization with either agonist alone. We now show that the mechanism behind this expansion of T cells is the regulated expression of CD70 on dendritic cells. In contrast to previous results in vitro, the expression of CD70 on dendritic cells in vivo requires combined TLR/CD40 stimulation and is not significantly induced by stimulation of either pathway alone.

Relating TCR-peptide-MHC affinity to immunogenicity for the design of tumor vaccines.

One approach to enhancing the T cell response to tumors is vaccination with mimotopes, mimics of tumor epitopes. While mimotopes can stimulate proliferation of T cells that recognize tumor-associated antigens (TAAs), this expansion does not always correlate with control of tumor growth. We hypothesized that vaccination with mimotopes of optimal affinity in this interaction will improve antitumor immunity.

A modified tyrosinase-related protein 2 epitope generates high-affinity tumor-specific T cells but does not mediate therapeutic efficacy in an intradermal tumor model.

The generation of tumor-specific T cells is hampered by the presentation of poorly immunogenic tumor-specific epitopes by the tumor. Here, we demonstrate that, although CD8+ T cells specific for the self/tumor Ag tyrosinase-related protein 2 (TRP2) are readily detected in tumor-bearing hosts, vaccination of either tumor-bearing or naive mice with an epitope derived from TRP2 fails to generate significant numbers of tetramer-staining TRP2-specific T cells or antitumor immunity. We identified an altered peptide epitope, called deltaV, which elicits T cell responses that are cross-reactive to the wild-type TRP2 epitope.

Effects of social status, age, and season on androgen and cortisol levels in wild male golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia).

This study examines factors affecting androgen and cortisol levels in wild, male golden lion tamarins (Leontopithecus rosalia). Golden lion tamarins are a cooperatively breeding species in which groups often contain two potentially breeding males. Brothers frequently emigrate together and develop a clear dominance hierarchy, but interactions between them are primarily affiliative.