Visceral adipose tissue secretome from early and late-stage oesophageal cancer patients differentially affects effector and regulatory T cells.

Aim: Visceral obesity is a key risk factor in the development of oesophagogastric junctional adenocarcinoma (OGJ), predominantly via generation of systemic low grade inflammation. Obesity-induced inflammation promotes resistance to current standards of care, enhancing tumour cell growth and survival. This study investigates the effect of the visceral adipose tissue secretome from OGJ patients with early versus advanced tumours on T-cell immunity and the role of immune checkpoint blockade in enhancing anti-tumour immunity.

FLOT and CROSS chemotherapy regimens alter the frequency of CD27 and CD69 T cells in oesophagogastric adenocarcinomas: implications for combination with immunotherapy.

Combining immunostimulatory chemotherapies with immunotherapy is an attractive strategy to enhance treatment responses in oesophagogastric junctional adenocarcinoma (OGJ). This study investigates the immunostimulatory properties of FLOT, CROSS and MAGIC chemotherapy regimens in the context of OGJ using in vitro and ex vivo models of the treatment-naïve and post-chemotherapy treated tumour microenvironment. FLOT and CROSS chemotherapy regimens increased surrogate markers of immunogenic cell death (HMGB1 and HLA-DR), whereas the MAGIC treatment regimen decreased HMGB1 and HLA-DR on OGJ cells (markedly for epirubicin).

Evaluation of the Interprofessional Spiritual Care Education Curriculum in Australia: Online.

Objective: Spiritual care is a component of quality palliative care, but healthcare providers have reported lack of training as a barrier to its provision. This paper describes the evaluation of the Interprofessional Spiritual Care Educational Curriculum (ISPEC) which is a six-module evidence-based curriculum developed for teaching interprofessional spiritual care based on a generalist-specialist model of spiritual care.

Method: The course was run online in 2020 and attended by 20 healthcare workers who were invited to join the evaluation.

Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis of Gold Nanoparticles in Aqueous Media through an Inter-Laboratory Comparison.

In the field of nanotechnology, analytical characterization plays a vital role in understanding the behavior and toxicity of nanomaterials (NMs). Characterization needs to be thorough and the technique chosen should be well-suited to the property to be determined, the material being analyzed and the medium in which it is present. Furthermore, the instrument operation and methodology need to be well-developed and clearly understood by the user to avoid data collection errors.

Fast and Purification-Free Characterization of Bio-Nanoparticles in Biological Media by Electrical Asymmetrical Flow Field-Flow Fractionation Hyphenated with Multi-Angle Light Scattering and Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis Detection.

Accurate physico-chemical characterization of exosomes and liposomes in biological media is challenging due to the inherent complexity of the sample matrix. An appropriate purification step can significantly reduce matrix interferences, and thus facilitate analysis of such demanding samples. Electrical Asymmetrical Flow Field-Flow Fractionation (EAF4) provides online sample purification while simultaneously enabling access to size and Zeta potential of sample constituents in the size range of approx.

Overview of the European Medicines Agency's Development of Product-Specific Bioequivalence Guidelines.

The European Medicines Agency's (EMA) product-specific bioequivalence guidelines outline harmonized regulatory requirements for studies to demonstrate bioequivalence for products that may have particular needs due to their pharmacokinetics, in addition to those outlined in general guidance. As such they are potentially very useful to the pharmaceutical industry in the development of generic medicinal products and to regulatory authorities for harmonized decision-making. Since their introduction in 2013, EMA product-specific bioequivalence guidelines continue to increase in number, and as of June 2017, encompass a number of different pharmacotherapeutic groups and pharmaceutical forms.

Quality of life in men receiving radiotherapy and neo-adjuvant androgen deprivation for prostate cancer: results from a prospective longitudinal study.

Aim: To report a study measuring the quality of life and side effects in men receiving radiotherapy and hormone ablation for prostate cancer up to 1 year after treatment.

Background: Prostate cancer incidence is increasing with the result that more men are living longer with the disease and the side effects of treatment. It is important to know the effects this has on their quality of life.

Observations on the Uganda I strain of Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium brasilianum in Aotus and Saimiri monkeys and Anopheles mosquitoes.

Splenectomized Aotus lemurinus griseimembra, A. azarae boliviensis, A. nancymaae, A.

Ultrafast dynamics and excited state spectra of open-chain carotenoids at room and low temperatures.

Many of the spectroscopic features and photophysical properties of carotenoids are explained using a three-state model in which the strong visible absorption of the molecules is associated with an S0 (1(1)Ag-) --> S2 (1(1)Bu+) transition, and the lowest lying singlet state, S1 (2(1)Ag-), is a state into which absorption from the ground state is forbidden by symmetry. However, semiempirical and ab initio quantum calculations have suggested additional excited singlet states may lie either between or in the vicinity of S1 (2(1)Ag-) and S2 (1(1)Bu+), and some ultrafast spectroscopic studies have reported evidence for these states. One such state, denoted S*, has been implicated as an intermediate in the depopulation of S2 (1(1)Bu+) and as a pathway for the formation of carotenoid triplet states in light-harvesting complexes.

Femtosecond time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy of xanthophylls.

Xanthophylls are a major class of photosynthetic pigments that participate in an adaptation mechanism by which higher plants protect themselves from high light stress. In the present work, an ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopic investigation of all the major xanthophyll pigments from spinach has been performed. The molecules are zeaxanthin, lutein, violaxanthin, and neoxanthin.

Origin of the bathochromically shifted optical spectra of meso-tetrathien-2'- and 3'-ylporphyrins as compared to meso-tetraphenylporphyrin.

The UV-Vis and fluorescence spectra of free base and diprotonated meso-tetrathien-2'-ylporphyrins are, when compared to the spectra of meso-tetra-phenyl- or even -thien-3'-ylporphyrins, characterized by surprisingly large red-shifts. A comparison of the optical spectra and the computed rotational barriers for these meso-aryl-substituted porphyrins and a detailed conformational analysis of the single crystal X-ray structure of a diprotonated meso-tetrathien-2'-ylporphyrin suggest that the origin of the altered electronic properties of meso-tetrathien-2'-ylporphyrins are mainly due to the contribution of conformations in which the thienyl groups adopt idealized co-planar arrangements with the porphyrin ring. These conformations allow an efficient extension of the porphyrinic pi-system through conjugation.

Risk factor management and depression post-stroke: the value of an integrated model of care.

Background And Purpose: Shared care initiatives, albeit commonly utilised in managing other chronic conditions have not been implemented in the area of stroke in Australia. The aims of this project were to adopt a shared care approach for stroke survivors comparing an experimental "shared-care" group with a "treatment-as-usual" control group in reference to the normalization or reversal of vascular risk factors and the detection and management of post-stroke depression.

Methods: A randomised controlled experimental research design was implemented with participants randomized to an intervention or control group and followed over a 12-month period.

Stereoisomers of carotenoids: spectroscopic properties of locked and unlocked cis-isomers of spheroidene.

A systematic optical spectroscopic and computational investigation of a series of locked-cis-isomers of spheroidene has been carried out with the goal being to better understand the relationships between stereochemistry, photochemistry, photophysics and biological function of geometric isomers of carotenoids. The spectroscopic properties of 15,15'-locked-cis-spheroidene, 13,14-locked-cis-spheroidene, 11, 12-locked-cis-spheroidene in solution are compared with those observed for unlocked spheroidene. The locked-cis bonds are incapable of undergoing cis-to-trans isomerization and therefore provide an effective means of exploring the relationship between specific stereoisomers and molecular spectroscopy.