Publications by authors named "Killmer S"

Social thermoregulation is a means of maintaining homeostatic body temperature. While adult mice are a model organism for studying both social behavior and energy regulation, the relationship between huddling and core body temperature (Tb) is poorly understood. Here, we develop a behavioral paradigm and computational tools to identify active-huddling and quiescent-huddling as distinct thermal substates.

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Social thermoregulation is a means of maintaining homeostatic body temperature. While adult mice are a model organism for studying both social behavior and energy regulation, the relationship between huddling and core body temperature (Tb) is poorly understood. Here, we develop a behavioral paradigm and computational tools to identify active-huddling and quiescent-huddling as distinct thermal substates.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigated the safety and effectiveness of combining transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) with pembrolizumab in patients with liver-confined hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), aiming to enhance immunotherapy results and boost adaptive immunity.
  • - Among 15 patients, most experienced treatment-related side effects like skin rash and fatigue, but there were no significant toxicity issues from combining therapies; notable results included a 53% objective response rate and a median overall survival of 33.5 months following treatment.
  • - The research findings suggest that the combination of TACE and pembrolizumab is tolerable and may have a synergistic effect in treating HCC, warranting further exploration of immunotherapy in conjunction with TACE
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Glioblastomas are malignant tumors of the central nervous system hallmarked by subclonal diversity and dynamic adaptation amid developmental hierarchies. The source of dynamic reorganization within the spatial context of these tumors remains elusive. Here, we characterized glioblastomas by spatially resolved transcriptomics, metabolomics, and proteomics.

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Purpose: Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) remains an unresolved clinical challenge and can lead to frequent revision surgery and blindness vision loss. The aim of this study was to characterize the microenvironment of epiretinal PVR tissue, in order to shed more light on the complex pathophysiology and to unravel new treatment options.

Methods: A total of 44 tissue samples were analyzed in this study, including 19 epiretinal PVRs, 13 epiretinal membranes (ERMs) from patients with macular pucker, as well as 12 internal limiting membranes (ILMs).

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Background: Retinal neovascularization (RNV) membranes can lead to a tractional retinal detachment, the primary reason for severe vision loss in end-stage disease proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). The aim of this study was to characterize the molecular, cellular and immunological features of RNV in order to unravel potential novel drug treatments for PDR.

Methods: A total of 43 patients undergoing vitrectomy for PDR, macular pucker or macular hole (control patients) were included in this study.

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Effectiveness of seasonal influenza vaccination varies between individuals and might be affected by vaccination history among other factors. Here we show, by monitoring frequencies of CD4 T cells specific to the conserved hemagglutinin epitope HA and titres of IgG against the corresponding recombinant hemagglutinin protein, that antigen-specific CD4 T cell and antibody responses are closely linked to pre-existing immunity and vaccine history. Upon immunization, a strong early reaction is observed in all vaccine naïve participants and also in vaccine experienced individuals who have not received the respective seasonal vaccine in the previous year.

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Circulating Th1-biased follicular T helper (cTfh1) cells have been associated with antibody responses to viral infection and after vaccination but their B cell helper functionality is less understood. After viral elimination, Tfh1 cells are the dominant subset within circulating Hepatitis C Virus (HCV)-specific CD4 T cells, but their functional capacity is currently unknown. To address this important point, we established a clone-based system to evaluate CD4 T cell functionality to overcome experimental limitations associated with their low frequencies.

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Background: Imaging mass cytometry (IMC) combines the principles of flow cytometry and mass spectrometry (MS) with laser scanning spatial resolution and offers unique advantages for the analysis of tissue samples in unprecedented detail. In contrast to conventional immunohistochemistry, which is limited in its application by the number of possible fluorochrome combinations, IMC uses isoptope-coupled antibodies that allow multiplex analysis of up to 40 markers in the same tissue section simultaneously.

Methods: In this report we use IMC to analyze formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded conjunctival tissue.

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COVID-19 can cause severe neurological symptoms, but the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms are unclear. Here, we interrogated the brain stems and olfactory bulbs in postmortem patients who had COVID-19 using imaging mass cytometry to understand the local immune response at a spatially resolved, high-dimensional, single-cell level and compared their immune map to non-COVID respiratory failure, multiple sclerosis, and control patients. We observed substantial immune activation in the central nervous system with pronounced neuropathology (astrocytosis, axonal damage, and blood-brain-barrier leakage) and detected viral antigen in ACE2-receptor-positive cells enriched in the vascular compartment.

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Emerging data indicate that SARS-CoV-2-specific CD8 T cells targeting different viral proteins are detectable in up to 70% of convalescent individuals. However, very little information is currently available about the abundance, phenotype, functional capacity and fate of pre-existing and induced SARS-CoV-2-specific CD8 T cell responses during the natural course of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Here, we define a set of optimal and dominant SARS-CoV-2-specific CD8 T cell epitopes.

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Background: Cerebral computed tomography (CT) scanning has been suggested to play a role in the management of patients before carotid endarterectomy (CEA). This prospective study analyzes the value of CT scanning before elective CEA and the correlation of CT findings to significant carotid stenosis.

Methods: This study includes 131 consecutive patients considered for CEA during a 2-year period.

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Deep vein thrombosis (DVT) of the lower extremity during pregnancy is infrequent, but its complication, pulmonary embolism, remains an important cause of maternal mortality. To evaluate the best method of caring for patients with DVT, we reviewed the records of patients at the Charleston Area Medical Center from 1987-1992 who were treated for this condition. Twelve patients were treated with conventional continuous intravenous heparin for 7 days-10 days followed by subcutaneous heparin until 6 weeks-8 weeks after delivery.

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