Comparative study of the methodologies used for subjective medical image quality assessment.

Healthcare professionals have been increasingly viewing medical images and videos in their routine clinical practice, and this in a wide variety of environments. Both the perception and interpretation of medical visual information, across all branches of practice or medical specialties (e.g.

The influence of gate start position on physical performance and anxiety perception in expert BMX athletes.

The critical importance of the start phase in bicycle motocross (BMX) racing is increasingly acknowledged. Past experiments underlined that the internal lane of the starting gate provides a strong positional advantage. However, how lane position affects start performance and cognitive and somatic state anxiety remains unexplored.

Autophagy and haematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) represents the only curative therapy for the majority of bone marrow-derived cancers. Unfortunately, HSCT can result in serious complications such as graft-versus-host disease, graft failure and infection. In the last decade, there have been major advances in the understanding of the role of autophagy in many diseases and cellular processes.

Feto-maternal allo-immunity, regulatory T cells and predisposition to auto-immunity. Does it all start in utero?

During gestation, maternal cells traffic to the fetus leading to the natural phenomenon of microchimerism. Although their persistence in offspring has been associated with several autoimmune disorders, the precise role of maternal cells in these disorders remains unclear. We aimed to evaluate whether alloreactive maternal T cells could directly trigger a graft-vs.

Cross-dressing by donor dendritic cells after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation contributes to formation of the immunological synapse and maximizes responses to indirectly presented antigen.

The stimulation of naive donor T cells by recipient alloantigen is central to the pathogenesis of graft-versus-host disease after bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Using mouse models of transplantation, we have observed that donor cells become "cross-dressed" in very high levels of recipient hematopoietic cell-derived MHC class I and II molecules following BMT. Recipient-type MHC is transiently present on donor dendritic cells (DCs) after BMT in the setting of myeloablative conditioning but is persistent after nonmyeloablative conditioning, in which recipient hematopoietic cells remain in high numbers.

Modification of T cell responses by stem cell mobilization requires direct signaling of the T cell by G-CSF and IL-10.

The majority of allogeneic stem cell transplants are currently undertaken using G-CSF mobilized peripheral blood stem cells. G-CSF has diverse biological effects on a broad range of cells and IL-10 is a key regulator of many of these effects. Using mixed radiation chimeras in which the hematopoietic or nonhematopoietic compartments were wild-type, IL-10(-/-), G-CSFR(-/-), or combinations thereof we demonstrated that the attenuation of alloreactive T cell responses after G-CSF mobilization required direct signaling of the T cell by both G-CSF and IL-10.

Selective organ specific inflammation in offspring harbouring microchimerism from strongly alloreactive mothers.

The origins of autoimmunity are not yet understood despite significant advances in immunology. The trafficking of maternal cells to the offspring represents the very first immunological event in foetal life and is reinforced during lactation. The persistence of maternal cells in offspring's tissues and circulation has been associated with several autoimmune disorders.

Induced regulatory T cells promote tolerance when stabilized by rapamycin and IL-2 in vivo.

Natural regulatory T cells (nTregs) play an important role in tolerance; however, the small numbers of cells obtainable potentially limit the feasibility of clinical adoptive transfer. Therefore, we studied the feasibility and efficacy of using murine-induced regulatory T cells (iTregs) for the induction of tolerance after bone marrow transplantation. iTregs could be induced in large numbers from conventional donor CD4 and CD8 T cells within 1 wk and were highly suppressive.

Promoting regulation via the inhibition of DNAM-1 after transplantation.

Donor T cells play pivotal roles in graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effects following bone marrow transplantation (BMT). DNAX accessory molecule 1 (DNAM-1) is a costimulatory and adhesion molecule, expressed mainly by natural killer cells and CD8(+) T cells at steady state to promote adhesion to ligand-expressing targets and enhance cytolysis. We have analyzed the role of this pathway in GVHD and GVL.

EphA3 maintains tumorigenicity and is a therapeutic target in glioblastoma multiforme.

Significant endeavor has been applied to identify functional therapeutic targets in glioblastoma (GBM) to halt the growth of this aggressive cancer. We show that the receptor tyrosine kinase EphA3 is frequently overexpressed in GBM and, in particular, in the most aggressive mesenchymal subtype. Importantly, EphA3 is highly expressed on the tumor-initiating cell population in glioma and appears critically involved in maintaining tumor cells in a less differentiated state by modulating mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling.

Can maternal microchimeric cells influence the fetal response toward self antigens?

The origins of autoimmunity are still elusive despite significant advances in immunology. There is cumulative evidence that, beyond simple genetics, the maternal environment plays a critical role in the development of common autoimmune disorders, such as multiple sclerosis or diabetes. In recent years, the trafficking of maternal cells to the offspring has been clearly demonstrated.

Human memory FOXP3+ Tregs secrete IL-17 ex vivo and constitutively express the T(H)17 lineage-specific transcription factor RORgamma t.

Recent studies have suggested a close relationship between CD4(+)FOXP3(+) regulatory T cells (Tregs) and proinflammatory IL-17-producing T helper cells (T(H)17) expressing the lineage-specific transcription factor RORgamma t. We report here the unexpected finding that human memory Tregs secrete IL-17 ex vivo and constitutively express RORgamma t. IL-17-secreting Tregs share some phenotypic and functional features with conventional T(H)17 cells, expressing high levels of CCR4 and CCR6 and low levels of CXCR3.

Interleukin 2-mediated conversion of ovarian cancer-associated CD4+ regulatory T cells into proinflammatory interleukin 17-producing helper T cells.

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is a highly inflammatory malignancy, characterized by the presence, at the tumor site, of regulatory T cells (Treg) that suppress antitumor immunity. Recently, a new lineage of CD4+ T cells producing the proinflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-17 [T helper (TH) 17] has been identified as a major player in some autoimmune diseases. The role of TH17 cells in cancer, however, and their relationship with coexisting Treg populations, whose differentiation is partially controlled by the same mediators (ie, transforming growth factor-beta), are yet unclear.

Efficient monocyte-derived dendritic cell generation in patients with acute myeloid leukemia after chemotherapy treatment: application to active immunotherapy.

Objective: While complete remission in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) can be achieved after chemotherapy (CT), relapses occur for the majority of patients, underlying the need to eliminate residual disease. Based on dendritic cell (DC) vaccination, the triggering of an immune response against residual leukemia cells after CT could maintain patients in remission. The aim of our study was to assess, for vaccine preparation, generation of monocyte-derived DCs in AML patients after CT.