Potentiating the effect of immunotherapy in pancreatic cancer using gas-entrapping materials.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) show limited success in treating pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC), largely due to immune evasion mechanisms, including downregulating expression of major histocompatibility complex class I (MHC-I). Our retrospective analysis demonstrated that smoking - a state of elevated CO exposure - is correlated with increased MHC I expression in pancreatic tumors. Here we tested our hypothesis that introducing exogenous CO augments the anti-cancer effects of immunotherapy.

Variations and Opportunities in Postnatal Management of Hemolytic Disease of the Fetus and Newborn.

Importance: Preventive efforts in pregnancy-related alloimmunization have considerably decreased the prevalence of hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN). International studies are therefore essential to obtain a deeper understanding of the postnatal management and outcomes of HDFN. Taken together with numerous treatment options, large practice variations among centers may exist.

Bilirubin measurements in neonates: uniform neonatal treatment can only be achieved by improved standardization.

Measurement of total bilirubin (TBil) concentration in serum is the gold standard approach for diagnosing neonatal unconjugated hyperbilirubinemia. It is of utmost importance that the measured TBil concentration is sufficiently accurate to prevent under treatment, unnecessary escalation of care, or overtreatment. However, it is widely recognized that TBil measurements urgently require improvement in neonatal clinical chemistry.

Hypoxia-mediated repression of pyruvate carboxylase drives immunosuppression.

Background: Metabolic plasticity mediates breast cancer survival, growth, and immune evasion during metastasis. However, how tumor cell metabolism is influenced by and feeds back to regulate breast cancer progression are not fully understood. We identify hypoxia-mediated suppression of pyruvate carboxylase (PC), and subsequent induction of lactate production, as a metabolic regulator of immunosuppression.

Low-Cost, High-Pressure-Synthesized Oxygen-Entrapping Materials to Improve Treatment of Solid Tumors.

Tumor hypoxia drives resistance to many cancer therapies, including radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Methods that increase tumor oxygen pressures, such as hyperbaric oxygen therapy and microbubble infusion, are utilized to improve the responses to current standard-of-care therapies. However, key obstacles remain, in particular delivery of oxygen at the appropriate dose and with optimal pharmacokinetics.

Femtosecond inscription of large-area fiber Bragg gratings for high-power cladding pump reflection.

A new, to the best of our knowledge, method for inscribing fiber Bragg gratings inside a fiber's cladding based on the motorized rotation of the fiber is reported. By minimizing the aberrations induced by the fiber curvature on the femtosecond writing beam, this technique based on a phase mask allows to cover large transverse areas of a standard high-power fiber's cladding. With this approach, a first-order Bragg grating was inscribed in the pure-silica inner cladding of a 20/400-µm fiber.

Contribution to Mediterranean medieval dietary studies: Stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data of marine and catadromous fish from Provence (9th-14th CE).

Whilst marine resources are one of the pillars of the Mediterranean diet, their mode of acquisition and subsequent consumption by medieval populations in southern France are still not well known. Throughout Europe, bioarchaeological techniques, however, are beginning to reveal hitherto unknown aspects of these practices both dating to the medieval period as well as other periods of history and prehistory. This study involved the stable isotope analysis of five marine and catadromous taxa from three medieval sites in Provence, France: "rue Frédéric Mistral" at Fos-sur-Mer, "le Château" at Hyères and "Couvent des Dominicaines - Parking/Collège Mignet" at Aix-en-Provence.

Perinatal risk factors associated with severity of haemolytic disease of the foetus and newborn due to Rhc maternal-foetal incompatibility: A retrospective cohort study.

Background And Objectives: Anti-c is the third red blood cell antibody responsible for haemolytic disease of the foetus and newborn (HDFN) requiring intrauterine transfusion. We aimed to identify risk factors associated with HDFN and severe HDFN due to Rhc maternal-foetal incompatibility.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective cohort study was conducted in Paris and the surrounding area (France), between 2013 and 2015.

Checkpoint blockade accelerates a novel switch from an NKT-driven TNFα response toward a T cell driven IFN-γ response within the tumor microenvironment.

Background: The temporal response to checkpoint blockade (CB) is incompletely understood. Here, we profiled the tumor infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) landscape in response to combination checkpoint blockade at two distinct timepoints of solid tumor growth.

Methods: C57BL/6 mice bearing subcutaneous MC38 tumors were treated with anti-PD-1 and/or anti-CTLA-4 antibodies.

Inducible Tertiary Lymphoid Structures: Promise and Challenges for Translating a New Class of Immunotherapy.

Tertiary lymphoid structures (TLS) are ectopically formed aggregates of organized lymphocytes and antigen-presenting cells that occur in solid tissues as part of a chronic inflammation response. Sharing structural and functional characteristics with conventional secondary lymphoid organs (SLO) including discrete T cell zones, B cell zones, marginal zones with antigen presenting cells, reticular stromal networks, and high endothelial venues (HEV), TLS are prominent centers of antigen presentation and adaptive immune activation within the periphery. TLS share many signaling axes and leukocyte recruitment schemes with SLO regarding their formation and function.

Multidisciplinary management of anti-PP1P or anti-P alloimmunization during pregnancy: A new case with anti-P and a literature review.

Background: Red blood cell alloimmunization is the first cause of fetal and neonatal anemia. Alloimmunizations with anti-PP1P or anti-P can cause recurrent miscarriages and hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn in the 2nd and 3rd trimesters of pregnancy. We report on a pregnant patient immunized with anti-P and a history of recurrent miscarriages.

Effect of intravenous immunoglobulins to postpone the gestational age of first intrauterine transfusion in very severe red blood cell alloimmunization: A case-control study.

Background: Early intrauterine transfusion (IUT) is associated with a higher risk of fetal loss. Our objective was to evaluate the efficiciency of intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) to postpone the gestational age at first IUT beyond 20 weeks of gestation (WG) compared to the previous pregnancy in case of very severe red blood cell (RBC) alloimmunization.

Study Design And Methods: Very severe RBC alloimmunization was defined by a high titer of antibodies and a previous pregnancy complicated by a first IUT before 24 WG and/or perinatal death directly related to alloimmunization.

Impact of early ICU admission on outcome of critically ill and critically ill cancer patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: Prognostic impact of early ICU admission remains controversial. The aim of this review was to investigate the impact of early ICU admission in the general ICU population and in critically ill cancer patients and to report level of evidences of this later.

Methods: Systematic review and meta-analysis performed on articles published between 1970 and 2017.

High-Dimensional Flow Cytometry Analysis of Regulatory Receptors on Human T Cells, NK Cells, and NKT Cells.

The field of flow cytometry has witnessed rapid technological advancements in the last few decades. While the founding principles of fluorescent detection on cells (or particles) within a uniform fluid stream remains largely unchanged, the availability more sensitive cytometers with the ability to multiplex more and more florescent signals has resulted in very complex high-order assays. This results in the co-use of fluorophores with increased levels of emission overlap and/or spillover spreading than in years past and thus requires careful and well thought out planning for flow cytometry assay development.

[Analytical and clinical guidelines on neonatal bilirubinemia].

The SFBC-CNBH-CNRHP "Neonatal bilirubin" working group performed a biological and clinical study on bilirubin use in neonates for reliable diagnosis and appropriate management of neonatal jaundice. A brief report of a national survey on analytical and biological practices in France is shown. The guidelines of the French Society of Neonatology (SFN) founded the decision of phototherapy set up upon an accurate lab measurement of total serum bilirubin.

Reduced fetal movement during pregnancy: Is the Kleihauer-Betke test really useful?

Introduction: Reduced fetal movement (rFM) is a frequent cause of consultation during the pregnancy and can reveal feto-maternal hemorrhage (FMH) that is sometimes responsible of severe fetal anemia. Our primary objective was to evaluate the contribution of the KBT in case of rFM. Our secondary objective was to compare it with ultrasound examination including peak systolic velocity of the middle cerebral artery (MCA-PSV) to predict neonatal anemia.

Cereblon harnesses Myc-dependent bioenergetics and activity of CD8+ T lymphocytes.

Immunomodulatory drugs, such as thalidomide and related compounds, potentiate T-cell effector functions. Cereblon (CRBN), a substrate receptor of the DDB1-cullin-RING E3 ubiquitin ligase complex, is the only molecular target for this drug class, where drug-induced, ubiquitin-dependent degradation of known "neosubstrates," such as IKAROS, AIOLOS, and CK1α, accounts for their biological activity. Far less clear is whether these CRBN E3 ligase-modulating compounds disrupt the endogenous functions of CRBN.

Prehospital triage of acute aortic syndrome using a machine learning algorithm.

Background: Acute aortic syndrome (AAS) comprises a complex and potentially fatal group of conditions requiring emergency specialist management. The aim of this study was to build a prediction algorithm to assist prehospital triage of AAS.

Methods: Details of consecutive patients enrolled in a regional specialist aortic network were collected prospectively.