A study of sheep scab in Northern Ireland including detection and identifying barriers to control.

Background: Sheep scab, caused by the highly infectious mite, is considered to be endemic in Northern Ireland, although little investigation has been reported. A pilot project was undertaken to engage farmers, confirm cases with diagnostic methods and identify specific barriers to control, with the aim of informing future control programmes.

Methods: Through farmers self-reporting suspected outbreaks, on-farm risk assessments and clinical investigations were carried out by the farm's veterinary surgeon, who utilised light microscopy and serological testing to diagnose scab.

Deciphering Colorectal Cancer-Hepatocyte Interactions: A Multiomic Platform for Interrogation of Metabolic Crosstalk in the Liver-Tumor Microenvironment.

Metabolic reprogramming is a hallmark of cancer, enabling tumor cells to adapt to and exploit their microenvironment for sustained growth. The liver is a common site of metastasis, but the interactions between tumor cells and hepatocytes remain poorly understood. In the context of liver metastasis, these interactions play a crucial role in promoting tumor survival and progression.

Dietary Restriction Enhances CD8 T Cell Ketolysis to Limit Exhaustion and Boost Anti-Tumor Immunity.

Reducing calorie intake without malnutrition limits tumor progression but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Here we show that dietary restriction (DR) suppresses tumor growth by enhancing CD8 T cell-mediated anti-tumor immunity. DR reshapes CD8 T cell differentiation within the tumor microenvironment (TME), promoting the development of effector T cell subsets while limiting the accumulation of exhausted T (Tex) cells, and synergizes with anti-PD1 immunotherapy to restrict tumor growth.

Measuring Research Capacity: Development of the PACER Tool.

Evaluating research activity in research departments and education programs is conventionally accomplished through measurement of research funding or bibliometrics. This limited perspective of research activity restricts a more comprehensive evaluation of a program's actual research capacity, ultimately hindering efforts to enhance and expand it. The objective of this study was to conduct a scoping review of the existing literature pertaining to the measurement of research productivity in research institutions.

A diet-dependent host metabolite shapes the gut microbiota to protect from autoimmunity.

Diet can protect from autoimmune disease; however, whether diet acts via the host and/or microbiome remains unclear. Here, we use a ketogenic diet (KD) as a model to dissect these complex interactions. A KD rescued the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mouse model of multiple sclerosis in a microbiota-dependent fashion.