Utilizing Automated Cognitive Testing Systems (ACTS) with group-housed nonhuman primates offers a number of advantages over manual testing and computerized testing of singly housed subjects. To date, ACTS usage has been limited to great apes or African monkeys. Here, we detail what we have learned while implementing ACTS with socially housed squirrel monkeys and rhesus macaques and provide information about the training process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRegulatory T cells (T) are critical players of immune tolerance that develop in the thymus via two distinct developmental pathways involving CD25Foxp3 and CD25Foxp3 precursors. However, the mechanisms regulating the recently identified Foxp3 precursor pathway remain unclear. Here, we find that the membrane-bound lymphotoxin αβ (LTαβ) heterocomplex is upregulated during T development upon TCR/CD28 and IL-2 stimulation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPeripheral CD8 T cell number is tightly controlled but the precise molecular mechanism regulating this process is still not fully understood. In this study, we found that epilepsy patients with loss of function mutation of DEPDC5 had reduced peripheral CD8 T cells, and DEPDC5 expression positively correlated with tumor-infiltrating CD8 T cells as well as overall cancer patient survival, indicating that DEPDC5 may control peripheral CD8 T cell homeostasis. Significantly, mice with T cell-specific Depdc5 deletion also had reduced peripheral CD8 T cells and impaired anti-tumor immunity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnderprioritization of mental health is a global problem and threatens the decades-long progress of the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program. In recent years, mental health has become globally recognized as a part of universal healthcare, making this an opportune moment for the global community to integrate mental health services into routine programming. PEPFAR is well positioned to lead by example.
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