SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with intestinal permeability, systemic inflammation, and microbial dysbiosis in hospitalized patients.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and its associated severity have been linked to uncontrolled inflammation and may be associated with changes in the microbiome of mucosal sites including the gastrointestinal tract and oral cavity. These sites play an important role in host-microbe homeostasis, and disruption of epithelial barrier integrity during COVID-19 may potentially lead to exacerbated inflammation and immune dysfunction. Outcomes in COVID-19 are highly disparate, ranging from asymptomatic to fatal, and the impact of microbial dysbiosis on disease severity is unclear.

Insight into the Internal Structure of High-Performance Multicore Magnetic Nanoparticles Used in Cancer Thermotherapy.

Multicore magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs), comprising iron oxide cores embedded in a sugar or starch matrix, are a class of nanomaterials with promising magnetic heating properties. Their internal structure, and particularly the strength of the internal core-core magnetic interactions, are believed to determine the functional properties, but there have been few detailed studies on this to date. We report here on an interlaboratory and multimodality transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and magnetic study of a high-performance MNP material (supplied by Resonant Circuits Limited, RCL) that is currently being used in a clinical study for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Improved tumour delivery of iron oxide nanoparticles for magnetic hyperthermia therapy of melanoma ultrasound guidance and In SPECT quantification.

Magnetic field hyperthermia relies on the intra-tumoural delivery of magnetic nanoparticles by interstitial injection, followed by their heating on exposure to a remotely-applied alternating magnetic field (AMF). This offers a potential sole or adjuvant route to treating drug-resistant tumours for which no alternatives are currently available. However, two challenges in nanoparticle delivery currently hinder the effective clinical translation of this technology: obtaining enough magnetic material within the tumour to enable sufficient heating; and doing this accurately to limit or avoid damage to surrounding healthy tissue.

Local Magnetic Hyperthermia and Systemic Gemcitabine/Paclitaxel Chemotherapy Triggers Neo-Angiogenesis in Orthotopic Pancreatic Tumors without Involvement of Auto/Paracrine Tumor Cell VEGF Signaling and Hypoxia.

There is a growing interest in exploring the therapeutically mediated modulation of tumor vascularization of pancreatic cancer, which is known for its poorly perfused tumor microenvironment limiting the delivery of therapeutic agents to the tumor site. Here, we assessed how magnetic hyperthermia in combination with chemotherapy selectively affects growth, the vascular compartment of tumors, and the presence of tumor cells expressing key regulators of angiogenesis. To that purpose, a orthotopic PANC-1 (fluorescent human pancreatic adenocarcinoma) mouse tumor model (Rj:Athym-Foxn1nu/nu) was used.

Initial productive and latent HIV infections originate in vivo by infection of resting T cells.

Productively infected cells are generally thought to arise from HIV infection of activated CD4+ T cells, and these infected activated cells are thought to be a recurring source of latently infected cells when a portion of the population transitions to a resting state. We discovered and report here that productively and latently infected cells can instead originate from direct infection of resting CD4+ T cell populations in lymphoid tissues in Fiebig I, the earliest stage of detectable HIV infection. We found that direct infection of resting CD4+ T cells was correlated with the availability of susceptible target cells in lymphoid tissues largely restricted to resting CD4+ T cells in which expression of pTEFb enabled productive infection, and we documented persistence of HIV-producing resting T cells during antiretroviral therapy (ART).