[Corneal donation and anticipatory care in palliative care].

Until now, the early approach of palliative care patients for corneal harvesting has been unheard of in France. At the Centre Hospitalier Intercommunal de Villeneuve-Saint-Georges Lucie-et-Raymond-Aubrac, in the Val-de-Marne region of France, we offer a rigorous and respectful procedure and organization for patients who have been carefully selected for an early approach to donation.

Elevated CYP1A expression detected in pinfish collected from a coastal lagoon in the southern Texas Gulf Coast: indicative of exposure to microplastics or pollutants?

The marine environment is increasingly polluted by anthropogenic wastes, notably plastic debris. This debris breaks down into smaller pieces, known as microplastics. When consumed by marine organisms, microplastics cause various physiological effects.

Assessment of packed bed bioreactor systems in the production of viral vaccines.

Vaccination is believed to be the most effective method for the prevention of infectious diseases. Thus it is imperative to develop cost effective and scalable process for the production of vaccines so as to make them affordable for mass use. In this study, performance of a novel disposable iCELLis fixed bed bioreactor system was investigated for the production of some viral vaccines like Rabies, Hepatitis-A and Chikungunya vaccines in comparison to conventional systems like the commercially available packed bed system and roller bottle system.

Human cognitive performance in a 3 mT power-line frequency magnetic field.

Extremely low frequency (ELF, <300 Hz) magnetic fields (MF) have been reported to modulate cognitive performance in humans. However, little research exists with MF exposures comparable to the highest levels experienced in occupations like power line workers and industrial welders. This research aims to evaluate the impact of a 60 Hz, 3 mT MF on human cognitive performance.

Exposure to IL-15 and IL-21 enables autoreactive CD8 T cells to respond to weak antigens and cause disease in a mouse model of autoimmune diabetes.

Autoreactive CD8(+) T lymphocytes play a key role in the pathogenesis of several autoimmune diseases. It is not yet well understood how autoreactive CD8(+) T cells, which express TCRs with low reactivity toward self-Ags, gain the ability to respond to autoantigens to cause disease. Previously, we have shown that prior stimulation of CD8(+) T cells with synergistic combinations of cytokines produced by the innate immune response, such as IL-21 and IL-15, induces Ag-independent proliferation.

Regulation of cytokine-driven functional differentiation of CD8 T cells by suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 controls autoimmunity and preserves their proliferative capacity toward foreign antigens.

We have previously shown that naive CD8 T cells exposed to IL-7 or IL-15 in the presence of IL-21 undergo Ag-independent proliferation with concomitant increase in TCR sensitivity. In this study, we examined whether CD8 T cells that accumulate in suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 (SOCS1)-deficient mice because of increased IL-15 signaling in vivo would respond to an autoantigen expressed at a very low level using a mouse model of autoimmune diabetes. In this model, P14 TCR transgenic CD8 T cells (P14 cells) adoptively transferred to rat insulin promoter-glycoprotein (RIP-GP) mice, which express the cognate Ag in the islets, do not induce diabetes unless the donor cells are stimulated by exogenous Ag.

Cytokine synergy in antigen-independent activation and priming of naive CD8+ T lymphocytes.

Activation of naive T cells by antigen requires signaling via the T-cell receptor (TCR) and co-stimulatory receptors. However, in response to homeostatic pressure, T lymphocytes undergo cytokine-driven proliferation without overt antigen stimulation. Homeostatic expansion is more pronounced in the CD8+ T-cell compartment, with memory CD8+ T cells showing intense proliferation resulting from increased responsiveness to IL-15.

A non-randomised dose-escalating phase II study of thalidomide for the treatment of patients with low-risk myelodysplastic syndromes: the Thal-SMD-2000 trial of the Groupe Français des Myélodysplasies.

Patients (n=47) with low-risk myelodysplastic syndrome were treated with thalidomide [200 mg/d, increased by 200 mg/d/4 weeks up to week 16]. Responses were evaluated according to the International Working Group criteria at week 16 for 39 patients who received at least 8 weeks of treatment. Twenty-three (59%) patients showed haematological improvement (HI): four major erythroid response (HI-EM), 15 minor erythroid response, six major neutrophil response, two major platelet response.

Health, economic, and quality-of-life effects of erythropoietin and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor for the treatment of myelodysplastic syndromes: a randomized, controlled trial.

In myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), anemia responds to recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) alone and in combination with recombinant human granulocyte-colony-stimulating factor (rHuGCSF) in 10% to 20% and in 35% to 40% of patients, respectively. We randomly divided 60 patients with low-grade anemic MDS and serum EPO levels lower than 500 IU/L (500 mU/mL) into 2 groups: rHuEPO + rHuG-CSF (arm A) and supportive care (arm B). After 12 weeks, those who had erythroid responses were given rHuEPO alone for 40 additional weeks.

Role of abnormal neutral endopeptidase-like activities in Hyp mouse bone cells in renal phosphate transport.

We investigated whether the absence of Phex (phosphate-regulating gene with homologies to endopeptidases on the X chromosome) in the Hyp mouse affects the expression and activity of neprilysin (NEP) and of endothelin-converting enzyme-like endopeptidase (ECEL1/DINE) in bone marrow stromal cells (BMSC) and osteoblasts (Ob). Total NEP-like activity was higher in Ob than in BMSC regardless of genotype, and Hyp cells showed higher activities than normal. Conditioned media (CM) from Hyp BMSC and Ob inhibited inorganic phosphate (P(i)) uptake by mouse proximal tubule cells, and incubating Hyp Ob with phosphoramidon prevented the production of the inhibitor of renal P(i) uptake.