Integrated Treatment at the First Stage: Increasing Motivation for Alcohol Patients with Comorbid Disorders during Inpatient Detoxification.

Aims: Co-occurring mental disorders can complicate the detoxification treatment process and outcome. The aim of this study is to examine whether a brief psychoeducational group counseling session during detoxification treatment can increase the motivation for and utilization of subsequent treatments.

Short Summary: Interventions increased utilization of post-detoxification treatment and reduced alcohol-related readmissions.

CD40-activated B cells induce anti-tumor immunity in vivo.

The introduction of checkpoint inhibitors represents a major advance in cancer immunotherapy. Some studies on checkpoint inhibition demonstrate that combinatorial immunotherapies with secondary drivers of anti-tumor immunity provide beneficial effects for patients that do not show a strong endogenous immune response. CD40-activated B cells (CD40B cells) are potent antigen presenting cells by activating and expanding naïve and memory CD4+ and CD8+ and homing to the secondary lymphoid organs.

and imaging of initial B-T-cell interactions in the setting of B-cell based cancer immunotherapy.

There has been a growing interest in the use of B cells for cancer vaccines, since they have yielded promising results in preclinical animal models. Contrary to dendritic cells (DCs), we know little about the migration behavior of B cells . Therefore, we investigated the interactions between CD40-activated B (CD40B) cells and cytotoxic T cells and the migration behavior of CD40B cells .

A multimerized form of recombinant human CD40 ligand supports long-term activation and proliferation of B cells.

Background Aims: CD40-activated B cells have long been studied as potent antigen-presenting cells that can potentially be used for cancer immunotherapy. Nevertheless, their use in human clinical trials has been limited by the lack of a Good Manufacturing Practice-grade soluble human CD40 ligand that is able to induce activation and proliferation of primary B cells. We describe an in vitro method to effectively generate and expand B cells through the use of a multimerized form of human recombinant CD40 ligand (rCD40L).

Impaired word stress pattern discrimination in very-low-birthweight infants during the first 6 months of life.

Prosodic information, such as word stress and speech rhythm, is important in language acquisition, and sensitivity to stress patterns is present from birth onwards. Exposure to prosodic properties of the native language occurs prenatally. Preterm birth and an associated lack of exposure to prosodic information are suspected to affect language acquisition in preterm infants.