Publications by authors named "Thomas Kelly"

Members of the genus including Jurona virus (JURV) have emerged as promising immunotherapeutic agents, characterized by their tumor selectivity, fast kinetics, low seroprevalence, and minimal toxicity in humans. Here, we demonstrate that the administration of JURV leads to tumor regression in both hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) xenograft and syngeneic models. Furthermore, our findings indicate that combining JURV and anti-PD-1 therapy reduced tumor burden and improved survival rates over JURV or anti-PD-1 alone in an orthotopic HCC model.

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The accumulation of GluA2-lacking Ca-permeable AMPARs (CP-AMPARs) in the medium spiny neurons (MSNs) of the nucleus accumbens (NAc) is required for the expression of incubation of cocaine craving. The exchange protein directly activated by cAMP (Epac) is an intracellular effector of cAMP and a guanine nucleotide exchange factor for the small GTPase Rap1. Epac2 has been implicated in the trafficking of AMPA receptors at central synapses.

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  • New variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus are showing up quickly because of changes in their genes, especially in a part called the spike protein, which helps the virus escape our immune system.
  • So far, the vaccines we've been using to protect against COVID-19, like Bimervax®, are still helping keep people safe from new strains, especially from those that cause milder sickness.
  • Scientists are studying how well Bimervax® can boost our immune responses against different versions of the virus, showing that it works against both serious and less serious variants.
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A main, yet-unsolved challenge in splicing hollow-core fiber (HCF) into standard single-mode fiber (SMF) systems lies in managing the strong Fresnel back-reflection that occurs when the light travels from the empty core of the HCF into the glass core of the SMF or vice versa. This impacts the performance of fiber systems that combine SMFs and HCFs due to effects such as multipath interference. Here, we demonstrate a new technique that combines angle-cleaving the HCF, which reduces the back-reflection, with offset-splicing the mode-field adapter to the SMF, which compensates for the refraction at the glass-air interface, enabling us to achieve low coupling loss.

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  • About 25% of people with a type of pancreatic cancer called PDAC can't have surgery or have advanced stages, and treatments like chemotherapy and radiation haven't worked well for them.
  • Removing these tumors is hard because of their size and how they connect to nearby blood vessels.
  • A new treatment using special viruses could help by breaking down tough parts of the tumor, allowing better access for other treatments and possibly making the tumors smaller.
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  • A study looked at people with sciatica to see how many reported leg weakness and how many actually showed weakness when checked by doctors.
  • Most of the patients (85%) said they had weakness, but only 34% showed it when tested.
  • The difference in what people reported and what doctors observed might be influenced by how bad their leg pain was and their age.
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  • * Scientists studied the DNA found in nematodes’ mitochondria (which is like their energy factory) to learn about how they have changed and adapted to different environments and diets, especially since some are parasites.
  • * The study found that while nematodes have some common traits, there are also big differences between them, and these differences can help us understand how they evolve and survive in changing conditions.
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  • The study aimed to understand how certain tiny molecules called microRNAs (miRNAs) are connected to a condition called Primary Hyperparathyroidism (PHPT), which affects bones.
  • They looked at women who have PHPT and compared their miRNA levels to women who do not have this condition.
  • The researchers found 9 specific miRNAs that were different in people with PHPT, and these were linked to parathyroid hormone levels, which plays a role in how bones are remodeled, but they did not strongly relate to bone density.
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The Line Height Absorption (LHA) method uses absorption of light to estimate chlorophyll-a. While most users consider regional variability and apply corrections, the effect of temporal variability is typically not explored. The Northern Gulf of Alaska (NGA) was selected for this study because there was no published regional value and its large swings in temporal productivity would make it a good candidate to evaluate the effect of temporal variability on the relationship.

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When a hollow core fiber is drawn, the core and cladding holes within the internal cane geometry are pressurized with an inert gas to enable precise control over the internal microstructure of the fiber and counteract surface tension forces. Primarily by considering the temperature drop as the fiber passes through the furnace and the geometrical transformation of the internal microstructure from preform-to-fiber, we recently established that the gas pressure within the final 'as-drawn' fiber is substantially below atmospheric pressure. We have also established that slight changes in the gas refractive index within the core and surrounding cladding holes induced by changes in gas pressure are sufficient to significantly affect both the modality and loss of the fiber.

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  • Scientists are trying to understand how light gets bumpy (called "optical turbulence") in a lab, but it's hard to control the right conditions.
  • They used special experiments with water tanks to create these conditions and measured how the light changes when it passes through.
  • Their findings show that the bumps in light can be predicted and follow certain mathematical patterns, which helps understand how to improve things like cameras and communication devices.
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  • Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women and can be deadly, especially a type called triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).
  • Scientists found 3 new compounds that can effectively fight TNBC cells, even those that don't respond to current treatments.
  • Their research also discovered how these compounds work on cancer cells and identified new proteins that are important for TNBC cells to survive, which could help improve treatments in the future.
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  • Pediatric cavum cysts are rare brain conditions that are tricky to treat, and there aren't clear guidelines on how to manage them.
  • Researchers looked through articles from the last 10 years and reviewed their own cases involving 19 patients, making it the largest group studied so far.
  • They found mixed information in the articles and suggested that more big studies need to happen to create better treatment plans for kids with these cysts.
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Objectives: Pseudohypoaldosteronism type 1A (PHA1A) is caused by haploinsufficiency of the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR). Heterozygous small insertions/deletions, transitions, and/or transversions within NR3C2 comprise the majority (85%-90%) of pathogenic copy number variants. Structural chromosomal abnormalities, contiguous gene deletion syndromes, and microdeletions are infrequent.

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  • Cell line development (CLD) is a complicated but important process for creating biological drugs.
  • A group called BioPhorum conducted surveys with 27 members from different companies to understand how CLD works.
  • They looked at three main stages of CLD: preparing for the process, introducing vectors into cells, and selecting the best single cells, gathering a lot of information about the time and effort needed for creating these cell lines.
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  • Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are germs that can cause serious infections in both kids and adults, especially in people with weak immune systems.
  • In this study, scientists looked at a special protein called CBLB that helps the immune system fight off NTM infections in mice.
  • They discovered that CBLB is important for stopping the spread of these germs by helping the body form a defense structure called granuloma, which helps fight off the infection.
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  • Cancer cells don’t just grow alone; they interact a lot with the cells and stuff around them, called the microenvironment.
  • How these interactions work can affect how fast the tumor grows and how well treatments work.
  • Understanding this relationship can help doctors predict how a patient's treatment might go and their chances of recovery.
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Purpose: Gastric cancer is the 5th most common malignancy worldwide. As early detection increases and treatments for gastric cancer improve, the number of gastric cancer survivors grows.

Methods: Here, we review the diagnosis and management of gastric cancer and discuss important considerations for gastric cancer survivorship including cancer surveillance, weight loss, malnutrition, fatigue, specific complications related to surgery and radiation, quality of life in gastric cancer survivorship, health behavior, and models of survivorship.

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  • Scientists created a special arm help device for people who had a stroke and had trouble using their arms.
  • The device can be controlled in different ways, like with movements, a joystick, or voice commands, and helps users do everyday tasks.
  • All the people who used the device reported they could do things better and felt happier about their daily activities after using it.
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  • Researchers created a new way to measure body composition (like fat and muscle) using special technology and methods to make it easier and more accurate.
  • They tested this new model on a group of adults and found that it worked well, showing similar results to the older, more complicated methods.
  • The new method was also tested again with a different group and confirmed to be reliable, meaning it can help people keep track of changes in their body composition over time.
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  • Athletes can have different levels of hydration which can make it hard to measure their body composition accurately and track their strength progress.
  • The Da Kine Study tested different methods to measure body composition in athletes, including underwater-weighing and X-ray scans, to see which worked best despite hydration differences.
  • The study found that some methods like air-displacement and X-ray were quite accurate in measuring body fat and muscle mass, and stronger athletes tended to have higher muscle mass according to these measurements.
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  • Pulmonary fibrosis (PF) is a lung disease that makes it hard to breathe and can be life-threatening.
  • Scientists discovered that certain mice (Ifngr1Rag2) that lack a key suppressor for immune cells called ILC2 can develop PF on their own.
  • The study shows that these ILC2 cells produce a protein that makes fibroblasts (cells that help with tissue repair) create too much collagen, causing the lungs to become stiff and fibrous.
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Arkansas has a high cancer burden, and a pressing need exists for more medical students to pursue oncology as a career. The Partnership in Cancer Research (PCAR) program provides a summer research experience at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences for 12 medical students who have completed their first year of medical training. A majority of participants spend time pursuing cancer research in basic science, clinical, or community-based research.

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  • Chronic cocaine use changes how certain brain cells react, making rats more motivated to seek the drug.
  • In a part of the brain called the VTA, specific channels that help manage cell activity (HCN channels) behave differently after cocaine is used for a long time.
  • Blocking these HCN channels in the VTA reduces how much the rats want to take cocaine, indicating that these channels play a big role in drug cravings.
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