Current Landscape of Adoptive Cell Therapy and Challenge to Develop "Off-The-Shelf" Therapy for Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

Adoptive cell therapy (ACT) is a type of immunotherapy in which autologous or allogeneic immune cells, such as tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes or engineered lymphocytes, are infused into patients with cancer to eliminate malignant cells. Recently, autologous T cells modified to express a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) targeting CD19 showed a positive response in clinical studies for hematologic malignancies and have begun to be used in clinical practice. This article discusses the current status and promise of ACT research in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), focusing on challenges in off-the-shelf ACT using primary cells or induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) with or without genetic engineering.

Anti-Müllerian hormone regulates ovarian granulosa cell growth in PCOS rats through SMAD4.

Objective: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a diverse condition with an unknown cause. The precise mechanism underlying ovulatory abnormalities in PCOS remains unclear. It is widely believed that malfunction of granulosa cells is the primary factor contributing to aberrant follicular formation in PCOS.

Intraoperative initial intracranial pressure demonstrates high diagnostic efficacy for postoperative intestinal mucosal barrier dysfunction following severe traumatic brain injury.

Objective: To investigate the risk factors and their diagnostic efficacy for postoperative intestinal mucosal barrier dysfunction (IBD) following severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI).

Methods: There were 140 patients with sTBI enrolled in this study. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the relationship between the clinical data and postoperative IBD in sTBI patients and determine the independent risk factors.

Insurance-Based Disparities in Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy Following Heart Transplantation Are Mediated by Care at High Volume Centers.

Background: Socioeconomic disadvantage and Medicaid insurance have been linked with inferior survival following heart transplantation, yet the contributing mechanisms remain to be elucidated. We evaluated the association of Medicaid with the development of cardiac allograft vasculopathy(CAV).

Methods: We considered heart transplant recipients ≥18years within the 2004-2022 Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network.

The moderating and mediating role of the placenta in the association between prenatal exposure to air pollutants and birth weight: A twin study.

Prenatal exposure to air pollution has been linked to lower birth weight, yet the role of the placenta in this association is often overlooked. This study investigates whether placental characteristics act as moderators or mediators in the association between prenatal exposure to particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen dioxide (NO) and birth weight in twins. The study included 3340 twins (born 2002-2013) from the East Flanders Prospective Twin Survey.

Urchin-like magnetic nanoparticles loaded with type X collagen siRNA and Stattic to treat triple negative breast cancer under rotating magnetic field like an "enchanted micro-scalpel".

Magnetic nanoparticles effectively target drug delivery, contrast agents, biosensors, and more. Urchin-like magnetic nanoparticles (UMN) with abundant spike-like structures exhibit superior magneto-mechanical force to destroy tumor cells compared with other shapes of magnetic nanoparticles. However, when cell contents are released from tumor cells induced by magneto-mechanical force, they can act on surrounding tumor cells to facilitate tumor development.

Pelagic shark intestine as a potential temporary sink for plastic and non-plastic particles.

Highly migratory pelagic sharks have the potential to serve as carriers of particle contamination in a vast three-dimensional space. We investigate the occurrence, abundance and characteristics of plastic and non-plastic particles in the scroll intestine of the blue shark (Prionace glauca), one of the most abundant pelagic shark species worldwide. We detected both plastic and non-plastic particles in all sections of the intestine, with the posterior region exhibiting the highest concentration.

Genetically engineered bacteria expressing IL-34 alleviate DSS-induced experimental colitis by promoting tight junction protein expression in intestinal mucosal epithelial cells.

Background: The intestinal mucosa of ulcerative colitis patients expresses high levels of interleukin 34, and mice lacking IL-34 have more severe DSS-induced experimental colitis. There are no studies on the effects of directly upregulating intestinal IL-34 on experimental colitis in mice.

Methods: The bacteria EcN/CSF-1 and EcN/IL-34, which express CSF-1 and IL-34, respectively, were genetically engineered from Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 (EcN).

Constructing oxygen vacancies in Cu-doped MnO by a quenching strategy for boosting the catalytic oxidation of toluene.

Here, a quenching strategy was developed to create oxygen vacancies in Cu doped α-MnO. The evolutions of oxygen vacancies were directly followed by means of XRD refinement, EPR and XPS. In combination with DFT calculations and detailed characterizations, evidence is captured that oxygen vacancies not only act as direct sites for the adsorption and activation of gaseous oxygen and toluene, but also accelerate the consumption and replenishment cycle of lattice oxygen species by weakening the strength of metal-oxygen bonds.

The Impact of Data Control and Delayed Discounting on the Public's Willingness to Share Different Types of Health Care Data: Empirical Study.

Background: Health data typically include patient-generated data and clinical medical data. Different types of data contribute to disease prevention, precision medicine, and the overall improvement of health care. With the introduction of regulations such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), individuals play a key role in the sharing and application of personal health data.

Assessment of the association between coronary artery blockage and periodontal health status in patients undergoing coronary angiography: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Growing evidence suggests a potential link between periodontal disease and the development of atherosclerosis, positioning periodontal disease as a possible risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). This study aimed to evaluate periodontal status in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) by measuring the Periodontal Inflamed Surface Area (PISA) score in individuals undergoing coronary angiography.

Material And Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 300 patients scheduled for coronary angiography at K.

Barriers and facilitators of bystander intervention in response to racism in Colombia.

Racial discrimination is a pervasive global problem. Bystanders who observe racism can intervene to support the targets of racism, but they often fail to do so due to several context-specific barriers. There is currently little research on bystander behaviour in racism outside of English-speaking countries.

A phylogenetic approach to delimitate species in a probabilistic way.

Different species concepts and their associated criteria have been used to delimit species boundaries, such as the absence of gene flow for the biological species concept and the presence of morphological distinction for the morphological species concept. The need for different delimitation criteria largely reflects the fact that species are generated under various speciation mechanisms. A key question is how to make species delimitation consistent in a species group, especially when we want to delimit the species boundaries over many newly discovered evolutionary lineages and add these new lineages into a comparative analysis.

Blood-based epigenome-wide association study and prediction of alcohol consumption.

Alcohol consumption is an important risk factor for multiple diseases. It is typically assessed via self-report, which is open to measurement error through recall bias. Instead, molecular data such as blood-based DNA methylation (DNAm) could be used to derive a more objective measure of alcohol consumption by incorporating information from cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) sites known to be linked to the trait.

Extracellular vesicles from pancreatic cancer and its tumour microenvironment promote increased Schwann cell migration.

Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) exhibits a high frequency of neural invasion (NI). Schwann cells (SCs) have been shown to be reprogrammed to facilitate cancer cell migration and invasion into nerves. Since extracellular vesicles (EVs) affect the tumour microenvironment and promote metastasis, the present study analysed the involvement of EVs from pancreatic cancer cells and their microenvironment in altering SC phenotype as part of the early events in the process of NI.

Metallic nanoparticles biodistribution for the study of lymphoma in animal models.

T cell lymphoma constitutes a complex group of diseases, characterized by heterogeneous molecular features and clinical symptoms, and a dismal outcome no matter the therapeutic strategy chosen. In an attempt to improve patients' survival chances, treatment combinations (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, immunotherapy, gene therapy and thermotherapy) have been tested for their synergistic effects that may dramatically improve outcomes and reduce the side effects of each single modality treatment when therapeutic effects add up while side effects are distributed. In this context, nanoscale drug delivery agents have been developed and exploited to enhance the release of drugs in the treatment of several diseases, showing potential benefits in terms of pharmaceutical flexibility, selectivity, dose reduction and minimization of adverse effects.

Reduction in bacterial culture positivity rates at a human milk bank facility of a tertiary care hospital: a quality improvement initiative.

Background: Human milk banks (HMBs) offer the best feed for neonates after mother's own milk (MOM), especially when MOM is insufficient. Although HMBs are founded on standard protocols, contamination and wastage of milk due to positive milk cultures remain a problem. Present study was planned as a quality improvement (QI) initiative to reduce culture rates at the HMB.

Introducing and establishing birth companionship in labour ward of a tertiary care centre in North India: a quality improvement journey through and beyond COVID-19 pandemic.

Background: Allowing a birth companion is the basic right of a mother and is identified as an important component of respectful maternity care. The implementation of this intervention has been a challenge in heavy-load public health facilities in India.

Local Problem: Despite the proven benefits of the presence of birth companions on maternal-fetal outcomes, there was no policy of allowing birth companions in our hospital.

New potential susceptibility factors contributing to tomato bacterial spot disease.

The label-free shotgun proteomics analysis carried out in this study aimed to understand the molecular mechanisms that contribute towards tomato susceptibility to Xanthomonas euvesicatoria pv. perforans (Xep). To achieve this, comparative proteomics was performed on susceptible inoculated plants with the bacterium and the control group (saline solution) at 24 and 48 h after inoculation (hai).

Placental PFAS concentrations are associated with perturbations of placental DNA methylation.

The placenta is crucial for fetal development, is affected by PFAS toxicity, and evidence is accumulating that gestational PFAS perturb the epigenetic activity of the placenta. Gestational PFAS exposure can adversely affect offspring, yet individual and cumulative impacts of PFAS on the placental epigenome remain underexplored. Here, we conducted an epigenome-wide association study (EWAS) to examine the relationships between placental PFAS levels and DNA methylation in a cohort of mother-infant dyads in Arkansas (N=151).

Small forest patches and landscape-scale fragmentation exacerbate forest fire prevalence in Amazonia.

Over recent decades, forest fire prevalence has increased throughout the tropics, necessitating improved understanding of the landscape-scale drivers of fire occurrence. Here, we use MapBiomas land-cover and fire scar data to evaluate relationships between forest fragmentation, land-use, and forest fire prevalence in a typically consolidated Amazonian agricultural frontier: Portal da Amazonia, Mato Grosso, Brazil. Using zero-/zero-one-inflated Beta regressions, we investigate effects of forest patch (area, shape, surrounding forest cover) and landscape-scale variables (forest edge length, land-cover composition) on forest fire occurrence and density between 1985 and 2021.

The endothelial surface layer-glycocalyx - Universal nano-infrastructure is fundamental to physiology, cell traffic and a complementary neural network.

The glycocalyx and its associated endothelial surface layer which lines all cell membranes and most tissues, dwarfs the phospholipid membrane of cells in extent. Its major components are sulphated polymers like heparan and chondroitin sulphates and hyaluronic acid. These form a fuzzy layer of unknown structure and function.

Integrated metabolomics and mass spectrometry imaging analysis reveal the efficacy and mechanism of Huangkui capsule on type 2 diabetic nephropathy.

Background: Huangkui capsule (HKC), a Chinese patent medicine, is clinically used for treating diabetic nephropathy. However, the core disease-specific biomarkers and targets of type 2 diabetic nephropathy (T2DN) and the therapeutic mechanism of HKC are not fully elucidated.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the therapeutic effects and underlying molecular mechanisms of HKC for T2DN.

Health effects of occupational exposure to jet fuels used in the military: A systematic review of the epidemiologic literature.

Background: Jet fuels are a common chemical exposure in occupational settings involving aircraft. Jet fuels are heterogeneous mixtures of aromatic and aliphatic hydrocarbons, as well as non-hydrocarbon performance additives. Several components of jet fuels have been linked to adverse health outcomes.

Evidence-based recommendations for partners and friends of adult survivors of child sexual abuse.

Background: Adult disclosure of child sexual abuse (CSA) is often addressed to partners and friends. The risk of negative reactions is high due to the stigma associated with CSA, however receiving social support is a protective factor. Therefore, educating the environment on how to face disclosure becomes crucial.