A Video Surveillance System to Monitor Breeding Colonies of Common Terns (Sterna Hirundo)

This paper describes a protocol that uses a remote video monitoring surveillance system to continuously monitor breeding colonies of ground-nesting waterbirds. The system includes five cameras monitoring individual nests and one camera monitoring the colony as a whole, and is powered by car batteries that are recharged via solar panels.

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Axial Lumbar and Lumbosacral Interbody Fusion for Degenerative Spinal Conditions and Adult Deformity: Surgical Technique and Supporting Evidence

Publication date: Available online 22 July 2018

Source: Seminars in Spine Surgery

Author(s): Raj J. Gala, Peter G. Whang

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Protective Effects of Rhubarb in Rats with Acute Pancreatitis and the Role of Its Active Compound Rhein on Mitochondria of Exocrine Cells

Da-Cheng-Qi-Decoction (DCQD) has been used in the treatment of acute pancreatitis (AP) in China for many years. The aim of the current study was to examine the principal ingredient rhubarb of DCQD and its potential link to the pancreatic repair effects in rats with AP. The pancreatitis was induced in SD rats by intraperitoneal injections of cerulein. The results showed that rhubarb significantly increased blood perfusion of pancreatic tissue, reversed mitochondrial damage, and promoted pancreatic acinar and stellate cell proliferation. In addition, the rhein (from rhubarb) had high distribution in pancreas tissue and protected mitochondria in AR42J cells via the activation of PI3K/AKT/mTOR signaling pathway and activity inhibition of AMPK (P

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Blood Biochemical and Hematological Study after Subacute Intravenous Injection of Gold and Silver Nanoparticles and Coadministered Gold and Silver Nanoparticles of Similar Sizes

Background. To investigate the effect of subacute intravenous administration AgNP (silver nanoparticles, 10 nm) and AuNP (gold nanoparticles, 12.8 nm) and AgNP/AuNP mixture to blood biochemistry, hematology, and platelet coagulation, subacute toxicity study was conducted. Methods. AuNP and AgNP in which their size distribution was not statistically different, mixed or separate, were injected into the caudal vein of male Sprague-Dawley rats for 4 weeks. The rats were allowed to recover for a further 4 weeks in order to examine systemic toxicity expressed in the blood biochemistry and hematology. The dose groups (5 males per group for the administration and 3 males for the recovery) consisted of 7 divisions, i.e., control, AgNP (with a low dose of 10 μg/kg/day and a high dose of 100 μg/kg/day), AuNP (with a low dose of 10 μg/kg/day and a high dose of 100 μg/kg/day), and mixed AgNP/AuNP (with a low dose of 10/10 μg/kg/day and a high dose of 100/100 μg/kg/day). Results. There were no significant dose-related changes in the hematology and blood biochemical values for the rats. Coagulation time in terms of the active partial thromboplastin time (APTT) and prothrombin time (PT) did not show any significant changes, when compared to the control group. Conclusion. The subacute injection of AuNP and AgNP or their mixture did not induce any noticeable systemic toxicity.

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A Dendritic Cell-Targeted Adenoviral Vector Facilitates Adaptive Immune Response Against Human Glioma Antigen (CMV-IE) and Prolongs Survival in a Human Glioma Tumor Model.

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A Dendritic Cell-Targeted Adenoviral Vector Facilitates Adaptive Immune Response Against Human Glioma Antigen (CMV-IE) and Prolongs Survival in a Human Glioma Tumor Model.

Neurotherapeutics. 2018 Jul 19;:

Authors: Kim JW, Kane JR, Panek WK, Young JS, Rashidi A, Yu D, Kanojia D, Hasan T, Miska J, Gómez-Lim MA, Ulasov IV, Balyasnikova IV, Ahmed AU, Wainwright DA, Lesniak MS

Abstract
Antitumor immunotherapeutic strategies represent an especially promising set of approaches with rapid translational potential considering the dismal clinical context of high-grade gliomas. Dendritic cells (DCs) are the body's most professional antigen-presenting cells, able to recruit and activate T cells to stimulate an adaptive immune response. In this regard, specific loading of tumor-specific antigen onto dendritic cells potentially represents one of the most advanced strategies to achieve effective antitumor immunization. In this study, we developed a DC-specific adenoviral (Ad) vector, named Ad5scFvDEC205FF, targeting the DC surface receptor, DEC205. In vitro analysis shows that 60% of DCs was infected by this vector while the infectivity of other control adenoviral vectors was less than 10%, demonstrating superior infectivity on DCs. Moreover, an average of 14% of DCs were infected by Ad5scFvDEC205FF-GFP, while less than 3% of non-DCs were infected following in vivo administration, demonstrating highly selective in vivo DC infection. Importantly, vaccination with this vehicle expressing human glioma-specific antigen, Ad5scFvDEC205FF-CMV-IE, shows a prolonged survival benefit in GL261CMV-IE-implanted murine glioma models (p < 0.0007). Furthermore, when rechallenged, cancerous cells were completely rejected. In conclusion, our novel, viral-mediated, DC-based immunization approach has the significant therapeutic potential for patients with high-grade gliomas.

PMID: 30027430 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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Antitumor Effects of DC Vaccine With ALA-PDT-Induced Immunogenic Apoptotic Cells for Skin Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Mice.

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Antitumor Effects of DC Vaccine With ALA-PDT-Induced Immunogenic Apoptotic Cells for Skin Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Mice.

Technol Cancer Res Treat. 2018 Jan 01;17:1533033818785275

Authors: Zhang H, Wang P, Wang X, Shi L, Fan Z, Zhang G, Yang D, Bahavar CF, Zhou F, Chen WR, Wang X

Abstract
Targeted immunotherapy using dendritic cell vaccine has been employed for the treatment of solid tumors. Topical 5-aminolevulinic acid-mediated photodynamic therapy, an established approach for topical cancers, can induce an effective antitumor immune response. We have previously shown that 5-aminolevulinic acid-mediated photodynamic therapy-induced tumor lysates could considerably enhance antigen-presenting capacity of ex vivo-generated dendritic cells. The current study further demonstrates that 5-aminolevulinic acid-mediated photodynamic therapy dendritic cell vaccine can induce immune responses against cancers. Dendritic cells pulsed by photodynamic therapy-treated skin squamous cell carcinoma cells inhibited squamous cell carcinoma to a greater extent than tumor lysates treated by photodynamic therapy alone or dendritic cells pulsed by freeze-thawed treated tumor cells. Immunohistochemistry showed that photodynamic therapy dendritic cell vaccine could increase the activity of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in the tumor implantation sites. Flow cytometry assays showed that CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in the spleens of photodynamic therapy dendritic cell vaccine immunized mice increased significantly. Furthermore, we observed increased amounts of interleukin 12 and Interferon gamma (IFN-γ) and decreased amounts of interleukin 10 in the splenocytes and peripheral blood of photodynamic therapy dendritic cell vaccine immunized mice by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Taken together, our findings suggest that photodynamic therapy dendritic cell vaccination is an effective prophylactic therapy for squamous cell carcinoma.

PMID: 30025490 [PubMed - in process]

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Upregulation of the Long Noncoding RNA SNHG3 Promotes Lung Adenocarcinoma Proliferation

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-associated mortalities worldwide. Non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the main reason for cancer-relevant death and constitutes 80% of lung cancer cases. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been found to be related to different kinds of cancer. Long noncoding RNAs played important roles in regulating the pathological and physiological processes of numerous cancers. To explore novel lung adenocarcinoma-associated lncRNAs, we analyzed the TCGA database and found that the lncRNA SNHG3 was significantly upregulated in lung adenocarcinoma. Bioinformatic analysis showed that SNHG3 may play key roles in regulating RNA splicing, tRNA processing, signal transduction, cell adhesion, transcription, and apoptosis. We also performed functional experiments to explore the roles of SNHG3 in lung adenocarcinoma cells. We found that SNHG3 promoted proliferation, cell cycle, and suppressed cell apoptosis of lung adenocarcinoma, suggesting that SNHG3 acted as an oncogene in lung adenocarcinoma. We believe that this study will provide a potential new therapeutic and prognostic target for lung adenocarcinoma.

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