Wellbeing in Volunteers on Heritage at Risk Projects.

The Heritage at Risk and Wellbeing (HARAW) project aimed to explore the relationship between wellbeing and volunteering in completed Heritage at Risk (HAR) projects, in order to build capacity for future HAR projects to support wellbeing in volunteers more effectively and more widely. This report details the context, aims, methods, results, discussion and conclusions presented in the report, with the relevant section numbers in the main body of this report given

Volunteering on Heritage at Risk sites and wellbeing: a qualitative interview study

Introduction: We explored experiences of volunteering in Heritage at Risk (HAR) projects, intended to mitigate deterioration to historic assets, and the relationship with wellbeing. We aimed to understand the value of HAR to volunteers’ wellbeing and relationships between HAR programme characteristics such as location, asset type and type of activity. Methods: We used a qualitative design with semi structured interviews of a purposive sample of volunteers recruited via Historic England (HE), employing Systematic Grounded Theory involving open, axial and selective coding. Findings: We interviewed 35 volunteers (18 male; 17 female) participating in 10 HAR projects. We identified six themes from the data analysis. 1 Purpose - was associated with volunteering motivations; there were some barriers to volunteering and many types of facilitators, including accessibility to local heritage sites. 2 Being - volunteers showed an appreciation and attachment to their place of residence. 3 Capacity - to learn heritage specific skills and diversify experiences in learning new skills (life, technical and personal). 4: Sharing - community engagement, connectedness, and inclusivity captured diversity and inclusion within volunteers across age, ethnicity, ability, and gender. 5 Self-nurture - HAR volunteering created physical, psychological, and social benefits with limited risks and adverse outcomes. 6 Self-actualisation - described volunteers reflecting on their experiences. Conclusion: HAR volunteering was associated with positive physical, social and psychological wellbeing outcomes. The study provides an evidence base for specific wellbeing benefits of voluntary at Heritage at Risk sites, although we could not conclude that HAR project activity was the cause of increased wellbeing

Dataset related to article "Perioperative corticosteroid treatment impairs tumor-infiltrating dendritic cells in patients with newly diagnosed adult-type diffuse gliomas"

<p>This record contains raw data related to article "Perioperative corticosteroid treatment impairs tumor-infiltrating dendritic cells in patients with newly diagnosed adult-type diffuse gliomas"</p><p>Introduction: Adult-type diffuse gliomas are malignant primary brain tumors characterized by very poor prognosis. Dendritic cells (DCs) are key in priming antitumor effector functions in cancer, but their role in gliomas remains poorly understood.</p><p>Methods: In this study, we characterized tumor-infiltrating DCs (TIDCs) in adult patients with newly diagnosed diffuse gliomas by using multi-parametric flow cytometry and single-cell RNA sequencing.</p><p>Results: We demonstrated that different subsets of DCs are present in the glioma microenvironment, whereas they are absent in cancer-free brain parenchyma. The largest cluster of TIDCs was characterized by a transcriptomic profile suggestive of severe functional impairment. Patients undergoing perioperative corticosteroid treatment showed a significant reduction of conventional DC1s, the DC subset with key functions in antitumor immunity. They also showed phenotypic and transcriptional evidence of a more severe functional impairment of TIDCs.</p><p>Discussion: Overall, the results of this study indicate that functionally impaired DCs are recruited in the glioma microenvironment. They are severely affected by dexamethasone administration, suggesting that the detrimental effects of corticosteroids on DCs may represent one of the mechanisms contributing to the already reported negative prognostic impact of steroids on glioma patient survival</p&gt

NKG2A expression identifies a subset of human V\u3b42 T\ua0cells exerting the highest antitumor effector functions

Human V delta 2 cells are innate-like gamma delta T effectors performing potent immune surveillance against tumors. The constitutive expression of NKG2A identifies a subset of V delta 2 T cells licensed with an intrinsic hyper-responsiveness against cancer. Indeed, the transcriptomic profiles of NKG2A(+) and NKG2A(-) cells characterize two distinct "intralineages'' of V delta 2 T lymphocytes that appear early during development, keep their phenotypes, and show self-renewal capabilities in adult life. The hyper-responsiveness of NKG2A(+) V delta 2 T cells is counterbalanced by the inhibitory signaling delivered by human leukocyte antigen E (HLA-E) expressed on malignant cells as a tumor-escape mechanism. However, either masking or knocking out NKG2A restores the capacity of V delta 2 T cells to exert the highest effector functions even against HLA-E+ tumors. This is highly relevant in the clinic, as the different degrees of engagement of the NKG2A-HLA-E checkpoint in hepatocellular carcinoma, glioblastoma, and non-small cell lung cancer directly impact patients' overall survival. These findings open avenues for developing combined cellular and immunologic anticancer therapies