Dendritic cell based vaccination strategy: an evolving paradigm

Malignant gliomas (MG), tumors of glial origin, are the most commonly diagnosed primary intracranial malignancies in adults. Currently available treatments have provided only modest improvements in overall survival and remain limited by inevitable local recurrence, necessitating exploration of novel therapies. Among approaches being investigated, one of the leading contenders is immunotherapy, which aims to modulate immune pathways to stimulate the selective destruction of malignant cells. Dendritic cells (DCs) are potent initiators of adaptive immune responses and therefore crucial players in the development and success of immunotherapy. Clinical trials of various DC-based vaccinations have demonstrated the induction of anti-tumor immune responses and prolonged survival in the setting of many cancers. In this review, we summarize current literature regarding DCs and their role in the tumor microenvironment, their application and current clinical use in immunotherapy, current challenges limiting their efficacy in anti-cancer therapy, and future avenues for developing successful anti-tumor DC-based vaccines

Town and Gown: Printmaking as Agent of Discourse and Collaboration

In the current academic climate of prioritization, budget cuts, and program restructuring, printmaking and book arts programs often need to defend their missions, prove viability, and increase enrollment. This panel will focus on recruitment, retention, enrollment, and community engagement as vital components of the academic sphere. Printmaking and book arts are highly interdisciplinary art forms that frequently utilize techniques from other art disciplines and are well suited to cross-pollinate with other academic departments. This allows printmaking and book arts to be integrated into a variety of courses throughout multiple departments and often include team-taught classes, learning communities, and honors programs. These interdisciplinary partnerships positively impact art programs through increased enrollment, appreciation, involvement and overall visibility. Art departments can also use these partnerships to share valuable resources within a university including joint grants, multi-department funding, and a divided workload. Of equal importance, printmaking and book arts contain a history of collaboration and engagement with the public and we seek to continue this through active campus programming and events. Activities such as steamroller printing with area high schools and art centers, print carnivals, and visiting artists build positive community association and support for our programs and can also be used as a recruitment tool. Individual panelists will explore various ideas and strategies to engage freshman, promote campus and community involvement in the arts, and increase enrollment in printmaking/book arts programs

Recurrent glioma clinical trial, CheckMate-143: the game is not over yet

Glioblastoma (GBM) is the most common, and aggressive, primary brain tumor in adults. With a median patient survival of less than two years, GBM represents one of the biggest therapeutic challenges of the modern era. Even with the best available treatment, recurrence rates are nearly 100% and therapeutic options at the time of relapse are extremely limited. Nivolumab, an anti-programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) monoclonal antibody, has provided significant clinical benefits in the treatment of various advanced cancers and represented a promising therapy for primary and recurrent GBM. CheckMate 143 (NCT 02017717) was the first large randomized clinical trial of PD pathway inhibition in the setting of GBM, including a comparison of nivolumab and the anti-VEGF antibody, bevacizumab, in the treatment of recurrent disease. However, preliminary results, recently announced in a WFNOS 2017 abstract, demonstrated a failure of nivolumab to prolong overall survival of patients with recurrent GBM, and this arm of the trial was prematurely closed. In this review, we discuss the basic concepts underlying the rational to target PD pathway in GBM, address implications of using immune checkpoint inhibitors in central nervous system malignancies, provide a rationale for possible reasons contributing to the failure of nivolumab to prolong survival in patients with recurrent disease, and analyze the future role of immune checkpoint inhibitors in the treatment of GBM

Belowground competition among invading detritivores

Author Posting. © Ecological Society of America, 2016. This article is posted here by permission of Ecological Society of America for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Ecology 97 (2016): 160–170, doi:10.1890/15-0551.1.The factors regulating soil animal communities are poorly understood. Current theory favors niche complementarity and facilitation over competition as the primary forms of non-trophic interspecific interaction in soil fauna; however, competition has frequently been suggested as an important community-structuring factor in earthworms, ecosystem engineers that influence belowground processes. To date, direct evidence of competition in earthworms is lacking due to the difficulty inherent in identifying a limiting resource for saprophagous animals. In the present study, we offer the first direct evidence of interspecific competition for food in this dominant soil detritivore group by combining field observations with laboratory mesocosm experiments using 13C and 15N double-enriched leaf litter to track consumption patterns. In our experiments, the Asian invasive species Amynthas hilgendorfi was a dominant competitor for leaf litter against two European species currently invading the temperate deciduous forests in North America. This competitive advantage may account for recent invasion success of A. hilgendorfi in forests with established populations of European species, and we hypothesize that specific phenological differences play an important role in determining the outcome of the belowground competition. In contrast, Eisenoides lonnbergi, a common native species in the Eastern United States, occupied a unique trophic position with limited interactions with other species, which may contribute to its persistence in habitats dominated by invasive species. Furthermore, our results supported neither the hypothesis that facilitation occurs between species of different functional groups nor the hypothesis that species in the same group exhibit functional equivalency in C and N translocation in the soil. We propose that species identity is a more powerful approach to understand earthworm invasion and its impacts on belowground processes.EPS Field Funds; National Science Foundation Grant Numbers: EEC-0540832, ACI 1244820, EAR-0748574; Microsoft Researc

Data Privacy at the Border: How to Balance National Security Concerns and Privacy Interests When Conducting Forensic Border Searches of Electronic Devices

Do you know where your phone is? Can you describe the last five pictures in your camera roll? How many websites have you visited this month? Cell phones are an extension of our person and contain some of our most private data: location, banking, loved ones, sleep statistics, reproductive information, and more. As our technology develops, so too should our laws. This Note explores the lack of privacy protections at the U.S. border and how susceptible our data is to a government search. A Supreme Court ruling recognizing the unique piece of property a cell phone represents, even at a U.S. border, is essential to balance our national security concerns and privacy interests

Diurnal Time-Activity Budgets Of Schoolmaster Snapper (Lutjanus Apodus) In South Water Caye Marine Reserve (Belize)

Diurnal time-activity budgets from a sample of 588 schoolmaster snapper (Lu^\u27anus apodus. Family Lutjanidae) were recorded over a period of two and a half weeks in the South Water Caye Marine Reserve (Belize) during May and June of 2010. Each fish was observed for a 20-second time period, and the amount of time they spent swimming, stationaiy (resting), foraging, and performing “other” (less common activities) behaviors was recorded. The specific objectives of my study were to: (1) quantitatively describe the behavior of schoolmaster with time-activity budgets, (2) assess differences in schoolmaster size distribution by location (habitat type), and (3) analyze differences in activity budgets within and among varying size classes. Lutjanus apodus spent significantly more time resting (54%) and swimming (44%), than foraging or performing “other” activities (e.g., aggression, and being cleaned). Foraging behavior was rarely observed during daylight observations, which corroborated previous investigations and local knowledge that this species feeds noctumally. Larger schoolmaster dominated reef habitats, whereas the smaller specimens favored shallow intertidal and mangrove habitats. There were significant differences spent in behaviors for all size classes, when size class was used as a criterion. L apodus spent significantly more time swimming during mornings than later in the day, and those observed in the shallowest habitats spent more time swimming than those in deeper habitats

Effects of Inflation and Deflation upon Nebraska Agriculture, 1914 to 1932

This study attempts to give the effects of war-time inflation and the subsequent deflation upon Nebraska agriculture. It presents statistical evidence of what happened. It is too late to prevent the present depression. Information concerning the situation may aid in promoting recovery. It is hoped that a knowledge of the inflation of 1916 to 1920 and the depression following may aid in avoiding the making of similar errors in the future

From Car Door to Consumer

The Nebraska College of Agriculture and the Bureau of Markets of the United States Department of Agriculture conducted during 1916 an investigation to ascertain the extent to which merchandise is sold from the car and the advantages and disadvantages of this method of marketing. The practice is so extensive that it was soon found necessary to limit the study to apples and potatoes

Alan C. Filley to Mr. Meredith (1 October 1962)

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/mercorr_pro/1366/thumbnail.jp