SSF: subsidies, a potential bright spot

The WTO negotiations on fisheries subsidies can help conservation and sustainable exploitation efforts as well as ensure the well-being of fishing communities around the worl

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

The black sheep phenomenon: A descriptive study

This is a descriptive study of the family system of the black sheep child. The parent-child relationship, child-rearing attitudes, parents\u27 relationship and relationship with siblings were investigated. The study characterizes the black sheep and investigates what ordinal position is common among black sheep. To gather data, the case study approach was used. In-depth interviews were conducted to parents, siblings and the black sheep. The study has nine (9) subjects, five (5) are males and four (4) are females. The results of the study revealed that most black sheep come from families with restrictive, authoritative and overprotective parents. Black sheep have defective relationships with both parents and siblings. Six (6) characteristics were common to black sheep such as having inferiority feelings, sensitive, risk-taking or adventurous, aggressive when somebody insults her/him, insecure, and feels happy when people express their love or care for him/her. There was no common ordinal position for the black sheep studied

Addressing equitable student support across marginalized college student populations

The purpose of this session is to facilitate a dialogue on student support in higher education across different social groups and identify opportunities for education policy, curriculum and teaching to provide equitable support for all students. In an interactive panel discussion, this session will explore marginalized student experiences navigating institutional spaces, discuss current concerns with the support of disadvantaged students in higher education, and facilitate a discussion on opportunities for changes in education policy, curriculum and teaching that sustain quality leadership and provide access to high-quality educational experiences for all. Participants will leave with perspectives from a variety of higher education scholars who study and/or work with these student populations to better inform their own views and practice

Rapid design and implementation of an integrated patient self-triage and self-scheduling tool for COVID-19.

ObjectiveTo rapidly deploy a digital patient-facing self-triage and self-scheduling tool in a large academic health system to address the COVID-19 pandemic.Materials and methodsWe created a patient portal-based COVID-19 self-triage and self-scheduling tool and made it available to all primary care patients at the University of California, San Francisco Health, a large academic health system. Asymptomatic patients were asked about exposure history and were then provided relevant information. Symptomatic patients were triaged into 1 of 4 categories-emergent, urgent, nonurgent, or self-care-and then connected with the appropriate level of care via direct scheduling or telephone hotline.ResultsThis self-triage and self-scheduling tool was designed and implemented in under 2 weeks. During the first 16 days of use, it was completed 1129 times by 950 unique patients. Of completed sessions, 315 (28%) were by asymptomatic patients, and 814 (72%) were by symptomatic patients. Symptomatic patient triage dispositions were as follows: 193 emergent (24%), 193 urgent (24%), 99 nonurgent (12%), 329 self-care (40%). Sensitivity for detecting emergency-level care was 87.5% (95% CI 61.7-98.5%).DiscussionThis self-triage and self-scheduling tool has been widely used by patients and is being rapidly expanded to other populations and health systems. The tool has recommended emergency-level care with high sensitivity, and decreased triage time for patients with less severe illness. The data suggests it also prevents unnecessary triage messages, phone calls, and in-person visits.ConclusionPatient self-triage tools integrated into electronic health record systems have the potential to greatly improve triage efficiency and prevent unnecessary visits during the COVID-19 pandemic

Addressing equitable student support across marginalized college student populations

The purpose of this session is to facilitate a dialogue on student support in higher education across different social groups and identify opportunities for education policy, curriculum and teaching to provide equitable support for all students. In an interactive panel discussion, this session will explore marginalized student experiences navigating institutional spaces, discuss current concerns with the support of disadvantaged students in higher education, and facilitate a discussion on opportunities for changes in education policy, curriculum and teaching that sustain quality leadership and provide access to high-quality educational experiences for all. Participants will leave with perspectives from a variety of higher education scholars who study and/or work with these student populations to better inform their own views and practice