Safety & efficacy of lifileucel (LN-144) tumor infiltrating lymphocyte therapy in metastatic melanoma patients after progression on multiple therapies – independent review committee data update

Treatment options are limited for patients with advanced melanoma who have progressed on checkpoint inhibitors and targeted therapies such as BRAF/MEK inhibitors (if BRAF-V600E mutated). Adoptive cell therapy utilizing tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) has shown antitumor efficacy with durable responses in heavily pretreated melanoma patients. Safety and efficacy of lifileucel, a centrally manufactured cryopreserved autologous TIL therapy assessed by both investigator and an independent review committee (IRC), are presented

A systematic review of rodent pest research in Afro-Malagasy small-holder farming systems: Are we asking the right questions?

Rodent pests are especially problematic in terms of agriculture and public health since they can inflict considerable economic damage associated with their abundance, diversity, generalist feeding habits and high reproductive rates. To quantify rodent pest impacts and identify trends in rodent pest research impacting on small-holder agriculture in the Afro-Malagasy region we did a systematic review of research outputs from 1910 to 2015, by developing an a priori defined set of criteria to allow for replication of the review process. We followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. We reviewed 162 publications, and while rodent pest research was spatially distributed across Africa (32 countries, including Madagascar), there was a disparity in number of studies per country with research biased towards four countries (Tanzania [25%], Nigeria [9%], Ethiopia [9%], Kenya [8%]) accounting for 51% of all rodent pest research in the Afro-Malagasy region. There was a disparity in the research themes addressed by Tanzanian publications compared to publications from the rest of the Afro-Malagasy region where research in Tanzania had a much more applied focus (50%) compared to a more basic research approach (92%) in the rest of the Afro-Malagasy region. We found that pest rodents have a significant negative effect on the Afro-Malagasy small-holder farming communities. Crop losses varied between cropping stages, storage and crops and the highest losses occurred during early cropping stages (46% median loss during seedling stage) and the mature stage (15% median loss). There was a scarcity of studies investigating the effectiveness of various management actions on rodent pest damage and population abundance. Our analysis highlights that there are inadequate empirical studies focused on developing sustainable control methods for rodent pests and rodent pests in the Africa-Malagasy context is generally ignored as a research topic

Sensory Communication

Contains table of contents for Section 2, an introduction and reports on fifteen research projects.National Institutes of Health Grant RO1 DC00117National Institutes of Health Grant RO1 DC02032National Institutes of Health Contract P01-DC00361National Institutes of Health Contract N01-DC22402National Institutes of Health/National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders Grant 2 R01 DC00126National Institutes of Health Grant 2 R01 DC00270National Institutes of Health Contract N01 DC-5-2107National Institutes of Health Grant 2 R01 DC00100U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research/Naval Air Warfare Center Contract N61339-94-C-0087U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research/Naval Air Warfare Center Contract N61339-95-K-0014U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research/Naval Air Warfare Center Grant N00014-93-1-1399U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research/Naval Air Warfare Center Grant N00014-94-1-1079U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Subcontract 40167U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-92-J-1814National Institutes of Health Grant R01-NS33778U.S. Navy - Office of Naval Research Grant N00014-88-K-0604National Aeronautics and Space Administration Grant NCC 2-771U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Grant F49620-94-1-0236U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Agreement with Brandeis Universit

The bii4africa dataset of faunal and floral population intactness estimates across Africa’s major land uses

Sub-Saharan Africa is under-represented in global biodiversity datasets, particularly regarding the impact of land use on species’ population abundances. Drawing on recent advances in expert elicitation to ensure data consistency, 200 experts were convened using a modified-Delphi process to estimate ‘intactness scores’: the remaining proportion of an ‘intact’ reference population of a species group in a particular land use, on a scale from 0 (no remaining individuals) to 1 (same abundance as the reference) and, in rare cases, to 2 (populations that thrive in human-modified landscapes). The resulting bii4africa dataset contains intactness scores representing terrestrial vertebrates (tetrapods: ±5,400 amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals) and vascular plants (±45,000 forbs, graminoids, trees, shrubs) in sub-Saharan Africa across the region’s major land uses (urban, cropland, rangeland, plantation, protected, etc.) and intensities (e.g., large-scale vs smallholder cropland). This dataset was co-produced as part of the Biodiversity Intactness Index for Africa Project. Additional uses include assessing ecosystem condition; rectifying geographic/ taxonomic biases in global biodiversity indicators and maps; and informing the Red List of Ecosystems

Characterization of a new caged proton capable of inducing large pH jumps.

A new caged proton, 1-(2-nitrophenyl)ethyl sulfate (caged sulfate), is characterized by infrared spectroscopy and compared with a known caged, proton 2-hydroxyphenyl 1-(2-nitrophenyl)ethyl phosphate (caged HPP). In contrast to caged HPP, caged sulfate can induce large pH jumps and protonate groups that have pK values as low as 2.2. The photolysis mechanism of caged sulfate is analogous to that of P(3)-[1-(2-nitrophenyl)ethyl] ATP (caged ATP), and the photolysis efficiency is similar. The utility of this new caged compound for biological studies was demonstrated by its ability to drive the acid-induced conformational change of metmyoglobin. This transition from the native conformation to a partially unfolded form takes place near pH 4 and was monitored by near-UV absorption spectroscopy

Synthesis and Photolytic Assessment of Nitroindolinyl-Caged Calcium Ion Chelators

Neuroactive amino acids derivatised at their carboxylate groups with a photolabile nitroindolinyl group are highly effective reagents for the sub-µs release of neuroactive amino acids in physiological solutions. However, the same does not apply in the case of calcium ion chelators. In this study, nitroindolinyl-caged BAPTA is found to be completely photostable, whereas nitroindolinyl-caged EDTA photolyses only when saturated with calcium ions

Formation of aryl isocyanates by deoxygenation of nitrosocarbonylarenes

The adducts of nitrosocarbonylarenes and 9,10-dimethylanthracene decompose in the presence of triphenylphosphine to give aryl isocyanates in high yield; kinetic evidence supporting the involvement of free nitrosocarbonylarenes in this process is presented