Dendritic cell-based therapeutic cancer vaccines

En los últimos años la inmunoterapia ha revolucionado el tratamiento de pacientes con cáncer avanzado. El mayor conocimiento de la biología tumoral y de la inmunología ha permitido desarrollar tratamientos racionales manipulando el sistema inmunitario con importante impacto clínico. Entre otras estrategias de inmunoterapia contra el cáncer se ha explorado el uso de vacunas terapéuticas basadas en células dendríticas (CD). Las CD son células de origen hematopoyético, que expresan constitutivamente moléculas presentadoras de antígeno, y son funcionalmente las inductoras más potentes de la activación y proliferación de linfocitos T a los que presentan antígenos. Los linfocitos T CD8+ proliferan y adquieren capacidad citotóxica cuando reconocen su antígeno específico presentado en la superficie de CD, aunque solo algunos tipos de CD pueden presentar antígenos internalizados desde el exterior celular a precursores de linfocitos T citotóxicos (a esta función se la llama presentación cruzada). Explotar la inducción de una respuesta inmunitaria adaptativa eficaz se considera una buena opción por su especificidad y prolongada duración de la respuesta. Las CD, gracias a su particular capacidad de presentación antigénica y de estimulación linfocitaria, son capaces de revertir la respuesta inmunitaria antitumoral deficiente que presentan algunos pacientes con cáncer. Las CD se pueden obtener a partir de distintas fuentes, empleando diversos protocolos para generar diferenciación y maduración, y se administran por diversas vías como son subcutánea, intravenosa o intranodal. La gran variedad de protocolos en los que se aplican las CD explica los resultados clínicos tan heterogéneos que se han comunicado hasta la fecha.In recent years immunotherapy has revolutionized the treatment of patients with advanced cancer. The increased knowledge in the tumor immune-biology has allowed developing rational treatments by manipulation of the immune system with significant clinical impact. This rapid development has significantly changed the prognosis of many tumors without treatment options up to date. Other strategies have explored the use of therapeutic vaccines based on dendritic cells (DC) by inducing antitumor immunity. DC are cells of hematopoietic origin, constitutively expressing molecules capable to present antigens, that are functionally the most potent inducers of the activation and proliferation of antigen specific T lymphocytes. The CD8+ T cells proliferate and acquire cytotoxic capacity after recognizing their specific antigen presented on the surface of DC, although only some types of DC can present antigens internalized from outside the cell to precursors of cytotoxic T lymphocytes (this function is called cross-presentation) requiring translocation mechanisms of complex antigens. The induction of an effective adaptive immune response is considered a good option given its specificity, and prolonged duration of response. The DC, thanks to its particular ability of antigen presentation and lymphocyte stimulation, are able to reverse the poor antitumor immune response experienced by patients with cancer. The DC can be obtained from various sources, using different protocols to generate differentiation and maturation, and are administered by various routes such as subcutaneous, intravenous or intranodal. The wide variety of protocols resulted in heterogeneous clinical responses.Fil: Rizzo, Manglio Miguel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas Aplicadas. Laboratorio de Terapia Génica y Celular; ArgentinaFil: Alaniz, Laura Daniela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Universidad Nacional del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Centro de Investigaciones y Transferencia del Noroeste de la Provincia de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Mazzolini Rizzo, Guillermo Daniel. Instituto de Investigaciones Médicas Aplicadas. Laboratorio de Terapia Génica y Celular; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

Freshman Composition Final Portfolio Assignment

This syllabus is for a Freshmen Inquiry Writing Seminar, which is a two-section, collaboratively taught course wherein one of the two courses engages students in critical thinking, reading, and writing about the issue of language and literacy, while the other introduces students to conventions of academic writing and mentors them in social and rhetorical writing processes. Thus, this course draws on the topic of language and literacy as a vehicle for critically analyzing students\u27 own languages and literacies and developing especially their academic and information literacies. Throughout the course, students are encouraged to reflect on their writing practice. As a culminating assignment for the course, students are asked in this assignment prompt to analyze their writing and writing process. They are asked to reflect on whether or not they met the course outcomes in their final paper and support their analysis with artifacts from their participation throughout the course

CHARACTERIZATION OF SERPOTTAS’ STUCCOS BY MEANS OF SIMULTANEOUS THERMAL ANALYSIS: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

In this paper the Simultaneous Thermal Analysis (STA), i.e. thermogravimetric and differential thermal analysis, was used as a diagnostic tool to better understand the matter composition of some very valuable artworks the Serpottas’ stuccoes in Palermo. Particularly the STA was used in order to exclude the presence of an unusual calcium-bearing magnesium carbonate, and the thermal data were also used to quantify the magnesite to calcite ratio. The latter was investigated in order to evaluate the amount of magnesium in the lime used as binder as during 17th and 18th century in Sicily magnesium rich lime was indicated as the most valuable binder probably because this kind of lime has a higher plasticity. The data obtained in this work are not conclusive but indicate a way to contribute to the comprehension of this unique work of art composition

Traffic Entry Judgments by Aging Drivers

We hypothesized that older, neurologically normal drivers would compensate appropriately for their slower abilities by choosing larger gaps when entering traffic. To test this we used an instrumented vehicle and radar gun to study 18 legally licensed, neurologically normal drivers ranging from 22 to 72 years old. Drivers were asked to press a button to mark the last possible moment they would cross the road in front of an oncoming vehicle. We measured speed and distance of the oncoming vehicles and calculated time-to-contact (TTC). The older drivers made more conservative gap acceptance decisions based on higher TTC than younger drivers. This pilot study identified trends in effects of age upon traffic entry judgments, suggesting that neurologically normal older drivers are more conservative when deciding to enter traffic than younger drivers

Overexpression of SPARC obliterates the in vivo tumorigenicity of human hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the sixth most common cancer and the third leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Current treatments are extremely disappointing. SPARC (Secreted protein, acidic and rich in cysteine) is a matricellular glycoprotein with differential expression in several tumors, including HCC, which significance remains unclear. We infected HCC cells (HepG2, Hep3B and Huh7) with an adenovirus expressing SPARC (AdsSPARC) to examine the role of SPARC expression on HCC cells and its effect on tumor aggressiveness. The in vitro HCC cells substrate-dependent proliferation and cell cycle profile were unaffected; however, SPARC overexpression reduced HCC proliferation when cells were grown in spheroids. A mild induction of cellular apoptosis was observed upon SPARC overexpression. SPARC overexpression resulted in spheroid growth inhibition in vitro while no effects were found when recombinant SPARC was exogenously applied. Moreover, the clonogenic and migratory capabilities were largely decreased in SPARC-overexpressing HCC cells, altogether suggesting a less aggressive HCC cell phenotype. Consistently, AdsSPARC-transduced cells showed increased E-cadherin expression and a concomitant decrease in N-cadherin expression. Furthermore, SPARC overexpression was found to reduce HCC cell viability in response to 5-FU-based chemotherapy in vitro, partially through induction of apoptosis. In vivo experiments revealed that SPARC overexpression in HCC cells inhibited their tumorigenic capacity and increased animal survival through a mechanism that partially involves host macrophages. Our data suggest that SPARC overexpression in HCC cells results in a reduced tumorigenicity partially through the induction of mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition (MET). These evidences point to SPARC as a novel target for HCC treatment.Fil: Atorrasagasti, María Catalina. Universidad Austral. Facultad de Ciencias Biomédicas. Laboratorio de Terapia Genética; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Malvicini, Mariana. Universidad Austral. Facultad de Ciencias Biomédicas. Laboratorio de Terapia Genética; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Aquino, Jorge Benjamin. Universidad Austral. Facultad de Ciencias Biomédicas. Laboratorio de Terapia Genética; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Alaniz, Laura Daniela. Universidad Austral. Facultad de Ciencias Biomédicas. Laboratorio de Terapia Genética; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: García, Mariana Gabriela. Universidad Austral. Facultad de Ciencias Biomédicas. Laboratorio de Terapia Genética; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Bolontrade, Marcela Fabiana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Rizzo, Manglio Miguel. Universidad Austral. Facultad de Ciencias Biomédicas. Laboratorio de Terapia Genética; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Podhajcer, Osvaldo Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires. Fundación Instituto Leloir. Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de Buenos Aires; ArgentinaFil: Mazzolini Rizzo, Guillermo Daniel. Universidad Austral. Facultad de Ciencias Biomédicas. Laboratorio de Terapia Genética; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

The Effect of Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivations on Academics' Entrepreneurial Intention

This work investigates entrepreneurial intentions among academic scientists. Drawing from the literature on entrepreneurial behavior, it contributes to delineate the differences in motivations that are correlated with entrepreneurial intention to those that are considered to be linked to entrepreneurial behaviors. By disentangling the concept of motivations in its ultimately basic constructs of intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, we investigate how these two different types of motivations are related to the formation of entrepreneurial intention at the level of academic scientists. Through a survey conducted at the University of Ferrara—one of the leading universities in Italy in terms of technology transfer and scientific production—findings reveal that while academic entrepreneurial intention seems to be mostly driven by intrinsic motivations, the effect of extrinsic motivations, which are regarded as a main antecedent of entrepreneurial behavior among scientists, are largely mediated by academic positions, work environment and different combinations of these two factors. This work therefore highlights the importance of social norms in the investigation of entrepreneurial intention in academia

Multi-technique instrumental approach for the characterization of metallic archeological artifacts

The study of the grave goods has long been the subject of study by many researchers who, through the finds, try to reconstruct the habits and customs of disappeared civilizations. In particular, the characterization of metal artifacts (weapons, jewelry, everyday objects) allows to identify the source of the raw materials used for their manufacture, forging technologies, trade routes, and cultural interactions [1,2]. The aim of this preliminary study was, by using a multi-technique instrumental approach (XRD, Raman, XPS, XRF), the chemical-mineralogical characterization of archaeological metal finds (figure 1) from the necropolis of Siris - Heraclea (Basilicata region). The analyzes highlighted, in some of these objects, the presence of a superficial state of alteration confirming what was reported by [3]. We are carrying out biological analyzes in order to verify the presence of biological agents, which, if present, could have triggered the corrosion processes. REFERENCES [1] Pernicka E., (2004) Archaeometallurgy: examples of the application of scientific methods to the provenance of archaeological metal objects. Proc. International School Physics “Enrico Fermi”, Course CLIV, (Martini M., Milazzo M. and Piacentini M., Eds.), IOS Press Amsterdam, 309- 329. [2] Tykot R.H., (2004) – Scientific method and applications to archaeological provenance studies. Proc. International School Physics “Enrico Fermi”, Course CLIV, (Martini M., Milazzo M and Piacentini M., Eds.), IOS Press Amsterdam, 407-432. [3] Afonso S. F., Noto M. M. M., Mendonça M. H., Pimenta G., Proença L., Fonseca I. T. E., “Copper corrosion in soil: influence of chloride contents, aeration and humidity”, J. Solid State Electrochem, Vol. 13, pp. 1757-1765 (2009)

Recursos tributarios en el orden nacional

El sistema impositivo argentino, como cualquier otro, tiene como función la aplicación de tributos. Los contribuyentes y responsables de dicho sistema muchas veces se sienten perjudicados por sufrir liquidaciones impositivas por parte de los organismos recaudadores nacionales que consideran excesivas y alejadas de la realidad, violando los principios de equidad y razonabilidad en el funcionamiento del sistema tributario nacional. En esta situación, la legislación tributaria prevé remedios o medios de impugnación que posibilitan la revisión en instancias posteriores del pronunciamiento del órgano jurisdiccional, y que se denominan recursos tributarios. El objetivo del presente trabajo de investigación es describir de la manera más sencilla y clara, todo lo referido a la rama recursiva del derecho tributario nacional. Se realizó con la premisa de que resultara una guía práctica y de utilidad para todos aquellos interesados en conocer sobre la materia recursiva - impositiva, así como también para los Contadores Públicos Nacionales en lo que se refiere a su actuación profesional en dicha rama.Fil: Laporte, Carina Ruth. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas.Fil: Parada Rizzo, Lorena. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas.Fil: Nuñez, María Laura. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Ciencias Económicas

Demographic and Driving Performance Factors in Simulator Adaptation Syndrome

Simulation is an important option for testing at-risk drivers with medical impairments. Simulator Adaptation Syndrome (SAS), characterized by autonomic symptoms, presents a drawback to testing. This study investigated new issues regarding susceptibility of neurologically impaired drivers to SAS, scenario situations most likely to cause SAS, and effects of SAS on driver performance. Subjects were 164 drivers enrolled in larger ongoing studies of at-risk older drivers. Eighteen had Alzheimer’s disease (AD), 44 stroke, and 102 were neurologically normal controls. Experimental drives were conducted using a fixed-base high-fidelity simulator with a 150º forward field of view. Each driver completed a questionnaire immediately after driving in the simulator, rating any feelings of discomfort along nine dimensions; an overall discomfort score was calculated. Of the 164 drivers, 130 completed the full drive and 34 ended the drive early. Drivers with higher overall discomfort scores were more likely to drop out before completing a drive. Specific symptoms strongly predicted dropping out, namely dizziness, nervousness, light-headedness, body temperature increase, and nausea. Simulator dropout rates and reported discomfort scores were significantly greater in women than men, but did not differ between drivers with AD or stroke and neurologically normal drivers. Comparisons between 32 Dropouts and 32 Non-Dropouts (matched by age, gender, neurological impairment, and scenario driven) showed no evidence that higher levels of discomfort cause a driver to perform atypically before the point of dropout. We could relate dropout to specific segments and events in the drive that required abrupt braking