Continuation of Spider Research in Arkansas: East Central Ozark Mountain Area

A preliminary study of spiders concentrated in the eastern section of the Ozark Mountain Area was made for the purpose of determining spider fauna in an on-going research effort to elucidate the total spider fauna of the entire state. At present, 247 species of spiders have been reported

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

Lifetimes of [Formula Presented] levels in [Formula Presented] and [Formula Presented]

Relativistic configuration-interaction length and velocity lifetimes have been obtained for [Formula Presented] [Formula Presented] 5/2 levels in [Formula Presented] and [Formula Presented] Results from the two gauges agree well, and we have moderately improved earlier multiconfigurational Dirac-Fock results, as compared to experiment. However, there remains a discrepancy for the [Formula Presented] lifetime, which may be due to satellite spectra associated with [Formula Presented] and other spectator electrons. © 2000 The American Physical Society

Binding energies, hyperfine structure, and magnetic dipole decay rates for [Formula Presented] levels

Relativistic-configuration-interaction calculations predict that the [Formula Presented] 7/2, 5/2 and 3/2 [Formula Presented] levels of [Formula Presented] are all bound with binding energies 1.048, 0.508, 0.292, and 0.211 eV, respectively. To aid future experimental work, hyperfine structure constants for all levels and magnetic dipole decay rates have also been calculated. © 1999 The American Physical Society

Contraceptive use among high-risk adolescents

Despite national awareness of the growing number of pregnant teens, little information exists concerning factors that predict early childbirth among individual girls. To begin to address this issue, the influence of specific life and social factors was examined in 50 adolescent girls with documented histories of good and poor contraception use. Educational history and aspirations, employment, residence patterns, contraceptive history, familial patterns of child bearing, and accessibility to family planning services were examined. Maintenance of employment, school enrollment, and travel time to the clinic were significantly different between the two groups, with other trends noted in educational aspirations, family birth patterns, and clinic accessibility. Results are discussed in light of factors that determine risk for pregnancy in teen contraceptive users. © 1987 Journal of Sex Education and Therapy. All rights reserved