Enrichment of CD4 and CD8 T lymphocytes with a column-free flow-based device for clinical cell manufacturing.

In recent years, adoptive T cell-based immunotherapies have been developed to treat a wide range of hematologic malignancies, including relapsed or refractory non-Hodgkin lymphoma, B-cell leukemia, and multiple myeloma. Most of the commercially approved adoptive T cell therapies are composed of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-based T cells, which are a patient's own T cells engineered for recognition of a specific surface antigen, such as CD19 or CD20. Unselected peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) have recently been used in several manufacturing protocols, but the vast majority of protocols still use CD4/CD8-selected T cells.

Receptor tyrosine kinase inhibition leads to regression of acral melanoma by targeting the tumor microenvironment.

Background: Acral melanoma (AM) is an aggressive melanoma variant that arises from palmar, plantar, and nail unit melanocytes. Compared to non-acral cutaneous melanoma (CM), AM is biologically distinct, has an equal incidence across genetic ancestries, typically presents in advanced stage disease, is less responsive to therapy, and has an overall worse prognosis.

Methods: An independent analysis of published sequencing data was performed to evaluate the frequency of receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) ligands and adapter protein gene variants and expression.

Receptor tyrosine kinase inhibition leads to regression of acral melanoma by targeting the tumor microenvironment.

Acral melanoma (AM) is an aggressive melanoma variant that arises from palmar, plantar, and nail unit melanocytes. Compared to non-acral cutaneous melanoma (CM), AM is biologically distinct, has an equal incidence across genetic ancestries, typically presents in advanced stage disease, is less responsive to therapy, and has an overall worse prognosis. Independent analysis of published genomic and transcriptomic sequencing identified that receptor tyrosine kinase (RTK) ligands and adapter proteins are frequently amplified, translocated, and/or overexpressed in AM.

The origins of musicality in the motion of primates.

Unlabelled: Animals communicate acoustically to report location, identity, and emotive state to conspecifics. Acoustic signals can also function as displays to potential mates and as territorial advertisement. Music and song are terms often reserved only for humans and birds, but elements of both forms of acoustic display are also found in non-human primates.

Toward an evolutionary ecology of (in)equality.

Inequality is increasingly recognized as a major problem in contemporary society. The causes and consequences of inequality in wealth and power have long been central concerns in the social sciences, whereas comparable research in biology has focused on dominance and reproductive skew. This theme issue builds on these existing research traditions, exploring ways they might enrich each other, with evolutionary ecology as a possibly unifying framework.

Orbital volume changes during growth and development in human children assessed using cone beam computed tomography.

Objectives: To measure growth-related changes in orbital volume from childhood to the late teenage years using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study involved 65 (24 male, 41 female) healthy Caucasian children (ages 6-18 years) with existing serial craniofacial CBCT scans. CBCT scans were available for 292 orbits.

Have you caught that outlier yet? Evaluate the utility of repeat testing in nutritional and toxic element assessment.

Repeat testing is routinely required by regulatory bodies as a measure to rule out contamination in trace elements and heavy metal analysis, especially when the initial analysis result is outside the reference interval. However, its clinical utilities in detecting analytical measurement outliers have not been systematically evaluated in different clinical testing scenarios. In this study, we present an extensive evaluation of repeat testing and its comparison with the initial analysis in four serum and plasma trace element assays performed by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.

A ubiquitous disordered protein interaction module orchestrates transcription elongation.

During eukaryotic transcription elongation, RNA polymerase II (RNAP2) is regulated by a chorus of factors. Here, we identified a common binary interaction module consisting of TFIIS N-terminal domains (TNDs) and natively unstructured TND-interacting motifs (TIMs). This module was conserved among the elongation machinery and linked complexes including transcription factor TFIIS, Mediator, super elongation complex, elongin, IWS1, SPT6, PP1-PNUTS phosphatase, H3K36me3 readers, and other factors.

Reclassification of seven honey bee symbiont strains as .

Honey bees are important pollinators of many major crops and add billions of dollars annually to the US economy through their services. Recent declines in the health of the honey bee have startled researchers and lay people alike as honey bees are agriculture's most important pollinator. One factor that may influence colony health is the microbial community.

Multi-Year Mass-Trapping With Autocidal Gravid Ovitraps has Limited Influence on Insecticide Susceptibility in Aedes aegypti (Diptera: Culicidae) From Puerto Rico.

Mass-trapping has been used to control outbreaks of Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus) (Diptera: Culicidae) in Puerto Rico since 2011. We investigated the effect of multi-year, insecticide-free mass trapping had on the insecticide susceptibility profile of Ae. aegypti.

Insights into the Host Specificity of a New Oomycete Root Pathogen, P1: Whole Genome Sequencing and Comparative Analysis Reveals Contracted Regulation of Metabolism, Protein Families, and Distinct Pathogenicity Repertoire.

P1 Stanghellini, Mohammadi, Förster, and Adaskaveg is an oomycete root pathogen that has recently been characterized. It only attacks plant species belonging to family, causing root necrosis, stunting, and yield loss. Since P1 is limited in its host range, this prompted us to sequence its whole genome and compare it to those of broad host range spp.

A Bacterial Symbiont Protects Honey Bees from Fungal Disease.

Fungal pathogens, among other stressors, negatively impact the productivity and population size of honey bees, one of our most important pollinators (1, 2), in particular their brood (larvae and pupae) (3, 4). Understanding the factors that influence disease incidence and prevalence in brood may help us improve colony health and productivity. Here, we examined the capacity of a honey bee-associated bacterium, Bombella apis, to suppress the growth of fungal pathogens and ultimately protect bee brood from infection.

Molecular Biomarkers for Melanoma Screening, Diagnosis and Prognosis: Current State and Future Prospects.

Despite significant progress in the development of treatment options, melanoma remains a leading cause of death due to skin cancer. Advances in our understanding of the genetic, transcriptomic, and morphologic spectrum of benign and malignant melanocytic neoplasia have enabled the field to propose biomarkers with potential diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive value. While these proposed biomarkers have the potential to improve clinical decision making at multiple critical intervention points, most remain unvalidated.

Ecological variation and institutionalized inequality in hunter-gatherer societies.

Research examining institutionalized hierarchy tends to focus on chiefdoms and states, while its emergence among small-scale societies remains poorly understood. Here, we test multiple hypotheses for institutionalized hierarchy, using environmental and social data on 89 hunter-gatherer societies along the Pacific coast of North America. We utilize statistical models capable of identifying the main correlates of sustained political and economic inequality, while controlling for historical and spatial dependence.

COVID-19 and contamination: impact on exposures to alcohol-based hand sanitizers reported to Texas Poison Control Centers, 2020.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has increased use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers (ABHS), creating shortages leading to additional production by new, non-traditional manufacturers. In June 2020, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued warnings about methanol or 1-propanol contaminated brands of hand sanitizer. Exposure to methanol, including dermally, can cause kidney damage, blindness and death.

The multinomial index: a robust measure of reproductive skew.

Inequality or skew in reproductive success (RS) is common across many animal species and is of long-standing interest to the study of social evolution. However, the measurement of inequality in RS in natural populations has been challenging because existing quantitative measures are highly sensitive to variation in group/sample size, mean RS, and age-structure. This makes comparisons across multiple groups and/or species vulnerable to statistical artefacts and hinders empirical and theoretical progress.

Genomic Signatures of Honey Bee Association in an Acetic Acid Symbiont.

Recent declines in the health of the honey bee have startled researchers and lay people alike as honey bees are agriculture's most important pollinator. Honey bees are important pollinators of many major crops and add billions of dollars annually to the US economy through their services. One factor that may influence colony health is the microbial community.

Prognostic Gene Expression Profiling in Cutaneous Melanoma: Identifying the Knowledge Gaps and Assessing the Clinical Benefit.

Importance: Use of prognostic gene expression profile (GEP) testing in cutaneous melanoma (CM) is rising despite a lack of endorsement as standard of care.

Objective: To develop guidelines within the national Melanoma Prevention Working Group (MPWG) on integration of GEP testing into the management of patients with CM, including (1) review of published data using GEP tests, (2) definition of acceptable performance criteria, (3) current recommendations for use of GEP testing in clinical practice, and (4) considerations for future studies.

Evidence Review: The MPWG members and other international melanoma specialists participated in 2 online surveys and then convened a summit meeting.

Neonatal respiratory failure due to novel compound heterozygous mutations in the ABCA3 lipid transporter.

The ATP-binding cassette transporter member A3 (ABCA3) is a lipid transporter with a critical function in pulmonary surfactant biogenesis. Biallelic loss-of-function mutations in result in severe surfactant deficiency leading to neonatal respiratory failure with death in the first year of life. Herein, we describe a newborn with severe respiratory distress at birth progressing to respiratory failure requiring transplant.

Trends in Snakebites Related to Texas Tropical Storms and Hurricanes, 2000-2017.

Introduction: Anecdotal media reports suggest an increase in snakebites after hurricanes. After Hurricane Harvey, several households called Texas poison control centers to report snakebites that occurred when rising water flooded homes. Patterns of snakebite before and after hurricane landfalls have not been well studied.

Draft Genome Sequences of Four sp. Strains Isolated from Native Bees.

The genus is currently understudied, with only one described species, , isolated from a flower. In an effort to better understand the microbes that come in contact with native bee pollinators, we isolated and sequenced four additional strains of from native bees in the genera and These genomes range in size from 2,104,494 to 2,316,791 bp (mean, 2,246,664 bp) and contain between 1,860 and 2,167 (mean, 2,060) protein-coding genes.

Draft Genome Sequence of a Bombella apis Strain Isolated from Honey Bees.

occupies a variety of distinct niches within a honey bee hive, including queen guts, royal jelly, and larval food. In an effort to better understand its evolution and identify signatures of honey bee association, we sequenced a strain isolated from hive honey stores. This genome is 2,086,308 bp long and contains 1,975 protein-coding genes.

The Spatial and Genomic Hierarchy of Tumor Ecosystems Revealed by Single-Cell Technologies.

Many malignancies display heterogeneous features that support cancer progression. Emerging high-resolution methods provide a view of heterogeneity that recognizes the influence of diverse cell types and cell states of the tumor microenvironment. Here we outline a hierarchical organization of tumor heterogeneity from a genomic perspective, summarize the origins of spatially patterned metabolic features, and review recent developments in single-cell and spatially resolved techniques for genome-wide study of multicellular tissues.

Mitochondrial pyruvate import is a metabolic vulnerability in androgen receptor-driven prostate cancer.

Specific metabolic underpinnings of androgen receptor (AR)-driven growth in prostate adenocarcinoma (PCa) are largely undefined, hindering the development of strategies to leverage the metabolic dependencies of this disease when hormonal manipulations fail. Here we show that the mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC), a critical metabolic conduit linking cytosolic and mitochondrial metabolism, is transcriptionally regulated by AR. Experimental MPC inhibition restricts proliferation and metabolic outputs of the citric acid cycle (TCA) including lipogenesis and oxidative phosphorylation in AR-driven PCa models.