Iron improves the antiviral activity of NK cells.

Natural killer (NK) cells are innate immune cells that play a crucial role as a first line of defense against viral infections and tumor development. Iron is an essential nutrient for immune cells, but it can also pose biochemical risks such as the production of reactive oxygen species. The importance of iron for the NK cell function has gained increasing recognition.

Outcome of Patients Waitlisted for Deceased Donor Liver Transplantation During COVID-19 Pandemic: A Single-Center Experience.

Background And Aim: COVID-19 pandemic has strained several healthcare resources across the world. While liver transplantation (LT) is the only curative therapy for patients with end-stage liver disease, we aimed to determine the clinical outcome of patients waitlisted for deceased donor liver transplantation (DDLT) during COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: A retrospective comparative observational study of adult patients waitlisted for DDLT from January 2019 to January 2022 at our liver unit (Dr Rela Institute and Medical Center, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) was carried out.

A simple high-throughput method for automated detection of Drosophila melanogaster light-dependent behaviours.

Background: Like most living organisms, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster exhibits strong and diverse behavioural reactions to light. Drosophila is a diurnal animal that displays both short- and long-term responses to light, important for, instance, in avoidance and light wavelength preference, regulation of eclosion, courtship, and activity, and provides an important model organism for understanding the regulation of circadian rhythms both at molecular and circuit levels. However, the assessment and comparison of light-based behaviours is still a challenge, mainly due to the lack of a standardised platform to measure behaviour and different protocols created across studies.