During the last two decades our understanding of human B cell differentiation has developed considerably. Our understanding of the human B cell compartment has advanced from a point where essentially all assays were based on the presence or not of class-switched antibodies to a level where a substantial diversity is appreciated among the cells involved. Several consecutive transitional stages that

The physiological mechanism for producing antigen-specific antibodies is based on a two-phase neo-Darwinian process: the first phase consists of diversity generation (formation of the repertoire), and the second phase is antigen-mediated selection. In this article, we consider how the natural immunoglobulin gene-diversification processes can be exploited both in vivo and in vitro in order to allow

Because Peyer's patches (PP) are the main inductive sites for gut IgA responses we have focused this review on what we know about the function of PP germinal centers (GC).The vast majority of IgA gene sequences in the gut lamina propria (LP) are heavily mutated arguing for an origin in GC. Because PP GC formation is dependent on the presence of CD4 T cells, we speculate that all IgA responses in t

Abstract In this study we present new palaeointensity measurements on Iron Age (200 AD – 1840 AD) pottery from the southern Africa region, where there is only limited data available at present. Many sites only produce a single accepted palaeointensity result and we have therefore opted to focus on analysis at sample level as opposed to site level, which is more common in traditional archaeomagneti

The first mass-distributed vaccines based on mRNA technology were launched in 2021 to protect against COVID-19, sparking rumours among vaccine critical individuals that these “new” vaccines might be more dangerous to the health than other, “traditional” vaccines. Drawing on rumour theories and social cognitive perspectives, the aim of this chapter is to account for the purpose and the spreading of

Cancer cells evade the immune system by downregulating antigen presentation. Although immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) and adoptive T-cell therapies revolutionized cancer treatment, their efficacy relies on the intrinsic immunogenicity of tumor cells and antigen presentation by dendritic cells. Here, we describe a protocol to directly reprogram murine and human cancer cells into tumor-antigen-pr

This chapter provides examples of basic analyses of macro and micro levels of intermediality in social media: YouTube entertainment, an example of a multi-layered social media practice, and GIFs, which derive from other media and migrate across different platforms on the internet. Apart from media combination and integration, even the two aspects of media transformation, transmediation and represe

Carriers of BRCA1 germline pathogenic variants are at substantially higher risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer than the general population. Accurate identification of at-risk individuals is crucial for risk stratification and the implementation of targeted preventive and therapeutic interventions. Despite significant progress in variant classification efforts, a sizable portion of reporte

To reduce bird collisions on wind turbines, Automatic Detection Systems have been developed to locate approaching birds and trigger turbines to slowdown to 2–3 rotations per minute (rpm). However, it is unknown whether birds can detect this reduced speed and avoid the turbine. We conducted an operant conditioning experiment on domestic doves (Streptopelia roseogrisea) and Harris's hawks (Parabuteo

Bacterial colonization is mediated by fimbriae, which are thin hair-like appendages dispersed from the bacterial surface. The aggregative adherence fimbriae from enteroaggregative E. coli are secreted through the outer membrane and consist of polymerized minor and major pilin subunits. Currently, the understanding of the structural morphology and the role of the minor pilin subunit in the polymeri

All-small-molecule organic solar cells (ASM OSCs) hold great promise in OSCs owing to their defined structures, simple purification, and good reproducibility, but are challenging for further improved efficiency. The energy level strategy has been broadly applied to obtain a better performance; however, a comprehensive understanding of the effects of energy level offset on photoexcitation dynamics

BackgroundProenkephalin A 119-159 (PENK) is freely filtered in the glomerulus with plasma levels correlating with glomerular filtration rate. Therefore, PENK has been proposed as an early indicator of acute kidney injury (AKI) although its performance is dependent on the clinical setting. This meta-analysis aimed to investigate the correlation between PENK levels and the development of AKI.Methods

Low-coordinate surface sites, such as those present on high-index step edges, often exhibit chemical reactivity that markedly differs from more close-packed facets. To understand the site-specific reactivity, insight into the three-dimensional atomic arrangement of step edges is needed. Here, we employ atomic-resolution transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of nanoparticles in combination with sc

Surface redox processes involving oxygen atom exchange are fundamental in catalytic reactions mediated by metal oxides. These processes are often difficult to uncover due to changes in the surface stoichiometry and atomic arrangement. Here we employ high-resolution transmission electron microscopy to study vanadium oxide supported on titanium dioxide, which is of relevance as a catalyst in, e.g.,

The introduction of gaseous atmospheres in transmission electron microscopy offers the possibility of studying materials in situ under chemically relevant environments. The presence of a gas environment can degrade the resolution. Surprisingly, this phenomenon has been shown to depend on the electron-dose-rate. In this article, we demonstrate that both the total and areal electron-dose-rates work

Coherence estimation between speech envelope and electroencephalography (EEG) is a proven method in neural speech tracking. This paper proposes an improved coherence estimation algorithm which utilises phase sensitive multitaper cross-spectral estimation. Estimated EEG coherence differences between attended and ignored speech envelopes for a hearing impaired (HI) population are evaluated and compa

This work establishes a computational framework for the quantification of the effect of uncertainty of material model parameters on extremal stress triaxiality and Lode angle values in plastically deformed devices, whereby stress triaxiality and Lode angle are accepted as key indicators for damage initiation in metal forming processes. Attention is paid to components, the material response of whic