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Leukemic cells from AML patients can be differentiated to dendritic cells (DCs). Such DCs have potential for immunotherapy of patients. Blasts from 15 AML patients were differentiated into DCs and matured by different TLR agonists. We could generate AML-DCs from 73% of patients mostly with M4 or M5 subtypes. The DC recoveries ranged from 28% to 50%. The results showed that concomitant use of TLR4 and TLR7/8 agonists induced proficient DCs. Therefore, a combination of TLR4 and 7/8 agonists can be considered as an appropriate maturation cocktail for AML-DC production in order to use in the immunotherapy of AML patients., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The present study describes the response of a bacterial strain, isolated from a hot spring in an area with the highest levels of natural radiation, under radium ((226)Ra) stress. The bacterium has been characterized as a novel and efficient radium biosorbent and identified as a variant of Serratia marcescens by biochemical tests and molecular recognition. In order to gain insights into key cellular events that allow this strain to survive and undergo (226)Ra adaptation and biosorption, the strain was tested under two experimental conditions of 1000 and 6000 Bq (226)Ra stress. A proteomic approach involving two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and mass spectrometry was used to identify the differentially expressed proteins under (226)Ra stress. Functional assessment of identified proteins with significantly altered expression levels revealed several mechanisms thought to be involved in (226)Ra adaptation and conferring resistant phenotype to the isolate, including general stress adaptation, anti-oxidative stress, protein and nucleic acid synthesis, energy metabolism, efflux and transport proteins. It suggests that this strain through evolution is particularly well adapted to the high background radiation environment and could represent an alternative source to remove (226)Ra from such areas as well as industrial radionuclide polluted wastewaters., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) is a heterogeneous group of disorders, characterized by hypogammaglobulinemia and normal or low numbers of B cells, which predispose patients to recurrent infections. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 19 patients with CVID, and age- and sex-matched controls, were subjected to an in vitro assay of B-cell-T-cell activation and interaction, using anti-immunoglobulin (Ig)-D conjugated to dextran (alpha-delta-dex), as a polyclonal T independent type 2 antigen mimic, with and without anti-CD3/anti-CD28, as polyclonal T-cell stimuli. Stimulation of lymphocytes with either anti-CD3 or anti-CD3 plus anti-CD28 induced T-cell activation and proliferation in CVID patients who were similar to age- and sex-matched controls, but B cells of patients were significantly less activated when peripheral blood mononuclear cells were stimulated with polyclonal T-cell agonists alone. Comparison of CD86 expression in the patients with matched controls revealed that patients had low B-cell activation in response to T-cell stimuli (bystander T-cell help). In conclusion, this sample of CVID patients exhibits a defect of T-cell "help" to B cells, and/or B-cell response to T-cell help.

Assessment and redesign of water quality monitoring networks is an important task in water quality management. This paper presents a new methodology for optimal redesign of groundwater quality monitoring networks. The measure of transinformation in discrete entropy theory and the transinformation-distance (T-D) curves are used to quantify the efficiency of sampling locations and sampling frequencies in a monitoring network. The existing uncertainties in the T-D curves are taken in to account using the fuzzy set theory. The C-means clustering method is also used to classify the study area to some homogenous zones. The fuzzy T-D curve of the zones is then used in a multi-objective hybrid genetic algorithm-based optimization model. The proposed methodology is utilized for optimal redesign of monitoring network of the Tehran aquifer in the Tehran metropolitan area, Iran.