scholarly journals Immunotherapy of Brain Cancers: The Past, the Present, and Future Directions

2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 ◽  
pp. 1-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisheng Ge ◽  
Neil Hoa ◽  
Daniela A. Bota ◽  
Josephine Natividad ◽  
Andrew Howat ◽  
...  

Treatment of brain cancers, especially high grade gliomas (WHO stage III and IV) is slowly making progress, but not as fast as medical researchers and the patients would like. Immunotherapy offers the opportunity to allow the patient's own immune system a chance to help eliminate the cancer. Immunotherapy's strength is that it efficiently treats relatively small tumors in experimental animal models. For some patients, immunotherapy has worked for them while not showing long-term toxicity. In this paper, we will trace the history of immunotherapy for brain cancers. We will also highlight some of the possible directions that this field may be taking in the immediate future for improving this therapeutic option.

Plants ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 185
Author(s):  
Adrian S. Monthony ◽  
Serena R. Page ◽  
Mohsen Hesami ◽  
Andrew Maxwell P. Jones

The recent legalization of Cannabis sativa L. in many regions has revealed a need for effective propagation and biotechnologies for the species. Micropropagation affords researchers and producers methods to rapidly propagate insect-/disease-/virus-free clonal plants and store germplasm and forms the basis for other biotechnologies. Despite this need, research in the area is limited due to the long history of prohibitions and restrictions. Existing literature has multiple limitations: many publications use hemp as a proxy for drug-type Cannabis when it is well established that there is significant genotype specificity; studies using drug-type cultivars are predominantly optimized using a single cultivar; most protocols have not been replicated by independent groups, and some attempts demonstrate a lack of reproducibility across genotypes. Due to culture decline and other problems, the multiplication phase of micropropagation (Stage 2) has not been fully developed in many reports. This review will provide a brief background on the history and botany of Cannabis as well as a comprehensive and critical summary of Cannabis tissue culture. Special attention will be paid to current challenges faced by researchers, the limitations of existing Cannabis micropropagation studies, and recent developments and future directions of Cannabis tissue culture technologies.


2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 173-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffry A. Simpson ◽  
W. Steven Rholes

Adult attachment researchers have made important strides during the past 25 years in testing and applying attachment theory to multiple personal and interpersonal domains. We highlight some of the major milestones and then propose several directions for future research. Some of the most important and promising directions include testing additional normative processes implied by attachment theory, developing and testing critical connections between attachment theory and other major interpersonal theories, and identifying pathways between attachment processes and long-term health outcomes.


2014 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mike Smith

This paper examines how the past of desert landscapes has been interpreted since European explorers and scientists first encountered them. It charts the research that created the conceptual space within which archaeologists and Quaternarists now work. Studies from the 1840s–1960s created the notion of a ‘Great Australian Arid Period'. The 1960s studies of Lake Mungo and the Willandra Lakes by Jim Bowler revealed the cyclical nature of palaeolakes, that changed with climate changes in the Pleistocene, and the complexity of desert pasts. SLEADS and other researchers in the 1980s used thermoluminescence techniques that showed further complexities in desert lands beyond the Willandra particularly through new studies in the Strzelecki and Simpson Dunefields, Lake Eyre, Lake Woods and Lake Gregory. Australian deserts are varied and have very different histories. Far from ‘timeless lands', they have carried detailed information about long-term climate changes on continental scales.


2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gülru Necipoğlu

In this volume marking the thirtieth anniversary of Muqarnas, the Editor reflects on the evolution of the journal over the years. To that end, the members of the Editorial and Advisory Boards were sent a questionnaire, asking them to comment on the contributions of Muqarnas and its Supplements series to the field of Islamic art and architecture studies over the past three decades, and to provide suggestions for future directions. Their observations, thoughts, and hopes for Muqarnas have been anonymously incorporated into this essay, which, in conversation with their comments, looks back on the history of the publication and offers some possibilities for the path it might take going forward.
The goal here is neither to assess the historiography nor to examine the current state of the field thirty years after the opening essay of volume 1. Instead, the focus is on the development and impact of both Muqarnas and the Supplements series in a highly specialized field with relatively few and short-lived or sporadic journals, before turning to the successes and shortcomings of these publications, as outlined by some of the board members. 



Author(s):  
Wendy Ayres-Bennett ◽  
Helena Sanson

This Introduction outlines the need for a ‘true history’ (Lerner 1976) of the role of women in the history of linguistics, which considers them on their own terms, and challenges categories and concepts devised for traditional male-dominated accounts. We start by considering what research has already been conducted in the field, before exploring some of the reasons for the relative dearth of studies. We outline some of the challenges and opportunities encountered by women who wished to study the nature of language and languages in the past. The geographical and chronological scope of this volume is then discussed. In a central section we examine some of the major recurring themes in the volume. These include attitudes towards women’s language, both positive and negative; women and language acquisition and teaching; and women as creators of new languages and scripts. We further explore women as authors, dedicatees, or intended readers of metalinguistic texts, as interpreters and translators, and as contributors to the linguistic documentation and maintenance. We consider how women supported male relatives and colleagues in their endeavours, sometimes in invisible ways, before reviewing the early stages of their entry into institutionalized contexts. The chapter concludes with a brief section on future directions for research.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 175628641987562 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucie Barateau ◽  
Yves Dauvilliers

Narcolepsy type 1 (NT1) is a chronic orphan disorder, caused by the selective and irreversible loss of hypocretin/orexin (ORX) neurons, by a probable autoimmune process. Little is known about NT2 etiology and prevalence, sharing with NT1 excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and dysregulation of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, but without cataplexy and loss of ORX neurons. Despite major advances in our understanding of the neurobiological basis of NT1, management remains nowadays only symptomatic. The main and most disabling symptom, EDS, is managed with psychostimulants, as modafinil/armodafinil, methylphenidate, or amphetamines as a third-line therapy. Narcolepsy is an active area for drug development, and new wake-promoting agents have been developed over the past years. Pitolisant, a selective histamine H3 receptor inverse agonist, has been recently approved to treat patients with NT1 and NT2. Solriamfetol, a phenylalanine derivative with dopaminergic and noradrenergic activity will be soon a new therapeutic option to treat EDS in NT1 and NT2. Sodium oxybate, used for decades in adult patients with narcolepsy, was recently shown to be effective and safe in childhood narcolepsy. The discovery of ORX deficiency in NT1 opened new therapeutic options oriented towards ORX-based therapies, especially nonpeptide ORX receptor agonists that are currently under development. In addition, immune-based therapies administered as early as possible after disease onset could theoretically slow down or stop the destruction of ORX neurons in some selected patients. Further well-designed controlled trials are required to determine if they could really impact on the natural history of the disease. Given the different clinical, biological and genetic profiles, narcolepsy may provide a nice example for developing personalized medicine in orphan diseases, that could ultimately aid in similar research and clinical efforts for other conditions.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kornelia Kończal

In early 2018, the Polish parliament adopted controversial legislation criminalising assertions regarding the complicity of the ‘Polish Nation’ and the ‘Polish State’ in the Holocaust. The so-called Polish Holocaust Law provoked not only a heated debate in Poland, but also serious international tensions. As a result, it was amended only five months after its adoption. The reason why it is worth taking a closer look at the socio-cultural foundations and political functions of the short-lived legislation is twofold. Empirically, the short history of the Law reveals a great deal about the long-term role of Jews in the Polish collective memory as an unmatched Significant Other. Conceptually, the short life of the Law, along with its afterlife, helps capture poll-driven, manifestly moralistic and anti-pluralist imaginings of the past, which I refer to as ‘mnemonic populism’. By exploring the relationship between popular and political images of the past in contemporary Poland, this article argues for joining memory and populism studies in order to better understand what can happen to history in illiberal surroundings.


2007 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 222-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta J. Cenkowski ◽  
Shane Silver

Background: Erosive pustular dermatosis of the scalp (EPDS) is a rare condition characterized by chronic, sterile, pustular erosions leading to scarring alopecia. Although the etiology is unknown, it appears to be associated with ultraviolet light exposure and trauma. Histologic findings include nonspecific atrophy of the epidermis and chronic inflammation. Case History: A 71-year-old female presented with a 1-year history of a boggy, erythematous, friable plaque on the vertex of her scalp. A diagnosis of EPDS was made based on presentation, negative cultures, and histologic findings. Initial therapy with intralesional and topical steroids and oral antibiotics resolved the inflamed plaques; however, steroid-induced atrophy became prominent after 5 months of use. The treatment was discontinued, resulting in recurrence of disease. Topical tacrolimus 0.1% ointment was initiated, which has been successfully controlling the lesions with reversal of skin atrophy and clinical evidence of hair growth. Conclusion: This is the fourth reported case of the successful treatment of EPDS with topical tacrolimus for the resolution of atrophy and the prevention of relapse of inflammation. Although its long-term use warrants close follow-up for side effects, tacrolimus may constitute a novel therapeutic option for the treatment of EPDS.


1981 ◽  
Vol 87 ◽  
pp. 407-439 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart R. Schram

On 1 July 1981 the Chinese Communist Party celebrated the sixtieth anniversary of its foundation. To mark this occasion, the Party itself issued a statement summing up the experience of recent decades. It seems an appropriate time for outsiders as well to look back over the history of the past 60 years, in the hope of grasping long-term tendencies which may continue to influence events in the future.


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