Top Research Papers on Serial Killers

It is suggested that systematic, quantitative cyanotoxin risk assessments are made and precautionary actions to mitigate the risks are taken without hesitation to ensure the health and sustainability of the megafauna and human societies within the region.

This paper argues that incumbent firms may acquire innovative targets solely to discontinue the target’s innovation projects and preempt future competition. We call such acquisitions “killer acquisitions.” We develop a model illustrating this phenomenon. Using pharmaceutical industry data, we show that acquired drug projects are less likely to be developed when they overlap with the acquirer’s existing product portfolio, especially when the acquirer’s market power is large because of weak competition or distant patent expiration. Conservative estimates indicate that 5.3%–7.4% of acquisitions i...

With the advent of X-ray Free Electron Lasers (XFELs), new, high-throughput serial crystallography techniques for macromolecular structure determination have emerged. Serial femtosecond crystallography (SFX) and related methods provide possibilities beyond canonical, single-crystal rotation crystallography by mitigating radiation damage and allowing time-resolved studies with unprecedented temporal resolution. This primer aims to assist structural biology groups with little or no experience in serial crystallography planning and carrying out a successful SFX experiment. It discusses the backgr...

The harnessing of NK cell immunity through immune checkpoint inhibitors, NK cell engagers, and infusions of preactivated or genetically modified, autologous or allogeneic NK cell products is analyzed.

Involved in anti-viral and anti-tumor immunity thanks to their cytokines and chemokines secretion as well as their cytotoxic capabilities, NK cells have emerged as a promising therapeutic target in several solid tumors and hematological malignancies.

Interest in adoptive cell therapy for treating cancer is exploding owing to early clinical successes of autologous chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T lymphocyte therapy. However, limitations using T cells and autologous cell products are apparent as they (1) take weeks to generate, (2) utilize a 1:1 donor-to-patient model, (3) are expensive, and (4) are prone to heterogeneity and manufacturing failures. CAR T cells are also associated with significant toxicities, including cytokine release syndrome, immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome, and prolonged cytopenias. To overcome th...

The need for more studies exploring the effects of overexposure to Al and recommending mitigation actions is urged, as most antiperspirants contain aluminum compounds that raise human exposure to toxic Al.

An overview of what is known about NK tumor infiltration and surveillance and about the mechanisms by which NK cells become dysfunctional is provided and the functions of tumor-infiltrating NK cells may be impaired.

Recent insights into the role of NK cells in viral infections are reviewed, with particular emphasis on human studies, and insights from patients with primary immunodeficiencies affecting natural killer cells are described.

Natural killer (NK) cells are innate lymphocytes that directly kill tumor and pathogen-infected cells upon activation by cytokines and NK cell receptors (NKRs) without previous sensitization. It is known that cell metabolism affects the differentiation and effector functions of immune cells. For instance, interleukin−2 and interleukin−15 treatment increases glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) in NK cells to support their effector functions. However, little is known about the metabolic reprogramming of human NK cells upon their activation by NKRs. In this study, we investigated th...

Recent advances in NK cell immunotherapy are summarized, focusing on NK cell biology and function, the types of NK cell therapy, and clinical trials and future perspectives onNK cell therapy.

The key role that natural killer (NK) cells play in driving an antitumour immune response throughout the progression of cancer from its initial development to its metastatic spread and eventual treatment is discussed, defined herein as the cancer–NK cell immunity cycle.

As NK cells stand in between innate and adaptive arms of immunity and “bridge” them, their contribution in inflammation and immune regulation deserves intense investigations.

Recent advances in overcoming the suppressive effect of the tumor microenvironment are discussed with the aim of enhancing the clinical outcome in solid tumors treated with NK-cell-based immunotherapy.

The fundamental characteristics and recent advances of NK cells within tumor immunometabolic microenvironment are summarized, and potential application and limitations of emerging NK cell-based therapeutic strategies in the era of presicion medicine are discussed.

This work presents a serial electron diffraction method, where still diffraction patterns from many protein nanocrystals are rapidly recorded and merged, which minimises radiation damage and only requires a slightly modified standard scanning transmission electron microscope.

How does the visual system represent continuity in the constantly changing visual input? A recent proposal is that vision is serially dependent: Stimuli seen a moment ago influence what we perceive in the present. In line with this, recent frameworks suggest that the visual system anticipates whether an object seen at one moment is the same as the one seen a moment ago, binding visual representations across consecutive perceptual episodes. A growing body of work supports this view, revealing signatures of serial dependence in many diverse visual tasks. Yet, the variety of disparate findings an...

Scientists are piecing together how SARS-CoV-2 operates, where it came from and what it might do next — but pressing questions remain about the source of COVID-19. Scientists are piecing together how SARS-CoV-2 operates, where it came from and what it might do next — but pressing questions remain about the source of COVID-19.

How serotype 3 capsule synthesis and presentation on the bacterial surface is distinct from other serotypes, the biochemical and physiological properties of this capsule type that facilitate its ability to cause disease, and why existing vaccines are unable to confer protection are discussed.

It is shown that inbreeding depression strongly influences the population dynamics of an endangered killer whale population, despite genomic signatures of purging of deleterious alleles via natural selection, and can substantially limit the recovery of endangered populations.

Natural killer (NK) cells comprise a unique population of innate lymphoid cells endowed with intrinsic abilities to identify and eliminate virally infected cells and tumour cells. Possessing multiple cytotoxicity mechanisms and the ability to modulate the immune response through cytokine production, NK cells play a pivotal role in anticancer immunity. This role was elucidated nearly two decades ago, when NK cells, used as immunotherapeutic agents, showed safety and efficacy in the treatment of patients with advanced-stage leukaemia. In recent years, following the paradigm-shifting successes of...

A nanoparticle-based trispecific NK cell engager (nano-TriNKE) platform that can target epidermal growth factor receptor-overexpressing tumors and promote the recruitment and activation of NK cells to eradicate these cancer cells is reported.

This review presents an overview of how NK cells lithely partake in both innate and adaptive responses and how this versatility is manifest in human NK cell-mediated immunity.

An analysis of 43 evolutionary models in which altruism evolves and where the authors attribute the evolution of altruism to a pathway other than kin selection and/or deny the role of relatedness reveals that in every case the life cycle assumptions entail local reproduction and local interactions, thereby leading to interacting individuals being genetically related.

Different forms of NK cell-based immunotherapy for AML are summarized based on preclinical investigations and clinical trials to tackle the unmet clinical needs.

Healthy donors' NKEVs displayed main stimulatory functions in peripheral blood mononuclear cells, inducing the expression of human leukocyte antigen DR isotype (HLA-DR) and costimulatory molecules on monocytes and CD25 expression on T cells, suggesting that effects mediated by NkeVs might be potentially exploited in support of cancer therapy.

Recent important advances in the development of new iPSC-derived NK cell therapies are discussed, with a focus on improved targeting of cancer and how these advances may combine in future NK cell-based therapy products for the treatment of both hematologic malignancies and solid tumors.

This review will explore the function of CD155 within GBM as it relates to tumor migration and NK cell immunoregulation, as well as pre-clinical and clinical targeting of CD 155/TIGIT and the potential that this pathway holds for the development of emerging NK cell-based immunotherapies.

Cannabidiol possesses anti-arthritic activity and might ameliorate arthritis via targeting synovial fibroblasts under inflammatory conditions via targeting activated, pro-inflammatory RASF.

This review focuses on how the everchanging uterine microenvironment affects u NK cells and how uNK cells regulate homeostasis of the decidua, placenta development, and fetal growth.

The authors cover the therapeutic approaches that are being developed to mobilize NK cells in patients with cancer, including NK cell activators, checkpoint blockade, cellular therapies, and bispecific and trispecific NK cell activating antibodies.

Three prominent subtypes of NKTCL are defined, which differ significantly in cell of origin, EBV gene expression, transcriptional signatures, and responses to asparaginase-based regimens and targeted therapy.

Three different forms of killer whale that occur in Antarctica appear to warrant separate species status under a Biological Species Concept, but it will be important to show that this interpretation is consistent with results of molecular genetic analyses and additional morphological studies.

Restoration of NK cell effector functions has the potential to correct the delicate immune balance required to effectively overcome SARS-CoV-2 infection.

It is confirmed that AETX is the causative agent of VM, and field and laboratory studies demonstrated that VM can be transferred through the food chain from herbivorous fish and wildlife to birds of prey.

This review provides key insights into the evolving conceptualization of uNK cells, from their not-so-promising beginnings to now, when they are considered allies in reproduction.

This paper conducts extensive experiments to demonstrate that the syntactic trigger-based attack method can achieve comparable attack performance to the insertion-based methods but possesses much higher invisibility and stronger resistance to defenses.

The serial interval of COVID-19 is close to or shorter than its median incubation period, indicating that a substantial proportion of secondary transmission may occur prior to illness onset and that calculations made using the SARS serial interval may introduce bias.

The combination of microfocus X-ray beams and the development of a range of sample delivery platforms has now made routine millisecond time-resolved experiments at microfocus macromolecular crystallography beamlines a real possibility and is driving development of dedicated endstations for time-Resolved serial synchrotron crystallography.

Abstract Inorganic–organic hybrid materials represent a large share of newly reported structures, owing to their simple synthetic routes and customizable properties 1 . This proliferation has led to a characterization bottleneck: many hybrid materials are obligate microcrystals with low symmetry and severe radiation sensitivity, interfering with the standard techniques of single-crystal X-ray diffraction 2,3 and electron microdiffraction 4–11 . Here we demonstrate small-molecule serial femtosecond X-ray crystallography (smSFX) for the determination of material crystal structures from microcrys...