This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"We already know that eating good food makes our bodies feel good, but what we eat can also affect our brains. Microbiota that reside in our guts influence behavior through a mechanism called the microbiota-gut-brain axis. Certain foods – including prebiotic, probiotic, and fermented foods – have received attention for their mood-boosting benefits. Now, a new study adds another food to that list. Kefir, a fermented food produced from a combination of live bacteria and yeasts, is known to affect the gut microbiota, but whether it affects the microbiota-brain axis and behavior is unclear. Researchers fed mice two different types of kefir and examined their behavior and their gut microbes. They found that feeding kefir reduced stress-induced hormone signaling and reward-seeking and repetitive behaviors in the mice. Different kefirs affected different types of behaviors and changed the abundance of specific bacterial species in the gut..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The symbiotic microbial community that many animals have floating freely in their gut is critical to their health and well-being. But some insects, like cereal weevils, take this a step further and host bacteria inside their own cells. These endosymbiotic bacteria reside in massive, specialized cells organized in an organ called the bacteriome. Previous studies have suggested that the cereal weevil bacteriome participates in immune responses. But how, or if, the bacteriome protects its resident bacteria from that immune activity remains unclear. To answer this, researchers activated the cereal weevil innate immune system with pathogen protein fragments and examined the gene expression changes in the bacteriome and its residents. Rather than differentiate between pathogens and symbionts, the cereal weevils protected their endosymbionts with physical separation..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This lesson describes the major components and functions of the immune system and the role of engineers in keeping the body healthy (e.g., vaccinations and antibiotics, among other things). This lesson also discusses how an astronaut's immune system is suppressed during spaceflight due to stress and other environmental factors.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The balance between hunger and satiety plays a key role in metabolic health. Specifically, disrupted appetite can lead to eating disorders or obesity. Appetite control is influenced by a complex web of factors - including our gut microbiota. Gut microbiota influence appetite through a variety of mechanisms, including regulating appetite-related hormones such as leptin, ghrelin, and insulin, influencing the immune system and acting directly on hypothalamic neurons. Recently, there has been interest in exploring the gut-microbiota-brain axis in several research fields. Some research has suggested that the gut microbiota can regulate host body weight and even psychiatric disorders, but the effects of gut microbiome interventions have been inconsistent and require more research. Overall, there are many links between gut microbiota and host appetite, but the interaction is complicated by many outside variables, and the precise mechanisms have yet to be fully deciphered..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Tumor cells reprogram cellular energy metabolism to power their rapid proliferation. One important energy source for tumors is the amino acid glutamine, making glutamine metabolism a promising target for tumor treatment. However, glutamine is also important for proper immune cell function. Tumor cells can potentially outcompete immune cells for glutamine, tipping the scales of immunity in their favor. Certain intrinsic signaling programs may also help partition glutamine within tumor cells while causing immune cells to rely more heavily on glucose. Among immune cells, the tumor-induced glutamine shortage reduces the activity of cancer-fighting T effector cells. It may also disrupt the balance of other immune cell types such as macrophages, but it’s unclear whether the net effects are pro- or anti-tumor..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"B-cells are a type of white blood cell that play an important role in the immune system, and some of these cells secrete a protein known as IL-35, which has been shown to regulate inflammation. Because the microorganisms living in the digestive system can have critical effects on the immune system of their host, scientists recently set out to uncover the link between these microbes and IL-35 production. The team found that certain microbes inhabiting the guts of mice, such as Lactobacillus bacteria, can promote the generation of IL-35-secreting B-cells and that they do this by producing 3-indoleacetic acid (IAA) in the presence of lipopolysaccharides. They also found that IL-35 may help prevent mice fed a high-fat diet from becoming obese and observed lower levels of IAA in obese mice than in nonobese mice..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Although repeatedly exposed to HIV, Steve Crohn's blood cells were never infected. Dr. David Ho investigates in this video segment from NOVA: "Surviving AIDS."

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Cancer occurs when the body’s cells corrupt normal growth pathways. One such pathway is the Hedgehog/Glioma-associated oncogene (HH/GLI) pathway. While the pathway is critical for normal development and health in mammals, uncontrolled activation of the pathway can contribute to cancer development. HH/GLI signaling has been implicated in a wide variety of cancers, making it an attractive target for cancer therapies, but side effects and drug resistance have limited the use of HH/GLI pathway inhibitors, and improved treatment strategies are needed. A new review examines HH/GLI signaling in the context of immunosuppression and immune evasion. Critically, HH/GLI signaling can impair the immune response against a tumor. Here, the pathway drives the formation of regulatory T cells and immune checkpoints, which effectively inhibit the anti-tumoral immune response. But at the same time, the HH/GLI pathway interacts with pro-inflammatory signals to promote the division and survival of cancer cells..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The intestinal tract is home to a variety of microbes that live in a delicate balance with their host. Although this symbiosis is well-studied for bacteria, gut fungi (mycobiota) are often neglected due to their lower abundance in the gut microbiome. While fungi are traditionally investigated using culture-dependent methods, next-generation sequencing has allowed for more in-depth understanding. Fungi may colonize the gut as soon as birth, and the gut mycobiota can be affected by many factors throughout life, such as the environment, diet and nutrition, and the seasons. Gut fungi regulate many physiological functions in their hosts, including metabolism, control of aging, and disease progression. Immune homeostasis, in particular, is linked to gut mycobiota, and fungi can affect both innate and adaptive immune responses in the gut. Gut mycobiota have also been linked with intestinal diseases, and imbalanced fungal community composition can alter intestinal homeostasis..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Lampreys are primitive vertebrates, so research on their genes and proteins can provide unique insights into the evolution of biological processes. LIP, an important immune protein in lampreys, also regulates lamprey growth and development, but the mechanisms of its development- regulating effects are unclear. To learn more, researchers recently examined the function of LIP in a doxycycline (Dox)-activated transgenic zebrafish embryo model. LIP overexpression was toxic to the zebrafish embryos, causing death or developmental malformation by inducing cell death on a broad scale. Specifically, LIP triggered the ferroptosis cell death pathway by upregulating genes such as tfr1a and acsl4a and by causing lipid peroxidation. The LIP-mediated ferroptosis in turn led to pericardial edema in the zebrafish. Direct inhibition and silencing of tfr1a and acsl4a suppressed both ferroptosis and pericardial edema, confirming the roles of these genes in LIP’s developmental effects..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Macrophages are large, round cells that contain a central round nucleus and have abundant clear, often vacuolated, cytoplasm. Macrophages acts as sentinel cells; they have a role in destroying bacteria, protozoa and tumour cells, and release substances that act upon other immune cells. They are also responsible for clearing dead and damaged cells and tissue through the process known as efferocytosis. Macrophages are phagocytic, long lived and are found throughout the body.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"The concept of trained immunity suggests that exposure to nonpathogenic microbes or their metabolites can enhance an organism’s immune response later in life. But while trained immunity has been addressed by many studies focusing on vertebrate animals, little is known about its role in invertebrates. A recent study showed that microorganism exposure early in development increased the survival of the Pacific oyster when challenged with infectious disease. Researchers cultured Pacific oysters in filtered and UV-treated seawater that had either been enriched with naturally occurring microbes or unmanipulated as a control. These oysters and their offspring were then exposed to the virus that causes Pacific oyster mortality syndrome, a disease that devastates oyster farms worldwide. The team found increased survival not only among the oysters directly exposed to the microbe-enriched seawater but also among their progeny..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"When it comes to immune functioning, cancers and autoimmune diseases are opposites. The key immune-related defect in cancer is subverting and evading the immune system, while autoimmune disease is, broadly speaking, an overactive immune system targeting the self. The immune system and the gut microbial community have a reciprocal influence on each other. Therefore, it is possible that cancers and autoimmune diseases have analogous but inverted impacts on the gut microbiome. To test this, researchers conducted a systematic literature review. The included studies covered over 10,000 people from 27 countries. This data revealed a set of microbiome features that show consistent, opposite changes in cancers compared to autoimmune diseases. Fusobacterium and Peptostreptococcus were the most consistently increased bacterial genera in cancer cases. While Bacteroides stood out as a group increased in autoimmune disease and decreased in cancers..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This course focuses on the fundamentals of tissue and organ response to injury from a molecular and cellular perspective. There is a special emphasis on disease states that bridge infection, inflammation, immunity, and cancer. The systems approach to pathophysiology includes lectures, critical evaluation of recent scientific papers, and student projects and presentations.
This term, we focus on hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), chronic-active hepatitis, and hepatitis virus infections. In addition to lectures, students work in teams to critically evaluate and present primary scientific papers.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"N6-methyl-adenosine (m⁶A) methylation is the most abundant epigenetic modification on mRNA and lncRNA. This modification is regulated by m⁶A writers, readers, and erasers, and its proper regulation is critical for innate and adaptive immunity, especially since m⁶A can play different roles depending on the transcript region, cell type, or specific regulators involved. For example, in the innate immune system, m⁶A can promote the antitumor and antiviral activity of NK cells. It can also activate disease- fighting M1 macrophages, reduce inflammation, and encourage dendritic cell maturation and activity. On the other hand, m⁶A can prevent dendritic cells from cross-presenting tumor antigens to prime T cells, hindering the antitumor response. In the adaptive immune system, m⁶A promotes T cell homeostasis but also suppresses T follicular helper cell development and it can either exacerbate or inhibit HIV-1 infection in CD4⁺ T cells..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Neutrophils represent up to 70% of all leukocytes in the blood stream (in humans there are approximately 4.4 million neutrophils / millilitre of blood) and are distinguished by their irregular multi-lobed nucleus and indistinct granular appearance. They are 10-12ľm and circulate in the blood for minutes to hours (average 6-8 hours) and lasting for 1-2 days in tissue. Although the most abundant leukocyte in the blood, the vast majority of neutrophils are found in the bone marrow (5x more) mostly as functionally immature precursor cells, although this varies between species with mice having a large pool of functional neutrophils in their bone marrow.

The immunomodulators or Rasayana’s (in Ayurveda) are agents used to modulate the immune system and can be obtained from both natural as well as synthetic origin from plants and chemicals respectively. The aim of this review is to highlight the work on pharmacological aspects of plant immunomodulators and also provides the knowledge on the recent pharmacological research update in current year (2011). Plants explained in this review having potential of immunomodulating activity are identified from various sources in the literature. Among these many plants have undergone in vitro as well as in vivo evaluations which are explained in this review including the dose administered of particular plant extract and the mechanism involved in immunomodulation.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Regulatory T cells (Tregs) normally maintain balance in the immune system, but Treg dysfunction can lead to inflammation and immune disorders. The protein PPARγ enhances Treg generation and function, so it’s a promising therapeutic target for these conditions. However, the mechanisms of PPARγ’s effects on Tregs are unclear. To learn more, researchers recently tested the effects of several PPARγ-activating drugs on Tregs derived from mouse lymph node cells. The activators increased Treg production and the expression of immunosuppressive molecules important for Treg function. They also enhanced Tregs’ energy supply by upregulating CD36 and CPT1, two proteins involved in fatty acid oxidation (FAO). Furthermore, PPARγ activation increased N-linked glycosylation, a process that links carbohydrate molecules to proteins and thereby altered the cell-surface abundance of the receptors TβRII and IL-2Rα, affecting the TGF-β/Smad and IL-2/STAT5 signaling pathways..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

Phagocytosis is a very primitive system of defence against infection, having even been shown to exist in invertebrates and single cell organisms. The discovery was made in starfish larvae by Elle Metchnikoff who subsequently won the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology in 1908. The process of phagocytosis itself is a form of endocytosis (cell eating), with vesicular internalisation being the method of removal of pathogens and dead cells (those that have undergone apoptosis, or Programmed Cell Death). This internalised vesicle is referred to as the "phagosome".