Desplegament de recursos en línea per a l’avaluació i l’autoaprenentage dels alumnes, i foment de l’especialització i competències transversals en el màster MERIT

El projecte es desenvolupa en el marc de la titulació oficial de màster MERIT del Departament de Teoria del Senyal i Comunicacions. El màster, orientat a la recerca i integrat dins del programa Erasmus Mundus, presenta trets esfecífics donat l’origen variat dels estudiants i que s’imparteix integrament en anglès. El projecte s’articula en 4 eixos: Eix 1: Creació d’un Dipòsit de Recursos Docents (DRD) en xarxa (on-line) amb eines d’autoestudi, autodiagnosi i avaluació remota destinades als estudiants de les assignatures CONCENTRATION del Màster. Els objectes d’aprenentatge integren teoria, demostradors interactius i exercicis d’avaluació. Eix 2: Creació d’un sistema de suport al professorat basat en la participació d’estudiants avantatjats de segon curs del Màster, que ajudin a fer un seguiment més personalitzat dels alumnes amb necessitats específiques.Eix 3: Impartició de l’assignatura transversal en anglès “Critical Thinking & Scientific Writing” (3 ECTS), integrada en el MERIT Eix 4: Creació d’un Comité Extern (CE) format per membres destacats d’empreses del sector de les TIC que assessorarà la Comissió de Postgrau (CP) del Departament en la concreció d’itineraris d’especialització dins del màster MERITPeer Reviewe

Clustering COVID-19 ARDS patients through the first days of ICU admission. An analysis of the CIBERESUCICOVID Cohort

Background Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) can be classified into sub-phenotypes according to different inflammatory/clinical status. Prognostic enrichment was achieved by grouping patients into hypoinflammatory or hyperinflammatory sub-phenotypes, even though the time of analysis may change the classification according to treatment response or disease evolution. We aimed to evaluate when patients can be clustered in more than 1 group, and how they may change the clustering of patients using data of baseline or day 3, and the prognosis of patients according to their evolution by changing or not the cluster.Methods Multicenter, observational prospective, and retrospective study of patients admitted due to ARDS related to COVID-19 infection in Spain. Patients were grouped according to a clustering mixed-type data algorithm (k-prototypes) using continuous and categorical readily available variables at baseline and day 3.Results Of 6205 patients, 3743 (60%) were included in the study. According to silhouette analysis, patients were grouped in two clusters. At baseline, 1402 (37%) patients were included in cluster 1 and 2341(63%) in cluster 2. On day 3, 1557(42%) patients were included in cluster 1 and 2086 (57%) in cluster 2. The patients included in cluster 2 were older and more frequently hypertensive and had a higher prevalence of shock, organ dysfunction, inflammatory biomarkers, and worst respiratory indexes at both time points. The 90-day mortality was higher in cluster 2 at both clustering processes (43.8% [n = 1025] versus 27.3% [n = 383] at baseline, and 49% [n = 1023] versus 20.6% [n = 321] on day 3). Four hundred and fifty-eight (33%) patients clustered in the first group were clustered in the second group on day 3. In contrast, 638 (27%) patients clustered in the second group were clustered in the first group on day 3.Conclusions During the first days, patients can be clustered into two groups and the process of clustering patients may change as they continue to evolve. This means that despite a vast majority of patients remaining in the same cluster, a minority reaching 33% of patients analyzed may be re-categorized into different clusters based on their progress. Such changes can significantly impact their prognosis

Galectin-3 is elevated in CSF and is associated with A beta deposits and tau aggregates in brain tissue in Alzheimer's disease

Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is a beta-galactosidase binding protein involved in microglial activation in the central nervous system (CNS). We previously demonstrated the crucial deleterious role of Gal-3 in microglial activation in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Under AD conditions, Gal-3 is primarily expressed by microglial cells clustered around Aβ plaques in both human and mouse brain, and knocking out Gal-3 reduces AD pathology in AD-model mice. To further unravel the importance of Gal-3-associated infammation in AD, we aimed to investigate the Gal-3 infammatory response in the AD continuum. First, we measured Gal-3 levels in neocortical and hippocampal tissue from early-onset AD patients, including genetic and sporadic cases. We found that Gal-3 levels were signifcantly higher in both cortex and hippocampus in AD subjects. Immunohistochemistry revealed that Gal-3+microglial cells were associated with amyloid plaques of a larger size and more irregular shape and with neurons containing tau-inclusions. We then analyzed the levels of Gal-3 in cerebrospinal fuid (CSF) from AD patients (n=119) compared to control individuals (n=36). CSF Gal-3 levels were elevated in AD patients compared to controls and more strongly correlated with tau (p-Tau181 and t-tau) and synaptic markers (GAP-43 and neurogranin) than with amyloid-β. Lastly, principal component analysis (PCA) of AD biomarkers revealed that CSF Gal-3 clustered and associated with other CSF neuroinfammatory markers, including sTREM-2, GFAP, and YKL-40. This neuroinfammatory component was more highly expressed in the CSF from amyloid-β positive (A+), CSF p-Tau181 positive (T+), and biomarker neurodegeneration positive/negative (N+/−) (A+T+N+/−) groups compared to the A+T−N− group. Overall, Gal-3 stands out as a key pathological biomarker of AD pathology that is measurable in CSF and, therefore, a potential target for disease-modifying therapies involving the neuroinfammatory response.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades de España RTI2018-098645-B-100Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, RTI2018-098645-B-100 y PID2021-124096OB-100Instituto de Salud Carlos III de España - 20/00448Fondos FEDER de la Unión Europea - PI18/01556 y PI21/00914Consejería de Economía, Innovación, Ciencia y Empleo de la Junta de Andalucía. España - P18-RT-137

Galectin-3 shapes toxic alpha-synuclein strains in Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative and progressive disorder characterised by intracytoplasmic inclusions called Lewy bodies (LB) and degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra (SN). Aggregated α-synuclein (αSYN) is known to be the main component of the LB. It has also been reported to interact with several proteins and organelles. Galectin-3 (GAL3) is known to have a detrimental function in neurodegenerative diseases. It is a galactose-binding protein without known catalytic activity and is expressed mainly by activated microglial cells in the central nervous system (CNS). GAL3 has been previously found in the outer layer of the LB in post-mortem brains. However, the role of GAL3 in PD is yet to be elucidated. In post-mortem samples, we identifed an association between GAL3 and LB in all the PD subjects studied. GAL3 was linked to less αSYN in the LB outer layer and other αSYN deposits, including pale bodies. GAL3 was also associated with disrupted lysosomes. In vitro studies demonstrate that exogenous recombinant Gal3 is internalised by neuronal cell lines and primary neurons where it interacts with endogenous αSyn fbrils. In addition, aggregation experiments show that Gal3 afects spatial propagation and the stability of pre-formed αSyn fbrils resulting in short, amorphous toxic strains. To further investigate these observations in vivo, we take advantage of WT and Gal3KO mice subjected to intranigral injection of adenovirus overexpressing human αSyn as a PD model. In line with our in vitro studies, under these conditions, genetic deletion of GAL3 leads to increased intracellular αSyn accumulation within dopaminergic neurons and remarkably preserved dopaminergic integrity and motor function. Overall, our data suggest a prominent role for GAL3 in the aggregation process of αSYN and LB formation, leading to the production of short species to the detriment of larger strains which triggers neuronal degeneration in a mouse model of PD.The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research ID: 11902Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación de España/FEDER/UE/PID2021-124096OB-I00Junta de Andalucía/FEDER/EU P18-RT-1372FEDER I + D + i-USE US-1264806UK Research and Innovation - Future Leaders Fellowship MR/S033947/1Alzheimer’s Society, UK - Grant 51Alzheimer’s Research. UK - ARUK-PG2019B-02

APOE in the bullseye of neurodegenerative diseases : impact of the APOE genotype in Alzheimer's disease pathology and brain diseases

ApoE is the major lipid and cholesterol carrier in the CNS. There are three major human polymorphisms, apoE2, apoE3, and apoE4, and the genetic expression of APOE4 is one of the most influential risk factors for the development of late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD). Neuroinflammation has become the third hallmark of AD, together with Amyloid-β plaques and neurofibrillary tangles of hyperphosphorylated aggregated tau protein. This review aims to broadly and extensively describe the differential aspects concerning apoE. Starting from the evolution of apoE to how APOE's single-nucleotide polymorphisms affect its structure, function, and involvement during health and disease. This review reflects on how APOE's polymorphisms impact critical aspects of AD pathology, such as the neuroinflammatory response, particularly the effect of APOE on astrocytic and microglial function and microglial dynamics, synaptic function, amyloid-β load, tau pathology, autophagy, and cell-cell communication. We discuss influential factors affecting AD pathology combined with the APOE genotype, such as sex, age, diet, physical exercise, current therapies and clinical trials in the AD field. The impact of the APOE genotype in other neurodegenerative diseases characterized by overt inflammation, e.g., alpha- synucleinopathies and Parkinson's disease, traumatic brain injury, stroke, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and multiple sclerosis, is also addressed. Therefore, this review gathers the most relevant findings related to the APOE genotype up to date and its implications on AD and CNS pathologies to provide a deeper understanding of the knowledge in the APOE field

Galectin-3 is elevated in CSF and is associated with Aβ deposits and tau aggregates in brain tissue in Alzheimer’s disease

Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is a beta-galactosidase binding protein involved in microglial activation in the central nervous system(CNS). We previously demonstrated the crucial deleterious role of Gal-3 in microglial activation in Alzheimer’s disease(AD). Under AD conditions, Gal-3 is primarily expressed by microglial cells clustered around Aβ plaques in both humanand mouse brain, and knocking out Gal-3 reduces AD pathology in AD-model mice. To further unravel the importance ofGal-3-associated infammation in AD, we aimed to investigate the Gal-3 infammatory response in the AD continuum. First,we measured Gal-3 levels in neocortical and hippocampal tissue from early-onset AD patients, including genetic and sporadiccases. We found that Gal-3 levels were signifcantly higher in both cortex and hippocampus in AD subjects. Immunohistochemistry revealed that Gal-3+microglial cells were associated with amyloid plaques of a larger size and more irregularshape and with neurons containing tau-inclusions. We then analyzed the levels of Gal-3 in cerebrospinal fuid (CSF) fromAD patients (n=119) compared to control individuals (n=36). CSF Gal-3 levels were elevated in AD patients comparedto controls and more strongly correlated with tau (p-Tau181 and t-tau) and synaptic markers (GAP-43 and neurogranin)than with amyloid-β. Lastly, principal component analysis (PCA) of AD biomarkers revealed that CSF Gal-3 clustered andassociated with other CSF neuroinfammatory markers, including sTREM-2, GFAP, and YKL-40. This neuroinfammatory component was more highly expressed in the CSF from amyloid-β positive (A+), CSF p-Tau181 positive (T+), andbiomarker neurodegeneration positive/negative (N+/−) (A+T+N+/−) groups compared to the A+T−N− group. Overall,Gal-3 stands out as a key pathological biomarker of AD pathology that is measurable in CSF and, therefore, a potential targetfor disease-modifying therapies involving the neuroinfammatory response