Neurobeachin, a Regulator of Synaptic Protein Targeting, Is Associated with Body Fat Mass and Feeding Behavior in Mice and Body-Mass Index in Humans

Neurobeachin (Nbea) regulates neuronal membrane protein trafficking and is required for the development and functioning of central and neuromuscular synapses. In homozygous knockout (KO) mice, Nbea deficiency causes perinatal death. Here, we report that heterozygous KO mice haploinsufficient for Nbea have higher body weight due to increased adipose tissue mass. In several feeding paradigms, heterozygous KO mice consumed more food than wild-type (WT) controls, and this consumption was primarily driven by calories rather than palatability. Expression analysis of feeding-related genes in the hypothalamus and brainstem with real-time PCR showed differential expression of a subset of neuropeptide or neuropeptide receptor mRNAs between WT and Nbea+/− mice in the sated state and in response to food deprivation, but not to feeding reward. In humans, we identified two intronic NBEA single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that are significantly associated with body-mass index (BMI) in adult and juvenile cohorts. Overall, data obtained in mice and humans suggest that variation of Nbea abundance or activity critically affects body weight, presumably by influencing the activity of feeding-related neural circuits. Our study emphasizes the importance of neural mechanisms in body weight control and points out NBEA as a potential risk gene in human obesity

Inclusion, exclusion and social media: IT-based initiatives and future opportunities

This paper focuses on IT-based and more specifically social media-based initiatives for inclusion. It presents a state-of-the-art overview of existing initiatives that was based on a review of scientific literature, interviews with practitioners in the field and a thorough internet search. The initiatives were sorted in eight main categories: providing access to computer and the internet, increasing skills, cooperation with others, changing attitudes, providing a sense of belonging, increasing visibility, adapting to personal wants and needs and digitalising content. Moreover, a separate category was created for initiatives incorporating social media. Based on this overview, it was concluded that the majority of initiatives still focuses on providing access to computers and the internet and IT-training, whereas only a minority aims at improving empowerment by actively involving users. Secondly, many existing initiatives contend with communication issues. It further appears that social media initiatives mostly use a bottom-up approach, whereas more classic IT-based inclusion initiatives employ top-down approaches. Finally, growing decentralisation makes overlooking the field difficult and finally results or evaluations are rarely available. Recommendations for future initiatives and future research are discussed in this paper.status: publishe

Management of Central Venous Catheters in Children and Adults on Home Parenteral Nutrition: A French Survey of Current Practice

Although central venous catheter (CVC)-related thrombosis (CRT) is a severe complication of home parenteral nutrition (HPN), the amount and quality of data in the diagnosis and management of CRT remain low. We aimed to describe current practices regarding CVC management in French adult and pediatric HPN centers, with a focus on CVC obstruction and CRT. Current practices regarding CVC management in patients on HPN were collected by an online-based cross-sectional survey sent to expert physicians of French HPN centers. We compared these practices to published guidelines and searched for differences between pediatric and adult HPN centers' practices. Finally, we examined the heterogeneity of practices in both pediatric and adult HPN centers. The survey was completed by 34 centers, including 21 pediatric and 13 adult centers. We found a considerable heterogeneity, especially in the responses of pediatric centers. On some points, the centers' responses differed from the current guidelines. We also found significant differences between practices in adult and pediatric centers. We conclude that the management of CVC and CRT in patients on HPN is a serious and complex situation for which there is significant heterogeneity between HPN centers. These findings highlight the need for more well-designed clinical trials in this field

Multinational Observational Cohort Study of COVID-19-Associated Pulmonary Aspergillosis(1)

International audienceWe performed an observational study to investigate intensive care unit incidence, risk factors, and outcomes of coronavirus disease-associated pulmonary aspergillosis (CAPA). We found 10%-15% CAPA incidence among 823 patients in 2 cohorts. Several factors were independently associated with CAPA in 1 cohort and mortality rates were 43%-52%