Biofluid Biomarkers in Huntington's Disease

Huntington's disease (HD) is a chronic progressive neurodegenerative condition where new markers of disease progression are needed. So far no disease-modifying interventions have been found, and few interventions have been proven to alleviate symptoms. This may be partially explained by the lack of reliable indicators of disease severity, progression, and phenotype.Biofluid biomarkers may bring advantages in addition to clinical measures, such as reliability, reproducibility, price, accuracy, and direct quantification of pathobiological processes at the molecular level; and in addition to empowering clinical trials, they have the potential to generate useful hypotheses for new drug development.In this chapter we review biofluid biomarker reports in HD, emphasizing those we feel are likely to be closest to clinical applicability

The mineralogy of pyrrhotite from Sudbury CCN and Phoenix nickel ores and its effect on flotation performance

The non-stoichiometric sulphide pyrrhotite (Fe1-xS), common to many nickel ores, occurs in a variety of crystallographic forms and compositions. In order to manipulate its performance in nickel processing operations either to target the recovery or rejection or pyrrhotite, one needs an understanding of pyrrhotite mineralogy, reactivity and the effect this may have on its flotation performance. In this study, a non-magnetic Fe 9S10 pyrrhotite from Sudbury CCN in Canada and a magnetic Fe7S8 pyrrhotite from Phoenix in Botswana were selected to explore the relationship between mineralogy, reactivity and microflotation. Non-magnetic Sudbury pyrrhotite was less reactive in terms of its oxygen uptake and showed the best collectorless flotation recovery. Magnetic Phoenix pyrrhotite was more reactive and showed poor collectorless flotation, which was significantly improved with the addition of xanthate and copper activation. These differences in reactivity and flotation performance are interpreted to be a result of the pyrrhotite mineralogy, the implications of which may aid in the manipulation of flotation performance