Vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia: Research consortia that focus on etiology and treatable targets to lessen the burden of dementia worldwide

The research into vascular contributions to cognitive impairment and dementia (VCID) aims to understand the importance of cerebrovascular biology in cognitive decline. Prevention and treatment of VCID is poised to have major impact on dementia-related disease burden and is thus a critical emerging objective in dementia research. This article presents VCID consortia focused on multidisciplinary approaches to identify key pathologic targets and develop diagnostic tools with the goal of bridging the divide between basic research and clinical trials. Members of these multi-institute, multidisciplinary consortia provide a prospective on the history and emerging science of VCID and how VCID consortia can address some of the more complex questions in VCID and drive the field forward. These consortia, and others like them, are uniquely suited to tackle some of the most difficult obstacles in translating research to the clinic

Measuring health related quality of life of care home residents, comparison of self-report with staff proxy responses for EQ-5D-5L and HowRu: protocol for assessing proxy reliability in care home outcome testing

Introduction Research into interventions to improve health and wellbeing for older people living in care homes is increasingly common. Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) is frequently used as an outcome measure but collecting both self-reported and proxy HRQoL measures is challenging in this setting. This study will investigate the reliability of UK care home staff as proxy respondents for the EQ-5D-5L and HowRu measures. Methods and Analysis This is a prospective cohort study of a sub-population of care home residents recruited to the larger Proactive Healthcare for Older People in Care Homes (PEACH) study. It will recruit residents ≥ 60 years across 24 care homes and not receiving short stay or respite care. The sample size is 160 participants. Resident and care home staff proxy EQ-5D-5L and HowRu responses will be collected monthly for three months. Weighted kappa statistics and intraclass correlation adjusted for clustering at the care home level will be used to measure agreement between resident and proxy responses. The extent to which staff variables (gender, age group, length of time caring, role, how well they know the resident, length of time working in care homes and in specialist gerontological practice) influence the level of agreement between self-reported and proxy responses will be considered using a multilevel mixed-effect regression model. Ethics and Dissemination The PEACH study protocol was reviewed by the UK Health Research Authority and University of Nottingham Research Ethics Committee and was determined to be a service development project. We will publish this study in a peer-reviewed journal with international readership and disseminate it through relevant national stakeholder networks and specialist societies

Optimal NHS service delivery to care homes: a realist evaluation of the features and mechanisms that support effective working for the continuing care of older people in residential settings

Background Care homes are the institutional providers of long-term care for older people. The OPTIMAL study argued that it is probable that there are key activities within different models of health-care provision that are important for residents’ health care. Objectives To understand ‘what works, for whom, why and in what circumstances?’. Study questions focused on how different mechanisms within the various models of service delivery act as the ‘active ingredients’ associated with positive health-related outcomes for care home residents. Methods Using realist methods we focused on five outcomes: (1) medication use and review; (2) use of out-of-hours services; (3) hospital admissions, including emergency department attendances and length of hospital stay; (4) resource use; and (5) user satisfaction. Phase 1: interviewed stakeholders and reviewed the evidence to develop an explanatory theory of what supported good health-care provision for further testing in phase 2. Phase 2 developed a minimum data set of resident characteristics and tracked their care for 12 months. We also interviewed residents, family and staff receiving and providing health care to residents. The 12 study care homes were located on the south coast, the Midlands and the east of England. Health-care provision to care homes was distinctive in each site. Findings Phase 1 found that health-care provision to care homes is reactive and inequitable. The realist review argued that incentives or sanctions, agreed protocols, clinical expertise and structured approaches to assessment and care planning could support improved health-related outcomes; however, to achieve change NHS professionals and care home staff needed to work together from the outset to identify, co-design and implement agreed approaches to health care. Phase 2 tested this further and found that, although there were few differences between the sites in residents’ use of resources, the differences in service integration between the NHS and care homes did reflect how these institutions approached activities that supported relational working. Key to this was how much time NHS staff and care home staff had had to learn how to work together and if the work was seen as legitimate, requiring ongoing investment by commissioners and engagement from practitioners. Residents appreciated the general practitioner (GP) input and, when supported by other care home-specific NHS services, GPs reported that it was sustainable and valued work. Access to dementia expertise, ongoing training and support was essential to ensure that both NHS and care home staff were equipped to provide appropriate care. Limitations Findings were constrained by the numbers of residents recruited and retained in phase 2 for the 12 months of data collection. Conclusions NHS services work well with care homes when payments and role specification endorse the importance of this work at an institutional level as well as with individual residents. GP involvement is important but needs additional support from other services to be sustainable. A focus on strategies that promote co-design-based approaches between the NHS and care homes has the potential to improve residents’ access to and experience of health care. Funding The National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme

The Science of Sungrazers, Sunskirters, and Other Near-Sun Comets

This review addresses our current understanding of comets that venture close to the Sun, and are hence exposed to much more extreme conditions than comets that are typically studied from Earth. The extreme solar heating and plasma environments that these objects encounter change many aspects of their behaviour, thus yielding valuable information on both the comets themselves that complements other data we have on primitive solar system bodies, as well as on the near-solar environment which they traverse. We propose clear definitions for these comets: We use the term near-Sun comets to encompass all objects that pass sunward of the perihelion distance of planet Mercury (0.307 AU). Sunskirters are defined as objects that pass within 33 solar radii of the Sun’s centre, equal to half of Mercury’s perihelion distance, and the commonly-used phrase sungrazers to be objects that reach perihelion within 3.45 solar radii, i.e. the fluid Roche limit. Finally, comets with orbits that intersect the solar photosphere are termed sundivers. We summarize past studies of these objects, as well as the instruments and facilities used to study them, including space-based platforms that have led to a recent revolution in the quantity and quality of relevant observations. Relevant comet populations are described, including the Kreutz, Marsden, Kracht, and Meyer groups, near-Sun asteroids, and a brief discussion of their origins. The importance of light curves and the clues they provide on cometary composition are emphasized, together with what information has been gleaned about nucleus parameters, including the sizes and masses of objects and their families, and their tensile strengths. The physical processes occurring at these objects are considered in some detail, including the disruption of nuclei, sublimation, and ionisation, and we consider the mass, momentum, and energy loss of comets in the corona and those that venture to lower altitudes. The different components of comae and tails are described, including dust, neutral and ionised gases, their chemical reactions, and their contributions to the near-Sun environment. Comet-solar wind interactions are discussed, including the use of comets as probes of solar wind and coronal conditions in their vicinities. We address the relevance of work on comets near the Sun to similar objects orbiting other stars, and conclude with a discussion of future directions for the field and the planned ground- and space-based facilities that will allow us to address those science topics

Pro-asthmatic cytokines regulate unliganded and ligand-dependent glucocorticoid receptor signaling in airway smooth muscle

To elucidate the regulation of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) signaling under pro-asthmatic conditions, cultured human airway smooth muscle (HASM) cells were treated with proinflammatory cytokines or GR ligands alone and in combination, and then examined for induced changes in ligand-dependent and -independent GR activation and downstream signaling events. Ligand stimulation with either cortisone or dexamethsone (DEX) acutely elicited GR translocation to the nucleus and, comparably, ligand-independent stimulation either with the Th2 cytokine, IL-13, or the pleiotropic cytokine combination, IL-1β/TNFα, also acutely evoked GR translocation. The latter response was potentiated by combined exposure of cells to GR ligand and cytokine. Similarly, treatment with either DEX or IL-13 alone induced GR phosphorylation at its serine-211 residue (GRSer211), denoting its activated state, and combined treatment with DEX+IL-13 elicited heightened and sustained GRSer211phosphorylation. Interestingly, the above ligand-independent GR responses to IL-13 alone were not associated with downstream GR binding to its consensus DNA sequence or GR transactivation, whereas both DEX-induced GR:DNA binding and transcriptional activity were significantly heightened in the presence of IL-13, coupled to increased recruitment of the transcriptional co-factor, MED14. The stimulated GR signaling responses to DEX were prevented in IL-13-exposed cells wherein GRSer211 phosphorylation was suppressed either by transfection with specific serine phosphorylation-deficient mutant GRs or treatment with inhibitors of the MAPKs, ERK1/2 and JNK. Collectively, these novel data highlight a heretofore-unidentified homeostatic mechanism in HASM cells that involves pro-asthmatic cytokine-driven, MAPK-mediated, non-ligand-dependent GR activation that confers heightened glucocorticoid ligand-stimulated GR signaling. These findings raise the consideration that perturbations in this homeostatic cytokine-driven GR signaling mechanism may be responsible, at least in part, for the insensirtivity to glucocorticoid therapy that is commonly seen in individuals with severe asthma

BHPR research: qualitative1. Complex reasoning determines patients' perception of outcome following foot surgery in rheumatoid arhtritis

Background: Foot surgery is common in patients with RA but research into surgical outcomes is limited and conceptually flawed as current outcome measures lack face validity: to date no one has asked patients what is important to them. This study aimed to determine which factors are important to patients when evaluating the success of foot surgery in RA Methods: Semi structured interviews of RA patients who had undergone foot surgery were conducted and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis of interviews was conducted to explore issues that were important to patients. Results: 11 RA patients (9 ♂, mean age 59, dis dur = 22yrs, mean of 3 yrs post op) with mixed experiences of foot surgery were interviewed. Patients interpreted outcome in respect to a multitude of factors, frequently positive change in one aspect contrasted with negative opinions about another. Overall, four major themes emerged. Function: Functional ability & participation in valued activities were very important to patients. Walking ability was a key concern but patients interpreted levels of activity in light of other aspects of their disease, reflecting on change in functional ability more than overall level. Positive feelings of improved mobility were often moderated by negative self perception ("I mean, I still walk like a waddling duck”). Appearance: Appearance was important to almost all patients but perhaps the most complex theme of all. Physical appearance, foot shape, and footwear were closely interlinked, yet patients saw these as distinct separate concepts. Patients need to legitimize these feelings was clear and they frequently entered into a defensive repertoire ("it's not cosmetic surgery; it's something that's more important than that, you know?”). Clinician opinion: Surgeons' post operative evaluation of the procedure was very influential. The impact of this appraisal continued to affect patients' lasting impression irrespective of how the outcome compared to their initial goals ("when he'd done it ... he said that hasn't worked as good as he'd wanted to ... but the pain has gone”). Pain: Whilst pain was important to almost all patients, it appeared to be less important than the other themes. Pain was predominately raised when it influenced other themes, such as function; many still felt the need to legitimize their foot pain in order for health professionals to take it seriously ("in the end I went to my GP because it had happened a few times and I went to an orthopaedic surgeon who was quite dismissive of it, it was like what are you complaining about”). Conclusions: Patients interpret the outcome of foot surgery using a multitude of interrelated factors, particularly functional ability, appearance and surgeons' appraisal of the procedure. While pain was often noted, this appeared less important than other factors in the overall outcome of the surgery. Future research into foot surgery should incorporate the complexity of how patients determine their outcome Disclosure statement: All authors have declared no conflicts of interes

A Humanized \u3cem\u3eSMN\u3c/em\u3e Gene Containing the \u3cem\u3eSMN2\u3c/em\u3e Nucleotide Alteration in Exon 7 Mimics \u3cem\u3eSMN2\u3c/em\u3e Splicing and the SMA Disease Phenotype

Proximal spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a neurodegenerative disease caused by low levels of the survival motor neuron (SMN) protein. In humans, SMN1 and SMN2 encode the SMN protein. In SMA patients, the SMN1 gene is lost and the remaining SMN2 gene only partially compensates. Mediated by a C\u3eT nucleotide transition in SMN2, the inefficient recognition of exon 7 by the splicing machinery results in low levels of SMN. Because the SMN2 gene is capable of expressing SMN protein, correction ofSMN2 splicing is an attractive therapeutic option. Although current mouse models of SMA characterized by Smn knock-out alleles in combination with SMN2 transgenes adequately model the disease phenotype, their complex genetics and short lifespan have hindered the development and testing of therapies aimed at SMN2 splicing correction. Here we show that the mouse and human minigenes are regulated similarly by conserved elements within in exon 7 and its downstream intron. Importantly, the C\u3eT mutation is sufficient to induce exon 7 skipping in the mouse minigene as in the human SMN2. When the mouse Smn gene was humanized to carry the C\u3eT mutation, keeping it under the control of the endogenous promoter, and in the natural genomic context, the resulting mice exhibit exon 7 skipping and mild adult onset SMA characterized by muscle weakness, decreased activity and an alteration of the muscle fibers size. This Smn C\u3eT mouse represents a new model for an adult onset form of SMA (type III/IV) also know as the Kugelberg–Welander disease

Characterization of EDM1 mice.

<p><b>A.</b> Myotonia was measured and scored on a 3 point scale with 0 being no myotonia and 3 being strong, persistent, and prevalent myotonia. EDM1 mice show myotonia as early as 2 weeks of age and reached maximal severity by 4 weeks. <b>B.</b> EDM1 mice have a reduction in grip strength as early as 4 weeks of age while the adult-onset mice did not show a significant reduction. <b>C.</b> PR interval was measured in the EDM1 mice. No statistical difference was measured at 2 weeks of age; however the subsequent time points showed a significant lengthening of the interval. Similar but less severe results were observed in the adult-onset DM1 model. Number of samples (n) provided on the graph, averages listed in the tables below the graphs, error bars are SEM. Two Sample T-Test was used to determine statistical significance with p-values of 0.05 (*), 0.01 (**) or <0.001 (***) displayed.</p

Partial Rescue of EDM1 phenotype in skeletal muscle by over-expression of MBNL1.

<p><b>A.</b> RNA-IP using a monoclonal antibody against MBNL1 pulls down the GFP-<i>DMPK</i> 3′UTR mRNA in both the EDM1 and adult-onset DM1 mice but not mice expressing EGFP only. Beads, IgG and RT -ve controls were used to show MBNL1 specificity. EGFP was amplified to detect the transgene. <b>B.</b> MBNL1 was confirmed to be up-regulated by qRT-PCR and <b>C.</b> by western blot analysis in the MBNL1 treated leg but not the EGFP treated leg. <b>D.</b> Median myotonia score in EDM1 mice expressing MBNL1 and EGFP in their TA muscles shows a slight reduction in myotonia due the presence of MBNL1 but not EGFP. <b>E.</b> mRNA splicing was also partially improved for <i>SmyD1</i>. <i>Clcn1</i>-exon7a showed no change. Number of samples (n) provided along with average or median in the tables along with standard deviation. Two Sample T-Test was used to determine statistical significance with p-values displayed.</p