Time Course of Changes in Peripheral Blood Gene Expression During Medication Treatment for Major Depressive Disorder.

Changes in gene expression (GE) during antidepressant treatment may increase understanding of the action of antidepressant medications and serve as biomarkers of efficacy. GE changes in peripheral blood are desirable because they can be assessed easily on multiple occasions during treatment. We report here on GE changes in 68 individuals who were treated for 8 weeks with either escitalopram alone, or escitalopram followed by bupropion. GE changes were assessed after 1, 2, and 8 weeks of treatment, with significant changes observed in 156, 121, and 585 peripheral blood gene transcripts, respectively. Thirty-one transcript changes were shared between the 1- and 8-week time points (seven upregulated, 24 downregulated). Differences were detected between the escitalopram- and bupropion-treated subjects, although there was no significant association between GE changes and clinical outcome. A subset of 18 genes overlapped with those previously identified as differentially expressed in subjects with MDD compared with healthy control subjects. There was statistically significant overlap between genes differentially expressed in the current and previous studies, with 10 genes overlapping in at least two previous studies. There was no enrichment for genes overexpressed in nervous system cell types, but there was a trend toward enrichment for genes in the WNT/β-catenin pathway in the anterior thalamus; three genes in this pathway showed differential expression in the present and in three previous studies. Our dataset and other similar studies will provide an important source of information about potential biomarkers of recovery and for potential dysregulation of GE in MDD

Meta-analysis of honey bee neurogenomic response links deformed wing virus type A to precocious behavioral maturation

Crop pollination by the western honey bee Apis mellifera is vital to agriculture but threatened by alarmingly high levels of colony mortality, especially in Europe and North America. Colony loss is due, in part, to the high viral loads of Deformed wing virus (DWV), transmitted by the ectoparasitic mite Varroa destructor, especially throughout the overwintering period of a honey bee colony. Covert DWV infection is commonplace and has been causally linked to precocious foraging, which itself has been linked to colony loss. Taking advantage of four brain transcriptome studies that unexpectedly revealed evidence of covert DWV-A infection, we set out to explore whether this effect is due to DWV-A mimicking naturally occurring changes in brain gene expression that are associated with behavioral maturation. Consistent with this hypothesis, we found that brain gene expression profiles of DWV-A infected bees resembled those of foragers, even in individuals that were much younger than typical foragers. In addition, brain transcriptional regulatory network analysis revealed a positive association between DWV-A infection and transcription factors previously associated with honey bee foraging behavior. Surprisingly, single-cell RNA-Sequencing implicated glia, not neurons, in this effect; there are relatively few glial cells in the insect brain and they are rarely associated with behavioral plasticity. Covert DWV-A infection also has been linked to impaired learning, which together with precocious foraging can lead to increased occurrence of infected bees from one colony mistakenly entering another colony, especially under crowded modern apiary conditions. These findings provide new insights into the mechanisms by which DWV-A affects honey bee health and colony survival

Effect of water content on the dynamic measurement of dielectric properties of food snack pellets during microwave

[EN] The evolution of dielectric properties of starch-based food pellets with different moisture contents was measured during microwave expansion to determine the effect of water content on the expansion dynamics. Dynamic dielectric measurements were found to be an excellent procedure to in situ monitor and characterize the different stages in the material transformation of food pellets during microwave expansion. Although the maximum bulk expansion of pellets was achieved at a moisture content of approximately 8% (wet basis), comparative analysis showed that a moisture content 10-11% produced the best results considering the tradeoff between the foaming and expansion temperature. This was due to the high expansion index and an expansion temperature that was sufficiently lower than the onset temperature for pellet scorching, which provides an operating window to maximize expansion and minimize the likelihood of burning. Dielectric measurements during microwave heating in short on/off cycles prior to pellet expansion suggested that the water was not as dielectrically bound for high moisture content pellets. (C) 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.The work presented in this paper was funded by PepsiCo R&D. The views expressed in this manuscript are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of PepsiCo Inc.Gutiérrez Cano, JD.; Hamilton, IE.; Catalá Civera, JM.; Bows, J.; Penaranda-Foix, FL. (2018). Effect of water content on the dynamic measurement of dielectric properties of food snack pellets during microwave. Journal of Food Engineering. 232:21-28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2018.03.018S212823

Alzheimer's Disease Genes Are Associated with Measures of Cognitive Ageing in the Lothian Birth Cohorts of 1921 and 1936

Alzheimer's disease patients have deficits in specific cognitive domains, and susceptibility genes for this disease may influence human cognition in nondemented individuals. To evaluate the role of Alzheimer's disease-linked genetic variation on cognition and normal cognitive ageing, we investigated two Scottish cohorts for which assessments in major cognitive domains are available: the Lothian Birth Cohort of 1921 and the Lothian Birth Cohort of 1936, consisting of 505 and 998 individuals, respectively. 158 SNPs from eleven genes were evaluated. Single SNP analyses did not reveal any statistical association after correction for multiple testing. One haplotype from TRAPPC6A was associated with nonverbal reasoning in both cohorts and combined data sets. This haplotype explains a small proportion of the phenotypic variability (1.8%). These findings warrant further investigation as biological modifiers of cognitive ageing

Individual nutrition therapy and exercise regime: A controlled trial of injured, vulnerable elderly (INTERACTIVE trial)

Trial registration Australian Clinical Trials Registry: ACTRN12607000017426.Background Proximal femoral fractures are amongst the most devastating consequences of osteoporosis and injurious accidental falls with 25–35% of patients dying in the first year post-fracture. Effective rehabilitation strategies are evolving however, despite established associations between nutrition, mobility, strength and strength-related functional outcomes; there has been only one small study with older adults immediately following fragility fracture where a combination of both exercise and nutrition have been provided. The aim of the INTERACTIVE trial is to establish whether a six month, individualised exercise and nutrition program commencing within fourteen days of surgery for proximal femur fracture, results in clinically and statistically significant improvements in physical function, body composition and quality of life at an acceptable level of cost and resource use and without increasing the burden of caregivers. Methods and Design This randomised controlled trial will be performed across two sites, a 500 bed acute hospital in Adelaide, South Australia and a 250 bed acute hospital in Sydney, New South Wales. Four hundred and sixty community-dwelling older adults aged > 70 will be recruited after suffering a proximal femoral fracture and followed into the community over a 12-month period. Participants allocated to the intervention group will receive a six month individualised care plan combining resistance training and nutrition therapy commencing within 14 days post-surgery. Outcomes will be assessed by an individual masked to treatment allocation at six and 12 months. To determine differences between the groups at the primary end-point (six months), ANCOVA or logistic regression will be used with models adjusted according to potential confounders. Discussion The INTERACTIVE trial is among the first to combine nutrition and exercise therapy as an early intervention to address the serious consequence of rapid deconditioning and weight loss and subsequent ability to regain pre-morbid function in older patients post proximal femoral fracture. The results of this trial will guide the development of more effective rehabilitation programs, which may ultimately lead to reduced health care costs, and improvements in mobility, independence and quality of life for proximal femoral fracture sufferers

Detection of weak gravitational lensing distortions of distant galaxies by cosmic dark matter at large scales

Most of the matter in the universe is not luminous and can be observed directly only through its gravitational effect. An emerging technique called weak gravitational lensing uses background galaxies to reveal the foreground dark matter distribution on large scales. Light from very distant galaxies travels to us through many intervening overdensities which gravitationally distort their apparent shapes. The observed ellipticity pattern of these distant galaxies thus encodes information about the large-scale structure of the universe, but attempts to measure this effect have been inconclusive due to systematic errors. We report the first detection of this ``cosmic shear'' using 145,000 background galaxies to reveal the dark matter distribution on angular scales up to half a degree in three separate lines of sight. The observed angular dependence of this effect is consistent with that predicted by two leading cosmological models, providing new and independent support for these models.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures: To appear in Nature. (This replacement fixes tex errors and typos.