Early-to-mid idiopathic Parkinson’s disease shows a more cytotoxic but declined CD8-regulatory peripheral immune profile

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disease. Brain neuroinflammation plays a role in PD pathogenesis. However, the involvement of the peripheral immune system has not been systematically investigated. Here we analyzed >700 combinatorial immunological features in fresh blood of 28 early-to-mid-stage PD patients and 24 matched controls. We found an enhanced cytotoxic immune profile in idiopathic PD patients (iPD), with a higher frequency of terminally-differentiated effector CD8 T (TEMRA), late-differentiated CD8+ natural killer T cells and neutrophils. This immune profile was intensified by elevated serum granzyme A, reduced percentages of CD8+FOXP3+ regulatory T cells and group 2 innate lymphoid cells with immunosuppressive or tolerance-inducing functions. The frequency of CD8 TEMRA was negatively correlated with disease duration, suggesting a contribution to PD pathogenesis. Our work provides a comprehensive map on disturbed peripheral adaptive and innate immune cells in early-to-mid iPD, proposing easily-accessible candidates for early diagnosis and treatments

Välkomna hem till oss : En studie om lokalisering av korttidsboenden på delningsplattformar och värdars motiv till att hyra ut sin bostad

In recent years consumption patterns have drastically changed. With the development of the internet and technological innovations, there has been a growth of online networks where people can share goods and services between themselves. These peer-to-peer platforms have made it possible for private individuals to offer their accommodation to tourists in an easy way. Previous studies regarding short term-accommodations are mostly focused on the impacts of the sector in large cities. That is why this study aims to deepen the knowledge of the short-term accommodation sector in four municipalities in the High Coast region, that is an attractive rural tourism destination. The study is conducted with a mixed method approach and the purpose of this paper is: (1) to gain deeper understanding of the sector by comparing it to traditional accommodations such as hotels and hostels; and (2) to understand what motivates hosts to list their accommodation on sharing platforms and how they view their role as microentrepreneurs. The thesis has gathered data from the available sharing platforms, in order to map the localization of the accommodations and their capacity. Qualitative interviews were used to find out host motivations and their perceived role. Through the analysis seven sharing platforms were identified and Airbnb is the platform that offers the most accommodation and has the highest capacity compared to the other platforms.  The study also found that short-term accommodations and traditional accommodations follow similar localization patterns. By analyzing the interviews with the hosts some motivational aspects were identified which can be classified as mainly economic and social aspects. The economic aspects had dual origin: people who needed the income to support their everyday finances and people who just wished to do something fun with the money earned. The roles the hosts took varied more significantly. Some of them identify simply as entrepreneurs whilst others feel like ambassadors for the region because they actively provide visitors with information about places and activities. Rural areas are characterized by economic restructuring and a reduced population. The short-term accommodation sector may create opportunities for the region to increase tourism and thus create potential for economic growth.    

Mäktig media och passiva politiker. Om Västsvenska paketet och medias roll i demokratin

Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka medias roll i demokratin som en aktör med makt och som en arena för kommunikation mellan politiker och medborgare. Vi gör detta genom att titta på fallet med infrastruktursatsningen Västsvenska paketet i Göteborg, om vilket medborgare och sittande politiker har delade meningar. Vi använder oss av kvantitativ innehållsanalys för titta på rapportering och debatt i lokala tidningar. Genom att kartlägga vilken bild av paketet som har getts i media hoppas vi bättre förstå skillnaderna i åsikter. Utifrån våra resultat kan vi inte säga något om medias påverkan på människors åsikter, däremot säger de oss att medias sätt att gestalta frågan sannolikt har påverkat människors bild av vad som är möjligt att göra med paketet. Att media har nått ut med en bild till medborgarna samtidigt som sittande politiker inte nog använt media som arena för att kommunicera ut sin version leder oss till att tro att processen kan ha haft skadliga effekter på den lokala demokratin

CD32CD4 memory T cells are enriched for total HIV-1 DNA in tissues from humanized mice.

CD32 has raised conflicting results as a putative marker of the HIV-1 reservoir. We measured CD32 expression in tissues from viremic and virally suppressed humanized mice treated relatively early or late after HIV-1 infection with combined antiretroviral therapy. CD32 was expressed in a small fraction of the memory CD4 T-cell subsets from different tissues in viremic and aviremic mice, regardless of treatment initiation time. CD32 memory CD4 T cells were enriched in cell-associated (CA) HIV-1 DNA but not in CA HIV-1 RNA as compared to the CD32CD4 fraction. Using multidimensional reduction analysis, several memory CD4CD32 T-cell clusters were identified expressing HLA-DR, TIGIT, or PD-1. Importantly, although tissue-resident CD32CD4 memory cells were enriched with translation-competent reservoirs, most of it was detected in memory CD32CD4 T cells. Our findings support that CD32 labels highly activated/exhausted memory CD4 T-cell subsets that contain only a small proportion of the translation-competent reservoir

Early-to-mid stage idiopathic Parkinson's disease shows enhanced cytotoxicity and differentiation in CD8 T-cells in females.

peer reviewedNeuroinflammation in the brain contributes to the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD), but the potential dysregulation of peripheral immunity has not been systematically investigated for idiopathic PD (iPD). Here we showed an elevated peripheral cytotoxic immune milieu, with more terminally-differentiated effector memory (TEMRA) CD8 T, CD8+ NKT cells and circulating cytotoxic molecules in fresh blood of patients with early-to-mid iPD, especially females, after analyzing > 700 innate and adaptive immune features. This profile, also reflected by fewer CD8+FOXP3+ T cells, was confirmed in another subcohort. Co-expression between cytotoxic molecules was selectively enhanced in CD8 TEMRA and effector memory (TEM) cells. Single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis demonstrated the accelerated differentiation within CD8 compartments, enhanced cytotoxic pathways in CD8 TEMRA and TEM cells, while CD8 central memory (TCM) and naïve cells were already more-active and transcriptionally-reprogrammed. Our work provides a comprehensive map of dysregulated peripheral immunity in iPD, proposing candidates for early diagnosis and treatments

Combinatorial analysis reveals highly coordinated early-stage immune reactions that predict later antiviral immunity in mild COVID-19 patients

While immunopathology has been widely studied in patients with severe COVID-19, immune responses in non-hospitalized patients have remained largely elusive. We systematically analyze 484 peripheral cellular or soluble immune features in a longitudinal cohort of 63 mild and 15 hospitalized patients versus 14 asymptomatic and 26 household controls. We observe a transient increase of IP10/CXCL10 and interferon-β levels, coordinated responses of dominant SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4 and fewer CD8 T cells, and various antigen-presenting and antibody-secreting cells in mild patients within 3 days of PCR diagnosis. The frequency of key innate immune cells and their functional marker expression are impaired in hospitalized patients at day 1 of inclusion. T cell and dendritic cell responses at day 1 are highly predictive for SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody responses after 3 weeks in mild but not hospitalized patients. Our systematic analysis reveals a combinatorial picture and trajectory of various arms of the highly coordinated early-stage immune responses in mild COVID-19 patients