Multiancestry analysis of the HLA locus in Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases uncovers a shared adaptive immune response mediated by HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes

Across multiancestry groups, we analyzed Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) associations in over 176,000 individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) versus controls. We demonstrate that the two diseases share the same protective association at the HLA locus. HLA-specific fine-mapping showed that hierarchical protective effects of HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes best accounted for the association, strongest with HLA-DRB1*04:04 and HLA-DRB1*04:07, and intermediary with HLA-DRB1*04:01 and HLA-DRB1*04:03. The same signal was associated with decreased neurofibrillary tangles in postmortem brains and was associated with reduced tau levels in cerebrospinal fluid and to a lower extent with increased Aβ42. Protective HLA-DRB1*04 subtypes strongly bound the aggregation-prone tau PHF6 sequence, however only when acetylated at a lysine (K311), a common posttranslational modification central to tau aggregation. An HLA-DRB1*04-mediated adaptive immune response decreases PD and AD risks, potentially by acting against tau, offering the possibility of therapeutic avenues

愛欲的家馴化 : 家庭﹑情感﹑與女性主義

第二波女性主義運動以「性別平等」為主軸，不但推動改變公領域的性別權力分布和邏輯，也積極改變私領域（特別是親密關係內）的性別關係，形成「私人的即政治的」在日常生活中的操作。本次演講從歷史分析的角度展現「親密關係民主化」的深層含意，特別是性別平等、核心家庭、親密溝通等等當代視為進步的概念和實踐究竟有著怎樣的權力蘊涵，對當代的「性」形成怎樣的馴化排擠效應

情感的嬌貴化 : 新興民主的性治理

在台灣，經濟的成長與轉型催動了個人階級上升的想望，也強化了國族透過日常生活的細緻規訓體現為公民的尊貴自許與主體性。另方面，具有治理野心的公民團體則針對性的公共化，透過媒體和輿論的震盪沈澱，將公民的尊貴情感漸次轉化建構出嬌貴的主體想像。為保護嬌貴公民，嚴厲規範和檢查言論的極端保護法律因此成為正當舉措。本次演講指出這個情感結構的尊貴化與嬌貴化不但構成了當代「治理」（governance）的重要面向，也深刻影響了近年台灣的性佈局趨勢

The new politics of gender governance

This lecture traces the formation of what I termed gender governance as one of the effects of global governance and gender mainstreaming as the two enter the volatile political milieu of developing democracies. In short, gender may be providing opportunities for (certain class of) women to participate in policy decision-making, but the extremely narrow understanding of gender as divorced from other social elements of division has left serious problems in its wake

嬉戲滅亡的年代 : 文明化與社會規則

這場演講分析我們身處的文明時代和變化中的文化情感。雖然社會趨向非正式化，創意惡搞都已經成為日常實踐，但是對此感到焦慮的保守心態也正透過教育、媒體、宣導、立法等等管道，逐步限縮「嬉戲」的領域和意義，將日常嬉戲玩笑等同於無用的浪擲精力，甚至視為惡意進犯，並且以保護兒童為名設置法規，形成越來越嚴謹的文明化社會氛圍

Parenting stress in parents of children with refractory epilepsy before and after vagus nerve stimulation implantation

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate parenting stress in parents of children with refractory epilepsy before and after their children received vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) implantation. Methods: Parents of children with refractory epilepsy completed the Parenting Stress Index (PSI) under a psychologist's assessment before and at least 12 months after their children received VNS implantation. The PSI questionnaire measures parenting stress in two domains; a parent domain with seven subscales, and a child domain with six. Age, gender, epilepsy comorbidity, VNS implantation date, seizure frequency, and anticonvulsant history before and after VNS implantation were obtained from reviews of medical charts. Results: In total, 30 parents completed the first and follow-up PSI questionnaires. Seventeen of their children (56.7%) were boys. The children aged from 1 to 12 years (7.43 ± 3.59 years, mean ± SD). After VNS implantation, the mean total parenting stress scores decreased from 282.1 ± 38.0 to 272.4 ± 42.9. A significant decrease was found on the spouse subscale of the parent domain. For the parents of boys, the mean total parenting stress scores decreased significantly. The mean total parenting stress scores also decreased significantly for parents of epileptic children without autism and who did not taper off the number of different anticonvulsants used after VNS. Conclusions: VNS is an advisable choice to treat refractory epilepsy. Our study showed that 12 months or more after VNS implantation, seizure frequency and parenting stress typically decreased. However, in some special cases the parenting stress may increase, and external help may be required to support these patients and their parents. Key Words: children, refractory epilepsy, parenting stress, vagus nerve stimulatio