Osteoarthritis as an Enhanceropathy: Gene Regulation in Complex Musculoskeletal Disease

\ua9 The Author(s) 2024.Purpose of Review: Osteoarthritis is a complex and highly polygenic disease. Over 100 reported osteoarthritis risk variants fall in non-coding regions of the genome, ostensibly conferring functional effects through the disruption of regulatory elements impacting target gene expression. In this review, we summarise the progress that has advanced our knowledge of gene enhancers both within the field of osteoarthritis and more broadly in complex diseases. Recent Findings: Advances in technologies such as ATAC-seq have facilitated our understanding of chromatin states in specific cell types, bolstering the interpretation of GWAS and the identification of effector genes. Their application to osteoarthritis research has revealed enhancers as the principal regulatory element driving disease-associated changes in gene expression. However, tissue-specific effects in gene regulatory mechanisms can contribute added complexity to biological interpretation. Summary: Understanding gene enhancers and their altered activity in specific cell and tissue types is the key to unlocking the genetic complexity of osteoarthritis. The use of single-cell technologies in osteoarthritis research is still in its infancy. However, such tools offer great promise in improving our functional interpretation of osteoarthritis GWAS and the identification of druggable targets. Large-scale collaborative efforts will be imperative to understand tissue and cell-type specific molecular mechanisms underlying enhancer function in disease

Specific isoforms of the ubiquitin ligase gene <em>WWP2 </em>are targets of osteoarthritis genetic risk via a differentially methylated DNA sequence

Background Transitioning from a genetic association signal to an effector gene and a targetable molecular mechanism requires the application of functional fine-mapping tools such as reporter assays and genome editing. In this report, we undertook such studies on the osteoarthritis (OA) risk that is marked by single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs34195470 (A &gt; G). The OA risk-conferring G allele of this SNP associates with increased DNA methylation (DNAm) at two CpG dinucleotides within WWP2. This gene encodes a ubiquitin ligase and is the host gene of microRNA-140 (miR-140). WWP2 and miR-140 are both regulators of TGFβ signaling. Methods Nucleic acids were extracted from adult OA (arthroplasty) and foetal cartilage. Samples were genotyped and DNAm quantified by pyrosequencing at the two CpGs plus 14 flanking CpGs. CpGs were tested for transcriptional regulatory effects using a chondrocyte cell line and reporter gene assay. DNAm was altered using epigenetic editing, with the impact on gene expression determined using RT-qPCR. In silico analysis complemented laboratory experiments. Results rs34195470 genotype associates with differential methylation at 14 of the 16 CpGs in OA cartilage, forming a methylation quantitative trait locus (mQTL). The mQTL is less pronounced in foetal cartilage (5/16 CpGs). The reporter assay revealed that the CpGs reside within a transcriptional regulator. Epigenetic editing to increase their DNAm resulted in altered expression of the full-length and N-terminal transcript isoforms of WWP2. No changes in expression were observed for the C-terminal isoform of WWP2 or for miR-140. Conclusions As far as we are aware, this is the first experimental demonstration of an OA association signal targeting specific transcript isoforms of a gene. The WWP2 isoforms encode proteins with varying substrate specificities for the components of the TGFβ signaling pathway. Future analysis should focus on the substrates regulated by the two WWP2 isoforms that are the targets of this genetic risk

Stress dependent thermal pressurization of a fluid-saturated rock

Temperature increase in saturated porous materials under undrained conditions leads to thermal pressurization of the pore fluid due to the discrepancy between the thermal expansion coefficients of the pore fluid and of the solid matrix. This increase in the pore fluid pressure induces a reduction of the effective mean stress and can lead to shear failure or hydraulic fracturing. The equations governing the phenomenon of thermal pressurization are presented and this phenomenon is studied experimentally for a saturated granular rock in an undrained heating test under constant isotropic stress. Careful analysis of the effect of mechanical and thermal deformation of the drainage and pressure measurement system is performed and a correction of the measured pore pressure is introduced. The test results are modelled using a non-linear thermo-poro-elastic constitutive model of the granular rock with emphasis on the stress-dependent character of the rock compressibility. The effects of stress and temperature on thermal pressurization observed in the tests are correctly reproduced by the model

Defining language impairments in a subgroup of children with autism spectrum disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is diagnosed on the basis of core impairments in pragmatic language skills, which are found across all ages and subtypes. In contrast, there is significant heterogeneity in language phenotypes, ranging from nonverbal to superior linguistic abilities, as defined on standardized tests of vocabulary and grammatical knowledge. The majority of children are verbal but impaired in language, relative to age-matched peers. One hypothesis is that this subgroup has ASD and co-morbid specific language impairment (SLI). An experiment was conducted comparing children with ASD to children with SLI and typically developing controls on aspects of language processing that have been shown to be impaired in children with SLI: repetition of nonsense words. Patterns of performance among the children with ASD and language impairment were similar to those with SLI, and contrasted with the children with ASD and no language impairment and typical controls, providing further evidence for the hypothesis that a subgroup of children with ASD has co-morbid SLI. The findings are discussed in the context of brain imaging studies that have explored the neural bases of language impairment in ASD and SLI, and overlap in the genes associated with elevated risk for these disorders.M01 RR00533 - NCRR NIH HHS; R01 DC10290 - NIDCD NIH HHS; U19 DC03610 - NIDCD NIH HH

The functional and clinical outcomes of exercise training following a very low energy diet for severely obese women: Study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Clinical practice guidelines globally recommend lifestyle modification including diet and exercise training as first-line treatment for obesity. The clinical benefits of exercise training in adults with obesity is well-documented; however, there is no strong evidence for the effectiveness of exercise training for weight loss in class II and class III obesity. The purpose of the randomised controlled trial described in this protocol article is to examine the effect of exercise training, in addition to a very low energy diet (VLED), in clinically severe obese women for changes in body composition, physical function, quality of life, and markers of cardiometabolic risk. METHODS/DESIGN: Sixty women, aged 18-50 years with a body mass index (BMI) greater than 34.9 kg.m(2) and at least one obesity-related co-morbidity, will be recruited for this 12-month study. Participants will be randomised to either exercise plus energy restriction (n = 30), or energy restriction alone (n = 30). All participants will follow an energy-restricted individualised diet incorporating a VLED component. The exercise intervention group will also receive exercise by supervised aerobic and resistance training and a home-based exercise programme totalling 300 minutes per week. Primary outcome measures include body composition and aerobic fitness. Secondary outcome measures include: physical function, cardiometabolic risk factors, quality of life, physical activity, and mental health. All outcome measures will be conducted at baseline, 3, 6 and 12 months. DISCUSSION: Previous research demonstrates various health benefits of including exercise training as part of a healthy lifestyle at all BMI ranges. Although clinical practice guidelines recommend exercise training as part of first-line treatment for overweight and obesity, there are few studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of exercise in class II and class III obesity. The study aims to determine whether the addition of exercise training to a VLED provides more favourable improvements in body composition, physical function, quality of life, and markers of cardiometabolic risk for women with clinically severe obesity, compared to VLED alone.<br /

Weather in stellar atmosphere: the dynamics of mercury clouds in alpha Andromedae

The formation of long-lasting structures at the surfaces of stars is commonly ascribed to the action of strong magnetic fields. This paradigm is supported by observations of evolving cool spots in the Sun and active late-type stars, and stationary chemical spots in the early-type magnetic stars. However, results of our seven-year monitoring of mercury spots in non-magnetic early-type star alpha Andromedae show that the picture of magnetically-driven structure formation is fundamentally incomplete. Using an indirect stellar surface mapping technique, we construct a series of 2-D images of starspots and discover a secular evolution of the mercury cloud cover in this star. This remarkable structure formation process, observed for the first time in any star, is plausibly attributed to a non-equilibrium, dynamical evolution of the heavy-element clouds created by atomic diffusion and may have the same underlying physics as the weather patterns on terrestrial and giant planets.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures; to be published in Nature Physic

Scintillator-based ion beam profiler for diagnosing laser-accelerated ion beams

Next generation intense, short-pulse laser facilities require new high repetition rate diagnostics for the detection of ionizing radiation. We have designed a new scintillator-based ion beam profiler capable of measuring the ion beam transverse profile for a number of discrete energy ranges. The optical response and emission characteristics of four common plastic scintillators has been investigated for a range of proton energies and fluxes. The scintillator light output (for 1 MeV > Ep < 28 MeV) was found to have a non-linear scaling with proton energy but a linear response to incident flux. Initial measurements with a prototype diagnostic have been successful, although further calibration work is required to characterize the total system response and limitations under the high flux, short pulse duration conditions of a typical high intensity laser-plasma interaction

Environmentally friendly analysis of emerging contaminants by pressurized hot water extraction-stir bar sorptive extraction-derivatization and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

This work describes the development, optimiza- tion, and validation of a new method for the simultaneous determination of a wide range of pharmaceuticals (beta- blockers, lipid regulators ... ) and personal care products (fragrances, UV filters, phthalates ... ) in both aqueous and solid environmental matrices. Target compounds were extracted from sediments using pressurized hot water ex- traction followed by stir bar sorptive extraction. The first stage was performed at 1,500 psi during three static extrac- tion cycles of 5 min each after optimizing the extraction temperature (50 – 150 °C) and addition of organic modifiers (% methanol) to water, the extraction solvent. Next, aqueous extracts and water samples were processed using polydime- thylsiloxane bars. Several parameters were optimized for this technique, including extraction and desorption time, ionic strength, presence of organic modifiers, and pH. Fi- nally, analytes were extracted from the bars by ultrasonic irradiation using a reduced amount of solvent (0.2 mL) prior to derivatization and gas chromatography – mass spectrome- try analysis. The optimized protocol uses minimal amounts of organic solvents (<10 mL/sample) and time ( ≈ 8 h/sam- ple) compared to previous ex isting methodologies. Low standard deviation (usually below 10 %) and limits of de- tection (sub-ppb) vouch for the applicability of the method- ology for the analysis of target compounds at trace levels. Once developed, the method was applied to determin

Transient disruption of M1 during response planning impairs subsequent offline consolidation

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) was used to probe the involvement of the left primary motor cortex (M1) in the consolidation of a sequencing skill. In particular we asked: (1) if M1 is involved in consolidation of planning processes prior to response execution (2) whether movement preparation and movement execution can undergo consolidation independently and (3) whether sequence consolidation can occur in a stimulus specific manner. TMS was applied to left M1 while subjects prepared left hand sequential finger responses for three different movement sequences, presented in an interleaved fashion. Subjects also trained on three control sequences, where no TMS was applied. Disruption of subsequent consolidation was observed, but only for sequences where subjects had been exposed to TMS during training. Further, reduced consolidation was only observed for movement preparation, not movement execution. We conclude that left M1 is causally involved in the consolidation of effective response planning for left hand movements prior to response execution, and mediates consolidation in a sequence specific manner. These results provide important new insights into the role of M1 in sequential memory consolidation and sequence response planning

Social richness, socio-technical tension and the virtual commissioning of NHS research

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This paper draws on a recent study that evaluated the process of commissioning NHS funded research using virtual committees. Building on an earlier paper that reported our evaluation, here we focus on the effects of asynchronous computer mediated communication (CMC) when used to support group work.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>To do this the discussion focuses on how CMC affected three key group factors, building relationships, group cohesion and group commitment. The notion of socio-technical tension is elaborated and the paper explores how social richness can act to counter the socially impoverishing and time extending effects of asynchronous CMC.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We argue that social richness in this context results from the presence of five principal influences. These are: a dynamic range of participant aspirations and personal agendas; participant commitment to and identification with the work and ideals of the group; a rich diversity of social, professional and work-related backgrounds; a website designed to enhance participation and interaction and the mediating effects of an effective chairperson.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>If virtual work groups are to be used by the NHS in the future, then there is a need for more research into the role of social context and its relationship to the effectiveness of newly formed virtual groups. Equally as important are studies that examine the effects of socio-technical interaction on groups undertaking tasks in the real world of work.</p