Holding Still

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses powerful magnets to create images of the human body which are widely used in medical practice as they have shown to be invaluable for guiding and monitoring interventional surgical procedures. Despite the use of this medical technology, MRI scanners are currently limited as being large, expensive, and fixed. Patients being situated inside a closed MRI system have to remain motionless in a prone position for an extended period of time which can be a significant obstacle in obtaining MRI scans. To ensure that the patient remains still, the head is often pinned in a head holder which is often known to produce anxiety, claustrophobia and discomfort. There is a need for brain imaging technology that is more portable and less restricting than current MRI scanners. One way to address these issues is to decrease the size of the MRI magnet to make a head-only system.     This study is part of a larger research project with leading experts  from multiple disciplines and institutions that focus on the technical development of the scanner. The project aim is to design, build, and validate the first-ever human MRI scanner requiring only the head to be inside the magnet bore, this allows the system to be portable and enables the patient to be situated in an upright position during the scanning process. This research occurred alongside the development of this system at the formative stage of the process. The aim of this study was to develop the head support for a seated brain imaging magnet to minimises head movement during the procedure while enhancing the patient experience. A human-centered design methodology and a research through design process was used to create design prototypes. The final design is an inflatable pocket designed to decrease head movement when inflated, and it was found to evoke low levels of discomfort and anxiety. </p

Community‐based recruitment in Nigeria and cell biobanking to understand the impact of the apolipoprotein E variants on Alzheimer’s disease

BackgroundDespite the human genetic diversity found in the African continent, there is a lack of understanding of dementia mechanisms in indigenous Africans, in part, due to a lack of access to African samples and models. Thus, we sought to develop a biobank of somatic and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) from indigenous Africans to begin to bridge this gap.MethodCommunity outreach was conducted in Nigeria with the help of the media, health workers and clinicians to recruit healthy biopsy donors from diverse ethnic groups. Interested donors were screened for inclusion/exclusion criteria, including health status, family history, ethnicity, and age.ResultsForearm skin biopsies were performed for 11 donors, and fibroblasts were isolated and banked. Fibroblasts were then reprogrammed to generate iPSCs. Fibroblasts and iPSCs have been banked and will be made available to the global scientific community. The iPSCs are currently being screened for APOE genotypes, and selected lines will undergo CRISPR gene editing to generate isogenic APOE33 and APOE44 iPSCs for cellular and molecular studies of dementia mechanisms in comparison to iPSCs from European ancestral backgrounds.ConclusionOur work will facilitate the incorporation of genetically diverse iPSC brain models in neurodegenerative disease research towards an understanding of the contribution of ancestry to disease mechanisms.</p

Additional file 2: of Human fibroblast and stem cell resource from the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network

Virtual karyotyping of iPSC lines. Figure S4. Virtual karyotyping. (PDF 102140 kb

Additional file 1: of Human fibroblast and stem cell resource from the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network

Characterization of iPSC lines. Figure S1. Immunostaining of DIAN iPSCs for pluripotency markers. iPSCs included in the collection were fixed and stained with antibodies to OCT4 and TRA1. Scale bar represents 100 μm. Figure S2. Quantitative assessment of pluripotent markers in DIAN iPSCs. iPSCs lines were analyzed by qPCR (TaqMan assay) to determine expression of pluripotency markers and, in lines reprogrammed with Sendai virus, the absence of Sendai virus. Human embryonic stem cells (H9) were included as a positive control. Genes are expressed relative to a housekeeping gene, GAPDH. Graphs represent mean normalized expressed ± SEM. Figure S3. Karyotypes of DIAN iPSCs. G-band karyotyping of iPSCs exhibit no chromosomal abnormalities in the clones represented in the collection. (PDF 12885 kb