Aivojen magneettikuvaus MS-taudin immunologisen hoidon seurannassa

Aivojen magneettikuvaus (MK) osoittaa MS-taudin aktiivisuuden herkemmin kuin kliiniset relapsit, minkä vuoksi hoidossa käytettävän immunologisen hoitovasteen arvion tulee perustua kliiniseen taudinkuvaan ja aivojen kuvantamiseen. MK-seurantaan tarvitaan T2-, flair- ja T1-painotteiset kuvat, gadolinium-tehostaminen ja atrofian arviointi. Ensilinjan immunologisessa hoidossa ensimmäinen MK otetaan 6-12 kuukauden kuluttua lääkehoidon aloituksesta. Jos silloin havaitaan uusia muutoksia, seuraava kuvantaminen tehdään 1-2 vuoden kuluttua. Huonoa hoitovastetta vaikuttaa kuvaavan se, jos 6-12 kuukauden kuluttua hoidon aloituksessa tehdyssä magneettikuvassa esiintyy uusia (yli 4) tai kasvavia T2-painotteisia tulehduspesäkkeitä. Huonosta hoitovasteesta kertoo myös gadoliniumilla tehostuvien muutosten esiintyminen seurannan aikana. Tällöin suositellaan hoidon tehostamista, vaikka pahenemisvaiheita ei olisi esiintynyt. Fingolimodihoidossa seurantakuvaukset tehdään 6-12 kuukauden kuluttua hoidon aloituksesta ja 1-2 vuoden kuluttua tämän jälkeen. Alemtutsumabi- ja natalitsumabihoidossa kuvaukset ajoitetaan vuoden ja kahden vuoden päähän hoidon aloituksesta

Inframe insertion and splice site variants in MFGE8 associate with protection against coronary atherosclerosis

Publisher Copyright: © 2022. The Author(s).A genome-wide association study identifies MFGE8 as protective against coronary atherosclerosis in European and East Asian populations. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of premature death and disability worldwide, with both genetic and environmental determinants. While genome-wide association studies have identified multiple genetic loci associated with cardiovascular diseases, exact genes driving these associations remain mostly uncovered. Due to Finland's population history, many deleterious and high-impact variants are enriched in the Finnish population giving a possibility to find genetic associations for protein-truncating variants that likely tie the association to a gene and that would not be detected elsewhere. In a large Finnish biobank study FinnGen, we identified an association between an inframe insertion rs534125149 in MFGE8 (encoding lactadherin) and protection against coronary atherosclerosis. This variant is highly enriched in Finland, and the protective association was replicated in meta-analysis of BioBank Japan and Estonian biobank. Additionally, we identified a protective association between splice acceptor variant rs201988637 in MFGE8 and coronary atherosclerosis, independent of the rs534125149, with no significant risk-increasing associations. This variant was also associated with lower pulse pressure, pointing towards a function of MFGE8 in arterial aging also in humans in addition to previous evidence in mice. In conclusion, our results suggest that inhibiting the production of lactadherin could lower the risk for coronary heart disease substantially.Peer reviewe

APOE epsilon 4 associates with increased risk of severe COVID-19, cerebral microhaemorrhages and post-COVID mental fatigue : a Finnish biobank, autopsy and clinical study

Apolipoprotein E epsilon 4 allele (APOE4) has been shown to associate with increased susceptibility to SARS-CoV-2 infection and COVID-19 mortality in some previous genetic studies, but information on the role of APOE4 on the underlying pathology and parallel clinical manifestations is scarce. Here we studied the genetic association between APOE and COVID-19 in Finnish biobank, autopsy and prospective clinical cohort datasets. In line with previous work, our data on 2611 cases showed that APOE4 carriership associates with severe COVID-19 in intensive care patients compared with non-infected population controls after matching for age, sex and cardiovascular disease status. Histopathological examination of brain autopsy material of 21 COVID-19 cases provided evidence that perivascular microhaemorrhages are more prevalent in APOE4 carriers. Finally, our analysis of post-COVID fatigue in a prospective clinical cohort of 156 subjects revealed that APOE4 carriership independently associates with higher mental fatigue compared to non-carriers at six months after initial illness. In conclusion, the present data on Finns suggests that APOE4 is a risk factor for severe COVID-19 and post-COVID mental fatigue and provides the first indication that some of this effect could be mediated via increased cerebrovascular damage. Further studies in larger cohorts and animal models are warranted.Peer reviewe

Immune response to a conserved enteroviral epitope of the major capsid VP1 protein is associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease

Background Major cardiac events including myocardial infarction (MI) are associated with viral infections. However, how specific infections contribute to the cardiovascular insults has remained largely unclear. Methods We employed next generation phage display mimotope-variation analysis (MVA) to explore the link between antibody-based immune response and severe cardiovascular conditions. Here, we used a case-control design, including the first-stage discovery cohort (n = 100), along with cohorts for second-stage discovery (n = 329) and validation (n = 466). Findings We observed strong antibody response to the peptide antigens with Gly-Ile-X-Asp (G-I-X-D) core structure in healthy individuals but not in patients with MI. Analysis of the origin of this epitope linked it with the N-terminus of the VP1 protein of poliovirus 3 (PV3), but also other species of picornaviruses. Consistently, we found low levels of antibody response to the G-I-X-D epitope in individuals with severe cardiac disease complications. Interpretation Our findings imply that antibody response to the G-I-X-D epitope is associated with polio vaccinations and that high antibody levels to this epitope could discriminate healthy individuals from prospective MI patients as a blood-derived biomarker. Together, these findings highlight the importance of epitope-specific antibody response and suggest that protective immunity against the polio- and non-polio enteroviral infections support improved cardiovascular health. Copyright (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)Peer reviewe

SNCA mutation p.Ala53Glu is derived from a common founder in the Finnish population

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Pulp and Paper Fiction: On the Discursive Legitimation of Global Industrial Restructuring

Despite the central role of legitimacy in social and organizational life, we know little of the subtle meaning-making processes through which organizational phenomena, such as industrial restructuring, are legitimated in contemporary society. Therefore, this paper examines the discursive legitimation strategies used when making sense of global industrial restructuring in the media. Based on a critical discourse analysis of extensive media coverage of a revolutionary pulp and paper sector merger, we distinguish and analyze five legitimation strategies: (1) normalization, (2) authorization, (3) rationalization, (4) moralization, and (5) narrativization. We argue that while these specific legitimation strategies appear in individual texts, their recurring use in the intertextual totality of the public discussion establishes the core elements of the emerging legitimating discourse

Incidental demyelination in magnetic resonance imaging and 10-year risk of multiple sclerosis : A data lake cohort study

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