Novel Human Embryonic Stem Cell Regulators Identified by Conserved and Distinct CpG Island Methylation State

Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) undergo epigenetic changes in vitro which may compromise function, so an epigenetic pluripotency "signature" would be invaluable for line validation. We assessed Cytosine-phosphate-Guanine Island (CGI) methylation in hESCs by genomic DNA hybridisation to a CGI array, and saw substantial variation in CGI methylation between lines. Comparison of hESC CGI methylation profiles to corresponding somatic tissue data and hESC mRNA expression profiles identified a conserved hESC-specific methylation pattern associated with expressed genes. Transcriptional repressors and activators were over-represented amongst genes whose associated CGIs were methylated or unmethylated specifically in hESCs, respectively. Knockdown of candidate transcriptional regulators (HMGA1, GLIS2, PFDN5) induced differentiation in hESCs, whereas ectopic expression in fibroblasts modulated iPSC colony formation. Chromatin immunoprecipitation confirmed interaction between the candidates and the core pluripotency transcription factor network. We thus identify novel pluripotency genes on the basis of a conserved and distinct epigenetic configuration in human stem cells

Physical and mental health comorbidity is common in people with multiple sclerosis: nationally representative cross-sectional population database analysis

<b>Background</b> Comorbidity in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is associated with worse health and higher mortality. This study aims to describe clinician recorded comorbidities in people with MS. <p></p> <b>Methods</b> 39 comorbidities in 3826 people with MS aged ≥25 years were compared against 1,268,859 controls. Results were analysed by age, gender, and socioeconomic status, with unadjusted and adjusted Odds Ratios (ORs) calculated using logistic regression. <p></p> <b>Results</b> People with MS were more likely to have one (OR 2.44; 95% CI 2.26-2.64), two (OR 1.49; 95% CI 1.38-1.62), three (OR 1.86; 95% CI 1.69-2.04), four or more (OR 1.61; 95% CI 1.47-1.77) non-MS chronic conditions than controls, and greater mental health comorbidity (OR 2.94; 95% CI 2.75-3.14), which increased as the number of physical comorbidities rose. Cardiovascular conditions, including atrial fibrillation (OR 0.49; 95% CI 0.36-0.67), chronic kidney disease (OR 0.51; 95% CI 0.40-0.65), heart failure (OR 0.62; 95% CI 0.45-0.85), coronary heart disease (OR 0.64; 95% CI 0.52-0.71), and hypertension (OR 0.65; 95% CI 0.59-0.72) were significantly less common in people with MS. <p></p> <b>Conclusion</b> People with MS have excess multiple chronic conditions, with associated increased mental health comorbidity. The low recorded cardiovascular comorbidity warrants further investigation

Common variants in Alzheimer’s disease and risk stratification by polygenic risk scores

Funder: Funder: Fundación bancaria ‘La Caixa’ Number: LCF/PR/PR16/51110003 Funder: Grifols SA Number: LCF/PR/PR16/51110003 Funder: European Union/EFPIA Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Number: 115975 Funder: JPco-fuND FP-829-029 Number: 733051061Genetic discoveries of Alzheimer's disease are the drivers of our understanding, and together with polygenetic risk stratification can contribute towards planning of feasible and efficient preventive and curative clinical trials. We first perform a large genetic association study by merging all available case-control datasets and by-proxy study results (discovery n = 409,435 and validation size n = 58,190). Here, we add six variants associated with Alzheimer's disease risk (near APP, CHRNE, PRKD3/NDUFAF7, PLCG2 and two exonic variants in the SHARPIN gene). Assessment of the polygenic risk score and stratifying by APOE reveal a 4 to 5.5 years difference in median age at onset of Alzheimer's disease patients in APOE ɛ4 carriers. Because of this study, the underlying mechanisms of APP can be studied to refine the amyloid cascade and the polygenic risk score provides a tool to select individuals at high risk of Alzheimer's disease

Synaptic Plasticity: A Unifying Model to Address Some Persisting Questions

Since it was first observed, synaptic plasticity has been considered as the experimental paradigm most likely to provide us with an understanding of how information is stored in the vertebrate brain. Various types have been demonstrated over these past 45 years, most notably long-term potentiation and long-term depression, and their established characteristics as well as their induction and consolidation requirements are highly indicative of this plasticity being the substrate for skills acquisition and mnemonic engraving. The molecular, biochemical, and structural models that have been proposed in the past, although most accommodate some aspect of synaptic plasticity observations, admittedly cannot offer a universally functional connection between all the phenomena that surround and result in the different modifications of synaptic efficacy. As a result, there are a number of persisting questions. In an attempt toward synthesis, we reviewed the most important studies in the field and believe that we can now propose a unifying Model for synaptic plasticity that can accommodate the experimental evidence and reconcile most of the contradictions. Moreover, from this model emerge potential answers to several unyielding questions, namely, accounting for the induction and expression of long-term depression, identifying the plasticity switch, offering a possible explanation for the sliding modification threshold, and proposing a new mechanism for synaptic tagging

A probable role of copper in the comorbidity in Wilson's and Creutzfeldt-Jakob's Diseases: A case report

Background: To the best of our knowledgedd, there is currently no case in the literature reporting the comorbidity of Wilson's and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), linked through copper. Case presentation: A 44-year-old male with a history of inherited Wilson's disease (hepatolenticular degeneration), which manifested as mild liver injury and psychiatric symptoms, was admitted to our department due to speech and cognitive disturbances. Upon his admission, he had motor aphasia as well as psychomotor retardation with an otherwise normal neurological examination. Laboratory tests, including liver enzymes, copper and serum ammonia were all within normal range. The brain MRI showed increased T2 signal in the caudate nuclei, attributed to copper deposition in the context of Wilson's disease. In the electroencephalogram, periodic sharp discharges were eminent, initially unilateral and then generalized. The positive 14-3-3 protein in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and the new brain MRI, that demonstrated elevated DWI signal not only in the basal ganglia but also in parts of the cerebral cortex (cortical ribbon sign), all supportive of a possible CJD diagnosis. The detection of PrPSc in the patient's CSF, using the RT-QuIC method, which has a 99.4-100% specificity for CJD, made the diagnosis of CJD highly probable. Conclusion: This is the first report of Wilson's and Creutzfeldt-Jakob diseases co-morbidity in the literature, which could evoke a possible role of copper in the pathogenesis of CJD. © 2020 The Author(s)

AgroTRACE: A Complete Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Traceability System

The fresh food industry recognizes the importance of traceability and food safety; however, some sectors are considered more advanced than others in implementing the relevant processes throughout the supply chain. At the international level, the branches of industry and the key players in the management of the supply chain work together to co-create an integrated and consolidated traceability process in order to benefit all the subcategories of fresh food products, such as seafood, dairy, baked goods, meat, poultry, fruits and vegetables. Therefore, an effective tracking process needs to be based on a standard approach to fresh produce and its location recognition, while at the same time remaining flexible in the individual roles and responsibilities of the various links in the supply chain within the ecosystem. While many trading partners already have interfaces with external systems and processes for some level of traceability of their products, the next necessary step towards an integrated approach is to identify interoperability opportunities between internal and external processes across the food industry. Towards this direction, the AgroTRACE system aims to achieve end-to-end traceability of a fresh product supply chain through the deployment system, which combines internal and external tracking processes, so that each user is able to identify the immediate source and immediate recipient of the products. The system applies the “one step up, one step down” principle to provide effective tracking in the supply chain. In particular, each distinct product is recognized globally and in a unique way so that it can be located upstream and downstream of the supply chain. The innovation of the proposed system is further enhanced by the fact that the tracking will go beyond the route from field to field and covers the part of recycling (biomass, compost, etc.), in the context of the circular economy. That is, implement traceability from the field-to the shelf-to the field. © 2022 Copyright for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0

Seasonal adherence to, and effectiveness of, subcutaneous interferon β-1a administered by RebiSmart® in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis: Results of the 1-year, observational GEPAT-SMART study

Background: Little is known about whether tolerability and adherence to treatment can be influenced by weather and temperature conditions. The objective of this study was to assess monthly and seasonal adherence to and safety of sc IFN-β1a (Rebif®, Merck) in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients using the RebiSmart® electronic autoinjector. Methods: A multicentre, prospective observational study in Greece in adult RRMS patients with EDSS < 6, under Rebif®/RebiSmart® treatment for ≤6 weeks before enrollment. The primary endpoint was monthly, seasonal and annual adherence over 12 months (defined in text). Secondary endpoints included number of relapses, disability, adverse events. Results: Sixty four patients enrolled and 47 completed all study visits (Per Protocol Set - PPS). Mean annual adherence was 97.93% ± 5.704 with no significant monthly or seasonal variations. Mean relapses in the pre- and post- treatment 12-months were 1.1 ± 0.47 and 0.2 ± 0.54 (p < 0.0001, PPS). 10 patients (22%) showed 3-month disability progression, 19 (40%) stabilization and 18 (38%) improvement. EDSS was not correlated to pre- (r = 0.024, p = 0.87) or post-treatment relapses (r = 0.022, p = 0.88). Conclusion: High adherence with no significant seasonal or weather variation was observed over 12 months. While the efficacy on relapses was consistent with published studies, we could not identify a relationship between relapses and disability. Trial registration: Greek registry of non-interventional clinical trials ID: 200136, date of registration: February 18th, 2013. © 2018 The Author(s)

Seasonal adherence to, and effectiveness of, subcutaneous interferon β-1a administered by RebiSmart® in patients with relapsing multiple sclerosis: Results of the 1-year, observational GEPAT-SMART study

Background: Little is known about whether tolerability and adherence to treatment can be influenced by weather and temperature conditions. The objective of this study was to assess monthly and seasonal adherence to and safety of sc IFN-β1a (Rebif®, Merck) in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients using the RebiSmart® electronic autoinjector. Methods: A multicentre, prospective observational study in Greece in adult RRMS patients with EDSS < 6, under Rebif®/RebiSmart® treatment for ≤6 weeks before enrollment. The primary endpoint was monthly, seasonal and annual adherence over 12 months (defined in text). Secondary endpoints included number of relapses, disability, adverse events. Results: Sixty four patients enrolled and 47 completed all study visits (Per Protocol Set - PPS). Mean annual adherence was 97.93% ± 5.704 with no significant monthly or seasonal variations. Mean relapses in the pre- and post- treatment 12-months were 1.1 ± 0.47 and 0.2 ± 0.54 (p < 0.0001, PPS). 10 patients (22%) showed 3-month disability progression, 19 (40%) stabilization and 18 (38%) improvement. EDSS was not correlated to pre- (r = 0.024, p = 0.87) or post-treatment relapses (r = 0.022, p = 0.88). Conclusion: High adherence with no significant seasonal or weather variation was observed over 12 months. While the efficacy on relapses was consistent with published studies, we could not identify a relationship between relapses and disability. Trial registration: Greek registry of non-interventional clinical trials ID: 200136, date of registration: February 18th, 2013. © 2018 The Author(s)

Portable gait analysis sensor model for Parkinson's disease

As part of a research project, a small gait analysis device is being developed that will be used outside of home by the patients themselves. Its main purpose will be to record accurate gait measurements in patients with Parkinson's Disease and proceed with in-depth analysis of the gait characteristics. A key feature of the device will be its small size, which creates specific requirements in terms of device consumption restrictions due to the small size of the battery and the need for autonomous operation for more than ten hours. This research work describes, on the one hand, the firmware of the device with an emphasis on the functions that will be implemented; and, on the other, the device software which will support the process that will be adopted for reading and processing data from the devices placed on patients' feet to record the gait characteristics of patients on a continuous basis. Using these computational approaches, we developed and carried out an experiment with a 1.60 m tall experimental female subject. We strapped a device to the subject's right ankle and instructed her to take five steps with her right foot, turn 180 degrees, and repeat with the same foot. © 202