The membrane-spanning 4-domains, subfamily A (MS4A) gene cluster contains a common variant associated with Alzheimer's disease

Background\ud In order to identify novel loci associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD), we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in the Spanish population.\ud \ud Methods\ud We genotyped 1,128 individuals using the Affymetrix Nsp I 250K chip. A sample of 327 sporadic AD patients and 801 controls with unknown cognitive status from the Spanish general population were included in our initial study. To increase the power of the study, we combined our results with those of four other public GWAS datasets by applying identical quality control filters and the same imputation methods, which were then analyzed with a global meta-GWAS. A replication sample with 2,200 sporadic AD patients and 2,301 controls was genotyped to confirm our GWAS findings.\ud \ud Results\ud Meta-analysis of our data and independent replication datasets allowed us to confirm a novel genome-wide significant association of AD with the membrane-spanning 4-domains subfamily A (MS4A) gene cluster (rs1562990, P = 4.40E-11, odds ratio = 0.88, 95% confidence interval 0.85 to 0.91, n = 10,181 cases and 14,341 controls).\ud \ud Conclusions\ud Our results underscore the importance of international efforts combining GWAS datasets to isolate genetic loci for complex diseases

Approaches in biotechnological applications of natural polymers

Natural polymers, such as gums and mucilage, are biocompatible, cheap, easily available and non-toxic materials of native origin. These polymers are increasingly preferred over synthetic materials for industrial applications due to their intrinsic properties, as well as they are considered alternative sources of raw materials since they present characteristics of sustainability, biodegradability and biosafety. As definition, gums and mucilages are polysaccharides or complex carbohydrates consisting of one or more monosaccharides or their derivatives linked in bewildering variety of linkages and structures. Natural gums are considered polysaccharides naturally occurring in varieties of plant seeds and exudates, tree or shrub exudates, seaweed extracts, fungi, bacteria, and animal sources. Water-soluble gums, also known as hydrocolloids, are considered exudates and are pathological products; therefore, they do not form a part of cell wall. On the other hand, mucilages are part of cell and physiological products. It is important to highlight that gums represent the largest amounts of polymer materials derived from plants. Gums have enormously large and broad applications in both food and non-food industries, being commonly used as thickening, binding, emulsifying, suspending, stabilizing agents and matrices for drug release in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. In the food industry, their gelling properties and the ability to mold edible films and coatings are extensively studied. The use of gums depends on the intrinsic properties that they provide, often at costs below those of synthetic polymers. For upgrading the value of gums, they are being processed into various forms, including the most recent nanomaterials, for various biotechnological applications. Thus, the main natural polymers including galactomannans, cellulose, chitin, agar, carrageenan, alginate, cashew gum, pectin and starch, in addition to the current researches about them are reviewed in this article.. }To the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientfíico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for fellowships (LCBBC and MGCC) and the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nvíel Superior (CAPES) (PBSA). This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, the Project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462) and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) (JAT)

PLA-Based Nanocomposites Reinforced with CNC for Food Packaging Applications: From Synthesis to Biodegradation

The costs of biobased and biodegradable polymers are generally still much higher than that of their traditional polymer counterparts Frequently used in the food packaging field. Although PLA is currently used in the market in several packaging applications,its potential to substitute petrochemical-based polymers has not yet been realized in full perspective. The reinforcing effect of CNC has a large potential inenhancing the crystallinity of PLA that could result in higher tortuosity of the transport path improving the typically low barrier properties of PLA. However, the high polarity of CNC surface should be reduced for the industrial melt processing of PLA?nanocellulose-based materials. The surface functionalization by means of the use of a surfactant is an easy way to improve the dispersion of CNC into PLA matrix.The well dispersion of cellulosic nanoparticles achieved during nanocomposite processing has a large potential in improving the mechanical performance. Additionally, the CNC presence also accelerates the degradation rate of the PLA-based nanocomposites.These bionanocomposites are promising candidates for sustainable post-use waste treatments, such as composting, when short biodegradation times are required like the case of food packaging.Fil: Arrieta, M. P.. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; EspañaFil: Peltzer, Mercedes Ana. Universidad Nacional de Quilmes. Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnología. Área Ingeniería en Alimentos; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: López, J.. Universidad Politécnica de Valencia. Instituto de Tecnología de Materiales; EspañaFil: Peponi, L.. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas; Españ

Convalescent Plasma for COVID-19: A multicenter, randomized clinical trial

Background: Passive immunotherapy with convalescent plasma (CP) is a potential treatment for COVID-19 for which evidence from controlled clinical trials is lacking. Methods: We conducted a multi-center, randomized clinical trial in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. All patients received standard of care treatment, including off-label use of marketed medicines, and were randomized 1:1 to receive one dose (250-300 mL) of CP from donors with IgG anti-SARS-CoV-2. The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients in categories 5, 6 or 7 of the COVID-19 ordinal scale at day 15. Results: The trial was stopped after first interim analysis due to the fall in recruitment related to pandemic control. With 81 patients randomized, there were no patients progressing to mechanical ventilation or death among the 38 patients assigned to receive plasma (0%) versus 6 out of 43 patients (14%) progressing in control arm. Mortality rates were 0% vs 9.3% at days 15 and 29 for the active and control groups, respectively. No significant differences were found in secondary endpoints. At inclusion, patients had a median time of 8 days (IQR, 6-9) of symptoms and 49,4% of them were positive for anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgG antibodies. Conclusions: Convalescent plasma could be superior to standard of care in avoiding progression to mechanical ventilation or death in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. The strong dependence of results on a limited number of events in the control group prevents drawing firm conclusions about CP efficacy from this trial. (Funded by Instituto de Salud Carlos III; NCT04345523).This research is funded by the Government of Spain, Ministry of Science and Innovation, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, grant number COV20/00072 (Royal Decree-Law 8/2020, of 17 March, on urgent extraordinary measures to deal with the economic and social impact of COVID-19), co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) ‘‘A way to make Europe’’ and supported by SCReN (Spanish Clinical Research Network), ISCIII, project PT17/0017/0009. Clinical trial insurance coverage was kindly donated by MARCH RS Correduría de Seguros y Reaseguros. Mikel Mancheño-Losa holds a "Río Hortega" research contract (expte. CM19/00226N