Post-H1N1 flu vaccination narcolepsy in Switzerland: a retrospective survey in the 30 sleep-certified Swiss centers

Narcolepsy-cataplexy is a sleep-wake disorder and suggested to be immune-mediated, involving genetic and environmental factors. The autoimmune process eventually leads to a loss of hypocretin neurons in the lateral hypothalamus. Epidemiological studies in several countries proved an increased incidence of narcolepsy after H1N1 flu vaccination and infection. This survey in 30 sleep centers in Switzerland led to the identification of 9 H1N1-vaccinated children and adults as newly diagnosed narcolepsy. Clinical features included the abrupt and severe onset of sleepiness, cataplexy and sleep fragmentation

Aqueous Marker Penetration into Ion Irradiated Polyimide

The penetration of aqueous6Li+ markers into low energy ion irradiated polyimide (PI) foils was examined by the neutron depth profiling technique in combination with a modified tomographic approach. The ion irradiation always leads to an enhancement in marker uptake. After irradiation at low fluence the marker profiles follow the nuclear damage distribution even in three dimensions. At elevated fluences saturation in the marker uptake is clearly seen. The polymer's penetrant uptake can be described well by regular diffusion, with nuclear damage centres acting as saturable traps. These observations are strikingly different from the marker penetration into high-energy heavy-ion irradiated PI

Functional interactions in hierarchically organized neural networks studied with spatiotemporal firing patterns and phase-coupling frequencies.

A scalable hardware/software hybrid module called Ubidule- endowed with bio-inspired ontogenetic and epigenetic features is configured to run a neural networks simulation with developmental and evolvable capabilities. We simulated the activity of hierarchically organized spiking neural networks characterized by an initial developmental phase featuring cell death followed by spike timing dependent synaptic plasticity in presence of background noise. An upstream 'sensory' network received a spatiotemporally organized external input and downstream networks were activated only via the upstream network. Precise firing sequences, formed by recurrent patterns of spikes intervals above chance levels, were observed in all recording conditions, thus suggesting the build-up of a connectivity able to sustain temporal information processing. The activity of a Ubinet -a network of Ubidules- is analyzed by means of virtual electrodes that recorded neural signals similar to EEG. The analysis of these signals was compared with a small set of human recordings and revealed common patterns of shift in quadratic phase coupling. The results suggest some interpretations of changes and plasticity of functional interactions between cortical areas driven by external stimuli and by learning/cognitive paradigms

Digital Teaching: Blending the Old with the New: In-Person Studio Attendance

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Genome-wide scan of long noncoding RNA single nucleotide polymorphisms and pancreatic cancer susceptibility

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is projected to become the second cancer-related cause of death by 2030. Identifying novel risk factors, including genetic risk loci, could be instrumental in risk stratification and implementation of prevention strategies. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are involved in regulation of key biological processes, and the possible role of their genetic variability has been unexplored so far. Combining genome wide association studies and functional data, we investigated the genetic variability in all lncRNAs. We analyzed 9893 PDAC cases and 9969 controls and identified a genome-wide significant association between the rs7046076 SNP and risk of developing PDAC (P = 9.73 × 10−9). This SNP is located in the NONHSAG053086.2 (lnc-SMC2-1) gene and the risk allele is predicted to disrupt the binding of the lncRNA with the micro-RNA (miRNA) hsa-mir-1256 that regulates several genes involved in cell cycle, such as CDKN2B. The CDKN2B region is pleiotropic and its genetic variants have been associated with several human diseases, possibly though an imperfect interaction between lncRNA and miRNA. We present a novel PDAC risk locus, supported by a genome-wide statistical significance and a plausible biological mechanism. © 2021 UIC