Neural correlates of three types of negative life events during angry face processing in adolescents.

Negative life events (NLE) contribute to anxiety and depression disorders, but their relationship with brain functioning in adolescence has rarely been studied. We hypothesized that neural response to social threat would relate to NLE in the frontal-limbic emotional regions. Participants (N = 685) were drawn from the Imagen database of 14-year-old community adolescents recruited in schools. They underwent functional MRI while viewing angry and neutral faces, as a probe to neural response to social threat. Lifetime NLEs were assessed using the 'distress', 'family' and 'accident' subscales from a life event dimensional questionnaire. Relationships between NLE subscale scores and neural response were investigated. Links of NLE subscales scores with anxiety or depression outcomes at the age of 16 years were also investigated. Lifetime 'distress' positively correlated with ventral-lateral orbitofrontal and temporal cortex activations during angry face processing. 'Distress' scores correlated with the probabilities of meeting criteria for Generalized Anxiety Disorder or Major Depressive Disorder at the age of 16 years. Lifetime 'family' and 'accident' scores did not relate with neural response or follow-up conditions, however. Thus, different types of NLEs differentially predicted neural responses to threat during adolescence, and differentially predicted a de novo internalizing condition 2 years later. The deleterious effect of self-referential NLEs is suggested

Dectin-1: a role in antifungal defense and consequences of genetic polymorphisms in humans

The clinical relevance of fungal infections has increased dramatically in recent decades as a consequence of the rise of immunocompromised populations, and efforts to understand the underlying mechanisms of protective immunity have attracted renewed interest. Here we review Dectin-1, a pattern recognition receptor involved in antifungal immunity, and discuss recent discoveries of polymorphisms in the gene encoding this receptor which result in human disease

Decreased Levels of Circulating IL17-Producing CD161(+)CCR6(+) T Cells Are Associated with Graft-versus-Host Disease after Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation

Contains fulltext : 110799.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)The C-type lectin-like receptor CD161 is a well-established marker for human IL17-producing T cells, which have been implicated to contribute to the development of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT). In this study, we analyzed CD161(+) T cell recovery, their functional properties and association with GVHD occurrence in allo-SCT recipients. While CD161(+)CD4(+) T cells steadily recovered, CD161(hi)CD8(+) T cell numbers declined during tapering of Cyclosporine A (CsA), which can be explained by their initial growth advantage over CD161(neg/low)CD8(+) T cells due to ABCB1-mediated CsA efflux. Interestingly, occurrence of acute and chronic GVHD was significantly correlated with decreased levels of circulating CD161(+)CD4(+) as well as CD161(hi)CD8(+) T cells. In addition, these subsets from transplanted patients secreted high levels of IFNgamma and IL17. Moreover, we found that CCR6 co-expression by CD161(+) T cells mediated specific migration towards CCL20, which was expressed in GVHD biopsies. Finally, we demonstrated that CCR6(+) T cells indeed were present in these CCL20(+) GVHD-affected tissues. In conclusion, we showed that functional CD161(+)CCR6(+) co-expressing T cells disappear from the circulation and home to GVHD-affected tissue sites. These findings support the hypothesis that CCR6(+)CD161-expressing T cells may be involved in the immune pathology of GVHD following their CCL20-dependent recruitment into affected tissues

Plasma carotenoids as biomarkers of intake of fruits and vegetables: individual-level correlations in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)

OBJECTIVE: The aim in this study was to assess the association between individual plasma carotenoid levels (alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, lycopene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin) and fruit and vegetable intakes recorded by a calibrated food questionnaire (FQ) and 24-h dietary recall records (24HDR) in nine different European countries with diverse populations and widely varying intakes of plant foods. DESIGN: A stratified random subsample of 3089 men and women from nine countries participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), who had provided blood samples and dietary and other lifestyle information between 1992 and 2000, were included. RESULTS: beta-Cryptoxanthin was most strongly correlated with total fruits (FQ r = 0.52, 24HDR r = 0.39), lycopene with tomato and tomato products (FQ r = 0.38, 24HDR r = 0.25), and alpha-carotene with intake of root vegetables (r = 0.39) and of total carrots (r = 0.38) for FQ only. Based on diet measured by FQ and adjusting for possible confounding by body mass index (BMI), age, gender, smoking status, alcohol intake, and energy intake, the strongest predictors of individual plasma carotenoid levels were fruits (R(partial)(2) = 17.2%) for beta-cryptoxanthin, total carrots ((partial)(2) = 13.4%) and root vegetables (R(partial)(2) = 13.3%) for alpha-carotene, and tomato products (R(partial)(2) = 13.8%) for lycopene. For 24HDR, the highest R(partial)(2) was for fruits in relation to beta-cryptoxanthin (7.9%). CONCLUSIONS: Intakes of specific fruits and vegetables as measured by food questionnaires are good predictors of certain individual plasma carotenoid levels in our multicentre European study. At individual subject levels, FQ measurements of fruits, root vegetables and carrots, and tomato products are, respectively, good predictors of beta-cryptoxanthin, alpha-carotene, and lycopene in plasma