Isolation and characterization of yeast strains from Badacsony, Hungary

In modern winery, starter strains are used for wine making to avoid the risk of slow or incomplete fermentation.However, application of commercial starter yeasts sometimes leads to a uniform character of the wines. On the other hand, indigenous (“terroir”) strains are adapted better to local conditions highlighting the specific taste of wine. In this study, we isolated local yeast strains from Badacsony wine region of Hungary and investigated with microbiological and molecular biological tests in order to develop indigenous starter selection method. As many as 480 yeast strains were isolated and grouped using carbohydrate and nitrogen sources. Finally, 80 selected isolates were characterized for important oenological features, including tolerance of glucose, ethanol and acetic acid. Fermentation ability, killer toxin, hydrogen sulfide and acid production of 80 selected isolates were also tested. Isolates were studied by applying two molecular methods based on rRNA gene sequencing and analysis of Ty retrotransposon's delta elements in case of Saccharomyces strains. Our results have shown that the isolated strains belong to 15 yeast species of 8 genera, and the diversity of yeast population was significantly high in the investigated vineyard. We have found that selection for technological properties was a potential way to find suitable strains from the local microbiome, because a high proportion of isolated wild yeast strains show beneficial oenological properties for wine making. Further, we studied 35 available starter yeasts to avoid re-isolation and we identified only 3 starter yeasts from grape and must samples, which can be considered as very low incidenc

Isolation and characterization of yeast strains from Badacsony, Hungary

461-473In modern winery, starter strains are used for wine making to avoid the risk of slow or incomplete fermentation. However, application of commercial starter yeasts sometimes leads to a uniform character of the wines. On the other hand, indigenous (“terroir”) strains are adapted better to local conditions highlighting the specific taste of wine. In this study, we isolated local yeast strains from Badacsony wine region of Hungary and investigated with microbiological and molecular biological tests in order to develop indigenous starter selection method. As many as 480 yeast strains were isolated and grouped using carbohydrate and nitrogen sources. Finally, 80 selected isolates were characterized for important oenological features, including tolerance of glucose, ethanol and acetic acid. Fermentation ability, killer toxin, hydrogen sulfide and acid production of 80 selected isolates were also tested. Isolates were studied by applying two molecular methods based on rRNA gene sequencing and analysis of Ty retrotransposon's delta elements in case of Saccharomyces strains. Our results have shown that the isolated strains belong to 15 yeast species of 8 genera, and the diversity of yeast population was significantly high in the investigated vineyard. We have found that selection for technological properties was a potential way to find suitable strains from the local microbiome, because a high proportion of isolated wild yeast strains show beneficial oenological properties for wine making. Further, we studied 35 available starter yeasts to avoid re-isolation and we identified only 3 starter yeasts from grape and must samples, which can be considered as very low incidence

Demographic, clinical, biomarker, and neuropathological correlates of posterior cortical atrophy: an international cohort study and individual participant data meta-analysis

Background: Posterior cortical atrophy is a rare syndrome characterised by early, prominent, and progressive impairment in visuoperceptual and visuospatial processing. The disorder has been associated with underlying neuropathological features of Alzheimer's disease, but large-scale biomarker and neuropathological studies are scarce. We aimed to describe demographic, clinical, biomarker, and neuropathological correlates of posterior cortical atrophy in a large international cohort.// Methods: We searched PubMed between database inception and Aug 1, 2021, for all published research studies on posterior cortical atrophy and related terms. We identified research centres from these studies and requested deidentified, individual participant data (published and unpublished) that had been obtained at the first diagnostic visit from the corresponding authors of the studies or heads of the research centres. Inclusion criteria were a clinical diagnosis of posterior cortical atrophy as defined by the local centre and availability of Alzheimer's disease biomarkers (PET or CSF), or a diagnosis made at autopsy. Not all individuals with posterior cortical atrophy fulfilled consensus criteria, being diagnosed using centre-specific procedures or before development of consensus criteria. We obtained demographic, clinical, biofluid, neuroimaging, and neuropathological data. Mean values for continuous variables were combined using the inverse variance meta-analysis method; only research centres with more than one participant for a variable were included. Pooled proportions were calculated for binary variables using a restricted maximum likelihood model. Heterogeneity was quantified using I2.// Findings: We identified 55 research centres from 1353 papers, with 29 centres responding to our request. An additional seven centres were recruited by advertising via the Alzheimer's Association. We obtained data for 1092 individuals who were evaluated at 36 research centres in 16 countries, the other sites having not responded to our initial invitation to participate to the study. Mean age at symptom onset was 59·4 years (95% CI 58·9–59·8; I2=77%), 60% (56–64; I2=35%) were women, and 80% (72–89; I2=98%) presented with posterior cortical atrophy pure syndrome. Amyloid β in CSF (536 participants from 28 centres) was positive in 81% (95% CI 75–87; I2=78%), whereas phosphorylated tau in CSF (503 participants from 29 centres) was positive in 65% (56–75; I2=87%). Amyloid-PET (299 participants from 24 centres) was positive in 94% (95% CI 90–97; I2=15%), whereas tau-PET (170 participants from 13 centres) was positive in 97% (93–100; I2=12%). At autopsy (145 participants from 13 centres), the most frequent neuropathological diagnosis was Alzheimer's disease (94%, 95% CI 90–97; I2=0%), with common co-pathologies of cerebral amyloid angiopathy (71%, 54–88; I2=89%), Lewy body disease (44%, 25–62; I2=77%), and cerebrovascular injury (42%, 24–60; I2=88%).// Interpretation: These data indicate that posterior cortical atrophy typically presents as a pure, young-onset dementia syndrome that is highly specific for underlying Alzheimer's disease pathology. Further work is needed to understand what drives cognitive vulnerability and progression rates by investigating the contribution of sex, genetics, premorbid cognitive strengths and weaknesses, and brain network integrity

Grafted murine induced pluripotent stem cells prevent death of injured rat motoneurons otherwise destined to die

Human plexus injuries often include the avulsion of one or more ventral roots, resulting in debilitating conditions. In this study the effects of undifferentiated murine iPSCs on damaged motoneurons were investigated following avulsion of the lumbar 4 (L4) ventral root, an injury known to induce the death of the majority of the affected motoneurons. Avulsion and reimplantation of the L4 ventral root (AR procedure) was accompanied by the transplantation of murine iPSCs into the injured spinal cord segment in rats. Control animals underwent ventral root avulsion and reimplantation, but did not receive iPSCs. The grafted iPSCs induced an improved reinnervation of the reimplanted ventral root by the host motoneurons as compared with the controls (number of retrogradely labeled motoneurons: 503 +/- 38 [AR+iPSCs group] vs 48 +/- 6 [controls, AR group]). Morphological reinnervation resulted in a functional recovery, i.e. the grafted animals exhibited more motor units in their reinnervated hind limb muscles, which produced a greater force than that in the controls (50 +/- 2.1% vs 11.9 +/- 4.2% maximal tetanic tension [% ratio of operated/intact side]). Grafting of undifferentiated iPCSs downregulated the astroglial activation within the L4 segment. The grafted cells differentiated into neurons and astrocytes in the injured cord. The grafted iPSCs, host neurons and glia were found to produce the cytokines and neurotrophic factors MIP-1a, IL-10, GDNF and NT-4. These findings suggest that, following ventral root avulsion injury, iPSCs are able to induce motoneuron survival and regeneration through combined neurotrophic and cytokine modulatory effects

APOE ε4 carrier status and sex differentiate rates of cognitive decline in early- and late-onset Alzheimer's disease

Background: We studied the effect of apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 status and sex on rates of cognitive decline in early- (EO) and late- (LO) onset Alzheimer's disease (AD). Method: We ran mixed-effects models with longitudinal cognitive measures as dependent variables, and sex, APOE ε4 carrier status, and interaction terms as predictor variables in 998 EOAD and 2562 LOAD participants from the National Alzheimer's Coordinating Center. Results: APOE ε4 carriers showed accelerated cognitive decline relative to non-carriers in both EOAD and LOAD, although the patterns of specific cognitive domains that were affected differed. Female participants showed accelerated cognitive decline relative to male participants in EOAD only. The effect of APOE ε4 was greater in EOAD for executive functioning (p < 0.0001) and greater in LOAD for language (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: We found APOE ε4 effects on cognitive decline in both EOAD and LOAD and female sex in EOAD only. The specific patterns and magnitude of decline are distinct between the two disease variants. Highlights: Apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 carrier status and sex differentiate rates of cognitive decline in early-onset (EO) and late-onset (LO) Alzheimer's disease (AD). APOE ε4 in EOAD accelerated decline in memory, executive, and processing speed domains. Female sex in EOAD accelerated decline in language, memory, and global cognition. The effect of APOE ε4 was stronger for language in LOAD and for executive function in EOAD. Sex effects on language and executive function decline differed between EOAD and LOAD