Broadband conversion of microwaves into propagating spin waves in patterned magnetic structures

We have used time-resolved scanning Kerr microscopy and micromagnetic simulations to demonstrate that, when driven by the spatially uniform microwave field, the edges of patterned magnetic samples represent both efficient and highly tunable sources of propagating spin waves. The excitation is due to the local enhancement of the resonance frequency induced by the non-uniform dynamic demagnetizing field generated by precessing magnetization aligned with the edges. Our findings represent a crucial step forward in the design of nanoscale spin-wave sources for magnonic architectures and are also highly relevant to the understanding and interpretation of magnetization dynamics driven by spatially uniform magnetic fields in patterned magnetic samples

Europe’s Farm to Fork Strategy and Its Commitment to Biotechnology and Organic Farming: Conflicting or Complementary Goals?

The European Commission's Farm to Fork (F2F) strategy, under the European Green Deal, acknowledges that innovative techniques, including biotechnology, may play a role in increasing sustainability. At the same time, organic farming will be promoted, and at least 25% of the EU's agricultural land shall be under organic farming by 2030. How can both biotechnology and organic farming be developed and promoted simultaneously to contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? We illustrate that achieving the SDGs benefits from the inclusion of recent innovations in biotechnology in organic farming. This requires a change in the law. Otherwise, the planned increase of organic production in the F2F strategy may result in less sustainable, not more sustainable, food systems

MODY caused by a mutation in the insulin gene

MODY10 is a rare subtype of MODY diabetes, which caused by heterozygous mutations in the insulin gene INS. There are single descriptions of families with MODY-INS or MODY10 in the literature, its clinical course is not well understood. We present a case of MODY10 in a boy with a history of diabetes mellitus (DM) in three generations (father and paternal grandmother). Proband was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus at the age of 7 years. The glycaemia at the onset of the diabetes was 10.2 mmol/l, HbA1c — 7.6%, islet cell autoantibodies (ICA), insulin autoantibodies (IAA), glutamic acid decarboxylase antibodies (GADA) and islet tyrosine phosphatase 2 (IA2) antibodies (IA2) were not detected. According to the results of the oral glucose tolerance test, fasting blood glucose was 6.5 mmol/l, in 120 minutes 10.3 mmol/l, which corresponded to the diagnosis of impaired glucose tolerance. Diet with restriction of easily digestible carbohydrates was recommended, than gliclazide was added to the therapy, which the proband received for 3 years. At the age of 10, a deterioration in the parameters of carbohydrate metabolism was noted, which insulin therapy was added. Examination at the age of 12 revealed a decrease in C-peptide secretion. The child’s father has a similar phenotype — slowly progressive disorders of carbohydrate metabolism from 6 years old, from 10 years old — insulin therapy. A genetic test was provided, in the child and his father was detected a previously undescribed heterozygous mutation in the INS p.C31W. Thus, in our clinical case, MODY10 was characterized by a milder course than T1DM, but eventually leading to the development of insulin demand, which distinguishes it from the most common forms of MODY. Currently, there is no specific therapy, and the detection of a mutation in the INS gene does not affect therapeutic tactics, however, a correct genetic diagnosis makes it possible to predict the course of diabetes and provide genetic counseling to the family

Non-immune diabetes mellitus in children due to heterozygous mutations in the glucokinase gene (GCK-MODY): data of 144 patients

BACKGROUND: Monogenic diabetes mellitus (MDM) is a rare form of diabetes mellitus (DM) which caused by one or more mutations in one of the genes that cause pancreatic β-cell dysfunction. Despite the sufficient knowledge of the most common subtypes of MODY, cases of MDM are undiagnosed and classified as type 1 diabetes mellitus and type 2 diabetes mellitus.AIM: To study the clinical, laboratory characteristics, as well as age-related features of GCK-MODY in children.MATERIALS AND METHODS: The studied population is patients with GCK-MODY under the age of 18 years. The diagnosis was confirmed by genetic test, a heterozygous mutation was identificated in the GCK gene.RESULTS: MODY-GCK was verified in 144 patients (131 probands and 13 siblings) under the age of 18 years. Missense mutations were detected in 80.2% (n=105). Mutation was detected in one case in 59.6%. The most common missense mutations were p.G261R (n=7) and p.G258C (n=6). The age of diagnosis of carbohydrate metabolism disorders was 7.6 years [4.0; 11.2]. In 72.2% carbohydrate metabolism disorders were diagnosed accidentally, in 16.7% the examination was provided due to a family history of diabetes, 11.1% had clinical symptoms of diabetes. Fasting glycemia at diagnosis was 6.8 mmol / l [6.4; 7.3], HbA1c — 6.4% [6.1; 6.7]. At examination, the level of fasting glycemia corresponded to normal values in 16.4% of patients, impaired fasting glycemia — in 57.8%, diabetic — in 25.8%. In 62.3% of patients was impaired glucose tolerance, in 18.9% — to diabetic values, and in 11.7% of patients — to a normal level at 120 minutes during the oral glucose tolerance test. A moderate positive correlation was found between the age of examination and the levels of fasting glycemia (r=0.347, p<0.01), C-peptide (r=0.656, p<0.001), and insulin (r=0.531, p<0.001). Insulin resistance (IR) (HOMA index) was detected in 21 patients (14.5%), obesity — in 6 patients (4.2%). In 9 patients (6.25%) was revealed a moderate increase in the titer of specific pancreatic antibodies (AT). The presence of IR, obesity, AT did not affect the level of HbA1c. In 92.3% diet was priscribed, in 4.2% insulin was prescribed, 2.1% — metformin, 1.4% — sulfonylureas.CONCLUSION: In children, disorders of carbohydrate metabolism in GCK-MODY are diagnosed accidentally, asymptomatically at any age from birth, and are characterized by a combination of impaired fasting glycemia and impaired glucose tolerance and, as a rule, do not require antihyperglycemic therap

The use of Flash glucose monitoring in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus in real clinical practice

BACKGROUND: In 2018, a Frestyle Libre flash glucose monitoring system (FGM) appeared in Russia and became a potential alternative to the traditional CGM. Studies carried out to date have shown the advantages of FGM over SMBG, but only a few of them relate to real clinical practice, especially in children with type 1 diabetes.OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of FGM in children with T1DM in relation to glycemic control indicators, the occurrence of severe hypoglycemia and diabetic ketoacidosis, as well as the satisfaction of patients and their parents with the use of FGM.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Single-center, prospective, observational cohort study. Children 4–18 years old with T1DM and HbA1c level less than 10.0% were invited to participate in the study on intensified insulin therapy (by MDI or CSII). The duration of the patient’s participation in the study was 6 months. At baseline and every 3 months thereafter, face-to-face consultations were conducted with an assessment of the general condition, HbA1c study, an assessment of glycemic indicators, progress in relation to glycemic control targets and correction of the therapy. A total of 228 patients (110 boys and 118 girls) who met the inclusion criteria were included in the study. The median age was 11.2 (8.6–14.7) years, the duration of type 1 diabetes was 3.8 (2–7.1), 136 patients received insulin therapy by CSII for 1.3 (0.8–2.6) years.RESULTS: In the general group of patients, 3 and 6 months after the start of FGM use, the HbA1c values decreased statistically significantly by 0.2%. In addition, the number of children with HbA1c <7.5% increased by 6.1 and 4.9% at 3 and 6 months, respectively, but these changes were not statistically significant. The number of cases of DKA when using FGM decreased by 74%, and the number of cases of severe hypoglycemia by 83%, thus the number of episodes decreased by 4 and 6 times, respectively. Patients and / or their parents rated the ease of use and their experience with FGM on a scale from 0 (strongly agree) to 4 (strongly disagree). The majority of children and parents positively (0 or 1) assessed the convenience of installing and wearing the sensor (72.7–98.2%) using the FGM system in general (75.0–96.4%) and in comparison with the SMBG glucometer (92.3–98.2%).CONCLUSION: The installation and use of FGM is convenient and comfortable for the vast majority of children and parents, while compared to SMBG, the use of FGM is more convenient and simpler, and glucose measurement is much faster and less painful

Stress-Induced Chromatin Changes: A Critical View on Their Heritability

The investigation of stress responses has been a focus of plant research, breeding and biotechnology for a long time. Insight into stress perception, signaling and genetic determinants of resistance has recently been complemented by growing evidence for substantial stress-induced changes at the chromatin level. These affect specific sequences or occur genome-wide and are often correlated with transcriptional regulation. The majority of these changes only occur during stress exposure, and both expression and chromatin states typically revert to the pre-stress state shortly thereafter. Other changes result in the maintenance of new chromatin states and modified gene expression for a longer time after stress exposure, preparing an individual for developmental decisions or more effective defence. Beyond this, there are claims for stress-induced heritable chromatin modifications that are transmitted to progeny, thereby improving their characteristics. These effects resemble the concept of Lamarckian inheritance of acquired characters and represent a challenge to the uniqueness of DNA sequence-based inheritance. However, with the growing insight into epigenetic regulation and transmission of chromatin states, it is worth investigating these phenomena carefully. While genetic changes (mainly transposon mobility) in response to stress-induced interference with chromatin are well documented and heritable, in our view there is no unambiguous evidence for transmission of exclusively chromatin-controlled stress effects to progeny. We propose a set of criteria that should be applied to substantiate the data for stress-induced, chromatin-encoded new traits. Well-controlled stress treatments, thorough phenotyping and application of refined genome-wide epigenetic analysis tools should be helpful in moving from interesting observations towards robust evidence

The role of specific pancreatic antibodies in the differential diagnosis of complete clinical and laboratory remission of type 1 diabetes mellitus and MODY in children

BACKGROUND: T1D is characterized by autoimmune destruction of pancreatic β-cells, which develops due to genetic and environmental risk factors. Shortly after initiating the treatment with insulin, 80% of children with T1D may require smaller doses of insulin and develop clinical and laboratory remission of the disease so called «honeymoon». The issue of whether there is a need of differential diagnosis between autoimmune DM and non-immune forms of DM raises in cases of preclinical diagnosis of T1D and laboratory remission for more than 6 months.AIM: To study the clinical, immunological, genetic characteristics of T1D remission phase and MODY in children, to determine the diagnostic criteria for T1D and MODY in children.MATERIALS AND METHODS: A single-centre, cross sectional noncontrolled comparative study of two independent cohorts. Data of 150 children examined in the Endocrinology Research Center (January 2016–June 2021). First cohort included patients with complete clinical and laboratory remission of T1D (n=36), second cohort included patients with MODY, confirmed by genetic study (n=114).RESULTS: The median age of diabetes manifestation was significantly higher in patients with T1D — 11.25 years [8.33; 13.78] than in patients with MODY — 7.5 years [4.6; 12.2] (p=0.004). In patients with T1D remission the level of glycated hemoglobin was 6.0% [5.6; 6.4], in group with MODY — 6.5% [6.2; 6.7] (p<0.001). Patients with monogenic diabetes had impaired fasting glucose — 6.27 mmol/l [5.38; 6.72], while patients with remission phase had normoglycemia — 5.12 mmol/l [4.17; 5.87]. The oral glucose tolerance test was perform to all patients, two-hour glucose level did not significantly differ in two groups (p=0.08). A strong family history of diabetes in patients with MODY registered more often (93% vs. 66.7%). A positive autoantibody titer detected more often in patients with remission of T1D (77.8%) than in patients with MODY (11.4%). In addition, no more than 1 type of autoantibodies was detected in patients with MODY.CONCLUSION: Antibodies ZnT8 and IA2 showed the greatest significance for the differential diagnosis of T1D and MODY in cases with long absents of insulin requirement in children with diabetes mellitus. Genetic test is recommended in seronegative cases. If only one type of AT is detected, specialist should decide on the need to do diagnostic genetic test based on a comprehensive analysis of the patient’s clinic characteristics, including family history, manifestation and blood glucose levels

Stress-Induced Activation of Heterochromatic Transcription

Constitutive heterochromatin comprising the centromeric and telomeric parts of chromosomes includes DNA marked by high levels of methylation associated with histones modified by repressive marks. These epigenetic modifications silence transcription and ensure stable inheritance of this inert state. Although environmental cues can alter epigenetic marks and lead to modulation of the transcription of genes located in euchromatic parts of the chromosomes, there is no evidence that external stimuli can globally destabilize silencing of constitutive heterochromatin. We have found that heterochromatin-associated silencing in Arabidopsis plants subjected to a particular temperature regime is released in a genome-wide manner. This occurs without alteration of repressive epigenetic modifications and does not involve common epigenetic mechanisms. Such induced release of silencing is mostly transient, and rapid restoration of the silent state occurs without the involvement of factors known to be required for silencing initiation. Thus, our results reveal new regulatory aspects of transcriptional repression in constitutive heterochromatin and open up possibilities to identify the molecular mechanisms involved