Added value of lymphocyte subpopulations in the classification of Sjögren's syndrome

Sjögren's Syndrome (SjS) is a chronic systemic immune-mediated inflammatory disease characterized by lymphocytic infiltration and consequent lesion of exocrine glands. SjS diagnosis and classification remains a challenge, especially at SjS onset, when patients may have milder phenotypes of the disease or uncommon presentations. New biomarkers are needed for the classification of SjS, thus, we aimed to evaluate the added-value of lymphocyte subpopulations in discriminating SjS and non-Sjögren Sicca patients. Lymphocyte subsets from 62 SjS and 63 Sicca patients were characterized by flow cytometry. The 2002 AECG and the 2016 ACR/EULAR SjS classification criteria were compared with clinical diagnosis. The added discriminative ability of joining lymphocytic populations to classification criteria was assessed by the area under the Receiver-Operating-Characteristic Curve (AUC). Considering clinical diagnosis as the gold-standard, we obtained an AUC = 0.952 (95% CI: 0.916-0.989) for AECG and an AUC = 0.921 (95% CI: 0.875-0.966) for ACR/EULAR criteria. Adding Tfh and Bm1 subsets to AECG criteria, performance increased, attaining an AUC = 0.985 (95% CI: 0.968-1.000) (p = 0.021). Th1/Breg-like CD24hiCD27+ and switched-memory B-cells maximized the AUC of ACR/EULAR criteria to 0.953 (95% CI: 0.916-0.990) (p = 0.043). Our exploratory study supports the potential use of lymphocyte subpopulations, such as unswitched memory B cells, to improve the performance of classification criteria, since their discriminative ability increases when specific subsets are added to the criteria.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Modeling of axonal endoplasmic reticulum network by spastic paraplegia proteins

Axons contain a smooth tubular endoplasmic reticulum (ER) network that is thought to be continuous with ER throughout the neuron; the mechanisms that form this axonal network are unknown. Mutations affecting reticulon or REEP proteins, with intramembrane hairpin domains that model ER membranes, cause an axon degenerative disease, hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP). We show that Drosophila axons have a dynamic axonal ER network, which these proteins help to model. Loss of HSP hairpin proteins causes ER sheet expansion, partial loss of ER from distal motor axons, and occasional discontinuities in axonal ER. Ultrastructural analysis reveals an extensive ER network in axons, which shows larger and fewer tubules in larvae that lack reticulon and REEP proteins, consistent with loss of membrane curvature. Therefore HSP hairpin-containing proteins are required for shaping and continuity of axonal ER, thus suggesting roles for ER modeling in axon maintenance and function.RCUK | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC): Lu Zhao, Cahir J O'Kane, BB/L021706/1; Wellcome: Martin Stofanko, Cahir J O'Kane, 08136; European Commission (EC): Lu Zhao, Niamh C O'Sullivan, Sophie Zaessinger, Olivier Blard, MCSA fellowships 220851,220874,236777,660516; Yousef Jameel Foundation: Belgin Yalçın; Singapore A*STAR Scholarship: Zi Han Kang, BM/RES/07/005; Cambridge Commonwealth, European and International Trust (Cambridge Commonwealth, European & International Trust): Belgin Yalçın, Anood Sohail; Pakistan Higher Education Council Scholarship: Anood Sohail; Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA): Alex L Patto, Studentship 861-792 The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication

Research data supporting "Modeling of axonal endoplasmic reticulum network by spastic paraplegia proteins"

The supporting data include sequence analyses, microscopy, electron microscopy, quantitative analyses and reconstructions of images, and statistical analyses, for each figure presented in the paper.Listed in 10.7554/eLife.2388

Legume Seed Nutraceutical Research

Edited by Jose Carlos Jimenez-Lopez (Spanish National Research Council (CSIC); Co-editor: Alfonso Clemente.Legumes are a main source of nitrogen-rich edible seeds and constitute a major source of food for a significant part of the world's population. Particularly, they are the most relevant sources of plant proteins with nutraceutical and health benefit properties. This book was conceived to provide key research knowledge on health-promoting aspects of seed components, and their nutritional and nutraceutical values, for increasing awareness among the population of the research focus across the growing field of legume research, and the area of sustainable crop production.Chapters: 1. Nutraceutical Properties of Legume Seeds and Their Impact on Human Health. By Arindam Barman, Chinky M. Marak, Rituparna Mitra Barman and Cheana S. Sangma; 2. Two Sides of the Same Coin: The Impact of Grain Legumes on Human Health: Common Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) as a Case Study. By Elsa Mecha, Maria Eduardo Figueira, Maria Carlota Vaz Patto and Maria do Rosário Bronze; 3. Cowpea: A Strategic Legume Species for Food Security and Health. By Alexandre Carneiro da Silva, Dyego da Costa Santos, Davair Lopes Teixeira Junior, Pedro Bento da Silva, Rosana Cavalcante dos Santos and Amauri Siviero; 4. Prosopis cineraria as an Unconventional Legumes, Nutrition and Health Benefits. By Hanan Sobhy Amin Afifi and Ihsan Abu Al-ru

BRSMG Realce: Common bean cultivar with striped grains for the state of Minas Gerais

The common bean cultivar "BRSMG Realce", recommended for the state of Minas Gerais, has high yield potential and resistance to powdery mildew, bacterial wilt and to anthracnose pathotypes 65, 73, 77, 81, 91, 475 and 479. The plants and pods are high, resulting in lower loss during mechanical harvest