SIGLEC1 (CD169): a marker of active neuroinflammation in the brain but not in the blood of MS patients

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to evaluate SIGLEC1 (CD169) as a biomarker in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and Neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) and to evaluate the specificity of SIGLEC1+ myeloid cells for demyelinating diseases. METHODS: We performed flow cytometry-based measurements of SIGLEC1 expression on monocytes in 86 MS patients, 41 NMOSD patients and 31 healthy controls. Additionally, we histologically evaluated the presence of SIGLEC1+ myeloid cells in acute and chronic MS brain lesions as well as other neurological diseases. RESULTS: We found elevated SIGLEC1 expression in 16/86 (18.6%) MS patients and 4/41 (9.8%) NMOSD patients. Almost all MS patients with high SIGLEC1 levels received exogenous interferon beta as an immunomodulatory treatment and only a small fraction of MS patients without interferon treatment had increased SIGLEC1 expression. SIGLEC1+ myeloid cells were abundantly present in active MS lesions as well as in a range of acute infectious and malignant diseases of the central nervous system, but not chronic MS lesions. CONCLUSION: In our cohort, SIGLEC1 expression on monocytes was – apart from those patients receiving interferon treatment – not significantly increased in patients with MS and NMOSD, nor were levels associated with more severe disease. The presence of SIGLEC1+ myeloid cells in brain lesions could be used to investigate the activity in an inflammatory CNS lesion

Children’s and Adolescents’ Happiness Conceptualizations at School and their Link with Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness

Previous research on children’s and adolescents’happiness either focused on their conceptualisations or the link between self-reported happiness with different outcomes. However, very few studies have connected both approaches to better understand children’s and adolescents’ happiness. To address this gap, we used a mixed-method approach, to investigate if the conceptualizations of happiness at school of 744 British children and adolescents could signal differences in autonomy, competence, and relatedness. An initial coding of the responses showed thirteen conceptualizations (i.e., positive feelings, harmony/balance, leisure, friends, getting good grades, non-violence, moral actions, purpose, autonomy, competence, teachers, emotional support, and learning). Log-linear models showed that some of the conceptualizations differed across both age groups and gender. Latent class analysis showed that happiness conceptualizations could be classified in five different groups. Interestingly, whereas for children there were no differences; for adolescents, there were differences between classes in their levels of autonomy and relatedness. The implications of these findings for promoting students' well-being at school are discussed