Adenovirus-Associated Virus Vector-Mediated Gene Transfer in Hemophilia B

NIHR (RP-PG-0310-1001), the Medical Research Council, the Katharine Dormandy Trust, the U.K. Department of Health, NHS Blood and Transplant, the NIHR Biomedical Research Centers (to University College London Hospital and University College London), the ASSISI Foundation of Memphis, the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (HL094396), the Royal Free Hospital Charity Special Trustees Fund 35, the Royal Free Hospital NHS Trust, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospita

Search for the Chiral Magnetic Effect in Au+Au collisions at sNN=27\sqrt{s_{_{\rm{NN}}}}=27 GeV with the STAR forward Event Plane Detectors

A decisive experimental test of the Chiral Magnetic Effect (CME) is considered one of the major scientific goals at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC) towards understanding the nontrivial topological fluctuations of the Quantum Chromodynamics vacuum. In heavy-ion collisions, the CME is expected to result in a charge separation phenomenon across the reaction plane, whose strength could be strongly energy dependent. The previous CME searches have been focused on top RHIC energy collisions. In this Letter, we present a low energy search for the CME in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{_{\rm{NN}}}}=27$ GeV. We measure elliptic flow scaled charge-dependent correlators relative to the event planes that are defined at both mid-rapidity $|\eta|<1.0$ and at forward rapidity $2.1 < |\eta|<5.1$. We compare the results based on the directed flow plane ($\Psi_1$) at forward rapidity and the elliptic flow plane ($\Psi_2$) at both central and forward rapidity. The CME scenario is expected to result in a larger correlation relative to $\Psi_1$ than to $\Psi_2$, while a flow driven background scenario would lead to a consistent result for both event planes[1,2]. In 10-50\% centrality, results using three different event planes are found to be consistent within experimental uncertainties, suggesting a flow driven background scenario dominating the measurement. We obtain an upper limit on the deviation from a flow driven background scenario at the 95\% confidence level. This work opens up a possible road map towards future CME search with the high statistics data from the RHIC Beam Energy Scan Phase-II.Comment: main: 8 pages, 5 figures; supplementary material: 2 pages, 1 figur

SARS-CoV-2 infects the human kidney and drives fibrosis in kidney organoids

Kidney failure is frequently observed during and after COVID-19, but it remains elusive whether this is a direct effect of the virus. Here, we report that SARS-CoV-2 directly infects kidney cells and is associated with increased tubule-interstitial kidney fibrosis in patient autopsy samples. To study direct effects of the virus on the kidney independent of systemic effects of COVID-19, we infected human-induced pluripotent stem-cell-derived kidney organoids with SARS-CoV-2. Single-cell RNA sequencing indicated injury and dedifferentiation of infected cells with activation of profibrotic signaling pathways. Importantly, SARS-CoV-2 infection also led to increased collagen 1 protein expression in organoids. A SARS-CoV-2 protease inhibitor was able to ameliorate the infection of kidney cells by SARS-CoV-2. Our results suggest that SARS-CoV-2 can directly infect kidney cells and induce cell injury with subsequent fibrosis. These data could explain both acute kidney injury in COVID-19 patients and the development of chronic kidney disease in long COVID

Linkage analysis of a kindred with inherited 46,XY partial gonadal dysgenesis

We have reported a kindred in which 46,XY gonadal dysgenesis was inherited in an X-linked (or autosomal dominant sex-limited) manner and in which affected subjects did not have a large duplication of the short arm of the X-chromosome. In the present study we used linkage and sequence analyses to test the role of X-linked and various autosomal genes in the etiology of the familial 46,XY partial gonadal dysgenesis. For analysis of X-linkage, 28 microsatellite polymorphisms and 1 restriction fragment length polymorphism were studied. The genotypes of informative family members were determined at each locus, and data were analyzed. Despite the large number of loci tested, our studies did not establish linkage between the trait and an X-chromosomal locus. With respect to the study of autosomal genes, linkage analysis using a polymorphism within the 3'-untranslated region of the WT1 gene excluded involvement of WT-1 in the etiology of the abnormal gonadal differentiation of the family in this study. Similarly, linkage analysis using four microsatellites on the distal short arm of chromosome 9 was not consistent with linkage. Linkage analysis of a locus close to the SOX9 gene as well as analysis of the coding region of the SOX9 gene suggested that this gene was not associated with the trait in the affected subjects we studied. Our data suggest the role of an autosomal gene in the abnormal gonadal differentiation in the family in the study, but do not formally exclude the role of an X-chromosome gene

Urban ageing: technology, agency and community in smarter cities for older people

Despite the widespread popularity of smart cities in policy and research fields, and the ever-increasing ageing population in urban areas, ageing issues have seldom been addressed in depth in smart city programs. The main focus has hitherto been on making physical environments 'older people friendly'. We review studies in environmental gerontology, policies and HCI that show the multifaceted relationship between ageing and cities. We discuss two case studies with scenarios of engagement of older people in urban areas we undertook in the past 4 years. By drawing upon the results, we propose a vision of smart city that conceives of older people as embedded in intergenerational urban communities and capable of creating new engagement situations by reconfiguring IT-driven scenarios to their interests and social practices. This paper aims at expanding the current visions of smart cities for older people by building along three main dimensions: technology, agency and community.This work has been partially funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (TIN2011-28308-C03-03), the EU through Life2.0 (CIP ICT PSP-2009-4-270965), FGSIC and OSC through WorthPlay and supported by the A-C-T (Ageing-CommunicationTechnology) network funded by the Canadian SSHRC.info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/3PN/TIN2011-28308-C03-0

Novel biomarker and easy to perform ELISA for monitoring complement inhibition in patients with atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome treated with eculizumab

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Long-Term Safety and Efficacy of Factor IX Gene Therapy in Hemophilia B

International audienceBACKGROUND: In patients with severe hemophilia B, gene therapy that is mediated by a novel self-complementary adeno-associated virus serotype 8 (AAV8) vector has been shown to raise factor IX levels for periods of up to 16 months. We wanted to determine the durability of transgene expression, the vector dose-response relationship, and the level of persistent or late toxicity. METHODS: We evaluated the stability of transgene expression and long-term safety in 10 patients with severe hemophilia B: 6 patients who had been enrolled in an initial phase 1 dose-escalation trial, with 2 patients each receiving a low, intermediate, or high dose, and 4 additional patients who received the high dose (2x10(12) vector genomes per kilogram of body weight). The patients subsequently underwent extensive clinical and laboratory monitoring. RESULTS: A single intravenous infusion of vector in all 10 patients with severe hemophilia B resulted in a dose-dependent increase in circulating factor IX to a level that was 1 to 6% of the normal value over a median period of 3.2 years, with observation ongoing. In the high-dose group, a consistent increase in the factor IX level to a mean (+/-SD) of 5.1+/-1.7% was observed in all 6 patients, which resulted in a reduction of more than 90% in both bleeding episodes and the use of prophylactic factor IX concentrate. A transient increase in the mean alanine aminotransferase level to 86 IU per liter (range, 36 to 202) occurred between week 7 and week 10 in 4 of the 6 patients in the high-dose group but resolved over a median of 5 days (range, 2 to 35) after prednisolone treatment. CONCLUSIONS: In 10 patients with severe hemophilia B, the infusion of a single dose of AAV8 vector resulted in long-term therapeutic factor IX expression associated with clinical improvement. With a follow-up period of up to 3 years, no late toxic effects from the therapy were reported. (Funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and others; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00979238.)