New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele

Using egg albumin foam to extinguish fires

Oil, coal and chemical fires are often difficult to put out using water. In certain hydrocarbon fires, protein foam can extinguish fires better than water by keeping air (oxygen) away from the flames and by ''blowing'' the flame away from its fuel source. Egg albumin is a relatively inexpensive protein and is representative of foaming proteins, which are candidates for use as fire suppression agents. This paper begins to deal with the effect of the foam bulk pH, foam protein concentration and generating air flow rate into the foam on the fire extinguishing time in laboratory experiments. A Bunsen burner was used to generate a small, controlled laboratory fire within a plastic container, which represented a point source in a partially open room in the experiments. The Bunsen burner represents a gaseous hydrocarbon fire, which can be difficult to extinguish. Both a low pH foam and one made with a high air flow rate favor a reduction in time required to put out the Bunsen burner flame.<br>Chamas produzidas por óleo, carvão e produtos químicos (incêndios provocados) são difíceis de ser extinguidos com água. Algumas chamas de hidrocarbonetos podem ser extinguidas por espumas protéicas melhor do que a manutenção de ar (oxigênio) fora do alcance das chamas ou pelo sopramento da chama para longe da sua fonte. Albumina de ovo é uma proteína relativamente barata e é representativa dentre as proteínas usadas como espuma para a (supressão) extinção de agentes causadores de incêndio. Este artigo trata do estudo do efeito do pH e concentração da espuma protéica, além da geração de ar no interior da espuma, sobre o tempo de extinção de incêndio em experimentos laboratoriais. Nos experimentos um bico de Bunsen foi usado para gerar uma pequena chama, controlada em um container de plástico, representando uma fonte pontual em um ambiente parcialmente aberto. A chama do bico de Bunsen representa uma chama gasosa de hidrocarbonetos, que são difíceis de ser extintas. Ambos os fatores, baixo pH de espuma e uma alta de aeração, favorecem a redução do tempo de extinção da chama de Bunsen