237 research outputs found
송원대 도사들이 본 삼교의 초월적 회통
Traduction en coréen de l'article d'Isabelle Robinet, "L'unité transcendante des trois enseignements selon les taoïstes des Sung et des Yüan", publié dans Religion und Philosophie in Ostasien : Festschrift für Hans Steininger zum 65. Geburtstag, édité par Naundorf, Pohl & Schmidt, Wurzburg : Königshausen und Neumann, 1985
X-linked primary ciliary dyskinesia due to mutations in the cytoplasmic axonemal dynein assembly factor PIH1D3
By moving essential body fluids and molecules, motile cilia and flagella govern respiratory mucociliary clearance, laterality determination and the transport of gametes and cerebrospinal fluid. Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is an autosomal recessive disorder frequently caused by non-assembly of dynein arm motors into cilia and flagella axonemes. Before their import into cilia and flagella, multi-subunit axonemal dynein arms are thought to be stabilized and pre-assembled in the cytoplasm through a DNAAF2–DNAAF4–HSP90 complex akin to the HSP90 co-chaperone R2TP complex. Here, we demonstrate that large genomic deletions as well as point mutations involving PIH1D3 are responsible for an X-linked form of PCD causing disruption of early axonemal dynein assembly. We propose that PIH1D3, a protein that emerges as a new player of the cytoplasmic pre-assembly pathway, is part of a complementary conserved R2TP-like HSP90 co-chaperone complex, the loss of which affects assembly of a subset of inner arm dyneins
Blockade of IL-33R/ST2 Signaling Attenuates Toxoplasma gondii Ileitis Depending on IL-22 Expression
Oral T. gondii infection (30 cysts of 76K strain) induces acute lethal ileitis in sensitive C57BL/6 (B6) mice with increased expression of IL-33 and its receptor ST2 in the ileum. Here we show that IL-33 is involved in ileitis, since absence of IL-33R/ST2 attenuated neutrophilic inflammation and Th1 cytokines upon T. gondii infection with enhanced survival. Blockade of ST2 by neutralizing ST2 antibody in B6 mice conferred partial protection, while rmIL-33 aggravated ileitis. Since IL-22 expression further increased in absence of ST2, we blocked IL-22 by neutralizing antibody, which abrogated protection from acute ileitis in ST2 deficient mice. In conclusion, severe lethal ileitis induced by oral T. gondii infection is attenuated by blockade of ST2 signaling and may be mediated in part by endogenous IL-22
Mutational status of synchronous and metachronous tumor samples in patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer
BACKGROUNDS: Despite reported discordance between the mutational status of primary lung cancers and their metastases, metastatic sites are rarely biopsied and targeted therapy is guided by genetic biomarkers detected in the primary tumor. This situation is mostly explained by the apparent stability of EGFR-activating mutations. Given the dramatic increase in the range of candidate drugs and high rates of drug resistance, rebiopsy or liquid biopsy may become widespread. The purpose of this study was to test genetic biomarkers used in clinical practice (EGFR, ALK) and candidate biomarkers identified by the French National Cancer Institute (KRAS, BRAF, PIK3CA, HER2) in patients with metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer for whom two tumor samples were available. METHODS: A retrospective study identified 88 tumor samples collected synchronously or metachronously, from the same or two different sites, in 44 patients. Mutation analysis used SNaPshot (EGFR, KRAS, BRAF missense mutations), pyrosequencing (EGFR and PIK3CA missense mutations), sizing assays (EGFR and HER2 indels) and IHC and/or FISH (ALK rearrangements). RESULTS: About half the patients (52 %) harbored at least one mutation. Five patients had an activating mutation of EGFR in both the primary tumor and the metastasis. The T790M resistance mutation was detected in metastases in 3 patients with acquired resistance to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors. FISH showed discordance in ALK status between a small biopsy sample and the surgical specimen. KRAS mutations were observed in 36 % of samples, six patients (14 %) having discordant genotypes; all discordances concerned sampling from different sites. Two patients (5 %) showed PI3KCA mutations. One metastasis harbored both PI3KCA and KRAS mutations, while the synchronously sampled primary tumor was mutation free. No mutations were detected in BRAF and HER2. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlighted noteworthy intra-individual discordance in KRAS mutational status, whereas EGFR status was stable. Intratumoral heterogeneity for ALK rearrangement suggests a limitation of single-biopsy analysis for therapeutic strategy with crizotinib. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12885-016-2249-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users
Analysis of short tandem repeats linked to polyglutamine diseases from whole-genome sequencing reveals intermediate alleles of HTT associated with an early disease onset in C9orf72 carriers
Carriers of the GGGGCC pathogenic expansion in C9orf72 can develop symptoms of frontotemporal dementia and/or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, with variable and unpredictable ages at onset. Previous studies aiming to decipher the genetic bases of the clinical variability in this rare disease included bi-allelic polymorphisms, excluding short tandem repeats. Whole-genome sequencing data of 195 C9orf72 patients were used to consider all short tandem repeats linked to polyglutamine disorders as potential genetic modifiers given the existing links between C9orf72 and polyglutamine diseases. Intermediate alleles of HTT encoding huntingtin were associated with an earlier age at onset among C9orf72 carriers in the discovery cohort (n = 195, P = 0.0003) and in a European replication cohort (n = 145, P = 0.006). In the merged cohort (n = 340), the average difference of age at disease onset was 9.42 ± 2.14 years (P = 1.3 × 10e-5) between carriers and non-carriers of HTT-intermediate alleles. Neuropathology of one C9orf72 case heterozygous for HTT-intermediate allele showed typical TDP-43 inclusions related to the C9orf72 pathogenic expansion and was negative for polyglutamine inclusion. No somatic expansion of HTT was detected in blood of all C9orf72exp/HTT-intermediate carriers. If this study reinforces potential biological links between huntingtin and C9orf72 that remain to be explored, the results also illustrate the interest of considering short tandem repeats from whole-genome data in association studies which paves the way to more exhaustive approaches to explore the trait heritability due to short-tandem-repeats still hidden in the genome
Extending the clinical spectrum of X-linked Tonne-Kalscheuer syndrome (TOKAS):new insights from the fetal perspective
INTRODUCTION: Tonne-Kalscheuer syndrome (TOKAS) is a recessive X-linked multiple congenital anomaly disorder caused by RLIM variations. Of the 41 patients reported, only 7 antenatal cases were described.METHOD: After the antenatal diagnosis of TOKAS by exome analysis in a family followed for over 35 years because of multiple congenital anomalies in five male fetuses, a call for collaboration was made, resulting in a cohort of 11 previously unpublished cases.RESULTS: We present a TOKAS antenatal cohort, describing 11 new cases in 6 French families. We report a high frequency of diaphragmatic hernia (9 of 11), differences in sex development (10 of 11) and various visceral malformations. We report some recurrent dysmorphic features, but also pontocerebellar hypoplasia, pre-auricular skin tags and olfactory bulb abnormalities previously unreported in the literature. Although no clear genotype-phenotype correlation has yet emerged, we show that a recurrent p.(Arg611Cys) variant accounts for 66% of fetal TOKAS cases. We also report two new likely pathogenic variants in RLIM, outside of the two previously known mutational hotspots.CONCLUSION: Overall, we present the first fetal cohort of TOKAS, describe the clinical features that made it a recognisable syndrome at fetopathological examination, and extend the phenotypical spectrum and the known genotype of this rare disorder.</p
Monoallelic Variation in DHX9, the Gene Encoding the Dexh-Box Helicase DHX9, Underlies Neurodevelopment Disorders and Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease
DExD/H-box RNA helicases (DDX/DHX) are encoded by a large paralogous gene family; in a subset of these human helicase genes, pathogenic variation causes neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) traits and cancer. DHX9 encodes a BRCA1-interacting nuclear helicase regulating transcription, R-loops, and homologous recombination and exhibits the highest mutational constraint of all DDX/DHX paralogs but remains unassociated with disease traits in OMIM. Using exome sequencing and family-based rare-variant analyses, we identified 20 individuals with de novo, ultra-rare, heterozygous missense or loss-of-function (LoF) DHX9 variant alleles. Phenotypes ranged from NDDs to the distal symmetric polyneuropathy axonal Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT2). Quantitative Human Phenotype Ontology (HPO) analysis demonstrated genotype-phenotype correlations with LoF variants causing mild NDD phenotypes and nuclear localization signal (NLS) missense variants causing severe NDD. We investigated DHX9 variant-associated cellular phenotypes in human cell lines. Whereas wild-type DHX9 was restricted to the nucleus, NLS missense variants abnormally accumulated in the cytoplasm. Fibroblasts from an individual with an NLS variant also showed abnormal cytoplasmic DHX9 accumulation. CMT2-associated missense variants caused aberrant nucleolar DHX9 accumulation, a phenomenon previously associated with cellular stress. Two NDD-associated variants, p.Gly411Glu and p.Arg761Gln, altered DHX9 ATPase activity. The severe NDD-associated variant p.Arg141Gln did not affect DHX9 localization but instead increased R-loop levels and double-stranded DNA breaks. Dhx
A Solve-RD ClinVar-based reanalysis of 1522 index cases from ERN-ITHACA reveals common pitfalls and misinterpretations in exome sequencing
Purpose
Within the Solve-RD project (https://solve-rd.eu/), the European Reference Network for Intellectual disability, TeleHealth, Autism and Congenital Anomalies aimed to investigate whether a reanalysis of exomes from unsolved cases based on ClinVar annotations could establish additional diagnoses. We present the results of the “ClinVar low-hanging fruit” reanalysis, reasons for the failure of previous analyses, and lessons learned.
Methods
Data from the first 3576 exomes (1522 probands and 2054 relatives) collected from European Reference Network for Intellectual disability, TeleHealth, Autism and Congenital Anomalies was reanalyzed by the Solve-RD consortium by evaluating for the presence of single-nucleotide variant, and small insertions and deletions already reported as (likely) pathogenic in ClinVar. Variants were filtered according to frequency, genotype, and mode of inheritance and reinterpreted.
Results
We identified causal variants in 59 cases (3.9%), 50 of them also raised by other approaches and 9 leading to new diagnoses, highlighting interpretation challenges: variants in genes not known to be involved in human disease at the time of the first analysis, misleading genotypes, or variants undetected by local pipelines (variants in off-target regions, low quality filters, low allelic balance, or high frequency).
Conclusion
The “ClinVar low-hanging fruit” analysis represents an effective, fast, and easy approach to recover causal variants from exome sequencing data, herewith contributing to the reduction of the diagnostic deadlock
Recherche sur l'alchimie intérieure (neidan) : L'école Zhenyuan
Internal alchemy (neidan) must be distinguished from operative alchemy (waidan) and from the various techniques of breath- circulation. Internal alchemy borrows from operative alchemy its use of the Yijing and of certain chemical terms, but it does not seek to produce any chemical substance; rather, it transfers the alchemical goal of synthesis into the realm of breath and meditation techniques and philosophy. The nine texts to be examined here belong to the teaching of the True Origin (Zhenyuan), a school whose history remains obscure.
This tradition traces its origins back to Ge Hong and to operative alchemy. The texts also refer to the Yinfu jing and the Cantongqi. Numerous borrowings from the Shangqing literature also occur, among them the term zhenyuan itself. This is hardly surprising, as the Shangqing incorporation of chemical recipes and breathing techniques may be considered to be the impulse at the origin of internal alchemy. But the synthetic drive behind the Zhenyuan texts goes beyond purely Taoist sources:
-correspondences are established between Taoist and Buddhist notions (wu and you, for example);
-the zhenyuan the "true origin," is identified with both Mencius' haoran zhi qi and the Taoist yuanqi;
-elements from Taoist neiguan, "internal contemplation," and from medical texts are incorporated in the Zhenyuan synthesis, as are Buddho-Confucian notions of morality inherited from Taoist Lingbao scriptures.
The texts devote considerable space to cosmogenetic speculation and seek to synthesize Laotzian metaphysics, notions of Taiji, Qian, and Kun, and the Taoist concept of primordial breath as the link between the one and the many, via the mechanisms of its circulation in the macro- and microcosms. It is in the context of this speculation that one of the texts presents the Taiji diagram that plays so important a role in Sung Neo-Confucianism.
Most of the oppositions characteristic of other neidan texts are also to be found in the texts of the Zhenyuan school— water and fire, lead and mercury, etc. — as is the contrast between ordinary people who "follow" the natural course of things and engender children and those who "master" this course and engender their immortal self. Also noteworthy is the characteristic neidan emphasis on "double cultivation" of the physical and the mental. Most important, however, is the symbolic use of alchemical terminology: the "true crucible" is identified with the Big Dipper, the "true mercury" with the sun, and the "true cinnabar " or lead, with the moon; these heavenly bodies are in turn linked to the hun and po souls in the human body. The union of these elements is to be effected according to a calendar divided into twelve sections represented by hexagrams.
In short, the Zhenyuan school gives us yet another example of the Taoist genius for synthesis. At the same time, it has its own unique characteristics linking it to the Shangqing and Yijing traditions.Robinet Isabelle. Recherche sur l'alchimie intérieure (neidan) : L'école Zhenyuan. In: Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, vol. 5, 1989. Numéro spécial Etudes taoïstes II / Special Issue on Taoist Studies II en l'honneur de Maxime Kaltenmark. pp. 141-162
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