C-Reactive Protein: Higher During Acute Psychotic Episodes and Related to Cortical Thickness in Schizophrenia and Healthy Controls

Copyright © 2018 Jacomb, Stanton, Vasudevan, Powell, O'Donnell, Lenroot, Bruggemann, Balzan, Galletly, Liu, Weickert and Weickert. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.There is increasing evidence for the role of inflammation in schizophrenia, yet the stability of increased peripheral inflammation in acute psychosis and the degree to which peripheral inflammation relates to cortical thickness, a measure of the degree of neuropathology, are unknown. In independent samples, we assessed the peripheral inflammation marker C-reactive protein (CRP) to determine the extent to which: (1) CRP was elevated and stable across admissions for acute psychosis, (2) cognition, daily function and symptom severity are characteristic of chronically ill patients with schizophrenia displaying elevated CRP, and (3) CRP levels predict cortical thickness. Study 1 assessed peripheral CRP (primary outcome) and other blood measures in 174/280 people with acute psychosis while Study 2 assessed peripheral CRP, cognition and cortical thickness (primary outcomes), symptoms, and daily function in 85/97 chronically ill patients with schizophrenia and 71/87 healthy controls. In acute psychosis, CRP and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio were significantly elevated relative to a normal cutoff (with 59.8% of patients having elevated CRP) which remained elevated across admissions. CRP was significantly elevated in 43% of chronically ill patients with schizophrenia compared to 20% in controls. Elevated CRP patients displayed significantly worse working memory and CRP was inversely correlated with cortical thickness in frontal, insula, and temporal brain regions. This work supports the role of inflammation in psychotic illnesses and suggests that use of peripheral markers (e.g., CRP) in conjunction with diagnosis could be used to identify patients with more cortical neuropathology and cognitive deficits

C-Reactive Protein: Higher During Acute Psychotic Episodes and Related to Cortical Thickness in Schizophrenia and Healthy Controls

There is increasing evidence for the role of inflammation in schizophrenia, yet the stability of increased peripheral inflammation in acute psychosis and the degree to which peripheral inflammation relates to cortical thickness, a measure of the degree of neuropathology, are unknown. In independent samples, we assessed the peripheral inflammation marker C-reactive protein (CRP) to determine the extent to which: (1) CRP was elevated and stable across admissions for acute psychosis, (2) cognition, daily function and symptom severity are characteristic of chronically ill patients with schizophrenia displaying elevated CRP, and (3) CRP levels predict cortical thickness. Study 1 assessed peripheral CRP (primary outcome) and other blood measures in 174/280 people with acute psychosis while Study 2 assessed peripheral CRP, cognition and cortical thickness (primary outcomes), symptoms, and daily function in 85/97 chronically ill patients with schizophrenia and 71/87 healthy controls. In acute psychosis, CRP and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio were significantly elevated relative to a normal cutoff (with 59.8% of patients having elevated CRP) which remained elevated across admissions. CRP was significantly elevated in 43% of chronically ill patients with schizophrenia compared to 20% in controls. Elevated CRP patients displayed significantly worse working memory and CRP was inversely correlated with cortical thickness in frontal, insula, and temporal brain regions. This work supports the role of inflammation in psychotic illnesses and suggests that use of peripheral markers (e.g., CRP) in conjunction with diagnosis could be used to identify patients with more cortical neuropathology and cognitive deficits

Comparative transcriptome analysis of pigeonpea, Cajanus cajan (L.) and one of its wild relatives Cajanus platycarpus (Benth.) Maesen.

Pigeonpea is a major source of dietary protein to the vegetarian population of the Indian sub-continent. Crop improvement to mitigate biotic and abiotic stresses for realization of its potential yield and bridging yield gap is the need of the hour. Availability of limited genomic resources in the cultivated germplasm, however, is a serious bottleneck towards successful molecular breeding for the development of superior genotypes in pigeonpea. In view of this, improvement of pigeonpea can be attempted through transgenesis or by exploiting genetic resources from its wild relatives. Pigeonpea wild relatives are known to be bestowed with agronomic traits of importance; discovery and deployment of genes from them can provide a lucrative option for crop improvement. Understanding molecular signatures of wild relatives would not only provide information about the mechanism behind desired traits but also enable us to extrapolate the information to cultivated pigeonpea. The present study deals with the characterization of leaf transcriptomes of Cajanus cajan and one of its wild relatives, Cajanus platycarpus. Illumina sequencing revealed 0.11 million transcripts in both the species with an annotation of 0.09 million (82%) transcripts using BLASTX. Comparative transcriptome analyses on the whole, divulged cues about the wild relative being vigilant and agile. Gene ontology and Mapman analysis depicted higher number of transcripts in the wild relative pertaining to signaling, transcription factors and stress responsive genes. Further, networking between the differentially expressed MapMan bins demonstrated conspicuous interactions between different bins through 535 nodes (512 Genes and 23 Pathways) and 1857 edges. The authenticity of RNA-seq analysis was confirmed by qRT-PCR. The information emanating from this study can provide valuable information and resource for future translational research including genome editing to alleviate varied stresses. Further, this learning can be a platform for in-depth investigations to decipher molecular mechanisms for mitigation of various stresses in the wild relative

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Not AvailablePigeonpea is a major source of dietary protein to the vegetarian population of the Indian subcontinent. Crop improvement to mitigate biotic and abiotic stresses for realization of its potential yield and bridging yield gap is the need of the hour. Availability of limited genomic resources in the cultivated germplasm, however, is a serious bottleneck towards successful molecular breeding for the development of superior genotypes in pigeonpea. In view of this, improvement of pigeonpea can be attempted through transgenesis or by exploiting genetic resources from its wild relatives. Pigeonpea wild relatives are known to be bestowed with agronomic traits of importance; discovery and deployment of genes from them can provide a lucrative option for crop improvement. Understanding molecular signatures of wild relatives would not only provide information about the mechanism behind desired traits but also enable us to extrapolate the information to cultivated pigeonpea. The present study deals with the characterization of leaf transcriptomes of Cajanus cajan and one of its wild relatives, Cajanus platycarpus. Illumina sequencing revealed 0.11 million transcripts in both the species with an annotation of 0.09 million (82%) transcripts using BLASTX. Comparative transcriptome analyses on the whole, divulged cues about the wild relative being vigilant and agile. Gene ontology and Mapman analysis depicted higher number of transcripts in the wild relative pertaining to signaling, transcription factors and stress responsive genes. Further, networking between the differentially expressed MapMan bins demonstrated conspicuous interactions between different bins through 535 nodes (512 Genes and 23 Pathways) and 1857 edges. The authenticity of RNA-seq analysis was confirmed by qRT-PCR. The information emanating from this study can provide valuable information and resource for future translational research including genome editing to alleviate varied stresses. Further, this learning can be a platform for in-depth investigations to decipher molecular mechanisms for mitigation of various stresses in the wild relative.Not Availabl

Estimation of tuberculosis incidence at subnational level using three methods to monitor progress towards ending TB in India, 2015–2020

Objectives We verified subnational (state/union territory (UT)/district) claims of achievements in reducing tuberculosis (TB) incidence in 2020 compared with 2015, in India.Design A community-based survey, analysis of programme data and anti-TB drug sales and utilisation data.Setting National TB Elimination Program and private TB treatment settings in 73 districts that had filed a claim to the Central TB Division of India for progress towards TB-free status.Participants Each district was divided into survey units (SU) and one village/ward was randomly selected from each SU. All household members in the selected village were interviewed. Sputum from participants with a history of anti-TB therapy (ATT), those currently experiencing chest symptoms or on ATT were tested using Xpert/Rif/TrueNat. The survey continued until 30 Mycobacterium tuberculosis cases were identified in a district.Outcome measures We calculated a direct estimate of TB incidence based on incident cases identified in the survey. We calculated an under-reporting factor by matching these cases within the TB notification system. The TB notification adjusted for this factor was the estimate by the indirect method. We also calculated TB incidence from drug sale data in the private sector and drug utilisation data in the public sector. We compared the three estimates of TB incidence in 2020 with TB incidence in 2015.Results The estimated direct incidence ranged from 19 (Purba Medinipur, West Bengal) to 1457 (Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya) per 100 000 population. Indirect estimates of incidence ranged between 19 (Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli) and 788 (Dumka, Jharkhand) per 100 000 population. The incidence using drug sale data ranged from 19 per 100 000 population in Diu, Dadra and Nagar Haveli to 651 per 100 000 population in Centenary, Maharashtra.Conclusion TB incidence in 1 state, 2 UTs and 35 districts had declined by at least 20% since 2015. Two districts in India were declared TB free in 2020