The genetic architecture of the human cerebral cortex

The cerebral cortex underlies our complex cognitive capabilities, yet little is known about the specific genetic loci that influence human cortical structure. To identify genetic variants that affect cortical structure, we conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of brain magnetic resonance imaging data from 51,665 individuals. We analyzed the surface area and average thickness of the whole cortex and 34 regions with known functional specializations. We identified 199 significant loci and found significant enrichment for loci influencing total surface area within regulatory elements that are active during prenatal cortical development, supporting the radial unit hypothesis. Loci that affect regional surface area cluster near genes in Wnt signaling pathways, which influence progenitor expansion and areal identity. Variation in cortical structure is genetically correlated with cognitive function, Parkinson's disease, insomnia, depression, neuroticism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Early role of vascular dysregulation on late-onset Alzheimer's disease based on multifactorial data-driven analysis

Multifactorial mechanisms underlying late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD) are poorly characterized from an integrative perspective. Here spatiotemporal alterations in brain amyloid-β deposition, metabolism, vascular, functional activity at rest, structural properties, cognitive integrity and peripheral proteins levels are characterized in relation to LOAD progression. We analyse over 7,700 brain images and tens of plasma and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Through a multifactorial data-driven analysis, we obtain dynamic LOAD–abnormality indices for all biomarkers, and a tentative temporal ordering of disease progression. Imaging results suggest that intra-brain vascular dysregulation is an early pathological event during disease development. Cognitive decline is noticeable from initial LOAD stages, suggesting early memory deficit associated with the primary disease factors. High abnormality levels are also observed for specific proteins associated with the vascular system's integrity. Although still subjected to the sensitivity of the algorithms and biomarkers employed, our results might contribute to the development of preventive therapeutic interventions

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

Conversion Discriminative Analysis on Mild Cognitive Impairment Using Multiple Cortical Features from MR Images

Neuroimaging measurements derived from magnetic resonance imaging provide important information required for detecting changes related to the progression of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Cortical features and changes play a crucial role in revealing unique anatomical patterns of brain regions, and further differentiate MCI patients from normal states. Four cortical features, namely, gray matter volume, cortical thickness, surface area, and mean curvature, were explored for discriminative analysis among three groups including the stable MCI (sMCI), the converted MCI (cMCI), and the normal control (NC) groups. In this study, 158 subjects (72 NC, 46 sMCI, and 40 cMCI) were selected from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. A sparse-constrained regression model based on the l2-1-norm was introduced to reduce the feature dimensionality and retrieve essential features for the discrimination of the three groups by using a support vector machine (SVM). An optimized strategy of feature addition based on the weight of each feature was adopted for the SVM classifier in order to achieve the best classification performance. The baseline cortical features combined with the longitudinal measurements for 2 years of follow-up data yielded prominent classification results. In particular, the cortical thickness produced a classification with 98.84% accuracy, 97.5% sensitivity, and 100% specificity for the sMCI–cMCI comparison; 92.37% accuracy, 84.78% sensitivity, and 97.22% specificity for the cMCI–NC comparison; and 93.75% accuracy, 92.5% sensitivity, and 94.44% specificity for the sMCI–NC comparison. The best performances obtained by the SVM classifier using the essential features were 5–40% more than those using all of the retained features. The feasibility of the cortical features for the recognition of anatomical patterns was certified; thus, the proposed method has the potential to improve the clinical diagnosis of sub-types of MCI and predict the risk of its conversion to Alzheimer's disease

Quantitative 18F-AV1451 Brain Tau PET Imaging in Cognitively Normal Older Adults, Mild Cognitive Impairment, and Alzheimer's Disease Patients

Recent developments of tau Positron Emission Tomography (PET) allows assessment of regional neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) deposition in human brain. Among the tau PET molecular probes, 18F-AV1451 is characterized by high selectivity for pathologic tau aggregates over amyloid plaques, limited non-specific binding in white and gray matter, and confined off-target binding. The objectives of the study are (1) to quantitatively characterize regional brain tau deposition measured by 18F-AV1451 PET in cognitively normal older adults (CN), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and AD participants; (2) to evaluate the correlations between cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers or Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and 18F-AV1451 PET standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR); and (3) to evaluate the partial volume effects on 18F-AV1451 brain uptake.Methods: The study included total 115 participants (CN = 49, MCI = 58, and AD = 8) from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI). Preprocessed 18F-AV1451 PET images, structural MRIs, and demographic and clinical assessments were downloaded from the ADNI database. A reblurred Van Cittertiteration method was used for voxelwise partial volume correction (PVC) on PET images. Structural MRIs were used for PET spatial normalization and region of interest (ROI) definition in standard space. The parametric images of 18F-AV1451 SUVR relative to cerebellum were calculated. The ROI SUVR measurements from PVC and non-PVC SUVR images were compared. The correlation between ROI 18F-AV1451 SUVR and the measurements of MMSE, CSF total tau (t-tau), and phosphorylated tau (p-tau) were also assessed.Results:18F-AV1451 prominently specific binding was found in the amygdala, entorhinal cortex, parahippocampus, fusiform, posterior cingulate, temporal, parietal, and frontal brain regions. Most regional SUVRs showed significantly higher uptake of 18F-AV1451 in AD than MCI and CN participants. SUVRs of small regions like amygdala, entorhinal cortex and parahippocampus were statistically improved by PVC in all groups (p &lt; 0.01). Although there was an increasing tendency of 18F-AV-1451 SUVRs in MCI group compared with CN group, no significant difference of 18F-AV1451 deposition was found between CN and MCI brains with or without PVC (p &gt; 0.05). Declined MMSE score was observed with increasing 18F-AV1451 binding in amygdala, entorhinal cortex, parahippocampus, and fusiform. CSF p-tau was positively correlated with 18F-AV1451 deposition. PVC improved the results of 18F-AV-1451 tau deposition and correlation studies in small brain regions.Conclusion: The typical deposition of 18F-AV1451 tau PET imaging in AD brain was found in amygdala, entorhinal cortex, fusiform and parahippocampus, and these regions were strongly associated with cognitive impairment and CSF biomarkers. Although more deposition was observed in MCI group, the 18F-AV-1451 PET imaging could not differentiate the MCI patients from CN population. More tau deposition related to decreased MMSE score and increased level of CSF p-tau, especially in ROIs of amygdala, entorhinal cortex and parahippocampus. PVC did improve the results of tau deposition and correlation studies in small brain regions and suggest to be routinely used in 18F-AV1451 tau PET quantification

Balanced centroidal power diagrams for redistricting

International audienceWe consider the problem of political redistricting: given the locations of people in a geographical area (e.g. a US state), the goal is to decompose the area into subareas, called districts, so that the populations of the districts are as close as possible and the districts are "compact" and "contiguous," to use the terms referred to in most US state constitutions and/or US Supreme Court rulings.We study a method that outputs a solution in which each district is the intersection of a convex polygon with the geographical area. The average number of sides per polygon is less than six. The polygons tend to be quite compact. Every two districts differ in population by at most one (so we call the solution balanced).In fact, the solution is a centroidal power diagram: each polygon has an associated center in R3 such that• the projection of the center onto the plane z = 0 is the centroid of the locations of people assigned to the polygon, and• for each person assigned to that polygon, the polygon's center is closest among all centers. The polygons are convex because they are the intersections of 3D Voronoi cells with the plane.The solution is, in a well-defined sense, a locally optimal solution to the problem of choosing centers in the plane and choosing an assignment of people to those 2-d centers so as to minimize the sum of squared distances subject to the assignment being balanced.A practical problem with this approach is that, in real-world redistricting, exact locations of people are unknown. Instead, the input consists of polygons (census blocks) and associated populations. A real redistricting must not split census blocks. We therefore propose a second phase that perturbs the solution slightly so it does not split census blocks. In our experiments, the second phase achieves this while preserving perfect population balance. The district polygons are no longer convex at the fine scale because their boundaries must follow the boundaries of census blocks, but at a coarse scale they preserve the shape of the original polygons

A Perspective on the History and Current Opportunities of Aqueous RAFT Polymerization

Reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization has proven itself as a powerful polymerization technique affording facile control of molecular weight, molecular weight distribution, architecture, and chain end groups - while maintaining a high level of tolerance for solvent and monomer functional groups. RAFT is highly suited to water as a polymerization solvent, with aqueous RAFT now utilized for applications such as controlled synthesis of ultra-high molecular weight polymers, polymerization induced self-assembly, and biocompatible polymerizations, among others. Water as a solvent represents a non-toxic, cheap, and environmentally friendly alternative to organic solvents traditionally utilized for polymerizations. This, coupled with the benefits of RAFT polymerization, makes for a powerful combination in polymer science. This perspective provides a historical account of the initial developments of aqueous RAFT polymerization at the University of Southern Mississippi from the McCormick Research Group, details practical considerations for conducting aqueous RAFT polymerizations, and highlights some of the recent advances aqueous RAFT polymerization can provide. Finally, some of the future opportunities that this versatile polymerization technique in an aqueous environment can offer are discussed, and it is anticipated that the aqueous RAFT polymerization field will continue to realize these, and other exciting opportunities into the future

Palbociclib (P) in patients (pts) with head and neck cancer (HNC) with CDKN2A loss or mutation: Results from the Targeted Agent and Profiling Utilization Registry (TAPUR) study

6043 Background: TAPUR is a phase II basket study evaluating anti-tumor activity of commercially available targeted agents in pts with advanced cancers with genomic alterations. Results in a cohort of HNC pts with CDKN2A loss or mutation treated with P are reported. Methods: Eligible pts had advanced HNC, no standard treatment options, measurable disease, ECOG PS 0-2, and adequate organ function. Genomic testing was performed in CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited site selected labs. Pts received P at 125 mg orally once daily for 21 days, followed by 7 days off until disease progression. Pts matched to P had CDKN2A loss or mutation and no RB mutations. Simon 2-stage design tested the null disease control (DC) - defined as partial (PR), complete response (CR) or stable disease at 16+ weeks (SD 16+) - rate of 15% vs. 35% (power = 0.85; α = 0.10). If ≥2 of 10 pts in stage 1 have DC, 18 more pts are enrolled. If ≥7 of 28 pts have DC, the null DC rate is rejected. Secondary endpoints are progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS) and safety. Results: 28 pts (64% male) with HNC with CDKN2A loss (20 pts) or mutation (8 pts) were enrolled from June 2016 to Sept 2019. All were eligible for efficacy and toxicity. Demographics and outcomes are summarized in Table. No objective response (OR) and 10 pts with SD16+ (9 with CDKN2A loss, 1 with mutation) were observed for a DC rate of 37% (95% CI: 21%, 50%); the null DC rate of 15% was rejected (p=0.005). 14 pts had at least one grade 3-5 adverse or serious adverse event (AE/SAE) at least possibly related to P with the most common being low WBC/platelets. Other grade 3-4 AEs included anemia, fatigue, hypocalcemia, and syncope. There was one pt with grade 5 respiratory failure likely due to extensive lung metastases and aspiration but P-related pneumonitis could not be ruled out. Conclusions: Monotherapy P demonstrated modest anti-tumor activity and clinically significant AEs in heavily pre-treated pts with HNC with CDKN2A loss or mutation. Additional study is warranted to confirm the efficacy of P in pts with HNC with CDKN2A loss or mutation. Clinical trial information: NCT02693535. [Table: see text

Fabric as a Narrative: Constructing a Global Quilting Tradition

OVERVIEW – The tradition of quilting is engaging people of all ages, genders and classes around the globe CULTURE – Quilting empowers women and provides them an outlet for expression MUSEUMS – Museum exhibitions and academics have shown quilting in a different light THE WHITNEY – The exhibition that changed it all IQSC – A strong quilting tradition prompts a couple to let their 900-quilt collection establish a museum AQSG – High standards in quilt-related studies DOCUMENTATION – Preserving and cataloging quilts make sure information is not lost for future generations ART QUILTS – As the perception of quilting changes, the craft is increasingly accepted in the world of art AFRICA – The popularity of quilting, though not a native craft, rises with indigenous people ASIA – A continent with a deep textiles history celebrates culture through fabric JAPAN – Ancient sewing techniques once used to create beautiful kimonos now guide modern-day Japanese quilters EUROPE – Centuries of tradition led contemporary quilters to push for revival WHOLE CLOTH – Tradition in style and detail AUSTRALIA – After a fascinating beginning, Australian quilting continues to use techniques inspired by its surroundings AMERICAS – Immigrants started to shape the American quilt before they finished shaping the country HAWAII – Bold, bright patterns are reflected through the distinct appliqué style of Hawaiian quilts AFRICAN AMERICAN – Pieces made with purpose convey meaning through strong patterns and bold colors BUSINESS – Love of the craft guides business owners to provide quilters with tools OUTREACH – Quilting as a form of outreach goes beyond state boundaries and spans generations and continents as people worldwide use quilts to connect with others AIDS QUILT – Piece-by-piece, a quilt is formed by victims’ families and friends to create a fabric legacy YOUNG QUILTERS – Established quilters strive to garner interest from a younger generation A non-optimized version of the PDF file (210 MB) is attached below as an Additional file