Glycobiology of cell death: when glycans and lectins govern cell fate

Although one typically thinks of carbohydrates as associated with cell growth and viability, glycosylation also has an integral role in many processes leading to cell death. Glycans, either alone or complexed with glycan-binding proteins, can deliver intracellular signals or control extracellular processes that promote initiation, execution and resolution of cell death programs. Herein, we review the role of glycans and glycan-binding proteins as essential components of the cell death machinery during physiologic and pathologic settings.Fil: Lichtenstein, Rachel. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. Faculty of Engineering. Department of Biotechnology Engineering; IsraelFil: Rabinovich, Gabriel Adrian. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental (i); Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Cs.exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Quimica Biologica; Argentin

Evidence of causal effect of major depression on alcohol dependence: findings from the psychiatric genomics consortium

BACKGROUND Despite established clinical associations among major depression (MD), alcohol dependence (AD), and alcohol consumption (AC), the nature of the causal relationship between them is not completely understood. We leveraged genome-wide data from the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium (PGC) and UK Biobank to test for the presence of shared genetic mechanisms and causal relationships among MD, AD, and AC. METHODS Linkage disequilibrium score regression and Mendelian randomization (MR) were performed using genome-wide data from the PGC (MD: 135 458 cases and 344 901 controls; AD: 10 206 cases and 28 480 controls) and UK Biobank (AC-frequency: 438 308 individuals; AC-quantity: 307 098 individuals). RESULTS Positive genetic correlation was observed between MD and AD (rgMD−AD = + 0.47, P = 6.6 × 10−10). AC-quantity showed positive genetic correlation with both AD (rgAD−AC quantity = + 0.75, P = 1.8 × 10−14) and MD (rgMD−AC quantity = + 0.14, P = 2.9 × 10−7), while there was negative correlation of AC-frequency with MD (rgMD−AC frequency = −0.17, P = 1.5 × 10−10) and a non-significant result with AD. MR analyses confirmed the presence of pleiotropy among these four traits. However, the MD-AD results reflect a mediated-pleiotropy mechanism (i.e. causal relationship) with an effect of MD on AD (beta = 0.28, P = 1.29 × 10−6). There was no evidence for reverse causation. CONCLUSION This study supports a causal role for genetic liability of MD on AD based on genetic datasets including thousands of individuals. Understanding mechanisms underlying MD-AD comorbidity addresses important public health concerns and has the potential to facilitate prevention and intervention efforts

The Clinical Features of Nail Psoriasis

Nail involvement is present in over half of patients with psoriasis and consequently has a prominently negative impact on society. The clinical gamut of nail involvement is diverse and includes changes to the nail matrix, the nail bed, or both. The main nail matrix dystrophy is nail pitting while onycholysis, subungual hyperkeratosis, splinter hemorrhages, and oil-drop discoloration are the major nail bed findings. Lesions of the nail plate are due to the location of disease in the nail matrix as well as the duration of the disease. This chapter will describe the broad array of clinical features of nail psoriasis in order to help clinicians identify the condition, which will enable dermatologists to treat the symptoms and hopefully improve patients’ lives

Biological protection against grape berry moths. A review

Grape is a major crop, covering 7.5 M ha worldwide, that is currently being confronted with three main challenges: intensive pesticide use that must be reduced, invasion by new pests/diseases, and climate change. The biological control of pests and vectors would help address these challenges. Here, we review the scientific literature on the biological control of grape moths by macroorganisms (excluding nematodes). Two components, biological control with an active human role, mainly using biocontrol agents through inundation or inoculation, and conservation biological control, are considered. The major points are the following. (1) Tortricid grape moths seriously damage grapes worldwide, causing yield losses and quality reduction. The more geographically widespread species, Lobesia botrana, continues to extend its range, invading South American and, more recently, North American vineyards. (2) Parasitoids and predators (including arthropods, birds, and bats) that can control grape pests are very diverse. (3) Different methods exist to assess pest control efficiency in the field but some of them remain to be developed. (4) Environmental factors, including host plants, landscape, grass or floral covers, and organic practices, affect the natural control of grape moths. (5) Pest resistance to parasitoids strongly depends on their immune system, which is controlled by the host plant. Future climate changes may modify this tritrophic interaction and thus affect biological control strategies. We conclude that biological control has a great deal of potential in viticulture and that addressing these key factors would improve the efficiency levels of biological control strategies. This would help growers and stakeholders to significantly reduce insecticide use in vineyards