Interleukin-6 gene (IL-6): a possible role in brain morphology in the healthy adult brain

Background: Cytokines such as interleukin 6 (IL-6) have been implicated in dual functions in neuropsychiatric disorders. Little is known about the genetic predisposition to neurodegenerative and neuroproliferative properties of cytokine genes. In this study the potential dual role of several IL-6 polymorphisms in brain morphology is investigated. Methodology: In a large sample of healthy individuals (N = 303), associations between genetic variants of IL-6 (rs1800795; rs1800796, rs2069833, rs2069840) and brain volume (gray matter volume) were analyzed using voxel-based morphometry (VBM). Selection of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) followed a tagging SNP approach (e.g., Stampa algorigthm), yielding a capture 97.08% of the variation in the IL-6 gene using four tagging SNPs. Principal findings/results: In a whole-brain analysis, the polymorphism rs1800795 (−174 C/G) showed a strong main effect of genotype (43 CC vs. 150 CG vs. 100 GG; x = 24, y = −10, z = −15; F(2,286) = 8.54, puncorrected = 0.0002; pAlphaSim-corrected = 0.002; cluster size k = 577) within the right hippocampus head. Homozygous carriers of the G-allele had significantly larger hippocampus gray matter volumes compared to heterozygous subjects. None of the other investigated SNPs showed a significant association with grey matter volume in whole-brain analyses. Conclusions/significance: These findings suggest a possible neuroprotective role of the G-allele of the SNP rs1800795 on hippocampal volumes. Studies on the role of this SNP in psychiatric populations and especially in those with an affected hippocampus (e.g., by maltreatment, stress) are warranted.Bernhard T Baune, Carsten Konrad, Dominik Grotegerd, Thomas Suslow, Eva Birosova, Patricia Ohrmann, Jochen Bauer, Volker Arolt, Walter Heindel, Katharina Domschke, Sonja Schöning, Astrid V Rauch, Christina Uhlmann, Harald Kugel and Udo Dannlowsk

Christians, Memory, and Resilience in the Late Antique Forum Romanum

The conversion of the Curia in the Forum Romanum in the 7th century is often regarded as the culmination of Christian presence in the old city centre. Finally, Christians, who had previously avoided the pagan heart of Rome, conquered this space. However, Christians had been present in more or less visible ways since the 4th century. This paper presents the evidence for this presence as recorded in both texts and archaeology to dispense with scholarly truisms of Christians avoiding the Forum before the 6th century. By applying the theory of collective memory and resilience theory, Christian changes in Rome are studied as human strategies to cope with changing times and circumstances, ensuring the Forum space’s resilience in the process. The author suggests that, far from being rejected by Rome’s Christian inhabitants, the cultural heritage was part of their identity and would continue to be so during the Middle Ages. Christianity was not a break with the past, but a natural continuation of ancient Rome, at least according to the Christians themselves

Der MOOC Discovering Greek & Roman Cities. Lebenslanges Lernen im digitalen Zeitalter

International audienceDer Kommentar reflektiert anhand des vorgestellten MOOC 'Discovering Greek & Roman Cities' Herausforderungen und Perspektiven des digitalen historischen Lernens auf Ebene der wissenschaftlichen Auseinandersetzung, der Ausbildung von Lehrenden und der schulischen Umsetzung. Dafür werden Facetten des geschichtsdidaktischen Diskurses zum digitalen historischen Lernen mit dem Aufbau und den Erfahrungen des MOOC verknüpft, um so Impulse für für die Gestaltung digitalen Lehre, als auch die Ziele und Prozesse einer digitalen wie analogen Lehre im Hinblick auf digitale geschichtskulturelle Angebote abzuleiten. Im Fokus stehen dabei die Aspekte der Lerngruppendifferenzierung, der veränderten Kommunikation und der Mehrsprachigkeit sowie einer historischen und geschichtsdidaktischen Medienkompetenz und die Einbindung von Sachquellen.Based on the MOOC 'Discovering Greek & Roman Cities', the commentary reflects the challenges and perspectives of digital historical learning on the level of academic discussion, the education of teachers and the implementation in schools. For this purpose, facets of the academic historical education discourse on digital historical learning are linked with the structure and experiences of the MOOC in order to derive impulses for the design of digital teaching and the goals and processes of digital and analog teaching with regard to digital historical-cultural offers. The focus is on the aspects of learning group differentiation, changed communication and multilingualism as well as historical and historical-didactic media competence and the integration of factual source

Ancient Cities: Teaching and Learning in the Digital Age

International audienceIn this paper we present an overview of the Ancient Cities project’s outcomes and experiences with producing and testing digital educational material in the field of archaeology. In the first part, the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) Discovering Greek & Roman Cities is introduced with respect to its target audiences and learning objectives, the ways in which it was disseminated to the target audiences, and how its structure and learning material were developed. Based on several questionnaires answered by the participants and user data from the MOOC platform itself, we were able to collect comprehensive information on the demography of the participants, their expectations, and their experiences. These data allow us to draw conclusions about the opportunities and difficulties of open education in the historical humanities. In the second part, we show how the course’s materials were successfully implemented in academic teaching at the Panthéon-Sorbonne University, the University of Paris-Saclay (UVSQ), and the University of Pennsylvania. These examples highlight how smaller academic fields in the humanities can design and enhance their respective teaching environments in the digital age

Cortisol/DHEA ratio and hippocampal volume: A pilot study in major depression and healthy controls

Structural imaging studies investigating the relationship between hippocampal volume (HCV) and peripheral measures of glucocorticoids (GCs) have produced conflicting results in both normal populations and in individuals with MDD, raising the possibility of other modulating factors. In preclinical studies, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its sulfate ester (DHEAS; together abbreviated, DHEA(S)) have been shown to antagonize the actions of GCs on the central nervous system. Therefore, considering the relationship of HCV to both of these hormones simultaneously may be important, although it has rarely been done in human populations. Using high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the present pilot study examined the relationship between morning serum cortisol, DHEA(S), and HCV in nineteen normal controls and eighteen unmedicated subjects with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Serum cortisol and DHEA(S) were not significantly correlated with HCV across all subjects (cortisol: r = −0.165, p = 0.33; DHEA: r = 0.164, p = 0.35; DHEAS: r = 0.211, p = 0.22, respectively). However, the ratios of cortisol/DHEA(S) were significantly negatively correlated with HCV in combined group (Cortisol/DHEA: r = −0.461, p = 0.005; Cortisol/DHEAS: r = −0.363, p = 0.03). Significant or near-significant correlations were found between some hormonal measurements and HCV in the MDDs alone (DHEA: r = 0.482, p = 0.059; DHEAS: r = 0.507, p = 0.045; cort/DHEA: r = −0.589, p = 0.02; cort/DHEAS: r = −0.424 p = 0.10), but not in the controls alone (DHEA: r = 0.070, p = 0.79; DHEAS: r = 0.077, p = 0.77; cort/DHEA: r = −0.427, p = 0.09; cort/DHEAS: r = −0.331, p = 0.19). However, Group (MDDs vs controls) did not have a significant effect on the relationship between cortisol, DHEA(S), and their ratios with HCV (p > 0.475 in all analyses). Although the exact relationship between serum and central steroid concentrations as well as their effects on the human hippocampus remains not known, these preliminary results suggest that the ratio of cortisol to DHEA(S), compared to serum cortisol alone, may convey additional information about “net steroid activity” with relation to HCV