Working Paper 11-03 - The AGIR project: Ageing, Health and Retirement in Europe - Use of health care and nursing care by the elderly: Data for Belgium

This Working Paper reflects the contribution of the fpb to the second work package of the agir project, work package organized by the German diw. It collects in a first attempt a lot of data to approach the volume and evolution of the use of health and nursing care by the elderly. Yet the authors are well aware of the limitations of the present study which can certainly be improved by more detailed data and refinement of the concepts.

Working Paper 10-03 - The AGIR project: Ageing, Health and Retirement in Europe - Bio-demographic aspects of ageing: Data for Belgium

This Working Paper reflects the contribution of the fpb to the first work package of the agir project, organized by the Spanish fedea. It thoroughly studies the bio-demographic aspects of population ageing. The aim is to get a better understanding of the nature of ageing. Not only is it important to analyse how fast a population gets older, it is also important to see what effect age has on the population's health and fitness, especially of the elderly.

Accurate RT-qPCR gene expression analysis on cell culture lysates

Gene expression quantification on cultured cells using the reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) typically involves an RNA purification step that limits sample processing throughput and precludes parallel analysis of large numbers of samples. An approach in which cDNA synthesis is carried out on crude cell lysates instead of on purified RNA samples can offer a fast and straightforward alternative. Here, we evaluate such an approach, benchmarking Ambion's Cells-to-CT kit with the classic workflow of RNA purification and cDNA synthesis, and demonstrate its good accuracy and superior sensitivity

Therapeutic applications of SAMMSON lncRNA inhibition in uveal melanoma

C

Formation of acrylamide in potato products and its dietary exposure

Acrylamide is formed during baking and frying of potato and cereal foodstuffs and is considered as a suspected human carcinogen. Potatoes are particularly susceptible to the formation of this process contaminant. Due to their frequent consumption, these products moreover contribute significantly to the dietary acrylamide exposure. Therefore, this study focuses on these foodstuffs. The Maillard reaction plays a key role in the formation of acrylamide. This reaction also contributes to the pleasant sensory characteristics of deep-fried potatoes, such as colour, taste and odour. Consequently, treatments which lower the formation of acrylamide also have, to a certain extent, an impact on the final product quality. A multifactorial approach is thus required to lower acrylamide contamination without losing the attractive and specific product characteristics. In this work, the impact and importance of different process-bound factors during the formation of acrylamide were investigated. An integrated research methodology was applied, starting from the pre-treatment of the raw material, through well-controlled and repeatable heating experiments, and ending with an accurate determination of acrylamide in the heated samples by means of LC-MS/MS. The proposed research shows that the type and the degree of deep-frying oil degradation did not significantly influence the formation of acrylamide, in contrast with the amount of oil and water present in the food matrix. Besides, it was shown that the link between acrylamide formation and French fry colour was sensitive to, among other things, the glucose/fructose ratio in the potato. This hinders a univocal prediction of the acrylamide contamination based on the product colour. Furthermore, acrylamide could be significantly reduced upon addition of specific amino acids, acids and salts. The impact of these additives on the sensory quality of the final product was assessed as well. The components and concentration levels had to be applied judiciously in order not to generate undesired product taste or colour. Finally, a probabilistic exposure assessment was performed under a population of faculty personnel and students. Biscuits, French fries, bread and chocolate were the most important sources of acrylamide intake. A nutritionally balanced diet with a lot of fruit and vegetables could possibly contribute to a lowered exposure to acrylamide

SPECS: a non-parametric method to identify tissue-specific molecular features for unbalanced sample groups

Background To understand biology and differences among various tissues or cell types, one typically searches for molecular features that display characteristic abundance patterns. Several specificity metrics have been introduced to identify tissue-specific molecular features, but these either require an equal number of replicates per tissue or they can’t handle replicates at all. Results We describe a non-parametric specificity score that is compatible with unequal sample group sizes. To demonstrate its usefulness, the specificity score was calculated on all GTEx samples, detecting known and novel tissue-specific genes. A webtool was developed to browse these results for genes or tissues of interest. An example python implementation of SPECS is available at https://github.com/celineeveraert/SPECS. The precalculated SPECS results on the GTEx data are available through a user-friendly browser at specs.cmgg.be. Conclusions SPECS is a non-parametric method that identifies known and novel specific-expressed genes. In addition, SPECS could be adopted for other features and applications

Long non-coding RNAs in cutaneous melanoma : clinical perspectives

Metastatic melanoma of the skin has a high mortality despite the recent introduction of targeted therapy and immunotherapy. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are defined as transcripts of more than 200 nucleotides in length that lack protein-coding potential. There is growing evidence that lncRNAs play an important role in gene regulation, including oncogenesis. We present 13 lncRNA genes involved in the pathogenesis of cutaneous melanoma through a variety of pathways and molecular interactions. Some of these lncRNAs are possible biomarkers or therapeutic targets for malignant melanoma