[Obras ]

Copia digital : Junta de Castilla y León. Consejería de Cultura y Turismo, 2014Sign.: []6, **4, A-T8, V3La h. de lám grab. cal. retrato de la autora

The ongoing pursuit of neuroprotective therapies in Parkinson disease

Many agents developed for neuroprotective treatment of Parkinson disease (PD) have shown great promise in the laboratory, but none have translated to positive results in patients with PD. Potential neuroprotective drugs, such as ubiquinone, creatine and PYM50028, have failed to show any clinical benefits in recent high-profile clinical trials. This 'failure to translate' is likely to be related primarily to our incomplete understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms underlying PD, and excessive reliance on data from toxin-based animal models to judge which agents should be selected for clinical trials. Restricted resources inevitably mean that difficult compromises must be made in terms of trial design, and reliable estimation of efficacy is further hampered by the absence of validated biomarkers of disease progression. Drug development in PD dementia has been mostly unsuccessful; however, emerging biochemical, genetic and pathological evidence suggests a link between tau and amyloid-β deposition and cognitive decline in PD, potentially opening up new possibilities for therapeutic intervention. This Review discusses the most important 'druggable' disease mechanisms in PD, as well as the most-promising drugs that are being evaluated for their potential efficiency in treatment of motor and cognitive impairments in PD

Effects of Water Quality, Stocking Density, Water Exchange Frequency, and Food, on Growth and Survival of the Green Mussel, Perna viridis Larvae

Experiments were conducted to determine the optimum conditions for growth and survival of the green mussel, Perna viridis larvae. Effects of various temperatures and salinities, stocking densities, water exchange frequency, and natural food preference of the larvae from D-hinged to pediveliger stage were investigated. The green mussel broodstocks were collected from the natural source, and spawning occurred in captivity. All experiments were conducted in triplicate. The results demonstrated that larvae from D-hinged to pediveliger stage had better growth and survival when the temperature was between 29oC and 30oC, and salinity ranging from 30-33ppt. Stocking density from 10- 20 larvae/ml did not affect growth and survival of the larvae. Likewise, frequency of water replacement from daily to every 5 day interval did not influence the growth and survival until the pediveliger stage. During this stage, the larvae preferred a combination of Isochrysis galbana and Chaetoceros calcitrans as food in terms of better growth, and either Isochrysis galbana, Chaetoceros calcitrans, or their combination in terms of higher survival rate

T cell immunity rather than antibody mediates cross-protection against Zika virus infection conferred by a live attenuated Japanese encephalitis SA14-14-2 vaccine.

Zika virus (ZIKV) and Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) are closely related to mosquito-borne flaviviruses. Japanese encephalitis (JE) vaccine SA14-14-2 has been in the Chinese national Expanded Program on Immunization since 2007. The recent recognition of severe disease syndromes associated with ZIKV, and the identification of ZIKV from mosquitoes in China, prompts an urgent need to investigate the potential interaction between the two. In this study, we showed that SA14-14-2 is protective against ZIKV infection in mice. JE vaccine SA14-14-2 triggered both Th1 and Th2 cross-reactive immune responses to ZIKV; however, it was cellular immunity that predominantly mediated cross-protection against ZIKV infection. Passive transfer of immune sera did not result in significant cross-protection but did mediate antibody-dependent enhancement in vitro, though this did not have an adverse impact on survival. This study suggests that the SA14-14-2 vaccine can protect against ZIKV through a cross-reactive T cell response. This is vital information in terms of ZIKV prevention or precaution in those ZIKV-affected regions where JEV circulates or SA14-14-2 is in widespread use, and opens a promising avenue to develop a novel bivalent vaccine against both ZIKV and JEV. KEY POINTS: • JEV SA14-14-2 vaccine conferred cross-protection against ZIKV challenge in mice. • T cell immunity rather than antibody mediated the cross-protection. • It provides important information in terms of ZIKV prevention or precaution