Publications by authors named "A J Skippen"
Pediatric MOG-Ab-Associated Encephalitis: Supporting Early Recognition and Treatment.
Neurol Neuroimmunol Neuroinflamm
December 2024
Article Synopsis
- A study assessed children under 18 with antibodies to myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG-Ab), focusing on those with encephalitis who didn’t fit the criteria for acute disseminated encephalitis (ADEM), comparing them to those with ADEM.
- Out of 235 MOG-Ab positive patients, 33 had encephalitis and 74 had ADEM, with common symptoms including headache, seizures, and fever; 24% had a normal initial brain MRI.
- Findings indicated that children with encephalitis were generally older, more often admitted to intensive care, and had a delayed start of steroid treatment, suggesting MOG-Ab testing is essential for suspected encephalitis
Article Synopsis
- Lesion resolution is more common in children with myelin-oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD) compared to those with multiple sclerosis (MS), with 83% of MOGAD patients showing at least one resolved lesion during follow-up, while MS patients rarely experience this.
- In a study of 200 children (97 with MOGAD and 103 with MS), new symptomatic and asymptomatic lesions were significantly more prevalent in MS than in MOGAD, indicating different disease behaviors.
- Early intervention with steroids and plasma exchange positively impacted lesion dynamics in MOGAD, highlighting the importance of timely treatment to reduce new lesions and enhance recovery potential.
Data on the production of inositol phosphates is a useful complement to measurements of intracellular Ca(2+). The basic principle is labeling of the inositol lipids by growing the appropriate cell line in culture in the presence of [3H]inositol for 2-3 days to reach labeling equilibrium. Lithium ions at 10 mM inhibits the degradation of inositol phosphates to free inositol and is used to trap the inositol in the inositol polyphosphate forms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVesicles formed by the COPI complex function in retrograde transport from the Golgi to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Phosphatidylinositol transfer protein beta (PITPbeta), an essential protein that possesses phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns) and phosphatidylcholine (PtdCho) lipid transfer activity is known to localise to the Golgi and ER but its role in these membrane systems is not clear. To examine the function of PITPbeta at the Golgi-ER interface, RNA interference (RNAi) was used to knockdown PITPbeta protein expression in HeLa cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn eukaryotes, calcium signalling has been linked to hydrolysis of the phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PtdIns(4,5)P(2)). The final enzyme in the synthesis of this phosphoinositide, a Type I phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate 5-kinase (PIP5K), is activated by the small G protein ADP-ribosylation factor 1 (ARF1). In mammals, the ARF-PIP5K pathway is a key regulator of cell motility, secretion and cell signalling.
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