Development of a TaqMan-based dosage analysis PCR assay for the molecular diagnosis of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome.

A 1.5 to 3 Mb microdeletion of chromosome 22q11.2 with loss of multiple genes including histone cell cycle regulator (HIRA) causes 22q11.

Depressive Symptoms and Amyloid Pathology.

Importance: Depressive symptoms are associated with cognitive decline in older individuals. Uncertainty about underlying mechanisms hampers diagnostic and therapeutic efforts. This large-scale study aimed to elucidate the association between depressive symptoms and amyloid pathology.

Extracellular ATP regulates phagocytic activity, mitochondrial respiration, and cytokine secretion of human astrocytic cells.

The two main glial cell types of the central nervous system (CNS), astrocytes and microglia, are responsible for neuroimmune homeostasis. Recent evidence indicates astrocytes can participate in removal of pathological structures by becoming phagocytic under conditions of neurodegenerative disease when microglia, the professional phagocytes, are impaired. We hypothesized that adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which acts as damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP), when released at high concentrations into extracellular space, upregulates phagocytic activity of human astrocytes.

Clustering of obesogenic behaviours amongst 140 052 South American adolescents: a harmonized meta-analysis of national health surveys.

Background: Physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and diet synergically coexist (in different ways) within adolescents' lifestyles. Thus, understanding obesogenic behaviour patterns within populations is critical to promoting adolescents' health. This study investigates clustering patterns of adolescents' obesogenic behaviours across South American countries.