Cellular stress and apoptosis contribute to the pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorder.

Unlabelled: The molecular pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorder, a neurodevelopmental disorder, is still elusive. In this study, we investigated the possible roles of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, oxidative stress, and apoptosis as molecular mechanisms underlying autism. This study compared the activation of ER stress signals (protein kinase R-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase [PERK], activating transcription factor 6 [ATF6], inositol-requiring enzyme 1 alpha [IRE1α]) in different brain regions (prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, cerebellum) in subjects with autism and in age-matched controls.

Effect of Postmortem Interval and Years in Storage on RNA Quality of Tissue at a Repository of the NIH NeuroBioBank.

Brain tissue from 1068 donors was analyzed for RNA quality as a function of postmortem interval (PMI) and years in storage. Approximately 83% of the cortical and cerebellar samples had an RNA integrity number (RIN) of 6 or greater, indicating their likely suitability for real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction research. The average RIN value was independent of the PMI, up to at least 36 hours.

A review of brain biorepository management and operations.

Brain biospecimen banking requires centralized resources, national networks for referral of donors, trained personnel to interact with grieving families, and scientific staff to process the biospecimens. Process development of quality control standards is needed to meet the specific requirements of emerging genomic and proteomic technologies. Attention has to be paid to agonal factors and postmortem interval, tissue processing, neuropathology review, and long-term storage.

Using clinical signs of neglect to identify elder neglect cases.

Elder neglect is the one of the most pervasive forms of mistreatment, and often the only place outside of the individual's residence to identify and assist neglected individuals is in a medical setting. However, elder neglect cases treated in hospitals do not present with a single diagnosis or clinical sign, but rather involve a complex constellation of clinical signs. Currently, there is a lack of comprehensive guidelines on which clinical signs to use in screening tools for neglect among patients treated in hospitals.