Durable immune responses after BNT162b2 vaccination in home-dwelling old adults.

Objectives: Elderly are an understudied, high-risk group vulnerable to severe COVID-19. We comprehensively analyzed the durability of humoral and cellular immune responses after BNT162b2 vaccination and SARS-CoV-2 infection in elderly and younger adults.

Methods: Home-dwelling old (n = 100, median 86 years) and younger adults (n = 449, median 38 years) were vaccinated with two doses of BNT162b2 vaccine at 3-week intervals and followed for 9-months.

Broader Epstein-Barr virus-specific T cell receptor repertoire in patients with multiple sclerosis.

Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection precedes multiple sclerosis (MS) pathology and cross-reactive antibodies might link EBV infection to CNS autoimmunity. As an altered anti-EBV T cell reaction was suggested in MS, we queried peripheral blood T cell receptor β chain (TCRβ) repertoires of 1,395 MS patients, 887 controls, and 35 monozygotic, MS-discordant twin pairs for multimer-confirmed, viral antigen-specific TCRβ sequences. We detected more MHC-I-restricted EBV-specific TCRβ sequences in MS patients.

The T-cell clonal response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in inflammatory bowel disease patients is augmented by anti-TNF therapy and often deficient in antibody-responders.

Background: Vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 is a highly effective strategy to protect against infection, which is predominantly mediated by vaccine-induced antibodies. Postvaccination antibodies are robustly produced by those with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) even on immune-modifying therapies but are blunted by anti-TNF therapy. In contrast, T-cell response which primarily determines long-term efficacy against disease progression,, is less well understood.

Preoperative tranexamic acid does not reduce transfusion rates in major oncologic surgery: Results of a randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled trial.

Background And Objectives: Allogeneic blood transfusions are associated with worse postoperative outcomes in oncologic surgery. The aim of this study was to introduce a preoperative intervention to reduce transfusion rates in this population.

Methods: Adult patients undergoing major oncologic surgery in five categories with similar transfusion rates were recruited.

Interaction Between CRIPT and PSD-95 Is Required for Proper Dendritic Arborization in Hippocampal Neurons.

CRIPT, the cysteine-rich PDZ-binding protein, binds to the third PDZ domain of PSD-95 (postsynaptic density protein 95) family proteins and directly binds microtubules, linking PSD-95 family proteins to the neuronal cytoskeleton. Here, we show that overexpression of a full-length CRIPT leads to a modest decrease, and knockdown of CRIPT leads to an increase in dendritic branching in cultured rat hippocampal neurons. Overexpression of truncated CRIPT lacking the PDZ domain-binding motif, which does not bind to PSD-95, significantly decreases dendritic arborization.

PTEN recruitment controls synaptic and cognitive function in Alzheimer's models.

Dyshomeostasis of amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) is responsible for synaptic malfunctions leading to cognitive deficits ranging from mild impairment to full-blown dementia in Alzheimer's disease. Aβ appears to skew synaptic plasticity events toward depression. We found that inhibition of PTEN, a lipid phosphatase that is essential to long-term depression, rescued normal synaptic function and cognition in cellular and animal models of Alzheimer's disease.

Relative quantification of biomarkers using mixed-isotope labeling coupled with MS.

The identification and quantification of important biomarkers is a critical first step in the elucidation of biological systems. Biomarkers take many forms as cellular responses to stimuli and can be manifested during transcription, translation, and/or metabolic processing. Increasingly, researchers have relied upon mixed-isotope labeling (MIL) coupled with MS to perform relative quantification of biomarkers between two or more biological samples.

Going beyond students: an association between mixed-hand preference and schizotypy subscales in a general population.

Research on the sub-clinical condition of schizotypy suggests that it is associated with mixed handedness. To date, however, this research has focussed on undergraduate populations. If the association between schizotypy and mixed-handedness is the result of an underlying neurological trait, it is important to demonstrate that the effect extends to the general population.

A hit-and-miss investigation of asymmetries in wheelchair navigation.

In contrast to the leftward inattention caused by right parietal damage, normal brain function shows a subtle neglect of the right and left sides in peripersonal and extrapersonal space, respectively. This study explored how these attentional biases cause healthy individuals to collide with objects on the right. In Experiment 1, participants navigated manual and electric wheelchairs through a narrow doorway.

Neural mechanisms underlying spatial realignment during adaptation to optical wedge prisms.

Visuomotor adaptation to a shift in visual input produced by prismatic lenses is an example of dynamic sensory-motor plasticity within the brain. Prism adaptation is readily induced in healthy individuals, and is thought to reflect the brain's ability to compensate for drifts in spatial calibration between different sensory systems. The neural correlate of this form of functional plasticity is largely unknown, although current models predict the involvement of parieto-cerebellar circuits.

The relationship between hand preference, hand performance, and general cognitive ability.

The idea that handedness indicates something about a person's cognitive ability and personality is a perennial issue. A variety of models have been put forward to explain this relationship and predict a range of outcomes from higher levels of cognitive ability in left-handers or moderate right-handers to lower levels of achievement in left- or mixed-handers. We tested these models using a sample (n = 895) drawn from the BRAINnet database (www.

Pseudoneglect for the bisection of mental number lines.

Patients with unilateral neglect of the left side bisect physical lines to the right whereas individuals with an intact brain bisect lines slightly to the left (pseudoneglect). Similarly, for mental number lines, which are arranged in a left-to-right ascending sequence, neglect patients bisect to the right. This study determined whether individuals with an intact brain show pseudoneglect for mental number lines.

The neural basis of selection-for-action.

The selection of objects in the visual environment is important in everyday life when acting in a goal-directed manner. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate brain activity while healthy subjects (N=15) selectively reached to grasp a three-dimensional (3D) target stimulus presented either in isolation or in the presence of 3D non-target stimuli. A pneumatic MRI compatible apparatus was designed to precisely control the presentation of 3D graspable stimuli within the scanner.

Posterior parietal cortex control of reach-to-grasp movements in humans.

The aim of the present study was to ascertain the neural correlates for the integration of visual information with the control of the reach-to-grasp action in the healthy human brain. Nine adult subjects (18-38 years; four females and five males) were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging while reaching-to-grasp a three-dimensional target. Results demonstrated differential activation of the parietal cortices according to the number of potential targets to be taken into account before movement initiation and the variability of target location.