PATIENT AND PUBLIC INVOLVEMENT IN EARLY AWARENESS AND ALERT ACTIVITIES: AN EXAMPLE FROM THE UNITED KINGDOM.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to report on the experiences, benefits, and challenges of patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE) from a publicly funded early awareness and alert (EAA) system in the United Kingdom.

Methods: Using email, telephone, a Web site portal, Twitter and focus groups, patients and the public were involved and engaged in the recognized stages of an EAA system: identification, filtration, prioritization, early assessment, and dissemination.

Results: Approaches for PPIE were successfully integrated into all aspects of the National Institute for Health Research Horizon Scanning Research and Intelligence Centre's EAA system.

Diagnosing Alzheimer's disease: are we any nearer to useful biomarker-based, non-invasive tests?

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) accounts for 60-80% of cases of dementia and causes significant morbidity in patients and carers, and expense for health and social services. There is a need for a validated, non-invasive and cheap test to diagnose early AD, as diagnosis may enable prompt treatment and service planning.

Aim: To identify emerging biomarker-based tests for the early diagnosis of AD which could be available for use in primary or generalist care in the near future.

Neurotrophin-3 and TrkC are expressed in the outflow tract of the developing chicken heart.

Transcripts encoding trkC and full-length (catalytic) TrkC receptors were detected in the outflow tract of the chicken heart during early development (stage 17; embryonic day [E] 2.5) before the start of septation. Expression of trkC mRNA persisted through early septation (stage 25, E4.

Overexpression of nPKC theta is inhibitory for agrin-induced nicotinic acetylcholine receptor clustering in C2C12 myotubes.

Protein kinase C (PKC) activity has been implicated in nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) cluster disruption but the specific PKC isoforms involved have not been identified. We first tested whether phorbol esters, which activate PKCs, regulate agrin-induced nAChR clustering in C(2)C(12) cells. We found that extended phorbol ester treatment (6 hr) increased nAChR clustering by two-fold.