Understanding the Molecular Impact of Physical Exercise on Alzheimer's Disease.

Alzheimer's disease is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a wide range of neurological symptoms that begin with personality changes and psychiatric symptoms, progress to mild cognitive impairment, and eventually lead to dementia. Physical exercise is part of the non-pharmacological treatments used in Alzheimer's disease, as it has been shown to delay the neurodegenerative process by improving the redox state in brain tissue, providing anti-inflammatory effects or stimulating the release of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor that enhances the brain structure and cognitive performance. Here, we reviewed the results obtained from studies conducted in both animal models and human subjects to comprehend how physical exercise interventions can exert changes in the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathophysiological processes in Alzheimer's disease: amyloid β-peptide pathology, tau pathology, neuroglial changes, mitochondrial dysfunction, and oxidative stress.

Two-dimensional optical binding based on graphene surface plasmon excitation.

In this work, we present a detailed analysis of the optical binding force resulting from the near field scattering between dielectric nanoparticles and a graphene substrate. We pay special attention to the two-dimensional array formation for which the stability is raised owing to the multiple surface plasmon (SP) scattering. Because of the small values of the SP wavelength on graphene in comparison with those of the photon, the size of these particle arrangements falls below the diffraction limit.

Short-course subcutaneous treatment with birch pollen allergoids greatly improves symptom and medication scores in birch allergy.

Background: Subcutaneous immunotherapy has emerged as an effective option for treating allergic diseases. Here, we assessed the clinical impact of the mannan-conjugated birch pollen polymerized allergoid T502 in birch pollen-induced allergic rhinoconjunctivitis.

Methods: In this prospective, randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled phase III trial, 298 birch pollen-allergic adult patients were treated across 28 trial sites in Germany.