The coming-into-force of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is a watershed moment in the legal recognition of enforceable rights to informational self-determination. The rapid evolution of legal requirements applicable to data use, however, has the potential to outstrip the capabilities of networks of biomedical data users to respond to the shifting norms. It can also delegitimate established institutional bodies that are responsible for assessing and authorising the downstream use of data, including research ethics committees and institutional data custodians.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCholesterol and the immune system are involved in Alzheimer's Disease (AD). To investigate the relations among them, we compared the cholesterol content in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of cognitively healthy controls and patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and AD in two independent samples. Free cholesterol content of PBMC was lower in MCI and AD patients, and was modulated by APOE genotype.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn this viewpoint, we argue for the importance of creating data spaces for genomic research that are detached from contexts in which fundamental rights concerns related to surveillance measures override a purpose-specific balancing of fundamental rights. Genomic research relies on molecular and phenotypic data, on comparing findings within large data sets, on searchable metadata, and on translating research results into a clinical setting. These methods require sensitive genetic and health data to be shared across borders.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTriple negative breast cancer is defined by the lack of expression of estrogen, progesterone and HER2 receptors. Significant molecular, morphological and clinical heterogeneity is present in this group of neoplasms. Although the majority are high-grade tumors, low-grade triple negative breast cancers can occur and their evolution, molecular characteristics and therapeutic management vary from the former.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGrowing evidence supports that chronic or latent infection of the central nervous system might be implicated in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Among them, Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) has emerged as a major factor in the etiology of the disease. Our group is devoted to the study of the relationship among HSV-1, oxidative stress (OS) and neurodegeneration.
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