Fiber photometry-based investigation of brain function and dysfunction.

Fiber photometry is an optical method to monitor fluorescent signals using a fiber optic cannula. Over the past two decades, together with the development of various genetically encoded biosensors, it has been applied to investigate various types of activity in the central nervous system. This includes not only type-specific neuronal population activity, but also non-neuronal activity and neurotransmitter/neuropeptide signals in awake, freely behaving animals.

Using existing knowledge for the risk evaluation of crop protection products in order to guide exposure driven data generation strategies and minimise unnecessary animal testing.

Traditionally, human health risk assessment focuses on defining the hazard through mammalian toxicity studies followed by exposure estimation. We have explored ways of predicting exposure based primarily on the use scenario and comparing the exposure to reference dose values derived by various regulatory agencies (US EPA, JMPR, and EU Commission) in order to identify mammalian toxicity studies that are relevant to human health risk assessment. Human dietary exposure was based on existing residue data for substances with comparable use on the same or similar crops.

Mutual Interactions between Brain States and Alzheimer's Disease Pathology: A Focus on Gamma and Slow Oscillations.

Brain state varies from moment to moment. While brain state can be defined by ongoing neuronal population activity, such as neuronal oscillations, this is tightly coupled with certain behavioural or vigilant states. In recent decades, abnormalities in brain state have been recognised as biomarkers of various brain diseases and disorders.

Toward allele-specific targeting therapy and pharmacodynamic marker for spinocerebellar ataxia type 3.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3), caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the ataxin-3 gene (), is characterized by neuronal polyglutamine (polyQ) ATXN3 protein aggregates. Although there is no cure for SCA3, gene-silencing approaches to reduce toxic polyQ ATXN3 showed promise in preclinical models. However, a major limitation in translating putative treatments for this rare disease to the clinic is the lack of pharmacodynamic markers for use in clinical trials.

Polymerase chain reaction evidence for human immunodeficiency virus 1 neutralization by passive immunization in patients with AIDS and AIDS-related complex.

We tried to assess the long-term safety and potential efficacy of passive immunization in AIDS-related-complex (ARC) and AIDS patients. We also wanted to establish whether hyperimmune plasma from healthy human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1)-infected individuals clears the cell-free virus from circulation. Using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), we were able to provide conclusive evidence that hyperimmune plasma is effective and maintains long-term neutralization of viremia.