P2X -receptor binding in new-onset and secondary progressive MS - a [C]SMW139 PET study.

Background: PET imaging of activated microglia has improved our understanding of the pathology behind disability progression in MS, and pro-inflammatory microglia at 'smoldering' lesion rims have been implicated as drivers of disability progression. The P2X R is upregulated in the cellular membranes of activated microglia. A single-tissue dual-input model was applied to quantify P2X R binding in the normal appearing white matter, perilesional areas and thalamus among progressive MS patients, healthy controls and newly diagnosed relapsing MS patients.

Sex-driven variability in TSPO-expressing microglia in MS patients and healthy individuals.

Background: Males with multiple sclerosis (MS) have a higher risk for disability progression than females, but the reasons for this are unclear.

Objective: We hypothesized that potential differences in TSPO-expressing microglia between female and male MS patients could contribute to sex differences in clinical disease progression.

Methods: The study cohort consisted of 102 MS patients (mean (SD) age 45.

Identifying breeding hosts of Ixodes ricinus ticks using stable isotope analysis of their larvae - Proof of concept.

Ticks are important vectors of zoonotic pathogens. Ticks are parasites that are dependent on their hosts for blood meal to develop and reproduce. The abundance of ticks is dependent on the availability of suitable breeding hosts, often medium- and large-sized mammals.

TSPO-Detectable Chronic Active Lesions Predict Disease Progression in Multiple Sclerosis.

Background And Objectives: In the multiple sclerosis (MS) brain, chronic active lesions can be detected using MRI- and PET-based methods. In this study, we investigated whether the frequency of TSPO-PET-detectable chronic active lesions associates with disease progression measured using the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) at 5-year follow-up.

Methods: Chronic lesion-associated innate immune cell activation was evaluated using TSPO-PET in 82 patients with MS.

Early prognosticators of later TSPO-PET-measurable microglial activation in multiple sclerosis.

Background: Factors driving increased innate immune cell activation in multiple sclerosis (MS) brain are not well understood. As higher prevalence of microglial/macrophage activation in association with chronic lesions and diffusely in the normal appearing white matter predict more rapid accumulation of clinical disability, it is of high importance to understand processes behind this. Objective of the study was to explore demographic, clinical and paraclinical variables associating with later positron emission tomography (PET)-measurable innate immune cell activation.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza A (H5N1) virus infections in wild carnivores connected to mass mortalities of pheasants in Finland.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has caused widespread mortality in both wild and domestic birds in Europe during 2020-2022. Virus types H5N8 and H5N1 have dominated the epidemic. Isolated spill-over infections in mammals started to emerge as the epidemic continued.

PET-measurable innate immune cell activation reduction in chronic active lesions in PPMS brain after rituximab treatment: a case report.

Objectives: To evaluate the effects of rituximab treatment on innate immune cell activation in primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS).

Methods: A 48-year-old woman with PPMS was started on rituximab shortly after diagnosis. [C]PK11195 PET imaging was employed to assess innate immune cell activation with special interest in the white matter around chronic lesions.

Innate Immune Cell-Related Pathology in the Thalamus Signals a Risk for Disability Progression in Multiple Sclerosis.

Background And Objectives: Our aim was to investigate whether 18-kDa translocator protein (TSPO) radioligand binding in gray matter (GM) predicts later disability progression in multiple sclerosis (MS).

Methods: In this prospective imaging study, innate immune cells were investigated in the MS patient brain using PET imaging. The distribution volume ratio (DVR) of the TSPO-binding radioligand [C]PK11195 was determined in 5 GM regions: thalamus, caudate, putamen, pallidum, and cortical GM.

Phenotyping of multiple sclerosis lesions according to innate immune cell activation using 18 kDa translocator protein-PET.

Chronic active lesions are promotors of neurodegeneration and disease progression in multiple sclerosis. They harbour a dense rim of activated innate immune cells at the lesion edge, which promotes lesion growth and thereby induces damage. Conventional MRI is of limited help in identifying the chronic active lesions, so alternative imaging modalities are needed.

Frequency and etiology of acute transverse myelitis in Southern Finland.

Objective: Acute transverse myelitis is a relatively rare, frequently debilitating but potentially treatable emergency. The objective of this study was to evaluate the incidence and etiology of acute transverse myelitis in two major hospital districts in Southern Finland.

Methods: We identified all patients with acute transverse myelitis admitted to Turku University Hospital and Päijät-Häme Central hospital during nine years.

Brain TSPO-PET predicts later disease progression independent of relapses in multiple sclerosis.

Overactivation of microglia is associated with most neurodegenerative diseases. In this study we examined whether PET-measurable innate immune cell activation predicts multiple sclerosis disease progression. Activation of microglia/macrophages was measured using the 18-kDa translocator protein (TSPO)-binding radioligand 11C-PK11195 and PET imaging in 69 patients with multiple sclerosis and 18 age- and sex-matched healthy controls.

Drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms after ocrelizumab therapy.

We report here on a young woman with multiple sclerosis, who developed a condition with eosinophilia and swelling of limbs seven weeks after initiation of ocrelizumab treatment. We consider her drug reaction to be compatible with a drug reaction with eosinophilia and systemic symptoms (DRESS), also called drug-induced hypersensitivity syndrome. She was treated with antihistamine and corticosteroid treatments, and recovered fully within three months of symptom onset.

Insights into disseminated MS brain pathology with multimodal diffusion tensor and PET imaging.

Objective: To evaluate in vivo the co-occurrence of microglial activation and microstructural white matter (WM) damage in the MS brain and to examine their association with clinical disability.

Methods: 18-kDa translocator protein (TSPO) brain PET imaging was performed for evaluation of microglial activation by using the radioligand [C](R)-PK11195. TSPO binding was evaluated as the distribution volume ratio (DVR) from dynamic PET images.

Rituximab in the treatment of multiple sclerosis in the Hospital District of Southwest Finland.

Background: There are already numerous B-cell depleting monoclonal anti-CD20 antibodies which have been used to reduce the inflammatory burden associated with multiple sclerosis (MS). We describe here our experience of treating MS-patients with B-cell depleting rituximab.

Patients And Methods: All MS-patients (n = 72) who had received rituximab treatment for at least six months by January 2019 were identified from the patient charts at the Turku University Hospital.

Natalizumab treatment reduces microglial activation in the white matter of the MS brain.

Objective: To evaluate whether natalizumab treatment reduces microglial activation in MS.

Methods: We measured microglial activation using the 18-kDa translocator protein (TSPO)-binding radioligand [C]PK11195 and PET imaging in 10 patients with MS before and after 1 year treatment with natalizumab. Microglial activation was evaluated as the distribution volume ratio (DVR) of the specifically bound radioligand in brain white and gray matter regions of interest.

Serum glial fibrillary acidic protein correlates with multiple sclerosis disease severity.

Background: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of two soluble biomarkers, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and neurofilament light chain (NfL), have been shown to associate with multiple sclerosis (MS) disease progression. Now, both biomarkers can be detected reliably in serum, and importantly, their serum levels correlate well with their CSF levels.

Objective: To evaluate the usability of serum GFAP measurement as a biomarker of progressive disease and disease severity in MS.

Comparison of ethanol tolerance between potential cyanobacterial production hosts.

Cyanobacteria are photosynthetic prokaryotes that have been extensively studied as potential autotrophic biotechnological hosts for the production of different carbon-based end-products directly from atmospheric CO. While commercially competitive applications do not yet exist, the production of ethanol in cyanobacteria is the most mature technology, endorsed by relatively high production yields and established status of ethanol in the global biofuel market. Within this concept, the aim here was to systematically compare ethanol tolerance of different commonly used cyanobacterial strains and substrains, in order to assess their relative potential for biotechnological production platforms.

An Outbreak of Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease in Finland.

Rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD) was detected in European rabbits ( Oryctolagus cuniculus) for the first time ever in Finland in 2016. Reports of dead feral rabbits in Helsinki started to accumulate from April 2016. The Finnish Food Safety Authority Evira received the first animals in late April, and the main necropsy finding was severe, acute necrotizing hepatitis.

Evaluation of Microglial Activation in Multiple Sclerosis Patients Using Positron Emission Tomography.

Understanding the mechanisms underlying progression in multiple sclerosis (MS) is one of the key elements contributing to the identification of appropriate therapeutic targets for this under-managed condition. In addition to plaque-related focal inflammatory pathology typical for relapsing remitting MS there are, in progressive MS, widespread diffuse alterations in brain areas outside the focal lesions. This diffuse pathology is tightly related to microglial activation and is co-localized with signs of neurodegeneration.

Isolation of Brucella pinnipedialis from Grey Seals (Halichoerus grypus) in the Baltic Sea.

Brucella infection in seals was reported for the first time in 1994 around the coast of Scotland. Since then, marine mammal Brucella infections were found to be widely distributed in the northern hemisphere. Two Brucella species affect marine mammals: Brucella pinnipedialis in pinnipeds and Brucella ceti in cetaceans.

Triacylglycerol regioisomers in human milk resolved with an algorithmic novel electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry method.

A highly sensitive mass spectrometric (MS) method was developed and validated to analyze ratios of regioisomeric triacylglycerols (TAGs) in fats and oils. UPLC resolution of lithiated TAGs followed by daughter scan MS/MS of positive ions revealed several indicative ions for quantitative analysis. Reference TAGs containing C14-C20 fatty acids (FAs) showed good linear response.

Faecalibacterium prausnitzii treatment improves hepatic health and reduces adipose tissue inflammation in high-fat fed mice.

Faecalibacterium prausnitzii is considered as one of the most important bacterial indicators of a healthy gut. We studied the effects of oral F. prausnitzii treatment on high-fat fed mice.

The efficacy of flubendazole against different developmental stages of the poultry roundworm Ascaridia galli in laying hens.

Infection with the poultry roundworm Ascaridia galli has increased in European countries due to the ban on battery cages. This study was conducted in two commercial laying hen flocks (F1 & F2) on different farms in central Sweden. The aims were to (1) investigate the efficacy of flubendazole (FLBZ, 1.

Enantioselective chromatography in analysis of triacylglycerols common in edible fats and oils.

Enantiomers of racemic triacylglycerol (TAG) mixtures were separated using two chiral HPLC columns with a sample recycling system and a UV detector. A closed system without sample derivatisation enabled separation and identification by using enantiopure reference compounds of eleven racemic TAGs with C12-C22 fatty acids with 0-2 double bonds. The prolonged separation time was compensated for by fewer pretreatment steps.