Publications by authors named "S Burkhardt"
Article Synopsis
- - MicroRNAs, which are short non-coding RNAs, play a key role in protein regulation and are being explored as potential biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease (AD).
- - The study analyzed plasma samples from 847 participants in the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) and discovered specific microRNA signatures that correlate with AD diagnosis and the progression from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to AD.
- - Findings suggest that evaluating plasma microRNA levels, alongside neuropsychological tests, can enhance the prediction accuracy for MCI to AD conversion, potentially helping to identify at-risk individuals and reduce the need for costly diagnostic procedures.
Introduction: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in gene expression regulation and Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis.
Methods: We investigated the association between baseline plasma miRNAs and central AD biomarkers from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI; N = 803): amyloid, tau, and neurodegeneration (A/T/N). Differentially expressed miRNAs and their targets were identified, followed by pathway enrichment analysis.
Article Synopsis
- Astrocytes are vital for neuronal support, but their deregulation is linked to neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's.
- The study highlights a specific long non-coding RNA, PRDM16-DT, that is mainly found in astrocytes and is downregulated in Alzheimer's-affected brains.
- Overexpression of PRDM16-DT can help counteract astrocyte dysfunction and may present a new therapeutic target for treating neurodegenerative diseases.
Article Synopsis
- The study looked at dogs with liver tumors to see if their blood clotting times (PT and aPTT) were longer than normal before surgery.
- Out of 359 dogs, 74 had longer PT or aPTT, and 20 had both, but only dogs with a type of tumor called hemangiosarcoma showed both problems together.
- The results suggest that testing for these blood clotting times isn't very helpful for most liver tumor dogs, unless there's a strong chance they have hemangiosarcoma.
Astrocytes provide crucial support for neurons, contributing to synaptogenesis, synaptic maintenance, and neurotransmitter recycling. Under pathological conditions, deregulation of astrocytes contributes to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), highlighting the growing interest in targeting astrocyte function to address early phases of AD pathogenesis. While most research in this field has focused on protein-coding genes, non-coding RNAs, particularly long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), have emerged as significant regulatory molecules.
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