Dorsoventral photobiomodulation therapy safely reduces inflammation and sensorimotor deficits in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis.

Background: Non-invasive photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT), employing specific infrared light wavelengths to stimulate biological tissues, has recently gained attention for its application to treat neurological disorders. Here, we aimed to uncover the cellular targets of PBMT and assess its potential as a therapeutic intervention for multiple sclerosis (MS).

Methods: We applied daily dorsoventral PBMT in an experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mouse model, which recapitulates key features of MS, and revealed a strong positive impact of PBMT on the sensorimotor deficits.

Now and future: Strategies for diagnosis, prevention and therapies for Alzheimer's disease.

After a number of failed drug studies on Alzheimer's disease (AD) over the past decade, clinical trials of AD started to show encouraging results and were approved or pending approval for clinical use. However, controversies on the clinically meaningful benefits and risks of brain edema and microhemorrhages have reminded us to think further about monitoring treatment and developing new drug targets. The goal of this review is to find insights from clinical trials that aimed at two key pathological features of AD, i.

Photobiomodulation Therapy: A Novel Therapeutic Approach to Alzheimer's Disease Made Possible by the Evidence of a Brain-Gut Interconnection.

The evidence of brain-gut interconnections in Alzheimer's disease (AD) opens novel avenues for the treatment of a pathology for which no definitive treatment exists. Gut microbiota and bacterial translocation may produce peripheral inflammation and immune modulation, contributing to brain amyloidosis, neurodegeneration, and cognitive deficits in AD. The gut microbiota can be used as a potential therapeutic target in AD.

Translation from Preclinical Research to Clinical Trials: Brain-Gut Photobiomodulation Therapy for Alzheimer's Disease.

Recently, novel non-pharmacological interventions, such as photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy, have shown promise for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). This article outlines the translation from the preclinical to clinical stages of an innovative brain-gut PBM therapy in a mouse model of AD, a pilot clinical trial involving mild-to-moderate AD patients, and a continuing pivotal clinical trial with a similar patient population. In a mouse model of AD (Aβ25-35), daily application of brain-gut PBM therapy to both the head and the abdomen produced a neuroprotective effect against the neurotoxic effects of an Aβ25-35 peptide injection by normalizing all the modified behavioral and biochemical parameters.

Nanolithium, a New Treatment Approach to Alzheimer's Disease: A Review of Existing Evidence and Clinical Perspectives.

Lithium has been approved and used for several decades in the treatment of psychiatric disorders, and its potential effect in neurodegenerative diseases has been subject to increasing research interest in recent years. Nanolithium is a new experimental product using a novel drug-delivery technology (Aonys®), which optimizes its bioavailability while reducing its toxicity profile. Therapeutic doses of lithium used in Nanolithium are more than 50 times lower than the minimal dose of classical lithium salts.

Lithium, a Treatment Option for Alzheimer's Disease? A Review of Existing Evidence and Discussion on Future Perspectives.

After over 50 years of use, lithium-salts remain the first-line therapy for the management of bipolar disorder. Throughout this period, the potential for lithium salts has been extensively studied and numerous data favor its use in the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). We reviewed existing evidence gathered from clinical case reports and studies on the effect of lithium on neuropsychological symptoms of AD and as a disease-modifying treatment acting on cognitive symptoms.

One of these things is not like the other: Mixed predator cues result in lopsided phenotypic responses in a Neotropical tadpole.

Many organisms have evolved to produce different phenotypes in response to environmental variation. Dendropsophus ebraccatus tadpoles develop opposing shifts in morphology and coloration when they are exposed to invertebrate vs vertebrate predators. Each of these alternate phenotypes are adaptive, conferring a survival advantage against the predator with which tadpoles were reared but imposing a survival cost with the mismatched predator.

Cumulative effects of subsequent concussions on the neural patterns of young rugby athletes: data from event-related potentials.

Our study aimed at detecting a potential cumulative effect of subsequent concussions on the neural activation patterns of young rugby athletes with or without concussion history. Event-related brain potential (ERP) data from 24 rugby players, 22-year-old on average, were retrospectively examined. All underwent a Sport Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT2) during preseason and an on-site ERP task (P300) following a recent concussion event (<48 hours).

A Randomized, Double-Blind, and Sham-Controlled Trial of an Innovative Brain-Gut Photobiomodulation Therapy: Safety and Patient Compliance.

Background: Recent innovative non-pharmacological interventions and neurostimulation devices have shown potential for application in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD). These include photobiomodulation (PBM) therapy.

Objective: This pilot study assesses the safety, compliance with, and efficacy of a brain-gut PBM therapy for mild-to-moderate AD patients.

Estimating female malaria mosquito age by quantifying Y-linked genes in stored male spermatozoa.

Vector control strategies are among the most effective measures to combat mosquito-borne diseases, such as malaria. These strategies work by altering the mosquito age structure through increased mortality of the older female mosquitoes that transmit pathogens. However, methods to monitor changes to mosquito age structure are currently inadequate for programmatic implementation.

Plasma amyloid beta predicts conversion to dementia in subjects with mild cognitive impairment: The BALTAZAR study.

Introduction: Blood-based biomarkers are the next challenge for Alzheimer's disease (AD) diagnosis and prognosis.

Methods: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) participants (N = 485) of the BALTAZAR study, a large-scale longitudinal multicenter cohort, were followed-up for 3 years. A total of 165 of them converted to dementia (95% AD).

Sex differences in gut microbiota modulation of aversive conditioning, open field activity, and basolateral amygdala dendritic spine density.

Gut microbiota influence numerous aspects of host biology, including brain structure and function. Growing evidence implicates gut microbiota in aversive conditioning and anxiety-related behaviors, but research has focused almost exclusively on males. To investigate whether effects of gut dysbiosis on aversive learning and memory differ by sex, adult female and male C57BL/6N mice were orally administered a moderate dose of nonabsorbable antimicrobial medications (ATMs: neomycin, bacitracin, and pimaricin) or a control over 10 days.

Nothing as it seems: behavioural plasticity appears correlated with morphology and colour, but is not in a Neotropical tadpole.

In response to environmental stressors, organisms often demonstrate flexible responses in morphology, life history or behaviour. However, it is currently unclear if such plastic responses are coordinated or operate independently of one another. In vertebrates, this may partly result from studies examining population- or species-level mean responses, as opposed to finer grained analyses of individuals or families.

Demographic consequences of foraging ecology explain genetic diversification in Neotropical bird species.

Despite evidence that species' traits affect rates of bird diversification, biogeographic studies tend to prioritise earth history in Neotropical bird speciation. Here we compare mitochondrial genetic differentiation among 56 co-distributed Neotropical bird species with varying ecologies. The trait 'diet' best predicted divergence, with plant-dependent species (mostly frugivores and nectivores) showing lower levels of genetic divergence than insectivores or mixed-diet species.

Salinity increases growth and pathogenicity of water mold to cause mortality and early hatching in Rana sylvatica embryos.

Amphibian embryos often suffer increased mortality and altered hatching when exposed to road deicing salt runoff or pathogens such as water molds. However, the combined effects of such contaminants on embryos remain understudied. To test how pond salinization interacts with water mold (Saprolegniasp.

Can We Distinguish Age-Related Frailty from Frailty Related to Diseases ? Data from the MAPT Study.

Background: No study has tried to distinguish subjects that become frail due to diseases (frailty related to diseases) or in the absence of specific medical events; in this latter case, it is possible that aging process would act as the main frailty driver (age-related frailty).

Objectives: To classify subjects according to the origin of physical frailty: age-related frailty, frailty related to diseases, frailty of uncertain origin, and to compare their clinical characteristics.

Materials And Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of the Multidomain Alzheimer Preventive Trial (MAPT), including 195 subjects ≥70 years non-frail at baseline who became frail during a 5-year follow-up (mean age 77.

Clinical and biomarker trajectories in sporadic Alzheimer's disease: A longitudinal study.

Introduction: Amyloid beta (Aβ) deposition was identified to precede tau pathology and neurodegeneration in familial Alzheimer's disease (AD). But the divergence between sporadic and familial AD limits the extension of these findings to sporadic AD.

Methods: Longitudinal changes of biomarkers among different stages were assessed using linear mixed-effects models.

Evidence-based prevention of Alzheimer's disease: systematic review and meta-analysis of 243 observational prospective studies and 153 randomised controlled trials.

Background: Evidence on preventing Alzheimer's disease (AD) is challenging to interpret due to varying study designs with heterogeneous endpoints and credibility. We completed a systematic review and meta-analysis of current evidence with prospective designs to propose evidence-based suggestions on AD prevention.

Methods: Electronic databases and relevant websites were searched from inception to 1 March 2019.

Non-Amyloid Approaches to Disease Modification for Alzheimer's Disease: An EU/US CTAD Task Force Report.

While amyloid-targeting therapies continue to predominate in the Alzheimer's disease (AD) drug development pipeline, there is increasing recognition that to effectively treat the disease it may be necessary to target other mechanisms and pathways as well. In December 2019, The EU/US CTAD Task Force discussed these alternative approaches to disease modification in AD, focusing on tau-targeting therapies, neurotrophin receptor modulation, anti-microbial strategies, and the innate immune response; as well as vascular approaches, aging, and non-pharmacological approaches such as lifestyle intervention strategies, photobiomodulation and neurostimulation. The Task Force proposed a general strategy to accelerate the development of alternative treatment approaches, which would include increased partnerships and collaborations, improved trial designs, and further exploration of combination therapy strategies.

Right phenotype, wrong place: predator-induced plasticity is costly in a mismatched environment.

Like many animals, tadpoles often produce different, predator-specific phenotypes when exposed to risk of predation. It is generally assumed that such plasticity enhances survival in the presence of the predator and is costly elsewhere, but evidence remains surprisingly scarce. We measured (1) the survival trade-off of opposing phenotypes developed by tadpoles when exposed to different predators and (2) which specific aspects of morphology drive any potential survival benefit or cost.