28 results match your criteria: "Leuven Institute for Neuroscience and Disease (LIND)[Affiliation]"

Article Synopsis
  • The text discusses the increasing gene testing for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), particularly for sporadic ALS (sALS), highlighting a lack of large studies on genetic variations associated with the disease.
  • It describes a research study that analyzed genetic data from over 6,000 sALS patients and over 2,400 controls to characterize genetic variability in 90 ALS-related genes using established criteria for interpretation.
  • The findings revealed that while some pathogenic variants were identified, a significant portion of the sALS patients had no detectable genetic clues, indicating the complexity of the genetic landscape of the disease.*
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Introduction: We investigated the frequency, neuropathology, and phenotypic characteristics of spastic paraplegia (SP) that precedes dementia in presenilin 1 () related familial Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Methods: We performed whole exome sequencing (WES) in 60 probands with hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) phenotype that was negative for variants in known HSP-related genes. Where mutation was identified, brain biopsy was performed.

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Correction to: Features of intracranial hemorrhage in cerebral venous thrombosis.

J Neurol

November 2020

Stroke Division, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, 245 Burgundy Street, Heidelberg, VIC, 3084, Australia.

The original version of this article unfortunately contained mistakes. The correct information is given below.

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Features of intracranial hemorrhage in cerebral venous thrombosis.

J Neurol

November 2020

Stroke Division, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health, University of Melbourne, 245 Burgundy Street, Heidelberg, VIC, 3084, Australia.

Background: Cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) is associated with intracranial hemorrhage.

Aim: To identify clinical and imaging features of CVT-associated intracranial hemorrhage. We hypothesized that higher clot burden would be associated with a higher risk of intracranial hemorrhage.

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Given the high frequency of activating mutations in T cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL), inhibition of the γ-secretase complex remains an attractive target to prevent ligand-independent release of the cytoplasmic tail and oncogenic NOTCH1 signaling. However, four different γ-secretase complexes exist, and available inhibitors block all complexes equally. As a result, these cause severe "on-target" gastrointestinal tract, skin, and thymus toxicity, limiting their therapeutic application.

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Article Synopsis
  • Birthweight is linked to health outcomes throughout life, and DNA methylation may play a significant role, as shown in a meta-analysis involving 8,825 neonates.
  • The study identified 914 DNA methylation sites in neonatal blood associated with birthweight, revealing a weight difference from -183 to 178 grams per 10% increase in methylation.
  • Although some of the methylation changes related to birthweight were also seen in childhood, they did not persist into adulthood, suggesting the need for further research to clarify the causal relationships involved.
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Diagnostic accuracy of noncontrast CT imaging markers in cerebral venous thrombosis.

Neurology

February 2019

From the Departments of Radiology (P.-J.B., P.D.) and Neurology (R.L.), University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium; Department of Neurology (S.M.Z., J.M.C.), Amsterdam University Medical Centers, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Department of Neurology (C.-G.E.), John Hunter Hospital, University of Newcastle, Australia; Stroke Department (M.A.B., A.A.), Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía Dr. Manuel Velasco Suárez, México City, México; Department of Head and Neck (P.C.), Neurology Unit, Fondazione Poliambulanza, Brescia, Italy; Departments of Head and Neck (P.C.) and Clinical and Experimental Sciences (A.P.), Neurology Clinic, University of Brescia, Italy; Neurology Department (I.E., J.M.), University Hospitals Virgen del Rocio and Macarena, Seville; Neurovascular Lab (I.E., J.M.), Instituto de Biomedicina de Sevilla, Spain; Department of Neurology (D.R.), Nîmes University Hospital, France; Department of Neurosciences (R.L.), Experimental Neurology and Leuven Institute for Neuroscience and Disease (LIND), KU Leuven-University of Leuven; Laboratory of Neurobiology (R.L.), Center for Brain & Disease Research, VIB, Leuven, Belgium; Departments of Radiology (N.H.) and Neurology (F.F., T.G.), Medical University of Graz, Austria; Department of Neurology (J.J.C., E.G.-S.), Neurovascular Research Group, IMIM-Hospital del Mar, Barcelona; Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (J.J.C., E.G.-S.), Spain; Department of Neurology (S.H., J.P., T.T.), Helsinki University Hospital, Finland; Department of Neurology (J.M.), Hospital Universitario Virgen Macarena, Seville, Spain; Department of Neurology (C.W.), University Hospital Essen, Germany; The Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health (L.C.), University of Melbourne; Australia School of Medicine (H.A.), Faculty of Health, Deakin University; Interventional Neuroradiology Service (H.A.), Radiology Department, Austin Health, Melbourne; Interventional Neuroradiology Service (H.A.), Radiology Department, Monash Health, Melbourne, Australia; Department of Clinical Neuroscience/Neurology (T.T.), Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg; Department of Neurology (T.T.), Sahlgrenska University Hospital, Gothenburg, Sweden; Stroke Division, Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health (V.T.), University of Melbourne, Heidelberg; and Department of Neurology (V.T.), Austin Health, Heidelberg, Australia.

Article Synopsis
  • This study aimed to evaluate how effective semiquantitative imaging markers on noncontrast CT scans are for diagnosing cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT).
  • Researchers analyzed data from 285 CVT patients and 303 controls, finding that visual assessments had varying sensitivity (41%-73%) but high specificity (97%-100%). Attenuation ratio analysis improved diagnostic accuracy, achieving an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.83. However, it still missed diagnosing 25% of CVT cases.
  • The conclusion states that while semiquantitative analysis enhances sensitivity for CVT diagnosis, it remains only moderately effective, with the study classifying as Class II evidence the limitations of visual
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Background: Inverse association between hospital case-volume and case-fatality has been observed for various nonsurgical interventions and surgical procedures.

Aims: To study the impact of hospital case-volume on outcome after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH).

Methods: We included aSAH patients who underwent aneurysm coiling or clipping from tertiary care medical centers across three continents using the Dr Foster Stroke GOAL database 2007-2014.

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Background: Within randomized clinical trials (RCTs), coiling of the ruptured aneurysm to prevent rebleeding results in better outcomes than clipping in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH).

Objective: To study the association of coiling and clipping with outcome after aSAH in daily clinical practice.

Methods: In this controlled, nonrandomized study, we compared outcomes after endovascular coiling and neurosurgical clipping of ruptured intracranial aneurysms in an administrative dataset of 7658 aSAH patients (22 tertiary care hospitals from Europe, USA, Australia; 2007-2013).

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Elongator subunit 3 (ELP3) modifies ALS through tRNA modification.

Hum Mol Genet

April 2018

Department of Neurosciences, Experimental Neurology and Leuven Institute for Neuroscience and Disease (LIND), KU Leuven-University of Leuven, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal degenerative motor neuron disorder of which the progression is influenced by several disease-modifying factors. Here, we investigated ELP3, a subunit of the elongator complex that modifies tRNA wobble uridines, as one of such ALS disease modifiers. ELP3 attenuated the axonopathy of a mutant SOD1, as well as of a mutant C9orf72 ALS zebrafish model.

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Propofol is the most commonly used general anesthetic in humans. Our understanding of its mechanism of action has focused on its capacity to potentiate inhibitory systems in the brain. However, it is unknown whether other neural mechanisms are involved in general anesthesia.

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Defining Y-SNP variation among the Flemish population (Western Europe) by full genome sequencing.

Forensic Sci Int Genet

November 2017

KU Leuven - University of Leuven, Department of Neurosciences, Experimental Neurology and Leuven Institute for Neuroscience and Disease (LIND), Leuven, Belgium; VIB, Center for Brain & Disease Research, Laboratory of Neurobiology, Leuven, Belgium.

Y-chromosomal single nucleotide polymorphisms (Y-SNPs) represent a powerful tool in forensic research and casework, especially for inferring paternal ancestry of unknown perpetrators and unidentified bodies. However, the wealth of recently discovered Y-SNPs, the 'jungle' of different evolutionary lineage trees and nomenclatures, and the lack of population-wide data of many phylogenetically mapped Y-SNPs, limits the use of Y-SNPs in routine forensic approaches. Recently, a concise reference phylogeny of the human Y chromosome, the 'Minimal Reference Y-tree', was introduced aiming to provide a stable phylogeny with optimal global discrimination capacity by including the most resolving Y-SNPs.

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Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disorder due to selective loss of motor neurons (MNs). Mutations in the fused in sarcoma (FUS) gene can cause both juvenile and late onset ALS. We generated and characterized induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from ALS patients with different FUS mutations, as well as from healthy controls.

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Purpose: A substantial number of patients without a history of atrial fibrillation who undergo surgery develop one or more episodes of atrial fibrillation in the first few days after the operation. We studied whether postoperative transient atrial fibrillation is a risk factor for future atrial fibrillation, stroke and death.

Method: We performed a narrative review of the literature on epidemiology, mechanisms, risk of atrial fibrillation, stroke and death after postoperative atrial fibrillation.

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Loss-of-function mutations in the gene encoding the growth factor progranulin cause degeneration of the ageing brain in a dose-dependent manner. While heterozygous mutations result in adult onset frontotemporal dementia, the much rarer homozygous null mutations cause an early onset lysosomal storage disorder. A better understanding of the biology of progranulin in the central nervous system is needed to find solutions for these incurable diseases.

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Individualized risk prediction of major bleeding in secondary stroke prevention: Are we there yet?

Neurology

August 2017

From the Department of Neurosciences (R.L.), Experimental Neurology and Leuven Institute for Neuroscience and Disease (LIND), KU Leuven-University of Leuven; Laboratory of Neurobiology (R.L.), Center for Brain & Disease Research, VIB, Leuven; Department of Neurology (R.L.), University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium; and Centre for Clinical Brain Sciences (R.A.S.), University of Edinburgh, UK.

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Progranulin functions as a cathepsin D chaperone to stimulate axonal outgrowth in vivo.

Hum Mol Genet

August 2017

Department of Neurosciences, Experimental Neurology and Leuven Institute for Neuroscience and Disease (LIND), KU Leuven - University of Leuven, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium.

Loss of function mutations in progranulin (GRN) cause frontotemporal dementia, but how GRN haploinsufficiency causes neuronal dysfunction remains unclear. We previously showed that GRN is neurotrophic in vitro. Here, we used an in vivo axonal outgrowth system and observed a delayed recovery in GRN-/- mice after facial nerve injury.

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The ER Stress Sensor PERK Coordinates ER-Plasma Membrane Contact Site Formation through Interaction with Filamin-A and F-Actin Remodeling.

Mol Cell

March 2017

Laboratory of Cell Death Research and Therapy, Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, KU Leuven, Leuven, B-3000, Belgium. Electronic address:

Loss of ER Ca homeostasis triggers endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and drives ER-PM contact sites formation in order to refill ER-luminal Ca. Recent studies suggest that the ER stress sensor and mediator of the unfolded protein response (UPR) PERK regulates intracellular Ca fluxes, but the mechanisms remain elusive. Here, using proximity-dependent biotin identification (BioID), we identified the actin-binding protein Filamin A (FLNA) as a key PERK interactor.

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Recently WAC was reported as a candidate gene for intellectual disability (ID) based on the identification of a de novo mutation in an individual with severe ID. WAC regulates transcription-coupled histone H2B ubiquitination and has previously been implicated in the 10p12p11 contiguous gene deletion syndrome. In this study, we report on 10 individuals with de novo WAC mutations which we identified through routine (diagnostic) exome sequencing and targeted resequencing of WAC in 2326 individuals with unexplained ID.

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Conditional depletion of intellectual disability and Parkinsonism candidate gene ATP6AP2 in fly and mouse induces cognitive impairment and neurodegeneration.

Hum Mol Genet

December 2015

Institut Clinique de la Souris, PHENOMIN, GIE CERBM, 1 rue Laurent Fries, 67404 Illkirch, France, Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire, Illkirch, France, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, UMR7104, Illkirch, France, Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, U964, Illkirch, France and Université de Strasbourg, Illkirch, France

ATP6AP2, an essential accessory component of the vacuolar H+ ATPase (V-ATPase), has been associated with intellectual disability (ID) and Parkinsonism. ATP6AP2 has been implicated in several signalling pathways; however, little is known regarding its role in the nervous system. To decipher its function in behaviour and cognition, we generated and characterized conditional knockdowns of ATP6AP2 in the nervous system of Drosophila and mouse models.

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A mechanistic understanding of nanomaterial (NM) interaction with biological environments is pivotal for the safe transition from basic science to applied nanomedicine. NM exposure results in varying levels of internalized NM in different neighboring cells, due to variances in cell size, cell cycle phase and NM agglomeration. Using high-content analysis, we investigated the cytotoxic effects of fluorescent quantum dots on cultured cells, where all effects were correlated with the concentration of NMs at the single cell level.

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Two-stage translational control of dentate gyrus LTP consolidation is mediated by sustained BDNF-TrkB signaling to MNK.

Cell Rep

November 2014

Department of Biomedicine, University of Bergen, Jonas Lies vei 91, 5009 Bergen, Norway; KG Jebsen Centre for Research on Neuropsychiatric Disorders, University of Bergen, 5009 Bergen, Norway. Electronic address:

BDNF signaling contributes to protein-synthesis-dependent synaptic plasticity, but the dynamics of TrkB signaling and mechanisms of translation have not been defined. Here, we show that long-term potentiation (LTP) consolidation in the dentate gyrus of live rodents requires sustained (hours) BDNF-TrkB signaling. Surprisingly, this sustained activation maintains an otherwise labile signaling pathway from TrkB to MAP-kinase-interacting kinase (MNK).

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High-content imaging and gene expression analysis to study cell-nanomaterial interactions: the effect of surface hydrophobicity.

Biomaterials

December 2014

MoSAIC/Biomedical NMR Unit, Department of Medicine, Catholic University of Leuven, B3000 Leuven, Belgium; Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium. Electronic address:

The effects of nanoparticle (NP)-related parameters on cellular interactions are currently uncertain as analysis is complicated by the combinatorial diversity arising from the array of size, shape and surface properties. Here, we present a validated multiparametric high-content imaging method, with the utility of this approach demonstrated by in-depth analysis of the role of hydrophobicity on the interaction of Au NPs with cultured cells. In this methodology, we evaluate cell viability, membrane damage, induction of reactive oxygen species, mitochondrial health, cell area, skewness and induction of autophagy.

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