Biomarkers.

Background: Recent studies in brain functional connectivity (FC) have shifted focus to dynamic functional connectivity (dFC), exploring transient aspects of FC over time. This shift is particularly relevant for Alzheimer's Disease (AD), as it involves altered cognition-supporting networks. Our study aims to characterize the evolution of dFC across the entire pre-dementia AD spectrum using Amplitude Envelope Correlation (AEC) recurrence matrices and to link this to cognitive decline.

Biomarkers.

Background: The emergence of disease-modifying drug therapies is expected to revolutionize the field of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recent results from anti-amyloid clinical trials highlight the importance of early identification and accurate risk-stratification of individuals in early stages of the disease. In this context, the Amyloid Imaging to Prevent Alzheimer's Disease (AMYPAD) Prognostic and Natural History Study (PNHS) was established, leveraging existing cohorts to alleviate the burden of recruiting de novo participants.

Biomarkers.

Background: CSF t-tau is considered a marker of neuronal injury in AD and strongly correlates with cognitive impairment. Evidence suggests that women accumulate more tau pathology early in AD than men. However, how pregnancy influences this relationship is unclear.

Biomarkers.

Background: Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) serves as a proxy for tissue-specific TL and peripheral immune aging. Its association with aging-related brain endophenotypes, cognitive functioning, and Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk is established, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain elusive. Investigating LTL's association with AD biomarkers is crucial for identifying its role in brain resilience and disease progression.

Biomarkers.

Background: Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is an astrocytic cytoskeletal protein and a promising blood biomarker for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other neurodegenerative diseases. To date, the genetic architecture of plasma GFAP has not been characterized. We conducted a multi-ancestry meta-analyses of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in diverse population-based cohorts to identify genetic variants associated with plasma levels of GFAP and to investigate their implication for neurological diseases.

Biomarkers.

Background: Blood-based biomarkers offer a non-invasive and cost-effective means for Alzheimer's disease (AD) detection. In this study, we performed a direct comparison of these novel biomarkers in a memory clinic population to facilitate their implementation into clinical practice.

Method: We included a total of 208 patients with cognitive complaints from the BIODEGMAR cohort at Hospital del Mar (Barcelona, Spain).

Biomarkers.

Background: Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is a putative blood biomarker for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Most studies measure plasma GFAP (pGFAP) utilizing the Single Molecule Array (Simoa) platform or other high-cost platforms. However, we aim to validate the value of GFAP as a blood biomarker for AD using chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay (CMIA), an ubiquitous lower-cost platform.

Evolved and Plastic Gene Expression in Adaptation of a Specialist Fly to a Novel Niche.

How gene expression evolves to enable divergent ecological adaptation and how changes in gene expression relate to genomic architecture are pressing questions for understanding the mechanisms enabling adaptation and ecological speciation. Furthermore, how plasticity in gene expression can both contribute to and be affected by the process of ecological adaptation is crucial to understanding gene expression evolution, colonisation of novel niches and response to rapid environmental change. Here, we investigate the role of constitutive and plastic gene expression differences between host races, or host-specific ecotypes, of the peacock fly Tephritis conura, a thistle bud specialist.

Topochemical Synthesis and Electronic Structure of High-Crystallinity Infinite-Layer Nickelates on an Orthorhombic Substrate.

Superconductivity in infinite-layer nickelates has stirred much research interest, to which questions regarding the nature of superconductivity remain elusive. A critical leap forward to address these intricate questions is through the growth of high-crystallinity infinite-layer nickelates, including the "parent" phase. Here, we report the synthesis of a high-quality thin-film nickelate, NdNiO.

Exploring nickel-catalyzed organochalcogen synthesis cross-coupling of benzonitrile and alkyl chalcogenols with computational tools.

The preparation of organochalcogens has increased in recent times due to their promising biological activity properties. This work studies the reaction mechanism of a nickel(0)-catalyzed cross-coupling between benzonitrile and propanethiol to produce new C-S bonds by computational means. The proposed mechanism follows the classical oxidative addition/transmetalation/reductive elimination cross-coupling sequence, involving an unusual oxidative addition of a Ph-CN bond onto the active species.

Migrant Farmworkers' Acceptability of Health Services in Spain: Barriers and Facilitators Identified by Professionals.

Background: Seasonal migrant farmworkers (SMF) make up a significant part of Spain's agricultural labour force. Due to precarious labour conditions, housing insecurity and factors related to migration, SMF are at risk of specific health issues and occupational accidents. In addition, migrants in Spain face barriers when accessing healthcare services.

Approach to anaemia in gastrointestinal disease: A position paper by the ESPGHAN Gastroenterology Committee.

Anaemia is a frequent consequence of many gastrointestinal (GI) diseases in children and it can even be the initial presenting symptom of underlying chronic GI disease. The definition of anaemia is age and gender-dependent and it can be classified based on pathophysiology, red cell morphology, and clinical presentation. Although nutritional deficiencies, including GI malabsorption of nutrients and GI bleeding, play a major role, other pathophysiologic mechanisms seen in chronic GI diseases, whether inflammatory (e.

Developing Topics.

Background: About half of the patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease (AD) display sleeping disorders. Disruptions in the central circadian clock (CC), located in the brain, accelerate AD pathogenesis, making the CC a promising target. In preclinical trials, this strategy have shown efficacy but clinical results are inconsistent.

Developing Topics.

Background: Understanding the association of different fitness components with brain structure, and further, how possible fitness-related brain associations relate to executive function is important for developing public health strategies to improve the health and wellbeing of elderly adults worldwide. Thus, we aimed to investigate the association of cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and muscular strength measures with gray matter volume (GMV), and to study whether fitness-related regions of GMV are associated to executive function (EF) in cognitively normal older adults.

Methods: Ninety-one cognitively normal older adults (71.

Developing Topics.

Background: Network neuropsychology is an emergent field dedicated to analyzing cognitive functions as interconnected systems. Although previous studies have explored cognitive network reorganization across the Alzheimer's disease (AD) continuum using comprehensive neuropsychological batteries, these approaches often overlook the potential of single screening tests used in routine clinical practice. This study innovatively applies graphical models to data from isolated neurocognitive tests, specifically the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive Subscale (ADAS-Cog), to construct cognitive networks.

Developing Topics.

Background: Current evidence suggests that hippocampal subfields have partially different genetic architecture and may improve the sensitivity of the detection of Alzheimer's disease (AD). In this study, we investigated whether genetic predisposition to AD contributes to the accelerated rate of hippocampal volume atrophy across sex and AD stages and how this contribution is specifically driven by functional variants located in the APOE gene.

Methods: The study comprised 1,051 participants from ADNI cohort (75.

Developing Topics.

Background: Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a valuable resource for the study and diagnosis of neurological diseases, but few studies have comprehensively characterized the genetic determinants of CSF protein levels that may contribute to the development of disease. These quantitative trait loci (QTL) have proven vital to identifying candidate genes for disease treatment and monitoring. Here, we utilize our largest-to-date CSF protein QTL atlas to prioritize potentially causal proteins for 14 neurological traits and examine the unique and overlapping disease mechanisms observed using CSF proteins.

Developing Topics.

Background: Synaptic dysfunction is a prominent feature in neurodegenerative disorders, associating with cognition. In contrast to most synaptic proteins assessed in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), Neuronal pentraxin 2 (NPTX2), essential for synaptic plasticity, exhibits downregulation neurodegenerative disorders through mass spectrometry (MS) methods. While MS-based assays hold promise, their constraints hinder widespread clinical adoption.

Developing Topics.

Background: The medial temporal lobe (MTL) has distinct cortical subregions that are differentially vulnerable to pathology and neurodegeneration in diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. However, previous protocols for segmentation of MTL cortical subregions on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) vary substantially across research groups, and have been informed by different cytoarchitectonic definitions, precluding consistent interpretations. The Hippocampal Subfields Group aims to create a harmonized, histology-based protocol for segmentation of MTL cortical subregions that can reliably be applied to T2-weighted MRI with high in-plane resolution.

Developing Topics.

Background: Emerging technologies and novel biomarker tools are transforming the field of Alzheimer's disease, allowing for a more in-depth exploration of biological mechanisms underpinning the disease aetio-pathogenesis. In this context, there is growing recognition of the potential of plasma proteomics for AD risk assessment and disease characterization. On the other hand, differences between proteomics platforms introduce uncertainties regarding cross-platform applicability.

Developing Topics.

Background: Synapse loss represents the closest correlate of cognitive decline in Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Standard microscopy, due to increased diffraction of light with tissue depth, imposes a limit on axial resolution extending to ∼ 700nm. Array tomography (AT), developed by Micheva & Smith (2007), extends this axial limit via physical sectioning of resin-embedded tissue into ribbons of 70nm contiguous sections that are serially imaged and reconstructed into 3D volumes; thus, allowing for nanometric synaptic puncta to be resolved at the mesoscale.

Developing Topics.

Background: Our laboratory has demonstrated that the NLRP3 inflammasome has a critical role in the microglial innate immune response to Alzheimer's disease (AD)-related peptides, triggering the release of cleaved-caspase-1 and IL-1β. NLRP3 activation was found in post-mortem tissue from individuals with AD (Heneka et al., 2013) and in transgenic models of AD (APP/PS1 mice).

Developing Topics.

Background: The anterior portion of the MTL is one of the first regions targeted by pathology in sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD) indicating the potential for imaging metrics from this region to serve as valuable imaging biomarkers. However, most existing automated approaches for MTL segmentation do not incorporate anterior MTL subregions, and the few that do fail to account for its complex anatomical variability. Leveraging a unique postmortem dataset consisting of histology and structural MRI scans we aimed to develop an anatomically valid segmentation protocol for anterior entorhinal cortex (ERC), Brodmann Area (BA) 35, and BA36 and apply it for automated MTL segmentation of in vivo 3 tesla (T) MRI.

Developing Topics.

Background: The rapid development of blood-based biomarkers (BBMs) has improved Alzheimer's disease (AD) diagnostics with some tests now potentially suitable for clinical use. This aligns with the clinical availability of anti-Aβ immunotherapies for early symptomatic AD, where BBMs can help address the increasing need for more rapid and early diagnosis. Clinical practice guidelines (CPG) can help guide healthcare professionals in incorporating BBMs into their clinical practice.