Perivascular Macrophages Mediate Microvasospasms After Experimental Subarachnoid Hemorrhage.

Background: Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is characterized by acute and delayed reductions of cerebral blood flow (CBF) caused, among others, by spasms of cerebral arteries and arterioles. Recently, the inactivation of perivascular macrophages (PVM) has been demonstrated to improve neurological outcomes after experimental SAH, but the underlying mechanisms of protection remain unclear. The aim of our exploratory study was, therefore, to investigate the role of PVM in the formation of acute microvasospasms after experimental SAH.

The emotional well-being of parents with children at genetic risk for type 1 diabetes before and during participation in the POInT-study.

Introduction: This study examined the emotional impact that parents experience when confronted with an increased genetic risk of type 1 diabetes (T1D) in their child. Population-based screening of neonates for genetic risk of chronic disease carries the risk of increased emotional burden for parents.

Methods: Information was collected using a well-being questionnaire for parents of infants identified as having an increased risk for T1D in a multinational research study.

PALB2 upregulation is associated with a poor prognosis in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma.

During DNA repair, BRCA1 and BRCA2 interact with the tumor suppressor partner and localizer of BRCA2 (PALB2). PALB2 mutations are associated with an increased risk of breast and ovarian carcinoma, and upregulated PALB2 expression is associated with poor clinical outcomes. The present study investigated the role and prognostic value of PALB2 in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

A New Reference Genome Shows the One-Speed Genome Structure of the Barley Pathogen Ramularia collo-cygni.

Ramularia leaf spot has recently emerged as a major threat to barley production world-wide, causing 25% yield loss in many barley growing regions. Here, we provide a new reference genome of the causal agent, the Dothideomycete Ramularia collo-cygni. The assembly of 32 Mb consists of 78 scaffolds.

Towards frailty biomarkers: Candidates from genes and pathways regulated in aging and age-related diseases.

Objective: Use of the frailty index to measure an accumulation of deficits has been proven a valuable method for identifying elderly people at risk for increased vulnerability, disease, injury, and mortality. However, complementary molecular frailty biomarkers or ideally biomarker panels have not yet been identified. We conducted a systematic search to identify biomarker candidates for a frailty biomarker panel.

Transcriptional biomarkers--high throughput screening, quantitative verification, and bioinformatical validation methods.

Molecular biomarkers found their way into many research fields, especially in molecular medicine, medical diagnostics, disease prognosis, risk assessment but also in other areas like food safety. Different definitions for the term biomarker exist, but on the whole biomarkers are measureable biological molecules that are characteristic for a specific physiological status including drug intervention, normal or pathological processes. There are various examples for molecular biomarkers that are already successfully used in clinical diagnostics, especially as prognostic or diagnostic tool for diseases.

The physiological way: monitoring RNA expression changes as new approach to combat illegal growth promoter application.

The use of growth-promoting agents in food-producing animals is forbidden in the European Union (EU). Therefore a strict control programme has been developed, detecting residues of all known growth-promoting agents using chromatographical methods in combination with mass spectrometry or immunoassays. New designed xenobiotic substances or hormone cocktails are difficult to identify with these methods and therefore the development of new sensitive test methods is important.

Impact of disseminated tumor cells in gastrointestinal cancer.

The detection of epithelial cells by sensitive immunological and molecular methods in blood, lymph nodes or bone marrow of gastrointestinal cancer patients may open a new approach to clinical metastasis research. The phenotypic and genomic characterization of these cells is of great value in the prediction of the further course of the disease and the monitoring of response to treatment. In addition, the role of ultrastaging in blood, lymph nodes and bone marrow of cancer patients for the indication of multimodal therapy is discussed in this review.

Immunocytochemical detection of isolated epithelial tumor cells in bone marrow of patients with pancreatic carcinoma.

Epithelial cells in the bone marrow of 42 patients with pancreatic carcinoma were identified immunocytochemically with monoclonal antibodies directed to epithelial cytokeratins. The occurrence of tumor relapse in patients who underwent complete surgical resection was significantly associated with cytokeratin-positivity in bone marrow. The presence of these cells in indicative of an increased disseminative capability of the primary tumor and defines a new category of patients for neoadjuvant therapy.