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- Engen, Kristine, et al.
(author)
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Autoantibodies to the N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor in Adolescents With Early Onset Psychosis and Healthy Controls
- 2020
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In: Frontiers in Psychiatry. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1664-0640. ; 11
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background Autoantibodies to theN-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR-Abs) in autoimmune encephalitis have been associated with prominent psychiatric symptoms. The aims of the present study are to identify the prevalence of NMDAR-Abs in adolescents with early onset psychosis disorders (EOP) and healthy controls (HC) and examine its clinical significance. Method Plasma samples were acquired from 46 adolescent EOP patients and 69 age- and sex matched HC, and assessed for the presence of immunoglobulin G NMDAR-Abs. All participants underwent psychiatric evaluation, neurological examination and head magnetic resonance imaging. Results NMDAR-Abs were detected in three of 46 (6.5%) EOP patients and in two of 69 (2.9%) HC. One NMDAR-Abs EOP patient presented with unusual psychopathology and minor T1 weighted lesions of vasculopathological origin located bi-frontally and in the basal ganglia, and had a recent diagnosis of a separate autoimmune disease. One NMDAR-Ab HC displayed a T2 weighted FLAIR hyperintensity lesion in the left frontal lobe. The remaining three NMDAR-Ab participants were two EOP patients without neurological or radiological findings, and one HC without any clinical findings. Conclusions We report that a small number of EOP patients and HC have NMDAR-Abs with a similar frequency in both groups. The presence of the antibodies was not associated with any distinctive clinical or radiological features. Detection of the antibodies had no diagnostic implication, and a positive NMDAR antibody test must be carefully interpreted and reviewed within the individual clinical context.
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| 2. |
- Soranno, Patricia A., et al.
(author)
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LAGOS-NE : A multi-scaled geospatial and temporal database of lake ecological context and water quality for thousands of U.S. lakes
- 2017
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In: GigaScience. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 2047-217X. ; 6:12, s. 1-22
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Understanding the factors that affect water quality and the ecological services provided by freshwater ecosystems is an urgent global environmental issue. Predicting how water quality will respond to global changes not only requires water quality data, but also information about the ecological context of individual water bodies across broad spatial extents. Because lake water quality is usually sampled in limited geographic regions, often for limited time periods, assessing the environmental controls of water quality requires compilation of many data sets across broad regions and across time into an integrated database. LAGOS-NE accomplishes this goal for lakes in the northeastern-most 17 US states. LAGOS-NE contains data for 51101 lakes and reservoirs larger than 4 ha in 17 lake-rich US states. The database includes 3 datamodules for: lake location and physical characteristics for all lakes; ecological context (i.e., the land use, geologic, climatic, and hydrologic setting of lakes) for all lakes; and in situmeasurements of lake water quality for a subset of the lakes fromthe past 3 decades for approximately 2600–12 000 lakes depending on the variable. The database contains approximately 150000 measures of total phosphorus, 200 000 measures of chlorophyll, and 900 000 measures of Secchi depth. The water quality data were compiled from87 lake water quality data sets fromfederal, state, tribal, and non-profit agencies, university researchers, and citizen scientists. This database is one of the largest andmost comprehensive databases of its type because it includes both in situmeasurements and ecological context data. Because ecological context can be used to study a variety of other questions about lakes, streams, and wetlands, this database can also be used as the foundation for other studies of freshwaters at broad spatial and ecological scales
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| 3. |
- Theorell, Jakob, et al.
(author)
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Screening for pathogenic neuronal autoantibodies in serum and CSF of patients with first-episode psychosis
- 2021
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In: Translational Psychiatry. - : Springer Nature. - 2158-3188. ; 11:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Patients with autoimmune encephalitides, especially those with antibodies to the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR), often present with prominent psychosis and respond well to immunotherapies. Although most patients progress to develop various neurological symptoms, it has been hypothesised that a subgroup of patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP) suffer from a forme fruste of autoimmune encephalitis. Without accurate identification, this immunotherapy-responsive subgroup may be denied disease-modifying treatments. Thirty studies addressing aspects of this hypothesis were identified in a systematic review. Amongst other shortcomings, 15/30 reported no control group and only 6/30 determined cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) autoantibodies. To ourselves address these-and other-limitations, we investigated a prospectively ascertained clinically well-characterised cohort of 71 FEP patients without traditional neurological features, and 48 healthy controls. Serum and CSF were tested for autoantibodies against seven neuronal surface autoantigens using live cell-based assays. These identified 3/71 (4%) patient sera with weak binding to either contactin-associated protein-like 2, the NMDAR or glycine receptor versus no binding from 48 control samples (p = 0.28, Fisher's test). The three seropositive individuals showed no CSF autoantibodies and no differences from the autoantibody-negative patients in their clinical phenotypes, or across multiple parameters of peripheral and central inflammation. All individuals were negative for CSF NMDAR antibodies. In conclusion, formes frustes of autoimmune encephalitis are not prevalent among FEP patients admitted to psychiatric care. Our findings do not support screening for neuronal surface autoantibodies in unselected psychotic patients.
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