| 1. |
|
|
| 2. |
|
|
| 3. |
- de Rojas, I., et al.
(author)
-
Common variants in Alzheimer’s disease and risk stratification by polygenic risk scores
- 2021
-
In: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 12:1
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Genetic discoveries of Alzheimer’s disease are the drivers of our understanding, and together with polygenetic risk stratification can contribute towards planning of feasible and efficient preventive and curative clinical trials. We first perform a large genetic association study by merging all available case-control datasets and by-proxy study results (discovery n = 409,435 and validation size n = 58,190). Here, we add six variants associated with Alzheimer’s disease risk (near APP, CHRNE, PRKD3/NDUFAF7, PLCG2 and two exonic variants in the SHARPIN gene). Assessment of the polygenic risk score and stratifying by APOE reveal a 4 to 5.5 years difference in median age at onset of Alzheimer’s disease patients in APOE ɛ4 carriers. Because of this study, the underlying mechanisms of APP can be studied to refine the amyloid cascade and the polygenic risk score provides a tool to select individuals at high risk of Alzheimer’s disease. © 2021, The Author(s).
|
|
| 4. |
|
|
| 5. |
- Adam, A, et al.
(author)
-
Abstracts from Hydrocephalus 2016.
- 2017
-
In: Fluids and Barriers of the CNS. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2045-8118. ; 14:Suppl 1
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)
|
|
| 6. |
- Bellenguez, C, et al.
(author)
-
New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias
- 2022
-
In: Nature genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1546-1718 .- 1061-4036. ; 54:4, s. 412-436
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/‘proxy’ AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele.
|
|
| 7. |
|
|
| 8. |
|
|
| 9. |
|
|
| 10. |
- Sawcer, Stephen, et al.
(author)
-
Genetic risk and a primary role for cell-mediated immune mechanisms in multiple sclerosis
- 2011
-
In: Nature. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 476:7359, s. 214-219
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Multiple sclerosis is a common disease of the central nervous system in which the interplay between inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes typically results in intermittent neurological disturbance followed by progressive accumulation of disability. Epidemiological studies have shown that genetic factors are primarily responsible for the substantially increased frequency of the disease seen in the relatives of affected individuals, and systematic attempts to identify linkage in multiplex families have confirmed that variation within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) exerts the greatest individual effect on risk. Modestly powered genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have enabled more than 20 additional risk loci to be identified and have shown that multiple variants exerting modest individual effects have a key role in disease susceptibility. Most of the genetic architecture underlying susceptibility to the disease remains to be defined and is anticipated to require the analysis of sample sizes that are beyond the numbers currently available to individual research groups. In a collaborative GWAS involving 9,772 cases of European descent collected by 23 research groups working in 15 different countries, we have replicated almost all of the previously suggested associations and identified at least a further 29 novel susceptibility loci. Within the MHC we have refined the identity of the HLA-DRB1 risk alleles and confirmed that variation in the HLA-A gene underlies the independent protective effect attributable to the class I region. Immunologically relevant genes are significantly overrepresented among those mapping close to the identified loci and particularly implicate T-helper-cell differentiation in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis.
|
|
| 11. |
- Karppinen, J, et al.
(author)
-
Serum biomarkers for Modic changes in patients with chronic low back pain
- 2021
-
In: European spine journal : official publication of the European Spine Society, the European Spinal Deformity Society, and the European Section of the Cervical Spine Research Society. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1432-0932. ; 30:64, s. 1018-1027
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)
|
|
| 12. |
|
|
| 13. |
- Amendola, L., et al.
(author)
-
Cosmology and fundamental physics with the Euclid satellite
- 2018
-
In: Living Reviews in Relativity. - : Springer. - 1433-8351 .- 2367-3613. ; 21:1
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Euclid is a European Space Agency medium-class mission selected for launch in 2020 within the cosmic vision 2015–2025 program. The main goal of Euclid is to understand the origin of the accelerated expansion of the universe. Euclid will explore the expansion history of the universe and the evolution of cosmic structures by measuring shapes and red-shifts of galaxies as well as the distribution of clusters of galaxies over a large fraction of the sky. Although the main driver for Euclid is the nature of dark energy, Euclid science covers a vast range of topics, from cosmology to galaxy evolution to planetary research. In this review we focus on cosmology and fundamental physics, with a strong emphasis on science beyond the current standard models. We discuss five broad topics: dark energy and modified gravity, dark matter, initial conditions, basic assumptions and questions of methodology in the data analysis. This review has been planned and carried out within Euclid’s Theory Working Group and is meant to provide a guide to the scientific themes that will underlie the activity of the group during the preparation of the Euclid mission.
|
|
| 14. |
|
|
| 15. |
- Koivisto, K, et al.
(author)
-
The Effect of Zoledronic Acid on Serum Biomarkers among Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain and Modic Changes in Lumbar Magnetic Resonance Imaging
- 2019
-
In: Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland). - : MDPI AG. - 2075-4418. ; 9:4
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The aim of the current study was to compare changes in serum biomarkers, including inflammatory mediators, signaling molecules, growth factors and markers of bone turnover after a single intravenous infusion of 5 mg zoledronic acid (ZA, a long-acting bisphosphonate; n = 20) or placebo (n = 20) among patients with Modic changes (MC) and chronic low back pain in a randomized controlled design. The MCs were classified into M1, predominating M1, predominating M2, and M2. We measured the serum concentrations of 39 biomarkers at baseline, and one month and one year after treatment. After Benjamini–Hochberg (B–H) correction, we observed significant differences in three biomarkers over one year: Interferon-γ-inducible protein (IP-10) had risen in the ZA group (p = 0.005), whereas alkaline phosphatase (AFOS) and intact procollagen I N-terminal propeptide (iPINP) had significantly decreased in the ZA group, but had not changed in the placebo group (p < 0.001 for both). Change in iPINP correlated with change in the volume of all MC and M1 lesions. ZA downregulated bone turnover markers as expected and, surprisingly, increased the chemokine IP-10 relative to placebo treatment. This adds to our knowledge of the effects of ZA on MC and the biomarkers that signal this process.
|
|
| 16. |
- Leinonen, V, et al.
(author)
-
Positron emission tomography with [18F]flutemetamol and [11C]PiB for in vivo detection of cerebral cortical amyloid in normal pressure hydrocephalus patients.
- 2013
-
In: European Journal of Neurology. - : Wiley. - 1351-5101 .- 1468-1331. ; 20:7, s. 1043-52
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This study determined the correlation between uptake of the amyloid positron emission tomography (PET) imaging agent [(18) F]flutemetamol and amyloid-β measured by immunohistochemical and histochemical staining in a frontal cortical biopsy.METHODS: Fifteen patients with possible normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH) and previous brain biopsy obtained during intracranial pressure monitoring underwent [18F]flutemetamol PET. Seven of these patients also underwent [11C] Pittsburgh compound B (PiB) PET. [18F]Flutemetamol and [11C]PiB uptake was quantified using standardized uptake value ratio (SUVR) with the cerebellar cortex as a reference region. Tissue amyloid-β was evaluated using the monoclonal antibody 4G8, Thioflavin-S and Bielschowsky silver stain.RESULTS: [18F]Flutemetamol and [11C]PiB SUVRs correlated with biopsy specimen amyloid-β levels contralateral (r = 0.86, P < 0.0001; r = 0.96, P = 0.0008) and ipsilateral (r = 0.82, P = 0.0002; r = 0.87, P = 0.01) to the biopsy site. Association between cortical composite [(18) F]flutemetamol SUVRs and [11C]PiB SUVRs was highly significant (r = 0.97, P = 0.0003).CONCLUSIONS: [18F]Flutemetamol detects brain amyloid-β in vivo with moderate to high sensitivity and high specificity. This agent, therefore, represents a valuable new tool to study and verify the presence of amyloid-β pathology, both in patients with possible NPH and among the wider population.
|
|
| 17. |
|
|
| 18. |
- Herukka, S. K., et al.
(author)
-
Amyloid-beta and Tau Dynamics in Human Brain Interstitial Fluid in Patients with Suspected Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus
- 2015
-
In: Journal of Alzheimers Disease. - : IOS Press. - 1387-2877 .- 1875-8908. ; 46:1, s. 261-269
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Amyloid-beta (A beta(1-42)), total tau (T-tau), and phosphorylated tau (P-tau(181)) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are the most promising biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Still, little is known about the dynamics of these molecules in the living brain. In a transgenic mouse brain, soluble A beta decreases with increasing age and advanced A beta pathology as seen similarly in CSF. Objective: To assess the relationship between AD-related pathological changes in human brain tissue, ventricular and lumbar CSF, and brain interstitial fluid (ISF). Methods: Altogether 11 patients with suspected idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus underwent frontal cortical brain biopsy, 24-h intraventricular pressure monitoring, and a microdialysis procedure. AD-related biomarkers were analyzed from brain tissue, CSF, and ISF. Results: ISF T-tau levels decreased strongly within the first 12 h, then plateauing until the end of the experiment. A beta(1-42) and P-tau(181) remained stable during the experiment (n = 3). T-tau and P-tau were higher in the ISF than in ventricular or lumbar CSF, while A beta(1-42) levels were within similar range in both CSF and ISF samples. ISF P-tau correlated with the ventricular CSF T-tau (r = 0.70, p = 0.017) and P-tau(181) (r = 0.64, p = 0.034). Five patients with amyloid pathology in the brain biopsy tended to reveal lower ISF A beta(1-42) levels than those six without amyloid pathology. Conclusions: This is the first study to report ISF A beta and tau levels in the human brain without significant brain injury. The set-up used enables sampling from the brain ISF for at least 24 h without causing adverse effects due to the microdialysis procedure to follow the dynamics of the key molecules in AD pathogenesis in the living brain at various stages of the disease.
|
|
| 19. |
|
|
| 20. |
- Janhunen, P., et al.
(author)
-
Invited Article: Electric solar wind sail : Toward test missions
- 2010
-
In: Review of Scientific Instruments. - : AIP Publishing. - 0034-6748 .- 1089-7623. ; 81:11, s. 111301-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The electric solar wind sail (E-sail) is a space propulsion concept that uses the natural solar wind dynamic pressure for producing spacecraft thrust. In its baseline form, the E-sail consists of a number of long, thin, conducting, and centrifugally stretched tethers, which are kept in a high positive potential by an onboard electron gun. The concept gains its efficiency from the fact that the effective sail area, i.e., the potential structure of the tethers, can be millions of times larger than the physical area of the thin tethers wires, which offsets the fact that the dynamic pressure of the solar wind is very weak. Indeed, according to the most recent published estimates, an E-sail of 1 N thrust and 100 kg mass could be built in the rather near future, providing a revolutionary level of propulsive performance (specific acceleration) for travel in the solar system. Here we give a review of the ongoing technical development work of the E-sail, covering tether construction, overall mechanical design alternatives, guidance and navigation strategies, and dynamical and orbital simulations.
|
|
| 21. |
- Leinonen, V., et al.
(author)
-
S- F-18 THK-5117-PET and C-11 PIB-PET Imaging in Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus in Relation to Confirmed Amyloid-beta Plaques and Tau in Brain Biopsies
- 2018
-
In: Journal of Alzheimers Disease. - : IOS Press. - 1387-2877 .- 1875-8908. ; 64:1, s. 171-179
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Detection of pathological tau aggregates could facilitate clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and monitor drug effects in clinical trials. S-[F-18] THK-5117 could be a potential tracer to detect pathological tau deposits in brain. However, no previous study have correlated S-[F-18] THK-5117 uptake in PET with brain biopsy verified tau pathology in vivo. Objective: Here we aim to evaluate the association between cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) AD biomarkers, S-[F-18] THK-5117, and [C-11] PIB PET against tau and amyloid lesions in brain biopsy. Methods: Fourteen patients with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) with previous shunt surgery including right frontal cortical brain biopsy and CSF A beta(1-42), total tau, and P-tau(181) measures, underwent brain MRI, [C-11] PIB PET, and S-[F-18] THK-5117 PET imaging. Results: Seven patients had amyloid-beta(A beta, 4G8) plaques, two both A beta and phosphorylated tau (P tau, AT8) and one only P tau in biopsy. As expected, increased brain biopsy A beta was well associated with higher [C-11] PIB uptake in PET. However, S-[F-18] THK-5117 uptake did not show any statistically significant correlation with either brain biopsy P tau or CSF P-tau(181) or total tau. Conclusions: S-[F-18] THK-5117 lacked clear association with neuropathologically verified tau pathology in brain biopsy probably, at least partially, due to off-target binding. Further studies with larger samples of patients with different tau tracers are urgently needed. The detection of simultaneous A beta and tau pathology in iNPH is important since that may indicate poorer and especially shorter response for CSF shunt surgery compared with no pathology.
|
|
| 22. |
- Pyykkö, O. T., et al.
(author)
-
APOE4 predicts amyloid-β in cortical brain biopsy but not idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus
- 2012
-
In: Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. - : BMJ. - 0022-3050 .- 1468-330X. ; 83:11, s. 1119-1124
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective: To investigate the association of apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype, especially the APOE4 allele, to (1) idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) and (2) amyloid-β (Aβ) plaques in cortical brain biopsies of presumed NPH patients with and without a final clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Methods: 202 patients with presumed NPH were evaluated by intraventricular pressure monitoring and frontal cortical biopsy immunostained against Aβ (134 semiquantified by Aβ plaques/mm 2). The 202 patients and 687 cognitively healthy individuals were genotyped for APOE. The final clinical diagnoses in a median follow-up of 3.9 years were: 113 iNPH (94 shunt responsive, 16 shunt non-responsive, three not shunted); 36 AD (12 mixed iNPH + AD); 53 others. Results: The APOE genotypes distributed similarly in the 94 shunt responsive and 16 non-responsive iNPH patients and healthy controls. In multivariate analysis, the APOE4 allele correlated independently with Aβ plaques in the cortical biopsies (OR 8.7, 95% CI 3.6 to 20, p<0.001). The APOE4 allele in presumed NPH predicted later AD as follows: sensitivity 61%; specificity 77%; positive predictive value 37%; negative predictive value 90%. Conclusion: In presumed NPH patients, APOE4 associates independently with the presence of Aβ plaques in the frontal cortical biopsy. APOE4 is not a risk factor for iNPH and does not predict the response to shunt. Our data further support the view that the iNPH syndrome is a distinct dementing disease.
|
|
| 23. |
- Beecham, Ashley H, et al.
(author)
-
Analysis of immune-related loci identifies 48 new susceptibility variants for multiple sclerosis.
- 2013
-
In: Nature genetics. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1546-1718 .- 1061-4036. ; 45:11, s. 1353-60
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Using the ImmunoChip custom genotyping array, we analyzed 14,498 subjects with multiple sclerosis and 24,091 healthy controls for 161,311 autosomal variants and identified 135 potentially associated regions (P < 1.0 × 10(-4)). In a replication phase, we combined these data with previous genome-wide association study (GWAS) data from an independent 14,802 subjects with multiple sclerosis and 26,703 healthy controls. In these 80,094 individuals of European ancestry, we identified 48 new susceptibility variants (P < 5.0 × 10(-8)), 3 of which we found after conditioning on previously identified variants. Thus, there are now 110 established multiple sclerosis risk variants at 103 discrete loci outside of the major histocompatibility complex. With high-resolution Bayesian fine mapping, we identified five regions where one variant accounted for more than 50% of the posterior probability of association. This study enhances the catalog of multiple sclerosis risk variants and illustrates the value of fine mapping in the resolution of GWAS signals.
|
|
| 24. |
- Ciavola, G., et al.
(author)
-
Status report of the multipurpose superconducting electron cyclotron resonance ion source
- 2008
-
In: Review of Scientific Instruments. - : AIP Publishing. - 0034-6748 .- 1089-7623. ; 79:2, s. 02A326-
-
Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Intense heavy ion beam production with electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion sources is a common requirement for many of the accelerators under construction in Europe and elsewhere. An average increase of about one order of magnitude per decade in the performance of ECR ion sources was obtained up to now since the time of pioneering experiment of R. Geller at CEA, Grenoble, and this trend is not deemed to get the saturation at least in the next decade, according to the increased availability of powerful magnets and microwave generators. Electron density above 1013 cm(-3) and very high current of multiply charged ions are expected with the use of 28 GHz microwave heating and of an adequate plasma trap, with a B-minimum shape, according to the high B mode concept [S. Gammino and G. Ciavola, Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 5, 19 (1996)]. The MS-ECRIS ion source has been designed following this concept and its construction is underway at GSI, Darmstadt. The project is the result of the cooperation of nine European institutions with the partial funding of EU through the sixth Framework Programme. The contribution of different institutions has permitted to build in 2006-2007 each component at high level of expertise. The description of the major components will be given in the following with a view on the planning of the assembly and commissioning phase to be carried out in fall 2007. An outline of the experiments to be done with the MS-ECRIS source in the next two years will be presented.
|
|
| 25. |
|
|
