Human midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons are a heterogeneous group of cells that share a common neurotransmitter phenotype and are in close anatomical proximity but display different functions, sensitivity to degeneration, and axonal innervation targets. The A9 DA neuron subtype controls motor function and is primarily degenerated in Parkinson's disease (PD), whereas A10 neurons are largely unaffected

Recent advances in cell reprogramming have made it possible to form new therapeutic cells within the body itself via a process called direct conversion or lineage reprogramming. A series of studies have shown that it is possible to reprogram resident glia into new neurons within the brain parenchyma. These studies opened up for the targeted attempts to achieve functional brain repair using in vivo

The use of stem cell derived dopamine neurons for treating patients with Parkinson's disease has now evolved to the first in human clinical trials. In this debate, we argue that assuming these trials give positive outcomes that this therapy will supercede DBS as the neurosurgical treatment of choice for PD patients in the future given it is a one-off therapy that repairs a critical pathway in the

In two recent postmortem studies, Jeffrey Kordower and colleagues report new findings that open up for an interesting discussion on the status of GDNF/NRTN signaling in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), adding an interesting perspective on the, admittedly very limited, signs of restorative effects previously seen in GDNF/NRTN-treated patients. Their new findings show that the level of the GD

We study acoustic streaming in liquids driven by a nondissipative acoustic body force created by light-induced temperature gradients. This thermoacoustic streaming produces a velocity amplitude nearly 100 times higher than the boundary-driven Rayleigh streaming and the Rayleigh-Bénard convection at a temperature gradient of 10 K/mm in the channel. The Rayleigh streaming is altered by the acoustic

The Jk(a-b-) phenotype results from alterations in the JK gene and is characterized by absence of the RBC urea transporter in the cell membrane. The frequency of Jk(a-b-) varies among populations, but this phenotype is most commonly found in people of Polynesian and Finnish descent. Although rare, Jk(a-b-) individuals present a clinical challenge because anti-Jk3 is produced readily in response to

According to non-doxasticism, religious faith can be in an important sense belief-less. However, such faith becomes vulnerable to the despair-problem known from the literature on hope. I suggest that the problem can be overcome by adopting J. L. Schellenberg’s imagination-based account of non-doxastic faith. In developing this idea, I draw on the account of imagination offered by Amy Kind and an u

All the cells of the individuals with phenotypes "p" y "Pk" lack the glucidic antigens of "public" blood groups. These subjects form natural and regular antibodies against the missing structures (anti-P, anti-PP1 y anti-PP1Pk) that agglutínate or hemolyze the red-blood cells of every individual, excepting those with the same phenotype. Due to the exceptional character of these pictures (a few indi

There are three main alleles in the ABO blood group system, A, B, and O. The former two alleles encode glycosyltransferases resulting in the wild-type A and B phenotypes, whereas the latter allele does not encode a functional enzyme owing to a frameshift polymorphism in the majority of cases. Thus the group O phenotype is the absence of A or B sugars. More than 15 years ago the O 2 allele was desc

Background and Aims: Little is known about small-bowel (SB) capsule endoscopy (CE) in patients with a history of gastric surgery. This study aims to evaluate the feasibility and diagnostic yield (DY) of orally ingested SB-CE in patients with surgically altered gastric anatomy. Methods: Twenty-four European centers retrospectively identified patients who had SB-CE after total or subtotal gastrectom

Objective: For patients undergoing radical cystectomy for bladder cancer, a procedure requiring complex urinary tract reconstruction prone to major postoperative complications, the timing and quality of the surgery have been associated with outcomes. Patients and methods: This study investigated if radical cystectomy for bladder cancer performed during holiday periods had worse disease-specific (D

Predator-inducible defenses constitute a widespread form of adaptive phenotypic plasticity, and such defenses have recently been suggested linked with the neuroendocrine system. The neuroendocrine system is a target of endocrine disruptors, such as psychoactive pharmaceuticals, which are common aquatic contaminants. We hypothesized that exposure to an antidepressant pollutant, fluoxetine, influenc

We study an optimal control problem for a simple transportation model on a path graph. We give a closed form solution for the optimal controller, which can also account for planned disturbances using feed-forward. The optimal controller is highly structured, which allows the controller to be implemented using only local communication, conducted through two sweeps through the graph.

AIMS: Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a common and severe complication to type 2 diabetes (T2D). The pathogenesis of DPN is not fully known, but several pathways and gene polymorphisms contributing to DPN are described. DPN can be studied using nerve biopsies, but studies on the proteome of the nerve itself, and its surrounding tissue as a whole, are lacking. Studies on the posterior inter