Plos One
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The HLA-G molecule plays an important role in immunomodulation. In a previous study carried out on a southern French population our team showed that HLA-G haplotypes, defined by SNPs in the coding region and specific SNPs located in 5'URR and 3'UTR regulatory regions, are associated with differential soluble HLA-G expression (sHLA-G). Furthermore, the structure of these HLA-G haplotypes appears to be conserved in geographically distant populations. ⋯ Specifically, the UTR-2 haplotype was associated with low sHLA-G levels, displaying a dominant negative effect. Furthermore, an allelic effect of both HLA-G and HLA-A, as well as non genetic parameters, such as age and gender possibly linked to osteogenesis and sexual hormones, also seem to be involved in the modulation of sHLA-G. These data suggest that further investigation in larger cohorts and in populations from various ethnical backgrounds is necessary not only to detect new functional polymorphism in HLA-G regulatory regions, but also to reveal the extent of biological phenomena that influence sHLA-G secretion and this might therefore have an impact on transplantation practice.
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Dopamine D1 receptor (DRD1) modulates opioid reinforcement, reward, and opioid-induced neuroadaptation. We propose that DRD1 polymorphism affects susceptibility to opioid dependence (OD), the efficiency of transition to OD, and opioid-induced pleasure response. We analyzed potential association between seven DRD1 polymorphisms with the following traits: duration of transition from the first use to dependence (DTFUD), subjective pleasure responses to opioid on first use and post-dependence use, and OD risk in 425 Chinese with OD and 514 healthy controls. ⋯ GG+TT, OR = 0.261) could predict decreased pleasure response to first-time use and the minor alleles of rs686 (OR = 0.535) and rs4532 (OR = 0.537) could predict decreased post-dependence pleasure. Moreover, rs686 minor allele was associated with a decreased risk for rapid transition from initial use to dependence (DTFUD≤30 days; OR = 0.603) or post-dependence euphoria (OR = 0.603) relative to major allele. In conclusion, DRD1 rs686 minor allele decreases the OD risk by prolonging the transition to dependence and attenuating opioid-induced pleasure in Chinese.
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Impulsivity is a multidimensional construct which has been associated with dopaminergic neurotransmission. Nonetheless, until this moment, few studies addressed the relationship between different types of impulsivity and the single nucleotide polymorphism caused by a substitution of valine (val) with methionine (met) in the 158 codon of the Catechol-o-Methyltransferase gene (COMT-val158met). The present study aimed to investigate the association between val158met COMT polymorphism and impulsive behavior measured by two neuropsychological tests. ⋯ Our results suggest that met allele of val158met COMT polymorphism is associated with poor performance in decision-making/cognitive impulsivity task. The results reinforce the hypothesis that val and met alleles of the val158met polymorphism show functional dissociation and are related to different prefrontal processes.
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Sleep apnea (SA) has been associated with cognitive impairment. However, no data regarding the risk of dementia in patients with SA has been reported in the general population. This retrospective matched-control cohort study was designed to estimate and compare the risk of dementia in SA and non-SA patients among persons aged 40 and above over a 5-year period follow-up. ⋯ SA may be a gender-dependent, age-dependent, and time-dependent risk factor for dementia.
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Spinal cord ischemia can lead to paralysis or paraparesis, but if detected early it may be amenable to treatment. Current methods use evoked potentials for detection of spinal cord ischemia, a decades old technology whose warning signs are indirect and significantly delayed from the onset of ischemia. Here we introduce and demonstrate a prototype fiber optic device that directly measures spinal cord blood flow and oxygenation. ⋯ Both open and percutaneous approaches were evaluated during pharmacologic, physiological, and mechanical interventions designed to induce variations in spinal cord blood flow and oxygenation. The induced variations were rapidly and reproducibly detected, demonstrating direct measurement of spinal cord ischemia in real-time. In the future, this form of hemodynamic spinal cord diagnosis could significantly improve monitoring and management in a broad range of patients, including those undergoing thoracic and abdominal aortic revascularization, spine stabilization procedures for scoliosis and trauma, spinal cord tumor resection, and those requiring management of spinal cord injury in intensive care settings.