A new strategy to reconcile amyloid cross-seeding and amyloid prevention in a binary system of α-synuclein fragmental peptide and hIAPP

Oral rehydration therapy and Zinc treatment among diarrhoeal children in India: Exploration from latest cross-sectional National Family Health Survey

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Diarrhoea is one of the deadliest diseases and causing death among children in India, but no systematic attempt is made to understand it especially its control using oral rehydration salts (ORS). It is well known that use of ORS and Zinc have been effective in containing diarrhoea among children. An attempt is made using large scale national data set in India to understand use of ORS and Zinc to control diarrhoea and their associated factors among diarrhoeal children under five in India.

METHODS

Publicly available most recent cross-sectional National Family Health Survey data in India was used for the study. The multi-stage cluster sampling design was used with 2011 Census of India as a sampling frame. Households were selected using a Systematic Random Sampling design from selected primary sampling units in rural and urban clusters. From the selected households, the eligible children were those who suffered from diarrhoea in the two weeks preceding the survey and were less than 5 years old. Using this criterion, out of 232,920 children in the survey of less than five years, 16,213 sample diarrheal children found to be available for the study. Both descriptive and inferential statistical techniques were used to analyse the data.

RESULTS

Across India, 61% and 31% of the children were given ORS and Zinc respectively. However, combined ORS + Zinc treatment was only around 24%. The treatment of ORS, Zinc, and combined ORS + Zinc supplementations were significantly higher among younger children, children of 24-35 age group mothers, children from rich wealth index groups, belong to Hindu religion and general caste compared to their counterparts. The logistic regression results showed that consumption of ORS among diarrhoeal children under five years of age depends upon size of a child at birth. For instance, diarrheal children who were very small size at birth compared to very large at birth, had 39% lower odds of consuming ORS (AOR = 0.61; CI 0.48, 0.78; p<0.001). Another important variable is place of first treatment sought for diarrheal children. That is children who first sought treatment in private hospital compared to government hospital had 52% lower odds of ORS consumption. The logistic regression adjusted AORs are similar with Zinc and ORS + Zinc supplementations.

CONCLUSIONS

To improve the coverage and management of childhood diarrhoea in India, planning activities should focus not only on distribution, and increasing knowledge of ORS preparation especially for urban slum residents and rural disadvantaged groups through demonstration. There should be also proper focus on providing ongoing pathways to ensure proper supply chains.

ROF-2 as an Aggregation-Induced Emission (AIE) Probe for Multi-Target Amyloid Detection and Screening of Amyloid Inhibitors

Misfolding and aggregation of amyloid peptides into β-structure-rich fibrils represent pivotal pathological features in various neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), type II diabetes (T2D), and medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). The development of effective amyloid detectors and inhibitors for probing and preventing amyloid aggregation is crucial for diagnosing and treating debilitating diseases, yet it poses significant challenges. Here, an aggregation-induced emission (AIE) molecule of ROF2 with multifaceted functionalities as an amyloid probe and a screening tool for amyloid inhibitors using different biophysical, cellular, and worm assays, are reported. As an amyloid probe, ROF2 outperformed ThT, demonstrating its superior sensing capability in monitoring, detecting, and distinguishing amyloid aggregates of different sequences (Amyloid-β, human islet amyloid polypeptide, or human calcitonin) and sizes (monomers, oligomers, or fibrils). More importantly, the utilization of ROF2 as a screening molecule to identify and repurpose cardiovascular drugs as amyloid inhibitors is introduced. These drugs exhibit potent amyloid inhibition properties, effectively preventing amyloid aggregation and reducing amyloid-induced cytotoxicity both in cells and nematode. The findings present a novel strategy to discovery AIE-based amyloid probes and to be used to repurpose amyloid inhibitors, expanding diagnostic and therapeutic options for neurodegenerative diseases while addressing vascular congestion and amyloid aggregation risks.

Interactions of amyloid coaggregates with biomolecules and its relevance to neurodegeneration

The aggregation of amyloidogenic proteins is a pathological hallmark of various neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. In these diseases, oligomeric intermediates or toxic aggregates of amyloids cause neuronal damage and degeneration. Despite the substantial effort made over recent decades to implement therapeutic interventions, these neurodegenerative diseases are not yet understood at the molecular level. In many cases, multiple disease-causing amyloids overlap in a sole pathological feature or a sole disease-causing amyloid represents multiple pathological features. Various amyloid pathologies can coexist in the same brain with or without clinical presentation and may even occur in individuals without disease. From sparse data, speculation has arisen regarding the coaggregation of amyloids with disparate amyloid species and other biomolecules, which are the same characteristics that make diagnostics and drug development challenging. However, advances in research related to biomolecular condensates and structural analysis have been used to overcome some of these challenges. Considering the development of these resources and techniques, herein we review the cross-seeding of amyloidosis, for example, involving the amyloids amyloid β, tau, α-synuclein, and human islet amyloid polypeptide, and their cross-inhibition by transthyretin and BRICHOS. The interplay of nucleic acid-binding proteins, such as prions, TAR DNA-binding protein 43, fused in sarcoma/translated in liposarcoma, and fragile X mental retardation polyglycine, with nucleic acids in the pathology of neurodegeneration are also described, and we thereby highlight the potential clinical applications in central nervous system therapy.

Amyloid Cross-Seeding: Mechanism, Implication, and Inhibition

Most neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease, type 2 diabetes, Parkinson's disease, etc. are caused by inclusions and plaques containing misfolded protein aggregates. These protein aggregates are essentially formed by the interactions of either the same (homologous) or different (heterologous) sequences. Several experimental pieces of evidence have revealed the presence of cross-seeding in amyloid proteins, which results in a multicomponent assembly; however, the molecular and structural details remain less explored. Here, we discuss the amyloid proteins and the cross-seeding phenomena in detail. Data suggest that targeting the common epitope of the interacting amyloid proteins may be a better therapeutic option than targeting only one species. We also examine the dual inhibitors that target the amyloid proteins participating in the cross-seeding events. The future scopes and major challenges in understanding the mechanism and developing therapeutics are also considered. Detailed knowledge of the amyloid cross-seeding will stimulate further research in the practical aspects and better designing anti-amyloid therapeutics.