Beneficial Effect of ACI-24 Vaccination on Aβ Plaque Pathology and Microglial Phenotypes in an Amyloidosis Mouse Model

Amyloid-β (Aβ) deposition is an initiating factor in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Microglia are the brain immune cells that surround and phagocytose Aβ plaques, but their phagocytic capacity declines in AD. This is in agreement with studies that associate AD risk loci with genes regulating the phagocytic function of immune cells. Immunotherapies are currently pursued as strategies against AD and there are increased efforts to understand the role of the immune system in ameliorating AD pathology. Here, we evaluated the effect of the Aβ targeting ACI-24 vaccine in reducing AD pathology in an amyloidosis mouse model. ACI-24 vaccination elicited a robust and sustained antibody response in APPPS1 mice with an accompanying reduction of Aβ plaque load, Aβ plaque-associated ApoE and dystrophic neurites as compared to non-vaccinated controls. Furthermore, an increased number of NLRP3-positive plaque-associated microglia was observed following ACI-24 vaccination. In contrast to this local microglial activation at Aβ plaques, we observed a more ramified morphology of Aβ plaque-distant microglia compared to non-vaccinated controls. Accordingly, bulk transcriptomic analysis revealed a trend towards the reduced expression of several disease-associated microglia (DAM) signatures that is in line with the reduced Aβ plaque load triggered by ACI-24 vaccination. Our study demonstrates that administration of the Aβ targeting vaccine ACI-24 reduces AD pathology, suggesting its use as a safe and cost-effective AD therapeutic intervention.

Bericht zur 2. Informationsveranstaltung des Open Access Network Austria (OANA) (Wien, 21. Jänner 2015)

Dieser Beitrag fasst die Ergebnisse der 2. OANA-Veranstaltung am 21.01.2015 im Palais Harrach in Wien zusammen. Das „Open Access Network Austria“ (OANA) ist eine „joint activity“ unter dem organisatorischen Dach des Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (FWF) und der Österreichischen Universitätenkonferenz (UNIKO) mit dem Ziel Open Access Aktivitäten in der österreichischen Forschungslandschaft zu koordinieren. Nach einer ersten OANA-Informationsveranstaltung im November 2013 wurden fünf Arbeitsgruppen zu folgenden Themen gebildet: Open Access Policy, Finanzierung von Open Access, Rechtliche und politische Rahmenbedingungen, Publikationsmodelle und Einbindung von WissenschafterInnen. Im Rahmen der zweiten Informationsveranstaltung wurden die Ergebnisse bzw. Fortschritte der fünf Arbeitsgruppen präsentiert. Mit der Weiterführung von OANA sollen zukünftig einige der genannten Bereiche vertieft sowie um neue Themenfelder ergänzt werden.

Correction to: "in-vitro examination of the positive inotropic effect of caffeine and taurine, the two most frequent active ingredients of energy drinks"

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In-vitro examination of the positive inotropic effect of caffeine and taurine, the two most frequent active ingredients of energy drinks

Background

Our study aimed to evaluate changes in the contractile behavior of human myocardium after exposure to caffeine and taurine, the main active ingredients of energy drinks (EDs), and to evaluate whether taurine exhibits any inotropic effect at all in the dosages commonly used in EDs.

Methods

Myocardial tissue was removed from the right atrial appendages of patients undergoing cardiac surgery and prepared to obtain specimens measuring 4 mm in length. A total of 92 specimens were exposed to electrical impulses at a frequency of 75 bpm for at least 40 min to elicit their maximum contractile force before measuring the isometric contractile force (ICF) and duration of contraction (CD). Following this, each specimen was treated with either taurine (group 1, n = 29), or caffeine (group 2, n = 31) or both (group 3, n = 32). After exposure, ICF and CD measuring were repeated. Post-treatment values were compared with pre-treatments values and indicated as percentages.

Results

Exposure to taurine did not alter the contraction behavior of the specimens. Exposure to caffeine, in contrast, led to a significant increase in ICF (118 ± 03%, p < 0.01) und a marginal decrease in CD (95 ± 1.6%, p < 0.01). Exposure to a combination of caffeine and taurine also induced a statistically significant increase in ICF (124 ± 4%, p < 0.01) and a subtle reduction in CD (92 ± 1.4%, p < 0.01). The increase in ICF achieved by administration of caffeine was similar to that achieved by a combination of both caffeine and taurine (p = 0.2).

The relative ICF levels achieved by administration of caffeine and a combination of taurine and caffeine, respectively, were both significantly higher (p < 0.01) than the ICF resulting from exposure to taurine only.

Conclusion

While caffeine altered the contraction behavior of the specimen significantly in our in-vitro model, taurine did not exhibit a significant effect. Adding taurine to caffeine did not significantly enhance or reduce the effect of caffeine.

[Psychological treatment of chronic headache and facial pain]

Chronic headache and facial pain cannot be categorized as purely organic or purely psychological; therefore, treatment should be both medical and psychotherapeutic. An interdisciplinary approach optimises treatment results and significantly reduces the intensity and frequency of the pain. This article illustrates a cognitive behavioural treatment strategy that has shown a clear reduction in patient impairment. With extensive education and training in pain management techniques, patients are enabled to exert influence over their pain, preventing and easing it and dealing with it strategically. The results are improved self-control, improved quality of life, and a possible reduction in the consumption of pain-killing drugs.

[Experiences in the use of the so-called M-mode method in the clinical diagnosis of heart diseases]

Since formerly only the diastolic phase of the curve of the mitral valve was in the centre of interest for diagnosing the mitral stenosis, nowadays the systolic area is more taken into consideration, the changes of which apart from the hypertrophies of the heart walls increasingly gains significance for the diagnostics of the idiopathic hypertrophic cardiomyopathies, the floppy valve syndrome, the aneurysm of the heart wall, the atrial septum defect as well as for systolic murmurs of different genesis. The registration of the movement of the posterior wall and the septum give the possibility of determination of the volume. Thus mean values of the stroke volume, the minute volume of the heart and the cardiac index showed a conspicuously good correspondence in persons with healthy heart compared with former determinations by dye dilution technique. As formerly (dye examinations) we found significant differences between normals and values of patients with mitral stenosis in stroke volume, ejection fraction, cardiac output and cardiac index, when we used the echocardiographic technique.