Researchers find eight genetically different types of schizophrenia

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74041 Researchers over at the universities of Granada (Spain) and Washington in St Louis (US) have found through their latest study that there isn’t a single type of schizophrenia, but as many as eight genetically different types of the mental disorder.

 

Researchers peg this study as an important first step towards better understanding, diagnosis and treatment of the disease, which affects approximately 1 per cent of world population.

Previous research related to the disease has shown that approximately 80 per cent of the risk of suffering from schizophrenia was hereditary. The new research has for the first time identified the different gene networks that contribute to the existence of eight different types of schizophrenia.

The study included 4,196 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and 3,200 healthy patients participated as control group.

«What we did with this research, after a decade of frustration in the field of psychiatric genetics, is identify the manner in which the genes interact with each other, in an orchestrated manner in the case of healthy patients, or disorganised, as happens in the cases that lead to the different types of schizophrenia,» said Igor Zwir, a researcher at the University of Granada and co-author of the study published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, as quoted by MedicalNewsToday.com.

In some patients with hallucinations or delirium, for instance, researchers agree that there are different networks of genes related to their respective symptoms, which demonstrates that specific genetic variations interact with each other.

This genetic analysis leads to 95 per cent certainty in predicting the onset of schizophrenia.

In another group, they found that incongruent speech and disorganised behaviour are specifically associated with a DNA variations network that leads to a 100 per cent risk of suffering schizophrenia.

Researchers divided the patients according to the type and seriousness of positive symptoms (such as different types of hallucinations or deliriums), or negative symptoms (such as lack of initiative, troubles in organising thoughts, or lack of connection between emotion and thought).

In parallel, scientists classified the profiles of these symptoms into eight qualitative types of different diseases according to the underlying genetic conditions.

Although individual genes only present weak, inconsistent associations with schizophrenia, the interaction networks of gene groups pose a high risk of suffering from the disease, between 70 and 100 per cent, «which makes it almost impossible that individuals with those genetic variation networks will avoid schizophrenia,» researchers said.

Researchers found a total of 42 genes groups that influenced in a variety of ways the risk of suffering schizophrenia.

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Researchers use pulsed light to modify lactose protein that causes 10% of milk-related allergies

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74555 The researchers have managed to modify a type of lactose protein called β-lactoglobulin artificially by means of a treatment with pulsed light. This protein, which is present in lactose serum, is responsible for approximately 10% of milk-related allergies. As a result of this treatment, milk becomes much more digestible.

 

Julia Maldonado-Valderrama, a researcher at the University of Granada involved in this project, explains that β-lactoglobulin is difficult to digest because this protein has a compact and complex structure that resists enzymatic processing during digestion. «This complexity is nevertheless necessary for proteins to fulfil their structural function as stabilizing agents of emulsions or foams.»

One way to facilitate the digestion of proteins could be to break up or dismantle their structure. However, if the structure of the protein is severely degraded it loses is functional properties.

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Modify the proteins

«In this project, which has been published in the journal Soft Matter, we have used a type of lactose protein modified by means of a treatment with pulsed light, a method of bacterial inactivation which is widely used in the food industry, but never before used to modify proteins». This process, patented by the team at the Azti-Tecnalia technology centre, degrades the structure of the protein by increasing the amount of light pulses.

With this method, scientists confirmed that, first, the functional properties of the protein are not affected by the pulsed light treatment. «We actually demonstrated that in some cases pulsed light even improves the emulsive properties of lactose protein», Maldonado-Valderrama points out. «We then studied the effects of this pulsed light modified protein upon digestion».

In order to do so the researchers employed a device designed and built at the University of Granada, called Octopus, which simulates the digestive process of a protein in a single drop of emulsion. Thus, the simulation of the digestive process demonstrated that the pulsed light treatment facilitates digestion of this protein, in particular in the small intestine.

«Finding a way of improving the digestibility of proteins without altering their functional properties is a current challenge within food technology and, in this respect, the pulsed light treatment is a very promising tool when it comes to the design of low-allergy food products», the University of Granada researcher concludes.

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Asthmatic patients suffering from xerostomia have a poorer level of control disease

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74535 Scientists at the University of Granada and the High Resolution Hospital in Loja (Granada) prove that asthmatic patients who suffer from xerostomia (dry mouth syndrome) have a poorer level of control disease. Whether an asthmatic patient also suffers from severe xerostomia can be of great use for the pneumologist when it comes to establishing that particular patient’s level of control disease.

 

Xerostomia is the subjective perception of dryness in the mouth due to malfunction of the salivary glands. It affects 50% of the population over sixty, and it can affect more than 90% of hospitalized patients. It is a frequent symptom in patients suffering from a diversity of diseases, and it affects their quality of life and mouth health.

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For their part, inhaled corticosteroids (ICs) constitute the basic treatment for patients with bronchial asthma, and they are applied by means of inhaling devices through the oral cavity.

ICs in current use for asthma treatment have a very low level of bioavailability, i.e. they work at local level and pass in a very small percentage onto general circulation. This is the reason why their systemic effects are minimal. The effects of ICs at local level, in particular over oral mucosa, has so far been very little studied.

A study with 74 patients

To conduct this study, these researchers from Granada analysed a total of 57 asthma patients plus 17 healthy ones, who acted as control group. They could thus confirm that a large percentage of asthma patients also suffered from xerostomia.

«Our data indicate that treatments with high ICs doses diminish the production of salivary protein MUC5B, which has a protective function on the buccal mucosa» says Pedro José Romero Palacios, full professor at the Medicine department, University of Granada, and principal investigator in this research. Clinically this effect results in xerostomia (dry mouth), and is generally associated with a poorer control of asthma.

Under the light shed by this study, scientists concluded that there is a moderate relation between the level of asthma control and the severity of xerostomia.

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Study opens door for development of tools to modulate CoQ10 synthesis in human cells

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74742 A study which counts with the participation of University of Granada scientists has provided new data on the Q10 coenzyme (CoQ10), a molecule which is synthesized within the cells of the organism itself and which has essential functions for cellular metabolism. This study opens the door for the development, in the not too distant future, of tools to modulate the synthesis of CoQ10 in human cells according to their metabolic needs. This will be particularly important for the treatment of diseases caused by primary and secondary deficiencies in CoQ10.

 

Its role in the production of energy required by the cell and its antioxidant capacity are among the best known functions of this coenzyme. Human cases have been described in which the deficiency in CoQ10 can be attributed to defects in the biosynthetic pathway, which causes a syndrome with a very heterogeneous clinical picture.

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CoQ10 deficiency is a rare mitochondrial disease which affects mostly children. The details of this biosynthetic pathway are not known in their totality, since there are steps whose catalysing enzymes remain unknown, or proteins in the pathway whose specific function is either unknown or has not yet been fully demonstrated.

One of those proteins is Coq9, which the UGR research group demonstrated in 2013 is an essential protein in the biosynthesis of CoQ, and which specifically regulates the Coq7 protein, an enzyme with a hydroxylase activity that catalyses one of the intermediate steps for the synthesis of CoQ10.

This study is now led by Dr. David J. Pagliarini (U. of Wisconsin-Madison) in collaboration with Dr Liang Tong’s team (Columbia U.) and the U. of Granada researchers Marta Luna Sánchez and Luis Carlos López García. It has been recently published in the journal PNAS. This research conclusively proves that protein CoQ9 regulates enzyme CoQ7.

Through the crystallization of the human protein and experiments conducted on mice, the study proves that Coq9 has a lipid-binding structure, which would give it the capacity to provide enzyme Coq7 with the intermediary metabolite that it uses as a substrate in the reaction it catalyses. The results of the study suggest, besides, that the biosynthetic machinery of CoQ10 is organized as a multiprotein complex in mammals, with the purpose of increasing the efficiency of its synthesis and enable its regulation.

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Scientists use pulsed light to modify the protein that causes milk allergy

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74555 Spanish scientists from the U. of Granada and the Azti-Tecnalia technology centre have designed a type of lactose protein which is easier to digest by humans, and which could lower the allergenicity of milk. They have done this without at all altering its functional properties.

 

The researchers have managed to modify a type of lactose called β-lactoglobulin artificially by means of a treatment with . This protein, which is present in lactose serum, is responsible for approximately 10% of milk-related allergies. As a result of this treatment, milk becomes much more digestible.

Julia Maldonado-Valderrama, a researcher at the University of Granada involved in this project, explains that β-lactoglobulin is difficult to digest because this protein has a compact and complex structure that resists enzymatic processing during digestion. «This complexity is nevertheless necessary for proteins to fulfil their structural function as stabilizing agents of emulsions or foams.»

One way to facilitate the digestion of proteins could be to break up or dismantle their structure. However, if the structure of the protein is severely degraded it loses is functional properties.

Modify the proteins

«In this project, which has been published in the journal Soft Matter, we have used a type of lactose protein modified by means of a treatment with pulsed light, a method of bacterial inactivation which is widely used in the food industry, but never before used to modify proteins». This process, patented by the team at the Azti-Tecnalia technology centre, degrades the structure of the protein by increasing the amount of light pulses.

With this method, scientists confirmed that, first, the functional properties of the protein are not affected by the pulsed light treatment. «We actually demonstrated that in some cases pulsed light even improves the emulsive properties of lactose protein», Maldonado-Valderrama points out. «We then studied the effects of this pulsed light modified protein upon digestion».

In order to do so the researchers employed a device designed and built at the University of Granada, called Octopus, which simulates the digestive process of a protein in a single drop of emulsion. Thus, the simulation of the digestive process demonstrated that the pulsed light treatment facilitates digestion of this protein, in particular in the small intestine.

«Finding a way of improving the digestibility of proteins without altering their functional properties is a current challenge within food technology and, in this respect, the pulsed light treatment is a very promising tool when it comes to the design of low-allergy food products», the University of Granada researcher concludes.

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AUDIO: Cadena Cope Andalucía – MEDIODIA COPE ANDALUCÍA: GRANADA ALBERGA LA 27ª EDICION DE LA UNIVERSIADA DE INVIERNO

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GRANADA SE CONVIERTE DURANTE 10 DÍAS EN UNA DE LAS CAPITALES MUNDIALES DEL DEPORTE. ALBERGA LA 27ª EDICIÓN DE LA UNIVERSIADA DE INVIERNO, UNA COMPETICIÓN CONSIDERADA COMO LOS JUEGOS OLIMPICOS DE LOS UNIVERSITARIOS EN LA QUE PARTICIPAN MILES DEPORTISTAS DE 43 PAÍSES. DECL. JOSÉ TORRES HURTADO, ALCALDE DE GRANADA.
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El Mundo

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Pág. 26: La Junta conduce a los rectores contra la reforma universitaria del Gobierno

Pág. 27: ‘Pinza’ del SAT de Cañamero para controlar la Universidad

Descarga por URL: http://sl.ugr.es/07mJ

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Schizophrenia is not 1 but 8 different types: New study

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74041 In a key finding, researchers have found that brain disorder schizophrenia has eight different types and not a single type, as earlier thought.
Schizophrenia consists of a group made up of eight genetically different types of diseases, each of which presents its own set of symptoms, said researchers.
It was believed that almost 80 percent of the risk of suffering from schizophrenia was hereditary, but scientists have been struggling for years to identify which specific genes lead to it.
The new study shows that various genes networks contribute to the existence of eight types of schizophrenia. «Genes do not operate on their own, in an isolated manner,» said study co-author Igor Zwir, researcher at University of Granada in Spain. «They rather work with each other as an orchestra,» Zwir said.
brainThe study involved 4,196 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and 3,200 healthy patients who volunteered to participate as control group.
«What we did with this research is identify the manner in which the genes interact with each other, in an orchestrated manner in the case of healthy patients, or disorganised, as happens in the cases that lead to the different types of schizophrenia», the authors said.
The researchers divided the patients according to the type and seriousness of positive symptoms including different types of hallucinations or deliriums, or negative symptoms such as lack of initiative, troubles in organising thoughts, or lack of connection between emotion and thought.
In parallel, scientists classified the profiles of these symptoms into eight qualitative types of different diseases according to the underlying genetic conditions.
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El País

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Pág. 32: Educación rechaza la moratoria de los rectores a la reforma

Descarga por URL: http://sl.ugr.es/07mE

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Presentación de los Cursos Internacionales “Manuel de Falla” de Granada, edición primavera

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Jueves 5 de febrero, a las 11 horas, en el Palacio de la Madraza

El jueves 5 de febrero, a las 11 horas, en el Palacio de la Madraza, tendrá lugar la rueda de prensa de presentación de la edición de primavera de los Cursos “Manuel de Falla” de Granada, en la que intervendrá la vicerrectora de Extensión Universitaria y Deporte, Mª Elena Martín-Vivaldi Caballero, acompañada por el director del Festival Internacional de Música y Danza de Granada, Diego Martínez, y el director académico de los cursos, Francisco J. Giménez.

Los Cursos Internacionales “Manuel de Falla”, organizados por el Festival de Música y Danza en colaboración con la Universidad de Granada, ofrecen enseñanzas de alto nivel y contribuyen a ampliar los estudios y ámbitos profesionales de la música y la danza.

CONVOCATORIA:

  • ASUNTO: Presentación de los Cursos Internacionales “Manuel de Falla”.
  • DÍA: jueves 5 de febrero.
  • HORA: 11 horas.
  • LUGAR: Palacio de la Madraza.


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Eight avatars of Schizophrenia

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74041 In an important first step towards better diagnosis and treatment of schizophrenia, researchers have found that there are eight different types of the brain disorder, and not just one, as earlier thought.
Schizophrenia consists of a group made up of eight genetically different types of diseases, each of which presents its own set of symptoms, researchers said.
It was so far known that approximately 80 percent of the risk of suffering from schizophrenia was hereditary, although scientists have for years struggled to identify the specific genes leading to it.
In this new study, the researchers identified various genes networks that contribute to the existence of eight types of schizophrenia.
«Genes do not operate on their own in an isolated manner,» said study co-author Igor Zwir, researcher at University of Granada in Spain. «They rather work with each other as an orchestra,» Zwir said.
The study involved 4,196 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia, besides 3,200 healthy patients who participated as control group.
«What we did with this research is identify the manner in which the genes interact with each other, in an orchestrated manner in the case of healthy patients, or disorganised, as happens in the cases that lead to the different types of schizophrenia,» the authors said.
The researchers divided patients according to the type and seriousness of positive symptoms (such as different types of hallucinations or deliriums), or negative symptoms (such as lack of initiative, troubles in organising thoughts, or lack of connection between emotion and thought).
In parallel, scientists classified the profiles of these symptoms into eight qualitative types of different diseases according to the underlying genetic conditions.
The study appeared in the American Journal of Psychiatry.
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