The Open Brain Consent: Informing research participants and obtaining consent to share brain imaging data.

Having the means to share research data openly is essential to modern science. For human research, a key aspect in this endeavor is obtaining consent from participants, not just to take part in a study, which is a basic ethical principle, but also to share their data with the scientific community. To ensure that the participants' privacy is respected, national and/or supranational regulations and laws are in place. It is, however, not always clear to researchers what the implications of those are, nor how to comply with them. The Open Brain Consent (https://open-brain-consent.readthedocs.io) is an international initiative that aims to provide researchers in the brain imaging community with information about data sharing options and tools. We present here a short history of this project and its latest developments, and share pointers to consent forms, including a template consent form that is compliant with the EU general data protection regulation. We also share pointers to an associated data user agreement that is not only useful in the EU context, but also for any researchers dealing with personal (clinical) data elsewhere.

Autism as a disorder of biological and behavioral rhythms: toward new therapeutic perspectives.

There is a growing interest in the role of biological and behavioral rhythms in typical and atypical development. Recent studies in cognitive and developmental psychology have highlighted the importance of rhythmicity and synchrony of motor, emotional, and interpersonal rhythms in early development of social communication. The synchronization of rhythms allows tuning and adaptation to the external environment. The role of melatonin in the ontogenetic establishment of circadian rhythms and the synchronization of the circadian clocks network suggests that this hormone might be also involved in the synchrony of motor, emotional, and interpersonal rhythms. Autism provides a challenging model of physiological and behavioral rhythm disturbances and their possible effects on the development of social communication impairments and repetitive behaviors and interests. This article situates autism as a disorder of biological and behavioral rhythms and reviews the recent literature on the role of rhythmicity and synchrony of rhythms in child development. Finally, the hypothesis is developed that an integrated approach focusing on biological, motor, emotional, and interpersonal rhythms may open interesting therapeutic perspectives for children with autism. More specifically, promising avenues are discussed for potential therapeutic benefits in autism spectrum disorder of melatonin combined with developmental behavioral interventions that emphasize synchrony, such as the Early Start Denver Model.

Interactions of bexarotene (LGD1069, Targretin) with the coagulation system.

MAIN PURPOSE: Bexarotene, (LGD1069, Targretin), is an antitumoral agent used as chemotherapy in the treatment of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma. Therapy with bexarotene is accompanied by adverse events, such as, bleeding, hemorrhage, and coagulopathy RESEARCH QUESTION: In order to design applications for bexarotene, it was very important to gain an understanding of how bexarotene inhibits blood clotting METHODS: We investigated the interaction between bexarotene or vehicle alone, and coagulation factors or blood cells. We used both in vitro and in vivo assays. Anticoagulant activity of bexarotene or vehicle was assessed by clotting time tests (TT, RT, APTT, and PT). Coagulation factors activity was measured by adding diluted test plasma to artificially prepared factor-deficient plasma. Direct interactions between bexarotene and factor Xa were studied by chromogenic substrate assay. A mouse model was used to investigate in vivo effects of the drug on blood system and for evaluation of clinical hematology and organ pathology. RESULTS: Increases in clotting times (prothrombin time and activated thromboplastin time) occurred with bexarotene in in vitro and in vivo experiments. We detected no significant influence of bexarotene on factors II, V, VII, VIII, XI and XII, while factor IX and factors X were affected. Bexarotene exerts anticoagulant effects and acts mainly as a direct factor IX and factor X inhibitor. On the contrary, the vehicle is remarkably inert toward the coagulation system. The number of blood cells was unaffected in mice treated with bexarotene or with the vehicle. CONCLUSIONS: Monitoring of the coagulation factors profile should be considered in cancer patients receiving bexarotene, particularly those with a known diagnosis of coagulation factors deficient.