Pharmacological signatures of the reduced incidence and the progression of cognitive decline in ageing populations suggest the protective role of beneficial polypharmacy.

Preventive treatments for dementia are warranted. Here we show that utilization of certain combinations of prescription medications and supplements correlates with reduced rates of cognitive decline. More than 1,900 FDA-approved agents and supplements were collapsed into 53 mechanism-based groups and traced in electronic medical records (EMRs) for >50,000 patients. These mechanistic groups were aligned with the data presented in more than 300 clinical trials, then regression model was built to fit the signals from EMRs to clinical trial performance. While EMR signals of each single agents correlated with clinical performance relatively weakly, the signals produced by combinations of active compounds were highly correlated with the clinical trial performance (R = 0.93, p = 3.8 x10^-8). Higher ranking pharmacological modalities were traced in patient profiles as their combinations, producing protective complexity estimates reflecting degrees of exposure to beneficial polypharmacy. For each age strata, the higher was the protective complexity score, the lower was the prevalence of dementia, with maximized life-long effects for the highest regression score /diversity compositions. The connection was less strong in individuals already diagnosed with cognitive impairment. Confounder analysis confirmed an independent effect of protective complexity in multivariate context. A sub-cohort with lifelong odds of dementia decreased > 5-folds was identified; this sub-cohort should be studied in further details, including controlled clinical trials. In short, our study systematically explored combinatorial preventive treatment regimens for age-associated multi-morbidity, with an emphasis on neurodegeneration, and provided extensive evidence for their feasibility.

Between Lake Baikal and the Baltic Sea: genomic history of the gateway to Europe.

BACKGROUND: The history of human populations occupying the plains and mountain ridges separating Europe from Asia has been eventful, as these natural obstacles were crossed westward by multiple waves of Turkic and Uralic-speaking migrants as well as eastward by Europeans. Unfortunately, the material records of history of this region are not dense enough to reconstruct details of population history. These considerations stimulate growing interest to obtain a genetic picture of the demographic history of migrations and admixture in Northern Eurasia. RESULTS: We genotyped and analyzed 1076 individuals from 30 populations with geographical coverage spanning from Baltic Sea to Baikal Lake. Our dense sampling allowed us to describe in detail the population structure, provide insight into genomic history of numerous European and Asian populations, and significantly increase quantity of genetic data available for modern populations in region of North Eurasia. Our study doubles the amount of genome-wide profiles available for this region. We detected unusually high amount of shared identical-by-descent (IBD) genomic segments between several Siberian populations, such as Khanty and Ket, providing evidence of genetic relatedness across vast geographic distances and between speakers of different language families. Additionally, we observed excessive IBD sharing between Khanty and Bashkir, a group of Turkic speakers from Southern Urals region. While adding some weight to the "Finno-Ugric" origin of Bashkir, our studies highlighted that the Bashkir genepool lacks the main "core", being a multi-layered amalgamation of Turkic, Ugric, Finnish and Indo-European contributions, which points at intricacy of genetic interface between Turkic and Uralic populations. Comparison of the genetic structure of Siberian ethnicities and the geography of the region they inhabit point at existence of the "Great Siberian Vortex" directing genetic exchanges in populations across the Siberian part of Asia. Slavic speakers of Eastern Europe are, in general, very similar in their genetic composition. Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians have almost identical proportions of Caucasus and Northern European components and have virtually no Asian influence. We capitalized on wide geographic span of our sampling to address intriguing question about the place of origin of Russian Starovers, an enigmatic Eastern Orthodox Old Believers religious group relocated to Siberia in seventeenth century. A comparative reAdmix analysis, complemented by IBD sharing, placed their roots in the region of the Northern European Plain, occupied by North Russians and Finno-Ugric Komi and Karelian people. Russians from Novosibirsk and Russian Starover exhibit ancestral proportions close to that of European Eastern Slavs, however, they also include between five to 10 % of Central Siberian ancestry, not present at this level in their European counterparts. CONCLUSIONS: Our project has patched the hole in the genetic map of Eurasia: we demonstrated complexity of genetic structure of Northern Eurasians, existence of East-West and North-South genetic gradients, and assessed different inputs of ancient populations into modern populations.

Red Light Modulates Ultraviolet-Induced Gene Expression in the Epidermis of Hairless Mice.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether low-level light therapy (LLLT) was capable of modulating expression of ultraviolet (UV) light-responsive genes in vivo. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The effects of 670 nm light-emitting diode (LED) array irradiation were investigated in a hairless SHK-1 mouse epidermis model. Mice were given a single dose of UVA/UVB light, or three doses of red light (670 nm @ 8 mW/cm(2) x 312 sec, 2.5 J/cm(2) per session) spread over 24 h along with combinations of pre- and post-UV treatment with red light. Levels of 14 UV-responsive mRNAs were quantified 24 h after UV irradiation by real-time quantitative reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). RESULTS: The transcription of mRNAs encoding for cluster of differentiation molecule 11b (CD11b) (p < 0.05) and interferon (IFN)-γ (p < 0.012) increased after irradiation with red light alone, whereas expression level of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 (p < 0.02) was downregulated. Genes unresponsive to UV did not change their expression levels after exposure to red light either. Pretreatment with red light significantly modified response of Fos to UV exposure (p < 0.01). A synergy of UV and post-treatment with red light in reducing the transcription levels of CD11b (p < 0.05) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) (p < 0.05) was observed. CONCLUSIONS: This is an initial observation that in mouse red light LLLT more often than not causes opposite gene expression changes or reduces those caused by moderate UVA-UVB irradiation.

Manipulating molecular switches in brown adipocytes and their precursors: a therapeutic potential.

Brown adipocytes constitute a metabolically active tissue responsible for non-shivering thermogenesis and the depletion of excess calories. Differentiation of brown fat adipocytes de novo or stimulation of pre-existing brown adipocytes within white adipose depots could provide a novel method for reducing the obesity and alleviating the consequences of type II diabetes worldwide. In this review, we addressed several molecular mechanisms involved in the control of brown fat activity, namely, the ß3-adrenergic stimulation of thermogenesis during exposure to cold or by catecholamines; the augmentation of thyroid function; the modulation of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ), transcription factors of the C/EBP family, and the PPARγ co-activator PRDM16; the COX-2-driven expression of UCP1; the stimulation of the vanilloid subfamily receptor TRPV1 by capsaicin and monoacylglycerols; the effects of BMP7 or its analogs; the cannabinoid receptor antagonists and melanogenesis modulating agents. Manipulating one or more of these pathways may provide a solution to the problem of harnessing brown fat's thermogenic potential. However, a better understanding of their interplay and other homeostatic mechanisms is required for the development of novel therapies for millions of obese and/or diabetic individuals.