Description: Multiple sclerosis is a common disease of the central nervous system in which the interplay between inflammatory and neurodegenerative processes typically results in intermittent neurological disturbance followed by progressive accumulation of disability. Epidemiological studies have shown that genetic factors are primarily responsible for the substantially increased frequency of the disease seen in the relatives of affected individuals, and systematic attempts to identify linkage in multiplex families have confirmed that variation within the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) exerts the greatest individual effect on risk. Modestly powered genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have enabled more than 20 additional risk loci to be identified and have shown that multiple variants exerting modest individual effects have a key role in disease susceptibility. Most of the genetic architecture underlying susceptibility to the disease remains to be defined and is anticipated to require the analysis of sample sizes that are beyond the numbers currently available to individual research groups. In a collaborative GWAS involving 9,772 cases of European descent collected by 23 research groups working in 15 different countries, we have replicated almost all of the previously suggested associations and identified at least a further 29 novel susceptibility loci. Within the MHC we have refined the identity of the HLA-DRB1 risk alleles and confirmed that variation in the HLA-A gene underlies the independent protective effect attributable to the class I region. Immunologically relevant genes are significantly overrepresented among those mapping close to the identified loci and particularly implicate T-helper-cell differentiation in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis.〈br /〉〈br /〉〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3182531/" target="_blank"〉〈img src="https://static.pubmed.gov/portal/portal3rc.fcgi/4089621/img/3977009" border="0"〉〈/a〉   〈a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3182531/" target="_blank"〉This paper as free author manuscript - peer-reviewed and accepted for publication〈/a〉〈br /〉〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium -- Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium 2 -- Sawcer, Stephen -- Hellenthal, Garrett -- Pirinen, Matti -- Spencer, Chris C A -- Patsopoulos, Nikolaos A -- Moutsianas, Loukas -- Dilthey, Alexander -- Su, Zhan -- Freeman, Colin -- Hunt, Sarah E -- Edkins, Sarah -- Gray, Emma -- Booth, David R -- Potter, Simon C -- Goris, An -- Band, Gavin -- Oturai, Annette Bang -- Strange, Amy -- Saarela, Janna -- Bellenguez, Celine -- Fontaine, Bertrand -- Gillman, Matthew -- Hemmer, Bernhard -- Gwilliam, Rhian -- Zipp, Frauke -- Jayakumar, Alagurevathi -- Martin, Roland -- Leslie, Stephen -- Hawkins, Stanley -- Giannoulatou, Eleni -- D'alfonso, Sandra -- Blackburn, Hannah -- Martinelli Boneschi, Filippo -- Liddle, Jennifer -- Harbo, Hanne F -- Perez, Marc L -- Spurkland, Anne -- Waller, Matthew J -- Mycko, Marcin P -- Ricketts, Michelle -- Comabella, Manuel -- Hammond, Naomi -- Kockum, Ingrid -- McCann, Owen T -- Ban, Maria -- Whittaker, Pamela -- Kemppinen, Anu -- Weston, Paul -- Hawkins, Clive -- Widaa, Sara -- Zajicek, John -- Dronov, Serge -- Robertson, Neil -- Bumpstead, Suzannah J -- Barcellos, Lisa F -- Ravindrarajah, Rathi -- Abraham, Roby -- Alfredsson, Lars -- Ardlie, Kristin -- Aubin, Cristin -- Baker, Amie -- Baker, Katharine -- Baranzini, Sergio E -- Bergamaschi, Laura -- Bergamaschi, Roberto -- Bernstein, Allan -- Berthele, Achim -- Boggild, Mike -- Bradfield, Jonathan P -- Brassat, David -- Broadley, Simon A -- Buck, Dorothea -- Butzkueven, Helmut -- Capra, Ruggero -- Carroll, William M -- Cavalla, Paola -- Celius, Elisabeth G -- Cepok, Sabine -- Chiavacci, Rosetta -- Clerget-Darpoux, Francoise -- Clysters, Katleen -- Comi, Giancarlo -- Cossburn, Mark -- Cournu-Rebeix, Isabelle -- Cox, Mathew B -- Cozen, Wendy -- Cree, Bruce A C -- Cross, Anne H -- Cusi, Daniele -- Daly, Mark J -- Davis, Emma -- de Bakker, Paul I W -- Debouverie, Marc -- D'hooghe, Marie Beatrice -- Dixon, Katherine -- Dobosi, Rita -- Dubois, Benedicte -- Ellinghaus, David -- Elovaara, Irina -- Esposito, Federica -- Fontenille, Claire -- Foote, Simon -- Franke, Andre -- Galimberti, Daniela -- Ghezzi, Angelo -- Glessner, Joseph -- Gomez, Refujia -- Gout, Olivier -- Graham, Colin -- Grant, Struan F A -- Guerini, Franca Rosa -- Hakonarson, Hakon -- Hall, Per -- Hamsten, Anders -- Hartung, Hans-Peter -- Heard, Rob N -- Heath, Simon -- Hobart, Jeremy -- Hoshi, Muna -- Infante-Duarte, Carmen -- Ingram, Gillian -- Ingram, Wendy -- Islam, Talat -- Jagodic, Maja -- Kabesch, Michael -- Kermode, Allan G -- Kilpatrick, Trevor J -- Kim, Cecilia -- Klopp, Norman -- Koivisto, Keijo -- Larsson, Malin -- Lathrop, Mark -- Lechner-Scott, Jeannette S -- Leone, Maurizio A -- Leppa, Virpi -- Liljedahl, Ulrika -- Bomfim, Izaura Lima -- Lincoln, Robin R -- Link, Jenny -- Liu, Jianjun -- Lorentzen, Aslaug R -- Lupoli, Sara -- Macciardi, Fabio -- Mack, Thomas -- Marriott, Mark -- Martinelli, Vittorio -- Mason, Deborah -- McCauley, Jacob L -- Mentch, Frank -- Mero, Inger-Lise -- Mihalova, Tania -- Montalban, Xavier -- Mottershead, John -- Myhr, Kjell-Morten -- Naldi, Paola -- Ollier, William -- Page, Alison -- Palotie, Aarno -- Pelletier, Jean -- Piccio, Laura -- Pickersgill, Trevor -- Piehl, Fredrik -- Pobywajlo, Susan -- Quach, Hong L -- Ramsay, Patricia P -- Reunanen, Mauri -- Reynolds, Richard -- Rioux, John D -- Rodegher, Mariaemma -- Roesner, Sabine -- Rubio, Justin P -- Ruckert, Ina-Maria -- Salvetti, Marco -- Salvi, Erika -- Santaniello, Adam -- Schaefer, Catherine A -- Schreiber, Stefan -- Schulze, Christian -- Scott, Rodney J -- Sellebjerg, Finn -- Selmaj, Krzysztof W -- Sexton, David -- Shen, Ling -- Simms-Acuna, Brigid -- Skidmore, Sheila -- Sleiman, Patrick M A -- Smestad, Cathrine -- Sorensen, Per Soelberg -- Sondergaard, Helle Bach -- Stankovich, Jim -- Strange, Richard C -- Sulonen, Anna-Maija -- Sundqvist, Emilie -- Syvanen, Ann-Christine -- Taddeo, Francesca -- Taylor, Bruce -- Blackwell, Jenefer M -- Tienari, Pentti -- Bramon, Elvira -- Tourbah, Ayman -- Brown, Matthew A -- Tronczynska, Ewa -- Casas, Juan P -- Tubridy, Niall -- Corvin, Aiden -- Vickery, Jane -- Jankowski, Janusz -- Villoslada, Pablo -- Markus, Hugh S -- Wang, Kai -- Mathew, Christopher G -- Wason, James -- Palmer, Colin N A -- Wichmann, H-Erich -- Plomin, Robert -- Willoughby, Ernest -- Rautanen, Anna -- Winkelmann, Juliane -- Wittig, Michael -- Trembath, Richard C -- Yaouanq, Jacqueline -- Viswanathan, Ananth C -- Zhang, Haitao -- Wood, Nicholas W -- Zuvich, Rebecca -- Deloukas, Panos -- Langford, Cordelia -- Duncanson, Audrey -- Oksenberg, Jorge R -- Pericak-Vance, Margaret A -- Haines, Jonathan L -- Olsson, Tomas -- Hillert, Jan -- Ivinson, Adrian J -- De Jager, Philip L -- Peltonen, Leena -- Stewart, Graeme J -- Hafler, David A -- Hauser, Stephen L -- McVean, Gil -- Donnelly, Peter -- Compston, Alastair -- 068545/Z/02/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 075491/Z/04/Z/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 084702/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 085475/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 085475/B/08/Z/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 085475/Z/08/Z/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 090532/Wellcome Trust/United Kingdom -- 898/Multiple Sclerosis Society/United Kingdom -- AI076544/AI/NIAID NIH HHS/ -- CA104021/CA/NCI NIH HHS/ -- G0100594/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- G0400017/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- G0700061/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- G0901310/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- G0901461/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- G19/2/Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- K23N/S048869/PHS HHS/ -- NS032830/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- NS049477/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- NS049510/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- NS067305/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- NS19142/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- NS26799/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- NS43559/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- PDA/02/06/016/Department of Health/United Kingdom -- R01 NS026799/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- R01 NS049477/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- R01 NS049477-06A1/NS/NINDS NIH HHS/ -- RR020092/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- RR024992/RR/NCRR NIH HHS/ -- UL1 TR000448/TR/NCATS NIH HHS/ -- Medical Research Council/United Kingdom -- England -- Nature. 2011 Aug 10;476(7359):214-9. doi: 10.1038/nature10251.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21833088" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Ageing is the predominant risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and contributes to a significantly worse outcome in patients with acute myocardial infarction. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as crucial regulators of cardiovascular function and some miRNAs have key roles in ageing. We propose that altered expression of miRNAs in the heart during ageing contributes to the age-dependent decline in cardiac function. Here we show that miR-34a is induced in the ageing heart and that in vivo silencing or genetic deletion of miR-34a reduces age-associated cardiomyocyte cell death. Moreover, miR-34a inhibition reduces cell death and fibrosis following acute myocardial infarction and improves recovery of myocardial function. Mechanistically, we identified PNUTS (also known as PPP1R10) as a novel direct miR-34a target, which reduces telomere shortening, DNA damage responses and cardiomyocyte apoptosis, and improves functional recovery after acute myocardial infarction. Together, these results identify age-induced expression of miR-34a and inhibition of its target PNUTS as a key mechanism that regulates cardiac contractile function during ageing and after acute myocardial infarction, by inducing DNA damage responses and telomere attrition.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Boon, Reinier A -- Iekushi, Kazuma -- Lechner, Stefanie -- Seeger, Timon -- Fischer, Ariane -- Heydt, Susanne -- Kaluza, David -- Treguer, Karine -- Carmona, Guillaume -- Bonauer, Angelika -- Horrevoets, Anton J G -- Didier, Nathalie -- Girmatsion, Zenawit -- Biliczki, Peter -- Ehrlich, Joachim R -- Katus, Hugo A -- Muller, Oliver J -- Potente, Michael -- Zeiher, Andreas M -- Hermeking, Heiko -- Dimmeler, Stefanie -- England -- Nature. 2013 Mar 7;495(7439):107-10. doi: 10.1038/nature11919. Epub 2013 Feb 20.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Institute for Cardiovascular Regeneration, Centre of Molecular Medicine, Goethe University Frankfurt, 60590 Frankfurt, Germany.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23426265" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: First-order phase transitions typically exhibit a significant hysteresis resulting for instance in boiling retardation and supercooling. The hysteresis arises, because nucleation of the new phase is activated. The free-energy change is positive until the nucleus reaches a critical size beyond which further growth is downhill. In practice, the barrier is often circumvented by the presence of heterogeneous nucleation centres, e.g. at vessel walls or seed crystals. Recently, it has been proposed that the homogeneous melting of ice proceeds via separation of defect pairs with a substantially smaller barrier as compared to the mere aggregation of defects. Here we report the observation of an analogous mechanism catalysing a two-dimensional homogeneous phase transition. A similar process is believed to occur in spin systems. This suggests that separation of defect pairs is a common trigger for phase transitions. Partially circumventing the activation barrier it reduces the hysteresis and may promote fluctuations within a temperature range increasing with decreasing dimensionality. Scientific Reports 4 doi: 10.1038/srep04110